Review: Worth Checking Out
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2013
Mandy Wright is a loner, though not by choice. Abandoned at birth by her parents and rejected by her uncaring foster parents, Mandy has only ever had herself to rely on. Her fate changes when she's partnered with "sexy foreign god" Jonathan Mondragon on an assignment in their University Mythology course. The unlikely pair forms a fast friendship.Jonathan refuses to take no for an answer when inviting Mandy home to the Carpathian Mountains for Christmas, even making the trip all-expenses paid. While Mandy thinks Jonathan's being overly generous and maybe showing a little pity, he has his own reasons for bringing her home. Jonathan is an Elemental, an immortal, and when he spotted Mandy in class he knew he had found a soul mate... for his twin brother Nicolas."When you met your other half, you just knew. It was like a weight was lifted from your soul that you hadn't even known was there. Being near your mate did that, and bonding with them cemented it."Jonathan and Nicolas lost their entire family hundreds of years ago in a vicious attack by a mad fairy prince. Mandy may be Nicolas's one shot at finding happiness and a creating a future for the Mondragon's, so the brothers know they have to bring her to their homeland even if it means putting her at risk to things that go bump in the night."There are many things in these woods, and monsters are only as dangerous as you allow them to be. We've been trying to keep the lands around the village safe for years, but it's impossible to keep every dangerous creature at bay."Pettus doesn't pull any paranormal punches and readers are quickly introduced to a reality of immortals, faeries, werewolves, vampires, and telekenetic's. I thought the lore of "Elemental" was well thought out and easy to understand.I did find the romance piece of the story lacking. Mandy, Jonathan, and Nicolas are good characters but when Pettus begins adding in a secondary romance between Jonathan and a fairy princess named Anna as well as a deranged werewolf who may be fixated on one of the girls, the pace of the story bogs down and I found myself being not as invested in their relationships.Overall this was a pleasant read and is worth checking out.I received a copy of this story for an honest review.