Beast by Rachel Frank

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Less than Three in exchange for an honest review.

This is a short story of roughly 44 pages in length that involves a dragon, a knight, a witch, and evil. An abusive evil bastard. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The story, even after it opened the way I expected (a witch being left out for a dragon to find), was not really at all what I thought it would be. Though why I thought it'd be any particular story, I'm not sure.

Other than what I've already stated, that the story involves a dragon, witch, knight, evil bastard, I can't really say anything more. For, you see, there are several twits to the story. Most of which keep me from elaborating on the content.

So: Well written story that was, to a certain extent, a lot more 'horrible and abusive' than I expected, but still an entertaining story (yeah, I know, horrible and abusive is not entertaining).

I'll have to keep an eye on what else this author puts out - it's not every day you read a competently written short story, turn to the afterward (wait, I think it was the 'about the author' section) and see something about how the author still lives with her parents - as she has not yet even entered high school (I might be mis-remembering how exactly that was worded).

Rating: 3.66

August 21 2017

Tread Lightly by Catherine Lane

Tread Lightly
by Catherine Lane
Pages: ?
Date: February 15 2017
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series:

Review
Rating: 4.21
Read: Feb 9 - Feb 10 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Ylva Publishing in return for a fair review.*

Firstly – I do not know how long this story is, though I believe it’s in the ‘short story’ category.

Secondly – this story will be published February 15 2017.

And now on with the review.

This story stars two fantasy characters, though only one has a point of view. First up is Claire (we’ll get to Tamiel, the guardian angel, a little later). Claire is the point of view character in the story, and is a ‘fairy godmother level one plus’. The fairy part? Repeatedly mentioned in the story that, whatever she is (she’s uncertain, though knows she’s half-human and half something else) she isn’t a fairy. As in, Faerie creatures. That ‘level one plus’ has to do with her rank in the organization. She’s on the top tier of agents sent out into the field, though she has a boss, and then there are the unnamed ‘upper management’ people.

Several things to know about both Claire and what she does. Claire is roughly 400 years old and very very experienced in her profession. She’s like the gold standard, what with having such critters as Cinderella and Grace Kelly as successful clients (that’s what they call them, clients). In ‘modern times’ the ‘clients’ are a little less excited to meet their fairy godmother than they were in the past – what with having to break through the ‘not believing’ part. As noted, 400 years, much experience, and . . . . somewhat very naïve and inexperienced in certain matters. For example – until this specific story here, despite having lived and worked for 400 years, she wasn’t actually sure demons were real until this story. And, while she knew guardian angels were real (and that there’s a conflict between godmothers and angels), she’s never actually meet one before this story. That naivety and inexperience in certain matters (somewhat unbelievable inexperience), plus long age and deep experience in other matters, was beginning to irritate me. It seemed as if the author wanted the best of both worlds – someone super good, bright, experienced, but they also wanted to have them encounter new things, however unbelievable it would be for them to only know encounter them. Beginning, but then it started to become apparent why there would be this naivety – it gets indirectly explained in the story and becomes a lot more believable.

Tamiel is a guardian angel who Claire encounters while on a case. Being a character without a point of view, there is a lot less known about her than about Claire. Though certain things are known. Just like Claire, in her natural form she’s drop dead gorgeous (though Claire tends to use her powers to morph herself as needed, like into plump little old ladies, or as small children). The kind who wears silvery barely there clingy outfits. And has fire for eyes. Yeah that one threw me. Fire? Ah, hmm.

Story: The story follows Claire as she tries to help two ‘clients’, a Frankie and an Abby. One comes with tattoos, piercings, and a certain reluctance to believe; other is quite eager to believe a fairy godmother has turned up to help them. Both come with issues – Abby, the first meet, is disagreeable and seems determined to not help herself when help is offered; while Frankie has literal demons attacking her on and off.

While trying to meet Frankie for the first time, Claire teleports to her location. And finds herself in a dark dirty dingy alleyway. And the artist Frankie is ‘tagging’ a building. With graffiti. Then a voice begins screaming in Claire’s head, a demon appears, a guardian angel appears, and – well, hell breaks loose. And Claire has to overcome her prejudices against angels, and both the angel and the fairy need to try to help defeat the problems confronting them.

Overall - After I got past that issue of Claire being both experienced and inexperienced, I found her to be an interesting character. And Tamiel seemed interesting enough, though hard to ‘pin down’. I liked what occurred well enough, I might even have been a little tear-eyed at one specific moment (or two). I can’t say anything about the graphic sex scene, though, as that suddenly ‘attacked me’ while I was out and about in public so I mostly skimmed.

Rating: 4.21

February 10 2017

Dynasty of Rogues by Jane Fletcher

Dynasty of Rogues by Jane Fletcher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


End of the line for me – as in I’ve read all of the other books in this series having read them in the chronological instead of publication order. (I found it a good way to read the series, though I’m sure others might feel differently).

This story here focuses on a new character and a side character seen previously. Rikki was something like 12 when her mother fled the ‘Homelands’ with her. Rikki herself would have preferred to stay with her . . . crap I forget now, gene mother? I think gene mother. But wasn’t given the choice. She’s spent her life showing her mother (the one who took her away from her home) how much she hates what happened – by always getting in trouble and being quite . . . horrible really. At least she’s mostly done that. But she’s an adult now. A Ranger (should I word that as a ‘heretic Ranger’? No, that complicates things – a ranger for the heretics, though she herself puts on a show of ‘still being a believer’).

