Welcome to another debut Urban Fantasy! While I try and never judge a book by the cover, I had a difficult time moving past the cover of this book... for both good & bad reasons. Does anyone see a strong resemblance between the cover model (whom I am guessing, after reading the book is the main character, Secret) bears a strong liking to Anna Paquin from True Blood? It was a bit confusing for me at first, because as I was reading along, there were moments I had a little difficulty separating the two characters in my mind. Outside the 'physical' attributes, I loved the cover art and the strong presence and independence that the image set... plain English, the design was phenomenal!
Getting to the heart of the story, it's similar to other paranormal story lines in a way... there's a child that's a half-breed and not completely accepted by either faction of blood she carries, so she doesn't really 'belong' anywhere. Dumped by the werewolf mother that birthed her, Secret is not only part werewolf, but she's also a vampire too since her mother was attacked before she was born. Given that she seems to live in the shadows of the 'other' world, she works for the vampire council of New York as a bounty hunter, hunting down and killing any rogues that are turned without permission or that break the rules. At 22, Secret has been 'on her own' since she was 16 and although she is a 'mixed' breed, it's something only a handful of people know, a 'secret' that she doesn't advertise.
And here is where things kind of went a bit down hill for me... not so much in a bad way, more in a way that, "I've read this a few times before, just with a few different names and a different locality." Secret runs into a group of men and she can tell they are werewolves based on their smell...but she is immediately drawn to one of them and it is soon apparent that she isn't the only one to feel the connection. One of those werewolves is Lucas Rain, King of the East Coast werewolves and if Secret's life wasn't already complicated enough, it's destined to get even more complicated because he swears their connection means they are fated to be together. While Secret feels the connection, it isn't until she is alone with Desmond, Lucas's second in command, that she also realizes she feels a connection with him too... Hello love triangle!!
If all the above isn't enough to keep you occupied, throw in an enemy from Secret's past that has resurfaced that wants revenge... a vampire that almost succeeded in killing her when she was 16. Add a Vampire Tribunal that really has no liking (except for one) for Secret and would like nothing better than to see her fail, so why not assign her the impossible task of bringing in her 'enemy' alive?
I have mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I had to read it and let it sit for a few days and come back to read it again before I could decide how I really felt about it. For a debut novel, I think Sierra Dean has done amazing job... I love her creativity and her introduction to the paranormal world. I also think she is an astounding writer. As far as this novel is concerned, I'm sort of on a ledge... I feel like some of the material is fresh and has potential, while the rest is sort of recycled material I've read from a combination of assorted authors and paranormal books. (I think that's the main issue with the paranormal world, it's hard to find raw, fresh ideas that haven't been used in some form, somewhere.) That said, I'm really interested to see how Ms. Dean builds upon Secret's character and to see how she she merges into the world of 'others'...or if she does. And while I'm not really a fan of the 'love triangle', I will admit to being curious of how that relationship plays out as well. In my opinion, there's enough potential here that I'm interested in book two.
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