The Morning Star (Imp #10) by Debra Dunbar

The Morning Star by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


And here we are at the conclusion of this series (spin-offs and cameos from the mains will continue, so says the afterward). I liked what I saw unfold. I like how the series 'concluded'. There was nothing really 'wrong' with this book (beyond massive editing issues, seriously, massive - misspellings, words may or may not have merged together, and other issues - but that, really, plays no part in my rating). I do not rate books 'nothing really wrong with this, so it gets 5 stars'. Books, for me, do not start at five stars then have that rating chipped away at. Books start at no specific rating. Certain things will have me add or subtract a star, but I mostly work on a gut feeling ('this feels like 4 stars, this feels like . . .' with an added touch that I've read several thousand books, rated them, rerated them, massaged my impressions of them, and my gut feeling has a bit of 'this book is slight better than that book, worse that that book over there, therefore, since those two have those ratings, this would fall somewhere between those too books' - occasionally I even deliberately work a books rating out that way, mostly it's gut (which is why I go back through and stare at stuff, and move books up and down the rating shelves, once I've thought about the books more)) .

All of which leads me to: as I noted, good concluding book with some editing issues which play no part in my rating, and nothing really 'wrong' with it. There was also nothing so earth-shattering good that would add extra points to the score. So, gut reaction, this book would fall somewhere around 4.344 stars.

This is the tenth book in the series - it's hard to say much about it because the books do build from one to the next. The characters grow, the story grows. You cannot read book 10 first. You cannot read book 5 first. I'm not going to say that you have to read book 1 first but . . . you kinda do. Mixing in the side books if and when you might desire to do so - you do learn things by reading those books, as I found out. Mostly about the side characters. And how they came together. Technically I probably should have read the side book in between this one and the previous book in this series, the one called . . . it was 'Penance', right? That was the title? Something like that. It was described, self-described at that, as being super depressing so . . . I skipped it.

Oh, and by side-books, I mean the ones starring the major side characters, like the five archangels, and the like. The ones that do not have their own series. The side-series seem to be more filling in some blanks of lower level side characters - at least that's the way it felt. Granted, I am basing that off of mostly skipping the half-breed series (or was it completely skipping it?) and not feeling as if I lost anything from skipping that series.

Right, it's 2 am, my eyes are barely open, and I do not really know what I've written (and, see: eyes barely open, I can't really reread anything at moment).

Good book, good conclusion; not great book, not outstanding book. A book I cannot really describe fully because it is the tenth book in the series, and someone reading the review, to 'get' anything from a more detailed 'this is the setup', would probably need to have a good prior understanding of this series.

Rating: 4.344

June 25 2018



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Soulswap by Arizona Tape and Laura Greenwood

Soulswap by Arizona Tape

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I’m not sure how it happens, but it does. I seem to bounce from subject to subject by accident. The books themselves might be written years apart, or they all might have been inspired to be written and published at the same time. Like suddenly running through a group of pretend relationship books, or miscommunication books, or women pretending to be men books or . . . etc. etc.

Here the common theme is telling a story in multiple books. Heh. Sounds like a series, eh? I mean telling the same story, from more than one side, from more than one POV, the same chronological moments in time from different perspectives, in different books. I didn’t know I was going to find myself in that situation here until I looked closer at the book series this specific book here is involved in.

Book one, this book here, tells the story of a particular woman in a MF relationship, one in which she repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) makes note of how much she loves her boyfriend/fiancée, while still acknowledging there’s this spark missing. That specific woman, Tate, is a dragon-shifter who hasn’t really mastered the ability to shift (like, at all).

Book two tells the story of Ayra, a woman in a FF relationship, who both loves her girlfriend and loves being with her girlfriend but also notices a spark missing. I mention book two here in the review for book one for one specific reason: Ayra and Tate look the same. They are not both shifters, but both are ‘fantasy creatures’ (Ayra’s a vampire – like Tate she’s ‘defective’ in that she’s a ‘bad’ vampire – in that she hate blood). Both are in relationships that lack ‘something’, though both believe they are in love matches. That’s not why I mention book two. No, I mention book two because Tate, through reasons she has no clue about, keeps waking up in Ayra’s body. She’d black out, wake up in Ayra’s body, interact with the environment in Ayra’s body, faint again, and be back in her own body.

For the longest time Tate thought she might be having weird dreams or the like. Though she kind of knew things felt just a little too real. Including the part wherein she finds herself strangely attracted to Ayra’s girlfriend Sian.

