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What on earth just happened? I was reading this book and everything was going good, then we took a turn somewhere and I have no idea how this went so very wrong, so very fast.
Throughout the previous books of this series we learned very little about Dmitri’s life. InArchangel’s Blade we get his entire history prior to being Made. We meet a new Hunter, and learn about her past. Obviously we all know the path that the story will take from here.
The issue is that the line from point A to point B is not linear. At all. It appears it was easier to just bend the paper to make the points meet than have to draw the line. The story completely and totally jumps the shark. To me this was a complete cop out. It was the easy way to make all of the characters okay with their budding relationship even though they had issues and plenty of baggage. I would have rather have seen both characters work through those barriers on their own without this nice easy cure all to their inner turmoil.
Without the magic wave of the wand this book would have been just as amazing as the others in the series. With this twist of events its less. Much less. The entire story was cheapened.
Very disappointing.
xoxox
Mia
I finished reading One Grave at a Time last night. This is the sixth book in the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. This book took me a few days to get through. That pretty much sums up what I think of it.
I am not exactly sure how this went so wrong. It almost seemed like parts were missing. The plot took a little bit to get moving and once it did there were really no details. The bad guy comes. They fight. Bad guy runs away. All of a sudden there is a plan and a trap. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Some of the characters we have met previously appeared in the book at equally haphazard moments.
There was a little overall plot development with the government agencies. That again sprang up with no explanation, no resolutions, and no details. One of the characters has somewhat of an inkling as to what is going on, but decides not to share with Cat and Bones. They also decided not to share with us. Again, this was a plot point with no information.
It was like reading a trailer for a movie. We see some of these big things happening but we have no idea how, why, or when anything was going to occur. All of the guts of the story were just missing.
The ending was abrupt. They literally catch the bad guy, talk about the fact that it will be taken care of and then jump to a senseless, pointless epilogue.
There was quite a bit of page time spent on stressing the fact that all of the characters were in a great place in their lives. Everyone is happy and content. That is great. There doesn’t need to be conflict between them in order to make a good book, but that page time should have been spent discussing the actual story at hand.
I was pretty horribly disappointed. This is as if an A+ student just handed in a D paper. You know what they are capable of and you just cant help but wonder what went on while they were trying to put this together.
xoxox
Mia
I came across J.A. Saare’s Rhiannon’s Law series on the recommendation of a friend. Book one is called Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between. I read the blurb and I saw that this was about a tough chickie who also happens to be a necromancer involved with vampires. Mystery and chaos ensue. How could I resist a book that sounded so much like my favorite guilty pleasure of a series turned train wreck?
Where as that other series that will not be named is full of preachy moments and several page long female anatomy lessons this book is lacking all of that. The heroine Rhiannon is an unapologetic street smart girl who has been through hell and back. She can serve a mean cocktail and then knock you unconscious with her right hook. She’s pretty sarcastic and swears like a sailor. Rhiannon has no problem telling you what is on her mind, even if that is somewhat admitting a weakness. That was pretty refreshing itself.
If I were some of the characters in the books I read I would be terrified no matter how much I tried to keep my chin up. It was nice to hear someone admit that.
The male lead, Disco the vampire was also a little different. He wasn’t as chest thumping Alpha. He seemed even slightly shy which made him incredibly endearing. He was the head of a vampire House and so he had authority and power, but it was delivered in a more subdued way.
The storyline wasn’t predictable at all. The scooby doo unmasking moment came with a few twists that came a little too far from left field, but it wasn’t anything cringe worthy. There was a lot of character introductions and world building to do. That gave me a little extra forgiveness in the plot blips.
This book does everything right. Where I was expecting something more of the lines of the other necromancer series but i got something more and completely different. This book is a lot more gritty and urban fiction. There really are no characters in this story that were squeaky clean. They are all much more realistic than that, complete with flaws and insecurities. There were enough sexy moments to make me happy, but not enough to overwhelm the entire story line.
The ending however was just wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. It was really one hell of a cliff hanger and I am curious to see where that goes. It could go either way for me. There is a good possibility I am not going to dig the next book, but this one was a great find. Luckily for me I discovered this series right after book two was released so I can jump into it right away.
xoxox
Mia
What an arrogant, self centered, belligerent ass. Can I have one I can keep forever ?
I am a firm believer that all authors should just put out extra scenes of just the good stuff. Thank you !
I was certainly not expecting this to take place during Darkfever. The scene itself was a pretty awesome look into the mind of JZB. It was always a treat in the Fever series to get a bit from his perspective. Barrons complete arrogance may be the hottest thing ever. Well, until we get to this part …
“I have no desire to sleep with you. I want to fuck you. And there is no such thing as perfectly good sex. If it’s “perfectly good,” I mock in falsetto, “he should be shot in the head and put out of everyone’s misery. Sex either blows your fucking mind, or it’s not good enough. You want me to blow your fucking mind, Ms. Lane? Come on. Do it. Be a big girl.”
Really? Did he really just say that ? I want to rip the bastard’s clothes off.
Once we actually get down to it things get pretty underwhelming. Its great that you can brag about how you went on and on for four hours, but that does me no good if I don’t get any of the details.
Barrons, you didn’t blow my mind. You were in fact perfectly good, but I’ve had better.
You can read it for free here
http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/jzbscene.html
xoxox
Mia
I breezed through Leslie Parrish’s Cold Touch (EXtrasensory Agents #2), almost as fast as the first book, Cold Sight. Parrish created some of the most interesting characters I have met in a long time. The team is made up of psychic detectives and each one has a power that is more interesting than the next. In this book we get a closer look at Olivia, who is able to touch a dead body and relive the last 130 seconds of their lives. (Like that plot in Torchwood? Yes, exactly like that plot in Torchwood.)
In this book psychic powers don’t come easy. Aside from the obvious social, and personal problems that would arise from having these “gifts” we also get to see pretty vividly the physical and psychological damage that can happen. Often you read of all sorts of super powers, but they always seem to come wrapped in sunshine, rainbows, and sparkle with glitter off a unicorn’s horn. Not here.
This book is also incredibly serious, with the romance woven in. The relationship builds slowly and subtly. The focus is entirely on the characters themselves as well as the mystery. I kind of imagine this being somewhat like if Fox and Scully were both believers and had a Scooby Gang. Minus the mask pulling reveal of course. I may take that back. When you do solve the crime there is quite the “ah-ha!” moment, just without the comedy of a huge sandwich.
I have one tiny problem with the ending. The epilogue was a little too perfect for me. Things got a little too easy for everyone to have a HEA. It kind of felt cheap.
Oh hey there are spoilers ahead!! No names or plot points mentioned, but a general theme!!!
When a character does something incredibly brave which causes their death, or dies in the middle of something heroic you can’t cheapen that by bringing them back to life. If that final thought in death was how to save other people’s lives, bringing them back is lessening that to me.
xoxox
Mia
In the last week I have read a few clunkers. I’ve been seeing Leslie Parrish’s Extrasensory Agents series popping up on my Goodreads friend’s feed and decided to give it a shot.
Book one is Cold Sight. It is based around Aiden McConnell, a psychic who can connect with people he has had contact with to see, hear, or smell through their senses. It is not always in real time, or real at all. He can also connect to them through their dreams.
Aiden has some issues letting go of guilt from problems with a previous case he worked on with his agency of various psychic talents, and has become somewhat gun shy about pretty much everything. He moved to a small somewhat rural town, and pretty much never left the house for the next year. Then Lexi, a reporter shows up on his doorstep with a new case she is desperate for help on.
In reviews I read that the romance takes a back seat in this book, leaving the crime in the forefront. That is very true. From the first time they have met there was a building tension, and while it grows it is really never a huge part of the story. I think if you removed it all together the book would still work just the same. It would be a horrible mistake to do that though. The relationship between them is very realistic as it moves along, and that makes them both incredible endearing.
The crime and crime solving part of this book is somewhat similar to something I would expect from a cable version of SVU meets CSI. It is pretty gritty and does not hold back. There are more than a few scenes and descriptions that made me cringe. Those were the same ones that made me read the entire book in one day and not be able to put it down until I was done.
The writing was so good. Even though we were dealing with a team of people with various powers everything was so incredibly believable. The characters weren’t dancing around singing to everyone about their powers. Everyone was guarded and in some cases even reluctant to use them. The powers didn’t make everything easy for them, it just helped them move along. Refreshing to see in a book that involves any sort of powers.
I am going to be jumping right into the second book in this series tonight!
xoxox
Mia
I really should start this off by saying that I have huge issues with books who have main characters that meet someone of the opposite sex and within about 3 seconds flat think its an awesome idea to leave their lives and go run off with them abandoning everything else. (regardless of how little that may actually be) It gives me Twilight post traumatic stress syndrome. I just want to lock these women in a padded room and keep them well medicated.
Lord of the Vampires, (Royal House of Shadows #1), by Gena Showalter is released by Harlequin. Right there I knew this would be a little different than her other work. I was really intrigued by the concept of a series where each book was written by a different author so I went for it anyway. I just happen to love all of the other authors involved in this project.
This book starts out in modern day with a scientist named Jane. She is recovering from an accident that left her paralyzed for some time and killed her family. Jane apparently specialized in paranormal being research as well as trying to have things / people travel inter-dimensionally. I don’t really get it. It seemed kind of random. At no point in this story do we get into any sort of corporate or government involvement so all of that was just somewhat extra. It was more used as a device to make her acceptance of the supernatural seem logical. It didn’t really work, but I went with it anyway.
Nicolai, the vampire of the story lives in the magical realm which is pretty archaic. They are still riding horses from far away kingdom to far away kingdom. Apparently education is on that same level. He is pretty “Me sexy vampire. You Jane. Naked now.”
Rules of the world are established as we go along. Then they just are pretty much shattered without much of an explanation. For example, it is stated that vampires are born and not made, yet that gets staked to dust later.
The book was a fast read. The world was okay. I really had nothing else at the time so it was all good. Aside from the the story of the H/h there is an overall story arc to the series that does not get resolved. This is in no way a cliff hanger, the story of Jane and Nicholi is done I am interested to see what the other authors do to move the series story arc along, but I was pretty happy to see this installment end.
xoxox
Mia
Rachel Caine’s Working Stiff, the first book in her new series The Revivalist, was probably one of the more romantic books I have read in awhile. Considering this is a corporate espionage thriller first, and a zombie book second, with just a dash of romance that is saying a lot about how it was done. As a character in the book says, “These are some fucked up times is that’s romantic.” Yes, yes indeed.
When I picked this up I had just read the synopsis, saw that it was by Rachel Caine, and just assumed that it would be good. I was expecting something a lot lighter than the book I ended up with. The good news is that it was so exciting that I read through it in one day. The bad news is that I won’t be able to make my usual zombie jokes. (Which I still think is a valid lifestyle choice.)
In this book a major drug corporation accidently stumbles upon a formula to revive someone from the dead. The mad scientist who created it goes rogue and starts selling it to people on the black market. Once you are revived you need the injection every day in order to avoid decomposition.
The head of the corporation has a few screws loose and decides to take over the world by turning everyone into her own personal zombie.
Obviously the best way to do this is to have a huge convention in a hotel, kill everyone and then inject them all with the serum. We are talking hundreds of people in one mass zombification. Do I even need to point out the flaws with this plan?
Let’s get back to the story. The main character Bryn is a little unlike most of the heroines we see in UF novels. She is a former military member, who knows how to handle herself. She is certainly no wilting flower. When murdered and turned into the walking dead dependant on a daily shot, she quickly adapts with minimal sniffles. I was pretty impressed. There were enough tears involved to keep it realistic but there was also pragmatics that one would need to find in order to survive.
This was more of a high action spy novel than an urban fiction. The fact that there were zombies in the story was pretty superficial. With the exception of needing the daily shot to keep alive they were pretty much like a regular human. There were no cravings for brains or other assorted super powers.
The romance was woven into this story subtly. I think we may see it evolve more as the series continues but at this point it was not in the forefront. The two main characters were really endearing together and have a lot of back story to tell. It was a pretty sweet pairing as the two got closer to each other throughout this ordeal.
This book was really well done. It was a huge deviation from what I usually read but I really enjoyed it. I am certainly looking forward to more from Bryn and company.
xoxox
Mia
Several weeks ago Thea Harrison’s first book in the Elder Races series, Dragon Bound was suggested to me. I plowed through that book in one day and have been impatiently waiting for the next book in the series ever since. Luckily for me I didn’t have to wait long. Luckier even yet is that we only have to wait till October for book three.
This book revolves around Tricks, the cute little faerie PR rep we met in the last book. She’s my kind of gal. When faced with the problem assassination attempts she hops in her car (or a stolen one) and high tails it to a hotel to pound back a bottle vodka and chain smoke her worries away. I really question her wallowing liquor choices. Who would willingly choose bubblegum vodka? Not me, that is for sure. That is just gross.
The first half of this book is pretty much a gigantic game of cat and mouse between our heroine and hero. He finds her, insists on saving her, she takes off again, rinse, lather, repeat. Then we add some conditioner and rinse again. When I say half of the book I am really not kidding.
The next quarter of the book is really made up of Tricks going on an emotional speedway weaving through all the reasons her relationship with the hero could and probably would fail. “I love him I don’t care!” “He’s going to leave me anyway.” “I love him I don’t care!” “I need to put being queen above all else.” Flip. Flop.
Then we have a lovely scene where two of the Wyr Sentinals that we have seen before and are apparently BFF with both Tricks and Tiago decide that they are actually really, really, racist. It made zero sense to me, and seemed to come out of nowhere. It was gone almost as fast as it appeared as well. They all fought for a good five minutes then they decided that mixed races was okay after all. Honestly, after some of the things that were said there would be no way I could possibly forgive that in a hour, or a day, or most likely even a month.
The last bit of the book is actually reserved for the plot. We watch Tricks go into faerie, dissolve some political nefarious plots, and then take her rightful place as queen. This is rather cliché as we have the typical fae political nonsense interfere. It seemed that when we entered the Other Worlds, we also entered pretty much every single book about faeries I have ever read.
That makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the book right? Well, I did. This installment of the Elder Races, much like the previous has a lot of similarities to some other book series. I happen to love those series, so I enjoyed this as well. Once we got past the first 50 pages or so the next 100 pages just became redundant. I would have liked to have seen more of the plot earlier in the story, or at least some more steam.
.
xoxox
Mia
It’s always easy to tell when a new Dark Hunter book comes out because I am shuffling around like a zombie the next day. I started this book and I didn’t stop till about 4:30 am when I finally hit that last page.
People who know me know that I have a thing for cowboy books. Well, more like cowboys in general, so if you know any feel free to have them shoot me an email. Retribution, the 20th book in this series offered me a great mix of the PNR that I love and the cowboy-esque feel of a modern western. It really had a completely different feel than the other books. There were a lot of American Indian beliefs involved in this story. When you team that up with the wild, wild, west, you got something that we haven’t seen in the other books. While I enjoyed it, I don’t think I would want to see this often. It was a nice change of landscape but while this book took place during modern day it had that old time threading. There were cameos from several of our favorite Dark Hunters as well as mentions of others. I got a nice life update on a lot of past folks we have already come to love.
It never ceases to amaze me that this series has so many books and yet never seems to jump that shark. I picture Kenyon’s office as having wall to wall flow charts and timelines. I believe she has mentioned that she has twice as many books preplanned. I can’t imagine how she could keep the complex story arcs so untangled for forty some books.
I have one huge complaint. This is completely a spoiler so you may want to stop reading right about now….
Acheron’s son was born in the bonus scene at the end of the book. There was some sort of complication and no one knew what to do. Ash went to Artemis for help who at first was bitchy, then directly teleported over to help. It was a huge save the day moment. When Ash asked what she would demand as payment for saving the life of his wife and child she said that the look on his face when he first held his son was enough. Tory and Ash had a moment of “aww isn’t she wonderful?”
Are you kidding me? You don’t get a gold star for saving a laboring mother and the baby’s life. That is something that should have been done without a thought. There should have been no asking please, or having to make an offer of being in her limitless debt. That is something that as the goddess of childbirth she should have been drawn to do regardless. Under no circumstance does that in any way shape or form erase or even begin to negate the atrocities this woman has committed against Ash and his family. I think it was pretty disgusting that she was even brought into the happiest day of this man’s life.
It was also a pretty underwhelming scene. We come in right at the point of pushing. I would have liked to have seen the initial panic of her beginning labor and everyone gathering to help them.
I am with Simi. Lets BBQ the heifer-goddess.
xoxo
Mia
readwatcheat 