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Book Review: Escape of the Fae, by Taylor Spratt

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I picked up a copy of Taylor Spratt‘s Escape of the Fae as an Amazon freebie.

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A thousand prisoners against one? Bring it on…

The name’s Jessy Gilchrest and I’m nobody’s fairy Princess. I’m a Cage fighter, pack leader and all around bad-ass alpha Fae. They say I’ve got a little impulse control problem and they’re right about that.

I robbed the Vampire King’s Castle and it got me thrown into Poison Penitentiary, home of the most blood-thirsty creatures in the Magical Sect. A dark secret haunts this place, clinging to the air like a disease and in here, everything goes bump in the night.

I’m not worried though. Because I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid. I got caught for a reason. They’ve got my younger brother locked up in here. He’s innocent and I’ll stop at nothing till he’s freed. There’s just one problem with my brilliant break-out plan. Remember that little impulse control issue I mentioned earlier?

I got in a fight with the warden on the first day and now she’s promised freedom to any prisoner who can finish me off.

Four of the prison’s deadliest inmates’ step in to help me. A Werewolf, Dragon shifter, Vampire and Demon. What do they want in exchange? Let’s just say they’ve got a taste for Alpha Fae. A big one.

my review

Honestly, this was just bad. I knew it was going to be a slap-stick sort of read. So, that wasn’t a surprise. I was hoping for something light-hearted and sexy-funny. But there is ridiculous and silly in a fun way, and there is ridiculous and silly in a stupid way. I was hoping for the former, but this book is the latter.

The characters are somehow both overblown and flatly underdeveloped. The villain is cliched. The dialogue is an embarrassing mess. There are plot holes galore. The book barely seems to have been edited at all, and then it all ends on a cliffhanger.

I am not interested in continuing the series.

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Book Review: Crooked Paradise series, by Eva Chance & Harlow King

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I picked up an Amazon freebie copy of the Crooked Paradise series by Eva Chance and Harlow King. Well, technically, I picked up Scorned Princess on its own and later picked up a compilation with Scorned Princess, Perilous Lady, Ruthless Queen, and Lethal Empress.

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A rebellious gang princess, four hot dangerous gangsters, one psycho stalker, and a revenge scheme that could destroy everything in Paradise Bend…

My arranged marriage should have forged an alliance between my fiancé’s gang and my father’s. It turns out my fiancé had other plans. Like slaughtering my entire family the night before the wedding.

I make it out alive, left with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. To crush the prick who betrayed me, I have to turn to the biggest pricks of them all.

Hot, cocky, and dangerous, Wylder Noble and his men rule Paradise Bend. If I pass their brutal tests to prove I deserve their help, my ex doesn’t stand a chance.

But there are deeper troubles stirring in my hometown. While I try to figure out whether I’d rather kiss or kill my infuriating allies, I’ve got a deranged psycho leaving gruesome presents at my window. Outsiders are invading our streets, preparing for war.

If they think our little county will be easy pickings, they couldn’t be more mistaken. The Nobles are far from noble when tackling a threat, and I’m no damsel in distress.

Before this is over, someone’s going to bleed. And this time, it won’t be me.

my review

Since I have this as a compilation/omnibus, I read all the books back to back. So, I’ll just review them in the same manner; as a single entity. (All the books end on cliffhangers until the end, anyhow. So, it’s really one story in the end.) And I was pretty meh on that one story if I’m honest. I’ll say upfront that the writing and editing are fine. I was just incredibly bored. There is a lot of filler, and by the third book (when a frankly unbelievably unbelievable twist allows them to win against incredible odds), I was skimming. I think this might have made a really good duet. But stretching it out to a 1000-page quartet thinned the plot to the point of transparency.

I did like that the men in the group were not all physically prime. Gideon’s inclusion was Crooked Paradise cover photoespecially nice, as was Rowen’s softer, artistic side. But the villains were cliched, the plot dragged and became predictable (except for the Hail Mary/deus ex machina solution that miraculously presented itself when needed most and makes no sense in context—didn’t see that coming for obvious reasons), and the baby-makes-six epilogue felt incredibly out of place in a series in which condom use had been assiduous.

All in all, I don’t regret reading it, but I’m really glad to be finished with it finally.

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YA Bookish Blog: Crooked Paradise

 

 

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Book Review: Pizza Shop Exorcist series (#1-2), by Dakota Brown

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I picked up a copy of Dakota Brown‘s The Price of Possession as an Amazon freebie. Then, I purchased a copy of The Price of Exorcism.

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When my family died at the hands of a demon prince, I hung up my exorcist hat. I’d failed to protect them, and while I was willing to risk myself, the price had risen too high.

Now I’m serving up hot, fresh pizzas to everyone who wants them. I was the only person left to inherit the family business and I’m doing my best to keep it up and running in honor of my loved ones.

These days, my biggest challenge is telling off a rampaging customer, and endless paperwork. That is, until he shows up again.

Darius was the only guy I couldn’t say no to, the one who dragged me into the world of the occult in the first place. When he shows up and begs me to assist with an exorcism, I reluctantly agree. He’s still using me; because I’m the best exorcist around and he only calls when he needs my help.

Before I know it, I’ve got an incubus in the living room, a hellhound marking around my yard, and a demon prince who can’t decide if he wants to kill me or… you know. Not to mention the vampire and the nephilim I seem to have collected. Normally I wouldn’t work with the supernatural, but we all have a common goal. Prevent the crime syndicate from summoning a demon prince and becoming more powerful than we can hope to handle.

If I can keep my cool, it will be a miracle. If I can hold on to my soul it’ll be an even bigger one. No one ever claimed being an exorcist was easy, but to protect those I’m coming to love, I’ll pay whatever price necessary.

my review

I read The Price of Possession and The Price of Exorcism back-to-backs with no break between. So, I’m just going to review them the same way. I generally liked what I read of this series. I liked the characters. I liked that the heroine is a little older and established. I liked the easy-going nature of the relationship(s). (One is even still platonic after two books, but there is no doubt he’s one of the group, and there is no angst about it. I like that.) The world seems interesting. And other than an annoying tendency to overuse names in dialogue, the writing is pretty good.

However, I gave up after two books rather than continue the series because it became apparent that Price was becoming so all-powerful and gathering such a powerful harem that I was already becoming bored. Too powerful characters kill tension because there is no chance of them not easily defeating the villains. Similarly, she was just SO WORSHIPED by her men that it just felt redundant. It all left too little room for nuance.

Now, that’s why I stopped after two books. But there was also enough interest to keep me reading for two books. So, this review is a bit of a mixed bag. Ultimately, if I found freebie copies, I’d continue. But I chose not to buy any more.

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