Customer Rating:  
Summary: Wonderful, riviting
Comment: I've been in search of fresh, riviting historical romance novels, but couldn't find anything (recently) that captured my attention. Then I found C.L. Wilson's tairen series, and WOW!
I couldn't put the books down... my only frustration is that book 4 hasn't been released yet (ough!). I can't wait to find out what Mrs. Wilson puts out next.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great New World / Wonderful Romance
Comment: I won't summarize the plot as others have done a thorough job. This book immediately plunged me into the new world the author created. It is a well imagined world and a wonderful romance story. I ended up staying up all night to finish the story and immediately went out and got the other two books in the series (the 4th and final installment is coming out in summer of 2009). The heroine does seem a bit perfect with amazing abilities - so if you don't like that in a story, it may bother you (I don't mind this!). The story ends quite abruptly - but the 2nd book in the series picks up literally hours after the end of the first book. If you like paranormal/fantasy romance, this is a wonderful new author with a great book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: excellent
Comment: very good beginning. the characters are rich and very drawn. not your typical romance. a very different slant on the fairy/non fairy relationship. was glad i found them with one and two written. can't wait for three.
Customer Rating:
Summary: My new favorite series
Comment: What can I say this book was amazing and well written. Rain is so passionate and intense. The heroine was a perfect match for him. I didn't want it to end. I am adding C.L. wilson to my list of favorite authors that include Sherri kenyon, JR Ward, Lora leigh and Nalina Singhi, to name a few.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Angieville: LORD OF THE FADING LANDS
Comment: I waited for this one to become available at the library for quite awhile. It was always checked out and that, coupled with the rather rave reviews I'd read, made me excited to get my hands on it. The cover is decidedly hokey, but I've come to regret bouts of cover-snobbery many a time before. So I resolved not to let it get to me this time. Besides. I finished the book and still can't wrap my mind around what the tairen actually look like. So the creature on the cover is as good a rendering as any, I'm sure.
Essentially, it is a Cinderella story. One in which the prince is actually a king. A massively overbearing, centuries old king at that. Rain Tairen Soul is well-known throughout the world as the man who almost destroyed it all when his beloved was killed. His rage was of such a magnitude that it nearly scorched the world. Thousands upon thousands died as a result. This all took place nigh unto a thousand years ago and Rain has spent the intervening years basically trying to hang onto his sanity and not give into his anger and sorrow. Enter Ellie--found on the side of the road as a child and taken in by a woodcarver and his wife. In a moment of utter terror, her soul cries out and Rain's hears it. He comes immediately to her rescue and the two of them attempt to make sense of what has happened to them. And what has happened is that they are soul mates. That's right. Rain has love thrust upon him centuries after he thought he was through with it for good. And Ellie has it swoop down upon her for the first time in her life. It's all very anguished and touching.
Except it's not.
I don't know if it's just that the story's been done before and in more compelling ways. Or if it's the he's older than Methuselah and she's a spring chicken ick factor. But it didn't do it for me. It's like the whole time the story was telling me, I am So Epic. Bask in my epicness! And Rain was storming around yelling at me, I am So Tortured. Revel in my anguish! Meanwhile, Ellie was tip-toeing around in his wake whispering, I am fragile but with a Core Of Steel. Underestimate me at your peril! But none of it felt real. It just felt like the veneer of epicness and torture and steel cores. There was also a string of women drugged and manipulated against their will which really rubbed me wrong. And did anyone else think Ellie should totally be with Bel? Or was that just me? Now the story certainly had its sweet moments. How could it not? At just over 400 pages, it never gets beyond the courtship stage of Rain and Ellie's relationship. But even then, I didn't feel like they got to know each other well. But I didn't feel like I knew them either so it wasn't that great a loss. I do have to say that this book (and series) is dearly beloved by many so, clearly, your mileage may (and probably will) vary. It may very well fly for you. But, for me, it never got its feet off the ground.
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