Monday, May 20, 2013

AimeeKay Review and Gargoyle Blog Tour

BB Book Tours

Gargoyle (The Gathering #1)
by Lorraine Beaumont
353 pages
Source: eBook for review provided by Bookish Brunette Book Tours
Briar Cliff Township - New England's best kept secret...turns out is has a few secrets of its own. 
For much of the year Briar Cliff is exactly the same as any other small town snugly nestled into the forests of the New England coast. But once a year when the winds change... old stirrings arise from long kept secrets, forgotten misdeeds and a thirst for vengeance.And so the Gathering begins...Something Wicked this way comes...

So I read both Gargoyle and its ‘prequel’ Elyograg. I read them both in order.

I really enjoyed Elyograg. It was neat and innovative. The chapters were written backwards, not the words themselves, obviously, but the timeline. I really was pulled into the story and when I finished it I couldn’t wait to start Gargoyle.

That’s where everything went downhill. Elyograg is presented as “introduction into a new series” – Amazon Summery. The problem is that as I began reading Gargoyle I realized that Elyograg is actually the first few chapters of Gargoyle. Not so bad, considering I REALLY liked Elyograg, but kinda disappointed because I did expect something new.

The other problem is that after those initial chapters the writing just seemed to disintegrate. I know there is a central set of characters, but it hardly focused on them at all. It kept jumping back and forth to other characters. Introducing new ones that didn’t seem to have a point or following up with other characters, again, that didn’t seem to have anything to do with the story itself.

On top of that the story just started to become entangled in itself. The reader is given bits and pieces of what is going on and why, but not enough to really pull the story itself together. It kept jumping to introduce new mysteries, but it never really felt like the story was centered on one thing. Plus some scenes just seemed to come out of nowhere.

Maybe if the story had pulled itself together by the end I would have felt differently, but it ended in a rather drastic cliffie. (Not my favorite type of ending)

Maybe the first few chapters had more work put into them? Maybe that’s why I enjoyed them more than I enjoyed the later part of the book? I don’t know. What I do know is that by the end of the book I was extremely frustrated with the whole thing and I just wanted it to end.


Author Bio:

I am the author of the Ravenhurst Series -a time-travel paranormal romance, written with an ensemble cast of characters -Forgotten Time, Shadows of Yesterday, Time to Remember are all available now and the fourth installment Dreams of Tomorrow will be coming this year 2013. 

I also write YA/contemporary urban fantasy with a kick-The Gathering Series about Gargoyles. Elyograg, Gargoyle and The Gathering Series Vol. 1 are now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Author Links:

blog: http://www.lbeaumont.blogspot.com,
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LBeaumont_
goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5819259.Lorraine_Beaumont
pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lbeaumontbooks/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lorraine.beaumont.14


Elyograg (The Gathering #.5)
by Lorraine Beaumont
Elyograg is the first installment in a new series about Gargoyles, it is not necessary to read this book before Gargoyle. 
Briar Cliff Township- New England's best kept secret...turns out it has a few secrets of its own. 
For much of the year Briar Cliff is exactly the same as any other small town snugly nestled in forests of the New England coast. But once a year when the winds change old stirrings arise from long kept secrets, forgotten misdeeds and a thirst for vengeance. And so it begins...Something wicked this way comes. 
For those of you who aren't familiar with the series -these aren't your normal, everyday, ugly Gargoyle’s either. They are tortured, hot, witty and will make you wish you had one for yourself...Imagine what Edward did for Vamps; Jacob, for Wolves, and surprisingly enough, what Loki did for (swallow hard) ugly Trolls… enter a captivating world of magic, mystery, forbidden love, betrayal and sacrifice.

This is a YA/NA/Adult novel with language, violence, and sexual situations. Not recommended for readers under the age of 17.

15 comments:

  1. I hope the second one will be a little better. Thanks for the review, I like the ideas in it.

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  2. Can I have the guy on the cover please

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  3. Oh man that must have been aggravating! I hate it when I get to that point where I'm just like "THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE ALREADY!!"

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  4. Too bad. The cover looks great and I was kinda hoping that gargloyes would be the new hottness. But like you, I might get frustrated and give up.

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  5. Thanks so much for reviewing it. :)

    I have to say that I hate cliffies as well, but I'm an ending girl and if it had ended different, I know I would have enjoyed it. Perhaps it just needed a bit more through editing? Hm...

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  6. As soon as I saw Gargoyles, my expectations lowered considerably. I have yet to read a gargoyle book that I could get through. The gargoyles are typically flat one dimensional characters, basically stone come to life with no feelings. This one sounds like it lacks a plot and any direction. I can't tell about the characters. Sounds like they wander looking for the plot. So sorry it didn't work out, but maybe it was the gargoyle curse!

    Thank you for being so honest!

    Heather

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  7. Dang it! I think the whole Gargoyle thing would be a great read but it sucks that it floundered around and a cliffhanger? No thanks! Ugh! why do they insist on ruining books with dreadful endings?

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  8. The cliffie, the writing getting worse and the tangled plot all sound like it wouldn't be for me, thanks for hoenst review

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  9. Oh that stinks. That's weird that there's a prequel but yet it's the same as the beginning of the 1st book. Strange. I would pick this one up by the description but it sounds like one that would likely frustrate me. I'm going to check out more reviews cause I'm curious about what everyones thoughts are.

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  10. I was all excited until you got to your review of the first book...darn. I love the cover and concept, oh well, thanks for saving my tbr pile!

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  11. I do love that cover, but it sucks that the prequel was just absorbed into the story! This does sound like a cool premise, but cliffies are my enemy of late, so I think I'll give this one a skip. Thanks for your honest, thoughtful review!

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  12. That is just too bad! I was SO curious about those chapters written backwards, I really wanted to see how it was done, but I suppose it's not worth the effort.
    *sigh* Can't win them all.
    Thanks for the review!

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  13. Thanks for all the comments!

    The worst part is that I REALLY liked the prequel. I don't think the idea would have worked for a full novel, but it the shortened version it did. But then I got to the first book and was just disappointed.
    @ Melissa- yes I think a bit more editing would have helped.

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  14. So sorry to hear that. Sounds like there was so much potential there. Bummer.

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