As a college senior and server at Hanaford Park's hottest nightclub, twenty-one year old Ryann Pierce's plan was simple: work hard, make lots of money, and avoid the ass-grabbers at all costs. What she never planned for was Quinn Donegan—the living, breathing advertisement for sinful behavior that waltzed into her life.With an angelic face, a hard body and a butt-load of charm, Quinn had a way with the ladies—a lot of ladies. Cursed with a deadly, addictive touch, his trail of indiscretion blazed across five hundred years. Tired and jaded, Ryann is a shocking revelation Quinn didn't see coming.
Filled with desire, yet unable to touch one another, Ryann and Quinn embark on a daunting journey, battling frustrating physical limitations while exploring their new love. In a race against the clock, Ryann learns she must plead for Quinn's life before…the Eve of Samhain. Determined to end her lover's suffering, not even the danger dogging her every move can keep her from her mission.
Title: Eve of Samhain
Author: Lisa Sanchez
Format: eBook
Genre: paranormal romance
Source: review copy
Published: May 2010 by Omnific Publishing
Buy the book: Amazon
Find the author online: website | blog | twitter | facebook
Why I Read this Book: I loved the premise of this book! When I first read the blurb I thought now this is going to be interesting! This part of the blurb caught my attention:
Filled with desire, yet unable to touch one another[…]
I definitely wanted to read this book to find out how this situation between the two main characters, who are attracted to each other but cannot touch one another, was going to work out. A good chunk of any relationship is touch: holding hands, hugging, kissing among other things. So take away that element and all you have remaining is intellectual attraction. And you better be intellectually compatible in order for your relationship to work.
What I Liked: The writing was done in a fun way. This is one of my favorite quotes:
As I continued eye-fucking him, my eyes came across something I hadn’t noticed before: another tattoo.
It was the second time in two days I heard/read the phrase “eye-fucking”. I’m adding this phrase to my vocabulary. I also enjoyed the Irish mythology; the story of Gancanagh. The author did a superb job at telling the background story; it was told very well and in depth.
And the book couldn’t have started off any better than this:
All men are assholes. No, wait…let me rephrase that.
What I Didn’t Like: I had trouble accepting Ryann’s initial attraction to Quinn. Right off the bat the guy is an arrogant arse with a huge ego yet Ryann is infatuated with him. Quinn is too unlikable in the beginning for Ryann to be so infatuated with him! Without giving too much away, though I’m sure you can get the gist of it from the blurb, there is a reason for this which is explained a little later on in the book. Quinn makes up for his horrible first impression but I wasn’t feeling the connection between these two characters in the beginning part of the book.
Another thing that bothered me was that Ryann wasn’t asking the million dollar question! I wanted to shake that woman to knock some sense into her. She’s more worried about his feelings towards her than finding out more about the curse. And when she finally ask him the million dollar question, he doesn’t answer; there’s more to the curse then the reader was lead to believe! I was biting my nails at this point.
Overall Impression: Eve of Samhain read like a paranormal style fairytale; a love story encumbered with a curse. It was beautiful tale yet it still had its dark side. As a debut novel, it was a good read. I will most likely check out the next book in this series, Pleasures Untold, which is Martha’s story.
The Book Vixen’s Rating:
I really liked this book. I just thought the language and writing style was great. Sometimes women are just drawn to those assholes, no matter how liberated their thoughts are. LOL. I hear you about asking that question. Should have been the first thing to ask right??? Great review.
ReplyDeleteParajunkee - That would have been my very first question! It was killing me that Ryann didn't ask it until much later. LOL
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always! The Gancanagh element is one of my favorite facets of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. It would be neat to have a whole book devoted to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I also enjoyed this book, and I get what you are saying. I felt the front half of the book was too much Ryann telling us what she felt, but we didn't get to "see" the emotions for what they were. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteKelli - The Gancanagh was very interesting. I had not known about it prior to reading Eve of Samhain.
ReplyDeleteTwimom227 - I know what you mean; too much thinking, not enough acting upon those thoughts :)