Ravenous: The Dark Forgotten

by Sharon Ashwood

Book Overview

One kiss is all it takes to lose your soulHolly Carver is a small-time witch who busts ghosts for tuition money, but ends up wrangling a demon when a haunted house job goes bad. Her Undead business... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451226178
• ISBN13: 9780451226174
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

It's so rare for me to give five stars, but I loved it and I want more

This book kept me company today while I couch-surfed with a congested head cold. Thank goodness I started it in the early afternoon, or I wouldn't have gotten a wink of sleep. Ravenous is that good. It burst out of the gate like a greyhound, the romance burned like a gasoline fed fire, and it finished with an armageddon style battle. I think my only criticism is with the title; I don't think it does the story justice. I'm actually sorry I got this one from the library, because Ashwood deserves to be paid for such an entertaining intro book. Our heroine, Holly, runs a business called the Three Sisters Agency that specializes in hauntings and poltergeists, which only requires small-m magic, as she calls it. Holly avoids doing jobs that require big-M magic, because the backwash of pain is more than she can handle. Her dreams for the future are pretty modest; she'd like to get a college degree, build up her business, and find a boyfriend who is marriage material. That train is thrown off the tracks when Holly is forced to use big-M magic to save her life, and something lurking in the dark wants to take her power. Alessandro, Holly's undead friend and partner, treats her like there's a `look but don't touch' sign on her back. In this world, a vampire's bite has venom that turns the human into a mindless slave. The lust for food and sex literally drains the slave dry over time, and Alessandro refuses to harm Holly, or remove her free will. He is noble, but far from perfect, and I had to wipe the drool away after he appeared in a scene. I would very much like to know the true identity of the author. According to one professional reviewer, Sharon Ashwood is a pseudonym for a previously published romance novelist, and this book is way too good to be a first try by a greenhorn. Now the only bummer is, we've got to wait until December 09 for the next book in the series (Scorched). And I will definitely pay for my copy next time around.

Delicious and engaging!

The thing I liked best about Sharon Ashwood's Ravenous was the characters. All of them had a little something unexpected to bring to the mix. The queen was ancient, deadly, and possessive, but she had other, more interesting motivations as well. The growing feelings between Alessandro and Holly were truly dangerous to her well-being because of vampire physiology--it wasn't simply another "forbidden love." The detective could have been an incredibly one-dimensional or simplistic character, but throughout the story, even as he fulfilled specific story roles, he held his own as a full character. The one werewolf in the story is definitely not what you'd expect, particularly in this day and age when they seem primarily used as an excuse to abuse the alpha male concept in some erotic romance novels. Holly's grandmother, something of a retired witch herself, is a fantastic addition to the mix. The only character I might have liked to see developed a little more would have been the demon, but at least there were some nifty hints at more about her as well. The world is interesting (I look forward to seeing more of it!), the romance gorgeous, the sex sizzling. There's plenty of action as well as bedroom scenes, and the main character is strong, believable and sexy. In fact, I have only two, very minor complaints. One is that the whole idea of vampires being organized into "clans" feels really overused. The other is that there was one line in the book that left me with the urge to giggle and say, "Pikachu, I Choose You!" (an unfortunate choice of wording on the author's part). But those are tiny blemishes on an otherwise delightful read!

Vampires, witches, demons...what more do you need?

I got my hands on a review copy of this new novel. Basically the plot revolves around a young and powerful, witch named Holly Carver who does `ghost busting' to pay the bills. She often teams up with the vampire, Alessandro Caravelli, for the tougher jobs. Holly has some difficulties using powers and is uncomfortable with her potent attraction to Alessandro. Soon Omara, Alessandro's queen, shows up in town to complicate matters--as well as something much older and much more evil. Upon reading it the first thing I did was fall in love with the hero, Alessandro Caravelli. Is this the only good thing about the novel? Heck no! The writer, Sharon Ashwood, has done a fabulous job with the plot. It keeps its pace throughout the novel, has juicy substance, and makes it across the finish line without losing its oomph. As well, Ashwood's world building is believable, unlike some of the sf/fantasy type novels, including the romance genre, that I've read over the years. The background, magical structure and mechanics are plausible and won't leave you scratching your head in mystification. The characterization in the novel is zesty and each of the protagonists has enough internal conflict to make them interesting and keep us rooting for them all the way. Ashwood has incorporated enough romance and hot sex among the adventures to keep us satisfied. This gets me back to Alessandro.......

