Customer Reviews

The Saint (Wildside Romance)

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

 

 

What if Santa Claus was real, a death fey who refused to kill, whose purpose in life was to spread peace and love? He loves the children - all the children whether they be human, fey or goblins. The goblins didn't like it and poisoned him over a hundred years ago and left him to wander in the frozen north with the polar bears. Killing him doesn't work since he just comes back.

Adora's been hired to write his biography and feels that this is a sign that her career has hit an all time low. After all, the man thinks that he's Santa Claus! Unfortunately, he's very attractive as well and she doesn't want to get involved with anyone let alone someone who is obviously crazy.

The story is a good one, but it's more about myths, religions and a changing world than the romance. This book can be read alone; however, it will be more enjoyable if the others were read first. Most of the characters from the previous books make cameos in this one.

I am disappointed that Ms Jackson states that this is the last book in the series. She's created an interesting world and a world involved in a great deal of change. There's so much that she could do with it.

The Saint traveled the planet spreading good cheer, encouraging love between people, and destroying evil. More renowned as Santa Claus he abruptly vanished over a hundred-sixty years ago, but finally in 2006 he has been found wandering the northern wastelands living amidst polar bears and suffering from total amnesia. The Fey assume most likely the Goblins, who hijacked Christmas and painted the Ho Ho Ho fat boy image, managed to slip him a Mickey; the drug Fed wiped out his memory. Currently he recovers in the fey community of Cadalach.

Appalled to know how the Goblins stole Christmas, Kris, as his friends and family call him, hires author Adora Navarra to write his biography though the writer's more popular works collect dust on library shelves. She, in turn, is concerned about accepting a job from an obvious nut case, but needs the money that his Armani suit represents. What really frightens her is her attraction to the lunatic who hired her. Adora begins to wonder if insanity is catching as she meets fey, dragons and goblins when he takes her to his hometown. She will soon learn this is only the tip of the magic iceberg as she plays a key role in an upcoming scenario.

Fans will enjoy this fun whimsical Wildside romantic fantasy that adds depth to the chronicles that so many readers appreciate. The story line is action-packed as Kris plans to regain his original image of a hunk not afraid to fight for what he believes is right. Interestingly he finds himself fascinated by the mortal, having given up human females centuries ago. The key to this superb fantasy is Adora, whose reactions seem so perfect from initially questioning her safety with her lunatic client to pondering whether insanity is catching to falling in love while battling at her beloved's side against Goblins. Melanie Jackson provides a delightful charmer.

Harriet Klausner

The Saint is the newest (and supposedly last installment) in the Wildside series created by Ms. Jackson. I have followed all her books and The Saint is a entertaining, well-written addition to the series.

The book centers around the Death Fey named Kris Kingle aka Santa Claus. He has reappeared after centuries of being lost and is ready to change the world for the better. Adora Navarra (great name!) is the biographer he hires to write his life story. The strongest thing about this book is the characterization of the two leads. The author does a great job in describing what makes Kris and Adora tick. As a centuries old Fey, I was worried that the author would not do the character of Kris justice, but I was wrong. He is a strong-minded individual with centuries of experience and it comes across while reading the book. Adora is a human with no knowledge of her Fey ancestry who must make tough changes and realizations in this book. The internal struggles of her character were believable and I loved the interaction between her and "Joy."

This book was also very heavy with political, cultural and spiritual questionings about Christmas and the state of man/species relationships. It was not heavy in the romance area and Kris and Adora do not hook up until almost the end of the book. At the end, the main characters are still struggling with making the relationship work (which I thought was really believable given who they were and what they were going through.) So don't pick up this book expecting a heavy romance story!

My one problem was that according to the author, this is the last book in the series! While I respect the fact that she chose not to wrap things up all nicely, she left so much unfinished- what happens now that humans know about the Fey? What about the characters of Chloe and Zayn? I really think their is a lot Ms. Jackson could write about in the Wildside universe and hope she considers writing more books later on down the line.

All in all a great book and overall good series.

