1 out of 4 stars
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Carra can only remember the last seven years of her life. She struggled with her amnesia at first, but she was able to create a life for herself and make friends. She's out with those same friends one night when a dark and mysterious man catches her attention. She feels a gravitational pull to him, his gaze seemingly seeing right through her. Carra isn't sure whether he's there to claim her as his own, or whether he's a part of her forgotten past that she should be running from. The only thing she knows is that he's ridiculously hot and handsome!
This is the basis behind Ruthie L. Manier's first book, Lover's Curse. Lover's Curse is the first book in a trilogy, but it does not read that way. Manier throws around made-up words and expects the reader to understand them with little explanation. Her characters are called Va'atacos and Suntanics, but they're basically vampires. I'm not sure if the book was purposefully written to make the readers understand things as Carra remembered them, but the lack of explanation and the assumption that we would be able to keep up was one of my biggest pet peeves with this book. I had a hard time believing that this was really the first book in the series.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only major problem with Lover's Curse. The book is in desperate need of an editor. There are typos, grammatical problems, and a distinct lack of continuity in the author's writing style. I thought I liked Carra as a character, but the more time she spent around Dark Eyes, the more she started to sound like a female dog in heat. I was honestly disgusted by the way Dark Eyes referred to her at times. I thought about giving the novel up because I wasn't enjoying it at all, but I had already read over 60%, so I decided to just trudge on and see if it got any better.
The idea for the book and the way things came together in the end wasn't actually all that bad. I'm not sure if it was very original or not, but things made sense and loose ends were wrapped up. Unfortunately, that's all the praise I have. My complaints far outweigh the compliments I could give.
In the end, I can only give Lover's Curse 1 out of 4 stars. I can't remember the last time I've given such a low rating, but I feel like Manier could have fleshed out the novel more and at the very least made sure it was edited properly. As it is, the novel I received felt sloppy and immature compared to the novel it could have become. I don't think I'll be recommending it to anyone, and I definitely will not be reading the other two books in the Hemocil Society series. Lover's Curse was a real disappointment and I'm just glad that it was a quick read, because I don't think I would have been able to finish it if it were any longer.
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Lover's Curse
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