Hearts Unbound
Cursed Hearts - Book 2
By Rebecca Goings
Samhain Publishing - November 2007
Paranormal Romance
As we had seen in Hearts Eternal, Jareth Moreland had committed atrocities. He had pursued his brother Laith, and the woman they both loved, Cassandra, after their deaths, by becoming vampire. Then, when they finally were being reunited, he tried to intervene and kill Laith. In the end, it had been he who had died.
But he was given a second chance. He had been pulled back in time to before that fateful moment that he had turned vampire. He was being given a second chance to not make the same mistakes, but he questioned the extent of the cost he would have to bear.
Jessica Belstowe loved Jareth. She was a witch, and knew of the fate that would become him, and was determined to save him. So she did the only thing she knew to pull and hold him to her. She made them shelmirs, soulmates. Yet it was immediately obvious Jareth would want her only against his will. He still yearned for Cassandra, and Jessica feared that the witch Morana, whose evil plans had ruined so many lives the first time, might still be able to succeed again.
Hearts Unbound was a fascinating sequel to Hearts Eternal. I had deep reservations about Jareth being a hero. He had been so evil before, I wondered how Ms. Goings would be able to make him a sympathetic hero, particularly considering that this would be a novella. I was impressed with how Ms. Goings gradually revealed the true Jareth. Without revealing spoilers, I will simply say that there was adequate explanation. Unlike most of her stories, there weren't diverse secondary characters. Primarily, there was Morana who has basically one facet - evil. The highlight of both books for me was how she reconciled the two stories.
Kathy Andrico - GottaWriteNetwork.com