Crystal Destiny By Christina Blair
Cristal distintivo
Lydia Westcott yearned to escape her stifling Boston home She dreamed of traveling West to the high hidden valley in the Rocky Mountains her father had claimed for her mother before they died She knew she belonged on the banks of the Crystal Creek But Aaron Stone the infamous coal magnate owned that land now He lived there in secluded splendor in the awesome forbidding Stonehurst Mansion It was said Aaron Stone had once killed a man over a few precious acres He d called her father friend but how would he react to her demand for her birthright Even as the mansion s darkened hallways seemed to echo with whispers of murder and betrayal Lydia vowed she d fight the devil himself to get what was hers But when she finally confronted the satanic master of Stonehurst she knew she was trapped yet again this time in a battle for her very life Crystal DestinyThis review is of Crystal Destiny by Christina Blair. Crystal Destiny kindle paperwhite Like most gothic romances Crystal Destiny is narrated in the first person by the heroine of the book Here that is Lydia Westcott 18 Lydia lives in Boston with her elderly aunts Emily and Jessica One day Jessica shares information with Lydia about her late parents Ellen Westcott Kincaid and Stephen Kincaid and learns a few secrets Among them her actual birth name is Crystal Kincaid she has another aunt Fanny Stephen s sister who lives in Colorado and Stephen befriended a man Aaron Stone who once called Stephen a friend but later they had a falling out Armed with a letter written by Stephen Crystal decides to go to Colorado to claim what she thinks is her late father s property Once arriving in Colorado Crystal meets several people who will play a role in her life Fanny Kincaid Crystal s aunt on her father s side Fanny manages an upscale hotel resort. Crystal Destiny bookkeeping Downside Crystal Destiny is neither scary or suspenseful until the last quarter of the book or so Lydia Crystal is the only developed character everyone else is basically a one note player There is ZERO chemistry between Crystal and Aaron making the ending of the book where they fall in love and marry totally unbelievable I knew who Crystal should be afraid of by page 260 She figures it out about 100 pages later. Book Crystal destiny tracker Then there are the two biggest issues I have with the book The first is Ms Blair s constant use of Aaron Stone She uses those two words together what feels like a million times and it s completely unnecessary The second is the ending which is unsatisfying drivel Sex The only sex consists of Crystal kissing Charles and later Aaron Violence There are two off screen killings Crystal is assaulted and a character is shot Bottom Line I have literally thousands of paperback and ebooks and one of my goals this year is to figure out which ones I need to keep and which go in the garbage Guess where Crystal Destiny will end up Christina Blair Crystal Destiny started out in an intriguing way Lydia Wescott proper Eastern lady wants to go West see her father s claim in Colorado and somehow whether that be acquire the land or marry a rich man restore her crumbling family s fortune Wrapped up in this is her desire to discover Crystal her father s name for her that her Boston family disregarded and a exciting life for herself Lydia meets a man other than the hero early on in the book and they have a number of romantic interludes and become engaged The actual hero Aaron appears seldom even though he s a great character and their encounters are the best part of the book Even at the end I found myself skimming pages about how Charles her once fiance had now come to be a villain and murderer and the tale was not a very interesting one Some parts of the book were okay but the characters were overall uncompelling and I was flinching at the end at the thought of kind Aaron s fortune being leached by gold digger Lydia s cruddy family who didn t even show up to the wedding Christina Blair.