Lightning Struck (Brothers Maledetti #3) by Nichole Van | A Book Review

I have good news. There will be a change in my work schedule starting August 1 and I'm so excited. I'm excited because it would allow me time to read and post reviews everyday. Unlike my current online job which takes up most of my time, this one, I will only work 9 hours a day and it's not anymore online. Anyway, I'm just so happy with this new development and I'm so looking forward to it. Aside from the schedule, it also pays more than what I'm doing right now. I can't wait for August 1. Yehey!

So, the book I'm reviewing today is Lightning Struck by Nichole Van. This is the third book in the Brothers Maledetti series. Oh, I so love this series. It's not only a romance story but with a lot of very interesting and surprising twists. It has historical fiction, supernatural, and mystery too. That's exactly why I love it. There's a lot of everything in it and it takes me to picturesque Italy too. Fantastic!

In this third installment, this one is about Chiara, the one and only sister of the D'Angelo triplets and Jack Knight-Snow. Chiara is a very feisty and very bubbly character. She's very adorable and her antics are very funny. In this book though, she finds Jack very irritating and gets to her nerves. Aside from that, she still gets this weird dream that keep haunting her about the death of their dad. Jack, on the other hand, is a very curious and interesting character as well. Jack first appeared in the second book Love's Shadow. On this book, more is revealed about the mystery surrounding Jack's character and how he is in anyway related to the D'Angelo's. If you love the first two books, you will definitely not get disappointed with this one. 

Wow! There are a lot happening in this book and it has more to do with supernatural things that have surrounded the D'Angelo's. And this time, Chiara, the only sibling purported to be not fortunate enough or maybe better off not gifted with The Sight is having this vivid and scary repetitive dream that had haunted her in her childhood. Now, the dream is coming back and it seems to be telling Chiara something and she won't rest until she gets to the bottom of that secret message and mystery.

This is such an enjoyable read especially when it comes to Jack and Chiara's scenes exchanging banter and trying to piss off or outwit the other. Obviously, Chiara is more often the one that gets irritated in the exchange. It's very cute and it's obvious that these two have a thing for each other. They are such a very lovely and adorable pair. Their exchanges always give me a laugh. 

On to a more serious note, a lot has been revealed about the gift of sight of the brothers because of the mystery surrounding Jack and Chiara's recurring dream. It's seems like there might just be hope for the cursed brothers. I really love that idea. I so root for them to master their abilities and not be turned into lunatics because of the strong pull of their gifts. I want them to live long and not follow after their ancestors who didn't have the chance to grow old because of this curse or this family gift. And most of all, I wouldn't have to worry about Ten. Ten is one of the triplets who is mostly susceptible to the effects of the curse. So, I'm pretty sure the next book would be about Ten and them finding more concrete information about their gifts and maybe win over the curse after all. I'm so stoked!

I just love this series. I give this book five scenes with lightning. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book. I am supercharged to know what's going to happen next and finally be able to hear about Ten's story. A lot of possibilities are presented in this book and I am so so eager to learn about them. This is probably one of the most enjoyable series I have ever read or the most enjoyable yet. It's incredibly addicting and this is one addiction I'd love to keep. I hope this series does not end on the next book. 

Hope...when you haven't had any for as long as you can remember...can be a dangerous thing. Hope leads to wants. And wants lead to disappointment. And disappointment, when you are already on shaky emotional ground, can be deadly.

- Nichole Van, Lightning Struck - 

Thank you again, Kathy of iamareader.com and Nichole Van for the review copy. 

Other books in the series:

Gladly Beyond (Brothers Maledetti #1)

Love's Shadow (Brothers Maledetti #2)

Gladly Beyond (Brothers Maledetti #1) by Nichole Van | A Book Review

I read book two of the series first. It was called Love's Shadow. I so love the story. I got this book for free on Kindle. I can't remember how. Maybe, I got an email that this book was on sale or whatever. Long story short, I got this for nada. 

For those who don't know, I am a sucker for stories with history thrown into the mix. That's why I love the books of Clive Cussler, Steve Berry and Dan Brown. I love stories that weave connections between the long dead past and the present. How the timelines or people are interconnected between the vastness of time and how the past has a lot to do with the present. I was just so thrilled to find Nichole Van, a female author who specializes also in this genre. Most of the books I read on the same genre were written by men, so I am just so happy to have found a woman who can just do the same. 

So far, these two stories are set in Europe, specifically Italy. This one--Florence. The D' Angelo brothers which are the brothers referred to in the series title are descendants of an Italian Count who was cursed. So, the term "maledetti" which in Italian means "damned or cursed". The curse actually was asked for by the original D' Angelo. He wished for it from a gypsy woman, which turned out to be too much for him. So the saying, "be careful what you wish for" was probably aimed for the first Conte de Maledetti. This curse gets passed on to all the first born sons, until the present. The only difference now is, there are three of these sons, thus the ability was also fractured into three parts. The brothers Dante, Branwell and Tennyson are triplets who inherited the gift from their father, who got it from his grandfather, which can be traced back up to the first daring D' Angelo. This gift has driven a lot of D' Angelo's to madness and death. Good thing, the triplets had learned more of the ability as it was passed on to them. Now, they are more equipped than their ill-fated ancestors were but still, it doesn't guarantee that they are safe from the consuming madness that came with it or the ever present threat of death.

