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Book Reviews: Risdaverse #3-4, by Ruby Dixon

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I received a collection of the short stories (#.75-2) and the first two full-length books in the Risdaverse series by Ruby Dixon (When She Purrs and When She Belongs) in a monthly Renegade Romance Box. Thank goodness they are special editions, because I full-on HATE the covers on the normal version. I would NEVER have picked them up.  I think they are cheap-looking and tacky, and they don’t AT ALL fit the tone and content of the actual stories. These are a vast improvement.

Though, as a funny side note, When She Purrs has a side character named Jamef in it who is a Mesakkah (therefore large and blue with horns and dark hair), who has prosthetic limbs and a red eye. Imagine my surprise when I get to reading When She Belongs and find that the character on the cover is not in fact Jamef but a new character named Jerrok. Cue three chapters of confusion until I went back and double checked the names. LOL

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I reviewed the short stories here, where I said “collectively, I thought they were merely OK. One I disliked; the rest I found entertaining but fairly bland, trope-heavy, and overly reliant on telling the reader about things that happened off-page in undocumented passages of time.” I reviewed them individually on Goodreads. This post is for the full-length books (#3 & #4), When She Purrs and When She Belongs. 

When She Purrs:

Life on a farm planet at the edge of the universe can be dangerous for a human woman alone.

That’s why I need a husband. ANY husband.

Unfortunately, all the men I approach keep running off. So I hire a bounty hunter to kidnap me someone capable and strong, someone who will scare off the creeps that are trying to move in on my territory.

It’ll be a marriage of convenience only.

I should have been a little more specific about who I wanted, though…because the intimidating and fierce praxiian male that the bounty hunter brings to me? The one with feline features, big arms and an even bigger…uh, farm?

He’s the problem I was hoping a new husband would scare off. What am I supposed to do now?

(Don’t ask him, because all of his suggestions are completely and utterly filthy and have nothing to do with a marriage of convenience.)

Review:

100% I think this full-length book is significantly better than the preceding short stories. Plot-wise, they are all very formulaic. They’re basically the same story arc in different colors. But the full-length book gives the story the time to develop that the short stories lacked and desperately needed. That said, I still thought this was only OK. The premise requires that the FMC do something so ridiculously stupid that I could not believe that someone with any sense of their circumstances (which she definitely has) would do. Also, all of it could have been resolved before the book even began with a simple conversation…or even so little as introducing themselves to one another. Plenty of books have this problem, but it was especially stark here. The characters are very sweet, though, and I do like an MMC who is 100% all in. Plus, the bounty-hunter comic relief was funny. As I said, it was an OK read, and sometimes that’s enough. Not everything has to be high literature.

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When She Belongs:

He’s the biggest jerk in the galaxy.

I can live with being stuck on the far end of space. I can live with having to spend weeks on an abandoned station in an asteroid belt. Sure, I don’t belong, but I’ve got my book and my eight-legged attack cat with me. I should be fine.

I’m not fine.

My alien host, Jerrok, is a jerk. He’s surly and unpleasant. He hasn’t bathed in years. He’s part cyborg – and all those parts seem to be falling to pieces. He’s the one in charge of this remote station, which means we’re forced to interact. It’s an absolutely miserable situation for both of us…

…until I realize that all his anger and bluster is covering the fact that he’s thoughtful and understanding. He’s protective, too, keeping me safe when the bad guys approach. When I get hurt, he’s the one tenderly caring for my wounds.

Jerrok is also intensely, utterly lonely, just like me.

As time passes, I start to wonder…maybe where I belong isn’t a place…but a person.

Review:

As I said above, the longer books are better than the short stories. However, I think this one was too long. It felt like it took me 2 years to finish, and I found it repetitive…redundant even. Dixon tells the reader the same thing over and over and over again. Having said that, the characters are very sweet. I like that she is as fiercely protective of him as he is of her, and he doesn’t (much) try to discourage that. And I love that he falls hard and is 100% in. But, as with the previous books (they are all very formulaic), much of the plot’s tension could have been resolved with a simple conversation. There are also a whole host of other characters who feel very much like they are from other series/books (probably are), but I don’t know which ones. So, to me, they just felt random, whereas for others, they may be a sentimental check-in with a known couple. All in all, this was an OK read. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it.

As a side note, I noticed some formatting issues in this book (not in the previous one)—things like words being split with a hyphen for no reason. I am assuming that’s because in other versions that would have been a line-wrap, and it wasn’t corrected for in the special edition. Just mentioning it.

