Thursday, May 14, 2009

Book Review: Mortal Temptations by Allyson James

Mortal Temptations
by Allyson James

Patrica Lake's world is turned upside down when she finds a winged, demi-god unconscious on the floor of her antique store. Her unexpected visitor is Nico, a powerful deity cursed by Hera to be a slave to female sexual desire. As punishment for chasing after one of Hera's priestesses, he is sentenced to an eternity of heartbreak as he is used by one female after another and tossed aside along with his partner in crime and demi-god Andreas. Patrica, of course, holds the key to ending their enchantment...

I really wanted to like this book. Yes, the story is pretty cookie-cutter - our tortured and cursed hero must commit some great act of sacrifice to save himself and his one true love. Mortal Temptations had all the potential to really be an unique, yet heartwarming story; but it totally fell flat almost from the beginning.

Patrica is psychic and can read the auras off of people and objects, hence her profession as an antiques dealer. You would think her abilities would be almost vital to Andreas and Nico's quest for clues on how to break the curse. But her psychic abilities are introduced in the beginning and then are almost forgotten over the course of the story.

Nico and Andreas are described as essentially high class gigolos who are tortured by their fate. However, throughout the story, they honestly don't seem more than slightly annoyed by the whole situation. Andreas seems almost giddy to have a new toy to play with. And Nico doesn't seem plagued by bouts of depression or melancholy over being a god reduced to a sex slave.

The ending was also nothing special with Nico's final "test" incredibly uneventful and really not that difficult. Happily ever after was attained a little too easily for me to really feel any emotion for the characters.

Overall this book was a bust. If you are looking for a good tragic hero type, you are better off checking out Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter's series.


Book Information

Publisher: Berkley Trade
Publication Date: January 6, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0425223697
MSRP: $15.00
Format: Trade Paperback
Available from Amazon, Borders, and Barnes and Noble

1 comment:

Allie said...

Have you read Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh? I think you'd enjoy that book a whole lot more than this one. ;)

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