Tag Archives: romance

Bonfire

Book Review of Bonfire (Hours of the Night #1.5), by Irene Preston & Liv Rancourt

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BonfireIrene Preston and Liv Rancourt sent me a copy of Bonfire for the purposes of review. I reviewed the first in the series earlier in the year.

Description from Goodreads:
Thaddeus and Sarasija are spending the holidays on the bayou, and while the vampire’s idea of Christmas cheer doesn’t quite match his assistant’s, they’re working on a compromise. Before they can get the tree trimmed, they’re interrupted by the appearance of the feu follet. The ghostly lights appear in the swamp at random and lead even the locals astray.

When the townsfolk link the phenomenon to the return of their most reclusive neighbor, suspicion falls on Thaddeus. These lights aren’t bringing glad tidings, and if Thad and Sara can’t find their source, the feu follet might herald a holiday tragedy for the whole town.

Review:
If anything, I think this might be slightly better than the first in the series. The reader feels closer to the characters and Thaddeus isn’t quite so mired in his guilt. It was fun to see the him and Sara in a more settled, domesticated period.

It is of course a novella, so the plot isn’t overly involved and there is little build up to the climax that is settled with such ease as to be slightly disappointing. But it had a very sweet Christmas themed ending and is a wonderful little story to hold readers over until the next book comes out. Though, I think it would be most enjoyed if you’ve read Vespers, it does stand alone.

As a bonus, the authors happen to be running a giveaway for a $20 gift card. Why not check it out?
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review of A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell #1), by Deanna Raybourn

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A Curious BeginningI borrowed Deanna Raybourn‘s A Curious Beginning from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious past. Promising to reveal in time what he knows of the plot against her, the baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker—a reclusive natural historian as intriguing as he is bad-tempered. But before the baron can deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous truth.

Review:
A Curious Beginning is a bit like a non-paranormal Parasol Protectorate, except that Veronica Speedwell is no Alexia Tarabotti. I found her nowhere near as approachable. Frankly, I found Veronica emotionless and over the top in her forwardness. What’s more, I was excessively put off by how anachronistic her whole personality was. She held very modern ideals and went about behaving in a very free and modern way that I find hard to believe would even have been possible for a woman in 1887.

I appreciate that she was Sherlock Holmes smart and I did find her and the book in general amusing, but the whole thing just never really peaked for me. The entire read was just sort of a middle of the road, never bored, but never engrossed kind of middling experience. It felt like a copy of something else, I’m afraid, with some of the spark lost in the translation.

None of this was helped by the fact that book starts strong, with a break-in, adventure and murder, then the main characters run about doing little of importance for most of the book and the plot doesn’t come back around to anything pertinent until the end.

I didn’t dislike it and the writing is pretty good. I’ll likely read the next one, but I wasn’t blown away either.

Pyromancer

Book Review of Pyromancer, by Amanda Young

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PyromancerI downloaded a copy of Amanda Young‘s Pyromancer in March of this year, when it was free.

Description from Goodreads:
Christian Ryder is cursed with pyromancy, a deadly ability he has difficulty controlling. Having hurt lovers in the past, he has sworn off personal attachments. 

Tanner O’Bannon is broke and desperate. The recent loss of his father has thrown Tanner into a tailspin of debt he can’t afford to pay. Working as a rent boy allows him to pay the mortgage and his college tuition, but it’s burning away his soul in the process. 

Through the machinations of an escort agency these men are thrown together. Smoldering embers of desire fan the flames of love, but will it be enough to make Christian overcome his fear of love, or to save Tanner from the fire?

Review:
The writing here is actually pretty good. The language is perfectly readable and though the editing is a little rough, it’s not overly distracting. Plus, the characters are likable. However, the story itself is a bit of a flop. It’s a shame too, because I think it has a lot of potential that just isn’t developed.

To start with, the pyromancy didn’t seem to have anything to do with anything. In the beginning we’re told this is a huge problem in Christian’s life and it keeps him from being able to live normally. Then, for 90% of the book he goes about life just fine, with no ill effects from the pyromancy at all. In fact, it’s not even mentioned for the vast majority of the book.

This pattern of telling the reader that a character is unable or unwilling to do something and then having them blithely turn around and do it is repeated several times in the book. In fact, it was so prevalent that the whole book felt compromised by it. In a very real sense the plot is based on the stated fact that Christian can’t have close ties to anyone and then he falls for the first person he sees, develops deep feelings for them and nothing bad happens. And we’re not led to believe this was a mistaken belief on Christians part, but a departure from past events. I have to ask why.

To complicate this compromised feeling, the world isn’t at all defined. The reader is never told how or why Christian can control fire, or if anyone else can.

Lastly, and completely a personal pet peeve, but the author uses ‘his lover’ to describe the characters during emotional scenes and I thought that distanced them to the point I couldn’t wholly connect. And, even worse, Tanner is referred to as ‘the kid’ for a lot of the book, especially during sex scenes. Sorry, I get a little wigged out by that. I know ‘the kid’ in question is 20 to Christian’s 32, but it still makes me a little twitchy.

All in all, it was an ok read, but not more.