When I first started reading this book I thought it was going to be one of those reverse harlem deals, because about 7 guys were introduced, one more “model-like” than the next, looking tall, dark and dangerous. So, if you’re into reverse harlem- sorry to disappoint- the book does not revolve around trying to figure out a way how to get the girl to settle down in a house with 7 lads. The choice of lads is interesting though- we have a Russian, a Japanese, a Scot, an Irishman, the rest are American (I think). They each come with a special set of abilities because they are The Searchers. And Autumn, the girl, is their Keeper.
Spin away with young Autumn as she finds a seemingly innocuous gold necklace on her family’s farm and inadvertently uncovers her destiny as “The Keeper.” Autumn’s discovery of the necklace activates “The Window” and alerts both good and evil forces to her whereabouts. Autumn’s life is changed forever when she loses her family, but is saved from the brutal attack of enigmatic enemies called Dehmons. Seven Searchers who have awaited her arrival come to her aid, save her life and eventually convince her of their mutual destiny. Unbreakable bonds of friendship and love are formed between Keeper and Searchers, and this bond unlocks power to search out and kill the dead-eyed evil Dehmon souls.
Now, this is one pretty decent blurb because it sums it up neat and tidy yet without giving away all the fun and games I actually ended up reading about. As you can see, bonds of friendship and love are mentioned. Yes, The Oracle delivers a pretty reasonable cockblock for the guys to stay away from Autumn on a more intimate level, but will it stop a guy? Or guys? ^^
It was a decent read with plenty of action, and different kind of action at that. All the fight scenes, which I was worried were going to be come repetitive, were actually brilliantly written and a new obstacle introduced each time. This of course made the story evolve with good pace and kept my interest and attention throughout.
The characters… The boys, mainly… It was great to see so many different personalities and with their accents embedded into the story (Russian, Scot, Irish) I did start feeling kinship towards one or the other. I did have a bit of an info-dump feeling creep over me at the beginning of the story where the guys are all introduced. It read a bit “mechanical” as if their descriptions of appearance were written into a JavaScript array. No bother though, I still enjoyed. Maybe not the image of a top hat but, meh 🙂
There was a quite a few concepts which I liked the idea of. Say, The Window showing the Keeper and the Searchers where to go next. I also liked what The Window can enable Autumn to do when near Dehmons- that was a mighty idea and I hope in the next book this will put Autumn in front of a dilemma.
And then, the biggest surprise of all! The ending! But my lips are sealed and my hands tied. I can’t even tell you about the ending in between the lines, because then you’d expect it as you start reading the book… But it was great and I would definitely want to read the next book in the series… I hope it is a series? Surely, with an ending like that it is!
My overall rating: 4*** (I Really Like It)
Cover to Cover 