Book Review: Vicious Grace

Media Type: Print Book
Title: Vicious Grace
   *Series: The Black Sun’s Daughter
Author: M.L.N. Hanover
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pages: Mass Market Paperback; 367
Release Date: November 30, 2010
Source: Publisher
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Genre: Urban Fantasy

HDB Rating: 3 Keys to My Heart

Recommended to: Readers of the series.

Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Librarything / Amazon / B&N

When you’re staring evil in the eye, don’t forget to watch your back . . .

For the first time in forever, Jayné Heller’s life is making sense. Even if she routinely risks her life to destroy demonic parasites that prey on mortals, she now has friends, colleagues, a trusted lover, and newfound confidence in the mission she inherited from her wealthy, mysterious uncle. Her next job might just rob her of all of them.

At Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago, something is stirring. Patients are going AWOL and research subjects share the same sinister dreams. Half a century ago, something was buried under Grace in a terrible ritual, and it’s straining to be free. Jayné is primed to take on whatever’s about to be let loose.

Yet the greatest danger now may not be the huge, unseen force lurking below, but the evil that has been hiding in plain sight all along—taking her ever closer to losing her body, her mind, and her soul. . . .

In Vicious Grace we once again follow Jayné and her crew as they battle evil. This time however, there are a lot more complications. As if Jayné’s life couldn’t get anymore complicated, right? M.L.N. Hanover throws the reader a ton of new information to digest in this installment. Love triangles, hidden secrets, possessed hospitals anyone? It’s all here to be discovered. I opened the book and dove right in to the newest fight.

Being honest? Definitely not my favorite installment in this series. Where the first two books unabashedly grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into the story, this one just seemed…well…weaker. There were long portions of tedious explanations and research, it all just slowed things down. I felt bogged down during the beginning portion of this book. What kept me reading on, above all else, was the fact that I knew something epic was going to happen. All this had to do with something big, and I wanted to know what.

I still saw a lot of growth in Jayné in this story. There is, of course, the ever present question of who she really is. However everything else that kept the story line flowing so beautifully just kind of ended.  Our love triangle starts to fall apart, new information rocks the foundation of the group, and honestly Jayné felt really whiny to me. I think I understand why Hanover chooses this book to do all this. It’s time for Jayné to let go of the past and come into her own. Let’s hope she owns up to it!

Still, Vicious Grace just didn’t do it for me. The story picks up a lot during the last half of the book, and the ending will knock you on your butt. I honestly didn’t see it coming at all. What I will say is that no matter how much I thought this was a weaker installment in the series, it won’t keep me from reading on. I’m still madly in love with  Jayné and her story. I have a deep stake in her character. I’m just hoping that the next book is going to blow me away like the first two did. I’m excited!

Also reviewed in this series:
Unclean Spirits (The Black Sun’s Daughter #1)
Darker Angels (The Black Sun’s Daughter #2)

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.