31 October, 2011

Halloween Review: Dark Sins and Desert Sands by Stephanie Draven

Book: DARK SINS AND DESERT SANDS
Author: STEPHANIE DRAVEN
Genre: CONTEMPORARY PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Published: October 2011, HARLEQUIN


Series: Mythica
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble with no compensation received for honest review

From Good Reads:
Escaping a hellish Syrian prison, U.S. serviceman Ray Stavrakis emerged with uncanny mind-control powers and an eerie ability to morph into a mythical Minotaur. As a half man, half bull, Ray had legendary power, but only one woman could prove his innocence. The woman who'd driven him to the brink of insanity with her cool-eyed interrogation and her hot-blooded sensuality.

But Vegas psychologist Layla Bahset had no memory of Ray or her past. Only a feeling of being stalked by a nonhuman predator. Was it Ray…whose eyes condemned her soul even as his hands ignited her body? Or was another evil force at work? But nothing could stop Layla from remembering what she was…and what her evil creator had planned for her and her soldier lover….


My Review:
As with the other books in Stephanie Draven's MYTHICA series, DARK SINS ANS DESERT SANDS is a walk on the dark side of the human condition, with war-forged and war-born mythological characters come to life on the page. Ray Stavrakis is a minotaur in a human body, and he's out for vengeance against Layla Bahset, a woman he believes had a hand in torturing him while he was imprisoned.

There is just something about Draven's deeply emotional and psychologically embattled heroes and heroines. Each of her MYTHICA books have hit me hard and sucked me in. DARK SINS AND DESERT SANDS was no exception. This is a book that is as powerful in language as it is imagery. Draven creates characters that have assumed a mythological persona through war. Though I won't spoil Layla's story, let me just say that her memory loss and subsequent connection to Ray turn out to be explosive.

The best part of this novel is that both the hero and the heroine find their way to redemption, and love with each other, despite the rocky journey that is as exciting and seductive as it is dangerous. If you haven't read a MYTHICA book by Draven before (they are stand-alone and can be read in no particular order), and you love a good romance with suspense and action, what are you waiting for?!

4.5/5 for plot
4.5/5 for characters
5/5 for language

My Rating: 14/15 (4.5 stars) Must Read


Find the author at:
Website | Blog | Twitter | GoodReads | Facebook

Purchase book at:
Barnes and Noble | Harlequin | Book Depository | IndieBound | Constellation Books | Amazon

Available formats: Print (Paperback), NookBook, ePub, Kindle

Challenge Participation:

Men in Uniform Reading Challenge

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