Customer Reviews

Divine Fantasy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read the other 3 glowing reviews by other readers and can't believe this book got a 4 1/2 star rating! Warning, spoilers ahead!

I'd be the first to say when you read paranormal romance you have to check reality as you know it at the first page, but this is just too much!

Ambrose was "killed" and resurrected by some "DARK MAN" while serving Pancho Villa in 1914, then he was changed into a werewolf. Joyous (our heroine) has a heart condition that caused her parents to abandon her to boarding schools all her life. Poor little rich girl. She ends a bad relationship (not marriage as previously stated by another reviewer) after she loses a baby (because of said heart condition) and flies off to Fiji on a whim on Christmas day.

She meets Ambrose and suddenly they are swamped by zombies and golums and all sorts of icky things. I mean it's one trauma after another. No real reason for the timing and purpose of the zombies is given until much later in the book. They leave the island and go back to one of her many houses she inherited from her parents and the zombies just keep on coming.

By the time you finally find out why the zombies are attacking, the ick factor is just unreal. Then during a battle, Ambrose (in his werewolf form) scratches Joyous. That means she'll turn furry with the next moon. Her heart won't survive the change, so he decides to kill and resurrect her (even though he's never done this before) in the midst of a battle. Then the FAE show up for no apparent reason and she announces she's preggers (after she's resurrected) and the book just ends!!!!

I was so mad when I finished this book I wanted to fling it across the room! If I could give it a 0 star I would! Don't waste your time.

Melanie Jackson has done it again! Divine Fantasy is a slam-bam, horror adventure that combines romance and exotic locale. Joyous Jones, the narrator of the tale, is a witty verbalist that is more than a match for Ambrose Bierce, whom she meets at his secluded island resort. And that is where the fun begins. Between fighting off the walking dead and avoiding the full moon, these two loners find the other half of their souls.

As a child her parents exiled her because of a heart defect that made her imperfect in their minds; Audrey Atheneum, which is not her "joyous" birth name, but instead her adult pen name as a biographer of the almost famous quirky people, was shipped off to boarding schools as out of sight out of mind was the mantra of her family. The worst time was holidays, which the other kids looked forward to while Audrey knew she would remain alone.

She met Max Ober and fell in love, but after a miscarriage they broke up partly because he turned to the big breasted Bavarian floozy efficient Gretchen. Needing time to heal and with no one to turn to as her parents are dead besides they were never there for her when she was alive, Audrey leaves Bavaria for Fiji where on Dolphin Island she meets author Ambrose Bierce, who allegedly died after vanishing in 1914. However, her fun in the sun turns even stranger when she and Ambrose battle zombies and ghouls while he uses his magic to keep her heart from failing.

This is a fascinating twist on the DIVINE FANTASY universe of Melanie Jackson as much of the story line is dialogue between the heroine and the author of The Devil's Dictionary starting with their first Dr. Livingstone, I presume" encounter. There is plenty of action even with the discussions and musings of the A level lead characters and a great final spin. Fans seeking something different will appreciate this clever fantasy because in between the musings is war with zombies and ghouls.

Harriet Klausner

I don't write too many reviews but when I just happened to see the last one written here, I became highly motivated to voice my opinion. This was my first time reading any of Melanie Jackson's works, and I LOVED this book!

First of all, a "review" is NOT a synopsis. Someone whose whole review consists of "spoilers" is not being very kind or fair to someone who is thinking of purchasing the book.

Secondly, I'm sorry, but the "reviewer" from Alabama totally missed the point/premise of this book. I believe Divine Fantasy was meant to be highly imaginative FUN. Sort of like that bad "B" movie that you know is ridiculous but you just have to keep watching. Only a person unable to grasp the concept of humor would give this book a poor rating. Obviously the other reviewers understood the concept.