Carved in Stone, Vickie Taylor

Finished Carved in Stone at last! The backblurb reads as follows:

Six year old Rachel Vandermere didn’t believe in monsters—until she saw one kill her parents. Now all grown up and an INTERPOL investigator, Rachel has quietly amassed an impressive collection of evidence to support the existence of preternatural creatures. But she dares not go public with her beliefs until she can produce a living, breathing abnormal being to show the world—which she is certain she can do if only she can convince the enigmatic Nathan Cross to help her.

Disavowed from the Chicago congregation of Gargoyles, Nathan has given up life as a guardian of mankind for a quieter, more human existence. But when Rachel shows up at his door spouting her crazy theories about monsters, he is thrust into the role of protector once again. For Rachel’s theories aren’t as crazy as some people might think, and her diligent pursuit of the truth might just get them both killed if the wrong people find out what she knows.

With an ancient evil force gathering on the horizon to destroy them, Rachel and Nathan must both come to terms with the secrets of their pasts before it’s too late for them to save their future…together.

I think Taylor did an excellent job of world building and creating the Gargoyle history and ethos. But I had a really hard time with the first 100 pages or so. After that, something clicked for me and I read the rest of the book fairly quickly. After finishing the book, I realized that my problem early on was the hero. He was too full of unexplained angst. He was reminiscent of the suicidal hero in Bitten & Smitten and Louis from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. They make me want to give them a headslap. [I thought I reviewed B&S earlier, but don't see it in the archive. If I find it later, I'll add a link. Otherwise, I'll find my review blurb in my reading log and post it here.] The book picked up steam for me when Nathan was busy working with Rachel to find a missing Gargoyle who is linked to her investigation, and has less time to feel angsty and all woe-is-me. The explanation for his bleak outlook came later on, and it made a whole lot of sense, but it would have helped to know all that stuff earlier, when I was tired of reading about his frustration and whiny-ness.

The chemistry between Rachel and Nathan is very well done. They are burn-your-fingertips-on-a-pot hot, long before they have sex...which is fairly late in the book. But the timing of the first love scene is right -- they didn't jump into bed early because they were hot for each other, but fought the attraction (sort of), each for their own personal reasons.

Flesh and Stone is in my stack of new books, so I'll be pulling it out to read next.

Random stuff

No one in my family or circle of friends is admitting to giving me a subscription to Style: Smart Living in Baltimore. I'm torn between the idea of a Secret Santa and contacting the circulation dept. of the magazine to find out.

Doug posted an awesome-looking recipe for bread pudding. BP is my favorite dessert, but I seldom have it for two reasons. First because most restaurants make it with raisins (cooked raisins are a blasphemy in my opinion). The only exception that I've found locally is the Irish Bread Pudding made by Hull Street Blues down in Locust Point. Second reason I seldom have BP is that if I make it at home, I'll eat the entire pan and be ill. I have the best of intentions. Only one serving. Then maybe another spoonful. After about 48 hours, the pan is empty but for one little smidge left so as not to feel guilty. But Doug's recipe looks so good that I'll have to try it.