The Twilight Lord: Leave it on the shelf!

The Twilight Lord by Bertrice Small

Lara, Domina of Terah has been extremely happy caring for her family and husband. She has been reunited with her other children in Terah and they are learning to love their mother again. Nothing could be better.

But over in the Dark Lands, the Twilight Lord is planning her abduction because he has seen the future and Lara is to be the mother of his heir. After erasing her memory and bringing her to the Dark Lands, the Twilight Lord plans to make Lara his bride. Will she be able to remember who she is and escape before the Twilight Lord can complete his evil plot?

Alright, I have been exceptionally kind to this series up until this book. Some might say I’ve even “thrown it a bone” more than once. Unfortunately the charade cannot continue. Where I found the other books in this series (Lara and A Distant Tomorrow) charming and to some extent entertaining, The Twilight Lord was anything but. I got to chapter 3 and started wanting to put the book down.

Bertrice Small is usually the master of romance, writing great romantic scenes. But, the ones in The Twilight Lord were just scary and kind of disgusting. When I wrote this review, I listed several specifics, but my editor has taken them out because she didn’t want Fantasy Literature to be blocked by Google SafeSearch.

I pressed on through that however, attempting to give the rest of the story a try. It only got worse from there. The dialogue got more and more cheesy and it seemed like Bertrice Small had just stopped trying.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore and put it down. Save yourself some misery (not to mention some stomach turning) and leave The Twilight Lord on the shelf.

Julie Waineo, one of our earliest guest reviewers, earned an MBA at Bowling Green State University. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a minor in French. Now living in Virginia with her husband and dog, Julie is an avid reader of not only fantasy, but historical fiction, the occasional “chick lit,” and children’s literature.

The World of Hetar — (2005-2010) Publisher: Welcome, dear reader, to the world of Hetar. A land of Forest Lords, of Shadow Princes and Coastal Kings. A place that is both civilized and savage. Where the social classes know their place, but where anyone can, under the right conditions, advance to the highest pinnacle. This is a place where pleasure is not censured but encouraged; where the ends are justified by the means. And yet all is not as perfect as it may seem. The orderly, elegant veneer of refined Hetar cannot prevent the rebellion brewing in the Outlands, a dangerous place of both magic and mystery. From the City that is the very center of Hetar, Lara, the beautiful half-faerie daughter of John Swiftsword, ventures forth on a journey that will take her into the heart of darkness and the depths of desire, as she learns the true meaning of love that will last an eternity — a love that will change the destiny of Hetar forever.