Tag Archives: PNR

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

 

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Book Review: Blood of the Pack, by Cassie Alexander

While it wasn’t on the blog, Sadie’s Spotlight’s Insta featured Cassie Alexander‘s Dark Ink Tattoo series (Blood of the Pack, Blood at Dusk, and Blood at Midnight). However, I didn’t get all of the books at the same time. I had book one, but not the tail end of the series. So, my plan to read all three and review them together, in a single post, crumbled to dust. I’m just too much of a mood reader to allow so much time between books in a series. But since I have read book one, I’ll post it’s review and give the other books their own post when I get to them.

blood of the pack

Angela, Dark Ink Tattoo’s owner, has a secret – she’s a werewolf who used to run with the Pack, a dangerous drug-dealing motorcycle gang that services Vegas’s seedier side. She’s been free for the past seven years, ever since her ex-boyfriend (and Pack leader) Gray went to prison – but when the Pack starts threatening her shop and son she realizes she’s on borrowed time.

Dark Ink’s best artist refuses to show up before sundown – because he’s a vampire. Vegas is the perfect place for Jack – it’s an endless buffet of strangers to bleed. The only thing that haunts Jack more than his hunger is Angela.

Welcome to Dark Ink Tattoo, Las Vegas’s premier 24/7 tattoo studio, where needles aren’t the only things that bite….

my review
Sooo, this isn’t a romance. It’s erotic fiction. Sex is the point and there is a lot of it. I’m not complaining about the fact. I’m just stating it, in case anyone needs or wants the knowledge/reminder before jumping into this series.

And while I’m also not complaining about this second point I’m about to make, it was more eyebrow raising for me. Angela and Jack are not the people between whom the sex is happening. In fact, they’re not even on page together at all, past about page 50 of the book! Maybe they’ll get together in future books; their separate plot-lines are definitely connected. But do not go into this expecting Angela and Jack as a romantic pairing (like I did).

The plots are interesting looking, if a little unimaginative. The rough, evil biker gang…even the rough, evil werewolf biker gang is hardly original. Anyone who reads in the paranormal genres will have encountered it before. But both plots hold together, even when only sprinkled lightly between innumerable sex scenes.

About the sex (since it’s the point, after all), I appreciate that Alexander gave us some variety in both partners and activities beyond plain old P-n-V. I won’t go listing them all, since that would ruin the fun of discovering the various pairings for yourself. But I liked that some peoples that you don’t often see in sexual setting are given sex lives here. And I loved that Jack is assiduous about consent and unwaveringly kind to his partners, even when the kink is rough or the sex meaningless.

I didn’t love Angela’s ‘I want to be used, dominated, and “put in my place” by a man’ sex as much as Jack’s various liaisons though. For her it wasn’t play, as it was for him, for example. It felt 100x more cliched and unoriginal. It felt, in fact, like a male character was allowed variety beyond societies assigned place for him (bisexual—if not pansexual—and allowed to have varied sex). While Angela (as a woman) is still only allowed the one male partner and the sex still has to meet societal (read porn’s) approved scenarios (ie: rough, with the appearance of being demeaning, or at least subservient). Now, I’m not saying it wasn’t hot. I’m just saying it didn’t feel anywhere near as fresh as it could have.

All in all, however, for a one-handed read, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to the next one.

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Book Review: Mayhem In Hell, by Kaylin Peyerk

I’m in a Readers of Fantasy group on Facebook and Audible codes for Kaylin Peyerk‘s Mayhem in Hell (narrated by Amy Hall) were on offer. So, I accepted one. And since yesterday was the day I had to break down and actually fold the giant pile of laundry, I listened to the book while I did it. (Seriously, that is just one of the most tedious chores in existence.)
mayhem in hell audio cover
I was supposed to die and go to heaven, too bad I ended up in hell.

One out of every five people end up in heaven, that’s how low the chances are. So I worked hard, never swore, and did my best to be a good girl for my entire life. Then, out of nowhere, I was hit by an oncoming car, cutting my life short at age twenty-five.

Next thing I know I’m waking up in the firey pits of hell and given a scythe. My new job is to help reap the souls and take them to judgement day. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it would be if I was a normal reaper. . . but the moment I touched the scythe it began to glow, signaling just how talented I’m going to be. Now, the three ruling princes of hell all want me as their personal reaper.

So these days I’ve been thinking. . . What’s the use in being good when it’s so fun to be bad?

my review
I found this amusing, but also just a little too “she’s the most special, special snowflake in the special field” for my tastes. It’s reverse harem, I went in knowing that. But Lucifer, all his sons and god himself want her, if for different reasons. And the reason is either something beyond her control and having nothing to do with her or just super flimsy. At one point one of the sex men tells her she’s the most interesting thing he’s seen in ages (if not ever) and I just thought, why? There seriously isn’t anything particularly interesting about her…other than that your interested in her.

But having said all of  that, if I was willing to let my questions go and just roll with it all, I did enjoy myself. There’s some humor, plenty of low-heat sexual tension (but no sex), and a glorious bit of blasphemy that I very much appreciate. The writing is pretty good. The narrator did a good job and it was a fun, silly romp. It does end on a cliffhanger (which I knew in advance, so no complaints). All in all, I’d be willing to read book two.

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