Everlasting Desire by Amanda Ashley
Mass Market: $6.99
Zebra (September 2010)
ISBN: 978-1-4201-0444-8
Favorite Lines: “She was used to being in the company of handsome men, but there was something about this man that had every nerve and cell in her body tingling and on edge. Apart of her wanted to throw herself into his arms, to beg him to stay with her forever, while another part of her wanted to run away and hide while she still had the chance. (p. 8 )
Megan DeLacey works at a high end men’s department store that caters to rock stars, actors and CEOs. The customers show their appreciation for her tasteful fashion advice by giving her jewelry and show tickets. Some men ask for more, but she is never seriously tempted until she meets Rhys Costain.
Rhys is 512 yrs. old and the Master of the West Coast vampires. He’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of vamp, having learned to protect his heart when he was young. Then he meets Megan. He is fascinated by her in a time when he can’t afford to become distracted from his duties. Because the oldest living vampire is leaving a trail of bodies across the United States and is headed straight toward Rhys in California.
Everlasting Desire by Amanda Ashley is a vampire romance story about a woman in her 30’s accepting the possibility of dating a younger looking man. Little does she know that the man is really a vamp and he is not in his mid-twenties as his appearance portrays but really quite older than she would ever dream. As usual this is where I tell you how much I hate cougar themed stories. Yes, I know he is really way, way, way older than her, but he looks younger and rings the cougar bell in my head.
I’m not a huge fan of Amanda Ashley’s vampire stories. (But holy crap, I own just about all of her books. Crazy, huh?) This story does little to change my opinion. She always has great ideas, but I’m not thrilled by the way the stories unravel.
First of all there are 49 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue in Everlasting Desire. Who does that? I’d no sooner start a chapter and it’d be over. Chapter one has 3 pages; chapter two has 10 pages; chapter three has 17 pages; chapter four has 11 pages; chapter five has 5 pages; chapter ten has 2 pages. What am I getting at? The inconsistency is distracting. I don’t need the same number of pages, but the way the chapters are made draws attention away from the story.
Another pet peeve of mine is information which is given for no reason. Yes, I want the scene to be set up. Show me what I’m looking at, but don’t feed me information that you aren’t going to build upon later or use as a foreshadowing tool. For example, Megan deals with all types of men at the clothing store. Her “least favorite customer” Mr. Clark makes one appearance, but does nothing vile. He doesn’t yell and scream at her. He doesn’t try to feel her up. He is a little condescending, but there is nothing to warrant multiple comments about Megan disliking him. It felt like I was being led down a dead end street.
(This will be vague on purpose to avoid spoiling the story for those who have yet to read it.)
There is a man brought into the story and given a personality who should never have been anything more than an off pages lover. I understand Ashley is trying to show the way a human changes when transformed into a vampire, but that’s not the way it comes across when you read it as part of a story arc. It seems frivolous and unnecessary.
One final mention of things that irritate Scooper: books which make it easy for the lead character to overcome a stated dislike or change an opinion stated throughout the story. You’ll get my point when you get to Chapter 47.
To conclude, Everlasting Desire is not my favorite book. As usual, my opinion is only one of hundreds and seems to be a minority. Check it out for yourself so you can comeback and comment.
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