Right, got distracted there. As I was attempting to say – Rikki is an adult now, and it’s been ‘years’ since she has been ‘bad’. Except . . . small community, everyone knows everyone. Really bad reputation – and unlike the Rangers who operate in the Homelands, the ones the Heretics created operate more like Militia (at least in terms of being stationed where they joined the Rangers – they still do border patrol and the like – no actual mention was made of who ‘maintains’ order in the two heretic villages). Meaning that the same town that Rikki grew up in (well 12 to whatever age she joined the Rangers) ‘knows’ Rikki and knows she’s a massive trouble maker and a really bad seed. Even if she doesn’t really want to be that any longer. That’s still the role she has been slotted into. By her own actions.

The other main character, and the one who has been seen before in these books, is Tanya. Daughter of the Rangers Captain (that one with the C name I can never remember how to spell, Caperllini is probably massively wrong). Tanya is a newly promoted corporal in the Ranger unit Rikki has been transferred into (and yes, a big mention was made about an earlier Ranger transfer in a prior book, and how ‘nothing good’ comes from that type of situation, well, it’s not a ‘good’ transfer here either).

Once Rikki learns Tanya’s relationship to the overall Ranger captain, as in daughter of said individual, Rikki immediately assumes Tanya is there because of that relationship. And makes a snide remark to one of her new squad mates. Who immediately and I mean immediately, trots forward and whisper the words into Tanya’s ear. New opportunity . . . blown immediately.

One thing leads to another, Tanya ends up in the Homelands, Rikki is in prison, escapes to the homelands, meets people, learns some things, stuff occurs.

The book was quite interesting, plot and story wise. Neither of the main characters are exactly my favorite characters, though. I kind of really disliked Rikki, and Tanya was a little too quick to jump to conclusions and be very . . . well, she had some obvious bad characteristics as well. Still, they were ‘livable’. Until they weren’t.

They weren’t? Let me insert here status update I did while reading the book:

“I was in the part of the story I thought I really wanted to read but. Something like 15% of the book, since 15% ago I mean, has been a really really long fucking 'Tanya thinking while acting very pissed off towards Riki: I like her but she can't like me; Riki thinking while acting like she'd rather hump a goat than Tanya: I like her but she can't like me.' For 15 fucking percent of the book. Over and over and . fuck"

That little thingie, the inability to express themselves, etc., was very annoying and way way too extended.

Well, as I said, the line ends here. Book and series completed (barring another book suddenly appearing, though the author has kind of gotten into the habit late in the game of writing these things out of order, so if there is another book, it’d probably be set either 100 years before the start of the series, or 100 years after this book here).
Rating: 3.50

December 27 2016




View all my reviews

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I was reluctant to read this one, and now I forget why I did. But I had read and enjoyed books by Hayes before - all but the most recent book in that NPC series were read and enjoyed.

This book was a series of short connected stories.

Really really boring man, who works as an accountant, was 'turned' into a vampire at some point prior to the start of this book. He is as boring now as he was before, and he didn't suddenly gain 'super-cool' . . . coolness. He's slimmer and doesn't need glasses any longer (though still wears them), but he has the same personality he had before he was turned.

First story involves Bob going to his high school reunion. Being bored. Being boring. Then watching as werewolves attack.

Second story involves . . . well, it's been too long to make sure I get these all correct. Let's just say that at some point there was a story where his new hot girlfriend drags him to a 'live role-play' thingie while on the way to the movies. A real life wizard like guy, and a zombie were meet.

Another story involved Bob and the gang (every story seems to increase the number of people in 'Bob's gang', from 'Bob', to 'Bob + girlfriend (highly qualified superagent type)', to 'Bob + girlfriend + zombie', to 'Bob etc + gay weresteed', to etc.). Right sorry. Another story involved Bob and the gang heading off to Las Vegas for . . I think Thanksgiving was mentioned. Though they are really there because the girlfriend's friend is in deep deep trouble and she's going to try to help.

Then the vampire who turned Bob returns to 'unleash' Bob. Whereupon it turns out that some of the 'humans' in the group might not actually be humans.

Was not a horrible book. Just . . . kinda boring.

December 18 2016



View all my reviews

Gift of Time by Robin Alexander

Gift of Time by Robin Alexander
Pages: 242
Date: September 18 2017
Publisher: Intaglio Publications
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.75
Read: October 6 to 7 2016

Deciding to kill some time during a lunch break, Leah Marks pops into an antique store near her work. She isn't really into antiques, but . . . see: boredom. While there Leah spots a rather neat looking snow globe. While examining said globe, a woman approaches - one Reagan Montgomery.

Leah is quite taken by two things - the snow globe, and Reagan. She's lived something like 35 years without finding much in the way of love, and scoffs at those who hint at the concept of instant-love. So she has something of a problem - she's feeling strange feelings towards Reagan. From glimpses seen through Leah's eyes, Reagan might feel something for Leah as well. Leah acquires two things before she leaves that store - the snow globe, and Reagan's number.

Turns out there's a reason for why Leah and Reagan seem to fall into something like 'insta-love', but I'll let the reader find out what's going on.

The snow globe has a twin, owned by Reagan. Both snow globes have neat little houses in them, quite detailed. While examining the snow globe, Leah sees something she saw while in the store and played off, in her mind, as a trick of the light. Smoke appears to be rising from the chimney in the snow globe. And then . . . a small woman baring a striking similarity to Reagan exists the house. In the snow globe. Leah, as might be expected, is freaked.

