Love Never-Ending by Anny Cook

MysticValley, Book Four

When naked Bishop Llewellyn is kidnapped from his bed in the middle of the night by his angry best friend Trav, he has no idea of the enormous ways his life is about to change. After they are trapped in a cave, Bishop’s search for help for his seriously injured friend leads him to a mysterious valley where he discovers his long-lost brother among the blue-skinned inhabitants.

His stubborn search for an escape from the valley is sidetracked when he meets Samara, a woman who is more interested in finding out what’s hidden under his sharda than seeking out a mate. Soon he’s blithely showing Samara all the sensual possibilities without understanding the consequences of his actions. Their no-strings-attached affair derails when Bishop unintentionally embarrasses Samara. Then an assassin’s attack on Bishop nearly succeeds…

I was so glad to discover Love Never-Ending focuses on Bishop and Samara. There was a hint of this coming in one of the previous books in the series, but I didn’t grasp it until I started reading book 4. Bishop had glanced at Samara in the other book, but phew, I had no idea what those two had been up to while everything else was playing out with the other characters. They were very good at keeping their antics a secret!

As I’ve said before, Mystic Valley has many characters who all intertwine, so when each book focuses on mainly one couple, although you get hints at what other couples are doing, you end up surprised at just how much they’re doing while your current couple fill the pages.

Bishop cracked me up in a previous book with his out-valley comments that just didn’t come across right to the valley inhabitants. In fact, each time someone from our world enters the valley there are funny moments when they say something or question a valley custom that had me roaring with laughter. Like Bishop’s quip about the valley being a baby-making utopia, queries about shardas being “skirts”, and the utter confusion of how a man can stand the tip of his penis being strangled by a special ring inside valley women. God, this series has so many funny lines that it was a joy to read.

Samara isn’t destined to be bonded with anyone, and Bishop isn’t of a mind to be tied down. Out-valley he’d been married twice and it didn’t suit him, so to find himself trapped in Mystic Valley, with a very strong penchant to get the hell out, he spends time with Samara, only to find himself becoming attached to her. He fights it—God how he fights it, even to the point of intending to find a way out of the valley—but something happens where if he did manage to leave, he’d look extremely odd to people out-valley. Samara did something that showed the whole valley how much she cared for Bishop, and I was glad to see that by the end of Love Never-Ending, Bishop saw how much she cared too—and saw how much he cared. I hated thinking he wanted to leave her and the valley behind—how could he when they fitted so well together? How could he even think of abandoning her like that?

You’d think this hero’s actions would make you dislike him but you won’t. Bishop is so real—his character acts just like someone who had been through bad relationships might, and him protecting himself (and Samara) by trying to get out of the valley, was touching.

Bishop is funny, blunt, and my kind of man. He says it how he sees it, so when he found himself unable to say a word (no plot spoilers from me!) I felt his frustration but also understood why he was silenced. He needed to learn a lesson or two, mainly to accept that he loved Samara and that trying one more time for a love that never ends was the way to go. Also, he needed to understand that other valley members knew what was best for him, more than he did himself. And out-valley he didn’t have to work, didn’t need to, so him being made to work hard with the woollies…priceless!

It freaked him out when Dai kissed Merlyn goodbye. (HAHAHA!)

Dancer was that bizarre blue color now and was wearing one of those funky skirts. (LMAO)

“If you think I’m wearing that skirt, you’ve lost your mind.” (LOL)

He was shocked at how quickly he’d become comfortable wearing the sissy skirt. (Oh, the poor guy! He really hadn’t wanted to wear one.)

He couldn’t conceive that plant dye yielded the eye-watering color. (HAHAH!)

Besides, they would no doubt spend all their time talking about bonding shit and babies. (HAHAH!)

Jiph pounded back into the woods stark naked… (Excellent image here. Oh, and I hated Jiph. Although I understood his warped reasoning, I still enjoyed detesting him.)

I have now finished the whole Mystic Valley series—there is a book 5, Blue Paradise, but  I started with that one—and I must say it’s been a wonderful pleasure to read them all. I fell in love with the valley in Blue Paradise, and reading all the others, getting to know everyone individually, was great fun. There are still so many characters I’d like to know more about, so Ms. Cook, if she chooses to keep writing this series, has many more books to pen. I hope books up to at least 10 are written in the future, because I for one would read them all.

An outstanding series, one that made me laugh, really think, and wish and hope that we could have the respect and caring those in the valley possess. What a fabulous world and creation Mystic Valley is. I shall now miss it greatly and hope book 6 makes an appearance soon. Please let that be so!