Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5
An untrained warlock is a dangerous man to love.
On his twenty-first birthday, Evrain Brookes discovers he is an elemental warlock. The spell suppressing his talent lifts and he has to get used to a whole new existence. The protection that kept him safe during his childhood is gone, his skills are wild and uncontrolled and there are those that seek to use him for their own gain.
Evrain’s grandmother is a witch, his godfather another warlock. Between them they do their best to keep Evrain on the right path. He learns that in order to gain control of his formidable powers he will need to ‘channel’ through a life partner, a process that only happens with consent and through love. But how will he ever find a man prepared to put up with a Dominant warlock for a boyfriend?
Dominic Castine has no idea that Evrain’s grandmother sees him as a prospective partner for Evrain. He tends her garden and she teaches him about herbs–a trade off they both enjoy. He is drawn to Evrain’s charismatic presence but doesn’t understand why he wants to drop to his knees and submit to him.
When Agatha is murdered, Evrain and Dominic are thrown together as she manipulates them from beyond the grave. Dominic becomes the pawn in a terrifying game between warlocks whose powers he barely comprehends.
In the end, lives will depend on his courage, his willingness to grant Evrain control and the power of love.
Elemental Love is a complex story with several plot lines fighting to be the focal point. The prologue is a nice addition, but unnecessary since the events in it are discussed in its entirety later on. The beginning of the story, on the other hand, did an excellent job establishing Evrain’s personality and his relationship with his family, especially his grandmother and his godfather.
The mystery, the romance, and the elemental abilities are the main topics in the story, but instead of working cohesively, they clashed, resting relevance from each other. Perhaps and extended version would have taken care of all the small bits trying to be solved at the same time.
Personally, I wanted more time for Evrain and Dominic to be together, in-page. I like Evrain most of the time, but when he was with Dominic, the D/s relationship made him looked like a different character. Almost as if he flipped a switched every time Dominic was involved. The BDSM elements took away from their day-to-day life. Maybe we needed to see more of Evrain growing into his powers before he had to use them to defeat his opponent.
One thing I definitely enjoyed was the characterization of everyone involved. Every character in the story had a purpose and was multi-dimensional. Even characters that were only present for a small amount of time, like Evrain parents, made an impression. All the settings, smells, and foods were crafted to play a role and add to the plot. The secondary relationships were also important and interesting. Gregory and Coryn were my favorite pair.
Overall, an interesting start to the series. I’m looking forward to knowing more about this world in the next installment.
The cover goes perfectly with the story. It has several elements showed in different scenes and depicted Dominic well.
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Book Details:
ebook, 165 pages
Published: March 29, 2016, by Pride Publishing
ISBN: 9781786513953
Edition Language: English
Series: Warlocks
Book #1: Elemental Love
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 