Review: shows incredible promise
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2013
This book shows incredible promise, with a cross-time romance, a really creepy villain and beautifully detailed and described worlds.  The idea of being caught in a quest to remove a soul's torment was an interesting one, especially the glimpses of the 1400-era world.  The author has gone to great lengths to establish the wood as a dangerous, even cursed place.  Unfortunately for me, while the intent was clearly established, the repetitive statements to that effect, and further repetitions of `key points' throughout the story interrupted the reading flow, as I was waiting for something `more' to happen with or to these oft repeated elements.While Ms. Stefanescu has a beautiful turn of phrase and can deftly describe settings, places, worlds and characters, there was an overall lack of development and emotion coming from the characters: it is still hard to determine what makes them stand out.  Conversations were also peppered with frequent repetition, several errors in word choice and even a discrepancy in language that would have been appropriate to the character of Genevieve -her speech, word choices and mannerisms were far too modern and didn't fit her description.The mystery is really well crafted: the world was built beautifully, but both the romance and the characters fell far short of what I was hoping for.  While the surprise twist at the end did add a touch of wonder for me, I don't know that I would be eager to read a sequel.  However, fans who like a darker feel and menacing tone to their reads may appreciate this title far more than I.I received an eBook copy from the publisher for purpose of honest review for the Jeep Diva. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.