Haunted by Your Touch
ISBN: 1439166765
I received this book as an ARC.
Haunted by Your Touch is a collection of three stories from sizzling paranormal romance authors.
The first is Night’s Darkest Embrace by Jeaniene Frost. Set in a world of dimension jumping demons it’s rife with emotion, mainly of the tragic and vengeance kind. Mara is a quarter demon, strong enough to cross over to Nocturna, a wild west/Victorian era feeling dimension of demons. When she was a teen she and her cousin ran afoul of some Full Blood demons, who feed on Parials like herself. Since then she’s dedicated her life to finding her cousin’s killer.
The world is neat and intriguing except for the repeated reminder that even simple machines like watches don’t work in Nocturna, yet somehow guns do. The plot is certainly not terrible, but it depends on a misunderstanding that’s plain as day. Overall the story is interesting, vivid and clips along nicely, but the misunderstanding twist adds a sheen of cliché to it that’s disappointing.
Next up is Mated by Shayla Black, the weakest of the three (which isn’t saying much). This tale of wizards caught up in a dangerous battle against an evil wizard back from the dead who wants to take over the world features at least one powerful, headstrong lead, Raiden, an unabashed womanizer who discovers the home of the woman he knocked up has been attacked and the family is believed to be dead.
The emotion is sizzling in this tale, but it reads like an adult, sexed up version of Harry Potter (imagine Harry Potter meets True Blood). In addition Raiden is an utter jerk and his love Tabby mostly spends her time being rescued and hoping that Raiden will admit he loves her. Which leads to either an abusive feel (at worst), or a jerk of a hero and a weak heroine who can barely do a spell to save herself. While well written, and emotionally powerful I also found it disappointing.
Finally is Darkest Temptation by Sharie Kohler. This one is a complete score, hitting on the old wolfman legend by pitting a newly bitten woman, set up by a hunter to kill someone she thinks is the werewolf whose death can return her soul, with a nearly inhuman man who is neither werewolf or man, but something else.
This one I enjoyed a lot, both the tension between the characters and the doomed feel of Lilly’s life (even before she was bitten by a lycan). It’s only real flaw is that after a great start there’s a hiccup as it rushes to finish the story in a short form.
Despite some disappointment I’d give this book a solid three stars, because the writing is there, I think the stories just didn’t strike the right chord with this reader.