Destiny's Mark by K.H. LeMoyne

Title:  Destiny's Mark

Author:  K.H. LeMoyne

Series:  The Guardian's of Eden #3

Published:  October 13th 2012 by Digital Crystal Press

Page Count:  315

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Shelf:  Review Copy

Rating:  ★★★★★

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The only difference between fate and destiny is choice.

Tsu Halan, Guardian defense master, has honed his skills and waited patiently over the centuries for the covenant’s promise of a mate to share his soul and a family to cherish. Close enough to taste fulfillment, the dark echoes of the past threaten with danger and death.

Jai Dashkov harbors her own painful secrets of harsh betrayal and tender loss. Her desperate search to reclaim her life doesn’t allow room in her heart to deviate for love.

Together they are stronger than apart, but the promise of the covenant is a perpetual test. One that Tsu and Jai must conquer in time or suffer an eternity for their failure.

THE GUARDIANS OF EDEN:

A race of beings created in a Sanctum at the far edge of Eden. Co-existing with mankind, they safeguarded human souls and the promise of eternity—until a virus killed all over the age of eighteen. The surviving children fled to the Sanctum for protection, children raising children without the full legacy of their history and knowledge. Two hundred years of solitude have produced a race of semi-immortals fortified with powers and intellect but lacking the mates who will make them whole and allow them to fulfill their covenant with mankind.

Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.

My Review:

Oh wow. I can’t believe I’ve reached the end already. I want to keep reading. I love these characters and this world so much that I never want it to end. Don’t get me wrong. This story had a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s a phenomenal standalone novel, but you get so wrapped up in the story and the people that you want to keep going, needing to spend more time with the characters, becoming more and more entrenched in their lives.

This phenomenal story is wrapped up in the perfect package to make it an irresistible read. LeMoyne couples brilliant yet subtle descriptions with her phenomenal storytelling to create a world that is so seamless that you can see it existing in parallel with our own. The storyline that LeMoyne has created is so powerful that it would be able to stand out even with the worst writing, but that isn’t the case here. This novel is also extremely well written.

The Warrior race that LeMoyne has created is absolutely brilliant. The history and mythology surrounding these people is very fully developed. Each and every aspect of their society is fully and clearly laid out in this series. Their hopes and dreams, their fears and trials all help to build them as a people and as individuals. Not only are these characters in this novel very developed in their own right, being that they are so well developed as a society they become even more clear as people.

This is one of those novels that packs a huge wallop. It rolls everything up into a nice neat package that you can’t put down and that leaves you both wanting more and with a sense of completeness. This is one of the best books that I’ve read in a very long time. I’m waiting on pins and needles for the sequel.

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Warrior Reborn by K.H. LeMoyne

Title:  Warrior Reborn

Author: K.H. LeMoyne

Series:  The Guardians of Eden #2

Published:   September 8th 2012 by Digital Crystal Press 

(first published April 15th 2011)

Page Count:  336

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Shelf:  Review Copy

Rating:  ★★★★★

Synopsis from Goodreads:

How far would you go to save the ones you love?

Having successfully hidden her abilities from humans for two hundred years, Briet applies her Guardian gifts to help patients in need. Until she meets her human soul mate, Jason Ballard, who holds the reins to the Briet's patients' cancer protocol. Can she trust a man all too human and grounded in his world to understand hers? Yet, when a deadly threat targets her patients, he is the only one she trusts to help stop an evil that only the Guardians can fight.

Rules delineate every facet of Jason's professional and personal life. The last thing he expects is to find temptation in the new spitfire doctor on his latest test team. Especially as she starts stirring up issues. Dangerous issues. Issues flagging jeopardy for the lives of the children in the test. Issues his employer, would prefer be ignored. Honor forces Jason to walk a dangerous line between job and conscience as he joins with Briet to ferret out the twisted scheme in time to save her patients. In a final life-altering decision, he will risk every careful plan he's ever made for the woman he values more than life.

