Review: Grace's Touch
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2014
As always, Blue has done a wonderful job of setting the scene for her readers and keeping them on their toes. Val continues to grow and learn from her mistakes, while still making more along the way; but hey, nobody's perfect.Well, since Ms. Blue insisted on making the love triangle one of the main focuses of this book, I figure I'd humor everyone with some insight into that particular headache:Val and Shade's relationship takes a turn for the worse after many trying occurrences in "Make Me." Shade is resentful toward Val and her part in his overall feelings of abandonment. Here we start to see Shade showing his true colors. (Or perhaps they're not necessarily his true colors; More like his hidden shades. Seems fitting for one named after such shades.) He is pushing Val away at every turn, claiming it's for her own good, yet it's truly for his good alone. He also maintains his bogus claims of self-help, insisting that he can save himself/take care of himself, without Val's help. Needless to say, no one else is near as confident and so he's forced to suck it up and accept Val's help, and by default Austin's. What a recipe for disaster. Shade makes it clear that, though he doesn't want Val, Austin can't have her either. He's constantly jealous of the time Val and Austin spend together and makes life unbearable for them all because of it. What a baby.Austin has sworn himself as Val's protector, since she is still weak from the backlash of invoking the spells of the Encyclopedia Magicka. To help rebuild her strength, he's only too willing to allow Val to use his lustful energy to regain it. He's falling hard for Val and everyone knows it; except of course for Val. Poor cowboy. He's loyal, faithful, and an all-around caring person. All he can see for Val is her welfare and he'll leave no ends unmet in order to see that she's safe.And then there's Val. She's still hopelessly pining after her shadow demon, believing time will heal all wounds. She fails to realize that Shade isn't capable of or willing to heal all his wounds where she's concerned. She thinks that her love for him will be the cure to all heartaches. But the wounds won't heal quickly enough for Val to regain what she's lost, so she must rely upon the only person willing and able to help her. (Insert hunky, awesome, vampire cowboy HERE!!)And I think that's enough of that jazz.Once again, an unknown evil is trying to take over the world, one human, vampire, and demon at a time. With the use of his own blood, he can control any being; anytime, anyplace, anyway. Allies will fall victim to evil's embrace. And only one person can contain the madness that has entered into their world; that is, if she doesn't fall victim to her own personal demons first.I very much enjoyed this fifth installment of the DU series. However, I'd like to suggest a vast change of plot, and pronto!! Sorry, but this 'unknown evil taking over Texas through blood corruption to the general paranormal/human populace' is getting very worn out. It's time for some fresh material Blue! If nothing new arises, I'd suggest a tied-up ending with rainbows and sunshine, please!!