Category Archives: Challenges

Book Review of Slippery Souls & The Forgotten Ones, by Rachel H. Dixon

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Author, Rachel Dixon sent me a copy her novels Slippery Souls and The Forgotten Ones (books 1 & 2 of her Sunray Bay series).

Slippery SoulsDescription from Goodreads:
Libby has hit a bad patch in life, and just when she thinks things can’t get any worse she’s killed in a car accident alongside her dog Rufus. During their transition to the afterlife’s Sunray Bay, Rufus somehow manages to absorb her soul – which, in turn, gives him human-like qualities and renders her soulless. Accompanied by her now talking dog, Libby tries to unravel the mystery of her slippery soul, encountering many setbacks and dilemmas along the way. She has no idea why a group of monster slayers, headed by an ex-convict, are hunting her down, and when she teams up with rogue Peace & Order Maintenance Officer, Grim, she’s shocked to discover that there’s a mob of disgruntled vampires and a very angry mayor hot on their heels too. Libby has never felt so unpopular, and begins to wonder whether it’s possible to die twice in one day…

Review:
I found that I quite enjoyed this read. Not because the plot is so seamlessly stitched together, or because of the complete absence of inconsistencies, or satisfying lack of questions at the end, because all of those aren’t actually true. But because despite my ongoing questions, the shaky way the plot holds together, and the almost miraculous conclusion the characters were witty, the dialogue snappy, and the whole adventure fun.

In the end I just didn’t care that the antagonist was overcome almost accidentally, or that I have no idea how the person who ran Libby over and started the whole affair was able to leave Sunray bay to do that, or that Vamp, Weres, Zombies and more suddenly came out of nowhere, or that Libby’s reaction to death and discovering herself in some strange world with a talking dog was ridiculously blasé. I still enjoyed myself.

Libby and her relentless libido were persistent, sarcastic and just plain funny. Krain managed to feel both evil and exasperated—a surprisingly endearing quality that made me somehow, both, like him and hope for his demise. So did Strickler for that matter. Grim was suitably sexy and Rufus provided comedic relief. Everyone involved is having an extremely bad day and the environment gives the whole atmosphere a grimy, gritty feel.

I’ve had this one on my TBR list for a while. I put it off again and again, uncertain what to expect. I’m happy to report it’s a hit. I’m moving on to book two with high hopes.

The Forgotten OnesDescription from Goodreads:
A long-forgotten-about breed of shape-shifting vampire is emerging from The Grey Dust Bowl. They harbour lots of secrets and they’ve been around since the times when Sunray Bay was known as the Isle of the Ignoble Dead. Led by a vengeful queen, they feel they’ve been hiding away for far too long, and now with an unsettling need to feed (and perhaps breed, if they’re extra lucky), they’ll do whatever they can to quench their desires. Meanwhile, Libby and Grim have taken to the underground during the unyielding conflict between vampires and werewolves. When they in a dvertently discover a zombie slave labour force, Grim is faced with a dilemma that threatens to emotionally cripple him and tear them apart. Libby isn’t about give him up easily – but soon she’s thrown into a quandary when she discovers what the shape-shifting vampires want… To go back to an earthly plane.

Review:
I’m tempted to say this isn’t a book, it’s an episode. But I’m afraid that would be interpreted as really negative. I wouldn’t mean it to be. Rather it would just be meant as a descriptive statement. You see, The Forgotten Ones doesn’t feel like a complete story to me. Granted, I still really liked the writing, the characters, the dialogue, the humour, etc but it has no beginning or end and therefore no middle either–at least not as far as the story is concerned. Obviously there is a numerical middle. 

The book picks up a day or so after the end of Slipper Souls, making SS the beginning of the story.  It then chronicles Grim and Libby’s trek toward the Grey Dust Bowl, the Blōd Vamps are introduced, Libby makes a rather startling, and somewhat far out, discover about her abilities and then, a page or so later, the book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. The issue is that there is never a challenge to overcome, a problem needing solving, a barrier to break through, etc. One would expect the discovery of new magical skills to be the point at which the characters start to move toward such an end, but instead that’s where to book ends. Leaving nothing to tapper off into an ending of any sort. 