I realized the order of the books in the series might be based on the order of birth of the brothers. This story is about Dante who's the older twin of Branwell. Ten is the youngest of the three. The second book was about Branwell and the third one is about Chiara their sister and the last book is about Ten. I have book three too. So, I might have to start it soon. 

I have been curious about regression and past lives. Could it be true?  How amazing could it be to be able to know about our past lives and figure out how it's relevant to the current situations. How much of it impacted the you that you are today? Are you living the same life over and over again? Finding the same person over and over, life after life. Making the same mistake across lifetimes like a broken record. That's exactly the theme of this story. The same old song seems to be playing in the present lives of Dante and Claire and it has never changed over the past centuries. Will history repeat itself as it had always done over the past? Is there no escaping the past and how would these two end up?

I feel like I need to go to Italy after reading this book. A lot of beautiful places and tourist spots are mentioned here. I feel like I was there, seeing Claire taking selfies. And yes, gelato. How I would love to eat gelato for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The intrigue and mystery in this story was not lost in all the grandeur and historic places. Who's who and the prominent figures and artists mentioned in the story. Not to mention, again Da Vinci, the favorite subject of controversy among many writers. He's in here to. Who could refuse a heady sprinkling of a  Da Vinci mystery, right? Just what I need.

I am not sure which of the two stories so far I liked more. Van has been so consistent. All the elements that are in this book are also in the second one. A haunting past that has a tight hold on the present. A mix of very interesting and suspicious characters. You wouldn't know who's really the bad one. A leading lady who is just as strong as the main man. And of course, the workings of the supernatural. There was no letting go of this book until I was done. Never have I been happier. I could eat the book if I wanted to. Just glorious.

Stories like these are what made me want to just read without stopping. How my heart beats faster in time with Claire and Dante as they try to outrun and outsmart the unknown enemy. How I was helplessly pulled into the story like these two were helplessly thrown back into the past without warning. And how I too made that same audible sigh of relief with the rest of the D' Angelo's as these two came home alive and unharmed to the manor. Ah, I want more. I feel no discontent but I can't get enough of it.

I give this book 5/5 pictures of Florence, Italy. After reading this story, I feel like I should be cautious in taking selfies because someone from a bygone era might appear in my photos. If it's as handsome and as gentle as Dante or any of the D' Angelo brothers, then no problem. As long as it's not some ghost that is out to haunt me. Nichole Van, no doubt you will end up in my favorite author's list. I can't wait. 

Peace washed through me. An ache for this amazing man who would always be my own personal battering ram. Destroying anything that tried to hurt me, sheltering me.

Just make a little Dante-sized hole in the walls around your heart. You're welcome to seal it right back up once I'm inside. But, please, let it happen.

White tennis shoes on the Americans; brown loafers for the Germans; black dress shoes for the Japanese. I swear you can identify nationality by footwear alone.

- Nichole Van, Gladly Beyond- 

Other books in the series:

Love's Shadow (Brothers Maledetti #2)

Lightning Struck (Brothers Maledetti #3)

Love's Shadow (Brothers Maledetti #2) by Nichole Van | A Book Review

This is one of those reviews that were due last week. Finally, I am able to slowly catch up with my overdue reviews. It was sad to not be able to do my book reviews and post on Instagram. I hope I won't get the flu ever and the laptop would not go crazy again. Well, it's still with the technician so it's still to be determined. I am using the other laptop which is painstakingly slow compared to the other one. Better than no computer at all.

Love's Shadow is a very good surprise. I am so in love with the very unique story and the D' Angelo brothers. I was so caught up in the twist, the history and the landscape. Who would not fall in love with the picturesque Italy? Its name alone makes me want for mouth-watering gelato, hand-made pasta and authentic Italian pizza. 

This book felt like a cross between a Steve Berry and a Clive Cussler. Yes, two of my favorite mystery and historical fiction writers. This story just had the complete ingredients of what I so love. History, archaeology, old legends, magic, powers and a love story that promises an unhappy ending. All these elements thrown in, mix well then stir and you will surely end up engrossed and unable to let go until the end. And the best thing? I just realized that this story is part of a series so I could have a few more helpings of this delightful and talented author. This is my first of Nichole Van and I am so impressed. You know what this means? I will be hunting for her other stories because I just can't get over the pleasure of having found this story and this amazing author.

Are you the type of reader who likes to guess what the story is just by looking at the title? I am one. It's not an exact science. Often I feel disappointed to not figure out why the story is entitled as such after reading it. And what an exhilaration it is to be able to grasp and understand why the title fits the story. For this story, I had no idea why it's called Love's Shadow. I don't have any theories. But after reading it, I totally get why the author called this one as it is and I totally agree with it. I book no arguments or any comments. I think the title is very curious. Just as curious as the story is.

This is without a doubt one of the best stories I have read this 2017. Stories like these are what I would die for. The marriage of the past and current events in this story was perfect. How the past events were connected to the present time in this story was seamlessly done. I just loved it. 

No questions asked, I give this book 5/5 pairs of leather gloves. This is just perfect for me. It fits like a glove. Nice to meet you Nichole Van. Looking forward to the next stories in the series.

Why did it have to be this man? Of all the men on Planet Earth? Literally, the one person who would be utterly off limits? Figured I would fall prey to some demented god who got off on cruel ironies.

- Nichole Van, Love's Shadow -  

Thank you again, Kathy of ebooksforreview.com for the copy. 

Other books in the series:

Gladly Beyond (Brothers Maledetti #1)

Lightning Struck (Brothers Maledetti #3)