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Book Review of Eve Langlais’ Delicate Freak’ Flower

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Delicate Freakn' Flower

I grabbed Eve Langlais‘ erotic shifter novel, Delicate Freakn’ Flower from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Dammit , just how many toes was she going to have to stomp on before people realized she was a delicate freakin’ flower?

Naomi doesn’t want to follow tradition and settle down with a violence-loving, chest thumping shapeshifter. She grew up in a household with five, testosterone laden brothers where none of the dishes ever matched, the ugly-as-sin furniture could withstand any catastrophe, and where crazy glue was bought by the case.

When fate—with a snicker—makes her meet not one, but two mates, Naomi digs her heels in and refuses to do what her wolf—and her body—demands. No way is she voluntarily allowing herself to get hitched to a pair of dumbass—totally hot and muscled—lacrosse players.

Can Ethan, the towering Kodiak bear, and Javier, the sexy, tanned jaguar convince this she-wolf that life with them won’t be all chaos? And can this delicate freakn’ flower unbend her prejudices enough to recognize she needs a pair of men who can handle her thorns—and her passion? 

Warning: this is a hot threesome story where all the focus is on her with pleasurable consequences.

Review:
Delicate Freakn’ Flower is just plain pulp. You can even tell from the sarcastic title that it isn’t going to be anything serious. But if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s all good. There isn’t a lot to the plot, but not much is promised in the description either. You get what’s on the cover in this one.

Naomi’s character is a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a total bitch to almost everyone. But I rather enjoyed the fact that all of the men around her let her be that way, even liked her that way. It’s one of my favourite fictional events when strong men allow a female complete control over them, or cower in the face of her fury. Of course they could stop it. Of course they are only allowing her the control, but I still always get a kick out of it. This book has that in spades. In fact, it’s pretty much the crux of the plot.

On a side note, though subtle, I appreciated that Naomi isn’t described as a twig. She has large breasts and a gently rounded tummy. That tummy is still worshiped by two hot guys. I really liked that she was described this way AND Langlais didn’t make any sort of issue about it. Not once did she call herself fat or appear anything but comfortable in her own body. I may be reading more into it that was intended, but I thought it marvellous. 

The beaus, Ethan and Javier were just as sexy as you would expect. I did have to wonder that their relationship wasn’t explored more. The two of them did everything together even before discovering Naomi, including previous threesomes. They didn’t even blink when they discovered they shared a mate and seemed to be in complete accord about everything. It’s hard for me to not see them as a couple with or without Naomi. This wasn’t even hinted at, of course, but I think the book might have had a little more depth if it had been addressed one way or the other.

While the book was generally well written, there was some unfortunate language use (IMO). Prick, pussy, cleft, cleft, cleft…why does it have to sound like cheap porn to be considered erotic? I haven’t figured that out yet. At least Langlais had the grace to not throw cunt around too. On the same theme I found it disconcerting that when the trio finally made it to the bedroom together Ethan, poor shy, awkward Ethan was the one throwin’ down the dirty talk. It didn’t fit his previous character at all.

In the end the book was utterly ridiculous, but a fun/hot way to pass a couple of hours. Plus, it was a freebie. How could I possibly complain.

Book Review of K.M. Shea’s Red Rope of Fate

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Red Rope of FateI grabbed Red Rope of Fate, by K.M. Shea, from the Amazon KDP list. After finishing The Weight of Blood, which was quite heavy, I needed something light and fluffy to make myself feel better. It did the trick.

Description from Goodreads:
In the epic stories falling in love is often described as a beautiful, wonderful experience. Tari finds it to be life threatening, embarrassing, and nothing but heartache.

When Tari, an elf, is selected to be bound to Captain Arion, a human military officer, in a ceremony designed to promote friendship between their countries it is discovered that the two can communicate with each other in spite of the language barrier. Not everyone is supportive of the change Tari and Arion symbolize, so in addition to attending evening teas and royal luncheons Tari and Arion dodge kidnapping attempts and blackmail plots crafted by powerful political figures.

In spite of the court intrigue, Tari is dumbfounded when she realizes she has fallen in love with Arion, who has the emotional capabilities of a rock. As both human and elf society dictate that an elf and a human can never be together, Tari must conceal her feelings. Unfortunately the taciturn Arion is watchful and attentive to Tari’s well being, constantly pushing her to her limits with his loyalty, friendship, and dreadfully informal habit of touching her.

