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When Fate makes you her bitch, accept it and adapt. Or die.
The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1
Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality.
If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s the Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter what her family tree says.
Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing.
But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without.
This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.
The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1
Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality.
If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s the Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter what her family tree says.
Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing.
But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without.
This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2011
5 people are currently reading
492 people want to read
About the author
Denise Tompkins
9 books43 followersI hate talking about myself in the third person--feels too much like a eulogy and I'm not dead yet. So here it goes, one biography coming up.
Humor, be it light or dark, is critical to my mental health. Add a dash of snark, a little suspense and an occasional murder and you've found my literary voice. Oh, and smexy. Can't forget the smexy. My theory is a kiss should be meaningful regardless of length, a hero can say as much with a well-written look as he can with a long-winded paragraph, and heroines are meant to hold their own. She's no Cinderella and Shakespeare wrote the only Romeo and Juliet, so I stick to women who can save themselves and tortured heros who are loathe to let them. If we can find a little, or a lot, of romance along the way? We're both happy.
I'm not perfect and that's perfectly fine. It's too much pressure, and pressure leads to guilt, self-hatred, a little too much wine, new kittens, Twinkie binges and a sore stomach.
I write the stories I want to read but can't find. Okay, that's not true. I write the stories the characters in my head tell me to write. I'm a conduit not for the spiritual world, but the fictional one. Don't be alarmed. I'm a professional. I paid my daily horoscope subscription for the daily affirmation, so it's now guaranteed. Thank you, Mastercard. You were right--some things ARE priceless.
I'm an unashamed Anglophile.
My favorite things are totally random and unrelated--
masculine men with a sense of chivalry but no pretention, a rainy day, snow, my Bull Mastiff, good guacamole, the rare true friend, a good book that makes me lose track of time, and the gift of hope.
I'm represented by the amazing and fearless Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency. (I still get lightheaded and slightly giddy at the fact.)
Humor, be it light or dark, is critical to my mental health. Add a dash of snark, a little suspense and an occasional murder and you've found my literary voice. Oh, and smexy. Can't forget the smexy. My theory is a kiss should be meaningful regardless of length, a hero can say as much with a well-written look as he can with a long-winded paragraph, and heroines are meant to hold their own. She's no Cinderella and Shakespeare wrote the only Romeo and Juliet, so I stick to women who can save themselves and tortured heros who are loathe to let them. If we can find a little, or a lot, of romance along the way? We're both happy.
I'm not perfect and that's perfectly fine. It's too much pressure, and pressure leads to guilt, self-hatred, a little too much wine, new kittens, Twinkie binges and a sore stomach.
I write the stories I want to read but can't find. Okay, that's not true. I write the stories the characters in my head tell me to write. I'm a conduit not for the spiritual world, but the fictional one. Don't be alarmed. I'm a professional. I paid my daily horoscope subscription for the daily affirmation, so it's now guaranteed. Thank you, Mastercard. You were right--some things ARE priceless.
I'm an unashamed Anglophile.
My favorite things are totally random and unrelated--
masculine men with a sense of chivalry but no pretention, a rainy day, snow, my Bull Mastiff, good guacamole, the rare true friend, a good book that makes me lose track of time, and the gift of hope.
I'm represented by the amazing and fearless Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency. (I still get lightheaded and slightly giddy at the fact.)
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
February 19, 2015
This books has it all: paranormal, Fae, shapeshifing dragons, vampires, seers, Atlanteans, witches - nothing is missing! :)
It's fun and very fast pacing.
I slightly disliked the heroine, but all the rest was great!
it has a HUGE cliffhanger at the end! So now I'm thinking that I'll be waiting for the rest of the book to come out! :)
It's fun and very fast pacing.
I slightly disliked the heroine, but all the rest was great!
it has a HUGE cliffhanger at the end! So now I'm thinking that I'll be waiting for the rest of the book to come out! :)
January 12, 2017
Reread 01/11/2017
---------------
Originally read 01/02/2013 4 stars
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Originally read 01/02/2013 4 stars
November 21, 2013
Madeleine "Maddy" Niteclif needs a change. Where better to start anew than England. Upon her arrival, she feels a strong pull to head straight to Stonehenge. Once there, she makes a wish for "a changed reality".
That night, she quickly learns that wish or no wish, a changed reality is exactly what she's gotten. Turns out, she's a third generation Niteclif, descendant of Sherlock, and she's required to "... accept [her legacy] by age of thirty and pick up the mantle of service for minimum of ten years." And, to her surprise, two men (one dragon-shifter and one fae - both gorgeous, of course) want to "help her" and be her one and only.
The book was a quick read, however I wasn't fond of Maddy and the ending felt rushed. Had it not been for the supernatural twist on a old favorite, I probably would've rated it lower. I'd wanted to love this book and dig into another fun series. Hell, I even bought Wrath (book #2) before reading book 1. I'm just not sure I liked it enough to continue.
Good bits:
* Great opening line ... "I once heard someone say it's a good thing the world sucks or we'd all fall off."
* Nice paranormal spin on the story of Sherlock Holmes
* Dragon shifter with a Scottish accent *sigh*
Frustrating bit:
* Maddy says, "I don't read romance novels, so I refuse to use the words burgeoning, smoldering, blazing, heroic, manly, or turgid in any of my conversations - even in my dreams. So yeah, look pretty."
Then ...
She says, "I'm not into that supernatural, paranormal crap that seems to have taken over literature - okay, the world. Though I really do absolutely love Laurell K. Hamilton, and I did like Twilight, but ..."
Then ...
When asked, "I thought you said you didn't read romance novels." Her response is, "I had one forgettable adventure with that type of novel, and it was so generally bad that I had to put it down. Now I stick to the darker stuff."
For the record, thanks to my handy-dandy Kindle, I'm able to tell ya that she said "manly" once in reference to someone's "manly potpourri" scent. But, other than that she didn't use the other words at all.
I've never read a LKH book (shocker, I know), but I believe they are classified as supernatural, paranormalcrap romances. Twilight is as well and it's definitely not classifiable as "dark". The disdain for "supernatural, paranormal crap" one minute, admitting to not only reading them but loving them the next, and then immediately accepting that her new reality is overflowing with the supernatural didn't fit for me.
That night, she quickly learns that wish or no wish, a changed reality is exactly what she's gotten. Turns out, she's a third generation Niteclif, descendant of Sherlock, and she's required to "... accept [her legacy] by age of thirty and pick up the mantle of service for minimum of ten years." And, to her surprise, two men (one dragon-shifter and one fae - both gorgeous, of course) want to "help her" and be her one and only.
The book was a quick read, however I wasn't fond of Maddy and the ending felt rushed. Had it not been for the supernatural twist on a old favorite, I probably would've rated it lower. I'd wanted to love this book and dig into another fun series. Hell, I even bought Wrath (book #2) before reading book 1. I'm just not sure I liked it enough to continue.
Good bits:
* Great opening line ... "I once heard someone say it's a good thing the world sucks or we'd all fall off."
* Nice paranormal spin on the story of Sherlock Holmes
* Dragon shifter with a Scottish accent *sigh*
Frustrating bit:
* Maddy says, "I don't read romance novels, so I refuse to use the words burgeoning, smoldering, blazing, heroic, manly, or turgid in any of my conversations - even in my dreams. So yeah, look pretty."
Then ...
She says, "I'm not into that supernatural, paranormal crap that seems to have taken over literature - okay, the world. Though I really do absolutely love Laurell K. Hamilton, and I did like Twilight, but ..."
Then ...
When asked, "I thought you said you didn't read romance novels." Her response is, "I had one forgettable adventure with that type of novel, and it was so generally bad that I had to put it down. Now I stick to the darker stuff."
For the record, thanks to my handy-dandy Kindle, I'm able to tell ya that she said "manly" once in reference to someone's "manly potpourri" scent. But, other than that she didn't use the other words at all.
