Eye of the Beholder: True Destiny #2

Eye of the Beholder
True Destiny, book two
ebook, 113 pages
Published October 19th 2010 by Samhain Publishing
ISBN13 9781609282271

Travis Yardley-Rudiger deliberately stayed away from Jamie Grimm, desperate not to pull her into the petty little war of wills between himself and her grandfather, Oliver Grimm. Unfortunately the reemergence of Baldur and Loki and their claiming of Jamie’s sister Jordan put her squarely in Grimm’s sights. Her torture at Grimm’s hands ended with Travis determined to claim and protect the woman he’s loved for years, but how will she take the news that Travis is actually Tyr?

Jamie isn’t certain what’s going on, but one thing is certain: Travis’s stand-offish attitude has done an abrupt one-eighty. He’s even gone so far as to move with her into her sister’s condo while she convalesces. And when he reveals who, and what, he is, Jamie is left to wonder what the Norse God of Justice could possibly want with a crazy redhead with severe family issues?

As far as he’s concerned, it will be Travis’s pleasure to show her…

She leaned across the desk, her eyes diamond bright. “Explain to me how I have three non-humans, one dead, two living, in this file folder.”

“You’re really good at Origami.”

One page in and I managed to be introduced to a variety characters, most with aliases that span lifetimes. To put it mildly, I was *so confused*. Eye of the Beholder is book two in the True Destiny series. Having skipped book one, I expected some 'what the hell is going on?' moments but learning that Jamie had literally been crucified in the last book had been quite the 'oh really now' revelation. And that was only the beginning of her torment. NOTE: She didn't die.

Travis was once Tyr and married to Zisa. Zysa was killed in the war centuries upon centuries ago and Travis has never loved again until he found Jamie. Jamie is Jeff's twin sister and together they are the younger siblings of Jordan who is married to Logan (Loki) and Kir (Baldur). Jeff and Jamie are ignorant to the fact that everyone else, including their grandfather Grimm, is some level or form of a god/goddess.

This isn't so much Travis and Jamie's story as it is just a continuation of a series wherein the two just happen to hook up. The romance is there, but barely, and the heat level is somewhere around an eight. It's basically about a group of gods battling the god of gods and there's a police investigation involved.

My first draft for this post consisted of what appeared to be rambling sentences at second glance as I dared to comprehend the stark madness of falling into a series midway and being thrown seven different characters on the very first page. Seven characters who very much stay together with you throughout the story, rarely dispersing from the group.

Dana Marie Bell once again delivers her real world humor with a rich cast of very active protagonists. The plot is simple but necessarily so as it contends with the disorientation brought on by so many players. It does wrap up nicely although the war is far from over. 3 out of 5 stars.