Gargoyle

Briarcliff #2

by Lorraine Beaumont

"The paranormal romance that centers the story and pulls you into its embrace like a lover you had forgotten how much you enjoyed kissing. There is mystery and more than anything there is the need to find out what dark secret lies at the core of it all. This is a paranormal romance for those who are not afraid of the dark." Sookie Stackhouse Books

Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Adult

353 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

#1 Bestselling, #1 International Bestselling Author-Award Winning Poet, Gargoyle enthusiast, Time Traveler, Red Shoes that Glitter Collector, and Creature of the Loch Aficionado.

List of Books

Ravenhurst Series #1 Bestselling Time Travel Romance Series
Forgotten Time
Shadows of Yesterday
Time to Remember
Dreams of Tomorrow
Now and Forever
Ravenhurst: A Victorian Christmas
Lucian (Coming Soon)
Ravenhurst-A Modern Day Christmas

Ravenhurst Special Interactive Trilogy
A Knight Such as This
A Knight to Remember
A Knight for all Time

Briarcliff Series -
YA Paranormal Romance written for Adults
Briarcliff Book One -Elyograg
Briarcliff Book Two -Gargoyle
Briarcliff Book Three -Degare'
Briarcliff Book Four -Blood and Fire

Edenbrooke Hollow Series -
Paranormal Time Travel Romance
We Three Witches: Book One
We Three Witches: Book Two
We Three Witches: Book Three

Lost in the Highlands Series - Scottish Time Travel Romance
Lost in the Highlands, Book One
Lost in the Highlands, Book Two
Lost int the Highlands, Book Three
A Scottish Time Travel Romance

New Series in the Works

Join her mailing list
http://faqlorraienbeaumont.blogspot.c...

Connect with her online anytime:

Email: lbeaumontbooks@gmail.com
Twitter: @Lbeaumont_ Join her Facebook
Facebook Fan page: facebook.com/LorraineBeaumonttheAuthor

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

My mother always says that when you don’t have something nice to say, it’s best not to say anything at all. Unfortunately, as a reviewer, that’s not an option for me at certain times. This is one of those times.

After a shaky and disjointed start, the plot begins to move as a group of college-aged kids gather at an old, secluded manor outside of their small New England town for a weekend of lavish partying. Evie and her friends think they’re in for an epic weekend of drinking, sexy hook-ups with handsome strangers, and watching some of their favorite bands play. That is, until statues start coming to life, monsters come out of the woods, and those handsome strangers start behaving rather mysteriously.

This book could have been good. It had the potential to be a fun mashup of classic horror and paranormal romance. All the elements were in place: a group of teens headed into the woods, a secluded gothic manor, sexy men who sometimes turn to stone, and an unusual and potentially cool mythology in the gargoyle lore. Sadly, none of these elements came to fruition in the novel.

Gargoyle reads like a first draft. It’s riddled with punctuation errors, misspelled words, and differently spelled versions of made-up words. I can often overlook typos in indie books if the story is good enough, but I found myself completely disconnected from the convoluted plot. The book read as if the author didn’t have any foresight into where she wanted her story to go until she got to the point of actually writing it. I know this is sometimes the case for authors, but as a reader I should not be able to tell. I should be able to connect dots and see information leading up to revelations that then make sense.

For example, in the first chapter we meet a character named Hanna. Hanna is the first character, including the main character, to receive more than one sentence worth of characterization. In fact, Hanna gets a couple pages of characterization and introduction only to never be heard from again. This happens a lot throughout the novel.

There’s a lot of arbitrary information given that does not serve plot, character development, or world-building. Often the author would tell us about a certain character trait or plot development right before writing about it, making it seem like these things came out of nowhere, not in a good way, but in a this-makes-no-sense way. In some cases, no information at all was given about plot developments that should have had a backstory. Pretty much all of the backstory around the gargoyles was non-existent. We find out that they have conflict amongst themselves, some paranormal powers, and are sometimes stone and sometimes not. No reasons or explanations are given for any of these things.

