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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Winter Fae (Northern Wolves #3) by Debra Dunbar

Winter Fae by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is one of those where I'm not certain if I want to rate it 3.5 something or 3.75 something, so I rate it 3.5 for now.

I liked Dunbar's Imp series, really loved that Imp. These side stories fluctuate in my response to them. I think there's just the one I DNF'd (previous story in this specific off-shoot series, though there's one I speed read through (1st in this off-shoot series). While, at the same time, my favorite book I've read by this author, if I recall correctly, is the stand-alone off-shoot from the Imp series that, in turn, lead to the Northern Wolves series. That specific book is why I keep reading more stories in this specific series. I had an issue with the first one because it was just an extension of a secondary coupling in 'Northern Lights' - a coupling that could just as easily have been wrapped up in that book instead of becoming an off-shoot short story. Second story, bah, I can't specifically recall now why I wasn't able to complete it, though there's vague recollection that I despised both main characters. Which leads us to this story here - the Winter Fae one.

Oddly enough, one of the other reasons that I went down this Northern Wolves series was because I had seen a description of Winter Fae and rather wanted to read it. And figured it'd be better to read the others first. Didn't really help, on one level, because I kinda dislike the main male character in this book (a guy who kept whimping, mentally, about how much of a gamer loser he is; and who kept pinching himself, literally, because this 'gorgeous woman' wanted anything to do with him - that personality got old fast, though wasn't specifically on display in previous stories, but he himself was there and not specifically very likable). I liked the female fae, though, so that's good.

If not for the second story in this series, that Rogue one, I'd say that I appear to like the author's female lead stories more than her male lead ones. Since that Rogue one was female lead. But the Imp series is mostly from the Imp's point of view, and . . . well, um, drat my brain is leaking out of my head for some reason so I move on.

Right - story - the male wolf, the pilot previously seen in the series and whose name may or may not be something like 'Dustin', leads off this specific story. While in the process of delivering people around Alaska, he spots what appears to be an overturned truck with an injured person nearby. Naturally, therefore, he lands his seaplane on the snow nearby and hops out to help. And, naturally, he gets shot for his troubles. Normally, being a werewolf, being shot is annoying, not deadly. Except these are those magic bullets seen throughout this series, and there's a good chance the fellas going to die.

Except the wolf, or the man transformed into wolf, drags self to a hidden sanctuary area. The woman who built the place finds the wolf and attempts to heal. Binding both of them together. Later she comes to realize that the wolf/dog (she's not sure what the creature is specifically) was not in fact a canine (or not only that) but also some kind of human. Since she found said man, naked, where she'd left the dog in her dwelling.

I interject to note: good grief that guy thought about his erection a lot (he, naturally, had an erection when the woman found him there).

So - werewolf meet a new creature to this series; though the reason why I wanted to read this book - the woman is a fae. And, as has been stressed, an elf and a fae are not the same thing in this series world. Fae are in there own little place, Aerie, and are largely not encountered by others.

Despite kind of disliking the main male in this story, the story was entertaining to read and passed the time well.

Rating: 3.5something

October 16 2017



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Mated to the Meerkat by Lia Silver

My rating: 3.33 of 5 stars

This is a quick short story involving a man that likes to hump meerkats. heh, no, but that's what the cover looks like, right? A topless man standing next to a meerkat with the title 'mated to the meerkat'. Shesh - that cover is wrong on almost every level - it implies that the man humps animals, and that's not even what he looks like - he has blond hair in the story, and both chest hair and a 'treasure trail' or however that was worded. The meerkat is supposed to have redish-blonde fur with some black stripes mixed in - though I'm not sure if the meerkat on the cover doesn't actually have that so I can't say the meerkat is wrong. Not what I pictured, but can't say it's wrong.

No, this is actually about a paparazzi and a freelance reporter who keep popping up at the same locations. And the reporter is pissed off at the paparazzi constantly stalking her - and yes, the other main character is in fact female. A relatively large black woman (what, it's important to the story). Both always found the other attractive, but the woman found something about the man, Chance, to be off-putting, so it is only somewhat by accident that they get a freelance job together and are forced to spend time together. And no, the woman is not the meerkat - that's another thing wrong with the cover, it's the man who is a meerkat, or, I should say, a weremeerkat.

After I got over my disgust with paparazzi's, I found the story to be interesting enough to pass the time. There are weresnakes, weremeerkats, and werecats rolling over each other, political intrigue, and some sex mixed in there as well.

This is the second story I've read by this author, the other is a fanfiction under a different name. The author writes under at least three for pay author names, and at least one fanfiction name. I don't remember the third author name, though, unless I'm mistaken, the fanfiction name is Edonohana and I read a short story by them involving two lesbians rolling around humping each other that I gave a rating of something like 4.75 stars. Oh, what, there it is, the other author name is Rebecca Tregaron - the one she writes lesbian stories under. She uses Lia Silver for heterosexual romance fantasy stories, and Rachel Manija Brown for young adult fantasy stories.

Rating: 3.33

September 19 2017



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Juneau to Kenai by Debra Dunbar

Juneau to Kenai by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Brent and Kennedy continue their story from the novel 'Northern Lights' in this spin-off short story.

Kennedy continues with her interrupted vacation, hiking an area of Alaska. Brent returns to brooding about being lonely and wishing he could actually do something with Kennedy but she's super important surgeon person based in Seattle, and he's super important alpha werewolf person based in Juneau so they have no future.

Kennedy hikes with a guide, she didn't realize that she'd be the only one in the tour group/party/being lead. Guide freaks out, mildly, when Kennedy pulls her leg off after one of the hikes (she has a fake leg).

Brent gets his shit together, so to speak, and 'goes after' Kennedy.

Meanwhile, and I'm not sure if the romance is supposed to be the main story, or the mystery/thrill thingie, someone is hunting and killing 'things' in Alaska. Brent is warned, but Kennedy went out without that knowledge.

