Lasher (The Mayfair Chronicles #2)
Author: Anne Rice
Published: 1995
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
I am Lasher
Rowan Mayfair, now the head of the Mayfair coven, goes missing in the midst of fleeing from the demon reborn, Lasher. Michael Curry, love of her life, refuses to stop searching for her as does her family. He also won’t give up until the demon that made her flee and killed their unborn child is dead.
The search for Lasher hastens when women of the Mayfair line begin turning up dead from hemorrhaging miscarriages. Immune to Lasher’s seductive and spellbinding power, Michael follows his strange dreams and the stories of the Mayfairs of the past as they may be the key to stopping Lasher. He hopes that he finds
Months have passed. Rowan is held captive by the seductive and formidable Lasher. Michael is obsessed with getting her back. The Mayfair history is delved into and it’s discovered that their history with Lasher is much deeper than any of them realized.
Review here
This one interested me more than its predecessor did. It moved fast and I couldn’t put it down. I know people have said that this book is steamy and erotic, but I was disturbed! LOL. The storytelling was beautiful and dark and I was completely sucked in, but I can honestly say that a thirteen-year-old seducing and screwing around with a married man in his fifties is rather messed up as is a demon coercing women into sleeping with him. It was all kinds of creepy! Anne Rice was successful in crawling under my skin, and I love creepy stories.
Split between multiple POVs, this story is wild, gut-wrenching, and utterly addictive even though there are some parts I probably should’ve looked away from. I was incredibly intrigued because of the different angles of the storytelling. The characters were so beautifully written. From terror and lust and rage; the emotions were . The imagery carried over, still strong and powerful.
The consistency from book 1 to book 2 was strong and not lacking whatsoever. I truly liked the intermixing of Victorian and modern times. Science plays a bigger role in trying to discover what Lasher is.
The use of history still plays a great role. This time it was more specific to Lasher and Julien Mayfair, which really captured my attention. It was much less than in The Witching Hour, but shed a lot of light on Lasher. I really liked getting to know more about the mysterious antagonist. The shocking revelations were shudder worthy.
With magic to the brim and deep and an intense and unbreakable love, I was hooked. I was whiplashed around so many times from the strong emotions and shocking twists. The twist at the end was the biggest. Truly beautiful and striking. There were no black and white areas, just grey.
Quotables:
“She knew Death as she knew up and down and all around, and water, and her own skin and her hair which she caught her fingers, and rubbed to her lips. Dead was not alive!” (Emaleth, p. 315)
“Be a witch, not a bitch, for the love of heaven.” (Mary Beth to Stella, p. 394)
“You realize when she dies…there won’t be a storm! For the first time, there won’t be a storm.” (p.460)
More to come soon…
-K.
P.S. Song today? Tainted Love by Marilyn Manson.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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