Besides these rather fundamental things, there were a number of other issues I had with the book that were more personal preferences on my part. First thing: I can’t stand overuse of dashes and ellipses. Punctuation should not be distracting, yet I was constantly pulled out of the story to find myself questioning the author’s placement of dashes. Second thing: Insta-love. Evie has known her love interest for one day and has spent more time with her tongue down his throat than talking to him, yet is completely infatuated with him and trusts him completely. And finally: Changing POVs like a game of hot potato. I don’t think I’ve ever read another book that changed POVs mid-paragraph and with no warning. Do not like.

For me, Gargoyle was a novel with flat characters, a convoluted plot, an annoying lack of backstory and mythology, and writing that I found annoying. And this isn’t even including a couple of offensive lines and the fact that the gargoyles seem to have a power they can turn on and off that makes women feel unable to stop themselves from basically jumping them. Rapey much? Yes. Displayed as a bad thing? No.

There’s a sequel coming out later this year, but I won’t be picking it up.

I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

This review is also posted at www.wrenreads.com.

[Bob Craton · Rating 4 out of 5]

First - I'm really tired of vampires/werewolves and I'm too old to have much interest in young love/lust. So - why did I like this book?

Gargoyles in this story are not clichés and have a real sense of mystery. You don't know at first exactly what they are or what powers they have. (Unlike vampires who always have the same old tired superpowers.) That keeps you guessing. They protect people - right? But if they are good, why are they so frightening? Where do they come from and what will they do next? I like this approach. Of course they couldn't avoid one stereotype - they are ridiculously handsome and are too sexy for girls to resist - but I'll forgive that since a little market appeal is necessary.

As noted elsewhere, the book ends a abruptly with a cliff-hanger. This isn't a series so much as it's a serial. "To be continued" conclusions do not bother me at all, although I wish the next volume will be available soon. A great many people besides me enjoy this type of suspense. If you're one of those people who get upset without a tidy little ending wrapping everything up in one volume - well, now you know this isn't it so don't complain just because this isn't your cup of tea.

[Diana (Offbeat Vagabond) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original review here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2013/05/gargoyle-book-tour-review-gargoyle.html

This was quite a different read for me. I really enjoyed this book. Beaumont definitely has quite an interesting read here. Gargoyle is one of those books that slowly sucks you in page by page. The characters are quite intriguing and slowly grow on you. Our main character Evie was a fun, but shy girl. I loved her spunk. She had me cracking up sometimes. I liked her best friend Moriah as well. She wasn't all that great a best friend given the surprise she had for Evie. But you can tell she cared for her and really thought of her as a best friend. I wish we got to see more of that actually.

I love the world Beaumont has created. I love the idea of the gargoyles coming to life. I loved our main one Adriane. I loved his instant connection to Evie even though she kind of freaked her out at first. He was so freaking hot, I have got to say. I can't wait to see more between them. They were great together. I also enjoyed his friends/gargoyles; Simon and Alistair. I loved both of these characters. I am very curious about where these characters will go. Simon is great, but he does seem like he can be a troublemaker, but he isn't a jerk. Alistair seems like he is getting more and more powerful. Adriane is the leader, but there could be a powerplay between him and Alistair. I can't wait to see what more is to come.

This is more of a character driven story, well for the majority of it anyway. We don't know what is going on until the halfway point. The build does reel you in. It is a slow build up, but in a good way. The characters are out at this exclusive party at a mansion surrounded by gargoyles. But no one doesn't know who exactly chose the spot. I love where the book went. I seriously didn't see that coming. That was an unexpected twist ad I loved it a lot.

This book may not be for everyone. It doesn't focus on the plot as much as some would like. Instead we get a little bit of all the characters and their connections with each other and these gargoyles. I liked it, but I would have wanted more of the story. I am sure we will get it with book 2. Beaumont left us on quite the cliffhanger. I am pretty excited where book 2 will go with this. I recommend this read for those looking for an intriguing and gothic New Adult PNR.

[Satinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying that this book was an excellent idea. A group of young townies arrange to have a party at a creepy Gothic mansion. Typically, things start off as a hot bed of hormones and frenemies...but then things start to get interesting. I loved the idea of stone gargoyles coming to life and was intrigued by the impact/relationships they would have with the human characters.

But this book turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag. The good points were the world building and overall structure. There were quite a few characters, introduced pretty much straightaway,but at no point was I confused as to who was who. Yes they did seem to be American teen slasher flick caricatures, but at least it was easy to get a handle on the cast.

What stopped me giving this book a higher rating was the quality of the writing. At times it felt like I was looking over the author's notes rather than reading the finished product. The sentences could have done with being fleshed out more. The use of punctuation and italics left a lot to be desired. There were dashes (-) throughout the entire book. Most of them, for no apparent reason.

There is also a lot of telling and not showing. Certain character traits and behaviours are qualified unnecessarily, which got very annoying. For example:

“What the hell? No Way!—Evie, if I’d had known, I would’ve come back with your car. Damn, I’m sorry,” he mumbled apologetically, looking contrite.

His dialogue tells us that he is apologetic and contrite. There was no need to state the obvious.

This book is beautifully put together in terms of the cover, inside pictures and decorative chapter headings. Also, the author does paint good pictures as far as physical descriptions are concerned. I could vividly see the mansion and the gargoyles in the moonlight etc. These passages were well drawn.

Overall the story flowed really well. The groundwork has been set up in this first book which leaves a lot of room for questions to be answered as the series goes on. The build up to meeting the villains in the climax was well paced. I did come away wanting to know more about the history of both the good and bad gargoyles.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a different read for me. The story was told from multiple points of view and at times I found it a bit distracting having to switch gears and determine where we were at any given time. I did like the characters, although I did want to smack Evie for putting up with some of the nonsense and not speaking up for herself, and as the story progressed the character building was very helpful. I liked the supernatural element, which is unique and I always enjoy finding something a little different. I do wish there was a little more world building around the supernatural characters, or perhaps more back-story, which I think would have been a great bit of glue to smooth out the edges. At times the book felt a bit draggy taking, in my opinion, a bit too long to get from point A to point B, but I believe this was all part of the world building and perhaps it is just my perception from the multiple POVs. The saving grace for me with this read was the ending and I really cannot believe I am saying this because it is a bit of a cliffhanger, which I normally do not care much for. However, there is a brief preview of the next installment that grabbed me and makes me believe there is more to come with the possibility of something awesome coming. While I am not sure how much I really liked this book overall, I do see it as an introduction to a new world with a series that I believe has great potential and I would definitely like to see what happens next. I received an ARC, but it is my understanding there is an interactive element to the story that is provided in the purchased copy of the book, which sounds like it might be quite fun to follow. I requested this book for read and review from the author and received it with a request for my honest review without any compensation whatsoever, other than the joy of reading a new book

[Scott-robert Shenkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read Ms. Beaumont’s first book in this series (Elyograg), I was confused. It had a strange timeline, and felt very dreamlike. I thought I liked it, wasn’t sure, but found myself drawn in. When the second book in the series (Gargoyle) I realized that I was hooked. So when this book came out, I was confused. Was there new material that I might have missed? Then I won a copy in a giveaway from the author and jumped in.

There is new material.

The plot has changed. For the better.

I am now transfixed with this series. The writing is beautiful. It’s brilliant. It slowly sucks you in until you realize…you couldn’t get out even if you wanted to. The world that author creates is fascinating. Those statues on the tops of buildings or pillars you might pass everyday…what if they are more than statues? Much more.

I recommend that people who have read the first two books pick this one up and check for the differences. And if you haven’t read the first two, I highly suggest that you get this book. If you enjoy paranormal that edges towards the darkside, then you will love this.

[Meshanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good book. It was just really slow and not as deeply developed as it could have been. I'm hoping that the rest of the books will be more fully developed and fill in the rest of the details of the story. Just looking for more meat to go with my potatoes. Still a good book and still would recommend it to my friends.

[B.D. Amon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Ms. Beaumont's Gargoyle. It had a wonderful take on an old genre. The heroine, Evie, has wonderful spunk and personality and tremendous resiliency. I would recommend this novel to any reader looking for a fun romance read :-)

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in love with this series. I wanna buy a gargoyle (:

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it :)
nice easy read, on to book 2

[Beth Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute

This is a cute store. It is a bit disjointed but the writing is good. I would read the next book in this series.

[Jessica Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I really did want to give this book a higher rating. Because honestly, it was pretty fun and easy to read. Unfortunately, I was a little distracted by some grammatical errors (especially in the first chapters), and  I was confused as well for the first half of the book as to who was who and what was going on. Midway through it got more enjoyable, however.

Every single person in this book



EVERYONE was throwing themselves at each other. I get having a few slutty girls and some man-whores thrown into a college group, but REALLY. Not every single person would be looking for random hook ups ALL THE TIME. That was a little ridiculous. And Evie (main protagonist) has this best friend who the author is like ISN’T THIS CHICK SO COOL, YOU SHOULD LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HER, and I was like, NO, she’s a HORRIBLE human being! Stop trying to make her seem so fantastic!

The biggest annoyance I have with this book is I got to the end and I still knew practically NOTHING abut ANYTHING. I totally understand wanting mystery and not giving everything away. But you have to give the reader enough to stay interested in the story. The things that we were given seemed extremely random and weren’t explained much at all. And the worst part is there was so much potential! Something would be introduced and I would be like, YEAH, THAT’S REALLY COOL, but then it wouldn’t get explained or fleshed out further, so I stopped caring about it.



I did like the main character, Evie, quite a lot. She had some insecurities, but she seemed to have a fairly good head on her shoulders, and I thought she was the best part of the book.

ACTUALLY the best part of the book was the preview of the second book. Because we actually got some interaction between the supernatural elements and the human elements. The scene that took place between Adriane (who is apparently some important sexy gargoyle, I really still don’t know any more details than that) and Evie FINALLY gave a little insight into Adriane, showed us what their relationship will look like as the series goes on, and was pretty much the only romantic scene (except for their little scene in the woods) where I wasn’t like, UGH THIS IS LAME. or GROSS. or WHAT IS SHE DOING? WHY IS SHE SUCH A WHORE? none of which are common thoughts for me when I’m reading romantic books. So that scene gave me some hope for the next book, namely that I would like it better than the first if it continued in that vein.

I really liked the concept of the book: a bunch of college students gather at this creepy mansion for a huge party, which is suddenly overrun by supernatural creatures. Sounds fun, right? I can see all sorts of potential here. But I just felt like it never really went anywhere. Too much time was spent wandering around this hormone-filled party with absolutely nothing more than flirting, making-out, and referencing mysterious gargoyle things happening. And by too much time, I mean, probably at least 3/4 of the book. The last scene was really exciting as far as conflict goes because I was like FINALLY A CONFLICT BEFITTING A PARANORMAL BOOK, but it was so short it barely seemed to exist.



So I’ve said some harsh things; I obviously had some issues with this book. But it wasn’t completely painful by any means. Some of the secondary characters had some really funny dialogue, and Evie and Adriane were cute, although it was some weird insta-love, supernatural fate thing (like I said, no details whatsoever). IF I decide to read the second one, I have high hopes for their storyline.

I had high hopes for my first foray into gargoyles, but unfortunately, they were dashed. By no means the worst book I’ve ever read, but not something I feel I can highly recommend. If reading about horny college kids and random, mysterious hot gargoyles who stand around making snarky comments and do practically nothing else sounds entertaining to you, you would probably like this book.

See this review and others like it in a more awesome format at Ramblings On Readings

[Lynda Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evie and her friends gather at the abandoned Briar Cliff Manor on Halloween, which also happens to be Evie's birthday. A fun night of music and drinking quickly turns into a nightmare as, under a full blue moon, the Gargoyles start coming to life. First come the Centurions Alistair, Simon, and Adriane, who are the good guys. Their mission is to protect the humans from the evil Degare', who will feast upon human flesh if given the chance.

When Evie is attacked she is saved by Adriane, a beautiful and mysterious stranger. As soon as Adriane meets Evie, he knows she is special. What is Evie's role in all of this? Will she be the one to finally break the curse of the Gargoyles?

The Prologue uses beautiful poetic language and led me to think this would be a wonderful book. Unfortunately, things go downhill from there. There were numerous editing errors, including the incorrect use of apostrophes, commas, and hyphens, and incorrect word usage.

The narrative is repetitive, the action is confusing and progresses too slowly, the characters' motivations are not clear, and nothing is explained or resolved. In addition, the omniscient point-of-view changes too frequently, often from sentence to sentence within the same paragraph. It really isn't necessary to know what every single minor character is thinking at every single moment.

