Reviewed by Stacy Ahlgren
Grand Central Publishing
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

In this sexy but frustrating paranormal romance, the ancient and powerful Chinese scroll of Earth couldn’t have found a more unwelcoming new Guardian than Gabrielle Sansouci Chin, a San Francisco free spirit who tends bar to support her painting career. Unfortunately, her title is inherited, so upon her father’s death she gets the scroll. In spite of a sudden infusion of scary, unfocused power, the appeals of her dead father’s spirit and the arrival of sexy treasure-hunter Rhys Llewellyn, Gabe dodges responsibility until nearly the end of the book, repeatedly-and repetitively-ignoring clues about the danger closing in on her and the patently obvious machinations of the villain. Perry’s breezy writing style and steamy love scenes may carry some readers along, but most will feel like they’re driving a car that’s stuck in first gear. (Feb.)
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My review:

When we first meet Gabrielle Sansouci Chin, she is working her usual shift as bartender at the Pour House, and she’s just been handed a special delivery.  Thinking it is the much anticipated contract from Gallery 415, an art gallery that has recently commissioned her paintings, she’s stunned to find that instead, it is actually an ancient scroll, specifically the one her family has been entrusted to protect for many centuries.  It is only handed down to the next worthy protector when the current one is no longer living.  Receiving the scroll could only mean one thing:  her father is dead.

Having not seen him in years, she is nevertheless regretful to learn of his passing as now she believes now it’s too late for them to ever mend fences.  Only she finds out that though he is in fact dead, his spirit is somehow tied to the scroll, and he is there to help teach her the ways of the Guardian, something he never got to finish doing while he was alive.  Gabe and her father Wu must learn to put aside their differences so he can help her protect the scroll, and learn how to bend with its immense power.

Almost immediately, Gabe begins to notice she is being followed, and one man in particular, the utterly gorgeous Rhys Llewellyn, seems to be watching her every step.  And while she’s wildly attracted to Rhys, she’s not buying what he’s selling.  Everytime she turns around though, he’s there, watching her, making her want things she shouldn’t.  He somehow seems to be connected to her, and knows how to subdue the excruciating effects of the scroll, and while she’s grateful for his assistance, she can’t trust him one bit.  Too bad he’s the only man who’s ever made her burn.

Along with Rhys, others are watching, waiting for the moment when they can take the scroll from her.  Placing it in a location she’s sure no one would ever look, she tries to ignore it’s seductive pull, and concentrate on painting the several pieces she’d promised the art gallery.  But her muse appears to be on vacation, and she spends her days bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, and her nights working at the bar, getting deeper involved with the power of the scroll and not completely understanding its power.  She even tries to get rid of it, willing to give it away to someone who wants it way more than her, someone more worthy of being a Guardian.  But that’s not how it works, and Gabe must figure out a way to keep the scroll safe, finish her paintings, and not end up dead.

This story is told in first person POV, and while that’s not a style preferred by many readers, I didn’t mind it.  I was rather intrigued by the synopsis for this story, and fascinated by Gabe’s varied  background.  She’s part Chinese, having been schooled in martial arts since she could walk, and she’s also fluent in French.  She’s a tough woman, knows how to handle herself but isn’t hard or bitter.  She’s a loner who recently has found herself reaching out to people and establishing a real friendship Carrie, with one of her co-workers, which both confuses and delights her.  I found Gabe to be very likable and caring.

Rhys was sinfully wonderful – dangerous, sexy, rich – with a broody British accent and the ability to get past Gabe’s defenses too easily for her liking.  He wants Gabe from the minute he sees her, but she refuses to make it easy on him, and that definitely intrigues him.  At the same time, he’s determined to get what he wants.  He knows things, and this drives Gabe crazy, though most of the time he’s willing to share his knowledge with her.  Another thing I liked about him is that though he’s very protective of her, he doesn’t treat her like a breakable piece of crystal, and begrudgingly lets her be as independent as she ever was.  It might bother him to have her walking the mean streets of San Francisco at night, but he knows that this is who she is, and he doesn’t want things to be easy, not if he can be with her.

One thing that drove me a little nuts about this story was as much as I liked Gabe, she spent a lot of time doing nothing.  She kept putting things off – her painting, dealing with the scroll, confronting her father.  In a story like this where her destiny meant that she had life and death responsibilities to handle, she spent an awful lot of time trying to avoid them.  I wanted to grab her and shake her and demand that she do something, anything, instead of trudging through her days, exhausted, disillusioned, wary.  Here was an opportunity to learn more about her history, and that of her family, and what it all meant.  Some of the events that occur in the story are rather predictable, but I didn’t mind that as much as I minded Gabe’s inability to act.

“Marked by Passion” is the first book in Kate Perry’s Guardian series, and by the end of this story, there were some unanswered questions, about her family specifically, and I don’t know if these will be answered in the next book, which sounds like it will have a new heroine and hero.  However, I’ve decided that I’m curious enough to want to find out.