Somewhere along the line, though, Tate finally realizes that she really is in someone else’s body – that Sian is real, that the events unfolding are real. Takes her longer to realize her own body is getting taken over while she’s gone.

That’s book two – seeing Ayra in Ayra’s body, then Ayra in Tate’s body (like seeing Tate in Tate’s body, then in Ayra’s body). It’s not really important, since I’ll probably come back to it, but I stopped reading Ayra’s book when she referred to Sian as ‘the blonde’ (Tate, when she didn’t know what the fuck was going on, kept getting called ‘Ayra’ by a blond woman, so she took to thinking of that woman as ‘blondie’ – seeing Ayra, in Ayra’s body, referring to Sian as ‘the blond’ looked like fanfiction gone wild – while Tate’s use of ‘blondie’ seemed cute and fitting to her personality (she labeled another person she didn’t know, but was known to Ayra, by his outfit – he had been dressed as Dracula at the time, so yes it’s her personality to use appearance to name people).

Right, so, another series told in parts, then concluded in a third. I can see reasons to keep Ayra’s and Tate’s POV section separate (in separate books), especially since they never actually directly interact with each other ((view spoiler)[they do interact indirectly (hide spoiler)]) and it’s confusing when POV characters don’t interact with each other. I can also see how it might have been easier to read with the two stories interlocked in one book – for the exact reason I stopped reading book two – it’s repeating too much of the same stuff from book one, so I stopped.

Wow, I spent way too much time talking about book 2. Mmphs. Heh.

Rather enjoyed the personalities on display here – specifically the lead character, Tate, and Sian, the love interest (or the second love interest; the first, the original boyfriend guy, is present but . . . more to showcase how much Tate . . . kind of didn’t fit that well with him).

Rating: 4.63

June 15 2018




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Triad Blood by Nathan Burgoine

Triad Blood
by Nathan Burgoine
Pages: 240
Date: May 1 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Triad Blood (1st novel in series)

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 16 to 19 2016

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

My first book by this author.

I’ll start off by noting that I went into the book somewhat reluctantly and with the wrong information. I’m not sure where I got the idea, which was clearly wrong, but I had the idea that this book was not erotic – something like how ‘the sex’ was in the pre prequel short story. That idea was wrong. Where-ever it is I got that idea (probably from reading reviews/description of some unrelated book that I accidentally confused for this one). I was reluctant because up to a certain point, I believe it was this year, I have not had much luck with MM books. And I do not believe I’ve ever ‘loved’ an MM fantasy book.

Hmm, no, my first 4 star MM book was read July 2014, not this year. That one was a private investigator graphic novel. Then I liked the first two Tom Mason and Scott Carpenter prose mystery books in early 2015 (4.5 for 1st book, 4.0 for second). Love for the Cold-Blooded, or the Part-Time Evil Minion’s Guide to Accidentally Dating a Superhero is my first 5.5 star (out of 5) MM book that included lots of sex – that one was read in October 2015. Loud and Clear would mark my second 5.5 MM book, though there is no graphic stuff in that book. So I’ve come a long way from 1 starring that overly erotic MM fantasy book way back when.

I say all of the above to note that I’ve read 31 MM books now, some I’ve not liked, some I’ve loved, and some were meh. So I can fairly well note that it is not actually the line of eroticism in the book and the graphic sexual encounters which lead me to a 3 star rating, though they did not necessarily help. No, it was the relatively simple part wherein I just simply did not like any of the characters that much.

There are three main characters, and all three have their own little stories that get followed separately, in addition to the overall three-person main story. Luc Lanteigne is a vain, arrogant, snobby vampire who doesn’t really like one of the three people in their triad – Anders. Luc doesn’t particularly like Anders for several reasons, though his rough personality, and shabby appearance probably doesn’t help. Anders is the kind of guy who literally feeds off of sex, what with being an Incubus, while at the same time the kind of guy who gets super jealous if Curtis Baird, the third member of their triad, ever hints at dating. Anyone. (Not that Luc is better in that regard - though somewhat less highlighted in this book, Luc sometimes gives off those same possessive vibes towards Curtis; plus he is super patronizing towards Curtis). So, Luc’s a snob, Anders is a dick, what about this third member, Curtis the human wizard? For the most part he was likable, in his own way, though there were parts that I didn’t particularly like. Like his going with the idea that he isn’t really allowed to date (even if that is not overtly mentioned), while the other two in the triad seem to go out nightly to fuck. Others, not each other. Then the time he outright laughed at a guy who indicated that he was not gay . . . well, that was annoying.

