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
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.
After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.
No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods—but not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don’t believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could return—and soon. “Do you not see? It is a cycle.” The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief system—Queen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tané of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the South—are linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a “chosen one” aspect to the tale, it’s far from the main point. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn’t new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels (The Song Rising, 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63557-029-8
Page Count: 848
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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