Review - Savage (Daughters of the Jaguar #1) by Willow Rose

Title: Savage

Author: Willow Rose

Series: 1st

Pages: 444

Published:  June 14th 2012 by DMC 

ISBN: 9781477662397

Source: Author sent for honest review

Description: The year is 1983. Christian is 22 years old when he leaves his home in Denmark to spend a year in Florida with a very wealthy family and go to med-school. A joyful night out with friends is shattered by an encounter with a savage predator that changes his life forever. Soon he faces challenges he had never expected. A supernatural gift he has no idea how to embrace. A haunting family in the house next door. A spirit-filled girl who seems to carry all the answers. An ancient secret hidden in the swamps of Florida. One life never the same. One love that becomes an obsession. Two destinies that will be forever entangled. 

I Give This ...

I was intrigued by this one.  A man from another country trying to immerse himself in our culture and attend medical school.  I was really hoping this would be a good read.  

I wonder what Christian was expecting when he came to Florida.  I hope he realized that he didn't land himself in typical America situation.  A rich family that will basically adopt him as the long lost son.  I don't think that's a realistic situation.  I was also a little leery of the fact that the daughter just readily accepted him into her friend circle.  I don't think I would have done that, and she doesn't strike me as the type of person who would either.  Plus, I often really didn't like the family Christian leaves with.  The father/doctor seems to have conditions to everything, the mother seems spacey and discounted, and the daughter has more than one issue.

Despite that I liked Christian.  He seems generally optimistic and grateful for the situation he is in.  He knows that it's an awesome opportunity to study medicine in the US.  But at the same time, he's ensure if that's what he truly wants to do.  It's more of what's expected of him and it would be extremely hard for him to strike out in a directions that hasn't been mapped for him.  When the jaguar saves him life, he begins to think of his own mortality.  Does he really want to spend the rest of his life doing something he doesn't really enjoy?

I enjoyed the interactions with the family next door.  Their idiosyncrasies were a sharp contract to the rich world that Christian was accustomed to.  I loved learning about each family member and what they brought to the overall dynamics of the whole group.  I think they taught Christian a lot about life and the bigger picture.

The romantic relationships were a little intense for me.  Christian seems to have little regard for Heather, the girl he lives with.  It's just sex to him, but I'm not sure what it was for her.  And there are some instances that bothered me a little.  Then he meets Aiyana the girl next door and becomes obsessive.  It's a good thing she could handle him, because he became very intense.

I had a really hard time with the beginning third of this book, to the point I almost put it down.  I enjoyed the rest of it for the most part.  An interesting book that I would recommend for older readers.  It's definitely not young adult.