So, how did I end up here at a 3 star rating, then, if I say all that above *waves upwards*. Well, the story itself was interesting enough. Luc, Anders, and Curtis have come together as three separate ‘things’ to create a power triad – every other ‘group’ out there are of one thing (vampire, demon, wizard). Though their coming together is told in a previous short story (yes, this is in fact yet another book I picked up in the same month that turned out to be a series book that is not in fact the first in the story-line, though here the novel is the first novel length work in the series (if there is a series, I notice just now that this book is not listed as being part of any series on GoodReads). Still, the reader who hasn’t read any of the previous short stories (and there were others than just that ‘getting together’ story) should be able to pick up enough of the back-story through reading the book. I know I did, and hadn’t read any of the previous stories.

So, as I was saying, the story itself was interesting. The other ‘power groups’ in Ottawa are not particularly happy about this mixed group and are ‘doing things’ (letter bombs, car explosions, coat explosions, etc) to try to take out this mixed triad. Though ‘doing things’ while at the same time saying that they are not. The triad stands up to the vampire power structure in this specific book.

A good enough book for what it set out to do and be. Even if I didn’t particularly like the main characters that much.

June 20 2016

nevermore by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

nevermore
by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam
Pages: 264
Date: October 1 2010
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Everafter (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: April 1 to 3 2016

My second book by these two authors working together, and second in this series.

The story of the vampire and her werecat lover continues . . . mostly separately. Well, for the first half of the story at least. Apparently Alexa wanted to get better control over her panther, and so headed off to a vaguely mythical were-city. Meanwhile Val, the vampire, continues to do stuff in New York.

The first half of the book follows things from Val's point of view. I might be mixing up how much room each pov takes, since I also recall that the second half of the book has the pov switch more often than it did in the last book. Though still, like in the last book, very long sections are followed by one point of view before switching to the other lead character.

Val is struggling with her place in the world, attempting to continue her school studies, missing Alexa both physically and mentally, and, eventually, struggling with the idea that there is some kind of pathogen spreading through the were-community which causes 'issues' with them shifting, and could lead to death. Struggling, there, with trying to investigate while being cut off from exploring what is going on from the Consortium side of things, and struggling with the both the need to have Alexa by her side, and with the fear that if she returned she might be infected and die.

Alexa, meanwhile, is off being a panther. Well, and human but lots of running around as a panther, and getting in touch with her panther self. That is until the city she's in is attacked and she has to flee. As the book description notes, a '[w]ereshifter civil war' has broken out. Lead by the father of Sebastian Brenner (may or may not have that last name wrong). The father desires to live more naturally, and despises vampires.

Eventually the story-lines flow together and Val and Alexa are reunited. Only to then be nearish but still apart 'for reasons'.

A good solid continuation of the series. The nature of the alternating POV was vaguely annoying in certain aspects (like how the book opens with Val, advances the storyline a certain distance, then switches to Alexa . . . only to have the storyline fall back a certain way and follow Alexa up to where Val's part had ended off, then flow past that point). I liked the book well enough. Back in the days of me giving ratings like 3.891, or 4.421, I might play around with where I'd rate this book, probably some rating below four stars, but because I'm 'stuck' using GoodReads full star rating system, this book, like the first, ended up being a four star book. Though I liked the first book more than I did this one. Alas, both end having four stars, so how will anyone know I liked the first more? By reading this paragraph, I suppose.

April 4 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

Everafter by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam

Everafter
by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam
Pages: 230
Date: October 1 2009
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Everafter (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 14 to 15 2016
My first book with this duo, and 3rd book overall with Stark at the controls (and zeroth with Tam as a solo author).

Hmm. I came here to write about something that I was going to take a certain issue with. But I can’t now. As the issue involved pre-knowledge I thought gleaned from the book description. I guess I got the information from the reviews? No matter – the point I was going to make is that I learned a certain something before beginning the book and this ‘certain something’ distracted me for a certain length of the book. I knew going in several things. (1) the book was split in half, with one main character taking half, and the other taking over the second half of the book; and – don’t read this one unless you’ve read the book (at least from personal experience having this information prior to reading was a distraction) - (2) the one who isn’t a vampire turns into a werepanther. I spent a little too much time in the beginning parts of the book drumming my fingers, waiting for this to occur – that, as I’ve indicated, distracted me from what was going on.

Okay then – this book goes a certain direction I’ve seen several times, though it is, in its way, a less populated path. This is more science fantasy than out and out fantasy; and, to a certain extent, if the creatures involved didn’t reside so deeply in horror or fantasy, I’d probably just call this science fiction. Because, while fantasy creatures are involved, there is a very science-fiction-y explanation for the critters.

