Reviewed by Heather C.

TITLE: Purpose
AUTHOR: Andrew Q. Gordon
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
BLURB: Forty years ago the Spirit of Vengeance—a Purpose—took William Morgan as its host, demanding he avenge the innocent by killing the guilty. Since then, Will has retreated behind Gar, a façade he uses to avoid dealing with what he’s become. Cold, impassive, and devoid of emotion, Gar goes about his life alone—until his tidy, orderly world is upended when he meets Ryan, a broken young man cast out by his family. Spurred to action for reasons he can’t understand, Gar saves Ryan from death and finds himself confronted by his humanity.

Spending time with Ryan helps Will claw out from under Gar’s shadow. He recognizes Ryan is the key to his reclaiming his humanity and facing his past. As Will struggles to control the Purpose, Ryan challenges him to rethink everything he knew about himself and the spirit that possesses him. In the process, he pushes Will to do something he hasn’t done in decades: care.

REVIEW:

Where, oh where do I begin with this review?  I think my head is still spinning from this reading experience!

I guess I should start with a little summary:

For the last 40 years, Will has been avenging the deaths of innocent victims.  He has been host to something he calls the Purpose, which he believes to be the Spirit of Vengeance.  In order for Will to deal with all the death and violence, he has hidden behind another persona he refers to as Gar.  Gar is unemotional and unaffected.  He lives from day to day answering the calls of the innocent so he can keep the Purpose quiet and happy.  It has also made Gar inhumanly strong and nearly immortal, along with giving him special powers of mind reading and mind control.  Then, one night, Gar meets Ryan on the train, and something inside Ryan calls to Gar/Will; and vice versa.  Gar feels the need to protect Ryan and keep him safe.  Soon, Will starts emerging, bringing all his emotions and feelings to the surface.  Is there something in Ryan that is affecting Gar/Will’s Purpose?  Or is Ryan just bringing out the human in him?

I really liked the whole idea of this story.  I thought it was very unique and fresh; something that hasn’t been done over and over again.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like this before.  The plot was very convoluted and complicated, which is something I LOVE!!  So that just worked for me.  Some aspects were a little challenging to comprehend, but I feel that the author did a great job at making something so unbelievable…believable.  And I really liked the twist at the end; it had me all anxious and freaking out.  I don’t want to spoiler anything, but I was totally duped!!

Now, on to what didn’t work for me.  I would have to say that my number one difficulty with this story was the romance.  And I think what directly affected my issues with the romance was Ryan’s character.

First of all, Ryan was needy and whiny and just plain annoying.  He would never listen to Will when Will was trying to protect him, and they knew each other for all of two days when Ryan was trying to get Will to go against the Purpose and stop killing the guilty.  I feel like I never got to know who Ryan really was since we get very little information about his past. I never really warmed up to him at all, even by the end of the story.

Second, I never felt any connection between Will and Ryan.  Yes, all the sex was fade to black, but honestly that really isn’t my complaint here.  My big issue was the insta-commitment and zero sexual tension!  I know that the Purpose did have some influence on the pull between Will and Ryan, and they made sure to tell me all about it, but I never felt any chemistry between them.  Actually, I felt like I was being forced to accept their love for each other.  Never once did I get that fluttery feeling in my chest that I look forward to when reading a romance.

Then there was Will and Ryan’s new friend Jake; I’m not really sure why he was in the story at all. I’m sad to say this, but I was actually hoping at one point that Will would ditch Ryan and hook up with Jake!  They had chemistry!!!  Ah, but there was no “purpose”.

Over all, this was a great concept, but the romance just wasn’t there for me, and that really affected my enjoyment of the story.

Heather’s Rating: 

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press  ||  Book Store

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Heather C. is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.

To read all her reviews, click the link: HEATHER’S REVIEWS
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