Bound by Darkness by Annette McCleave (Soul Gatherer #2)
Paranormal Romance
May 4, 2010
Paperback, 352 Pages
Signet


Reviewed by Tori


Fav Quote: “With great power comes great responsibility.” “Are you quoting Spider-Man now? God, how low will you sink?”

Soul Gatherer Brian Webster has long lived with the guilt of his failure to save his teenage sister. When another girl dies in his arms as she protects an ancient coin from a demon, he takes up her cause. The coin is one of thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas. United, the coins are a dark relic of immense power, and in the wrong hands, they could destroy civilization.

Lena Sharpe is on her own mission to find the Judas coins. A Soul Gatherer by day and a thief by night, she’s negotiated the most important deal of her life.  When Brian intervenes and kidnaps her to obtain the coins, she attempts to escape. But the brazen warrior is unrelenting, as he is fearful that the beautiful felon has made a pact with the devil himself. And he’s not entirely wrong.

Bound together by burning desire and a similar darkness in their hearts, they race against time to recover the missing coins. But as the truth behind Lena’s bargain surfaces, Brian is faced with a desperate choice—save one or save many.

I had a very hard time connecting with this newest installment. I read Ms McCleave’s first in her Soul Gatherer series, Drawn Into Darkness and was blown away. In this series we see the ago old battle between God & Satan from the guardians of humanities POV. The premise is interesting and the intrigue of the plot started out well but seemed to fizzle and stall towards the middle. Only at the end did it pick back up and deliver a little bang but by then I had lost interest.

The different characters POV’s are injected in abruptly. The book reads in a jerky fashion which made it hard to connect with. I kept skimming back through the book feeling like I missed something. There is a lot of dialogue and random information that slow the story down drastically and it was hard to pick the flow back up. The romance between Brian and Lena felt forced and contrived. I did not feel any connection to them or between them. A lot of heavy petting and innuendos make for some hot scenes but I didn’t feel any chemistry. When I really don’t care if the protagonists get together romantically then we have a problem.

Brain is a hunky hero but the constant references to his looks and grooming habits made him look superficial. Also, I’m not a huge fan of deception in a blossoming romance. It always leads to no good. Lena’s stubbornness in not telling the Brian the whole truth went from acceptable suspense to, “OMG, just tell him already!!”.

I have to say that while I’m not a prude, Brian drops the F bomb more then a song at a Tupac cd. Everything is F*** this and F*** that.  This must be his shtick because even the other characters told him to give it a rest.

Seeing things from the demons POV was interesting. Though I would have liked to see more interaction between the demons and the Soul Gatherers outside simply fighting and blowing things up. Secondary characters were strong and played well in to the story. But in retrospect to what I said earlier; we saw they randomly and in some what I deemed unneeded scenes and dialogues.

I have to say that Emily is not my favorite character. Her teenage angst and …”Woe is me, I don’t want to be the Trinity Soul” got old after the first few times. Carlos is my favprite. I like the dual nature he has going on and am somewhat interested in seeing where Ms. McCleave will lead him.


Rating: 2.5/5

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Thanks Tori!