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Book Review of Mystic Ink, by Casey Wyatt

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Mystic Ink

I grabbed Casey Wyatt‘s Mystic Ink from the Amazon KDP list. 

Description from Goodreads:
Welcome to Mystic, Connecticut, where a Satyr owns the local pawn shop, a Minotaur serves the tastiest pizza in town, and the nearest gate to the Underworld resides in the alley outside a tattoo parlor.

Nix–Sea Nymph, talented artist and proprietor of Mystic Ink–just wants to run her tattoo shop in peace and quiet. Peace and quiet, however, are the least of her problems. Mortal corpses keep springing up in her alley like daisies. Hades is angry that the mortals’ souls are missing. And to top it all off, the human authorities suspect Nix of foul play. 

Before long, the supernatural police force takes an interest. They dispatch Agent Calder Quinne to investigate. His assignment is simple: determine Nix’s guilt or innocence by observing her daily routine. Instead, he’s faced with an uncooperative Nymph who resents his presence and evades him at every opportunity. 

Nix finds Cal far too attractive and a challenge to her self-imposed ban on relationships. She wants him out of her life as soon as possible. When Cal’s soul is stolen next and Nix wakes up missing memories of the evening’s events, even she starts to wonder if she’s guilty. Now, she has only two weeks to locate Cal’s missing soul, or he’ll be doomed to spend eternity as a Shade.

Review: **Warning, slightly spoilerish**

Meh, it was alright. The writing was perfectly readable and it was well edited. I have no complaints on that front. But the story had a number of elements that I just plain dislike. For one, though Nix was the main character and the events centred around her, it wasn’t her who saved the day. Nope, Gods forbid the woman be in on the important action. Instead, she ran around from the start of the book until the end, encountering and being attacked by one mythological creature after another. Note, not intentionally doing anything but instead reacting to a presented stimulus. Then, in the end, all her male protectors went behind her back and saved the day. It was subtle, but all the impetus was taken by the men. At one point, Cal even asked her, Do you trust me?… Then hold your questions a little longer. In other words she not only wasn’t in on the action, she wasn’t even allowed to ask about it. This was all further exasperated by the fact that all of the power players were Gods. The only real Goddess you get to know is vapid and too busy with her facials and pedicures to be important.

Then there was the complete mishmash of pantheons. I get that this was intentional. The D.L. was, after all, an alliance of them. But come on, first we’re presented with the Greeks (including Sitars, Cyclops, Titans, Nymphs, Fates, Furies, Basilisk, etc), then the Egyptians. I’m still on board at this point. Then the Elves show up. Huh? And then Aliens! Really, WTF, it was just too much, too cluttered, too many disparate genres thrown together.

Then there was how easily everything wrapped up. The bad guy was defeated with absolute ease. More than once, problems were overcome almost miraculously. Nix being able to call in a favour based on winning the office raffle the year before, for example. Thats handy. Cal was given his prize and avoided a fate worse than death despite technically not completing his quest. Then, in the end, Nix rails at her father for three or four minutes and manages to convince him to change the rules that have been in effect for, presumably, millennia. I seem to recall stubbornness being a trait of the gods. Plus, these were pantheon-wide rules, so they affected everyone, not just her. It was just too easy.

Now I know I’ve bitched a lot. I was annoyed by the end of the book. But as I said, it was well written. There were some really fun characters. I especially liked Zeph and Devlin. I’m not discouraging anyone from reading it. Heck, I might even pick up the sequel if I come across it. I enjoyed the read, just not every aspect of the book.

A Blood Seduction

Book Review of A Blood Seduction, by Pamela Palmer

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A Blood Seduction

I downloaded Pamela Palmer‘s A Blood Seduction from the Amazon KDP list. At the time of posting it was still free. (Plus, if you follow the link to her website you’ll find a contest to win a signed copy.)

Description from Goodreads:
Take me down to Vampire City…

Vampires live only for lust and pleasure in the eternal twilight of Vamp City. But the city’s magic is dying. The only person who can restore it? A beautiful woman from the mortal world…one who knows nothing of the power she wields.

Quinn Lennox is searching for a missing friend when she stumbles into a dark otherworld that only she can see—and finds herself at the mercy of Arturo Mazza, a dangerously handsome vampire whose wicked kiss will save her, enslave her, bewitch her, and betray her. What Arturo can’t do is forget about her—any more than Quinn can control her own feelings for him. Neither one can let desire get in the way of their mission—his to save his people, hers to save herself. But there is no escape from desire in a city built for seduction, where passion flows hot and blood-red.

Welcome to Vamp City…

Review:

I’ve had this book on my Goodreads wish-to-read list for a while because it’s raved about and tops quite a few Must-Read listopia lists. So, when I saw it come up on the KDP free list I grabbed it. Honestly, I’m not seeing what everyone loves so much.

It’s like one long, protracted rape scene. It felt like every vampire and trader in Vamp City must be walking around with a hard-on all day, constantly on the lookout for any female that they are somehow obligated to assault on sight. Seriously, I don’t think the book goes 5 pages without someone being molested in some fashion. People are killed, tortured and raped endlessly in this book.But this seems to be a fate reserved solely for women. Are horrible, psychopathic vampires really so picky? The reader is forced to confront women being literally ripped apart, drained dry, burned, beaten, raped by a penis wrapped in a barbed sheath, as well as just raped en masse and on display, fondled, molested, humiliated and intimidated non-stop (and I mean that almost literally. It is the backdrop of the novel), but only one man was embarrassed because he had to show his bits in an auction and one man was hunted for sport. That’s pretty much the complete list of male victims in the book.