What’s more, the number of threads left open and needing final attention just seem to keep adding up, with no real indication that the author intends to get back to some them. (I really hope I’m wrong about that.) There’s still the matter of establishing peace and a new leadership in Sunray Bay, the possible return of the three kings, Morgan’s fear of a returning foe, the Queen’s plan, Reeve’s need for love and premonitions, the hints that Izzy and her mother will come into the story, what Grim actually is, the God and Goddess’ drama, the question of Alex being a werewolf, and what Strickler’s role is. He played a pretty important part in book one, two really, and it’s yet to be explained how or why his actions at the end of book one led to those at the beginning of it. 

So, while I’m really enjoying the reading of Ms. Dixon’s story (she is one heck of a comedic writer) I’m left dissatisfied with the lack of conclusion. If I’m honest, there is very little that will prompt me to drop a series faster. Having said that, for those who don’t mind their stories drawn out over numerous episodic volumes I highly recommend this series. 

Eternal Samurai

Book Review of Eternal Samurai, by B.D. Heywood

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Eternal Samurai

I picked up B.D. Heywood’s erotic, M/M novel Eternal Samurai from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Tatsu Kurosaki Cobb, the last of an ancient samurai house, will not stop until he takes the head of the vampire that butchered his family. But his vow of revenge means he gives up on any hope for that once-and-forever love. Then he crosses swords with Saito Arisada, second-in-command of Seattle’s vampires and the most beautiful creature Tatsu has ever seen. The sexual chemistry between them is pure, hard, and undeniable. Unable to accept Arisada might be the killer, Tatsu begins a dangerous game. A game driven by the all-consuming thirst for blood that will force them to the extremes of love and hate.

Fukushū, vengeance. It is all that has sustained Saito Arisada for eight-hundred years. Sōhei monk turned vampire, he has searched for the returned soul of his lover who betrayed him and the Temple of Mii-dera. Arisada believes in only one thing—taking the head of the traitor. Yet, when Arisada sees that soul shining from Tatsu’s emerald eyes, his hatred shatters. He wants Tatsu in his arms and in his bed and in his heart. But Arisada’s samurai code of honor demands nothing less than Tatsu’s death. How can Arisada kill his unmei no hito—his soulmate?

From a bloody battlefield of feudal Japan to a world where humans and vampires fight for survival, Arisada and Tatsu must choose. At stake is not only love but honor.

Review:
I really quite enjoyed that, but I suspect it will have a rather small core audience. Because what it reminds me of more than anything else is a Yaoi manga. This despite it being a literary novel instead of a graphic novel. It just feels like yaoi in that strange, nebulous way of mental association.

You see, just as most fans of PNR or Urban Fantasy or even regular American M/M romance novels can often sketch out the basic shape of the plot most common to their genre of choice, this one follows yaoi’s established format in fairly recognisable ways. But you see, I like Yaoi, so I wasn’t at all put off by the similarities.

The association was undoubtably helped along by Heywood’s liberal use of Japanese terminology. No doubt my closet manga addiction and the two years I spent studying the Japanese language (which doesn’t get you very far, BTW) helped me out here. I suspect some readers would have appreciated that help, because though I knew enough to be able to pronounce the words and recognise all of the ritualised terminology (seppeku, kinbaku, kaishakunin, etc), some of the curses and a couple of the normal words (like daisuki), it felt like there were an awful lot more than was necessary. It tended to clutter the narrative at times, even when quickly followed by an English translation (which most, but not all were). If all those extra words had felt completely foreign, instead of just kind of foreign, they might have really grated on me.

Some of the English language did grate on me, if I’m honest, mostly during the extremely long sex scenes. You see these aren’t hearts and flowers, gentle, clean exploits. It’s often rough, dirty and … well, I probably can’t say realistic. It’s obviously not, but I thought the fact that things smelled, chafed, hurt, bled, and so on lent a real(ish) feel to it all. And while I appreciated this aspect of the story, some of the terminology used to create that same impression left me wanting–phrases like, piss slit or the liberal use of spunk–once or twice, fine, but over and over…not so much.

