Tag Archives: paranormal

Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper

Book Review of Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper, by J.L. Bryan

Ellie JordanI grabbed an e-copy of Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper, by J. L. Bryan, when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Ellie Jordan’s job is to catch and remove unwanted ghosts. Part detective, part paranormal exterminator, Ellie operates out of Savannah, Georgia, the most haunted city in the United States. 

When a family contacts her to deal with a disturbing presence in the old mansion they’ve recently purchased, Ellie first believes it to be a typical, by-the-book specter, a residual haunting by a restless spirit. Instead, she finds herself confronting an evil older and more powerful than she’d ever expected, rooted in the house’s long and sordid history of luxury, sin, and murder. The dangerous entity seems particularly interested in her clients’ ten-year-old daughter. 

Soon her own life is in danger, and Ellie must find a way to exorcise the darkness of the house before it can kill her, her clients, or their frightened young child. 

Review:
I was really pleasantly surprised by this one. The narrative style engaged me. The ghost hunting characters were fleshed out enough to be relatable, though admittedly not particularly deep or notable. The mystery, while not hard to figure out, kept me interested and it was creepy as all get-out.

I did find it a little predictable, there was a bit of repetition and the hauntees felt a tad shallow. But for the most part, it was a satisfying read. It’s hard to ask for more than that. In terms of pure entertainment, it’s a win.

Dragons Treasure

Book Review of Dragon’s Treasure, by C.J. Starkey

Dragon's TreasureI picked up a copy of Dragon’s Treasure (by C. J. Starkey) when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Sean has a type, he’s not ashamed to admit, and Jack fits the bill to a tee.  

Sean 
My life was a blur of work, sleep and the occasional night out. Despite my friends’ best efforts to get me laid on a regular basis I just couldn’t make anything stick. 
It didn’t seem like Jack was going to be any different. I made a complete and utter fool of myself more than once and then our first intimate encounter was a threesome with a werewolf shifter. Finding out he was a dragon shifter should have been more surprising than it was but after that first time, I think I knew I wanted him for keeps. 
I should have known our relationship would happen on it’s own timeline, completely out of our control. 

Jack 
Sean was fascinating from the very beginning. He was a contradiction in every sense of the word – I never knew whether to be blown away by his surprising intelligence or by how deep he could stick his foot in his mouth. 
I’d had too many flings go sour to be willing to risk it, even in spite of the animal attraction I felt towards him. An old friend not-so-gently encouraged me into it and well, I always did tend to plunge headfirst into things. 
Why should this be any different? 

A Dragon’s Treasure is a standalone MM story, with steamy love scenes, Mpreg and a HEA ending! 

Review:
#DNF at 19%, which is the end of A Dragon’s Treasure. The rest being “bonus stories.” Um, No. I’m pretty sure this is just a collection of short stories, despite what the cover and title say. What’s more, I’m pretty sure this is one of those authors you hear about who is cranking out misleading books for the buck they might make, not for the art or love of writing. Starkey just made my Do Not Buy List. I don’t usually review books I don’t finish, but when I think readers are being scammed an author I feel obligated to highlight it.

To discuss the one short story I read, that was sold as a 200+ page book, it was BAD. It read like a court report. I could almost imagine someone standing there saying, “Just the facts, Ma’am.” There was one rushed sex scene and then a whole rushed romance/pregnancy. No development. No world-building. No indentations or hard returns between paragraphs. No consistency in tense. Reading this was in no way an enjoyable experience, even without factoring in the feeling of being manipulated and tricked by it’s inaccurate presentation.

I’m starting to feel like you have to swim with sharks to trust a book purchase these days.

Billionaire Dragon's Bride

Book Review of Billionaire Dragon’s Bride (Treasure Lane Dragons #1), by Anya Nowlan

Billionaire Dragon BrideOn a lark, I picked up a copy of Anya Nowlan‘s Billionaire Dragon’s Bride at Amazon when it was free:

Description from Goodreads:
He’s blazing hot and this dragon won’t take no for an answer. 

Devon Bluewing is a billionaire playboy like no other. Cocky, strong and sexy as hell, he’s used to getting anything and anyone he wants. But when it comes a time to step up and stand as the head of his family, and the dragon council of Treasure Lane, Devon is met with an inexplicable problem. He needs a mate or his whole legacy could be in jeopardy. Now, that doesn’t work at all for the fire-breathing bad boy, who’s used to getting his own way. 

Gemma Teeley can’t stand injustice. She’s sassy, smart as a whip and always ready to fight for what is right. So when the newest Bluewing heir decides to wrack up the taxes on her hometown, Gemma isn’t about to stand for it. But what she doesn’t know is that her fight against traditions might just get her into a whole lot of steamy trouble! The curvy, headstrong woman has all the fire of Devon, and when he gives her an ultimatum, they’re both in for more than they bargained for. 

Even if she’ll play along, it doesn’t mean that she’ll make it easy on him. But it isn’t just Devon whose making decisions for Gemma, and soon it becomes very clear that it’s not only Gemma’s pride that’s in danger of getting burned… 

Review:
There were dragons. I love dragons. They’re my favorite mythical shifter. But they weren’t enough to save this train wreck. Nope. For one (and most importantly for me) I went all over ragey at the just-force-her-and-she’ll-like-it-in-the-end plotline. I hate that in a book. I hate it on the whole, but also in the smaller scenes where a female character is justifiably angry and the man grabs her and forces an unwanted kiss on her and she then just melts and forgets she’s angry, because she wants him so bad. RAGE people, RAGE!

On the smaller scale the world isn’t defined. The characters aren’t developed and are both unpleasant. The plot is shallow, never even expanding far enough to allow minor things like family coming to the wedding, because that would require introducing new characters. The villain is evil just because he is. The file seems to have a lot of filler, as the story ends at 60%. It’s repetitive and needs more editing. I’m fairly sure no one says, ‘he cummed’ to explain the culmination of a sex act.

I did appreciate the dragon’s obsession with his hoard and how that played into what he perceived as courting and there was some humor.