TEST
For a debut novel, Heather Waters’ The Devil’s Possession isn’t bad at all. The writing is well done and the plot nicely developed. However, I found the characters weak – weak enough to make me put the book down at certain points in frustration.
Faith Maitland stands to become the chieftain of the clan upon her uncle’s death, but she has a terrible secret. While walking in the woods, she was raped by a stranger and is now pregnant. Ashamed and frightened by what happened to her, she names Draven Cameron, the son of a neighboring clan’s laird and a man she believes dead, as the father of her child. She is stunned to find that he is still alive and that she has actually saved his life by claiming him as the father of her child. Now she must bring him home.
Draven is the son of a mother who was burned at the stake as a witch by his father. Draven’s father wants his son to believe he intends to do the very same thing to him. After countless hours of torture and living with the guilt for his believed involvement in the death of the woman he loved, Draven, who hasn’t spoken since his mother’s death, reconciles himself to his fate. However, at the last minute his life is saved by a lying woman who claims he is the father of her child.
Faith and her uncle take Draven back to their castle where they nurse his wounds. While he is healing, they become more familiar with one another and Faith begins to suspect that the rumors of Draven’s powers are true. She learns to deal with her fear of him, a rumored witch who has committed murder, as well as her fear of men. She also has to convince her clan that he will be a capable husband for her. For Draven, Faith’s clan offers an opportunity to start over and to live in a place where people don’t run in fear of him. To do this he must get his powers under control and convince Faith that he’s worthy of her respect and trust, and in turn, Faith has to persuade her clan that he is not to be feared.
While the plot was unique for me (I haven’t read many paranormal romances), I just couldn’t get involved in the personalities of either the hero or heroine. Faith endured a horrible event, yet I couldn’t buy into her reactions. At times her strength and vulnerabilities seemed too forced on the reader and not demonstrated through her actions. Normally (maybe even unfortunately) I usually enjoy the character of the hero more than that of the heroine. That wasn’t the case here. As a matter of fact, I really didn’t like the hero at all. I felt as if he was always the victim, being blamed or punishing himself – I wanted him to be the hero long before he became the hero of the novel. For me, maybe it was a case of the Theta hero to the extreme.
I believe that Heather Waters has a great deal of potential as a writer and that The Devil’s Possession is a solid story. I just didn’t care for the characters. If paranormal historicals are “must reads” for you, you may like this one more than I did; otherwise, I don’t recommend picking it up.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Paranormal Historical
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 15/09/07
Publication Date: 2007
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.