Rowena’s review of Drawn into Darkness by Annette McCleave.
Hero: Lachlan MacGregor
Heroine: Rachel Lewis
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
Serving a five-hundred-year sentence as a Soul Gatherer—one who battles demons for the souls of the dead—Lachlan MacGregor keeps his distance from humans. That is, until the lovely Rachel Lewis knocks on his door, begging for help. As they struggle to rescue her daughter from the clutches of a powerful demon, Lachlan finds himself increasingly drawn to the artistic single mother. But when Death assigns him an unbearable task, he’s left wondering who will provide more for his soul.
It’s no secret that I haven’t really been touching any paranormals in quite a long time and so when I finally do decide to pick one up, I’ve been pretty happy with what I’ve been reading. This book was no exception. I haven’t been too wild about romance novels that talk about God and Satan and what not but in this book, I didn’t seem to mind it as much as I thought I would.
Lachlan MacGregor is a Soul Gatherer and what he does is he gathers souls for Heaven. On top of that, he’s got a job of protecting Emily. Emily is being wooed by a dangerous demon who is responsible for a whole lot of unhappy memories for Lachlan and when Rachel Lewis, Emily’s Mom comes to Lachlan for help, at first he declines but then changes his mind. His job is made doubly hard by the fact that he’s so attracted to Emily’s Mom. Falling for Rachel is a big no no and he doesn’t need the distraction but because this is a romance novel, he can’t help himself. Rachel thinks that Lachlan is a priest and though she’s trying to keep her distance, she can’t help herself either…Lachlan is hot stuff!
Watching these two find their way to their happy ending was a pretty exciting adventure. I thought McCleave did a fantastic job of drawing the reader into her world and I am very excited about reading more from this author. She had a great storyline, a fantastic hero and heroine who had chemistry that steamed up the pages. The villain was interesting as well. Drusus was no joke and more than once, I thought, WTF are you planning with the linen?
There were parts in the book that I wanted to strangle the heck out of Emily but for the most part, I was captivated by the story and I thought the way that McCleave wove this story was great and made this book a total winner for me. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is in the mood for a new paranormal world that is sure to take off.
Lachlan was a great hero, one that I totally felt for. I mean, he lost his entire family at the hands of an evil demon and seeing him struggle to remain focused on the here and now had me sighing all over the place. I thought he was a very solid and strong hero, one that I just want to sink my teeth into because he was definitely a hot one as well.
Rachel was a great heroine, one that I could relate to being a single mother myself. She did what she could for Emily and she had the usual hang ups that most single mothers do, wondering if you’re doing enough, wondering what they’re up to and where their little girl disappeared to. I related to everything that Rachel went through in this book (well except for all of the paranormal stuff) and I thought her character was well written.
Kudos to Annette McCleave for writing a story that I could really get into.
This book is available from Signet Eclipse. You can buy it here.
This sounds like a good story – plus I love the name Lachlan!
It was a decent read, you should definitely give it a go. =) Lachlan is a sexy name. =)
I’m trying to remember the other romance I’d read which had the same challenge you mention there – God and the devil being involved, though it was more a matter of hell being very real. Hang on, I can go make sure of which one it was, it was an e-book and not quite as bad as a lot of e-books out there… um… Hang on, it’s called Seventh Circle, and it’s by F.E. Heaton, from Alinar Publishing. (I suddenly ‘remember’ all this because I went to look up the review.)
The book was not that bad, but it also went into heaven/hell/condemned souls etc. in a way you seldom see in romances, and I think for good reason. But I did realise the story was good anyway, so I suppose if the author can handle it, then it’s okay to go there.
I really like the concept of this new kind of paranormal creature, though. It’s good to not have another darn vampire staring you in the face.
LOL anidaddler! Too true, I’m glad that the paranormals that I am reading don’t have any vampires in them. I’m all vampired out! Well, aside from Vampire Diaries the show. =)