Monthly Archives: September 2014

I picked up Poppy Dennison‘s Triad Series from my local e-lending library.

Description:
Magical species must never mix. According to the rules, Simon Osborne should ignore the children’s cries for help. After all, they’re werewolf cubs, and he’s an apprentice mage. But for once in his life, Simon breaks the rules and rescues the cubs, saving them from a demon intent on draining them of their magic.

Of course, all actions have consequences, and Simon’s bold move earns him the displeasure of his peers and the attention of the cubs’ alpha, a man named Gray Townsend.

The last thing Gray needs is a mage in his life, but Simon did save his son. Since Simon is now a friend of the pack, Gray doesn’t have much choice about it—or the forbidden attraction that goes along with it. Unfortunately for the alpha, he needs Simon’s help to track down the demon behind the kidnappings—before it strikes again. Simon and Gray must join forces to protect the pack, even as they struggle to resist the temptation that threatens to destroy them both.

Review:
A lightly amusing book but heavy-handed and inelegant. It was well edited, but the writing was really stiff. Names were used far too often to feel natural and the plot progressed seemingly without need of the characters. Certainly, they never appeared to put much effort into anything, as problems were so easily overcome.

While both Simon and Gray were likeable characters, everything about the book felt rushed. The romance was almost instantaneous, with no buildup at all. The fights were won in a matter paragraphs. The bad guy was defeated almost effortlessly. And the vast majority of the book was dedicated to domestic affairs—BBQs, sleeping arrangements, bonding with children, getting to know relatives, etc.

If you’re looking for an action-packed m/m PNR, this is not the book for you. If you’re more interested in comfortable, heartfelt declarations of eternal love, it might be. Me, personally, I have very little use for so many floating hearts and flowers.

Description:
A pack is only as strong as its weakest member. Rocky Harris knows how the system works. He’s been on the bottom rung his whole life. But when his alpha consigns him to the High Moon Pack to help them improve security, he finds his beliefs not just challenged but outright assaulted.

Cade Montgomery’s confidence took a hit when the pack’s cubs were kidnapped on his watch. He’s prepared to do anything to protect his family, even if it means working with Rocky. Maybe Cade doesn’t trust Rocky, but with the turmoil surrounding pack Alpha Gray’s unpopular decision to break tradition and mate with a mage named Simon, Cade knows more threats are coming.

Then someone declares war on shifters and puts the entire pack in danger. Cade and Rocky will need each other’s strengths to survive the impending battle—and the power of their growing attraction.

Review:
This book had a few qualities I love finding in m/m romances—a romantic lead that’s not cookie-cutter white (not one of the main couple, but still a main character), a mixing up the standard sex roles (letting the little guy top), etc. And I honestly found the writing less stiff and off-putting than in book one, though I still think names were used too often in dialogue. So, for the right reader this will probably be a real winner.

However, despite involving werewolves, mages and vampires it still felt very, very much like the main focus of the book was domesticity. A LOT of time is spent watching Simon marvel at how wonderful it is to suddenly find himself part of a family, or how much he now loves Gray, or what it feels like to suddenly realise he’s a stepfather, etc. Which is fine, of course, but not what I would have expected from the synopsis.

Further, and even more irritating, Cade and Rocky, who I thought the book would be about, are mere side characters and their romance is little more than a distraction. I felt the same way about the ‘danger to the pack’ subplot. It was barely hinted at and overcome easily. Again, the main plot was happy homemaking. And unfortunately I’m just not into that.

Description:
Blood runs soul-deep. Cormac hasn’t been the same since the night the High Moon Pack was attacked. With his magic weakened, he’s consumed by a bloodlust he hasn’t felt since he first became a vampire. His need to replenish his power makes him a danger to his last remaining family member, and his hunger makes him careless. And that’s just the beginning of his troubles. Feeding from pack beta Liam Benson was supposed to slake his appetite, not leave him craving more.

Simon Osborne and Gray Townsend are trying to fight a being history says shouldn’t exist—one with all three types of magic. The pack must use all of their resources to combat the mysterious triad, even turning to the shady Council of Mages for help. While Cormac struggles to reconcile his past failures with his current desires, Simon must attempt the impossible: an alliance between mind, body, and soul.

