The Longest Night: Fantasy Romance (Nvengaria Book 4) by Jennifer Ashley Series: Nvengaria #4
on December 13th 2016
Genres: Historical, Paranormal
Pages: 98
Goodreads
FINAL DECISION: This is a nice novella with some suspense and the romance between a half human, half logosh shapeshifter who acts as spy and assassin for Nvengaria and the Scottish widow who entranced him a year ago. It’s a fun read with some emotional moments.
THE STORY: Mary Cameron a Scottish widow with a seventeen year old son is lonely. A year ago, she met Baron Valentin a shapeshifting logosh from Nvengonia. The two shared some kisses and Valentin asked her to join him in Nvengaria. She never showed. Now the two meet again in London and Valentin has no intention on allowing Mary to escape him again.
OPINION: This novella like the other Nvengarian stories are a combination of historical and paranormal fantasy with a fairy tale aspect.
In this story Mary is a woman of thirty-five who has a seventeen year old son. The world tells her that she should be satisfied with being a widow and mother and respectable chaparone and not be concerned with love or sex. But she can’t help thinking about both when around the sexy, younger man, Valentin. She thought about following Valentin to Nvengaria a year ago but got cold feet thinking about who he is. The truth is that they didn’t know each other very well for her to give up everything to follow him.
Valentin is a man who has lived with the desire for revenge and the regret of making mistakes. He now wants to be with the lovely widow. He has been sent to London to spy on a potential traitor. But he has an ulterior motive…he wants to see Mary again. Outwardly self-contained but passionate, Valentin has no intention of allowing Mary to slip past him again.
I liked the older woman, younger man story here and I liked how honest Valentin was with Mary. He admires her for all her strengths. There is a decent suspense story here involving Valentin’s mission. Because of the length of this novella, there is less plot and character development, but that works here because Mary and Valentin have a simple story between them and need the small plot to keep the story moving.
This was an enjoyable read and is a definite need to read for those who liked HIGHLANDER EVER AFTER and want to know what happens after…
WORTH MENTIONING: THE LONGEST NIGHT was originally published in A CHRISTMAS BALL. This version has been edited and expanded by the author.
CONNECTED BOOKS: THE LONGEST NIGHT is the fourth book in the Nvengaria series. The romance in this book begins in HIGHLANDER EVER AFTER and I recommend reading that book first even though the events in that book are explained here.
STAR RATING: I give this book 3.5 stars.