Customer Reviews

Cursed

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Years ago, Alex asked Elizabeth out. She turned him down. In the twelve years that have passed since then, Elizabeth has haunted his dreams, leaving him unable to develop a relationship with any other woman in his life. He only wants his Beth Ann.

Now she is back in his waking life, and he is determined to break through her formidable defenses. Because being with her now may mean the difference in whether she and her family lives or dies in the very near future.

With the evil Maeve awakened and bent on vengeance, none of them are safe.

Jamie Leigh Hansen had a wonderful debut with her first novel, BETRAYED. With CURSED, the sequel to that first story, she proves she is no one-hit wonder as she delivers a paranormal romance that is even more compelling than its predecessor.

I totally fell for Alex in this book. I liked him a lot in BETRAYED, but getting to know him better in CURSED showed a man who is the epitome of hero in anyone's book. Sensitive, strong, thoughtful, and patient, he is the kind of guy who can kick major butt, but prefers to solve things without fighting whenever possible. That combination is exactly what Elizabeth needs in her life.

Elizabeth is such a giving person, with a warmth and sense of responsibility that has her sacrificing everything to help her family. It's no wonder that Alex loves her so much. Unfortunately, she is so fearful of repeating her mother's mistakes that she can't trust love, and chooses to be alone rather than risk her heart. Well, at least until Alex comes around again...

Jamie Leigh Hansen set the stage for the villain of CURSED in the previous story, and she really developed the character of Maeve more in this book. The woman is just evil through and through. Counterbalance to Maeve are the mysterious pair that work to protect those cursed by Maeve in both stories, Silas and Draven. I like this duo more and more, and am very intrigued to see what secrets will be unearthed about them in future sequels.

The never ending battle of good vs. evil has never been more heartrending or heartwarming than it is in Jamie Leigh Hansen's book CURSED. This sexy paranormal romance is definitely a must-read!

**Courtesy of Wild on Books**

'Cursed' is the follow-up to 'Betrayed' which featured the improbably-named Kalyss and Dreux and a plot concerning an evil queen who turned a man (Dreux) into stone. 'Cursed' focuses on Kalyss's partner in their dojo, Alex Foster, and also has the rather Lazarus-like Geoffrey, whom we met in the previous book, playing a part. Alex has always carried a torch for Beth Ann Raines, despite her rejecting him on the night of the Prom and moving away from Spokane. However Alex has been dreaming of her for some time, very realistic-feeling dreams, and they tie in with what he knows about the evil demon Maeve (who battled Dreux) and her doings.

When Alex sees Beth Ann in the flesh he instantly tries to reconnect with her, helping her with her flat tyre on her car. He discovers that she's living with ten children, the offspring of her brothers and sisters, whilst her mother (their former caregiver) is dying in hospital. Life for Beth, now known as Elizabeth, is incredibly busy and Alex wants to help her out.

Elizabeth needs to keep Alex at a distance, however, because she has a strange power over dreams and has previously locked people into dreams because she doesn't want to lose them. She doesn't realise Alex has some strange powers himself - can the two of them work together to change their destiny and keep all Elizabeth's charges safe?

Somehow this story didn't work for me. It took me several days to read as it wasn't at all gripping. In fact it felt that there wasn't really any significant thread running through the story. The overall plot was unusual but it didn't quite tie together. The most successful parts were when Elizabeth interacted with her nephews and nieces and, to some extent, with the rather-too-good-to-be-true Alex. However the sections with Maeve and the other fallen angels, plus Elizabeth's dealings with various people in dreams, and her attempts to change the possible destiny of her and her relatives, just didn't work at all for me. Although the book was a sequel, and I had read the previous one, I wasn't entirely sure what was going on the whole time and I think it would be even more confusing for anyone who hadn't read the previous story.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

A curse was cast by one of the most powerful of the original fallen angels, Maeve, the goddess of lust. The chaos caused was horrible. Then someone interfered with Maeve's curse and trapped her in the Tunnels of the Forgotten Ones. It has been almost a millennium, but now Maeve is free at last. She is weak, but her strength grows quickly. First Maeve will find out who interfered. Her vengeance will be swift and merciless. Then she will search for her powerful emerald.

Elizabeth "Beth" Raines has a life in Seattle as a designer and beta-tester of software applications. But for now she must return to Spokane and place the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her mother is dying in the hospital. Her brother is in prison. Her sister was in drug rehab, but has disappeared. Beth must not only care for her dying mother, but care for ten nieces and nephews. The house is run down, there is little money, and the kids delight in making things worse. There is seldom even escape in sleep. A monster stalks the corridors of her dream realm. Sometimes she can slip into a room of paradise with Alex, a man she care for but cannot have without harming him.

