Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Resisting Darkness by Kate Wendley - 3 stars

RESISTING DARKNESS, the third Forest of Darkness novel by Kate Wendley, is an entertaining and intriguing paranormal romance that improves greatly on the previous two novels. I give it 3 stars.

In the novel, each character seems to have some darkness that must be resisted. While Ethan may be strong enough to be a Master vampire, he's not THE Master of Atlanta; instead, the son of his wife's killer is the Master of Atlanta, and Ethan has struggled for seventy years against hating and wanting to kill the man who reminds him so much of his wife's murderer. With some help from a friend, Ethan has learned how to beckon the killer back to Atlanta so he can finally have his revenge. Harmony arrives in town before the murderer, though, and distracts him from his mission.

Harmony has been alive for more than two hundred years, and has been afflicted with extreme wanderlust at least the entire time she's been a vampire. There's something, or someone she has to find, but she's not certain who or what it is. Fortunately, her Master allows her to roam freely, only requiring her to return to him in Malibu once a year. In the meantime, she tutors and teaches where she can until she feels it's time to move on, until she arrives in Atlanta and meets Ethan. With Ethan she finally stops feeling the need to seek. Their relationship isn't easy though. Ethan seems to be caught up in his dead wife, and Harmony doesn't want to share him with anyone, especially not a ghost.

Meanwhile, Anthony and Kaia struggle with the next steps in their relationship, which are not aided by human illness or the return of Anthony's father, Isaiah. It's been seventy-five years since he left, and he didn't stay in touch. Anthony's uncertain about his father's motives and intentions, and after he harms Kaia, there may not be room for Isaiah in the family. All of that drama would be enough, but Isaiah brought some old friends to town with him, and their presence shakes things up even more.

I absolutely enjoyed this novel. The plot was rich and complex, with some hidden minefields. (I will do my best to talk about what I enjoyed without giving any spoilers. Apologies if my comments are too vague!) Ethan is such a sympathetic character that one can't help but love him and want him to deal with his grief and live happily ever after with Harmony. Their romance seems to be nearly a love at first sight thing, but it is supported by the context of the novel. Their journey to HEA is a difficult one, but well worth the read.

I thought that Isaiah would eventually play a larger role in the novel, but perhaps his story will unfold in future novels or maybe a prequel. (He certainly has a lot to answer for in my book.) Or it could be that his arrival was merely a catalyst for other characters' development. I also enjoyed the drama with Anthony and Kaia and am happy about where their relationship is going.

There's also some introduction of new beings and further explanation of the magic in this world. I felt bad for some of the characters who needed more information about their magical world than they had, but they are learning right along with the reader.

On the technical side, the pacing of the novel was good, without any sticky points, and aside from a few grammar errors and wordy sentences, there weren't any editing issues that significantly detracted from my enjoyment of the novel.

On the whole, I was impressed by how much better this novel is than the first two in the series. I would still recommend reading the first two novels to gain an appreciation of the characters' lives and motivations. While there are some parts in this novel that summarize the backstory, it was just vague enough that anyone new to the series might still be lost. With the intriguing plot and steady pace, though, I think any lover of the vampire/shifter genre would like this novel.

**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com.

Abandoned Darkness by Kate Wendley - 2 stars

ABANDONED DARKNESS, the second Forest of Darkness novel by Kate Wendley, successfully builds on the first novel's plot, but the interesting ideas are lost in the many substantive and technical issues. I give it 2 stars.

In the novel, after reading Anthony's girlfriend, Kaia, Sebastian goes for a run to shut off Kaia's memories, thoughts and feelings, but when he returns home, his wolf is still in command. Sebastian makes a move on Jade, resulting in a surprising connection and outing their mutually "unrequited" romantic interest, but he doesn't remember it. After some gossip makes its way back to him, he and Jade can't deny their attraction. Sebastian has to learn how to trust Jade with his heart and how to risk rejection not only from her, but also from his pack. Having closed himself off from the people who rejected him years ago, Sebastian has some additional hurdles put in his path when Torin, his "second" and thorn in the flesh, attempts a truce.

Jade is also a fish out of water in her relationship with Sebastian. So many of her thoughts and opinions about herself and their world are challenged, and she has to decide whether to take a final leap of faith and show Sebastian how she feels before she loses him. Things come to a head the night of the full moon when danger threatens the pack. Meanwhile, Anthony is learning his new gifts, but using one of his gifts puts him in a perilous position politically.

Overall, I did not enjoy this novel, though the plot was more intricate than the previous novel in this series. I was happy to see more development of Anthony's relationship with Kaia, even though this novel is more focused on the romance between Sebastian and Jade. Surprisingly, my favorite aspect of the novel was Torin's truce. It unraveled much of Sebastian's character and history, and Torin's obnoxiousness balanced out the sweet aspects of the Sebastian/Jade romance.

But for all the excitement caused by the intriguing plot lines, I was dismayed by many things. Occasionally, the characters seem to act out of character, e.g., even if Sebastian and Kaia are no longer strangers, it is still weird that she "cozies" up to him in the beginning of the novel and that he sits watching television on the couch with his arm around her shoulders. She's dating Anthony, and Sebastian is not that affectionate with *anyone*. So it was just weird. There's no explanation early on to help the reader understand why Sebastian is acting so chummy with Kaia. If this were a human pair, there would be some major jealousy issues, so there was a missed opportunity to add depth to the shifter world, or at the very least, Anthony and Sebatian's friendship.

In another instance, it seemed that Sebastian is self-aware, and yet his actions are those of someone who has absolutely NO self-awareness. He is angry because other wolves don't treat him well, but what does it mean to be the Alpha? There's no background to explain to the reader what makes an alpha and how the rest of the pack is supposed to treat him, so there is no context to explain Sebastian's actions and thoughts.

There was also major repetitive narration of emotional thoughts. If the same feelings arise on a different day, they should be presented differently, maybe even point out that this character felt these feelings *again*, rather than simply repeating the same statement. Also, things are kept rather shallow, e.g., the reader doesn't ever learn more about Jade's hatred of her animal, other than her stalwart statements that she's a human being, NOT an animal. There were so many opportunities to delve into how she came to think the way she did – did something happen when she was a child? What do her parents think of her perspective? Has she even talked about it with them? There were many missed opportunities like this to make the emotional narration a deeper, more interesting exposition.

Consequently, the dense emotional narration mostly felt like I was listening to a pre-teen girl recount the drama of the day; the emotions and resulting thoughts of these characters were all over the place and didn't follow a logical growth progression. So the declarations of love in the end were surprising and not quite believable.

On a technical side, the novel needed a new set of eyes for another round of editing. The grammar errors were pervasive with misused subject/object pronouns (her instead of she), verb/object disagreement and misused words (accept, instead of except, etc.). The sentence structure swung erratically from simple, almost bullet type statements to wordy sentences that meandered around the meaning. I had to re-read many sentences several times to make sure I understood what the convoluted wording really meant.

So while the plot was intriguing and I began to care about what happens to the characters, there were just too many issues that kept me from even remotely enjoying it. If the novel went through another round of revision, I might recommend it to others.



**Review originally written for The Romance Review.com.

Mastering Darkness by Kate Wendley - 2 stars

In order to enjoy MASTERING DARKNESS, the first novel in the Forest of Darkness series by Kate Wendley, one must first master one's own impatience. The pace and length of the novel proffer a serious obstacle to lovers of the vampire/shifter genre, and so I give it 2 stars.

In the novel, Anthony Foster is a vampire and the Master of Atlanta, as was his father before him. He maintains peace and order in the vampire and shifter community, and that responsibility weighs heavily upon him, so much that he has not been in a relationship for a very long time. One evening, Anthony goes out for some fresh air and a break from the club/residence he oversees, and meets a woman at the local bookstore.

Kaia has been through some seriously difficult times in her life. More than a decade ago, she left her home, changed her name and started over. A friendship with co-worker Ethan has been an anchor in the storm for her, and even though she is sensitive to the supernatural energy around her, she doesn't know that Ethan is a vampire or that most of her neighbors are supernaturals. Meeting Anthony at the bookstore changed her life, and suddenly she feels as though she might have found someone with whom she can share a romantic relationship - if only Ethan and his centuries-old grudge wouldn't interfere.

I am a huge fan of the vampire and shifter genre, and so I read any book that sounds like it has something unique to offer. The concept behind MASTERING DARKNESS intrigued me, despite how simple the plot is. The characters are sympathetic; I want them to find happiness after years of difficulties and loneliness. The illustration of the plot and characters, though, fell flat.

The big issues for me were the pace and length of the novel and the shallowness of the story. The story moves as quickly as molasses, and the plot drowns in minutia. The 158 page novel could have been 100 pages if the minutia had been edited. I'm a huge proponent of using dialogue to move the plot along and tell the story, but sometimes dialogue can be just as cumbersome as over narration. For example, it's enough to state that while out to dinner, two characters engage in small talk as they peruse the menu and eat. The reader doesn't actually need to hear every painful sentence of the small talk. I often felt that the dialogue was contrived and repetitive, which made the romantic relationship seem unrealistic.

The romance was not too graphic, but enough so that the novel is really only appropriate for adults.

There were also some aspects of the story that could have been expanded to make the novel fuller and well-rounded, but they were simply dropped into the novel and left where they lay. Perhaps those parts were meant to set up future novels, but that effect could still be achieved while embellishing on the puzzle piece in this novel. Sadly, the cliffhanger at the end was not quite sudden enough. It was one or two sentences too long and the "jaw-dropping O.M.G." effect was lost.

On the technical side, there were significant grammatical errors that were distracting – the use of object pronouns instead of subject pronouns – and often the sentence construction and word choices were underdeveloped and lacked flair or finesse. There were also some seemingly inconsistent facts about the setting of the novel. It is understood that the novel takes place in Atlanta, but then some of the characters find themselves west of Dallas, Texas and still in Anthony's territory. Atlanta and Dallas are about 800 miles apart, making it unlikely that the characters were still in Anthony's territory, unless Anthony is considered Master of the Gulf Coast instead of just Atlanta. This kind of issue tends to stick in my craw until it is resolved. Here, there was no resolution for me.

As a side note, the categorization of the novel seems a bit broad. I would fit this squarely in the paranormal romance and vampire shifter genres, but I don't see much of the fantasy romance or urban fantasy qualities in the novel.

Overall, I didn't really enjoy the novel, though I seriously want to find out what happens to the characters. Perhaps things will pick up in the second novel in the series, but I'll need some extra patience and fortitude to find out.

Storm & Silence by Robert Thier - 1 star

As a reader, nothing upsets me more than putting a massive amount of time and effort into reading a book only to be given nothing in return. Unfortunately, with STORM AND SILENCE by Robert Thier, after pushing through the ridiculous and unbelievable characters, the romance novel clichés, and the more than 500 pages of glacially paced, overly narrated and repetitive prose, that is exactly what the readers will get: Nothing. No resolution. Just an end, as if someone's hard drive crashed and these 500+ pages were the only ones recovered. I give it 1 star.

In the novel, Lillian Linton is a nineteen year-old suffragette in early Victorian England who meets Mr. Rikkard Ambrose, the wealthiest man in London, on the street outside a polling place. Lilly is garbed in her uncle's clothing, intending to vote in the current election, and hears a gentleman attempting to swindle Mr. Ambrose by misrepresenting a property for sale. Lilly can't help but speak up (the reader never gets confirmation of how exactly she knows about this property), and by doing so gains employment with Mr. Ambrose as his private secretary. Of course, difficulties arise when Lilly carelessly reveals herself at the polling place - curtseying instead of bowing to the pollster- and Mr. Ambrose learns she is, in fact, female.

Mr. Ambrose has enough difficulties of his own running his business (which is never really explained to the reader) and he has no intention of actually employing Lilly. After she "tricks" him into hiring her, a devastating security breach is uncovered in his office, and he is determined to recover the stolen papers. His challenges are amplified by Lilly's determination to be a part of the recovery efforts, even if it kills her – literally.

As may be obvious, I did not enjoy this novel in the least. The idea was interesting, but the execution failed epically. As far as substance goes, the characters were annoying and didn't quite act according to the parameters and world in which they lived. I don't know whether this was because the time period wasn't well-researched, but it certainly seems like the times and the characters don't quite align. Lilly is determined to have her own way regardless of the consequences – for her or anyone else, including her family. For an orphan who has no family to take care of her if something happens to her aunt and uncle, she's unbelievably flippant about her and their reputations. She's also initially portrayed as someone who has smarts, but she does the most idiotic things that even modern women in 2016 wouldn't do, despite having similar passions. She honestly can't keep her mouth shut to save her life. In the middle of breaking into a fortified and heavily guarded buildings, she's chatting away and asking questions and dragging her heels until she gets an answer. I wanted to smack some sense into her.

Mr. Ambrose's character has similar idiotic deficiencies. First off, the reader never does quite learn anything about him. How old is he? Where does he come from? Who is his family? He is supposed to be this ruthless and cunning businessman, but sometimes, he acts like someone needs to hold his hand while crossing the street. One would think that with his business and worldly knowledge that he would be smarter in certain situations, not needing silly Lilly to deduce obvious aspects of a problem.

On the more technical side, this novel moves at a glacial pace. When I want to read a book, I want to escape the mundanities of real life, not suffer through some fictional character's drudgery for the length of a Bible. This book FEELS and moves at a real life pace; it drowns in minutia and scenes that do not progress the plot. This problem is not aided by the length of the novel. At over 500 pages, it should either be two separate books, or simply edited to get it down to 300 pages, which could easily be done by cutting out or summarizing in narration several lengthy and ridiculous subplot scenes. Another contributor to this issue is the overuse of narration during suspenseful dialogue, and over-narration of Lilly's snarky inner monologue in general. In the beginning, the inner monologue narration is important to help sketch Lilly's character, but after a certain point, it become a hindrance to the progression of the plot and pace of the novel.

There are also too many romance novel clichés and too many instances where the reader has to suspend reality to believe the story. One of my biggest pet peeves – even during a full moon, a person cannot possibly see someone blush or go pale in the moonlight, especially if they are ten or twenty feet away hiding in the bushes. I challenge any writer to go outside at midnight and see what a person can and cannot really see in the dark. When Lilly and Mr. Ambrose are shoved into a carriage with several other people, via narration she comments that she feels something rigid up against her leg and that she hopes it's Mr. Ambrose's walking stick. He's sitting next to her. Anatomically and logistically, this cliché is an impossibility. When the ship Lilly and Mr. Ambrose are on runs into a storm, why are the passengers sent into the lifeboats? That's ridiculous. The ship isn't sinking, and the tiny lifeboats have a decidedly LESS chance of surviving the approaching storm. So many contrivances made this book difficult to read.

There were many editing issues with missing words or extraneous words from a previous revision. There were inconsistences in the setting (e.g., Lilly gets to work at 9, but later she "always" gets to work at 8; she takes off her waistcoat and then in the next sentence has trouble unbuttoning it). The progression of time is also not well done. A twenty-minute dialogue does not equate to seven hours at sea. After a full day's work, a three hour conversation with Sir Phillip and another three hours waiting for Lieutenant Ellingham would put the setting well into the middle of the night, rather than dinnertime. Better and more accurate markers of time passing are needed. The reader sees Lilly get up, rushes through dressing, goes to work, comes home and rushes through dressing for balls. There is no mention of her bathing or eating dinner. These things are irritating in general, but with everything else, they become yet another hurdle to enjoying the story.

Finally, as if wading through the quagmire of the foregoing weren't enough, the novel just ends without any resolution! Just ends. One minute you think there may finally be a happily ever after in the next chapter, and then the words "THE END" appear, resulting in reader's whiplash. There are so many unanswered questions: Most importantly, what happens with Mr. Ambrose and Lilly? Do they EVER get together, and do they even survive the trip back to England? On a smaller scale, the issue of Lilly's clothing is also never resolved. Is she wearing the SAME clothes EVERY DAY?! Why can't she sneak in and trade them with some others of her uncle's so that her clothes can be washed? How is it that no one has commented on how bad she smells? Is Mr. Ambrose actually Lord Ambrose, what connection does he have with the Earldom in the north, and who is the lady who sends him letters on perfumed stationery? What really happened to Lieutenant Ellingham? There is just too much time spent on extraneous scenes and not enough time wrapping up the main plotline.
Overall, STORM & SILENCE had some potential in its conception, but it dies a tragic watery death on the sea. I really want to find out what happens with Mr. Ambrose and Lilly in the sequel to this novel, but honestly, I just cannot bear to think about having to read another word if it's like this novel. I want a refund of the entire day of my life that I spent trudging through this novel. By page 300 I was skimming most of the novel just to get to the important bits and get to the (most unsatisfying) end, so I can't recommend this novel to anyone.



**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com