Book Review: Heartsong by S.E. Wendel

 

Book Description

A gargoyle warrior unprepared for the modern world…

Fifteen hundred years ago, Frey and all his kind were cursed by the vicious fae queen, their magick stolen and their bodies rendered stone. It has been a hellish existence, frozen in time as the world changes around them. A proud warrior, Frey rages against his stone prison, but with every year that passes, hope slips away that the curse can ever be broken.

That is, until he and some of his kin are placed in an odd little museum. And she walks through the door.

A modern woman not ready for a medieval male…

Anna Kincaid has struggled most of her life, but she’s finally landed a job that will help her get ahead. It feels too good to be true—full healthcare and helping manage a museum full of exquisite artifacts? Her heart and history degree are thrilled, but something about the museum is….strange. The owners are a mysterious couple who call the collection the clan. And the collection is…well, monstrous. Huge, savage-looking statues from the late-Celtic period.

Magick stolen can be reclaimed, and curses cast can be broken…

When the museum is stormed by masked commandos one night, it isn’t even the weirdest thing to happen. No, that has to be when one of the statues comes alive to save her. Or when he flies off with her. Or when he tucks her into his big body and growlsmate. 

My Review

Anna works at a museum that features savage looking artifacts and statues that look like gargoyles. But she's happy because it comes with healthcare and a pretty good salary. Anna has migraines so her new healthcare benefits help her to get the medicine she needs to manage her migraines. 

All the safety, security and normalcy comes to an end when she touches one of the stone statues during a robbery and the gargoyle statue comes to life, saving her. He flies her back to her apartment where he stay with her for a time. Because really, where else is a giant gargoyle that turns to stone during the day going to stay?

Frey, the gargoyle has been cursed and locked into stone for over a thousand years. In that time he and the others cursed to stone have been picking up bits and pieces of the modern world which is probably why he's able to acclimate so easily while at Anna's apartment. Frey tries to convince Anna that they are mates, that she is his Heartsong but she isn't having it. She's keeping her heart very guarded, to the point that it became irritating to me. Frey is showing her what a good guy he is, practically turning into a domesticated house husband and she's keeping him at arms length for most of the book, even though she starts t have feelings for him. 

At one point Anna knows she's being followed, is in danger and she doesn't tell the huge Gargoyle that's right there living with her so he can't protect her. She puts her life in danger too many times for my liking. 

Anna's migraines play a huge part in her life and while that made her relatable, it also made her very repetitive. Because we don't get to see who the bad guys are and what they want until pretty much the end of the book, things dragged on for most of the book for me. I like for a story to keep moving along and this one seemed to stay stagnant in one place for too long. I did like the outcome and the ending but found the book a little too long. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARc of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

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