Twelve Hunks Of Christmas... on the first day of Christmas my book club gave to me, one tasty piece of eye candeeeeee...This week, we are featuring writing by Anya Bast. A few of us met her at the 2010 RAW Conference in Huntington, West Virginia this past September and were eager to read the first book in her newest series!
Jeweled
Defined by magic. Ruled by desire
In the Court of Edaeii, magic-imbued Evangeline is rewarded for her gift in manipulating emotion with a sapphire stone set into the perfect curve of her lower back. Her greatest rival in the royal court is the enigmatic Anatol, instilled with the power of illusion. He may best her in magic, but he is her absolute equal in passion.
They share something else-they're both targets of low-born revolutionaries. Rescued by Gregorio, the brilliant revolutionary mastermind, they're given sanctuary. But in this warm refuge, Evangeline soon finds herself torn between the magic of one man she has always desired, and the excitingly new and radical moves of another. For her, there is only one choice: indulge in pleasure without limits.
Jeweled was written to tantalize the reader with an awakening heroine, two strappingly handsome yet vastly different good guys and a seriously warped bad guy. While these characters have the traits that could either draw the reader in or repel the reader, I found it most difficult to identify with the heroine. I am usually looking for a way identify with characters through either humor, sarcasm or an overall kick-tail kind of mentality. I could find none of these traits in Evangeline - our awakening heroine.
They share something else-they're both targets of low-born revolutionaries. Rescued by Gregorio, the brilliant revolutionary mastermind, they're given sanctuary. But in this warm refuge, Evangeline soon finds herself torn between the magic of one man she has always desired, and the excitingly new and radical moves of another. For her, there is only one choice: indulge in pleasure without limits.
Jeweled was written to tantalize the reader with an awakening heroine, two strappingly handsome yet vastly different good guys and a seriously warped bad guy. While these characters have the traits that could either draw the reader in or repel the reader, I found it most difficult to identify with the heroine. I am usually looking for a way identify with characters through either humor, sarcasm or an overall kick-tail kind of mentality. I could find none of these traits in Evangeline - our awakening heroine.
Anya does a lovely job of setting the stage and tone of the story, while taking a wee bit more time than necessary in the beginning to set the scene. Moving along, it felt as if the story rushed through areas where I would have liked more detail and plot, and idled too long in areas that really didn't enhance the plot and felt more like a commercial that I wanted to fast forward through.
Keeping in mind that, by nature, I enjoy a longer read than this book, I will always be disappointed in the stories that are less than 300+ pages. There just isn't enough time to build the characters and interweave a thoroughly tantalizing plot in less pages is shown in this book. My understanding is that Anya has written other books that fill the parameters as such, so I will be sure to check those out. I haven’t given up on her writing – just wasn’t a fan of this particular book.
I give Jeweled just 2 chocolate-dipped strawberries. -Liz
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