Review of Ravenous by Sharon Ashwood

Synopsis From Sharon's Website:
Holly Carver is a small-time witch who busts ghosts for tuition money, but ends up wrangling a demon when a haunted house job goes bad.
Her Undead business associate, Alessandro Caravelli, suspects the demon is somebody's not-so-secret weapon. The supernatural community is at war, and Holly's unpredictable magic holds the key to hell's doorway. Soon Holly is on everyone's "must have" list, and not in a good way.
Alessandro wants her for more than magic. A lover with six centuries of experience, the vampire is walking seduction, but he's also a predator. Every moment he spends guarding Holly, every second he spends falling under her witch's spell, he becomes more and more of a threat himself. As Holly's sharp-tongued grandma warns her: vampires are like a box of rich chocolate—they seem so tempting, but over-indulgence is a killer…

My Thoughts:
Ravenous is the first book in the Dark Forgotten series by Sharon Ashwood. I have to say that I wasn’t surprised that I enjoyed it. After reading the blurb on the back I knew that it was a book that was right up my alley. Strong female lead…check, emotion…check and action…check. Magic…check, Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy…check. Yes, it definitely hit a lot of my buttons.
I wish we could have seen the buildup of the friendship between the two main characters, Holly (the witch) and Alessandro (the vampire), which occurs before the events of Ravenous. We do, however, see the buildup of the “other” relationship between them and I quite enjoyed that!
The vampire queen, Omara, was not what I expected. She did one too many things that made me wonder why she was queen to begin with. She falls for a bad guy and then refuses to see it (although I know she did, she refused to admit it for far too long) and she got “robbed” of things that shouldn’t have been left out in the first place. She is a vampire queen, she should know better! There are other examples, but I don’t want to give the whole thing away.
Characters like Ben, Detective MacMillan, Ashe, Lore and the others were well written and were as I pictured they would be, only better.
The author has a refreshing sense of humour, which is shown throughout the dialogue of all the characters.
This book was a very fast read for me. I turned the pages quickly as each sub-plot thickened and was resolved, too quickly. A little more time spent on making the problems work out instead of overcoming the built up twist and turns with so little effort would have made for a more satisfying read. Don’t get me wrong, there are some things I did not see coming and was pleasantly taken by surprise with how they worked out. All in all, a good debut and promising first in a series. Looking forward to reading the next ones.

I give Ravenous

 

4/5 Books

Buy this book:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451226178
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ravenous-sharon-ashwood/1102512907?ean=9780451226174&itm=3&usri=sharon+ashwood
Indie Bookstores: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451226174

Check out more of Sharon Ashwood at her website: 
http://www.sharonashwood.com/