morveaRating: 3.75  stars
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Long ago humans, vampires, and dragons lived together on the realm of Pavarus.  Paravus is just one of the realms on this planet, and over time the humans moved through the magic portal and began to occupy Earth instead.  While the vampires were content to let the humans have Earth, they recognized that human civilization was developing faster than the realm of Pavarus and they worked out a deal.  Every ten years the vampire leader would be allowed through the portal to Earth to learn about technology and other advancements and bring that knowledge to Pavarus.

Eli Thatcher has a special job, a human who aids the vampires of Pavarus on their rare visits to Earth. He manages the property and affairs of the head vampire, Keddrick, so that when he arrives on Earth has money and a home and the resources he needs.

Four years ago, Eli took the job over from his uncle and met Keddrick for the first time.  Eli immediately fell for the handsome vampire, but he knew nothing could come of their relationship.  Keddrick is only allowed on Earth for a month every ten years, and Eli is pretty sure Keddrick is straight besides.  But since Keddrick left, Eli has been unable to get over the man.

One day Eli is confronted by Wayland, head of the human council on Earth, who not only wants to take over as ruler of all the humans, but is convinced somehow that Eli is plotting to try to take over as well.  He attacks Eli, who just barely escapes with his life, and flees the only place he can think to go… through the portal to Pavarus.

Keddrick is shocked to see a wounded Eli suddenly appear in his realm, and even more so because he knows that Eli is his mate.  Keddrick has wanted Eli for years, but his dreams of mating with Eli and having Eli die as a result make Keddrick wary of claiming him.  But as Eli heals, the men can no longer deny their feelings for one another.  Yet fears and miscommunication still threaten their developing relationship. With Wayland determined not only to harm Eli, but to take over as ruler of all the humans as well, Eli and Keddrick must fight for their lives before they can have any chance to be together.

Morvea is the second book in Wright’s Finding Home series and it picks up shortly after the end of the first story.  We meet both Eli and Keddrick in Pavarus and learn a bit about Eli’s role on Earth, but here we see how both of them have been secretly longing for the other for years.  Neither thought there was any hope for a future between them, so they did their best to hide their feelings, but with Eli injured and on Pavarus, the two finally begin to open up to one another.

I did find I struggled a little bit with the relationship between Eli and Keddrick.  These guys suffer from a common romance novel ailment, which is constant miscommunication. Virtually every element of conflict comes back to some sort of failure to talk to one another or to share their feelings.  I found myself frustrated that these men are constantly talking past one another and making assumptions, rather than just communicating.  Which is suprising because I think Wright does a great job with the world building in this series and has proven herself to be creative and original.  So it is a shame to fall back on failure to communicate as the chief source of conflict when she has created a rich and interesting set up for her characters.

I also found I had some trouble really connecting with Eli and Keddrick as a couple, or really individually either.  I never really felt like I totally got to know them or understand them and would have loved some deeper character development.  I found the two side relationships to be much more interesting.  We spend some time again with Wesley and Remus from the first book, as well as Larken and Zane, two warriors withe a developing relationship we also met in the first book.  The latter couple have an interesting dynamic and history together, and I found myself eagerly waiting for their scenes together.  I hope they are due to get their own story, as I have found them intriguing from the start.

My other frustration here is that for all the well developed world building, that didn’t really carry over into the suspense plot.  Wayland is sort of a cartoonishly evil bad guy, with some vague plot to take over as leader of all humans that is never really explained in any clear way. Out of nowhere he is sure Eli is actually trying to take over the world himself, and sets out to destroy him.  His actions are so over the top and irrational it took away from some of the suspense element for me as he seems far to stupid and boarish to be threatening.  And honestly, Eli’s actions as they build up to this final conflict were also ridiculous and ill advised, which is frustrating from your romantic lead.

So I sort of had mixed feelings on this one.  I continue to find this an interesting world and the set up leads to lots of great possibilities for the series.  There is a lot of potential for some great stories here, along with an interesting cast of secondary characters.  I found Eli and Keddrick just a little flat with too much manufactured conflict that could have easily been resolved if they just talked to one another, and the suspense aspect could have been better developed.  But I am still interested enough in where things are going to continue on here and look forward to seeing what comes next.

jaysig