One thing leads to another, and Leah and Reagan begin investigating these snow globes. Find some rather freaky stuff. And, eventually, that 'gift of time' part of the title comes into play - both end up sucked into 1907. Roughly around the same area they reside in in 2004, just with a different date.

I'm not exactly when it occurred, but for the longest time I was thinking that this book was falling into the occasional 3 star level. Occasional for Alexander books. Some neat things started to occur, though, and I got pulled into the book. By the end I quite enjoyed it.

Quite strange book. Mix of fantasy/science fiction/romance/historical fiction, etc. Fantasy has to do with the snow globes and the mini people in them; science fiction has to do with the time travel and how the snow globes came to be (though there's a mix of fantasy in there as well).

October 9 2016

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

Hell On Heels by Robyn Peterman

Hell On Heels by Robyn Peterman
Pages: 339
Date: September 15 2014
Publisher: Self
Series: Hot Damned (3rd in series)

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 13 to 14 2016
In this third book in this series (and third book I've read by this author), the series turns to a new lead main character (though I know at least two following books follow Astrid, and the sixth in the series follow yet another new batch of main characters). I guess, suppose/assume, that the series shifted to give Astrid more time to be pregnant, and I guess it's boring to follow pregnant people so . . . let's follow Dixie, Satan's nicest daughter, while Astrid's off on the side groaning about her 12 headed baby and wondering when it might, you know, appear.

So far this has been the weakest in the series. In the smallish dose I saw them in Astrid's visit to Hell, Dixie, Carl, Mrytle, Janet, and the rest were some what . . .bareable . . . probably isn't the right word. But interesting enough in their small doses. But a whole book of them? And switching from a character in her, 30s I think, to one who is 21, is annoying. Might be stretching things to call it young adult - I'll shove it into 'New Adult'. So chick-lit with fantasy (the Astrid books) changed to young adult/new adult (with Dixie). mmphs.

Dixie went to a college literally in the same spot she went to high school (apparently Satan didn't want his daughter to head off to Harvard or the like - like most high level demons do, because he didn't think she was ready for earth, so changed her high school into college. Fun, right? Going to the same place for 8 years? Feeling like you never escaped high school?). Which is important because, despite the last book ending with Dixie all set to go to earth . . . things are dragged out. Heck, things got repeated to a certain extent. I don't think any specific event repeated from Dixie's point of view, it's just Dixie got told things/taught things that Astrid got taught. By the same people. In the same way. Using the same words. Frustrating.

Then it got super icky with this 'super hot boy crush' that Dixie had to deal with. And the super hot boy also seemed to be crushing hard on Dixie. Their whole relationship is icky, and dripped with what I image the author imagined drama/relationships are like in young adult novels. To a limited extent I was able to get over this icky-ness, but their relationship wasn't very interesting.

I've lost track of what I have said/what I wanted to say, and what I need to say. mmphs.

Let's see - Dixie, before the beginning of this book, had spent time in high school (time amount not given; fact spent time in high school implied by the words that her college is literally on the same spot her high school was), before moving on to college. And, though it wasn't specifically mentioned in the last book, she might have been near the end of her time at college. Well, so, in this book she graduates from college . . . I think. My mind is kind of jumbled. She was at her high school like college, got news she was going to go to earth on a specific date, she got distracted by this Hayden dude, now she's on earth and her grandpa tells her to go to community college. To which she notes she already graduated college. There might have been a step I skimmed over/overlooked/wasn't there. I don't actually recall her actually graduating from that demon college she went to. No matter.

So, as is somewhat normal in this series, the female lead character with 'massive issues' heading her way; she jokes around, is quite horny, plays with small demons, is destructive, and . . . well if I go too far I'll be in spoiler land. So I won't.

Enjoyable enough book, in its way. Just not as good as the first two books in the series.

March 14 2016

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Fire Touched
by Patricia Briggs
Pages: 352
Date: March 8 2016
Publisher: Ace
Series: Mercy Thompson (9th in series)

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: March 11 to 13 2016
Except for short stories, and short story collections, oh and all but one graphic novel, I have read everything published by Briggs (as far as I know – so many authors turn out to have written, or write under other names that I can’t ever really know if I’ve read everything a specific author has published). This is around 23 books. Including this book here. I think.

I had this specific book here on my ‘to read’ shelf since I learned of its existence. However many years before publication that might have been. I bought the book the day of publication. But then . . . I kind of was vaguely reluctant to actually go ahead and read it. Simple-ish reason – I’ve, for the most part, loved the books I’ve read by Briggs, and didn’t want to find out that she’s another author who I would need to move into a ‘no longer read’ column. Not because I suspected anything like that might occur, just that a lot of the authors who I loved from the era I started reading Briggs, have slowly fallen out of my reading rotation. So, I was reluctant to start the book.

Well, I hadn’t anything to worry about. It was kind of interesting, in its way, to read the book – and see a certain higher level craftsmanship in evidence – after reading and liking books by others of either lesser writing skills, or imagination.

*shrugs* - why am I doing another rambling review as opposed to any of my more organized reviews? Because the book came out on the 6th of March and there are already 506 other reviews on GoodReads. And 3,172 ratings. Anything I say will just drop into the sea and sink beneath the waves of others.

