Title: Natural Evil (Amazon)
Series: Elder Races, #4.5
Author: Thea Harrison
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Sensuality Rating: steamy
Source: bought
Published: March 2012 by Samhain
Claudia Hunter is on a road trip through the Nevada desert when she sees the body of a dog on the side of the highway. Pulling over to investigate, she quickly determines that the enormous animal is clinging to life. While working to save him with the help of the local vet, Claudia realizes there’s something about the creature that seems more. Other. Wyr. Which makes this case of animal cruelty attempted murder.Too injured to shape shift, Luis Alvaraz is reluctant to tell Claudia what he knows about his attack, afraid it will only make her a target. But the sheriff is corrupt, and his attackers know Luis is alive and vulnerable. To make matters worse, a sandstorm is sweeping into town, and if they're going to survive the night, Luis will have to place all his trust in Claudia.
Warning: Take a gorgeous man temporarily stuck in the dog house, add a strong, take-no-prisoners woman, mix in encroaching enemies and a raging sandstorm and stir to combine. Enjoy with a freshly opened can of whoop-ass.
Reviewed By: J9
In a Nutshell: Loved the unique heroine but the novella felt incomplete with the abrupt ending and total lack of relationship conclusion.
The Set Up: Claudia is a retired special ops captain who is traveling the country when she finds a severely abused dog in the Nevada desert. Turns out the dog may not be just a dog but a powerful Wyr shifter, Luis. Luis is reluctant to tell Claudia details of his mission as his attackers now know he’s alive and may hurt Claudia. But now Claudia and Luis are caught in a tiny trailer avoiding his attackers, an impending sandstorm, and their mutual attraction.
Why I Read this Book: I read this novella because I am one step away from believing Wyr exist and adore this series.
What I Liked: Claudia!! I very rarely like heroines in romance more than the heroes but that is so true here! Claudia is a unique romance heroine: she’s older (as if 40 is ancient!), she’s extremely competent, strong, self-assured and non-talkative. Claudia and her powerful personality made for a very unique romance heroine and captured my attention from novella’s beginning.
What I Also Liked: Claudia!! I can’t say enough how much I like Claudia. She’s the most well rounded character, probably to the exclusion of Luis, the hero. Their romance was sexual but not all the emotional, so don’t expect that here. Still, Claudia was such a great heroine that she was the star of this novella and I think for her alone readers should read this story.
What I Didn’t Like: Let me preface this by saying, I unequivocally love the Elder Races series; I love the magical world building and the forces of good versus evil that is at the heart of the series. In fact, the full length book before this, Oracle’s Moon, (reviewed here on TBV) is one of my abso fav reads of this year! Having said all that, I have to admit this installment is thumbs down. The ending was so abrupt and the relationship denouement so poorly executed that I was all WTF! I went back a few times to see if my ebook was missing pages where Luis and Claudia may have discussed their relationship but nope, nada, nothing, zilch. What the h.e.double-hockey-stick was the author thinking to have a romance book end with no relationship culmination?! Before you fan-girls roast me, let me say that I am aware this is a novella, and I adored her last novella, True Colors, so it’s not the length of the story that bothers me! It’s the lack of a true ending that bothered me so much. I felt cheated! All I needed was a brief back-and-forth conversation between Claudia and Luis to cement that they wanted to be a couple; I’m not asking for declarations of undying love here! But this *is* billed as a romance so dammit, I want my HEA and I didn’t feel I got it here.
IMO: I was all prepared to be wowed by this novella as I always am by the Elder Races series but that wasn’t the case. The romance conclusion was non-existent in a plot ending that was itself too abrupt. If Claudia hadn’t been such a wonderful heroine I would have been really pissed at this novella. I’ll still buy the next story in the series but I’m going to be a little more reserved with my praise of this series.
J9’s Rating:
The ending was definitely a sore point for me, too. I wanted a concrete resolution. It almost makes me wonder if the characters will appear in another story later on.
ReplyDeleteI was contemplating buying this but I think I'll wait for the next full length book. I'm about 110 pages into the first book in this series and so far I'm HOOKED! Thanks for recommending it to me!
ReplyDeleteNo conclusion for the romance? I don't like that. I've only read the first book in this series (which I loved!) and can't wait to catch up.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the romance from this novella will be completed in the next book?
I'm glad I wasn't the only one disappointed with the ending. It was so incomplete that I hope the author finishes it in another book, though that's a cheap trick in my opinion.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if I didn't love this series so much then I wouldn't measure this novella against the others and it wouldn't come up short BUT I do love the series and it does come up short, imo. Big Bummer!