Three Wishes by Debra Dunbar

Three Wishes by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was actually a lot more interesting than I had expected. And I'm not exactly sure what the TSTL comments about the female lead was about. TSTL normally involves a series of repetitively stupid acts that puts the individual into constant danger of injury and/or death. And while the angel in this story faced a few dangerous moments, they didn't really rise to TSTL status.

She was kind of naive about humans though. And she never did learn how to use a revolving door. But there were reasons, and stuff.

I wasn't really sure how I'd feel seeing a book that starred Dar, as he isn't exactly my favorite character in the Imp universe (I don't dislike him or anything, I just didn't think I'd want to read a book with him in the lead). I can't say that I was 'pleasantly surprised' because I saw Dar and Astra together in a later Imp book, so I knew there were some interesting bits there. Which leads me to note that I found the way I read things to be more satisfying - as in, reading all of the main Imp books, then reading this side book for several reasons - I'm not distracted by whatever is going on in Imp land, nor did I read this then be faced with the very tiny scene in the Imp main line book that saw these two interact further along chronologically than this book. As in, I wasn't disappointed in the tiny snippet extra scene in that later book, because I read it first, and it was something of a prequel, then, to this book.

Right, so - can you read this book on it's own? Can you read it without reading the Imp books first? Not really. You could read this whenever it falls chronologially, but I'd recommend at least reading whatever Imp books occur before this one (just look at the Imp World series list for that).

So if you have read the Imp series before this, then you already know that Dar, the demon and brother to the lead of the Imp series, had decided to go vacation in Chicago. And if you have already read the entire Imp series, currently, published, then you've also already interacted with Dar and Astra in an Imp book.

Well story - Dar's wandering around the streets of Chicago when an Angel swoops down chasing another demon. After losing track of that other demon, she turns her sight on Dar and follows him. He knows she's there, she wasn't exactly subtle, and leads her around, teasing her. Angels normally kill any and all demons encountered on earth (which you, the reader, would have known if you'd been reading the main Imp series), but Dar has immunity - as long as he doesn't do certain things like kills humans. Immunity for being in the household of the Iblis (long story).

Eventually the two meet. Parts of the book are from Dar's point of view, part from Astra, and about 0.5% is form a second demon's point of view. Astra has been on Earth, watching over Chicago, for the last 100 years, but her time is nearly up and she's only days away from returning to her Angel homeland. Other than her flying around (which Angels aren't really be so open about doing), she's been a good little angel - but now she's thinking of trying out some sins in her last week. As it will be her last chance to do so. Before her return. And as luck would have it, so to speak, Dar's there to tempt her (though that isn't what she had meant when she thought of trying out some sins, more like trying food and stuff like that).

Well, during the early stages of chasing, flirting, bantering, Dar and Astra mention this other demon Astra had been initially chasing. A demon that keeps blinking in and out oddly. For reasons, Dar helps with Astra with this investigation. Which includes visiting a cyber security conference - quite important but specifically mentioned so I could note that those who've read the Imp series also might recall that Wyatt, at some point, went to a security conference in Chicago . . . and he does pop up in this book.

For all those wondering who the hell all these people are, Wyatt, Dar, angels and demons, well, I did say that I'd recommend not reading this book as a stand-alone. To read the other Imp books first.

Oh, one final note: Gregory (aka Michael) and Samantha flirt a lot about sex, even have versions of it (mostly the spirit/angel kind), but don't seem to actually get graphic about it. Well, there are a few bits of graphicness in this book. More than in the Imp series books, less than what you'd see in an erotic novel.

Rating: 4.45

July 31 2017



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Accidental Ashes by Sara C. Roethle

Accidental Ashes
by Sara C. Roethle
Pages: 192
Date: May 5 2011
Publisher: Self
Series: Xoe Meyers (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.25
Read: January 4-5 2017

Accidental Ashes by Sara C. Roethle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The life and times of Xoe, half-demon, picks up more or less immediately after the end of the last book. And certain plot lines that weren't completed in that one continue in this one (like the one about how the various werewolves in the area need to form a pack or there'd be trouble).