Alex Foster knows Beth has a secret. For the past twelve years she has pulled him into her dreams and ruined him for any other woman. But Alex has secrets too. He is a healer. He can heal inflicted wounds. But not if they be natural, such as cancer.) Alex knows that danger hunts Beth and the ten special children she is caring for. And only Alex and Beth's combined supernatural gifts can save them all from horrible deaths.

*** Though the plot is sound and characters are interesting, the narration needed by a pair fallen seraphim takes away some of the intensity of the story. However, I can understand why the author wrote this tale in such a way. Readers can learn much from the fallen pair that would be difficult, if not impossible, to learn from the main characters. If you have not read the first book, Betrayed do not fret. You will totally understand what is going on and why. All-in-all, an interesting twist in the paranormal romance genre. ***

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Beth has used her power over dreams to carry on a twelve year nocturnal relationship with with her highschool crush Alex, whom you'll remember as Kaylyss' business partner and loyal friend in Hansen's debut effort Betrayed. Beth has cherished her nighttime trysts with Alex, because her waking life is a nightmare. Dreams are not enough for Alex however and when he runs into Beth in `real life' he's bound and determined to pursue Beth even though she's initially not willing to let him be part of her life - it's pretty darn full with emotional baggage, family burdens and secrets that lurk in her darkest dreams. But Alex is truly a `dream' and he will fight for the right to help Beth shoulder her responsibilities and do his best to try and protect her from a fate that promises death to Beth all she holds dear.

The previous book, Betrayed, was a mishmash of romance, reincarnation, resurrection, curses and angels but the depth of the character development made that one work for me. Cursed is still a mix, though it's pared down to fewer elements, we're down to curses, angels, gifted, humans and vengeful goddesses, but with some darker elements, I didn't enjoy this one as well.

Beth as a character was okay, her dream powers and her paternal heritage were interesting, and Alex was just great, gorgeous and caring enough to take on the skittish Beth and all of her emotionally damaged family - a true knight in shining armor. The pair's passionate connection is established right off the bat, most of their hookups are in the dream world, and the rest of the story isn't super romancey as Alex tries to win Beth's trust and that of her damaged nieces and nephews. Hansen does a good job of developing Beth's family, and showing just how scarred their parents abandonment has left them and how much they want the love that Alex gives freely.

The parts of the story I had real problems with though were with the lust goddess Maeve, who as in the previous book is responsible for the curse this time on Beth's family. In Maeve's thread she has just been set free from a thousand year imprisonment and it takes sex and blood to bring her back to power. Hansen describes Maeve's sex with her hybrid man/spider henchmen and the use of his many extra hairy appendages in detail - I found this to be truly icky.

From the ending, it is clear that Hansen has more books in the works - Geoffrey and Kai still need their HEA's and angels Silas and Draven are still working behind the scenes trying to balance out Maeve's machinations - but with Maeve still in the picture for the next books, I am not looking forward to the next installment as enthusiastically as I was looking forward to this one.

Since they attended high school together, Alex has loved Elizabeth. However, although she feels for him, she has made it clear that an intimate relationship beyond friendship is impossible. He assumes he suffers from unrequited love, but she has secrets that keep her from reaching out to him. Alex is a healer whose touch can cure anyone; Elizabeth is a dream weaver with the ability to ensnare people in her nightmares. Although she loves Alex, she fears what she will do to him especially since her father is a powerful fallen angel who is battling her soul for control of her mind and body. Thus she left him and their hometown.

Elizabeth has returned home to help her family while Alex knows as he did before she left he still loves her. However, besides her rogue angel dad, a goddess has plans for Alex; anyone in the way must die and who knows (besides Ms. Hansen) what else might crawl out from the Tunnels of the Forgotten Ones.

Somewhat overwhelming with a large cast and so much happening, CURSED, the sequel to BETRAYED is an intriguing romantic urban fantasy. The story line is filled with action, but at its best when either or both lead characters are at the vortex of the plot. Readers will wonder whether Elizabeth and Alex have a future together and for that matter whether either has a future at all.

Harriet Klausner

I am sorry to disappoint the first two reviewers who obviously are more sophisticated than I am when it comes to reading paranormal romances. Since I am not a professional reviewer, I have difficulty grasping deep, depressing plots that go on and on with details that require having read some other book to understand. Granted I picked this book up not knowing it was part of a series and that there was a prior book - my bad! While I accept that a previous book would have been helpful I still could not stand Elizabeth or Alex or for that matter any of the other pathetic characters in this character dense book. I will not call it a romance because even 300 pages into to this 374 page book there is barely even a kiss let alone any serious romance just constant denials of any attraction by Elizabeth and continued begging for more from Alex. How can anyone stand such depressing a book filled with unrelenting evil, death, drugs without even the slightest rest with an intriguing romance. I would say unless you like wordy books without the least bit of romance and lots of depressing characters and situations this is not the book for your.