~ 2.5 Heart of Stone Stars ~

Heart of Stone is book one in the Gargoyles series by Christine Warren.

I was at the bookstore browsing and the blurb caught my attention, so I picked this book up on a whim. I’ve read The Others series by Christine Warren before and enjoyed the books. Unfortunately, Heart of Stone just didn’t do it for me.

The whole book was slow and dragged along. The characters where not memorable nor did they impress me. I was also hoping for some great action/battle scenes, since the author did some good build up, but they where uninspiring.

Ella Harrow our heroine, was boring. She had this kick as ability/gift, but she never developed into a strong enough women with the confidence in herself or her ability. Kees our hero came off cold, overbearing, and I never really warmed up to him. He was grumpy and dictatorial. I guess for a gargoyle made out of stone this is what happens. The romance between our hero and heroine never felt complete to me.

Heart of Stone was not the book for me. If the blurb intrigues you, I urge you to give it a shot. Just because it did not work for me does not mean it won’t for you.

*Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own consumption. I was not given any type of copy for a review. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.

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Ella Harrow is a psychic who keeps to herself and tries very hard to lead a quiet life. It all changes when she is attacked at the museum where she works and a Guardian (read: Gargoyle) comes to her rescue. Suddenly, this shy woman finds herself on the run for her life in a race to keep evil from overwhelming the earth and bringing an end to humanity. There's so much at stake and Ella can at best be described as a novice user of magic. Somehow she has to master magic, stay alive and deal with all of the feelings which Kees arouses in her.

As you may have guessed from the man titty on the cover and the description, Heart of Stone is a paranormal romance. The plot which brings Kees and Ella together really is quite standard though it has the potential to be so much more, if Warren hadn't been so determined to push Kees and Ella together.The plot definitely suffered because of the forced romance. Having characters so quickly fall in love, particularly when Kees had completely frozen out Ella after the first time they were intimate just made the romance seem ridiculous. It made me wonder if Ella had any self esteem at all?

In terms of world building, Heart of Stone, would have been far more compelling had Warren focused on building her gargoyle lore. The little work Warren did with gargoyles was spotty at best. Kees is an immortal being who spends hundreds of years sleeping until he is called to battle by a Warden. The last time he was awoken was in the 1700's and yet he supposedly has a great understanding of the world around him. English has changed rapidly over the years and yet, Ella has no problem conversing with Kees. When Kees needs to fly Ella home, he simply goes to the address she gives him. How is it that a creature who has been asleep since the 1700's can navigate a city as metropolitan as Vancouver and from the air no less, yet land on the appropriate fire escape? Warren decided to present Kees as a man outside of time by his failure to understand pop culture references. Warren explains Kees's seeming ability to navigate this world by having him slumber yet be aware. Well, if Kees's was so aware, how come he didn't know that his Warden had been murdered years before? A man outside of time works but only if he is actually outside of time and difficult to relate to for more reasons than he doesn't get it when he's sarcastically called Yoda.

As a protagonist, Ella alternates between absolutely submissive and irritating and feminist and strong. At the beginning of Heart of Stone, Ella is assaulted twice within the space of a few minutes. She knows that she has power that she can access to defend herself but refuses to kill her potential rapist. Ella almost instantly becomes concerned with her attackers ability to cause problems for her because of his wealth and not only refuses to call the police but almost immediately goes into denial that anything happened. Ella is rescued from her second attack by Kees, the Gargoyle. Rather than using her powers against either of her male attackers, Ella decides to aim her magic at Kees, though he saved her and says repeatedly that he won't hurt her. Normally, after being saved from someone wielding a knife, more people would say thank you and not attack.

Kees is the typical Alpha male that we get in most paranormal series. Under the guise of protecting her, Kees demands to go everywhere Ella goes and even kisses her when he senses another male's interest in her. When Kees attempts to steam roll over Ella however, she doesn't stand for it for one moment. Ella won't allow Kees to talk about her as though she isn't even in the room and refuses to allow him to make decision for her. Ella is also quick to notice that all of these ancient organisations seem to lack female members or don't take women seriously. Ella is absolutely adamant that this amounts to misogyny.

Read More ( )

" 4.5 out of 5 stars!! One hot know-it-all gargoyle and one reluctant magical woman team up to save the world while they fall in love along the way!

I thoroughly adored the novel!"

Read more of this review and two teasers here: http://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2014/01/feasted-on-gargoyles-series-bo... ( )

Tried to read, couldn't get into it, so returned to the library.

*Book source ~ NetGalley

Ella Harrow has a terrible secret she’s kept since she was twelve. But forget the past. She has another secret in the present that she doesn’t realize is putting her in very real danger. Until one night when she’s attacked at the museum where she works and she wakes a Guardian named Kees. She freaks out, not so much from the attack, but from the fact that the gargoyle statue has come to life and defended her. Has she lost her mind? Is she hallucinating? Has she been knocked out and this is just a dream? What the hell is going on?

I’ve been reading paranormal books for quite a few years now and while I love vampires and shifters I do love to read about something different every once in awhile. Gargoyles. Now, that’s different. Though technically Kees is a Guardian and not a gargoyle even though he has fangs, claws, horns, skin like stone and wings. Once out of his slumber he can change to look more human and then back to his Guardian form at will. He has no magic of his own, but he’s made from magic so he’s extremely hard to kill. Good thing because he and his six brother Guardians are what keep the Seven from overrunning the Earth and destroying all of mankind. But something terrible has been happening while he and his brothers slumber and it’s up to Kees and Ella to find and wake the other Guardians, and stay alive while being pursued by vile creatures, before all is lost.

I love this new world and the people who inhabit it. Kees is a hunk of nommy badassness and Ella is spunky and smart. It’s fast, funny, hot, interesting and full of magic and danger. Ella’s friend Fil (Felicity) is introduced and I like her. Good thing since she’s in the next book. I look forward to reading more about this world. ( )