Review: JACE by Sarah McCarty

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The Shadow Wranglers #3

Paranormal (Vampire/Werewolves)

Berkley Sensation

377 Pages

Their love was forbidden, vampires and werewolves just don't mix. But when Miri disappeared from Jace Johnson's life, nothing could keep him from finding her.

Rescuing her from a year of imprisonment in the hell of a Sanctuary stronghold, he discovers that the woman he loves has suffered unspeakable pain, not only the physical and mental pain of torture, but also the pain of having her child ripped from her arms, a child Jace didn't know he fathered. Nothing will stop them from finding their daughter.

Can they find their baby girl and start anew? Can Miri overcome her pain and learn to trust Jace again?

*****

Okay, deep breath here, as I try to put my thoughts of this book into perspective. There was so much going on that I kept finding myself being distracted by the book itself. I know that probably doesn't make much sense, but with each new development in the story I would catch myself trying to put everything in order and attempt to bring it together. I think that was my biggest problem with this book, there was just too much going on, and by the end there were a few things that were left unresolved that had me completely dissatisfied. I could see it was leading to set up the next book, but that didn't make me feel any better.



I liked Jace, even though his over-protectiveness and major Alpha attitude was a bit overdone at times, but he wasn't a complete ass about it, I could feel his tenderness and caring coming through. Miri had me a bit more on a yo-yo string as she would waiver from feelings back and forth. Her refusal to listen to reason was very irritating. I can understand that she wanted to be part of the action in saving her daughter, but sometimes her actions were just plain stupid. I know that she lived through hell, and needed time to heal, but when she put herself and others in danger, I just got mad at her.



Something else that also irked me was that I felt there was too much time spent reintegrating Miri into life, first at the Johnson ranch and then into the pack, were the emphasis changed onto Jace being accepted as the pack leader, and not enough time was spent searching for Faith, or let me rephrase that, it SEEMED not enough time was spent searching for her, though apparently it was being done in the background. I wish that the story had been turned around, with the hot and heavy action of Jace, Miri, his brothers and friends striving to find Faith, and once that was accomplished to THEN focus the story on Miri and Jace's emotional reconnection and their family connections. I think that would have made the story work better for me. Though I can understand where Ms. McCarty was going when she wrote her book the way she did, there were some added characters and dimensions that kept the book going as it was, but I still feel that if the structure had been altered with Faith getting more attention it would have been a much greater reading experience (for me).

Rating: 3