Haven Moore and Iain Morrow have been living a blissful life in Rome, an ocean way from the Ouroboros Society and its diabolical leader. But paradise is not to last. The mysterious disappearance of Haven’s best friend, Beau, sends the pair running back to New York, where they encounter the Horae, an underground group of women who have spent centuries scheming to destroy Adam Rosier. Only they can help Haven uncover the secret to Beau’s whereabouts in one of her past lives. But their help comes at a price: Haven must infiltrate the Ouroboros Society, charm Adam Rosier, and lure him into a trap. It’s a plan the Horae believe will save the world-but Haven and Iain fear that it may destroy the happiness they’ve been chasing for two thousand years.
The first one, The Eternal Ones, was mediocre at best, in my opinion, in comparison to this sequel. The first in the series focused more on the love story and Haven’s inability to see into her past lives, rather than any true development of the Ouroboros Society and the intricacies of reincarnation. This made the concept of reincarnation simply a device (and you know how us literary types loathe devices) to serve the love story, and not really impact the rest of the narrative.
This sequel, however, brought an entire new aspect to the story–one that I appreciate. I loved the humanization of Adam, and the juxtaposition of Iain and Adam. In the first novel, these two characters are set up completely as foils, but here the readers judgement is clouded by the details given about Adam’s past. In addition, where a plethora of new characters can sometimes hinder a storyline, but these characters helped establish a rich sense of urgency and peril in the novel.
Essentially, deep down, All You Desire is still just a love story. Much of the paranormal elements remain in the background–EVEN though they are more important in this installment than the previous. So, a certain amount of predictability comes along with a love story and the relationship between the two “soul mates.”
Overall, I would recommend this novel highly over the first. However, it seems imperative to read the first–The Eternal Ones–in order to get the background information needed to understand the complex relationship between Haven and Adam Rosier.
3 Bards.
Moving! 