Review: Good Addition To The Series ... But Would Have Liked Something More....
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2012
I've read all the books in this series by Laura Jo Phillips, and I've enjoyed each one.  One of the reasons why is the character development and relationships between the main characters.  They are strong and balanced. I like the story background, world building, and the bigger picture, but I read the series for the relationships (I'm not talking about the sex scenes, I'm truly talking about the interaction and relationship building that happens between all the strong characters).As much as I enjoyed The Bearen's Hope, I was also disappointed.  The Bearen brothers came alive for me in the previous novel "The Lobos' HeartSong, and I eagerly anticipated reading more about them in this installment.  They seemed very special. I wanted to know about the brothers themselves, their shifter alter egos, and their place in the Jasani world. Who were they and what had brought them to this point in life, etc. So, obviously I had expectations that they would have a strong presence in this, their titled book.  However, I felt cheated when I read it.  The Bearen's seemed very different; diminished, sort of faint and without a true presence and personality.  There was so much more I would have liked to have learned about them as individuals (or as individual as a male-set can be). The Bearen male set was in no way the center (or even a very strong side line) of the story. I didn't get any sense of their needs, goals, personalities or actions.  They seemed incredibly passive and with their role being only in reaction to some other characters own actions.  I felt this was a complete departure from the personality traits they demonstrated in the previous book, in fact a departure from how the previous novels had balanced ALL the relationships.  And although Hope and other characters were central to the story, given their roles in the life of the Bearen's and their world, I felt the Bearen's themselves were somehow an afterthought to everyone else's story, and therefore to the story itself - as if you could have inserted any other male set without having to change any aspect of the storyline. They came across incredibly generic with no real depth and left no imprint once the story was read - or even while the story was being read.  I didn't like that, especially since they came alive with more personality and presence in the previous novel, however small a role.  Yes, I had those heart-wrenching moments while reading this book, but those powerful scenes were tied to other characters. As if it was THEIR story, and therefore, this book should have had a different title.In the previous novels, I couldn't put the books down, and went back and read them again multiple times. That didn't happen for me with The Bearen's Hope. Again, I got the heart wrenching moments, and the new developments in the clans and the world-based issues, but it just didn't pack the same punch for me as did the previous three novels.  It was a good story, it just wasn't what I had been expecting or all that I had been looking for in this story.  Somehow, for me, this book lacked a key component - the Bearen's themselves.This is in no way a negative reflection of the author, or her right to take the series in whatever direction she chooses ... it's HER story, not mine. As good as the series has been, however, I will be more cautious in my next purchase, since the current developments didn't hold my full interest.  Even if the stories continue in this vein, I have the first three that I will always go back and re-read - and for that, Ms. Phillips will always have my gratitude.