Dark Embrace (Masters of Time #3)

“Dark Embrace” is the third book in Joyce’s Masters of Time series. I own every book Brenda Joyce has published, and I am a huge fan. But not all her books are home runs. When she has a winner, it is among the best of the best, but this book is not one of them. Why?

The writing is repetitive. Whenever Joyce gets stuck in a plotline she resorts to the characters haranguing themselves with past follies, or reasons they cannot “love” or be with someone. When she falls into that pit, her books become torturous and boring to read. One loses interest in the characters as a result. A good editor would have underscored this for Ms. Joyce and eliminated almost half the book. What law is there that says each book has to be almost 400 pages?

The character of the “hero”, Aidan, is completely different from the character introduced in the other books. Readers fell in love with the other character, not this twisted, morbid compilation.

The plot itself is formulaic. In fact, all the series follows the same plot formula. That may be interesting in one book, but by the third one, it too is just tiresome and predictable. As one reviewer describes it, Ms. Joyce got lazy.

Unfortunately, Ms. Joyce is starting to remind me of Johanna Lindsay, one of the great romantic writers. But something happened to Ms. Lindsay, and her more recent books have fallen way short of her early works. Her fans are deeply upset about these changes. I do hope this is not Ms. Joyce’s fate. She needs a better editor that cares about what she is writing, not just the publisher’s financial bottom line.

I was super excited to read about the Wolf of Awe – from his brief appearances in the first two books he really drew me in. Unfortunately, he left me a little wanting, as did his leading lady, Brie. Aiden has changed a lot since book two of the Masters of Time and is not quite the tormented soul – and feels the need to remind everyone of this quite often. For a super powerful half-demon magic wielding immortal, there were times he came off a bit whiny. Thankfully he improved as the book went on and grew to become the awesome character I’d hoped for.

Brie was a little more fun at the beginning, but at times her blind devotion to Aiden grated on my nerves a bit. It was fun to see her come out of her shell and become the person outside that she was inside. I really enjoyed watching her psychic ability grow and can see her becoming quite powerful in future books.

Once again Brenda Joyce was able to pull me into her story and I didn’t want her to let go. When the book was done I was so sad to leave the Masters of Time until I could get my hands on the next book. While her characters may not be my idea of perfect, they did fit the story well and helped to carry it along smoothly. Dark Victory is up next in the series and I can’t wait to read about another hunky highlander.

My heart feels this series of books. These are read over and over. More please? We need at least 10 more in this series

I enjoyed this book ….. but ….. i did struggle a little with the flow of the story and it may have been because i had to continually put it down so i suggest yes do read this book but try to read it without too many breaks. there was a lot going on without really getting there with me i felt a bit disconnected …. but still worth 4 stars

I absolutely loved all in this series, exiting, sexy and keeps you on edge!

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