My Immortal

My Immortal by Erin McCarthy is a romantic fantasy tale that leans more toward romance than fantasy. The lead character, Marley Turner is a shy, timid, self-conscious and self deprecating woman who’s concern for and jealousy of her wild sister leads her to the steamy wilds of New Orleans.

Marley, fresh from a solitude retreat at a monastery, has traveled to New Orleans to discover whether her sister is truly missing or just out of touch with her family and young son. Lizzie’s last communication with Marley indicated that she was in love. This clue leads her to Damien du Bourg who, unbeknownst to her, is an immortal in service to a demon. With Damien’s help, Marley attempts to locate her sister and during the search finds herself becoming more and more interested in Damien.

While this story was an attempt to mix the fascination of the fantasy genre with the intoxication of the romance genre, I felt that it did justice to neither. The purpose of the demon and his immortal daughters were not adequately explained and the bargain struck by Damien du Bourg seemed to be convenient device. Perhaps because I could not relate to either of the main characters, I did not enjoy this book as much as I should have. Generally a mix of fantasy and romance will send me running to the couch to open the book and begin.

I did like McCarthy’s use of the old letters to tie in the past and give the reader an insight into the current characters. However, these letters did not read as real letters would have done, and they didn’t have the feel of a diary or journal. Because they included entire conversations and other descriptions that would not have been included in these types of writings, these letters felt like an obvious information dump. A device to give the reader what was needed without the entire necessary story to go with it. This fractured the story and made it feel false, like a deliberate tall tale.

Other parts of the story may be especially appealing or not depending upon what you are looking for. There is a great deal of gratuitous sex included in the story, including Damian’s debauched background and his sex parties designed to inflame the lusts of mortals. The actual romantic scenes between Damian and Marley are less gratuitous but they display the characteristics of long time lovers, not of lovers who have just met. Granted, Damien’s specialty is charm and sexuality but that wouldn’t change the nature of Marley’s thoughts and reactions.

So while this was not a bad book, I was a bit disappointed that the author took so many shortcuts with a good idea and turned it into something that was only marginally interesting. I felt that she could have explored a great deal more of the demon aspect. That she could have given us a few glimpses of Damien’s two hundred years as a broker of lust, and more background on the two sisters and why they are the way they are. I think it could be a fine book if it were to be expanded, the plot holes filled and some of the character’s lives filled out.