Patricia La BarberaBesprekingen

This book is a great read, especially if you enjoy fantasy books. As the story progresses, I got to know more about Tala and wanted to see what she would choose for herself, staying and living with her curse, or going on to try to find a cure. She has to struggle with what she wants to do and what is going to be best for her in the long run. I enjoyed reading about her decision making process and how she ultimately decided what the best decision was for her.

Castle Wolves was my first read about werewolves and I must say I enjoyed the journey. As I suspended my unbelief, I was able to travel with the characters through their changes physically and spiritually as they fought for good in the name of Jesus. Patricia weaves the struggles of her characters with action and clarity, leaving the reader wanting more as she sets up for a sequel. Yes, werewolves and Christianity works in her writing!

Tala and Matt were happy. T hat is untill the werewolves came into their lives. It gets a bit confusing after that as stranger and stranger mYSTICAL THINGS APPEARED IN the story. Lots of fighting and gashing of jaws.½

I could tell right away that this wasn't the first book, after reading the full first chapter....I didn't understand anything that went on. I am a firm believer in recapping events, no book should start off exactly where the last one ended. I also felt like I needed a glossary, I wasn't to clear on what the violent actually was. The synopsis read almost like a summary of the first three chapters but doesn't really give us a clue about the lack of depth in this book. I also didn't understand all the secrecy. The storyline jumps all around, and I was confused a lot. Character development must have happened in the first book because the lack of it here explains nothing. Overall entertainment value was two stars.

Although this novella is only 128 standard pages La Barbera manages to pack in as many twists and uncertainties as a mystery twice its length, without skimping on detail.

Larissa O’Connor’s husband died in a car crash. At the funeral she discovers a hooded stranger performing a ceremony over her husband’s body and making cryptic references to the Celtic Crow, leaving her more convinced than ever his death was not an accident. When a letter arrives claiming the answers lie in her family’s past in Northern Ireland, she discovers that her husband might be the latest victim of a curse that stretches forward from the conversion of the Irish Kings to Christianity.

Larissa is a well-rounded character, displaying the usual modern disbelief in ancient prophecies and occult conspiracies to begin with but neither diving into magic nor unfeasibly disregarding evidence as she investigates further. By making her a travel journalist, La Barbera creates a justification for her investigative competence without the sacrifice of risk that making her a law enforcement professional would bring.

The supporting characters are also well crafted, from the intense and changeable emotions of Larissa’s daughter to the slow revelation of unsettled depths behind the openness of her seat-mate on the plane to Ireland.

As well as balancing the revelation of who sent the letter and whether Larissa’s husband really died in an accident, the book carefully maintains uncertainty about a mystical cause: even as the dénouement looms it is not clear whether Larissa’s dreams are echoes of a past life or merely nightmares built from the day’s events.

Instead of glossing over meals as most novels do, this book gives small word portraits of key meals. These snapshots of enjoyment carry a holiday mood, echoing Larissa’s cover story for a sudden trip to Northern Ireland and making the growing paranoia of the main plot darker by contrast.

The mystery remains unresolved until almost the last page before resolving the immediate threat. This resolution is plausible but leaves the reader sharing Larissa’s feelings of anti-climax. Larger issues in her family’s history are left unresolved, leaving an opening for a sequel.

Overall I enjoyed this book; however, the volume of plot and detail is almost too much for the length, teetering on the brink of being rushed. I recommend it to readers looking for a few hours of intriguing mystery.

I received a free copy of this book.

In Stephen King's book "On Writing", he mentioned that Uncle Oren inherited "Fazza's" toolbox. It had three layers, two were removable. He said it sat in the garage and it was huge. His point was writers should have their own toolbox and each layer should contain certain things.

This book is one I recommend for a writer's tool box. Indie writers do not have the luxuries of the big publishing house. This book will help you take your writing to the next level. It will help you avoid some of the pitfalls that most Indie authors find themselves hitting in their first few books

Well, there is nothing to say about this book which isn't in the blurb. You could say someone told you everything about the story there. One thing which isn't in the blurb are Larissa's weird dreams and some information on her family's history. Nothing to write home about. It's just a mystery. One with occasionally annoying heroine.