Tag Archives: paranormal

The Finder Witch and the Small Favor

Book Review: The Finder Witch and the Small Favor, by Kat Zaccard

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the finder witch and the small favor

I picked up a copy of Kat Zaccard‘s The Finder Witch and the Small Favor as an Amazon Freebie. And I would like it noticed that it is January 19th and here I’ve already read a Z-book for my Author Alphabet Challenge. (I try to read a book from an author who’s last name starts with every letter of the alphabet each year.) I’m ridiculously proud of myself. Usually, I get to mid-December and scramble to find a Q, X, and Z book. Well, Z is taken care of early this year!

Natalie can’t catch a break.

After losing her job and her roommate on the same day, she’d say she was cursed… if she believed in that sort of thing.

Natalie gets a crash course in the paranormal after a first date turns into a magical crime spree. Now she has to find a job, a place to live and… oh yeah… convince the cops that she’s not an accomplice to murder.

Her luck starts to change when she realizes her knack for finding things may be more than coincidence.

Natalie thought she was cursed… turns out she may be charmed.

Soooo, this just isn’t particularly good. It’s shallow, everyone talks in exclamation points, it needs more editing (especially for homophones), it’s super cheesy at points, and the last chapter throws in a twist that has no relation to the rest of the book at all. But what really killed it for me was the boredom. Here we have a book theoretically about a woman being hunted by a half-demon for her magical potential (should be exciting), but that is about 5% of the book. The rest is meaningless day-to-day activities, internal monologue, and needless magical lessons.

I’ll grant that the characters are likeable and there is some cute humor. But for the most part this was a fail for me.

the finder witch

Book Review: Shadow King, by Susan K. Hamilton

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shadow kingA few weeks back, I (or rather my Sadie’s Spotlight persona) had an Amazon credit that I decided to spend on books written by Twitter followers. Shadow King, by Susan K. Hamilton, was one of those books.

It’s likely to be the last book I read in 2020. There’s a chance I might finish one more before the new year, but not a great one.

about the book

Ambition. Betrayal. Revenge.

Centuries ago, the Faerie Realm was decimated by a vile and corrupt spell. To survive, the different faerie races—led by the Fae—escaped to the Human Realm where they’ve lived ever since.

As the Fae Patriarch of Boston’s criminal underworld, Aohdan Collins enjoys his playboy lifestyle while he works from the shadows to expand his growing empire, until one night when he shares a shot of whiskey with the lovely Seireadan Moore…

A Fae Seer, Seireadan is haunted by a vision of the Fae responsible for destroying Faerie and murdering her family. Common sense tells her to stay away from Aohdan, but his magnetism and charm are irresistible.As their passionate affair intensifies, Seireadan is pulled into the center of the underworld. And while her heart is bound to Aohdan, she cannot let go of her lifelong quest to hunt down the Fae who haunts her visions… especially when she realizes Aohdan might be the key to helping her find him.

But is revenge worth betraying the one she loves?

my reviewThis wasn’t bad, but I think it was a little overly long, the plot could have been tightened up a bit, and there were some super cliched elements. However, having said that, I liked the characters, liked that females (at least females of note to the story) were shown to be as capable, blood-thirsty, and powerful as men, and liked the general world (even if it’s not deeply developed).

All in all, I found it quite readable and would be happy to pick up another of Hamilton’s books.

Lucifer's Daughter

Book review: Lucifer’s Daughter, by Kel Carpenter

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Lucifer's daughter coverI picked up a copy of Lucifer’s Daughter, by Kel Carpenter from Amazon on one of it’s freebie days.about the book

We’ve all heard the story of the Four Horsemen. Harbingers of the apocalypse. Destruction given form. Four of the sexiest—wait no—forget that. You get my point.

So imagine my surprise when I find out everything I’ve ever been told, is a lie.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Let’s start from the beginning.

My name is Ruby Morningstar. I run a tattoo parlor in Portland with my bestfriend, have a pet raccoon, a crazy ex that stalks me, not to mention this one little thing… I’m a demon. Half-succubus, to be exact. For the last twenty-three years of my life, that’s the story I believed, but on the day a handsome stranger bails me out of jail my world is turned upside down, and suddenly I don’t know who I am anymore.

Because the Four Horsemen aren’t the bringers of the apocalypse.

I am.

Talk about never catching a break.

my review

I’m going to start off by stating the obvious. Having a female main character who every man wants sexually and isn’t safe to leave her home without someone trying to rape her is beyond painfully cliched. I mean eye-rollingly, seen it a bazillion time cliched. I know there’s no true new idea under the sun, but this has to be one of the most common ever written. So, color me unimpressed with it.

However, outside of that, I liked Ruby as a character. I liked the horsemen, the best friend and even the crazy racoon. The book does end just about the time it gets truly interesting, making it feel more like a serial than a series (and I hate that). But I’d be willing to read more. It’s flawed but also fun.