Choices, by J.L. McFadden - Review

Choices, by J.L. McFadden

The Guardian series, #3

Published by: J.L. McFadden on CreateSpace Independent, January 20, 2015

Pages:  110 pages PDF, 200 paperback

Genre: Paranormal, Romance

Source:  Xpresso Book Tours

After so much more loss, Adela finds herself in the middle of a love triangle and in a fight for control of the vampire covens.

Adela and John both have their fair share of choices to make. Adela must think of her coven, but at the same time she feels a burning desire for her great, great niece’s (Gala) Guardian, John. She is torn because though fate has blessed Gala with a Guardian that is connected to her by mother earth to protect her, Gala rejects him. John is torn between the woman he is fated to protect, and Adela.

The search for the secret Guardian Journal leads both vampires and vampire hunter on an incredible chase, with a tumultuous ending.

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Choices is a surprising read; however, there is a language issue I address after all the good stuff first.

At the opening scene, we find Adela, a powerful ancestral vampire, in a castle picking her way through the remnants of a tremendous battle that was waged at the end of book two, Adela.

And we are introduced to a world where vampires are protected by werewolf Guardians against first-born (or ancient) vampires. Included in this fascinating ancient lore are Druids, the first-born vampires that hark back to before Babylonian times, amulets, forbidden knowledge, and hidden libraries that all give this book fabulous atmosphere.

The story continues to Adela’s upcoming battle to keep the vampire covens under control from destroying humanity, and organizing Gala (family) and John (Gala’s guardian) to help her with this task.

There are some very interesting relationships here. For one, Adela, a vampire, is on good terms with a vampire hunter (Priest is a member of the Order of Hunters), and they have great respect for each other on account of past events.

Priest is a fabulous character and I thought he really matched Adele in all ways. I haven’t read the other books in the series, but from what I can see, there isn’t a book on Priest and his story alone. I hope JL McFadden will write his story! Priest is mortal, and a vampire hunter with astonishing powers whose entire order has just been wiped out and he is the last of his kind. Yet he teams up with a vampire (his life’s enemy) to search for the Guardian Journal in a hidden library using all his extraordinary skills.

I really liked the emotional quality of Choices, and how many of the characters care for each other. And there is a really delicious sense of some facets of being a vampire. There is lots of kick-ass action, and even an exquisitely hideous torture scene to round out the ending.

I felt that some elements of the book need a bit better fleshing out. I wanted to see more about how Adela controls the vampire covens as we see her visit only one of them. Gala and John visit another, but the overall issue doesn’t have a clear sense of being dealt with. And while Hannah and Priest make it into a hidden library, I didn’t get a good finish on whether what they found in the library would help either the vampires or hunters.

I think this is a wonderful book but I’ve rated it 3 stars because to me it seems that the author’s mother tongue is possibly not English, or there is some other complication. So, we have words misspelled with incorrect forms (“soul” when correct form I believe intended is “sole”, etc.), and irregular and confusing sentence structure that makes story events sometimes difficult to work out. I read the entire book, but it took me some effort to sort things out at times. I would suggest a reworking with an English mother tongue editor/writer who will also really hone in on the wonderful European flavour as this is an interesting, emotional story.  Please see below for author links:

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JL McFadden on Goodreads