I love me some Superhero Romance – BUT the good ones are few and far between, the ones which balance Powers and Romance. Ms. Pecherczyk does so in the Deadly Seven series. I love the world concept of the Seven Deadly Sins used to power the superbeings. The challenge of balancing too much or too little of the sin. And the opposite person needed to bring balance to the powered-being.
♥Multi award-nominated series. ♥Finalist in the ARRA Award for Best Ongoing Paranormal Romance Series. ♥Finalist for the RWA Ruby Book of the Year award 2020. ♥Each book can be read as a standalone, but is best read in order to appreciate the overarching plot.
The Deadly Seven is a paranormal/scifi romance featuring genetically modified heroes who must find a lifemate or become the deadly sin they are destined to destroy. Perfect for fans of superhero shows like Batman, Arrow, The Flash and Superman… but with more heartfelt and hot romance from the hero and his love interest. For mature audiences only. Read FREE in Kindle Unlimited.
The Deadly Seven Series by Lana Percherczyk
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SINNER
The selfie generation grew up.
And with them, the sin of greed exploded on an astronomical scale. Of course, where one went, the rest were sure to follow. Wrath, sloth, gluttony, pride, envy, lust… all climbed in severity until deadly sin consumed Cardinal City. Violence, murder, and mayhem were only the beginning. To save their city, top scientists created a band of brothers and sisters as deadly as the sins they were destined to fight. But before they were waging a war on crime, they were children born in a lab with no one to look out for them… except a deadly assassin pretending to be a nun and a tortured man running from his past.
If you’re obsessed with superhero movies, but want more romance, then The Deadly Seven is for you. Featuring fated mates and a band of brothers and sisters, tortured alpha heroes, kick-ass heroines, vigilante justice and a steamy romance in each book.
MY REVIEW for SINNER
The prequel to the Deadly Seven series, Sinner follows the relationship the Deadly Seven’s parents, Mary and Flint, as they rescue the children. The manuscript is a novella, far too short for the explosive and powerful love between the pretend nun and the curious nerd. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table for the series, except give a glimpse of how Mary and Flint actually see each other and what drives them to devote their lives to raising seven superpowered beings.
And that is worth the price of admission, especially since the price is free (at the time of this writing 1/12/2021).
I’ve read books 1-6 of the series. I am waiting for Pride to come out in July (ugh – 6 more months) and then Despair. Reading the Prequel may help tie me over.
Superspy romance feel. Good fun and good story. I really like the fact that Mary and Flint had been working up to full being-in-love for over a year. Yes, we only see one day of their lives, but what a day!
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for ENVY
Disgraced hero Evan Lazarus punishes himself in the underground cage fighting scene. He blames himself for the tragedy that tore his family apart and left the city without its saviors. Traveling a dark path toward vengeance, if he’s not careful, he’ll become the evil he was created to fight. And then he meets her—a woman who embodies his sin’s opposing virtue. She’s smart, relentless, and electrifying… She’s everything he secretly craves.
Grace Go almost died in the blast that killed her parents and now seeks justice for the survivors. When her investigation crosses paths with a fiercely protective but damaged hero, she is intrigued. The more she sees him, the more he ignites a desire she thought long gone, and the easier it is to stay ignorant to the secret that could ruin her opinion of him forever.
When a figure from Evan’s past emerges, in league with the evil Syndicate, their scheme threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. Pushed to the limits, he will have to pull his family from the brink of oblivion and become the hero the city needs… or will envy drive him to destroy Grace and his only chance at love and redemption forever?
MY REVIEW for ENVY
Envy is nearly completely consumed by jealousy and covet-ness. He is lower than low, the youngest of his family, with no one believing him. His art brings him little joy as others only want his skill.
Then he meets his opposite. Someone who looked life in the eye and said “enough is enough, I’m going to build everyone around me up”. At times Grace is nearly too good – but it is needed to offset the Deadly Sin in Envy. She is a doctor and Envy is in need of a cure before his sin consumes him. Can Grace kiss it enough to make it better?
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for GREED
Griffin Lazarus’ restraint is notorious within his heroic family. His mastery over the sin of greed is second to none. What they don’t know, is a shameful secret drives his discipline and one slip could mean fatal consequences for anyone close to him. When he’s forced to work with a beautiful, feisty reporter poking around his personal life, his control swiftly unravels. Everything about her throws his beliefs into chaos. She’s arousing, loud and infuriating, and craving her could be his undoing—or his redemption.
