Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Idea ; Not So Great Development, July 8, 2007
1,000 years ago a truly evil man made a pact with the devil. The man would get about 150 year lifespan, the ability to heal almost instantaneously, and would be able to shapeshift. The devil in return got lots and lots of evil brought into the world, the dude's soul and the souls of all of his Russian descendants. Everyone was quite happy with the whole arrangement until a modern-day descendant, Konstantine Wilder, fell in love & married a gypsy, reformed and had 4 children with her. As the children grew up, the devil decided the pact was not being upheld (just no evil being done) and commanded this branch of the family to be wiped out.
Enter our hero, Jasha Wilder, who is able to shapeshift into a wolf. Jasha is in charge of his own little piece of the world. He has a hugely successful business, wealth, good looks and an administrative assistant, Ann Smith, who is nuts about him. Ann brings a contract to be signed out to the Wilder estate and accidentally catches Jasha in the midst of his change from wolf to man. She also unknowingly brings his enemies, who know she will lead them to Jasha. The rest of the book is Jasha and Ann's attempt to break the curse, as well as the romance that develops between them.
The character of Jasha was a twit. He was smug, arrogant and worse, patronizing to Ann throughout the entire book. You know the plotline - When the hero KNOWS he is better and smarter than the poor misguided little girl? If Ann wasn't a doormat, she was at the least, expensive carpet. She was madly in love with the man from the moment she set eyes on him (read infatuated), but felt unworthy because she was an orphan with a huge secret (which really fell so completely flat that I wish the entire book could be rewritten without it.) She constantly was giving into the guy, and downplaying herself. She was often caught up in things that repulsed her and horrified her, but it was okay, because She Loved Him! Oh, yuck. You had a hard time seeing the love between Jasha and Ann, wondered when the love actually happened and at the end of the story, was still wondering if they really WERE in love.
I enjoyed some parts of this book - enough that I will definitely buy the next in the series. (I imagine as there are 4 children, 4 books). I loved the old Konstantine Wilder and his wife, Zorana. I think the romance between these two would have been a better book than Jasha and Ann. Now THAT would have been a romance! However, Jasha and Ann just didn't work for me, and here's hoping the next book will begin to flesh out the family background, fill in the plot holes and make the romance work better between the hero and heroine.
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good series premise... poor execution., July 7, 2007
I was very excited that Dodd was going to try her hand at paranormal. I enjoy her books (except for her recent historicals which leave something to be desired). The premise for this series is extremely interesting but the actual telling fell way short of being good.
There is so much wrong with this book that I'll just keep it down to 4 basic points:
1. The characters were were not engaging, or even likeable, so it was very hard to care what happened to them.
2. There was no discernable emotional connection between the hero/heroine. No attraction. No spark. No love. Nothing.
3. The plot was poorly done - it felt disorganized, choppy, and the suspense was lacking.
4. It had a lot of unsanswered questions. Things that should have been expounded upon to make the world and plot more concrete were addressed only in a vague fashion that left me wondering.
Paranormal may just not be the genre for Ms. Dodd. Not all romance writers can successfully write for every sub-genre, and I'm afraid that this might be the case for her. This is her first attempt (that I know of) at paranormal, however, so perhaps she will get better.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fresh addition to the genre..., September 23, 2007
Ok, I've read the lukewarm reviews and I'll concede the point that at times it was hard to believe the hero had really fallen in love, and at times the plot moved almost too fast. That being said, I...could...not...put...the...book...down.
In a genre that's become full of whining vampires and werewolves "I'm evil but I have so much sexual charisma you must love me & save me from myself because of course I'm redeemable and not really all that evil" this is a refreshing change.
Ms. Dodd has managed to create an original story line that weaves the usual werewolf with the "epic battle of evil vs good" mythology, throws in a curse for good measure, old Russia, and wallah! You've got a fictional story that easily allows the willing suspension of disbelief. Yes it contains elements of those other paranormals but there's realistic dialogue, the love scenes are dominant but seductive, and the characters know who they are. The hero is not wallowing in self-pity; he's capable, enjoys the positives of his abilities while acknowleding the negatives. The heroine believes herself a coward, but when the chips are down she doesn't back down, & gives as good as she gets without compromising herself.
The action is at times intense, and the plot moves quickly, perhaps too quickly. I would have liked more detail and history, plus some time for the characters to relax more into each other, but realistically...how would you react if you suddenly ended up on the run from killers? Plus these two have been coworkers for years so they do know each other's character, if not secrets.
I hope as the series evolves we'll get to know Ann & Jasha more, even as we meet the other characters. For those things missing, often these things are revealed over the course of a series, if the author is good enough to weave a continuous story rather than a collection of stand alone books. I'm willing to bet this'll be the case for "Darkness Chosen." I mean really, do you want to know everything now???
To sum up, it's good!
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