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Book Review of Evenfall Vol. 1 Director’s Cut (In the Company of Shadows #1 part 1), by Ais & Santino Hassell

Evenfall

I downloaded Asis and  Santino Hassel‘s Evenfall (In the Company of Shadows) for free from its website.

Description from Goodreads:
In a post-apocalyptic future, the Agency works behind the scenes to take down opposition groups that threaten the current government. Their goals justify all means, even when it comes to their own agents.

Sin is the Agency’s most efficient killer. His fighting skills and talent at assassination have led to him being described as a living weapon. However, he is also known to go off on unauthorized killing sprees, and his assigned partners have all wound up dead.

Boyd is not afraid to die. When his mother, a high-ranking Agency official, volunteers him to be Sin’s newest partner, he does not refuse. In fact, his life has been such an endless cycle of apathy and despair that he’d welcome death.

In the newly revised Director’s Cut of Evenfall, the first volume follows these two cast-offs as they go from strangers to partners who can only rely on each other while avoiding death, imprisonment, and dehumanization by the Agency that employs them.

Review:
Note: If you want to skip all of my circumstantial psycho-babble just skip down to the ***.

I first encountered Evenfall on Goodreads. A number of reviewers that I follow had read the book, with fairly mixed and extreme reactions. Those who loved it seemed to LOVE it and those who didn’t, really DIDN’T. There were very few mid-level reviews (at least amongst those in my update feed). I ignored it for a while since it’s a work in progress, with no final version yet available (and at almost 1500 pages I was hesitant to commit). But I was curious and since the whole thing is available for free, I decided to give it a go.

I was intrigued from the start. My interest was definitely piqued. (Hey A & S, BTW, for your next editing round you might want to search all your peakeds and change about half of them to piqued. Just a friendly FYI, since the forward said this still isn’t a final version either. Though, I imagine it could be called pretty close.)

So, here I am sitting on my patio, lounging with my Kindle and cuppa when a friendly message from Julio hits my inbox, essentially saying, “Hey you do know a newer version JUST came out, right?” “Wha?” I think. “I just downloaded this sucker.” But he was right and the newer version is no slight variation. Apparently, Book I was has been cut in half and about 100K words dropped! So, yeah, even with my tendency to stubbornly stay a course once started, it was worth updating my version for.

This means I got to read the 25 or so pages of each book and got an idea of how the two compare. (There is a reason I’m outlining all this, BTW.) The original version was much wordier. When imagined stretched over ~1500 pages and then compared to the condensed version I can easily see how 100K words could be carved out without significantly effecting the story. So even though a trick of the mind made the newer, slimed down version momentarily feel too skinny when read back to back with it’s heftier brother, no one need worry that too much was lost in what I imagine must have been a fairly ruthless editing round.

Ok, you’ve got my backstory. You see where I am as a reader—curious, already invested, committed to finishing what I started, my fear that I would be tangibly missing out on something by reading a different version than I sat down with assuaged, but also facing the very real possibility that I would love the book (3% was enough for me to know this was as likely as not), have the remains of the series on my Kindle but knowing I would do best by it to delete them and await their reedits too. Because having read those first few pages of the original version of this book was enough to know the new editions would be worth waiting for.

This is the emotional soup I settled in with as I read this book and I think with a lesser book it would have been enough to ruin it for me. (Yeah, I know I’m an emotional reader. I don’t always separate my reading experience from the value of a book itself. So, sue me. At least I’m honest about it.) Despite all that though, I basically loved the book.

***

I’ll fess up that seeing two broken men prop each-other up (be it romantically or just as, you know, bros) is my absolute favourite plot device. (I could call it a trope, but that feels insulting.) So, I was predisposed to love Hsin and Boyd from the beginning. They are both definitely broken and both definitely becoming the other’s support column. Did my heart just flutter? I think my heart fluttered.

But I also loved their contradictions too. Boyd is presented as the weaker of the two. But while he’s certainly physically weaker and possesses far less skill that Hsin, functionally he shows a surprisingly ability to just get on with things, which is a strength of sorts. It was the outwardly impenetrable Hsin whose occasional fractured fragility peeked through that carried the day for me, though. Loved it. LOVED IT!

I did have a few problems with them though. I didn’t think either age worked well. Boyd acted too old for a 19-year-old and Hsin too young and inexperienced for a 28-year-old. Yes, I see that Boyd needed to be young to have not yet had the years to get over his trauma and Hsin needed to be older to have the years behind him with the agency. So, I see why they are as they are, but neither felt realistic for me.

Nor, did it feel believable that the Agency would take such an untried youth on for such an important role. If these missions were so important, difficult and dangerous as to require skill of Hsin’s level, what competent agency would send a barely trained newbie out? This is especially questionable since there was no reason to believe Boyd could control Hsin, which was ostensibly his sole actual duty. It was a fairly major weakness of the plot, but overlookable for the enjoyment of the story.

Perhaps my skepticism originates in the fact that I never could believe either survived in the social isolation they’re said to have. And this is probably largely because the whole post WWWIII, dystopian America is mentioned but plays so little role as to be forgotten by the reader. More than once I reached a scene in some desolate street and had to remind myself of the temporal setting. If I had a stronger sense of the place, time and environment that created these men (Boyd especially) I might have had a different reaction.

