Early Book Review: The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce

The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce is due for release on August 30 2011. This is the sequel to 666 Park Avenue, and is not really paranormal romance, although there are several elements that might have it labeled as such. In this novel the heroine of 666 Park Avenue, Jane, returns after her harrowing flight from Lynne's intention. In this novel she disguises herself and goes undercover in search for the one thing Lynne might give up everything for. In the process she interacts with a few of her friends from the first novel, skulks around her in law's home and enters into a mutually devious but sexual relationship with someone new. I would not call the relationship a romance by any means, and Jane makes that clear within the book. Some of the dialogue is fun and snappy, but overall I was not impressed with the novel. Perhaps that is because I skipped the first installment.

In 666 Park Avenue Jane Boyle married the man she believed to be her prince charming, however she did not get her fairy-tale ending. Her mother in law truly is a witch, and apparently so is Jane. Thankfully her groom saw the error of his ways and tried to help Jane, and is still helping her despite being in hiding somewhere himself. In The Dark Glamour, Jane is hiding out in New York City right under the nose of Lynne, her evil mother in law. Jane is struggling to understand everything that has happened and try to discover how to live her life while distancing herself from her friends in fear of endangering them. After a unexpected discovery Jane has found a trail to something that Lynne wants more than anything in the world, which might just be Jane's key to safety. Jane embarks on a mission to follow the leads, where ever they take her and regardless of the complications and identity crises, in order to find the end of the trail. However, is it really a good idea to give someone so inherently evil something they want, even if it seems like the right thing to do?

I did enjoy some of the dialogue and character interaction in The Dark Glamour, but I will admit to occasionally skimming through paragraphs of Jane's mental debates. I had to force myself to slow down and read on a few occasions. I do read quite a bit of Gothic literature, paranormal romance and urban fantasy; which could be why none of the big twists and turns in the plot really surprised me. The story was not bad, and I did enjoy several moments. However, I found the relationship with Andre, the mysterious and convenient lover, to be a little too much. I love a nice steamy scene, but creating a purely physical relationship in a story just to through some in seemed to be a little much. Again, perhaps if I had read the first book in the series, which apparently explains that men and women with witch bloodlines have a special chemistry that makes they more attracted to each other, I might have been less annoyed with the situation. All that being said, I did not hate the book, it was good for what it was, but it is not a book that I would recommend to anyone unless that absolutely loved 666 Park Avenue.