Review: A great fantasy romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 16, 2014
I received this book from the author in exchange for a honest review.I totally loved this fantasy romance.  The dialogue between the characters was witty, amusing, and sometimes eloquent.  The world building was done by the author in a way that was totally understandable.There were a couple of new terms that you had to learn, but you find this in every fantasy or paranormal romance.Here are a few: Laren - home.Viddion - annex city.Larenleader - leader of specific annex group.There are many races featured: HumansAnnex - do not like technology.  Live in harmony with the tall trees.  They worship the MotherTree and when they gain their connection with the Mother Tree their powers come forth.  They haveheightened senses and their looks are slightly different.Tionnax - enemy of annex, loud, brutish.  They have lost their connection to the Mother Tree.Norns - Race of killers.The Story: Olivia (the heroine) is a teacher and has just been recommended for an assignment to go and set up an exchange program with the annex.  She is to travel to Viddion and stay a week and work out the details.  This puts her mind in a tailspin.  She has avoided any contact with the annex since she ran away when her mother was murdered.  She has hidden her annex heritage all these years.  She left behind her father and brother and was put into a foster home.  Charlotte is her foster sister, but is like blood to her.She embarks on her journey and is immediately beset with problems.  Her car breaks down and she is forced to walk and in the process meets our hero Baphrem.  He is patrolling with other guards and comes upon her.  There first meeting is not good to say the least.  Baphrem throws her into a stream after bickering back and forth with her.  Baphrem proceeds to take her to his father's laren.  Once there, she is informed that the person she already dislikes will be the one she has to work with on the exchange program.Baphrem has just returned with his friend Klias after an extended time away.  He had gone to get his friend and bring him back.  Klias had gone away after his mother was murdered and his sister ran away.  They both found her dead and stayed with the Norns awhile.  Now, he has come back to fulfill his responsibilities.  He is going to be the next larenleader.  His father is retiring.  I loved his father Heartan - he loved to use reverse psychology on Baphrem.  He was underhanded in his tactics, but always did what he did out of love for his son.Olivia (Teil is her annex name - one she at first refuses to use) reunites with her family.  She does not even recognize her brother.  Maddias was four when she left and is now a grown man.  She also sees her father for the first time since she left.  Her family's laren brings back bad memories of her discovering her mother's body and Klias mother's body(Her mother had turned tionnax and killed Klias's mother and then herself).  Olivia does reacquaint herself with her father and brother and eventually feels more comfortable around them.  I felt sorry for her brother.  Maddias has had a lot to bear growing up after she left.  His father Lios was depressed and sad to lose both his wife and daughter.  Maddias does become close to Olivia again.Olivia asks her brother why Klias stares daggers at her.  It is because he blames her family for the death of his mother and the eventual death of his sister.The next day, she encounters her childhood friend Nassa and enlists her help to get her computer and cell phone back from Baphrem.  He had confiscated them when she first came.  This does not turn out well.  She is caught and this is where they sleep together for the first time.  Up until this time, the sexual tension was rampant.  She just chose to deny it.  Afterwards, she says it is a mistake.  Baphrem tells her they belong together, but she rejects him.  So, he tells her to leave and he won't work with her on the project again.She leaves and is captured by the enemy.  The rest of the book is about her rescue, the decisions that people have to make when confronted with dire circumstances, and the aftermath of those decisions.  Also, other secrets are revealed, but I won't disclose them here.I hope the author is planning to write about the other characters in the book.  I would love to read about Klias, Natalie, Sharmas, and Arden.Overall, a wonderful, original, fantasy romance.