Monthly Archives: February 2017

Thrill of the Chase

Book Review of Thrill of the Chase, by Layla Nash

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I downloaded a copy of Layla Nash‘s Thrill of the Chase when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Up-and-coming chef Natalia Spencer has enough on her plate dealing with a struggling restaurant and a corrupt manager selling her out of pantry and kitchen. She doesn’t have time for arrogant customers, even a gorgeous corporate raider in a bespoke suit with muscles that just don’t stop. Until, of course, he buys her restaurant and saves her life. 

Logan Chase, alpha of his lion shifter pride, is intrigued when the feisty chef kicks him out of her restaurant. He’s enraged when someone attacks her. And he’s intoxicated when he finally gets close enough to kiss her. But when he shifts in front of her and his lion comes out to play, he risks losing Natalia forever. 

Natalia just wants to cook and snuggle with a nice guy. Shacking up with a man who’s also a lion means inviting a new level of crazy into her life, along with his unruly brothers, and even her werewolf best friends warn her away. Can she and Logan create a steamy relationship from scratch, or are they a recipe for disaster?

Review:
So, the mechanical writing is fine and I thought the outline of an interesting story was too, but…BUT at one point, in the beginning, I flipped back and forwards between pages and even came to the internet to ensure I had an up to date copy, because I was sure I was missing a chapter or two (or five).

Let me lay it out this way, despite being 130 pages long, there is nothing in the book beyond what is in the blurb, almost literally. Natalia throws Logan out of her restaurant, or at least tells him he can’t eat. He then hires her to cook him a meal, her not knowing it’s him until she arrives. When she arrives he’s already decided to treat her like a mate, she is his mate. There are no interactions between the two of them between the two events and no internal thoughts given to the reader. So, as a reader, I was just like, what? When did that happen? How did that happen?

Then within two days they’re declaring love, making plans to move in with each other, etc. There is no development of a relationship AT ALL.

The closest thing to a plot development is her getting attacked. Because of course all women are victims all the time. And the closest thing to character development is the fact that she’s been some sort of undisclosed victim in the past.

Lastly, as a major point of contention for me, big cats like lions don’t purr. They can’t. They don’t have the connection of small bones that are vibrated to make the sound. They are literally unable to purr, which made Logan’s constant purring a grating inconsistency everytime it happened. I know this is fantasy, so it probably doesn’t matter. But I’m pretty sure this is an oversight on the part of the author and an annoying one.

I did like the characters, even the side ones. I thought Logan’s confused desperation was cute and his brother gave some very sage advice on more than one occasion. And again, the writing is ok. The book isn’t even unfun to read. But it’s no where near developed or fleshed out enough to feel real and substantial.

Shadow Sight

Book Review of Shadow Sight (Ivy Granger #1), by E. J. Stevens

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I downloaded a copy of Shadow Sight, by E. J. Stevens, from Instafreebie.

Description from Goodreads:
Welcome to Harborsmouth, where monsters walk the streets unseen by humans…except those with second sight, like Ivy Granger.

Some things are best left unseen…

Ivy Granger’s second sight is finally giving her life purpose. Ivy and her best friend Jinx may not be raking in the dough, but their psychic detective agency pays the bills—most of the time. Their only worry is the boredom of a slow day and the occasional crazy client—until a demon walks through their door.

Demons are never a good sign…

A demon attorney representing the water fae? Stranger things have happened. And things are about to get very, very strange as a bloodthirsty nightmare hunts the city of Harborsmouth.

There’s blood in the water…

Kelpies have a reputation for eating humans. Unfortunately, Kelpies are the clients. When an Unseelie faerie this evil stalks the waterways of your city, you have to make hard choices.

The lesser of two evils…

Review:
Gotta say, it wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t impressed. Here’s the thing, if you read an Urban Fantasy, you expect the main character to be central to the action. Ivy was not. She was hired to do a job and then went around and recruited the people who performed the action. She herself did nothing. In fact, it didn’t even make sense that it was here that was hired, instead of, say, the hunters or any magical creature more able to repel an attack.

The enemy is a shadow throughout the whole book. She’s told about them and then just sort of goes about life. At around 75%, they finally show up, but they’re still not fleshed out. It’s a faceless army. There’s no actual individual enemy. And they’re defeated with ease.

Then at about 90% in the author throws a romance at the reader. It seriously comes out of nowhere and is based on nothing. And the romantic partner somehow knows all about Ivy when no one else did, least of all her. (This is all just tacked on at the end and not even incorporated into the story.)

The book is just basically Ivy marching around explaining things and it was painfully unexciting. The writing is fine, if on the silly side, but the book just barely held my interest. Well, the writing was fine once you managed to wade through all the info-dumps. Omg, they were endless.

Lastly, as an aside, I have to address that cover. Look at that sexy broad in her sexy thigh-high boots, yeah? Here’s a quote from Ivy concerning herself and shoes (but really more her personality type): “Me? I have one pair of black Doc Martens boots and an old pair of trainers.” This is the sort of character she is. She also spends most of the book in a baseball cap and avoids all amorous or sexual contact. So…um…who the hell is that supposed to be on the cover? Because I know it’s not Ivy.

Review of Doodletopia: Fairies, by Christopher Hart

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I requested a copy of Christopher Hart‘s Doodletopia: Fairies from Blogging for Books.

Description from Goodreads:
For years, Christopher Hart has given readers the tools and techniques needed to learn how to draw and cartoon. With the Doodletopia series, Hart offers us a chance to practice and perfect our artistic skills. For this latest title, Hart returns to the lush, gorgeous, and mystical subject of fairies. Doodletopia: Fairies provides aspiring fantasy artists and fairy fans with activities to stimulate their creativity. After covering the basics of rendering these characters, Hart sets us loose to interact with the book’s many exercises and challenges. Pairing the informative content for which Hart is beloved with myriad opportunities for creative expression, Doodletopia: Fairies offers aspiring artists the next level of interactive art instruction.

Review:
I got this book, not for myself, but for my 9-year-old daughter. She seems to have gotten the talent in the family, and not from me. I’ve been really pleased with the results. First, it’s kept her attention, which can be a challenge. Second, she’s actually taken the time to read the instructional sections and learn from them, which I consider a credit to the writing. If it was anything but easy follow she’d skip it and do her own thing. But I think most telling is that when I look at the difference between the first fairy she drew in the book and the most recent (she hasn’t finished the book or lessons yet) I can see a marked improvement.