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Noc City #3

Hybrid Theory

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I'm changing...

From the inside out I'm changing and I can't stop it. Who I was, who I thought I could be... It's all gone now. A single moment was all it took to shatter everything I thought I knew about myself. A single moment was all it took to make me the most wanted woman in the world.

This is the third and final book in the Noc City Trilogy. Reader beware, heavy triggers, sexual content and severe language may not be suitable for everyone.

436 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 10, 2021

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About the author

Penn Cassidy

38 books399 followers
Penn lives in California as a full-time, self-published author. She's a fan of horror movies, myths and legends, Halloween, cats, and romance that pushes the limits. She writes primarily paranormal why-choose romance, with some dark contemporary romance. You can find Penn on Facebook for updates and information on new releases, pre-orders, and events.

Okay, so enough talking about myself in the 3rd person like a weirdo... Join my Facebook group if you like talking about weird things with cool people. I'm very interactive with my readers, and I'd love to discuss my crazy characters with you all!

Stalk me here:

FB Reader Group: Penn Cassidy's Peeps
Instagram: @PennCassidy
Tiktok: PennCassidy / Romance Author
Email: Authorpenncassidy@gmail.com
Website: Penncassidy.com/squarespace

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5 stars
852 (51%)
4 stars
488 (29%)
3 stars
228 (13%)
2 stars
55 (3%)
1 star
16 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
Profile Image for G.
490 reviews175 followers
December 26, 2021
4 stars
Ok.... I really just binged the entire trilogy. I can't believe I've wait this long to read it. Definitely recommend!!
Profile Image for ✧ FLINN ✧ (Semi-Hiatus).
487 reviews110 followers
November 9, 2021
I’m a bit on the fence about this series. I like it but I feel like things went way too fast, the world-building was maybe a bit too dense to be explained in 3 books and the ending doesn’t feel like one, I dunno. I like the characters and plot but I’m a bit disappointed about the pacing of this series, I would’ve love for things to be a bit slow-burn, I would’ve love to know more about the antagonist and the the stakes (war/genocide/evil doctor etc) and because this was missing, I feel like things wrapped up too conveniently.
That being said, some of the sex scenes were fire 🔥
Profile Image for Rae (semi-hiatus).
495 reviews108 followers
November 16, 2022
Sooo…I do think this series was entertaining and I loved the concept…

But the execution needed work and a lot of editing.

I felt like Trix was forgotten about until it was convenient to the plot or character arcs, it didn’t seem like they were looking all that hard for her, the half sister of Atlas or any of the other girls being taken.

The connections within the harem never finished developing. I think book 1 did the best job of showing the chemistry between Serenity and the men, but I wasn’t feeling it in this book much. I think it’s because she had like one scene with each of the 5 men in the entire book. I almost forgot Atlas existed. Merrick had one meaningful scene and then was relegated to side character status. Bastian was used for a spicy scene and then relegated to a side character. Faust (who was slut shaming and victim blaming entirely too much for me to actually end up liking him) got way too much “screen time” and still hated her up until like 60% of this- THE FINAL- book. August was probably the most developed but even then it felt like so little.

We kept getting teased with spicy scenes including more than one of the men at a time and it never happened. Well, it kinda happened at the very end but I was meh at that point 😞.

There was a lot of repetition in monologues and thoughts and the dramatic speeches were a little cringy. I didn’t like how different this book was in regards to talk of suicidal thoughts and depression compared to the first book 😬😬😬. It was a 180. Not because she was no longer suicidal, but the way the author made Serenity view herself when she used to have those thoughts was problematic.

The plot felt rushed and I’m sad about that because it had soooo much potential. I just think it wasn’t written as in depth as it needed to be to deliver the impact the author was hoping for. The ideas weren’t fully formed and I’m left with a lot of confusion. There was a lot of dichotomies too in the story and characters personalities. 😮‍💨

Overall, this series was enjoyable and I can see myself rereading the first one, probably not these last 2 though.
Profile Image for Amara.
598 reviews62 followers
June 15, 2021
PnR RH with lots of dark sprinkles

Paranormal RH with characters you can't help but fall for.

Great storyline. Phenomenal characters. Excellent attention to details. Perfect pacing.

Love the twist on supernatural lore that this is based on. Love the whole premise of the book, even the whole kidnap situation cus - yeah, I like it dark.

Serenity is a halfling daughter of a prominent senator and after her brothers brutal death is awakened when she ends up with a month full of blood.

