Tag Archives: PNR

Silver Wolf Clan

Book Review of Silver Wolf Clan, by Tera Shanley

I picked up a copy of Silver Wolf Clan, by Tera Shanley, when it was free on Amazon…in 2015.


Loving him will be legendary…if she can survive it.

What happens when monsters turn out to be real? One summer night while camping in the woods, Morgan Carter finds out in a big way. A tall mysterious stranger, Greyson Crawford, risks his life to try and save her sister from the vicious wolf attacking their camp. When he’s bitten and disappears into the night, Morgan can only assume the worst.

Greyson shows up a year later, and he’s a different animal altogether. His eye color shifts constantly and the rumble in his throat sounds more animal than human. She hasn’t any idea where he’s been all this time, but a good guess as to what he’s become.

Grey is determined not to let the darkness of his new existence affect Morgan and the little girl in her care. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Morgan but knows he should stay away and let her live a normal life. That’s easier said than done, though. A new danger pulls him from the shadows to keep her safe, and he’s no wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Can she accept what lurks just below his surface? More importantly, can she survive him?


This review contains spoilers.
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This was SUPER cliched. Every aspect of it has been done and done better. What’s more, a lot of it irritates the living daylights out of me.

Let’s start with the fact that there are 4 women in it. 3 of them have been subject to violent male attacks. (And all we know is that no attack is mentioned for the fourth.) So, women are all victims. The hero is forced to rescue the heroine from a random rape. Because of course heroes always have to save their loves from random rapists. That’s what happens if a woman goes out alone, you know? (Can this particular plot point die already?)

The single adult, non-mated woman is evil. Because of course single women can’t be trusted, especially if they’re sexy. They’re obviously all jealous, evil bitches who will kill because they can’t get the man they want. (As if there are no other motivations for women than men.)

Then, when the heroine is turned into a wolf she is special, because of course she is. But not just normal, cliched special. But extra cliched special. She’s special because she’s the only female wolf who can have breed children. (Nope, I’ve neverread that plot before and it’s not just the unexplored norm of a female character. *sigh*) So, of course male werewolves will forever be trying to forcibly claim her (a euphemism for rape). And of course so far, no one has bothered to tell her, because this is her mate’s problem, not hers apparently, since it’s his responsibility to protect her, not hers.

And those are just my issues around gender. How about how little sense it made to let the evil, untrustworthy person walk out with the biggest secret in werewolfdom? Nope, I can’t see that coming back to bite them in the ass…nope, not like that’s just a totally stupid and unbelievable act that is setting up a totally predictable rest of the plot. *sigh*

It needs some editing assistance too, to catch things like terms being dropped into use and never defined. We’re told, for example, that Grey let his wolf go and became a “Ripper” (capitalized). Then someone else says, “thank goodness you’re a Ripper.” So, apparently this is something Grey and other wolves knew about, a known characterization, but it is never defined for the reader. I had no idea what a Ripper was supposed to be.

While I’ll grant that Grey was a sweetheart and I liked the addition of a child, I have NO interest in any more of this series. It hit just about every I-hate-these-PNR-tropes button I have. And honestly, to have so many too-often used tropes in one book is just a sign of bad writing.

Anointed

Book Review of Anointed (The Cantati Chronicles #1), by Maggie Mae Gallagher

I found a signed copy of Maggie Mae Gallagher‘s Anointed at a secondhand store. We all know how I love signed books, so I bought it.

Description from Goodreads:
My name is Alana Devereaux. I enjoy the simple things in life, walks in the park, sky gazing, and ripping a demon’s heart out though its chest. I am a demon slayer, the last of my kind, and I have been sent back through time to save your world.

How am I doing so far? My time travel went haywire, all the signs I needed to stop the prophecy have passed, and the only way I can save my world is by keeping yours from ending. Then there’s Gaelen, most days I want to deck him. He hides his true motives and if it was not for the intel he had, I would be rid of him. Any day in my life without a demon attack is a good day; I haven’t had a whole lot of those lately. The only problem is, if I don’t stop the Mutari, this world will burn.

Review:
So, this was not very good. I won’t go so far as to say horrible, but not very good. It’s full of plot holes (and a pretty problematic paradox), both the heroine and hero are unlikable, assumptions are made and not supported, and there is no real conclusion.

It was not liking Alana or Gaelen that really clinched it for me. Her entire personality is contrary, angry, full of bluster, and distrust. I promise, authors, a female character can be touch without being so prickly as to be nothing but solid unpleasantness. He is abusive and possessive. Somehow these two horrible people fall in love with each other, though I never saw why or how…or really when. It just suddenly was.

Plus, I want my badass female characters to be badass. Alana was at best inconsistent. Taking on 60 demons one minute and not able to beat 6 men the next. She was constantly making threats she couldn’t or wouldn’t, certainly didn’t follow through with. She was constantly demanding information she was never given and she was constantly given orders she didn’t like, but followed. In the end, she felt like a child rebelling against a parent, but doing as told.

Then there was the author’s use of rape. It a much overused method authors use when they want to make sure readers know a man is really bad. Not just bad, but really bad. And they (the authors) prance out the rape threats. It’s so overdone as to be boring and totally infuriating. Rape should be so much more than a plot device!

Speaking of plot devices, there were far too many major coincidences. Alana developed abilities as needed and, at one point, when locked in a room (by someone who was going to rape her, but was conveniently interrupted by a knock at the door and had to leave) she found he’d dropped the key on the floor! Yes, the author went there.

So, I said it was bad, but not horrible. In writing this review, I think I talked myself into saying this book is horrible. I will not be continuing the series.

Bearly Awake

Book Review of Bearly Awake (Providence Paranormal College #1), by D.R. Perry

I picked up a copy of Bearly Awake, by D. R. Perry, from Amazon. It was free at the time.

Description from Goodreads:
Bobby Tremain’s life used to seem charmed, but since his dad’s crippling accident, he has an avalanche of problems. He’s the first in his family to have a shot at college, also the first to head north of Louisiana. An early snow calls his Bear to hibernate a week before finals, but he needs to pass or he flunks out of Providence Paranormal College.

Lynn Frampton’s loneliness is almost more than she can take. She went to college on the other side of the country to get away from the persistent curse of unpopularity in a small town. Once at college, Lynn’s prickly personality has pushed everyone away yet again. At least, she’s at the top of her class.

Bobby needs Lynn’s help to stay awake and pass his exam, and she discovers she needs companionship more than she’d ever imagined. Lynn’s all set to transfer to a school back home, but Bobby thinks she’s his mate. Can he keep awake long enough to pass, and more importantly, convince his love to stay?

Review:
So, this wasn’t necessarily bad. It fit the bill of being fluffy and non-taxing, which is what I wanted when I picked it up. But I didn’t feel like it held together very well. The plot jumps around and a fairly large mystery isn’t solved. Worse though, was the main character, Lynn. She’s supposed to be smart and sassy and snarky and sarcastic. I know this because her internal monologue tells me, the reader, about it a dozen times. But I just found her unpleasant. Sure, there’s some fun nerdiness, that I and a large portion of the female populace recognize and appreciate. But it’s treated like she’s something special for it. And her constant, “I’m not like other girls because I’m smart,” is a blatant insult. It infers that other women aren’t smart. Duh. Basically, it felt like the author was trying way too hard to be funny and it just fell flat on its face.