Tag Archives: PNR

Hunter Moon

Book Review of Cait Lavender’s Hunter Moon

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Hunter Moon

I grabbed Hunter Moon, by Cait Lavender, from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Bawling cattle tore Shelby Flint from her bed. With lawyer fees to pay in her struggle to keep her ranch from the clutches of her greedy cousins, she couldn’t afford the loss of even one calf. When she sees a large wolf circling her cows, she aims and fires. While the wolf escapes, Shelby can’t seem to get away from her troubles when a marijuana grower sets up shop on her land, sabotaging her property and eventually coming after her. Adding to that, a handsome game warden is poking his nose into her business and working his way underneath her skin. Shelby will have to fight harder than she ever fought before to keep from losing heart and everything she ever loved.

Review:
I really quite enjoyed Hunter Moon. I found Shelby’s prickly cowgirl persona appealing. I liked her sarcastic narration (even if it was largely in first person). Cash was sexy and protective without falling over into overbearing territory too often and I adored his exposed, vulnerable moments. The side characters were colourful, the writing easy to read, and it was really quite clean. There was a lot of sexual tension, but no actual sex. All-in-all a satisfying read.

A lot of page-time was dedicated to describing what Shelby owned, especially in the beginning (vehicles, animals, guns, guns, and more guns). I found this distracting, but at the same time I also appreciated that it made it apparent that she was of a normal socio-economic strata. She lived in a trailer instead of a quaint cabin. She had more than one car/truck, but they were as old as her. She owned a ranch, but wasn’t making bank with it. She seemed normal in this respect. I sometimes feel like normal is a rare bird in fantasy. (Who wants to read about the norm after all?) But in this case I liked it. It made her more relatable. Which was good because I couldn’t really relate to the gun crazed cowgirl that she was the rest of the time. I liked her, but couldn’t relate to her.

I did feel like the three primary threads (romance, mystery, and family/legal drama) didn’t really weave together. I kept waiting for them to and had even decided how it was most likely to happen, but it never did. However, they may come together later in the series. In once sense this is good. I would be calling the plot out as predictable if it did, but as it stands the whole family/legal drama seemed unnecessary. It didn’t seem to contribute to the story much.

The book ends on a cliffhanger. [I’m getting so tired of reading books that don’t end.] It’s not as precipitous as some I’ve come across, but there is obvuously more to come. I looked into buying the sequel as soon as I finished this one, which is solid evidence I enjoyed Hunter Moon. The problem is that the next one, Cowboy Moon, appears to be a prequel instead a sequel, is very short, AND is also a cliffhanger. Serial cliffhangers are something I avoid. As much as I enjoyed this book and would like to know what happens to Shelby next I don’t know that I’ll read anymore.

Review of Lori Villarreal’s Twelfth Moon

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Twelfth Moon

I chose Lori Villarrael‘s shape-shifter PNR, Twelfth Moon, from the Amazon KDP list. 

Description from Amazon:
Cadence LaPorte is about to be hanged.

For weeks, U.S. Marshal, Jonah Kincaid, has been hot on her trail for the murder of his brother. His pursuit ends in a dusty Texas town at the scene of a lynching – namely, Cadence’s. Since revenge is at the top of his list, he saves her from death-by-hanging – for now.

Except Jonah thinks he’s been tracking a young boy.

And Cadence has this itsy-bitsy little problem: The women in her family are shape-shifting panthers, and once a year they’re compelled to mate with any male who happens to be in the vicinity – and become bound to him for life.

Jonah Kincaid is the last man on earth Cadence would wish to bind herself to. If she doesn’t find a way to escape him soon, she’ll be mauling the infuriating (handsome) U.S. Marshal – but as a woman, not as the panther.

Despite the obstacles thrown in their path, can two imperfect people find perfect true love?

Review:
Twelfth Moon was alright. I passed a couple pleasant hours reading it. It had its fun moments. I really liked Jonah. He was a good, kind soul, and I liked that. Candice…well, not as much. I didn’t dislike her, but when she fainted 13% into the book, I knew that she wasn’t going to make my favorite character list. The Apaches were marvelous.

It was a nice twist that the female was the shifter. I can’t remember reading a book in which this is the case. The rest of the story was fairly par for the course, though. There wasn’t much that stood out as new and exciting. Plus, I never could quite buy the whole I’ll be bound for life to any man I have sex with during this full moon, and I have no control over who that might be. I could roll with that punch as far as Candice having to mate with any male available during the particular full moon. Heck, it even makes sense evolutionarily by guaranteeing variety in the gene pool (though it obviously wasn’t associated with fertility in any way), but being bound to them for life just took it one step too far for me. I had hoped it would make sense after reading the book, but no, I still don’t get it.

