Tag Archives: KDP

Dark Moon Rising

Book Review of Dark Moon Rising (Stella Brock, #1), by Ashley Dunson

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Dark Moon RisingI downloaded a copy of Ashley Dunson’s Dark Moon Rising from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Stella Brock hunts the things that go bump in the night. It isn’t a glamorous job, but it keeps the lights on…usually. Now, the hunter has become the hunted and the source of all childhood terror is hot on her trail. She’ll need the help of a sexy elf and an arrogant jaguar shifter to avoid being caught by one of the most notorious monsters of all. If only she could control darkness beginning to rise within herself.

Review:
Wow, I got so much more than I bargained for with this one. I really enjoyed it. Stella was a great lead character, who managed to be tough without being unfeeling. She also successfully walked that tenuous line between being pleasantly, sarcastically irreverent and being suicidally confrontational. Dark Moon Rising is a fun read and I’d be happy with it for that alone, but it’s not flawless.

While I enjoyed the book and the events of the book, there didn’t seem to be any overarching plot beyond, here are Stella and her friends and these are the things they do in response to a series of seemingly random stimuli. Again, it’s fun but it felt anchorless. There was no single challenge Stella and her cohort needed to overcome or identifiable point in which their adventure could be seen to have been complete. I don’t mean it’s a cliffhanger, it’s just (I think) part of one series-wide plot instead of having its own. The result is that the ending felt sudden, even if it wasn’t.

It’s also one of those books in which every powerful paranormal male all but falls at Stella’s feet, despite her attempts to dissuade them. Now, unlike a lot of other such books, there is a reason for that here and it is an integral part of the story. But it still started to feel redundant after a while.

Lastly, the book could do with a little more editing. It was odd, I noticed very few misspelled or misused words. (There were some, but not a ton.) But every few pages a word just seemed to be missing. Here’s an example: “Do have any idea how that fascinates us?” Obviously, that’s supposed to be, Do YOU have any idea how that fascinates us? More often than not it was a ‘to’ or an ‘a’ missing though, small words that don’t change the meaning or context of a sentence but cause the reader to stutter over an otherwise smooth sentence.

So, in the end, if you’re looking for a little fluff to pass an evening with and you’re willing to overlook a few flaws, this is worth picking up.

Murder Most Witchy

Book Review of Murder Most Witchy (Wendy Lightower Mystery #1), by Emily Rylands

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Murder Most WitchyI downloaded a copy of Murder Most Witchy, by Emily Rylands from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
The Lightower family has been hunting down paranormal phenomena in the small town of North Harbor for generations. Unlike the rest of her family, Wendy Lightower has never dreamed of chasing evil witches or unearthing magical secrets. Her greatest ambition in life is to be a full-time librarian and leave her witchy roots far behind her. But when a murder is committed in her very own library, Wendy cannot ignore that there is no natural explanation for the killing. If the killer is to be caught, she must call on family and friends alike to solve the magical murder. 

When she chose books over boogeymen and libraries over lycans, Wendy thought she would finally be able to live a ‘normal’ life. Now, her library is no longer the sanctuary she imagined it to be, and there may just be a killer hiding in the stacks.

Review:
This was cute but a little on the slow side. While I never quite achieved boredom, it never grabbed me either. The murderer was obvious from the beginning, though thankfully not as obvious as the red herrings might have been. Unfortunately, even they were so obvious as to be too obvious and therefore easily dismissible.

The characters were fun but not deeply developed and a little on the cliché side. The outline of a love-triangle felt unsupported and annoying (especially since I couldn’t figure out why she even considered one of the men). There was no significant world-building. So, while it was entertaining it all felt very much like fluff.

The writing itself was straightforward, though the occasional abrupt shift in POV was jarring. There did seem to be a need for some further editing. I caught a lot of small mistakes, little things like the ‘witch trails’ instead of witch trials. Perfectly readable, but also distracting.

All in all, not a bad book but not great either. Kind of a witchy, cozy mystery. I’d read the second if I found it free, but I’m not rushing out to buy it.

The Accidental Demon Slayer

Book Review of The Accidental Demon Slayer (Demon Slayer #1), by Angie Fox

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The accidental Demon SlayerI grabbed a copy of Angie Fox‘s The Accidental Demon Slayer from the Amazon free list. I believe that it is perma-free.

Description from Goodreads:
It’s never a good day when an ancient demon shows up on your toilet bowl. For Lizzie Brown, that’s just the beginning. Soon her hyperactive terrier starts talking, and her long-lost biker witch Grandma is hurling Smuckers jars filled with magic. Just when she thinks she’s seen it all, Lizzie learns she’s a demon slayer-and all hell is after her.

Of course, that’s not the only thing after her. Dimitri Kallinikos, a devastatingly handsome shape-shifting griffin needs Lizzie to slay a demon of his own. But how do you talk a girl you’ve never met into going straight to the underworld? Lie. And if that doesn’t work, how dangerous could a little seduction be…?

Review:
Meh. I’ve seen it done before and done better. Mechanically the writing was fine, as was the editing but the story itself and the plotting…disastrous. It’s a longish book. There should have been ample time to develop characters, a world and relationships However, Ms. Fox appears to have not bothered.

If this book was a cake, the eggs would still be in the shells (maybe even still in the container), the flour in its bag, the butter in the dish, the milk in the jug, etc, all tossed in a bowl to sit next to each other. All the ingredients are there (a hunky love interest, an unavoidable destiny, an evil antagonist, a spunky side-kick, etc), but not mixed, measured or cooked.

There is no depth to any of the characters and some, most notably Dimitri, are wildly inconsistent, as is the plot. Time is indeterminate. The whole book takes place in 2 or 3 days (not sure which), but characters talk about things happening days ago that appear to have happened hours earlier, at most. And at one point someone goes on what must have been an extended adventure in the time it takes Dimitri and Lizzie to sit up and say, ‘hi.’

A shirt is ripped open a page after it was slowly unbuttoned. Dimitri admits to a lie that couldn’t have held water with the rest of the knowledgeable coven. Plus, he talks like he just showed up but is also supposed to have been hanging out with the witches and werewolves for a while. The antagonist, who has been killing and absorbing the power of all the witches in America for a hundred plus years (so, you know strong and skilled), is somehow easily defeated by a slayer with two days of “training.” Honestly, how believable is that? I could go on, but you get the point, I imagine.

The book’s one real redeeming quality is the humour, but even it’s so over the top and ridiculous it can’t carry the load. No doubt, this will appeal to some. I’m just not one of those people. Too bad too, I spent forever deciding to read it.

Edit: Why the hell is she holding a sword on the cover? She uses a “switch star” (think Xena’s….round thing…with points). Not once does she use a sword. What’s more, the ONE TIME anyone does, it’s a katana.