Tag Archives: challenge 2013

Would-Be Witch

Book Review of Would-Be Witch (Southern Witch #1), by Kimberly Frost

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Would-Be WitchI picked up a paperback copy of Kimberly Frost‘s Would-Be Witch from Goodwill for $0.70. Yea, even I’ll throw down less than a dollar for an evening read.

Description from Goodreads:
The family magic seems to have skipped over Tammy Jo Trask. All she gets are a few untimely visits from long-dead, smart-mouthed family ghost Edie. But when her locket-an heirloom that happens to hold Edie’s soul-is stolen in the midst of a town-wide crime spree, it’s time for Tammy to find her inner witch.

After a few experiences with her dysfunctional magic, Tammy turns to the only person in small-town Duval, Texas, who can help: the very rich and highly magical Bryn Lyons. He might have all the answers-and a 007savoir faire to boot-but the locket isn’t the only heirloom passed down in Tammy’s family. She also inherited a warning: stay away from Lyons.

Review:

This is a fun, light-hearted read. Tammy Jo is having a bad week, a really bad week and despite her lack of magical abilities finds herself mixed up in more hocus-pocus than she can handle. And some of it is just plain funny. The humour is what makes the book worth reading. Tammy Jo has a sharp wit and her sarcasm is a joy to partake in. 

The book does feel a little chaotic at times, with Tammy Jo trying to accomplish multiple tasks at the same time, with no real understanding of what is going on around her. Plus, the world-building is a little on the slim side. But, all-in-all, it’s a fun little ride. And while the whole werewolf mystery is cleared up, this is still very much a first book in a series. There are a number of threads left loose and a lot of unanswered or unaddressed questions. This left me feeling dissatisfied right at the end.

I’m also at a bit of a loss about the Bryn/Zach situation. I like both men, despite their serious control issues (Zach especially). It’s not quite a love triangle, but is too close to be comfortable. There’s little chance of either one escaping unscathed and I find myself cringing at the prospects. 

If I come across the sequel, I’ll definitely be giving it a read. But even a Kindle copy is $11.00 (and not even lendable)! There is just no chance of me paying that. So, it’ll have to be a secondhand copy from somewhere. 

Dark Prince

Book Review of Christine Feehan’s Dark Prince

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Dark PrinceI picked up a copy of Christine Feehan‘s Dark Prince from the charity shop.

Description from Goodreads:
A telepathic hunter of serial killers, Raven Whitney helps to catch some of the most depraved criminals. But her work keeps her from getting close to others, and has drained her body and spirit. In need of rest and rejuvenation, she embarks for a vacation far from home.

Mikhail Dubrinsky is the prince of the Carpathians, the powerful leader of a wise and secret ancient race that thrives in the night. Engulfed by despair, fearful of never finding the mate who can save him from the encroaching darkness, his soul cries out in loneliness–until the day that a beautiful voice full of light and love responds, softly soothing his pain and yearning.

From the moment they meet, Raven and Mikhail are helpless to resist the desire that sparks between them. But just as fate unexpectedly brings these life mates together, malevolent forces threaten to destroy them and their fragile love. Yet even if they survive, how can these two lovers–Carpathian and human–build a future together? And how can Mikhail bring Raven into his dark world without extinguishing her beautiful goodness and light?

Review:
Ok, I’m gonna be honest. Ms. Feehan can obviously write. I’m not having a go at her skills in any way. And I know this is a really popular series. But I hated this book. I really did. I found the whole thing tedious, disliked the characters and by virtue of being female was frankly insulted on numerous occasions.

My first issue was the style of the narrative. Purple prose isn’t a strong enough description for the writing in this book. It’s extremely flowery and overly verbose, to the point of compromising itself. More than once I simply had no clue what was meant by the pages and pages of endless text. I was reminded that I read the ‘Author’s Special Edition,’ with 100 pages of extra content. Honestly, I can understand why those 100 pages were one the cutting room floor to start with. They weren’t needed. The emotional descriptions are endless, but even worse the whole book is ridiculously repetitive. The reader is forced to sit through the same epic recounting of the characters’ emotional states over and over and over again…and then a few more times for good measure. And just to be sure you REALLY got it; the same stock phrases are used each and every time. I started to think the book would never end.

Then there was Mikhail’s treatment of Raven. It was infuriating. If he infantilized her any further I would be accusing him of pedophilia. His pet name for her is “little one,” as if she’s some toddler. Even my three-year-old wouldn’t stand for that. The narrative only seems able to describe her as small, fragile, innocent, and indiscriminately compassionate, all child-like attributes. Even the sex scenes make her sound like a child, full of her “soft whimpers,” “keening cries” and “sobbing breath.” He’s occasionally described as speaking to her, “softly, as if to a child” and she fills his mind “with a child’s wondrous laughter.”  Gag. I’m a full grown, sexual woman. I want my PNR heroines to be too.

All of that is before we even get into his arrogant paternalism. I lost track of how many times he declares, “I can’t allow,” I won’t allow,” you can’t,” you must.” Sure, Raven occasionally argues back to him, but she always gives in in the end, or is simply forced to comply. She never seemed to get suitably angry about this afterwards, though. Add to that the innumerable references to her ‘fragile mind.’ All those things Carpathian men have been shouldering for hundreds of years apparently threatens to shatter her sanity in just over a week. As a fellow female, I was insulted. Plus, he’s constantly trying to put her to sleep, as if she’s some toy he needs to shut off when not in use.

