Jan 06

Joint Review with Amanda: True Colors (Elder Races No. 3.5) by Thea Harrison

• 0 COMMENTS • This post is filed under: Book Reviews, Elder Races Series, Joint Review, Novella, Paranormal Romance, Shapeshifters, Thea Harrison •

Publisher: Samhain
Publication Date: December 13, 2011
Format: ebook
Status: Takes place after the first three books in the Elder Races series: Dragon Bound, Storm’s Heart and Serpent’s Kiss.
Source: Purchased for my Kindle by my own self.
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Shifters
Location: New York
Other Info: I roped Amanda from On a Book Bender into reviewing this with me. Mostly just for a bit of fun. Thanks, Amanda!
Description and link (from Goodreads):

Meeting your soulmate? Great. Preventing your possible murder? Even better.
Alice Clark, a Wyr and schoolteacher, has had two friends murdered in as many days, and she’s just found the body of a third. She arrives at the scene only minutes before Gideon Riehl, a wolf Wyr and current detective in the Wyr Division of Violent Crime—and, as Alice oh-so-inconveniently recognizes at first sight, her mate.
But the sudden connection Riehl and Alice feel is complicated when the murders are linked to a serial killer who last struck seven years ago, killing seven people in seven days. They have just one night before the killer strikes again. And every sign points to Alice as the next victim.
Product Warnings: This book contains a hot police detective, a violent murderer on the hunt, and a heroine that can blend in anywhere…

Initial Review:

Amanda: I finished it! Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop.
Me: It was woefully short! It was kind of like Thea Harrison on speed.
Amanda: It was. I wanted more of it.
Me: Is that our joint review?
Amanda: A short review for a short book? Ha.

Actual Review:

Amanda: Since this was a novella, I went into True Colors knowing that it was probably going to be too short for me. I mean, is it ever really possible to get enough Thea Harrison?
Me: No.
Amanda: So, yes. It was short, and the romance aspect definitely plowed over the mystery in this novella.
Me: Actually, I thought the buildup of the mystery was pretty detailed for a short. It was the resolution that was too slap-bang-what-just-happened?
Amanda: This is true. I’ve always been a big mystery reader, though, so while there was some detail, there wasn’t much involved in the actual solving of the mystery.
Me: I was really into the history of the rainbow chameleon, and Alice’s part in figuring out the significance of the villain’s arrangement of, er, things. Then they had flirted and had sex for several pages and the mystery was forgotten until the bad guy showed up. Then the mystery was ovah. It was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. #NakedWerewolves.
Amanda: I’m okay with that.
Me: Mm, yes and no. The end of the mystery was too fast. #NakedWerewolves.
Amanda: The mystery portion gave Alice and Riehl a reason to find each other and the instant-mate recognition with the Wyr worked very well for such a short novel. It’s not really insta-love, but more of an acknowledgement that the two characters are meant to be mates, which is a little more believable.
Me: Right? I think short stories in series with the “mate” concept are the only ones that work for me. #NakedWerewolves
Amanda: It was a fun romp in the Elder Races world while we wait for the fourth book.
Me: It whet my appetite for later books in the series. Like, I don’t know, say…Bayne’s? #NakedWerewolves–or, rather, #NakedGriffins?
Amanda: Though True Colors is technically listed as book 3.5 in the series, it can be read as a stand alone, as it features “normal” Wyr characters that have never made an appearance in the previous three books.
Me: Bayne, at least, has been mentioned, and I’m pretty sure he’s had at least a cameo appearance. But, on the whole, I agree that this can be read as a stand-alone. It doesn’t spoil the other books, but my guess would be that you wouldn’t appreciate it unless you’d at least read DB. #NakedWerewolves.
Amanda: However, I would guess that having read the previous books will give the reader an added understanding of the world that True Colors is set in. This novella also gives fans of the Elder Races series a brief glimpse into every day life in the Wyr demesne, one that I would definitely like to see again.
Me: I love the word “demesne” and would like to see you use it in a sentence in your everyday life. #NakedWerewolves.
Amanda: Okay. I will start a #NakedWerewolf demesne. I’ll update you on how awesome it is to live around #NakedWerewolves. Your daily #NakedWerewolves demesne update.