Tag Archives: Paranormal romance

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Book Review: War of Hearts, by S. Young

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In 2021, I picked S. Young‘s War of Hearts up as an Amazon freebie. I finally got around to reading it.

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Thea Quinn has no idea what she is. All she knows is that her abilities have been a plague upon her life since she was a child. After years of suffering at the hands of a megalomaniac, Thea escaped and has been on the run ever since.

The leadership and protection of his pack are of the utmost importance to Conall MacLennan, Alpha and Chief of Clan MacLennan, the last werewolf pack in Scotland. Which is why watching his sister slowly die of a lycanthropic disease is emotional torture. When Conall is approached by a businessman who offers a cure for his sister in exchange for the use of Conall’s rare tracking ability, Conall forges an unbreakable contract with him. He has to find and retrieve the key to the cure: dangerous murderer, Thea Quinn.

Thea’s attempts to evade the ruthless werewolf are not only thwarted by the Alpha, but by outside dangers. With no choice but to rely on one another for survival, truths are revealed, intensifying a passionate connection they both fight to resist. At war with themselves and each other, Conall and Thea’s journey to Scotland forces them to face a heartrending choice between love and betrayal.

my review

I enjoyed this. It reminded me a lot of older PNR, except that it didn’t have a toxic alpha a-hole MMC, and the FMC isn’t a doormat. (Yes, that’s a generalization about gender tropes in older PNR and doesn’t always hold true. But it was definitely the fad for a while.) I mean, it’s not wholly free of the icky genderings. The FMC still finds love but has to give up much of her power, as they so often do (and he doesn’t). She also gets awfully weepy as soon as she accepts him. But, honestly, it was so much less than is common. I’ll take any improvement I can get in this direction.

All in all, I liked the characters a lot. The world and the larger plotline seem interesting enough, and the writing is clean and easy to read. Plus, it didn’t end on a cliffhanger! The villain is pretty cliched, and the whole thing is largely predictable. There are no surprises here. But if you like earlier 2000s PNR, this one, published in 2019, will still serve the purpose.

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Other Reviews:

5 reasons to read War of Hearts by S. Young

 

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Book Review: Adored by the Grumpy Ghost, by Ivy Knox

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I somehow picked up a BookFunnel copy of Adored by the Grumpy Ghost (by Ivy Knox). The problem is that I have lost track of who gave me the book and why, and I suspect I was supposed to post something on Instagram that got lost. (which means I probably flaked on someone, sorry.) So, I opted to read it instead.

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Unemployed, broke, and on the verge of homelessness is not how Natalie pictured life in her early 40s, but since being her mother’s caregiver wiped the last of her savings, she’s forced to grieve her mother’s death in a state of panic as she looks for a job. Any job that’ll pay enough to keep a roof over her head.

Luckily, her college roommate just inherited an old Victorian mansion in the mountains of northern New Hampshire, and doesn’t have the time to fix it up or rent it out herself. Natalie can stay rent-free as long as she needs. There’s gotta be a catch, right?

A grumpy ghost set in his ways …

There’s nothing Winston hates more than roommates. Now this irritating blonde woman has moved in, she won’t stop crying, she leaves crumbs everywhere, and she plays way too much Taylor Swift for his liking. It should be easy enough to scare her away.

As much as he hates sharing a space with her, though, he can’t deny his attraction. Those soft lips. Her luscious curves. The adorable scrunch of her nose when she’s frustrated. He can’t get her out of his mind. But this isn’t her house. At some point, she’ll have to leave. How can he keep her by his side when she deserves more than a penniless ghost could ever offer?

my review

This was cute, but it is very low stakes. Other than the obligatory 3rd act breakup, there is almost no tension in the plot. Even the discovery of ghosts and monsters, more generally, is glossed over with no reaction, not once, but twice (two characters). Once, it was such a non-issue that it was even off-page.

This low angst, shallow plotting is often fine for a sweet, cozy romance. And it likely would have been here, except that this book is 268 pages long. That is dragging a wafer-thin plot a looong way. The characters deal with some heavy topics in their past. But other than that, the plot is about as deep a puddle. And it struggled to stretch to the page length.

adored by the grumpy ghost photoI did like the main character a lot and appreciate that she is both plus-sized and in her 40s, not to mention child-free and without a successful career. She is relatable, is what I am saying. The MMC is not without issue, but he is also eager to please and careful about his partner. That’s a whole lot in his favor.

All in all, if you’re just looking for a cotton candy, feel-good read. This will likely fill the bill, but won’t do much more.

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Book Review: Terror at the Gates, by Scarlett St. Clair

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I purchased a signed copy of Scarlett St. Clair‘s Terror at the Gates at a local bookstore.

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She is the beginning and the end.
She is peace and chaos.
She is terror knocking at the gates.

Estranged from her powerful family, Lilith Leviathan finds refuge in Nineveh, a district in the city of Eden devoted to sin. There, she uses her magic to steal for a living, attracting the attention of the five governing families as well as the church, which expects women to remain pious and silent. When Lilith comes into possession of a beautiful blade, she thinks all her worries are over…until her usual buyer dies while inspecting it.

Frantic, Lilith turns to the only man who can help her: Zahariev, head of the Zareth family and ruler of Nineveh. His currency is information, and his power is extortion, though he’s always had a soft spot for Lilith. But when the dagger appears, he isn’t sure he can protect her from what’s to come.

Together, they embark on a mission to discover the true power running their world. As their lives intertwine, Lilith realizes Zahariev is more than just a friend, but their devotion to each other is a threat—to the truth, to the church, and to those who want to tear it all down.

my review

I thought this was ok. It kept me interested. But ultimately, I didn’t think there was anything particularly special about it. I liked Lilith well enough. She’s got a backbone and seems to be a good person. But she also would have been significantly less able and dynamic without her connection to Zahariev. It’s her connection to his social power that enables her to do the things that make her interesting in the book. And I’m a little like, ‘meh’ on that fact. For his part, Zahariev is interesting on the surface. I enjoyed his quiet longing. But he’s a cardboard cutout. The reader barely gets to know him and never learns when, why, or how he fell so in love with Lilith. The villains are villainous. But it’s basically just a fantasy version of the Catholic church, and I’m always a little like, ‘unless this turns out to actually be some post-apocalyptic earth, either bite the bullet and use (and name) the Catholic church or make your vile religion different enough from the church to not feel so very much like a lazy copy.’ All in all, I’d be willing to read the next in the series. But I’m not running out to buy it.

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Other Reviews:

Amphibian Authors: Book Review: Terror at the Gates