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Book Review: Murder Wears Mittens, by Sally Goldenbaum

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Sally Goldenbaum‘s Murder Wears Mittens has been on my bookshelf for a few years. I’m relatively sure I won a copy on Goodreads.

murder wears mittens cover

As autumn washes over coastal Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, the Seaside Knitters anticipate a relaxing off-season. But when murder shatters the peace, the craftiest bunch in town must unravel a killer’s deadly scheme . . .

After retrieving fresh lobster nets from a local Laundromat, Cass Halloran rushes to attend a last-minute gathering with her knitting circle. But Cass can’t stop worrying about the lonely boy seen hanging around the dryers, and the school uniform he left behind in a hurry. When the ladies return the lost clothing the next day, they find the child and his younger sister alone, seemingly abandoned by their mother . . .

The knitters intend to facilitate a family reunion, not investigate a crime. But the death of Dolores Cardozo, a recluse from the edge of town, throws the group for a loop. Especially when the missing mother and one of their own become tied to the victim’s hidden fortune—and her murder. It’s up to the Seaside Knitters to string together the truth about Dolores—while preventing a greedy killer from making another move!

my review

I didn’t hate this, but I didn’t particularly like it either. Honestly, I found it a little exhausting. I’ll grant that I’m an introvert. But, my god, the social lives of these characters never stop—brunch, coffee at the club, drinks at the pub, fancy dinners, the market, volunteering together, hiking, knitting circles, dinners on the deck, etc. They feel very much like a bunch of wealthy socialites, filling their time by volunteering and sticking their noses in other people’s business. Exhausting.

The mystery itself was interesting enough. Goldenbaum threw in enough red herrings that I wasn’t 100% sure who the murderer was. But I also wasn’t at all surprised when it was revealed. I found the rest of it pretty predictable. I had it figured out very early on. All in all, as I said, I didn’t hate it. But I’ll probably never bother to pick up the rest of the series.

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Bibliophile Reviews: Murder Wears Mittens

 

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Book Review: In the Light of the Moon, by Noelle Upton

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I do an author alphabet challenge every year, where I try to read a book by an author whose surname starts with every letter of the alphabet. U is always one of the harder letters to come up with. This year, I purchased an e-copy of Noelle Upton‘s In the Light of the Moon.

in the light of the moon cover

Sylvie, a twenty-eight year old undergraduate student, has recently moved to Antler Pointe following the death of her father. She’s committed to finally finish her degree in English and to learn her family craft under the tutelage of her grandmother. One night, while closing up at her part-time job, Sylvie stumbles upon an injured man. After helping him on his feet, and watching him shuffle off into the night, Sylvie goes into her last year of college with an enthusiasm to finally set her life back on track. What she doesn’t expect, however, is to quite literally run into the man she helped, now fully healed. He’s curt and suspicious of her but is committed to settle the debt of her kindness.

Orion is a literature professor who has settled in his hometown after years of trying to find his place. After a disastrous attempt, Orion has resolved himself to live a quiet life on his family’s land with nature and books for companions. It isn’t until a witch with kind eyes saves him, caring for and generously gifting him with her smiles, that he starts to hope that he may not need to remain alone.

But there is something sinister happening in Antler Pointe, and while they’re eager to explore a peaceful life with one another, Sylvie and Orion are quickly swept up in a string of disappearances that culminates in a bloody showdown. In the Light of the Moon is a paranormal romance with a fall backdrop where witches and shifters meet, fight, and love. All under the light and shadows of a living forest that calls to both groups with very different songs.

my review

This was super cute. If you are looking for a sweet, fairly low angst romance, this will fit the bill. Sylvie and Orion are so very careful with one another, and there is nothing toxic in their relationship. Honestly, it might be a little too easy. But it is heartwarming and soft. There’s also excellent diversity and representation in the book. And I very much appreciate that older characters have active internal (and love) lives without being made into a joke or bit.

While I generally enjoyed the book, I do have complaints, however. The biggest one, for me, is how little paranormal is in the paranormal romance. You see nothing of it beyond Sylvie learning salves “from the book” until the 30% mark. And even past that, it’s definitely in the background, cropping up for the climactic action but not the focus. There’s no real description or explanation of werewolf 3-form biology, for example. The reader just has to figure it out from genre norms. I thought the authorial treatment of Orion’s mother was cliched, and the book also feels a little long.

All in all, however, I was happy with it and will be reading more of Upton’s work. in the light of the moon photo

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