Customer Reviews

Servant: The Acceptance

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoy Lori Foster's books (aka L.L. Foster)and this new series by her is great and shows wonderful potential as a series. Good plot, interesting characters, wonderful tension and chemistry between the main and secondary characters, but the reason I only gave it 3 stars is because I kept having to stop and pick up my dictionary to figure out what the hell was happening! I actually wrote down the words that dragged me away from the story, there were 31!

I feel I am a fairly well read, intelligent human being. But the words used were so grandiose they actually took away from the story, not added to it as I'm sure the author and editor hoped to achieve with an apparent overuse of a thesaurus. I'm always happy to learn new words, but I felt I was getting beat over the head with the collegiate word use and placement . . .

Some examples I copied are these: "Annoying sedulousness", "Exigous weight", "endogenous perception", "calumnious statement", "And so went the banausic nature of her life."

I hope her next book tones down the over the top words, so the flow will be better! I really like this heroine, but I don't think I can sit through another grammar course like this last book.

The chronicle was superlative. The phraseology was analogous to someone stimulating their thesaurus and procuring the most unintelligible utterances obtainable.

Get the picture? When I could get past all of the hundred dollar words, it was a great story!!!!!

I don't know how the words got past the editor, but if the next volume is written the same way, I won't be going back for more. At times it got so bad I actually tried to put simple words in their place just so the text would flow better.

Someone needs to take away her "Word-A-Day" toilet paper!

I was actually going to comment on this myself. I enjoyed the story a lot, but the high level vocabulary throughout the book seemed excessive and unnecessary. Tended to take away from the story as I sat thinking through the vocabulary to decide what was being said. I must say I have read master's thesis with less complicated vocabulary.

Plot Summary: Gabrielle Cody is a paladin, a holy warrior in a fight against evil. God calls her with a pain in her gut and gives her supernatural strength, endurance, and vision. In this second installment, Gabby lives in the attic above a whore-house, and protects the hookers in-between answering holy summons to destroy evil. Detective Luther Cross has tracked her down again, and he must choose what to believe; is Gabby on a mission from God, or is she a psychotic lunatic? In addition to her building romance with Luther, Gabby finds that her circle of improbable friends is growing, which is a surprise only to her.

I wanted to read this book because Amazon choose it as their number one romance pick for 2008. I have to say they have good, if unconventional, taste. The romance in this book is more like a tug-of-war, rather than the traditional boy meets girl, boy gets girl set up. Maybe that's why it feels so fresh and exciting to read.

The heroine is lovable like Oscar the Grouch. Gabby is a true social misfit, and she has no filter between her brain and her mouth, so the most outlandish and cutting comments spew forth without thought. Just being her friend requires the patience and understanding of a saint. On the other hand, they all know that Gabby would spit in the Grim Reaper's eye before allowing any harm to touch an innocent. She is a walking contradiction, everything noble and pure we'd want in our superhero, but also cruel, scared, and insecure, like a mean dog who has been beaten down often and hard.

Luther Cross cannot let Gabby go, and neither can he deny the strangeness he witnesses in her presence. Her ability to pinpoint evil is either a gift from above, or too much of a chilling coincidence. The romance between Luther and Gabby takes several huge steps in this book, however it is far from a done deal. I'm looking forward to seeing this relationship continue to develop in book three, "Servant: The Kindred," due out August 2009. I recommend reading book one, "Servant: The Awakening", first.

Sorry but the 2 stars were for the wordiness. It was awful. I would be really into the story and then SAT word time. It kept breaking me out of Gaby's world and making me frustrated. This seroiusly made me want to pitch the book in the trash can. I have a college dergree and read contantly, but this was rediculous. If this is how Lori will write from now on she is off my reading list. Some of the words weren't even used correctly! What were the editors thinking letting this junk past? Sorry guys but this is not worth your time even for Foster fans.

Gaby has grown up a complete outsider since she not only is an orphan, but she also has paranormal abilities that make people fear and dislike her. For as long as she can remember, she could sense evil from afar and see the bad in people. She has unusual strength, speed and fighting skills, but when her ability kicks in, it comes with severe pain and makes her mostly blind to whatever else is going on around her. When she was 17, she met a priest who finally helped her understand that she wasn't mad or evil and from then on she saw her paranormal powers as a gift and duty from god, meant to help her fight evil. But after the priest's death she has been alone, always on the outside and at risk from the law that would see her as a mad killer.
In book 1, 'The Awakening', Gaby made friends with Mort and met Detective Luther Cross. They felt very attracted to each other but her less than law-abiding lifestyle made it impossible to let him know too much about her abilities and activities. When she thought that Mort had died and was afraid that Luther might arrest her, Gaby left. She moved into a bad neighbourhood in order to protect the prostitutes living there. But Mort isn't dead and neither he nor Luther can forget her. When Luther finds her, they are even more strongly attracted to each other than before and when he tries to get Gaby to open up, she lets him see more of her unusual abilities. But when she starts hunting a serial killer who tortures and murders prostitutes, Luther's belief in her and his duties as a policeman are soon in conflict. But if he doesn't trust her, there will be more deaths - and the killer has his eyes on both Gaby and Luther as his next victims...
Just like the first book in the series, the second is a great mix between dark urban fantasy, paranormal romance and crime novel, with humour, action, depth, great characters and an intelligent plot. I liked it even more than the first and can't wait for the series to be continued.

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Sep08

If I had ever tried to imagine the kind of book Lori Foster would write if she turned to the `dark side', never in my wildest imagination would I have come up something like her `Servant' series. And now that I've read the second book, "Servant: The Acceptance", I'm struck by several similarities to Foster's more normal romance novels. But, before I start that, let me say that her `Servant' series is dark, very dark. If you're looking for sexy, frothy romance--go buy some of her work under Lori Foster. L.L. Foster, on the other hand, can write some seriously good and gritty urban fantasy and the `Servant' series is addictive.

