Review: Great Prequel Novella!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 7, 2012
(Source: Downloaded for free from Amazon.)This is the story of Rowan and Annalise and how they met and became a couple. It is the prequel novella to the `Guardians of Vesturon' series.I'm sure A. M. Hargroves is a little confused as to why I even read this book, as she knows that Books 1 and 2 didn't exactly float my boat. However, I wanted to see what this was like, primarily because it was the character of Maddie that drove me nuts in books 1 and 2, and as Maddie wasn't in this one, I thought that I might appreciate it a bit more!Damn was I right! Goodbye Maddie, and hello Rowan and Annalise!The romance between Annalise and Rowan was beyond lovely. I can only imagine how difficult it must create a romance in so short a story, but boy did the author achieve it! The anxiety as Rowan waited for Annalise to meet him, his pounding pulse when he sees her, the way he wants to pull her into his arms was just magical.I loved that the story actually felt like a real story rather than a novella which I sometimes think gloss over too much important stuff, and there was more than just the bare bones to it. Time was made to go into detail about Rowan's training in becoming a guardian, and to bring his parent's points of view on the relationship into focus too.I have to say that as the story progressed Rowan did get further and further towards arrogance rather than strength, and his consternation over being called `cute' was a little silly.Overall this book was a winner though. Thanks so much for this great prequel novel A. M. Hargrove!8 out of 10.