I've never read a LKH book (shocker, I know), but I believe they are classified as supernatural, paranormal
March 30, 2012
This will be all over the place but I can't bother to organize it better.
Also this is a negative, sometimes snarky reward in which I’m really rude towards the heroine (Maddy), so if you don’t like it don’t read it.
More or less from the beginning of the book I found myself disliking Maddy to the point of nitpicking faults. Like say the opening line in which she calls herself sleep deprived yet still insists on driving. Also it's perfectly normal to convince herself she was suffering from sleep-deprived auditory and sensory delusions and continue driving instead of pulling over at the first available opportunity. And I refuse to believe that is her hotel which takes 2 hours to drive to.
Finally arriving at the hotel her thought is this:
"Being American, I was predestined to pull in through the wrong lane."
Is this supposed to be funny? I just hope she doesn't believe herself predestined to drive in the wrong lane as well.
When our exhausted and sleep deprived heroine arrives to her hotel room, instead of sleeping for half a day she takes the time to admire how the room looks and how many pillows are on the bed, as well as checking out the bathroom and swooning at the magnificence of it all. Meanwhile the bellhop's waiting patiently for the admiration session to finish.
Then she takes a bath and almost falls asleep in the tub from exhaustion. Yet when she's all squeaky clean instead of finally going to bed she decides to admire herself in the mirror. I guess for the sole purpose of us knowing what she looks like.
Next on we have the dream in which first:
"I don't read romance novels, so I refuse to use the words burgeoning, smoldering, blazing, heroic, manly, or turgid in any of my conversations-even in my dreams.",
and a little while later on:
"I'm not into that supernatural, paranormal crap that seems to have taken over literature-okay, the world. Though I really do absolutely love Laurell K. Hamilton, and I did like Twilight, but..."
Make of that what you will dear reader. For me it cranked the annoyance level up a notch.
Also, a while later there's this gem:
"...Sort of a roguish pirate look. Slap his image on a romance novel, and it was bound to become a best seller."
Yeah, before I stared reading romance I had no idea what the covers looked like because, since I wasn't interested in the books I didn't pay attention to them in bookstores. So why does our i-don't-read-romance heroine know this?
Next morning Bahlin enters the picture and while I appreciate her not giving in easily and being weary of him this
"And it was then that I decided that if this lunatic was going to threaten me, I was going to give him a fight. I wasn't going to get killed my first day in a foreign country and become a statistic so easily. bla-bla-bla",
which might have been admirable the second he enters her room, but by now if he had wanted her dead he could have killed her a dozen times already, just makes me roll my eyes and think you're an idiot sweetie.
Also, wtf:
"I will not be fawned over and treated like an incompetent child, even if I have no idea what I'm doing. You will humor me, as I'm the Niteclif, and this is my responsibility."
Oookay.
And another wtf:
"I snorted and crossed my arms under my breasts. Just having breasts prevented me from truly crossing my arms over my chest, but I did the best I could."
Then there’s the whole Bahlin is a dragon who has both his human and dragon nature, plus a forked tongue, debacle.
“… “You kiss girls with that forked tongue?” He reacted as if I’d slapped him….
…I cringed and rolled away from him, embarrassed to have behaved so ungratefully. But I couldn’t find it in myself to apologize. He’d crossed some invisible line I hadn’t known I had. I’d begun to see him as a man, a very desirable man, and he had ruined that fantasy for me. Now the monster seemed to overlay the whole of him, and I couldn’t see around it.”
And all this after he saved her life. Look I admit the forked tongue does sound weird, but calling him a monster because of it?
Getting back to the main plot line of Maddy being Sherlock Holmes's great granddaughter I must say that it makes very little sense. Don't get me wrong the idea is interesting and intriguing and could have made for an awesome book. But Maddy as is portrayed thus far is not it. Before the discovery she didn't have a ounce of common sense and logic and the picture I got of her was this maybe likeable, definitely annoying chick-lit heroine. Yet after finding out her connection to Holmes, all of a sudden she starts spouting Holmes like sentences, is on first name basis with logic and deduction and has an insight into detective work and procedure. At the same time though, she's still unable to make up her mind about people and changes opinions every hour. So if I am to believe her magical transformation into a female Sherlock than she shouldn't be portrayed in such a contradictory manor as being logical in thinking yet illogical in action and judgment.
There are plenty of instances where I couldn’t follow Maddy’s train of thought, mainly when she was trying to be all logical and Holmes like. One example is her continuing mistrust in Bahlin. While she doesn’t know him I can understand she wouldn’t trust him completely, however, knowing who he is how the heck can she think he might be the murdered?
“We’d have to talk about trust if this was going to go on, us working together and putting our lives in each others’ hands. Because while I was undeniably attracted to him, I didn’t trust him. Or Tarrek. Or anyone in this room. I had a murderer to find, and no one was excluded from being suspect as of yet. No one.”
Also, I haven’t read the book to the end, but if by chance Bahlin does turn out to be the murderer and Maddy’s suspicion is justified, then this would turn out to be the stupidest book I’ve ever read. So I sincerely hope the book doesn’t go there and it’s Maddy who’s the idiot and not the book itself.
Time for some more wtf moments
“My hackles rose, and I found myself jealous of this unknown woman. Who was she to him? And why did he leave me with her? Before my brain could stop my mouth I said, “So you know him well. How well?””
I thought Bahlin was a monster Maddy. Why the jealousy?
Next up is the if-i-have-to-roll-my-eyes-and yell-at-this-idiot-one-more-time-i’ll-stop-reading moment:
“I stared at him, the tenuous trust we’d built shattering into a million tiny pieces. I couldn’t trust what he said to me now that I has a small inkling that this could have been stopped, that he could have stopped this. Probably, anyway. Or maybe. Hell, I had no idea, but I felt like he’d lied to me regarding a major life event so that I would choose the path he thought was best, and then I went and had sex with him. As illogical as it was, and heritage be damned as this had nothing to do with logic, I felt betrayed. I glared at him and he glared back…”
Where to begin? No he couldn’t have stopped it. At the beginning it was said that since no one between Sherlock and her took up the role of Niteclif, she basically had to do it. So, no he couldn’t have stopped it. Plus, what should he have done, how could he have prevented her from going to England and making her wish? Also, he tired to talk to her before Tarrek arrived, but she thought him a maniacal murdered so things turned to shit and he didn’t have time to explain before Tarrek arrived and confirmed her. So the way I see it she only has herself to blame and no he didn’t lie to her. Oh, and admitting it’s illogical and still feeling it and ranting is not the way of Sherlock. Her great grandpa must be rolling in his grave.
But no, this is not the end. A measly couple of sentences later Maddy strikes again:
“…Bahlin got up and walked away… I turned and followed his retreat, staring after him, confused at his reaction. I was the injured party, not him. If anyone was going to be storming off, it should have been me….
“Why is he so upset?” I asked, though I didn’t direst the question to Sereina or anyone else. It was merely a verbalization of thought. “I’m the one who’s been wronged here.”
“Likely he’s upset because he wants you to trust him,” Sarenia answered. “And I suggest you strongly think about your second statement.”
I looked over my shoulder at her. “What? Why?”
“As to the first, he’s worked with the Council for the last three hundred years, offering guidance to Niteclifs ever since his election as representative of the shape-shifting and were-factions.
“And regarding the second, to your statement you’ve been wronged? How, child? An honorable man falls in love with you, and you seem to think you got the short end of the stick? It doesn’t follow any form of logic I’m familiar with.””
Thank you for being the voice of reason Sereina.
And finally I decided to stop reading with this parting thought from Maddy, only minutes after her conversation with Sereina.
“”I’ll take you to the safe house I had arranged. We’ll discuss this further when we get there.”
