SLY Games

After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves Halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret and the wings that come with.

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in the scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

Yesterday, I got an ARC copy of the book, opened the package and handled the still cold book. Then, I sat down on a nearby couch and opened it. I read without interruption breaking only for chores, dinner and brushing my teeth. Then, I continued reading until 1:11 to be exact. The book was finished. Did I like it?

First of all, I’d like to remind you of the demographic the book is geared towards. Definitely young women more than young men. While I wouldn’t call this ‘chick lit’ it’s definitely closer to that than say… The Hunt for Red October. Target market aside, I would recommend the book to guys who aren’t afraid of a little romance. Now… another limiting factor, age. Due to sensuality (it doesn’t go too far, but let’s call it what it is) I wouldn’t recommend the book to anyone under seventeen. The two main characters, after all, are both seventeen. The age of the characters is *usually* a good gauge of age appropriateness. Now, it would be unfair of me to merely write off the book as ‘inappropriate’ without giving some qualifiers. Yes it is a Christian book. No, the main character is not a Christian, the other main character however is, or at least is trying very hard to be.

All that aside, would I ‘recommend’ the book to you? YES! It’s a well written journey (that’s funny, but don’t expect to understand until you read the book) that is chock full of thrills, mystery and intrigue. And romance. Can’t forget that. Go order it here: Halflings – Heather Burch

*SPOILERS*

Now. I had a minor point of confusion… the book makes it clear that it is an unpardonable sin for Halflings to marry humans, since they were created in Satan’s attempt for them to take over the world. So they are supposed to not reproduce unless on pain of hell. That of course makes it very dramatic for Nikki and Mace, when they fall in love, since she loves him and doesn’t want him to lose his soul over her, but he loves her and seems to be willing to sacrifice his soul for her. It all gets complicated when, near the end of the book, some Halfling girls show up. It is made clear that marrying a Halfling girl is NOT an unpardonable sin.

So my question is this, if God didn’t want them to reproduce, then why did he say they could marry themselves? It didn’t make sense to me. Of course, it is true that if they married themselves, as opposed to humans, they would taint the human bloodline less… but then they’d be a large group of people who all are going to be sorely tempted to marry humans. See?

Also… what DOES happen when a human marries a Halfling? Do you get a whole new race called the Fourthlings? Mwahahaha!