Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsThis book may hold the record for the most conflicts created through vague communication.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 4, 2008
I loved the ending and what happened to Butch, but reading the entire book to be able to enjoy the ending was too painful. I kept wishing the book would be over. The author repeatedly used my pet peeve: conflict created through inaccurate assumptions and vague communication between the two main characters, Butch and Marissa. I was so angry that I started writing down page numbers for these conflicts. I counted fourteen. There may have been more. I give some examples in Spoilers below.
Secondly, I don't appreciate the author's cliffhanger style of writing. There are a lot of great ideas in this book: excellent plot, excellent suspense within events, and excellent writing with bad guys. So why must the author stop a scene in the middle of a suspenseful event, go to other characters and events, and then come back to the cliffhanger some pages later? For example on page 393, one man is on a ledge ready to jump off a building while his friend tries to talk him out of it. All of a sudden the first man jumps. Then the author switches to another character and scene for four pages. Finally, on page 397, the author returns to the first scene and tells what happens after the man jumps. She only did these scene interruption cliffhangers a few times in the book, but I would have preferred less of it. A couple of times I found myself skipping ahead to finish the scenes before returning to where I left off.
CAUTION SPOILERS:
Some of the conflicts created through inaccurate assumptions and vague communication follow. After their first kiss, Butch goes to Marissa's home to visit her. A servant tells him that she doesn't want to see him. Marissa didn't know he came calling. Her brother told the servant to say that. Now, Butch thinks she doesn't like him and stays away for months. Later, Butch is in intensive care recuperating from injuries. He may be contaminated with something, so everyone wears masks and protective suits. Marissa visits him without wearing a suit, and he yells at her to get out. She thinks he doesn't like her. He is doing it because he sees she is not wearing a suit and fears for her contamination safety. Of course they don't tell each other their true thoughts at the time. Another time, she is weak because she hasn't fed from a vampire for awhile. She is tempted to bite Butch, a human, but fears she wouldn't be able to control herself and might kill him. So she yells at him and tells him to get out. He assumes she doesn't want him anymore, and thinks their relationship is over. Neither one of them told each other their true thoughts at the time. Later, when she loses her virginity to Butch, she cries simply due to the pain of being the first time. Butch then leaves the compound and her, thinking he is no good for her and their relationship is over. Fourteen of these kinds of things? Please, no more.
Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: eight. Setting: current day Caldwell, NY. Copyright: 2007. Genre: paranormal romantic suspense.
For a list of my reviews of other books by this author, see my 5 star review of "Dark Lover" posted 1/09/08.
