Warrior

This book had all the elements that should have made it a hit (for me, at least). Strong, powerful female lead; sexy, manly (yet sensitive!) soldier-type who only wants to defend the one he loves; and magic. Also, horses.

Maybe it was a little too straightforward. Maybe all the pieces came together a little too easily (heh heh). Whatever it was, the book never seemed to connect with me. I liked the characters, but I didn't find them especially compelling.The magical Sources were a little too obvious in their construction. And the secretive societies charged with their protection (or with their acquisition) are never quite fleshed out for me.

Overall, a quick, pretty entertaining read, but nothing to keep me going with the rest of the series.

Surprisingly fun. I loved the plotline and the couple were easy to get behind.

This book reminds me of Indiana Jones movies or The Mummy movies - just with more sex.

At its core, this book is an adventure with magic and powerful objects and secret societies and clandestine organizations. And I love stories like this.

The two main characters - along with a native servant - head off into the Mongolian - desert? wastes? - well, either way, they head away from civilization, to find and retrieve a mystical object before the villainous organization can.

The plot is wonderful because I've always adored any sort of ‘hunt down the artifact' stories and it makes it even better than this ‘artifact' has some sort of power. (And, without spoilers, the power was really very cool. Though I could have done without the magical sex. Truly.)

I don't know much about Mongolia as it's never been particularly interesting to me, but that has changed since reading this book. There was obviously a lot of research and attention to detail that went into this story and I really liked the depiction of the Mongols. Though I cannot speak for accuracy, it felt accurate.

The romance moved a little fast for me, but they often do. As it was, these two characters were borderline obsessed with each other from the first meeting. I did start supporting their romance though, because they are so right for each other.

Gabriel is a little high handed - but he's also a gentleman and, even better, isn't afraid to admit when he's out of his depth and would do better following than leading. Thalia is a strong, independent woman, but - wonderfully enough - it never feels like an act. She, also, is comfortable follow someone more knowledgeable in the situation than she is.

Really, though, to me this is an alpha-male/alpha-female romance, because that's what they both are. And their relationship is this wonderful, mutual taking strength from each other. There's even a conversation about who is leading and they agree to ‘take turns' that I love.

To me, this book does what so few romances can, and makes people that are awesome apart even better together.

(Originally posted on my blog: pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com)