Review: Great Writing, Appealing Characters, Original Plot
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2013
The action in the fresh fantasy starts off with a bang and does not let up. Lourdes, the heroine, finds both her parents, the rulers of the city, dead, poisoned. Although she is young and not at all enthusiastic about the idea, as the oldest daughter and heir, she must immediately find a suitably strong mate.  She desperately needs a male who has the necessary clan connections to help her maintain and defend her title of maven against the traitorous  rival clan clamoring at the city gates and the uncooperative, disapproving Council of Elders within.Fate intervenes and offers her Rhys the Cold, the quiet yet powerful second son of a fearsome and barbaric warrior clan that is ruled by a dear friend of Lourdes' late mother. Even more troubling, Lourdes' younger sister, Pascale, is missing. Is Pascale an innocent pawn in an ugly power struggle, kidnapped against her will? Or is she a cold-hearted traitor, involved in her parents' deaths and fleeing the consequences of her actions? As a condition of their marriage, Rhys agrees to track down and rescue Pascale and punish whoever is behind the tragic death of Lourdes' parents.With only Rhys' abrasive and enigmatic brother, Vaughn, to help them; Lourdes and Rhys take off at high speed, tracking Pascale to the south. Along the way, they encounter another problem: a worrisome plague that is killing both wild and domesticated beasts, which could be very serious for their agrarian culture.  Soon, it becomes apparent that Rhys is not the unfeeling, man-eating barbarian that Lourdes fears, yet desires and that Vaughn, though rude, pushy and annoying, is also trustworhty, brave and loyal.  The romance between Lourdes and Rhys moves gently and naturally from unwilling passion to tentative trust to full-blown, True Love. So sweet. (sigh!)Ms. Edwards' writing is a delight; it flows smoothly and naturally. The characters are intelligent, appealing and well-developed. The plot is interesting, the action is nearly non-stop and the whole back-world this story is set in is logical and intriguing. This story is very well-balanced; the romance, mystery and action enhance, rather than distract from each other. Even the editing is excellent: I found no typos, bad grammar or funky formatting, at all. I got this story as a free download on Amazon and, boy, did I get lucky! Ms. Edwards recently released the next novel in this series, plus a novella that comes between book one and book two. I fully intend to spend my hard-earned money on these as soon as I can.What are you waiting for??!!  Buy this book, while it is still free!!