Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
storm of nothing, more like., August 11, 2009
How is this book getting good reviews? Did I miss a few hundred pages? Seriously, what was this book? It's not a romance, it's not suspenseful really, it's not exciting or exceptionally paranormal... it's just sub-par all of the above. I'll be returning my copy on that 'great read guarentee' soon as I find the receipt.
I was REALLY excited for this new series - LOVE Dodd and my recent reads by her. But this? I will have forgotten it by morning. The set up of "others" and "chosen" is kinda cool... but honest to god nothing happens in this book. The heroine/hero already know they love each other. There is no real proof or tenderness or WHY they love each other outside the sheets thus making it not really 'romance' but mildly erotic. As for action - the whole plot line was a YAWN FEST. The 'chosen' don't do a dang thing!!!
I get that it's a new series, but I didn't feel like she was world building. I felt a lot of "blah blah blah, so what". Overall I was just really surprised because I thought I'd love this. It's just totally unremarkable and a "whatever" read. Too bad - I'm a romance, suspense, and paranormal fan...
Don't even get me started on the ending. it.was.so.obvious.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sinister, Spellbinding and Explosive Tale of Paranormal Romance & Suspense, August 14, 2009
Long ago, in a village at the edge of a forest, there lived a young, gloriously beautiful woman. This woman thought so highly of herself, she decided she would only accept a mate worthy of her loveliness, and someone who was her equal in his masculine beauty. She found a splendid match in the handsome eldest son of a local lord--and as vain as they both were, they knew they would create babies as beautifully perfect as themselves. Well, within the year she was happily pregnant; and confident she would greatly please the lord's son when she presented him with a fine, strong baby boy.
But alas, that was not to be, she delivered instead a pair of scrawny twins--a boy and girl--who were not perfect at all. The boy's arms were terribly blemished with a red discoloring, and the girl had a mark in the palm of her hand that looked like an eye. Frightened and disgusted, the woman immediately decided these children would not do. So she got up from her bed and took the little babies into the forest where she discarded the boy deep in the woods, and tossed the girl into a flowing stream--then, without a backward glance, their heartless mother left the woods...
In that first moment of merciless abandonment the poor little babies' heart's stopped beating--they died--and then miraculously came back to life; though somehow changed. Instead of perishing as their mother intended, the children were endowed with extraordinary gifts... they became the first of the Abandoned Ones.
The boy was rescued by wanderers and taken to live in India, where he became a legend--for his gift was the amazing ability to create fire in the palm of his hand. As time passed he found 6 more abandoned children who had been given special gifts and together they formed --The Chosen Ones--a powerful force of good and "light' in a dark troubled world.
The girl was pulled from the water by evil witch--a disciple of the devil--who, after seeing the eye on the baby's hand, knew she was special and took her home to raise. But the witch tormented, starved and abused the child; and she learned anger and hatred. When the girl became a woman she had her first vision--the death of the witch by her hands--and learned she had the powerful psychic gift of a seer. After killing the witch, the devil appeared before her, and recognizing her gift, he promised her a place at his right hand if she went out into the world and gathered others like herself to do his evil work. The girl agreed. She found 6 more angry, abused or embittered forsaken children who also had special, powerful gifts; and together they formed--The Others.
Throughout history so the battle lines had been drawn between the Chosen Ones and the Others--each side using their special powers to fight for good or for evil...
Their struggle rages on today and the supreme test for a new untried league of Chosen Ones has begun; their mission is to use their unique gifts to courageously confront and vanquish the evil forces that flourish in our contemporary society. But the peril is great because the Devil's treacherous minions the Others are out there lurking in the shadows. They fanatically serve their evil master and won't hesitate to use their gifts to ruthlessly destroy anyone who stands in the way of the devil's complete world domination.
*****
And so it begins...
