Tuesday, June 9, 2015

CHOICES Can Be Confusing - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

Choices by J.L. McFadden
Publication date: January 21st 2015
Genres: Adult, Paranormal Romance

Synopsis:

This book is written in such away that it can be read as a stand alone or after the first book of the series- The Guardian. After so much more loss Adela finds herself in the middle of a love triangle and the fight for the head of Covens.

Adela and John both have their fair share of choices to make. Adela must think of her coven, but at the same time she feels a burning desire for her great, great niece’s Guardian John. She is torn because though fate has blessed her great, great niece with a Guardian that is connected to her by Mother Earth to protect her from anything, she keeps rejecting him. John is torn between the woman he is fated to and Adela. He fears that it is Adela’s powers of seduction that is tempting him. He feels a desire to protect Gala, but also feels a yearning for Adela. At the same time Adela must search for the secret journal known as the Guardian journal and protect those she loves from the dangers that lurk in the shadows.
 
 

THE REVIEW

The Adela – John – Gala triangle is back with a vengeance in Choices by J.L McFadden.  I hadn’t read the first book in this series - Guardian, so prior to picking up Choices recently I decided to start at the beginning of the story.  Right away I fell in love with the concept, the idea for the plot, the basis of the storyline.  By the end of Guardian I found myself with questions, even scratching my head over some of the twists that the plot had taken.  And then I moved on to Choices and my confusion carried on with me.
The concept of some lucky (or special) vampires having a mostly human guardian was intriguing.  I loved the way it developed and I was pleased with the way that Gala and John initially bonded [during Guardian].  The guardian-vamp bond was made out to be something akin to soul mates, or life mates, except in Choices that relationship bond between Gala and John was gone, in many ways Gala came to hate John.  Instead John was suddenly with Adela and Adela was more than interested in taking Gala’s place.  Yet, John was still Gala’s guardian.  I guess.  Like I said, I was very confused and I’m not sure whether that was a deliberate thing brought about by the author, or whether it’s just my own misunderstanding.
There were a lot of little things that I noticed that, to me anyways, seemed to contradict information previously given to the readers in the story.  Initially, it’s said nothing is known of Guardian’s as anyone with the knowledge of them is immediately killed. ‘It is forbidden.’ Then somewhere along the line what’s said is different, and it’s not that Guardians are unknown, it’s portrayed as more of something that has come to be viewed as a fairytale.  And then suddenly we’re being introduced to character after character that not only vaguely knows about Guardians but personally knew Adela’s deceased guardian before his death 1000 years previous.  See? Confusing.
However, for all that I was confused, and for all that I struggled to read the book for the editing, spelling and typo errors, I did actually enjoy the story. 
I liked the development of both John and Adela’s strength and powers.
I really enjoyed the evolution, or maybe more accurately said, the written development of the vampire world.  I am fascinated with the interplay and interaction of the vampire and werewolf nations, and the idea of other dark beasties existing – somewhere out there.
So I do recommend the story to you, my friendly readers.  I plan to stick with the series and see how things develop and change. I want to see how it all ends.  But I caution you, be prepared for some unexpected and confusing twists.

6 comments:

Giselle said...

Thanks for hosting today! :)

LD Ferris said...

Thanks for stopping by Giselle!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for such a great review... :) I also spent a good amount of time on you page - you do great work :)

Unknown said...

In the earlier book (The Guardian) you will see that Adela had a different Guardian and he was murdered infront of her... You found a week spot in my story... When I send this to a different editor (I trusted an editor my friend sent me to and I see she changed things her way that I said no to), because I try to be like Terry Pratchett. Well, I try to keep it so it doesn't matter which book you start with or read next - I want the stories to flow from one book to the next.

LD Ferris said...

Thanks for visiting Jamie-Lee and I'm glad you enjoyed the site.

I don't mind books that require backstory (from previous books in the series) and I think, in many ways if I had only read Choices (skipping reading Guardian before it) I probably would have been far less confused and wouldn't have found inconsistencies with the details that really help establish the continuity of the storyline. Regardless, as I said in the review, I did indeed enjoy the story and look forward to seeing how it all plays out. :-}

Unknown said...

I am just upset that the editor did such a bad job... At the time I was working with the editor for this I was working with the translator for the Guardian and spred myself too thin - trusted the editor too much :( So I am just going to have to bite the bullet, edit a bit myself for the time being and have another editor come in. :) Thank you for your kind words of support.