No we won’t, I thought sadly. No we won’t. Because I was going to figure out a way to get away from him.”
Seriously? Are you for real Maddy? After establishing Bahlin didn’t lie to you, is in fact your protector, already saved your life once and is not the killer, you want to ditch him and go traipsing around on you own with zero fighting or self protection skills and not knowing the first thing about the world you’re now a part of. You’ve just won idiot of the year award.
At this point Maddy went from TSTL to TSTL with a death wish and I couldn’t see a point in continuing. I might skim to the end one day to see how this ends but I have zero interest in reading anything else about Maddy and since this whole mess is 1st person POV it just makes it all the more tiring to read.
On a parting note I give the author 5 stars for the idea, but the execution and particularly Maddy made reading this a grueling experience. Maddy is everything I dislike about chick - lit and romance heroines all rolled into one annoying package and I honestly don’t care what happens to her. Because of this I gave the book 1 star even though it was a DNF, at least for now. But seeing as I strongly disliked the 50% I read (or so says the kindle beast), which translates to 9 chapters, plus I don’t see how things could improve unless Maddy undergoes a drastic personality change, I feel that even reading this all the way wouldn’t bump it to more than 1 star for a resounding and firm “Did not like”.
Also this is a negative, sometimes snarky reward in which I’m really rude towards the heroine (Maddy), so if you don’t like it don’t read it.
More or less from the beginning of the book I found myself disliking Maddy to the point of nitpicking faults. Like say the opening line in which she calls herself sleep deprived yet still insists on driving. Also it's perfectly normal to convince herself she was suffering from sleep-deprived auditory and sensory delusions and continue driving instead of pulling over at the first available opportunity. And I refuse to believe that is her hotel which takes 2 hours to drive to.
Finally arriving at the hotel her thought is this:
"Being American, I was predestined to pull in through the wrong lane."
Is this supposed to be funny? I just hope she doesn't believe herself predestined to drive in the wrong lane as well.
When our exhausted and sleep deprived heroine arrives to her hotel room, instead of sleeping for half a day she takes the time to admire how the room looks and how many pillows are on the bed, as well as checking out the bathroom and swooning at the magnificence of it all. Meanwhile the bellhop's waiting patiently for the admiration session to finish.
Then she takes a bath and almost falls asleep in the tub from exhaustion. Yet when she's all squeaky clean instead of finally going to bed she decides to admire herself in the mirror. I guess for the sole purpose of us knowing what she looks like.
Next on we have the dream in which first:
"I don't read romance novels, so I refuse to use the words burgeoning, smoldering, blazing, heroic, manly, or turgid in any of my conversations-even in my dreams.",
and a little while later on:
"I'm not into that supernatural, paranormal crap that seems to have taken over literature-okay, the world. Though I really do absolutely love Laurell K. Hamilton, and I did like Twilight, but..."
Make of that what you will dear reader. For me it cranked the annoyance level up a notch.
Also, a while later there's this gem:
"...Sort of a roguish pirate look. Slap his image on a romance novel, and it was bound to become a best seller."
Yeah, before I stared reading romance I had no idea what the covers looked like because, since I wasn't interested in the books I didn't pay attention to them in bookstores. So why does our i-don't-read-romance heroine know this?
Next morning Bahlin enters the picture and while I appreciate her not giving in easily and being weary of him this
"And it was then that I decided that if this lunatic was going to threaten me, I was going to give him a fight. I wasn't going to get killed my first day in a foreign country and become a statistic so easily. bla-bla-bla",
which might have been admirable the second he enters her room, but by now if he had wanted her dead he could have killed her a dozen times already, just makes me roll my eyes and think you're an idiot sweetie.
Also, wtf:
"I will not be fawned over and treated like an incompetent child, even if I have no idea what I'm doing. You will humor me, as I'm the Niteclif, and this is my responsibility."
Oookay.
And another wtf:
"I snorted and crossed my arms under my breasts. Just having breasts prevented me from truly crossing my arms over my chest, but I did the best I could."
Then there’s the whole Bahlin is a dragon who has both his human and dragon nature, plus a forked tongue, debacle.
“… “You kiss girls with that forked tongue?” He reacted as if I’d slapped him….
…I cringed and rolled away from him, embarrassed to have behaved so ungratefully. But I couldn’t find it in myself to apologize. He’d crossed some invisible line I hadn’t known I had. I’d begun to see him as a man, a very desirable man, and he had ruined that fantasy for me. Now the monster seemed to overlay the whole of him, and I couldn’t see around it.”
And all this after he saved her life. Look I admit the forked tongue does sound weird, but calling him a monster because of it?
Getting back to the main plot line of Maddy being Sherlock Holmes's great granddaughter I must say that it makes very little sense. Don't get me wrong the idea is interesting and intriguing and could have made for an awesome book. But Maddy as is portrayed thus far is not it. Before the discovery she didn't have a ounce of common sense and logic and the picture I got of her was this maybe likeable, definitely annoying chick-lit heroine. Yet after finding out her connection to Holmes, all of a sudden she starts spouting Holmes like sentences, is on first name basis with logic and deduction and has an insight into detective work and procedure. At the same time though, she's still unable to make up her mind about people and changes opinions every hour. So if I am to believe her magical transformation into a female Sherlock than she shouldn't be portrayed in such a contradictory manor as being logical in thinking yet illogical in action and judgment.
There are plenty of instances where I couldn’t follow Maddy’s train of thought, mainly when she was trying to be all logical and Holmes like. One example is her continuing mistrust in Bahlin. While she doesn’t know him I can understand she wouldn’t trust him completely, however, knowing who he is how the heck can she think he might be the murdered?
“We’d have to talk about trust if this was going to go on, us working together and putting our lives in each others’ hands. Because while I was undeniably attracted to him, I didn’t trust him. Or Tarrek. Or anyone in this room. I had a murderer to find, and no one was excluded from being suspect as of yet. No one.”
Also, I haven’t read the book to the end, but if by chance Bahlin does turn out to be the murderer and Maddy’s suspicion is justified, then this would turn out to be the stupidest book I’ve ever read. So I sincerely hope the book doesn’t go there and it’s Maddy who’s the idiot and not the book itself.
Time for some more wtf moments
“My hackles rose, and I found myself jealous of this unknown woman. Who was she to him? And why did he leave me with her? Before my brain could stop my mouth I said, “So you know him well. How well?””
I thought Bahlin was a monster Maddy. Why the jealousy?
Next up is the if-i-have-to-roll-my-eyes-and yell-at-this-idiot-one-more-time-i’ll-stop-reading moment:
“I stared at him, the tenuous trust we’d built shattering into a million tiny pieces. I couldn’t trust what he said to me now that I has a small inkling that this could have been stopped, that he could have stopped this. Probably, anyway. Or maybe. Hell, I had no idea, but I felt like he’d lied to me regarding a major life event so that I would choose the path he thought was best, and then I went and had sex with him. As illogical as it was, and heritage be damned as this had nothing to do with logic, I felt betrayed. I glared at him and he glared back…”
Where to begin? No he couldn’t have stopped it. At the beginning it was said that since no one between Sherlock and her took up the role of Niteclif, she basically had to do it. So, no he couldn’t have stopped it. Plus, what should he have done, how could he have prevented her from going to England and making her wish? Also, he tired to talk to her before Tarrek arrived, but she thought him a maniacal murdered so things turned to shit and he didn’t have time to explain before Tarrek arrived and confirmed her. So the way I see it she only has herself to blame and no he didn’t lie to her. Oh, and admitting it’s illogical and still feeling it and ranting is not the way of Sherlock. Her great grandpa must be rolling in his grave.
But no, this is not the end. A measly couple of sentences later Maddy strikes again:
“…Bahlin got up and walked away… I turned and followed his retreat, staring after him, confused at his reaction. I was the injured party, not him. If anyone was going to be storming off, it should have been me….
