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Book Review: Courting Her Monsters, by Erin Bedford

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I picked up a freebie copy of Erin Bedford‘s Courting Her Monsters during the Stuff Your Kindle event (along with about a million other books).
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Unable to hear, I live my life in silence.
Unable to argue with my father, I live my life in service, married off to the highest bidder.

Now, to save myself and my kingdom, I will have to play the part of their prisoner.
But I’m not playing anymore, and my new betrothed is more than happy to push the limits of my body and mind. He’s a monster with a handsome face…

But truer monsters wait for me, and they’re ready to give me so much more than I was prepared for.
What makes a monster and what makes a man? Only I can find that out…
And my life isn’t so silent anymore.

my review

God, what a disappointment. This was a Stuff Your Kindle freebie, and I wanted to love it. I honestly enjoyed aspects of it. Yes, it’s got some pretty significant plot holes. Yes, the heroine does some too-stupid-to-live things. Yes, it’s completely unbelievable that if the abuse she was suffering was so severe, no one noticed (and she was up and moving around with ease). Yes, it’s unbelievable that the mind-reading drake didn’t know exactly what she was up to. All true. But it was still silly, fluffy fun. I would have happily said it was a three-star, nothing serious read. But good lord, the editing. I can’t figure out how more people haven’t mentioned it in previous reviews. Maybe they were all pre-publication and thought the problems would get fixed before it went to print. Maybe they’re fake, IDK. But the fact that it’s not been mentioned by more people is…odd because it’s a significant issue.

Look, it’s one thing to not pick up on the occasional homophone, missing word, or if the spellcheck didn’t catch the use of ‘up’ instead of ‘us.’ But this book has characters who speak telepathically. This is indicated by italics, with no quotation marks or dialogue tag. But in the last 1/4 of the book, the italics just stop. So, you have dialogue with nothing to indicate it as so. In the first 3/4 of the book, there are several instances of dialogue being italicized, along with the next 3 or 4 paragraphs of the narrative. It’s clear the author simply forgot to turn italics off.

Now, I’m usually pretty forgiving about editing. It’s easy enough to miss the small stuff, even repeatedly. But if no one is noticing multiple instances of several paragraphs of erroneous courting her monsters photoitalicization, then no one read this book after the first draft, not even the author, and that’s unforgivable. Thank god it was free. I’d be incensed if I’d paid for it.

The thing is, I liked the story (as ridiculous as it was). I liked that the heroine was deaf. I liked her snark and that she refused to be a perpetual victim. I liked that one of the important men is visibly marred. I liked the dragon-men and world. I might have even read the next one. But I’m not willing to pay for someone’s drafts.

Other Reviews:

Book Review: Chosen by Villains, by Eva Chase

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I believe I purchased my copy of Eva Chase‘s Chosen by Villains during a signed book author event.
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Three brutal monsters came to my rescue. Now who’s going to save me from them?

Every beat of my heart is the tick of a time bomb, reminding me to squeeze as many thrills out of life as I can. Still, the last thing I expect is a horde of nightmarish monsters descending on me in the night, eager to tear me apart.

So when three more demonic figures leap out of the shadows to defend me, my choices are trust my unexpected champions… or die. Not exactly a tough decision.

The beastly men wrench me away from my home, claiming they’ll keep me safe. They say there’s something special about me—something the others want to devour and they mean to protect.

My monstrous saviors are just as brutal as the creatures they fought off, damaged in ways I’ll never understand. I can tell they’re hiding things from me. But the more we dig into the mysteries surrounding my existence, the more I catch glimpses of tenderness beneath their vicious exteriors.

And the touch of their fangs and tentacles makes me feel so shockingly alive, it’s hard to remember why I ever feared them…

Until I discover the real reason they’re protecting me.

my review

Meh. This was a pretty bland read for me. To start with, I didn’t know beforehand that it is set in the same world as the Flirting With Monsters series. Maybe it’s a spinoff (the characters from that series make an appearance). I don’t know the specifics. I do know that there is so little worldbuilding in this book that if I hadn’t read the Flirting With Monsters series in the past, I would have been lost.

I do not feel that I got to know the characters. (Not that I really needed to. The men are clones of the men from Flirting With Monsters.) I did not feel any chemistry between the lovers. I don’t honestly think there was enough time for any to develop. The plot is simple and predictable. Mostly, it all simply coasted along at just good enough. Never did the book get good and grab my attention. But never did it ever get quite so bad that I decided to DNF. I was mostly just kind of bored with it. Meh, bland.

The writing and editing are fine. The cover is pretty (though I don’t think it matches the tone of the book at all), and I did appreciate all of the disability rep. Honestly, this is probably a case of just not the book for me. I’ve liked other Chase books a lot more.

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Other Reviews:

The Heart of a Monster Series by Eva Chase

 

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Book Review: The Rowan, by Stella Brie

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I picked up a copy of Stella Brie‘s The Rowan as an Amazon freebie.

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For over three hundred years, Arden’s very existence has been hidden. Until one night, when the latest assassination attempt fails and the third Killian blade makes its appearance.

A powerful witch with little knowledge of her heritage, Arden’s first step on the path of destiny is The Abbey. A place of sanctuary and power, it’s a haven in a sea of unknowns and where she hopes to find an ally.

An Elven prince, a Fae lord, the First Vampire, a warlock, and the King of Dragons make up the Imperium Cadre, one of the most powerful cadres in existence. Owning and managing The Abbey for over a thousand years, they’re not known for taking in strays. But Lord Theron’s life debt paves Arden’s entry into the formidable sphere of their protection.

As the sweeping winds of change blow, Arden and the cadre will navigate the path of destiny together. Secrets are revealed, heritage found, and alliances forged and lost.

my review

Honestly, this might have been a personal preference sort of thing, but I was just so incredibly bored throughout this entire book. She shows up at The Abbey, and all the men instantly fall for her. So, there’s no sense of tension or getting to know each other (let alone time for the reader to get to know anyone or come to care for the potential relationships). She arrives super strong and competent/confident. So, there is no sense of room for personal growth in her character. But still the reader has to sit through all the ‘training’ and ‘testing.’ *Yawn*

There is very little worldbuilding. In fact, I started to suspect this might be a spin-off of something else. (That would mean the worldbuilding was in a previous book or series and would account for the pre-existing relationships that feel important in some of the side characters.) The villains are cliched. Actually, the treatment of ALL OF THE FEMALE CHARACTERS is cliched. The whole thing reads like an upper YA/lower NA book, despite the character theoretically being 328 years old. For those who care, there is no on-page sex, and the book ends on a cliffhanger. I don’t think I’ll bother with the next book.

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Other Reviews:

Book Review – The Rowan (The Killian Blade 1) by Stella Brie