CROSSROADS by Glory Rabenaugh proffers an interesting plot idea wherein a teenage coven has to figure out how to save its High Priestess from certain death. If that were the story illustrated in this novel, I might have enjoyed a small part of it. However, that is not the story told; rather this novel seems to be about how a young woman is caught in between several men and gets manhandled throughout. I did not enjoy this novel and would not recommend to any reader.
In the novel, Reece and her twin brother, Hunter, attend a private boarding school in New England. Reece is the High Priestess of her coven, made of up 13 other students, one of whom is her best friend and former boyfriend, and another who is her present boyfriend. The tragic love triangle is further complicated by the appearance of a vampire who is fated to save Reece from certain death, but is the vampire really her savior?
I felt utterly cheated by this novel; I felt like I was promised a teenage paranormal romance, and I got an erotic, paranormal violent drama where women are not treated respectfully. The plot was simple, which isn't a bad thing, necessarily, except that to make up for the dearth of plot, sex scenes, violence and submission/domination were used to fill the pages.
The novel begins in such a way to suggest this is a young adult novel, with all the main characters being in high school. However, this is anything but a YA novel. There is entirely too much sex for this novel to be appropriate for teens. There is also a lot of physical violence by young men against Reece--she's attacked by football players and almost raped, her boyfriend gets rough with her and hits her, her new boyfriend nearly strangles her. There is so much body-checking--shoving Reece up against something--that it could have been a game of ice hockey.
The violence against Reece also highlights her shallow character. Reece's character doesn't develop. If anything, she regresses. For someone who is supposed to be so powerful, she seems to have no sense of control over her own body. She also isn't a very nice person. Despite the narrator's assertion that she is a popular student because she treats everyone with respect, she's superficial and inconsiderate. Even though she knows that Nathan is in love with her, it is even verbalized, she is entirely too touchy feely with him, going so far as to sit on his lap. When you are sensitive to someone's feelings, you try to do whatever it takes to spare them hurt. Reece's actions simply reflect her lack of consideration of Nathan's feelings.
Also, despite her noble decision to wait to sleep with a guy, she sleeps with two guys within two weeks' time, showing her to have no better morals or decision making ability than any other teenager.
Moreover, there is no romance in this novel; it really is all lust and magical connections. There was no substance to the relationships, and given the bondage, submission and domination attitudes, this novel earns a rating of 5 out of 5 on the heat scale. It really should be labeled as an erotic novel instead of romance.
Along with Reece's character issues, the only character that actually changes over time is Piers, and his change isn't for the better, either. There doesn't seem to be any other kind of character development.
Certain aspects of the novel were also perplexing. First of all, where are Reece's parents? They actually allow her to spend the night at Nathan's house? We know nothing about them except that they don't supervise their children. How do they fit into the Coven? There is no mention of their connection except that the Book of Shadows was passed down to Reece from her family. What Book does her family use? Do they stop belonging to a coven once they graduate from high school? And why don't her parents get involved if her life is in danger? It just doesn't make any sense.
On the technical side, it seems as if the novel was originally written in first person, but when revised, the perspective was changed to the third person and the novel wasn't cleaned up. The words and pronouns used were inconsistent, e.g., myself instead of himself and we instead of them. There were also pervasive subject-verb, verb-object and verb tense disagreements, e.g., using "had went" instead of "had gone"
If all of the foregoing hadn't disappointed me, the ending is a cliffhanger. While the immediate issue of Reece's safety is resolved, the ending of the novel just hangs there waiting for the next installment to explain the newly introduced character. Clearly you need to read all of the books in the series to know what's going on, but honestly, after this book, I am not interested in any other book in the series. If you like erotic novels, you may like this book and series, but if you are looking for a bit more substance in your reading material, this is not the book for you.
**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=11034.
