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selarial's Song

Review of Laura Brewer’s Selarial’s Song

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I grabbed Laura Brewer‘s Sci-Fi novel Selarial’s Song (The Songs of Talmanor, #1) off of the KDP free list a few months back.

Long description from Goodreads:
Selarial, a Singer of notable telepathic ability, is Chief Engineer aboard the Equinox. Few outside the other Sorthians aboard her ship are aware she is also the daughter of Sorth’s Ambassador. She, like all Singers, is mind bonded with two of Sorth’s other sentient species; Kirrlea, a sisha (feline) and Roth, a lidan (raptor). Both are known for their independence, loyalty and ferocity in a fight. As strange as it appears to outsiders, both Singers and sisha are often skilled healers as well as fighters. 

Alcar Trent is Captain of the Ventura and native of Tarrel, another of the Founding Worlds. His only home has been his ship for two decades. He is uncertain of the talents of the Sorthians on the Equinox, but regards them as strong allies that he trusts to watch ones back in a fight. Not all of his crew agree with that. However, he comes to rely on Selarial’s abilities and to discover some of his own.

When Selarial and Alcar’s ships are assigned to border patrol together, they know it is likely to get rough. It had been eight hundred years since the war with the Thess’n Empire. The Coalition’s relations with their old enemy had always been strained, but now the Thess’ns are raiding again. The Coalition forces on the border know war is on the verge of breaking out again, but most of the leadership is too concerned with political maneuvering to take the threat seriously. The notable exceptions are the worlds that founded the Coalition, including Sorth and Tarrel.

As incidents increase, Selarial and Alcar begin to see that Sorthians are high on the list of targets. Selarial also appears to acquire the personal enmity of one of the Thess’n Warlords. When ancient weapons, long thought destroyed, begin to appear in the hands of their enemies, Selarial wants to know why. On Sorth, the Singer Council delves into ancient records for answers, but uncovers more questions and an urgent warning.

Review:

I really enjoyed this book in a mellow sort of way. I like the story and the characters a lot, but it  moves fairly slowly. This encourages the reader (or at least me as a reader) to slow down too. Brewer spends a lot of time describing history and/or the use of one’s psychic skills. This is interesting but slows the action down. It also makes the book feel like it is probably part of a much bigger story. Otherwise the story couldn’t afford to dedicate so much time to non-events IMO. What the book lacks in heart-racing, page turning action it makes up in carefully considered spiritual awareness though. The Sorthians are a model of what humans should and could aspire to. Well maybe not the whole psychic linking part (though that would be pretty awesome), but certainly the environmentally, socially and spiritually cognizant part.

I have to admit that Alcar and Selarial’s bonding did smack a little bit of the insta-love that is so frequent in YA books. It always irks me and here is no exception. I would have liked them to have gotten to know each other a little bit. I get that there is probably supposed to be a certain amount of providence or divine intercession going on, but that feels like a necessary assumption that I would rather not have to make. Either way I enjoyed the book enough to race right back to Amazon and buy the second (Dream Song). 

Roark’s Cove

On a more personal note, I discovered from Brewer’s Twitter page that she is from (or at least in) Monteagle, Tn. This  is pretty close to my home turf. I was born in Alto, which is just down the mountain. This will mean next to nothing to most people, since both Alto and Monteagle are  pretty small towns. But it gave me a small personal thrill. As a result, while I would never be so arrogant as to presume to know any author’s inspiration, I have completely re-visualized The Vales on Sorth as Roark’s Cove. I just can’t help it. The Cove is one of my favourite places on earth and I think it is every bit as beautiful as the Singer’s haven is said to be. 

Review of Leigh Parker’s 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid

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I’ve come across Leigh Parker on Goodreads a couple times, so when I saw her book on the Amazon free list back in June I nabbed it. Boy I’m glad I did.

Description from Amazon:
Three years after becoming a Cupid, the normally cheeky and cheerful Leigh has to question her work ethics when her next assignment happens to be the woman who killed her. 

Meet Natalie McIntyre, actually, no, you wouldn’t want to meet Natalie McIntyre, the foul mouthed, anti social Senior Manager at her father’s cardboard box factory who really isn’t in the mood to spend the next 7 days with a weird blonde haired girl who just will not go away. 

Over the course of a week Leigh has her work cut out when she learns that not only is Natalie hell bent on being stubborn, cranky and incredibly hard to pair but the appearance of the blue spark puts everything she’s ever learnt as a Cupid in jeopardy.

Oh man did I laugh while reading this book. The one-liners simply never stop. Yes, it starts off a little slow with Leigh giving the reader the run down on the rules and such of being dead and a cupid. But once she meets Natalie the fun really starts. Yes the language is deplorable. They curse like sailers, but there really couldn’t be a better way to express the supreme frustration of some of the characters. Yes, some of the antics are simply over the top, but if you just suspend your judgement and roll with the punches it is a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.

I really liked Leigh and Natalie (even though Leigh was possibly the most unlikeable person alive…and really Leigh wasn’t that far behind). They took chunk after chunk out of each-other, but you could relate to their situation. They are the odd couple and stuck with each other. They made the best of it by taking it out on one another. Despite their extreme dislike for each-other their emotional shift was easy to follow and didn’t feel too abrupt. Then the whole thing wrapped up on and incredible AWWW moment. As an aside I liked Sam and God too. I’m just saying.

I don’t usually like books told in the first person, but Leigh’s voice was so conversational (bubbly even…she was a blond) that I’ll make an exception for it. The POV worked well. I’m told that there is a sequel due out by the end of the year (10 Ways To P*** Off A Reaper). I’m eagerly awaiting it’s release and can’t wait to read it.

Book 1 & 2 of Lori Brighton’s The Hunter Series

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I grabbed Lori Brighton‘s PNR The Ghost Hunter from the Amazon KDP list and to my complete surprise remembered that I owned it. Usually if an ebook isn’t lendable I don’t add it to my Kindle list and end up forgetting about it…out of sight, out of mind after all. I don’t particularly care for the cover, but I guess it must have stuck in my mind.

Description from Goodreads:
When Ashley Hunter inherits the Inn where her father mysteriously vanished years ago, she jumps at the chance to finally uncover the truth about his disappearance. But soon after taking ownership of the decrepit building, Ashley realizes she’s in for far more than she bargained. Not only has she inherited answers to many sought-after questions, she’s also inherited spirits, demons and even fallen angels! Then Cristian arrives, a gorgeous man who insists he merely needs a room to rent. She believes him, until one by one her ghosts start disappearing…

As a fallen angel destined for a life of servitude, Cristian Lucius is relegated to protecting earth from unwanted spirits. But he can’t accomplish this daunting task alone. He requires assistance from the very woman who frustrates him as much as she intrigues him. Cristian is determined to ignore his intense attraction for Ashley, and focus on his mission. If they don’t work together, they won’t have a chance in hell of defeating the demon threatening their lives. The problem is getting Ashley to trust him. No easy task, considering Cristian is the very man responsible for her father’s disappearance.

The Ghost Hunter started off well. Crumpled and jet lagged Ashley arrived in England to inherit a decrepit inn from he aunt and find some answers about her father’s disappearance. Life gets complicated after that.

I generally liked Ashley. She had had a hard life and was finally trying to accept herself as is. I can appreciate that. She had an irritating habit of chatting even when endangered though. I wanted to scream at her,”Come on shut up and hide already, or run, or fight, or something, just shut up!” Not that what she often said wasn’t of relevance, but who stands around and chats when a demon is breathing down their neck? She was witty though. She pulled some amusing one liners that I couldn’t help enjoying. 

Christian and his Scottish burr were sexy as they were supposed to be and I liked him too. You have to appreciate a man who tries so hard to do the right thing. But while I get that he was surprised to find himself attracted to Ashley, I honestly think he made the discovery that he loved her 15 times. Blimey! There were a lot of ‘oh how he loved her,’ ‘did she want him as much as he wanted her,’ why couldn’t he get her off his mind,’ etc (or lines of the sort). It did get a little repetitive and a lot of the book was dedicated to it.

Blimey, describes the language in this book perfectly. There were a lot of them, ‘bloody hells,’ shite/arse and other such classic Englishisms. (I know that isn’t really a word, but you know what I mean.) There was also phonetic speech. While this did give the characters character it was really distracting. I mean I had to read the line ‘Yer da’ numerous times before I figured out it meant your dad. It took me a while to remember that ‘ken’ could mean know, so that the line ‘ye ken’ meant you know. Then again “Jaysus, Mary and Joseph” left no question of whether John spoke with an Irish brogue or not. It just sounds right. I guess it is just a think line between some and too much.

All-in-all I liked the book well enough to get the second one. It made me laugh and I liked Devon, so I wanted to know what happens to him.

Description from Goodreads:
Ellie has always been different, from playing with fairies as a child to fighting demons as an adult. She grew up wondering why no one else seemed to notice the oddities of the world that she came into contact with on a daily basis. When she is the only witness of a demon attack and the police suspect her, Ellie skips the country heading to England where she plans to keep a low profile. Everything is going fine, until Devon appears, stumbling around her garden like a drunken fool, and completely naked no less.

Six months ago Devon sacrificed himself to bind the soul of a demon and save the world from certain destruction. Thanks to a spell gone awry, Devon is back. But Devon hasn’t come alone. The very demon he tried to destroy has returned and is wreaking havoc on earth. When Devon meets Ellie, he instantly recognizes another supernatural being. Ellie may just be the only person who is strong enough to destroy the demon, if the demon doesn’t destroy her first.

In one sense I liked Demon Hunter better than Ghost Hunter. I think the writing was better. Not that it was bad in the first one, but I liked it more here. I also liked the juxtaposition of Devon’s Victorian upbringing with his strong warrior nature. But it was his broken, puppy dog moments that made me love him. Ellie’s amazing backbone was a joy. I much prefer a strong heroine to a wimpy one. Plus, the occasion in which she took on more traditionally male romance characteristics (like thinking of Devon as hers) made me smile. I like it when authors play with genre tropes. 

What I didn’t like was the constant and often misplaced descriptions of Devon’s amorousness. Well-nigh half the book was dedicated to explaining how enamoured he was with Ellie. We get it already. It detracted from the rest of the plot and often slowed the action down. I had hoped that if there is to be a third book it would be based on Kipps….I really liked him.

Anyhow, I don’t feel like my time was waisted, but I’m  little relieved that there isn’t another one yet. I liked them enough to read it if there was, but am also not disappointed to be moving on.