Too much unnecessary information is provided. For example, characters are introduced in detail and then never heard from again (they may appear later in the series, but who knows?); characters' backgrounds are revealed for no apparent reason (it may become apparent later in the series, but I'm not convinced); and clothing and music are described in detail. On this latter point, the Kindle version contains clickable links to the music and other pop references, which may be why the details are provided in the first place. I think this is a fantastic idea because I had never heard of any of the indie bands mentioned. I believe this feature is the future of ebooks, and I'm surprised I haven't seen it used sooner. I do think, however, that the author needs to be judicious in the use of these interactive links, rather than just using them because she can.

The story ends abruptly. It's not even a cliff-hanger ending, enticing us to read more, as nothing of any significance has yet happened. In fact, the end isn't even the end. This book includes the beginning of the next book, Degare', which actually explains more in the first few pages than the whole book that precedes it.

Warnings: sexual references, coarse language, violence, gore.

I received this book for the purpose of providing an honest review.

[Ruth B · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Rating: 2.5/5)

If you put paranormal, hot guys, romance and a big party, you should get a good book but somehow it didn’t work out perfectly for Gargoyle. Summarizing, Gargoyle is a paranormal new-adult book.

This book has as many high as low points. For a start, the changing point of view was the worst part— I started feeling dizzy about the constant change of scenario and at first was a bit hard to know whose point of view I was reading. However, after reading half a book I got used to it and it didn’t bother that much.

The New Adult label is not really clear, there’s never a clear statement about how old the characters are. But for what we can read about college, the rooms and all that it seems like they are more than 18. Their attitudes made them look like hormonal teenagers but nowadays adolescence goes up to 20 something, so boys and girls around that age acting like younger kids sounds real for me.

The main girl Evie is ok. She is the typical virgin heroine who goes all crazy for the hot guy, what come on! Who wouldn’t? For what we can read she will have a bigger role as the series moves on.

Adriane, Simon and Alistar are of course the best part, the sexy gargoyles of the story. It’s great to read how they were as humans. They don't have very complete personalities but traces of them are well described.

The plot is a complete different story, only at the end I was able to fully understand what the story is about which means I will have to read book two. The first chapters are all about getting to know the characters and how much Evie wants Adriane (which is fun to read) and then we discover that there are like two kinds of gargoyle (which means bad guys vs good guys) but there is not as much action and fight as I would have like to read.

The book has a HUGE CLIFFHANGER at the end, you will have to read book two if you want some answers.

Overall, it’s up to you if this is your type of book. If you like sexy scenes, different points of view and gargoyles you should try this one.

*** I received an ecopy from the author in exchange of an honest review. ***

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

*CAUTION: MAY BE A BIT SPOILERY* If I could do a 2.5 for this book I would. I want to give it a 4 but I just can't, here's why... the book in my head that I'd like to imagine I read is a 4. The book I actually read was a 2.5. I was so frustrated... SO FRUSTRATED! The concept and even most of the plot was UH-MAZING! I was excited... I was all about Adriane, Simon and Alistair... and I really like Evie. There was so much that could have been developed in the story that just wasn't. It felt like certain plot lines were started and then just kind of left to hang. Normally that's a good feeling with books in a series but in this situation it just feels like the book cut off. I don't feel like there were any of the necessary explanations for certain things such as why Evie was different from the other humans, what was the weird testosterone fueled stare down between Adriane and Alistair about and why Is Adriane all of a sudden so weak? I don't feel like there was ANY background explanation for the Gargoyles and their powers... lord knows the Degare were just thrown in there, and they could have been so much more interesting. I loved what this book could have been and really, really wish it was. I think if the excerpt from the second book, (a.k.a. the door smashing sex scene between Evie and Adriane, which come on... you break down one door and suddenly you're done Adriane? Gaawwwwwwd... poor Evie) hadn't been included I would have thrown my nook in anger and stomped around like a child. It seemed like it should have been included as the final chapter of the first book as the cliff hanger, because it wrapped it up quite nicely. Overall I really wish the book had been developed more... I really liked all the characters (except Heather, she's a hooker and should be eaten by the Cujo monster with Colton) and want to know what happens. I think I've got to get the second book, just to see if it includes what should have been in the first. Plus, I really want to see Adriane given another chance to blow Evie's mind.

