Tami Lund, $0.99
Fantasy Romance, 2017
Broken Light in part of Tami Lund’s Lightbearer series, or more specifically, a prequel to that series. Since I am new to the whole thing, all I know is that this is a historical fantasy romance, with woo-woo people that have the ability to shift forms into any animal. Then there are magic users called—cue dramatic music, please—Lightbearers. I don’t know why they are called that, by the way, as this story is more about the shifters. Of course, they are all about the pack, because heaven forbids a shifter enjoys turning into a wombat or a sloth.
Xander Wulf didn’t get the Lightbearer wench he has a crush on in a previous story, so he decides to hang out with a bunch of humans to feel better about himself. I guess it’s like a hot person slumming with the fat and ugly in order to gain some cheap boost of the self-esteem. As it happens, the tribe leader’s son is a cartoon evil character that happens to believe that a group of shape-shifting woo-woos may pose a threat to ordinary humans. What a bigot! Also there is Adelle Poema, another shifter that wants this cartoon dude dead because the dude had her pack killed.
Oh, don’t worry, the author won’t bore readers with tedious things like subterfuge, duels of good and evil, near-death skirmishes, and other dull crap that nobody ever enjoys reading in a romance story. If you think the premise is dull enough, be assured that the author packs this story with exciting stuff like long conversations about mating and wanting to shag the other person, mental lusting, exposition-heavy dialogues, and more. In fact, one can easily imagine the scintillating possibility that the entire story can take place with those two just standing there and talking, pausing only to have sex to fulfill that mating bond is love quota.
Even better, Adelle doesn’t get to do anything, much less get her revenge. It is always far more dramatic when the guy does all the work, so Xander is the one that dispatches the cartoon villain while Adelle needs saving and is almost done for until a deus ex machina shows up and calls for the sparing of her life. How can we not love such a gold star feminine heroine, that never stains her hands with disgusting concepts like agency and taking charge of her destiny or even fulfilling her desires! Who cares about a woman fulfilling anything anyway, when it’s far better that she gets full and filled by a hot guy. That’s what a model romance heroine is like!
Okay, I’m just trying to hype up this romance story just to keep myself awake, as just recalling it is enough to make my eyes feel heavy. At any rate, the plot is set up only to be completely wasted on boring conversations and tedious mate-is-love mumbo jumbo, and oh yes, the heroine doesn’t get to do anything that she sets out to do. But like I said, she gets shagged, so that counts as a win of some sort? Sure, the author has a lovely cadence in her prose (if I can overlook the immersion-breaking modern-day phrases occasionally popping up), but that only makes this one more of a bigger disappointment. Broken Light is kind of pointless, a well-written story that offers little in terms of story or pay-off.