“Why is he so upset?” I asked, though I didn’t direst the question to Sereina or anyone else. It was merely a verbalization of thought. “I’m the one who’s been wronged here.”
“Likely he’s upset because he wants you to trust him,” Sarenia answered. “And I suggest you strongly think about your second statement.”
I looked over my shoulder at her. “What? Why?”
“As to the first, he’s worked with the Council for the last three hundred years, offering guidance to Niteclifs ever since his election as representative of the shape-shifting and were-factions.
“And regarding the second, to your statement you’ve been wronged? How, child? An honorable man falls in love with you, and you seem to think you got the short end of the stick? It doesn’t follow any form of logic I’m familiar with.””
Thank you for being the voice of reason Sereina.
And finally I decided to stop reading with this parting thought from Maddy, only minutes after her conversation with Sereina.
“”I’ll take you to the safe house I had arranged. We’ll discuss this further when we get there.”
No we won’t, I thought sadly. No we won’t. Because I was going to figure out a way to get away from him.”
Seriously? Are you for real Maddy? After establishing Bahlin didn’t lie to you, is in fact your protector, already saved your life once and is not the killer, you want to ditch him and go traipsing around on you own with zero fighting or self protection skills and not knowing the first thing about the world you’re now a part of. You’ve just won idiot of the year award.
At this point Maddy went from TSTL to TSTL with a death wish and I couldn’t see a point in continuing. I might skim to the end one day to see how this ends but I have zero interest in reading anything else about Maddy and since this whole mess is 1st person POV it just makes it all the more tiring to read.
On a parting note I give the author 5 stars for the idea, but the execution and particularly Maddy made reading this a grueling experience. Maddy is everything I dislike about chick - lit and romance heroines all rolled into one annoying package and I honestly don’t care what happens to her. Because of this I gave the book 1 star even though it was a DNF, at least for now. But seeing as I strongly disliked the 50% I read (or so says the kindle beast), which translates to 9 chapters, plus I don’t see how things could improve unless Maddy undergoes a drastic personality change, I feel that even reading this all the way wouldn’t bump it to more than 1 star for a resounding and firm “Did not like”.
April 3, 2012
This review was originally published at http://www.readingreality.net/2012/04...
What if you found out your great-grandfather really was Sherlock Holmes? And that you're supposed to take up his legacy of sleuthing? For most people, it might sound like a dream come true. For Madeleine "Maddy" Niteclif, it's only one of a series of surprising revelations that the world she thought she knew will never be the same. Her journey into paranormal investigations makes for one compelling story.
Legacy, by Denise Tompkins, is the first book in The Niteclif Evolutions, and it is definitely the story of Maddy Niteclif's metamorphosis into a special kind of criminal investigator. Maddy's story begins at the end of her old life, when she's ripe for a change.
Maddy doesn't even know why she is driving around England in the dark, compelled to find Stonehenge. She's not sure why she felt compelled to splurge her vacation money on a trip to England in the first place. What she does know is that she is weighed down by grief at the loss of both her parents in a car accident just a few short months previously.
This trip is her attempt to shake off her crushing depression. But driving around southern England in the dark, on the "wrong" side of the road, directly after getting off a trans-Atlantic flight, trying to find Stonehenge mostly without a map, is not the way to find anything except exhaustion.
Maddy finds a stone circle. She believes its Stonehenge. Except she is able to walk right up to the standing stones. She's certain Stonehenge is fenced off, but this just feels right. Inside the circle, under the stars, Maddy asks, wishes, prays for a changed reality. She wishes to be her old self again; strong, quick-witted, adventurous. And for love to find her. As soon as the wish leaves her heart, she feels the stars spin, and a voice comes out of the darkness, whispering in Gaelic, "Let it begin".
It begins indeed. Maddy makes her way back to London, only to be confronted by two men as soon as she falls asleep. Bahlin and Tarrek invade her dreams. Either or both are more than charming and sexy enough to be her dream man, but two of them?
When Maddy wakes, she discovers that her dream introductions were real! Bahlin Drago invades her room, and her life. Drago for dragon. Bahlin is a shapeshifter, and a member of High Council that governs supernatural creatures.
Confused? So was Maddy. She was having a hard time believing everything that Bahlin had to tell her, both before and after he magically opened the door of her hotel room. However, it was necessary that Maddy believe. Why? Because her family wasn't just Niteclif, she was THE Niteclif, the office responsible for investigating crimes among supernaturals, and between supernaturals and humans.
That was how great-grandad got to be Holmes. He was the previous Niteclif investigator. Now it's Maddy's turn. As soon as she figures out what she's supposed to do. And how she's supposed to do it.
Bahlin is more than willing to help her. After all, he played Watson to her great-grandfather's Holmes.
But there's this one tiny problem. Maddy is the first female Niteclif to take up the office. And there's a prophecy about whichever male member of the Council manages to get her into his bed, he'll become the Head of the High Council.
There's that old saying, you know the one, "Power corrupts". So is Bahlin courting Maddy and being so wonderful because he genuinely wants to help her, or because he wants to be Head of the High Council?
And then there was that other dream man. Tarrek is a fae prince and also on the High Council. What game is he playing?
It's not just Maddy's life on the line, it's her heart.
Escape Rating B+: Maddy's late evening drive through the English countryside made for a slightly strange start, but once she hit that hotel bed and started dreaming, the story had a breakneck pace with lots of compelling twists and turns. Reading how an author starts with a prophecy and then has the characters subvert it instead of going meekly to their fate is angsty but makes for great reading.
I did figure out who one of the bad guys was long before the end, but not the other one, nor did I get quite how far around the bend things were. I always give "points" for fooling me. I got caught up in the romance and missed some of the clues about the evildoers. Excellently done!
What if you found out your great-grandfather really was Sherlock Holmes? And that you're supposed to take up his legacy of sleuthing? For most people, it might sound like a dream come true. For Madeleine "Maddy" Niteclif, it's only one of a series of surprising revelations that the world she thought she knew will never be the same. Her journey into paranormal investigations makes for one compelling story.
Legacy, by Denise Tompkins, is the first book in The Niteclif Evolutions, and it is definitely the story of Maddy Niteclif's metamorphosis into a special kind of criminal investigator. Maddy's story begins at the end of her old life, when she's ripe for a change.
Maddy doesn't even know why she is driving around England in the dark, compelled to find Stonehenge. She's not sure why she felt compelled to splurge her vacation money on a trip to England in the first place. What she does know is that she is weighed down by grief at the loss of both her parents in a car accident just a few short months previously.
This trip is her attempt to shake off her crushing depression. But driving around southern England in the dark, on the "wrong" side of the road, directly after getting off a trans-Atlantic flight, trying to find Stonehenge mostly without a map, is not the way to find anything except exhaustion.
Maddy finds a stone circle. She believes its Stonehenge. Except she is able to walk right up to the standing stones. She's certain Stonehenge is fenced off, but this just feels right. Inside the circle, under the stars, Maddy asks, wishes, prays for a changed reality. She wishes to be her old self again; strong, quick-witted, adventurous. And for love to find her. As soon as the wish leaves her heart, she feels the stars spin, and a voice comes out of the darkness, whispering in Gaelic, "Let it begin".
It begins indeed. Maddy makes her way back to London, only to be confronted by two men as soon as she falls asleep. Bahlin and Tarrek invade her dreams. Either or both are more than charming and sexy enough to be her dream man, but two of them?
When Maddy wakes, she discovers that her dream introductions were real! Bahlin Drago invades her room, and her life. Drago for dragon. Bahlin is a shapeshifter, and a member of High Council that governs supernatural creatures.
