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Book Review of Sinner AND Envy, by Lana Pecherczyk

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I signed up to Lana Pecherczyk‘s newsletter and received a starter pack of her books. It included the prequel novella of The Deadly Seven series, Sinner (which is also an Amazon freebie). I then borrowed book one, Envy, through Amazon Prime.

Description of Sinner:

The selfie generation grew up.

And with them, the sin of greed exploded on an astronomical scale. Of course, where one went, the rest were sure to follow. Wrath, sloth, gluttony, pride, envy, lust… all climbed in severity until deadly sin consumed Cardinal City. Violence, murder, and mayhem were only the beginning. To save their city, top scientists created a band of brothers and sisters as deadly as the sins they were destined to fight. But before they were waging a war on crime, they were children born in a lab with no one to look out for them… except a deadly assassin pretending to be a nun and a tortured man running from his past.

Biolum Industries think Sister Mary Margaret is an innocent nun caring for children in their lab, but she has a dark secret: one that could destroy the world, or save it.

Flint Fydler wants the simple things in life, to do his job and to pay off his shameful debt. But no matter how hard he tries to ignore the secret project behind a guarded door at Biolum Industries, and the beautiful and fearless nun who works there, he can’t avoid the inevitable fact he is being lied to.

When Flint’s mission to reveal the truth uncovers more than he bargains for, Mary bribes him to help with her rescue mission. As their quest draws them closer together, Mary has no choice but to reveal her own deadly secret, and Flint must face the undeniable truth: paying his debt may have nothing to do with money, and everything to do with his heart.

Review:

An enjoyable little prequel that has tempted me into looking into the rest of the series. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly deep, but the writing is sharp and I liked the characters and overarching plot. That’s enough.

Description of Envy:

How can a hero save the world if he can’t save himself?

Crime rages in Cardinal City. The fanatical Syndicate’s answer is to be judge, jury and executioner, even if that means destroying half the world to eradicate sin. The only thing standing in their way is a family of fearless vigilantes known as the Deadly Seven.

Created in a lab with his brothers and sisters, Evan Lazarus can sense deadly levels of envy, but when he’s blamed for a mass tragedy, it tears him and his heroic family apart. As the Deadly Seven self destructs, Evan loses himself in the city’s ruthless cage-fighting scene, slowly falling prey to the sin he was created to fight. His only hope is to find a partner who embodies his sin’s opposing virtue, the last thing he expects to find is his soulmate…

Doctor Grace Go almost died in the blast that killed her parents, and learned a valuable lesson: envy eats nothing but its own heart. So she forged a life filled with purpose and now seeks justice for the survivors. When she crosses paths with a fiercely protective but damaged hero, a desire she thought long gone is ignited. But Grace is wary of risking her brittle heart on a disgraced hero, even if she can’t seem to stay away from him.

When a figure from Evan’s past emerges, in league with the Syndicate, their evil scheme threatens to destroy everything Evan holds dear. Pushed to the limits, he will have to pull his family from the brink of oblivion and become the hero the city needs, or will envy drive him to destroy Grace and his only chance at love and redemption forever?

Review:

Superhero-esque paranormal romance.
This was OK, amusing enough for what it is. The writing is sharp and I liked the characters. But I have to admit that they pretty stock and trade. He’s dark and damaged and she’s all caring and light that miraculously soothes the chaos of his soul (in this case literally). Nothing new. To go with that, I thought there was some painful predictability and the heroine was too prone to too-stupid-to-live actions for wholly forgive. Having said that, I’d continue the series if I found them at the library or they were freebies, but I’m neither rushing or paying to do so.

awakened

Book Review: Awakened (The Oracle Chronicles #1), by Moni Boyce

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I picked up a copy of Moni Boyce‘s Awakened as a freebie on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:

Secret lineage, a ruthless vampire, and forbidden love.

Willow Stevens dreams of stardom are eclipsed by the real nightmares of a sinister man haunting her dreams. Unbeknownst to her, Eli Walker, her hot but snobbish co-worker, may know the reason nightmares plague her, but their history shows he is more prone to reject her, than help her.

Then Willow passes out at work only to wake in Eli’s apartment. There she has her chance to learn more about her heritage. But, knowing why the vampire king stalks her doesn’t make the nightmares disappear. If anything, they become more real as she now faces off against a slew of creatures she’d always believed were myth.

That Eli is one of those creatures is just her luck. Secret witch guild or not, his natural ways are casting spells her heart can’t escape. As a Protector his only focus should be her safety. Anything else is forbidden. He plans to stay in task, but some women break a man, or tempt him to break the rules.

