Keltor: Guardian Archives
by Jennifer Sage
Blurb: Keltor is a Guardian of the light even though he exists nearly in Shadow, haunted by his past. His world, the world of the Guardians, is a dark reality that coexists in modern day with ours. Behind the warm veils of our lives a war rages against the Shadow Demons and the Guardians protect as much of humanity as they can, still believing in us as a race.
There is one person alive, a Keeper, who has within her the power to tilt the scales one way or another in this war. With the ability to damn the Light or the Dark and no knowledge of how to she is supposed to do either, Liz is nearly a helpless pawn. A pawn that is about to find herself completely powerless against a force greater than she has ever known.
A Guardian who lost his heart centuries ago. A female who has never really known her own. Laws that prevent them from ever finding solace in the other. Far different laws that prevent them from turning away.
Sky's Thoughts:
Firstly, thank you, Jennifer, for a copy of your book to review!
Where to start?
I was an instant fan of Ms. Sage from the moment I finished the first few
chapters.
The first installment in the “Guardian Archives” gave me a sense of
familiarity of worlds I have fallen in love with in the past. However, it
certainly holds up its own brand of uniqueness. The world-building is so
incredible that I fell instantly drawn in. In fact, I didn’t even realize how absorbed
into the story I was until my dog started howling at the neighbors. I jolted
out of the scene, finding that I was several chapters in, just absolutely
startled. THAT my lovelies, means triumph to the author who can cause any sort
of reaction like that out of me.
I have also got to say, I am a huge fan of “Brotherhood” like novels; for
the amount of time that my friends and I spend battling over book boyfriends,
there's one for each of us to fall in love with and claim! And that certainly does
not exclude this brotherhood of Guardians-- which by the way, everyone already
knows I am quite obsessed with anything Angel/Guardian related. So this
series is a huge bonus for me! We had a mixture of our deep fantasies of flawed and dangerous heroes, and relatable characters we can nod our head in agreement to many things they mention or find bothersome/enjoyable. The author says so in her biography, that she loves to add a bit of herself into each of her stories. I agree that it's vital in the making of a world that is still so far out there, but doesn't distract the reader from stopping a moment realizing, there's no traces of any soul in any characters!
Oh believe me, Ms. Sage aced that! Her characters are nothing short of vibrancy and life.
The few characters we were introduced to from the beginning were completely fascinating
from the get-go. First, we are taken through a moment in Keltor's head and experience the pain
he suffered from losing his wife and children. Then, he is paid a visit by his “Brother",
Lucio, and is given a task to “babysit” a unsuspecting Keeper, because she
lives a mere mortal life and has no idea who she is-- it’s time for her to be
trained and learn exactly who she is. Keltor is trusted for this task over any
of the other Brothers, simply because of his pained past; they know he cannot
afford, nor has the ability to fall in love and mess things up.
Later, we were introduced to more characters who all have their own roles in the main characters lives and the ones trying to screw everything up.
There were quite a few plot twists and surprising incidents, and things just kept getting more and more intense. I had my hypothesis all planned out for the ending, but was delighted to see things were unpredictable. I am definitely going on to the next book as soon as it’s available!
Some of the extra perks I found to be brilliant in this story was the witty dialogue, there were quite a few comical situations and arguments. Ms. Sage's ability to create such raw emotions through words, is truly enveloping.
I wanted to reach through the pages so many times to give each of the
characters the biggest of hugs. Oh, not to mention… the SEXUAL TENSION?! I live
for it, HAHA! It was at times so frustrating that I had to throw my head back
and mumble a few expletives, but in all honesty, I have such a guilty pleasure
of teases such as those scenes. Well done, Ms. Sage, well done. ;)
However batty the frustration drove us, it was totally worth it later on.
Freakin'. HOT. Just explosive. You’ll see.
I will definitely be recommending this to any of my friends who appreciate superb PNR .
Krystle's Thoughts:
I found this PNR to be quite enjoyable,
it had some J.R. Ward flare to it with a hint of KMM, and some
Larissa Ione. If you like those gals, give this one a read!!! Some
fun snarky humor from the heroine Liz and a whole lotta HOT with the
mind-reading hero Kelt. Also, I wanted to thank the author for
gifting me her book for a review!
You have your Immortal Guardians, who
make sure that the darkness cannot take over the light of the world.
Keltor is one of these guardians, and has lived a life of solitude
for a very long period of time. That is, until he met the keeper,
Elizabeth. Which she didn't even know that this paranormal side to
her world existed. ~~ I loved Liz's crash course to her new reality,
I know I would have been seriously hair brained for a while!
So Liz is a Keeper and prior to her,
they've always been men. Keeper's are sought after by the Demons of
the Shadows, wanted by the darkness with the ability to destroy
Guardians if they cross over from the light. If that happens, they
forfeit their soul and become Immortal as well. The whole time all
of this is being explained to her, she's thinking that she will end
up just like her mother at the insane asylum. Her mother was
diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 11 years old, but Liz had
suffered a nightmarish childhood living with her long before that.
That was heartbreaking, no idea how a mother can look at their child
and think of them as the devil spawn, then beat them.
~~For a while, it was a mystery as to
how Elizabeth can be well into her thirties and remain unknown as the
Keeper to either the light or the dark. I liked the idea of her
having a spell casting sorceress as her grandmother. ~~
I loved Ms. Sage's reasoning on why her
Guardian's needed blood. Since they're immortal, their bodies no
longer produce it, so they are 'forced' to drink it. Since they're
not exactly vampires they don't just go stalking the streets for some
unsuspecting victim because they 'want' to drink it. <---- I liked
that :) .
Liz and Kelt's romance that they had
together was all kinds of Hot'N'Steamy!! I started feeling
sexually frustrated right along with the poor girl when, at the
beginning of the book he would start something and abruptly end it. I
don't want to reveal too much -BUT- the scene where they made their
eternal connection. OMIGOD , it very very raw and 100% sweet.
Some characters that were favorites of
mine were of course Kelt, because duh.
Liya- Badass warrior of the White! I
was so happy that she got her happy ending, so to speak. Now we'll
just have to see if Dante will give her, her other happy ending ! =P
Lucio- Being the son of the Pure one,
he's like all of the other Guardian's mentor. His character was very
fatherly and sweet. I liked his ability to see the footprints of the
past so to speak, very cool idea.
I enjoyed young Kate and Logan's
meeting/ time spent together as well. Everything seemed to tie in
together nicely! Well worth the read. =)
“If you stop this
time, I'll kill you when I'm stronger.” - Elizabeth to Kelt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
– There was a part of the book I
wanted to point out. There's a scene where Liz is talking about good
quality furniture and how you can't find them made like that anymore.
All you get at the store is cheap pressed particle board. THAT IS SO
TRUE, lol when I read that I laughed out loud.
My mum would always have a book in her hand when I was young and passed on her love for reading, inspiring me to venture into writing my own. I tend to have a darker edge to my writing. Not all love stories are made from light, some are created in darkness but are just as powerful and worth telling.
Author of The Heart of Stone, Room 103 and Shadows of Sin series, and the new Blue Butterfly series.
