☺☺☺☺☻ as a Paranormal Romance ☺☺☺☻☻as an Urban Fantasy
Dressed in subdued colors the cover of "Tab Bennett and the Inbetween" gives little hint to the roaring passions laying in wait. A young woman dressed as if she's about to go for a ride stands on a grassy field. In the distance the dark shadows of a massive forest block the horizon. Hundreds of dark winged birds rise up from the darkness, riding and dancing on the blue waves of wind. The woman's dark hair, a mix between true brown and auburn, lashes out behind her in the same wind. She pauses in her walk towards the woods, looking back over her shoulder, one foot terminally raised. Is she asking you to follow her or is she debating going at all? While I liked the cover I don't think it was appropriate for the book. It feels innocent and even has a young adult type feel to it but this book is by no means for anyone but the most mature of audiences. The story within would have been much better suited by flashes of flesh or a passionate embrace. As it stands I feel a little suckered in to have read this book when this style isn't normally on my shelf.We are introduced to the story by Tabitha Bennett herself, this is the first book I've read on the Kindle to use the first person. The very first sentence draws you in to a world of gothic terror and beautiful simplicity, a juxtaposition that sets the tone for the entire novel. "While my sister Rivers was dying, I was planting crocus bulbs in my front yard." Just in that one sentence you can already feel Tab's guilt over the death of Rivers. But its not that simple, Tab knows exactly what she was doing while her sister was dying because Tab has a front row seat to the horror show through visions that will haunt her for years. Because the visions never come in time to save anyone and she knows because this has happened before to her two other sisters. Now there's just Tab...which means she's next. Her humungous family is devoted to saving her where they couldn't save the others, from he grandfather to her fiance Robbin. But its not just because they love Tabitha, no, its because Tabitha was the target all along. This is where Tab's simple life begins to unravel. She learns of her heritage and the destiny placed before her, she learns that her family is in fact not her family at all, and that the beautiful stranger standing on the porch is her true fiance not the boy she fell in love with during her childhood. Because Tabitha Bennett is really Princess Aurora, the heir to the throne of the Light Elves and the Inbetween.
What I liked about the book:
- Jes sets every scene every character up to the hilt. You can see the manor grounds, feel the passion, the intensity, the terror. It's honestly just good writing
- I like the hidden princess storyline and how Tab begins to accept and move forward with her life.
- None of the characters are one dimensional, everybody has feelings, everyone has the propensity to change, everyone has a depth to them even Nicolas.
- Tab fights back! She's not always the weeping trembling princess, she'll haul off and hit somebody too.
What I disliked:
- The actual plotline feels like it takes a backseat to the incredibly graphic love triangle between Alex and Robbin. I could have used a lot less sex and a lot more actual storytelling.
- Tab is fickle. She can't seem to choose between the two men for almost the entirety of the book. If it wasn't for the enchantment pushing her and making her do things I could have hated her for this. As it is I don't like she didn't fight back enough, just letting her passions take over and feeling people up willy nilly. There's a brief second where she even considers one of the other characters as a viable option someone up until that point she had thought was a cousin. I mean really how Sex starved does Tab have to be!?
- Alot of the surprises weren't very surprising... Even the most heart-wrenching declaration of how Tab was conceived wasn't as punchy because I'd figured it out pretty early on along with the other threat. I kinda felt like I should hold Tab's hand til she figured it all out. I will say that the real hidden threat of Nina was a complete surprise.
- The Starlings! Ok now whats up with them...why are they there, why are they helping her, etc. Don't introduce a wonderful character and then skip over them. Oh they're harbringers well....what does that mean?
- The ending....it just cuts off! I know its a trilogy but a good place to end if would have been directly after the battle. Don't leave me hanging.
☺☺☺☺☻ ☺☺☺☻☻
4 out of 5 smilies 3 out of 5 smilies
as a paranormal romance as an urban fantasy
It's a romping good time. Recommended only for mature adult audiences and those that don't mind sex centered stories. In short die-hard romance readers would love it.
Synopsis:
"Yesterday Tab Bennett was a bank teller. Today
she’s at the center of a centuries old war between Light and Dark.
Tomorrow – well let’s just say she’ll be lucky if she lives to see it.
Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, employed at the local bank, and finally living on her own for the first time at twenty-four years-old, Tab Bennett has no interest in a fairy tale life. She’s perfectly happy with the normal one she already has. But when her sister is murdered on a moon-dark night, revealing a world of power and magic she never dreamed existed, a fairy tale is exactly what her life becomes. Figures it would have to be the Grimm kind."
Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, employed at the local bank, and finally living on her own for the first time at twenty-four years-old, Tab Bennett has no interest in a fairy tale life. She’s perfectly happy with the normal one she already has. But when her sister is murdered on a moon-dark night, revealing a world of power and magic she never dreamed existed, a fairy tale is exactly what her life becomes. Figures it would have to be the Grimm kind."
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