I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Lords of the Were
by
Bianca D'Arc
urban fantasy, erotica in a paperback edition that was published by Samhain Publishing on January 1, 2007 and has 224 pages.
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First in the Tales of the Were erotica fantasy series.
My Take
The premise is good; the execution is juvenile. D’Arc’s writing has no depth or passion. It reads as though she added a few extra words to her outline and figured she was done. Her characters are shallowly written. Their interactions are abrupt. As for her love scenes, there’s a difference between taking pages and pages to write a single love scene and D’Arc’s getting it over with in a few—one seven-line paragraph begins one lovemaking session and causes her to erupt in a “wave of desire”. Sexually, Allie is 32-years-old and has had a few relationships. Other than one mention of her fantasies, which, naturally, are not discussed as it would take thought, there is nothing to indicate Allie even realized two men might share a woman in the same bed at the same time. Yet, she accepts it so easily other than a few token protests.
D’Arc has such a lovely opportunity to explore Allie’s emotions let alone Tim’s. She opens the possibilities by noting that Allie was orphaned when she was young and was raised by adoptive parents in their religion, not her mother’s. For all the effort D’Arc put into this, she might as well have shortened it up and made it a short story.
D’Arc begins by painting Tim as a guarded person but doesn’t maintain that fiction except to remind us with such moments as “Her heart broke open with the knowledge that he’d let his ever-present guard down enough . . .” and a very few others like it.
The interactions between the fae and the were were much too casual, but, I suppose it is consistent with the lazy execution of this story. It’s homey enough but I kept gagging and couldn’t wait to finish this farce.
The Story
Allessandra “Allie” has only a few more days to embrace her heritage [and you’d think D’Arc would play up some tension and string us out a bit] and Betina, the current priestess, leads her up to the standing stones for the ritual which will awaken her powers and, hopefully, see her acceptance by the were.
We get a few words of concern during the ceremony and then it’s off to the celebratory party where Allie meets family she never knew existed. Luckily, Allie has a few days of sexual play and magical learning before the evil one attacks. And attacks and attacks. Thank goodness for the brave Allie, embracing her powers bolstered by the love of her twin alphas.
The Cover and Title
The cover looks like a thuggish boy band with Tim and Rafe, well-muscled, posing and staring off in different directions while a very young, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Allie gazes mistily out at us wearing a sleeveless wrap cream top, a charm-laden pendant dangling around her neck.
I reckon the title is appropriate as both Tim and Rafe are Lords of Were.
