Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Review: Kerrigan Byrne – Unspoken

Highland Historical Series:
Book 1:
 
Unspoken: Roderick MacLauchlan and Evelyn Woodhouse
 

 
Summary:
Roderick, is a berserker, a man blessed with the strength of 10 men and touched by the Norse Goddess Freya. Years ago he was cursed by a fellow berserker, but one from the north who did not want him to gain in poor with the loss of his voice. Now the day before battle, he has never wanted his voice more, for the comely maid Evelyn, stands out from the rest.
 
Evelyn, is a seer, which she must keep under wraps at all time or she could be hanged as a witch or used for her “gift”. Under normal circumstances she feels like her gift is more of a curse, but no time more than this time. She knows that tonight is the berserker, last night and something inside of her tells her that she wants this man longer than just one night…
 
Review:
This was such a great novella, it only takes about an hour to read. I believe this book would probably fall under the category of erotica, but it didn’t feel like typical erotica, even without Roderick being able to speak there is still so much feeling involved. Evelyn is venerable, yet strong, always an enticing mix. She is compassionate that she wants to help a virtual stranger, but just can’t find the words. As she gives herself to Roderick it is a tender and touching moment, just as a first time should be. Roderick is strong yet gentle, exactly what you would not expect a berserker to be, maybe due to his inability to speak he understand nonverbal communication more than most and shows it through his touch with Evelyn.
 
What I wish about this novella is that it was longer! I wanted more of Roderick and Evelyn, there is so much potential with this book to be so much more, it has all of the right elements. The writing quality is great, the characters are alive in feeling and the story has so many great elements. If K. Byrne was to ever take this story and turn it into a full length novel or even a short novel or long novella, I would be happy to rebuy it and re-read it all over again, I liked it that much.
 
Also, it is no secret I adore berserker books, I think this is a mostly underutilized species type in the paranormal Romance genre. We have tons of vampires and shifters but not so many berserkers; you really have to dig for these, so I am so happy that Kerrigan Byrne has decided to feature berserkers for this series!
 
Rating:

1 comment:

  1. Hmmm, it would be interesting to read about a main character who cannot communicate with words. And the concept of this one is different. I've never heard of a berserker before but it sounds like it related to the Greek Myths.

    I might have to check this novella out.

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