Keepers verses Reapers

Title: Keeper Vs. Reaper
Author: Jennifer Malone Wright
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars


After the death of their father, Lucy Estmond inherits the family business even though she is the youngest.  She knew she would be the one to take over watching the souls in the graveyard and keeping them from being stolen from the Reapers.  Reapers are beings that eat souls to keep their strength.  Each despise each other and Lucy continues the age old battle.  But everything changes when Lucy finds out about a prophecy of a Chosen One..  A prophecy that she fulfills of being the  keeper to bring the end of the Reapers.  During a chance encounter at her sister's bakery Lucy meets Jack.  A gorgeous man....and a Reaper.  After their meeting the two realize they now have an attraction they cannot break.  They have a need to be together, almost like breathing.  When Lucy gets kidnapped by Jack's own mother, he joins the Estmond family to save her.  Will they be able to figure out what is behind this unnatural attraction in time?  Will Lucy discover answers to all her lingering questions?





So the premise is interesting keeper and reapers battling over souls and a chosen one to bring down the end of the other.  But it is an idea that has been done many times including the idea of the chosen one being the seventh child, born on the seventh day of the seventh month.  I've seen this 7 theme in other books (the 7th son of the 7 son will be a chosen one type of thing)  Star crossed lovers, too cliché of the Romeo and Juliet ideal. I don't want to give spoilers but several times quotes from Romeo and Juliet entered my head as I was reading this.


The pacing is super slow, it takes a long time to build up and even then the climax sort of falls short of what I was expecting and the ending made me think "that's it?"  It didn't really make eager and excited to read the next book in the series.  There were too many questions left unanswered, and readers are left wondering why the characters are doing the things that they are doing.  The language in this is fowl lots of f words and other cussing.  I understand people do this and do it often, but sometimes in novels it takes away from what the author is trying to do.  It was way overused and got old after a while. 


The characters had no depth to them, you thought they would at various points, but then their story gets dropped.  Lucy totally treats Ethan like crap, Jack is a man whore who changes his ways for Lucy.  There are so many of the siblings that sometimes you lose track of who is who and some aren't even really in the book or have side moments just as a reminder, almost like "Oh hey yea there is a sister named Steph."  The prophecy doesn't even get explained more other than Lucy is the chosen one to bring an end to the reapers.  There should be more to it at least for the readers.  It didn't seem like the Estmonds were too concerned with finding out more about the prophecy to help Lucy other than caging her into the house.


If I see the second novel available on like a free ebook day I may read it to see if there are questions answered, but I don't expect myself to read the next one.  As I always this book may not have been for me, but someone else might enjoy it, so if you enjoy paranormal fantasies and the like then sure check out this novel.


If you have any recommendations for a fantasy novel you want me to review feel free to let me know in the comments!


Happy Reading!

Banshee's Embrace

Jacqueline is confused at what is happening to her after a strange attack.  She should have died, but her husband sacrificed his life for hers.    Strangely, since then she is drawn to death, moreover she can see when it is coming for someone.  Even stranger is the urge to sing for those who are dying.  All of this happening to her becomes disturbing and affects her emotions.  Jacqueline meets Toby who has been charged with keeping an eye on her, as he knows the truth about her banshee origins, and how rare half-banshees are.  While they are rare, if in the wrong hand she can be a very powerful weapon, and Toby must work to help keep her safe from those who want to use her.  Jacqueline finds herself falling in love with Toby when she is kidnapped by another wizard and she must use her powers to save herself and the man she loves.

I was really excited about this book because it is something different from the typical, ghosts, vampire, werewolf, demon, angel stories we have been seeing all too often.  The idea of the main character being a banshee had a lot of potential for me and I had very high expectations for something unique.  That being said the book was very well written and entertaining, but it didn’t hit the mark for me.  The beginning was rather confusing and seemed to stumble a bit as it gives readers a back story of Jacqueline.  But once you get about 25% through, the story really picks up and begins to fly.

The book is paranormal romance, I would have personally enjoyed it without the romance aspect to it. I know sometimes it adds depth to the characters and gives them something more than her being a banshee and him a wizard trying to save her, but sometimes it also takes away from the story.  It almost feels like it began to take away from the story.  The romance didn’t help build a connection to the readers, nor did it seem to be natural.  The book unfortunately does not stand out as all that fantastic to me, yes it is a good read and a great way to spend an afternoon.  But there isn’t much that is making me excited to read the next book or hold on to the characters the way I do with another book.

Would I recommend this novel, sure. I think there are people who would greatly appreciate the story and get enjoyment out of it.  As for a rating, I would give this a 3 out of 5 star rating for the reason that it’s didn’t grasp me and hold on, and I have forgotten most it shortly after reading it.