2 ½ Stars

This review is also published at http://thebookaholiccat.com

I don’t know where to start with this review, I really wanted to likeFeast but instead I felt disappointed and had serious problems reading it, I even considered a couple of times not finishing it. I pushed myself to continue reading it because I know how much work an author puts on her/his work and I really hate to DNF a book.

I was very excited when I first read the blurb about this book. I thought it will a very interesting and dark book and had great expectations for it, expectations it didn’t meet. This book is 300 pages long and it took me over 180 pages if not more to get a little bit into the story. This book is told in so many different points of view that it gets confusing. Every chapter is told from a different character point of view and the chapters are not longer than couple of pages. This writing style cuts the fluidity of the story making it even harder to get into it. In my opinion some of the characters points of view were completely unnecessary, I didn’t care about the sheriff or Joe, those pages could had been use to better develop the main characters and their relationship.

The characters felt two dimensional and were difficult to connect with. We get lots of information about them, but not the important and necessary to the story. This book is about Darklings, but not even once we are explained what a Darkling is, what they do or where they are coming from. We are told about The Hunt, The Feasting and The Harvesting, but we are never explained what those things really are or what encompasses during them. There is a character called the Legend Keeper, he/she is supposed to be important but his/her business is never explain, what was it his/her job? Not a clue.
Ash is Cursed, but why? What does the curse means and what are the implications? Sadly that is another no clue. Ash is bounded to Ticonderoga Falls. In the beginning of the story it feels Ash is been punished and that is why he has to stay in the town, as his penalty, but at the end he gives the town to his daughter Elspeth as her inheritance, like if it was a good thing to have. So I don’t understand, was the town a punishment or a blessing?

The whole story occurs in the span of 2 days. In the first day we met Maddie who is heartbroken because her cheating husband left her for her best friend, and in the course of two days without mayor interactions with Ash she falls deeply in love with him, so in love that she is willing to give her life for him, mmm, what can I say? No, I don’t believe it. Same with Ash, he is been pining for his dead wife for over hundred years and in two days everything changed, he can forget about her and be with Maddie. Sorry but I don’t believe their romance.

The idea Mrs. Destefano had for this story was a great one. This book could have been an amazing and original book but the way the idea was developed wasn’t the most successful one. So many questions were left unanswered that it was not funny. I might understand this if this book was part of a series, but it is supposed to be a stand alone book. And even though if it was a part of a series there were still so many questions unanswered and so many topics left completely open that the story didn’t wrap up neatly.
Feast was not for me, but maybe some fantasy or paranormal lovers might enjoy it. ( )

On the surface, Feast has every element which fans of paranormal romance fiction would enjoy. It has otherworldly creatures with a mysterious past, a strong central female character, a gorgeous backdrop, mystery, tension, danger. Unfortunately, the elements are combined in such a fashion that makes Feast extremely confusing and just plain forgettable.

In any paranormal storyline, the most important thing an author should do is to fully describe the supernatural creature. Unfortunately, Ms. Destefano fails to adequately describe the Darklings so that the reader is left not knowing who they are and why they are dangerous. With fangs, bat-like wings, and an ability to glamour, they appear to be similar to vampires, but they are not. With names like Ash, feeding on dreams, and an entire court system, they also have elements of the Fae, but they are not. Exactly what they are is never explained. The reader is left to put together a puzzle that is missing half of its pieces. This incomplete picture of the main dangerous element of the novel makes for lackluster tension. It is difficult to feel concern for the heroine when one cannot discern what the danger actually is.

The entire novel feels undeveloped. Maddie's past is only briefly described, especially her fame and previous relationship which she is fleeing at the start of the novel. The curse that binds Ash is never explained at all. Neither is The Harvest, Maddie's powers, or an entire slew of essential elements of the story. While the premise is fascinating, there are simply too many holes or unexplained sections that make it difficult for a reader to follow the action and care about the characters.

Where Ms. Destefano does shine is in her descriptions of Ticonderoga Falls. The outdoor scenes are some of the most fully described in the entire novel. As such, the reader gets a clear mental picture of the spookiness of the woods and the natural beauty of the area. These scenes are some of the strongest in the novel, even if the reader does not fully understand what is happening.

My disappointment in Feast is only enhanced by the fact that the premise of it is so intriguing. Done properly, it truly could have been an excellent novel that stood out among its peers for involving a new supernatural creature. Unfortunately, the lack of execution only leaves the reader frustrated with the potential for greatness the story has.

Thank you to NetGalley for my e-galley!

You may also read my review here:http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/07/review-feast-harvest-of-dreams-by.html

Feast was a really nice break from the usual urban fantasy fare. Madeline MacFaddin travels back to Ticonderoga Falls with her young son, Tucker, and their dog, Samwise, to hopefully decompress from what was a painful divorce, not to mention the idea of her ex-husband marrying her ex-best friend. A wildly famous writer of graphic novels, Maddie is also hoping to break her writer’s block before her career takes a nose dive. Ash is the caretaker of the inn and the land and holds sway over the magic that cloaks the woods like a shroud. Ash saved Maddie’s life when she was a child, and she still has memories of the dark creatures that live, and feed there. Unknown to her, a war is brewing between two clans of a race of beings called Darklings,that feed on the dreams of humans. Ash’s brother, Thane, plots to take over Ash’s land, so he can feed whenever, and however, he wants. Darklings are rather like vampires, except they feed on dreams instead of blood. Ash and his clan feed on humans without killing them, but Thane’s clan has no such reservations. A dark curse hovers over Ticonderoga Falls, revenge for the death of Ash’s wife, many years ago, and binds the residents to the town and to the Darklings that haunt their dreams.
Feast reads like a dark faerie tale and is told in first person POVs from various characters. It was different, switching back and forth, but I really enjoyed getting to know each character intimately, even the not-so-nice ones. This seems like it would be hard to do, but the author manages it really nicely. Ash is the star, but we get to know Maddie, Ash’s daughter, and Thane as well as other inhabitants of Ticonderoga Falls. Feast called to mind early Dean Koontz (Watchers, Strangers, etc), and not only because Feast and some of Koontz’s stories featured very special dogs. Set against a backdrop of Halloween, magic, and the power of dreams, Feast is a very entertaining combination of fantasy and faerie tale. ( )