Lilo Likeke, an altruistic reporter for the Cardinal Copy, is hunting the story of a lifetime. Who are the Deadly Seven? If she can nail her unicorn story, she’ll finally prove her apple falls far from her corrupt family tree. But when her mobster father is kidnapped, and she’s drawn into his web of chaos, she soon learns you can’t outrun your past, but you can choose your family. Trusting the man behind the mask might kill her story, but it also might save her heart.
With the Syndicate breathing down their necks, none of it could matter if they don’t live to see another day, and Griffin has no intention of losing the woman he covets, even if that means embracing bedlam…
MY REVIEW for GREED
Ms. Pecherczyk gets both romance and supers – and has made an excellent addition to the Superhero Romance Genre with her The Deadly Seven series.
The world concept is seven brothers and sisters were genetically engineered to hunt down sin and destroy it. They were stolen and raised to be heroes instead of killers, but the base nature remains. If they don’t fight it – seek it out and remove it – the sin will consume them entirely. If they do too much good, they also will unbalance.
Greed has experienced directly – the unbalancing – waking with too much blood on his hands. Now he is obsessed with being balanced. For every good act, he does an evil. Then he meets the woman who is the opposite of Greed – who gives everything she has. Can she help him find a healthy balance; can he teach her to be be greedy for one thing — him?
Oh, and another superhero standby, the two meet in a newspaper office. She is a reporter. Superhero tingles all the way!
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for WRATH
Betrayed. Alone. Angry.
Wyatt Lazarus’s ex-fiancée betrayed him in the vilest of ways, and he failed to see it coming. Now alone and ashamed, the unquenchable influence of his sin fuels his anger. Instead of redeeming sinners—he ends them. Wrath becomes his identity until a brutal mistake throws him into the path of a cheeky yoga instructor in need of a savior.
Misha Minski believes in karma, but after years of suffering blackmail from an old mafia acquaintance, it’s hard to stay strong. Soon her number is up. Rather than spend her last days wallowing in self pity, she’s determined to enjoy one last night of pleasure with her new mysterious protector, but instead, finds something much more—a future.
But when the evil Syndicate join forces with Misha’s psychopathic blackmailer, Wyatt must push through his bitterness and reunite with his heroic family, or the woman who gave him back his voice will be lost to him forever.
MY REVIEW for WRATH
Third of this superhero romance series, Wrath follows the troubled Wyatt – who is drowning in his Sin, and not just using being a vicious celebrity cook as his outlet anymore. He looks for opportunities to beat people, and one is delivered at the back of a neighborhood greasy spoon which is being shaken down by the local “protection” racket. Turns out they needed protection from him.
But he discovers his temporary fix has permanent consequences and agrees to hang around for the follow-up. Hiding in the kitchen, he discovers the owner’s daughter is his fated mate. Opposites attract for the Sins, and this Yoga-teaching woman quickly becomes his everything.
Now all he needs to do is stop the local mobster, convince her he is the real thing, and deal with the Syndicate trying to use the opportunity of him being separated from the family to “recruit” him one way or the other.
A strong superhero romance series with each story focusing on different romance tropes, but keeping tight to romance AND superhero themes.
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SLOTH
She’s a hacker, a legendary gamer, a badass vigilante… if she can get herself out of bed. Read Sloth now in Kindle Unlimited.
Nothing much appeals to Sloan Lazarus, except the burning hatred for the man who stole her heart and then ghosted her—right after she confessed her crime-fighting secret. When he turns up two years later, completely complacent and hot-as-sin, Sloan is determined to make his life a living hell. Then she discovers he is her lifemate… and her unstable powers kick in.
After being dishonorably discharged from the army, Maximillian Johnson has come to the sin-soaked Cardinal City to make a difference. A dark secret drives his motivation, and coloring outside the lines of law enforcement with the Deadly Seven is just what he needs. It doesn’t hurt that he gets to work with the beautiful woman who still holds a long denied place in his heart.
Problem is, the fanatical Syndicate are closing in, and just when the Deadly Seven think they’re making headway, they take two steps back. Sloan must learn to make peace with the brooding security specialist, or suffer the consequences of being imbalanced. If she can’t learn to trust again, and control her devastating new powers, life will be worse than a living hell… it will be deadly.
MY REVIEW for SLOTH
Finding breakouts in the genre of Superhero Romance is hard – few authors understand the need to both Wow with Power and Wow with Romance. Ms. Pecherczyk manages it perfectly.
