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Book Review: Alien Abduction for Beginners, by Skye MacKinnon

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I had a couple of hours worth of mindless, repetitive tasks ahead of me. So, I sought out a short audiobook to get me through. Which is how I ended up borrowing Alien Abduction for Beginners, by Skye MacKinnon through Hoopla.
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Not all aliens are good at abducting humans.

Havel, Matar and Xil have failed too many times to count. Luckily, there’s help available for failed kidnappers: a diploma offered by the Intergalactic University. To complete their course, these three sexy aliens need to abduct a human female – and they’re graded on it.

The problem is, the human female has no intentions of being abducted, not even to help them get the universe’s most recognised abduction qualification.

my review

I picked this up knowing it was going to be a silly, sexy space romp and I was cool with that idea. I wasn’t looking for anything more.

But it pretty much fails. It has too much plot to be erotica and, frankly, not enough sex. But there isn’t enough plot to be called a romance, even an erotic romance. The comedy aspect is almost entirely of the cultural misunderstanding sort and falls much closer to stupid than endearing. And while I liked the males, I couldn’t really tell them apart most of the time.

Plus, I disliked Jake Bordeaux’s narration. It was stiff and gave me a vague sense that he was making fun of the story even as he narrated it. Bridget Bordeaux did a better job with the female characters. But much less of the book is from a female perspective. All in all, it got me through my chores, but that’s about it.

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Book Review: Stolen by her Wolves, by Kaylin Peyerk

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I received an Audible code for a free copy of Kaylin Peyerk‘s Stolen by her Wolves.
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As one of the final surviving members of a brutal shifter clan, I’ve been chained and imprisoned for my entire life by my human uncle for the sole purpose of keeping other humans safe from me.

At least that’s his excuse.

Solitude and pain are all I’ve known, so when four men show up claiming to be my saviors I’m not exactly receptive to the idea. Sure, I’m grateful that they’ve busted me out of my own personal brand of hell, but that’s about as far as the gratitude goes. Now I have no money, no pack, and nowhere to go unless I take them up on their offer to transport me safely to Newhaven, a sanctuary for omega wolves deep in the woodlands of Alaska.

With no other choice left, I take it while vowing to keep my distance for the week-long trip. But as time passes my guard falls, leaving me conflicted and suddenly vulnerable to the charismatically handsome group of men. Will I make it to Wolfhaven without falling for them, and do I really want to?

This is a reverse harem wolf shifter romance with themes of abuse trauma, overcoming it, and learning to trust the ones you love.

my review

*Sigh*

I suppose this was ok. The writing is fine. The idea of the found family pack bond is fun. That two of the mates are also involved is nice. The inclusion of the fae connection is interesting. Alyssa Rogge did a fine job with the narration (even if everyone sounded a bit on the young side). And I very much appreciate that Peyerk didn’t include rape in the torture Talia endured. It wasn’t needed for the story, and I appreciate that it wasn’t there just for shock.

Unfortunately, the book just didn’t light me up in any way. I feel like we don’t really get to know the MCs very well, the beta and sub-alpha especially. They all just kind of merged into a mate-group blob. There’s one fairly bland sex scene with one mate that kind of springs out of nowhere. So, the romantic aspect is a bit of a dud.

There are several inconsistencies, contradictions, and instances of people suddenly knowing things they hadn’t been told and had no way of discovering. But mostly, even though this book is almost 300 pages (5+ hours of audio), it feels like an extended prologue or introduction to a series rather than a book of its own. Basically, nothing happens.

And here I’m going to have a little rant, not so much about this particular book but about the state of the genre or industry in general. I cannot truly express how tired I am of reading books that don’t end—not cliffhangers, but books that are just part of a story with no wrap-up or conclusion—that just are basically the first 3rd, or 5th, or 15th of a story.

I think this started with Amazon and the free book craze. Authors now write a teaser first book to give away as a freebie, and it often has an open ending to tempt the reader to buy the next one. But as a reader, I am so sick of these books. I would 100% rather just pay for a complete story and skip the teaser bit. The problem is that you never know what book is one until you’re already finishing it. I’m tired, so very tired, of giving my time to books that have no ending. So tired in fact, that I usually don’t bother finding the rest of the series (for fear the next book will be the same). So, I’ve started just considering these books wastes of my time. Can the industry move on from this now? I’m ready.

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Book Review: Broken Moon & Blood Moon, by Laken Cane

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I borrowed audiobook copies of Broken Moon and Blood Magic, by Laken Cane, through Hoopla.

About the book:

I’m a wolf shifter… who can’t shift.

Twelve years ago, I was hobbled by my alpha, cast out of my pack, and forced into an unfriendly world without any protection.

But I’m not exactly helpless.

Despite being unable to shift, I have talents the others don’t have. I can see the spirits of dead people, for one. And I have a knack for fighting rogue supernaturals.

My ex-alpha will never let me back in, but there’s another alpha in the city.

Something has been killing his wolves, and he wants me to destroy it before it takes another one. He’ll triple my going rate–but that’s not the thing that makes me agree to help him.

He says he can free my wolf.

It’s not possible, but…
What if it is?

I’ll help him, either way. Monster hunting is what I do, and if there’s a monster killing wolves, I will stop it. Because those two warring alphas might believe the city is theirs, but this is my territory.

The city embraced me when the packs wouldn’t have me, and I will protect it–with or without my wolf.

my review

I quite enjoyed this. Those familiar with the urban fantasy genre won’t find too much new here. But those of us who are familiar with the urban fantasy genre generally read it because we enjoy it and don’t mind a little more of the same. And this is my experience with Broken Moon. I recognized all of the elements that it is made of, but I savored them all the same.

I liked Kait. She’s a strong lead. I did occasionally feel like she was just a little too capable, triumphing against great odds when maybe she shouldn’t have been able to. I also felt like Cane stepped away from some of the most important fight scenes—creating a distance in their writing—rather than allow the reader into the thick of it and this removed quite a bit of the tension.

There’s a possible future love interest here. But there is no romance in the book. So, if you like your UF romance free, this is a safe book to pick up.

Sierra Kline also did a nice job with the narration.

audiobook blood magic coverAbout the book:

My new alpha did the impossible. He freed my hobbled wolf.

And though I’ve craved a pack and an alpha since I was a rejected kid, I rebel against being anything less than his equal–even as my wolf worships the very ground he walks on. It makes for an interesting dynamic.

Flung headfirst into the supernaturals’ world, I am no longer a lonely, agonized outcast running from the moon. My power is growing, I have amazing people around me, and the grateful mayor has set me up with an office and a legitimate job.

For a minute, everything is quiet. Too quiet. Even the demon seems to have disappeared. And all that peace is just a little unsettling.

But then a human hires me to go after the vampires–specifically the county master–and my world explodes into chaos.

Good thing I like chaos.

But when the demon returns with a vengeance, the council makes me an offer I don’t want to refuse, and an infamous and scary as hell hunter blows into my life, the peace and quiet starts looking pretty damn good…

my review
I have to admit that, while I still liked this, I didn’t like it quite as much as book one, though it is an arguably more robust book. Kait is definitely coming into her own and strengthening her place in society. But her tendency to be the strongest badass around is also strengthening and eventually, from a reader’s perspective, this becomes redundant. There’s no real tension left if she’s so strong she can easily overcome even the steepest odds.

I also kind of feel like she’s creating a harem. Like book one, there basically isn’t any romance in the book (though you know who she’d choose if there were). But she seems to be collecting useful, powerful men (but only men, with the noted exception of her mother and roommate). And I’m starting to wonder if Cane isn’t falling into the age-old literary trap of creating interesting fictional worlds but still not being able to imagine them full of an equal number of interesting, three-dimensional women as men.

I did feel some of the conclusions were a little anticlimactic—the end of the demon from book one especially. Regardless, if a third book had been available to me through Hoopla, I’d have continued the series (and still might at some future point). I like Kait. I like her found family. I’m interested in how some of the dangling plot lines conclude. And Sierra Kline again did a good job with the audio.

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