If Tari and Arion survive, their tumultuous relationship will either strengthen their countries’ alliance, or cripple the human courts of nobility. The deciding factor will be Arion, and his indecipherable feelings for Tari.

Review:
Ok, so that was just plain sweet…exactly what I was looking for. Even before any of the romance emerged Tari and Arion’s interactions were a joy to behold. They both had a certain dry wit about them that I appreciated. I did wonder that Tari could remain quite sooooo oblivious for quite soooo long and how exactly she managed to keep her secret from Arion. But it was still fun.

The two kings had a lot of personality for side characters. The Seer, the soldiers, and the family were engaging, and both Tari and Arion came out with some really funny one-liners. There was the occasional cultural mishap, ok the whole latter half of the romance sort of hinged on one, but it still made me smile. Then there was Arion’s additional confession. That was worth reading the book for all on its own.

The mystery, though secondary to the plot really, was interesting. As was the true role of the Evening Stars. Though I could take issue with the inference that women, even highly trained and skilled women don’t have the heart for real battle, I think I’ll let it pass. You do see the end coming from a mile away but that only heightens the anticipation. You know that HEA is on the horizon and you just can’t wait.

It’s also worth mentioning that this is a standalone book. These feel like they’re getting rarer these days, so I’m thrilled to come across one. I have another of Ms. Shea’s books on my TBR, and I’ll be keeping my eye open for more. She’s definitely made it on my radar.

On a side note Ms. Shea has a promotion running on her blog in which anyone who writes a legitimate Amazon review and then emails it to her can get an additional chapter to the book. Apparently, it falls outside of the timeline of the book, so it really is just a bonus.

The Weight of Blood

Book Review of The Weight of Blood, by David Dalglish

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Weight of Blood

I chose David Dalglish‘s dark fantasy, The Weight of Blood from the Amazon KDP list. At the time of posting it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
When half-bloods Harruq and Qurrah Tun pledged their lives to the death prophet Velixar, they sought only escape from their squalid beginnings. Instead, they become his greatest disciples, charged with leading his army of undead.

While they prepare, Harruq trains with an elf named Aurelia, to whom he owes his life. She is a window into a better world, but as war spreads between the races their friendship takes a dire turn.

Velixar orders them to fight alongside the humans, changing Aurelia from friend to foe. To protect her, Harruq must turn against his brother and fight the killing nature of his orcish heritage.

To side with one means to turn on another. No matter Harruq’s decision, someone he loves will die.

Review:
The Weight of Blood is some serious Dark Fantasy. I mean dark with a capital ‘D’, maybe even dark with a capital D.A.R.K.. It isn’t a comfortable read. There isn’t a lot of joy in it and bad things happen to a lot of good people. I generally like dark fiction, but this one was almost too much for me.

The two main characters, Harruq and Qurrah, can hardly even be called anti-heroes. There wasn’t enough hero in them, Qurrah especially. The only humanity [for lack of a more appropriate term] left in him seemed to be his affection for his brother and even that was contaminated by manipulating Harruq for his own nefarious ends. But still, I could at least relate to Harruq. I could see that in other circumstances he would have been a kind soul, might even have still had one despite his HORRIBLE, CRUEL, VILE actions. He killed children for goodness sake!

Relate to him as I might, I had a really hard time reconciling his personality with his actions. Don’t get me wrong. I understand that this dichotomy between his natural inclinations and the reality of his circumstances was in large part one of the themes of the book. But his willingness to simply do as told by Qurrah was hard to accept.

The book was well written, though I was left with some very basic questions unanswered. I had a lot of trouble deciding what age H & Q were supposed to be, for example. In the beginning I thought they might be children. Their brotherly attachment was so strong that they felt young, since as people age their social circle tends to broaden and those familiar bonds dilute. Their actions and thoughts quickly made it clear that they weren’t children however, but an age was never given. Somewhere between 15-25 maybe. They may even have been twins since their father was only said to have slept with their mother once, but again, this was never clarified.

This isn’t a book I enjoyed, but this isn’t the type of book one reads to enjoy. Enduring the tragedy of it all is part of the experience, part of removing yourself from your comfortable life to remind yourself what another’s life might be like. Having done that, I think I need to go read something light and fluffy, with an unquestionable HEA.