This is the first book by Christine Feehan I have read and I have to say my initial impressions were not good.  I found it hard to get past how incredibly mysogynistic and chauvenistic the male characters were.  I found it offputting and felt it was just an excuse for them to finally meet their soulmates after centuries of loneliness and then suddenly after being that way for hundreds of years would be a changed man, loving and giving and treat the female character as an equal.  I’m not sure what the underlying message was supposed to be, and it bugged me.

Having got that out of the way, the story was engaging, the characters interesting and the whole Carpathian society and ‘world’ is rich and diverse.  The plot was quite intricate leading to greater empathy with the major characters and a better understanding of their way of life and perhaps why the male Carpathians are the chauvenists they are.

There are quite a few steamy scenes which I felt were modern in setting but quite old fashioned in description and that does make it a change from your average paranormal romance.  It’s not a bad thing, just different and succeeded in creating an emotive experience for me as the reader.

The pace was good in general although there were a few parts where it felt slow.   I found myself wanting it to move along which it invariably did and I was swept up into the story again.

All in all it was well written and engaging, just the chauvenism I found hard to get past and while that won’t stop me reading more by Christine Feehan (this being the 17th in the series so I have a way to go once I read Book 1!), I will be expecting it next time.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

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Reviews in process :

Red-Headed Stepchild – Jaye Wells
Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires book 3) – Rachel Caine

Waiting to be read and reviewed :

A Princess of Landover – Terry Brooks
Heat Stroke (Weather Warden book 2) – Rachel Caine
Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires book 4) – Rachel Caine
Dark Curse (Carpathian) – Christine Feehan
Blood Noir (Anita Blake 15) – Laurell K. Hamilton
Born of Night (The League book 1) – Sherrilyn Kenyon
206 Bones – Kathy Reichs
Covet – J.R. Ward

And now to lose myself in fantastical worlds, more soon

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