Then Kennedy and her guide get hunted. Kennedy shows she's a lot more than a surgeon - lots tougher than she might look.

The mystery part of the story was . . . okay? While the romance . . . it should have been 'fixed up' in the prior book. There was no real reason to extend things like this.

I do not really recommend this spin-off series (though I did love the book Northern Lights). As this spin off story was kind of vaguely boring, and the story after it ended up being paused/possibly DNF'd before finishing.

Rating: 3.50 (okay, it wasn't actually boring, I just had two paused/dnf'd Dunbar stories before and after this story here and so I'm kind of down on it)

August 15 2017



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No Man's Land by Debra Dunbar

No Man's Land by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have several problems with this book, one of which I came in with, one of which was created by assumptions and beliefs acquired from reading the Imp series.

First problem, the one I can into the book with: Kelly, one of the many points of view in this book, and there are many, has previously appeared in two Imp series books (Imp series is different from Imp World, Imp World is basically all stories in the Imp universe, Imp series is the one that stares Samantha Martin, demon, and Imp). One of those Imp series books occurred chronologically before this book, and one occurred chronologically after this book. She was a side character in both of those books, while a main character in this book here. I've read everything in the main Imp series so I've read both of those other books that included Kelly. I had no real like or dislike for her for either book, but I wasn't overly thrilled with the concept of reading a book that included her. No, I read this one because of Jaq and because of the second thing I came into this book with, that belief and assumption I mentioned.

Second problem - Samantha, and the critters in the series, have two things that seem to occur romantic/sex wise - 1) many seem open to switching genders and or flirting with same genders; 2) all end up in heterosexual unions. Still, there's that vibe that neither sex nor gender are binary or firmly stuck in man/woman zone. And the second book that Kelly appeared in seemed to imply that Jaq and Kelly were a couple. Sooo, they had to become a couple somewhere, right? Well, the book they both star in seems like the place that story would unfold, right?

Wrong.

Kelly spent the early portions of the book annoying me and frustrating me, and the vast majority of the book mourning the loss of 'George'. And constantly burning herself on a silver ring, thereby, without needing more information, letting the reader know that 'George' was from Kelly's prior life. Pre-vampire life. That and suffering greatly from what her vampire 'family' did to her.

In a prior book, in the mainline Imp series, Kelly, while a casino manager, yelled at Samantha, a guest at the hotel portion of the casino, and offered to shove Doritos up Sam’s butt (or something like that). Naturally her higher ups were displeased by this display of temper and loss of control. And so . . . they savagely beat her (in this book not in the other book, to start this book off), tore out her fangs (Kelly's a vampire), and left her to die in werewolf territory. Or, more literally, and more flowing with the next part of my comments, dumped her in a trailer a few trailers down from the one Jaq lives in. Jaq happened to see the vampires dumping Kelly. (Jaq says she is, but isn't exactly, a werewolf).

The majority of the rest of the book involved Kelly slowly starving to death while Jaq kept trying to help her. Trust was slow in coming. Why Kelly was having issues, despite all the help Jaq was giving, was slow to be conveyed. And even after the issue finally was broached, Kelly refused, more or less, the options put forth by Jaq to solve the problem (being purposely vague here, though anyone who knows the concept of 'vampires' and what they feed on probably already knows what the issue is).

Meanwhile one of the other vampires that had turned up in the Imp series, the natural born son of the 'Master', otherwise known as 'Prince' or 'Kyle' (the son not the Master, the master's name isn't given), is attempting to create a territory for himself which probably will include West Virginia (which up to now has been something of a buffer state between two different vampire families, Kyle's, or Forimer (spelling?) and the Kincaids; on a side note, unless one family is located mostly in the Northeast, and the other located mostly west of West Virginia, like in Kentucky, or the like, then I'm not exactly sure how West Virginia can play the role of a 'buffer state' when, in the book, one of the families basically has everything north of Washington DC, while the other had everything south of Washington DC. Meaning that West Virginia is, for the most part, out of the way of the fight. But, meh. (another side note, yeah, there is mention of Martinsburg and Winchester - and yeah, that's where there's a buffer, a tiny tiny sliver of West Virginia - not the whole bloody state like seems to be mentioned in the book; and why two vampire clans with massive territories through several states have that as a buffer . . . - it's still not a buffer unless you are driving on Interstate 81; otherwise, use I95 and there's no bloody buffer (or route 1 or most bloody roads)).

I've no fucking clue where I was or what I was attempting to go. Got caught up with West Virginia and the map (did I mention yet that Virginia is both further west than West Virginia, and further south? Is because of a leg of Virginia that stretches out south of West Virginia. But that doesn't matter at all because the entire conflict between two massive branches of vampires is apparently entangled in a state neither of them are actually in - because of treaties with werewolves).

Lost myself again.

Right. Going to pretend I’ve written something massively important above and just move on.

I was interested in seeing if all the flirtations with mixing people of the same gender that was hinted at in prior books would actually occur in this book. I suppose I should have seen all those hints that angels need balance (as in, the many times an Angel would suddenly flip from female to male just because a powerful woman would enter the room, and therefore ‘balance’ requires them to become male . . . and therefore fuck the concept of same sex relationships, right?). So, yeah, I was wrong. Though there’s even more flirting with the concept that same gender people might couple up in this book, though nothing came of that flirtation.

*shrugs*. Fuck it. I’m tired of this book.

ETA: (okay, not really added after the fact, just after I thought I was done typing) – why am I giving this book as high a rating as I am? Because, despite how difficult the book was to get into, it flowed quite well (after that difficult early stage), and became down right intriguing, interesting in the second half. Kept my interest and made me want to gobble it all up.

Rating: 3.65

August 1 2017



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Second Nature by Jae

Second Nature by Jae

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Four years ago I read this book for the first time. And now, seemingly randomly, I decided to reread this specific book (then proceed to read everything up to but not including the ‘True Nature’ book and spin-off short stories). Which reminds me – the short stories I read were great but . . . you really need to read Second Nature to be able to fully appreciate those short stories.

