Red Sage Publishing

Title: Runes by Em Petrova
Publisher: Red Sage Publishing
Genre: Paranormal, erotica
Price: $3.99 ebook

This book was received free from the publisher via netgalley.com

Synopsis: When immortals Will Cochran and Evangeline Mayer are thrown together by a phenomenon known as The Calling, they breech the barriers of a conventional relationship. By sharing their blood and bodies, their minds and souls are also entwined. But Evangeline has been yanked from the arms of her mortal love, Sean Livingston, and the echo of his touch never leaves her.

When she's kidnapped by a sadistic immortal seeking revenge for the loss of his own mate, Sean is summoned as a means to torture her. Their reunion both titillates and torments her new mate, Will. He and Sean make a pact to share the woman they both love, and find new desires arising in the arms of each other.

Review: First I have to mention that it is very dangerous to just pick a book without reading the synopsis first or even knowing what genre it is from. When I started reading Runes I thought it was a YA book until the scene turned a bit too racy for it to be considered YA. So I looked it up and realized what book I had just picked!

As far as erotic books go Runes has a fairly strong story unlike many erotic books and the author really delves into the minds of her characters. Their struggles and thoughts are much more developed than most erotic fictions I've read.

Will, an immortal saves the life of his sisters girlfriend from an overdose by "turning her". It isn't until afterward that he discovers that they are bonded and "called" as soul mates. If they don't come together the pain they feel will drive them insane.

While Will fights the "calling" Evangaline, who doesn't know she is immortal, fears the voices in her head are her going insane not Will trying to calm her down. Not wanting to scare her sister she turns to Sean a mortal friend of hers who offers her a place to stay. While there they form a bond of their own, that borders on obsessive.

So now Evangaline is torn between her mortal love and her immortal bond. After Evangaline is kidnapped Will and Sean find themselves in the awkward situation of trying to work together to save the woman they both love.

In between all the action are long graphic sex scenes including menage a trois, and male on male scenes. If this is offensive to you I would avoid this book. All in all I would say one of the better erotic fictions I've read.

Review of Runes

Purchase Book

Review Date:
Oct 04, 2010

ISBN:
9781603105545

Publisher:
Red Sage / eRed Sage

Print:

eBook: $6.00

Published:
2010-10-01

Author: Em Petrova

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Spicy, Ménage

Reviewed by: Talina

Love can overcome even the darkest of pasts, if you allow it close enough to your heart. When that love comes in the form of two passionate men, all the better.

SUMMARY: (blurb taken from publisher’s site)
When immortals Will Cochran and Evangeline Mayer are thrown together by a phenomenon known as The Calling, they breech the barriers of a conventional relationship. By sharing their blood and bodies, their minds and souls are also entwined. But Evangeline has been yanked from the arms of her mortal love, Sean Livingston, and the echo of his touch never leaves her.

When she’s kidnapped by a sadistic immortal seeking revenge for the loss of his own mate, Sean is summoned as a means to torture her. Their reunion both titillates and torments her new mate, Will. He and Sean make a pact to share the woman they both love, and find new desires arising in the arms of each other.

FIRST LINE:
When Will Cochran backed away from the woman on the bathroom floor, they were both bleeding.

PLOT:
I love a strong plot that delivers conflict from the first sentence. I love a strong plot that delivers a good cliff hanger at the end of each chapter making me begrudge the moment I have to set the book aside. I love a strong plot that has me wondering at odd hours of the day and night what will become of the characters. What will their fate be. I found all of that in this book. Runes is thick with conflict and back story that brought a unique story to the page. The one plot thread I would have liked explained in more detail was Sean's tattoo. However, from my understanding we will get the answers in the following books of the series, so I will have to practice patience until then!

SETTING:
The story begins in Chicago and then moves to the cold regions of Vermont and finally ending in the smoldering jungles of South America.

WRITING:
Ms. Petrova's writing style was smooth throughout the entire book. She added great detail to the action scenes and love scenes in equal proportions. There was a part of Evangeline's past that struck a soft spot with me. A past that needed a finesse as well as grit added to it for that certain plot thread to work. Her style coupled with her strong plot allowed this it to work well with the story.

CHARACTERS:
In Runes you get to see the inner workings of all three main characters. At first I was not drawn towards the heroine and felt no connection with her or her self destructing behavior. That lasted all of eleven pages. When Evangeline actually comes onto the page, and you get that in depth view of her reasoning, everything makes sense. It makes you wonder how you would have responded if you were placed in her situation. If you would have survived as long as she did.

In the act of unknowingly saving his immortal Mate's life, Will shows the type of man he is. Upon opening Runes you are immediately inside his head and you get the full view of what it is like to be immortal and alone.

When Evangeline allows Sean close to her heart he proves to be a man worthy of her love by protecting her as she should have been since childhood. His personality and charisma is hot and matches well with both Will's and Evangeline's. It was really exciting to watch the three come together and form a relationship that might not have lasted if the men would have allowed jealousy and pride to over power them. The one thing I would have liked to see is a bit more detail about the hero's pasts.

LAST THOUGHTS:
Runes touched me with all the emotions and 'real' life problems. I like to read about heroines that could be everyday people I might be friends with. Because of her, I can see all the achievements in my own life and just how strong I have become. I believe a lot of woman will form a connection with Evangeline on one level or another. I really recommend this book to anyone that likes to read stories of strength and love that overcome some of the darkest pasts.

Runes by Em Petrova

Torn Between Two Lovers

Review of Runes