Confused? So was Maddy. She was having a hard time believing everything that Bahlin had to tell her, both before and after he magically opened the door of her hotel room. However, it was necessary that Maddy believe. Why? Because her family wasn't just Niteclif, she was THE Niteclif, the office responsible for investigating crimes among supernaturals, and between supernaturals and humans.
That was how great-grandad got to be Holmes. He was the previous Niteclif investigator. Now it's Maddy's turn. As soon as she figures out what she's supposed to do. And how she's supposed to do it.
Bahlin is more than willing to help her. After all, he played Watson to her great-grandfather's Holmes.
But there's this one tiny problem. Maddy is the first female Niteclif to take up the office. And there's a prophecy about whichever male member of the Council manages to get her into his bed, he'll become the Head of the High Council.
There's that old saying, you know the one, "Power corrupts". So is Bahlin courting Maddy and being so wonderful because he genuinely wants to help her, or because he wants to be Head of the High Council?
And then there was that other dream man. Tarrek is a fae prince and also on the High Council. What game is he playing?
It's not just Maddy's life on the line, it's her heart.
Escape Rating B+: Maddy's late evening drive through the English countryside made for a slightly strange start, but once she hit that hotel bed and started dreaming, the story had a breakneck pace with lots of compelling twists and turns. Reading how an author starts with a prophecy and then has the characters subvert it instead of going meekly to their fate is angsty but makes for great reading.
I did figure out who one of the bad guys was long before the end, but not the other one, nor did I get quite how far around the bend things were. I always give "points" for fooling me. I got caught up in the romance and missed some of the clues about the evildoers. Excellently done!
December 5, 2011
It was a fun, easy read, and I would have enjoyed it even more if Maddy's emotions got toned down a bit. I really wanted to smack her a couple of times and say "Over dramatic much?".
Denise Tompkins certainly doesn't suffer from the lack of imagination. The world she's created is incredibly interesting and sort of co-existing with ours. Everything is possible there - dragons, Fae, vampires, selkies... any kind of magical creatures.
Madelaine decides she needs a change in her life after her parents death and comes to UK for a break wishing for a small adventure and some inspiration. Well, her wish is granted.
Somewhere along the line of her ancestors there happened to be Niteclifs - detectives upholding the law of supernatural world. In fact, her great grandfather found his immortality in human fiction as Sherlock Holmes. Now Maddy, like every other Niteclif before her, faces a choice - serve as paranormal detective for 10 years or let go of her legacy and live a normal life.
As you can guess, our heroine says yes ad gets thrown right in the middle of murder investigation, a wild love affair with a dragon, power struggle on the Council of paranormal species and numerous assassination attempts. Yup, one hell of an adventure.
Be careful what you wish for.
Legacy is a funny, vivid mishmash of paranormal creatures and original ideas. Maddy has had a rough start and hasn't evolved into a very strong appealing heroine yet but she is getting there (you can really see it by the end of the first book). There is plenty of potential, and I would love to see how the series progress from now on.
Fun facts:
Maddy admits that she is a fan of paranormal fiction, especially Laurell K.Hamilton books, and you can see LKH influences on the plot.
Bahlin, the dragon, is a sweetheart with a sexy Scottish brogue and a penchant for whisky.
Recommended for the fans of
Merry Gentry series by Laurell K.Hamilton
Sisters of The Otherworld by Yasmine Galenorn
Denise Tompkins certainly doesn't suffer from the lack of imagination. The world she's created is incredibly interesting and sort of co-existing with ours. Everything is possible there - dragons, Fae, vampires, selkies... any kind of magical creatures.
Madelaine decides she needs a change in her life after her parents death and comes to UK for a break wishing for a small adventure and some inspiration. Well, her wish is granted.
Somewhere along the line of her ancestors there happened to be Niteclifs - detectives upholding the law of supernatural world. In fact, her great grandfather found his immortality in human fiction as Sherlock Holmes. Now Maddy, like every other Niteclif before her, faces a choice - serve as paranormal detective for 10 years or let go of her legacy and live a normal life.
As you can guess, our heroine says yes ad gets thrown right in the middle of murder investigation, a wild love affair with a dragon, power struggle on the Council of paranormal species and numerous assassination attempts. Yup, one hell of an adventure.
Be careful what you wish for.
Legacy is a funny, vivid mishmash of paranormal creatures and original ideas. Maddy has had a rough start and hasn't evolved into a very strong appealing heroine yet but she is getting there (you can really see it by the end of the first book). There is plenty of potential, and I would love to see how the series progress from now on.
Fun facts:
Maddy admits that she is a fan of paranormal fiction, especially Laurell K.Hamilton books, and you can see LKH influences on the plot.
Bahlin, the dragon, is a sweetheart with a sexy Scottish brogue and a penchant for whisky.
Recommended for the fans of
Merry Gentry series by Laurell K.Hamilton
Sisters of The Otherworld by Yasmine Galenorn
November 15, 2011
After losing her parents suddenly, Maddy has decided to run away to the UK. As soon as she gets there though, strange things start happening. Maddy soon discovers she is the Niteclif, a sort of supernatural detective for fairies, sprites, vampires, dragons, and the like. She's immediately involved in her first case, which naturally turns out to be way more involved that she thought it would be. Add to this two men vying for her, and Maddy has her hands full for sure. She will have to learn to navigate the various supernatural groups and try to interpret prophecies all while using her logic skills to solve a crime. Sounds easy, right?
This book wastes no time getting to the action, and there is a lot of action. In multiple senses of the word. Maddy was an interesting character. She thinks she is leaving it all behind to escape to the UK, but instead she finds herself involved in something much bigger. Discovering her family history with her was very fun. Bahlin was able to be both fun and complicated. This book certainly keeps you on your toes. Between the mystery behind the crime and the prophecies that crop up, there are a lot of twists and turns. I enjoyed that aspect of the book. This is also a very sexy book. That can be both good and bad. There were a lot of little interludes, and sometimes I just wanted them over so I could get back to the major plot points that I enjoyed more. On the other hand, I was happy that Maddy was getting some quality time with someone who appreciated her.
I appreciated the joining of several supernatural worlds. That added a new dimension to the story. The ending was perfectly set up for more stories. This book will be enjoyable to those who like both paranormal and mystery books. Oh, and romance. There's definitely a hefty dose of that too.
Book provided for review.
This book wastes no time getting to the action, and there is a lot of action. In multiple senses of the word. Maddy was an interesting character. She thinks she is leaving it all behind to escape to the UK, but instead she finds herself involved in something much bigger. Discovering her family history with her was very fun. Bahlin was able to be both fun and complicated. This book certainly keeps you on your toes. Between the mystery behind the crime and the prophecies that crop up, there are a lot of twists and turns. I enjoyed that aspect of the book. This is also a very sexy book. That can be both good and bad. There were a lot of little interludes, and sometimes I just wanted them over so I could get back to the major plot points that I enjoyed more. On the other hand, I was happy that Maddy was getting some quality time with someone who appreciated her.
I appreciated the joining of several supernatural worlds. That added a new dimension to the story. The ending was perfectly set up for more stories. This book will be enjoyable to those who like both paranormal and mystery books. Oh, and romance. There's definitely a hefty dose of that too.
Book provided for review.
October 21, 2011
The Niteclif Evolutions: Legacy by Denise Tompkins is an action-packed book that kept me turning the pages. After the loss of her parents, Maddy needs to make a new start. She decides to head off to London with no real plan in place other than to see the stone circles that she keeps visiting in her dreams. After her arrival and an innocent wish, Maddy is thrust into a strange new world that leaves her little choice as to her future. Not only is she unsure about how she will follow in her family's footsteps as the Niteclif, but she is the first female Niteclif and that in itself raises some questions as there has never been a female Niteclif before.
Bahlin is a dragon shape shifter who has waited for a very long time to meet the Niteclif. Left with a prophecy and a promise to watch over the Niteclif, Bahlin must decide if it is worth risking everything just to receive the one thing that he has ever longed for.
