A series starter for readers who like their romances with hard-charging plots and light character development.
Nash’s (Looking for a Hero, 2016, etc.) energetic prose drives this supernatural, erotic romance that offers a new twist on the Arthurian legend.
This first novel in a planned series sets the stage for a clash of realms, beginning with the coming-of-age of Arthur Camulus. Arthur, 19, is the only living, direct descendant of Merlin, “the most powerful Nephil ever to walk the Earth.” As a Nephil—the offspring of a fallen angel and a human—Arthur is scheduled to activate his magical Druid powers at age 20. But before that happens, he goes rogue to escape Mab, his clan’s alpha, who has plans to enslave him. Arthur’s lover, Cybele, joins him in Wales,* where he aims to develop his powers independently, following a solo “Ordeal” with “No guide, no mentor.” He attracts the attention of not only Mab, but also the three archangels who run Heaven while God naps—Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel—and Vaclav Dusek, the alpha of a rival clan. Dusek furthers his aim to unleash demonic forces into the world while Raphael advances his own independent agenda. Arthur and Cybele, along with Cybele’s twin, Luc, escape Dusek and are safe in a London apartment—as long as they stay inside and don’t do magic. But with “hellfiends” swarming the world, how long can that last? Erotic scenes dot the novel, and the sparkiest involve Mab and her accoutrements (“A ball gag….A massive strap-on dildo”). The foreplay between Arthur and Cybele is sometimes painful to read, though, as when her nails “barely” scrape “the tip of his engorged penis.” Characters occasionally get convenient amnesia, apparently to advance the plot: “How could she have forgotten?” thinks Cybele when her blood accidentally triggers Arthur’s demonic side. The worldbuilding is generally strong, however, and it will sweep readers through the story. Taut prose prevails throughout: “Luc flicked his wrists, calling his hellfire. Sparks of green gathered in his palms. One good blast combusted the corpse. Flesh and bone burned.” That said, the overused term “magic” could have used some fresh alternatives.
A series starter for readers who like their romances with hard-charging plots and light character development.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-941017-01-2
Page Count: 370
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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