This girl goes through so much from her boyfriend and then her father who really isn't. She ends up kidnapped, meant to be used against the senator, but that doesn't work out.

Her abductors realize she's their best hope at getting their demands met, but they have to work together.

She ends up with some smoking chemistry with them.

I'm in love with this story. It's has it all. Definitely recommend this to fans of paranormal romance.

August  - wolf alpha, mate
Bastian - warlock with the French accent
Atlas - Head of Nocturne vampire coven, r'ship with Faust
Faust - the surly, damaged, feral vampire, r'ship with Atlas
Merrick - sexy vampire with so much heart
January 24, 2022
I really wanted to like this final book in the trilogy a lot more than I did. I just feel like not much actually gets accomplished in the book and a whole new bunch of issues come up that never get resolved. Plus there’s no real epilogue which makes me wonder if there will be an offshoot series at some point. I did enjoy the multiple POVs and some of the action that takes place. It was exciting and fed my bloodthirsty side a bit. I wish more had been focused on the unrest in the city and how the humans were losing it. Sure her father may be gone now but all they didn’t weed out all the hate so I’m kind of upset things are still a work in progress on that front. The book felt a bit long and once again the heroine pissed me off. I hoped after 3 books she’d wisen up and stop making the stupidest most obviously wrong decisions but she never did. I did enjoy the series it was a crazy mix of darkling politics and a hot RH relationship between a and her 5 men.
Profile Image for Dirty Little Secret Book Blog.
430 reviews174 followers
June 7, 2021
I cried when I finished.

What a perfect conclusion to a heart stopping series! If there is one thing I’ve learned from Penn it was to expect the unexpected and DID SHE GIVE IT TO US! Hands down one of my favorite paranormal series of all time.
Profile Image for Ken.
224 reviews20 followers
June 14, 2021
Super bummed that I wasn't a fan of this book, or this series. I had been waiting for the last book to be released so I could read them all at once, and it was a wait not worthy. As usual, my final thoughts and quick ratings are at the bottom of this review.

Firstly, I'd like to say, as someone who hates a useless prologue I thought it very strange to include the entire last chapter of the previous book in the beginning of the story. There isn't a huge elaborate storyline to follow here, so I thought it was totally unnecessary.

Slight spoiler, but not really; if you're a fan of revers harem and that's why you started reading this series...

General Gist (includes spoilers, but I left some details out to save a few of the plot twists):

Honestly, I thought the whole series was extremely tedious to read. The words didn't flow off the pages for me, and there were a lot of moments when characters were reiterating events that had already happened, just from their POV. The POV switches a lot, and even includes a couple characters that really shouldn't have had their own chapters because the information had already been covered by previous characters.

The steam is a bit off for me as well, just the way they were written made it seem forced and not natural. For instance; in one scene, the two characters are becoming intimate (kissing and such) and Serenity (who is the narrator at the time) goes off on a five paragraph tangent just thinking about random stuff....and then comes back to the task at hand. When author's do this, I find it difficult to appreciate the scene and the magic it can bring to a book because suddenly we've been taken away from the build up.

--Rating - 2 stars - it was okay, very tedious to read, lots of filler content
--Steam - 2 stars - very forced and awkwardly written at times, despite how 'steamy' it actually is
--Storyline - 3 stars - interesting, but takes too long to get to the point
--Plot Twists - 2 stars - not surprising, most were expected
--Emotional Pull - 1 star - meh, don't expect to cry, have your pulse racing, or be angry in this book.
--Writing - 2 stars - difficult to read at times, climaxes weren't tended to well enough for them to become shocking moments, and took too long to get to the point.
--Denouement - 3 stars - author started to give us a 'where are they now' type of section, a few chapters ahead of the end of the book making it obvious that she was wrapping up.
--Cliffhanger? - no
--HEA? - sure, but to me it just kind of ended
Profile Image for Audrey O'Neil.
417 reviews6 followers
July 12, 2021
Great end to such a fast-paced series. Thr plot twist 3/4ths of the way in knocked me down to my knees. I didn't see that coming. I kinda felt opening that door left a lot unresolved, but the main storyline tied up cleanly. Though, if I'm being honest, I wish she killed Savannah. Badly. The last death in the book was deserving, but what happened in that room kinda was gross. He didn't deserve to see her undressed, and it was odd that they'd be intimate in that situation. That scene was strange and uncomfortable. If I blocked out that it was a torture room, it was still kinda odd. Not in a "I don't appreciate how dark that is" just... obscene without cause. Dunno, bothered me. And Savannah deserved worse, he was just a weak human.

Another caveat was... Alistair....or Allistair. There was over 2 dozen pages where it was spelled either way, sometimes on the same page. That's not a huge deal to me, typos happen.

And, what happens to the others created like her?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Anne Laure.
335 reviews9 followers
January 26, 2022
It dragged a bit so I found myself bored a few times but still a good end to the series !
Profile Image for Kirsty.
226 reviews2 followers
June 28, 2021
Hands down one of the best series I have read

This is dark, seriously dark and is also one of the best series I have read. It is dark, twisted, so exciting and sad and thrilling all at the same time. I truly loved Serenity and the boys, I loved the setting, the world building the incredible story, the twists and turns and the big surprise that I truly didn't see coming. Absolutely bloomin' brilliant Penn Cassidy.
Profile Image for Rebecca Norvitz Norvitz .
637 reviews20 followers
September 9, 2021
Perfect Ending

I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy.

This was the first series I read from Penn Cassidy and I am now hooked on her words.

Oh how I wish these men were real *sighs*

If you haven’t read Serenity’s story, I highly recommend doing so now!
Profile Image for Alda Horne-Thacker.
286 reviews1 follower
August 28, 2021
They

This was a decent story. I had high hopes however that it would be darker and hotter! I just wish the female main character would’ve stayed bad ass and not waiver.
Profile Image for Jessica.
158 reviews1 follower
October 1, 2021
Highly Satisfied!!

So I was stuck in a reading rut. I was literally talking to a friend about my woes and she was sending me suggestions, but I swear I’d read them all!!

All I wanted was a book with a bada** female character that ALSO had a good story line.
Is that too much to ask for?!?

Enter Noc City.

I went into this book about 99% blind. It’d been on a specific TBR list for a while; I remember finding it the last time I went down the “let’s download 8000 samples rabbit hole” so I knew it had a little darker and grunge feel to it, but that was about it.
The cover is what did it for me tho. It just has that vibe that screams ‘kicka**’ so I one clicked it and..

OH
MY
LORDDDDD

I read it all in 3 days.
I got everything I wanted +MORE.

The development and growth this story has from beginning to end is phenomenal!!! Truly.

You get:
Vampires
Shifters
Witches
Hot hot romance
Mystery
Plot twists!!!
Insta love
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
Family drama
Political drama

I mean I could have stopped a long time ago and it should still convince you to read this series!!!!!

I wish I could read it for the first time all over again!! & I can’t wait for the spin off!!!
62 reviews2 followers
June 1, 2021
EVERYTHING I WANTED AND MORE!!!

The final book in the Noc City series was phenomenally explosive in EVERY. SINGLE. WAY. It picks up perfectly where the second book left off and I don’t think I took a breath until the very last page.

Serenity is forced to deal with the realization that she’s a Hybrid, the first and possibly only one of her kind. She also has her brother back whom she believed was dead, but there’s soooo much more to his story and how he’s still alive.

The bond between Serenity and her men is rather complicated on so many levels but despite all the drama and hurdles, their bonds grow stronger with each passing day. The sex between them is SCORCHING to say the least and the intimate talks she shares with her men made my heart cry with both pain and pleasure.

I can’t even begin to explain how perfectly written this book was. Every question I had was answered, (almost) every secret was revealed (Trix spin-off???), EVERY emotion was experienced, the tears fell, the smiles kept coming, the passion was EXPLOSIVE, the suspense almost destroyed me, and the laughs were uncontrollable. It was all absolutely perfect and I now have the most intense book hangover possible as I never wanted it to end but I couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to the series!!!
493 reviews9 followers
June 10, 2021
Well f*ck me sideways that was awesome!!

I was like a kid at Christmas waiting to open my present. All the excitement, the build up, then it's there in your hands as you slowly unwrap it, all the love, excitement, tension and emotional as you peel back the wrapping paper and tape, the heart stopping moment when the tape won't rip and its stuck then finally once you open it the excitement is back, and inside you find the perfect gift right at the end when everything comes together in the most amazing piece of art!!!

Wow just wow

Penn has written a work of art!! I couldn't have loved it more, felt more deeply the pain and anguish of Serenity and her men at THAT point (you'll know when you get there) her words weave a masterpiece that you absord into your soul.

This is a fast paced, high impact, heart shredding, libido boiling climax to this fantastic trilogy.

