Category Archives: Paranormal

Heart of Stone by Christine Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Heart of Stone
Author: Christine Warren
Series: Gargoyles, #1
Pages: 297
Publisher: St. Martin’s
Date: December 31, 2013

Summary:

From bestselling author Christine Warren comes a thrilling new series about a young woman caught between a rock and a hard place—between gargoyles and demons…

Ella Harrow is trying to carve out a normal life for herself. Well, as normal as an art geek with psychic abilities can hope for. As museum docent and gift-shop manager, Ella is able to keep her distance from people—and her powers in check—while surrounding herself with the artifacts she loves. But how on earth is she supposed to act normal when a thousand-year-old statue on the museum’s terrace suddenly comes to life?

Heart of Stone

Not your ordinary gargoyle, Kees has been asleep for eons, waiting for a portent of evil to wake him from his slumber. Kees isn’t a vision; he’s a bat-winged guardian created to protect the world from the seven demons of the Dark. Somehow, Ella triggered his reawakening. Maybe the demons have been unleashed? Maybe his heart is finally ready to be chiseled open? The fate of the world isn’t carved in stone…yet.

Review:

This is the second or third time that I have read this book, so that should tell you that I really enjoyed it. It certainly means it deserves a review.

Like any first book to a series there is a good bit of world building. It doesn’t become cumbersome, but it does slow things down just a little bit. The author handles that through teaching the “little human” about the world of magic that she had no idea existed.

Kees is a gargoyle (really a grotesque, who knew there were any such things?) and was created to guard against the Demons who want to invade and destroy our world. He sleeps for hundreds of years until called by the Wardens. Only the Wardens can awaken the Guardians (gargoyles), that is, until Ella accidentally wakes up Kees. She’s not supposed to be able to do that and Kees doesn’t understand it either.

Kees doesn’t have much use for regular humans. If a human is not a Warden, he’s never had a real reason to interact with them. He also doesn’t have feelings and he will tell you so . . . over and over again. Talk about your big, strong, alpha male!

However, because Ella is the one who woke him and he doesn’t understand why, he is forced into staying with her. And talking to her. And learning about her. And liking her.

But no, he doesn’t have feelings.

There are two plots to this book. One is the “battling evil” at all costs plot. The other, more entertaining one, is Kees coming to grips with the fact he does have feelings. And that Ella is not scared of him and has no intention of doing anything just on his say so.

Kees:

“Very well. Will you please be quiet so that we may discuss this rationally?”

Surprisingly, Ellas closed her mouth, though she continued to eye him with irritation and no small amount of suspicion. “If by discuss, you mean you’re going to order me to do whatever you say, then no. If you intend to treat me like a thinking, feeling, and logical human being, then feel free to try. I’ll let you know how you’re doing.”

I had only planned to re-read this book right now, but I am so into the series again I will have to re-read them all before the new book comes out next year.

To make it easy on you, because you know you want to read them too, they are

1. Heart of Stone
2. Stone Cold Lover
3. Hard as a Rock
4. Rocked by Love
5. Hard to Handle (February 7, 2017)

I forgot to mention there are seven Guardian gargoyles who consider themselves brothers. So there has to be seven books, right? I cannot wait.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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