Review:
OK, I know that m/m romance is often (maybe even more often than not) targeted toward women and the characters and their relationships mirror m/f relationships, using a man as an avatar of sorts. I get that. I don’t read m/m romance expecting realistic gay relationships or characters. It’s a plus when they show up, but I know not to expect it on the whole.

Having said all that I was disturbed by how strongly and recognisably Simon’s character evolved into that of a mother in this book. Everything from the way he couldn’t or wouldn’t focus on anything before or beyond the safety of the children, to his propensity to cry, to his manner of overcoming the antagonist by sacrificing himself (a strong and often used trope for female characters) screamed mama and I found it an unfortunate simplification of his character. It was like all of his other character traits were washed out.

The writing here was fine. Even the tendency to overuse names/titles in dialogue, that I’ve complained of in both the previous books, only showed up in the children’s dialogue. (Though, it showed up in almost every sentence out of Garon or Riley’s mouth.) However, I have to say there was a whole lot more time dedicated to strategy planning and what-if discussions than actual action. Honestly, I was a bit bored by it all.

Further, Liam and Cormac’s relationship was at most a minor side story. There was no buildup or development. It felt like all of that was supposed to have come previously, but just because the men knew each other doesn’t mean the reader had seen a relationship develop. I’ll admit that the scene when they went hunting together was probably the hottest of the series (and it almost wasn’t even a sex scene, ’cause the following sex wasn’t as hot as the hunt), but it wasn’t enough to carry their story arc. It just felt like either a distraction from the main plot or a woefully underdeveloped story of its own. Too bad, I think they may have been my favorite pairing.

Description:
Joseph Anderson was heartbroken when his childhood best friend Dominick Levent moved away. Years later, Joseph is a successful real estate broker with good friends, an easy smile, and a stunning house. When he finds a dying mountain lion who miraculously shifts into Dominick’s sister, Joseph must find Dominick and reunite him with the two young sons she left behind.

When mountain lion shifter Dominick gets a call telling him his sister is dead, he rushes home to protect his nephews and avenge his sister. Seeing Joseph brings back the feelings Dominick tried to bury and he dares to hope Joseph’s newfound knowledge of shifters means they can finally be together.

Review:
This is by far the weakest offering of the Triad series. It felt much more like an extended epilogue to address what happened to Riley’s little friends Avery and Blake (who are introduced at the end of Soul Magic) than an actual book or story of its own. Its timeline runs concurrent to most of the last book and it essentially answers the question, when Riley was being adopted by Simon, Avery and Blake were doing what?

It’s only about half as long as the other books. It also doesn’t involve a certain type of magic (mind, body or soul), which means I don’t know what the title is supposed to refer to. But worst of all, there isn’t much in line of a plot. Avery and Blake’s uncle is called back from overseas to raise them, he doesn’t know what he’ll do, his old best friend helps, they of course fall (back) in love, and eventually they merge with the High Moon Pack and have a happy ending.

Sure, it’s a feel-good, but it’s also booooring and predictable. Even worse, it doesn’t even bother with the important parts of the little bit it has. For example, after living together for a month or so while Dom tries to settle things to raise the boys Joseph takes him house-hunting. Dom finds fault with all the houses because he really just wants Joseph to ask him to stay with him. But the reader hadn’t been given even one flirty, sexy, UST, loving, etc scene. NOTHING. We’d seen Dom’s first day of work, the boys and Joseph cooking dinner with the token female BFF and that sort of thing, but nothing between Dom and Joseph. So, the reader has no emotional investment in the relationship, it doesn’t feel natural, and honestly I just couldn’t be bothered to care.

I think this series has always been about men loving their kids and families. I’ll grant that that touches an easily twanged “awww” string in me (and probably most women), but my this particular book didn’t put enough effort into the men, the kids or the family to pull it off. At the end they remained 3 distinct things and unless merged together they just don’t have any notable effect.