So I do a somewhat minimal review: 1) interesting to return to Briggs; 2) writes a high quality story; 3) enjoyable read; 4) brings to mind the difference between Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (maybe in my own mind) – they might both deal with the same subjects, have the same ‘out there’ creatures, etc., but one seems vaguely obsessed with sex & romance (PNR), while the other might mention it, but only in passing (UF), or, at least, isn't the main point of the book. I’ve had this thought before, but this is one of the few times I’ve actually jumped back and forth between a PNR book and a UF book. Well, I didn’t read them at the same time; I mean read them back to back. Hmms. Well, I’d been thinking of more ‘Fashionably Dead Down Under’ (no this book 1) is not set in Australia; 2) involve someone who’s ‘down there’ is ‘dead’; 3) involve anything ‘down under’. I’m not actually sure why it has the title it has – yes, the main character goes to Hell, but there’s a huge point made that Hell isn’t ‘under’, heaven isn’t ‘up there’, but all three are just on different planes of the same location) & ‘Fire Touched’, but there’s a bunch of books in between. Okay, I’ll pretend I meant ‘Fire Touched’ and ‘Hell on Heels’. That one is even more obsessed with sex than ‘Fashionably Dead Down Under’ so there’s that.

So, yeah, I read this book, it was high quality; there’s no inherent need to recommend or not recommend since it’s the ninth in a series. A series that has an interconnected ‘other’ series that currently has 4 books in it. All of which occurred before this book here. So that means that there are 12 books in the combined series that occurred before this book here. And the books are connected, one thing leading to another, characters growing, relationships expanding/contracting. You can’t start with this book here, basically is what I’m driving at. So I can’t recommend it for that reason. All I can say is that if you’ve read the other books in both series before this one, then yes, I recommend this book here.

March 14 2016

Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin by Caren J. Werlinger

Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin
by Caren J. Werlinger
Pages: 306
Date: February 1 2016
Publisher: Corgyn Publishing, LLC
Series: The Dragonmage Saga (1st book)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 3 2016


My first book by this author.

I’ve been kind of reading a lot of romances of one kind or another this year, and wanted a break. So, a fantasy book. Starring a young girl who was raised by badgers (yes, badgers).

So, this book stars one ‘Ash’ (I suppose it isn’t a spoiler to note that she is also known as Caymin, since the book itself has ‘The Chronicles of Caymin’ on the cover). When Ash was around 2 or so, her village was attacked, and she was tossed into a fire. She squealed and cried for help. Help came in the form of badgers. Oddly enough, Ash had been calling out to in the badgers their own, mental, language.

Ash, as the badgers call her, spends the next bit of time growing older with these badgers. Being, more or less, a badger. Sure, she didn’t seem to want to eat the worms her badger mother attempted to offer her, but she ate other things, and a bond of love developed between Broc, Cuan, and Ash.

One day, while out doing whatever it was she was doing (gathering food? Hunting?), Ash hears a fight break out. The squeals of badgers. The growls of wolves. She hurries over and drives away the wolves, but not before they grievously injured one of her badger parents. And in a move of instinct, Ash moved in to help her parent. Laid hands on the furry critter, and more or less glowed (well, at least her hands, if I recall correctly). She then slumped over very very tired. Next to the now healed badger.

The point of mentioning all that, the attack and healing, was to get to the next part wherein I mention that her use of magic sent out a very powerful vibration, which was felt very far away. A magical vibration. Felt by an older woman named Enat. Who lived in a magical forest. Enat travels around looking for who sent out this vibration, and eventually finds Ash. An offer is made to train Ash, - said offer being one made to Ash, and to be answered by Ash. With sadness at leaving her clan, the badgers, Ash reluctantly agrees. And is taken to the magical forest area.

This is a deep, detailed, rather riveting book that pulled me from beginning to end. There were certain plot points whereupon the author could have gone a different direction, and the vast majority of the time I was quite happy with the direction the author choose.

The ending both somewhat dragged, and ended abruptly. I cannot really say exactly what I mean, since I’m referring directly to the end of the book, and there is no real way of expressing with more detail what I’m referring to. Let’s just leave it as what I’ve said, plus the part wherein the book ended setting up a sequel. A sequel that I wish to read, oh, now.

As I had mentioned at the start of this review, this is the first book I’ve read by this author. I had been examining the shelves of friends, looking for authors that I had not yet read, though they had read and rated at least one book 5 stars. Looking for those lesbian fiction authors that I had, as of yet, not tried. I mention all of this to note that I had not gone into this attempting to find a good solid coming of age fantasy book. I went into it to find authors to add at least one of their books to my maybe pile. Came away from that examination with a book to read. And eventually read.

It should be noted, as at least one other reviewer has noted, this is not a lesbian fiction book. At least it isn’t currently. Maybe the series will get there as Ash/Caymin ages. At the moment, all I can say is that the concept of people ‘mating’ with those of the same gender is mentioned in this book (Enat being one who had had, at some point, a female partner – this is mentioned in passing). Ash, though, is of an age where in the concept of finding a ‘mate’ isn’t exactly something she is interested in; though she thought enough about it to believe that she wouldn’t be one who ended up with a mate. What with her being a ‘two-leg’ in a clan of badgers.

On one level I’m vaguely sad that I read this book now. Because it was released February 1 2016. I like gobbling series as soon as I find them. Yet now I’ll have to wait. I’m not very patient.

