Part of the Darkly Dreaming collection I got from NetGalley. Second of the five books I didn't finish. The heroine was too goody-goody, too whiny, too dependent on others, not confident or independent enough to be interesting. She spends a lot of time *not* being upset that her scumbag father left her, her mother died, and nobody in the village will touch her, even though she's their healer. Of course she's going to be willing bait for the hero, who...Is a "dark" fae (and dark-skinned as well, and the connection between skin color and class/moral code was strong and very clearly made, and a bit uncomfortable for that), who is trying to find HIS scumbag father, so he can get vengeance on him, when he runs into the unknowing heroine's father, who just happens to be going back to see his daughter for the first time in years. When the father starts dying of the contagious disease he and the hero recently escaped, OF COURSE he asks a COMPLETE stranger, also known as a fae with a broken moral compass, to send a message to his daughter. Of course. At that point, I skipped this story and moved on to the next one. With a bland heroine, a stock rebel/bad boy hero, outward appearances that supposedly mimic inward character/personality/morality, and an utterly convenient plot, this book completely turned me off. I loved the way the book started off. However the book only recieved three stars for FOUR reasons.ONE- The Hero is a Dark Elf with midnight black skin. Who's body is on the cover? I think thats false advertising if you ask me.TWO- It was a great fantasy world with pretty cool characters, but once the romance plot of the book is resolved between the Hero and Heroine... the rest of the story is just Blah!THREE- The conflicts in the book with the Antagonist were pretty easy for the Hero and Heroine to overcome. There never really was this huge build up towards a climax. Everything was just plain peachy!FOUR- This was just too Happily Ever After for me. I mean everything worked out! I never really feared for the charcters.Other than that. The writing and descriptions were great. I loved the Hero and Heroine! I love the main supporting characters. A pretty simple read.
What do You think about Heart Of Fire (2000)?
I really fell in love with the hero in this one. If you haven't read it yet, you're missing a treat!
—kalli
Shallow character development. Plot was interesting, but not enough to carry the book.
—blayde
