Review: Fast moving story with a lively dialogue
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 25, 2013
Reviewed by Barb Taubfor TheRomanceReviews.comLinda Hays-Gibbs' latest book, MY ANGEL, MY LIGHT AS DARKNESS FALLS, wants to be many things--at least six of them other books. In 60,000 words, she's packed the plots for several genres of epic cycles.We first meet Lady Elizabeth Prudence White on the eve of Waterloo as she attends her first ball, courts her first scandal, meets a duke, receives a proposal of marriage, and bids farewell to both new fiancé and her twin brother as they leave for battle--all in one night. Despite his assurances to her, Pru's brother doesn't appear after the battle so his devastated sister makes her way to the battlefield to search for him. As night falls, she wanders alone among thousands of bodies, screaming her anguish. Unbeknownst to her, she's watched by a nervous French courier, and more ominously, by an evil supernatural force. Her path forward is entwined with both.This story is fast moving and I think the author has taken care with most of the historical detail. Combined with a lively dialogue and obliviously intrepid main character, I would give MY ANGEL, MY LIGHT AS DARKNESS FALLS three stars.But there were aspects that were difficult for me to reconcile. Pru is an incredibly tiny, fragile and young heroine, whose delicate beauty somehow causes almost every male who sets eyes on her--living or dead--to fall in love with her instantly, usually with her cheerfully reciprocating the sentiments. Also, although I couldn't decide whether Pru was navely stupid or stupidly nave, one thing was certain: she is one sound sleeper. Despite the fact that the young Frenchman Pierre actually holds her every night, she never wakes up or questions his presence.There are other aspects of the story that were hard to reconcile as well. Skipping over the unlikely presence of high-ranking nobility such as dukes and earls on the battlefield, it is difficult to believe that Pru's twin brother, the (very, very young) sixth Earl of White would have brought his sister to war with him, knowing he might have to abandon her at a moment's notice. And it's even more unlikely that Pru, raised as the daughter and sister of an earl, would have been so completely ignorant of her place in society as to see no other option than to immediately embrace a life of abject poverty when her brother is killed.Finally, even for a paranormal, the supernatural was pretty thick on the ground. Between vampires, ghosts, evil spirits, and angels, poor Pru can't turn around without bumping into some metaphysical entity. I think that Ms. Hays-Gibbs is a lively and competent author, but I wish she had given her heroine brains as well as spunk, limited the number of supernatural entities floating around, and instead given more depth to the characters and their motivations.Almost everyone in the story has a twin, a title, a beautiful face, a brave heart, and a case of instant lust. It just would have been more interesting to me if the living had fewer actual supernatural entities and more internal darkness to overcome. Given Linda Hays-Gibbs' inventive capabilities and attention to historical detail, this would make her next book irresistible.