Category Archives: books/book review

Under Wraps

Book Review of Under Wraps (Underworld Detection Agency #1), by Hannah Jayne

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Under WrapsI borrowed a copy of Hannah Jayne‘s Under Wraps from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Sophie Lawson 32, human narrator, sees through magic veils, works for the Underworld Detective Agency below San Francisco Police HQ. Her boss Pete is a handsome werewolf – missing. Her roommate Nina is a fashionista vampire with teen nephew Vlad. Her new partner gorgeous detective Parker Hayes is not what he seems. A killer takes eyes, blood, hearts – is Sophie next?

Review:
You know, I read a lot and I don’t like everything I read. In fact, I seem to be having a stunningly bad year for books. Ive read very few books that I thought wonderful (though those that I loved, I really LOVED), a lot of mediocre ones and have DNFed more books than ever. But there haven’t been many that I can say that I thought the writing was fine but I disliked every character in the book. I can say that about Under Wraps. I have to even.

I thought the heroine was whiny and TSTL, and her primary characteristic seemed to be her ineptitude. I thought the hero a complete jerk-face. He was smug, sexist, patronizing and constantly insulting. The BFF was just as bad. She was basically heartless, unrepentant when her actions hurt others and used the heroine as a doormat. The sole character in the book I liked died a pointless death that contributed nothing to the plot.

Speaking of plot, the whole books is supposed to be solving a mystery. But instead of solving it it just reaches a point where the villain steps forward and conveniently explains the whole thing. No agency on the part of the heroine contributed to solving the crime. She spends far more time inexplicably mooning over the man who laughs at her when she is angry than contributing anything useful.

Lastly, I have to address the cover. I understand the challenge of stock photography and cover designers, etc. But this cover is a straight up LIE. This book is not an Urban Fantasy with a kick-butt heroine, as the cover suggests. She never holds a sword. The closest she comes if being threatened by one. And the character that model is supposed to represent is a mousy administrative assistant who shows more passion about being called a secretary than anything else. Plus, she describes herself as having ‘Brillo pad curls,’ “5’5″ when standing on a phone book,” with pale skinned, and explicitly says she doesn’t look good in a leather bustier. There is literally nothing on that cover that isn’t wrong.

Blood Faerie

Book Review of Blood Faerie (Caledonia Fae, #1) by India Drummond

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Blood FairieI’m three days away from having owned India Drummond‘s Blood Faerie for four years. It took me that long to get around to reading it. It’s a perma-freebie on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Sentenced to death, Eilidh ran—away from faerie lands, to the streets of Perth, Scotland. Just as she has grown accustomed to exile, local police discover a mutilated body outside the abandoned church where she lives. Recognising the murder as the work of one of her own kind, Eilidh must choose: flee, or learn to tap into the forbidden magic that cost her everything.

Review:
This ok as a quick evening read, but it wasn’t amazing. It had an interesting story idea and the writing was pretty good, but nothing felt particularly developed and I thought the evil was defeated far too easily, allowing for a pat happy ending. Essentially, I thought it started out well and grew progressively weaker as the story progressed.

More specifically, I didn’t think the characters were particularly well developed, the men especially. I thought Munro’s sudden love and dedication felt unfounded and out of nowhere (or magically manipulated). Saor was a bitter cardboard cutout that was conveniently disposed of by the author when he was no longer needed, and the bad guy (I’m not even gonna try with his elvish name) was bad just because he was bad, no depth greyscale to him at all. I did like Eilidh a lot, but thought that after 25 years in the human world her innocence and lack of knowledge about modern amenities and human customs was unbelievable and obviously played for laughs and weak sexual tension.

But like I said, as a quick read it’s entertaining enough, even with these detractions. I’d read more of Drummond’s writing.

Home Is Where You Are

Book Review of Home Is Where You Are (The Alphas’ Homestead, #1), by Alex Jane

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Home is where you areAlex Jane sent me a copy of Home is Where You Are for review.

Description from Goodreads:
By the winter of 1870, Caleb Fletcher has carved out a sheltered existence for himself in a simple cabin, outside a small town in the backwaters of Nebraska, resigned to living out his days as a solitary wolf. But his quiet life is interrupted when another werewolf lands on his doorstep on the eve of a snowstorm, brutalized almost beyond repair, with nowhere else to turn.

When Caleb reluctantly welcomes Jacob into his cabin, and eventually his bed, it forces him to face up to the traumas he’s been running from; the shame that made him leave his pack behind, and the horrors of war he endured.

As the weeks pass, it seems that Jacob’s arrival might not be the coincidence it first appeared. Jacob has an agenda. One that involves Caleb. And if Caleb agrees to it – if he can let go of his past and his prejudices – it will change Caleb’s whole world. Maybe even for the better.

Without a mate – a family, a pack – a wolf has no home. 
But what if home finds you?

Review:
I thought this was really quite cute. I quickly came to appreciate both Caleb and Jacob. I thought the narrative voice was pleasing, the story satisfying, and the writing crisp. Basically, I enjoyed it.

However, I am not without complaints. I thought the first half took a long time to finally setting into a romance. Then, past the halfway mark, the story simultaneously dragged (in the sense that every time I thought the story had come to and end something new cropped up and the book felt overly long) and rushed (in the sense that all those bullet points, happily ever after events were relayed in a hurried and perfunctory way that didn’t at all match the style of the first half of the book). I also would have liked a deeper understanding of the world.

In the end, I’d call it a success, though. I enjoyed it, and that’s what I look for in a book.

Edit: The author later sent me a copy of the follow-up story for this book. It’s not quite a sequel, more like an add-on. You can see my review here.

returning home coverDescription from Goodreads:
Three years after Jacob Carpenter landed on Caleb Fletcher’s doorstep, the Alpha mates return to the city they grew up in to be married.

Aside from the sheer exhaustion of traveling across the country with three children in tow, both men step foot back in New York filled with apprehension about what kind of reception they will receive from their families after abandoning their respective packs.

At first it seems they are welcomed home with open arms and much excitement about their wedding but it soon becomes clear that not everyone is so happy to see the prodigal sons return.

Indeed, Caleb finds himself wondering if Jacob will go through with the ceremony at all, or whether it would be better to pack up his mate and their children, and head back to Nebraska before the situation does irreparable damage to them both.

Sometimes you have to leave a place to realize it’s exactly where you ought to be.

Review:
This is a sweet little add-on to Home is Where You Are. However, I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you haven’t read book one. It would be a spoiler. But if you have read the first book, this has all the feels you finished wanting, but some seriously cute kid-speak.

Having said that, it’s a little too schmaltzy for me; the obstacle felt both artificially created and solved, and the dialogue felt a little stiff at times.

It’s still a cute read, though.