Welcome To Sanctuary

Spring Comes to Sanctuary is the first book in Cooper McKenzie's Welcome to Sanctuary series. It's a short read with an intriguing premise which had potential but just didn’t quite deliver. All the possible drama that could’ve ratcheted up the story was missed – Spring’s injury and being lost in the woods, her overprotective parents, and her stalker were never explored enough, fleshed out enough to become real.

When the heroine, Spring, goes backpacking alone for her 30^th birthday, she ends up in trouble by her third day into the journey. She’s nearly ready to give up and head home where she’s safe when a pair of Irish Wolfhounds come walking out of the woods. When they turn into gorgeous twin human males, she is amazed. Then she is excited when they claim her as their mate. There is no shock factor, no drama in their “mating” and while this makes for a lovely romance, it doesn’t make for a very interesting read. Her reaction just seems way to simple and accepting of something so unbelievable.

The author fails to fully develop the three main characters, leaving readers with limited knowledge about Spring and even less about the twins, Adam and Brock. The three characters were obviously meant to be mates but readers know this simply because we are told. The author indicates Spring was feeling a pull towards the men, and the same of the men towards Spring, but the emotion is just absent. Snippets of emotion and connection form as the story progresses but never enough to convince me of any real feelings. This lack of connection combined with poorly developed characters equaled a disappointing read for me.

The author missed her chance to hook readers into a potentially good series by not incorporating more details about the secondary characters who will serve as main characters later in the series. Spring and her four siblings are named after each season - an odd name choice that is a bit elementary school though I suspect the author might’ve been shooting for whimsy and had any information been supplied, readers may have understood this quirkiness. So while her siblings are briefly described, they are otherwise absent, taking away the opportunity to hook readers into the series, enticing us to read more about the characters whom we’ve already developed feelings for. I just don’t think I care enough about them to keep reading the series.

Bummers... I can only honestly give this book 2 Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.

This review was originally posted at The Romance Reviews: http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=2839