Tag Archives: PNR

Spell Caster

Book Review of Spell Caster, by Laura Greenwood

Leave a reply
cover of Spell Caster

I received an Audible code for a copy fo Laura Greenwood‘s Spell Caster. It’s narrated by Ruth Bailes.

Description from Goodreads:

Can magic and science come together to catch a murderer?  

Cassie’s world is turned upside down when she’s given an unusual blood sample to test. And when a mysterious man shows up at her lab telling her he has the answers she’s looking for, she’s pulled into a world of murder, investigations, and intrigue.  

Finally able to explore the connection between her powers as a witch and her expertise as a scientist to uncover why paranormals keep turning up dead. 
–  
Spell Caster is a reverse harem paranormal mystery set in the Paranormal Council Universe.

Review:

Sigh. This wasn’t bad. It was just sort of a mess. For one, it’s called a reverse harem, which infers (though admittedly doesn’t say) it’s erotic. Most reverse harem books you encounter are, so tying itself into a known erotic trope suggests it is too. It isn’t. The steamiest this gets is that Cassie kisses each of her mates once (and they’re not even descriptive passionate kisses) and then each man kisses her forehead or the top of her head once. There is no passion or eroticism in this at all. If she was interested, I’d let me 9yo read it. 

Similarly there isn’t any passion (erotic or otherwise) about the mating. Cassie has a calm conversation with each man and then moves on. It literally could have been a work meeting over coffee. (Once even is over coffee.) 

But most importantly, how this four-way mating might work isn’t addressed at all. It’s clarified that each man is her mate and they aren’t each others mates (no menage). But I have a hard time believing that will work with no jealousy. Why would these guys share a mate?

The book would have simply been IMMENSELY improved if the author had left the mate element out and let the book be about Cassie getting a new job and earning her spot on the Paranormal Crimes Investigation team. And I honestly think the author would only have had to cut about 2% of the text to make this true. I cannot emphasize enough how underdeveloped the mate aspect is. It’s so underdeveloped that it’s just a distraction and detraction in the plot. I think I’d have really liked the book if it was just a paranormal mystery. As it is, I was just disappointed.

Edit: On a side note, the title is Spell Caster, but Cassie doesn’t cast a single spell in the book. She uses magic, but never an actual spell. Just saying.

Feral Ice

Book Review of Feral Ice (Ice Dragons Book 1), by Ann Gimpel

Leave a reply

I borrowed an audio copy of Ann Gimpel‘s Feral Ice through Hoopla.

Description from Goodreads:

Doctor and biochemist, Erin signed up for six months aboard an Antarctic research ship to escape her stifling surgery practice. Jerked from her cozy cabin, she’s dumped in an ice cave by men who assume she’s dead. 

Konstantin and Katya, twins and dragon shifters, have lived miles beneath the polar ice cap for hundreds of years. Other dragons left, but they stuck it out. When several humans—all but two of them dead—end up not far from their lair, the opportunity is too good to pass up. 

If the lore is to be believed, humans can become dragon shifters. Delighted by a simple solution to their enforced isolation, the dragons lure the humans to their home. Surely, they’ll be thrilled by the prospect of becoming magical. 

Or not. 

Too bad no one shared the script with the humans. Science be damned, they’re horrorstruck in the face of fire-breathing dragons. All they want is to escape, but home is thousands of miles away.

Review:

This was bad…like really bad. I thought, in the beginning, I might be able to enjoy it in the ‘it’s so bad it’s amusing’ sort of way. But no, it didn’t even manage that. The story moves along in robotic jerks. The romance is so underdeveloped I literally thought it was going to be between the two humans, instead of the dragon and female human. Honestly, I think it would have been a better pairing. But mostly it just meant I didn’t feel anything for or about the couple. The lore is ridiculous and poorly explained. And dialogue is super cheesy.

The narrator did and OK job. But I don’t understand why Gimpel would choose a male narrator (Gregory Salinas) for a book in which the only first person POV is female.

Seduce Me in Dreams

Book Review of Seduce Me in Dreams (Three Worlds #1), by Jacquelyn Frank

Leave a reply
cover of Seduce me in Dreams

I borrowed an audio copy of Seduce Me in Dreams, by Jacquelyn Frank through my local library. It’s narrated by Coleen Marlo.

Description from Goodreads:

Dark. Mysterious. Sensual. When Bronse Chapel, the commander of a specialized unit of the Interplanetary Militia, begins to dream about a beautiful and exotic brunette, he wants to dismiss it as being induced by lack of sleep . . . or perhaps lack of sex. But his instincts tell him it’s something different, something far more dangerous.

Ravenna is the leader of the Chosen Ones, a small group of people from her village born with extraordinary powers. She doesn’t know that draws her to Bronse’s dreams night after night, but she senses that he and his team are in jeopardy. Ravenna can help him, but first Bronse must save the Chosen Ones from those who plan to use their powers for evil. Together, Bronse and Ravenna will be unstoppable. But Ravenna is hiding something that could endanger them all.

Review:

I only have myself to blame. I borrowed this from the library. I’ve passed it up several times, expecting it to be horrible. Experience has taught that older PNR (this is from 2011) and I don’t usually get along. Gender tropes are often too strongly reinforced for me. Women are always small and delicate and men are large and dangerous. Women are victims, men are victors, etc. But I’ve listened to pretty much all the PNR that my library has available via OverDrive/Libby, so I gave in and rented this. 

It tricked me. I thought it started out well and I began to think maybe I’d been wrong….then it all went to shite. Or to be more precise, it all went exactly as I’d previously anticipated. I lost track of how many times phrases like “her sexy little lips,” “her pert little bottom,” “her sweet little hands,” “her bright little eyes,” etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Ravenna’s character development seemed entirely based on her ability to withstand misery and Bronse’s in his ability to berate himself for his attraction and kill things. Of course, if Ravenna considered killing someone it had to be avoided at all costs, because it would be sooooo harmful to hermental state. Why is this only ever true for women?

I did think the universe this was set in looked interesting. But I didn’t feel like it was well developed. Nor were any of the side characters. Lastly (and importantly), there is a pretty big mystery that moves the plot along. It isn’t solved. The book ends with a, “I guess we’ll never know why.” Ummmmm, no. That’s 100% not acceptable to me. 

All in all, not AS bad as I expected. But not great either.