[L.A. Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms Beaumont made this book available at no cost to the readers of Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. As a fellow writer I chose to support her effort and purchased the book instead. I also took the opportunity of downloading the prequel to this story and after reading it gave my honest opinion. (Please note that Ms. B did mention it was not necessary to read that book before reading this one) Ms. B took offense to my review sending me a response meant to be a dig at my own work. She has since removed that comment but my reply still remains intact. As a professional I will not let that alter or affect my review of this book.
I totally enjoyed this book from the start to the finish. The world of gargoyles is not as popular as the world of vampires so this was the first book I have read on the subject. I enjoyed not only the characters in her book but the actual storyline as it developed. The only criticism I have which is why the book only rated a four of five stars is that I felt cheated in the first third of the book having already read it in her prequel. I also felt she had too many characters and story lines running that took away from developing the main characters. However I will not only be looking forward to her sequel but plan on checking out the other pieces of her work.
As authors sometimes criticism is hard to swallow. We pour our hearts into our work and want others to see it as we see it. When the good reviews come our way we feel validated in what we are doing. But when bad ones come our way we tend to question ourselves. I take the bad ones seriously because I want to understand where I went wrong and fix it. I meant nothing malicious in my review of her prequel I just wanted to make it clear as others also had that for me it missed the mark. I apologize to Ms. B if she felt otherwise. She is a good writer and I will definitely recommend this book not only on my facebook and twitter accounts but to all my friends.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Favourite Character: Barnaby

A group of friends get ready for what they think is going to be a party of a life time, little do they know that all of their lives are going to change, will it be for better or worse?

Evie is different then the rest of her friends, she likes to draw and dresses in a different manner than the rest, she also has a job, when all the rest of her friends are rich. Moriah is pretty much the girl of every guy's dreams or so most other girls think, however, she only wants one guy and she's finally snagged him away from Heather. Kingston feels he's falling in love with Moriah but doesn't know how she feels about him and is too afraid to say anything... However, all this stuff seems increasingly petty as their party continues on. Strange beings appear out of nowhere and before Evie or anyone knows it, most of the people at the party are gone and they have no idea what has happened to them.

This novel was okay, I didn't love it for a lot of reasons. First was the fact that it went from different characters too quickly. One second you are reading and you're inside Evie's head and then all of sudden you're inside Adriane's head, for that reason alone the book was kind of confusing and rather annoying. I didn't feel that that was a good way of writing, when you are switching characters so quickly. I mean there's a right way and a wrong way to do that and Beaumont, in my opinion did it the wrong way. This novel would of had so much more potenial if it wasn't for that. The ending wasn't great either.

I don't want to keep going on about what I found wrong with the novel. So I'll end it here. It's different and I did like that about it, not too many stories out there about gargoyles.

[L.H. Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more like a 3.5 star.
First I want to say that I received a copy of this book for an honest review, from the author. That said, I liked the book overall. Like several others have said, I'm beyond over Vamps and Were's and I LOVE GARGOYLES--totally because of the amazing cartoon show Gargoyles that was on in the late 90's early 00's.
So when I saw a book featuring them I was like WOW, totally fab, sign me up please! Now because I adore that old cartoon so much I have pretty high standards/expectations when it comes to stories involving gargoyles.
Good for the author- very few people have taken on books about Gargoyles so there is a lot of play room, but I suspect, after Jennifer L. Armentrout's Gargoyle series is released we will see many more of them.
Bad for the author- because a lot of readers already have a perception of gargoyles in their mind, you have to fight against it to maintain your originality, which I think the author did a decent job of.
I really liked that the author built a lot of mystery/intrigue around the creatures and it takes you a while to fully get them and what they can do and why. I love having to figure things out and speculating.
The pacing for this story was good, but there were enough places that I lost focus and had to go back and re-read to fully get.
The biggest thing for me, that has the score lower is exactly like I said above: I have high expectations of anyone taking on a thing like gargoyles. While this book IS GOOD, and I would recommend it to people who like paranormal creatures, I can't say it met MY expectations.
Side note/ warning this books ends on the, TV show end of season cliffhanger where you don't know what happened after a huge bomb blast, kind of ending. So if you don't like that, be warned.

[Caffeinated Fae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm... What do I say about Gargoyle. I would give this book a 2.5 so I rounded it up to a 3. Actually, no... it bothered me that I gave it three stars so I'm now changing it to 2 stars. This was one of those books that I would have stopped reading if I didn't receive it free for a review.