I did really appreciate that the men’s partnership is a bit of a slow burn. You’re able to see and understand the causes of their change of opinion and actions/reaction. This makes the end result so much sweeter. I was especially prone to melt whenever Hsin showed his feelings, as opaque as they often were.

So, my final say? I could take or leave the political intrigue, BUT I fell in love with Hsin and Boyd. I will definitely be finishing the series out. However, I want to give it the most opportunity to shine. So, as difficult as it is, I’m forcing myself to stop here and wait for the newer editions to come out. (How I wish I hadn’t even thought to read the books until later this summer when the second half of Book I was already out!) I can’t speak for the epically long first edition that I almost read and a number of other reviewers have struggled so much with, but this one is most certainly worth picking up.

Book Review: Lion Hearted & Beast In Me (Divination Fall Trilogy #1&2), by Sommer Marsden

I initially downloaded Sommer Marsden’Beast In Me from the Amazon free list. When I could never catch the prequel, Lion Hearted, free I gave up and bought it.

Lion HeartedDescription of Lion Hearted:
Tryg Avondale is the muscle for his pride, and when he’s called upon to hunt down two missing teens, he sees the job for what it is – a chance to give his pride a break from him and his “nature”. Tryg is a gay lion and it’s not something his “family” seems to embrace.

He takes with him Luke Dorchester – an empath and the perfect travel companion. Luke can feel and soothe every emotion that coils deep inside Tryg, and the sex between them is the hottest Tryg has ever known. Tryg has no intention of letting his emotions go any further when it comes to this brand new man. But he also has zero intention of letting him go. What follows is a road trip from campground to campground, hot nights in hotel rooms and close encounters spent together as they follow the scent of the two abducted shifters. A scent that takes them to Divination Falls, a haven for shifters and associated magical folk; a place where an old evil will surface and Tryg will learn just how far his love for lion-hearted Luke must take him.

Review:
I’m a bit torn on this one. In some ways I thought this was a fairly middling read, enjoyable but nothing to sing about. In other ways, I found myself surprisingly happy with it. I thought the plot was ok. I thought the characters were ok. I thought the sex was ok. I wasn’t displeased with any of it, but I didn’t find myself falling in love with any of it either.

However, somewhere in there, among the shallow character portrayals and weak plot, drug out over 100+ pages by copious amounts of sex (there is A LOT, so much that I thought the guys could probably have rescued the girls a lot sooner if they’d stopped shagging and got on with investigating) I found a series of touchingly romantic moments. Yes, almost all of them occurred in the middle of a sex scene and there is a bit of a sex=love correlation going on that I find a little disturbing. But regardless of their literary surroundings, I found Tryg’s slow change of disposition sweet, for lack of a better word.

Since there was sooo much sex, I should probably talk about it. None of it was overly graphic. It didn’t foray into kinky territory or anything. It was all fairly straight forward. My only real comment would be on the ridged roles. This never used to bother me. I came to reading M/M by way of yaoi manga, where I would call it the norm rather than the exception. But the more m/m I read the more often I find myself bothered when there is no flexibility in who gives and receives, asks or demands, etc. And I found it particularly notable here. It was emphasised and I found myself uncomfortable with it.

Speaking of uncomfortable, I didn’t care for Tryg calling Luke ‘boy’ all the time. Luke’s 25 to Tryg’s 32, so there’s no pedophilia or anything, but the use of ‘boy’ or, even worse, ‘the boy’ in sex scenes just felt hinky. Plus, it just seemed to be one more way to emphasise the power disparity between the two of them.

Lastly, I want to address the cover. I know this may seem irrelevant, especially since covers can so easily change, but this one hit a pet peeve of mine so I’m going to indulge myself by griping about it. If a book is going to have one of its characters on the cover (a dangerous proposition to start with), every effort should be made to ensure that the picture used matches the character it’s representing. As an example, I once read a book in which the main character was meant to be a natural blond and the bleach blond on the cover had an inch and a half of dark roots–obviously not natural then. (I can’t be the only person who notices this kind of thing.)

Here the narrator goes to some effort to describe the way Tryg keeps his hair short and his face cleanly shaven to avoid the cliché lion-headed appearance (which is probably exactly the impression this particular picture was going for). This means he would likely be displeased with the very image used to represent him on the cover and if the character would be irked by it so am I. Mostly, however, I find it disruptive to look at a cover and be forced to notice discrepancies instead of consistence with the story. The cover is still part of the book, after all.

Beast in MeDescription of Beast In Me
Weather worker Cameron Bale rolls into Divination Falls after being prompted by Spirit and Brother Lighting. He discovers that the small, hidden town full of shifters and magical types is suffering a series of unsettling events. There’s speculation from the town seers that he could be the answer they’ve been looking for. Cameron’s willing to try and help: he’s got nowhere to go and nothing to lose. His life is simply about loneliness and it turns out that Trace, a grumpy wolf with stunning eyes, knows just what that feels like. Cam finds himself wishing maybe they could be alone … together. Oh yeah, and battle whatever evil it is that still lurks in Divination Falls.

Review:
While this wasn’t a horrible book, it wasn’t all that great either. I’m really glad that I got it for free. It certainly wasn’t as good as book one. I think the best way to describe it is clumsy and abrupt. The writing is clunky, with pretentious descriptions of emotions substituting for solid, believable emotional developments.

What I mean is that Mrs. Marsden uses heavily evocative language to create artificially poignant responses in the reader. I call it artificial because the plot didn’t allow for the characters to develop the feelings the reader is told they suddenly have for one another. But contradictorily, we’re hit with some lovely imagery that if placed within a more thoroughly and patiently established story could have made for a gripping read.

This is a serious case insta-lust, moving to instant ‘I want to support and heal him’ as step one of insta-love. It’s that second one that really drives me crazy. Insta-lust I can handle. Insta-love I don’t like, but I’ve learned to accept. (They’re shifters after all.) But the whole idea of instantly knowing, trusting, and seeking to meaningfully support another is just too much for me and my distaste for sappy hearts and flowers in general. It’s wholly unsupportable in a plot.

Seriously, this instant connection between the two starts before the two men have even seen eachother’s faces. It’s so abrupt that that the book just feels like a listing of emotions, events and sexual positions with no real story attached.

What’s more, the weak attempt to provide a mystery as a plot was essentially a failure. Seeing Cameron go around and listen to everyone’s stories, when the information could have just been recapped for him, felt like filler. Then he suddenly and almost miraculously knew what to do, with no evidence of an impetuous to his sudden insight. Isn’t that convenient for him?

Add to that so much sex that it actually started to feel redundant and I’m bound to lose interest. (And for the record, I love me some smexy yum-yum. But too much is too much.)

Lastly, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but the whole thing kind of had a bit of a YA feel to it. Cameron went around and met a variety of different shifter and a lot of time (that the book really couldn’t afford to dedicate to such distractions) was spent describing them and their quirks. It gave the whole thing a bit of a Hogwarts/Harry Potter-like feel. By which I mean a ‘lets go see some strange and marvellous mythological creatures just for the amazement factor.’ It didn’t contribute anything to the story and IMO detracted from the already lagging attempt at a plot.

Additionally, Cameron’s tendency to just say anything with no filter and to space out easily and repeatedly, gave him a childlike quality. When paired with the litany of fairytale beasts I’m reminded of young adult (or even middle grade) literature…except for the sex, of course. Lots and lots of sex. It wasn’t a successful combination for me.

Final thought…Ms. Marsen can write. She proved that more book one of the series than here, but she’s proven it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m a huge fan of what she writes, or rather the relationships she chooses to create. (This is another completely inflexible top/bottom, dominant/submissive pairing, for example.)To each their own, of course, but it’s not topping any of my favourites lists.

Dirty Deeds

Book Review of Dirty Deeds (Dirty Deeds #1), by S. E. Jakes

Dirty DeedsI’ve been on a S. E. Jakes kick lately, as I scurry to get to know all of the Extreme Escapes, LTD men. Lucky for me, Netgalley is willing to send them to me. Today I got ahold of Dirty Deeds.

Description from Goodreads:
Two seasoned operatives finally meet their match: each other.

Cillian works for the mysterious Special Branch 20: an organization that runs black ops commissioned by the British government. His specialty is deep undercover assignments with virtually no support. He’s been alone for so long that he no longer knows anything else.

Mal’s also used to being alone. Wanted in several states and even more countries, he’s not allowed in the vicinity of any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. And his current assignment is to track Cillian in order to discover the spook’s endgame. Except he’s no longer sure which one of them is getting played.

Cillian isn’t about to let the mission that’s consumed him for the past several years crumble because an outsider is poking around where he doesn’t belong. But Mal forces his way through Cillian’s defenses—and into his heart—exposing a devastating betrayal that could destroy them both.

Review:
Ah, hell, there was cursing involved in reading this book, both the good kind and the ‘I may have just damaged my kindle in the rage induced tantrum’ kind.

The good: Cillian and Mal are hawt! I mean, seriously smokin’ hot together…even if they almost aren’t ever really ‘together.’ Like each of Jakes’ books I’ve read so far, seeing two damaged men at least prop each-other up (if not all out heal one another) touches something soft inside that I absolutely love. Plus, the writing is pretty good and the dialogue believable.

The bad: There seemed to be a lot more emotional impact inferred than actually shown. One man, usually Cillian, would say something and the other man would be breathless or they’d have phone sex (IM sex) and be panting as if they’d had the real thing. Not entirely believable.

Lastly, why, oh why, does a book that barely reaches 100 pages and is intended as at least a trilogy need to be a cliffhanger? Why, actually, does it need to be three novellas, instead of one solid book, at all? This breaking of a story into several snippets is a trend that I despise. I have dropped entire series and authors, even, because of it. I HATE IT! Do you hear me authors and publishing industry? I HATE IT. Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop.

Final say: good, worth reading…but I’d have waited until the series was complete if I’d known it has a very precipitous cliffhanger and no resolution or conclusion.