Tag Archives: PNR

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Book Review: Youngblood, by Sasha Laurens

I received an ARC copy of Youngblood, by Sasha Laurens as part of a book tour for the book. However, that tour was canceled on somewhat short notice. However, I’d already read the book. So, here’s a review.
Youngblood cover

High school sucks. Especially for the undead.

Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change.

Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. She only has to suffer through a two more years of Harcote before she’s free. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.

When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.

my review

I think maybe—like Kat and Galen—I wanted to like this more than I did. The writing is quite readable. (I had an ARC, so I can’t comment on editing.) The idea is interesting, the self-discovery aspect seemed well done, and the characters had potential. But, in the end, neither was particularly likable; the romance is put off too long to feel satisfying, and there’s just a whole subtle sense of ick to the story.

Part of the discomfort is in the blatant -isms of the vampires. And I’ll accept that people raised in eras past might carry some of the attitudes of that past with them. But a lot of it is just baked into the narrative and apparent in the way Kat is such a fair-weather ally. Sure, she notices how few BIPOC students there are, asks Taylor their pronouns, acknowledges various forms of privilege, and throws the use of ‘boys and girls’ at the headmaster derisively, ‘as if non-binary people don’t exist.’ She says all the right things. But she’s perfectly happy to overlook it all for her own social advancement. In a very real sense, that’s the whole point of the plot (if looked at from a different angle than the author presents it to us).

And honestly, the author could have done SO much with that set up. What a chance to show self-reflection and growth in the main character…not to mention commentary on a lot of real-youngblood photoworld allyship. But she doesn’t take the opportunity. The end result is a book that feels like corporate allyship…you know, where they say the right things during June and purchase the right optics (or try to publish the right books), but don’t actually change their policies to protect anyone or improve lives and drop it all come July. So, ick. And bonus ick in a book with two baby-lesbians as the main characters and, one would presume, the primary audience.

All and all, this wasn’t a big winner for me. But I do love the art on the cover. That’s why I picked the book up in the first place.


Other Reviews:

Cloud Lake Literary: Youngblood

 

 

 

 

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Book Review: Rise of the Phoenix, by JL Madore

I picked up a copy of JL. Madore’s Rise of the Phoenix as an Amazon freebie, last year.
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Monsters, Magic, and Mates I never knew existed.

Kia versus power pole isn’t the end I expect—it’s the beginning of… gawd, where do I begin?
Four wildly sexy males. Powers I don’t understand. And the eyes of the fae world on me as the person to unite the severed realms. No pressure.

my review

Amusing enough, but not much more. It’s entertaining but not very deep. The plot is pretty thin, and none of the characters (the males especially) are well-developed. One is such an asshole I don’t know how the author imagines she’ll redeem him, and two are fairly inconsistent in their tone and characterization. It was the book’s general inconsistencies that really threw me though, like someone unbuckling yoga pants.

The book also is guilty of using the cheap attempted rape shtick (and it wasn’t even very well rise of the phoenix photostitched into the plot). I’m not saying a book should never include rape, but I’ve found that far too often, it’s used for cheap tension. More often than not, here included, there are a million better and less over-used and common plot devices to reach for. At this point, I call it the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of plotting. It’s evidence the author took the easiest, least thought about, no-effort path. IT’S LAZY. And is that really how authors want to be seen?

Anyhow, despite how negative this review seems, I’ll read book two (I have 1-5), because I have it and I’m curious to see all the men submit.


Other Reviews:

Rise of the Phoenix by J.L. Madore – A Book Review

 

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Book Review: The Long-Forgotten Winter King & The Twice-Scorned Lady of Shadow

I borrowed audio copies of The Long-Forgotten Winter King & The Twice-Scorned Lady of Shadow through Hoopla. These are books 2 and 3 of The Guild Codex: Unveiled series, by Annette Marie. (Narrated by Tim Campbell and Cris Dukehart.) I reviewed book one, The One and Only Crystal Druid, earlier this year.


The Long Forgotten Winter King

About the Book:

Everyone is keeping secrets.

Zak won’t reveal what really happened between us ten years ago. Ríkr’s been hiding so much I scarcely recognize him anymore. But the biggest secret belongs to my parents, and it’s the one I’m most desperate to unravel.

Finding out who they really were, and who I am, means solving their eighteen-year-old murders. For reasons unknown, Zak decides to join me—and that makes me nervous, especially when the trail leads us into the most dangerous fae territory in the lower mainland.

The questions keep piling up, but as I realize too late, my parents’ killer is no mystery. He’s been lying in wait all along.

But not for me.

I’ve led Zak and Ríkr into a hell with no escape, and I need more than answers now. I need power—because without it, none of us will make it out alive.

my review

I generally enjoyed this. I still liked the characters a lot, the world is interesting, and Marie’s writing is easy to read (or listen to in this case) as always. However, it did feel a little like the middle book it is—you know, like you’ve been dropped into something but without any final conclusion. Maybe this wouldn’t have been such an issue for me if it hadn’t been so long since I read book one. But my experience is what it is. Basically I liked it, but didn’t feel overly invested in it. I’ll be continuing the series, however, and that says more than anything else.

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The twice scorned lady of shadow

About the Book:

I’m learning to embrace who and what I am, but there’s one thing I can’t face: the night Zak betrayed me. But even with the mysteries of our shared past hanging between us, I can’t turn Zak away when he asks for my help.

Powerful fae are going missing, and when he tried to investigate, Lallakai vanished too. Now he wants me to venture with him into the territory of the Shadow Court, but its bloodthirsty courtiers don’t welcome meddling druids.

Danger is gathering around us, seen and unseen. As we uncover incomprehensible clues about the missing fae, we realize this nightmare runs deeper than we imagined, and unveiling it means delving into the past—our past.

If I abandon Zak now, he’ll never make it out alive. But if I stay at his side, if I face the truth of that night, it will destroy us both.

my review

I don’t really have a lot to say on this one. Three books into the series, and I’m still enjoying it. I’m invested in seeing how it all works out, and I appreciate that Marie has allowed these young adults to have made grievous errors in life that hurt each other horribly, but they be the mistakes of youth. Not need to complicate it with deep machinations. The writing, as always, is easy to follow, and the narrators are doing a fine job.

I have to admit that I’m not finding myself falling in love with the characters, though. It’s a story I flow along with easily, but I don’t think I’ll remember it next week. Regardless, the series is getting me through my ‘company is coming’ scramble to get the house clean.

the twice sorned lady of shadow photo


Other Reviews:

Hidden Pages – The Guild Codex: Unveiled

Books of my Heart – The Guild Codex: Unveiled