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Once Bitten

Book Review of Trina M. Lee’s Once Bitten (Huntress, #1) and prequel shorts

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Once Bitten

I grabbed a free copy of Trina M. Lee‘s Once Bitten from the KDP list. It is currently still free on Amazon and at Smashwords.

Description from Goodreads:
Alexa O’Brien has never been like other people. A hunter of supernatural rogues, she is a werewolf with unusual but extraordinary power. Power that draws her to Arys Knight, the mysterious vampire who awakens her dark side. What they create together is dangerous and binding, forcing her to question the source of her abilities. It threatens not only her remaining humanity, but her relationship with fellow werewolf, Shaz Richardson, as well.

When Alexa’s womanizing former lover and the Alpha of her pack is framed for murder, he draws public attention that could earn him a death sentence unless she steps in to help him. Alexa would love to watch karma at work but as the body count rises, long buried secrets are exposed. She’s forced to face the painful truth that not everyone is who she thinks they are.

Review:
I have pretty mixed feelings here. There were some parts of this book I really liked, for example the fact that Lee let her main characters be bad. So often PNR heroines miraculously resist all evil temptation. I really appreciated that Alexa gave in to hers and admitted that she enjoyed watching Arys too. It added an element of edgy realism that I enjoyed. I also loved both Arys and Shaz. Unfortunately I hated the situation they found themselves in. It wasn’t fair to either of them. Of course, it wasn’t meant to be, but I found it painfully uncomfortable. I really wanted her to choose one or for the three of them to become a happy Ménage à trois.

I generally enjoyed the story, but I have two main complaints. One, it felt like there were four main story lines that ran parallel but never really intersected. There was Alexa and Arys’ situation. There was her and Shaz’s budding romance. There was her night job with Veryl and there was the whole mystery with Raoul. Any one of them probably could have been a book on its own. Well, maybe the love triangle would need to be combined, but you know what I’m getting at. The Raoul situation seemed to be the main storyline, so any time Alexa ran off to fight a random demon or psychotic ex-lover I found it distracting. It essentially felt like it had nothing to do with the rest of the plot. Plus the events required the introduction of random characters who then simply disappeared, Lilah for example.

Two, there was a lot of presumed knowledge. Alexas is described as a werewolf with extra, vampireish abilities. But these are never really described. I have no idea which of her powers were the unusual ones or why she had them. Similarly, I never really understood her and Arys’ metaphysical draw. I certainly understood the effect, but not the why, how, or even what of it. I would have really liked a more in-depth description.

I did enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong. There were just a few things that niggled at me. I have the prequels to read and will consider continuing the series.

Huntress

Stunner

I also grabbed the prequels Huntress and Stunner, at least one of which is available free at Amazon & Smashwords. You can follow the links to see my reviews at Goodreads. I thought they were both ok, but not stand-alone stories. They would make little sense to someone who hadn’t read Once Bitten. 

The Cat & the Crow

Book Review The Cat & the Crow, by S.K. Hart

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The cat & the crow

During the last big clearance event I grabbed S. K. Hart‘s m/m romance, The Cat & the Crow, from Smashwords. 

Description from Goodreads:
A dark romance between two unlikely male characters. The recent death of Tarro’s wife was not only sudden, it was inconvenient. Being forced to mourn for a woman he never truly enjoyed, he accepts an offer for company that only ends up leading to more trouble. With a reputation for being able to ruin anything, he starts to wonder if he’s ruining his new house guest, or perhaps himself.

Review:
Before I even read the first page of this novel it had two important things going for it. I secretly love m/m stories and I am a closet manga addict, so the very yaoi-ish cover attracted me immediately. I am thrilled to say that it lived up to my expectations, exceeded them even. I read 90% of it with a ridiculous silly grin on my face, teared up more than once, had to get myself a quick glass of ice water and return to it again and again (whew), then eventually had to admit that the whole thing made my heart hurt. Tarro’s life isn’t an easy one to face. It is definitely cringeworthy. But every painful, horrible thing that happens in this book is made up for in the wonderful character that is Nerin. *swoon* Yes, he and Tarro have turned me into a sad little fangirl.

The book is told in first person, from the POV of Tarro. I’m not generally a fan of first person narratives, in fact I kind of hate them. But I have to admit I enjoyed it here. Tarro had such a fantastically sarcastic and jaded tone/voice that it was a pleasure to read. I also liked his blatant honesty, especially about himself and his own proclivities.

I read a lot. I write a lot of reviews. But I rarely rave. I rarely give unadulterated praise. But I am officially declaring myself an S. Hart fan. If you enjoy yaoi or M/M romances (and honestly I would only recommend this if you do) this is one worth picking up.

☆Here’s a hint too. If you check the book out on Smashwords you’ll find a little free extra story too. Tarro and Nerin do Christmas…and toys. 

Review of Hanna Peach’s Angelfire

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AngelfireI initially downloaded Hanna Peach‘s Angelfire from the Amazon KDP list, but she later also sent me an updated copy.

Description from Goodreads:
An army of angels walks among us. They have kept us safe and ignorant − so far.

Earthbound for centuries and ruled by the Elders, they have established hidden cities, a society and the Code: obey your Elders, kill all demons, eliminate Rogue-angels, protect the mortals, remain hidden. Their warriors are the ungifted Earthborn angels armed with blades and the “borrowed magics” of distilled angel-blood tattoos.

Alyxandria is a young warrior with a fondness for customized knives and illegal night-races. If only she could overcome the taint of her parents, who abandoned her to become Rogues. When Alyx saves Israel, a gifted mortal with a past, she is forbidden to see him again. But she can’t help herself, drawn to him through their Guardian-bond, an ancient and long-forgotten bond; if he dies, she dies.

Alyx begins to dig into the Elders’ secrets − two thousand years of secrets, which begin with the death of the Archangel Raphael. She is not prepared when she uncovers an Elder’s dark plan. Somewhere on Earth is a key to unlock Hell. Somewhere on Earth are pieces of an amulet that control Lucifer and his army. Somehow Israel is the link and now both sides are after him. Who can Alyx trust when Good and Evil are no longer clear?

The war for Earth begins.

Review:
Angelfire is an interesting addition to the angels versus demons collective. Alyx is a strong-willed heroine who has no problem standing up for herself. Though she does seem to float aimlessly from one chaotic near miss to the next, but maybe that’s actually the hand of destiny at work. Israel is imminently likeable and I adored the pirates.

The writing was admittedly pretty choppy in the beginning, jumping from seemingly random event to random event, giving a lot of detailed technical explanations, and introducing a lot of extraneous characters who played no significant role in the book. As a result it took a long time to figure out what exactly was going on, but it evened out eventually and became a pretty good read. I did find the info-breaks really disruptive though. I would have really preferred a glossary at the end to interruptions in the story.

As much as I enjoyed the story, this is not a stand alone book. It is obviously book one of what is going to be a big series. A lot of ground work is set here, but there is no sense of completion, no satisfying conclusion. I look forward to it’s continuation.

On a possibly irrelevant side note, and I don’t think I’m the first to mention this, the book has a really cool cover with a winged angel on it. But the angels in it don’t actually have wings. The only mention of anyone having wings is attributed to a demon. That irks me. It feels wrong.