Savage by
Willow Rose
Douglas's rating
4 of 5 stars
Author:
Willow Rose
Source: Author Requested Review
Genre: Paranormal Romance (Shifter)
Format: E-Book; Novel Length
After finishing Savage (Daughters of the Jaguar) I had to sit back and kind of soak in what I had read. This is Paranormal Romance by genre but it was actually something a bit more as it tends towards trying to impart the author’s sense of morality to the reader in a very general sense. Let me be clear, if I feel an author has decided to get on their soapbox and tell me how to live/vote/make a “better” world in a book I read for entertainment, I usually follow that with a trip to the trash can. I read this genre for entertainment not enlightenment, with that said this book did it subtly enough for me to overlook most of it and enjoy the story.
Christian is a recent arrival in the USA from Denmark; he is brilliant and shallow at the same time. His life, in addition to his academic prowess due to a photographic memory, has been a tale of women attracted to his good looks and cast aside due to his lack of ability to feel much on an emotional level due to facts that the book will provide. The book starts slowly, giving background and making you wonder if this book was accidentally placed in the wrong genre because it is pretty much story of a medical student going to live/work in Florida on the charity of others. Then things change after a near death experience followed closely by meeting the “crazy” people next door and finds them to be much more than anyone suspects (no I am not going to tell you, read the book). The title should give you enough hints but you should NOT expect the usual paranormal boy meets girl story, to quote some of my Alabama relatives “this ain’t it”. This starts down a road of romance combined with urban fantasy that you think you know where it is going and you will be wrong, I can safely say that this story kept surprising me in the directions it would take off in that you could not see coming. The story revolves around a myriad of things not the least of which are Christian trying to get a medical degree, not getting shipped back to Denmark, getting the girl (or not), trying to figure out why a wild animal saved him (yes that is a teaser), supernatural gift he has no idea how to embrace, and in what could have been left out IMHO a bit of what I would describe as “the Meaning of Life mixed with World Peace). Fortunately that last bit was subdued enough for me to enjoy the story.
Readers should be aware that for the most part this novel is character driven rather than action packed (although there is enough of that to keep my interest) and the romance though heartfelt is somewhat low-key and rates probably closer to PG than R in that respect.
BOTTOM LINE: While a bit slower than I prefer it held my interest, the editing in the first 25% needed some help but whether it got better or I got wrapped up in the story and blew right through it I could not say (I think that is a good thing either way) . Christian embracing his gift a bit more would have helped the book, some better follow-through on a side story or two would have helped, I got the feeling the author was less interested in telling the story than her desire to enlighten me (no I DON’T like that). Finally, the ending was no ending at all, it was like she just stopped writing and I assume there will be more books in this series which will answer a few questions. The premise and characters in this story have a huge potential that was not realized in this first book, but which do get its hooks into you enough to make you want more, I shall look forward to the next book. Overall rating – 3.5/5 Stars – Maybe more if you are a starry eyed dreamer that is striving for “The Meaning of Life” but for those common folks like me who are selfish and just want a good story with a bit of action and romance, 3.5 is as good as it got.
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