Review: Raintree: Oracle by Linda Winstead Jones (Raintree #4)

Raintree: Oracle (Raintree #4)
Linda Winstead Jones
Published: March 15, 2015 (Harlequin)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for and honest review

Reviewed by: Jannelle

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Echo Raintree is an empath who suffers from prophetic visions of horrific disasters that will most likely come to pass. For years, Echo has fought against these visions and feels more and more defeated by the time the vision is over, unable to help whoever is doomed to die after the unfortunate incidents she witnesses in her visions.

At the beginning of Raintree: Oracle, Echo reaches her limit in uncontrollable visions and decides she’s going to take action and discover a way to either control them or eliminate them. Through Echo’s research, she discovers a wizard named Ryder Duncan, residing in a small village in Ireland, known to teach others how to control their abilities. She seeks him out and ends up finding more than she bargained for. Soon enough, there is chemistry brewing between Ryder and Echo but there are so many questions—what’s the deal with the town? What is Ryder not telling her?

I really enjoyed the connection between Echo and Ryder—they had great chemistry and I found myself looking forward to the next scene they were in together, waiting for their exchange. I also enjoyed the steady-paced plot. I never felt like I was waiting around for something to happen; there was constant movement, leading you straight to our climactic good vs. evil battle. Always a win for me.

I will say, however, that I wasn’t a fan of the way it ended. I don’t want to discuss this here because I don’t want to give away any spoilers. It just felt a bit wooden to me. I mean, I love happily-ever-afters as much as the next (paranormal) romance junkie, but sometimes I like things spiced a little more than what I found here.

Overall, Raintree: Oracle read as a great standalone. The author built up the world in a natural way, easy enough for me to comprehend without having read the previous installments. There are also plenty of references to other characters that I am assuming are protagonists from other books and it just made me curious to read them. For those of you long-time fans of the series, I am sure you will be able to appreciate the references.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy read with the tried and true good vs. evil, plus a love interest, this is the book for you.

Sexual content: Sex