Most of the important characters from the previous book continue to appear in this one (though Xoe remains the most important; and some disappeared here or there); with the addition of a few new-comers - like a fella named Chase. And another named Alexandre and . . well, you get the idea. More people).

It should be noted that the main character is somewhere around 16 to 17 and the author did a fairly good idea of creating character around that age - bearing in mind two things - 1) she's 'different' than the normal 16 year old - literally, since she's half-not-human and there are major implications of that that impact her life; 2) it has been at least 21 or so years since I was a teenager, sooo . . . maybe the main character is 'obviously' acting too young or too old, but - from my long distance perspective, they appear to be about right.

This specific story here picks up from the end of the last - a group of friends have gotten together, some are 'fantasy' creatures, or in some way 'half-creatures', and they continue attempting to just live. They aren't the Scooby bunch, here to solve mysteries and reveal controversies (here thinking back to the original cartoons I saw, not referring to the movies I hadn't seen; though working in the part where the Buffy the vampire slayer group liked using that term for themselves might work - they aren't the chosen one of this generation to vanquish evil . . . etc. etc. . . ). Or, if they are, they haven't been told yet. No, they are just trying to live their odd little lives. Interacting with each other, other outside creatures, and long lost parent types.

A good solid book. Somewhat thin. Both the previous and this book had a kind of comfortable 'fluffy' vibe, which probably says more about myself than the books since several people died horribly in both books. Fluffy deaths. heh.

I liked both books I've read so far in this series. And to think, I only tried this because the first book started with an X and I wanted an X for a challenge. Just a little random tip for authors - include a hook to get readers, could be any random thing - lovely lush covers, grim covers, pun-filled titles, or just having a title that uses a less well-worn letter of the alphabet.

Rating: 4.25

January 5 2017


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Xoe by Sara C. Roethle

Xoe: or Vampires, and Werewolves, and Demons, Oh My! by Sara C. Roethle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A young woman, Xoe, is starting her junior year in high school. She has three obvious friends (as in, she mentions she has a few friends and no more, but is slow in mentioning who they are; in such a way that at first I thought she only was friends with Allison and Lucy, but then her next-door-neighbor Brian got into the mix as well - potentially there are more 'friends' out there).

During the school day a new student intrudes into their little circle (that being Lucy, Allison and Xoe - but not Brian). A young man named Dan. Allison and Lucy find him attractive and give off signs of lusting after him. Allison, the bolder of the lot, wanders over, grabs Dan, and drags him back to their table (I should have mentioned somewhere along the line that this is all happening at lunch time - well first meeting). Xoe, though, finds Dan to be super creepy. What with his constant staring. And general . . . creepiness.

Allison invites Dan to come along on the groups shopping trip, though now it's morphed into movies. Dan goes along. His creepiness rises higher when Xoe wanders off to get some popcorn, and he confronts her. Grabbing her arm roughly and glaring at her, demanding to know 'her game' (or whatever he said). She's confused and annoyed - especially as it's been Dan doing all the staring all the past week and stuff.

Group outing continues. Eventually the group head to eat food - Lucy and Dan traveling in one car, Allison and Xoe in another. Which is important to note. For reasons. Eventually the night ends. everyone goes home, sleeps, goes to school, stares moodily at each other and are very emo and stuff. heh, no. When Dan dropped Lucy off at her place he scratched her arm. More like clawed it. And his hand looked like a wolf's paw. Lucy, naturally, is freaking out.

One thing leads to another and both Lucy and Xoe, independently of each other, come to the belief that werewolves are involved (with Lucy believing that Dan is one, and Xoe assuming that since werewolves are fictional, that Dan believes that he is a werewolf and stuff).

The point is driven home, though, along the way that things are weird. For various others come out of the woodwork. Vampires, werewolves, and demons. I'm suddenly being vague, I know, on purpose.

