Book Review: Gargoyle by Lorraine Beaumont

Synopsis:

When Evie Harrington agrees to help, set up for a huge party at a creepy Gothic manor house she has no idea what lies in wait for her.
First: She gets stranded with the guy of her dreams...but is it a good thing?
Second: She is attacked by a monster…or so she thinks.
Third: She meets an unbelievably handsome boy she can't help being drawn to...turns out, he may not even be human.
Briar Cliff Township, New England’s best-kept secret…has a few secrets of its own.
Gargoyle is the first book in a new paranormal romance series from the bestselling author of the Ravenhurst Series. L Beaumont has created another captivating world. Enter a place filled with magic, mystery, forbidden love, vengeance, sacrifice, and betrayal. Something wicked this way comes…

So, I really did want to give this book a higher rating. Because honestly, it was pretty fun and easy to read. Unfortunately, I was a little distracted by some grammatical errors (especially in the first chapters), and  I was confused as well for the first half of the book as to who was who and what was going on. Midway through it got more enjoyable, however.

Every single person in this book

EVERYONE was throwing themselves at each other. I get having a few slutty girls and some man-whores thrown into a college group, but REALLY. Not every single person would be looking for random hook ups ALL THE TIME. That was a little ridiculous. And Evie (main protagonist) has this best friend who the author is like ISN’T THIS CHICK SO COOL, YOU SHOULD LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HER, and I was like, NO, she’s a HORRIBLE human being! Stop trying to make her seem so fantastic!

The biggest annoyance I have with this book is I got to the end and I still knew practically NOTHING abut ANYTHING. I totally understand wanting mystery and not giving everything away. But you have to give the reader enough to stay interested in the story. The things that we were given seemed extremely random and weren’t explained much at all. And the worst part is there was so much potential! Something would be introduced and I would be like, YEAH, THAT’S REALLY COOL, but then it wouldn’t get explained or fleshed out further, so I stopped caring about it.

I did like the main character, Evie, quite a lot. She had some insecurities, but she seemed to have a fairly good head on her shoulders, and I thought she was the best part of the book.

ACTUALLY the best part of the book was the preview of the second book. Because we actually got some interaction between the supernatural elements and the human elements. The scene that took place between Adriane (who is apparently some important sexy gargoyle, I really still don’t know any more details than that) and Evie FINALLY gave a little insight into Adriane, showed us what their relationship will look like as the series goes on, and was pretty much the only romantic scene (except for their little scene in the woods) where I wasn’t like, UGH THIS IS LAME. or GROSS. or WHAT IS SHE DOING? WHY IS SHE SUCH A WHORE? none of which are common thoughts for me when I’m reading romantic books. So that scene gave me some hope for the next book, namely that I would like it better than the first if it continued in that vein.

I really liked the concept of the book: a bunch of college students gather at this creepy mansion for a huge party, which is suddenly overrun by supernatural creatures. Sounds fun, right? I can see all sorts of potential here. But I just felt like it never really went anywhere. Too much time was spent wandering around this hormone-filled party with absolutely nothing more than flirting, making-out, and referencing mysterious gargoyle things happening. And by too much time, I mean, probably at least 3/4 of the book. The last scene was really exciting as far as conflict goes because I was like FINALLY A CONFLICT BEFITTING A PARANORMAL BOOK, but it was so short it barely seemed to exist.

So I’ve said some harsh things; I obviously had some issues with this book. But it wasn’t completely painful by any means. Some of the secondary characters had some really funny dialogue, and Evie and Adriane were cute, although it was some weird insta-love, supernatural fate thing (like I said, no details whatsoever). IF I decide to read the second one, I have high hopes for their storyline.

I had high hopes for my first foray into gargoyles, but unfortunately, they were dashed. By no means the worst book I’ve ever read, but not something I feel I can highly recommend. If reading about horny college kids and random, mysterious hot gargoyles who stand around making snarky comments and do practically nothing else sounds entertaining to you, you would probably like this book.