Award: Awesome Indies: APPROVED
Categories: Paranormal, Romance
Tags: paranormal, Western Romance
Series: BANNISTER BROTHERS' SERIES
Author: Keta Diablo
A revengeful spirit tracks Deacon and Madrid across New Mexico, seeking the Indian maiden traveling with them. The story is set in 1886 and is a western (paranormal) romance.
Assessed
Books in this series:
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Reviewed by Awesome Indies
March 2, 2015
Fantastically Original
What a fantastically original plot and story idea! If you like westerns, American history, the native American Indians or just want a read with some seriously sexy Bannister boys (cowboys!!), well then this one is for you.
The plot moved along at a cracking pace, it kept me interested and had plenty of action. There are bigger plot arcs that aren’t really finished in this one, which gives Keta plenty of opportunity to bring these boys and girls back for more. The female characters, Maddie and Sacheen are headstrong and know themselves well. It was a lovely thing to see strong women in a romance novel with such strong males. This was just as important as their softer emotions. Despite the heroine needing to be rescued, it wasn’t because she was helpless, like a lot of bodice-ripper romance.
The mixing of Indian folklore/beliefs with Mexican and Christian beliefs worked really well. Given the setting, and the little Indian translation list at the start I was initially concerned that there’d be too much in Indian or Mexican and I’d miss plot points because I don’t speak/read either. Thankfully, Keta took care of me, and the different languages ended up giving the story a lovely exotic spice, without being too much. There wasn’t any point where I didn’t understand what was going on.
There were a couple of points that might need a bit of attention (hence the 3.5-4 star rating). It seemed too easy for Uday to lure Sacheen away (a little too convenient that Maddie knew the answers but it’d slipped her mind to share with anyone else), and the story became a little rushed at the ending. It didn’t draw enough of a picture for the reader in the final battle/action scenes before zooming to the ending. A little more exposure to the last action scenes would give them greater weight. As they stand it came across as a bit ‘tacked on’ to the other story arc (Maddie and Deacon).
Minor things really, just the last rough edges of an otherwise enjoyable read. The manuscript needs another once over, to catch some minor typos, but it was mostly really well written.
I would recommend it for romance lovers, paranormal fans and general readers who are interested in an engaging plot, strong characters and action with a fantastic setting.