Immortals: The Awakening by Joy Nash

Book 3 in the Immortals Series is by Joy Nash (the previous were by Jennifer Ashley and Robin T. Popp).

The BLURB:
She comes to him in a dream: her creamy skin delectably cool, silky raven hair smelling of the sea and ocean-blue eyes reflecting the depths of her passion. She is everything Kalen has been desperate to capture in his art -- and in his bed. In reality, when Christine finds his remote Scottish castle, it is to persuade the Immortal warrior to help repel the darkness spreading around the world. But Kalen has a vindictive Sidhe trying to steal his powers and a dark secret of his own to battle before he and Christine can give in to --The Awakening.

My Thoughts:
This was yet another disappointment for me from the Immortal series. So far the only one I've really enjoyed was the very first one so I have to bid adieu to the fourth one as an 'auto buy' on my list - I'll be waiting for the library to get it.

My main problems with this book (and the one by Popp) stem from personal preferences. I don't like it when the hero has sex or is in a relationship with anyone else but the heroine in a book. Unfortunately, in the beginning of the book I really didn't like Kalen. He was a man-whore and just an all-around loser IMO. In that first quarter of the story, he is with (and having sex with) his lover whom he plans on getting pregnant (just because she asked him to and he kinda shrugs and is like 'sure'). And, of course, the heroine watches the couple having sex at one time. THEN later he leaves this public orgy thing, after which he was supposed to do the actual impregnanting of his lover, to whisk the heroine away to his castle where he then decides to have sex with HER within a few minutes of arriving not because of any soul-mate type thing but for selfish ulterior motives (which I can't disclose because it could be a spoiler!). All of this just gives me an icky feeling in my stomach... I don't like these type of things in a story but for readers with no such 'hang-ups' this book might not be so bad.

It does get better around page 120 and the plot picks up and gets more interesting, the characters become more real and likeable and I stopped disliking Kalen. However, I still never really felt like he loved Christine for herself. The whole thing (the plot, characters, and the relationship) was just... weak.

Plus, it also doesn't really further the overall plot-line of the series. Other than getting another Immortal to answer the 'call'. We'll see in the next one though, maybe there were important elements in this book that will tie into the next one. It wasn't HORRIBLE but I didn't think it was that good either. Had I know what this (and the last one) were going to be like, I would have gotten them from the library.

RATING: C-

Safe Harbor *disappointed sigh*

I just finished reading Christine Feehan's latest book Safe Harbor and it makes me so sad to say that I was really disappointed. I will probably be in the minority in this opinion - I've already heard that it was really good from several different people but I just have to disagree.

This book does not live up to expectations created by the other books in the series, nor does it do justice to two very interesting characters whose antics livened up many-a-scene in the sisters' books. The portrayal of the Jonas and Hannah didn't feel right when compared with what we've learned/seen in past books and I didn't like them in Safe Harbor. The action between Joley and her SO-obviously intended 'mate' was way more interesting than anything going on between Jonas and Hannah.

I found Safe Harbor to be fairly trite and semi-boring. The plot felt like it stalled several times, especially the suspense. This book had WAY less action but not only that, there wasn't enough going on between the main characters to carry the story forward without dragging. In addition, several of the elements and scenes almost appear to be copy/paste jobs (with a few sentences added) from other books, most noticeably the Ghostwalker series.

Has anyone else noticed that recently Feehan's male characters have become less "powerful alpha male" and more "borderline-scary and controlling"? I have absolutely NO problem with a possessive alpha hero. They're my favorite kind of hero but the heroes in all three of her series' have been getting weirder since Conspiracy Game. Actually, I started noticing it in Dark Secret but it was more obvious in future books. In Safe Harbor, Jonas has several violent outbursts which result in him throwing a fit and destroying entire rooms in the sisters' home, including furniture. That's just kinda disturbing, in my opinion.

Now please, don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad book. It was more.... mediocre and therefore, was a disappointment to me and I can't help but focus on the negative. There were some scenes that many will find touching, if a bit overdone, and the interaction between Joley and her highly mysterious intended 'mate' are intriguing and made me wish for their book ASAP!

Do I recommend this book? Not really. If I had it to do all over again I would have waited for it to be at the used bookstore or even the library.

Is it worth reading? Yeah, I'd say so. If only because it builds on the series, wraps up the whole Hannah/Jonas clash and gives, what I believe to be, broad hints about the futures of the two remaining sisters.

Now I'm off to read Mind Game to remind myself of why Christine Feehan is the queen of paranormal romance and that there is hope for future books.