I was also left a little baffled when, about 45% of the way through the book, the plot seemed to take a drastic and unexpected turn. I suddenly felt like I was reading a different book. It wasn’t that I disliked where the storyline went; it was just a little disconcerting to have it shift so unexpectedly. New people were introduced. Characters who had previously only been filler in the background were suddenly pulled in as active participants in the plot, etc. Then it did it again at the end when the book went all domestic on the reader, giving us the familial details. The fact that Jonah’s wealth was irrelevant to the plot but needed to be mentioned made me keenly aware that the men in PNR always seem to be obscenely rich. Anyone know why that is?

I don’t mean to infer that I didn’t like the book. It was a fun little read, if a little repetitive at times. I liked that in the beginning a bad thing didn’t almost happen, it actually happened. Villarreal didn’t allow Candice’s rescue until after the fecal matter had hit the rotating blades. It created realism. I think there is plenty more to come in this series too. Enough threads were left open for at least a few more books. I’d be interested in knowing if my guess for Candice’s sisters is right and where the story goes.

Haunted on Bourbon Street

Book Review of Deanna Chase’s Haunted on Bourbon Street

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haunted on bourbon street14031401I grabbed Deanna Chase‘s Haunted on Bourbon Street from the Amazon KDP list…twice it would seem. (Thus the two covers) I didn’t even know it was possible to download the same book twice on Amazon. I guess the ASIN changed at some point or something. Anyhow, as the time of posting it appeared to be free again.

Description from Goodreads:
Jade loves her new apartment–until a ghost joins her in the shower.

When empath Jade Calhoun moves into an apartment above a strip bar on Bourbon Street, she expects life to get interesting. What she doesn’t count on is making friends with an exotic dancer, attracting a powerful spirit, and developing feelings for Kane, her sexy landlord.

Being an empath has never been easy on Jade’s relationships. It’s no wonder she keeps her gift a secret. But when the ghost moves from spooking Jade to terrorizing Pyper, the dancer, it’s up to Jade to use her unique ability to save her. Except she’ll need Kane’s help–and he’s betrayed her with a secret of his own–to do it. Can she find a way to trust him and herself before Pyper is lost?

Review:
I was pleasantly surprised by Deanna Chase’s Haunted on Bourbon Street. I think I expected something a little more H.P. Mallory-ish…more sexual tension and humour. I don’t mean to suggest that there wasn’t plenty of both, but rather it isn’t the focus of this book. In a sense this is as much a mystery as a paranormal romance. They have to investigate and identify the ghost, find out what he wants, find out how to defeat him, and find out how to get on with life.

I liked Jade. While she came in with some preconceived notions about strip clubs and those that work in them, she eventually proved herself to be open minded and mentally flexible. She also had a good strong backbone… though one of these days I swear I am going to do some sort of research project on how often otherwise healthy, well-balanced women in romantic fiction manage to twist ankles while in the presence of sexy men who can carry them away…and maybe even go on to explore how often they then end up in said sexy man’s bed. Here we find a woman who apparently can’t even turn 90° to the right without injuring herself. Sheesh!

Dodgy balance aside, I really did like Jade. It was also nice that her empathic ability was integral to her personality, but not to saving the day. Well it was, but you know how sometimes in books the main character will have one strong skill and somehow it is the only thing that is needed to single-handedly save the world? Not so much here and that was refreshing.

I thought Kane was not only super sexy, but a sweet heart to boot. Pyper was a firecracker. I did have a little trouble deciding what an LSU graduate (one presumes she graduated in the absence of information to the contrary) was doing working in a strip club, but I was willing to accept it. Kat, Dan, and Ian filled their roles, but I felt little for them.

The twist wasn’t all that difficult to guess, but it also wasn’t so obvious that one felt there wasn’t a need to finish the story. I did think things got a little convoluted there at the end. Yes, I suppose I could call it action packed, but the whole feel of the novel changed with the increased pace. Plus, it all felt a little convenient. I know a week was supposed to have passed, so obviously the group worked hard to pull it together. But since the reader isn’t party to any of this it felt wrong. Does that make sense?

I’m glad to have given it a read at long last and would be more than willing to read the continuation of the series.