Gaby is a Paladin, a servant of God. She can sense, feel, and see evil differently than anybody she's ever met. No matter what face evil wears, she sees it as it truly is...and destroys it. When she is `called', she feels excruciating pain until she answers the call; and when she does answer, she is infused with the extra strength, stamina, and skills she needs to defeat the evil. She's always been alone, but now Detective Cross is dogging her every move and asking too many questions for comfort. How could a fighter for justice like him condone what she sometimes is called to do? But it seems that no matter what Gaby tries, she can't forget about him and he's not going away.

Detective Luther Cross has never met a woman as frustrating as Gaby. The more he learns about her abilities, the more fascinated he becomes. And the more time they spend together, the more trouble he has forgetting about her sexual innocence when faced with her honest curiosity. Once again Gaby is mixed up in one of his cases. Someone is torturing, mutilating, and killing prostitutes; and Gaby, who has appointed herself as the `girls' protector, always seems to know that little bit too much for comfort. How far can Luther stretch his beliefs?

Now, since Lori Foster writes sexy romances with HEAs, and the book I just described is clearly no romance and probably doesn't have a HEA...why do I say there are similarities? It's like this...Foster's writing (in either guise) is closer to reality than most other authors. Her romances usually involve regular people in situations that mimic real life and the obstacles they face are those that we regular folk deal with every day. In this series, I think that's one of the things I find so fascinating. IF someone WAS born with the ability to sense evil, and would feel pain when in proximity to evil, then what would that person's life be like? Can you imagine being a small child, unable to explain what was wrong, when you were `scared of' certain people and began screaming? Or suffered pain without knowing why and trying to explain that to a doctor? How long do you think it would take for you to be labeled a `troubled' or `imaginative' or `insane' child? What would life have been like as a teenager? How would you make a living? How in the heck could you ever try to explain to anyone? How would this affect your relationships, or even your ability to HAVE a relationship? If you want the answers to these questions, go get the first two books of this series. THAT is what draws me in so deeply to this series. The first book, "The Awakening", just set the stage and introduced the main characters. Now with "The Acceptance" Foster gives us the chance to go deeper and further into her world. I'm enjoying the trip so very, very much!

I greatly enjoyed this book. The only drawback I can think of is that I felt that LL Foster riddled the book with overly-complicated verbage. Now, I like to think that I have a pretty vast vocabulary and I don't care for bbooks that totally dumb things down, but some of these words left me confused. It's just a personal thing, but I felt it removed me from the story at points. That's all.

I can't wait for the next book!

Giving this book 3 stars was hard. If I could, I'd give it 3 1/2 stars. The story is spectacular. The paladin angle is unique and Gaby is flawed, tough to the core, good, sad and so vulnerable on the inside. Luther is a great hero. He's got all the usual hero thing going on: tall, good looks etc. but I love the way Foster has him tripping over his own ego. But for him to realizing this and try to remedy it, now that's something I could go for. Also, instead of the girl falling at the guy's feet, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading about the man trying, inch by painful inch to win the girl's heart. Many authors create this strong heroines only to have them wilt and bend to their love interest too quickly. Not so with Gaby. She remains true to her character, even as she slowly accepts that there are people around her who care for her.

So why the 3 stars? Because like some of the other viewers, I have to ask: What's up with all the big words? They serve absolutely no purpose except to detract from this amazing story. There were many words that I didn't understand and I'm a well educated, well read person. I inferred the meanings of these words instead of looking them up. The fact that I can still understand what is happening in the book only points to how unnecessary they are. Instead, I found myself feeling impatient as these words popped me out of the story and made me feel like I'm a teenager studying for the SAT's all over again.

Despite this complaint, I am looking forward to reading the next book. I just really hope that Foster will tone down the vocab usage because honestly, Gaby's story deserves better.

Gabrielle "Gaby" Cody is willing to abandon everything in order to fulfill her role as a warrior for God. But will Detective Luther Cross let this unique woman go?

Gaby hunts the dark beings that haunt the night, those nasty creatures that prey on others. She has a true calling, a sort of internal warning that sends her out hunting at a moment's notice. Gaby has fled the connection she felt with Luther only to find him reappearing just as she is tracking something odd, a kid and yet this child seems strangely out of place. Someone or something deadly is out there... will it cost Gaby everything to stop it?

L.L. Foster has created a very intense world where demons exist and Gaby's role as a paladin is paramount. This highly intense series takes readers into a dark side of the supernatural and yet still offers hope in the process. SERVANT: THE ACCEPTANCE has a bit more romance than the first book in the series but is still far more of an urban or dark fantasy story than it is a paranormal romance.

It's hard not to love Gaby! She isn't the most refined of characters but her honesty and lack of artifice is refreshing. Gaby doesn't hesitate to protect those she loves even while she fights her own inner fear of love, making her a very believable and oddly lovable character. Tortured heroes are fairly common in novels nowadays but L.L. Foster offers up something different: a tortured heroine, and yet a heroine who is heroic without wanting credit for her deeds.

Luther adds the needed touch of solidarity and familiarity to the story. He asks the questions that we readers want to know about Gaby and her calling, and ultimately satisfies us with the answers about her credibility. L.L. Foster has created perhaps the only man who could match Gaby in Luther, as Gaby is not an easy woman to get close to.

L.L. Foster takes readers on a dark journey with SERVANT: THE ACCEPTANCE, but it is a journey that is more than worth it. This gritty and haunting series is a refreshing entry into the genre. L.L. Foster isn't afraid to take risks with this powerful and edgy tale and it shows in the fascinating mesh of strong character development and world building. Highly recommended!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES