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Crystal Cove Lisa Kleypas 9780749953935 Books

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Crystal Cove Lisa Kleypas 9780749953935 Books

I am a fan of Lisa Kleypas. I like her writing.
This is not a case of horrible writing. Or even a horrible story. Not at all. If it were a stand alone book, likely it would be a 4-5 star. But I also likely would not have read it.
The story is filled with hard core witches, magic, spells, deeply unstable family relationships.
The series has had ''magic'' throughout. But it was more like fairy tale magic. It was not damaging. Dangerous. Life threatening.
So it is pretty harsh to find yourself going from the love and family of the friday harbor series and then find yourself here.
I dont understand how this book winds up here. But I am incredibly disappointed. I feel like a reader being used as an experiment. "Lookie here, we got ourselves a successful series going. But how about we mix things up?? Like throw a book in that has nothing in common with the rest of the series. There is going to be almost no happiness. No future. Only animal like attraction. A main character that has no soul. Literally. Another main character that has one person after another in her life that lies to her. And uses dangerous, unpredictable, powerful magic spells to control her. To direct her life. Always in the name of love. The happy ending is marginal. Now doesnt that sound exactly like a Lisa Kleypas story her fans are looking for?"
I hate doing 3 stars. I do not do it lightly. And I seriously even thought about doing no review at all. But after much thinking, I decided to go ahead.


Tags : Crystal Cove [Lisa Kleypas] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. When Justine Hoffman was born her mother cast a spell to protect her from heartbreak, and as a result,Lisa Kleypas,Crystal Cove,Piatkus Books,0749953934,Literature & Fiction Genre Fiction

Crystal Cove Lisa Kleypas 9780749953935 Books Reviews

FINAL DECISION My favorite book of the series because it works as a complete story and the magical elements blend perfectly with the romance. The intense focus on the couple made me really enjoy this one.

THE STORY Justine Hoffman, the owner of a successful Bed and Breakfast hotel in Friday Harbor, has known that her life is missing love. What she never understood is why she can't feel love. Then she discovers that someone cast a spell upon her to stop her from loving. When she breaks the enchantment, she doesn't realize that something more dangerous might be in the offing. Jason Black, a successful video game creator has come to Friday Harbor to build a retreat complex -- and also for his own mysterious purposes related to Justine.

OPINION This book avoids the main issue I had with the other books in the series (apart from the first novella) this book manages to marry the personal journey of the heroine, the romance and the magical elements.

The magical elements work because the series goes full-blown into the paranormal without apology. Jason is a man without a soul and Justine is a hereditary witch. There are no conflicts between the straight contemporary story and the magic. This book goes for the magical elements with a whole heart and the book is better for it.

This book also focuses primarily on the romance between Justine and Jason and takes part in the personal journey of Justine only as a part of that story. So there are not chapters and chapters about her personal problems that have no impact on the romance. Here everything is well integrated and connected. Justine's drama comes from her relationship with her mother and while this story is a part of this book, the focus remains on the romance.

And I loved the romance. The story was so different than what I expected when I read that Justine was going to be involved with a man without a soul. The story was well worked out and things fit in nicely that I got to focus on the characters relationship which was the highlight here. Jason had depth and humor and a sweetness that I didn't expect.

The book goes a little stronger into the bedroom habits of the couple (and I never expected to end up reading two book about Japanese rope art in the same year) than I usually read with Kleypas's books, but it works because there is less internal drama with the characters, so things are kept a little more spicy with the external parts of their relationship.

I had only a few small complaints about the story. First, I really thought that Justine would have made Jason pay more for his actions in the book. Or maybe, I wanted her to be more angry and make him grovel a little more. Second, this book and the series really needed something to conclude it. An epilogue or another book. I believe that there was intended to be more of the series, but since there isn't I really missed seeing how everything worked out for all the couples.

WORTH MENTIONING This book seemed to set up another book in the series that was not written.

CONNECTED BOOKS CRYSTAL COVE is the fourth book in the Friday Harbor series. While there are overlapping characters, this book can be read as a complete standalone.

STAR RATING I give this book 4 stars.
****SPOILERS*****

This is a solid 3-star book, however, I feel that readers may be rating it (whether positively or negatively) for all the wrong reasons. Let me introduce myself as an avid romance reader- whether it's paranormal, historical, regency, erotica etc. I don't think it's fair to the author to dismiss the book because of the 'pagan' elements in it. That's like me picking up a faith-based romance and complaining that there weren't explicit sex scenes. It's a given from the blurb that this is a book about spells and such, so why be surprised when it's in the story? On the flip side, I see people rating it 5 stars to counter the 1's and 2's. That is also disingenuous because this book is the weakest written of the Friday Harbor series, IMO.

Throughout the series, I felt like the protagonists where the H/h and Friday Harbor. The descriptions of the island and the characterizations (the coffee roaster Mark, the vintner Sam, the culinary artist Zoe) drew me into a rich world that I enjoyed. This book only had the magic and witchcraft and I don't think that Kleypas was 100% comfortable writing about it. Instead of taking me into the world, some descriptions read like her research notes put to paper. With that critique aside, I enjoyed Rosemary and Sage, and the interludes at the Lighthouse. We did get a lot of writing on the running of the Bed and Breakfast, but I don't think it compares to reading about growing grapes or how Lucy fell in love with glassmaking and how her art moved the story along.

I feel thoroughly cheated with the hero. Like almost everyone reading this book, I have read and re-read almost everything Lisa Kleypas has written so I *know* what she is capable of. Black's character read 2 dimensional, and in hindsight, it could be because he had no soul (I read a fantasy/paranormal romance with a similar theme and the soulless heroine came across the same way). However, there was not enough groveling after Black stole the grimoire. (I rolled my eyes at this. There is no way a grimoire this powerful, should have been this easily stolen, and then used by the Fiveash clan.)

This all leads me to the deux ex machina ending. Up until the end, I was waiting on the 'grand gesture' for Black to redeem himself to save Justine and it was intense, till we realize Justine lost her magic in giving half of her soul to Black. I never got why he was worth it in the first place, so it fell a little flat for me.

All in all, a decent series with a subpar ending.
I am a fan of Lisa Kleypas. I like her writing.
This is not a case of horrible writing. Or even a horrible story. Not at all. If it were a stand alone book, likely it would be a 4-5 star. But I also likely would not have read it.
The story is filled with hard core witches, magic, spells, deeply unstable family relationships.
The series has had ''magic'' throughout. But it was more like fairy tale magic. It was not damaging. Dangerous. Life threatening.
So it is pretty harsh to find yourself going from the love and family of the friday harbor series and then find yourself here.
I dont understand how this book winds up here. But I am incredibly disappointed. I feel like a reader being used as an experiment. "Lookie here, we got ourselves a successful series going. But how about we mix things up?? Like throw a book in that has nothing in common with the rest of the series. There is going to be almost no happiness. No future. Only animal like attraction. A main character that has no soul. Literally. Another main character that has one person after another in her life that lies to her. And uses dangerous, unpredictable, powerful magic spells to control her. To direct her life. Always in the name of love. The happy ending is marginal. Now doesnt that sound exactly like a Lisa Kleypas story her fans are looking for?"
I hate doing 3 stars. I do not do it lightly. And I seriously even thought about doing no review at all. But after much thinking, I decided to go ahead.