October 13, 2012

Review: Building From Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter



Title: Building From Ashes

Author: Elizabeth Hunter

Source: eARC from author for review

Estimated Release Date: Oct 23rd


Adult read

goodreads...
For a thousand years, powerful earth vampire Carwyn ap Bryn has served others. God. His family. His friends. But tragedy and loss disrupt his peaceful existence, causing him to question everything he has committed his eternity to.

Brigid Connor has known about vampires since they rescued her from a painful childhood. But not even their vast elemental power can save her from the demons that torment her.

As loyalties are tested and new paths are forged, a lurking danger slowly grows in the Elemental World. Carwyn and Brigid will learn that even secrets revealed can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.

A continuation/spinoff of the Elemental Mysteries series. The timeline in this books stretches from BEFORE A Hidden Fire starts (so you see a little character history) until AFTER A Fall of Water finishes. As I’m sure lots of you could tell, Carwyn had quite a few things going on in his life that didn’t make it into Gio and Beatrice’s story. So Building From Ashes explores that storyline and also sets up the Elemental World for some new adventures...

My take...
I was super stoked to hear Elizabeth was going to continue on with Carwyn's story when I finished up the Elemenal Mysteries series. So when she offered me the chance to read an ARC of Building From Ashes, I was even more stoked. Readers will be able to see a different side of Carwyn & have a deeper appreciation for him. Readers will also get a different spin on the Elixir story line from the first series. But fear not, if you haven’t read the Elemental Mysteries series, you won’t be lost. Although it helps having that extra back ground on some of the characters you experience in Building From Ashes.

I hope that the readers who are not raised Catholic and not knowing what it means to be Catholic will understand the torment that Brigid is feeling when it comes to her feelings for Carwyn. Not only that, the torment Carwyn is facing when weighing his options of leaving the Church. Being raised Catholic myself, I understand that having feelings for a Priest is a big no-no. Not that I ever had. Lordy, we only had old decrepit Priests when I was Catholic. And I cannot imagine the stress a Priest finds himself in when questioning whether or not it is a right choice to leave the Church. This calling is supposed to be for life. But who can blame Carwyn after devoting over a 1000 years to the Church.

Ok with that little bit said I just loved this book. Elizabeth gives us another wonderful story that is so incredibly written. It was great being back in her world of Immortals that it felt like coming home after a brief hiatus. It just felt right. And along the way throughout the book, I catch myself smiling at parts that I remembered happening in the first series. Also, we get little snippets of Gio and B too, so that was an added plus.

But even though I knew of some of what was going on in Building From Ashes thanks to the first series, I was still pleasantly surprised with all that happens in this one. Lots of twists and lots of turns…lots of suspense and lots of swoony Carwyn. Yeah he was just too adorable. I think those who loved him before are going to go absolutely gaga over him now. I will mention that I had to go back and read the prologue again when I go to that part in the book. Ah! It was just too much. My poor heart cannot take the romance that Elizabeth dishes out.

Readers who are looking for a good book that screams mystery and romance…Building of Ashes was made for you. I already want to go back and reread the whole Elemental Mysteries series, especially the last one, so I can see if I might have overlooked anything with Carwyn. *Sigh* This book was just too wonderful…I could go on for hours about it. Hope you like it as much as I did. 

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