Tag Archives: PNR

frost burn

Book Review of Frost Burn (Fire and Ice #1), by Erica Stevens

Leave a reply

I received and Audible code for a copy of Erica Steven‘s Frost Burn (narrated by Meghan Kelly).

Description from Gooreads:

After years of running, Quinn has finally found a town to settle down in while she searches for the man who tore her life apart. Despite her every intention not to, she’s started to put down some roots and make friends. However, the small bit of solace she’s found is quickly shattered when a group of vampires walk into the bar where she works and turn her life upside down.

Looking only to stop for a few nights and have a good time, Julian never expected to stumble across someone like Quinn. Determined to keep her free from the vampires looking to use her as a weapon, Julian is stunned to discover himself starting to care for the mysterious woman with a dark past she’s unwilling to reveal. It doesn’t take him long to realize that the vampires after her are only a part of the problem. This quiet little town is hiding a violent secret of its own; a secret that not only threatens the town, but Quinn in particular.

Review:

(slightly spoilerish)

Honestly, I just didn’t like this. I thought Julian was an arrogant a-hole and Quinn a bit of a limp rag. It’s not that she was a weak heroine, there just kinda didn’t seem to be much to her. I didn’t feel their relationship grow and I was often annoyed.

What’s more, the book starts with the mystery of Quinn’s origins and why vampires are after her. Then, it immediately swerves off into an unrelated and immensely less interesting human investigation. The fact that these two end up being related is merely luck on the part of the characters and felt like nothing more than a manipulation of the plot on the part of the author.

I do want to address the fact that this is the first book in a spin-off series. I have not read the original series, but the author assures us that we don’t need to have read it to enjoy Frost Burn. I call BS on that. Yes, I could follow Frost Burn. But the characters and events of The Kindred Series are so often referenced that I 100% felt that I was missing out on vital information. What’s more, Julian so often reminded the reader that he’d been a bad man that I believed him. That’s part of why I didn’t like him. Maybe if I’d read the previous series and seen his moral transformation I would feel different. And there is absolutely no character development of side characters. I assume that is because they are known from the previous series. So, I recommend reading The Kindred before this.

Lastly, I think I have to give in and accept that I don’t like Meghan Kelly‘s narration style. That’s not to say it’s objectively bad, just not for me. I’ve listened to several of her books and while they are competently done, I find I just don’t like the way she voices people.

All in all, just about nothing worked for me about this book.

eat you up

Book Review of Eat You Up, by Lucy Leroux

Leave a reply

I received an Audible code for a copy of Lucy Leroux‘s Eat You Up.

Description from Goodreads:

Dmitri, a high-end thief, is flying cross-country for a lucrative job when the woman destined to be his mate is seated next to him. Her scent drives him to the edge, but he manages to control himself on the flight by the skin on his teeth and fate—by way of the flight being diverted because of a terrible storm.

Nina isn’t sure why she’s trying so hard to get home in time for her sister’s wedding, given that the groom is her ex. But indulging in an affair with the aggressive and attractive man who has come to her rescue brings worse problems to her table. It’s just supposed to be a fling, but Dmitri clearly has no intention of leaving—ever.

When Dmitri’s new employer turns out to be Nina’s ex’s father, the line he spent a lifetime blurring becomes crystal clear. Unfortunately, by the time he realizes this, it may be too late to save his mate.

Review:

This wasn’t very good. I had the audio version and the narrator (Addison Barnes) did a fine job. That, and the fact that the grammar seemed fine, are about the only nice things I have to say about it. I thought the hero was an insufferably arrogant jackass. I didn’t like him. There is one scene toward the end after he’s been injured that he shows a little humility. I liked him for that paragraph and that’s it. For the entirety of the rest of the book, he’s pushy and self-absorbed. He walks all over the heroine and her expressed wishes.

Sadly, my dislike for the hero isn’t balanced for any like of the heroine. It’s not that I thought she was a doormat, she wasn’t. But the book if full of things she should be angry about (her sister stole her wedding, for example, by which I mean she seduced her fiance, accepted the same ring and actually got married in the hall they’d book for the original wedding) and the heroine is sad for a little while and then just shrugged it off. No bitch, you’re allowed to be angry about that and hold that grudge for a while. The author’s total unwillingness to allow her heroine the natural emotion of anger angered me. If I’m supposed to relate to this character don’t constrain her to the ‘feminine’ ideal of a pleasant milksop. Let her rage. She deserved it and I deserved to see it.

This is apparently book two of a series. I didn’t realize that initially. But I had no problem following the plot. I just didn’t like it very much.

shifted fate

Review of Shifted Fate (The Wolves of Forest Grove #1), by Elena Lawson

Leave a reply

I’m still working on the giant task of thinning my digital bookshelves. I’ve made it almost to the end of the Ms now. But, as I had chores to do today, I did manage to listen to an audiobook. I received an Audible code for a copy of Elena Lawson‘s Shifted Fate. It’s narrated by Heather Costa.

Description from Goodreads:

Jared Stone is a freaking wolf. And I don’t mean that metaphorically, either…

I thought I had it bad—living in my dead Dad’s old hunting blind in the woods, barely staying alive on apples and ramen…that was before the storm hit and destroyed the only form of shelter I had left.

Enter, Jared. The hottest—and most unavailable—guy at school. Except he wasn’t Jared when he pulled me out of the mud. He wasn’t even human.

As if that wasn’t unsettling enough, when he brought me back to his cabin, I found he wasn’t alone. Another guy, one I’d only ever heard about in whispers beneath the bleachers, was there too. Clayton Armstrong: bad boy extraordinaire. And it turned out, he wasn’t human either.

Mindf*ck, right?

At first, all I want to do is run away. But I have nowhere to go, and for whatever messed up reason, Jared is insistent that I stay. Despite Clay’s loud protests.

So, now I’m stuck in a cabin in the woods with two hot as hell wolf shifters. One who wants to protect me. And another who wants to eat me for lunch…

What could go wrong?

Review:

I’d say this was OK. I’m pretty burned out on YA, but I still liked this enough to tentatively be interested in a sequel. The main character is self-sufficient and makes good decisions. The heroes are adorable and patient in their own ways.

But I do have complaints. One, the main character has a serious case of ‘not like other girls.’ I have to ask, what’s wrong with being like a girl? What does it say about internalized misogyny that young heroines always have to be “unlike other girls.” Second, (going along with the not-like-other-girlness) large parts of her personality aren’t explained. She’s willing to live in a hunting blind in the forest because she doesn’t want to be a burden on anyone. That’s a pretty drastic choice. Her father taught her to hunt and fix motors, etc. This all felt very extreme, like they were Preppers or something. But none of this behavior is ever even addressed.

Third, this is labeled a reverse harem. However, throughout the book, there is only the one guy she is interested in and showing interest in her. Nothing else comes into play until literally the last page. I suspect it will become a reverse harem, but it sure wasn’t here.

Fourth, I thought the whole kidnapping scene broke the pace of the plot and felt out of place. Similarly, the fact that she didn’t guess the twist is pretty unbelievable. It was fairly obvious.

Lastly, the book literally ends when the most interesting thing happens. What felt like it should be midway into a longer, more complete story. As such, I suspect this is more of a serial than a series. I prefer to be warned of this going into a book.

All in all, I didn’t hate it. As I said, I’d read more. But it’s not flawless.