Once and Again

Once and Again by Lauren Dane is the first book in the Petal,Georgiaseries.  This is a spin off of the Chase Brothers.  I should just tell you up front I did not like that series one bit. I thought it was a great example of how an author’s writing could grow during their career.  If you read one of those books then pick up one from the Brown Sibling series, the difference is astounding.  That said, one would assume that any new series would stay on that caliber.  Not so much.

 

We were introduced into the town and more than a handful of characters, some new, some familiar.  The story revolves around Lily, who just moved back to Petal and her former boyfriend Nathan.  You read all about their complicated lives and got interested in not only the two main characters but where the people that surround them will end up as well.

 

We meet Lily’s entire family.  They actually make my own look almost normal.  Pages upon pages are spent learning about them, but once the two main characters get together the story just comes to a dead halt without ever mentioning them again.    When I say that the story comes to a halt, I mean within one page.  There is an officially proclamation of the two finally coming together and then within a paragraph the book is over.

 

The bulk of the book was spent with Lily dealing with her family while playing a cat and mouse game with Nathan.  Lily’s struggle with her entire family was really more of the focus than the courting Nathan was working so hard on.  When we never came back to any of those characters the entire story just fell flat.

 

Some of the dialogue and inner monologue was juvenile for the age and education level of the characters.  It also got a little repetitive.  That said, I would probably pick up the next book in this series to see if we ever come back to the rest of Lily’s family. Most made a baby step in the right direction and I am curious to see if they keep on that path.   Maybe this series was set up to read more like a soap opera where you need to keep tuning in to see where the threads weave next?

xoxox

Mia

“I’ll be like a cockroach, obnoxious and toxic and indestructible.”

Dead on the Delta (Annabelle Lee #1) by Stacey Jay was a book that I started then seemed to never be able to get to. As soon as I found the time to sit down and read, I didn’t stand up again until the book was finished.

After a run of lighter books it was a nice change of pace to walk into something so dark and gritty. When you start a book about faeries you never really know which direction it is going to head in. This one contains no pixie dust. Annabelle is an unapologetic alcoholic, pill popper who really does not care what you think about her. At all. She does however care about everyone else. Deeply. Perhaps too deeply and that is where her problems lie. She risks her life time and time again trying to solve a murder, prove a friend innocent, and just keep loved ones from having to risk themselves.

Page after page you learn a little more about each character and their families in subtle ways. They all have such multifaceted lives that you are left with a lot of questions about everyone. The end of the book only thing you know for certain that you cant be certain about anyone. There was quite a noir feel to this book. It seemed as if everyone had a secret or two in the back of their closet, and some of those were skeletons.

The big scooby doo reveal of the mystery left a little to be desired. It was kind of like when the gang would pull the mask off the bad guy only to find a puppet. The finale was a little too rushed and a little too out there. Something simpler and more realistic may have worked better.

We do get to see a great set up for the next book. With so many questions unanswered and so much intrigue surrounding everyone Jay made it easy to look forward to spending more time in the Delta with Annabelle.

Xoxo

Mia