What I liked most in this story, and one more thing that reminded me of Yaoi, was Saito’s long standing, unquestioning, whole-hearted love for his unmei no hito (soulmate), regardless of the body it resides in. He pined for him for 800 years for gods sake. That’s what I call dedication and I found it to be one of the only sweet things about the story. Almost everything else had an edge of some sort.

rurouni_kenshin_by_kuraiakuOn a side note, while probably not purposeful on the author’s part, because of the red hair and scarred cheek I couldn’t help visualising Saito Arisada as Rurouni Kenshin. I found this a little distracting.

All-in-all however, while not without faults and inconsistencies, I enjoyed the read and would be up for trying another of Heywood’s works.

Book Review of Tenaya Jayne’s Forbidden Forest

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A quick note before I get on with this review: For all of you who have sent me review requests, I haven’t forgotten you. Nor am I purposefully ignoring you. I’ve been through the list each time I picked a new book to read. It’s just that I still read for fun and nothing on my request shelf currently appeals to me. This doesn’t mean it won’t tomorrow though.

Forbidden ForestOK, on with the review of Forbidden Forest (Legends of Regia, #1), by Tenaya Jayne. It’s free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Born in shame. Cast from society. Shape Shifter/Elf hybrid, Forest must fight for any respect she can get. Targeted in her youth by a vampire noble who placed an illegal slave mark on her, she is forced to obey him, no matter what.

Slipping the grip of her master and abandoning the prejudice of Regia, her native world, Forest takes a job on Earth, guarding the portal, using her skills as a warrior to enforce Regia’s laws. Now, called home for a black ops mission, Forest must put aside her own prejudice to transport the vampire prince, Syrus, through enemy territory in a time of war. 

Prince Syrus, mage and master of the Blood Kata, wants Forest more than he’s ever wanted anything. In spite of their mutual mistrust, their attraction cannot be denied. Through the danger of their mission, and the secrets they both keep, it doesn’t matter what they feel. Forest is forbidden.

 Review: 
Ok, for the record I’m writing this review while T’ed off because I’ve just had a bit of a shock to the system. Yep, it was the sudden and unexpected “The End” that I ran up against. The story doesn’t frickin’ end. Seriously, what good does half a story do me? Why do authors keep doing this? It pisses me off every single time.

So, looking past the lack of ending (I can do this, really), I thought that the story was pretty good. It was predominantly a love story, since the whole ‘gotta get Syrus through the Wolf Forest’ just seemed to be an excuse for the two of them to be thrown together. Very little actually happened in regard to the supposed dangers and many of the solutions felt miraculous since we were given so little of Forest’s history ahead of time. (She knows her way around the living maze of a forrest because she grew up near there. Oh, ok, didn’t know that. She is mysteriously protected because she befriended a ghost at some earlier time. Oh, that’s nice for them. Can bluff her way out of Philippe’s clutches because she’s traded with him in the past. Great. etc)

So even though I thought some things went a little too smoothly for the pair I did enjoy their back and forwards banter. I like how fragile Syrus could seem at one moment and then badass the next. I like how strong Forest was supposed to be, even if she did little more than cry and fall apart in actuality.

To recap, I was pleased with the general story. There is obviously a lot more going on, with political intrigue on the horizon and the whole Leith situation yet to be resolved. But I had a hard time settling into the story for a few reasons. The rather abrupt switch from modern Austen to medieval Regia threw me for a loop. I then kept spinning since the language was undisputedly modern and there were a lot of modern earth wares popping up as smuggled items. (See here, we have to eat out Lucky Charms by torchlight and wear a sword with our Levis.) The history between Forest and Leith is just barely sketched out but immensely important. I needed to know more about it. And finally I just basically needed to get to know Forest more. It’s not that her character is shallow or anything, but we’re told that there is a lot more to her than we see and it would have been nice to get if those detailed. Then of course, on the other end of the book, after finally settling into the story it just up and ends on you.