So, Second Nature. Second Nature contains multiple point of views, though the main characters, the two most important, are Jorie Price and Griffin Westmore. Jorie is 100% American, though has Asian features (she was adopted by her American parents when she was 3); while Griffin is . . . different. Jorie is a novelist, ‘famous’ for some books that cross over to several different genres, while still including heterosexual characters, though her latest book, still in the writing stage, involves lesbians. Which is where Griffin and the rest come in. See, Jorie works with a beta reader (at least more than one, though it is unclear if this current book only involve Ally or others as well), and that beta reader has noticed certain things in the chapters she has read that has lead her to report the issue to ‘the Council’.

The ‘things’ spotted? Well: 1) book involves shifters; 2) there are a bunch of shifter books out there so, why is it an issue?; 3) the story, characters, description of ‘everything’ seems really spot on to the ‘real world’ of the Wrasa – the world of the shifters. For you see, there’s this group of people who live alongside humans (well on the same planet) who just so happen to be a separate species. One of their forms, though, is close enough to human to pass. The shifters ‘shift’ from one form to another, two forms, human like and some animal like creature that usually gets ‘seen’ as something namable by humans (as in, a shifter who shifts into a bear like animal isn’t really shifting into a bear, but the creature is close enough to a bear to be seen that way (not werebear, but Maki). Oh, and they are not ‘were-something’, they are shifters – they are not humans who have been cursed, bitten, or whatever, they are a separate species.

Right, got distracted there.

Jorie’s book is problematic. How’d she get that information? What’s going on here? Is someone telling her things, is there a traitor Wrasa? The Saru, those people who operate as the Wrasa law enforcement officers, send two people to investigate. Cedric Jennings, a Syak (what humans would see as a werewolf), and Griffin Westmore (an Antapi – which literally means ‘both’, or hybrid, Griffin is half Kasari (which correspond to ‘lions’), and half Puwar (corresponds to tigers). Cedric has been tasked to investigate Ally, the beta reader, while Griffin investigates Jorie. Their task is to find the traitor feeding information to Jorie (she just knows too much for there not to be a traitor).

Certain problems pop up along the way. Like the part where Griffin’s nature, half-Puwar, and half-Kasari, cause issues for her (both in that other Wrasa see her as lessor (or, at least, Griffin sees them seeing her that way), though more in terms of the fact that Kasari are very big on families and living in prides, while Puwar are much more solo-type cats (think real-life lions vs. real life tigers). Mostly, though, the problem is that both Jorie and Griffin end up finding the other quite . . . attractive.

Great, outstanding book. Better read in book form than in dribblings in my review. So I’ll stop that now.

Rating: 5+

July 28 2017



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Shifter Shield series by Margo Bond Collins

Under Her Skin by Margo Bond Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


During the ordinary course of her job as a children's counsellor, Lindi Parker helps on a case involving a young female child who killed her abusive step-father. She goes with that child in the ambulance but instead of going to the children's hospital, the place Parker would normally find herself in a situation like this, they go to a different one. But then she already knows things are different this time. For the little girl lets her know that she knows that Parker is a shifter. And that the hospital that they were going to is the shifter hospital.

Of course Lindi Parker knew she herself is a shifter. She didn't know, though, that there were other shifters out there or that what she was is detectable by others. She didn't know because her (adoptive) father, a snake scientist (not actual term used but I don't want to take the time to look it up), had found her when gathering snakes to examine. Later, expecting to find a snake in the container he had put the snake, he found instead a baby (or a toddler, I forget now). Then watches as the child morphs from human to snake and back again. That man, a Dr. Parker, and his wife adopt the small weresnake and teach her to be human.

Lindi is concerned/alarmed and curious about this development, but it isn't the time to talk about shifters with a little traumatised girl. Later.

Then, once everyone is at the hospital, Lindi is confronted by the girl's doctor (some might call the confrontation something approaching a sexual assault, which Lindi did, one or more occasions later). Luckily for her, that doctor goes somewhat against his own instincts, for he is a weremongoose. And they are supposed to kill snakes (instead of force kisses on them while thrusting them against walls).

And the story unfolds from there - a weresnake and weremongoose circling; introduction to the shifter community; almost immediate instinctual hatred towards Lindi from the community for what she is - the snake part; and a mystery to solve. For almost before anyone can catch their breath, Lindi finds herself working on a case, with this same doctor (Kade), that involves the death of children.

The story was quite interesting and good. But then this isn't the first book I've read by this author, and the others were . . . um, good. hmm, I only see one other book I've read by this author. I rather thought I'd read at least one more than that. No matter, both (or however many there actually have been) books I've read have been good.

One note: Mongoose lets Lindi in on what she is exactly and no, they don't call her 'weresnake'. She's a lamia. Which I mention for two reasons - throughout the story I kept seeing and hearing it in my mind as 'llama' *shrugs*; and the first time I saw the word I randomly clicked on it to see if my Kindle would give me a definition (I assumed it wouldn't). Definition appeared - "a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era." Dang, no, that's a llama, I meant to give the lamia definition - "a mythical monster, with the body of a woman or with the head and breasts of a woman and the body of a snake, said to prey on human beings and suck the blood of children."

Rating: 4.25

May 26 2017



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A Generation of Vipers by Margo Bond Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This short story follows directly upon the full length book that started this series so I can't be too specific about what happened in this story itself.

What I can say is: mongoose and snake continue dating. Continue in their different jobs (doctor; child therapist). And, wait for it - the big evil in this story? Squirrel. Yes, a weresquirrel. hehe. Okay okay, no, really, the people who 'attack' physically in this story are werewolves and a large werebear. The weresquirrel is strongly opposed, actively working against, the lead character in this story (the female snake, Lindi).

