Review: Entwined by Elisabeth Naughton

Entwined (Eternal Guardians)
by Elisabeth Naughton
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Lovespell
Available: July 27, 2010
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Dorchester

ZANDER — The most feared of all the Eternal Guardians. It’s rumored he can’t be killed, and he always fights like he has nothing to lose. But as a descendant of the famed hero Achilles, he’s got to have a vulnerability… somewhere.

Forces of daemons are gathering and have broken through the barriers of the Underworld. Now more than ever the Eternal Guardians are needed to protect both their own realm and the humans’. Zander can’t afford to think about what might have been with the bewitching physician he once regarded as his soul mate. But with eternity stretching before him, he also can’t fathom spending his life without the one woman who makes him feel most alive. Perhaps he’s found his weakness, after all…

Reviewed by: Samantha

Entwined is the second book in Elisabeth Naughton’s Eternal Guardians series. The Eternal Guardians are seven hot strapping descendants of Greek heroes who are called Argonauts. They protect their realm and the human world from the evil and very scary looking daemons created by the goddess Atalanta who is trying to take over and is killing everything in her path.

In Entwined, Naughton introduces us to Zander, son of Achilles. Zander is around 800 years old and believes himself to be immortal. He knows who his soul mate is – Callia, his King’s healer. They once had a brief relationship, but she left him and now Zander believes he has nothing to live for. When Zander volunteers himself to marry the King’s daughter, Callia must examine Zander to ensure he is able to reproduce and give the throne an heir. Of course sparks fly as soon Callia and Zander are in the same room together and the chemistry between the two just oozes right off the pages.

Truthfully, I don’t know a thing about Greek mythology and I have even read 18 Sherrilyn Kenyon books. But that didn’t stop me from loving the Eternal Guardians series from the very beginning. I hadn’t read Marked, the first book in the series, so I decided to read it before reading Entwined. I am so glad I did. There are many continuous (and very interesting!) characters that were introduced in Marked and it is obvious their stories are going to unfold over time.

While I enjoyed the story of Zander and Callia in Entwined and it helped that Zander is super sexy, like so many other paranormal series these days, it is the secondary characters that kept things interesting for me. Isadora, the King’s virginal and often child like daughter is such a rich and complicated character. Then there are her interactions with the gruff and down right nasty warrior Demetrius. Whew – I just kept turning and turning the pages wanting more, more, more! And don’t even get me started on the mysterious Orpheus who Isadora has struck up a very interesting bargain with. I love every word that comes out of his sharp-tongued mouth.

While the premise of this series may ring familiar with others – leather clad male warriors fighting for their kind, strong-willed women, sentences sometimes lightly peppered with the character’s own language – it is the building of the secondary stories that kept me going and has me itching for the next book. I also enjoyed Naughton’s writing style and her ability to describe the world the story takes place in. Sometimes when I would read certain passages I actually felt like I was in the room with the characters watching them and witnessing the story unfold instead of just reading it on the pages of the book. All of this has me recommending this as a good solid read. If I have any little niggle about Entwined it’s that I wish the story between the two main characters was on equal par as the secondary characters.

Favorite quote:

Silence filled the chamber. All eyes shifted to Demetrius, in the back of the group, leaning one shoulder against the wall, only half paying attention to what was happening around him.

And then, when he noticed everyone looking his way, it was as if the king’s words finally hit. Shock ran over Demetrius’s face just before he dropped his crossed arms and pushed away from the wall. He was the biggest of the guardians, at nearly six feet eight. And the shadowed eyes Callia had often thought were soulless narrowed and darkened to ebony as he homed in on the king. “No. Fucking. Way.”

Purchase Links:

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Other books in the series:

Marked – April 27, 2010

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