What happens when the monsters come out of the closet?

Vampires and demons and . . . homework? Oh, my. In "Ravenous," Sharon Ashwood has mixed up a lively combination of classic horror elements and the horrors of modern life in this ripping good urban fantasy. Holly is a mortgage-paying, ghostbusting witch who goes back to school to try to bring some normalcy into her life. Not so much Buffy the Vampire Slayer with all the Chosen One regalia, she's more a regular Jane with some extra talents who is trying to make ends meet - the kind of heroine you'd find in the pages of novels by Emma Bull, Charlaine Harris or Charles de Lint, to name a few. And there's definitely one vampire this witch isn't in a hurry to slay, anyway... There's romance, of course - "Ravenous" is from Signet's Paranormal Romance line - but it adds to the story, rather than defining it. One of the main themes is definitely Holly's need to accept her own abilities. Holly comes from a long line of witches, but a childhood accident has left her functioning at half-power. A new crisis and some scary new characters in town soon threaten to overwhelm everything she cares about, if she doesn't meet the challenge head-on. Though the other characters are believable and important to the story arc in their own way, I like the way Ashwood never falls into the trap of letting the handsome studs standing by - vampire and human - save the day for Holly. There's plenty of danger and mayhem around for everyone. Ashwood creates vibrant, interesting characters, and she has a knack for making minor characters who live as large as her heroes. If Ashwood sets more stories in this world, I can think of several secondary characters whom I'd like to see get their own books. This isn't to say that the main characters should be confined to one story. Though the conclusion is satisfyingly dramatic, I'll just say that I can still see a world of trouble ahead for Holly and her cohorts. One final note: Ashwood's love of humorous detail comes through even in the small scenes. From many years of reading the genre, "Ravenous" has one of my all-time favourite 'urban clash' scenes, a small gem in which modern technology meets ancient monsters, with unpredictable results. To say nothing of the mouse.

Excellent new paranormal romance

I really enjoyed this book. From the initial scene where heroine Holly Carver is trying to rescue some people from a haunted house, to the gradual worldbuilding as we learn about supernatural creatures and their own form of hell, to Holly's awakening to her possible role in a centuries-old battle, to her romance with a man who really won't be good for her long-term... we follow the actions of Holly and her business partner Alessandro Caravelli, a six-centuries-old vampire. Holly's magic was subdued by a spell that went wrong when she was young and she makes her living by doing minor witchy jobs to pay for her tuition at a business course at college. However she finds herself dragged into rather bigger issues when a demon uses her own home to try to step through into this world. Caravelli is a fascinating character in this book, a man of integrity and goodness but who also knows and fears his nature as predator. He knows there isn't any future for him with Holly but wants to help her and to keep her safe. With several other men floating in and out of Holly's life, she doesn't always know who to trust, and those she loves the most may cause her harm. But if Holly and Caravelli can discover who is trying to control the demon and can stop the influx of evil into our world, they may find a whole new situation where they can rescue supernaturals condemned to an eternal punishment. The writing style of this book was excellent with a good plot which unveiled at a comfortable pace. I always followed the story, not getting lost in complexities that one can find in this kind of book. Holly and Alessandro were great lead characters, although Holly was slightly less fully fleshed out in terms of her motivations and feelings. The threads of the story were well wrapped up in this book although there were a few minor plot events that will presumably follow in the next story. All in all this was always an enjoyable read with an appealing hero and a good take on the supernatural/paranormal world. Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009