WOW, Have finished the book and must say I loved it. Will write a better review after I have finished digesting it all. I do want to say that I love writers that do their research and know the subject on which they write. Melanie Jackson knows her mythology and fairy stories, so can realistically create her own world with touchstones for the rest of us. It is always good to read someone who knows Wodin from Odin. I am sorry that this series is at an end (but am hoping it is just a temporary end).

We need to write to Melanie Jackson AND her publisher to let them know how much we love her books and her Wildside Series and want them to continue. She has left so many juicy threads to be picked up and woven into more stories. Her goblin world is so rich that it needs to continue.

While I found the story of Kris and Adora absorbing and satisfying, I still want to taste more of the Ms. Jackson's world. Please don't let this series end!

For over a century and a half, Santa Claus, aka Kris Kringle, has been lost, wandering in a haze of amnesia around among the polar bears at the North Pole. Now, he's been found, and is not thrilled with the lies circulating about him; for one thing, he's not a fat, old man, but an ancient, though young seeming, handsome, fey. To set this misinformation straight, Kris hires Adora Navarra, a seldom read biographer who hears voices, or rather, one voice, named Joy. She thinks he's delusional, but needs the money, so takes the job. Soon, Adora is plunged into a mystical world unlike anything of which she could dream, and on the verge of finding out not just the truth about Santa Claus, but about herself. It may be more than she's prepared to find, yet Kris needs her to be strong enough to accept all of it, no matter how strange.

**** This is the most imaginative Santa Claus story you will likely ever find, and it's a unique entry in the Lutin series. Melanie Jackson has built a fantastic world; it is only appropriate that St. Nick has a place in it, as each book is a gift. ****

Amanda Killgore

I've loved reading all of the Wildside Romances and this one sounded really interesting, which it is. Santa Claus it turns out is actually a very good looking death fey who isn't at all fat and jolly looking. He's also been given up for dead, murdered by the goblins but now after a hundred + years he's back stronger than ever. The story is a good and very interesting end to the series(maybe?). But it does place a lot more emphasis on the actual storyline instead of a romance and because of that may not appeal to everyone. But if you would at least like to see things all wrapped up then I would recommend that you give The Saint another look.

First things first...this really was not a romance. I would more call this a psychological, sociological and religious ficticious exploration. There was not much romance stuff going on...and trust me I know romance. There was no real villan and the ending kinda just crept up on you.....very slowww. Half way through the book I was at the point of yelling "get to it already". It was all pretty much a big blur to me so if you want romance read Sherrilyn Kenyon or Gena Showalter since there was nothing much going on here. Interesting fantasy concept...pretty darn nothing romance.

I was very dissappointed in this book. All of the other Wildside books have been very intresting and edge of your seat, dont want to put them down. This book is simply a soapbox for the writers ideals on life and the state of our planet. Thats fine and her absolute right to write this kind of book, however, I found myself skipping whole passages because she went on and on and on constantly and I got very tired of this. This book is less a Wildside romance and more a political statement.

This book appears in the romance aisle and has the typical romance cover, but it really doesn't qualify as a romance, since very little actual plot or story time overall is used to deal with the attraction between the leads. It is, in reality, a melange of things: a social treatise, a psychological profile of the main characters (both of whom have Serious Issues), a retelling of historical beliefs and myths. Without the interesting writing style of the author, this book would be a complete mess; as it is, it ends up being odd, but interesting. If you are looking for romance, look elsewhere. If you want to spend a few hours contemplating the nature and purpose of religion, the difficulties of transcending differences in culture (and the resulting cruelty, advertent and inadvertent), and the commercialization of Christmas while occasionally delighting in an interesting turn of phrase, this is the book for you.

This was the first book I've read by Melanie Jackson. It was painful and more than a little depressing. The book showed promise, I'm all for reinventing the otherworld, and the lead characters had some initial spark. Unfortunately, the book devolved into a lot of preaching. The author had some good things to say, but it went on...and on. I had to put it down read something else and come back to it a couple of times. This book should not be classified as a romance. I felt little to no chemistry between Kris and Adora. And the goblins just didn't do it for me. I may try one more of Ms. Jackson's books, because I have read such good reviews, but this was a total letdown for me.

If you like paranormal romance I'd highly recommend Kresley Cole's "A Hunger Like No Other."