Review: Hidden Currents by Christine Feehan

Published: July 2009 by Jove

Number of Pages: 441

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/Series: Drake Sisters 7
1: Magic in the Wind
2: Twilight Before Christmas
3: Oceans of Fire
4: Dangerous Tides
5: Safe Habor
6: Turbulent Sea

Why This Book: Because I has series OCD and I have Christine Feehan OCD. Just can't stop myself.

From the Author Site: From afar, Sheriff Jackson Deveau has always loved Elle Drake, the youngest telepath of seven sisters. After a long time away she’s finally returning home to the small coastal village of Sea Haven. But someone has been following Elle, someone who doesn’t want her to make it back. And when Elle fails to arrive, her disappearance strikes fear in the hearts of everyone who loves her. Now it’s left to Jackson to uncover the mystery of Elle’s vanishing, and rescue her from an unseen danger. But Sea Haven is no longer safe for anyone, and it’ll take the powers of all the Drake sisters and their men to survive the coming storm.

Read excerpt here:

Hero: Jackson Deveau is an ex-Ranger who has settled down in Sea Haven which was home to his only friends, Jonas Harrington and Matt Granite. He is gifted with physic powers of his own and doesn't want that heritage for his children since he fears his gifts. But Elle saved him when he was in an hopeless situation and now he must accept his gifts and Elle and hope for the best.

Heroine: Elle Drake is the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter and charged with passing on the Drake family gifts to the next generation. But the man who seems to be destined for her doesn't want her heritage. So she takes on one last undercover job which goes wrong. After being tortured she's not sure she can be who Jackson need and doesn't know if she should pass on her gifts.

Review: What to say. It was okay. Certainly not Christine Feehan's best work but it was still better than most of the series. Why does Ms. Feehan take heroines that could be so kick-ass and turn them into little weepy, clingy creatures? Elle Drake had a lot of potential but after a brief inprisonment and some torture she's suddenly unable rely on her gifts and her own strength.

I get that torture changes a person. But if that person was strong to begin with wouldn't she still be strong in the end as long as her will wasn't broken? Even then can't she fight to remake her life? This confuses me greatly.

Jackson's wishy-washy feeling also doesn't make for a good story either. Up until Elle disappears he seems quite happy to keep her at a distance. But when she suddenly goes missing, he arranging a rescue party and risky life and limb to get her out. Then he decides that they are meant to be and everything turns out as he wishes. Alpha heroes are good but they should always get their way. Makes them to damn domineering and unbearably bossy as well as makes for a boring story.

What I liked best: That is the end of a series! Yay! One less to keep track of and one less I HAVE to pick up.

What I least liked: There's a lot. In particular I didn't the beginning of the book. Elle being kidnapped and held for breeding by an evil physic. Blah!

Keeper?: Still thinking about it.

Recommendation: The series was okay. Not the best by a long shot and probably not the worse. But it did have a clear beginning and a end which makes me happy.

Grade: C
Series Grade: C-

Review: Turbulent Sea

Title: Turbulent Sea

Author: Christine Feehan

Published: July 2008

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/Series: Drake Sisters #6 (See Author Site for complete list)

From the Author Site: The star: Joley Drake was born with a legacy of unexpected magical gifts, but it was the gift of singing that made her an overnight sensation—a rock and roll goddess trapped by fame, fortune, and ambition. Heated by the flush of success, Joley could have any man she wanted. But there’s only man who can give her what she really needs.

The bodyguard: Ilya Prakenskii, cool, inscrutable, dangerously sexy, and working in the shadow of his infamous reputation—that of a secret Russian hit man on the payroll of a notorious mobster. He’s the last man Joley should get close to, yet when her life is threatened on tour she has nowhere left to turn. But in the seductive safe keep of Ilya’s embrace, is Joley really as secure as she imagines?

Hero: Ilya Prakenskii: When he first appeared in the storyline, Oceans of Fire, Christine had already cast him as the hero for spellsinger sister Joley Drake. The mysterious stranger with gifts like the sisters but is not totally good. He appears to work for the Russian mafia but rumored to be something else altogether. Loved the whole mystery of him.

As a hero, he's pretty hot but a bit too domineering for my tastes. Talk about total control freak. Christine should work a bit more on the give part for the hero in the give-and-take of relationships. Why do all her heroine just cave into great sex and animal magnetism?

Heroine: Joley Drake. Her gift is spell singing and she has made a career of it. In the series, she starts out as a totally kick-ass, smart-mouthed rebel but ends up as an okay heroine. She doesn't quite fit in the too-stupid-to-live category but she is definitely not one of my favorite heroines. But she does have her moments.

Plot: The storyline in fairly basic with a few twist. A young girl has disappeared and was last seen in the company of one of Joley's crew. Thus Joley starts looking for the girl much to the dismay of Ilya and her crew. And since their meeting, Ilya has been seducing Joley and she has been running, denying their connection.

Review: I have to say that this is my favorite in the series so far, and as far as I can tell there should be only one more book in the series, at least that is my hope since I continue to read Christine Feehan because, let face it, I am a series junkie. Once started it almost impossible for me to stop, thus my always on-going hunts for the nearest used book stores.

The constant tension between Ilya and Joley worked for me. He pursues and she runs until he finally wears her out resistance and convinces her that he is truly the man of her dreams, minus the part about the future children. He continues to mention them and she continues to deny that there will be any in the near future.

I think I would have enjoyed it more if she had gotten to the chance to bash him in the head for being such a control freak, I like my heroines with a bit of muscle. But alas, after a second round of steamy sex she caves and does so even before his fall from lust to love.

Keeper?: Maybe... still trying to decide if I should keep the series or just give it up.

Recommendation: If you have enjoyed the other Drake Sisters novel, then you are bound to love this one.

Rating: 3.5