Category Archives: book review

Book Review of Toni LoTempio’s No Rest for the Wicca

Leave a reply

I grabbed Toni LoTempio‘s PNR novel, No Rest for the Wicca, from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free. I’ve included two covers because I intend to address them later in the review. The grey is from Goodreads, and the red is from Amazon.

No Rest for the Wicca No Rest for the Wicca

Description from goodreads:
Communing with the dead is an everyday occurrence for PI Morgan Hawkes. A half-Wiccan witch who can commune with spirits of those caught between worlds, Morgan uses her talents to exorcise the trapped ghost or demon as part of the Paranormal Investigation Squad – until a string of murders with a voodoo slant prompts the Special Forces Agency to ask for her assistance. Someone’s killing pureblood witches- and the SFA’s convinced Morgan’s heritage (her father was a voodoo priest) could be instrumental in solving the mystery. Teamed with dashing SF agent Cole St. John – an Inheritor Vampire that sets her blood racing – the two of them fight their attraction for each other as they race to stop a madman from unleashing a demonic force upon the world.

Review:
I got a couple of good chuckles out of No Rest for the Wicca. Morgan was a fun character who managed to pull off the tough snark without pushing it over into the suicidal diarrhea mouth so many such characters have. I enjoyed her, her desire do the right thing, her intelligence and her backbone, maybe not so much her tendency toward alcoholism and self-destructive behaviour. But a few quirks make a character more interesting.

I also enjoyed the mystery here too. Honestly, it wasn’t that hard to figure out, but it wasn’t super obvious either. However, Morgan didn’t seem to have to do much investigating to solve it. She just needed to present herself, and people handed her all the information she needed. As an example, she met one of the suspects once (never even had a conversation with him, she was picking up a dropped pencil), and he offered her an assistantship. Now, anyone who’s been to university and tried for an apprenticeship knows this isn’t at all realistic, but even in fiction, it’s a little too easy of an in. What’s more there was one particular side-character who essentially laid every clue she could need at her feet with almost no prompting and without suspecting why Morgan would be asking such questions. Too easy!

As was the fact that the main villain, who managed to spend years carefully planning the whole thing, suddenly lost all composure and got sloppy as soon as Morgan came on the scene. How do heroines do this to bad guys so often? I’ve never figured this out, no matter how often I read it in novels.

A lot has already been made in previous reviews of the whole half-wiccan/half-voodoo thing. So I won’t go on about it, but I’ll admit it threw me for a loop too. At one point, the half-vampire compares the two of them as the same, but I’m still lost as to how someone who is half biologically something (a species) can be the same as someone who is half socially something (a religion). In the end, I just had to tell myself I’ve read tons of fantasy with elves, fairies, witches, sorcerers, vampires, werewolves, etc, as races/species, and it works. So, if LoTempio wants to call them Wiccans instead, I can force that in the same vein.

There was a light romance as a subplot. However, IMHO it really needed to be played up more and made a more important part of the plot or dropped. Half-assed as it was, it’s just a distraction. Granted, Cole was sexy (except for the whole ‘My Dear’ thing that totally didn’t match his character and was exceptionally annoying), and I liked him a lot. But the romance didn’t seem to contribute anything to the story. I was left wondering what that was about. Plus, the whole 25-year-old virgin was ridiculous, considering how easily she gave it up. It felt like a needless attempt to conform to outdated social dictates of acceptable behaviour (good girls remain chaste).

There were some serious editing issues. There were missing words, misspelled words and passages like this one: “He swung his long legs out in front of him. “What I’m proposing is this—“ he swung his long legs out in front of him. “You and I go…” How many legs does this man have? It was distracting, but the book was still readable. I don’t think it was bad enough to pass the book up for.

Finally, a note on covers, and I promise I’m not trying to be mean. I’ve seen two Kindle covers for this book, and they’re both ATROCIOUS, but more to the point, don’t match the book. The first being the grey one with a woman with straight blond streaked hair and scary long fingernails. But the character is described as having curly black hair, and as she’s quite active, I can’t see the nails working out. So, who’s on the cover? The second is even worse (though a more attractive cover, I’ll admit). It’s the red one with the scantily clad woman in lingerie waving a deck of tarot around. However, the main character is described as a virgin, and as there is only one rather mild sex scene, how exactly does that erotica-like cover match the book? It doesn’t, and it is doing a disservice to the author. I would suggest one of the cartooned covers like one sees on H.P. Mallory‘s, Rose Pressey‘s, or Robyn Peterman‘s books. I think it would match the genre better. Only my opinion, though, of course, and I mention this so that others who know the genre will more accurately know what to expect.

So, I finally thought…it was a fun read. It had a few issues, but nothing that would prevent me from recommending it to PNR/UF readers.

Book Review of Shara and the Haunted Village and A Lesson for the Cyclops, by Jeffery Getzin

Leave a reply

I grabbed Shara and the Haunted Village and A Lesson for the Cyclops, both by Jeffery Getzin, from the Amazon free list. Though not listed as a series, both books follow the adventures of D’Arbignal, the self-proclaimed Greatest Swordsman in the World.

Shauna and the Haunted VilliageDescription from Goodreads:
A Desperate Gamble

An ancient mystery, a legendary wizard, ghosts, magic, a demon … and Shara, an impoverished seamstress.

