Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Nov08

How much influence does the cover of a book have on your purchase? After much discussion with fellow readers, there are two distinct camps. The first (like me) pays little to no attention to a book’s cover, but members of the second have confessed to buying a book solely because of its cover. After reading “Between Light and Dark” by Elissa Wilds, I admit its cover is very reminiscent of the story within and will likely influence some of my friends from the second group above. The cover screams sexy paranormal romance and we all know that's a big seller right now.

Laurell has returned to her family home to try and put her mother’s death behind her. After a lifetime of feeling ‘not good enough’ or ‘not beautiful enough’ for her big star mother, Laurell isn’t sure that what she’s doing could be called grieving. But the sudden surge of desire for a total stranger is so strong and so weird that Laurell’s sure it must just be because of the recent turmoil in her life. If only!

Axiom is god made flesh. His mission is to impregnate and protect the mother of the ‘Earth Balancer’ child, whose birth is necessary to safeguard the stability of the battle between light and dark. He is a Grey warrior god and only by completing this mission will he be considered worthy enough to gain a seat on the Council. Going to Earth will mean he must fight the grey darkness within himself to be successful, but as a warrior god he has no intention of letting anything sway his concentration. Of course, that was before he realized how strong the ‘Yearning’ would be, or how much he would come to care for Laurell.

This book has a very dark feel to it. Wilds’ choice of words and settings paints a picture of urgency and implacability to her characters. She uses her knowledge of wicca and studies of the paranormal to give reality to the situations her characters find themselves in. Both the hero and heroine find commonality in their feelings of self worth fostered on them by the way others have treated them in the past. And her characterization of the gods is closer to the Greeks or Romans in that they tend to act and think like humans with extra powers rather than all-wise beings.

That said, I had a difficult time really identifying with Laurell. She fought her future constantly and even when she accepted her ‘destiny’, she just had to be contrary. For most of the book, I just wanted to smack her and suggest that the gods try again later with someone more worthy. Does that make me as bad as her mother? I don’t think so. My animosity stemmed from Laurell’s internal childishness and her inability to forgive, even under such serious circumstances. When I dislike a heroine, it becomes very hard for me to enjoy the rest of the story. And this book was no different. There were also some issues with sudden jumps in characters and locations that jarred, and some of the motivations of all involved still elude me.

“Between Light and Dark” is a debut novel (as far as I could learn) for this author and I’m sure that Elissa Wilds’ writing will change a bit as she continues her career. I hope she’ll add some love to her romances without losing her descriptive prowess. She’s certainly a writer I’ll be watching. ( )