This was a quick easy read that has a good idea behind it. I was not a fan of actual book.

The things that I did NOT like:

1. One of my biggest pet peeves is when an author consistently starts their sentences with "he, she, they, it, and/or the person's name." I wanted to scream for the first half of the novel.

2. The constant switching between perspectives was a little confusing. It wasn't very consistent and I felt that it could have been set up better.

3. The sex scenes... really? The sex scenes read like a 16 year old's wet dream.


The things that I did like:

1. The idea behind the books. It reminded me a lot of the old cartoon. I love the thought of using a supernatural creature that isn't a vampire or lycanthrope.

2. It was a quick read.

3. It had me intrigued and made me want to know the story.

All in all, I liked the idea of the book just not the actual book.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review. I think this could have been 3 books instead of one. There is so much going on that it's difficult to tell sometimes whose Point of View (POV) you're reading from. There is definitely the main story with Evie and Adriane. I really would have loved more backstory from Adriane's POV, other than the confusing bits I did get from the different gargoyles in the story. That just left me confused. Then there is Moriah and Simon, with something obviously happening between them. Then there is Heather and Alistair, with a little going on between them too. Things jumped around alot, from one thing to another. I really didn't like that the ending was a total cliffhanger. Nothing is resolved, lots of things are still happening - book ends. I prefer a little more closure at the end of a book, one way or the other. Maybe the author has these things planned out for future books, I hope so. I'd love to see some clarification on the relationships in the book and history as to how things got to be as they were. Still a pretty good read.

[Wanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gargoyle by Lorraine Beaumont was a quick easy read and I finished it in one day.

I liked the characters, yes, even Colton, although he was annoying and immature.

I chuckled at some of the conversations between Evie and Moriah because I could visualize people I know saying similar things.

I really wanted to know more about Adriane, Alistair, and Simon. Why were they turned into Gargoyles so many years ago? What are Gargoyles? What are these other creatures that have come to Briar Cliff Manor and why have they come now?

While I enjoyed reading this book I was left with too many unanswered questions and the ending....What??

[MollyK · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb assed book. I received a copy exchange for a review on Goodreads. I don't mind reading young adult paranormal fiction, in fact, some of it is very good. This was not. Frankly, if I was a teenager I would be personally offended. The characters are shallow, vapid and seriously lacking in vocabulary. If I had to read the phrase "his ass" one more time, I believe that my head would implode. Not to mention grammatical errors, dismal editing and poor world building. I really feel that I am dumber for having read this... "book."

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book through the Read It & Reap program in exchange for an honest review.

First off, the cover is simply beautiful. Really captures the paranormal/fantasy aura of the book. The concept of this book was great, a nice young adult novel however the writing style I was a bit skeptic about. It was very hard to read along. It started off very slow but had great potential. I've been told that it’s a series and I might just finish it to give me a bit of closure. Overall it was a quick read, anxious about the rest of the series and more work from this author.

[Elizabeth Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I've been spoiled by all the awesome novels I've been reading lately, but I just could NOT get into this book. Made it to 10% before I decided I couldn't keep reading for fear my eyes would roll out of their sockets. There's too much activity way too quickly and not a bit of it is believable. I felt like I was missing an entire chapter of much needed back story right from the start! I'm giving two stars though based solely upon the grammatical skill up to the point I stopped.

[Shannon Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a really hard time getting into this book. And I felt confused and bored for the first 2/3. After that, I think it started to get interesting and with an ending like that, I am going to be forced to read the second book. So, hoping the next book starts off with the same momentum this book ended with.

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um.... I'm new to this so I'll give it a shot.... This book had a good plot, but I feel like it could be better in a way. The story just needs to be a little more manipulated? (Planned out?) but I do believe that it can become better. But it is still an okay book.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

The friend was a bitch. Honestly the reason I am giving this such a low rating is because of her. Poorly written and overall just dumb. If I have to even read the word "epic" one more time, I'm gonna punch someone. It was as if they were all drugged and brainwashed. Not worth the time.

[Kristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Shelley]

Author's guest post at my blog:
http://bookfare.blogspot.com/2014/06/...

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is a great book to read forever