My Need to Read

(Thought about it s'more, wrote the review, and realized I'm wanting to go with 3 stars. Which is still an "I liked it," mind you. ^_^)Quick Take:This ethereal, fairy-tale-like story is imbued with deft use of sensuality, which I rather enjoyed. There's plenty of character posturing and subtle insidiousness, so don't look for high-octane action here or you'll be disappointed.Okay, so I've got to put my Forthright Cap on…because while I enjoyed this book overall, I also recognize that it's not your typical PnR and may not be everyone's cup of tea.Though the details are complex, the overall story can be summarized quickly: seven Dark-Fae males are cursed with a cardinal sin apiece, and must non-forcibly secure their correlating human Virtue. Sounds like a fairy-tale premise, right? Well this book is very much like a fairy-tale in several respects, for better or worse (depending on your tastes). In many an old fairy tale or fable, many things (situational limitations, character abilities) just "are." You don't question or consider them too deeply, and they aren't explained. That is the case here; remember that when (to make something up) someone randomly turns into a tree or some such. ^_^This book is primarily concerned with desires, internal struggles, and inner-character. One can expect a lot of description and mental-musing. The thrills and chills typically derived from high-octane action stories simply isn't here for the most part. And this is not innately a bad thing, either: the intriguing mind-game that plays out amongst the cast is quite dependent on the characters' machinations. It did however get tiresome at some points....the back and forth "did he, didn't he/will she, won't she/should I, shouldn't I" that at times seemed to hash out the. same. things.One will note that this book doesn't contain very much sex, but has A LOT of sensuality. Ms. Featherstone seems able to take the most innocuous items and tame situations and make them incredibly sensual. Not an easy task, I'd think.World-building is done through multiple perspective shifts amongst the Sins, the Virtues, and their relatives. While this was (in this case) a useful device for advancing the plot and exploring the depth of the curse's effect, it didn't do a while lot for me as far as connecting with the characters. Which is too bad, because such a narrative device is usually great for fostering attachments to characters. And personally, I'm a big-time character reader.Reading this book was certainly an enjoyable experience, although (or perhaps because?) the story was executed in a fashion unlike what I'm used to. More than ever I'd like to check out Featherstone's non-paranormal offerings (Sinful or Addicted), to see what her writing style is like there. I can most definitely see this book being hit-or-miss for many.(note: reviewed eARC copy; final version may have changes)