I know rape is a pretty common motivator in fiction. It’s also used fairly common to ensure the reader knows bad guys are really bad, but I just couldn’t take a whole society based on it. I found reading this book extremely uncomfortable, and I read for fun. This was not fun for me. 

Then there is Arturo and Quinn’s relationship. There is a constant back and forwards between them in which he says he ‘I want you’, she counters with ‘as a slave,’ he then counters her with ‘no, in my bed.’ Now this wouldn’t be so horrible except that she’s his slave either way. He owns her.  There is no indication that (or even social process by which) she could be anything but a slave in Vamp City. So, there’s a mixed emotional message being sent here. She’s supposed to somehow accept that his wanting to make her a sex slave, as opposed to say a scullery maid, is somehow better or even acceptable. Here’s a direct quote about his thoughts on the matter,”If only he could make her a simple slave and keep her, always, in his house. In his bed.” Yea, he’s not looking for a wife or an equal, just a slave. Lets also not forget that he’s not even offering exclusivity. She’d be one of 4.

Then there is the way this is all cloaked in the illusion of choice. She knows it’s and illusion, but she’s falling for it all the same. She has no power, no control and no other options. Personally, I’d rather call a spade a spade and get on with it. Yea, I’m so not getting what people love so much about this book.

A lesser disappointment, though still a disappointment, is Quinn’s reunion with Zack. He’s essentially her sole motivation. She spends 90% of the book trying to rescue him. Are we, the reader, given a heartfelt reunion? No. Just a ‘go away Quinn.’ Such a let down. Sadly though, having finished it I find myself left with a morbid desire to read the second just to see if it could possibly be as bad. How misguided it that?

I wish I used star ratings on this blog so I could give the book a one star…except I still probably wouldn’t. I really want to. I disliked it that much. But dislike it as I might the writing was still alright and it was still well edited enough to deserve better than a one star. That doesn’t make me feel better about it though. 

Book Review of Jeaniene Frost’s Halfway to the Grave

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Halfway to the GraveAfter dozens of recommendations I finally broke down and bought Jeaniene Frost‘s PNR Halfway to the Grave when I saw it discounted the other day.

Description from Goodreads:
Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father–the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner–are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

Review:
Saying I’m disappointed in this book would be an understatement. I have close to two thousand books on my Kindle, many of them free, but I shelled money out for this one because so many people rave about it. I’m totally boggled. Why?

I love vampire based PNR, but this book had so many of the genre’s tropes that I hate all in one place. The  emotionally unstable, angry heroine who is also painfully virginal and unaware of  her own sexuality. “I didn’t like it before. I think something is wrong with me.” Really? Despite how the whole thing worked out it never occurred to you that is was just bad sex? Her insistence on holding onto old slights so long that they become character traits. The way she went all embarrassingly cave-man possessive whenever a attractive female came around. Pet names, god the patronising pet names! The way Bones knew more about her abilities than she did. 22 years and she never noticed that she could see ghosts, for example, but he knew somehow. The constant reminders of female victimhood. (I’ll be coming back to that one.) The characters complete unwillingness to communicate in any sort of civil manner, etc. 

If I had to name the theme of this story it wouldn’t be romance, erotica or even vampires. It would be women as sexual victims and the use of sex as a form of control and degradation. There are so many references to prostitution in this book I lost count. Cat’s mother is considered a whore because she had a child out of wedlock. Cat is seen similarly by extension and even called one by her mother at one point. Sergio calls Cat one before their final encounter. Bones admits to having been a gigolo when he was alive. The whole plot hinges on hunting down the head of a human trafficking prostitution ring. Though admittedly with a vampire & ghoul twist. Cat has to dress like a slut so that she can attract her marks, often posing as a working girl in the process. This despite the fact that she ostensibly has to sit through hours of dirty talk before hunting a man who has a penitent for underage girls. Really, what exactly does he appreciate about their underage status if not their innocence? Seems to me that’s the wrong front to be presenting.

And that’s just prostitution references. I could go on another whole rant about the rape victims and/or suggested victims. This book should make women fear being alone with ANY MAN. They all seem to be predators of some sort. It sapped the enjoyment right out of the book for me. There are so many sexual victims it blots out the story. I appreciate a little sexual tension here and there, but that isn’t what was sprinkled throughout this book. I felt male privilege leering at each and every female character in this book. It was disquieting. 

Then there were all of the subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) indictments of modern human behaviour that was often painfully oversimplified and arrogant almost beyond palatability. Sorry, having some slutty vampire bitch preach at me about the failure of the government to stamp out the modern slave trade in Brazil (or where ever) or ‘honour rapes’ in Pakistan didn’t fly too well with me. It certainly didn’t excuse her vampire boss. 

I’ve seen a number of previous reviewers compare Bones and Cat to Buffy and Spike. I can COMPLETELY see that. It’s there, not doubt about it (intentional or not). On a related side note, Bones’ English is rubbish. I lived in Northern England for a number of years and let me tell you it isn’t convincing. 

Possibly most annoying of all, however,  is that after spending 95% of the book wishing it would just end already Bradley Tate (and maybe Timmie) made me curious what what might happen next. I do not want to be tempted into any more of this drivel in the hopes that book two is better than this first one. When my two favourite people in the book are both MINOR side characters there is a problem.