Tag Archives: challenge 2013

Review of Leigh Parker’s 10 Ways To Piss Off A Reaper

Leigh Parker sent me an e-copy of 10 Ways to Piss of a Reaper, the sequel to 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid (which I reviewed here).

Description from Goodreads:
Two years after Leigh’s absurd story, another event occurs involving the volcanic Natalie McIntyre, her life file and the Reaper that’s just pulled it from the Heaven filing system.

To save Natalie from her impending doom, Leigh goes back to Heaven to save her only to be given an ultimatum – pair ten people up in seven days or risk staying in Heaven indefinitely

 Review:

Ok, before I even get into the meat and potatoes of this review let me just say that the author, yes, you Leigh Parker, are cruel, cruel, CRUEL! The third book (10 Ways to Freak Out an Angel) better be done soon or I might go a little Natalie McIntyre crazy myself. This book ends on a serious, nail-biting cliffhanger. There was much teeth gnashing and hair pulling on my part when the kindle wouldn’t go any further and I realised I was at the end of the book. Meany!

Like the previous book, 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid, this book is side splittingly funny. I started the book while sitting in a parking lot waiting on someone and got more than one strange look. For all intents and purposes I probably appeared to be sitting in a car alone, laughing to myself. It has a very ‘English humour’ sort of feel to it that I just love, and not just because of the references to hob-nobs and kievs.

Leigh is just about the most lovable looser you could imagine. I don’t really think Leigh is a looser, but Leigh likes to tell the reader that, so I’ll allow Leigh the title. The self-deprecation is kind of cute. Leigh also must be just a smudge masochistic, ’cause the love for Natalie-the-beast seems real. Natalie is just about as unpleasant as can be, but somehow I really, really want her for my best friend. Granted, she might strangle me or die of disgust at the thought, but still. Once you have her number, like Leigh does, I bet she’d be a lot of fun. 

Parker has pulled off another stunner with 10 Ways to P*** Off a Reaper and I can’t wait to read the third book in the series. Highly recommended!

 

Book Review of Sam Enthoven’s The Black Tattoo

I bought a copy of Sam Enthoven‘s The Black Tattoo because one of the very first reviews of my own book compared the two. Honestly, after reading it, the only similarity I see between the two books is that we both used the Japanese terminology for the swords our characters heave about.

Description from Goodreads:

Jack’s best mate, Charlie, has always been effortlessly cool. When Charlie wakes up one day and finds a mysterious, moving black tattoo on his back, it’s a clear sign that he’s even cooler than Jack thought. To top it off, Charlie has got super powers also.

Or does he?

Jack soon learns the terrifying truth: Charlie’s incredible powers come from an age-old demon called the Scourge, who is using Charlie to bring about its evil master plan. 

When the Scourge vanishes with Charlie, Jack and Esme, a girl with super powers of her own, follow their friend from the streets of London into Hell itself, where they face horrors that may well cost them their lives.

Slightly spoilerish Review:

This book isn’t at all what I expected. I thought it was going to be all dark and serious. Instead it falls somewhere closer to the writing of Terry Brookes or Douglas Adams (minus the sci-fi). It is funny. Yes, yes, the universe is in danger of being snuffed out in one abortive act of finality and everyone is in danger, but the characters (Jack especially) are still able to recognise the absurdity of the situation and let an exasperated explicative slip. Jack’s insistence that most things in his life are just ‘typical,’ even when everything around him is most assuredly not is an effective running gag that made me laugh more than once. 

Granted, he’s a pretty useless hero. I’ll admit that for much of the book I lent toward agreeing with other reviewers who disliked him because of this. Even after hints that he might have finally been given a few extra abilities of his own nothing materialises. He remains totally and utterly normal. But toward the the end I started to suspect this was the point. He is the most powerless individual in all of Hell. He is simply below notice of the movers and shakers of the underworld. But in the end he is also unquestionably the hero. As defenceless as he is (and knows he is) he twice marches into the bowels of Hell to rescues his friends…”and apparently the universe.” He willingly offers his life in place of his best friend in order to correct the actions of another and save the world. Such courage is almost superhuman by itself, more so since there is nothing but unassuming backbone to support it. 

Esme is just plain awesome. I always love a well-honed warrior and just go gaga over a female one. I suppose I should at least mention Charlie. He’s a git. He just is. 

I got fairly tired of all of the ridiculous descriptions of the different demons. A whole section of the middle seemed dedicated to this. The story seemed to lag a little, bogged down by one description after another. Similarly there seemed to be a lot of ‘great black wings wrapping around them’ going on. It seems that one description apparently covers a lot of different sounds. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.

Book Review of Zoe Forward’s Dawn of a Dark Knight

I grabbed Forward‘s PNR Dawn of a Dark Knight off of the Amazon free list. 

Description from Goodreads:

In the shadows of our world, a secret band of warriors fights to protect us. They are the last line of defense against an evil no human can stop.

An ancient nemesis has resurfaced. Duty demands that Ashor Vlahos, Scimitar Magi commander, recruit a magical healer to fortify the remaining eight magi. The gods’ choice is the woman who helped him escape torture a decade ago. Ashor couldn’t have imagined a better punishment for his vow-breaker homicidal incidents than for the gods to bind him irrevocably to the only woman in the universe he cannot have. The soul-searing desire she ignites in him is strictly forbidden.

Kira Hardy, M.D. is a brilliant, hardworking internal med resident with big secrets. But when Ashor asks for aid after a brutal daemon attack, she is sucked into his dangerous, secret world. Enslavement to the magi, no matter how hot they are, may be an unattractive life plan, but being targeted for death by their enemies is less tolerable.

She must trust the sexy, tormented Ashor to keep her safe while he must deny his ultimate desire and keep Kira at arm’s length lest he bring destruction down on them both. As a centuries-old evil catches up to them, they face a crucial decision–follow the gods’ rules or follow their hearts.

Review:

My first thought on reading Dawn of a Dark Knight is that the cover doesn’t match it. IMO it needs one a little more like those of J.R. Ward‘s or Elisabeth Naughton‘s, something that screams PNR because that is what this is. Like the Black Dagger Brotherhood or the Eternal Guardians the men of Dawn of a Dark Knight, the Magi, are a bonded group of hard as nails, hot as fire, destined for one woman defenders of the innocent. And like other such books in the genre the sexual tensions run high and the sex smolders, but my favourite part is the males’ interactions with one another. They fight to the death for one another, but also rag each other constantly. They laugh at each other’s pain and wheedle anyone with a perceptible weakness, all in good fun of course. This made for plenty of funny moments.

Though side characters I also loved Kane and Markus, especially Kane. Next to the two main characters I think he was my favourite in the book. I expect he will play prominent role in future books in the series, but of courses that is only my speculation…or hope. 

It did feel a little bit like after fighting her destiny the whole book, Kira suddenly and for no apparent reason (other than that she should have already) finally gave in to it. I couldn’t identify a single causal event or moment. Maybe there didn’t need to be, but I found myself thinking, ‘Hey, when did she change her mind?’ There were also a few noticeable editing mistakes, but nothing that irritated me enough to put me off reading further. 

Since Wild Rose Press  only just released this one I don’t know when a second is expected, but I’d be happy to read it when it is out.