Blossoms & Flutters: Destiny Awaits by Jaidis Shaw
- By Jaidis Shaw
- Editions: ebook, paperback
- Published: July 19th 2014 by Crushing Hearts & Black Butterfly (first published April 21st 2012)
- Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
- Source: NetGalley
- In a Flutter: Short and action filled
She wants a normal life. They want her dead. Destiny has other plans.
Twenty-year-old Alayna Scott receives visions around water, but even her foresight couldn’t prepare her for the tragic accident that claimed the lives of her parents. With everything she loves gone, Alayna packs up and moves to the small town of Juniper Grove in hopes of starting over.
Jayden McKnight can’t explain the attraction that he feels whenever Alayna is near, but he does know that he will do whatever it takes to win her heart. When a vampire selects Alayna as his next victim, Jayden will stop at nothing to ensure her safety – even if that means bringing Alayna into a world that she never knew existed.
Love blossoms, challenges are made and Alayna will find herself fighting not only to survive, but to understand what she has become.
~ Goodreads
Review
Unfortunately this wasn’t one of my best paranormal reads. It was a light read with a quick, insta love romance. A few shifters and vampires were thrown in and turned it into more of an action novel with a few kisses here and there.
I was unable to connect with the characters. It could have been that they were not up to par with my standards or that everything happened too quickly, but unfortunately they missed their mark with me. I felt that Alayna had a good background and a real tragedy that could’ve captured my sympathy for her but her character diminished within the first couple of chapters. She tried to lighten the mood quite a bit, usually at inappropriate times. It came off as awkward and sometimes fell flat. In all honesty she came off as a little self-absorbed and a as a “woe is me” heroine.
Jayden just screamed weak male. I’m used to he-man, take no bullshit, I run this, I won’t let anything happen to my mate, alpha males. I was expecting him to be more assertive and dominant but all he did was talk a big game and then rolled over and allowed things to play out without getting involve. He was sweet but his character lacked a major shifter element.
The ease in which they communicated was stunted for all the characters. I just felt like their dialogue wasn’t natural. There were abrupt transitions and the sentences didn’t really flow well together. Half of the time everything was fine but the other half was cringe worthy and made wanting to read the rest of the book a challenge. The book didn’t really hold my interest. I was able to read other books at the same time and not really think about picking this book back up again.
I do have to say that the action towards the end of the book definitely piqued my interest. There was a cool spin on a few magical/ paranormal ideas. And thankfully there was a happily ever after. Regrettably I feel like the awkward sentences and unnatural dialogue got in the way of really enjoying this book. It was a great idea but it just wasn’t able, in my opinion, to get that message across.
Many other people love this book so if a light romance filled with paranormal beings that slides into action is your cup of tea I would say go for it. If you’re looking for a little more depth and oomph I’d say something else might be a better bet.
