Search - Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer, Bk 1)

Another decent but not great book. I liked the characters but the ending was stupid. I was very angry when I got to the end. I cant say why its stupid because I dont want to spoil it for others but in my opinion it made the book less than good. Its a 3 out of 5

I agree with the other reviews in that Chance could have done less telling in this entry and revealed more backstory and mythos over what is obviously going to be a series. I also found the constant use of famous historical figures as vampires a bit irritating and felt she used that to "cheat" on some character development. That said, by the end I was enjoying the book enough to keep the second on my WL and I disagree with those reviews that felt the ending was a "to be continued" - there was a complete story set above an obvious series arc. There are sex scenes, they are actually in context and, unlike LKH, Chance at least understands what is interesting and anatomically possible.

I'm a huge vampire fan, but this one didn't quite meet my expectations. It had all the ingredients, but just fell short. The plot doesn't never really gets going, because the author keeps interrupting the flow with another fight scene, and never quite explains what's going on until near the end. And the end was too abrupt, even though I know it's because this is the beginning of a series, the ending just sort of...hit, and then you were left standing there. I like a bit more of a conclusion, even with my series novels. However, the urban setting is in right now, and this is very urban, and the book has some good characters to redeem it. It certainly is worth a try--you might find you like it more than I did.

Very disappointed in this book. There are far too many characters with complicated names. I couldn't keep them all straight! The constant flashbacks was confusing, too. I wanted to give up on the book multiple times. I don't think I'll be continuing the series. I recommend trying other vampire/paranormal series before this one.

Read another one.

I'm into the whole vampire thing but this one went over the edge... I mean, it kinda started out *eh* and her writing doesn't flow all that smoothly. I keep thinking she is going to say something else, but then I have to go back to reread what she wrote. Maybe this isn't my lingo... but this book just got more and more boring and uninteresting as the chapters wore on. I couldn't finish it and wouldn't finish it even if someone was twisting my ear.

I quit in the middle of chapter five cuz they started talking about Rasputin from Czar Nicholas time and a bunch of other guys from way-back-when being vampires. It didn't make sense that they would even be brought up in this book. It was just too weird.

And the 'interesting information' that the ghost [that inhabits her necklace] tells us, isn't that interesting. I kept rolling my eyes.... is this ever going to end??

I had to put a stop to this one; but like I said before, it started out good enough... to get me to chapter five... but you're better off going for something else.

I enjoyed Jennifer Armintrout's 'Blood Ties: The Turning'. That one is so much more easy-going.

Listening to this on the Ipod so I may spell character names and places incorrectly.

Cassie Palmer was raised by the vampire mafia but as she grew she realized they had murdered her parents in order to keep her all to themselves because she is a powerful clairvoyant. When the book begins she has escaped them and has been successfully hiding for 3 years or so. Because she is clairvoyant and also has two helpful ghosts hanging around she has managed to stay out of danger but her luck has run out. As she's trying to make a run for it and warning her roomie Tomas of danger they meet up with the vamps. It's here that Cassie discovers her friend Tomas is much more than he pretends to be and breaks her heart a little.

This book starts off with a bang and a great leading character but there are a few info dumps that are hurting my brain. I don't like info dumps and I especially dislike them when the book is first in a series. Start at the beginning or leave all of the useless crap out. Don't stop the action to explain a whole lot of stuff that happened previously, leaving me a bit confused and frustrated.

Once the action starts it doesn't really let up. Okay, that's not exactly true because it does get stalled for the many info dumps and flashbacks in time and the author seems to lose her focus quite a bit. I'm not a big fan of all action, all the time and this is where I usually start to fade but the characters and storyline are engaging enough that I am still interested in seeing where this will go. The author also uses the heroine's talent to the best advantage for some creative voyeuristic sex scenes without tainting her heroine. LKH needs to take note here. Just saying.

Later I'm at the halfway point and must admit my attention has started to flitter off. There is a lot going on here, too much for my pea brain to keep straight, and the author's writing is a bit scattered. There are time flips and body hopping and lots of characters and I'm having a difficult time staying focused enough to figure things out. Darn, that's disappointing. Still, the heroine and storyline are strong, the world-building pretty good and because this is a first book I'll try #2 and see if she's improved on the focusing and info dump issues. As of now, my head hurts a little.

Even Later:The last 1/4 of the book picks up and gets extremely interesting as some major plot twists are revealed and the author focuses a bit more on the sensuality of her characters. I'm hoping the next book slows down a wee bit and focuses more on the tangled relationships between the characters. All in all I thought this was a promising start to a new series.