Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Guardian

Guardian
By:  Gillian Joy
AISN:  B005TKPEH0
Published October 6, 2011
Available Format:  ebook, paperback

My Rating:  ★★★★☆

From very early on, Hannah knew she would one day become the Guardian, keeper and protector of all supernatural.  She didn’t expect, however, the excruciating pain (both literally and emotionally) she would endure when her mother was murdered or the difficult choices she would face in her future.  Heart-broken and forbidden from pursuing her true love, Hannah decides to start over.  But, no one can truly escape destiny, and time will only tell if Hannah is able to reconcile her duty with her heart.

This is a little something new for the paranormal lovers.  Yes, you have your vampires and werewolves and witches and nephilium, but the focus is on the Guardian – the one person in all the world that is tasked with controlling every other supernatural being.  And, she can kick butt with just her mind!  How awesome is that?!? 

There were a couple things that bothered me as I read.  First of all, Hannah is over three hundred years old.  Even being mainstreamed into society, I would expect her to speak and act much more mature and proper.  It is fine for her to be relatable, but I felt she was missing that extra wisdom that she certainly would have acquired over all those years.  I think Gabriel was much more mature than Hannah, and I guess I just wanted her to grow up a little.  Also, at some point after we discover Hannah has children of her own, the story starts to slow down quite a bit.  I think some of the extra could have been edited out to help the story move along a little faster.  It did pick up eventually; it is just hard for me to take off my editing hat when I’m reading sometimes J.

I was really anticipating the release of this book, and it was a truly great read.  The characters are all interesting, and the romance of the story is important but subtle enough it doesn’t completely overtake the story.  I think the more Gillian writes, the better she will get, and I am definitely excited to see what happens as this series continues!