The world concept for The Deadly Seven is these genetically engineered superbeings were created to hunt down sin and destroy it. They were stolen and then raised to hunt down sin and contain it. Now they are grown, their creators are trying to get them back, get them fully activated, and then release them to destroy the world.
So the seven brothers and sisters are fighting the bad guys, fighting their own programmed natures, and fighting for what is right.
I’ll be honest, I read Sloth out of order – as the second of the series rather than the fourth. And it worked okay. The books have self-contained romances which allow for stand-alone. But the overarc of the bad guys gave me a couple spoilers as I returned to the earlier books. But I had to read Sloth first – a gamer, a computer nerd, and … well, how do you super and sloth at the same time? I just had to see.
Oh, and her opposite. At one time, she asks him, do you ever slow down? (BTW, I can’t wait to see how a romance works between Lust and her opposite. But I’m gonna be good and not jump ahead again, … I think.)
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for GLUTTONY
Tony Lazarus is a man who seems to have everything. Money, fame, movie-star good looks, women… but appearances can be deceiving. Behind the million-dollar smile is a hero losing his battle against the sin he’s supposed to have complete control over. Instead of fighting to keep the city safe, alcohol and drugs are his life until a chance encounter places him at the wrong end of sassy security agent’s ire.
It’s enough to shake sense into him, but now he has a new addiction, and her name is Bailey Haze. She is his lifemate, ex CIA and she wants nothing to do with him. He represents everything she’s been fighting to overcome her entire life – he’s cocky, smug, and entitled.
When a Syndicate failed experiment terrorizes Cardinal City, the two must work together. As their fates become forever entwined, and desire ignites between them, can they forget about their prejudices and join forces? Or will their inner demons dig a grave they can’t hope to get out of alive?
MY REVIEW for GLUTTONY
The opening might throw off readers for a moment. It’s Tony in his movie character. Aside from that distraction – this book is perfect.
Tony has long been so charismatic he has been impossible to not love, and so broken, impossible to love. You want to eat all of him, yet doing so leaves you feeling so full you hate yourself. A constant situation Tony lives in – surrounded by celebrity excess, both loving and hating it and himself.
Then a threat emerges against his secret identity and the studio insists he gets a bodyguard. Overkill for the superhero, but necessary if he wants to continue the acting he loves so much. Bailey Haze isn’t just any bodyguard though; the ex-fed comes with her own problems, many related to dealing with addicts. But his opposite number – Abstinence to his Gluttony, makes Tony’s genetic programming draw them together.
In the background is the stalker, the Syndicate, and … a mobile sentient plant?
Oh joy!!! Ms. Pecherczyk goes all in with the Superhero Romance Genre with a purely absurd villain of the story. …. Only the plant as absurd as Toad in the X-Man movie (hopping and killing people, freaked me out after seeing him usually portrayed as a loser in the comics) and Gorilla Grodd when he is influencing Gorilla City (trust me, the mind control aspect are chilling when written right).
Each encounter with the plant just gets better and better. This whole story is Superhero Romance at its best!
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for LUST
Lies among friends… Liza Lazarus’s devotion to the law is only eclipsed by her loyalty to her vigilante family. The tough, no-holds-barred, city detective crushes it on the outside, but on the inside, she’s losing a battle for her sanity and heart. Sensing lust makes her physically sick. It’s great for catching rapists and murderers, but for finding love? Impossible. Then a childhood friend comes crashing back into her life, and she finds the impossible isn’t so out of reach… if they can get past decades worth of lies between them.
Love among enemies… FBI Special Agent Joe Luciano has been in love with Liza since they were kids. The kind of soul-wrenching, heart-clobbering love that can send a man insane… except she only ever saw him as a friend. When a secret investigation brings him right into the Lazarus family war-zone, he learns they’re not as virtuous as he once believed. They’re the very criminals he’s been hunting. The more embroiled he becomes with Liza and her vigilante family, the more his black and white world crumbles until he’s forced to make an impossible choice… arrest her, or love her.
Betrayal among family… As a child, Despair Lazarus was forsaken by her family, and left to the mercy of the evil Syndicate. She became a brutal, heartless warrior, and the Lazarus family never forgave themselves. So when she finally comes knocking at their door, they welcome her with open arms, blind to the danger they’ve invited into their midst. With the Syndicate, old enemies, and the FBI closing in on her family’s secrets, Liza must learn to control her new deadly powers and piece together where the real danger lies… with her lover, her long-lost sister, or herself.