Interesting story. The level of maturity and 'plodding along' works when you consider everyone is around 16/17 years of age. Would work less well if everyone was older. So . . that young adult thingie works to it's own advantage. Or something like that.

Curious how the rest of the series unfolds.

Rating: 3.8

December 31 2016



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Descended from Dragons by Tricia Owens

Descended from Dragons
by Tricia Owens
Pages: 218
Date: May 12 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: Moonlight Dragon (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 3.66 out of 5.0
Read: May 19 to 20 2016

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Romance Beckons Cooperative for an honest review.

Anne Moody lives and works in Las Vegas. Specifically inside a 'cursed' pawn shop. I'm not sure why I put cursed in scare quotes. I mean cursed as in literally cursed. The kind of place that Anne can't really up and leave - filled with things that are cursed, some of which talk to Anne in a way only Anne can hear (in a 'you are going to die; you will meet the love of your life and he will kill you; etc.' kind of way), plus random non-cursed items.

Anne is the descendant of dragons. I'm not exactly sure what that means, though there is reference to dragon in her blood, and, separately, reference to the Chinese being descendant's of dragons. Even saying that I still don't know what that means exactly.

As far as this story is concerned - Anne Moody is a powerful dragon sorcerous (sp?) who has a dragon familiar, and she herself has 'dragon' in her. In that, if she isn't careful, she'll literally turn into a dragon and run around killing and destroying, and being a big badass predator. Supposedly. Anne's been kind of trying to fly under the radar because Las Vegas has these 'Oddsmakers' who keep an eye on things and anyone who gets too public, or shows too much power, is taken out. Whatever that means. Since she is flying under the radar, her true power level is unknown.

Also because she is flying under the radar, most do not know who and/or what she is. Even her friends are in the dark. And her family is either dead or missing.

The story involves a powerful unknown entity who wishes to gain access/control over a demon and use their power and minions to take over Las Vegas. If they succeed they will get lots of power.

Anne kind of backs into the story by having someone drop off a gargoyle statue which is less a statue and more of an actual gargoyle. One that is cursed - what with having a demon pushed into it. This leads to Anne learning of the evil dude's activities, and directly/indirectly causing that evil dude some 'issues' and putting some roadblocks in front of that guy on his quest for success.

Interesting enough story though I had certain 'issues'. She is super powerful but makes comments indicating a lack of desire or interest in 'learning' the thing she needs to know (see, for example: comments made when she mentioned dropping out of college). Certain comments are made that are on the edge of ... not exactly sure how to word this issue - lack of awareness of a LGBT world (see: 'of course she didn't fall under the succubus power because wrong gender - there is a 90% chance I am reading that wrong).

Not exactly sure about rating. Something around 3.5 to 3.7.

May 22 2016

A Fashionably Dead Christmas by Robyn Peterman

A Fashionably Dead Christmas
by Robyn Peterman
Pages: 128
Date: December 15 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: Hot Damned (5th in series)

Review
Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 22 2016

I like holiday stories, I like Christmas stories, I seem to have an odd attraction to reading holiday family stories, and I like humor. There are series and authors in which my favorite thing in the series, or by the author, happen to be holiday stories.

This was an annoying, disagreeable mess.

And please, for the love of everything and anything, stop fucking going on and on about the super old vampires whose bodies keep accidentally falling out of their outfits. It wasn't exactly that interesting the first time (or 10 or 20 times) this little bit of 'humor' popped up. But it was bearable. But . . . do we really need the same humor beaten to death, mounted on the wall, taken down, unmounted, beaten some more, then mounted to the wall again?

Also, what the fuck are 'baby Jesus' figurines? The next is unrelated, specifically, to this story, but since I'm on 'baby Jesus' anyway - why the fuck do so many fucking people seem to prefer asking help from/praying to/worshiping baby Jesus as opposed to, oh, I don't know, non-baby Jesus? They just not want some 30-something dude's help? Prefer the help of a baby? For fuck sake.

