Customer Reviews

Moving Target

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Spoiler ahead... If all you Elizabeth Lowell fans have been waiting with baited breath for Erik & Serena's story after Untamed, Forbidden and Enchanted, this book is a huge letdown. As a fan who has read a lot of her early novels, and all of her historicals and contemps, the author's recent books simply are not up to par with her older works of fiction. In this book she spends too much time on snappy dialogue between too many characters; she was clearly trying to set up the context of characters for the entire new Rarities Series. If she would have cut out the non-essential chatter we could have pared 40 pages or so OR had room for important things like the medieval storyline. And let's face it: the author is not Iris Johansen. Thrilling intrigue are not her forte. If she would have stuck to what she clearly has excelled at - romantic fiction - she would have had a surefire winner. The chemistry between the characters is forced; the medieval Erik & Serena are used to bring the modern twosome together yet all we hear about the characters of the past is practically Erik's torment over what he has squandered. Tidbits here and tidbits there. Of course the book wraps up with a tidy bow on that story, but the meat of the medieval drama is non existent. It was almost as if the author gave us what we wanted - the sequel to Enchanted - but had written all she could about that timeline in the previous books and couldn't come up with a real story for the sequel so she placed them on the back burner. Such a disappointment, I wanted to stamp my feet and scream when I turned the last page. I hope next time Elizabeth Lowell writes the book we want to read.

Elizabeth Lowell's "Moving Target" is another in a long line of fast-paced, exciting, romantic suspense stories. In many ways, this book was the meeting place, or reunion as it were, or many of Lowell's other stories. The dangerous Donovan men, including the hereto unexamined Lawe--dare we hope his story is coming soon?--and the indominable April Joy, make a minor appearance. Erik the Learned and Serena of the Silverfells, mentioned in the Enchanted, Forbidden and Untamed series play an integral in this modern version of their story. While I have always wished that Lowell would tell Erik's story after reading the others', this was the next best thing. The action prevents you from putting the book down until it was finished and the love story makes you image what it would be like to actually meet your soul mate. If there was one negative that I could mention, it is that there are a plethora of characters brought into play whose purposes are vague and unimportant, which made it difficult to track those who were involved and in what way. Overall however, the book is another example of Lowell's exceptional work.

Until this book I have never regretted buying anything by Elizabeth Lowell. She repeatedly introduces new "characters" and then just sorta leaves them hanging there. I got no sense that her main characters were actually people. Everyone in this book is one dimensional. The book doesn't end, it just stops.

Moving Target rewards the reader with more than suspense and romance. Lowell's books are quite informative on unusual topics. Unlike her others featuring the jewel authority family of Donovans, Moving Target focuses on the world of rare manuscripts. The interesting characters will engage the reader quickly. I could not put this book down until I found out if Serena would find the Book of the Learned. In fact, I finished it in one sitting. I really appreciate an author like Lowell who does her research to make her fiction believable. I only have one question--when is she publishing her next book?

I have read every book I could ever find by EL, and I have never before been disappointed. With Moving Target I am not only disappointed with the story but I am mad at myself for paying full hardcover price for what turned out to be a very poor read. The story of Erik and Serena has been a long time in coming but the characters turned out to be uninteresting and their story boring. There were many characters thrown in from previous EL series but their presence in the story line was never explained, there was way too much yakity-yak between charatcers, and I quickly grew bored with the History 101 class on vellum and weaving. I read an EL novel for one main reason...romance...which is completely missing from this book. On a scale of 1 to 10 the passion between the main characters is a 2. I should have paid more attention to the previous reviews but I just could not believe that El would write a book I would regret reading. This book is so bad that I did not even finish it. It was PAINFUL trying to get through the first 200 pages, and by that time I had completely lost interest. I donated the unfinished book to a school rummage sale, where it sold for $2.00, a price more fitting the quality of writing. If there are going to be more novels in this series I will wait for the paperback version and then only check it out of the library. Take some advise from a true EL fan, SAVE YOUR MONEY.

I was so disappointed with Moving Target. I loved the Untamed, Forbidden, and Enchanted books and always wondered why Erik never got a story of his own. When I found out about this book I was so excited. The book just didn't deliver. The characters were not up to her usual standards and the story was no where near as romantic. I'm hoping this is her only book like this. This is the only book I have ever been diasappointed in by her and I have every other book she has written.

I eagerly waited for almost ten years to hear the story of Erik from the "Forbidden" "Untamed" and "Enchanted" trilogy. Though I am not usually a fan of medieval romances, Lowell's trilogy had me begging for more. I fell madly in love with all the characters and patiently waited for Erik's story. When I read that Lowell was finally going to bring him to life in her next novel I couldn't wait for the release date. All I can say is that I was glad I didn't spend the money to buy it in hardcover. If you like mystery romances the story between the two modern characters was fine but not what I really cared about. I really wanted to know more about the medieval Erik and Serena. Lowell left us hanging when she created the strongly written character of Erik in the first three books and I felt cheated by both her and the publishing company when a fourth book never came out. I thought she would redeem herself with this book. But, alas there just wasn't enough of the medieval characters story told to matter to those of us who cared. If you haven't read the original trilogy than the book is probably an enjoyable read. I'm sure I'm not the only one though who expected more than what I got. Shame on Lowell and her publishers for trying to kill two birds with one stone in such a sloppy way. If you don't want to be disappointed by how little is ever told about Erik and Serena in this book than I suggest you don't read it! However, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, than you'll probably enjoy it. Too much background knowledge of where the medieval characters were coming from and no real filler ruined it for me.

I have never been so disappointed in an Elizabeth Lowell book as with Moving Target. I have read all of Mrs. Lowells books and this was an absolute let down and in no way did it even come close to the magical and passionate Enchanted, Forbidden, Untamed or any of her other books for that matter. There was too much talk about vellum this and palimpset that, and blah, blah, blah. There were too many characters and too much annoying banter between the sexes. Next to nothing was revealed about what was actually in "The Book..." or who the characters were. Overall there was too much talk, not enough action, virtually no passion, and generally boring with an abrupt ending. I am very sorry I paid the hardcover price for this book.

I am a HUGE fan of E.Lowell's medieval love stories (Untamed, Forbidden and Enchanted), so when I heard that Erik the Learned's story was going to be in "Moving Target," I just had to have this book. Boy, do I regret it! This book, I have to say, was a waste of my time. She spent so much time introducing new characters that I never got the chance to really know anybody - not even the main characters Erik and Serena. I found myself skipping several pages, impatient with all the yakity-yak. True, the stuff about medieval manuscripts and weaving are well researched, but let's face it - we read romance novels for the - duh! - romance! The author was so busy educating me about paper and weaving, and too preoccupied with making a flimsy mystery-thriller storyline believable (unsuccessfully, I might add), that she forgot to make me care about the main characters. I'm sorry, but this book was truly pathetic. I'm disappointed that Ms. Lowell won't be writing Erik the Learned's story. I'll just stick with the Untamed series and pretend that Moving Target was never written.

This book could have been a whole lot better. The history of the Book of the Learned was never well-explained, nor was the relationship between the original Erik and Serena. I guess the whole mystical/memory thing between modern Erik and Serena, as well as the importance of the Book as something other than historic art, would have made much more sense to me with a better handling. As it was, neither hero nor heroine were particularly interesting characters. Frankly, Mr. Picky the cat and the afterword about Lowell's trip to Scotland were the best parts of the book.

Can we have more Donovans please?