Craves The Angst: REVIEW - VIOLET MIDNIGHT (The Enchanters #1) by Allie Burke:

TITLE: Violet Midnight
SERIES: The Enchanters
SERIES PLACEMENT: #1
AUTHOR: Allie Burke
AGE GROUP: YA/NA
GENRE: Fantasy/PNR
RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2014
PUBLISHED BY: Booktrope
FORMAT: eBook and Paperback
PAGES: Approx. 155

COORDINATED BY: Jennifer Gilbert at Booktrope Publishing

COPY PROVIDED BY: Publisher
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 3 Stars!
CLIFFHANGER: No

BOOK BLURB:
Look into the world of The Enchanters, where water has a sense of humor, trees scare people, and love… is destiny.

The beautiful Jane is hovering at the edge of content in her life of solitude in the quiet town of Jasmyn Lake, but when her energy sends her on a journey to meet the man she has been dreaming about for months, she cannot resist. Meet sexy artist Elias, who moved to Hazel Grove, California to get away from the rain, his parents, and everything that was taken from him in Hayward, Washington. But he thinks he may be losing his mind when he starts seeing purple glitter in the air, the scent of rosemary is everywhere, and he is hearing a beautiful voice.

But all is not flowers and ease for the newly joined couple. With a woman who prefers night to day and a man with heartache from his past, they must learn how to create their own new world with grace and the occasional water feature. Written with humor and intensity, book one of the three part trilogy will leave you yearning for more and daydreaming shades of purple.

REVIEWERS NOTE: Violet Midnight is book one in The Enchanters series and is a Young Adult/New Adult Fantasy, Paranormal Romance written by Allie Burke. I was gifted a copy from Booktrope Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

3 Pretty, Sometimes Confusing Stars!

Amazing Concept, Beautiful Story, But Too Many Questions Left Unanswered!

The Review:

I have mixed feelings about this one. This novel has TONS of potential and the concept was beautiful! I loved the idea of Enchanters, their society, their way of life, their unique gifts and how Jane’s line is more powerful with each generation but the plot was all over the place, things happened that seemed important but then later were dismissed or ended abruptly. And the writing, though spirited, was choppy and had abrupt scene changes, which isn’t my favorite style.

I really liked this read, but I didn’t love it.

Story/Characters...

Jane is an Enchanter and lives in a secluded home deep in the forest, close to a lake that is lifelike with a personality and has healing powers which I thought was really neat. For some reason, that I’m still not clear on, Jane is a cast off, separated from her family. She’s magical and has power over all the elements unlike other Enchanters who usually only have power over one.

Elias has moved to Hazel Grove to get away from the tragic events that took his twin brother from him. While at an art showing for his work, he sees a girl that no one else can see, dancing and singing around the people at the showing. He’s immediately drawn to her and soon finds she’s real and not just a figment of his imagination.

There seems to be a war brewing between the Enchanters and when they all converge on Jane’s land, we are introduced to a wonderful array of good versus bad Enchanters, which I would have loved to learn more about.

Thoughts...

I enjoyed reading about Jane and her gifts. She was a great character and there was depth to her personality but we don’t get a lot of background on her so it’s hard to tell why she and her family line are special. I have so many questions about her and her linage and the answers weren’t made clear. I was confused as to why she was at war with the other Enchanters, why they came to kill her and why was she invisible to Elias when they first met. Was she dreamwalking? I assume she was, but again, it’s one of those things that never got fully explained. Also, why was she separated from her family? This book makes a big deal of family and how Enchanters are a close group and though Jane had many friends, for some reason, her family isn’t in the picture. Her grandmother did come to her in her adult life and helped her develop her gifts and showed her how to fight but then she passes away only to leave Jane... and the reader, wondering why she died. Then the grandfather shows up to kill Jane.. but why?

Elias was a great character but again, not enough background on him. He had so many questions surrounding him with no answers. I needed more background on his brother too, who we assume was an Enchanter since he had telepathic abilities. I wanted more on their relationship and why the mob was after them only to change their minds later on. There seemed to be a lot going on in the background that the reader isn’t privy to, for it to all play out the way it did. Elias is estranged from his parents because he sided with his twin, gay brother when they wanted to disown him. So Elias became dead to them too. And then his parents decided not to warn him that the mob was coming after him, for what reason, we still don't know. But after one visit from his estranged son, his father's hatred dies and suddenly he’s Mr. Family Man. Why? How did that happen? What changed his mind?

Then there’s Christian who seems to be in love with Jane but for whatever reason, they didn’t work out after their eight years together, which I assumed had to do with her love for Elias but how did Elias come into the picture? Did she just start dreaming of him one day or was it destiny? I liked Christian’s character a lot and REALLY wanted to learn more about him but he remains a mystery as we get nothing other than his longing looks at Jane and his hatred to Elias who stole her away. And then there are the other Enchanters who show up for battle but we get no other insights into them, why they sided to kill Jane and why they are so ready to kill each other.

Lastly, I think the insta-love and “I love you’s” came too soon in Elias and Jane’s relationship but it was somewhat acceptable since this was a paranormal, fantasy romance. But I did like them together. I loved the way Elias was with Jane. They found love and a life within their crazy, enchanting world but I wanted more from their “get to know you” stage.

The Wrap Up:

Again, I loved the idea of this story and the creativity and imagination that went into the telling of it totally drew me in, but the execution didn’t work for me. Some readers love this book’s kind of writing style, but I’m not a huge fan of short, choppy sentence structure or abrupt scene changes with no explanation or emotional draw. One minute we are in one scene, then the next, our characters have changed course and are doing something else. It was confusing.. to me.

NOTE: I have talked with the marketing manager for this series and she informed me that in book two, most of the questions I posed in this review, were answered and that the writing style was edited to flow better. I enjoyed this book enough and am curious enough, that I’ll probably go on to book two at some point.