March 22 2016

Fashionably Dead in Diapers by Robyn Peterman

Fashionably Dead in Diapers
by Robyn Peterman
Pages: 232
Date: February 17 2015
Publisher: Self
Series: Hot Damned (4th in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 18 2016
In this fourth book in the series (and fourth book I've read by this author), the series returns to following Astrid (you may or may not recall that the previous book involved following Dixie, Satan's daughter).

Astrid's baby's been born and its aging/growing in experience much more rapidly than expected. As in, I think the kid was talking by two months old or something like that. Well, the book involves several 'dangers of having a child with power - being watched by babysitter' type moments. Plus 'new mothers are very horny' type moments. Then one evening (day? night? whenever), things kick up a notch when invaders do something weird like, you know, invade. The house I mean. There's yelling, screaming, death. Man, these invaders are really easy to kill . . . two are left. They flee the room. Screams from the nursery. Astrid hurries and . . . one dead invader, one missing invader . . . and no baby (nor, for that matter, are the two vampires that Astrid sent in currently in the room). The vampire prince dude . . um . . whatever the fuck his name is, he's the father of Astrid's child and her boyfriend, well he's in the room as well and he notes that one of the evil dudes who had invaded made off with both the baby and the vampires. Though he didn't specifically want to bring the vampires with him; they latched on while he was fleeing with the baby.

So. That happened. Mother on a rage. Baby's been taken. I've been vague, but the identity of the invaders actually was known more or less immediately - they are evil fairies. No not evil gay men (I make this 'joke' because it's made both in this book and series a lot; like in - haha, fairy = gay dude, or something), fairy as in the kind that's magical (not to imply that gay men can't be magical). The fairy's were there to kill Gemma, who is the newly returned (arrived/discovered/whatever the fuck) rightful queen of fairyland. The current leader of fairyland, queen bitch, wants Gemma dead.

It immediately becomes clear that (1) the fairy dudes took the baby to fairyland; (2) they think the baby is Gemma's. Naturally that means that Gemma's significant other, that guy who likes to wear a tutu and was in the first book . . . why can't I remember anyone's names? Well, he, Ethan (that's the vampire dude, right?, and Astrid head off to Fairyland to retrieve the baby.

Things are going great on their quest to save the baby, until they come to a bridge. They all attempt to cross. Winds pick up. The next thing Astrid knows she’s waking up in some kind of cabin. Listening to strangers talking. She listens to them. Gets the idea that there’s some ‘stuff’ going on. And that there’s this baby. And stuff. Eventually everyone realizes that she’s awake. They call her Astrid. She replies that she’s fairly certain that that is not her name. They mention things like vampires and fairy’s, and Astrid is confused. See, she’s lost her memory.

Overall the book was actually quite interesting. A new ‘plane’ was visited – that of the faerie folk that apparently live in an amusement park like setting, and really love reality television. There’s a certain amount of humor, a certain amount of fun/excitement/etc. had by the reader. I’d have said had by all, but considering that a baby’s been taken, as well as someone’s memories – that same someone imagining they have 24 children with a human husband (or possibly a human wife) while at the same time lusting after that vampire guy; who, it appears, has two concubines (the two vampires who had gone and gotten themselves latched onto the kidnapper) – well, not fun for them. But fun for me. The reader.

(Please note: yes I know they spell vampire as vampyre in this book, but I'm too lazy to remember that and spell it that way in my review).

March 21 2016

Fashionably Dead by Robyn Peterman

Fashionably Dead
by Robyn Peterman
Pages: 323
Date: September 2 2013
Publisher: Author
Series: Hot Damned (first in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 4 2016

My first book by this author.

This book has all the elements of chick-lit. Deeply connected to family. Filled with humor. Involving a female protagonist of between 26 and 33 (if I recall correctly, Astrid is around 29). Set in the modern day world of Kentucky. Oh, and the main character, plus the potential love interest, are vampires. Sorry, Vampyres. What, being magical creatures moves this outside the realm of Chick-Lit? Well, darn.

