Janet Begay is a Stormwalker, capable of wielding the raw elemental power of nature's tempests--a power that threatens to overwhelm her. Only her lover, Mick, a dark-haired, blue-eyed biker, is able to siphon off her excess energy and calm storm raging within her--even as their passion reaches unimaginable heights of ecstasy.
Janet and Mick have come to the desert town of Magellan to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the police chief's daughter. The barren land around it is full of vortexes, the gateways that connect the human world with the mystical realm of Beneath, and after encountering skinwalkers and receiving hints from a shape-shifting coyote and a smart-ass magic mirror, Janet fears that her own powerful, scary-as-hell mother is involved.
She's also uncertain about Mick. He can wield fire and never get burned, and Janet can't seem to touch him with her storm powers. But Janet must trust him, since she and Mick find themselves venturing where no human can survive alone--and only together can they overcome the greatest danger they've ever faced.
Allyson James' Stormwalker was an interesting start to a new (for me) series. I had seen it around the web a bit but never got around to reading it.
Janet is quite the heroine. I liked her. She had sass and attitude, exactly what I like from my heroines. She didn't even let the sheriff give her crap, which probably wasn't always wise on her part...
The book opened up with a bang! Immediately we're thrust into action as Janet is racing back to her hotel on her bike when a skinwalker tries to cause her to wreck. And then things get pretty scary real quick for Janet and ends with quite a shocker!
The idea of the story was good. It had flavor and depth. Not only is Janet trying to find a missing woman who's been gone for a year, but her crazy demon like mother is trying to get Janet to open the vortex/portal between her world and the Beneath world so all sorts of scary things can come out and Janet is determined to never let that happen. Yet her mother can possess anyone--preferably blonde women--at anytime. But there is a limit to how far she can travel away from her homeland. Complicated to explain, but easy to understand when reading.
Things get worse for Janet when a dead body is found in her hotel during renovations. And the sheriff is forced to look at her again for a crime she didn't commit.
One thing that the cover description leads you to believe is that Janet is with Mick in the beginning, but she's not. Mick was her first and last lover and she hasn't seen him for five years. Then suddenly he shows up again and there's definitely still some heat between them.
The pacing was rather good. Janet moved from clue to clue with more problems interfering on the way. They weren't bad or annoying distractions from he quest. They helped moved the story along. Although sometimes I failed to see how certain things connected to her working on her missing person case, but she eventually got back on track.
I was thinking this would be slightly more UF than PNR, but it turned out to be a little more PNR in my opinion. The ending wasn't necessarily HEA, since it's a series and I for some reason have some trouble figuring out when a book is more PNR than UF. This one definitely seemed more PNR because there was a lot of focus on Janet and Mick. Not all the time, but more than there would be in a UF book, which is perhaps why I wasn't thoroughly loving the book. I like some romance but not a lot. I'm weird that way. ;)
Overall rating 3.5/5 stars from a UF standpoint, 4/5 stars for a PNR one (from me at least!)
Great review! This book sounds quite interesting. I dunno when you hit 300 followers (I had a break from blogging to write my dissertation) but congrats!
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