Category Archives: books/book review

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Book Review: Vampire Heir, by Heather Renee

I have a signed paperback of Vampire Heir, by Heather Renee. I believe it was purchased through an online multi-author event. But it’s possible I won it somewhere instead.

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Sometimes befriending the enemy is the only option.

After losing my family, I’ve spent the last seven years hunting the monsters who killed them. I know my purpose and what I want most in this world. At least I did until a striking vampire shows up just in time for the threats to begin.

Maciah West makes me feel ways I shouldn’t and tells me things that can’t be possible. I don’t want to believe him, but as my past finds its way back into the present, I don’t really have a choice.

Even as I begin to accept the new changes in my life—and my growing feelings for Maciah—I don’t let that deter me from my goals. I’m still a vampire hunter and I’ll do whatever it takes to get the vengeance I’ve been fighting for.

No matter how many vampires are out for my blood.

my review

I’ve read one other Heather Renee book. My review of that book starts out, “This book is 295 pages long and basically nothing happens until the last 5 pages, when some action finally happens…” Renee seems to have a formula. The numbers are a bit off; my paperback copy of Vampire Heir is 284 pages, and something finally happens in the last 20 or so pages. But otherwise, this snippet of review works just as well here as it did for Wolf Kissed.

I was simply bored throughout. The book seems to bounce from one pointless event to the next at random. The FMC has the emotional depth of a firefly, and I simply didn’t like her. (I kept thinking of Barrie’s Tinker Bell, who can only feel one emotion at a time, and it’s usually anger.) I liked the MMC, but he’s a paper cutout with no depth or development. I felt zero chemistry in vampire heir photothe instant (but not insta-love even) relationship. The side characters are stereotypes, and all sound exactly the same. And the book is disappointingly predictable.

I own several of Renee’s books that I’ve picked up here and there. So, I’d hoped disliking the first was a one-off. Not every book is right for every reader. But I’m beginning to think her writing formula is what’s not for me, and therefore, I’m unlikely to enjoy any of them.


Other Reviews:

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Book Review: War of Hearts, by S. Young

In 2021, I picked S. Young‘s War of Hearts up as an Amazon freebie. I finally got around to reading it.

war of hearts cover

Thea Quinn has no idea what she is. All she knows is that her abilities have been a plague upon her life since she was a child. After years of suffering at the hands of a megalomaniac, Thea escaped and has been on the run ever since.

The leadership and protection of his pack are of the utmost importance to Conall MacLennan, Alpha and Chief of Clan MacLennan, the last werewolf pack in Scotland. Which is why watching his sister slowly die of a lycanthropic disease is emotional torture. When Conall is approached by a businessman who offers a cure for his sister in exchange for the use of Conall’s rare tracking ability, Conall forges an unbreakable contract with him. He has to find and retrieve the key to the cure: dangerous murderer, Thea Quinn.

Thea’s attempts to evade the ruthless werewolf are not only thwarted by the Alpha, but by outside dangers. With no choice but to rely on one another for survival, truths are revealed, intensifying a passionate connection they both fight to resist. At war with themselves and each other, Conall and Thea’s journey to Scotland forces them to face a heartrending choice between love and betrayal.

my review

I enjoyed this. It reminded me a lot of older PNR, except that it didn’t have a toxic alpha a-hole MMC, and the FMC isn’t a doormat. (Yes, that’s a generalization about gender tropes in older PNR and doesn’t always hold true. But it was definitely the fad for a while.) I mean, it’s not wholly free of the icky genderings. The FMC still finds love but has to give up much of her power, as they so often do (and he doesn’t). She also gets awfully weepy as soon as she accepts him. But, honestly, it was so much less than is common. I’ll take any improvement I can get in this direction.

All in all, I liked the characters a lot. The world and the larger plotline seem interesting enough, and the writing is clean and easy to read. Plus, it didn’t end on a cliffhanger! The villain is pretty cliched, and the whole thing is largely predictable. There are no surprises here. But if you like earlier 2000s PNR, this one, published in 2019, will still serve the purpose.

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Other Reviews:

5 reasons to read War of Hearts by S. Young

 

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Book Review: Deadly Curiosities, by Gail Z. Martin

I purchased a signed copy of Deadly Curiosities from the author, Gail Z. Martindeadly curiosities cover

Some family heirlooms are to die for.

Welcome to Trifles & Folly, a store with a secret. Proprietor Cassidy Kincaide’s psychic gift lets her know the history and magic of an object by touching it. Cassidy and her friends—including Weaver witch Teag and her vampire business partner Sorren—save the world from vengeful ghosts, dark magic, hidden monsters, and things that go bump in the night.

When a trip to a haunted hotel unearths a statue steeped in malevolent power, and a string of murders leads to the abandoned old Navy yard, Cassidy, Teag, and Sorren discover a diabolical plot to unleash a supernatural onslaught on their city.

It’s time for Cassidy and her team to handle the “deadly curiosities” before it’s too late.

my review

This wasn’t bad, per se. I think it just suffers from a lot of first-book symptoms. Characters are introduced throughout, few of whom the reader feels particularly attached to. The setting (Charleston, SC) is a major focus and, at times, overdescribed. All of this slows (and bogs) it down, such that I was often bored.

The logistics of Cassiy’s psychometry also caused boredom. It became repetitive and rote; she touches something and is sucked into a memory over and over and over again, and then relates it to someone else. Now, the reader isn’t forced to sit through a recitation, but the same scene plays out so many times that it loses any impact.

deadly curiosities photoWorse, this is very much lining up to be a `Cassidy and her crew of spunky investigators’ sort of series, and as much as I liked them all well enough (especially Chuck, who you meet toward the end), Sorren—arguably the most interesting character—is perpetually underutilized. He shows up to dispense wisdom and weapons and then fades away again (even when present).

All in all, I didn’t hate it, but I feel kind of ‘meh’ about it.


Book Review: Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin