Contemporary Erotic Romantic Fantasy

Children of the Veil by Colleen Halverson

Children of the Veil on Amazon

I had an opportunity to read and review an ARC of Children of the Veil.

It’s witty, hilarious at times, heart breaking in others and hot as sin. WITH a strong female Main Character! (Can we say Yaaaassss!)

I’ve haven’t made a secret about how much I adore Ms. Halverson’s writing since I discovered her work about 6 months ago. I reveled in the first of this series Through The Veil.

Ms. Halverson’s quick wit, turn of phrase, and pacing is masterful in Through The Veil (amazon link).

You know, series books can be hard for an author to write, either each consecutive book is better, as good as or worse. I’m extremely thrilled to report that Children of the Veil is better than Through the Veil in character development for both the FMC and her lead leather-clad, sex-on-legs Irishman MMC. The romantic involvement and pacing is loverly. I couldn’t put down TtV, with CotV I literally had to drop my tablet on my face as I fell asleep reading before I could stop. (This happened twice! I’m lucky I didn’t break my nose!)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the smoking sex scenes. I mean, seriously. Panties exploding hot, hot, hot!

I’d also be remiss if I failed to note the beautiful way Ms. Halverson interweaves what must be an encyclopedic knowledge of Irish Mythology with a page turning fantasy adventure, a romance to sweep your feet out from under you and sizzling sex scenes. I know Irish Mythology, and Ms. Halverson gets it right. (boo-yah!)

Scores:

Readability: 5/5 stars: I neeeeeded (do I need to add a few more Es to that? Lol) to finish reading the book and the characters were very ‘real’ to me. I enjoyed their love story, the angst of their situation and the realistic qualities of their challenges (realistic even set in a contemporary fantasy setting). I desperately wanted to get back to reading every time I had to put the book down.

Arcs: 5/5 stars: I’m a die-hard series reader, I’ll buy a book in series a lot faster than a stand alone. So it isn’t surprising to find that I deeply enjoyed the furthered developmental ARCs of the characters and the storyline. The greater depth makes them so much more real to me and makes me want more even after I’ve turned the last page. (So I really hope there’re more books of the Aisling Chronicles coming!!)

Writing Craft: 4/5 stars: Only a few places made my editor brain wake up and grumble before going back to sleep, and honestly, only someone cursed/blessed with an editor brain is going to notice. These were technical issues (extra spaces, a typo to be specific) and not anything to do with the writing itself which is strong, clean and immersive. A final polishing pass-through with editing work on this would have made the book shine even more than it already does and garnered a 5/5 star rating.

Overall Rating: 14/15 stars. Fans of smoking erotic romance, urban fantasy featuring strong female leads, and page turning action fantasy are likely to enjoy this book immensely. Well Done Ms. Halverson, I’m still a fangirl! If you like to read the Merry Gentry Series by Laurell K Hamilton, The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison, JR Wards Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, the Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost or the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning, you’ll want to pick up this series to add to their illustrious numbers. It easily stands with them all.

Would I buy it for a friend? Yes, yes, yes! (did I say YES??!! Cause I did buy two copies for people who’d love it.)