His Master's Bride
A Novel of the Djinn Chronicles
Paranormal Romance
November 17, 2014
385
Review by: Charlayne Elizabeth Denney
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Lord Peter Bramley is an archeologist. In Egypt, he bumps into a man running from a group of men, who hands him a mysterious jar as he dies with a knife in his back. Back in his quarters, Peter sees smoke wisping from the jar, opens it, and is faced with the mythic djinni, a genie who has been trapped in the jar by an evil magician, Tarxu Rakhshan. The djinni, Yasir, sees a picture of Peter’s new young wife, Lavinia and realizes that she may be his long-lost wife, Thalia, who was stolen by the magician. He takes a big gamble, possesses Peter, and goes after his love.
Peter is changed. Lavinia is concerned, but then finds out that Yasir is using Peter’s body, and that she holds the key to not only freeing the djinni from the curse he’s under and but also allowing him to get revenge on the magician. She wants to keep Peter and yet finds herself drawn to Yasir. As they pursue the truth of Yasir and Thalia’s love, they come face to face with history. It is violent and determined to keep them apart.
I have to admit, I wanted His Master’s Bride to be the grand djinni story with the beautiful richness of the Victorian era and the mystery of the Middle Eastern mythos. In that, Claudia Herring shines. Her descriptions of the places and people of the story pull the reader into the story, and I found myself rooting for them to finally get the Happily Ever After. However, the descriptions goal slowed the story down for me. I found myself bogged down and putting the book down in frustration, only to pick it up and skim through parts. Yasir is an interesting character, and I did feel for him in the situation. However, so much of the story just didn’t interest me. I give this one 3 stars because of the intriguing story, but it also reflects the disappointment in how slow the going was to get the characters to the point where the book ends.