In This Iron Ground: Natural Magic, Marina Vivancus

Shuffled around and unloved for years after his parents' tragic death, Damian despairs of ever having a family, acceptance, and comfort living in his own skin.  Until he meets the Salgado family.  As he slowly finds friendship in this loud, large, and loving family he starts to see that he could actually be helpful to them.  He longs for complete acceptance into their family but knows he'll never be worthy of it.  He's resigned and determined to keep his true feelings for the Salgados, and especially Hakan, buried deep inside.

The writing was floaty and fluffy, like the author was trying way too hard to be deep and poetic.  I kind of wanted to roll my eyes or skim ahead.  But then, with no warning, I'm crying real tears and in desperate need of tissues!  I couldn't believe it.  So while I still feel the writing wasn't really my style, it was definitely effective.  There was so much to feel from start to finish.

The pacing was very slow with a huge build up to get to the main couple.  I'm not a fan of the main characters being intimate with other people once they meet and/or realize their feelings for them.  In this story it still bothers me a little but it really works (up to a point) when you take into account Damian's understanding of his place in life and pack, Hakan's very mixed feelings, and the new environment of college where Damian can try to be his own person.  But the moment when Hakan and Damian finally get together is so far into the story that I don't think it was given enough time and there are still other partners before the big emotional reveal.

The focus of the story is less on the romance and more on love and family and acceptance.  While I understood that, it was only after really contemplating the story that I saw that.  The story suggested that in its underlying message all throughout but the surface focus seemed to be on the romantic relationship so both narratives, healing and family versus romantic love and acceptance, got tangled and muddy.

Damian was pitiful in a very sad way and I wanted so much for him.  Hakan was always just more than out of arm's reach through pretty much the whole story.  While his emotional reveal was sincere, it came so late and we can only infer his depth of feeling with the growls, intense stares, and comfort in Damian's presence before that moment.

The end was so good but the declarations came so close to the end of the story that I was disappointed.  The words were good and right but I just needed more...a lot more.  Overall this was a moving story that could have used adjustments with pacing and more of a complete resolution but the premise and Damian's character were compelling.

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