Then there was the whole premise of the males lacking emotions. I get it. It’s an interesting twist, but I don’t buy it. How exactly can the men feel loyalty or honour if they can’t feel anything at all? They’d all be psychopathic loners without any emotional bonds.

Lastly, there were all the subtle religious undertones. Honestly, I kind of wonder if the author even knew she put them in. They almost felt unintended, as if it was such a normal part of her that she didn’t identify it as out of place in the novel. They did feel out of place though. They just popped up unexpectedly on occasion, with no warning or substantial contribution to the plot. 

Now, I will admit that Feehan has created an interesting vampire myth by separating out the Carpathians. And I really did like the complexity of the antagonist(s). The fact that he was pure evil, but also pitiable was multilayered and appreciable. Again, I also admit that the woman can write. I’d be willing to give another of her books a try. But this book was not for me. I like a good alpha male as well as the next romance reader, but there is definitely such thing as too domineering and Mikhail passed that on about page 5. I’m just glad to be finished.

 

Book Review of Jeaniene Frost ‘s Night Prince novels: Once Burned and Twice Tempted

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I picked up copies of Jeaniene Frost‘s Once Burned and Twice Tempted at the local secondhand shop.

Once BurnedDescription from Goodreads:

She’s a mortal with dark powers…
After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person’s darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude…until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world’s most infamous vampire…
He’s the Prince of Night…
Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don’t call him Dracula. Vlad’s ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.

Review:
I’m really a little surprised at myself for reading this. The only other Jeaniene Frost books I’ve read were the first of the Night Huntress series, and I really didn’t care for them. But I found a paperback copy of this at the charity shop for pennies, so I figured I’d give it a shot. Surprisingly, I liked it. I especially appreciated Frankie’s strong personality. She stood up for herself again and again. Vlad lacked warmth of any sort, but he was supposed to, so it was pretty easy to overlook. Still, this made him a little hard to like. I managed it though. He made a good alpha male. Plus, it would be pretty much impossible to not love Marty and/or at least like Maximus.

I thought it was interesting that Cat and Bones showed up here. I haven’t read past book two of the Night Huntress series, but I get the distinct impression that there may be more overlap between these series than I know about. I think that’s cool and all, but it leaves me wondering if I’m missing out on something. Is this a spinoff series?

I read a lot and a lot of the books I read come from the Amazon free list. This means that many, if not most of them are from Indie houses or self published authors. When I review them I often feel compelled to mention the editing. Anyone who has read many such books knows that the editing can be hit or miss. Well, I find myself similarly inspired to mention editing here too. These books are published by HarperCollins, a fairly big name publisher. But I noticed a ton of editing mistakes in it. I can’t honestly say it was any better edited than some of the good Indie/self published books I’ve come across. Just one more example of the three publishing methods coming closer together, I suppose.

All in all, this book encouraged me to give the author more attention in the future. Many of the things I previously disliked in her writing (what of it I had read anyway) weren’t present here. So I can honestly call this a fun PNR that kept me interested enough to seek out the sequel.

Twice TemptedDescription from Goodreads:

Dating the Prince of Darkness has its challenges…
Leila’s psychic abilities have been failing her, and now she isn’t sure what the future holds. If that weren’t enough, her lover, Vlad, has been acting distant. Though Leila is a mere mortal, she’s also a modern woman who refuses to accept the cold shoulder treatment forever–especially from the darkly handsome vampire who still won’t admit that he loves her.
Like choosing between eternal love and a loveless eternity…
Soon circumstances send Leila back to the carnival circuit, where tragedy strikes. And when she finds herself in the crosshairs of a killer who may be closer than she realizes, Leila must decide who to trust– the fiery vampire who arouses her passions like no other or the tortured knight who longs to be more than a friend? With danger stalking her every step of the way, all it takes is one wrong move to damn her for eternity.

Review:
While I didn’t dislike the book I can’t claim to have liked it as much as the first book. For one thing, I thought the characters started to drift a little. Leila went from a strong-willed, determined heroine to a whinny, clingy, girlfriend of the worst kind. Now, I still respected the fact that she was willing to walk away. That pretty much rocked, but that was only a small part of the book.

Then there was the whole pseudo-love triangle in the first half of the book. Nope, didn’t care for that much–both because I don’t care for love triangles and because I wanted to know more about Vlad, not Maximus. (Though I did like Maximus and would love to see him happy at some point.)

Then there was the whiplash worthy change of heart Vlad had toward the end that felt so very unnatural. It was, of course, necessary for the plot to progress, but if felt pretty darned sudden. (As did the wedding. Where did that come from?)

I did like Vlad’s super protectiveness. I do love seeing a strong man fighting to protect what he loves, but the reader saw so little emotion from him in general that his sudden effusiveness was almost painful. The book is still a fun little bit of fluff. I’m not wholly disparaging it. But it’s not as strong a book as Once Burned.

I also found the same editorial issues as in book one to be present in this one. It just wouldn’t be fair to skip mentioning it just because this is a big name publisher. I expect more.