Okay, so, to line things up: weresnake = lamia = Lindi, child therapist and lead character who is dating a weremongoose = Dr. Kade. Werebadger is Janice who leads the shifter council. Werecoyote is . . . um, what was his name, Eduardo? Something like that - head of Shield which acts as the defense/police of the shifters (and Ed is training Lindi). Weresqurriel is Hank (I think that's his name). Werewolves and werebear are physical attackers - the bear's name gets mentioned but isn't important.

On the sex front: on two occasions sex almost broke out but got stopped for 'reasons'. Unless I missed it, no sex occurs in this story.

Rating: 3.77

May 29 2017



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Laugh Out Love by Margo Bond Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A super quick read that didn’t seem to be 58 pages in length. This story finds two different people as the leads – Shadow (listed in the book description on GoodReads as ‘eldest daughter of the Glass family’ which I find odd because neither that family, or families in general were mention in relation to Shadow, and, instead, focus was more on mentors and other Scylds (however that was spelled)), and Jeremiah Diphiri. Both have their own point of views in the short story.

Since it is mentioned by Shadow that she hasn’t been to anywhere but the USA, Canada, and Mexico, the assumption is that she is from one of those countries. Though which isn’t mentioned. I bring that up because Jeremiah and his family are from Botswana. And are hyenas. Shifters who shift between hyena and human form. Jeremiah is a Shield for his clan. Shadow is a hunter – and somehow or another an augmented human (has more strength, etc.), though isn’t a shifter (Shadow and her ‘people’ read like Grimms from the show ‘Grimm’ – hunters of the creatures on that show, though the critters on there do not appear to shift fully into other animals but into people in furry suits).

Sex: yes, there definitely is sex in this story. Explicit vigorous graphic sex.
ETA: Forgot to mention - Shadow sees (and was taught) shifters as 'monsters' who sometimes hide in human shapes, and would never ever 'fuck one'. I liked how the part wherein she accidentally did was something physically revolting to her - she didn't just shrug and say 'whatever, guess I was wrong'.

I liked how the story was presented – the part where Jeremiah is a very strong man, a Shield, and a member of a group of shifters who are led by women. A strong man able to lead, and able to obey women. Interesting.

One last thought – the story has a good opening, middle and something of . . . well, no, it doesn’t have an ending – or at least, the ending it has is kind of an ending you have on the end of part one of a two part television episode. Things just kind of stopped at after a certain moment. If it hadn’t had that kind of ending, there is a good chance I would have given this story 5 stars. But alas.

Rating: 4.5

May 30 2017



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More Than Skin Deep by Margo Bond Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Important Points:
1) This really is a series wherein you need to read each thing in order. And I mean each thing - including the short stories.
2) The book ends at 64% in the Kindle File - I'd already known that one of the short stories was tacked on the end, since I saw it in the table of contents, but even so I was somewhat surprise when stuff ended at 64%.
3) I haven't mentioned it up to this point, and it might be somewhat unfair to wait until the 4th story in the series but - - - this series really really needs either an editor or several more attempts by an editor. Massive issues with spelling, missing words, misspelled words, etc. I mostly ignored because stuff was interesting. But it was super hard to ignore in this specific story.

Okay so - Lindi is boredly on duty in the Shield office, on duty. Waiting out her time. Near a phone. Two people barge in and demand to speak to the lamia (and I really really want another story in this series that includes a werellama . . . for reasons). Lindi's naturally reluctant to immediately say who she is and stuff. One thing leads to another and . . . it's the two people from the prior story - the werehyena and the Hunter. They beg for help from the lamia - specifically to be protected by the lamia (not some segment of the council or the like, but specifically the lamia). They are being chased by wolves.

Meanwhile . . . the baby weresnake continues to wiggle around foster mother Lindi continues to bond with the snake.

Graphic sex occurs between Kade and Lindi.

Lindi's father is a dick.

I still like the series, even if the massive errors almost overwhelmed me this time.

Rating: 3.8

May 30 2017



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Blooded by Shei Darksbane and Annathesa Nikola Darksbane

Blooded by Shei Darksbane

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There was one specific thing I noticed while looking over other people's reviews while reading this series: this isn't a 100% type observation, but many did not like the vampire member of the love triangle (Amorie or whatever her name is/was). Me? I did not dislike her and found her an 'okay' character, for the most part. That is until I read this book here.

Seems the dynamic changed on me between books 1-2, that short story, and this book here. And more than just the authors taking longer to write the book than expected. No, the dynamic itself changed - the non-main character werewolf part of the triad was not even in this book, though mentioned a few times and . . . is no longer described as a potential girlfriend type, but more as someone they have taken into their own kind of sub-pack/protection circle. And the 3 way relationship was described differently than before. I do not exactly recall how it was described before, nor can I accurately recreate the words here and now - something along the way of 'I'm in a monogamous relationship with the vampire, but we both know she can't have just relationship, so . . . . there's also this other werewolf woman, though she has nothing romantically to do with the vampire'. And the way the two characters in this 'love-triad' who actually appear in the book were described somewhat differently than before. Amorie (I really should get her name sometime so I stop getting it wrong) is a condescending woman who apparently has all the 'power' in this relationship; while Dakota was described as being a lot more wishy-washy (and to a certain extent, dumber than I recalled her). Not exactly sure what happened there.

So - this is the third book in a series that leads from one book to the next so . . . obviously don't read this book first, though I mainly just brought this up to note: remember how Dakota was 'Awakened' by a lunatic burglar who was doing some insane ritual that Dakota got in the way of? And ended up 'getting' the 'gift', or however to word that, that the insane lunatic wizard was doing the ritual to get? That hellfire thingie? Well, this book comes full circle - in this book here Dakota goes to the demon who gave out that hellfire thingie and basically asked if that demon was cool with Dakota having the power. Then Dakota, and her vampire lover, get tasked with a quest - failure leads to both of their deaths (I don't mean that the task is inherently deadly, I mean that the demon will kill them if they fail). Going along on this quest is that demon's 'pet' lover boy thingie. Who, in a way, is creepy on a whole other level. But whatever.

