Mothman Reading Challenge

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For someone who has very little time to read, I keep constructing reading challenges for myself. But I like to get them down on paper when they occur to me. So, with that in mind, let me introduce you to my newest reading goal, the Romantic Mothman Challenge.

Yep, it’s totally random. And I’ll tell you how it came to be. But first, let me preface this with the fact that I’ve been very into Monster Romances lately. So, I was a little predisposed toward a cryptid challenge in the first place.

mothman challenge

Ok, it started when I innocently downloaded a copy of Emory Moon‘s Canary and the Mothman from a Bookfunnel event. Then I got an email saying I’d won a copy of Paige Lavoie‘s I’m in Love With Mothman. (I don’t even remember entering the giveaway. So, that was a complete bonus.)

Two books featuring the Mothman within a day or two of one another got my attention. So, I searched my considerable TBR to see if I had any more. Turns out I did have one—C.M Nascota‘s Sweet Berries. Three Mothman books; now I was well and truly invested.

Then, I picked up Vera Valintine‘s Carnal Cryptids: East Coast in a Stuff Your Kindle freebie event and, finally, I had a few dollars of Amazon cash. So, I bought a copy of Clio Evans‘ Doves & Demons. Though, I bet if I’d been a little more strategic, I could find that one at Hoopla and bought an additional one for the challenge. Too bad I’m thinking of that now.

Speaking of Hoopla, there are two more there that I could borrow. There is Peter Passenger and the Mothman, by Rafe Jadison, and Gateway Mothman, by Jay Noel, which also happens to be set in my city. (I’ve been meaning to do a Saint Louis reading challenge. But picking out all the books set in STL will take a lot more time than I have available.)

There’s also Run & Hide by Beatrix Hollow, which I’m told has Mothman in it but I don’t own, and the Mothman Mysteries. But I meant to go by book titles, not series titles. So, I’m not counting it.

I’m sure that there are quite a few more out there; these are just the ones I currently know about. But I generally form challenges as an incentive to read the books already on my shelves. I’m already stretching a little to include Hoopla books. So, I’m going to limit myself to these seven and only add to the list if the universe tosses another free Mothman book in my path. (Feel free to facilitate that if you know of one. LOL.)

Edit: Well after I’d posted this, Like Mothman to a Flame came up on the freebie list. So, I grabbed it, too.

skulls-Image by minh huynh tan from Pixabay

I decided to bring my reviews back here as updates rather than do a separate challenge wrap-up. so…
Reviews:
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Book Review: Radiance, by Grace Draven

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I purchased an e-copy of Grace Draven‘s Radiance.
radiance cover

THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE

Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.

THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.

Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.

my review

This was a surprise winner for me. Granted, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a dark read. But it’s actually super sweet and relatively low-angst. And normally, that’s not a combination that works for me. I like some grit in my fantasy. But I also appreciate a practical heroine, and Ildiko is a strong one. And Brishen is just so marvelously noble.  Watching them become friends and supports to one another before lovers was nice.

Tradiance photohere was also humor, interesting side characters (who are obviously the couple for a future book), an interesting world, and a slow-burn, low-spice romance. I enjoyed the heck out of it.

As much as I liked the above aspects of the book. I did feel a tad bored at times. There isn’t a lot of action, and most of what action there is is packed toward the end. And the villain is a little cliched. All in all, though, I look forward to reading book two.

Other Reviews:

Review: Radiance by Grace Draven

A Double Review of Radiance by Grace Draven

 

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Book Review: Her Irish Treasures, by Joely Sue Burkhart

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I picked up a freebie copy of Joely Sue Burkhart‘s Her Irish Treasures from Amazon. It’s a compilation of Shamrocked, Leprechauned, and Evil Eyed.

her irish treasures cover

After I stumble into an Irish bar called Shamrocked, my life will never be the same.

I may have celebrated my divorce a little too hard because I wake up in bed with a gargoyle statue. It takes a lot of coffee and my best friend’s interrogation to recall exactly what happened after I stumbled into an Irish bar. The statue has to be cursed because it keeps moving by itself, and I start dreaming of a man.

Doran. He’s been trapped in stone and darkness for centuries. He tells me I’m the treasurekeeper, and I need to find his friends, the other three legendary Irish treasures: the Spear of Lug, the Sword of Light, and the Cauldron of the Dagda. My only clue to go on is the bar, Shamrocked, but it’s not on any map of Kansas City. If I can find it again… maybe the gargoyle will finally let me sleep in peace.

my review

This review contains a spoiler.

Yawn. That’s my final verdict on this series. The writing is perfectly competent, and I liked the characters well enough, even if their character archetypes are pretty ham-handed. But there isn’t anything special here. Well, except for the heroine, who is just the specialist Special to ever special. As the books went on and more of her mystery was revealed, she progressively became more and more of a Mary Sue. By the end, she was made out to be so perfect and so worshiped that I felt like I should dislike her on principle, just to balance the scales.

But here’s my biggest complaint (after just boredom, by the end). The author denies the reader the most important parts of the plot. The book starts with the heroine waking up with a gargoyle statue in her bed. By chapter two, she’s already well into the mania caused by the statue talking to her. The reader is left out of all this tension building and just told this has been going on for days. Even all the loves are instant (all of them), so you don’t see any build-up there either.

Similarly (and much, much worse), the book ends the same way. She does the big important thing that the whole book has been building up to, passing out in the process (dies, really, and comes back, but same difference). When she wakes up, she asks if they won and is told that she did succeed and everyone lives happily ever after.

her irish treasure photo560 pages trying to best the villain (who was super obvious, btw), and the author chose not to show his defeat or the Treaures’ endings. Honestly, I’m not even sure if the villain was killed or if the heroine merely returned magic to the worlds. Like, I’m legitimately not even sure what winning constitutes in this situation BECAUSE I WAS NOT SHOWN and barely told. To say it was anticlimactic is a complete understatement.

All in all, if you like a Mary Sue, this is a good series for you. But I found it underwhelming, on the whole.

Other Reviews:

La Crimson Femme Review