I recommend this book to one and all – though with the understanding that this is a book that has, as a main character, a young girl, involves magic, and is open to the idea of same sex relationships (at least it’s mentioned in passing). Oh, and open to the idea that those who follow the Christian God might not always and in every situation be on the side of good. I mean, the book is set in ancient Ireland at the time when ‘the monks’ were ‘invading’ and strenuously attempting to convert everyone around them, and suppress everything that would stand as an obstacle to their power.

March 4 2016

NPCs by Drew Hayes

NPCs
by Drew Hayes
Pages: 234
Date: May 12 2014
Publisher: Self
Series: Spells, Swords, & Stealth (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: February 16 2016

This is the first book I’ve read by this author.

I’m not really sure what to write about this book. I was looking for something relatively light and fluffy with the potential of humor. This book popped up on my radar, I noticed it was on Kindle Unlimited, so I tried it.

I was actually unexpectedly surprised, as opposed to expectedly surprised I suppose. Hmms. Let’s see. Bah.

I was actually surprised by how much deeper this book turned out to be on a certain level. Sure, it’s still mostly fluffy, but there were elements I did not expect to find that made things seem more real. This, in its way, is the point.

Right, so, anyone not read the book description? Well, in case you didn’t: Four adventures roll into town. Visit a tavern. Drink some mead and then promptly slump over dead. Four others were in the tavern when this event occurred. All four are town people, and, in another realm, NPC. Non-player characters. They ‘spring to life’, so to speak, when they spot the four people slumped over. They investigate, and discuss what to do with the bodies. Well, first what to do with the passed out people, but it quickly turns to what to do with the dead bodies once the four realize that they are dealing with death not passed out drunks. One thing leads to another and the four realize something super important – the four adventurers have an invitation from the king. The king known for being, let us say, overly eager to burn and pillage his own people. Any excuse will do. Four dead people traveling under his invitation? Perfect excuse to burn and pillage, say, the village the four people are standing in. The same village they happen to live in and most of whom have family living in. They, naturally, examine the possibility of disposing the bodies as far away from the village as possible. There’s a slight chance that might work. A slight chance is not good enough. And so – NPC’s become . . . adventurers. Specifically, they assume the role of the four dead people.

Right, so. Who are these people? We’ve got Eric the human guard (and kinda really incompetent, the kind who probably would have been out of a job if he wasn’t the friend of the village mayor’s daughter). Naturally, since he has training in armor, and has armor, he’ll ‘pretend’ to be the paladin. Then we have Gabrielle – also a human. She’s the village mayor’s daughter. She spends her time alternating between being boredly tightly bound within the strictures of being ‘a proper lady’ and being a damsel in distress. She’s trained a lot to try to break out of needing people to save her, but it never seems to work. Naturally, since she’s the most educated of the bunch, she’ll pretend to be the wizard. Then there’s the gnome. Whose name escapes me at the moment. That annoys me. Oh right, his name is Thistle. Since he’s worked as a minion and darts around in shadows, he’ll naturally play the role of the Rogue. Lastly we have Grumph; he’s a half-orc and the bartender (and owner of the tavern). Naturally, because he is a half-orc, he’ll play the role of ‘Barbarian’.

Note 1: I got distracted numerous times, by accident, by the fact that Thristle’s god is named Grumble. And his best friend is named Grumph. Occasionally I’d forget which name went with which entity and got confused as to who Thristle was talking with.

The above, the NPC’s interacting with each other, was basically what I expected this book to be about. I knew that the four would end up pretending to be Adventurer’s because that’s in the description. What I didn’t know, though found out almost immediately, is that the book also includes the point of view of actual adventurers in addition to the NPC’s. I’m of two minds about the adventurer’s point of view – about whether it was needed or not. On the one hand – obviously, because of the structure of the book, something like their point of view was needed here and there. On the other hand, just maybe not as much of their story intermixed. Most of the book, though, involves the NPC’s, so I believe the adventurers part/pov was probably about right. Perhaps.

So then – this is one of those books that kind of sucked me in, tickled me, and then spit me out the other side. I rather enjoyed this book, I did. There’s some element that lifted it above where I thought the book would rest, while at the same time there’s some other unexplained element that’s keeping me from marking this down as a five star story. I did kind of love the book though. I’ll have to think harder about the rating. It should be noted, though, that I, once the first book was done, immediately purchased the second book. Recall, if you will, that I initially read this book because it was in the Kindle Unlimited program.

Right, well, um, I guess that’s all I have to say. I think.

February 17 2016

Dead in the Water by Hailey Edwards

Dead in the Water
by Hailey Edwards
Pages: 186
Date: January 30 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: Gemini (1st in series; 6th in shared universe)

Review
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0
Read: February 14 to 15 2016

My sixth book by this author. Before this book, my average rating for this author was 3.90. After this book, my average rating for this author is 3.67.

This is both the sixth book I've read by this author and the sixth book set in the same universe. Only four of those, though, had the same main character - that being those books in the Black Dog series (and involving Thierry). Well, Thierry was in this book as well, and . . . I don't recall if she has a cameo in Mai's book. She only has a cameo in this book though.

No, this time the main character is Camille Ellis. A Gemini. Other than something about twins, and something about being able to detect what other people are, and a limited time ability to shift into other things, I've no real idea what a Gemini is supposed to be.