THE GUARDIANS OF EDEN:

A race of beings created in a Sanctum at the far edge of Eden. Co-existing with mankind, they safeguarded human souls and the promise of eternity--until a virus killed all over the age of eighteen. The surviving children fled to the Sanctum for protection, children raising children without the full legacy of their history and knowledge. Two hundred years of solitude have produced a race of semi-immortals fortified with powers and intellect but lacking the mates who will make them whole and allow them to fulfill their covenant with mankind.

Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.

My Review:

Although LeMoyne picks up the storyline from the first novel in this series, she weaves it into a completely new tale that you cannot put down. LeMoyne continues with the same unique writing style that suits her storytelling so well. Her descriptions remain phenomenal and you cannot help but picture each and every scene that she lays before you. You end up walking through the world that she creates rather than reading about it.

I enjoy the fact that the bulk of the characters in this novel are really and truly good people. They go out of their way to help other people and to be true to themselves. They are very well developed individuals to boot. Although they are further developed in this novel, they are also consistent with the characters developed in the first novel in the series. Each character is developed on its own, with its own merits and character flaws. That’s right, no one is perfect, they’re just real and quite unique. The variability and versatility of these characters leads to a very interesting read. You can also see and feel real family interactions between the characters. They prove the old adage that family is more than just blood.

I greatly appreciate the time and detail that has gone in to developing the concept of mates, without sacrificing the flow and pace of the story itself. I like that the mated couples have the same issues that real couple have, with a few added ones based on their powers and lives. Life isn’t perfect just because they have mated. They still have to make it work. They are true couples in all senses of the word, not just two people who magically become perfect and develop perfect lives simply because they met.

LeMoyne manages to pull you so deeply into her novels that you don’t ever want to get back out. I fell in love right along with Briet in this novel. I can’t wait to dive back into this world along with everyone!

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Betrayal's Shadow by K.H. LeMoyne

Title:   Betrayal's Shadow

Author:  K.H. LeMoyne

Series:  The Guardians of Eden #1

Published:  February 1st 2012 by Digital Crystal Press 

(first published April 14th 2011)

Page Count:  300

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Shelf:  Review Copy

Rating:   ★★★★

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What would you do to save your people from extinction? What if your race held the key to mankind's future? One Guardian will risk hell to change the future. Descended from the race of Guardians, Turen's people have survived the last two hundred years, quarantined and isolated. Living in secrecy with no mates and no offspring, they fail to deliver on their ability to replenish and heal human souls through the birth of their Guardian children. Risking his life, Turen chooses capture at the hands of a comrade-turned-enemy to seek answers to change the future. Mia Bowman has no knowledge of the secret Guardian race. Yet, her uncontrollable, nocturnal summons to Turen's prison cell and her strong sense of justice leave her with little choice but to help him. She can heed his warning and stay clear of his people's problems or she can ferret out the lies and unravel an ancient tale of murder and deceit.

Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.

My Review:

LeMoyne employs a smooth writing style that highlights the action and simmers through the downtime in the story. The minute transitions in writing style between the different types of scenes really draw the reader into the story with little effort. The tension in the story plays out through the words used and mode of storytelling employed during that section of the story. The same can be said for other emotions that are prominent in certain scenes.

Not only does LeMoyne’s writing style draw you in, but so does her subject matter. This is one of those stories that goes beyond being unique. She doesn’t just give an old subject a new twist, but rather, takes a completely new subject and runs far with it. It was enthralled and intrigued throughout. Sure, there were a couple of times where the story was a little dense as new theories were laid out and various events were explained, but being the first novel in a series on a previously unknown topic this is unavoidable. Even while this was happening the story still held my full attention and once these theories were laid out the story was off and running and I couldn’t put it down.

This story had a rather large cast of main characters, but each and every one was well developed. They also all had important roles to play and were developed to suit a specific role and purpose. I loved how varied the characters in this novel are. They are so different personally, physically, and in abilities. Their names are all unique but memorable, and easy to remember. This helps the reader keep this widely varied cast of characters straight without having to rack your brain for that really cool, weird name that you just can’t remember.

This was a phenomenal beginning to the series as well as a brilliant standalone novel. By the end I couldn’t put it down and was thanking my lucky stars that there was a sequel since I can’t wait to spend more time with the brilliant characters.

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