Tag Archives: paranormal

finding friday banner

Book Review: Finding Friday, by Quell T. Fox

Leave a reply

I picked up an Amazon freebie copy of Quell T. Fox‘s Finding Friday.
finding friday cover

Cheating boyfriend. Check.
Broken down car. Check.
Crappy motel. Check.
Hot guys that want me to go on a road trip with them. Quadruple check.

I’ve never had much in my life, always been at the bottom of the barrel. I’m used to it. I get by with my looks and bubbly personality. I thought my life was going good, until I caught my boyfriend in bed with another girl. It was like a damn train wreck, ya know? I wanted to look away but I couldn’t stop watching.

Gross.

Things only start to look up when I decide- probably against better judgement- to join four random guys on a road trip. But not just any guys…hot guys. Like, really hot guys. Their annual vacation, my getaway from reality. Couldn’t be worse than what I’ve already been through…could it? I mean, what could go wrong on a road trip with four hot men?

The guys- Maddox, Lenny, Callan & Alec.
They’ve spent countless years searching, falling apart to almost nothing. None of them have much left to give, until they hit one lucky town. Friday is who they’ve been looking for, but how do they tell her? How do they tell her what they are…what she is?

my review

Meh, I read this first book in The Road to Truth series to see if I was interested in the series. (I also have the omnibus.) I’m stopping here, though. I wanted to like this, and part of me wants to continue. But I realize it’s just the sunk cost fallacy rather than any actual enjoyment or connection or even curiosity about what happens.

I’ve finished this book and feel as if the plot has made no progress. I don’t know the characters at all, though I dislike some of them intensely. I have no understanding of the world or species particulars. Plus, the whole thing is in first person present tense, which means it is almost all dialogue and internal monologues. There is simply no subtlety or nuance to the writing.

All in all, as much as I hate abandoning anything partially completed (especially ending on a cliffhanger), I can’t take a further 5 books. I’m stopping here.

finding friday photo

Other Reviews:

monsters and miseries banner

Book Review: The Monsters & Miseries series, by A.K. Koonce

Leave a reply

I picked up a freebie copy of A.K. Koonce‘s the Monsters & Miseries series omnibus (Hellish Fae, Sinless Demons, and Spiteful Creatures) from Amazon.

monsters and miseries covers

There’s a dark secret inside of me. A monster clawing to get out.

I was thrown out of the fae world because of it. But I’m back now. Three brooding demons and a sinful incubus returned me to my sweet little homeland. And I’ll finish what I started all those years ago.

Sure, maybe my delicate fae features are twisting into spiraling horns and demonic eyes, but that won’t stop me from righting my wrongs.

The Queen of Hell might possess my body but the deadly vengeance in my blood is my own. The Prince will die by my hand for what he’s done.

All I have to do is make sure the creature at the back of my mind doesn’t kill me first.

my review

This was a bit of a whimpering fizzle for me; so much potential utterly wasted. The series started out well enough but then seemed to start spinning its wheels and repeating itself. It felt very unfocused.  Whole elements of the plot disappeared and then reappeared with no explanation (I’m thinking Catherine); the characters were caricatures rather than characters; the editing needs another pass; the ending was a cop-out, and all the “fuckings” drove me nuts.

Let me address this last one first, before anyone mistakes me for a pearl-clutcher. I curse like a sailor. I have no problem with foul language in books. But the use of fucking in this book is overwhelming. It barrelled right the fuck into redundant territory and kept fucking going. I got monsters and miseries photoso tired of reading it. It just became a stutter in the narrative. But worse, every fucking character used it in exactly the same fucking way, which meant it did nothing to differentiate characters. They all sounded exactly the fucking same.

Lastly, and most importantly, there isn’t enough story here to carry 500+ pages and nowhere near enough sex to be called porn-without-plot. So, I was bored. Others’ experiences may vary.

Other Review:

blood sugar banner

Book Review: Blood Sugar, by Michaela Haze

Leave a reply

I picked up Michaela Haze‘s Blood Sugar as an Amazon freebie.

blood sugar cover

They call my family a cult.

I’m not allowed to tell anyone what happens behind closed doors.

Our Sect worships the Old Gods. Our little community is surrounded by the Never Forest. A place neither Here nor There.
“The people that can dance with the dead will make their homes with the Demons.”

My family can do wondrous feats. Animate corpses, and see the future through the eyes of the dead.
I can do none of those things.

But the Gods have set their eye on my virtue.
There is one for each of the Seven Sins.
And I am theirs.

my review

I went into this with pretty low expectations. It was an Amazon freebie, and let’s be honest, those are pretty hit or miss. But Blood Sugar was a hit. I really enjoyed it. Now, admittedly, it wasn’t at all what I expected. Don’t—like me—go into this expecting steam and a bunch of growly alpha a-holes. That isn’t what you’ll find.

In fact, there is very little sex in the book, and what there is is past the 75% mark and pretty mild. And while the Sin’s might be a little stand-offish at times, they aren’t a-holes. These men are broken and sweet, even if they don’t always show it. Ophelia is the growly one, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that switch. She’s also capable, loyal, and broken herself.

Now, fair warning, though there is no on-page rape, a TW for it is probably appropriate. It plays blood sugar photoa fairly large part in the plot. I probably wouldn’t have read the book if I had known that, since I try to avoid rape in the books I read for fun. But in this case, I can honestly say it’s incorporated into the plot, not a cheap device (which is one of my most common complaints when it is used in a book).

The book isn’t perfect. It could use another editing pass, and there are several times that villains are defeated; all of them are anti-climactic. As was the ending, in that it just kind of ended with a bit of a bang but no wrap-up. Despite that, Haze just went on my author-to-watch list.

Other Reviews: