Title: The Garnet Dagger Author: Andrea R. Cooper Publisher: Crimson Romance Source: Review Copy Rating: 5 Stars
Goodreads:

Magic, mystery, and dangerous enemies this book has all the ingredients for an exciting new romance. The setting was darkly beautiful and the imagery brought it to life. I really enjoyed the world building in this book and discovering all of its secrets. The rules and creatures in this world were very interesting and had me captivated, especially Brock. Brock was mysterious and had a lot of depth to him. He has been cursed to take the life of anyone he touches. I grew to love and care for this cha...more Magic, mystery, and dangerous enemies this book has all the ingredients for an exciting new romance. The setting was darkly beautiful and the imagery brought it to life. I really enjoyed the world building in this book and discovering all of its secrets. The rules and creatures in this world were very interesting and had me captivated, especially Brock. Brock was mysterious and had a lot of depth to him. He has been cursed to take the life of anyone he touches. I grew to love and care for this character, so I felt his pain when he finally had the cure so close, but so far away. He has really been through a lot and I admired his strength when things got tough. Most of all I admired how he could protect Celeste, even at the cost to himself. Celeste was a woman who knew what she wanted and went after it. It was amazing how resilient she was and  how she was able to be so strong after being a prisoner for so long. I loved learning more about her and seeing her relationship with Brock blossom. They are so great together and you could really feel the chemistry between them. For an exciting new paranormal romance check out "The Garnet Dagger".

Brock is an elf who is fascinated by humans. So much so, that he has observed them for many of his years and has learned much of their language and ways. But when he encounters one suddenly on his way back home from travelling to yet another human village, he cannot suspect the trouble that will come of their meeting.

The human, much to Brock’s surprise, is a vampyre, and it seems that Brock’s life may soon be at an end when the vampyre begins to feed from him. However, something strange begins to happen. Because Brock is not human, the effects of the feeding are not the same. In fact, it seems that Brock is sucking the life out the vampyre. Neither knows what is going on until it is too late and the vampire lay dead.

Brock arrives back home, still reeling from the shock of what happened. He decides to go on a private search for some answers, heading down into the vaults where only a select few have access. But the vaults hold only a cryptic message for Brock, and with the sudden appearance of his betrothed he searches for someone to confide in. But tragedy soon strikes, and the message finally becomes clear to Brock, bringing a monstrous reality in its wake.

The fate of his people is in his hands, so with his sudden exile to the human lands, armed with a garnet dagger that will aid him in his quest, Brock goes on a search for the one person that could allow his people to survive. A witch.

The Garnet Dagger was an interesting story to start, because I have never pictured the world of elves along with vampyres. It never occurred to me that these two concepts can go together so wonderfully, but they do. I commend the author on this. Throughout the story, I never felt a lack of substance, every word and sentence hooked me and made me want to read more.

This book is definitely recommended for those who love fantasy, prophecies, elves, humans, witches, evil torturing monks…the whole she-bang.

Review appeared first at Fantasy is More Fun I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my reviewMy Initial Reaction...More than anything, I was swept away by the creativity of this book. Cooper satisfies your expectations, by giving you elves, vampires (which she spells vampyre), and witches but then she topples those expectations by making each fantasy creature so different from anything you've read. And to mix it up, she throws in a few you've never heard of. This book drew me in and I had a hard time setting it down when it was time to go to bed.The Story...The story centers on the quest of an elf, named Brock, to heal his lands, save his people, and cure himself of his curse. Brock finds humans interesting and longs to see more of them. His curiosity lands him in serious trouble, though. One day traveling in human lands (despite strict orders not to cross the elven barrier), Brock encounters a vampire and is changed by the vampire's bite, igniting a set of prophecy fulfilling events with him right at the center, whether he likes it or not. The fate of his people and their lands now lie in his hands - to save them he must pierce the heart and spill the blood of one witch, whom he must find using a magical garnet dagger. On top of that, he has been cursed by the vampire's bite; he sucks the life force from all whom he touches.He finds Celeste, a witch gifted with healing powers, but imprisoned by monks and eventually he learns that she is the witch of the prophecy. But not before they've each saved each other's lives, gotten to know each other, and started to fall in love. Not to mention they are constantly fighting for their lives against all sorts of magical creatures, sent by an evil warlock determined to twist the prophecies to his will. The action is thrilling, the creativity constantly surprises, and the romance will touch your heart. This is not one of those insta-love scenarios where you find yourself rolling your eyes at the incredulity. The situations that Brock and Celeste are thrown into shape their relationship in very believable, topsy-turvy ways.I do have a few minor complaints that keep this book from being a 5 star read for me The moments of prophecy were sometimes confusing for me and I had to slow down and reread them to fully understand what was happening. Likewise some of the action scenes snuck up so quickly that I found myself reading back to find what transition I had missed. Sometimes it was there, but a bit awkward and unclear. At other times it was missing altogether. The author also has a habit of writing fragmented sentences, missing the subject- usually the "I" - for example: "Told them of the human clothes, and sneaking out." I don't mind, this style from time to time for effect, in fact I even like it. But it was overused in my opinion (you can open almost any page randomly and find one) and didn't have the desired effect most the time. These shortcomings certainly wouldn't keep me from recommending the book or reading another one by the author, but they do distract at times.The Characters...Although this story is told from Brock's point of view, it was Celeste that I was addicted to; when I was reading sections with her in them, I could not put the book down. Celeste is a strong character, whom you can't help but fall in love with. I loved the way she handled people, from strangers she encountered on her travels to Brock himself. She may have suffered for years as a prisoner forced to heal her fellow prisoners, just so that they could be tortured further, but she is not a victim. Her time behind bars, cruelly starved and tortured, have made her strong and compassionate, not weak or hardened. She also manages moments of humor, making her the perfect character for me.Brock, on the other hand, has had an easier life by all accounts, and is weak for it. Don't get me wrong - his Elven strength and speed, combined with his deadly vampiric touch make him a force to reckon with on any battle field. But he is infuriatingly weak-minded at times. I can't tell you how many times at yelled at him and wanted to reach into the book and tell him what to do. But he does have moments of clarity and at those moments I love him as a character. His conflict comes through perfectly (if not infuriatingly at times) and I really felt how he struggled to make his decision.Cooper is very skilled at making you care about characters; in fact, a few showed up in the story for little more than a few pages and already I cared about them and their fate (for example, Laurel, whom you'll meet in chapter twenty-one). The side stories and characters are few, but when they do appear they only add to the story.Concluding Sentiments...This is a great, refreshingly creative story. The characters are well-written and the story has several unexpected twists and turns that will keep you hooked until the end.Get in on Amazon

The Garnet Dagger - debut fantasy/ paranormal romance.