Maddy must learn that not everything that glitters is gold. With a power struggle surging, Maddy must master her new skills before her time, and life, are extinguished. Will she be able to walk away from the one thing her heart yearns for or follow the path that has been placed in front of her?
I am excited to see the path that Maddy, Bahlin and the other characters take in book two of this promising series.
Bahlin is a dragon shape shifter who has waited for a very long time to meet the Niteclif. Left with a prophecy and a promise to watch over the Niteclif, Bahlin must decide if it is worth risking everything just to receive the one thing that he has ever longed for.
Maddy must learn that not everything that glitters is gold. With a power struggle surging, Maddy must master her new skills before her time, and life, are extinguished. Will she be able to walk away from the one thing her heart yearns for or follow the path that has been placed in front of her?
I am excited to see the path that Maddy, Bahlin and the other characters take in book two of this promising series.
October 10, 2012
The first novel in the Niteclif Evolutions series, this UF/PNR was ultimately quite hard to rate. On the one hand, I really liked the concept and the protagonist as well as the writing (if you ignore the few but pretty annoying spelling and grammar mistakes that ended up in the published work); on the other hand the romance really didn't work for me (), I didn't like Bahlin's character (he annoyed the hell out of me for most of the book, which played a big part in the romance not working for me) and the ending felt very rushed. Still, I might give the second book a try at some point - the story definitely has potential, and you never know... maybe Bahlin might grow on me with prolonged exposure. All in all, it's a 3.5/5 for me.
February 5, 2013
Likes it so much going straight into the next one!
October 10, 2011
If one day you find out that the supernatural world really exists, i.e., dragons, witches & wizards and the like then what would be your reaction be? Me? I would be a little skeptical at first but if given solid proof…….well no questions asked I’d be jumping with joy but let’s see how this is dealt with in
Denise Tompkins’ debut novel The Niteclif Evolution #1 Legacy
.
Here is the summary of the book:
When Fate makes you her bitch, accept it and adapt. Or die. The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1. Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality. If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s the Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter what her family tree says. Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing. But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without. Warning: This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.
As I mentioned above what would you do if you came to know that the supernatural world exists parallel to our own well protagonist Maddy Niteclif’s life is about to take a dangerous u-turn. She is a mess after her parent’s death and now in a bid to start anew, she retires from the overly predictable job as a copyrighter and goes to the British Isles….somehow she feels the need to be there – a pull of sorts. But she doesn’t know that something big awaits her there.
Taken up residence Maddy has the greatest misfortune of ending up at a stone circle with a pounding headache and there she goes and makes a wish for an altered reality and….viola she gets it (simply because stone circles according to myths are sites of great power).
So now she finds out that her family, ie., the Niteclifs or every third generation of the family must serve as the highest judiciary body for the supernatural world – basically she is the personal detective of the supes.
Now at the first hour of her service she is given a case. Somebody or something is killing away the supernatural creatures and Maddy must do all she can to solve it before it goes out of hand.
Along the way she meets Bahlin Drago, a dragon (naturally); who her interest very much. Maddy knows she musn’t be distracted but Bahlin is a mystery to her and the more she tries to stay away, the more she finds herself drawn to him.
Maddy is what you would call a conventional heroine. She has a lot to stand up to. She is tough, she is sad (for her parents as they were the only ones who really understood her) and most of all she wants to belong somewhere. Her attraction to Bahlin and their conversations together are some of the best scenes of the book. (WARNING: A lot of Sexual ref here)
Legacy on the whole is a great debut novel by Miss Tompkins and the level of suspense, detection and logic applied here makes it a worthwhile read.
Here is the summary of the book:
When Fate makes you her bitch, accept it and adapt. Or die. The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1. Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality. If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s the Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter what her family tree says. Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing. But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without. Warning: This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.
As I mentioned above what would you do if you came to know that the supernatural world exists parallel to our own well protagonist Maddy Niteclif’s life is about to take a dangerous u-turn. She is a mess after her parent’s death and now in a bid to start anew, she retires from the overly predictable job as a copyrighter and goes to the British Isles….somehow she feels the need to be there – a pull of sorts. But she doesn’t know that something big awaits her there.
Taken up residence Maddy has the greatest misfortune of ending up at a stone circle with a pounding headache and there she goes and makes a wish for an altered reality and….viola she gets it (simply because stone circles according to myths are sites of great power).
So now she finds out that her family, ie., the Niteclifs or every third generation of the family must serve as the highest judiciary body for the supernatural world – basically she is the personal detective of the supes.
Now at the first hour of her service she is given a case. Somebody or something is killing away the supernatural creatures and Maddy must do all she can to solve it before it goes out of hand.
Along the way she meets Bahlin Drago, a dragon (naturally); who her interest very much. Maddy knows she musn’t be distracted but Bahlin is a mystery to her and the more she tries to stay away, the more she finds herself drawn to him.
Maddy is what you would call a conventional heroine. She has a lot to stand up to. She is tough, she is sad (for her parents as they were the only ones who really understood her) and most of all she wants to belong somewhere. Her attraction to Bahlin and their conversations together are some of the best scenes of the book. (WARNING: A lot of Sexual ref here)
Legacy on the whole is a great debut novel by Miss Tompkins and the level of suspense, detection and logic applied here makes it a worthwhile read.
November 7, 2011
Having recently lost both parents, Madeleine Niteclif was searching for connections and for some unknown reason she felt a compulsion to travel to the United Kingdom and visit the famed stone circle of Stonehenge. It’s in this famed and mystical circle that her life takes a turn towards the magical. She is thrust into a world of dragons, fairies, vampires and other supposed mythical beings. She is also told that she is to be the supreme law of this supernatural world. It is her duty as the Niteclif, a calling handed down through genetics that must be heeded. She is not in this alone however, Bahlin Drago, a dragon shifter and High Council member and Tarreck, First Prince of Fairy are both eager to lend their assistance in whatever capacity Maddy desires. As her first duty, Maddy must find the culprit behind the recent murders in this magical realm and failure to do so means death. She has to learn quickly that her trust is not always well placed, and since her word is law, Maddy has to be certain she gets it right the first time.
The Niteclif Evolutions offers up a refreshingly unique concept into the paranormal romance genre. This book threw surprises at me right and left, and caused me to reevaluate some long held likes and dislikes. If you like a good 'who dunnit' mystery, you need to jump on board and get this book. Even after the culprit was revealed there were still " Say, WHAT?!?" moments. Told in first person point of view from Maddy's perspective , the reader takes the harrowing journey from grieving human to super cop of the supernatural world right along with the wonderfully snarky heroine. Legacy combines, Celtic and Norse legend together with Sherlock Holmes in a brilliantly executed story that makes total sense. Who'd think of that? Evidently Denise Tompkins. She also throws in some compelling characters full of energy, humor and a smidgen of lust.
Poor Maddy stands up well against these fearsome creatures of myth. Keeping her wits about her, she wields her sharp tongue like the deadliest of blades as she untangles the myriad threats of deceit and treachery surrounding her in this strange land. I can't wait to see what happens next to this fledgling sleuth and her hunky sidekick. There is still a prophecy hanging over their heads and Maddy has made some nasty enemies in her short time on the job. It promises trouble for Maddy, but a good book for us.
The Niteclif Evolutions offers up a refreshingly unique concept into the paranormal romance genre. This book threw surprises at me right and left, and caused me to reevaluate some long held likes and dislikes. If you like a good 'who dunnit' mystery, you need to jump on board and get this book. Even after the culprit was revealed there were still " Say, WHAT?!?" moments. Told in first person point of view from Maddy's perspective , the reader takes the harrowing journey from grieving human to super cop of the supernatural world right along with the wonderfully snarky heroine. Legacy combines, Celtic and Norse legend together with Sherlock Holmes in a brilliantly executed story that makes total sense. Who'd think of that? Evidently Denise Tompkins. She also throws in some compelling characters full of energy, humor and a smidgen of lust.