So, Amorie investigates while continuously pushing Dakota into the background (it's better this way!), but since this is a solely point of view from Dakota's POV, and Dakota isn't actually always there while A investigates, Dakota has to find out some other stuff to do (which leads to her and that demon pet attempting to break into her own girlfriend's bar, by accident, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here). See, condescending A.

Story takes place in Memphis and . . . um . . . wherever the hell the series originally started (Knoxville? Nashville? Vampireville? I don't recall, some Tennessee place). Involves death defying stuff. And investigations. Oh, and there was some graphic stuff along the way. I think. I kind of read a bunch of stuff at the same time while traveling on trains, so some of it bleed together - like whether or not graphic stuff actually occurred in this one. Though I believe it did. I suddenly find myself in the odd position of not liking anyone in this series, and while I'm not bored with it (it was an interesting enough story), I'm still not sure I'll actually continue reading this series (if another book actually appears).

Rating: 2.88

May 1 2017



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Humanity for Beginners by Faith Mudge

Humanity for Beginners
by Faith Mudge
Pages: 71
Publication Date: February 13 2017
Publisher: Less than Three Press
Series: --

Review
Rating: 5+
Read: February 28 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Less than Three Press in return for an honest review.*

I believe that the most recent werewolf story/book I read I made some comment about how it had been the best, or among the best or . . . well, I've this vague recollection I made a comment like that regarding a werewolf book relatively recently. I've also relatively recently rated two werewolf books close to 3 stars, so I've not exactly gone out of my head regarding werewolf stories.

Why do I mention that? Why do I start off my review that way? Simple. I surprised myself here. I, somewhat randomly, looked at various books/short stories on offer on Netgalley, saw this story here, thought it looked interesting, and read it. And, I have to say, found myself in a warm fuzzy place that actually made me teary-eyed at a few moments (no idea what that's about, maybe my eyes are off). And, not only do I have this vague feeling that I've just read one of the better werewolf stories I've attempted, I also feel as if I've read one of the better lesbian stories. I do not wish to use the word 'best' or 'one of the best' as I seem to be miss-using that phrase/word lately. But . . . something like that.

The story? Something like a slice of life look at a group of women living and working in England. At a bed and breakfast (there was some comment that flew past me without me paying much attention indicating that it was something different than that . . . but I might have misread that). All have some 'issues' they are attempting to get through, pasts to live down. A lot of those issues occurred/developed because of another thing all these women share in common - they are werewolves.

There's Gloria, the 'not-the-alpha' who owns and runs the place, Nadine the chef, Lissa & Louisa who are loners/and or newly bitten (within six months) who are the waitresses (and have been circling each other. Then there's . . . the gardner man. Who is human. And whose name is escaping me for some reason. mmphs. Then there's Eben, another human, who comes calling one night looking for someone.

Lovely story. As mentioned, warm and fuzzy. Fun. Unexpectedly explicit briefly (I had accidentally mixed several book snippets together and forgot this one did have that bit about 'some explicit content'). It probably hit me differently than someone else, especially if they read it after reading my review. Since I wasn't expecting anything and they would be (it's one of those 'went so far and then . . . new scene' type of explicit action).

I've never read anything by this author. I now desire to dive into their work and hopefully find some more interesting stuff.

Rating: 5+

February 28 2017

The Midnight Hunt by L.L. Raand

The Midnight Hunt by L.L. Raand

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well that was . . . odd.

Interesting to see a shifter critter that 'allows' females to have power and stuff. A lot of them go in the 'women are bitches' direction. To a certain extent. I've attempted to steer clear of those types of books, so I only really have one example of that - Dead in the Water - in which the women are expected to fuck on demand. And while sex is important in this story (super super important), people still have 'power' to say yes or no.

Good grief the amount of sex and sexual tension running through this book. People were constantly on edge, with super hard engorged clits. Those would be the werewolves. The vampires? Feed off of sex (and blood) themselves so . . . they are also super focused on sex.

Three main 'zones' of POV. Werewolf story line (which included Sylvan (wolf) & Drake (the human medic); Vampire story line (which included Becca (human) and Jody (Vampire); and 'rogue' story line (which focused mostly on 'Rex'.

There was an actual story here, though it's kind of thinish. And it made a certain amount of sense. But . . . I found the Becca/Jody story line to be an intrusion that I mostly didn't need. The things that they brought to the story could have been 'brought' by someone else. (I don't actually recall that they brought anything really, since there was something of a parallel investigation going on - wolves investigating, vampires investigating). To a large extent, Jody and Becca seemed to be there to add another couple who were extremely incapable of allowing themselves to admit that they 'wanted' the other (mostly on Becca's side). *shrugs*

Not sure I'll read the next book in the series. Maybe. Perhaps.

Re: Narrator - narrator was good for this type of story in that she had a kind of angry, intense, on the edge of erupting kind of vibe going on, which fit the story.

Rating: . . . how the heck do I rate this book? um . . . 3 . . . . something. 3.45?

January 11 2017



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Ambereye by Gill McKnight

Ambereye by Gill McKnight

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I almost DNF'd this book right around the time Andre declared that Hope was going to be going on that work trip during Thanksgiving. And smugly stated that 'she wasn't doing anything'/'had no plans'. You know the plans you got Godfrey to pull out of Hope? The plans of cuddling up with her dog and decompressing? Those aren't no plans you fucking smug bastard. Some people need to decompress, and after working for that bitch Jolie, Hope had been really looking forward to resting time you fucking asshole.




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Backwoods Asylum by Megan Derr

Backwoods Asylum by Megan Derr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So . . . decided to try more audio. Wandered to Audible.com and put in the various publishers I've read stuff by, including: Bella Books (2 books), Bold Strokes (60), Riptide (43), Ylva (1), and Less than Three.

Well, this one is released by Less than Three and involved weresnakes, wolves, baby wolves (puppies), etc.

