Review of “Untold Prophecies” by Rhiannon Hailey

Score: 90/100 (9.0 out of 10)

Untold Prophecies is an alluring urban fantasy & mystery novel by Rhiannon Hailey! The first-half of this novel is spearheaded by its realistic and compelling characters, primarily the grounded Dr. Danielle Baxter, the cozy yet mysterious Gram, and the tough-loving Cypress (better known as “Cy”), Danielle's best-friend. We're later introduced to Dr. Stefhan Storme, the handsome and charming owner of Storme Medical who—like Gram—hides an extraordinary secret.

In its controversial second half, this book develops into a werewolf-fantasy story (akin to Twilight) and eventually even ventures into erotica territory with a heavy emphasis on prolonged, overwritten, and repetitive sex scenes that will either appeal to or drive off some readers.

Kicking off in Florida, Untold Prophecies follows Danielle Baxter, an intellectually-brilliant, orphaned young doctor who is passionate about advancing her medical career by being accepted into a Neurology Fellowship run by Storme Medical. The Storme Medical Neurology Fellowship threatens to take her away to Oregon—a whole different world compared to Danielle's life in Cedar Keys, where her beloved Gram and best-friend, Cy, live.

Danielle apparently lost her parents in a mysterious accident when she was five years old. With no memory of her life before the accident, she was raised by Gram. Gram serves as her protector and guide, harboring secrets about Danielle’s identity and destiny. Among the mysterious strange things involved in the relationship between Danielle and Gram is that Danielle suffers from constant headaches that are only alleviated by Gram making her granddaughter wear a special necklace with a wolf pendant and a drink special tea that suppresses both her headaches and powers.

Danielle is petite, with fiery red hair, startling green eyes, and porcelain skin. A crescent moon-shaped birthmark on her neck hints at her supernatural connections. She has a photographic memory and hyperthymesia, allowing her to recall past events with vivid accuracy. This talent makes her highly capable but also isolates her from her peers. Often bullied and ostracized in school, Cy stands up for her and apparently fights off those who mistreat Danielle. Cy becomes a lifelong and fiercely-loyal friend, practically as close as a sister. While Danielle seems to be the brains of the dynamic duo, Cy seems to serve as the muscle.

Cy Meadow is a character who really won us over with her loyalty, ferocity, dedication, toughness, and uncanny sense of humor. Cy is incredibly funny! And, by extension, she is incredibly charming and charismatic. She gives us priceless lines like: “Take your hormonal ass to bed.”

She also admits to being fired from a 911 call center because she told a crank-calling child that she would "show up at his house and whoop his ass like his parents never did." Who doesn't like a character who speaks their mind and tells it like it is?

Cy is inarguably the fan-favorite of this book. However, that makes the second-half of this book even more frustrating and unfortunate as Cy becomes progressively less relevant, getting overshadowed by the more supernatural, fantastical, romantic, and sexual elements in the book.

She gets almost completely replaced in the deuteragonist role by Stefhan, who is simply not as likable as a character yet demands 50%+ of the reader's attention in the second-half of the book (with the other 50% or so going to Danielle).

Gram also passes away relatively early in the story despite establishing herself as the second most likable character (though the narrative still finds ways to incorporate her). She leaves behind the mystery of Danielle's necklace/wolf pendant as well as of the tea, with Gram never having disclosed its ingredients. Danielle even worries that she may have a cancerous tumor that may threaten her life if she doesn't figure out the concoction in time.

The setup for this book is incredible. The first half of this book is solid.
We had this incredible cosmological, mythological origin story with a magical goddess, Selene, who—as a beautiful yet hopeless romantic—wanted to ensure that all of her children would have romantic partners. We had great characters like Danielle, Cy, and Gram who seemed grounded, likable, and relatable.

It really gripped us. It made us wonder what would happen next.

Then, something weird happened...

It's like this book completely shifted into something unrecognizable, something we weren't quite as happy about. In fact, it almost seems like the halves of this book were written by the author at two very separate times, perhaps decades apart. It almost seems like the author either changed their mind halfway through or forgot what happened earlier in their writing.