Poor Maddy stands up well against these fearsome creatures of myth. Keeping her wits about her, she wields her sharp tongue like the deadliest of blades as she untangles the myriad threats of deceit and treachery surrounding her in this strange land. I can't wait to see what happens next to this fledgling sleuth and her hunky sidekick. There is still a prophecy hanging over their heads and Maddy has made some nasty enemies in her short time on the job. It promises trouble for Maddy, but a good book for us.
February 24, 2012
Don't usually write reviews but i have to vent my feelings. Mostly from the beginning i really disliked the protogonist of this book. It's not really her fault, but rather that of the author. I find it really annoying when as a reader we don't get to know the character before a massive change in their personality (or maybe i just dislike this book so much i'm making excuses :P). I can't even remember the protogonist's name (okay i just remembered it's Maddy but still the point is that i was severely disinterested while trying to read this book so my mind tried to purge it in order to maintain my mental stability, though i just realised having her name in my mind wouldn't cause me any mental drama i'm just doing that hyperbole thing again).
Other stuff i found annoying:
*She finds out basically the day she gets to England about her heritage, and then a few pages later she's using vocab she hasn't even been introduced to yet like 'mundane'. I know this means normal people, and she is developing amazing powers of logic and deductiveness so she can reason that they might be called that, but i don't like it because it's annoying as it makes no sense she would just know this word... (>.>)
*She immediately has two dudes vying for her attention (i can't remember if that's how you spell vying but i cba to check but now that i mention it i feel it would remove from the linguistic artisticness that is this review if i don't check so i'll look... turns out that is how you spell vying, anywho moving on) which is so dull, just because it's this book (i dunno what it is about this book but reading it made me roll my eyes so many times i had to just stop because i literally feared they would stay on the ceiling, that and i couldn't take it anymore after she was betrayed and then forgives the stupid dragon).
*She jumps in the sack with the dragon waay to soon. I wouldn't care if the storyline was good but it just made me think "hoe-hoe-hoe-hoe" the whole time she's mooning over his smell and body, and face and smell (yes she mentions his smell quite alot it's annoying). I prefered the vampire anywho which further condemns her in my eyes but i couldn't bear to read on to see whether she would change her mind...
I could go on more about the little tiny things that annoyed me but i'll leave it alone; i think i sound a little petty :P. I would say no offence to the author but tbh it's offending anywho so it wouldn't really matter lol (>.<).
Other stuff i found annoying:
*She finds out basically the day she gets to England about her heritage, and then a few pages later she's using vocab she hasn't even been introduced to yet like 'mundane'. I know this means normal people, and she is developing amazing powers of logic and deductiveness so she can reason that they might be called that, but i don't like it because it's annoying as it makes no sense she would just know this word... (>.>)
*She immediately has two dudes vying for her attention (i can't remember if that's how you spell vying but i cba to check but now that i mention it i feel it would remove from the linguistic artisticness that is this review if i don't check so i'll look... turns out that is how you spell vying, anywho moving on) which is so dull, just because it's this book (i dunno what it is about this book but reading it made me roll my eyes so many times i had to just stop because i literally feared they would stay on the ceiling, that and i couldn't take it anymore after she was betrayed and then forgives the stupid dragon).
*She jumps in the sack with the dragon waay to soon. I wouldn't care if the storyline was good but it just made me think "hoe-hoe-hoe-hoe" the whole time she's mooning over his smell and body, and face and smell (yes she mentions his smell quite alot it's annoying). I prefered the vampire anywho which further condemns her in my eyes but i couldn't bear to read on to see whether she would change her mind...
I could go on more about the little tiny things that annoyed me but i'll leave it alone; i think i sound a little petty :P. I would say no offence to the author but tbh it's offending anywho so it wouldn't really matter lol (>.<).
May 16, 2012
Maddy (Madeline) Niteclif and Bay (Bahlin The Dragon) are two of the hottest characters I have encountered in too long a time. These two give me that kind of feel good that I only get from ‘Cat and Bones’ and ‘Kate and Curran’. The energy of this series will make fantasy / romance fans tingle.
Maddy is heartbroken after the death of her parents. She goes to the Green Isles for reasons she doesn’t fully understand. She wants to find Stonehenge. It’s an obsession. While tired and lost, she finds a group of standing stones, lays on the center alter, and wishes on a star for a different reality. She wants to not feel the pain of her loss. You might say that little ‘careless whisper’ caused a paradigm shift that results in Maddy finding out her Niteclif heritage goes deeper than she imagined. It seems Maddy is a decendent of the great Sherlock Holmes. It just so happens he was one in a long line of Niteclifs’ who served the supernatural community as a super sleuth.
Initially I thought the Sherlock connection would be hard to work with but it fit well into the foundation. Of course the supernatural community has a ruling council and a prophecy that doesn't favor Maddy. Once she suspends disbelief, she rolls with the situation as best she can with loads of humor and realistic human reactions. Not one single TSTL move and none of the wilting flower crap either. This character felt very real.
The hero is Bahlin known as Bay to Maddy. He is a hot dragon shifter that made my palms sweat. I was worried that the two were not gonna get past some of the serious problems they faced. If you go by the prophecy, it doesn’t look good. The major conflict of this book stemmed from a series of murders perpetrated against supernaturals. The victims fall in nearly every category – witches, fae, shifters, and vampires. Each faction has a representative on the ruling Council but who is doing the deed? Leave it to Maddy to solve the case old school and grow into a character I can respect. As for Bay – he falls into a heavy sexy brogue when he is mad. What more can a girl ask for other than hot sex. Oh, I don’t need to ask…it’s in there.
Hear me now and believe me later but I can’t find a single flaw. All of five stars for me.
Maddy is heartbroken after the death of her parents. She goes to the Green Isles for reasons she doesn’t fully understand. She wants to find Stonehenge. It’s an obsession. While tired and lost, she finds a group of standing stones, lays on the center alter, and wishes on a star for a different reality. She wants to not feel the pain of her loss. You might say that little ‘careless whisper’ caused a paradigm shift that results in Maddy finding out her Niteclif heritage goes deeper than she imagined. It seems Maddy is a decendent of the great Sherlock Holmes. It just so happens he was one in a long line of Niteclifs’ who served the supernatural community as a super sleuth.
Initially I thought the Sherlock connection would be hard to work with but it fit well into the foundation. Of course the supernatural community has a ruling council and a prophecy that doesn't favor Maddy. Once she suspends disbelief, she rolls with the situation as best she can with loads of humor and realistic human reactions. Not one single TSTL move and none of the wilting flower crap either. This character felt very real.
The hero is Bahlin known as Bay to Maddy. He is a hot dragon shifter that made my palms sweat. I was worried that the two were not gonna get past some of the serious problems they faced. If you go by the prophecy, it doesn’t look good. The major conflict of this book stemmed from a series of murders perpetrated against supernaturals. The victims fall in nearly every category – witches, fae, shifters, and vampires. Each faction has a representative on the ruling Council but who is doing the deed? Leave it to Maddy to solve the case old school and grow into a character I can respect. As for Bay – he falls into a heavy sexy brogue when he is mad. What more can a girl ask for other than hot sex. Oh, I don’t need to ask…it’s in there.
Hear me now and believe me later but I can’t find a single flaw. All of five stars for me.
October 19, 2011
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
THEME: Dragons, Fae, and Vampires
RECEIVED: Reviewing for Nurture Book Tour
BLOG: http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/
REVIEW:
I’m a big fan of paranormal stories with a mix of supernaturals and Denise Tompkins writes a unique story doing just that. Legacy is the first novel in the Niteclif Evolution series, filled with mystery, adventure, and lots of sizzling romance.
