![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Cursed by S. J. Harper
Oct. 1st, 2013 12:17 am
Book Blurb:
Meet FBI Agents Emma Monroe and Zack Armstrong.
She’s cursed. He’s damned. Together, they make one hell of a team. Emma Monroe is a Siren, cursed by the gods and bound to earth to atone for an ancient failure. She’s had many names and many lives, but only one mission: redemption. Now that she works missing persons cases for the FBI, it could be just a rescue away. Unless her new partner leads her astray.
Special Agent Zack Armstrong just transferred into the San Diego Field Office. He’s a werewolf, doing his best to beat back the demons from his dark and dangerous past. As a former Black Ops sniper, he’s taken enough lives. Now he’s doing penance by saving them.
Emma and Zack’s very first case draws them deep into the realm of the paranormal and forces them to use their own supernatural abilities. But that leaves each of them vulnerable, and there are lines partners should not cross. As secrets are revealed and more women go missing, one thing becomes clear: as they race to save the victims, Emma and Zack risk losing themselves.
Review: I received this book as part of a release day contest on Samantha Sommersby's (the "S" in S.J. Harper) Facebook page towards the book's release day party.
Not having reading anything previously by either of the authors, I wasn't sure what to expect. I found myself nicely surprised.
What I found liking the most is the premise of the book: That, as punishment for not having done something right, Emma Monroe (as she is currently known) must find missing people.
I found the pace of the book to be good as well and the book was an entertaining read.
I look forward to seeing more of the series because of the threads that were introduced in The Cursed. Which goes hand in hand with what keeps me from giving the book five lilies.
One, is the characters. Emma comes across, to me, as the most fully developed and rounded of those introduced. Zack is developed....up to a point - one which I hope will be further developed in the future. The same goes for Kallistos. From what was said of him in the book, he must be close in age (within a hundred or so years) with Emma, but at this point in time he just doesn't have her "oomph" storyline wise. (Might there be more seen of him in the future? Possibly if Emma's sister is introduced in the future?) As far as Emma's friend Liz is concerned, I'm not entirely sure as of yet what to think of her, but optimistically like her.
Storyline wise, I like how the story worked out and do like how the authors' minds worked, although some of it came across as too pat.
As a first book in a new series, I think that The Cursed is a great start and I look forward to seeing what comes next.
(Image and blurb found on http://www.fallensiren.com )
(Cross-post to Amazon and GoodReads.)