Book Review: Sin & Seduction, by Allison Cassatta

Leave a reply

sin and seduction cover About the book:

Dorian Grant is king of the New Orleans underworld, but he isn’t mafia and doesn’t appreciate the assumption. He’s simply a crude businessman anyone in his right mind would think twice about screwing over. Life in the Big Easy is all about sin, and violent, short-tempered Dorian has committed them all.

But not all New Orleans sins leave a bad taste in the mouth, as Dorian discovers the night a man stage-named Sweet Heat dances into his life at a club called Sin and Seduction. Dorian was expecting a hot lay. He damn sure wasn’t looking for a relationship, and certainly not with someone like Jansen, who turns Dorian’s grimly organized world upside down.

Now Dorian finds himself pressuring Jansen to quit his job because he can’t stand the thought of other men touching what’s his. Of course, Jansen wants a little quid pro quo—after all, Dorian’s job is dangerous. Jansen just doesn’t realize how dangerous until it’s too late.

**ranty review … spoiler alert**

I will admit that since the writing and editing of this book is fine, it almost certainly deserves more than one star. But I just plain hated the thing so much I can’t bring myself to give it anymore. This book, no, not the book, the book is fine, this story is horrible. H.O.R.R.R.I.B.L.E! It’s basically porn with a very weak attempt at a plot, which can be fun sometimes. But this was not one of those times.

The plot is essentially that a violent, drug-addicted, murdering mafioso goes into a strip joint and hires a dancer to take home for a night of meaningless debauchery. First off, while erotic dancing and prostitution are admittedly both part of the sex trade, I’m fairly sure ‘pole dancer’ and ‘whore’ aren’t actually the same profession. But hey, apparently, I’m wrong.

Said mafioso treats said dancer just like a hooker. He does his deed and dismisses the dancer before the poor guys even peeled himself off the shower stall wall. It was literally, “I’m done, get out.” But for some inexplicable reason that isn’t explained he then suddenly starts having all these wants and feelings that he’s never had before. Suddenly the dancer isn’t just a whore. He’s something more. Wha…what? Why?

Meanwhile, the dancer is convinced he’s falling in love with the man who just used and discarded him—the man who he never spoke to, who made him wear a blindfold to his house, provided no foreplay, and was basically just a dick to him. The next night, the drugged-up man shows up and buys the dancer again. Treating him so badly that he injures him quite severely without noticing, throws money at him, and leaves. (‘Cause that’s the obvious thing to do to the man you’ve just spent 24 hours fantasising about.)

And you know what the dancer did then? You wanna know? He fell in love with the man and spent the next third of the book pining for him and obsessing over whether he was just a whore to that ‘mystery lover.’ WTF? Seriously? What in the previous occurrences would suggest he could expect to be anything else? I haven’t left anything out, either. The two of them had no actual conversation, didn’t exchange names, never showed any kindness toward one another. NOTHING. So, the whole ‘romance’ was completely baseless and made no sense at all.

I could really go on and on and on about how much I hated these two characters and their ridiculous ‘love.’ (I’m throwing out some mean air quotes on that word too.) But I won’t. I’ll just say that I hated everything about them, their relationship (or lack thereof), their unnatural progression from strangers to ‘most important person in my life,’ their weird attempts to change each other while simultaneously saying they accept them as they are, their hospitalisations, their ‘move in with me, you’ve met me two whole times and I only tore your rectum the once, you don’t even know my name and I obviously live the sort of life that sees me almost assassinated but I’ll treat you right’ buuuullllshiiiitttttt.

I generally like a good mob boss character. But the damaged millionaire being saved by the prostitute with the golden heart has been done so many times already, and I can’t say I’m particularly fond of the trope to start with. Then there was Dorian’s ridiculous speech patterns and Jansen’s wishy-washy ‘I’m submissive, now I’m accreting myself, now I’m submitting’ schtick…oh, and the history of rape (’cause Jansen apparently wasn’t filling enough heroine tropes already)…ugh. Just no. I have nothing good to say about this book other than that the writing is perfectly readable, so a different reader might not hate it as much as me.