"Amanda Ashley's vampire world is truly fascinating"
Amanda Ashley has written another intriguing vampire
romance with Whisper of Eternity. In this novel we find
Dominic a very old vampire following his true love, who is
a mortal woman through her many lives in hopes that she
will one day willingly consent to join him in eternal life
and love as a vampire. However she has yet to agree to
this
dark gift. And at the end of each life she,
Dominic's 'best
beloved one', dies in his arms, never quite reaching a
ripe
old age. The book opens at present day and Tracy Warner, the
latest reincarnation of Dominic's 'best beloved one', has
just bought a beautiful old house that resides over the
sea. In this life Tracy is an artist and a fairly
independent woman as she makes her way into the world.
However unbeknownst to Tracy, Dominic lives in the ground
below. His home has been carved right into the rock the
house resides upon. And Dominic is surprised when he finds
that his 'best beloved one' has inadvertently found him
this time instead of the other way around. As the novel unfolds we discover Tracy is not so eager
to believe in all that Dominic proclaims to be. That she
is
not happy about the strange dreams seemingly of past lives
that haunt her nights because she does not believe in
reincarnation. For her it is one life, one death, and
that's it. And Dominic is not happy that Tracy will not
commit to him so readily as he catches her out on a date
with the local lifeguard. Thus Dominic becomes more
possessive and determined to have her. Tracy overwhelmed by her fast developing feelings for
Dominic and her need to preserve her sanity in such a
crazy
situation, decides to run away. But now that Dominic knows
her scent there is nowhere she can run that Dominic cannot
find her... and he does. For when she wakes up the next
morning she is no longer in her motel room but rather
locked away in an unfamiliar mansion in Maine. And if life
isn't complicated enough for this couple, a new dynamic
has
just arrived. Kitana, the woman who brought Dominic over
to
Vampirism, is in town and she's bored. She figures since
they were once lovers why not stop by and play around in
his territory for a while? Amanda Ashley truly has a gift for writing very
creative
vampire romances. Shades of Gray, one of her earlier
books,
is definitely one of my all time favorites. This novel,
however, I had issues with the heroine as I had a hard
time
connecting or believing in the feelings of Tracy Warner.
Her character was a tad erratic in her decisions, with
little to explain what drove her to do them. And when she
finally decides she truly loves Dominic, it seemed to me
to
be totally out of the blue. I mean for God sake he has her
held up in mansion she cannot escape from, where he
controls most of her life and she just suddenly seems to
surrender her independence and doubts and decides she is
in
love. And as the book progressed I never quite felt the
connection from Tracy to Dominic until the last few
pages. I know this may sound odd but Whisper of Eternity is a
good read and the plot has you moving through this book at
a good clip eager to find out what will happen next. Ms.
Ashley's vampire world is truly fascinating. And in spite
of my frustration with the heroine I wanted to see if
Dominic would finally get what he has followed Tracy
through all time for... her eternal love.
Reviewed by Mindy Lobaugh
Posted November 5, 2006
|
