An imaginative and entertaining addition to the Argeneau world.
The popular Argeneau romance series expands its horizons with a mysterious island with fantastic beasts and a diabolical doctor determined to change life as we know it and find immortality no matter the cost.
Domitian Argenis has been waiting millennia to find his mate and over a decade to claim her, so once he discovers she’s been lured to Venezuela under questionable circumstances, nothing will stop him from following her there, neither the potential danger nor the fact that a handful of immortals have disappeared recently, all tied to the man who's offered Domitian a job. Moments after boarding the helicopter that will take him to meet Dr. Dressler, he's drugged and he wakes in a tropical paradise with his fated mate, Sarita, a Canadian police officer who's also been drugged and left on the jungle island in a luxury home, lured by the story that her grandmother has been injured in a fall. Alone but surrounded by cameras, the two succumb to their supernatural attraction but also plan to get off the island and search for clues to help them. Escaping leads to even more danger, though, as they find Dr. Dressler’s nearby island compound and a veritable menagerie of creatures with manipulated human and animal DNA. Having mastered this dubious scientific breakthrough, Dressler is now determined to crack the Argeneau brand of immortality and is conducting inhumane experiments on captive immortals to that end. Sarita and Domitian find unexpected allies who help them connect with the Argeneau clan and outside help, and through their adventures, Sarita just may begin to believe in love and fate. Bestseller Sands’ newest title is a rip-roaring story that opens up a new thread—and enemy—to her paranormal world and will delight her fans; for the casual observer, though, there may be a few too many coincidences to make the story completely satisfying.
An imaginative and entertaining addition to the Argeneau world.Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-246884-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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