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Book Review of The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies #1), by K. J. Charles

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The Magpie LordI borrowed a copy of The Magpie Lord, by K. J. Charles. (Thanks, L.)

Description from Goodreads:
Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn’t expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude…and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’sdefinitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn’t the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die.

Review:
A number of people I follow of Goodreads have read and loved this book. I’m always nervous starting such a book, because there is so much more of a chance of going in with high expectations and being doubly disappointed if it doesn’t live up to the hype. Luckily for me, The Magpie Lord does. I really quite enjoyed it.

I liked Crane’s Devil may care attitude. (I was expecting a stuffy Earl and was relieved to find he wasn’t.) I liked that Day held his own, despite his small stature. I adored Merrick. He was, by far, my favourite character. I liked everyone’s witty banter and general disregard of social dictates.

Despite what I liked, there were also things that niggled at me. I thought Crane’s transition into trash-talking sexual pursuer was sudden and startlingly abrupt. As if from one page to the next he went from having a professional relationship with Day to seeing him as a potential conquest and that required he tell him repeatedly what he would do to him.

I thought that despite being strong in most contexts, anytime the story swerved toward a sexy scene all Day’s descriptions felt like those of a woman. To quote another reviewer (because I couldn’t say it better), “He is constantly on his knees, gets his red lips moistened and “broken” open by Crane, he is breathy, nearly faints half of the time, reacts like a Harlequin lady to Crane, is snippy, in the end gets f*cked like a girl (tried several times and f*cked in the end like that as well) and it’s just not a femme who is described there. It’s a “male girl”.”

I felt cheated out of the sex too. There were several almosts, but the final actual act was practically glossed over in favour of its consequences. What’s more, the suggestion that Day was a natural submissive to Crane’s preferred domination came out of nowhere and felt like a gimmick in the end. What it actually probably is is a set up for their relationship in future books, but I can only judge from here for now.

Lastly, though the mystery was interesting for most of the book, the revelation of the villian(s) was a let down. They came out of nowhere, thereby holding no emotional relevance for the reader. Heck, half the time I couldn’t even keep the names straight as they’d played so little role in the book that they hadn’t cemented in my mind and they were so similar.

So, I had a couple complaints, it’s true. But For the most part, despite not being a fan of historical fiction in general, I really enjoyed the book and will be looking to continue the series.

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.

Gives Light

Book Review of Gives Light, by Rose Christo

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Gives LIghtI grabbed a copy of Rose Christo‘s novel, Gives Light, from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Skylar is witty, empathetic, sensitive–and mute. Skylar hasn’t uttered a single word since his mother died eleven years ago, a senseless tragedy he’s grateful he doesn’t have to talk about.

When Skylar’s father mysteriously vanishes one summer afternoon, Skylar is placed in the temporary custody of his only remaining relative, an estranged grandmother living on an Indian reservation in the middle of arid Arizona.

Adapting to a brand new culture is the least of Skylar’s qualms. Because Skylar’s mother did not die a peaceful death. Skylar’s mother was murdered eleven years ago on the Nettlebush Reserve. And her murderer left behind a son.

And he is like nothing Skylar has ever known.

Review:
I generally thought this was very sweet, but before I do anything else I’m going to mention one major problem I had with the book. Then I’m going to make a conscious and concerted effort to ignore it, because that’s how I read the book.

Skylar is said to be 16-years-old and Rafael probably a little older. I’ve never been a teenage boy, but it’s my understanding that at that age they are walking balls of hormones and can be expected to have become intimately familiar with “themselves” and their ever-present “urges.”

Skyar and Rafael are innocents. Christo went to great pains to establish this. For example, at one early point Skylar wanted to hug someone in thanks. He acknowledges that most boys his age wouldn’t, but he did. He’s thus shown, to be less emotionally reserved (more child-like) than his peers. Later, Rafael saw a pack of Trojans and didn’t even know what they were. I know the reservation was remote and didn’t have TV and such, but I’m supposed to believe men don’t talk?

Even after they fall in love (I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by telling you it’s a romance.) there is no sexual tension. They remain blissfully innocent of the temptations of the flesh. Another, less forgiving, reviewer called them “boy-shaped, iniquity-free automatons.” It’s not wholly inaccurate. I however thought all their innocence smacked of prepubescence and compromised the credibility of the book.

Now, I do understand that this is YA m/m romance and had the boys been humping like rabbits, or more realistic teenagers, it would have been a very different book and lost a little of it’s lightness. I do get it. So I do understand why it’s written the way it is. That’s why I decided to let the issue go and focus on the rest of the plot.

But sex probably could have been addressed, or at least it could have been suggested that they even knew what it was. All the ‘funny feelings in their stomachs’ didn’t really work as a substitute for the raging erection realism would have required.

Other than that one big issue, I basically read this book with a silly smile slapped on my face. It’s sweet, that’s the best word for it. Seeing Skylar find a place in the world and Rafael find someone to give him the forgiveness he’s always wanted was heart warming.

I did think the characters were a little gendered, with Skylar and his disability being the weaker and therefore feminized half of the pairing. This showed in the ways Rafael, being gentlemanly, always held his hand and walked him home, but never the other way around. Skylar loved the way Rafael’s arms made him feels safe and how naturally protective Rafael was of him, but never the other way around. The way Rafael was a bundle of energy and action, while Skylar was calm and sedate. The way Rafael was broad and strong, while Skylar was smaller, but long and wispy. The way Skylar chose to cook because he couldn’t abide the cruelty of hunting, while Rafael was an expert hunter and outdoorsman.

None of it was overt and any one or two of those distinctions wouldn’t mean anything. But taken all together it starts to feel like maybe it does.

I also thought everyone’s, not only easy acceptance of their relationship, but tendency to come to Skylar unprompted to tell him they had no problem with who he loved was just too easy. Again, it was sweet that everyone was so open-minded and accepting, but it smoothed everything out with no effort on Skylar or Rafael’s part. This is especially true as the book states more than once how the Shoshone way is to keep their opinions to themselves and not interfere in others’ private lives.

The writing itself was beautiful. It bordered on purple on occasion, but mostly stayed on the right side of the line. I also really liked the narratives tone. It was quite witty. There was also a wonderful theme of forgiveness and the importance of community. All-in-all, I had some complaints, but I enjoyed it all the same.