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Book Review: Bleeding Hearts, by Emma Hamm

I bought a copy of Emma Hamm‘s Bleeding Hearts, way back in late 2021.

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Find the Duke. Prove he’s a vampire. And kill him.

Maeve Winchester is out of the vampire hunting game. She’s killed enough of them, and risked her life for long enough. Working for the Holy Brotherhood didn’t make that easy, however. Especially when she has witch blood. Regardless of her past, the Inquisition agrees to release her and her magical sisters, under one circumstance.

She has to complete one more job.

Through the moors and mire, she travels to the illusive Castra Nocte. Home of the Carmine Duke. His gothic castle has stood for centuries with a single rule. If you enter, you will never leave. It is here Maeve makes her last stand. She must prove the Duke is a vampire and then kill him as she has so many others.

When she enters the castle, not all is as it seems. The Duke is charming. The castle grounds clean. His words tantalizing. She will have to keep her wits about her if she is to save her sisters… and her heart.

my review

This was entertaining enough. I generally enjoyed it. I didn’t quite feel Maeve’s transition from enemy to lover, though. It was too abrupt and required she show a level of trust and naivete that everything up to that point suggested she would not do. I also felt that she was seduced as much (if not more) by the glitz, glamour, and wealth that the Duke could provide her as by the man himself, and that didn’t feel very romantic. I did appreciate that he fell first in a truly obsessive way. It felt a little like love-bombing. But I also thought the banter between him and his butler provided the levity the plot needed.

I liked the world Hamm created, though it’s only lightly sketched out and doesn’t stray far from ‘the church’ as we are all familiar with it as the villain. However, the side characters that are in the future books look fun. I’ll probably read their books.

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Other Reviews:

Myth and Magic Bookclub: Bleeding Hearts, by Emma Hamm

 

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Book Review: Taken by the Dragon King, by Amelia Shaw

I picked up an audiobook copy of Amelia Shaw‘s Taken by the Dragon King on Google Play Books. (As it happens, I also have an e-copy. But when it came down to it, I went with the audio.)

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Stavrok won’t let anything stand between him and his mate.

There’s a beast inside of me, and there will be a time when I can’t control him.

That’s what my father told me happens when my dragon finds his mate. He will claim them. He will not be gentle. He will not be sweet.

My dragon will do whatever it takes to ensure his mate doesn’t leave, no matter the cost.

Lucy thinks soulmates are only for her dreams.

When a stranger breaks into my home and comes after me, I recognize his face. He’s the man from my dreams—the one I’m destined to fall in love with.

But I don’t believe in soulmates. That’s why I try to flee.

Stavrok takes Lucy to the snowy mountains, hellbent on proving she’s his mate.

But then his kingdom is attacked, and Lucy is stolen away from the Dragon King.

Now her only hope lies in knowing Stavrok will turn the world to ash and brimstone looking for her…and his dragon babies.

my review

Meh, this was fine, if a little bland and predictable. I don’t have a lot to say on this one. It is exactly what the title describes—no more, no less. I liked that he falls first and that she has a backbone. The writing is readable, and the plot holds together. But it is simply made up of a series of tropes we’ve all read before, and nothing feels original or even combined in a new way. So, honestly, I was bored by it. But if you happen to particularly like the tropes used, I imagine you’ll be more invested than I was.

Lastly, I listened to the audio version. Catherine Bilson did a fine job with the narration. But I rather feel she wasn’t a good fit styalistically. She was a little too prim and polite, as if she should have been reading a cozy Ms. Marple-style mysteries or sweet historical romances instead of mildly spicy PNR.taken by the dragon king photo


Other Reviews:

Taken by the Dragon King, by Amelia Shaw | Book Review

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Book Review: Jane and the Monster, by Sophia Smut

After seeing Sophia Smut‘s Jane and the Monster on TikTok, I picked up an Amazon freebie copy.

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Jane has always heard stories about giant monsters residing at the top of the Mount Moorhead. Any woman who dares trespass would disappear, becoming captive to the villainous creatures and never to be seen again. But instead of fear, Jane has always harbored fantasies of encountering a monster at the top of the mountain…

So one day, she puts on her hiking shoes and treks her way up, only to lose her way a few hours in. After she panics and passes out, regretting her crazy idea to venture out of her comfort zone, she wakes up to find herself chained to a bed in a cavernous room, an odd sensation between her legs… and a giant monster from her fantasy tales with enormous arms, a tail, and two horns.

Maybe fantasy and reality are not quite the same. Or maybe they are…

my review

Geez, I was totally pulled in by that great cover. This book is simply bad. It’s only January, but I’m fairly sure this will be on my short list of worst books of 2024. No one is likable. No one’s character is developed enough to be interesting or invested in. The heroine thinks about her ex-boyfriend for the whole book, but notably right in the middle of other scenes such that everything stalls. The sex scenes are bland, there are several consistency issues, the writing is amateurish, and the whole thing ends on a cliffhanger.

Honestly, I secretly suspect that Sophie Smut is actually a man with a female pen name or a woman who has so internalized the male pornographic gaze that she honestly thinks a moneyshot is the height of erotica. There is no emotion or feeling to any of them. I will not be reading anymore.

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