MY REVIEW for LUST
I jumped ahead to read Lust. Had to. The conundrum of how can you do a romance without Lust being involved.
Simple just have …. oh, spoilers, never mind.
This is a Friends to Lovers trope story, as well as a superhero story, and a romance. Ms. Pecherczyk writes a Powered universe well and I continue to fall deeper into the Deadly Sevens standoff against the Syndicate every story.
Total love for Lust!
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for PRIDE
Genius. Billionaire. Arrogant. Vigilante. Liar.
There are many words to describe Parker Lazarus. Some call him stubborn. Some call him impossible. Some call him a liar. He doesn’t care what anyone calls him, as long as he fulfills his destiny to rid the world of the fanatical Syndicate and leads his family to victory. Of his seven siblings, six have found their lifemate. But it should have been him first. He battles the deadly sin of pride, and he accepts no failure. Especially his own.
When Parker finds out his mate has been under his nose for years, an assassin masquerading as his assistant, his controlled world is thrown into chaos. Not only does he lose his arm because of his unwillingness to accept this truth, but he loses himself when she challenges him in ways he’d never thought possible. How did this woman slip past his defenses? How does she continue to defy him at every turn? Why does he risk everything – even his secret identity – to keep her safe?
Pride becomes more than another word to describe him. It becomes his downfall. And if he can’t learn to open himself up to failure, and to trust the help of loved ones, then his pride will pave the road to destruction. Not just for the Syndicate, but for all mankind.
MY REVIEW for PRIDE
Of all the books of this series, I liked this one the least. I’ve even given some of the other books of the series five stars, I loved them so much.
Pride is, well, prideful. His fall is obvious and painful. He is so deep into his Sin, and his siblings so used to him wallowing in it, that the fall is evitable. The boy needed a spanking more than his preferred fetish.
Overall, the story was a workable romance – but in a series with as many gems as this, workable looks like a lump of coal.
Pride does move the overall plot of the Deadly Seven forward. It does introduce some interesting turns, especially among the Sinners (an upcoming series is hinted at for them – and I would love to see Mary and Raven gets some true love of their owns). The metaphysical hints from the start of the series are finally condensing.
One of the worst parts is the huge payoff of the central relationship – is buried as a email-collection by the author presented as a special bonus epilogue available exclusively through her newsletter. Maybe if I got that relationship payoff, I would be happier with the book – but as it is, the conclusion feels very behind closed doors – even with the hot, hot sex scenes found throughout the book.
Final thoughts: If you are already invested in the overall series, it will be worth a read. Otherwise, read Gluttony or Greed or Sloth and get invested first.
Amazon Cover
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for DESPAIR
Do villains deserve their happy ever after?
Daisy Lazarus is the genetically modified warrior of the forgotten deadly sin despair. After spending most of her life as the villain, she has finally been brought back into the fold and wants nothing more than to fit in, to find herself, and to prove she was worth saving. But the more she tries to be like her heroic siblings, the more her fears try to pull her back into the darkness.
Firefighter Axel Alvares has done bad things, including being one of the Syndicate’s fanatical thugs for hire. But after refusing to turn a blind eye to Daisy’s torture, he learns the right reasons sometimes have devastating consequences. He’s pulled into the midst of a deadly battle to save the world, to the center of despair, and to the woman who sits at the heart of it…
As the mad leader of the Syndicate diverts from his original plan, kicking up chaos no one saw coming, family bonds will be tested, personal growth may be for nothing and love may not conquer all…
The thrilling, epic, and the heartfelt conclusion to the Deadly Seven Series.
MY REVIEW for DESPAIR
Book number 8 of the Deadly Seven series. All her younger siblings went first, now it is Daisy’s turn in the spotlight – otherwise know by her superpower vice name of Despair. She is paired with a hope-filled firefighter.
While each of the Deadly Seven works as a stand-alone, the overarching story is just as engaging and comes to its cataclysmic conclusion as the superpower groups nemesis continues his descent into madness, sewers, and multi-dimensional planes. Despair must stand between heaven and hell, and reconcile her past of being a villain with the desire of everyone else to see her the hero. Will she heal enough from the damage Justin inflicted on her, both mental and physical, in time and enough to save the world and her family?
It’s been a year since I read the rest of the series, waiting for this conclusion to come out. I am still in love with the superhero prose Ms. Pecherczyk writes so well, I had forgotten how good her sex scenes can be, and the family drama just tickles me (wish there was more of it).