The story here isn't really super bad or anything. No, I rated it the way I rated it for the same reason I rated the first book in the Black Dog series 3 stars. The main male was super creepy, and the male-female dynamic in that book was very off putting on so many levels. This is the same in this one. I kind of liked Thierry in that book, though, while I don't really like Camille Ellis. Then the later books in the Black Dog series pushed Shaw, the creepy guy in that Thierry series, into something of a larger than a cameo role but barely role, and I was able to push down the nausea he generated in me. Unfortunately, I don't think this series here will follow the same path.

So - at some point, I believe maybe when she was about 7 or 8, Cam watched her twin sister Lori drown. She's felt incredibly guilty ever since then and is super down on herself. And to increase the level of pain and guilt, she spends her time investigating drowning victims. This brings us to this book here. Apparently there's this person going around killing fae and or magical people. There's a good chance this person doing the kill is also fae.

The first body Cam visits in this book, though not the first death, Cam runs across a guy named Cord Graeson - who is the beta in the Warg clan in the region the dead body was found. Oh, and Cord is also the brother of the dead person and desires to find the murderer. Because of politics, Cam is forced to allow Cord to be involved in the investigation.

One - Warg is what any other fantasy series would call a werewolf. Two - aren't warg's the name of pets Klingon's have? Wait, no, they have Targs, not wargs. Though the targ in Star Trek III was named Warrigul. Which is not a warg but . . . um. Right.

I was having a certain amount of trouble with this book before Cord Graeson kidnapped Cam so once that happened; I just wanted the book to be over. Following Cam around? While she constantly belittled herself? And was involved with the weirdly evil Marshalls (a fellow agent gets into trouble, it takes them a good long while to get off their asses to actually help this fellow agent, okay, so she was a contractor not a fellow agent, so?)? Yeah, that was kind of annoying. Then the kidnapping occurred.

Books like this one here remind me of why I don't like reading MF romance books. Inevitably we end up with a brooding man-child who dominates women and screams things like a two year old ‘mine mine mine’. Happened in the first book in the Dog series I read. Happened here. Happens in way too many other MF romance books I read. Seriously, is that the only thing men can be described as? Man-childs? And I’m supposed to go weak in the knees over it? Well, Cam seemed weak in the knees at times, while bitching about being kidnapped. So . . . supposedly I am supposed to be drooling over the man-child Cord. Oh, and that ‘but he was in grief’? He wasn’t himself? He spread his grief around his werewolf clan so he could operate on finding the killer.

That whole warg thing pissed me off. There’s a female warg Cam meets. She’s kind of bubbly. And kind of cowers around male wargs. And smiles when one calls her over. Though the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. No, her eyes tell a different story. As she is forced, because of pack dynamics, to fuck that male warg. Right there in the open.

One of the reasons I was able to get over a vaguely similar nausea inducing man in Black Dog was because 1) the man didn’t really matter in the series (I’m overplaying his lack of importance, but whatever); 2) the woman was super powerful. Well, this time the man seems to matter, and this time the woman is a super weak ass liability.

This book ends in a cliff-hanger. And you know what? I did not in the least care. I was ready for the book to end 30 pages before it ended in the way it did. Still, there’s a reasonably good chance I’ll try the second book in this specific series here. Mostly on the off chance the author follows the patterns she set down in her other series in this universe. As in, super nausea inducing man introduced, turns out to be less important than expected, woman stronger than expected, etc.

Too bad the Mai series didn’t continue, though. Unlike Thierry and Cam, I always liked Mai. Even if she spends all of her time man-hunting, I still always liked her. And following her story.

Well, it’s probably time to stop babbling now. I’ll just leave with this thought here – I fucking hate Cord Graeson.

February 16 2016

Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy

Urban Shaman
by C.E. Murphy
Pages: 416
Date: June 1 2005
Publisher: Luna
Series: Walker Papers (1st in Series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 10 2016

This is the first book that I’ve read by this author. It’s a book that (1) hadn’t been on my radar; (2) even so, it was one of the books picked to be read by me in Feb/March (it was the part of the picking wherein the picker picked something not on my pick’em shelf).

Being, as it was, a book that hadn’t been on my radar, I did something I do not always do when picking books. I examined reviews. Some of those reviews kind of put me off, they did. And some of that description on GoodReads both intrigued me and vaguely put me off.

Two last thoughts; one directly related to the above – this is my second attempt to read this book. When I found out that this book had been ‘added to my list’ I examined it. Beat at it. Sampled it. Didn’t particularly wish to continue with it. And put it to the side. Then I came back to it and gobbled it down. Second thought – I had something of a reoccurring thought bouncing in my brain as I read this book – what the bloody hell is the sexual orientation of this character? I didn’t particularly care if she was straight, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, or what, but if I knew she was . . . something, then I’d look at other characters differently. Like, the first woman who means anything to this book that Joanne Walker (the main character) meets, Joanne kind of drools over how beautiful Marie actually turned out to be. Mouth parted, frozen in appreciation beautiful. Ah, I thought, did I stumble into a Lesbian Romance? Wait, now Joanne is dropping hints that if not for the fact that her first encounter with Morrison, she might have been all over him. Now she’s checking out every guy she meets and dropping a comment (mentally was it?) about how she doesn’t really like girls or women. Oookay.

Leap, as we will, to the Romance section of this review to find . . . . as far as I can tell, Joanne is asexual.

