Title: Make Me Whole
Author: Marguerite Labbe
Genre: Erotic Romance / Paranormal >> Mythology
ISBN: 978-1-62798-056-2
Length: Novel (294 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (August 26th, 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5~4 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: After a grueling battle in ancient Greece, lovers Dexios and Lykon committed their lives to each other in the name of Goddess Cythera. After the war, fearing the strength of his love for Dexios, Lykon abandoned his vow and returned home. Heartbroken, Dexios called on Cythera, who changed him into four unfinished statues. In that form he would wait for his fickle lover to return, break the curse, and make him whole.
Thousands of years have passed when Galen Kanellis finds the disassembled pieces in the storeroom of a Seattle museum and makes them the focus of his new exhibit. Needing information, he contacts his ex-lover Nick Charisteas. Nick has a lifelong dream of finding the Dexios Collection, and the last thing he expected was for it to wind up in the hands of the man who broke his heart. As both men search for answers about the statues, worries of abandonment and fear of loss test their renewed relationship, threatening to separate them again—this time permanently.
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4113
Review: What an intense book this one was. Emotional intense that is and with good reason too since the protagonists of this story were all Mediterranean men, or descendants as they were Greeks and hot-blooded to the point of being irritating as hell. And as much as you wouldn’t have thought it from the way this story started, it was one heck of an interesting and passionate ride, so much so that by the end of it I was left nearly dumbfounded with the spin of this mythological tale and how well the tragic morale the ancient Greeks were so fond of was spun and told.
The story is a mix of Greek mythology and contemporary romance. It starts with Dexios and Lykon, two Greek warriors who fall in love while on a campaign. Dexion fears the end of the battle though, not because he loves the bloodshed, but because it means the end of their relationship as they would both have to go back at their homes and duties. In the heat of passion and driven by fear Dexios extracts a vow from Lykon to forego his return home and stay with him, and Lykon, always weak when facing Dexios’ love, readily agrees without thought. However, when the battle ends and his head cools, he sees that he made a rash decision about their entire future and his family’s expectations and breaks that vow, asking Dexios for time. Hurt, anger, and fear are the emotions that grab both men leading to a fight that have both of them saying harsh words that leave behind only loneliness and unfathomable pain. However, in their hot-blooded spat, they both forgot the Goddess in whose name they vowed, and Greek Gods were known for the cruelness of their vengeance. Cursed to incarnation until they both learned their lesson centuries pass that see Dexios and the everlasting statue of a waiting lover and Lykon trying to make it up to him.
But, things are never as simple as that.
The tragic myth of Dexios and Lykon is enough to take your heart, squeeze it till it bleeds, and make you suffer along with the unfortunate lovers. I can’t congratulate this author enough for writing such a beautiful myth, with such an intense moral, and such a tragic end for the ancient lovers. They were sublime and I felt for them and their loss.
At this point the story moves on to Galen and Nick, two former lovers that lost their chance when Nick became too intense with his feeling, catching Galen off guard and scaring him into running away. But though scared Galen never really forgot Nick as their chemistry was one of a kind. Six months ago, he might have not been ready for what Nick had to offer, but now, now that Galen thought about him every single day he only needed an excuse to reach back to his lost almost-lover. That excuse comes in the form of a mysterious collection of statues that appear at his storeroom in his gallery. Knowing Nicks fascination with art and ancient statues Galen reaches out with the hope that there might be a future for them. What he doesn’t know though is the fact that Galen is Lykon’s descendant and Nick Dexios’, the tragic love story bound to repeat or if the two men are strong enough to get past their inner demons and issues the curse might be finally over.
Now the ancient story is tightly bound with the contemporary one, yet different as well. As much as I loved the myth, I adored Nick and Galen. They were one hell of an intense love story and combined the past and present made for a fascinating read.
I had a bit of an irritating moment with them though, Nick asking for commitment when at the same time he himself ran and ruined the possibility for one, and Galen with his pain and fears, they just drove me crazy for a spell. Add in that the perfect depiction of a strong-headed and hot-blooded Greek and you felt like tearing you hair in frustration. The urge to slap ‘em both till their ears rung and their head got off their ar$$es was very, very strong. However, those very urges were what made me think that these characters were incredibly well written. They had the perfect personality for the myth this story follows. In addition, they had incredible chemistry as well. From the get go, their dates, their fights and their intimate encounters were passionate and hot as it gets. You heart would race with their spats, your blood would heat with their sensuality, the kinky way their relationship took was mind-blowing intense, and when the Goddess put her hand and stirred the pot causing chaos, they nearly shattered my heart. It was exquisite!
So you might well ask why only 3.5~4 hearts. It’s simple. As great as the story was, I found it a bit heavy and slow in pace, mostly in the beginning. At times, I lost concentration and had some difficulties following the story, forcing myself to go back a paragraph and re-read it to get back on-line. Maybe it was me, maybe it was these parts of the story, but the end result was that I got a bit frustrated and that took part of my enjoyment. Overall though, I can’t stress enough how much I adored this book, and felt very lucky to have read this very creative story. Definitely recommended for lovers of intense/cursed romance and Greek mythology fiction.