Review: Complex and a Tad Too much to Love
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2014
I have long been a fan of historical romance. I have long been an admiring devotee of authors who write about one of my favorite paranormal creatures...the vampire. Thus, I admit great excitement at the prospect of reading this book, which included many of the things that I love.In the interest of honesty and integrity I am going to bespeak of the things I liked about the book, as when one ranks something at only 3 Stars, there is likely something that lacked.Elliot has a true talent for crafting intriguing characters. I found Emile & Sophie a most delightful compliment to each other, as were Agnes and Georges. The rest of the cast of characters were developed without a lack for attention, thus making them a stellar portion of the tale. The story is a complicated one though, and that is the main issue that I had with it. When the story flowed...it flew like a bat through the night, but when it hit a rough patch, I'll admit I was hard-pressed not to put the book down and run away like a scared peasant in the village. Developing the proper phrases and language use in a historical romance can be complicated and this was unfortunately another stumbling point that made the read difficult at times. When the writing was good...well, it was exceptional, but when you stumbled...getting back into the story, was not necessarily easy.Ultimately, I loved these characters.... as when I was younger and read a particularly wonderful novel, I could imagine myself as Sophie, in love with Emile. Unfortunately the story is overwhelming, taking too long to come to fruition and to make sense. The vampire story buried within, is exceptional, but takes too long to develop, and comes out of nowhere abruptly. In some ways, I would have preferred to see this broken into multiple stories to better compliment the author's talents. The story of Emile Dubois, the tale of Sophie's ordeals more developed, and the vampire adventure a novel in itself.Would I recommend this book? Yes and no. If you have patience and enjoy these type of stories please do read, but if you want a clean story that flow fast, this probably would not be the novel for you...as it borders on being an epic novel, and not a normal romance length novel.Best of luck to Lucinda Elliot, and I do so hope to see more stories from her in the future.Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book in receipt of a fair review.