Thursday, 18 October 2012

Review for Sanctum Angels Shadow Havens Book 1 by Edenmary Black



Story Overview:

Pria is a half angel half vampire that has decided to run a bakery in the human world instead of living her life among her own kind in the Sanctum. One day when she goes to the bank she is taken hostage by a robber. During the events she meets Detective Joe Cafaris and falls in love with him soon after. In the meantime her stepbrother, Keirc has fallen in love with the daughter of a rival tribe’s leader, the ruthless Sebastien Galaurus. As the bank incident becomes better known Sebastien seeks out Pria to use her for his own devices.
 
Cover Page:  19/20

The book has a strikingly complex and yet simple cover art which entices the reader in to delve into the book and read the story. There is little to describe what is going on in the storyline, yet the attractive cover fills your mind with the possibilities and the title gives you some clue of what you are in store for.

Characters (and their development):  18/20

My first reaction to the characters was feeling a little overwhelmed. There were so many of them that at the beginning of the book I struggled to keep up. But as you get further into the book I found that the characters came into their own lights. Which is the brilliance of the author’s writing: every character, even the secondary ones is unique and cannot be described as characteristic. Every character has their own agenda and reasons for their actions that it seems like a bunch of real people.

I have to admit that Vampires and Werewolves are becoming too typical in literature at the moment, yet this author has put a completely unique slant on them that makes them feel fresh and a joy to read about.

What I thought was a problem was Joe and Pria’s quick fixation on each other. I sometimes questioned very early on how easy their romance blossomed. Their conversations can sometimes seem a little unrealistic, but they do move on the story swiftly. Plus characters didn’t seem to develop throughout the story but rather their character, motivations and reasoning remained constant.

Storyline:  17/20

Parts of the story line seem very reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, but to my relief turns out to be a happier ending. I found the storyline to move along perfectly and the depth of the characters and their back stories and concurrent stories were brilliant composed so that while they started separately they all converged into one excellent ending.

Everything that the author writes was well thought-out so that it could contribute to the ending, but I did feel that some scenes were redundant as it had no part in the climax of the story. But generally I thought that the storyline was well conceived and executed and I applaud the author for their creativity in the story.

Style:  15/20

The style was the sticking point for me in the novel. I give the author credit that it was rather easy to read and because of that the flow of the story could continue. There were a couple of sticking points but nothing that detracts from the enjoyment of the story. My main issue is with the changing perspective in the middle of a section. Sometimes I felt that I was seeing two or three people’s thoughts in a couple of paragraphs with little to tell me that the viewpoint had changed. Also a lot of the later book is heavy on the dialogue, something which not the case in the beginning of the book.

Spelling and Grammar:  20/20

It is not often that I can say that I didn’t spot a mistake in the writing. And this is one of those occasions. So full marks here.

Conclusion:  89/100

This is an enjoyable story and if you are a paranormal romance fan I would certainly recommend this. However I warn that this is not a book for young readers, it is certainly an adult orientated book. The characters are unique to each other and other works of literature and the supernatural elements are fresh. The storyline is good which develops from a bunch of unconnected stories into a single story which does not disappoint. The love scenes are well described without giving too much details that the scenes seem too much like “adult pictures”.


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Connect with the Author

www.edenmaryblack.com

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