This has to be the next book you read!
Profile Image for Sarah.
450 reviews6 followers
Read
December 30, 2021
Dnf 20%
-I picked this up today and I literally could not care less.
-I read book one than I waited for book two and read it when it came out.
-The way book two ended pissed me off with that cliffhanger! Needless to say, I was anxiously waiting for book three.
-Unfortunately, when this came out in March I had no desire to read it.
-This book took too long to come out!
-This is a series you binge in a weekend!
-Or all of the books should have been released together!
-Going into this I couldn’t really remember what had happened in book two. We got summary like chapter at the beginning that were so shitty that didn’t help at all! Hey, at least the Author tried.

Overall-
When you have to wait months for the next instalment of a series you lose interest!
Profile Image for Michaella Dieter.
Author 8 books206 followers
August 4, 2021
Fantastic ending!

It's been awhile since I've been so immersed in a vampire series - I'm usually more of a contemporary sort.

But I am so glad that I picked up this series. It's deliciously dark, very bloody, has plenty of steam, a good story, and managed to get my feelings involved.

I'll admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of Serenity's to start with...but she grew and changed and became the badass I hoped she would.

I could hardly put this trilogy down, letting housework and writing slide as I was too immersed to stop.

I will definitely be reading more of Penn's work in the future.
Profile Image for Amy.
85 reviews
June 6, 2021
Oh wow!!! What an ending to a phenomenal trilogy!! I didn’t want it to end, but at least it ended so well. I’m happy there will be a spin-off, stand alone, that will hopefully give me some closure on secondary characters and hopefully some more insight into how out fab 6 are doing.
Now back to THIS book....I definitely recommend reading this trilogy!! Everything pertaining to our leading bad@ss hybrid is tied up,...
Profile Image for Heather Klausing.
141 reviews1 follower
June 6, 2021
What an ending! This book is slightly longer then the first 2 but Penn makes sure it is worth while chapters and not filler! I had some idea on how I thought this series would end and I was surprised that I wasn’t even close! I was sent sideways when it came to Faust and how throughout the book he is still a jerk but somehow turns out to be more possessive then August? Like what the heck? As we see the healing between Serenity and her brother it warms my heart that she hasn’t lost everyone from her family. A take down of an evil empire sounds like a good place to find some courage and strength and Serenity has that in spades.

Profile Image for Emily Mayeux.
25 reviews
June 7, 2021
In a world full of magic and things that go bump in the night this 3rd and final book in the Noc City series was a juicy piece of work! I love the story of Serenity and her unfailing wit and heart! Her harem of charming men they all have such unique identities and made for a fun and witty read! Well worth the wait!!
Profile Image for Angela James.
1,411 reviews13 followers
Read
August 28, 2021
Wowza

Alexa! This series was pretty dang awesome. It was dark and angsty and hot and bloody and just all the things that make my heart happy.... Yeah, I'm kinda twisted in my reading tastes, don't judge lol
Profile Image for Amanda Quarles.
1,650 reviews22 followers
September 25, 2021
Sweet Sweet revenge

I was so excited to see Serenity get everything she deserved after having to deal with Ryan and Carson's bs most of her life. I have to say that I was thrown for loop on some revelations. Never saw that coming, lol. Great book.
Profile Image for Sherry Justus.
132 reviews4 followers
June 5, 2021
Serenity is such a strong character even when she is feeling unsure and insecure. I love how she connects with each of the guys. Faust is just 🔥but my favorite is August, he’s so accepting and supportive. This book had me rolling though A menagerie of emotions. The ending was perfect for this series. Some of those scenes had me pausing my reading. I definitely will have to order the paperback.
3 reviews1 follower
July 5, 2021
5*

Love these books! The fmc is so strong, but at the same time vulnerable. It makes you connect with her in a deeper level. Loved it
325 reviews3 followers
June 4, 2021
Great Ending to the Series!!!

This tied up all the lose ends were the last book ended. Serenity has grown so much throughout the series to the strong and powerful person she was always meant to be. This was definitely full of all kinds of steam, blood and super protective men. Overall this has been an amazing series. I can not wait to see what is in store for Trix in Sol City!

Profile Image for Bianca M.
857 reviews10 followers
July 6, 2021
A Must Read

I love how this book wraps up a great trilogy. There’s so many plot points that come together. Serenity is a great FMC who finally doesn’t let the men in her life walk all over her. I loved reading her journey from book one to now. And I love how the characters mesh together.
5 reviews
October 31, 2021
Wow.

Just wow. What a story. What a group of characters. What an emotional rollercoaster. Absolutely fabulous trilogy! Easy to read but in depth enough to not be boring. Perfect
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews

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