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 Don't judge a book by its cover. . . Mar 08, 2010
. . . and its an awesome cover. This book left me feeling flat and a bit like I was robbed of what could have been a great series.
First off, the set up was interesting and I was really looking forward to learning all about the Lords and their demons. What ended up on the page was a bunch of sissy men who make me ache for J.R. Ward's Brothers.
Second, the heroine was a two-dimensional cut out. She's sweet and nice and alone blah blah blah. Give me a girl who can kick ass or at least maintain her dignity. Her introduction to Maddox - she literally throws herself at him and begs. ugh.
Third, I'm a smart girl but this book left me scratching my head. Take five bland characters and it's difficult enough to remember who's who. When 5 more are added half way through I just wanted to bang my head on the desk.
And Last, the sex scenes and the whole love story was laughable at best. The alpha male, erm beta male in this case, spends his entire time talking about how hard he's going to bang her OR how much he just wants to talk. There is no depth to these two conflicting feels. See Zsadist from Lover Awakened for a well-executed male overcoming violence and learning how to balance his lust with his new-found realization that he has the capability to love another. Oh, and I literally rolled my eyes when the sex scenes occurred - so 70s porno and lame.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Don't judge this book by its gorgeous cover! Feb 19, 2010
I just don't get this book.
Perhaps Sherrilyn Kenyon's amateurish Dark Hunters series has turned me off the concept, but as soon as Greek gods are mentioned I find I have a very hard time connecting with a story. Now, I LOVE Greek mythology, and the country itself, but in a paranormal romance...apparently not.
That, and the idiocy of the characters, and the annoying attempts at comedy in serious situations are so reminiscent of Kenyon I wanted to scream.
This book had me at the beginning, but lost me as it went on. The `heroine' had me cringing almost from the beginning though - there's nothing worse than a woman begging a man - a stranger - for, well, everything. But I was willing to forgive this when the plot still had me in its grasp. It lost me when the author suddenly felt the need to not only devote huge portions of the story to the heroine of a future novel, and then went and introduced a whole extra band of immortal men (and a woman). And not only are there too many characters, but most go by two names - I gave up on keeping up. In the end there were so many one-dimensional, interchangeable characters I found myself skimming the scenes to get back to the stars.
I believe many of the revelations towards the end of the book were supposed to be surprises, plot twists, whatever. They weren't. The betrayal, the chip, everything - saw it from a mile off.
The heroine's sacrifice at the end is unrealistic because it is too great. From all these men who balked at hurting a woman before, suddenly they couldn't care less about seriously harming the heroine? Stupid.
Gena Showalter writes her women in the same mould as Sherrilyn Kenyon's: immature girls who have no particular appeal but have the hero immediately enamoured. They are frequently too stupid to live, but somehow that's supposed to be endearing too.
The men of the story are supposed to be as old as time, from ancient places, and living in Hungary. So why, then, do they all converse in contemporary Americanised English? Why did I feel as though I was reading about a bunch of university students?
The two leads were not fleshed out well enough for me to get a grasp on them. Maddox was better than the clingy Ashlyn, a woman I was embarrassed for. Right from the outset she is clinging to a man who wants to kill her, begging him to stay with her, ....begging him to do her. I was mortified by her bizarre personality. Also confused by the fact that halfway through the story the petite heroine we kept hearing about suddenly developed oversized curves she was self-conscious about. And every chapter had her hair described as a different colour. One moment she's a whimpering idiot, and the next we're hearing about her costumes from the sex shop? It was as if this book took so long to write the author forgot who her characters were. I couldn't even get a grasp of the woman's appearance, let alone try to begin to understand her uneven characterisation.
Maddox could have been a great hero, but the author spent so much time developing so many characters - obviously trying to set up an entire series in one book - that we never got to learn all that much about him. But there was nothing Alpha about him - he was a bland, Beta, romance novel-reading, domestically gifted - uh - deathly ancient warrior?! The relationship progressed so perfectly with such perfect love and devotion I had to wonder if we even needed to read this couple's story.