I’ve forgotten now what exactly was said, but one is a virus (shifters), while the other is a . . . bacteria? I’ve forgotten now. Ah yes, bacteria (vampires). The explanation for what’s occurring with shifters isn’t as detailed, I absorbed the information that a virus was involved; while the explanation for vampires was quite medical jargon-y. See, there’s this bacteria that invades the body – it attacks a person’s red blood cells, goes inside of them, and explodes them – feeding off the blood. If the infected person gets blood from others, then they can continue to live – potentially forever, though they’ll become more and more similar in nature to the pop culture version of vampires (well, the kind that gets annoyed at the sun, because of the exploding and stuff); while if they ‘feed’ off of a ‘true love’ (not sure ‘true’ was actually there) then they’ll ‘keep their soul’ (see, this whole ‘soul’, ‘true love’, etc. is all magically bullshit, so, fantasy, so not science fiction) – therefore they can continue going outside in sunlight – though the impact of the sun’s rays is still stronger on them than on ‘regular’ humans. (note: I didn’t really think about it until I wrote this paragraph, but, technically, they could be getting this ‘outside blood’ through transfusions of one kind or another – but that’s never even mentioned – probably because of the discussion that occurred when a glass of blood was offered – it would sustain, but isn’t as ‘good’ as getting it directly from the source (more magic-y bullshit).

All of this to say (not really, but it was one of the points): no, this isn’t science fiction, and so a person is left with ‘horror’, ‘fantasy’, ‘science fantasy’ (and then which subgenre it falls into below that). There is a horror element – something of a ‘boogy-man’ ‘rogue’ vampire is going viciously attacking people and turning them into vampires; both of the lead characters have horrifying nightmares, etc. This has some of the elements of horror, but I would not necessarily put it in horror. There are ‘paranormal creatures’ so fantasy, right? But then there’s all that medical jargon, and explanations and . . . stuff . . .. Let’s just go with Science Fantasy and move on, eh?

So, picture this – it’s a Tuesday, there’s this young woman with a very special night planned. The apartment is decorated just so. Preparations for a lovely meal are in the works. A very special ring has been secured. And the love of that young woman’s life will show up in about 15 to 30 minutes. But! Champagne! Valentine ‘Val’ Darrow hurries out to acquire some. She’s distracted by happy thoughts. She vaguely spots a creepy looking dude smoking nearby as she’s heading into a liquor store. She dumps a pile of coins and paper onto the store counter and informs them that she wishes the best champagne that pile of money will secure her. She exits. Still distracted. Walks down the street. All aglow with what the night will bring. Thoughts of this and that and . . . are those footsteps behind her? Are they getting closer? Val moves quicker. The footsteps behind her move quicker. She spots a well lighted area ahead of her – that’s her goal. Running now. Almost there. Pushed into an alley and savagely beaten, knifed, then loaded into a car and driven to Canal Street and dumped (by the way, this takes place in New York; did I not mention that yet?). And so the book begins – seemingly starting with two becoming one, but diverted by a creature out of horror.

The book then proceeds to follow Val as she attempts to figure out what happened to her, and what this means to her. She learns a few things, dodges a few things, and spends an inordinate amount of time hunting her killer. See, there’s this mystery angle going on in this book as well. Meanwhile her girlfriend/lover/almost fiancée follows along for the ride.

Until roughly the mid-point when the story shifts and it’s now Alexa Newland in control of things (or, in other words, things shift to her point of view). It’s difficult to go much into her territory as it’d probably all be spoiler-y. I’ll just leave it as I liked Alexa’s point of view more than Val’s, though I also needed Val’s because if I had just had Alexa’s – Val’s whimpery/depressing/etc. attitude was easier to take, somewhat, with the further knowledge gleaned from being in Val’s head.

Long and short of it – good enjoyable book. I’ve seen at least one review indicating that the next book is even better than this one, and I was interested in reading that one any way; but I think it might be a little while before I tackle it. So – I recommend this book. Especially to those who like fantasy, and science basis’s for fantasy creatures (like might be found in Mira Grants Parasitology series).

March 17 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

Fashionably Dead Down Under by Robyn Peterman

Fashionably Dead Down Under
by Robyn Peterman
Pages: 334
Date: March 27 2014
Publisher: Self
Series: Hot Damned (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 9 2016
The second book I’ve completed written by Peterman. Though not the second one I’ve tried. I read the first book in this series in the beginning of this year, then, because the second book was supposedly going to take place in hell, and I kind of vaguely tired of reading books with characters visiting hell, I put off reading the second book in the series. Still, I enjoyed the first book I’d read by this author so tried another first in a series book. ‘Ready to Were’. My records appear to be wrong, since they mention a start date of December 28th, an earlier date than what I know was my first book. I just know I started it twice and just couldn’t continue.

