Book 32, 2024
Carved in Stone by Vickie Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I finally conquered my "spare" book last night. *wipes brow* It was Carved in Stone by Vickie Taylor, and it's the first in her series of paranormal romances called "Les Gargouillen". The main characters are Interpol agent Rachel Vandemere and disgraced gargoyle guardian Nathan Cross.
As a young child, Rachel witnesses her parents' murder by a monster. Ever since, she's been searching for monsters in an effort to prove she's not crazy. While chasing after an international assassin, Rachel encounters Nathan Cross at the same time she hears the same eerie whistle she recalled from her childhood. Convinced that she's on the right track to prove monsters exist, she devotes her time to running down the young man from the scene.
Although Nathan has been excommunicated from Les Gargouillen, he doesn't want Rachel to learn their secret. He accompanies her on her search as he attempts to steer her off the track. Along the way, he is drawn to Rachel's beauty and her determined spirit. When Von, the young gargoyle, brings danger to the entire congregation of Les Gargouillen, Rachel and Nathan must join forces to avert a tragedy.
Ugh. The synopsis should have read: 'Dark, brooding he-man meets naive blonde damsel in distress and they fall in love in a matter of days.' Boooooring. I can understand why Nathan was desperate to keep his kind secret from Rachel; that made sense. What I really disliked is that, once again, an author crafts a female lead who's supposed to be tough and competent (Interpol agent, ffs!) but who constantly needs the dark, brooding male lead to swoop in and save her. If you wanted her to be a helpless twit, then don't give her a badge and a gun! I expected better from Rachel. The entire storyline of Von and (human) Jenny was so Romeo and Juliet that I wanted to head desk. He's 18, and she's 17, but they're in loooooooooooooove. The ick factor was strong in this one.
Favorite line: "You wouldn't know the hots if your feet were on fire."
Reading this was more of a chore than anything. I have at least one more book in the series, and it's getting donated along with this one. Giving it a score of three. It was well written; I simply didn't care for it.