Tag Archives: PNR

Book Review of Zoe Forward’s Dawn of a Dark Knight

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I grabbed Forward‘s PNR Dawn of a Dark Knight off of the Amazon free list. 

Description from Goodreads:

In the shadows of our world, a secret band of warriors fights to protect us. They are the last line of defense against an evil no human can stop.

An ancient nemesis has resurfaced. Duty demands that Ashor Vlahos, Scimitar Magi commander, recruit a magical healer to fortify the remaining eight magi. The gods’ choice is the woman who helped him escape torture a decade ago. Ashor couldn’t have imagined a better punishment for his vow-breaker homicidal incidents than for the gods to bind him irrevocably to the only woman in the universe he cannot have. The soul-searing desire she ignites in him is strictly forbidden.

Kira Hardy, M.D. is a brilliant, hardworking internal med resident with big secrets. But when Ashor asks for aid after a brutal daemon attack, she is sucked into his dangerous, secret world. Enslavement to the magi, no matter how hot they are, may be an unattractive life plan, but being targeted for death by their enemies is less tolerable.

She must trust the sexy, tormented Ashor to keep her safe while he must deny his ultimate desire and keep Kira at arm’s length lest he bring destruction down on them both. As a centuries-old evil catches up to them, they face a crucial decision–follow the gods’ rules or follow their hearts.

Review:

My first thought on reading Dawn of a Dark Knight is that the cover doesn’t match it. IMO it needs one a little more like those of J.R. Ward‘s or Elisabeth Naughton‘s, something that screams PNR because that is what this is. Like the Black Dagger Brotherhood or the Eternal Guardians the men of Dawn of a Dark Knight, the Magi, are a bonded group of hard as nails, hot as fire, destined for one woman defenders of the innocent. And like other such books in the genre the sexual tensions run high and the sex smolders, but my favourite part is the males’ interactions with one another. They fight to the death for one another, but also rag each other constantly. They laugh at each other’s pain and wheedle anyone with a perceptible weakness, all in good fun of course. This made for plenty of funny moments.

Though side characters I also loved Kane and Markus, especially Kane. Next to the two main characters I think he was my favourite in the book. I expect he will play prominent role in future books in the series, but of courses that is only my speculation…or hope. 

It did feel a little bit like after fighting her destiny the whole book, Kira suddenly and for no apparent reason (other than that she should have already) finally gave in to it. I couldn’t identify a single causal event or moment. Maybe there didn’t need to be, but I found myself thinking, ‘Hey, when did she change her mind?’ There were also a few noticeable editing mistakes, but nothing that irritated me enough to put me off reading further. 

Since Wild Rose Press  only just released this one I don’t know when a second is expected, but I’d be happy to read it when it is out. 

Review of P.L. Parker’s The Chalice

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Some time ago I won a copy of P.L. Parker‘s The Chalice from Laurie’s Thought and Reviews.

Description from Goodreads:
Decimated by the savage Deg’Nara and teetering on the brink of extinction, the last surviving males of the once great Chiagan-Se embark on a quest to salvage what is left of their civilization. They send their remaining seeker ships into the void, searching for genetically compatible females. Time is running out, but in the far reaches of the universe, on an obscure and primitive planet, a match is discovered.

One thousand panic-stricken women awaken two hundred years in the future, captives aboard an unmanned alien spacecraft bound for parts unknown! How had they gotten there and why? 

The males thought they came willingly. The females believed they’d been kidnapped. Full of hopeful expectation, the Chiagan-Se prepare for the arrival of their new mates. Terrified and furious at the inexplicable abduction, the women prepare for combat! And when the two sides meet, the battle commences.

Even though I won a copy of The Chalice way back in June, I put off reading it because I honestly hate the cover. It makes me think of bad Swedish porn. (No offense against the Scandinavian porn industry. I’m sure they have some good porn too.) And come on, lets face it, the plot-line of a ship full of females bound for a the arms of a wholly male populace is rife with the possibility of cheap bow-chica-bow-wow moments. It could easily go bad very quickly. But I wanted to support the author and appreciate the winnings so I gave it a chance.

I made it 45% into the book before there was even a hint of a kiss and a good 250 pages before there was a sex scene. (It was only the first of two and fairly mild to boot.) Relief, not porn then. What it was instead was funny. Now, I don’t mean the trying to take itself too seriously, forcing you to laugh derisively at it funny. No, I mean the genuinely and intentionally humorous type of funny. Danesha, or ‘Dread’ was a whole ball of fun all by herself. Never have I encountered such a bitter and pessimistic character that makes you love her so much. No matter how dire the circumstances you could count on her to think of something worse and lighten the mood. Then there was a little bit of slapstick and all of the basic misunderstandings that one would expect to encounter when two sentient species are forced to interact. I laughed out loud a lot.

Some of the characters were a little stereotypical. Dread was after all a foul mouthed African American from the Detroit ghetto who was always ready for a fight. Then there was the stiff lipped Englishwoman who always kept her cool, the whinging Irish woman who kept wailing ‘I dinnae nooo,’ the busty blond Swede, and the placid Japanese ninja-type. They were a lot of fun though. A little more thought seems to have gone into the male cast. Parker painted them as contradictorily strong, hot-blooded warriors who also happened to feel like lost little boys. I really enjoyed seeing the women take charge. I also enjoyed that there was a plot outside of the romances. In fact I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the smoldering bits. I especially wanted to see how Shagal won his mate over…or was won over. Hard to tell on that one.

On the downside, to say the book head hops would be an understatement. It not only leaps unexpectedly from one person to the next, but from one scene to the next. One moment you are in Kara’s head on a transport shuttle, then the next you are with Tegan on the bridge of the ship, with nothing to indicate you have moved. I often had to reread passages or just keep going until I found a clue to reorient myself by. It was a challenge. Despite this I was pleasantly surprised by the book and look forward to reading more of Parker’s writing.

Book 1 & 2 of Lori Brighton’s The Hunter Series

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I grabbed Lori Brighton‘s PNR The Ghost Hunter from the Amazon KDP list and to my complete surprise remembered that I owned it. Usually if an ebook isn’t lendable I don’t add it to my Kindle list and end up forgetting about it…out of sight, out of mind after all. I don’t particularly care for the cover, but I guess it must have stuck in my mind.

Description from Goodreads:
When Ashley Hunter inherits the Inn where her father mysteriously vanished years ago, she jumps at the chance to finally uncover the truth about his disappearance. But soon after taking ownership of the decrepit building, Ashley realizes she’s in for far more than she bargained. Not only has she inherited answers to many sought-after questions, she’s also inherited spirits, demons and even fallen angels! Then Cristian arrives, a gorgeous man who insists he merely needs a room to rent. She believes him, until one by one her ghosts start disappearing…

As a fallen angel destined for a life of servitude, Cristian Lucius is relegated to protecting earth from unwanted spirits. But he can’t accomplish this daunting task alone. He requires assistance from the very woman who frustrates him as much as she intrigues him. Cristian is determined to ignore his intense attraction for Ashley, and focus on his mission. If they don’t work together, they won’t have a chance in hell of defeating the demon threatening their lives. The problem is getting Ashley to trust him. No easy task, considering Cristian is the very man responsible for her father’s disappearance.

The Ghost Hunter started off well. Crumpled and jet lagged Ashley arrived in England to inherit a decrepit inn from he aunt and find some answers about her father’s disappearance. Life gets complicated after that.

I generally liked Ashley. She had had a hard life and was finally trying to accept herself as is. I can appreciate that. She had an irritating habit of chatting even when endangered though. I wanted to scream at her,”Come on shut up and hide already, or run, or fight, or something, just shut up!” Not that what she often said wasn’t of relevance, but who stands around and chats when a demon is breathing down their neck? She was witty though. She pulled some amusing one liners that I couldn’t help enjoying. 

Christian and his Scottish burr were sexy as they were supposed to be and I liked him too. You have to appreciate a man who tries so hard to do the right thing. But while I get that he was surprised to find himself attracted to Ashley, I honestly think he made the discovery that he loved her 15 times. Blimey! There were a lot of ‘oh how he loved her,’ ‘did she want him as much as he wanted her,’ why couldn’t he get her off his mind,’ etc (or lines of the sort). It did get a little repetitive and a lot of the book was dedicated to it.

Blimey, describes the language in this book perfectly. There were a lot of them, ‘bloody hells,’ shite/arse and other such classic Englishisms. (I know that isn’t really a word, but you know what I mean.) There was also phonetic speech. While this did give the characters character it was really distracting. I mean I had to read the line ‘Yer da’ numerous times before I figured out it meant your dad. It took me a while to remember that ‘ken’ could mean know, so that the line ‘ye ken’ meant you know. Then again “Jaysus, Mary and Joseph” left no question of whether John spoke with an Irish brogue or not. It just sounds right. I guess it is just a think line between some and too much.

All-in-all I liked the book well enough to get the second one. It made me laugh and I liked Devon, so I wanted to know what happens to him.

Description from Goodreads:
Ellie has always been different, from playing with fairies as a child to fighting demons as an adult. She grew up wondering why no one else seemed to notice the oddities of the world that she came into contact with on a daily basis. When she is the only witness of a demon attack and the police suspect her, Ellie skips the country heading to England where she plans to keep a low profile. Everything is going fine, until Devon appears, stumbling around her garden like a drunken fool, and completely naked no less.

Six months ago Devon sacrificed himself to bind the soul of a demon and save the world from certain destruction. Thanks to a spell gone awry, Devon is back. But Devon hasn’t come alone. The very demon he tried to destroy has returned and is wreaking havoc on earth. When Devon meets Ellie, he instantly recognizes another supernatural being. Ellie may just be the only person who is strong enough to destroy the demon, if the demon doesn’t destroy her first.

In one sense I liked Demon Hunter better than Ghost Hunter. I think the writing was better. Not that it was bad in the first one, but I liked it more here. I also liked the juxtaposition of Devon’s Victorian upbringing with his strong warrior nature. But it was his broken, puppy dog moments that made me love him. Ellie’s amazing backbone was a joy. I much prefer a strong heroine to a wimpy one. Plus, the occasion in which she took on more traditionally male romance characteristics (like thinking of Devon as hers) made me smile. I like it when authors play with genre tropes. 

What I didn’t like was the constant and often misplaced descriptions of Devon’s amorousness. Well-nigh half the book was dedicated to explaining how enamoured he was with Ellie. We get it already. It detracted from the rest of the plot and often slowed the action down. I had hoped that if there is to be a third book it would be based on Kipps….I really liked him.

Anyhow, I don’t feel like my time was waisted, but I’m  little relieved that there isn’t another one yet. I liked them enough to read it if there was, but am also not disappointed to be moving on.