Shara has fallen on hard times recently. She’s starving, has just lost her home, and she can’t find work anywhere. However, a chance encounter with a a sociopathic giant and a charming rogue might just be her escape from her hand-to-mouth lifestyle. All she has to do is guide them to the haunted village she had stumbled upon when she was a child. 

But can she trust them?

Review:
This was pretty good for a novella. I say it that way because it also has a lot of the characteristics of a novella that annoy me. Namely, no world building, little character development, and a plot that boils down to a single, contextless and largely unexplained adventure. I know, that makes it sound horrible. But in 150 pages (if it’s even that long) how much can even the most talented author include? It’s a novella.

So, keeping in mind the limitations inherent in the literary form, it’s pretty good. I enjoyed Shara and D’Arbignal. They were a little cliché—the innocent good girl with a tendency to cry and the dashing, fearless, hero—but I still enjoyed them.

The writing flowed well and it appeared well edited. So, for an extremely quick, fun read this one’s worth spending an afternoon with.

A Lesson for the CyclopsDescription from Goodreads:
Dare to Hope?

Maria leads a lonely existence of silent misery. Horribly disfigured, she earns a meager living as a sideshow freak. Her very existence is one of mockery, contempt, and ridicule. She has no hope, no dreams. No future.

But when a dashing swordsman stumbles onto the circus grounds, wounded and feverish, Maria is able to imagine a life beyond the confines of her dreary world. Could a swashbuckling hero ever fall for a freak like her?

Slightly Spoilerish Review:
I have to be honest; I’m not generally a huge fan of novellas. They don’t allow enough pages for a lot development. This isn’t the fault of any author, just a characteristic of the genre. They’re a little easier to take when it’s a series following a single character, here D’Arbignal, because you feel you know at least someone going in. And, as this is the second of D’Arbignal’s stories that I’ve read, I do feel as if I’ve got a handle on his personality.

In this instalment of his adventures he meets and restores the self-respect of a shattered woman. I enjoyed it, but also felt it was a bit shallow. He countered a lifetime of self-doubt and guilt in one conversation, miraculously (and apparently effortlessly) manipulated everyone involved in order to produce the outcome he desired and then selflessly donated staggering wealth to a practical stranger, before blithely walking away—fun, yes, but not particularly realistic or deeply explored. The reader never learns how he persuaded someone to gamble his livelihood away, for example, or how that person so peaceably accepted his loss. The happy ending also assumes everyone will keep their word once he’s gone too.

So, all in all, I spent a pleasant hour or so reading this story, enjoyed it, but had to suspend a bit of disbelief to buy the ending.

Tempted by the Pack

Book Review of Anne Marsh’s Tempted by the Pack (Blue Moon Brides, #1)

Leave a reply

Tempted by the PackI grabbed Tempted by the Pack, by Anne Marsh, off the KDP free list. At the time of posting, it was still free. 

Description from Goodreads:
Once in a blue moon…

For Rafer Breaux, life in the Louisiana Bayou is harsh, violent—and deeply sensual. The Cajun werewolf lives for his Pack and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his brothers safe. The longer a wolf lives without a mate, the harder it becomes for that wolf to shift back. To remember that he is a man—and not a monster. And those mates can only be found during a blue moon. When a blue moon finally rises, Rafer will need every weapon in his sensual arsenal to tempt one special woman into his arms and the heart of the Pack.

The Pack hunts for mates

Fighting to keep her family farm, Lark Andrews isn’t looking for love. Even if the very sexy Breaux brothers make her dream of hot bayou nights spent in their arms. When the blue moon leads Rafer to her door, however, Rafer has her rethinking her position on all work and no play. Now, the bayou nights are heating up as Rafer fights to convince her, one sensual touch at a time, to give love and passion a chance. But Rafer isn’t a one wolf deal. Is there room in Lark’s heart—and bed—for Rafer and his Pack?

Review:
I’ll give this 4 erotic stars. ‘Cause we all know to expect a little less from an erotic title. There wasn’t a lot of character or world building. There wasn’t any time for the characters to get to know each-other and there was only a brief wrap up at the end. (The vamp issue seemed to just disappear.) But honestly I don’t expect anything more from erotica. What I did get from this book, which was more than I expected, was some really good writing outside the sex scenes. I don’t mean to say the sex scenes weren’t well done. They were fine. But the first couple chapters leading up to the meeting of the pack, claiming, and lots of sex were surprisingly good. Much better than a lot of others. I especially liked the use of regional dialect, without it being so heavy as to feel forced.

I did have a little trouble getting my head around the idea of Lark mating with a single werewolf but having sex with the whole pack. It felt very much like the author was trying to eat her cake and have it too. IMO, Lark needed to mate the pack or mate a single member of the pack. Trying to accomplish both was too much. I was also repeatedly irked by Rafer being referred to as Alpha, when he was the Beta of the pack. I get that this was being used as an adjective not a title, but it still irritated me.

Despite a few complaints here and there, I basically enjoyed Tempted by the Pack. The whole vampire/werewolf drama was given a new twist that would be fun to see expanded on. I’m looking forward to more of Anne Marsh’s works.