The Sands of Time by Dianna Hardy

Synopsis: 

Seven days ago, Elizabeth May tried to commit suicide. She was found by Paul, her husband, who took her under his wing and back to their home. But the attempted suicide isn't Elizabeth's main problem- Elizabeth can't remember who she is, or a single thing about her life beyond the past week. 

Meanwhile, Pueblo- the demon blood-bonded to the witch Amy, is going insane trying to find her. Amy disappeared one week ago, and it seems not even their bond is strong enough to penetrate whatever magic hides her. 

As Pueblo enlists the help of angels and demons alike, Elizabeth begins to piece together parts of her forgotten life. But what she uncovers may just have her wanting to turn away from who she really is... for good. 

Review: 

I reviewed the first book in this series, and I really enjoyed it. It was one of the first few novellas I enjoyed reading. It was a fun and exciting ride the entire time, so I was looking forward to reading this follow up to book 1. 

First and foremost I have to say that I really do enjoy the writing style in general of Dianna Hardy. She really has a way of making her books really easy to read, and to so quickly sweep you up into the stories and into the characters. It's so easy to really not only enjoy the story line but also really develop emotions for the characters as well. 

Book two does a great job of brining out all the characters you love from book one and then expanding on them. More than that I felt like a lot of the world building happens in The Sands of Time, when you read book one you just kind of get your feet wet with the information about everything that inhabits this world. But when you open this book, you learn so much more about what it is angels, witches, and even demons mean within the confines of this world. 

Hardy does a great job with the characters, and not just how they work together as couples but also how they work as individuals. I think one of the hardest things to do when you have a couple is when they are separated, which is the case with Amy and Pueblo. You have to find a way to keep the reader interested in the couple while still keeping the suspense of the separation. Hardy does a great job with this and Pueblo and Amy. Pueblo's frustration at not being able to find the woman he is literally bonded to with blood is so evident in her writing. You really pull for Pueblo to find his way back to Amy. I think you will really enjoy going on this journey with them. 

I have really grown to enjoy novellas, and this one is another great novella out there. So if you are looking for a shorter read, but not sacrificing any of the character driven action then this is a series you should certainly try out. I think all paranormal romance readers would enjoy reading this! 

Dianna Hardy Guest Post

Today we are joined by Dianna Hardy who wrote a book I reviewed a while back for the first book in her The Witching Pen series, which I really enjoyed. So I hope you enjoy Dianna Hardy's guest post as well as look forward to the review of her second book which will be coming up later.

Different Characters, Different Lives

Dianna Hardy

Thank you so much, Kate, for having me on your blog today :)

Those that have read my (small, but growing number of) books may have come to realise that I don't like to write the same kind of characters over and over again. When writing romance, I think this can be tricky, because part of what readers want about romance is consistency; a lot of readers like a certain kind of romance, and will stick to the same author because they know what they're getting.

I don't do that (lol – sorry!). Each book I write, or each couple I write, will be different from the previous that you've read, and as a result, the sexual and emotional relationship between them will be different too. So romance readers, beware, that with me, you'll be getting something you may not expect every time.

In The Witching Pen Novellas, we have three couples evolving throughout the series. Karl and Elena are the sweet ones. Their relationship is built on a lifelong love, affection and trust, and together they form a strong foundation from which the other characters can bounce off.

Then there's Pueblo and Amy. They're troubled, to a certain extent; both of them with difficult histories, and they've been thrown together, pretty much by accident (although, there's actually no such thing as an accident in my world). Love with these two is not necessarily easy, and it's not black and white, but all shades of grey and every colour from one end of the spectrum to the other. Their relationship will continue to evolve throughout all the books – it has to. There's no neatly wrapping things up for them in one book, and life doesn't always work that way anyway…

Finally, we have Gwain and Mary. Now I can't write too much about them due to spoilers (their story's yet to be told), but they are the 'intense' ones. It's all or nothing for them. For them, love is life and death, and a disturbing concoction of agony and peace. There's a very Scorpionic energy about them, and most readers will probably find their relationship the hardest to relate to. Nevertheless, they are the way they are (yes, I'm serious – they didn't want to be written any other way)…

The conclusion of The Witching Pen Novellas (resulting in book three, The Demon Bride, released in the summer), will catapult all these characters into the spin-off novel, The Last Angel, in which they will all continue to evolve, although the spin-off novel will be more action / plot focused and less relationship-based – in this sense, it may fall into urban fantasy (possibly urban fantasy romance) rather than a romance specifically.

This blog post, is really to give you a glimpse into how I write relationships, and how I like to write as a writer in general. Nope – you won't find 'samey' from me, but (I hope) a surprise each time, which you may or may not find pleasant … but as a reader, that's what I look for in an author – someone who can surprise me – maybe it comes from my great love of horror novels growing up (everyone likes to be surprised when reading horror, right? It's that 'make me jump' factor.) I went back to the author that could give me something unexpected in every book, my favourites being James Herbert and Richard Laymon.

I'd love to know what you think as readers. Do you go back to an author because you know exactly what to expect (and with regards to what? POV? The romance? The action? The characters' personalities?) or because you know you're going to get something a little different?

Thanks so much for stopping by and chatting :)

For more information on all of my work, please visit DiannaHardy.comor for The Witching Pen Novellas, please see TheWitchingPen.co.uk (there's also a very cool book trailer here).

Read UF Reviews' review of The Witching Pen.

See the series on Amazon US

See the series on Amazon UK

The Witching Pen by Dianna

A novella full of witchcraft, demons, and love. I was excited to read this novella mostly because I have really enjoyed the witchcraft aspect of urban fantasy lately, although I would say that this novella fits more into the paranormal romance side of things.

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.