Characters
This book is one in which only one character is followed. Somewhat refreshing, in its way. Been a while since I only really had to care about one specific character.

Joanne Walker - is a youngish woman of Cherokee and Irish ancestors (father is Cherokee; mother is Irish). For whatever reason she spent most of her childhood bouncing around basically every three months while living with her father. Until she got to high school years. Because of this, and other reasons, Joanne Walker knows almost nothing about being a descendent of the Cherokee people.

Joanne is a college graduate, with an English degree, but knew, even before going to college, that she would work as a mechanic. Somehow or another falls into having a job with a police department as their mechanic. Joanne’s first boss (or at least the one before Morrison) had Joanne go to the Police Academy, so Joanne is technically a police officer.

Joanne is super rational and logical. Right up to the point she spots a woman being chased by dog like creatures, while Joanne herself is up in the sky in a plane.

One last thing of note – Joanne Walker name, officially, is not actually Joanne Walker. But Joanne Walkingstick. It would have been Siobhan (she-vaun) Walkingstick, but her father didn’t accept the name Siobhan. So, Joanne is both Joanne Walker and Siobhan Walkingstick (I’m not actually sure why her ‘other name’ is Siobhan Walkingstick if Siobhan, as a name, got rejected; I might have gotten confused there).

Mystery
Two, in a way, to follow. (1) Someone is killing people. Joanne investigates. (2) Joanne is a really rational logical person. She learns that there is this fantastical world out there and now must attempt to unravel the mystery of this fantastical world.

Both mysteries are interrelated, fun to follow, and well constructed. Mostly. There was a point wherein I got kind of overwhelmed with ‘otherness’. Briefly.

Romance
Joanne drools, as noted, when she spots Marie – the woman she had spotted from a plane and chased down to save. There’s some kind of sexual tension going on between Morrison (Joanne’s boss) and Joanne. On several occasions Joanne almost kisses certain people. While dead tired and in something of a dream land, Joanne kisses or is kissed by a Celtic god.

Her ‘soul mate’, ‘lover’, ‘best fuck buddy’, and/or the like is not found and drooled over in this book. This is by no means a romance novel that happens to have fantasy; nor is it a fantasy that has much in the way of romance.

Maybe needless to say, there is no sex – graphic or otherwise, in this book.

Mercedes ‘Mercy’ Thompson vs. Joanne ‘Siobhan Walkingstick’ Walker
Just something of a quick note here – two women who are main characters in Urban Fantasy series.

Auto Mechanic – Mercy & Joanne
Half-native American – Mercy & Joanne
Raised by someone other than mother – Mercy & Joanne
Shifter – Mercy (werecoyote). Joanne does, in fact, shift in the book – from human to coyote to raven – but only when entering and exiting her ‘dream guardian’
Coyote – Mercy’s father. Joanne’s spirit guide.
Celtic Folklore – Joanne. I don’t specifically recall anything involving Celtic folklore with Mercy.
Werewolves – Mercy. I do not specifically recall anyone being a werewolf in Joanne’s first book.
Vampires – Mercy. No one appears to be a vampire in Joanne’s first book (though mention of Vampires occurred).
Etc. etc.

The point of this section is relatively simple. While reading I noticed certain tidbits about Joanne. These tidbits reminded me of Mercy Thompson. Therefore I felt the need to examine some of the similarities and differences, though more as a list than as a detailed analysis.

One last point – despite the covers on the books (at least the cover of the first Joanne Walker book), the two women do not actually have a vaguely similar appearance. Mercy looks Hispanic or of native American origin. Joanne, for the most part, looks black Irish (pale with black hair) – the ‘for the most part’ involves how she does in fact look like she’s of native American origin in black & white pictures (this isn’t some magical thing – it’s just that her facial bone structure is similar to that of native American facial features, which is somewhat hidden when people look and see a pale white woman, and somewhat revealed when people see B&W photos).

Overall
Unexpectedly, I found this book to be rather humorous. I don’t specifically recall, now, what or why I found myself laughing, but do recall that I did keep finding myself laughing at the antics going on.

Humor - my status updates reminded me of one - during the book certain events occur that involve Native American folklore. At one point Joanne noted, in reaction to what she saw around her:
“This isn’t even the kind of Indian I am,” I protested. (19% mark?) - I found that vaguely humorous at the time I read it.

Right, so, loved the book. Refreshing to read a book wherein people aren’t pairing off to hump each other; and or find lifelong meaningful fuck buddies. And there’s a bunch of humorous stuff that occurs.

February 11 2016

The Sun Dragon by Annabelle Jay

The Sun Dragon
by Annabelle Jay
Pages: 180
Date: January 28 2016
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press
Series: The Sun Dragon (1st in the series)

Review
Rating: 4.50 out of 5.0
Read: January 28 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

This is another book by an author I'd never read before that I somewhat randomly picked up from Netgalley when I saw it in one of the categories as a 'Read Now'. Not sure which specific category I saw it in, though. Young adult, LGBT, Fantasy, just not sure.

It's also one of those kinds of books wherein if someone told me the plot, or gave me a rough outline, I'd probably think I'd want nothing to do with the story, and/or that it'd be absurd, or out of the range of books I like, or . . . something. So it's good, in its way, that I had a good enough idea of what the book was about to try it, but not enough to cause me to flee before trying it. Because, despite believing that others might feel differently, I rather enjoyed this book. Though it has all the hallmarks of being something that might normally annoy me.

