Tag Archives: PNR

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Book Review: A Sense of Danger, by Jennifer Estep

Late last year, Jennifer Estep‘s A Sense of Danger was featured on Sadie’s Spotlight’s Insta page and I ended up with a bonus copy of the book.

A SPY . . .

My name is Charlotte Locke, and I’m an analyst for Section 47, a secret government agency that tracks terrorists, criminals, and other paramortal bad guys who want to unleash their abilities on an unsuspecting mortal world. I have a magical form of synesthesia that senses danger and uncovers lies—making me a stealthy operative.

I’m trudging through another day when one of Section’s cleaners—assassins—takes an interest in me. I don’t need my synesthesia to realize that he is extremely dangerous and that he will do anything to achieve his goals—even if it means putting me in the line of fire.

. . . AND AN ASSASSIN

I’m Desmond Percy, one of Section 47’s most lethal cleaners. I’m also a man on a mission, and I need Charlotte Locke’s skills to help me keep a promise, settle a score, and kill some extremely bad people.

Charlotte might not like me, but we’re stuck together until my mission is over. Still, the more time we spend together, the more I’m drawn to her. But at Section 47, you never know who you can trust—or who might want you dead.my review
There was nothing wrong with this. The writing is perfectly readable. The editing is pretty clean. It’s not full of plot-holes. I liked the characters well enough. But it’s also kinda bland. The heroine is a Mary Sue and the hero is exactly what you expect him to be and nothing more (a bit of a Marty Stew too). Section 47—the para-mortal version a governmental alphabet organization— isn’t anything more interesting than any other paranormal alphabet agency we’ve all read about. The plot is pretty easy to fallow and the villains easy to figure out. All of it was fine to read, enjoyable even. But also utterly forgettable.

I did appreciate that, being assassins, the characters have a little grey to them. But it’s all lip service, the reader doesn’t actually feel any of it. The romance is pretty light, culminating in one mostly fade-to-black sex scene toward the end of the book and a HFN conclusion. All of it is fine. But it’s also all kind of ‘meh’ too.

a sense of danger cover


Other Review:

A SENSE OF DANGER by Jennifer Estep-Dual Review & Giveaway

 

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Book Review: Graced, by Amanda Pillar

I picked up Amanda Pillar‘s Graced, late last year, as an Amazon freebie.
graced cover

In a family of psychics, Elle Brown is a failure and she’s just fine by it. Especially since being gifted means being a target, and Elle has enough on her plate trying to keep her little sister safe from the surrounding vampires and shifters.

Clay is a shape-shifter who was just meant to be passing through town. But when the enigmatic Elle Brown crosses his path, he’s unable to turn away; even though pursuing Elle could result in a death sentence – for the both of them.

Be prepared for the sparks to fly in this plot driven forbidden romance! Graced is an urban fantasy and paranormal romance genre-merge that provides a whole new spin on the vampire and werewolf legend.

my review
I’ll be honest, I almost DNFed this early on. The beginning was very rough for me. I thought the plot and world chaotic and underdeveloped, and the characters unlikable. But past the halfway mark, once the four characters came together, I thought the whole thing hilarious and enjoyed the heck out of it.

I’m not entirely sure I was meant to find everything I found funny, funny. And maybe I should feel a little bad about laughing at some of it. But I enjoyed it enough to consider buying book two, and would have if it followed the same group. I wanted more of the sarcastic, family-bickering dynamic the group formed by the end. But I also think that’s one of the book biggest weaknesses (other than the rough start)—just as the book finally gives you what you’ve wanted all along, it ends and the next book is about someone else entirely.

And while I thought the four people clearly forming a found-family was fun, I didn’t understand the purpose of there being two couples (and it was two separate couples, not a poly group). According to the blurb, Elle is very clearly the main characters and her romantic partner is Clay. Which leaves Dante and Anton’s romance feeling like extra and the plot feeling stretched and diluted.

Speaking of Dante, I super resent that I spent most of the book appreciating the asexual rep, only to have the suggestion sneaked in, at the end, that he might like sex after all, now that he found His Person. Outside of side-eyeing that, there were characters of multiple races, ages, and orientations and no obvious -isms involved, which I was able to appreciate all the way until the end.

All in all, like I said, I wanted more by the end. So, I finished this happy enough to forget about how it started.

graced photo copy


Other Reviews:

I find it really amusing that between my review and the three below, this one book has four different covers and (at least) three separate blurbs; all of them giving disparate vibes. Heck, they don’t even all focus on the same characters. Every review I found had a different version of the book. I feel like I should keep searching, just to see how many I come across. LOL

Review: Graced by Amanda Pillar

Graced by Amanda Pillar – A Book Review

Review: Graced by Amanda Pillar

 

love spells full moons and silver bullets

Book Review: Love Spells, Full Moons, and Silver Bullets – by Cameron Allie

I accepted a review copy of Love Spells, Full Moons, and Silver Bullets from the author, Cameron Allie.
love spells full moons and silver bullets
What do you do when your ex boyfriend’s werewolf boss wants to feast on the mortal you’ve sworn to protect?

Quinn was unaware of the love potion her meddling cat dumped into her tea, so when Ian Hannigan ends up injured on her property, she thinks she’s dealing with another mortal, not the man who can help mend her heart. Her life becomes a balancing act as she attempts to keep him safe, while hiding secrets better left buried.

In a realm filled with things that go bump in the night, Ian didn’t expect to find security and happiness in the arms of a green skinned witch, yet for the first time since his parents tragic car crash, he’s found some measure of peace. The rumours he hears in Clayridge aren’t pleasant, but Ian knows there’s more to Quinn than what people would have him believe. If he’s placed his trust in the wrong hands he’ll be paying with more than just his heart. He’ll pay with his life.

my review

I think one of the hardest things to quantify when reviewing a book is when there is just too much of it. Even if you like the characters, think the plot is interesting, and the writing is good, there sometimes comes a point when you have to admit that there is just too much of it. And that’s the case here, with Love Spells, Full Moons, and Silver Bullets, in my opinion. The book is 462 pages long and feels like it should have been, at most, 300.

Over half the book is just slice-of-life kind of stuff that really drags the plot down. It’s sweet sure, but it’s slow and, as a result, by the time the action finally happens in the last 15-20% of the book the reader (or this reader, at least) is ready to just be finished with it all. Plus, it creates a real sense of slow, slow, slow, rush, rush rush that is a pacing nightmare.

But the story is sweet, the characters likeable, and the writing/editing is quite readable. There are some show vs tell sort of issues, but it’s not unovercomeable. The story just drags on longer than it should and the pacing is off. None of it is enough to wholly ruin the story though.

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Other Review:

Review: Love Spells, Full Moons, and Silver Bullets – by Cameron Allie