So, Astrid is a young (depending on your age when you meet her) woman of 29ish. She has self-proclaimed genius IQ (well, she claimed she had an IQ of 150), but doesn’t really use it. Works as an art teacher at a senior center. She never knew her father, and her mother is a cold icy bitch who refuses to show Astrid any love. Yet, Astrid still strives for it instead of rejecting the bitch.

The book opens with Astrid being moody and depressed. For good reason, her one good relative in her life is dead. Her grandmother. And her mother still acts like a bitch, even at the funeral, wondering why the hell her daughter made her come down to this hick town for ‘this’.

Months pass. Astrid continues lusting after Prada products and huffing away on cigarettes. One thing leads to another and Astrid makes a bet with her best friend Gemma. A bet to quit smoking. She’s tried almost everything but has failed to kick the habit. A thousand dollars is on the line. Oh, and her health. So . . . she goes to a seedy area of the town and visits a hypnotist. She asks for ‘never smoking again’ (or however she worded that) and tosses in ‘never again gaining weight’.

The next thing she knows, she’s wiggling awake in her bed. Blinking, looking around confused. She desperately desires a cigarette. Well, that failed. She lights up a cigarette. Puts it into her mouth. Attempts to smoke. Fails utterly. Hmms, she thinks, there’s a need to be able to breathe that comes with smoking. Being able to inhale and exhale. And she appears to be doing neither. She attempts to inhale. To exhale. Hmms. She hears a voice on the other side of her bedroom door. It’s Gemma. She notes that she appears to have a little trouble breathing. Gemma asks if she has a pulse. ‘Of course I have a pulse!’ *checks, no pulse found* Gemma, oddly, doesn’t appear horrified by the whole thing, but instead to be outrageously excited. She’s weird like that. Oh, and Oprah Winfrey is in her living room. That’s one reason Gemma wasn’t initially horrified, she had had a discussion with Oprah (I’m not Oprah!) before attempting to talk with Astrid. Astrid is a Vampyre. Oh, and even though she can’t see her own reflection, she is informed that she’s super hot.

Astrid then attempts to ‘live’ as a dead person. Or . . something like that. Late one night she decides to visit her grandmother’s grave. (I’m overlooking certain things like the appearance of three vampyres who represent different vampyre houses and extend invitations). Hearing voices, Astrid hides. Three really really attractive people show up. Arguing with each other. Astrid really just loves the butt on one of them. The male one. But . . . these are probably the rogues she was warned about! Naturally she stands up, they spot her, they tousle, she transports herself back to her house and . . scene.

Ethan, one of the three ‘rogues’ and Astrid ‘the new Vampyre’ spend the rest of the book bumping into each other. Hmm, I don’t have time to be more exact, and this really isn’t being fair, but that’s life.

The book was actually pretty funny, and rather entertaining. The sequel appears to be using a plot device that I’ve seen way too often so I’m unsure if I’ll be able to continue, but I did rather enjoy this specific book here.

Oh, one final issue – there is some really explicit and graphic sex scenes in this book. Just an FYI.

January 4 2016

The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright

The Pyramid Waltz
by Barbara Ann Wright
Pages: 264
Published date: September 17 2012
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Review:
5.5 out of 5.0 stars
Read: January 16 2014

It didn't end exactly the way I'd want it to, and the first couple paragraphs,  while solid, didn't really pull me in.  Otherwise,  probably one of the best books I've read.  Good solid action, solid world building,  and one of the best displays of two strong independent people coming together in love and as equal partners.  Neither submissive,  neither dominant.  Maybe something of that will/or did turn up in a later book, though I like the way it is at the moment.

Those looking for graphic descriptions of sex will be disappointed.  This one had more of the 1950s movie feel for those intimate scenes. Which I actually liked.