Review: Felt rushed at the end
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 18, 2013
The Petrosian Invitation is a contemporary paranormal novella (100 pages) from T. P. Keating. I am not sure whether there will be further instalments but there are many unanswered questions and a couple of building storylines to be addressed.The premise follows Russian oil billionaire and vampire Oleg Petrosian as he endeavors to persuade another oil company to invest in his business. During one of the meetings, Oleg encounters chef Samantha Latham and offers her a business deal to cater his next meeting and to make sure she prepares her mouth watering chocolate mousse. As the storyline progresses Oleg offers Sam and her sister Zoe another job in Russia and here is where the bulk of the premise begins. As with most romantic storylines, our leading couple begin to develop feelings for one another but Oleg keeps his biggest secret hidden from Sam.The storyline flows nicely to a point; the world building is colorful as are the characters we meet along the way, but suddenly, everything coalesces at once and the story rushes to the finish. Our heroine learns that Oleg is a vampire as the local residents attempt to tear down the walls in an ancient castle. Samantha does not question the angry crowd; she isn't shocked or frightened by Oleg's pronouncement and there is absolutely no angst or anxiety over the aforementioned lack of life or heartbeat. And all too quickly, the storyline ends with the reader learning that Samantha and her sister have been turned and there is no build up to the outcome. And this occurs all in the last few pages of the story.There is no sex, no foul language, no graphic violence and only a little bit of romance. Much of the storyline and premise highlights are presumed and in this I wanted to know more. The rush to the finish was disconcerting and left many questions and plot points unanswered or unaddressed. T.P. Keating did an amazing job with the build up of the story then lost momentum in the final few pages.Overall, The Petrosian Invitation is a cute storyline with some humor at the expense of Samantha's younger sister and Oleg's sister but I wanted more details and I think the author should have elaborated in the final few pages. With only 100 pages to the novella, a few more pages by way of explanation and perhaps some anxious moments from Sam would have made the paranormal storyline a little more plausible.copy supplied by the author