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Merrick

Book Review of Merrick, by Claire Cray

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MerrickI grabbed a copy of Claire Cray‘s Merrick when it was free on Amazon. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
New York, 1799: the future looks bright for the charming young book dealer William Lacy, until a raucous night of drinking lands him in shackles. He narrowly avoids the brutal prison system thanks to his mother, who negotiates with the judge to secure him a five year apprenticeship in lieu of a prison sentence. And so William finds himself in a carriage bound for the remote woods upstate, where he’ll spend the next years of his life learning a new trade under some old master.

When he first sees Merrick, William thinks he’s been dropped into a medieval horror story. Tall and gruff, dressed in a hooded robe that completely conceals his features, and riding a black mare, Merrick might as well be the Grim Reaper.

But appearances are deceiving. A skilled apothecary and healer, Merrick proves to be a generous host and a gentle teacher, and William soon finds himself surprisingly comfortable in his new surroundings. And yet troubling mysteries abound: Why does Merrick never show his face or hands? Why do his movements seem so young and sure beneath his robes? What lies within the cave behind the stone cottage? 

Something unnatural is afoot. But most alarming by far is William’s own reaction to his new keeper. For Merrick’s strange charms are bewitching enough by day; but by night, in the darkness of the room and the bed they share, William finds himself entirely overwhelmed by desires he never imagined…

Review:
I don’t usually use ratings on this blog, thus forcing people to actually read the review if they want to know my thoughts. But I’m going to for this book. For the first half I was all like, “Hell yeah, this is shaping up to be a 5-star read.” Then not long after the halfway mark it started to falter, but I was still like, “Well, maybe a 4-star.”

Then the inevitable happened (because I’ve read Ms. Cray’s work before and I should have expected it). From one page to the next, essentially mid-scene, the book JUST ENDED—no tapering off, no indication that the end was approaching, no conclusion, no feeling of satisfaction to tide you over until the next book—nothing, nada, nichts. Just poof, we’re done here. It wasn’t even a cliffy, since there was nothing culminating into a cliffhanger. The book just ended at what felt like some random junction and I was like, “Forget that, I’m dropping another star for my basic dissatisfaction.” So, in the end this is a 3-star read.

Now, Ms. Cray calls herself ‘spooky romance writer’ and I think that describes this work. What I liked so much about the beginning of the book and what was lost toward the end was the atmosphere, the spookiness. I really enjoyed that. I even enjoyed William’s unfathomable acceptance of things and Merrick’s confusion over it. With the exception of the ending issue (which I think is one of Ms. Cray’s hallmarks, hate it as I might) it’s a well written piece of m/m romance and I love the cover.

I won’t be continuing the series, though. I learned my lesson with Cray’s Hidden Talents series, where I read seven novellas and still got nothing approaching a satisfying ending, or any ending for that matter. I sometimes wonder if some, otherwise awesome, authors just don’t know how to write conclusions so never, well, conclude a story. If you don’t mind being strung along, this is a good one. I do, so…

Steal the Light

Book Review of Steal the Light, by Lexi Blake

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Steal the LightI downloaded a copy of Lexi Blake‘s Steal the Light from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
When dealing with demons, the devil’s in the details…

Stealing mystical and arcane artifacts is a dangerous business, especially for a human, but Zoey Wharton is an exceptional thief. The trick to staying alive is having friends in all the wrong places. While having a witch and a werewolf on the payroll helps, being partners with a vampire really opens doors.

Zoey and Daniel were childhood sweethearts until a violent car crash took his life and left her shattered. When Daniel returned from the grave as a vampire, his only interest in Zoey was in keeping her safely apart from the secrets of his dark world. He has vowed to protect her, but his heart seems as cold as the night he calls home.

Five years later, a mysterious new client named Lucas Halfer offers Zoey a fortune to steal the Light of Alhorra. The search for the Light leads Zoey into the arms of an earthbound faery prince. Devinshea Quinn sweeps her off her feet, showing her everything the supernatural world has to offer, but Daniel still calls to her heart.

As the true nature of the Light is revealed, Zoey discovers Halfer is a demon and much more than money is at stake. Per her contract, she must give him the Light or spend an eternity in Hell. What’s a girl to do except fight for her soul…and her heart.

