Lawson’s review of Blood Brothers (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1) by Nora Roberts
Paranormal romance released by Jove 27 Nov 07

This is the first in Roberts’ new Sign of Seven Trilogy. The next two, The Hollow and The Pagan Stone, will be out in May 2008 and December 2008, respectively.

Caleb Hawkins, Fox O’Dell and Gage Turner have been best friends basically since they were born. Since they were born on the same hospital on the same day, it’s not much of a stretch to believe that’s true. On their tenth birthday they decide to go out camping in the woods outside of Hawkins Hollow, near a site called the Pagan Stone. After doing the things that ten year olds do when they’re away from prying eyes (like drinking some liberated beer and getting sick from cigarettes), things go awry when they unknowingly release a demonic force that had been trapped in the Pagan Stone.

After the demon had been released Caleb, Fox and Gage aren’t the same. As well as being impervious to physical harm, each has a gift. Caleb can see the past, Fox the future (ie read minds) and Gage can see the future. These things help the boys when the demon goes on a week long chaos spree starting the seventh day of the seventh month. Though the demon disappears, seven years later things happen again starting July 7 and continuing for seven days.

Quinn Black has come to Hawkins Hollow to write a book about the events that happen every seven years. She likes uncovering ghost stories and finding about the strange things that sometimes happen in small town America. Things in Hawkins Hollow are different than any other story she’s written before, since she begins to have nightmares and see things that show the signs of the demon starting way too early.

Quinn and Caleb work together to discover the cause of the early start and are joined by Fox, and later Gage as well as Layla Darnell and Quinn’s research partner Cybil Kinski. When Quinn decides to stay in Hawkins Hollow until July, Caleb realizes he doesn’t have a chance for his heart is lost to her. But what can he do to protect her from the mounting evil that he helped release 21 years earlier?

There are so many things going on during the plotting of this story. In wonderful Roberts style, they’re all given time to grow and the groundwork is deftly laid for the rest of the series. Though Fox and Layla, and Gage and Cyb will be the center of the next two stories, they’re thrown together in this first installment and there’s a great hint as what is to come.

The leads of this story, Quinn and Caleb, are very cute. They’ve got pretty similar personalities and when Quinn seems to get a bit too boisterous, Cal is there to help her calm down. Or when Cal goes overboard into male brooding territory, Quinn makes him smile and see how he can work life to his benefit. Even though there are dark forces at work, both Quinn and Cal realize their attraction and love can withstand it.

Since Cal can see the past (coincidentally Quinn can too, though being in Hawkins Hollow is what “awakens” her ability), there’s a running theme in the book of the impact the past can have on the present. Everything started not when the boys were camping, nor in the 1650s when the demon was trapped in the stone, but way back when in the mists of time in Eastern Europe. The ties the men and women have to each other through the past give a good foundation for why things are happening and what needs to be done to change things.

I did have a couple of issues with the story. There were definitly some horror elements dealing with the demon. It manifests itself as a child with red eyes and fangs, and horror is not something I generally like that much. Especially with demonic children. Though it worked with the story, it wasn’t something that worked with me personally. Being scared and horrified is not a viable form of entertainment, in my opinion.

The other thing was the fact that with all the discovery of the past and connections, there wasn’t a lot of time to spend getting to know Quinn and Caleb. Their attraction and backstory was halfway handed to the reader, so that it would be accepted and it seemed to happen so fast. . .there was, to me, barely any time between them meeting and them jumping into bed. There was some great chemistry, but it seemed a bit forced and rushed so that the story could be wrapped up within the time frame of a few weeks.

Overall it was a good, fast read and Roberts’ characters worked well together. The groundwork has been laid and I want the next in the series.

Grade: B

Blurb:
     In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse.

     Twenty-one years later, Cal Hawkins and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times – every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town’s folklore. Quinn is a well known scholar of local legends, and despite Cal’s protests, insists on delving in the mystery. But when the first signs of evil appear months early, it’s not only the town Cal tries to protect, but also his heart.

     Excerpt.