By Juliet Cardin
The Blurb: When a witch and an alien join forces, will they be powerful enough to save the world?
Petal has spent her entire life hiding the fact that she's a witch. Now she fears her life is destroyed, because in a moment of rage, she unleashed her power and revealed her secret. If things weren't bad enough already, they get even worse when some kind of otherworldly beast suddenly appears in her backyard, followed by the arrival of an angry mob looking for the witch. Adding to the chaos, a tall, sexy man shows up, whisking her away in the nick of time.
Though Rein thinks Petal should be grateful to him for saving her, she feels nothing but distrust and anger toward her savior. He's an intergalactic space monster hunter, and now she's stuck on another planet while he completes the next task on his to-do list. Unfortunately, she's also feeling some uncomfortable and totally inappropriate thoughts of desire for the man.
When Earth is threatened by invaders, Petal must put her faith in the mysterious alien and return to the place she was scorned. She must battle the invaders, and her growing feelings for Rein, hoping her powers are strong enough to save the world. When it comes down to a choice between Earth and Rein, she can only hope she's brave enough to make the right decision.
Since there are so many Paranormal sub-genres, I've organized my reading schedule by season and we're right on the cusp of switching topics from Aliens (Autumn) to Witches (Winter).
So how excited was I to find a book about both? Extremely!!!
This seemed so perfect; a wonderful transition book and I snatched it up immediately. My hopes were high and I was anxious to dig in. You can imagine the heartbreak I felt when those hopes came crashing down around me.
Like I said, coming across a Paranormal Romance not only about aliens, but witches as well was a happy surprise and I was intrigued by the plot immediately. Here we have a witch who finds herself in the middle of an alien war. Luckily, her magical powers are exactly what is needed to defeat the dangerous aliens who are threatening Earth.
Our heroine, Petal, is a spunky and determined young woman who has spent her life developing her craft and hiding it from the general population. In a moment of weakness, she loses her temper and reveals who she really is. She immediately flees and starts to contemplate how she will move forward.
While hiding in the forest near her home, she stumbles on a massive and gorgeous man. Rein is an alien warrior (a Gate Guardian) who's job it is to protect the gates that lead from one dimension to another. They exist across the universe and his planet is light-years ahead of Earth's in regards to space travel and technology.
Rein is on Earth and in Petal's forest because a beast has crossed the gate. When confronted with the beast, Petal draws on her Earth magic to subdue it long enough for Rein to kill it. So now, Petal has revealed what she is to Rein as well and this opens up an entirely new can of worms. Petal and Rein must work together to fight off an even bigger threat heading straight for them.
One problem I had with this book is that the plot kept zig-zagging at such a fast speed. It was almost as if the author really didn't have an ending in mind and just went where the wind took her. I guess I was hoping for twists and turns to be appropriate, cleverly leading us back to the main path. But it just didn't flow like that. The characters seemed constantly clueless and a lot of the "twists and turns" were unnecessary. Rather than being artful, the new and convoluted information thrown at us made the story drag rather than add clarity.
Another issue was the hero. The story is written in first person and from Petal's point of view. This wouldn't have been such an issue if Rein's character had been better developed. I was constantly confused because Rein is written and described (again, from Petal's point of view) as being kind of a jerk. And, for someone who has such an important job and is supposed to be a great warrior, he is amazingly ignorant about how the gates work and also about the battles that have taken place on his own planet. It was weird. He seemed juvenile and aloof, yet Petal was quick to get into his pants and fall head over heals in love.
I think this story had so much potential. The cover is beautiful and a unique and imaginative idea was there. It just wasn't executed as good as it could have been. The writing wasn't terrible but I do think we were "told" more than "shown" and it lacked a certain finesse that would have elevated the experience.
So, I'm a bit disappointed and sad to give such a poor review. I do hope I'll have better luck with my next "witchy" read. On to the next!
What did you think?
