The Stolen Luck by Shawna Reppert
May 6, 2013
M/M Fantasy
Carina Press
Reviewed by Mandi
Lord James Dupree needs to preserve the vineyards his family owns and keep his mother and daughter safe from harm. Long ago, an elf lord gave his family a talisman as a symbol of friendship. This talisman brought good fortune to James and other noble families. But as time went on, the friendship was forgotten, but not the luck. Years ago, Jaime’s family’s Luck was stolen when his father was murdered. Since then, their vineyard has suffered and James’s wife got sick and died. James will now do anything to get the Luck back, which means kidnapping an elf. James is pretty sure the thief stole the Luck to get into elven lands, and that he died somewhere over there. He now needs an elf to help him find those lands, and he knows just the person.
Loren was kidnapped awhile ago by a vicious man and is now his slave. James wins Loren in a card game, and starts the slow journey back to his lands. Loren has been badly treated and doesn’t trust James one bit. James abhors slavery, but he is so desperate to get the Luck back, he decides to keep Loren as his slave just long enough to reach elven lands and then he will let him go.
This book has an initial good set-up. Both James and Loren are kind people. You can feel James’s torment as he is excited to finally have found an elf to get back to elven lands to find the Luck, but at the same time he feels shame that he has to do it through slavery.
As I continued to read though the story really stalls. Once James has Loren, they travel back to James’s vineyard where nothing really happens. There are a few action scenes because Loren’s previous owner isn’t happy he doesn’t own Loren anymore, but otherwise, it’s slow. Loren and James do get to know each other but I feel like their relationship doesn’t evolve well. I kept asking myself, why are they attracted to each other? What characteristics draws an attraction from one to the other? I felt no motivation from either for a relationship.
I was also disappointed with the plot. Why did we go back to James’s vineyard for so long rather than go explore the elven lands? When we finally did get there, things fell apart further as James and Loren were not even close to being in love. There was even a point at the 88% mark where SPOILER –
No sexual tension or great chemistry in this one. I can’t recommend.
Rating: D
Recent Reviews:
Joyfully Jay – 4.75/5
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Interesting, but not my thing. And you lost me at “fade to black sex scenes”. :(
Yeah…no