Check-Lit: Scenery/setting √ Story depth ≈ Gush-worthy entertainment ✗ Suspense ≈ A little sexy sexy - The book has only the merest hints of such activities.
"Ninety years is a long time to wait," and you’d think that after waiting that long, Haven, who is talented, seems reasonably smart and is gifted with memories of a previous life to guide her, would get it together, find her love and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, the problem with giving someone a head start is that they will easily succeed unless you find a way to hinder them and this is where the problems began.
There were several times during the story, when I felt like the author was simply filling pages to make a novel. The setup was good with the romantic reincarnations but I think the author made several errors as she plotted her way toward the end. It would have made for a more intriguing and romantic story if Haven and Iain had worked together in this lifetime to correct the wrongs from their past battling the mean folks at. Instead, Haven becomes an insecure ninny in New York and runs around like a terrible sleuth wasting everyone’s time. Where Iain uses all of his memories and resources to solve mysteries and reveal miscreants, Haven undoes all the good he does and believes every mean word said about him by the very people she had reason to mistrust. She repeatedly attacked him in fits of anger, accusing him of wrongdoings for which she had no evidence. I could not reconcile Haven’s vacillation with the mental processes of a reasonable person. I wished Iain would find his soulmate in another because Haven was too damaged to be happy with him. “Sometimes love makes people go a little crazy,” Iain said to Haven, “The insanity won't last…I hope." I foresaw a future where he’d be pining away for a girl locked up in a padded room.
At the end of the story Haven's only redeeming quality was her persistence. She arrived at all the wrong conclusions but at least she kept looking for answers.
If this were not a fictional romance, Haven’s actions would have gained her nothing but misery. She did not deserve a happy ending, at least not with Iain, but it's nice that she got one, if only because it ended the book.
Bah. It took much of my self-restraint to get through this one without causing injury.Things you'll do in The Eternal Ones:
• Dream of a sexy lover
• Get paid for making dresses
• Faint often
• Be threatened with damnation
• Travel to New York
• Date a SupaSta!
• Travel to Italy
• Be easily confused
• Run for your life
Nitpicking:
• Who am I kidding? Almost everything in the second half is absurd.
Quotes & Notes:
"Love makes no sense." Well kids, I tell you to go to school but you insist on being heros and heroines in YA romance novels.
"Love is chaos." It is in the Haven & Iain dictionary.
"Love and faith go hand in hand." Ahh... So true. If you are going to trust someone enough to love and be with them, you must share with them and believe in them until you have solid evidence that you should not.
"My faith is big enough to accept all of God's wonders." Nice, Mr. Snake man. I doubt you'll be standing in the middle of a freeway believing God will spare you until he tires of your boastful shenanigans, though.
"How could Constance be so stupid?" No Haven, how could you be so stupid? Why would you believe anything said by the woman [Padma/Veronica] you instinctively hate more than anyone you've ever met before?
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