Tag Archives: PNR

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Book Review: Inextricably Tied, by Aveda Vice

I picked up a copy of Aveda VicesInextricably Tied on Amazon. I think it might have been on a Stuff-Your-kindle day.
inextricably tied cover

Harbinger is reckless.

It only makes sense that she keeps the world at arm’s length. No one to answer to. No one to lose. No one to touch her banshee skin and become connected forever.

It’s a system that works — even if it means keeping her partner, Flint, from getting any closer to her.

Flint is restrained.

As Harbinger’s bodyguard, he has to be — until pulling her behind his gargoyle armor accidentally links them. Now Harbinger’s privy to the romantic feelings he’s denied himself for years…

And Flint’s no longer the only one connected to her.

Agony is unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

A night terror extracted from a serial killer, Agony doesn’t care who he hurts — and Flint and Harbinger look like perfect targets.

Forced together by circumstance, the three search for the remains of the murderer’s victims…and try to keep from killing each other in the process.

But as the mystery comes into focus, the lines between the three of them begin to blur. What started as begrudging partnership becomes as intertwined as their bodies in the dark.

The bond between Flint and Harbinger is fraying — but Agony isn’t the only one to blame. Not when Flint and Harbinger have painful histories they’ve spent their whole lives running from.

Every step toward uncovering the truth proves that the only way to untangle these complicated webs is to unravel them…and each other.

my review

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It’s predominantly smutty, though there is a fairly serious murder mystery ostensibly being solved. Both Harbinger and Flint have past trauma they are working through, and Agony is a new entity, just learning what it means to exist in reality. So, there’s some unexpected heft for a smutty book. Mostly, however, I liked the dynamic between the three of them a lot.

I wasn’t thrilled that the beginning of Harginger and Flint’s relationship happened in a prequel, and the reader feels the lack of it in this book. I mean, this is certainly readable on its own. But I regretted not having read the prequel, personally. I’ll be on the lookout for more of Vice’s books, regardless.

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Book Review: Bride, by Ali Hazelwood

I purchased a copy of Ali Hazelwood‘s Bride at Barnes & Noble.

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Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

my review

I was really pleasantly surprised by this one. It is trope-tastic and, therefore, super predictable if you’ve read any significant number of PNR books. So, don’t go in expecting anything radically new and inventive. In a very real sense, it is made up of the same-same as a million other PNR books.

But I liked the characters a lot. There’s some fun banter and sarcastic asides, and there are some interesting interspecies negotiations. Lowe pines marvelously. Despite having no significant POV in the book, the reader feels it. This is likely because the author’s writing is uncomplicated and easily readable. The book, and so the reader’s experience, flows nicely. All in all, I wish the next was already out so I could jump right in.

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Other Reviews:

“Bride” by Ali Hazelwood (Review)

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Book Review: Her Soul to Take, by Harley Laroux

I purchased a copy of Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux.

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Leon
I earned my reputation among magicians for a reason: one wrong move and you’re dead. Killer, they called me, and killing is what I’m best at. Except her. The one I was supposed to take, the one I should have killed – I didn’t. The cult that once controlled me wants her, and I’m not about to lose my new toy to them.

Rae
I’ve always believed in the supernatural. Hunting for ghosts is my passion, but summoning a demon was never part of the plan. Monsters are roaming the woods, and something ancient – something evil – is waking up and calling my name. I don’t know who I can trust, or how deep this darkness goes. All I know is my one shot at survival is the demon stalking me, and he doesn’t just want my body – he wants my soul.

my review

I bought this before getting stuck in an airport with a significantly delayed flight. Which means I read most of it in one sitting. It served its purpose well on that front. It kept me amused. (Hope the people sitting to my left/right weren’t too shocked reading over my shoulder.)

I’ll fully admit the whole S&M kink isn’t one I particularly gravitate toward (I’m just a little too attuned to sex scenes that tread too close to gendered abuse in today’s climate.), and the ‘love’ here is expressed mostly through sex rather than any meaningful conversation or relationship building. But I did feel the author at least made the kink fit (Often, you can feel that the writer only included one or another kink because it’s on trend.), and the heroine was unabashedly into what she was into. So, there didn’t need to be the dreaded training scenes. (God, I’ve read so many training scenes. How different can any author really make them? I’m so entirely bored by them.) So, even if not a favorite, I felt the power dynamic and use of S&M worked here.

What I am into is a desperately obsessive, he-falls-first male lead. Leon is a demon, and the obsessive way he hyper-fixates on Rae feels like hedonistic, demonic behavior. It fits. It’s a weak basis for a romance, but it’s a strong base for why a historically murderous demon doesn’t murder one particular woman and protects her instead. A reader does just have to take it on romance-trope-faith that he is being legitimate and not simply enacting a deception in order to steal her soul, which, outside of romance-trope-faith, is the far more likely reality of the scenario presented in the story. Honestly, this little niggle always lurked in the back of my mind as I read. But I am as familiar with romance-trope-faith as any other romance reader. So, I persevered and overcame.

Rae (or Velma, as many other reviewers have called her, and they are right to do so) is likable enough. She’s not particularly smart about some things, but she’s also not TSTL either. Leon Her_Soul_to_take_photowas the real shining star for me, but Rae gave him enough reflective light to do so.

I also really enjoyed the Lovecraftian horror aspect of the plot. The solution was fairly obvious, the human villains were a little cliched, and the fact that their demise happened off-page (obviously enacted by the characters and likily the plot of the next book), felt jarringly anti-climactice. Overall, however, I’ll be reading that next book and will happily seek out more of Laroux’s writing.


Other Reviews:

Her Soul To Take | Review

Review | Her Soul To Take