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Summary
He is known only as The Rook. A man with no name, no past, no memories. He awakens in a mass grave, a magnificent dragon tattoo on his muscled forearm the sole clue to his mysterious origins. His only hope for survival―and salvation―lies in the deep, fiery eyes of the beautiful stranger who finds him. Who nurses him back to health. And who calms the restless demons in his soul…
A LEGENDARY LOVE
Lorelai will never forget the night she rescued the broken dark angel in the woods, a devilishly handsome man who haunts her dreams to this day. Crippled as a child, she devoted herself to healing the poor tortured man. And when he left, he took a piece of her heart with him. Now, after all these years, The Rook has returned. Like a phantom, he sweeps back into her life and avenges those who wronged her. But can she trust a man who’s been branded a rebel, a thief, and a killer? And can she trust herself to resist him when he takes her in his arms?
-From Amazon.com
Review
This book caught my attention on one of the stands in my library, just because it was the only romance novel on it and I haven’t read a bodice ripper book in a while. Most of the romance, if not all, that I read are by Nalini Singh, and when I say romance in this context, I’m talking about adult romance. I read fantasy romance and YA romance all the time, but I am REALLY REALLY picky about adult romance, a.k.a. erotic novels.
Most of them have the girl needing the guy and pining after him to be saved. Like blech. If that’s your thing, then go for it, but I need me a girl who can kick butt and take names. So far I’ve only seen that in the Black Dagger Brotherhood and The Guild Hunters Series (suggestions are always welcome!).
So, I picked this book up because I hadn’t read one of these kinds in a while and I said why not.
The beginning had me a little weirded out – they were kids?!
So the first few chapters of the book were really unclear as to what was going on. I thought that the main character was an adult and was talking to the injured man, later named Ash. Turns out, she was like 14 while she was helping this dude and he was probably about 17 or something. So I was incredibly creeped out with some of the statements that Lorelei was making such as she was feeling things in her body she had never felt. Now, I get that that happens to young girls when they meet a cute guy, but writing about it for adults in a potentially sexual content made me a little weirded out. Additionally, their personalities did not match with their ages. I had no idea she was 14, especially with the way she was thinking as well as speaking until she blatantly stated that she was 14. So that kind of turned me off the book and I skipped ahead a bit until I found the adult age sections.
A little bit…rapey?
I kept getting this vibe, later on, that The Rook was kind of rapey towards Lorelei. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind when it’s like a dominant male scenario, but this, I felt, was a little beyond that. He kept saying he wanted her, kept referencing forcing her and such. But then suddenly the angle would change and it would become like they were old friends. Or that he never wanted to hurt her or something. Um, okay, you just abducted her so…that’s kind of off the table already.
Tough guy to broken and in love.
The Rook, or Ash, was this tough guy. I keep envisioning the Black Dagger Brotherhood characters – all big and muscly and scary and grrrr. But you never really got a good description of what he looked like so I just kind of made it up. He was a pirate, which was like what? And he conquered so much stuff in a short span of time and lived through all this horrible stuff. Like, okay, not terribly believable but okay. But as the book progressed, he’s like all tough and then suddenly he’s all weak and stuff and wanting her to love him. I get when someone opens up and reveals their inner heart, but it was just so sudden. One second he’s like “I’m the worst thing in the world” to “I love you Lorelie – please help me Obi-wan, you are my only hope.” Ugh, come on!
Overall, not terribly impressed.
Maybe my views have changed, and maybe my tastes as well, but overall this book was just so meh. I’ve read fanfiction with better developed stories than this. I’m sorry, it just really wasn’t my cup of tea. It was just so cringey.
As a romance story, a bodice ripper, I’m sure it’s just fine. But I don’t generally enjoy those books so it just wasn’t for me. I have ordered another one of Byrne’s book from my library to give it another chance, as just maybe this story wasn’t for me and I don’t want to hate on all of her books if I’ve only read one. But so far, I’ll stick to other genres for now.
Have you read this? Opinions?
3/5 teacups for my rating.
Fantastic review. I don’t think I could read this. When it crosses the line from dominance to rape it is something I can’t read.
Yeah, it was really dancing on the edge of it and it made me so uncomfortable. It worked out okay in the end but it was the fact that I kept saying to myself, “this isn’t love…” that it kind of turned me off the overall idea. The idea she was going for, of him being strong and stuff, could have been attained through other methods I think.
Not really a book for me. The title kind of makes it sound like a historical book with a futuristic edge to it – A real mix of genres. I know it’s not, just what comes to mind when I read the title.
That’s exactly what I thought when I picked it up. Kind of like a 18th century based novel with a count and countess or something…and I was surprised to find it was with…pirates? Not sure what was up there.
this one is not for me – I tend to avoid historical as women don’t seem to fare well 😉
I definitely agree with that one. They generally aren’t held high in the book. I have read some that have gone against that so I decided to give this one a go. But it seems I was mislead.
I’ve never read a bodice ripper before, but I’ve been curious about them
Many bodice rippers are cute and fluffy and great beach reads – like most Harlequin novels! They’re fluffy and cute and fantastic to read. It’s once you start to venture out to some other places of these side writers, you never really know. It seems like anyone can be a romance writer and can get published. And it feeds some people who love it. But some of it is just so bad….
Ok, not my thing. Too weird.
It really was!
Not really for me but the cover is intriguing!
Yeah the cover drew me in too!
Great review, I’m really sorry this book didn’t work out for you I hope your next read is a much better one. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.
Definitely! I like to give books that are in series, or have multiple written by the author, a second chance. I don’t like to condemn all writing so I’ll try again.
Good review, but I will definitely pass on this one.