Hey there, Lovelies. The silence over here is deafening, but I've still got a sick kid, Miss Beautiful has no fever today, YAY! but she isn't feeling quite like herself. Plus, the congestion is way worse than it was when she had a fever. Hmmmmmm. I don't quite understand it, but hopefully it is just the way the ARI runs its course. The Black Rose by Skyler Grey
(A Dark Valentine)
WARNING: This title contains explicit sex and strong language.
eBook Teaser (e-BCC) - Emily Ann Knolls, a small-town Kentucky girl, moves to Tampa, Florida, where she attracts the attention of a serial killer who sends her black roses and disturbing poems. Andrew Rossi, a handsome police officer, answers her 911 call and quickly becomes interested in Emily's case on a personal level. Will he be able to protect her, or, will the killer place yet another BLACK ROSE in the hand of his chosen victim?
Emily Knolls isn't exactly having the life she expected when she made her big move. She's all but invisible at work, has no friends, and certainly no line of men at her door. She's made herself stick out her "new life" for an entire year before giving up and heading home, and the deadline is fast approaching. Valentine's Day will be her dooms day, and time to make the final decision.
With just a week to go, Emily gets a delivery of beautiful roses. Except the card attached isn't so very pretty. In fact, it's down right unnerving. Then, the next day, yet another delivery, this time, there are only six roses, and they aren't so very beautiful and the card is even more ominous. Deciding to leave the third days delivery on the porch, Emily does her best to ignore the fear building and hopes her "admirer" will simply take the hint and leave her alone. Unfortunately, on that same day, the rose sender does not want to be ignored and calls Emily, and though he speaks no words, what he does do, has Emily even more freaked out. When the fourth day's delivery cannot be ignored, and the card is very intimidating, Emily decides it's time to call the police.
Officer Andrew Rossi, has been on shift for close to fourteen hours, so when he gets the call for Emily, he's just a tad on the annoyed side. But, soon, as Emily explains what has been happening and the phone calls Andrew realizes that Emily could be in real danger. It doesn't hurt that he finds her very appealing.
Emily also finds Andrew very attractive, and soon the sparks start to fly. But just as Emily and Andrew start to really bond, the rose sender makes his move. When Emily goes missing, and Andrew finds out there is a serial killer in the area, Andrew calls in his friends and the chase to find Emily and see her safe and in his life forever, is on and Andrew will do anything to make sure he wins.
I'm not that big of an eBook reader, and the only reason I can give for this is - I read slow when it's on the computer. I can fly through a paper book, but when I have to read on the computer I'm much slower. However, The Black Rose is a novella, and I was able to read it much faster, even on the computer. I like that, and have to be honest, I'll probably start reading more eBook novellas. For one, they are oh, so handy since there isn't a true bookstore near to me. I liked being able to enjoy a quick story and not have to leave my home to get it or wait the standard three days for my Barnes & Noble order to arrive.
I've read my share of novellas, and one of the main problems I find with them, are pacing. Grey had no such problems. Emily's story hits the ground running and never loses its momentum. I'll be honest though, and say I wish this was a full length novel. I genuinely liked Emily, I felt her loneliness and her disappointment with her life. I could understand why the notes on the flowers were so disturbing to her, and I would have loved to be able to explore more of her feelings. When she meets Andrew, I would have liked to have had a deeper look into her attractions and her feelings about the newness (hey, Romance lover, remember?).
After all, Emily is a twenty-seven year old virgin, and she loses her virginity to this man. Since the length of the story was restricted, they had to get to business awfully fast, and since I liked both of the characters, it was hard for me to accept this. Of course, as dee reminded me, it's a novella, not room to show relationship and personal growth. And really, since they didn't have sex the first time they met, and since when they did have sex, Grey made it so very sweet and HOT, I can't complain.
There were a few POV problems, moments of head hopping between Emily and Andrew, that proved confusing at times, and even with the word count restrictions, I would have liked to see more from Andrew's POV when he fist meets Emily. There were also some editing mistakes, that should have been caught with copy edits. Those things aside, The Black Rose, is a easy, fast paced, Erotic Thriller, that just may have drawn this reader into the eBook world.
The Black Rose is available for purchase today, Feb.1st, just click on it's name and you'll be able to order it and start enjoying immediately.
Take Care
2 comments:
I read this one as well.
I really enjoyed the story, and I liked both of the main characters. It IS hard to get all of the 'meat' of a story into a novella, but this one was actually pretty good.
Like Char, I would really have liked for this one to be full-length, which is a good sign, I think. I, too, enjoyed the people, the story, and the overall 'feel' of the book.
Great job, Skyler!!
It sounds good.
I just started getting into ebooks a few months ago. I have a laptop so I just bring it to bed with me and lay on my belly to read.
Post a Comment