Desert Rose

From the description given, this book seems like it has the potential to be interesting. Coming from the point of view of vampire hunters, it promises action and adventure. In most respects, this is true, and I wasn't disappointed.

The characters themselves were interesting enough, and the struggles they all found themselves dealing with are relate-able (minus vampire hunting...). The two strangers, Fate and Havoc are especially interesting. The mystery surrounding them is the biggest thing keeping the story going, and they're fun to read about.

If I could accurately rate this book, it would be a 2 1/2 star, not three. It's not bad enough to be a 2 though, so I'll settle for 3.

My main reason for not being very impressed, is the overall writing. Half of the time, we're getting what seems like a deeper look into the characters, then at others times, they're all just in the background, with walls up around the details, and everything is a big secret that we never find out.

It was also frustrating, to have spurts of action that suddenly turned into the inner monologues of several characters. A lot of the issues the characters dealt with were repetitive, and it was somewhat irritating to have the action parts stop abruptly to re-read personal issues and fears of characters at random.

The point of view jumps around between several characters, in no distinguishable rhyme or pattern, which was somewhat maddening. It felt like, as the reader, I was constantly flitting around from person to person, getting details sometimes, and being pushed away at others.

I also didn't care for the ending- the last several chapters felt like a cop-out, just throwing together cliches to force an ending. The attempted cliff-hanger at the very end was frustrating, and made me want to just be done with it.

I also did not care at all, for the language that was used. It was enough to make me want to put it down all together, especially in the first half of the book. Note to parents there- this book is NOT suitable for younger audiences. The F word and "hell" were used in almost every other sentence, and it didn't seem at all necessary. While I can see why it fit for the situation the characters were in, and their frustrations, it was very unpleasant for me to read. I also didn't care for the randomly thrown in erotic scenes, and had it persisted much longer, I wouldn't have finished this book at all.

The overall effect made me not want to finish reading this book, and I only did because I agreed to read it for the author in exchange for this honest review, and had a mild curiosity as to how it would end. It was an ok story...not great though, and not a book I'll read again.

The overall story is interesting, and apart from the writing style and inappropriate language, the mix of the different mythical creatures did make for an interesting story. The action and fighting scenes with the vampires were well written and exciting, and probably the best part of the book, apart from Havoc and Fate.

This isn't a book I'd be quick to recommend, but if it sounds interesting, it's worth the read (if foul language doesn't bother you). It is a book that could appeal to a lot of readers, I just wasn't all that impressed. It has an interesting enough story to compete with the distasteful aspects though, which says a lot.

*I was given an ebook copy of this book, by the author, in exchange for an honest review.