In her second undertaking into the paranormal romance genre, after her highly successful Darkness Chosen series, Christina Dodd again pens a fast paced, high stakes adventure that explores the ever fascinating conflict between the forces of Good and Evil. Set mainly in present day NYC, in her latest novel STORM OF VISIONS, the talented Ms. Dodd plunges readers headlong into a sinister, spellbinding and explosive tale of paranormal suspense that's intricately blended with a blazingly provocative, passionate and emotionally charged romance. This story kept me firmly on the edge of my seat and I'm delighted it's only the first book of her thrilling new series, The Chosen Ones, because it definitely left me wanting MORE.
It's hard writing a review for a paranormal suspense type book because most of the exciting "twist-n-turns" or "cliffhangers" you'd like to talk about are basically spoilers. And though there were many surprises in the book I could mention, I feel revealing them would ruin the momentum of the story for the reader. So I tried very hard not to do that in my review. Instead I wrote a summary of the beginning of the story to give people a good idea of the premise (because that's what I like in reviews) and also what I thought about the characters, writing and storyline.
The Story's heroine, Jacqueline Vargha is intelligent, physically fit, beautiful--and angry. She wants to choose her own path in life, but she was born with the mark of a seer--an eye--in the palm of her hand. It's one of the most powerful signs and something not seen since the first of the Abandoned Ones; possibly an indication she may be destined to become one of the greatest psychics the Chosen Ones have ever known. But adamantly denying her gift, Jacqueline's been on the run for a couple of years, though now the time has come for her to accept her responsibilities. She must confront her fears and the reasons for her anger, and recognize that her visions--and Caleb D'Angelo--are an inevitable part of her destiny.
The hero, Caleb D'Angelo shows the world a hard, intimidating, aggressive and dangerously tough exterior--a necessity in his work as a bodyguard--but he's also quite honorable, dependable and extremely protective of those he feels responsible for and loves. And, though he was at times domineering and heavy-handed with Jacqueline, I felt the gravity of their situation called for it. There was no doubt in my mind that Caleb loved her--and if necessary, would die to protect her.
I thought the main characters were very well written. Ms Dodd created two good, strong, compelling and relatable characters--realistically imperfect people--with a full range of human emotions, faults, failings, doubts and fears. And during the course of the story we see their growth as they become more emotionally resilient, wiser and willing to make concessions for the greater good. I really liked them both.
As with any series of this type there were several supporting characters introduced--all were extremely crucial to the development of storyline--and we're given a necessary and enlightening peek into their individual personas, temperaments and special abilities. However, I still felt the main focus of this book was on Jacqueline and Caleb, and their journey toward declaring their love. I also think Jacqueline will play a pivotal role in future stories and Caleb will continue to be her support and her anchor. She'll need his love to ground her; for the ultimate confrontation between darkness and light is on the horizon ... and a battle with the Devil is not for the faint of heart.
I loved the story and thought the plot was wonderfully executed; in my opinion the author effectively interlaces stirring romantic elements within a dynamic paranormal storyline for an altogether winning first installment. And lucky for us the release of book two Storm of Shadows: The Chosen Ones is just around the corner on 9/1/08.
Also recommended...Scent of Darkness (Darkness Chosen, Book 1), Touch of Darkness (Darkness Chosen, Book 2), Into the Shadow (Darkness Chosen, Book 3), and Into the Flame (Darkness Chosen, Book 4)
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not off to a great start, August 25, 2009
I loved Christina Dodd's last series (Darkness Chosen). I think part of the problem with Storm of Visions is that the story started with a poorly chosen scene not really relevant to and disconnected from the remainder of the story. I didn't like Caleb and found him one-dimensional for most of the story. Waiting until the last 1/10 of the book to give his backstory was too little too late. Given the main characters in her Darkness Chosen series, Caleb was not up to par. Nor do I think that Jacqueline was fleshed out enough. Even giving leeway for her youth, I think the story did not provide enough explanation / justification for her decision making and capitulation on matters she adamant against. I found her to be immature, selfish, and shallow. Story had very little romance, sex scenes were bland, and I didn't get much of a glimpse as to how the series would progress.
I did like the connection to the Darkness Chose series and look forward to what she does with Aleksi's story in this series. I am going to give the 2nd book in the series a chance but that will be the make it or break it for me.
Bottom line, what should have started with a bang was instead a whimper.
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