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Book Review: Wolf’s Lady, by Jessica Marting

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I recently asked for recommendations for monster romance or PNR that stood alone. Jessica Marting‘s Magic & Mechanicals series was one that someone suggested. And as I happened to already own Wolf’s Lady (book one), I gave it a read.

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The only mistake Lady Adelle Thornber ever made turned into a scandal that rocked London and saw her banished to Scotland, the reluctant bride of a reclusive baron. But Lord Henry MacAulay isn’t what she was expecting: he cares deeply for his barony and for her.

As the sole heir to the Roseheath title and werewolf alpha, Henry knew that he had to take a mate someday. He just didn’t expect to find her in a disgraced noble’s daughter forced into marriage with him.

As he falls more deeply in love with Adelle, he can’t bring himself to tell her what he really is. But if he doesn’t, it may not be his werewolf nature that could tear them apart.

my review

I thought this was a sweet, if predictable, shifter romance. I liked Adelle and Henry. I especially liked that they were plain-spoken and simply told each other what they wanted from the other. This meant that, outside the obvious deception mentioned in the blurb, there was very little angst in the development of the relationship. However, I also thought the villain was overblown and cliched. And the plotting is pretty shallow. There isn’t a lot to the story. But for a sweet, fluffy, easy read, it’s worth picking up.

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Book Review: The Yaga’s Riders, by C. Rochelle

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Before I get to the review, a quick housekeeping note. I’ve returned to university and am now working on a Ph.D. As such, the time I can give to reading fiction (my favorite thing) is sadly constricted. It will likely take me a little while to find my feet and my new normal. But at the moment, I’m experimenting with reading and reviewing series instead of individual books. (I even made a whole post asking for omnibus recommendations.) This makes for longer posts a lot of the time but also allows for more time between postings. But I also acknowledge that I don’t usually tend to be quite as detailed when I’m reviewing several books together.  So, I may not stick with it. But for now, expect series reviews more often than individual book reviews.

OK, on to the review.

I picked up a copy of C. Rochelle‘s Rise of the Witch as an Amazon freebie and then went back and purchased a copy of the omnibus to finish the series.
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Blurb:

As with most beginnings, it started with death.

When I had nothing left to lose, I traveled to the hut in the woods; the one no one dared approach. The witch who lived there recognized the darkness in my soul and took me under her wing—to witness her reign of terror firsthand and eventually, to inherit her legacy as my own.

Now I’m the monster they fear; the one humans avoid at all costs. In this welcome isolation, I’ve attempted to forget my past and the future that was taken from me.

Until three men appear, somehow able to break through my protective wards and see me in my true form. While resistant to their intrusion, I recognize they may be the ones I’ve been waiting for—the ones I need to ascend to my full power.

Too bad I would rather grind their bones than invite them in.

But something is mysteriously devouring the forest, and I suspect the threat may be the same one I barely escaped many moons ago. If it is, he will find me a more worthy opponent than the last time we met.

I am the Yaga and I may be broken, but my edges are sharp.

my review

I enjoyed the heck out of this series. Though more the first two books than the third, which I thought got too sappy and too deus ex machina-like. Characters suddenly developed and utilized powers too easily and conveniently. But outside of that, I loved the characters and thought the world was interesting. The writing is well-edited and easy to read. And there were just a lot of aspects of the romance and sexual relationships that I appreciated—things you don’t see often enough, IMO.

The heroine is curvy and doesn’t conform to a lot of today’s beauty standards. She’s not clean-shaven, for example. And the men make it very clear that they like this about her. One’s kink is even loving the smell of a woman a day or so outside of bathing. (This is notable since women are often taught they shouldn’t smell of anything at all—just one more way to plasticize us, IMO). So, I very much appreciated that the men loved aspects of her body that make her human in the most natural of ways.

Conversely, I did take issue with the gay character becoming bisexual for Vasi. It’s not written as if he was always bi but just finally found a woman to express it with. He was gay but confusingly found himself sexually attracted to Vasi. I found that a little ick if I’m honest. Though I adored the absolute chaos that was his relationship with Tan as well as Nox’s protectiveness of it.

