My Thoughts
Ruby is in love with Archer, but everything changes when he brings home a human to make his wife. She is so strong, but he breaks her as he blindsides her since he had professed his love for her. I have to admit that I didn't like Archer much throughout the story. He strung Ruby along the whole way through. I felt bad for her and his wife. He even goes as far to ask Ruby to protect her when he goes off to serve in the war against the vampires. Then there's Poe who comes into her life and shows her what love is really all about.
I liked this story and it's similarities to Gone With the Wind, but wasn't a big fan of so many POV. It got to be a little confusing with all the back and forth between so many of the characters.
I give The Gifted and the Damned 3 hearts!
About the Book
Seduction was her gift...He was her weakness...
In the small town of Corydon Indiana, witches, seers, and shape shifters live hidden from the everyday world in plain sight. They live under the constant memory of the trials of Salem and live by a code of secrecy.
Ruby Malone, the only siren ever born to her family of witches, held the hearts of many men in the palm of her hand, making her the talk of the supernatural community, but there was only one man that she wanted. Making seer Archer Wallace hers was the only thing Ruby cared about until a war between the gifted and the vampires turned her world upside down.
Suddenly, the world that Ruby knows is gone. Archer is off fighting in the war and Poe Corvus, a rebellious shape shifter with a past, tempts her to be the siren she was born to be.
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Excerpt
All throughout the morning, I did what I could for the wounded
using all of our meager first aid supplies and then finally just tearing the
bed sheets into long strips and using those for bandages. I asked every person
that was cognitive enough for news.
“Where are the vampires? Are they going to take the city?”
Dim eyes looked up at me, “It’s not good. We're losing.”
“Losing?” I tried to let the implications of that word sink in. We
were losing... The vampires were going to win...
I looked at all the wounded and dying, seeing what the vampires
were capable of and felt sick. “What am I supposed to do?”
“What can any of us do? Just wait them out.”
Wait them
out? We’re losing the war... And tonight the vampires will come and they will
smell all of this blood...
I wiped the sweat from my brow and shook my head, “You all can’t
stay here. It’s just... There’s so much blood...”
“I understand,” the leader said. “Let us rest for an hour or so,
and those of us that can walk will start leaving.”
“And the rest?”
He looked around at the people sleeping or unable to sleep because
they were writhing in agony, “I've put a call out. Cars will be coming shortly
to get the ones that can’t leave on their own.”
The morning dragged on into the afternoon, the groans of the
wounded and the whimpers of the dying created a constant hum that filled the
air and pushed everything else out. I carried glasses of water back and forth,
stepping over those lying in the floor as I moved from room to room.
I didn't even know were Melina was anymore and I didn't care. All
I did was wrap clumsy bandages and dish out what food we had. The sun sank
lower and lower as the number of people dwindled, but they move so slowly! I
wished they would hurry so I could clean the blood soaked floor before sunset.
As I moved from the living room to the hall with another armful of
blood soaked rags, one of the grimy creatures squirming on the floor reached
out and grabbed at the hem of my jeans. I felt myself cringe, I wanted to pull
away from his dirty hand, but when I looked down, I saw a familiar pair black
eyes looking up at me.
Poe...
I dropped down beside him. His shoulder and neck were bleeding.
“My God Poe, what happened?”
“I wasn't... I wasn't quick enough.” He mumbled feverishly, “I
just wasn't...”
I brushed his hair out of his eyes, “What were you doing fighting
anyway? I thought you were a scout.”
“Things changed.”
He fainted into a twitching sort of sleep. I got up, went into the
kitchen for a pan of water, and clean towels. I returned and knelt down beside
him, cleaning his wounds and applying pressure to stop the bleeding.
Slowly he opened his eyes and focused on my face as I hovered over
him. He looked up at me with vacant eyes, “It’s bad, isn't it?”
“No,” I said with a shrug. “I've seen several worse off.”
“Liar,” he said with a weak smile. “You always were such a bad
liar.”
I looked down at him and suddenly felt like crying. I looked away
and added another towel to the soppy mess on his shoulder.
Poe lifted his uninjured arm so that his hand could brush my
cheek.
“How can you still be so beautiful in the middle of all this
mess?” Poe mumbled, “Archer Wallace is a fool...”
I looked around nervously, hoping wherever Melina was that she
wasn't close enough to hear him.
“Don’t talk,” I whispered. “Please don’t talk.”
“I have to,” he said with a grimace. “There won’t be any second
chances... I love you Ruby Malone... I don’t know why and I wish to hell I
didn't...”
I couldn't speak. His hand gripped my hair and pulled me down to
him. He strained to lift his head enough for our lips to meet.
It was a soft kiss, but suddenly I felt as though I was falling.
My breath caught and my heart pounded in my chest as if trying to break free
from my ribs.
I willed my body not to respond. This was Poe...And it was Archer
that I loved...Archer...
Poe released my hair as he fell back, slipping into
unconsciousness. I looked in his handsome face, looking so much younger than
his years, smeared with his own blood.
I’m sick
of this war...
I sat with him for the next two hours, holding towels over his
injuries until two men lifted him to take him to a waiting car.
I watched as his head fell back and flopped from side to side, as
they moved him.
“Will he be okay?” I asked as I followed them to the door.
“Don’t know,” one of the men said. “Doesn't look good.”
I reached up and touched my lips as they took him out to the
waiting car.
About The Author
Dana Michelle Burnett spent most of her life writing short stories and sharing them with family and friends. Over the years, her work was published in numerous commercial and literary magazines including Just Labs, Mindprints: A Literary Journal, Foliate Oak, and many more. Her short story John Lennon and the Chicken Holocaust was include in The Best of Foliate Oak 2006.
Dana Michelle's Spiritus Series introduced the idea of a ghostly romance and became a Kindle bestselling series. Her Gypsy Fairy Tale Series combined the magic of the Tuatha De Danann and the Irish Travellers and the first book in the series,Once, was included in the Faery Realms Multi-Author Box Set. With this new series, Dana Michelle dives into the trials and tribulations surrounded the paranormal gifted during a war with vampires.
She's an avid reader of anything dark and romantic. Dana Michelle lives in Southern Indiana with her dancing diva daughter and an assortment of pets.
Dana Michelle loves connecting with her readers.
You can find Dana at
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