Three races descended from ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities in their battle to protect humanity against their eternal foes—the Synestryn. Now, one warrior must fight his own desire if he is to discover the power that lies within his one true love…

Helen Day is haunted by visions of herself surrounded by flames, as a dark-haired man watches her burn. So when she sees the man of her nightmares staring at her from across a diner, she attempts to flee—but instead ends up in the man’s arms. There, she awakens a force more powerful and enticing than she could ever imagine. For the man is actually Theronai warrior Drake, whose own pain is driven away by Helen’s presence.

Together, they may become more than lovers—they may become a weapon of light that could tip the balance of the war and save Drake’s people…



Cindy (USA: NV) (2010/06/07):
Great read! I have a new 'must have' author.

I loved the opening with decrepit Miss Mabel whacking our hero with her walker because she thought he was hurting our heroine. The setup, secret warriors guarding the world from evil monsters, is not new but the author makes it her own.

The hero's people are born with a tattoo of a tree [lifetree] which grows and matures as they do. As they move through life, their bodies suck up power and store it. This power is meant to be used by their mate to fuel their magic. Unfortunately most of the women were killed [no details yet on how] 200 years ago leaving the men unmated. The power builds up causing extreme pain and slowly destroying their lifetree and their soul.

Our hero, Drake, finds Helen who takes away the pain and refreshes his lifetree and he mates her. He does not force her but he doesn't tell her all the repercussions, either. In his defense, when he tried to walk away he went into convulsions and would have died without her.

Helen has serious issues learning to use magic as the first thing they want her to do is call fire and Helen is terrified of fire. [She has a repeated vision of herself burning alive while a man, who turns out to be Drake, watches.]

One thing that I had trouble with - although I'm not sure how else the author could have handled it - was the monsters. There are several different types [none of which have common analogues in our culture] and they all look weird and have strange names. I really wanted a glossary - or at least a scorecard!

There are a lot of strings left for future books. There's a creepy little kid [who isn't a kid] who has visions, a plot by the Sanguinar [they don't like to be called vampires] and not much explanation of the source of the monsters.

There is also a teaser built in for the next book which leaves you hanging...

Sentinel Wars
1. Burning Alive (2009)
2. Finding the Lost (2009)
3. Running Scared (2010)
4. Living Nightmare (2010)