Review: Sandra Ross has created another sensational short read with `Awakened'
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 6, 2012
Sandra Ross has created another sensational short read with `Awakened', a hot supernatural story about Chandler, a single, mostly happy, woman who is pestered into visiting a Goth club with her best friend.Miss Sandra Ross's book is a casual light read suitable for intermissions or while waiting for an appointment. The plot of the story is an interesting tale intertwined with modern reality and age-old vampirism.The storyline has been nicely been framed, with the different sequences flowing smoothly and detailed appropriately. The settings of New Orleans and the home next to the French Quarters fits in with the theme of the story. Ross has written a highly readable and thoroughly entertaining story.Violet eyes, a somewhat pessimistic demeanour and an evident thirst for adventure; a small list of the complexities featured in Sandra Ross's protagonist 'Chandler'. As with other female leads created by Ross, 'Chandler' is independent and confident in her actions, yet she's quick to second guess herself or the others around her if she feels a line is being crossed. Ross writes with a similar pattern of "love at first sight" and I enjoy that. This story has a lot of mystery to it. I found myself wondering what was going to happen next, the minute that I thought I had figured out what was going to happen I really didn't. The storyline is about an ordinary working girl, Chandler, going out to a club with her friend Lisette where she meets a mysteriously handsome man, Lucien. The story takes off to another level from the point where she meets Lucien. She meets up with him again the next day when the intention of the story is revealed. This is a vampire story as revealed by the title and the plot revolves around the macabre loves of vampires. There she meets the incredibly handsome Lucien, and feels a connection, but is not sure how or why.However staunch her character is, it is quickly overturned by the magical and fantastical events that twist our views on reality and create this erotically charged story of love.This story doesn't focus on 'love at first sight' or perhaps a 'chance meeting' to develop the relationship of the two main characters, rather Sandra Ross imposes a narrative to the text that out-lasts the story itself, giving such a deeper meaning to the characters. I don't want to spoil any of the plot here, yet this device is so worth mentioning because it's a difficult thing to pull off in writing when you have only a short space. Because of the history that we learn is had between the characters, it makes re-reading this text more and more satisfying.The love scenes are indeed hot, and the tension builds quickly, providing a satisfying conclusion when Chandler and Lucien finally get it together. I would have liked to see more explanation of the back story between the two lead characters, and I think it could have been stretched out into a longer book, offering more opportunities to explore Lucien's character. Lilith and Lucien's history could have been fleshed out, too, to offer a little more depth.There is a nice smooth flow to the storyline as it moves from one sequence to another. Although each action is described in detail there seems to be an unintentional tendency to cross into mundane territory. The author describes each action in detail to satisfy light readers. Overall a good book to take for your next appointment.Reading about vampires was never one of them. Until now.I was pleasantly surprised.This is Ross's greatest strength because it brings forth all too human expressions of doubt, fear, hope, insecurity, etc. as evidenced in both Chandler and Lucien's thought patterns. Ross makes such attributes stand out to the reader.Despite this, the erotic scenes are captured with perfect detail. Each word builds upon the excitement, relieves any tension and sucks the reader into gazing further. The generous description of Chandler right at the start gives us a vivid imagination about her body, and what she's capable of doing with it. All in all this story serves it purpose professionally, and definitely leaves me wanting more.When we become adults, we used to be the master of our own life, we used to believe in ourselves and to have a strict set of beliefs and principles.The story is very interesting, the plot is full of interesting details and the ending is quite unexpected. I'd recommend this intriguing reading.Ross writes with so much passion and intensity that you can almost feel yourself in the story. It's kind of hard for the reader not to be able to feel the same emotions that the characters display.I am a definitely becoming a fan of Sandra Ross's book collection.