The Lantern's Ember by Colleen Houck

Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So, he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern—one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal—or not-so-mortal—soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare.

Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire—and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.

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First thing I have to say is I really love this cover.  It's interesting and I love the fireflies and swirl things all over.

This is the perfect book as we are just heading into fall here.  Halloween is on it's way and I loved how this book eventually tied in to some of the stories and traditions of Halloween.

If you are wondering if this book is scary, the answer is no.  Not at all.  This is what I would describe as a paranormal steampunk, I think.  There were lots of paranormal creatures but I never felt the least bit frightened or anything close to it.  It was more like a grand adventure.  The Otherworld was where the steampunk feel came in with machines and gadgets.

I liked a lot about this book and it's plot but I felt like it lacked in a few places.  There were a lot of characters, but none that I felt an emotional connection to.  I liked Jack and Ember  but from the outside looking in.  Ember is tenacious and maybe a wee bit naive.  Jack is devoted.  Both were characters I could root for.

I really didn't like the ending because I felt like we finally got to some good action and then had an information dump to explain everything and then "the end".  I was really hoping for more, I guess.  The characters were as clueless as me for the whole book and that's no bueno.  We all got the information dump together.  

So, I guess this book was okay for me.  I'm not raving excited but it wasn't bad either.  

Content:  moments of peril, mild violence.  Some kissing.

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.