Karolyn Cairns

I was intrigued by the plot and found the book to be quite good overall. However, I must in all honesty say, that I agree whole-heartedly with some of the previous reviews.

First off, the title is awful and does nothing for the actual story, giving the impression that you are about to read a sexually explicit erotic tale which is not the case. I found the sexual encounters between characters to be tastefully executed, not too overtly graphic, and kept in line within the flow of the book. Don’t get me wrong, it did get hot at times but I still wouldn’t classify it as anything other than a romance despite what the title suggests. Even if you disregard the erotic implication in the title, it still has little to do with the actual story. This book doesn’t revolve around “Tristan’s Loins”. I would say that it’s more about Selene finding true love than Tristan’s raging hard on, or need to get off.

Feeling engaged in the story was slow for me in the beginning. The author gives ample detail setting up the foundation before diving in to the heart of it. Without it, the story would seem flat. Enabling me to begin to feel for the characters and understand where they were coming from made all the difference. By the middle of the story, I was totally invested in the outcome and couldn’t seem to put my nook down.

The only thing other than the title that really bothered me is the obvious editing mistakes. With as good as the story was, I unfortunately found myself wishing I could take a red pen to it and return it to the author for corrections. The most obvious thing for me was that the dialog was almost completely devoid of contractions. I can understand Tristan not using them, as he was from the twelfth-century, prior to the beginning of the use of contractions in the spoken language. However, there is no excuse for all of the modern day characters running around saying: cannot, will not, and the like. Unless speaking in a heated or assertive manner, most people use contractions when speaking. It made the few that were used stand out instead of blending in. If it weren’t for those few, I would almost swear that the author used grammar check on their word processor and just allowed it to correct every mistake found.

Despite my issues with the book, I would still recommend reading it. This isn’t one I would add to the reread shelf, but it was enjoyable and worth it the first time around.
… (más)