Just did not connect with these characters at all. I felt disconnected from the very first page. After one paragraph I wanted to give up. Very meh. This book needs a complete re-write.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I am not sure I would handle trying to keep a secret like that. This book made me feel for Dara since she was basically a pawn used to help someone hide a secret. I know being a grim reaper must be hard, but does not mean that you have to break someone else's heart for your own purposes. I am not sure how I completely feel about this book.

Never Forget
by Pamela Q. Fernandes

The first chapter was confusing for me since you get a lot of information but when I kept reading it didn’t bother me anymore. You just need to read a few chapters to get the hang of it. I had hoped that while I continued reading that I would start to get more into the book. Unfortunately it wasn’t the case for me. The relationship, or actually the lack of it, of Dara and Malachus kept bothering me. I kept wondering why Dara never decided to leave her husband in those three years. He was cheating on her and didn’t bother to check up. Malachus only acts cold towards her with no good reason if you asked me. I’m just wondering why they both decided not to divorce each other if they don’t interact for three years. It really felt like the woman needs a husband book and I want a female main character to fight short after she’s ignored by her husband. I miss the girl power in this book.

Pamela describes the emotions of the character really well so it’s quite easy to understand what they’re experiencing. That makes the story easy to read. It’s something that you can read after a long day. I really like that about her writing style.

It’s unfortunate that I didn’t enjoy the book because it looked so promising!

Malachus Lonsdale is not only CEO of Darkwood industries, but he is also a grim reaper. He hides his grim reaper status from all who know him. 

Dara Lonsdale was unceremoniously dumped at her husband's derelict estate three years ago on their wedding night. Having fought hard to turn the estate around she travels to the city looking for investors. while there she decides she wants to be a real wife and sets about trying to convince her husband. 

Take my advice and stay away from this book. It's poorly written with numerous spelling errors. The author cannot keep track of her plot points. If you think a woman in her fifties is an elderly woman I would hate to think what you view a ninety-year-old as. Malachus is a disgusting character who flaunts his infidelities and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever he remains the same throughout the book. Dara is an idiot for not running when she had the chance, what sane woman wants to be treated the way she was and actually want to stay married to a verbally abusive, unfaithful jerk. 