Ideas, concepts, and characters are just thrown in here and mixed into a figurative blender, thrown recklessly and relentlessly at the reader in a way that we found disappointing. It was like ordering a pepperoni pizza, then getting a pizza with pineapples and sardines on it. What gives?

Well, let us explain...

First of all, the moment that Danielle meets Stefhan, this book takes a drastic and dramatic turn. It goes in a totally different direction from where it appeared to be heading. Instead of continuing the sweet, heartwarming tone and feel that pervaded the first half, this book suddenly becomes like 50 Shades of Gray, for better or for worse. It became so much darker and, in our opinion, overly sexual.

A few sex scenes is fine. One of two, maybe. But when the two characters are going at it over and over and over and over again, it becomes a bit tiresome. It completely derails the book's momentum and flow. We get it, werewolves in this lore have higher libidos. And, yes, the Selene prophecy prioritized finding a special partner and having a special child. Ok. Fine. But again, those almost seem like convenient and oddly-specific excuses for having non-stop, relentless, machine-gun-style sex scenes.

Could you imagine if, in The Bible, we had to read about the graphic, detailed, non-stop sex that Abraham & Sarah were having in order to birth Isaac? Or, if in Star Wars, scene after scene after scene was just Anakin and Padme having sex in order to have Luke & Leia? Like, sex sells. Of course it does. However, there's a reason why most adult films don't win major awards: no one who watches those films really cares about the characters, the story, or the plot, they just want to see the two (or more) people get it on.

Furthermore, it's troubling how the writing in this book goes from being delicate and eloquent in the first-half to being coarse, abrasive, and even a bit disgusting in the second-half. We are constantly (and we mean CONSTANTLY) reminded that Stefhan's “cock is rock-hard” (about 40 times) and that Danielle's “pussy is wet” (about 27 times). Don't you think that's a bit excessive in a book that started off like a YA fantasy novel? If it's erotica, call it erotica. Don't lead us on and try to convince us that it's this deep, beautiful, heartwarming tale of friendship and true love if it's just going to devolve into a X-rated fantasy.

What's unfortunate about this is that characters like Cy really get lost in the mix due to the overemphasis on Stefhan and sex-with-Stefhan/werewolf-sex.

Furthermore, the whole werewolf side of the story just seems overly goofy to us. Yes, it's cool that werewolves have accelerated healing. It's a little interesting that they have impulses like the urge to have constant, non-stop sex and biting fixations that they use to mark their mates (like hickies). However, it's really hard to take them and their conflicts seriously because of how much the suspension of disbelief is destroyed due to their presence and activities in the book.

They don't seem REAL in the same way that Danielle, Gram, and Cy seemed real.

Stefhan is the leader of a werewolf pack known as the “Crimson Diamond Pack.” The name of this pack didn't evoke thoughts of wolves or cool mystical stuff, it evoked thoughts of a booster club for a college athletics program (like the “Crimson Collective”) or multivitamins intended for middle-aged men and women (which are often referred to as “Diamond” editions). The name of the pack they take over, the “Silver Moon Pack,” is also kinda hilarious because “Silver Pack” evokes thoughts of multivitamins for geriatric people 65 years or older.

Furthermore... and this is another huge issue for us... where in the blue heck did Danielle's father and brother come from?! Danielle was clearly established to have been an orphan. Her parents were clearly established to have died in an accident. However, we're suddenly, abruptly, and casually told that Danielle has a phone call with her “father,” over her brother, Carlos, being taken to the hospital.

Wait a minute, who the heck is Carlos and where was he during the entire time Gram was taking care of Danielle? Where did this “dad” come from and why does she talk to him like she's talked to him dozens of times before when he was never mentioned beforehand?

Also, if Danielle had a surviving parent, why would the courts let Gram adopt her? What, did he commit a violent crime or domestic abuse? We're never told that. So, why would a court not give him custody? Why does he seem to have custody of Carlos?

And, again, who is Carlos? Why is he suddenly, magically relevant to the story and why does Danielle suddenly, magically know who he is all of a sudden?

You could argue that the absence of the tea and the waning effects of the pendant could be allowing memories to resurface, but it almost seems to us like the author just totally added them in during a later revision for... some reason. They seem tacked on and unnecessary.

Anyway, this book did a lot of good and a lot of not so good. You should still check it out on Amazon if you're curious!