Review:
There were certain aspects of this book that blew my socks off. The most important one (to me at least) was the very real sense of longing between Zoey and Daniel. This is highlighted even more by the fact that the author states in her forward that these books (the series, I suppose) were the ones she wrote while waiting for someone to return to her. Thinking the emotions I felt in the book might be an echo of her very real ones was almost excruciatingly beautiful.

I also really liked the characters. Zoey was strong and sarcastic, without ever becoming suicidally mouthy. Daniel was the silent type, but he had a surprising vulnerability to him. There were also saucy side kicks, sexy bits on the side and even a beautiful bouncing baby.

I did find the book quite repetitive. We are told the same things over and over again. I really can’t abide by love triangles (and honestly, it’s the triangle that makes me consider not continuing the series) and I don’t AT ALL understand Zoey’s decision at the end of the book (I was a bit infuriated by it.), especially since she knows Daniel is coming back.

I also found the tone of the sex scenes inconsistent with the rest of the book. By this I mean that while the whole book is soft, hazy, true love the sex is of the raunchy, gritty, fuck-you-into-the-mattress kind. Now, I like that kind just fine, but it didn’t at all fit the rest of the book or the characters outside of the bedroom.

All-in-all, I found it a well written, funny fantasy romp.

Vision Quest

Book Review of Vision Quest, by A.F. Henley & Kelly Wyre

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Vision QuestI downloaded a free copy of Vision Quest, by A.F. Henley & Kelly Wyre, from Amazon. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
When Arik Beltrán checks into a hotel on business, he expects the tedium of unfamiliar beds and boring meetings. He expects to meet a financial client and be home before the solitude of being a stranger in a mundane land becomes too much to bear. 

Instead Arik finds Blaze: a mysterious man with an inner fire that lives up to the name. Nothing in Arik’s life, not his deranged father nor even his faint brushes with the magic only Arik can see in the woven web of life could have prepared Arik for the man in the hotel lobby who casually invites Arik to room 1109 for late night … well, anything at all. 

Blaze Zaituc, on the other hand, knows exactly who Arik is and what Arik needs: Blaze. He has crossed land and sea to find the man who has appeared in Blaze’s Visions as the next target in the Quest that comprises Blaze’s life. Arik is someone for whom the Universe has plans, and Blaze must make sure Arik complies. Or else. 

Unaware of the lives and risks hanging in the balance, Arik untangles himself from the sheets in the silent hours of the morning. He wonders if he will find the door to 1109 open and waiting. He’s not a risk taker, but this one time, just this once, maybe he’ll take a chance… 

And seal both his and Blaze’s destinies forever.

Review:
Oh boy, I hardly know where to start with this one. To start with, it’s probably 75% sex. Yeah, you read that right. There is A LOT of sex (This is a 200+ page book.), which I don’t actually have a huge problem with, but I like to know that’s what I’m in for and was surprised to find it here. Some of that sex was smoking hot, some not so much and after a point it was just redundant.

The plot is weak. There is one and it hangs together up until the last 15% or so, which I’ll address in a moment. The reader spends the beginning of the book confused, as is intended. Once things start to come together the book smooths out, however the writing style is such that information is left scarce. This creates a certain horror-esque atmosphere, but also leaves the reader always feeling a little off balance.

Again, I think that feeling of just barely grasping what is happening was purposeful on the part of the authors. And it worked to a point…until the end. It felt like throughout the story the authors constrained themselves and walked a narrow path in which the book maintained a certain necessary level of realism. Then in the last 15-20% (pretty much everything after the lodge and definitely everything in Luca’s home) they just decided to let loose and skipped hand-in-hand off into La-La Fantasy Land. Things just got weird and not in a good way.

I could have dealt with the LSD-like visions. Visions often are symbolic, even if most of them had been pretty straightforward in the rest of the book. But that last sex scene…no, just weird. Not disturbing in any fashion, just too Middle-Grade fantasy merged with m/m sex. Lets just say, it didn’t work for me.

If I was going to rate this book, I’d give the first 80% a 3.5 and the last 20% a 1.5 star. The writing itself was fine. It was a little over-wordy at times, but readable. I noticed a few editing mistakes, but not enough to be bothered by.