Title: Determinant
Author: A.M. Hargrove
Series: The Guardians of Vesturon #3
Published: June 30th 2012
Synopsis of Determinant
January St. Davis, on her own since the age of sixteen and struggling to stay in college, thinks she’s scored in a major way when she lands a paid summer internship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. One evening, after working an especially long shift, a chance encouter with a group of mysterious men alters the course of her life.
Rykerian Yarrister, a Guardian of Vesturon with unearthly powers and impossibly gorgeous looks, finds himself at odds over the human female he recently saved from certain death. When it seems he is on the verge of winning her over, she is ripped from his hands by a strange and powerful being, threatening to destroy her if his demands are not met.
Do Rykerian and the Guardians have the ability to meet this fierce barbarian’s ultimatums, or will January suffer a horrid demise?
Determinant is separated into 5 different books where each book is from a different POV, alternating between the two main characters, January and Rykerian. All the books continue on the story one after another and it is interesting to see how both characters process the situations they get into.
When I began reading the first book from January’s POV, I was really shocked! January has had one of the worst childhoods from an emotional perspective. She wasn’t physically abused, more emotionally abused. You can see that her parents treat her poorly and it really crushed me. She is highly intelligent, finishing High School at 16 and was also the Valedictorian. What parents wouldn’t love that?? All January has wanted from her parents is for them to care about her and what she has accomplished, but they give her nothing. It was so frustrating..... I wanted to jump into the book and shake some sense into these people.
January was able to continue on by herself, but she lacked all confidence due to her upbringing. She was accepted to College and tried so hard to get ahead by working two jobs as well as doing her studies. After three years of hard work she was able to secure an internship for the holidays. By the end of the first book January still lacked self esteem and she almost burnt herself out with the workload. I really sympathised with her because no matter what she tried to achieve it was never good enough.
Book two is Rykerians and this is where the twist comes in. It’s fun to see what he thinks of January. He has felt an attachment to January from the moment he set eyes on her, so he works hard to help her and show her his feelings. She is quite hesitant as she has no idea what love is, so she finds it hard to trust him and to see herself like he does. Together they need to work to help Rykerian’s family prevent war within the universe.
The only issue I had with this book was the massive change in January’s personality in such a short timeframe. She is so timid in the first book and you can see the effect Rykerian has on her in Book two, but in Book three she is now confident, opinionated and outspoken. She is quick to argue with people and is a nonstop chatter box. I found it a bit hard to believe that someone could have a complete change in personality after a few days.
Other than that, the story was fast paced, and fun to read. I liked the new January and was happy she found Rykerian. Rykerian is very protective and will move heaven and earth for January, isn’t that what we all want in our men?? I read Determinant as a standalone and A.M. Hargrave fills us in when details occur in earlier books, so I was able to follow the story easily. There is a lot more adventure in store for fans of this series as the story continues!
Book Links
The Guardians of Vesturon is available from the following retailers:
Amazon ebook: http://amzn.to/I5RCcQ
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/Lg7mJm
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/JwH3yf
iTunes: http://bit.ly/NqYDmo
About the Author
One day, on her way home from work as a sales manager, A. M. Hargrove, realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn't do something soon, it would quickly be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life. So, she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase. Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodgeball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head. Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what lap top out the window. She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone and hit #4 on her speed dial.
A.M.’s Boss: Hello.
A.M: Hey Boss, I'm calling to let you know you can pick up my luxury Ford Focus at Starbucks near the interstate.
A.M.’s Boss: Why ever would I want to do that?
A.M.: Because I quit!
A.M. hit the end button and speed dialed her husband.
A.M.: Hey hubs, can you pick me up at Starbucks?
A.M.’s Hubs: Sure...having some car trouble?
A.M.: Not at all. I don't have a car to have trouble with because I just quit my job.
A.M.’s Hubs: WHAT?!
A.M.: It's time for a new career and I am going to be a very famous novelist.
So began A. M. Hargrove's career as a young adult paranormal romance author of self-published ebooks. Her series, The Guardians of Vesturon, centers around a family of six siblings and is a mix of humor, mystery, suspense and of course, love. Survival and Resurrection are her first and second full length novels, and Beginnings is her prequel novella to the series. Determinant, her third in the series will be released 6/30/12.
(It didn’t really happen like that, but you get the idea!)
Where You Can Find Me
Website: http://www.amhargrove.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anne.m.hargrove
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amhargrove1
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/amhargrove1
Goodreads Fan Club: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/71364-a-m-hargrove-s-fan-club
Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway running where you could win a $25 Gift Card and copies of A.M. Hargrave's books!! Enter now!!
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Hi Naomi, Thanks so much for kicking off the Tour and featuring Determinant on your amazing blog! Also, thanks so much for taking the time to do the R&R for Determinant. I appreciate it more than I can say :-)) Annie xx
ReplyDeleteOMG, I am in awe of your bio and quitting your job like that! Good for you!!!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to read this so much, I definitely will find a way soon! Great review, Naomi!
I love how confident you were about the writing career when you quit your job. Not many people can be like that.
ReplyDeleteGreat sounding story and I have added it to my wishlist (maybe the kids will buy it for me for christmas?)
i have heard so much about determinant. i would love to read this book. thanks so much for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome Annie!! It's been fun! Thank you for sharing your book with us!
ReplyDeleteThanx Liz!! I can't even imagine doing that.... So glad she followed her passion!!
ReplyDeleteooh... lets hope the kids do buy it for you!! Get the first one too!!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, thank you for visiting!
ReplyDeleteI love your story about having the epiphany in the car and tossing (metaphorically, I hope) the briefcase. Priceless!
ReplyDeleteIt was, wasn't it!! Was a great post! Thank you for checking it out!
ReplyDeleteI am looking for to reading your books and thank you for the awesome giveaway
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!! It's an interesting series thats for sure!
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