Title: Twilight
Author: Carolina Valdez
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: Paranormal m/m
Length: Novella (22K words)
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
A guest review by Leslie
THE BLURB
Life is perfect for Cade “Lakota” Montana. Barely into his twenties, he escaped the poverty, illness and drunkenness prevalent on the Montana reservation where he was raised when he agreed to manage an uncle’s small spread in Wyoming. His relationship with Dr. Lee Donaldson, his lover, and the ranch’s new veterinarian, is secure, and now Cade’s proven even wild horses can be broken without pain to carry saddle and rider. A recognized horse whisperer, he’s excited about his plans to teach his methods to others.
Into this good life, an inherited quirk in his Lakota Native DNA brings an inescapable horror that forever changes who and what he is. The penalty for revealing the secret of this new shift in his nature to anyone, even to Lee, is death, so Cade ends their affair with sudden, permanent abruptness.
Lee, confused and stunned by Cade’s unexplained rejection and refusal to talk to or see him after the split, comes to terms with the end of their relationship by planning to sell his practice and move away.
If there is a solution for staying together, will either man be able to find it?
THE REVIEW
If anyone is wondering what the “inescapable horror” is that Cade faces, all you need to do is look at the cover. I think this might be a first—the cover as a spoiler. Anyway…
As regular readers here know, I am not particularly interested in shapeshifter stories, but I read one a few weeks ago that I enjoyed so I decided to give a few more a try. This one didn’t do much for me, but fans of the genre might have a different opinion.
The story begins with Cade heading off into the rural wilderness to capture a wild horse, something he has permission to do. Because of his horse whisperer skills, he’s able to tame the horse and bring him back to the ranch unharmed. Then he has a nice reunion with his lover, Lee, the local veterinarian. Things seem to be just fine and dandy until he gets this urge to go back to the reservation in Montana. His grandfather is sick—likely dying—and Cade needs some crucial life history information before grandpa passes on into the netherworld. Naturally, he’s not too happy with the news that grandpa has for him and he’s even less happy when he finds out it is true. But this is his new reality and he has to figure out how to deal with it. Pushing away the man who loves him seems to be his only option until things happen and everything is resolved…at least for the moment. And then the story ends.
Like I said, this story didn’t do much for me. It just seemed pointless and I actually felt sad for Cade. I mean, being Native American and gay in Wyoming already is a tough row to hoe; now to find out he has to spend some portion of his time not in human form? Cade wasn’t too happy about this news, as you can imagine. Lee was sort of intrigued but hey, he’s a vet and he likes animals. However, this wasn’t presented as humorous or uplifting, it was more like, “Okay, so now I know, we’ll figure out how to cope.” And that’s about where it ended so the reader wasn’t even treated to the coping. Maybe that’s coming in a sequel. Even so, I won’t read it since I didn’t care enough about Cade and Lee to find out what happens to them, now or in the future.
Like I said, fans of shapeshifter stories might find something here to entertain them. For me, it was mostly forgettable and not a story that I’ll be revisiting. I gave it three stars because the writing was serviceable and even though I didn’t care for the story, I could read it without wincing. I’ll add the caveat that I am just one reader and your opinion might be different from mine, so if the blurb intrigues you, or if you are a fan of the genre or author, you might find Twilight a story that you will enjoy.
I like shifters myself, but even so, I don’t pick a book just because of that. After reading the blurb for this book I decided against it. Something about the it, maybe the way things are phrased, made it seem like it would be a dark &/or sad story. These days, if the blurb doesn’t make me say to myself “Oooh, gotta have this one” it doesn’t even go on to my TBB list. This blurb got an “Eh, maybe”.
Hi Beth, thanks for commenting. Yes, I felt like it was a little dark and sad and it really didn’t zing me. I would agree with the “Eh, maybe” evaluation for shapeshifter fans. I think there are better stories out there.
L
I avoided this one for much the same reason as Beth said she did: it sounded like the shifting (and the cover pretty much gave that away) was handled in a really dark, unhappy way. And like you said, Leslie, it’s angsty enough being a gay, Native American cowboy without adding any *more* angst, right?
Usually I quite like shifter stories, but generally because of the sense of fun and wonder inherent in having a part-time wolf or a cougar for a boyfriend. It seems a little pointless when it’s a case of ‘Woe is me, I get really furry under the full moon, so now I must cry bitter salty tears and be miserable forever more.’ If you want to write a miserable character, why not just make him closeted? That’s quite enough.
You’ve confirmed my instincts. I’m glad I didn’t get this one.
I like shifters and I read it and it wasn’t what I expected. I had more problems with the writing style that didn’t seem to click for me than the story.
I picked this book up especially because it was different. i liked the idea that there was someone whose life was turned upside down by shifting. Most characters are accepting of it or it isn’t the main focus of the story. But I was put off by the writing style and the pov telling of the story. For me it then lacks insight into the characters mind even though it’s different.
Thanks for your comment, Larissa. I’ll be honest, I read this a few weeks ago and procrastinated about writing the review, only because I was so unenthused about the book. I didn’t go back and re-read it like I usually do, for the same reason. So maybe the writing wasn’t very good. I just know that there are more interesting stories out there to read. This one didn’t work for me at all.
L
Well it wasn’t that the writing was bad, more that the style didn’t do anything for me!