The weresnake (cottonmouth), the main character (Skylar), is awakened near 3 am by something. Rather quickly the guy realizes that he heard wolves - baby wolves. Finds puppies that apparently had been abandoned. Investigates.

It should be noted that it is very cold out. And the little baby puppies were huddled, whimpering, trying to keep warm - when the weresnake - in snake form - appeared. One puppy darted backwards, other darted forward. Snakeman quickly turns back into human form. Puppies tentatively crawl forward and into his lap . . . awwww

- I did not particularly like Brady (the other main character), nor how he kept winking for no known reason. Though that might be because he sounded like the grim gruff version of Batman when he was attempting to speak with the darkest grimest voice possible.

- This is a short story - took me a lot longer to devour than if I just read instead of listened.

Rating:
---- Narrator: 3.9
---- Story: 3.70
----= 3.80

January 8 2017




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Accidental Ashes by Sara C. Roethle

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

Review
Rating: 4.25
Read: January 4-5 2017

Accidental Ashes by Sara C. Roethle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 4.25

January 5 2017


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Xoe by Sara C. Roethle

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

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Curious how the rest of the series unfolds.

Rating: 3.8

December 31 2016



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Howl for the Holidays by Bridget Essex

Howl for the Holidays
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 63
Date: December 13 2016
Publisher: Rose and Star Press
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.70
Read: December 14 2016

Some deep emotions were released in this book. Quite interesting, really. Though they were the kind wherein I felt a somewhat deep dislike of the main and only point of view character. I did not like her actions.

Essex normally mixes up different types of people. And from a surface look, it seems as if she broke that specific trait here with this story. For the two main characters are both werewolves. We do not have knights meeting up/hooking up with librarians (or radio personalities); we do not have those looking for love suddenly finding it in a place they didn't even know existed (humans finding werewolves); nor guardian angels with humans, or vampires with . . . actually, I've not read any of the vampire ones so I do not know what's going on in those books. No, here we have two werewolves.

Except. The easiest (potentially) way to look at this story is to look at it through a particular mirror. A mirror I have to hide behind spoilers. This is not two female werewolves who love each other. Think of one of them as being transgender. And fearing the reaction of the other. And feeling confusion, feeling fear, feeling self-hatred of themselves - for they are in the wrong body. Here that 'wrong body' is 'werewolf' and right body is 'human', instead of 'male/female/other'. Seeing the story through that light provides an interesting twist. One that I've seen played with by this author before. Though the previous 'playing' involved setting up a 'coming out' type of 'LGBT' story, but having, instead of a LGBT person (well, still Lesbian, but the coming out isn't the lesbian part), you have a 'other' - in the form of a werewolf (I've forgotten which specific story this occurred in, might be the 'Christmas Wolf' one).

It is an interesting story, though not one I had expected. I had some vague idea of what the story was going to be about, but a lot more of it was captured within a flash back. Unfortunate that. Though, due to the nature of the story, the flashback was needed.

Rating: 3.70

December 14 2016

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless by Gail Carriger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the second time I have read this book. First time I read this book was almost exactly 7 years ago.

Of note: of those people directly meet (as opposed to only mentioned), the only people from the prequel series who turn up in this book would be that Lord Akeldama (that vampire guy who lives for information). And Countess something or other - Westminster hive queen. The Hisselpenny family also turned up in the prequel series, but not specifically Ivy - Alexa Tarabotti's friend.

The Queen of England was mentioned in prequel series but was not meet (she was meet in this book). Maccon, who for some reason was referred to as 'Lord Conall Maccon', despite being an Earl, was mentioned in prequel but not meet. Dewan & potonte(sp?) meet in prequel but only mentioned in this book.

Genevieve Lefoux, the woman (girl) who liked dressing like a man (boy) in the prequel series and has a spinoff FF book, is not seen or mentioned in this book.

Of note 2: To those reading this series chronologically - the prequel series involves characters ranging in age from early to late teens plus side characters who are adults. There is a bit of romancing but at a different level than in this book (the difference between slight touches and outright naked humping (which happens once or thrice in this book here)).

Also, I suppose it should be noted, the prequel series seems to have had a larger Steampunk vibe than this book here (which, apart from actual scientists running around, and mention of 'machines' and mechanical things, has a much more of a Urban Fantasy vibe).

Right. There was humor, mysterious actions, fantastic creatures and a bit of eroticism in this book. An enjoyable book. And I believe that there was sufficient distance from my prior reading to be able to fully enjoy this book without running into one of the issues I have with rereading - being annoyed by repetition (or already knowing, with great detail, what will happen).

Rating: 4.63

November 23 2016



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Soul Bonded by Meghan Malone

Soul Bonded by Meghan Malone

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A woman, escaping from a ‘boring’ get together in Lake Tahoe with friends (boring because she expected an exciting singles weekend, but instead found a bunch of woman alternating talking with lust about significant others or offering ‘condolences’ to Katie for her singlehood at the ripe old age of 33 (actually that might have been ‘alternating between making lustful comments about significant others, or bitchy comments about significant others, plus offering condolences to Katie for being single’), ends up finding out that leaving a couple hours early was a bad mistake. A very bad mistake.

That woman, who I’ve referenced indirectly, is Katie Connelly. The book opens on day three or four, or possibly five of her trapped inside her car on the side of the road. She decided that it would be better to stay there for someone to help her than trying to walk anywhere (for many reasons, including her lack of direction, plus the blizzard conditions (that’s part of her ‘leaving early’ thing – if she’d stayed until she was going to originally leave, then she’d have seen the bad conditions and not have tried to drive in those conditions), and her lack of warm clothing (though she has a suitcase and stuff – that part was vaguely confusing to me, though I did pick up on the concept that ‘cute adorable gloves aren’t the thing if you want to keep your hands warm’).

