I’m not generally a romance reader unless it’s historical, because modern day stories that are primarily romances tend to be cheesy in my opinion. I have a hard time with all the ogling of rippling muscles and bodies aflame and what-not… just makes me roll my eyes. This story had an awful lot of that for the first half or so, but it had one more thing that kept me reading: I wanted to know the male hero Lad’s secret. The frankness of his confessions of love to the heroine Ryann were much too direct for an ordinary teenage boy, but I went with it, because it’s clear from the start that he’s not an ordinary teenage boy. I hoped this would eventually turn into a fantasy story, and so it does–you just have to wait for it.
Once I got into the fantasy world (and I won’t spoil Lad’s secret for you) and the conflict that nearly tore Lad and Ryann apart, I was glad I’d kept going, though I wished there had been a lot less build-up. While the plot from there forward was one I’d heard done before many times, it was still engaging enough that I wanted to keep reading, and really enjoyed it. Despite some over-the-top (for me) reunion scenes at the end, I was glad it ended as it did, and kept reading through some of the inevitable misunderstandings in hopes that it would get there.
Also, I love the fact that this is a modern romance in which the lead characters don’t just jump into bed together. It actually felt like a YA novel in that sense (the way I think they should be, anyway!)
My rating: *** 1/2