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
www.allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com

From FEAST’s first chapter I was engrossed as much with the mythology expanding before my eyes as I was with the characters who had already won my heart. The balance of character development and world building excellence that was impossible to put down. With a dreamy quality that I associate with Charles de Lint or Nina Kirki Hoffman, and with a touch of her own urban fantasy style thrown in, Destefano transforms a piece of our every day world into something dark and magical.

That little piece of magic is the vacation town of Ticonderoga Falls and it’s inhabitants. It’s a getaway spot for humans, and, when the Hunt draws near, Darklings from another realm. The mythology of the Darklings unfolds slowly and organically, mixed in with the sad personal history of our hero, the ancient and damaged Ash. Destefano isn’t shy about painting Ash’s dark side, but it was that grittiness that made it so fascinating to watch him orbit and collide with Maddie and the locals, and created an adrenaline rush of fear and anticipation that accompanied each human/Darkling interaction.

While those moments of contact never came without a frisson of danger, there were also hints of long term symbiotic relationships, of love and passion that crossed realms. While I had a hard time imagining what a happily ever after would look like between Ash and Maddie themselves (never mind their blended families), I loved the level of detail and uncertainty Destefano lavished on her characters. Ash has lived numerous lives before, and Destefano deftly writes glimpses of his past even as she writes his present. Ash himself has doubts about a place for Maddie in his life, and his internal struggles leave the ending in question until the last pages, a delicious delay that never felt contrived.

All throughout FEAST, that artful uncertainty, when Maddie was vulnerable to other Darklings and the entire town of Ticonderoga Falls is at risk for nightmares and heartbreak and death, I was cringing in anticipation and yelling at the pages. From beginning to end FEAST wrapped me up in it’s faerie tale, and kept me completely under the spell of Destefano’s dark dream.

Sexual Content: Kissing, mention of sex, references to magically coerced sex and pregnancy ( )

Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager; Original edition (June 28, 2011)

My Rating: 3.5 stars
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

**Review**

Feast: Harvest of Dreams is the story, mainly, about Maddie McFadden who is a successful screen writer and graphic novelist who has been compared to Steven King and Neil Gaiman. Maddie, her son Tucker, and wolfhound named Samwise, return to Ticonderoga Falls twenty-five years after she spent the summers there with her parents. She is trying to find a way to release her writers’ block that has been nagging her since her divorce to her cheating asshat spouse. She figures Ticonderoga with its mysteries abound, will break the block once and for-all.

Maddie remembers bits and pieces of her past, but nothing concrete. She does remember a kindly man named Ash, who she gets reacquainted with soon after arriving in town. She vaguely remembers creatures with dark skin and broad wings, shifting from one shape to the next. She actually thought it was all a dream, but now that she is back in town, she believes that it might have been real. What she doesn’t realize is that by being back in town, she has put herself into harm’s way from beings that she can only dream and write about.

Our main male protag is Ash. Ash is a Darkling, and the guardian of Ticonderoga Falls. What is a guardian you ask, and lots of you have? He is responsible for not allowing renegade Darklings to feast on the dreams of the residents humans without his permission. Ash has been cursed to remain in this town after his wife was Lily was murdered by one of its residents. In a fit of rate, he not only cursed the family responsible, but he also cursed himself into remaining in town for as long as the curse remains in place.

Ash remembers Maddie when his cousin tried to steal her away from him, and has vowed to protect her, or feast on her dreams all by himself. And, my does she have some nice dreams to feast upon! He also realizes that he is slowly falling into a funk that could harm the residents of the town, and cause him to become a Hauntings – a spirit that stays in one place too long, with bad intentions towards those around him. He still pines for the wife that he believes he allowed to be killed, while taking up with another and having Elsbeth who is part darkling and part human.

There have been quite a few questions put out about this story like what are Darklings? What is Feasting actually? And, what exactly does a Guardian do? You as the reader must answer them yourself after reading the book. Not paying attention to rumors or innuendos or even reviewers which includes mine. Truly pay attention to the characters in the book and read what Feasting actually means. Does it mean that the Darklings are in fact Vampires as others have stated?

Don't allow yourself to get confused by the change in POV's. Normally I don't care for the abrupt changes in the POV, but with this book, the chapters are actually short enough that it actually works for me.

This is a paranormal romance novel as Maddie and Ash discover their attraction to each other, as well as the danger from the Darklings that are supposed to answer to him while they are in town but have their own hidden agendas.

Maddie is a really good character, with no discernable flaws that normally come from urban fantasy or PNR novels heroines. Her imagination is what ends up saving the day from the villainous louse who calls himself cousin to Ash. She has the ability to ward off any attempts to steal her dreams which makes her a dangerous weapon.

I'm curious as to the release of this book after Afterlife was released as part of a series. This appears to be a standalone release as the story really does wrap itself up. DeStefano could actually continue to a sequel, and I'm sure there would be those interested in what happens next.

Recvd ARC via Netgalley.com. Pub Date: 06/28/2011 ( )