Review: Wished it had developed a bit more...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 15, 2013
When reviewing a book, I always look for that one sentence that stands out from the rest. That stays in your mind for hours, if not days, to come. This sentence was it for me.I was pleasantly surprised to find that another author out there has remembered that there are literally thousands of other mythologies to choose from and write about aside from vampires and werewolves. Don't get me wrong, I love those parties dearly. But they seem to be everywhere these days.Serenity is a young woman who has always felt out of place, desperate to fit in and find a "normal" life, even though something inside of her tells her she's anything but normal. Engaged to a man she doesn't desire, but feels she owes, she's willing to sacrifice bits of herself to please him and help him.The book opens at the tattoo parlor that she works at and partially owns - her ability to read someone's soul the first time she touches them allows her to create a one-of-a-kind tattoo for them that represents that person to their very core. The descriptions of the tattoos and the process by which it works... it makes me want to see these tattoos for myself (I have a fascination with them).When she first meets Cyrus, the rush of desire she feels for him is beyond anything she's previously experienced and she is definitely not ready for it. Her loyalty to her fiancée, Evan, is admirable.Cyrus, a Kindred of the Fallen, is not human, and was not raised as a human - therefore, his attempts to woo Serenity in the beginning of the book are somewhat comical as well as pitiable. He has lived for two-hundred-plus years, knowing that he would find his kabashem; his soul mate. And the weight of his destiny and obligation to his people wars with his need to make his one true love happy in every way. Eventually, he opens Serenity's eyes and mind to a whole new world that she never knew existed but that she was born to be a part of.The book, itself, has a bit of an issue with flow, but with the way that Serenity is gaining the information on this new world, it keeps the reader off balance as much as it does Serenity - so much information in such a short time can be, and is, exhausting and confusing. For some readers, this may be an issue.What I like most about this book is that, as previously mentioned, it's not about vampires and werewolves. Upon reading a short bio on the author, I learned that she has travelled the world quite a bit, opening her up to the various mythologies out there. And I love that she is sharing her knowledge and using it to open up a whole new area of fantasy romance. Rushdan adds a glossary at the end of the book to give you some in-depth definitions of the various terms she uses, though I wish that these terms were a bit more clearly explained in the book. Unless you know the glossary is there, it can be a bit confusing.As a first book for a series, as well as the first book that Rushdan has published (to my knowledge), this is a good start. The bits where the storyline gets choppy or slow can be a bit distracting and one of the secondary characters isn't fully explained. When Serenity first meets him, she is put-off by him on a gut-level, which would seem to indicate that there is something wrong with him. There are various prophecies saying "enemies are friends and friends are enemies" (no spoiler there, as that's usually the case) but it's never fully explained as to who is whom in this case. Perhaps more of this will be revealed as the series continues.For now, I give this book 3 out of 5 flowers. I liked the book but I would like to see it developed a little bit more.---------------------------------I write reviews for UrbanGirlReader.com along with some pretty awesome chicks. For many more reviews, check out the site!