Book Review & #Giveaway ~ Awakened (The Horsemen Chronicles, Book One) by D.C. Gambel ~ @DC_Gambel #UF #UrbanFantasy

My vulnerability, that’s kept me secluded from the world, 
is now the one thing that can save it. 

Awakened
The Horsemen Chronicles, Book One
D.C. Gambel

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Date of Publication: March 16, 2018

ISBN: 1981137491
ASIN: B079FRN2WQ

Number of pages: 391
Word Count: 96k

Book Description:

Evie has lived most of her life as a recluse, terrified that she might hurt someone. On her twenty-first birthday she meets Derek who informs her there’s a reason behind her gifts.

As someone that had to spend her entire life avoiding human contact, learning the truth about her origins as one of the Four Horsemen was a hard pill to swallow. Especially once she realizes that her fellow Horsemen are the only people she’d ever met that can withstand her touch.

The struggle to overcome her seclusion becomes very real when Evie discovers an attraction has sprung up between herself and one of her fellow Horsemen. Nothing good can come from pursuing the allure, especially when she knows that it not only would jeopardize her team, but her heart as well.

Enter the Giveaway Here:

https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/2018/03/book-spotlight-review-giveaway-awakened.html

Purchase Your Copy:

Amazon

Add to Your Goodreads Shelf:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37667470-awakened

Awakened truly surprised me with its fresh story surrounding the Four Horsemen (actually 3 Horsemen and one Horsewoman) of the Apocalypse. Evie is the fourth and final member of the legendary Four Horseman, only she doesn't know that until the day she turns 21. Evie knew she was different and harbors some horrible, heart-wrenching secrets pertaining to a "gift" she does not understand. When she is confronted by some less than upstanding men behind a bar, her only hope is that someone saves the men before she kills them. She wasn't expecting Derek to prevent Evie from hurting them but to be unaffected by her "gift." Evie's  destiny and true purpose is finally revealed and her reasons behind being unable to touch humans is explained - much to her surprise.

As this new world is explained to Evie, she finds a building attraction to one of the Horsemen. The attraction isn't toward a gentle and kind Horseman, it's to one that truly defines bad boy. When they share a very intimate moment, dynamics change, Evie's feelings change, but the Horseman distances himself. Yet, as the story progresses you see that they are made for one another - it just takes them a while to get there. There are parts of their moments together that touched my heart and made me cry. The author did a wonderful job putting emotion into her characters that can be felt by the reader.

Awakened is so much more than a paranormal romance though. The story contains the breaking of seals, good versus evil, and trying to train Evie to be able to protect herself and the other Horsemen while also getting her gift under control. Add her human friend into this new world and Evie finds that she finally has a family, one that she can share things with without lying or keeping secrets. She also has the warmth of other people that her body has craved (and not necessarily sexual).

I enjoyed the character development and there was a lot of it in Awakened. All of the characters were written well. Evie and her Horseman were meant to be and I was rooting for them from the second he flashed onto the the page. The chemistry was evident right from the very start. The roadblocks that they encountered were hard, full of anger and sadness, maybe some despair, but they conquered them and rose above to learn to work together. The world building was awesome and the descriptions were vivid and I felt like I was there in the story. I can't wait for the next book!

I was provided a copy of this book.

My Rating: