The Treasure Keeper : All About Romance

The Treasure Keeper

Grade : C

Shana Abe is an author that I’ve been really looking forward to reading. Unfortunately, The Treasure Keeper isn’t the book I should have read first. The lack of momentum and an unsympathetic heroine failed to pull me into the world of Abe’s drakon.

Zoe Lane is a female drakon and, although she is unable to take on the dragon form, she has many other gifts that, if they were known to her people, would destine her to marry the Alpha’s second son, Lord Rhys Langford, whom she detests. When Rhys leaves the village to experience life, her problems are solved and she finds a good man with whom to settle down. However, when the village begins to experience threats from outside, her betrothed is called to serve and mysteriously disappears, along with Rhys.

With her special abilities and determination, Zoe sets out to find her fiancé in the last place from which she had letters from him – Paris. What she doesn’t expect to encounter is Rhys, which she does but in a significantly altered state.

Rhys thinks he’s dead; trapped in a world where no one responds to him, hypnotized by music, and able to only communicate with one person, Zoe, an interaction that at first can only occur through reflection. Because she can’t get away from “ghost” Rhys, she can’t hide her gifts. He realizes that if they were back home in their village and if he were in his body, custom would require that she belong to him and he begins to feel the pull of fate toward her. Since that can’t be, together they traverse the streets of Paris looking for the human dragon hunters and her lost fiancée.

The Treasure Keeperis filled with pretty prose. However, it can’t keep the story moving effectively and often bogs down the plot. The info dump at the beginning of the book, though it gives history and builds the plot, was too long and made reading frustrating.

Abe also created interesting characters, some of whom I liked and some of whom I didn’t. I liked Rhys and understood his frustration and found him extremely sympathetic to Zoe’s situation. With him, I could buy that their relationship was fated. Zoe, on the other hand, had tried to avoid Rhys for the majority of her life to the point of making a commitment to another man. When that commitment is broken, there’s very little transition and I felt as if she settled for Rhys. In other words, he deserved better. Unfortunately, there were other characters that I found far more interesting than the heroine – the villain, the fiancée, and the young dragon prince, but I’m not sure if I’ll stick around for the remainder of the series.

I wanted to like The Treasure Keeper. I really, really wanted to. Unfortunately, I found it just plain dull. Since it was one that I downloaded onto my Kindle, and I’m really picky about the books I allow to use up space on it, I have to say I did not find it Kindleworthy.

Reviewed by Heather Brooks

Grade : C

Book type : Fantasy Romance

Sensuality : Warm

Review Date : May 13, 2009

Published On : 2009