Do you want to live? In the darkness of a WWI battlefield, young Legionnaire Edouard Montreuil lies dying. As teeth nibble his flesh, a voice whispers, Do you want to live? Frightened and desperate, Edouard bargains his freedom for a second chance.
Aboard the Flèche, a grim submarine captained by the nightmare who granted Edouard new life, Edouard pays the price for his survival. Each night, he gives his body to his captain as the bells sound first watch. But surviving is not living, and as the days stretch into months beneath the waves, Edouard grows desperate for escape.
Can Edouard’s old comrade Farid Ruiz help him break this devil's bargain, or will Ruiz fall to the same fate, trapped beneath the waves at the mercy of a monster whose hunger knows no bounds? Edouard and Ruiz served together once before, and slept together too, but courage and passion failed to save them from the eldritch beasts who roamed the night. This time, the cost of failure is nothing so clean or simple as death, and the spoils of victory are not just life, but love.
Aboard the Flèche, a grim submarine captained by the nightmare who granted Edouard new life, Edouard pays the price for his survival. Each night, he gives his body to his captain as the bells sound first watch. But surviving is not living, and as the days stretch into months beneath the waves, Edouard grows desperate for escape.
Can Edouard’s old comrade Farid Ruiz help him break this devil's bargain, or will Ruiz fall to the same fate, trapped beneath the waves at the mercy of a monster whose hunger knows no bounds? Edouard and Ruiz served together once before, and slept together too, but courage and passion failed to save them from the eldritch beasts who roamed the night. This time, the cost of failure is nothing so clean or simple as death, and the spoils of victory are not just life, but love.
Reviewer: Carolina Fruitfly
First off, I want to say that this book was not what I expected. I expected a MM romance with something otherworldly involved. What I got was more of a supernatural story with a quick sex scene at the end.
That's not to say that First Watch was a bad read, it wasn't by any means. Edouard has been giving his body and his life essence to the creature known only as "The Captain" since the day Edouard lay dying on a WWI battlefield. He survived, but is he really living? Every time he tries to escape, The Captain finds him, and so now he is aboard the submarine, the Fleche. Every night at first watch, Edouard goes to The Captain, a creature who has the ability to appear human when he wants, but underneath his human skin, he is more akin to a villain out of Pirates of the Caribbean, a creature with tentacles, mouths, and razor sharp teeth! Every night, Edouard gives his body to The Captain. Every night he suffers horrible indignities, pain, and, we are led to believe dubious consensual sex.
Unable to take it anymore, Edouard contacts his old friend Feliz, and begs him to help dispatch The Captain. This leads to a somewhat inept attempt to gain Edouard's freedom. I felt it was a good story, but a bit quick. We didn't really get to know much about The Captain, Edouard, or his and Feliz's relationship. I'm not even entirely sure if they managed to kill The Captain, or if they have merely escaped for now. It would be interesting to see if this author decided to fill out the story a bit more, so that we know more about the characters and where the creature came from. I would recommend this to anyone looking for something quick and a bit scary, but not to true romance fans, because they will be sadly disappointed.
All in all I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. The story was good, editing was great, it just wasn't what I was expecting.
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Review Courtesy Of: ManicReaders
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