Review: Grace tempts Fate
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 10, 2012
I wanted to love this book, I really did. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two in the Grace Murphy series: Huntress and Rifts, despite the cliffhanger ending on the second, and eagerly anticipated the release of Volcanoes. Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectation. Honestly, I almost stopped reading it about 1/3 of the way through and forced myself to continue. It picks up after the 1/3 mark.I didn't remember Grace being such a whiny little girl in the first two books. Or nearly as prickly. This one, Grace goes waaaaaay overboard on the pity parties and/or verbally skewers anyone who dares to present an alternate opinion (or /gasp! not keep her, as the least-trained Hunter, completely in the loop about everyone's actions and motivations--completely annoying). That said, the author leaves a LOT of room for character growth, which does occur. We see Grace put on her big girl panties and take care of business in a good way. The ending, while not a cliffhanger, was kind of ambiguous and abrupt. I THINK the author was referring to one character but maybe she meant a different one? (I'm really not sure.) Although she could be referring to a completely different character. It's just not as clear as it should have been. One other area that could have been better is summation of previous books. I've seen some authors do a lot more and some do less. There's a fine line and the author really only needed to review just a tiny bit more. There were a few things that happened in the first two books I didn't remember happening that the author could have thrown in a sentence refresher and been done with it. Although, maybe most people really just need the mention of it and not a little bit of background. Like I said, it's a fine line between too little and too much.I did enjoy reading about the developing relationship with Grace and her mother. The author did a stellar job there. Moms and daughters... `nuff said. I also really enjoyed the introduction of Poseidon and look forward to reading more about him in the next one. This really felt like a transition book for the series. The author wisely left many threads active for future exploration.I guess Volcanoes could be read as a standalone novel, but a new reader would really miss out on a lot of character motivations and events from the previous two. My recommendation is to read the series in order. It's a good series and well-worth the read. They all read quickly and contain lots of action and fast-paced dialogue. I recommend this to people who like to read the Queen Betsy series, especially the first ones.Sensuality: a kiss or two, no sex. So far, this series is safe for younger readers.Rating: 3 stars