LynneC’s review of Beyond The Darkness (Offspring Series, Book 5) by Jaime Rush
Paranormal Romance published by Avon 29 Nov 11
Petra is a girly-girl. She likes the Wizard of Oz, American Idol, and she’s training to be a beautician (called an esthetician here. Is there a difference? Pardon my ignorance!) In a previous entry in the series, she met and fell for Cheveyo , a part native American, part alien/paranormal being whose job is to chase down and capture the baddies that slip through the gaps between worlds. He is also in love with Petra, although she doesn’t know it. Cheveyo is a jaguar shapeshifter, which is pretty sexy all on its own.
At the beginning of the story, Pope, who was instrumental in saving Petra’s life in a previous book, needs help. He’s a renegade, and Cheveyo offers to help hide him until he’s used to our world and doesn’t need help anymore. But this puts Petra into danger. Two hunters from the other world are after him and they track him to her. Cheveyo wants Petra and she wants him, but Cheveyo is in psychic contact with his dead father Wayne (Wayne? Really? I kept seeing Wayne Rooney in my mind). Wayne pushes Cheveyo to keep up the good work, and he knows he has to, but he also knows he can’t bring Petra into his world. Pretty girly-girls don’t belong.
That’s about it, really, and hooray, I say. So many paranormal romances have pages and pages of rules and strange names you have to get used to. Not with this one. There are few odd words, and the ones that were there were explained adequately, so they didn’t wreck the flow of the story.
This isn’t a masterpiece, it isn’t a mind-blowing experience. What it is, is a damn good read. I had fun with this book. It’s a road book for a great part, with the baddies chasing our heroes and heroine, and the white-hats sometimes turning the tables. They drive through some wonderful scenery which is well evoked, and Cheveyo doesn’t live in a great big, dirty house with a bunch of comrades. He’s a loner, although he knows he’s not alone in his fight.
I like both hero and heroine in this book. At first, Petra seems like a bit of an airhead, but even at the beginning, there are touches that snagged my interest and made me want to leave on. Later, she gets more proactive and learns how to defend herself. And Cheveyo helps her, instead of automatically labeling her a weak woman to be protected. I like that, too, and that Petra doesn’t become an awesome warrior in leather boots and corset overnight. Or at all, come to that.
The sex is enough, although the long lead-up is a bit frustrating at times. There is a particularly disgusting villain and without going into spoiler territory, at one point I thought it’s going into unacceptable territory, but the scene turns around and it works out much better than I’d feared. Which, after all, is a writer’s job. I’m sorry to miss the falling in love part, and, in this instance, the book let me down. By the time I joined in the fun, that part was a done deal, and I wanted a bit more courtship and maybe a tad less yearning.
Cheveyo is stubborn and his insistence on Petra not staying with him gets a little bit annoying, especially after Las Vegas. But that apart, I like him. He respects her as a person, enjoys the touches of femininity she brings to him and his life. He listens to her, even though he might disagree with her. So, yes, for an enjoyable read, I can definitely recommend this one, and I will be looking for the others in the series now.
Grade: B
Summary:
They live ordinary lives, but they are extraordinary. They are the Offspring, children of a mysterious experiment gone awry—and they are in terrible danger.
Cheveyo: a name that stirs Petra like no other, reviving deep feelings of pleasure . . . and pain. Despite her rare psychic gifts, the beautiful half-human Offspring doesn’t know why the magnificent shapeshifter walked out of her life when the bond they shared was powerful . . . and intensely passionate.
But Cheveyo is not gone. From the shadows, he watches over his beloved, determined that the malevolent enemies he hunts with fang and claw will not invade her world. But now, suddenly, the stakes are getting higher—as an insidious evil plots the destruction of Petra’s race. Cheveyo can remain hidden no longer from the lover who completes him but could destroy him . . . if his own inner darkness doesn’t destroy her first.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
