Lady of the Storm (The Elven Lords #2) – *Le Sigh* and the magic is gone

I came into this story already expecting that I would not to enjoy it as much as its predecessor, The Fire Lord’s Lover, and unfortunately it didn’t exceed my expectations. Kathryne Kennedy’s Lady of the Storm has all of the pieces, but I was honestly left wanting to simply go read The Fire Lord’s Lover all over again.

We have a new hero and heroine in this tale, both elf/human half-breeds. The story centers around Cecily, who we meet as a child in the first book, and Giles, her sworn protector. In the first book we learn that Cecily inherited exceptional power from her Imperial Lord Elven father of Dewhame to control water and weather elements. This made her a target, so she had to flee into hiding in order to remain safe. At the start of this book we see that she’s managed to live in secrecy for about ten years until the Imperial Lord’s soldiers show up at her door. She is forced to go on the run again, but there’s no more running away. It’s her time to fight back with Giles at her side.

Everything that felt new and fresh with Fire Lord’s Lover felt a bit bland here. I don’t doubt Kennedy’s imagination and world building abilities, but I guess her story-building abilities come into question. There were times where the plot felt completely formulaic:

Beautiful elves? Check
Virgin heroine? Check
5+ love scene quota? Check
1 super magical love scene? Check
A silly development for relationship conflict that you know will be resolved? Check

I felt like this book had more love scenes than the first one and it took a lot longer to get to that point, so it was a bit condensed. Also, whereas I liked the magical love scene in the first book, this one wasn’t nearly as interesting, though the author tried to be creative and original. I think this series would have benefited from focusing on Dominic and Cassandra instead of shifting to new characters. Dominic and Cassandra do make appearances a few times in this installment, but it only served to make me wish the POV would switch to them every time.

There’s nothing particularly likable about Giles or Cecily. I didn’t feel a lot of personality with them like I did with their book 1 counterparts. They are heavy on the angst and emotionally weak. I was also disappointed with the lack of development for her Imperial Lord father as opposed to the first book. I like for the villains to be well-developed. The final showdown was really anti-climatic and I wasn’t invested in it at all; it only sealed this book’s fate as forgettable. I just wanted it over so that I could skip to the preview for the next book. I hope that the author rebounds, but I won’t be quick to read this next one, which sounds like it could potentially be the last one. I haven’t heard one way or another as to whether this series will be a trilogy, but if she can’t turn things around then the sooner she ends it, the better.