Roh Morgon

Watcher is a typical vampire paranormal romance book. As I have said on several occasions, paranormal romance is not a genre that I am fond of, so please keep that in mind when reading this review. Watcher is the first person account of Sunny Martin, and unfortunately the voice that this novel is written in makes it difficult to enjoy for the first few hundred pages. The novel itself feels tedious, even as we learn that Sunny became one of the Chosen against her will, and still watches over her human daughter and granddaughter. Nicholas, her lover, expounds upon his feelings about her metamorphosis by writing in his journal:

Her story of her Change, of her rape into our way of life, enraged me to the point that I cold scarcely maintain my composure. I did not want to frighten her with the monster that I can become, and that fear helped me stay in control. (pg89)

I completely understand why Morgon made this analogy, but that does not make it anymore acceptable. Nothing is like rape but rape, and using this term to describe supernatural events that would never be possible in the real world, diminishes the harm done to rape victims.

The story shifts back and forth between Sunny -- who desperately wants to maintain her human side and independence, and Nicholas, a Chosen (read: vampire) of over 500 years -- who wants nothing more than to bond with her and make her his mate. Sunny is originally drawn in because Nicholas is the very first of her kind that she has met, since being abandoned by her maker. Over the course of two months, they meet and fall in love. I have a problem with the time length. At best, two months equals a pretty heavy infatuation and even lust, but it most certainly does not equal love. We are never even really given a reason for the basis of their enthrallment, which while irritating -- is extremely typical for paranormal romance.

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