Built atop the mystic passageway to Annwyn, the Gothic nightclub Velvet Haven has seen its share of lost souls—both mortal and immortal. It is here that Bran, the shape-shifter king of the Night Sidhe, searches for his brother, who is ensnared by a centuries-old curse. When a vision foretells his own death, Bran knows his time to find Carden is running out.

For help he must turn to Mairi, a mortal woman with an unusual aura. Bran has never liked humans—aside from using their sexual pleasure to restore his magic energy. But with Mairi everything is different. Her lush curves and teasing caresses inflame him like no Sidhe has ever done. He has no idea that the woman he’s falling for holds the key to his destruction—or his salvation.

This is a very complicated book, one which seeks to straddle two worlds and for a time it seemed that just getting all the characters in each world were beyond me. I have to say that I really only kept on reading because I needed to read the book for this review and having committed myself to that task, I just kept on. How glad I am that I did!! Sophie Renwick has given us a first in a series that is comprehensive in so many ways and she has managed to squeeze so much into fewer pages that I could have ever imagined. Let’s face it: there are epic-sized novels that take the first 200 pages just to set up the story. Renwick has chosen not to do that and has launched her readers into the mortal world, the mysterious world of Velvet Haven, and the illusive and mystic world of the Night Sidhe—the kingdom of Annwyn.

We meet characters that are existing with one foot in both worlds such as Bran, co-ruler of the Night Sidhe ( along with a goddess); Aaron who is a Dark Mage and who is systematically murdering beautiful young women and carving his mystical messages in their flesh; Suriel who is a fallen archangel who, after nearly 1,000 years is seeking redemption and forgiveness and who has been a presence in Mairi’s life since the day of her birth; Mairi who is an emergency room nurse—a healer—whose innate powers are unknown to her but who holds the key to the resolution to so many puzzles; Rowan who is a visionary and who is dying of a brain tumor—Mairi’s best friend since the days she was abandoned at the orphanage where Mairi was also living. We encounter the Goddess who is co-ruler of Annwyn with her rigid ideas of what must be the destiny of both mortal and immortal “players” in this story, and we have a brief encounter with the Archangel Gabriel whose personality and expression matches no portrait any of us have ever seen before. He’s not very nice here. In a great and careful economy of words the author draws all these characters into a web that appears to be permanently snarled, yet she finds a way to tell the story and make sense out of all of it.

For those who love paranormal romance, who love suspense and good mystery, who love the world of the Fae and who long to find a way into the world of dreams and visions, this multi-layered story is for you. By the time I was only one-third through, I was hooked and found that I wanted to find out how Bran and Mairi resolved the impasse which seemed unsolvable. I wanted to see Rowan healed. I wanted to see Suriel find the key to his future forgiveness and redemption. So was there an emotional hook in all this? You bet! And I took the bait and just kept on reading. The twists and turns were completely unexpected and sometimes jarring. But romance literature needs to be jarred loose from time to time. Renwick has constructed a plot, developed the characters, thought out the story, applied her writing genius to the task of writing a first in a series that should ultimately captivate all who love her work as well as those who are now being introduced to her efforts.

This is not an easy read. But who needs easy reads all the time? I love the “quickies” and short stories, but I love a book into which I can sink my literary teeth. This is one of those.

I give this book a 4.5 out of 5.

The series:

Book 2, TBA


You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place

This book is available from NAL. You can buy it here or here in e-format.