So, 1 success, 1 failure on my part. Naturally it took me, then, two months to try the author again. And I ended up liking this book so much that I looked into buying the third book in the series before I’d even completed book 2. Sadly there’s a main character change. On the one hand I dislike when series involve character changes. On the other hand, I haven’t had much success with this author when someone other than Astrid is in control. She kind of gets on my nerves at times, Astrid that is, but clicks just right to have enabled me to get through two books with her in the lead. Well, ‘get through’, is wrong. Since I enjoyed both books I've read with Astrid.

I found the first book in the series quite enjoyable and hilarious. I found this one to be a good way to pass the time, though I do not actually recall laughing at any point.

I’m going on about this specific set of topics because 1) they matter to me personally; 2) I’m uncertain what I can and can’t get myself to say about this book that might not be spoiler-y or something like that.

So, 2 months after I finished the first book in the series, I started the second. Which I mention only to point out that the second book begins immediately after the first. And I didn’t exactly reread the first or even glance at the description for it, so I was slightly ‘out of it’ at the very beginning. I caught on rather quickly, though.

Astrid is in pain. Manages to open her eyes and look around. She finds herself in a relatively rich looking, though vaguely tacky, bedroom. Specifically on a bed. Eventually, what she’s kind of tired, she finds out that she isn’t restrained or anything like that, and has her clothing on. Then she notices that there’s music floating in the air and it’s . . . Journey. Last thing she recalled she was being dragged to hell. Hell, so far, doesn’t exactly look like it’s been advertised.

Eventually she makes it out of the bed, has a wall talk to her, and meets the owner of the fine establishment she found herself in. Well, first she hid and watched an attractive young woman being verbally assaulted for her goody-goody ways, and her straight A report card. One thing leads to another and Astrid realizes that she’s witnessing a fella named Satan. And his daughter, Dixie.

Satan, it turns out, is the brother of the guy she just killed (you know, her father). So, you know, that means that her uncle is Satan. And, she later learns, Dixie has 7 sisters – otherwise known as the 7 deadly sins (basically they are the personification of those sins – wrath, lust, pride, sloth, etc.). So, awkward and complicated. Oh, and to top things off – doesn’t appear to have her vampyre powers (which she found out when she attempted to fly), for some odd reason can breath, but not all is different – she’s still pregnant, and she can’t eat or drink anything because everything tastes like ass.

The book is mostly Astrid visiting hell, and her relatives. Though there’s something of a quest in there. Kind of. Involving a sword. Mostly, though, it’s about meeting her uncles, cousins, and grandparents.

As I closed the review for the prior book in this series – yes, there’s graphic sex in this book. Which I found interesting. Despite it involving a male and a female.

Right. The above is kind of crap, but hey, there are already 229 reviews so . . . I don’t feel too bad.

March 9 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

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

Prophecy of the Female Warrior by K.A. Young

Prophecy of the Female Warrior
by K.A. Young
Pages: 160 pages
Date: May 23 2013
Publisher: Author
Series: Nephilim Warrior (First book)

Review
Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars
Read: January 9 2014

A melodramtic soap opera from beginning to end. A three star effort through much of it, but it pulled close enough to four stars by the end to rate it such.

I suppose I would recommend it to those who like soap opera paranormal romances. As to whether or not I will continue reading the series, I do not, at the moment, know. A little too soap operay for me and I'm not really sure I want to learn more about this world.

Darkness Embraced by Winter Pennington

Darkness Embraced
by Winter Pennington
Pages: 248
Publish Date: May 17 2011
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Review:
Rating: 3.0 Stars out of 5.0
Read; December 31 2013 to January 8 2014

The idea of the Dracule (however that is spelled) was interesting.  Actually the most interesting part of the book. Silky, furry critters. Might be interesting to read more about them.

Overall,  the book just had way too much sex in it for me personally.  Interesting enough story/read or I wouldn't have finished or given up to 3 stars, but still. It's one of the reasons that other series I read by Pennington kept getting lower and lower ratings (5 stars, 4, 3). Each book I read by Pennington seems to have even more sex in it and/or obsession with.

At this rate, the next book or the one after will open during sex, will involve people walking around while humping each other (maybe just telepathically), will have fight scenes during sexual activity,  then the book will climax with a ...well, explosive climax.