Can Eli keep Willow alive and safe from the vampires long enough for her to grow her own powers or will both cast aside rules for a reckless passion that will only lead to danger?

Review:

Not very good, not totally horrendous, but not great either. The book has an interesting world and premise and an absolutely gorgeous cover, but it needs more editing, the writing is amateurish at times, and the transitions are often clunky. Plus, I had some serious suspension of disbelief issues with the plot and I found both Willow and Eli unlikable. She’s 26 and he’s even older, but they both act like children, and she’s especially self-centered, bratty, and easily manipulated.

As for the problem being able to suspend belief, which is something exceptionally hard for a book to overcome, it was two-fold. One, the book goes on and on about how important it is for her to learn to defend herself. So, it made no sense to me that the Protectors had followed her years and years instead of teaching her to defend herself until it’s basically too late. It’s not like they didn’t know there was a threat.

Secondly, all of the angst around the romance subplot could have and (and IMO should have) been completely bypassed if someone had simply told Willow that Protectors are forbidden from having relationships with Oracles. I don’t mean this as telling the author how to write her book, simply that as a reader I couldn’t understand why the characters were creating all the unneeded drama and hurt when it would make a million times more sense than the BS lies Eli rolls out for her

Lastly, it’s also the only book I’ve ever read with a warning before the epilogue like this:

If you plan to continue with this series, there’s an epilogue…but I suggest you stop here if you don’t like cliffhangers and don’t plan to continue. Thanks for reading!

It seems pointless because, even if you don’t read the epilogue (which I didn’t since I have no intention of continuing the series), the book ends with Willow injured, and both she and Eli unconscious. So, it’s already a cliffhanger.

All in all, I’m sorry to say the book just wasn’t a winner for me.

Book Review of We Have Met the Enemy & Spooky Action at a Distance, by Felicia Watson

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I received copies of We Have Met The Enemy and Spooky Action at a Distance (Loveless Series #1&2) from the author Felicia Watson.

Description of We Have Met the Enemy:

In the 31st century, Naiche Decker joined the Unititerrae military seeking revenge for the death of her mother in battle against the Eternals. After being assigned to a deep space mission to root out the enemy’s home world, she finds so much more, questioning if revenge was what she really sought in the first place.

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. I’d call it more ‘road trip in space’ than actual military sci-fi. They are soldiers on a warship, so maybe ‘war-weary soldiers take a road trip in space’ but still more that than military sci-fi. The reason being that 95% of the book is a journey to a destination only vaguely known, dealing with whatever pops up. Having said that, I enjoyed the journey.

The characters are pleasantly diverse, there’s platonic male/female friendships, as well as female/female friends (I really hate when all women except the main character are made out to be bitches), loyalty, family reconciliation, and more.

I did think the end rushed and wrapped up too neatly, years of personal injury/hatred and the ravishes of war don’t heal so quickly. Similarly, several important encounters/events were glossed over noticeably, making the whole thing lack tension a bit. But the writing is sharp, characters likable, and the world (universe) interesting. I’d read another Lovelace novel.

Description of Spooky Action at a Distance:

Lieutenant Naiche Decker has finally found a home aboard the UDC starship, Lovelace. With the Eternals war behind her, she’s looking forward to life as an explorer rather than a soldier. But her latest adventure – exploring a quantum entanglement – proves to be the most dangerous mission she’s ever faced. Aiding her in this quest are her friends, CO Con Kennedy, and canine companion Kayatennae – as well as a remarkable Quantum Drive ship that links directly into its pilot’s brain. Complicating matters are an arrogant rival pilot and a race of mysterious aliens whose intentions are as murky as the waters they live in. Naiche will need all her strength, cunning, and skill to rise above these challenges and rescue her stranded comrades before they’re lost forever.

Review:

Another fun installment of the Lovelace Series. I don’t think this one was quite as deeply plotted as the first book, with the convenient pink aliens coming to the rescue so often. But, like with the first book, I still enjoyed the elements you so often don’t see in books—platonic male/female friendships (even best friends), actual female/female friendships, parents who have made mistakes but aren’t bad people, a heroine who’s allowed to be sexual without being shamed, older adults having sex, women initiating sex, an equal number of men and women in positions of power and authority, exploration of cultural differences within a minority group, racial and sexual diversity in the cast, etc. These are the sorts of things that bring me back to an author. (I realize I said sex a lot. So, I should mention there is no on-page sex. But it is discussed and the reader is led to understand it happens.)

All in all, while I didn’t think it a perfect book I’d be well up for reading more.