So, right, day three or four. She’s starving, cold, scared, and finally decides to pop out of her car and make a break for it. Except that the snow, by this time, has more or less covered her car. So when she actually opens her car door, it only manages to move an inch, though that’s enough for a mound of snow to fall on her. She manages to close the door again, but she’s in even worse conditions now. Minutes, hours, possibly days pass. Then, while in a daze, Katie notices a bare hand and arm moving in front of her, knocking the snow off of her front window. Then punching through her window. Then vague idea of being carried. Then vague idea of being snuggled against.

When Katie finally awakens she finds herself in an unfamiliar location. Warmer, much more refreshed than she expected to find herself. Very hungry. With a warm body next to her. She jerks up and notices that the warm body is . . . a friendly dog. One thing leads to another and it the man who rescued her turns up, a guy named Rafe. Who, it appears, has no means of contacting the outside world. And the weather conditions are still quite bad.

Katie alternates feelings of fear of the strange muscular man, with odd feelings of . . . attachment, lust towards him. Then, to complicate matters more, someone knocks on the door. She over hears someone berating Rafe for getting involved with Katie. Mentioning how she’s going to be raped, murdered and (forgot third thing, eaten?). Maybe even by Rafe himself. Rafe does not make any comments to this that sound like disagreement with the idea. Naturally Katie is even more disturbed by these events.

Is it spoiler to note what actually is going on? A cabin in the wilderness. A blizzard. Rival gangs sharing territory somewhat peacefully but with an edge of almost war between the two. And both seem to think of outsiders as humans - said with disdain – the humans part. Well, if you haven’t picked up on it yet I’ll point you to the cover – which happens to show wolves.

This book here is the fifth book that I’ve read by this author. Fifth, eh? Anyone coming across my review blind might not catch the significance of that statement, that number. Well, simple enough really – Meghan Malone, the author of this book, has written a sum total of . . . one book. And no I have not read this book five times – this is my first reading of this book. No, the four prior reads by me of this authors work were under a different name – that other name being Meghan O’Brien – lesbian fiction writer.

O’Brien is kind of known for having graphic depictions of sex scenes in her work. Involving women. With Women. Well, how about Malone? Well there are no erotic displays of graphically described sexual encounters between women in Malone’s work . . . but there are involving men and women – or between one man and one woman. Several. The first one was nice enough – the second one was . . . not something I wanted to read (a woman going wiggling around and placing her lips there on a man, and licking, and sucking . . . is not something I wish to read). After the second I reverted to just skimming the sex parts to make sure I didn’t miss anything important.

Overall a rather tense, exciting, thrilling book – if this was television I’d call this a ‘bottle episode’ (no idea if that’s a real tv trope – I picked up that term from an episode of Community – meaning an episode wherein people are trapped in one small location for the entirety of the show – here that means that the action of the book takes place mostly in and around a cabin during a snow storm.

This, as noted, is my fifth book I’ve read by this author, and the fifth that I’ve rated five stars. And yet I still seem so reluctant to start books by O’Brien/Malone. No idea what that’s about – the reluctance.

November 21 2016




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Fiber by Seanan McGuire

Fiber by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Weird short story. 5 cheerleaders returning after cheering something or other. Packed into one car. One of them, Laurie, is eating Jaime Lee Curtis poop yogurt and suddenly ‘has to go’. Despite not wishing to pull over, the woman pull over (Laurie has some kind of ‘whammy’ power that gets people to do things if she words things ‘just right’ (which apparently involves her opening her mouth and saying things). The others apparently/supposedly also have some kind of other ‘stuff’ going on with them, though the one that’s important to the story would be the lead narrator – Heather. Who used to be a zombie.

So, as I was saying, they pull over. Stopping at a ‘convenience store with gas’ so Laurie can poo. The place looks like it’s the set for a horror movie. Complete with jars of, apparently, human meat.

As I said – weird story. Then the convenience store attendant turns into a werewolf or something (a wendigo).

And then some cheerleader moves were performed, wendigos were flying all over the place and . . . stuff happened.

Rating: 3.5

November 10 2016




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Wildling Rider by Helena Maeve

Wildling Rider
by Helena Maeve
Pages: Unknown
Date: November 9 2016
Publisher: Less than Three
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.25
Read: November 1 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Less than Three in return for a fair review.*

Four reasons why I wanted to read this story. 1) Read this author before in a short story collection and liked what I saw (to the score of 4.65); 2) was curious about seeing this author in longer form; 3) had been interested in reading some form of biker story for a while now, and the ones I’d circled in the past seemed to have too much of a ‘male jackass’ vibe drifting off the pages; 4) it’s a lesbian story set in Scotland with bikers, werewolves and a mystery, what more could I ask for?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe a character who I wouldn’t want to strangle with my bare hands might have been nice. From beginning to end, Abigail – the main character (and only POV), annoyed the hell out of me. Judgmental, nosey, bitchy, stubborn, a little too close to the ‘airhead’ her ex called her at one point (though she, the ex, had also included things that implied bubbly – Abigail was far from bubbly/happy go lucky/pleasant to be around. Far.) The little too close has to do with observable intelligence levels. Which isn’t exactly horrible in and of itself for a character – I mean for a character to be somewhat dim – might even make an interesting book. Here it just annoyed me.

I need to interject one thing here though, somewhat out of order – you know that ‘too stupid to live’ concept that pops up in fiction? TSTL? I do not believe I’ve ever seen a character described that way who wasn’t female, but let’s not dwell on that – point being that the character is, as the words suggest – way too stupid to live, yet they do. Well, to be fair to this character here – Abigail – while there were a few moments that edged in that direction, she never tipped that way completely. No, she kept getting injured, hurt, etc., mostly through the fault of others and not because of her own stupidity. Either she was with someone who would normally be able to protect her, but couldn't, or she got hurt after that someone abandoned them (like, what the heck was up with her ex-girlfriend basically charging off and abandoning her in the woods? Right, sorry, getting ahead of myself there). Just mean to point out that my ‘lacking in certain level of intelligence’ (a phrase I never used until now) doesn’t mean that she’s ‘too stupid to live’ stereotype character.

