A problem I always seem to have with most novellas is that there has to be enough action in them to keep the reader interested, but they have to achieve that action in a substantially smaller amount of time than a full length novel. I have always said writing a compelling short story is harder than writing a compelling novel. I think this novella suffers from this problem, so much action had to take place in such a short period of time and words that it starts to feel rushed in the end.
That being said, the entire novella did not feel rushed. The first half or possibly even the first two thirds of the book flowed pretty well and did not feel rushed.
Elena and Karl are this stories main characters, and like I said earlier I think this novella fits into the paranormal romance category because from start to finish the novella is about these two characters and their love for each other. The novella starts off with the two of them as friends who are roommates, but even in their everyday lives as friends the reader can sense that something more is on the horizon for these two. There chemistry is certainly clear from very early on in the novella. While the two of them feel organic for most of the story, towards the end they start to lose some of that organic feeling which is certainly a loss for the reader.
Elena is being stalked essentially by a demon who is after her power. As the story progresses you find out more and more about not only Elena's power but also about her family and how unaware Elena really is about who she is. And of course not knowing these things about herself end up creating problems for her as the story progresses. There are a lot of family elements within this story which I think really helps the story, especially in the parts where it feels rushed.
Another element of this story that I think works in its favor is the secondary character of Amy. Hardy seems to have made a point to introduce her to the reader, give her a pretty decent background, and really make the reader like Amy. The story does not really have an ending for Amy, so I can see how maybe the next novella in this series would be more about Amy, and if it is then I am looking forward to finding out how Amy's story ends.
Overall, I would say this is a good novella. I would recommend it to anyone who likes paranormal romance AND novellas (I know a lot of people don't particularly care for novellas). This is certainly a romance based book so if you are person who only wants a little romance in a book, this is probably not the book for you. But overall I think paranormal romance lovers will enjoy this book as a quick weekend escape read.
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