Wednesday, September 12, 2018

The Lantern's Ember by Colleen Houck





Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So, he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern—one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal—or not-so-mortal—soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare.

Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire—and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.
 







The Lantern's Ember was a book I was really looking forward to. The synopsis combined with the cover had me DYING to get my hands on this book. However, I was disappointed when I actually was able to read this book, because it did not turn out to be at all what I was hoping for. 

One of my major complaints about this book was how young it felt. Instead of it reading like a Young Adult novel, it read like a Middle-Grade novel. I have no qualms with Middle-Grade books, but when I was expecting to read a YA novel, it was a bit disappointing that the book did not live up to that. The plot of the book really focused on the romance, instead of the creepy and dark plot I was hoping for. I am a sucker for romance, but in this case, there was TOO much romance. Since this is being marketed as a novel with the moodiness of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I was hoping for more of a dark and foreboding vibe. Instead, the book felt like a romance novel with a tiny dash of darkness.

I also had a very hard time connecting with the characters. The characters all felt very juvenile, one dimensional, and shallow. They all seemed to lack common sense 99% of the time, and only wanted to focus on how beautiful and perfect Ember was.

Overall, this was a frustrating read for me. The only thing I really enjoyed about this book was the few glimpses we got of the paranormal elements of this world. Those parts were so intriguing, and I wish there would have been more moments like those throughout the entire story.

This book had so much potential to be The Legend of Sleepy Hollow retelling of my dreams, but it sadly fell flat.

2 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. * 

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