Too many Spanish words and too hard to follow.

I was annoyed and angry at the use of so many Spanish words, of which there were three types. (1) Some words were in the glossary at the back of the book. I was going back and forth to the glossary more than I cared to. (2) Some words were defined within the text and not listed in the glossary. My memory was not good enough to remember all of those. (3) Some words were not defined in the text and also were not in the glossary. I was frustrated when I took time to go to the glossary and found the word not there. My annoyance took me out of the story too much. Down below, I’ve listed some examples of Spanish words used, so that readers may determine their own comfort level for reading this book.

There were two stories being told. The Rodrigo story occurred around 700 years ago. The Rafael story occurs in the present. Throughout the book, the author went back and forth between these two stories. I would have preferred reading the entire Rodrigo story first, then the Rafael story. The back and forth method of telling these stories interrupted my immersion into either story. I think each story was interesting but not when continually interrupted. Telling the Rodrigo story first would not have given away anything important to the second story.

Rafael is a vampire. Grania is human. Sometimes, the characters and events were hard to follow. The New Orleans ruler wanted to take over the Texas territory. Characters were going back and forth between these two groups, spying, attacking and killing. At times, it was hard to follow what was happening and why.

I liked the characters and the story about Rafael and Grania, but it wasn’t enough to offset the problems mentioned above. At times, I wanted the book to be over.


CAUTION SPOILERS:
On page 34, a barn own speaks to Grania, through mental telepathy. I was interested and intrigued, but Grania refused to pursue the conversation. The owl said to her: “You are the ancient one, who has been guarded by the wise one.” Why did she ignore the owl? She could have asked questions. I was frustrated. This was never answered in the book.

One of Rafael’s methods of warfare was obtaining information about his enemy’s finances. Rafael then gave that information to three different multimillionaire corporate raiders, to help them takeover, raid and or steal from his enemy. I wasn’t expecting that. It was a good idea for the story, but the author never described anything past the initial meeting. I would have liked more details about what the raiders did, if it worked, and how it worked.


EXAMPLES OF SPANISH WORDS USED:
The CAPITAL letters below were done in italic in the book. My software limits me.

Examples of Spanish words that were not in the glossary: P121: “he tried to kill that PENDEJO.” P126: ““POR SUPUESTO,” Raphael murmured.” P129: “CONO, despite five hundred years of experience in seducing women, he was still sitting on the opposite side of the room from her, as if there was a DUENA on guard.” P308: “But we have it now, DIOS MEDIANTE.” At the end of one scene (P223) there are two sentences. “Even forever doesn’t seem long enough for loving him. Amarte para siempre, no seria suficiente.” I assume the second sentence is the translation for the first sentence. Why is it necessary for the author to do this?

The following are examples of Spanish words that were in the glossary, but I was annoyed with having to look them up. P9: “VERDADERAMENTE, Rafael agreed.” P125: “Rafael smiled privately. It seemed he’d acquired a CASAMENTERO. LA DOCTORA glanced out the window at her truck and visibly decided against running. POBRECITA.”


Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: fourteen. Setting: around 700 years earlier in Europe and Turkey and present day U.S. (Texas, Colorado, California, Louisiana). Copyright: 2006. Genre: erotic paranormal romance.

For a list of my reviews of other Diane Whiteside books, see my 2.5 star review for The Irish Devil posted 8/31/08.