Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton

Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton

My rating: 4 of 5 flames

I got hooked on the Eternal Guardian’s series last year, so I was super excited at the chance to review this book. This is Isadora’s book, and I’ve been waiting (not-so) patiently to see how she handles this.

Isadora is a very timid, with a doormat personality…until lately. She is finally waking up and seeing what she wants. And I loved watching her grow. She began this book as timid, and ended it as a queen who no one will mess with. And if they do…well, in Isadora’s words,

“My father will be dead in a matter of weeks and I’ll be your new queen. If you don’t leave us now, I guarantee I will remember your name. And the consequences will be severe.”

Demetrius is quite the opposite. He’s one of the guardians, and he’s been a complete bastard to her for about 200 years. Wanna know why? Hera’s curse. Hera cursed each Guardian to have only 1 soul-mate, and that soul-mate would be the worst possible match ever. Demetrius knows Isadora is his. And while he wants her, knowing he can’t have her, it’s more. He doesn’t want to “soil” her. We find out who his mama is, and hoo-boy, there’s a shocker! He has every reason to distance himself and make sure Isadora never looks at him with anything but disgust and hatred. Too bad for Demetrius that Isadora’s able to see behind the façade.

Isadora is kidnapped at the end of Entwined, and this book picks up right in that same spot. She is taken by witches who want to free their warlock-god, and giving him a royal, virginal, powerful sacrifice will do that. But the Guardians save her, and Demetrius opens a portal and shoves both Gryphon and Isadora through. But he didn’t think about where he opened the portal and came face to face with a bunch of daemons. Gryphon is still weak from fighting the warlock the witches wanted to free (he comes back later), so he ends up near death before he’s rescued.

Meanwhile, Demetrius’ mummy-dearest tosses the two of them to an island called Pandora and binds his powers. He can’t open a portal back to their home, and Isadora’s too weak from the kidnapping, the spells, and everything to be much help. Oh, and don’t forget-she can’t be away from Casey and Callia for too long, or the 3 of them weaken. So they have to not only trust each other, they have to avoid being killed by all the crazy mythological creatures who come out at night. Which reminds me, I snickered a bit at this quote:

“What do you mean nocturnal? That harpy came out into the sun. So did that boar.”

“I didn’t say they were vampires who couldn’t go out in the sun. I said they’re nocturnal. They rest during the day, hunt at night.”

Isadora finally realizes that Demetrius has been pushing her away on purpose, way before they could even get close, let alone now that they have gotten close. She won’t let him push her away anymore, and she will make him see her as more than the timid little princess she had been.

Meanwhile, while Demetrius and Isadora have been MIA, Gryphon was found and rescued. He is fatally wounded, and his soul is dying (his soul is being killed off by the type of wound he received). He also overheard some things taken out of context which makes Demetrius the enemy. All the Guardians think he’s been planning to kidnap Isa for a while, and instantly believe all the circumstantial evidence. So, once Isadora’s back home, Demetrius, still not believing himself worthy, won’t speak. He won’t prove them wrong, he won’t even try to save his own skin. That all I can understand, but once he was redeemed…no one apologized for believing the worst in him. I mean that really made me mad since Theron especially said some pretty crappy things to him. It’s a good thing Isadora was there to speak for him. And Isadora didn’t wow just them, she wowed me as well. She also made some enemies in the process.

Nick is a character I now love. I mean, hard-core love. I want to see how he gets around this little thing that I can’t say, because man, that’s harsh. Orpheus, oh Orpheus. I hope he can find what he’s looking for. And I hope he gets a book too (*hint hint, Ms. Naughton) Oh, and a great heroine name for Orpheus would be Laurie. Just sayin’.

I think this is a series that everyone can get into, the writing flows and it’s definitely action-packed. Elisabeth Naughton has written a fresh series with believable characters who are up against unbelievable odds.

**Thank you so much to the author for the review copy

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