Characters
This is one of those first person type books, with the main character being a young woman named Allanah.

Allanah is a young woman of roughly 16 years of age who starts off the book as a student at a school. I am unsure if her last name is given, nor if she's in high school or not. Though I assume both sets of information might have been given at some point. She's shown instantly as being a flighty kind of woman, the kind who spaces out, starring at a blade of grass, or clouds, or the like and forgetting to focus on what's around her and what she should be doing. Like, say, getting to class on time.

Allanah is described in the book as something of an odd mix of spacey, unable to keep her grades up, naive, inexperienced type of young woman who ends up showing massive amounts of magical skill. Mostly instinctively. And one who seems quite capable of pulling forth solutions to problems. An odd mix.

For the most part, Allanah is the only character that really matters in this book. Though there are others with varying levels of importance.

Victoria is a prim and proper young woman with great intellectually ability. The kind to be class president and straight A student. She’s also best friends with Allanah. Oh, and unknown to her, she’s also a dragon in human disguise. Revealed when she starts to shift one day in class. She has her important moments, and is quite important in certain pivot points, but as a character, is something of minor importance. If I’m conveying this correctly. Maybe if she had her own point of view for people to follow, her importance would be heightened, but beyond being a dragon, and being helpful as such, and being a friend of Allanah’s, and also being helpful as such, she’s really kind of unimportant to the story line.

Jason is a young man of roughly Allanah and Victoria’s age. The book opens with Allanah lusting after him. But apparently he is actually something of an undercover agent for a magic counsel, there to watch over Allanah. And is even less important than Victoria. Really really unimportant.

Cormac is the next man Allanah crushes on. He is a general for the magic counsel, and they – Cormac and Allanah, have a certain connection. Is something of a hot head. Again important, but minor.

Grian is a light dragon Allanah summons when she is tested by the magic counsel. The dragon bonds to Allanah and follows her around.

Roland is a magic user and super evil. Wants ultimate power.

Dena is the reason this book falls into the LGBT category. She’s a female who Allanah meets while she is living with the Igreefree people. Dena stumbles out all bloody and stuff, they touch, they realize they have this deep connection, and now Allanah has to determine if she prefers the man or the woman. I’m being quick there – they don’t literally touch the first second they meet. Though the connection is there the first second they touch.

Others: there are, of course, other people in the book. Some more important than others, some less.

Plot
The book opens with Allanah spaced out, standing near the entrance to her school. She's saved from her third tardy slip by two factors - her best friend, Victoria, offers to give her the hall pass she had, and more importantly, as it develops, everyone is distracted once Victoria and Allanah reaches the class room. The president's on the tv, see, so, as I said, people are distracted. He looks different, though, than Allanah recalls him looking. Then he starts stripping down to ropes. Weird stuff starts occurring, and the words out of his mouth are equally weird. He's calling forth the dragons to come to him.

Well, this certainly is odd, eh? Book opened with a prologue talking about how there's this Prince Roland guy who said he took care of the dragons, but didn't really. But it's told in a way to indicate this occurred longish ago, and now everything is modern looking. As in planes in the sky, televisions in the class rooms, etc.

Back to the gibberish coming from the television. President whatever reveals that he is actually King Roland come forth to take over the world. With his dragon army. Who he had hid among the humans, since he had transformed them into humans. Suddenly screeching is heard - people look outside, a half boy half bird/dragon like creature is wiggling out there, then springing up into the sky, heading towards this President slash King Roland dude.

Suddenly squeaking and yelling in the classroom. Victoria is looking odd. Instinctively Allanah orders everyone else to leave. Without knowing what she is doing, Allanah is able to keep Victoria from transforming into a dragon.

Victoria, Allanah, and Jason (who, it is revealed, is a guardian like guy for Allanah) head off in a magical mustang to the magic counsel (Mustang as in car, not mustang as in horse; they do not climb inside a magical horse). For various reasons I’m confused as to why Jason had been sent off to be a guardian since, if I recall correctly, he is only a level two. I might be confused. Well, magical eggs are put into Victoria’s and Allanah’s hand. Victoria’s egg opens. She learns she’s a level two magic user. Allanah’s egg opens. She learns she is a level five magic user. And now has a pet dragon. Who came out of the egg. And she’s the only person to have a dragon appear in a really really long time. That other person? Roland.

So – several parts to this book. Quite quick from one to the next with almost no rest. There’s the shifting at the school (revelation of the magical nature of the world, the dragons hidden among humans, the evil dude who wants to take over everything, etc.), then visit to magic counsel, then visit to some people who might be allies in the fight against Roland (Igreefee . . . split; I forget how the names look with the word split). The dragon grows just as rapidly as the story unfolds.

Romance
Technically there is something of a romance. Kinda. In the ‘Allanah lusts after Jason; no wait, now she has this connection to Cormac, no wait she also has this deep connection to this woman named Dena’ way. Now she has to figure out where her feelings reside. But she’s going to push all that to the side to go fight. And . . stuff. Whatever else this book is, though, this is not a romance book.

Overall
I may or may not have mentioned this before, but, this is one of those types of books that I actually, and unexpectedly, loved. No, seriously, I did. But, even as I was loving it, I kind of suspected that others might be less inclined to enjoy the story. Regardless, I rather liked it, and look forward to further books in this series.

I believe that I would give this book a good solid 4.5 stars out of 5.

January 28 2016