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Book Review of Stephanie Rowe’s Darkness Awakened

I grabbed Stephanie Rowe‘s PNR novel, Darkness Awakened (Order of the Blade #1), from the Amazon free list. As I write this I notice that it happens to be free again too.

Description from Goodreads:
The Calydons are a race of ancient immortals cursed with a dark side. Each Calydon is destined to meet his soul mate, to be so drawn to her that he is unable to resist bonding with her through the rituals of his race…

…but their destiny is to destroy each other and all they care about the moment their bond is complete.

Quinn Masters will stop at nothing to rescue his rogue teammate. To save his blood brother and ensure his brand of justice triumphs, Quinn will break every rule of his kind and partner with the sensuous, courageous woman destined to be his ultimate destruction.

Haunted by a brutal past, Illusionist Grace Matthews will risk everything to save her kidnapped sister, including putting her life in the sinfully capable hands of an immortal warrior whose ravaging kisses and intense passion propel her ruthlessly toward a fateful destiny she can’t afford to believe in.

Review:
In some ways, this book is just like any other Paranormal Romance of its ilk. The Calydons are a group of hot-as-hell, rough-and-tumble defenders of the innocent, just like JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood, Elisabeth Naughton’s Eternal Guardians, or Zoe Forward’s Scimitar Magi. And like these other PNRs the Calydon’s run into their soulmate (insta-love anyone?), the one person who they simply can’t resist. Don’t we all love these stories? That’s why we read PNR, right?

What the Order of the Blade series is, that the others aren’t, is ALMOST a parody of the genre. Like the Brotherhood or Guardians, meeting one’s soulmate throws one hell of a wrench in the Order members’ works, but unlike them, this fact is sitting forward and center as part of the plot. The Maji meet their soulmate and still go about their mission, the Calydons exist and are the hard-asses they are because of their need to avoid those same soul mates. They and the men who love them are who they hunt instead of demons, vampires, or the eternal dead. (At least in this first one.)

It is so central to the plot that it enables the characters themselves to acknowledge it and joke about it. I liked that. It made for some really funny moments, quotes like this one: “You know, you’re hot, and you’ve got that badass manly man thing going, and I’m crazily attracted to you, but honestly, I suspect you’re going to be a little too bossy for my tastes. Thanks for the offer on the whole love-me-die-for-me thing, but I’ll pass.” Or how about this one, “I’m an Order member. We’re specifically chosen because we’re so damned trustworthy. We’re like Labradors.” Ha, I laughed at that one.

Now, by the same token, the whole loyal, trustworthy thing was beaten into the ground a little bit. At 15% through the book, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s romantic.’ At 90% through the book, when Quinn and Grace were still harping on about how much they trust one another and would be there for each other always, I thought, ‘Oh God, I get it already! Move on.’ I loved that Quinn was the type of man he was and that loyalty was a big thing for him. It was what Grace needed most too. I just got a little tired of being told about it.

The book had enough of a plot to keep the pace moving and an interesting assortment of side characters, though I wish I’d gotten to know them a bit more. I had a little bit of trouble with the whole Illusionist thing. I understood how the mind could be tricked into believing in an injury, but how was clothing convinced to tear? It has no consciousness. Grace’s illusions felt more like actual physical manifestations than illusions. Really this is a small point, maybe even semantics. I enjoyed the book enough to buy the second one, Darkness Seduced and Darkness Surrendered.

Review of Innok’s Curse

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I grabbed R.G. Porter’s novel Innok’s Curse off of the KDP free list, and I’m fairly sure this is the version I have. The cover is the same. I’m just thrown a little by Goodreads’ inclusion of this title: Curse of Innok. The synopsis makes it fairly obvious that it’s the same story.

I suppose the author may have published it twice, or one may be an updated version of the other. I don’t know. So confused over this (and just OCD enough to want to be sure I reviewed the right novel) I even messaged Porter to ask which one she wanted reviews posted under. In retrospect, this may not have been appropriate, but I can’t take it back. Oh well. I haven’t heard anything back anyway. Lacking any further guidance on the issue I am going with Innok’s Curse.

Description from Goodreads:
A man cursed by a demon.
A woman who’s memories are more than just her own.
An enemy sworn to destroy all their dreams.
A destiny that none of them expected.

Cursed to live by day as a dragon and by night as a man, Gabriel believes he will forever be alone after the murder of his beloved Danielle. That is, until the night he meets Alayia and everything changes.

Together, they must figure out the truth of the curse that Innok has placed on Gabriel as well as those from his visions. Their quest will bring them deep into the heart of the evil, but with her abilities and the spirit of the dragon within, they might just unlock the truth of the past
and break the curse. If they can keep the demon from winning too fast

Review:
I like the premise of this book. I suppose that ought to be obvious. I wouldn’t have downloaded it or chosen to read it if I hadn’t. The idea of a man cursed to live as both a conscious-less beast and a man carrying the burden of both his own and its guilt is an interesting one. The incorporation of earth magic, reincarnation, and boundless love and friendship only sweetens the pot. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the book lived up to its potential. The whole thing just felt too rushed.

Characters were introduced only to die in the next scene, and while it was obvious that the reader was meant to feel something at this loss, I didn’t. I hadn’t had enough time to come to care. Other characters acted abhorrently, but other than a mention by the narrator that the main character was surprised at their callousness, there was no suggestion that this was out of the ordinary, so it held no emotional impact for the reader.

There was no way to anchor yourself in time. The year 1025 was mentioned at one point, and Gabriel was known to have slept for 50 years. The story seems to begin when he wakes. However, there was no way to know how much time passed thereafter. He could have been living as the dragon for three weeks or two thousand years. I never could figure it out. This also made it hard to reconcile the language used. The narration had a distinctly modern feel, which only further muddled my attempts to settle on an era.

Solutions seemed to magically appear at times. As an example, after learning about Gabriel’s curse, Alayia pulls a book out of her backpack that just happens to have had the spell she needs to break it inside…from her backpack, not the local library, or the university or even back at home, but from the one small bag she happened to be carrying with her. This despite there being no indication that she had any previous magic training and every suggestion that she came from a family that would disapprove of such a thing anyway. Why did she have a book of spells with her?

Worst of all, I have no idea why any of the events happened. Having finished the book, I still don’t know why Elroy was after Danielle in the first place. Did he think he was in love with her? Did he have some nefarious plan that required her and her magic? Did he have something against Gabriel, and she was just a handy way to torture him? I don’t know. The whole substructure of the plot was missing and felt hollow as a result.

This isn’t to suggest that the book wasn’t without merit. It did contain Talon, who happens to be one of the most colorful characters I’ve come across in a while. Granted, I have no idea why he was so wonderfully dedicated to Alayia, having JUST met her, but he was, and I loved him for that. I really hope the next book ends with him in the lap of luxury. He deserves it. The idea that Danielle and Gabriel’s love was so strong that it could transcend time was moving, and the message that it is important to accept all of yourself (even the parts you fear or don’t understand) is a good one. Such acceptance is an important first step toward…oh, enlightenment, self-improvement, acceptance into Heaven [choose your transcendental equivalent].

There is a lot of potential here. The storyline itself is a good one, and other readers may love the book. Everyone is different, after all. I, however, didn’t, and I cringe just typing that because I hate to say it about anyone’s baby. But in this case, it is unfortunately true. This one just wasn’t for me.

Addendum: I heard back from Mrs. Porter this morning. She thanked me for the review, which made me feel a little better because I really felt a little guilty for my honesty. I know I shouldn’t, but I really want to like every author’s book and cringe when I have to admit otherwise. She also said that the two titles are an earlier and later incarnation of the same story. Mystery solved. Thank you, Mrs. Porter.

Review of Roxanne Rhoads’ Hex and the Single Witch

Description from Goodreads:

Anwyn Rose is descended from a long line of powerful witches yet she can barely cast spells young witchlings have mastered. She has one functioning witch gift, the power of knowing, which she puts to good use as a Detective on Flint’s Preternatural Investigation Team (aka the P.I.T. Crew).

It’s a new era in Vehicle City, supernaturals are running the town. The P.I.T has their hands full with paranormal crimes. Top priority is a serial killer, who appears to be a vampire, draining young women in the city.

Anwyn is on the case with her sexy partner Detective Mike Malone.
Complicating things is her relationship Galen, a vampire who looks more guilty than innocent, although Anwyn trusts her instincts even if her power is on the fritz.

Mysterious spells, compromising situations, and a possible demon on the loose make it hard to focus on the case, but Anwyn has to make things right before the human police execute the wrong vampire.

Review:

Anwyn Rose is a witch and a member of the Preternatural Investigation Team of Flint, Michigan. She is partnered with a steamy hunk of a man whose smarmy harassment seems to hide a delicious, Carmel-soft core and is tentatively sticking her toes into the supernatural dating realm with an emotionally damaged, possible dangerous, sex-on-a-stick vampire. Things regularly heat up. This is PNR, bordering on erotica. Yum

What I like about Anwyn and her situation is that she is an adult. While she worries about the course of her relationships and how it might affect her work, she never has to bother with the juvenile, ‘What is this strange feeling I have,’ does he like me back,’ ‘How could he love someone like me?’ She understands her own lust, knows what she wants, and is willing and able to recognise the same in her partner. It is refreshing to not have to wade through all that angst. She is also really funny.

Though not HE, I appreciate that the author is willing to acknowledge that immortal beings or morally corrupt demons aren’t really going to care much about traditional mores against same-gender encounters. There aren’t a lot of them in the book and they are brief sighting really, but they occur as easily and unobtrusively as any other…and are damn hot. By the same token, demons are involved, so reasonably so is a little bit of sexual deviance that can be a little on the uncomfortable side.

Poor Flint, Michigan is in trouble. Some sort of ‘big bad’ is coming and Anwyn and her team are trying to figure it out. She manages to solve a few hiccup-type problems in this book and make a little headway into the hex issue, but definitely doesn’t solve THE problem. I guess I’ll have to wait for the sequel for that. It also felt like the immediate Devlin/Galen/Roarke issue resolved itself far too easily. All-in-all it was an enjoyable evening’s read.

See Sadie Read

Sci-fi, fantasy, UF/PNR & LGBT+