Story started off similarly to that other story I’ve read by Maeve – as in right in the middle of the story. I think I used the word ‘story’ too much in the previous sentence, you’d think I could have come up with a different word, at some point, other than story. Hehe. *shakes self* Right, sorry. Point – previous story I had read was in Less than Dead and started off with a man battling hoards of zombies while listening to classical music (and telling his man-servant to change the song every once in a while). Never did learn exactly what was going on, but you don’t really need to in a zombie story. That didn’t really work this time around, unfortunately. Started off annoyed that I didn’t know what was going on, and didn’t get much better (the annoyance, I figured out what was going on – most of it – before the end of the story).

Right, so, this is set in Scotland. A woman is poking her nose into ‘things’ and asking questions people do not wish to answer (interject here – near the beginning Abigail says something like ‘—my good old RP accent was, for the first time in my life, a source of derision.’ RP accent? What the bloody hell is an RP accent? It’s not a posh accent, because she made fun of/mocked Georgia for having that. So. RP. “Received Pronunciation, often abbreviated to RP, is an accent of spoken English. Unlike other UK accents, it’s identified not so much with a particular region as with a particular social group, although it has connections with the accent of Southern England. RP is associated with educated speakers and formal speech”. So says Google. And, what? Seriously? The first time in her life a source of derision? Guess my vague impression that I had picked up along the way that ‘experts’ are derided in England at the moment was just that, an impression, a wrong one at that (ah, but does an expert specifically have an RP accent? Just because there is that ‘associated with educated speakers and formal speech’ part? *shrugs. No idea. Shesh this is a long aside. I do not even remember what paragraph I am in now.)

*pretends previous paragraph doesn’t exist*

Right, so, book is set in Scotland. A woman from London famous for making videos of fashion is poking her nose in a small village in Scotland. Apparently she heard that a woman went missing. So she took a train five hours up (I think) to look around. She admits that people go missing all the time in London. But – she just knows no one cares about this ‘Candice Sharpe’ person, and therefore she needs to go up there and look around. Except she actually knew another woman who had gone missing. And that’s the real reason she’s up there. Except that person went missing before she was born. See, confusing.

Well, there is this woman named Abigail and she’s poking around this Scottish village with her ex-girlfriend who is both a biker and a werewolf (the local biker gang are werewolves; or – the local werewolves ride motorcycles). The story is set in that type of universe. One with bikers. Also, werewolves. And vampires. And witches. And people who have been born again (not that way). Though only werewolves and those who have been reincarnated actually pop up in this specific story here.

My review is confused because I’m quite off my game at the moment. The fact that the book itself is also confusing is just a coincidence.

Characters –
Abigail - 30 something woman from London who is poking around in Scotland for a missing woman. Speaks with an RP accent. Has been described by one ex-girlfriend as being a bubbly airhead.

Kayla - Abigail’s biker ex-girlfriend who is also a werewolf and lives in the same town Abigail is wandering around in softly calling out the name ‘Candice’ to see if Candice turns up.

Candice Sharpe - a woman who has gone missing who Abigail thinks no one cares about. Is described as both a junkie and a groupie (groupie of the werewolf bikers).

Georgia - a woman Kayla claims is Candice’s friend. Though Abigail scoffs at the idea. Since Georgia is just so gosh darn posh. Too posh to be friends with trash like Candice. Or something like that (did I mention yet that Abigail is judgemental?).

Jensen - head of the Wildlings – the biker motorcycle club that Abigail’s ex-girlfriend, Kayla, is a member of.

Nettie Jensen - Jensen’s long dead mother. Knew Swedish.

Plot - English woman wanders Scotland looking for a missing Scottish woman who she doesn’t know, nor had ever heard of before that woman went missing. The town is very tight lipped and strongly suggestive to Abigail that she should make a hasty departure. Backed up by gunfire. That English woman has some connections with the people found in the town that would not normally be expected, definitely not expected if this wasn’t a fantasy. Motorcycles are ridden. Driven. On roads. On paths. Over rocks. Whereupon they flip through the air and land on riders. Much stuff occurs.

Overall - interesting story. Wish I hadn’t been somewhat confused in the beginning. And/or that I didn’t come to basically dislike 99.9% of the people involved.

Rating: 3.25

November 1 2016

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage
by Gail Carriger
Pages: 320
Date: February 5 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Series: Finishing School (1)

Review
Rating: 4.75
Read: October 30 to 31 2016

Neat to see a young Genevieve Lefoux - who would later grow up to be a side character in the Parasol Protectorate, and will appear in her own book tomorrow in Romancing the Inventor. Also from the Parasol Protectorate series was Sidheag Maccon. A side character in that and in this book. Nice to see her as well, though she plays a rather small role in everything I've seen her in.

Right, well. I knew of this series years ago, but when I noticed that the series was called something like 'Finishing School', I immediately avoided it. Bad me. It's not exactly that type of finishing school. No, it's more of a spy school for young ladies that floats in the air in balloons (well, dirigibles), and is affiliated with a male version (which is located on the ground) - and it is designed to produce evil geniuses (also a sign of what type of series this one is about).

This is a humorous steampunk/science fiction/alt history/young adult book. Quite enjoyable. Not sure how others might or might not like it since I'm kind of out of my normal reading zone. In the sense that I have almost never enjoyed nor, for that matter, liked steampunk books. heh. I just looked at my steampunk shelf. 5 stars (1 book, this one, though it's more 4.75), then 4 stars (5 books), then 1 3 star and then 2 2 stars (hmms, I appear to be missing . . wait, no, there's Boneshaker). Every steampunk book I've liked has been by Gail Carriger. Naturally this means I shall now gobble up the rest of this series, and turn a serious eye on the sequel series (Custard Protocal). Fitting that lesbian fiction book starring Genevieve Lefoux into the mix somehow or another.

October 31 2016