I received an arc of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Malachus was CEO of Darkwood Industries. He had been with Lilith but he knew he was in the wrong place with the wrong person. The knowledge nagged him. Malachus had work. It was already past midnight which meant he had a new list of souls to be escorted home. Malachus is a Grim reaper and being a reaper had its own problems, but he took his duties seriously while keeping the facade of being a Calgary businessman alive. Like other grim reapers , he was paying the price for a sin he wasn’t aware of. Yet he had strict instruction from Uriel- the angel of death- they were to lead the soils home. Lilith didn’t have the sway she wanted over Malachus . she wasn’t Dara, the girl who had slowly crept into his heart.malachus was already a little bored with Lilith but she wasn’t no ordinary fling and he owed her. She deserved better. Malachus relished his freedom but had gone too far in his life without possessing either control or independance.
As a child malachus could see ghosts and spirits. At his seventeenth birthday Thanatos paid him a visit and said he wasn't an ordinary man and his purpose on earth was completely different form that of others. Thanatos said he was not there to tell what he had done, except that he had chose this life. That he had done something grave that had led him to become one of them. They were reapers. So Malachus began his training until he was twenty one. Malachus had trained along with other guys who became his friends, in the art of cloaking, gathering souls. Leading them to their final destination and fighting Hellhounds. Freedom didn’t exist in its true sense . It would only come when uriel said he had served his time. Tonight he had three names on his list of souls. Malachus went to the Library where he rented out the basement. Than he wore the coat that made him invisible to humans. It was always tough to escort children but they were the happiest ones. Adults were often melancholic, regretful. And sometimes argumentative. His father's dying words were that he knew what malachus had done to dara’s brother Gabriel and he had Malachus promise to marry Dara which he did but immediately took her to Redwood Meadows and left her there. Malachus hadn’t seen dara since. When he got home after escorting the souls he seen another car in the driveway when he got in his house he demanded where was she? After three years of calm and this woman dared to intrude in the life he had made for himself. He done his best to forget her, to slowly extract her from his life and thoughts. Now she stood before him, his heart-stopping wife dara. She had rehearsed this meeting many times in her mind . She had no way to know what to expect from her husband. Dara’s love for malachus on their wedding day had been eclipsed by her grief by the death of her brother Gabriel’s death. She had known Malachus so long. Their families had been friends. He was her brothers gabriels best friend. She had idolized him. She knew every detail about him. She had always said she would wait for him. There was also a fear of Malchus . even now he still terrified her slightly. There was something about his manner that seperated Malachus from other men. The mysterious air around him. An enigma of closely guarded secrets and paradoxes. She had heard about the ruthless business he had become. Relentless, unforgiving, and hard as stone. He hadn’t always been like this. Not the teenage boy she had known or the the man he became after he graduated college. His revulsion for her was plain to see as he turned away from her. She’d seen Malachus as her savior when he had asked her to marry him. She’d known only kindness from him on their wedding day and ashe drove her to Redwood Meadows. After a few drinks he turned to Dara and told her he didn’t want her there. She asked him why they couldn’t sort it out and he told her to go to hell. Dara said she was already there, didn’t he think she knew about the many women he was seeing. Malachus had been responsible for gabriel’s death as he had Gabriel's name on his list and he didn't help Gabriel as he was dying. Truth was Malachus had always liked Dara, she stood for everything he wasn’t. Innocent, purity, goodness. He knew in his heart and soul he could love her . one day she would be his bride and they could start a family. But then Gabriel showed up on his list. Dara visited her mother-in-law Margo.Than Margo and and an elderly priest Fr Dan got Malachus to go to lunch for appearance sake for Dara to get investors. When Malachus left that evening dara went in his study and ended up getting drunk and they talked a little after Malachus came back and he gave Dara her first kiss that left her tingling. The next morning Fr Dan came to the house to discuss the charity events margo and he wanted Dara and Malachus to be involved in. Fr Dan also told malachus should be aware there were demons stalking him. Fr Dan then talked to Dara and told her she needed to get to know the hospital staff . They could arrange that at the annual fair. There was a reaper - Radcliffe who was also a doctor ands he worked at the hospital. Dara had already talked to him about her business venture and her need of investors. At the Afair dara could all the locals and Malachus could introduce her to any business associates that were there. When talking with Margo later in the afternoon Fr Dan said he knew what Malachus was and so did she even if she wouldn’t admit it. He added there will be a time when Margo had to let go or convince him to choose life and live it. He alas said they needed to help Malachus. There is a reason he is who he is . something in his past. Margo said she loved her son and didn’t want to lose him. Fr Dan said they needed to be cautious about what to do next . And Dara may be their best bet.
I really enjoyed this book . What a different but enjoyable take on grim reapers. Definitely a different paranormal read but no way bad. Hellhounds, demons, a soul not crossed over, grim reapers- good stuff. I enjoyed that Radcliffe and yan looked out and worried about Malachus. I choked up when dara lost her and Malachus’s baby. This did drag for me at times but I didn’t want to stop reading. I wanted to see what was going to happen next especially with dara and Malachus. I really liked the plot. I felt like I was there with Dara and Malachus. I could picture different things in my mind from this book. I wish i could have rated this a 4.5 I loved the characters and the twists and turns in this book and I recommend it.

I had a very hard time with this book. Malachus was a terrible character. He was married but continued to have a mistress which he said multiple times that he did not love. Dara was interesting but she contouring put up with Malachus no matter how terrible he treated her. The plot had promise but disappointed.