The dialogue is weird throughout, and not only the odd Americanisation of the non-American characters. The sex scenes had the characters talking like cave-dwellers. Why were they speaking in single word, single syllable sentences? It was strange and unromantic.
The pacing is all off. The characters have sex or think about sex at the most ridiculous times. Think she's there to kill you? Want sex. Bomb goes off and everyone's injured? Have sex.
Showalter is a wordy writer (not that I can talk, based on the length of this review!). In the middle of an important scene she'll head off on a tangent so long I had trouble remembering what was going on. There was far too much internalising and not enough happening. I think this was because it was the first book in the series. Plenty of other authors - Lara Adrian, JR Ward, Jeaniene Frost, Patricia Briggs to name a few - have written brilliant first books in their series that are as good as the ones following them. Here, this is not the case. It often read like a manual for what's to come.
The goddess at the end was a deus ex machina if I ever saw one. I can often forgive JR Ward's Scribe Virgin, but I cannot forgive Showalter's Kenyonesque adolescent-acting superwoman who pops up at the end to make everything okay.
Despite her legion of devoted fans, Gena Showalter is not in the same league as the top paranormal writers out there. I invested in this series because of the hype, and I was most certainly disappointed. But the author has marketing on her side; by far the best thing about this series are the gorgeous book covers.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 No, I don't think so... Feb 18, 2010
Okay this book I have to say is not good. Alot of the scenes in this book are written like a 15 year old wrote them. The sex/love scenes are luke warm @ best. The way the story is told the characters all of it, it just does not make me care about these people their struggles or their relationships. This is the first book I've read of Gena's and I'm not impressed at all. I would like to say that maybe I will read another one of her books because sometimes the 1st book in a series is not always the best or even good. But others in the series I find I like. So I'm not sure, jury is still out. It may be awhile before I pick up another one of Gena's novels.
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Beginning of Series: A Little Jewel in Paranormal Romance Feb 07, 2010
Let me begin by saying I am an avid paranormal romance reader. I have read all of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Dark Hunter, Carpathians, Argeneau/Rogue Hunter, Midnight Breed,Darkyn, Nightwalkers, Ione's Demonica, Immortals After Dark, The Others, all Shelly Laurenston/GA Aiken, all Cynthia Eden, and many many many others (See My Listmania for more good series). That being said, I can honestly say that at the moment this is my favorite series. Showalter is a solid author, and has other books I have enjoyed such as most of her Atlantis series. However, these are her masterpiece in my opinion. I absolutely love this book in particular. It is the first in the series, so it is fast paced and there seem to be many details left hanging at the end. That is the nature of the first book in a series. Nevertheless, her characters call to the reader. Maddox is truly a wonderful character. You can't help but want him to succeed. Ashlyn comes off as weak in a lot of ways but redeems herself by the end of the book. She is so innocent, it is almost unbelievable, but the author's explanation of why she is so inexperienced with people and relationships makes sense. We understand why she is so socially inept and why she is unable to see the true nature of the people she has surrounded herself with. Meanwhile, Maddox's pain is palpable, and so is his loneliness. The fact that these two latch on to each other so quickly can be explained as a result of their circumstances up to that point. After so many years of loneliness, they finally make a connection to another being and simply do not let go. Love grows pretty quickly from there. The story is sweet, and the action is perfectly balanced so as not to overpower the romantic element. After all, this is Maddox and Ashlyn's story, not just an installment in a series. I think most paranormal romance readers will find this story satisfying and just plain fun to read. After reading all the books in the series published so far, I can honestly say that I have not been disappointed by any of them (Although some of the eBooks and novellas connected to the series have not been to my liking). This series is a little jewel in this genre and I highly recommend readers to take a closer look.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 I've read better Feb 02, 2010
Thought this book would be a good read based on the reviews but was disappointed. Just when the action would start and grab your attention it would end suddenly and start with a sex scene, I bought the books on audio in a combo deal.I feel like I wasted my money. Don't plan on reading any more of the seies.There was nothing there to keep your attention.
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