Legacy follows Maddy Niteclif, one day she gets sudden urge to drop everything a start a new life somewhere else, she ends up in England. Where she discovers the reason she felt the need to go there, her family’s legacy is linked to the real life Sherlock Holmes. Maddy is next in line to take over the position that is passed down in generations, which is to protect and serve the supernaturals and work with the council. But she has a lot to learn and with the help of the original Watson, who is actually a Dragon shifter, and she gets stuck in working for the council on a case that leads to question after question, as well as deep into danger.
Legacy was a bundle of fun with the thrill of having the lead character be a paranormal type Sherlock Holmes. Maddy is a likeable character but has many points of immaturity that irritated me here and there. She has a lot that is thrown at her and with the help of her Dragon shifter companion Bahlin, she’s able to handle all the supernatural mystery’s that come at her.
Bahlin was my favorite in Legacy; He’s sarcastic, charming and knows how to make a girl swoon. I loved his protectiveness with Maddy and how he took a lot of her mood swings. The chemistry was fantastic between them, Tompkins wrote some smoking hot scenes and great conflict.
Overall even though at times I felt a little overwhelmed with information, I loved the mystery, romance and the ending opens up a wide range for this series to go to. The characters were unique, exciting, as were the villains. I’m interested to see what happens next for Maddy.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is an adult novel with sexual content and mystery. Fans of Katie MacAlister’s Aisling Grey series will enjoy Denise Tompkins Niteclif Evolution series.
THEME: Dragons, Fae, and Vampires
RECEIVED: Reviewing for Nurture Book Tour
BLOG: http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/
REVIEW:
I’m a big fan of paranormal stories with a mix of supernaturals and Denise Tompkins writes a unique story doing just that. Legacy is the first novel in the Niteclif Evolution series, filled with mystery, adventure, and lots of sizzling romance.
Legacy follows Maddy Niteclif, one day she gets sudden urge to drop everything a start a new life somewhere else, she ends up in England. Where she discovers the reason she felt the need to go there, her family’s legacy is linked to the real life Sherlock Holmes. Maddy is next in line to take over the position that is passed down in generations, which is to protect and serve the supernaturals and work with the council. But she has a lot to learn and with the help of the original Watson, who is actually a Dragon shifter, and she gets stuck in working for the council on a case that leads to question after question, as well as deep into danger.
Legacy was a bundle of fun with the thrill of having the lead character be a paranormal type Sherlock Holmes. Maddy is a likeable character but has many points of immaturity that irritated me here and there. She has a lot that is thrown at her and with the help of her Dragon shifter companion Bahlin, she’s able to handle all the supernatural mystery’s that come at her.
Bahlin was my favorite in Legacy; He’s sarcastic, charming and knows how to make a girl swoon. I loved his protectiveness with Maddy and how he took a lot of her mood swings. The chemistry was fantastic between them, Tompkins wrote some smoking hot scenes and great conflict.
Overall even though at times I felt a little overwhelmed with information, I loved the mystery, romance and the ending opens up a wide range for this series to go to. The characters were unique, exciting, as were the villains. I’m interested to see what happens next for Maddy.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is an adult novel with sexual content and mystery. Fans of Katie MacAlister’s Aisling Grey series will enjoy Denise Tompkins Niteclif Evolution series.
November 11, 2013
This debut novel by Denise Tompkins caught me by surprise. The world Maddy stumbles into is actually the London we know today, yet the magical creatures live and move unnoticed among the humans. Maddy notices, and finds herself falling for the handsome hunk who guides her toward her legacy. The cover first caught my eye…standing stones, and a dragon? Then I fell in love with Bahlin, the handsome hunk with something extra. The storyline has romance and murder, hot sex and grisly family dynamics. It kept me up late finishing the developing story. The dialog moves the story along quite well, and the mingling of the real world and the mythological, especially when they travel to Scotland, works. This book is the first in a series, yet the author wraps up the happy ever after quite well. I look forward to reading the next book in the Niteclif Evolutions series.
July 14, 2015
Most of you know by now that I’m a sucker for Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Books, so it should not surprise you I read them any chance I get.
This book surprised me, it was different than I thought it would be, but in a good way.
I loved the twist with Sherlock Holmes, the whole murder mystery tied in with some paranormal. We get to meet a variety of supernatural beings, Fae, Vampires, Shifters, dragon or otherwise and much more but all that is ties into a newat little twist with the original Sherlock Holmes we know.
At first I thought we will have love triangle for sure, but after I while that showed not to be the case….. so far.
You can read my full review here:
http://snoopydoosbookreviews.com/lega...
This book surprised me, it was different than I thought it would be, but in a good way.
I loved the twist with Sherlock Holmes, the whole murder mystery tied in with some paranormal. We get to meet a variety of supernatural beings, Fae, Vampires, Shifters, dragon or otherwise and much more but all that is ties into a newat little twist with the original Sherlock Holmes we know.
At first I thought we will have love triangle for sure, but after I while that showed not to be the case….. so far.
You can read my full review here:
http://snoopydoosbookreviews.com/lega...
August 21, 2015
I went into this book knowing from other reviews that the first book is the weakest in the trilogy. Since the series sounded promising and fresh in a not so fresh genre I decided to give it a go. I was in the middle with the plot, pacing and characters all through the book but I persevered and read the whole thing, immediately starting the second, and from just 20% into Wrath I can tell you it does improve. I plan on writing a more in-depth review for the whole series when I am done with the trilogy, but I just wanted to write a quick review for the readers like myself who are on the fence, stick through as the series does seem to get better with each offering (like many series do). If this book, or trilogy, sounds interesting to you definitely give it a read!
Happy Reading!
Happy Reading!
March 22, 2013
First thing I want to say is that I absolutely loved this book and am looking forward to Wrath. I loved the premise of Sherlock Holmes and the supernatural. Some of the sentence structures were hard to follow and at times ,when I was immersed in one of Maddy's current dilemmas, a word would be used that I had to look up which made me stop reading and lose that NEED to continue reading. These two things did not happen often but it did make me realize that simple sentence structure and word use is better once you have captured the readers attention as much as this book did for me. The last thing I want to say that I absolutely loved this book!!!
June 18, 2012
Wow! This book is off to great start with this new series. Maddy is a detective in the supernatural world, direct descendent from Sherlock Holmes. She just lost her parents and was compelled to come to the Emerald Isle. Maddy is trying to deal with her grief, a whole new world she never new existed and what is means for her to be the Nightcliff. Maddy's partner is A dragon and she is very attracted to him. Maddy is called to the fareie mounds because several beings have gone missing.
Denise has done a fabulous job with the world building. I am in love with this new series.
Denise has done a fabulous job with the world building. I am in love with this new series.
July 4, 2012
I have to say that I am kind of disappointed by how this book has gone. To me it really seems screwed up. I mean seriously? I hope the second book improves greatly or this won't be much of a series at all.
April 7, 2015
This book was amazing. It had everything that I like in it. Fae. Dragons. Love. Magical creatures. Mystery. And a touch of Sherlock Holmes history. Great job to the author for bringing Maddy and Bahlin to life.
September 9, 2014
for professional review
July 15, 2012
Not without its flaws but still a compulsively readable start to a series.
Read
August 20, 2012Did Not Finish......
The name dropping of Laurell K Hamilton several times within 2 chapters and the overdone scottish brogue of one of the characters just did me in.
The name dropping of Laurell K Hamilton several times within 2 chapters and the overdone scottish brogue of one of the characters just did me in.
February 8, 2013
3.5 stars - good series. This was a slower read for me. Just didn't flip my switch.
October 4, 2013
Fun read
May 8, 2015
Definitely the weakest book in the series, but captivating enough to make you continue and you should continue...
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