All in all, this series was a winner for me, and I’ll be looking for more of Rochelle’s books. the yaga's riders photo

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@author.tbwiese @C. Rochelle RH Author I read this in two days. Couldn’t put it down. RAN to my bookcase to start book 2. #bookthoughts #spicybooks #babayaga ♬ original sound – T.B. Wiese – Fantasy Author

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Book Review: Bloom in Blood & Dance in Night, by L.A. Boruff and Lainie Anderson

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I accepted a free Audible Code for a copy of L.A. Boruff and Lainie Anderson‘s Dance in Night through FreeAudiobookcodes.com. However, I didn’t realize at the time that it is book two in the series. So, I then had to hunt up a copy of Bloom in Blood, which I did.
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About Bloom in Blood:

At thirty-seven, the worst possible thing happened. Now, at forty-two, Riley has nearly given up.

Five years ago, my world was turned upside down when my husband and sons disappeared without a trace. I mourned, I searched, and when I got no answers, I began to prepare.

Nobody will catch me vulnerable again.

I was wrong to think my life couldn’t get any crazier. Now there are two vampires at my door telling me my missing family wasn’t human…and neither am I. I have a chance to regain everything I’ve lost. But first, I have to find the truth about my heritage, all while fighting the overwhelming attraction I have for my missing husband’s best friends.

No matter what, my mourning is done. My life is in my control again. And I will burn the world to the ground to get my family back.

my review

This has an interesting premise and characters. But the execution…OMG, the execution is so bad. I picked this book up because I accepted an audible code for a copy of Dance in Night—book two of the series—without realizing it is a sequel. So, I had to step back and find this book to read first. If I hadn’t committed to reading and reviewing book two and therefore needed to finish book one, I would have DNFed this pretty early on.

The narrative is almost entirely dialogue, which leaves very little room for world-building that isn’t just info-dumped from one character to another for the benefit of the reader. And so much of the dialogue is painfully stilted. Worst of all, in my opinion (because it’s a pet peeve—once you notice, you can’t stop noticing), names are constantly included in the dialogue.

Authors, step back and think about a conversation you have with friends and family in real life. How often do you actually say the name of the person you’re talking to? I find the constant inclusion of names in dialogue one of the fastest ways to make writing feel amateurish.

Plus, the name of this series is An Unseen Midlife. The character is 42. It’s meant to fit in the Paranormal Women’s Fiction genre. A genre for women approaching middle age who are past the starting a family stage and are moving on to finding themselves again outside of the role of wife and mother. So, when the plotline is all about the importance of her babies (and ends with her pregnant with another), it breaches the contract of the genre, in my opinion.

Add to all of the above the fact that the plot rockets at such a pace that nothing is allowed time bloom in blood phototo grow or develop, and the result is a complete flop for me.

The writing and editing are mechanically sound, and the book has a cool cover. (The series has cool covers, rather.) And I appreciate that Riley is a full-sized woman. She’s a size 18 when her husband falls in love with her. But that’s about the most positive thing I have to say about any of it.

About Dance in Night:

Several months after the heartbreaking events in the ruins of the Isla Del Sol, all Riley wants is to resolve her complicated past and move on with life.

Pregnant, married, and safe, she never expects to be kidnapped while on vacation with her husbands.

Her kidnappers open her eyes to a dangerous threat to her baby’s entire existence. Her children’s safety is her top priority, and Riley will stop at nothing to achieve it. Is she strong enough to save her family?

my review

Meh. I liked this one a lot more than the first in the series. But I 100% stand by my previous assertion that THIS IS NOT PWF. Paranormal Women’s Fiction focuses on what women do once they have passed the stage of life of marriage and babies. And while the character here is in her forties, she is freshly married and pregnant for most of the book, then she has the baby, and the rest of dance in nightthe book focuses on baby issues. THAT IS EXPLICITLY NOT PWF, and it feels like dishonesty on the part of the authors to pretend it is.

As for the plot itself, it’s pretty shallow and predictable. It’s not bad, per se, but there’s not a lot to it. (And honestly, I skipped past the spicy times, just not invested enough to bother.) All in all, I’m not too disappointed to read it, but I am very glad to have it off my TBR.

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