kimbacaffeinate
Written on Feb 13, 2015
- The backdrop for Raven is the beautiful city of Florentine Italy with trips to the Uffizi gallery. A set of priceless illustrations from Dante’s Divine Comedy are on display at the gallery where Raven Wood spends her days restoring Renaissance art. Wouldn't you love that job? Gads, I would love to live there for a few years.
- Raven is a unique heroine. This is the first paranormal I have ever read where the heroine is full-figured, slightly handicap and utterly naïve when it comes to paranormal elements. Yet, she is strong, smart and despite some emotional issues, she does not compromise. I enjoyed her, despite some hangs up. She wakes up healed after losing a week in time. What does Raven concern herself with? Not what happened or how, but whether or not she will be late to work. I was like -What? Excuse me, your old wounds are healed, you've dropped weight and you are worried about work? This is her nature though, she has a serious side that made me eye-roll, but then she stood up to beasts, protected the Prince and what can I say but, "Go Raven!"
- The Prince. Yummy darkness…Oh ladies I adored him. He reminded me of Sebastian Ballister from Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels. Unapologetic, strong, demanding and a complete teddy bear when confronted by Raven. Reynard’s take on Vampires within the city, hunters and the hierarchy felt fresh to me. I loved that William (the prince) was dark and yet reached out to save Raven. His back history and uniqueness among his brethren was interesting.
- The romance is not your typical romance. It does not begin as one but slowly evolves as Raven investigates missing artwork and her miraculous recovery and lost time. There is heat and it is sensual, but it was the tender conversations and mundane moments like watching movies that made me swoon. The Prince demanded my attention and I felt myself stopping activity to listen. I needed to understand, feel and get to know this complex vampire. While the romance will continue, Reynard did wrap this up, with just a little tease of what is to come.
- Raven’s missing week, her physical change and prodding have her the main suspect in a police investigation regarding the theft of priceless art around the same time. It looks like an insider job at the Uffizi. Reynard weaved this thread throughout the story, using it to draw characters together and tied it the novella, The Prince (The Florentine, #0.5) that published in January 2015. Fans of the author recommend reading it first. Ooops.
Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
