Tag Archives: fantasy

full moon in leo

Book Review: Full Moon in Leo, by Brooklyn Ray

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full moon in leo

I won a copy of Brooklyn Ray‘s Full Moon in Leo over at Sadie’s Spotlight.

about the book

Small-town magic, two heavy hearts—one unforgettable winter solstice

Cole Morrison left Jewel’s snow-covered fir trees ten years ago. But after a disastrous family Thanksgiving, Jewel seems like the only place left to go. When a run-in with a gorgeous stranger leaves him with debt to pay, Cole’s escape from his past turns out to be much more than a lonely Christmas vacation.

Jesse Carroway, the local Jewel witch, has been running his family’s successful, small-town Apothecary ever since his grandmother passed away. When Cole stumbles into his shop and accidentally wrecks a good portion of his inventory, Jesse does the only thing he can possibly think of—offers Cole a job and himself some help for the upcoming holiday rush.

Cole’s clumsy with candles and doesn’t trust easily, but soon Jesse gets a peek at the guy behind his bad-boy reputation. As the nights lengthen toward Yule, Jesse wonders if magic is to blame or if Cole might’ve fallen into his life for a reason…

my review

I very much enjoyed this. It’s very sweet. I liked the characters, the easy queerness of it, the redemptive theme, and the writing. The prose is a tad on the purple side. I’d say up there with Alexis Hall or T. J. Klune. But I’m fairly tolerant of that, as I actually kind of like prose a little purple. (It’s pretty, sue me.) There are a couple easy coincidences that move the plot along. Jewel is the most organic-friendly, boutique-filled, socially diverse small town I’ve come across in a while. And I thought all the awkwardness of new relationships, the complexities of identities and sexualities, etc were handled a little too perfectly by all involved. No-one ever misstepped or misspoke. They said the perfect thing for the other character perfectly the first time, every-time. But then the book does hinge on…well, you know…magic. So, that’s probably forgivable. All in all, this was the first Brooklyn Ray book I’ve read, but I don’t think it’ll be the last.

full moon in leo

 

 

grave witch

Book Review: Grave Witch, by Kalayna Price

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Grave Witch Kalayna Price

I won a $10 credit to The Book Depository and Grave Witch, by Kalayna Price is the book I chose to purchase with it.

About the book

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say.

As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself—who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans—nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s raising, which should be impossible. To top off her day, someone makes a serious attempt on her life, but Death saves her. Guess he likes having her around…

To solve this case Alex will have to team up with tough homicide detective Falin Andrews. Falin seems to be hiding something—though it’s certainly not his dislike of Alex—but Alex knows she needs his help to navigate the tangled webs of mortal and paranormal politics, and to track down a killer wielding a magic so malevolent, it may cost Alex her life…and her soul.

my review

I generally enjoyed this. It suffers from many of the faults of Urban Fantasy/PNR published a decade ago—the hero/love interest is an asshole for half the book, the cast isn’t very diverse, there’s a possible love triangle thrown in at the end—as well as some just generally questionable things like solutions presenting themselves in easy and coincidental fashions. But I liked Alex. The writing is super readable. I was invested in the story and would happily read more of the series.

grave witch

The Finder Witch and the Small Favor

Book Review: The Finder Witch and the Small Favor, by Kat Zaccard

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the finder witch and the small favor

I picked up a copy of Kat Zaccard‘s The Finder Witch and the Small Favor as an Amazon Freebie. And I would like it noticed that it is January 19th and here I’ve already read a Z-book for my Author Alphabet Challenge. (I try to read a book from an author who’s last name starts with every letter of the alphabet each year.) I’m ridiculously proud of myself. Usually, I get to mid-December and scramble to find a Q, X, and Z book. Well, Z is taken care of early this year!

Natalie can’t catch a break.

After losing her job and her roommate on the same day, she’d say she was cursed… if she believed in that sort of thing.

Natalie gets a crash course in the paranormal after a first date turns into a magical crime spree. Now she has to find a job, a place to live and… oh yeah… convince the cops that she’s not an accomplice to murder.

Her luck starts to change when she realizes her knack for finding things may be more than coincidence.

Natalie thought she was cursed… turns out she may be charmed.

Soooo, this just isn’t particularly good. It’s shallow, everyone talks in exclamation points, it needs more editing (especially for homophones), it’s super cheesy at points, and the last chapter throws in a twist that has no relation to the rest of the book at all. But what really killed it for me was the boredom. Here we have a book theoretically about a woman being hunted by a half-demon for her magical potential (should be exciting), but that is about 5% of the book. The rest is meaningless day-to-day activities, internal monologue, and needless magical lessons.

I’ll grant that the characters are likeable and there is some cute humor. But for the most part this was a fail for me.

the finder witch