Review: Fun fantasy romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 3, 2014
Once upon a time the Goddess Reiki roamed the earth and times were good. When her statue was stolen from the sacred temple, the world fell into discord and monsters started walking. Every few years a Chosen is selected, a girl pure of heart, to go on a voyage alone to retrieve the stolen statue. And every time, she fails with the outcome of death. This time Ashlyn was Chosen, much to her family’s horror. But she will not journey alone, instead, Zane, the handsome mercenary full of secrets, accompanies her.This was a fairly fast paced fantasy novel. I sometimes feel like I get bogged down with information/world building overload, but I did not feel that was the case this time. The author did a nice job of making the story character driven with world building tidbits thrown in along the way. I enjoyed learning the history of the people and the worlds. But what I really loved was the crazy monsters and magical animals thrown in. Especially Shadow and Freya.And yes this is a fantasy story, but I would also have to say it was pretty heavy in the romance department as well. The two main characters have a fairly instant attraction, but they do not act on those feelings really (and yes we do find out about half way through why the attraction is not acted out fully, if you get my drift). They have a slow kind of courtship, where they learn who the other is before there are any acts of blind devotion or sacrifice performed. I like that they had a real relationship; they got to know each other right along with the reader getting to know them. That being said, good God those two were touchy! They had their hands on each other at every single opportunity. And they made out in the most awkward of situations/places. They needed a room to burn off some of that passion…Don’t expect any teen angst even though Ashlyn is a teenager. Instead, she processes all information and comes to a rational conclusion before acting. I will say I was impressed with that. In a lot of stories, miscommunication in a relationship causes angsty reactions and helps to move the story along. This book did not need that to forward the plot, there was enough going on to keep the character’s together as a team. Ashlyn was a fairly strong character, but I will say that she probably would have died early on without Zane, regardless of her training and weapons.The one thing that really irked me was that three of the main characters had red hair. Yes they were slightly different shades, but seriously? There are other options for hair choices. I found it strange because Ashlyn was singled out repeatedly for her unique red hair, but obviously it was not that unique because pretty much everyone is a redhead. Maybe it is just me, but I had a hard time with that part of the story. Give me monster beasts, fanged bunnies, griffins, no problem, but make everyone a redhead and I have issues.Overall it was a good adventure fantasy book with a huge dollop of love. I am pretty sure the book is a standalone, because everything was wrapped up nicely at the end. I will check out more by this author in the future.I received this book from Goodreads and the author in exchange for my honest review.