Title: Unspoken
Author: Christine Pope
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Cover Designer: Lou Harper - Cover Affairs
Editor: Katherine Tomlinson, Story Authority
Publisher: Dark Valentine Press
Publication Date: June 26th, 2019
Hosted by: Lady Amber's PR
Her rescuer. Her protector. But not his Chosen.
Two years after the Dying, Amber McCoy is still living rough, foraging in the ruins of the world to survive. The pickings are slim, but not as slim as the dating pool. She’s the last living soul in San Marino, California.
Except for them. Angels? Devils? All she knows is, one of them attacked her. And another one saved her, piercing her with night-black eyes and growling a single word — run. Since doing just that, she’s been utterly alone.
Idris, a djinn elder, is inspecting the lush, green grounds of his new estate when he encounters the young woman he saved, still impossibly fragile-looking and skittish as a wild doe. Luring her with the promise of comforts she’s been denied for too long, he begins the delicate process of convincing her that she has nothing to fear from him.
As these two lonely creatures spend more time together, each touch strengthening the current of desire humming between them, Idris is acutely aware that this idyllic time can’t last. Soon Amber will be forced to choose between two paths…neither of which can ever lead to his arms.
Series Buy Links:
Chosen (Free): https://amzn.to/2Nax22l
Taken: https://amzn.to/2N9IZFj
Fallen: https://amzn.to/2LhpVTg
Broken: https://amzn.to/2Ydu7XF
Forsaken: https://amzn.to/2N6Tvx1
Forbidden: https://amzn.to/2X7wlLO
Awoken: https://amzn.to/2XuyS1N
Illuminated: https://amzn.to/2XwCaS9
Stolen: https://amzn.to/2XrMwD2
Forgotten: https://amzn.to/2IJgD0n
Driven: https://amzn.to/2X27jxD
Unspoken: https://amzn.to/2Yby6nJ
**I received this book as part of my participation in a blog tour with Lady Amber's PR. The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it.**
“Unspoken” was ok--slightly better than average, but not by much. I found the characters to be mildly interesting, and they certainly had a solid romantic chemistry that was satisfying in its culmination. The plot wasn’t really there, though, and the ‘conflict’ was flimsy at best. While I have no interest in continuing this series, this was a pleasant read for a lazy summer weekend.
I liked Amber; she was resilient, direct, honest, and showed a natural growth of character that I enjoyed seeing. Based on her pre-Heat life, she could very easily have been a weeping, helpless damsel in distress, but she wasn’t. Sure, she was scared, but that seemed both natural and prudent considering her situation. She learned how to keep herself alive, and it’s always easier for me to root for a heroine who can hold her own. Idris was…he existed. I never developed strong feelings about him one way or another, and I had even less feeling for the other djinn. My ambivalence is likely due to having not read the preceding books in this series. While “Unspoken” was a stand-alone, I’d imagine that readers who have been on the journey since Book 1 would be a lot more invested.
Christine Pope has a solid writing style that included great, vivid descriptions of her settings and characters. Her pacing was good, and her world was an interesting, unique combination of the familiar and the fantastical. Her ability to pen a riveting conflict beyond the romantic tension between her characters, however, appeared to be somewhat weak. It was short-lived and far too easily resolved, making the buildup feel a little…anticlimactic. The ending was happy, though, and that's always a plus for me in a romance novel. I turned the last page with a certain sense of closure and satisfaction, even if I don't feel much desire to continue the series
Bottom line: I likely won’t continue this series, but I would be interested to see more by this author. If post-apocalypse meets magic appeals to you and the idea of a djinn-human mix is intriguing, you’d enjoy this series—just don’t make the mistake I did by picking up a supposed stand-alone so far along into the series.
USA Today bestseller Christine Pope is the author of the paranormal romance Witches of Cleopatra Hill series and the Djinn Wars series, among many other books (sixty and counting!). Researching UFOs brought her to magical Sedona, Arizona, where she now makes her home. Find out more about her books at christinepope.com.
Author Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2X9svOI
Twitter: https://twitter.com/christinejpope
