First, let me just say that I love this book. I truly love it. It’s awesome. It’s unique, or as unique as you’re going to get, the hero and heroine are interesting and different, and this is one of the few books, especially among romance novels, where I can genuinely say that the heroine is not actually a good person. I’m not saying that she’s a bad person, though she can be, I’m just saying that in most books, the main characters are pretty much idealized versions of the author. They are the way that the author views themselves when not even trying to be honest. So when I say that she isn’t necessarily a good person, it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve run across in a while. Lillith is nothing so ordinary as all that. She is awesome. She is perfectly willing to lie, cheat, and steal, isn’t afraid to admit it, and isn’t afraid to admit that she enjoys the crap out of it. She will kick your butt too. She’s not scared. And unless you’re one of the few things or people that she cares about in the world, then you’re kind of SOL. And there are two things that she really cares about that much in this book- her dog and the hero, Hugh. And I have to say, that watching those two throughout this book, work their way towards each other and finally figure out that they belong together is some of the most fun, literary- wise, that I’ve had. Now, keep in mind that this book is a paranormal romance, so when I say that “they work their way towards each other” and “finally figure out”, I’m not talking short term here. It takes a good eight hundred years before the story really starts, and that alone is pretty awesome because the author includes something of a montage of the years where they circled around and towards each other, on opposing sides and yet never really enemies, no matter what they said. It’s a lot of fun, and it really says a lot about their relationship without ever spelling it out.
As characters, I would describe them as opposites but it doesn’t feel like the overly contrived “opposites attract” thing that some authors do, where you kinda buy it while you’re reading it but in the back of your head you so know that they would never work out in real life. I actually buy these two. I can see how, even though it would take them a long time to come together, they really would work. It’s very sweet and it’s very romantic.
One of the few things pieces of warning I have about this book is that it is ridiculously complicated. I’m not kidding. I picked this series up in the middle and I have to say, I spent half the book trying to figure out what the hell was going on. So, if you’re going to read her, start at the beginning. It’s your only hope. Also, the first hundred or so pages of this book are a little weird, and are the exposition. Yes, I am not kidding. It takes over a hundred pages for the actual story part of this story to start. It’s probably a lot to take, but if you wade through it, not only is it totally worth it, but it helps to understand a lot of what happens later, it gives you an insight into the length and depth of their centuries- long relationship and it also includes that montage I mentioned.
Also, and I just want to toss this out there- you know how a lot of authors try to throw in that “oh how will they work it out? their situation is so complicated and hopeless?” thing when it’s really not that much? Where you’re reading it, and you can see what they’re trying to do and it’s so not working and you just want to slap them upside the head and tell them that if they would just stop being an idiot, they can have their happily ever after? Yeah, this isn’t that book. It does genuinely seem hopeless, and you do genuinely wonder how they could possibly live their happily ever after. But they do. It’s kind of amazing.
literaryninja 