I hate to give bad reviews, but this story was just horrid. I have ready many dark romances but Morophus was absolutely nasty. He was hateful, mean, disgusting, etc. In one chapter his inner voice, states he always loved the main girl, but in the next he can't love because hes a reaper. Which one is it? Then he has affairs constantly, and visits his main mistress but in a chapter later he states he never saw her. The story line was inconsistent throughout the book, almost like the author forgot what she already wrote. Then when you think its getting better, she makes it worse. He was never at any point a lovable character, and because she kept letting him treat her horribly and begging for him it made her completely unlikable as well. I mean really, it was the worst verbal and mental abuse story ever, and when you are done with the book all you can think is, hes going to do it again not that they will ever have a HEA. I felt dirty and full of anger when it was over. I only stuck it out hoping it would get better, but was let down. ugh.

Never Forget, Pamela Q. Fernandes

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General fiction (adult), Romance.

This is one of those stories I thought I'd like, but which I found a struggle to connect with. It started well, and despite too many irritating grammar/spelling errors I thought it was going to become one I'd love. Sadly it wasn't, far from it :-(
I love the rich, arrogant hero who discovers another side to himself, love the under dog woman who's got a core of steel, is able to pull herself up, love books with a supernatural side and this seemed all that.
Sadly Malachus has no redeeming features, I didn't really understand him, didn't know why he married Dara. It seems to be a combination of obligation to her brother and his father, and of course her wealth which he seems to have needed. Having married her he dumps her off at his semi derelict country home, and swans back to the city and his mistresses...nice man! Sadly he never really got any better, one moment he wants Dara, next she's getting the cold shoulder for no apparent reason, and that continues again and again....
Dara, she's 23 when she's left at the country house, but somehow with her business degree and no money manages to transform the house, modernising and upgrading it, and make the falling apart business into a thriving profitable one.
Three years on and she needs more money to expand the business, comes to the city and decides she wants to be a proper wife while she's at it. I cringed for her when she just took all the verbal abuse, the ignoring, the flaunting his infidelity. He says he wants a divorce but she decides she doesn't so keeps on and on, trying to seduce him, persuade him they should stay married. He gives in and kisses her senseless ( not that she appears to have much) on several occasions then once more starts the verbal flaying, and she takes it. Once, just once, when she's been drinking does she say a few words back, and fling a drink at him. By now I'd have the ink drying on those divorce papers and be dust.
It just didn't make sense, why after three years did she want him, why didn't she speak to him, try to do something before.? Why when she knows he has other lovers, and one consistently does she still hope to change his mind? I just felt she had no self respect, was a complete doormat.
I had such high hopes for this story, but it was just a constant will he won't he, with a few odd supernatural elements thrown in that didn't really add anything. The turnaround at the end could just as easily be one of his moments when maybe he does want her and then doesn't, there was no real reason for the change, and I felt it all happened far to quickly. I felt that there wasn't any real plot, no characters I could get behind, and for me the whole book was wrong.
It could be what someone else wants, but for me this is clearly an author to miss, her writing style and my tastes just don't mesh. Sad, I was so hooked by the description :-( and really disappointed it didn't work out for me.

Stars: Two. Starts well, but soon fizzles out.

Arc via netgalley and publishers.

Humorous ~ Sexy ~ Quirky

tl:dr: Her beloved is the reaper, hope it doesn't kill the marriage.

This light novel is a funny slant on the romance novel, in this case with the male lead being the reaper. This easy to read book has a engaging protagonist, though her beloved is a little stiff. The prose is breezy. There is a tongue-in-cheek aspect to the whole book that I find enjoyable. Overall, a light romance novel, ideal for someone who enjoys after-death fatantasy or anerdy-romance reader.

3.5

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This started off well and really interesting for the first quarter of the book I really dived in, but sadly that’s where it went downhill. Malachus as a lead has no redeeming features, no likeable features, no charisma or humour. He lacks all the qualities that make a good ‘bad’ guy, love to hate/hate to love guy. He was just unlike able and irritating. Dara I like at the beginning , but it was unbelievable it took her 3 years to do anything and then suddenly decided she wanted her man. I don’t like being negative in reviews, so I will say it started out well and could have been really good based on premise, but sadly the characters let it down.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion