Monthly Archives: May 2013

Review of Hanna Peach’s Angelfire

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AngelfireI initially downloaded Hanna Peach‘s Angelfire from the Amazon KDP list, but she later also sent me an updated copy.

Description from Goodreads:
An army of angels walks among us. They have kept us safe and ignorant − so far.

Earthbound for centuries and ruled by the Elders, they have established hidden cities, a society and the Code: obey your Elders, kill all demons, eliminate Rogue-angels, protect the mortals, remain hidden. Their warriors are the ungifted Earthborn angels armed with blades and the “borrowed magics” of distilled angel-blood tattoos.

Alyxandria is a young warrior with a fondness for customized knives and illegal night-races. If only she could overcome the taint of her parents, who abandoned her to become Rogues. When Alyx saves Israel, a gifted mortal with a past, she is forbidden to see him again. But she can’t help herself, drawn to him through their Guardian-bond, an ancient and long-forgotten bond; if he dies, she dies.

Alyx begins to dig into the Elders’ secrets − two thousand years of secrets, which begin with the death of the Archangel Raphael. She is not prepared when she uncovers an Elder’s dark plan. Somewhere on Earth is a key to unlock Hell. Somewhere on Earth are pieces of an amulet that control Lucifer and his army. Somehow Israel is the link and now both sides are after him. Who can Alyx trust when Good and Evil are no longer clear?

The war for Earth begins.

Review:
Angelfire is an interesting addition to the angels versus demons collective. Alyx is a strong-willed heroine who has no problem standing up for herself. Though she does seem to float aimlessly from one chaotic near miss to the next, but maybe that’s actually the hand of destiny at work. Israel is imminently likeable and I adored the pirates.

The writing was admittedly pretty choppy in the beginning, jumping from seemingly random event to random event, giving a lot of detailed technical explanations, and introducing a lot of extraneous characters who played no significant role in the book. As a result it took a long time to figure out what exactly was going on, but it evened out eventually and became a pretty good read. I did find the info-breaks really disruptive though. I would have really preferred a glossary at the end to interruptions in the story.

As much as I enjoyed the story, this is not a stand alone book. It is obviously book one of what is going to be a big series. A lot of ground work is set here, but there is no sense of completion, no satisfying conclusion. I look forward to it’s continuation.

On a possibly irrelevant side note, and I don’t think I’m the first to mention this, the book has a really cool cover with a winged angel on it. But the angels in it don’t actually have wings. The only mention of anyone having wings is attributed to a demon. That irks me. It feels wrong.

Book Review of Eve Langlais’ Delicate Freak’ Flower

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Delicate Freakn' Flower

I grabbed Eve Langlais‘ erotic shifter novel, Delicate Freakn’ Flower from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Dammit , just how many toes was she going to have to stomp on before people realized she was a delicate freakin’ flower?

Naomi doesn’t want to follow tradition and settle down with a violence-loving, chest thumping shapeshifter. She grew up in a household with five, testosterone laden brothers where none of the dishes ever matched, the ugly-as-sin furniture could withstand any catastrophe, and where crazy glue was bought by the case.

When fate—with a snicker—makes her meet not one, but two mates, Naomi digs her heels in and refuses to do what her wolf—and her body—demands. No way is she voluntarily allowing herself to get hitched to a pair of dumbass—totally hot and muscled—lacrosse players.

Can Ethan, the towering Kodiak bear, and Javier, the sexy, tanned jaguar convince this she-wolf that life with them won’t be all chaos? And can this delicate freakn’ flower unbend her prejudices enough to recognize she needs a pair of men who can handle her thorns—and her passion? 

Warning: this is a hot threesome story where all the focus is on her with pleasurable consequences.

Review:
Delicate Freakn’ Flower is just plain pulp. You can even tell from the sarcastic title that it isn’t going to be anything serious. But if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s all good. There isn’t a lot to the plot, but not much is promised in the description either. You get what’s on the cover in this one.

Naomi’s character is a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a total bitch to almost everyone. But I rather enjoyed the fact that all of the men around her let her be that way, even liked her that way. It’s one of my favourite fictional events when strong men allow a female complete control over them, or cower in the face of her fury. Of course they could stop it. Of course they are only allowing her the control, but I still always get a kick out of it. This book has that in spades. In fact, it’s pretty much the crux of the plot.

On a side note, though subtle, I appreciated that Naomi isn’t described as a twig. She has large breasts and a gently rounded tummy. That tummy is still worshiped by two hot guys. I really liked that she was described this way AND Langlais didn’t make any sort of issue about it. Not once did she call herself fat or appear anything but comfortable in her own body. I may be reading more into it that was intended, but I thought it marvellous. 

The beaus, Ethan and Javier were just as sexy as you would expect. I did have to wonder that their relationship wasn’t explored more. The two of them did everything together even before discovering Naomi, including previous threesomes. They didn’t even blink when they discovered they shared a mate and seemed to be in complete accord about everything. It’s hard for me to not see them as a couple with or without Naomi. This wasn’t even hinted at, of course, but I think the book might have had a little more depth if it had been addressed one way or the other.

While the book was generally well written, there was some unfortunate language use (IMO). Prick, pussy, cleft, cleft, cleft…why does it have to sound like cheap porn to be considered erotic? I haven’t figured that out yet. At least Langlais had the grace to not throw cunt around too. On the same theme I found it disconcerting that when the trio finally made it to the bedroom together Ethan, poor shy, awkward Ethan was the one throwin’ down the dirty talk. It didn’t fit his previous character at all.

In the end the book was utterly ridiculous, but a fun/hot way to pass a couple of hours. Plus, it was a freebie. How could I possibly complain.

Natural Magick

Book Review: Natural Magick, by Kathi S. Barton

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natural magick

I purchased a copy of Natural Magick, by Kathi S. Barton.

Description from Goodreads:

Dominic Marshall is sick to death hearing about Pete. The way the women keep going on about him Dominic swears that the first time he sees the guy he’s going to punch him in the nose, then drain him. There is no way in Dominic’s mind that any one person could be that great.Piccadilly Bartholomew or “Pete” to everyone who knows her is in trouble. She had to do some work for the man she’d just broken into his ‘secure’ computer system by telling him not only how she did it, but also show him how to fix it. In the mean time, she meets Duncan to help him with a computer purchase.When Pete has to deliver the twins of Sara’s in a restaurant, Dominic decides to claim her as his mate and make her his. Pete thinks Dominic is nuts and has no problems telling him so.Her family finds her and has decided to come and fetch her home. With her powerful magic and their black magic they are going to breed her with the most powerful being alive. But they didn’t expect a pack of werewolves, several thousand vampires and the Queen of Magick to be with her.Sparks, steamy sex and magic bring Diminic and Pete together and their combined strengths. But will it be enough to take on someone as powerful as a former King?

Review:

The first paragraph of the description is great and it made me want to read this book immediately. I put it off for a long time because I haven’t actually read the first two books. I finally gave in and was able to follow the story well enough. But I think I probably did miss out some. The story here does stand on its own, but the events of the previous books are referenced and all of the characters are only vaguely described. I assume fuller descriptions were previously given and what was here was only meant as a reminder. That detracted from my enjoyment a little, but no one to blame on the one but myself.

Pete was a fun character. I appreciated her straight shooting, no nonsense attitude. Dominic was just your average PNR vampire alpha mate. (Though he wasn’t actually THE alpha vamp here. Aaron was.) There wasn’t much about him that stood out for me. He was completely made up for in the character of Duncan though. Duncan was the light of this book. I adored him. I don’t know what species he was supposed to be, but I still wanted to hug him to death.

Everything in the book moves quickly, too quickly, unbelievably quick. Pete gains the trust and admiration of everyone she meets immediately. She does one job for a company and so impresses them that they purposefully overpay her and offer her a stellar full-time job. Dominic knows she is his mate within seconds of scenting her. One moment he and Pete are having their 2nd somewhat civil conversation, the next they’re lip locked and racing for the bedroom. One paragraph he’s apologising for the pain caused when he breaks her hymn, the next she is bent over a chair screaming “f_ck me harder”…and within a week they’ve moved on to what some would call kinky fetish play. She has to confront her mother, stepfather (essentially) and seven brothers. Then dispatches all nine of them in about two pages, despite never previously fighting with her abilities.

It was very apparent early on, from the tone and everyone’s hearts and flowers acceptance of Pete that this was not going to be a book in which anything bad was allowed to happen to the heroine. That’s just what it proved to be, a litany of happy outcomes. Kind of takes some of the enjoyable tension away when you know the outcome from the beginning. But if you’re the type that really likes a lot of mushy affirmations and a predictable HEA this is the book for you. (I know that sounds snarky, but I was being serious.)

Lastly and on a side note, I would just like to point out for the record, and I know I’m probably being pedantic by mention it, but the cover has NOTHING to do with the book. Not once does Pete or anyone else carry a sword and while the dogs are cute, her mate is a vampire not a werewolf. I’m just sayin’.