Sunday, May 3, 2015

Review: The Curse Keepers Collection by Denise Grover Swank

Book Blurb:

The Curse Keepers series, now offered in a single collection containing the full text of all three novels and three prequel novellas, plus:

• An all-new introduction by the author, Denise Grover Swank

• All six works presented in the author’s preferred reading order

The wall between our world and a world full of vengeful spirits has protected humanity for more than four hundred years…and it’s about to come crashing down. In New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank’s epic paranormal romance series, the Curse Keepers, two reluctant yet brave heroes are all that stand between the world’s survival and its total destruction.

My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Supernatural, Urban-Fantasy--

This is the entire Curse Keeper series in a box set. It includes the three full length novels, as well as three novellas, in the reading order the author intended them to be read in.

I have read all three Curse Keeper books and have reviewed them individually, so my reviews for those will not be included in this review since it would make it way too long and wordy. For those new to this series, know that it is a fast paced mystery full of history, mythology and supernatural creatures/powers with a strong female main character and a dash or romance thrown in. I have enjoyed the series and looked forward to reading the short stories. Everyone who knows me knows that I hate short stories/novellas because I personally feel that they lack a crucial element that full length books can fulfill. I really wanted to read these those since I had so many questions due to the series ending so abruptly with no actual resolutions. I was hoping I would find my answers within this collection, but alas I did not. All the novellas take place before the actions of the series begin, telling the character's back stories and how they got to the place they end up at the series start.

This Place is Death was a short story about Ananias Dare, Ellie's descendant who was involved in starting the curse in the first place. He was part of the colony of Roanoke (before it was the lost colony of Roanoke). I thought this was an interesting snippet into his motivations and answered some remaining questions I had about how and why the curse went into play. It was a little bittersweet to read this story since I know the tragedy that is the outcome of the curse. This was a very quick read that helped as a filler to the series. This Changes Everything was about Ellie when she was a little girl and the events that changed her life in a big way dealing with her mother, her role in the curse and the god Ahone. Since I read this novella after I had read all three novels, I had a basic idea of what happened the night Ellie's mom died, but this story went into details and reasoning behind the actions. It was really sad to witness the death along with young Ellie who did not have a grasp on what this meant for her life.

This is Your Destiny is the last novella and it is intended to be read after finishing the last novel, which worked out for me since I read it after the end. I will admit that this was my favorite novella because it is about Collin. This is the story of Collin's life, how hard he had it and how he made the decision to hunt down Ellie. I have loved Collin throughout all three books, enjoying his charm, cunning, strange version of the truth, good looks and his hidden heart. This story just confirmed for me how much I love him and how much he had to overcome because life has never been easy for Collin and his choices were never his to make. He was set on path that others created and he just tried to do what he felt was right and had the guilt to live as a result. I just wanted to give him a hug. I personally felt that Ellie chose poorly at the end of the Curse Defiers and this did not change my opinion.

Overall this was a really unique interesting series that I am glad I got to take part in.

I received this title from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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