Review:

Wicked Embers
By Candace Bowen Early

~ Adult fiction, Paranormal romance, Fantasy,~

 

Paperback, 280 pages

Published September 1st 2012 by Rhemalda Publishing

 

 

* * * * out of 5 stars

 

 

 

 

 

The Blurb: (via Goodreads)

 

It’s been one year since Bronwyn Chase left the modern world behind, and an ancient evil is stirring in Cornwall ….

Bree Peltier is a skeptic. She doesn’t believe in mystics or witches. Between keeping up with her university studies and falling in love with her archaeology professor, her life is complicated enough. When a vengeful spirit possesses her childhood friend and goes on a killing spree, she is forced to re-examine her beliefs. The spirit is out to destroy the descendants of Bronwyn, and Bree is the only one who can stop it. If she believes.

Bree is a mystic. If she doesn’t embrace her birthright, she could lose everyone she has ever loved. If she does embrace it, she could lose her soul mate.

My Review:

Note: Won an ebook copy through "Now is Gone"

Erm, I have a confession - This is the sequel to "Spur of the moment"...  Just this one arrived first. So; whilst I was waiting for that one to arrive, I thought I would just take a quick look at this one.. maybe a page or so to see how it read and I erm, didn't stop reading! So I have kind of done this a bit backwards but I think it says a lot for the authors writing style.
There were references to the previous book, but it doesn't mean that you have read the first one to be able to fully appreciate the story; it was a solid piece of work in it's own right (Phew - good job really after my impatience to get on and read it!)

In the first sitting I think I managed about 40% which is a huge amount to someone who's reading time is in small windows; the pages just kept turning - the story flowed and it was very easy to settle into the pace of the book.
I thought the characters were well done, though Bree (protagonist) did irritate me at points. I know she was an emotional character and a lot happened to her to warrant her reactions, but it seemed to me she was crying through the whole book.

I absolutely loved that the author set the book in Cornwall, and in the beautiful Tintagel. It's probably one of my most favourite places - St Nectan's Glen is beautiful. So I could place the characters in their setting. There is a lot of magic, history and folk law surrounding the place so this was a fantastic setting for the story.

I am not a huge fan of romance, I am wary of it in books as I feel it can be over done, but personally, the romance works very well in this. 'Reece' not only acts as the love interest but a source of strength for Bree which helps move the story along.

The ideas and concepts for the story are interesting; I particularly liked the way the author explored the ideas of souls and the after life.

The ending is a bit... Well I don't want to say anything to spoil it but it wrapped things up and was actually quite satisfying.

I had trouble deciding how to rate this book. I was swaying between a three and a four star rating as there were parts that didn't quite flow or irritated me. I settled for a four overall as it touched on very interesting ideas and was generally a good read.

I would recommend this to people who like a paranormal romance and, are looking for something entertaining that that can be read quite quickly.