Tag Archives: fantasy

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Book Review: Forbidden, by Jewels Arthur

I picked up an e-copy of Jewels Arthur‘s Forbidden on Amazon the other day.

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When a little girl, all alone in the big bad woods, lets it slip that she’s on her way to visit her sick gran, I can’t help but take advantage. Don’t judge me. I’m hungry and let’s be real… What tastes better than a meal that doesn’t struggle—much.

Little do I know, my blood-thirsty plot is about to be foiled by a set of five werewolves that have decided to eat gran, take her place, and eat the little girl! I wish I had thought of that last bit myself.

The worst part is that I have been a lone vampire for years now so I have no one to watch my back. I am just easy prey to them and their beastly desires. If I can’t escape, I just may become victim to those desires and they are more than willing to huff and puff and blow my resolve away.

my review

Before I read this, I couldn’t figure out how it had so many good reviews. It’s a little counterintuitive, but I understand now. Put simply, this is objectively bad—but in the absolute best way!

Years ago, before the time constraints of children, my now-husband and I used to do something called Good Wine/Bad Movie Night. One of us would pick up a good bottle of wine (Mind you, we were young and broke. So, our idea of ‘good wine’ was probably suspect.) and the other would pick out a bad movie. The idea was that the more you drank, the better the movie got. We forbidden photowatched a lot of B-grade sci-fi and questionable anime. But, my goodness, did we have fun with it.

If it were a movie, Forbidden would be a prime contender. It is bad. It’s ‘staying up until 2 am covered in Cheetos dust and cheap wine with your best friend’ bad. It’s cringe at the dialogue and sudden, inexplicable changes in character attitudes bad. It’s porn with minimal plot bad. But it’s not trying to be anything else. Which means you can laugh with it, instead of at it, and bask in its badness. I just had a ton of fun with it and will absolutely try the rest of the series.


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Book Review: A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors, by A.J. Sherwood

I accepted a review copy of A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors, by A.J. Sherwood through Eliza Rae Services. It’s the sequel to A Mage’s Guide to Human Familiars, which I reviewed earlier this year. It was, in fact, the very first book I read and reviewed in 2022.

a mage's guide to aussie terrors coverCover
One ghost from the past.

Two unknown Australian monsters eating people.

Three men who won’t let either problem win.

my reviewI fell kind of middle of the road about this book. On the one hand, I did like it. On the other, I didn’t like it anywhere near as much as I’d hoped or expected. The throuple here is super cute. As with book one, I really liked the three men individually and together. I liked how they brought balance to each other and each of the other’s relationship with the third. It did make me laugh, and the writing is perfectly readable (though a few phrases got recycled a few too many times), and the editing seems clean.

However, Sherwood took what worked in book one and turned it up until it was just too much and turned silly. I liked Nico’s (and Wicky’s) chaotic energy, but it’s turned into a schtick here, and it just felt like a joke. I loved Garen in book one, but he’s a shadow of himself in this book…so is Bel for that matter. I thought the whole running into his ex and healing past traumas was ham-handed and lacked subtly, and the sex scenes seemed more focused on the mechanics of three men together than any sort of emotional connection.

All in all, it was cute and not a bad read, but it was maybe not the overall winner I had hoped for.

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Review: A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors by A.J. Sherwood

 

Book Review: Finding Salus, by Meg M. Robinson

Somewhere around the internet, I picked up an Audible code for Meg M. Robinson‘s Finding Salus. On an unrelated, humorous side note, my husband’s name is Saul and I have mistyped this title as “Finding Saul” almost every single time and had to correct it.
finding salus audio cover
Chloe Chadwick’s last remaining family member, her grandmother, dies in a car accident and leaves her a letter that changes everything Chloe thought she knew about herself. The letter directs her to Salus, an island off the coast of Connecticut that can’t be found on any map.

When she arrives, she learns that she’s a part of a secret world living alongside humanity, one consisting of magic, shapeshifters, and elementals, where the Greek gods aren’t just believed in, they’re actually present. But within twenty-four hours of her arrival, a man is murdered, and Chloe is the only suspect. Things only get worse when she has to learn how to control her newfound powers while simultaneously clearing her name.

But then, there’s a second murder and the pressure is on her-as well as the suspicion. With some of the unusual residents on Salus calling for her arrest, Chloe finds herself desperate to uncover the many secrets of her new home, including the killer. But will her newfound friendships and skills as a private investigator be enough?

my review

I generally enjoyed this. I thought it got a little info-dumpy with all the magic lessons, and that slowed things down a bit. The mystery also basically solved itself when the author was ready to wrap the book up, instead of Chloe actually doing anything to solve it. But I thought the world was interesting, I liked the characters, and I’m curious to see how the romance(s) develop. (I wish it would turn into a why-choose romance. But I know better than to hope for that.) All in all, the book won’t be topping my favorites chart, but I’d happily read the next one…or listen to it. Maria McCann did a fine job with the narration.

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