Review: Breaking the Storm by Sedona Venez
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 14, 2013
I received an e-copy of this book from the publishers at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.I have really been on a paranormal romance/new (or debut) author kick recently. I have never heard of Sedona Venez before nor anything about her type of writing and was interested to see if she was well versed at the art or whether she needed a bit more practice. As I have been reviewing books I have tried not to fall into the habit of only reading books by authors I recognize. That just closes me off to great authors that could really take the literary world by storm. So, I chose to give the unfamiliar Sedona a gander and my love for shifters just sweetened the temptation.This new world of shifters and mystical creatures created by Sedona opens on a 19-year old, Storm who has fallen head-over-heels for the lead singer of a band named Knox. She knows she is forbidden from engaging in more than just superficial relationships with men due to a centuries old curse that causes any human she falls in love with to ultimately die. With a heavy heart, she tries to wade through the turbulent waters of her emotional ties to Knox. Ultimately she forces herself to leave the man she loves in order to save him from the peril her love would inflict on him.Five years later she is running her mother's Other (races 'other' than human) escort service. Through a series of bad luck, she is forced to fulfill an escort contract for one of her clients which brings her face-to-face with her lost love again... and he is still ticked over their parting. What is Storm to do when thrust upon the drool-worthy Knox once more? Can she hold her heart together or will it crumble into a million pieces once again?I really dug this book. There were aspects of BDSM that was kind of sugar-coated. It was nothing like the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, so I won't even make the reference. It was very mild-mannered and more about submission and dominance than the bondage aspect. I tend to like that type of subject matter. Which is probably why I am such a fan of shifter books. I like the whole dominance thing. What can I say? I like manly men for my book boyfriends.The world that Sedona created and the story-line that particularly encompasses the Credence curse was absolutely engrossing. I went on a book binge and didn't put the thing down until I go to the end. Normally I skip over any excerpts or snippets of future books when the expected publication date is so far away (the next book comes out in April 2014), but I found myself dying to read more. Sedona crafted her characters into swoonworthy masculine men and strong, yet utterly feminine, women. I loved the women meant to be loved and I crushed heavily on pretty much any man introduced. This book is definitely being added to one of the better paranormal romance books I have read this year and Sedona Venez is an author I will definitely be watching for.Breaking the Storm weaves a world of paranormal beings with nail biting action, heartbreaking romance, and awe-inspiring fantasy.Review Posted on: [...]