Tag Archives: romance

Book Review of The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride (Nocturne Falls #1), by Kristen Painter

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The Vampire's Mail Order BrideI picked up a free copy of The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride, by Kristen Painter, on Amazon. It was still free at the time of posting.

Description from Goodreads:
Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town where Halloween is celebrated 365 days a year. The tourists think it’s all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better.

Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all.

After seeing her maybe-mobster boss murder a guy, Delaney James assumes a new identity and pretends to be a mail order bride. She finds her groom-to-be living in a town that celebrates Halloween every day. Weird. But not as weird as what she doesn’t know. Her groom-to-be is a 400-year-old vampire.

Hugh Ellingham has only agreed to the arranged set up to make his overbearing grandmother happy. In thirty days, whatever bridezilla shows up at his door will be escorted right back out. His past means love is no longer an option. Not if the woman’s going to have a future. Except he never counted on Delaney and falling in love for real.

Too bad both of them are keeping some mighty big secrets…

Review:
This was a cute, fluffy idea that turned out to be heavy on the fluffy and short on just about everything else. There’s an interesting set up, but that’s all it is, a set up. The situation that sends Delaney into Hugh’s arms pops up now and again, then drops away. It carries no tension and is never satisfactorily concluded.

Other predictable problems show up and resolve themselves with ease. Hugh has a pathological, phobic, paranoia-level fear that dissolves into thin air to such a degree that he goes to great sacrifice to obtain a magic to alleviate this fear and then starts the process in question before he even has it in hand.

Delaney is apparently a strong-willed woman because she speaks her mind (Yep, this is one of those he-loves-her-because-she-talks-back and isn’t feminine books.), but it’s never really believable because it lacks any sort of depth of character. All-in-all, that last comment kind of carries my opinion of the book in general. It’s cute, but lacks any sort of depth or character.

Oh, and there is no mail-order bride. There’s a vampire bride and a potential arranged marriage, but no mail order bride. It’s a cute title, sure, but maybe it should have been made relevant. It is a clean read though, if that’s your thing.

Stumptown Spirits

Book Review of Stumptown Spirits, by E.J. Russell

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Stumptown SpiritsI received a copy of Stumptown Spirits, b E. J. Russell, from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
What price would you pay to rescue a friend from hell?

For Logan Conner, the answer is almost anything. Guilt-ridden over trapping his college roommate in a ghost war rooted in Portland’s pioneer past, Logan has spent years searching for a solution. Then his new boyfriend, folklorist Riley Morrel, inadvertently gives him the key. Determined to pay his debt—and keep Riley safe—Logan abandons Riley and returns to Portland, prepared to give up his freedom and his future to make things right.

Crushed by Logan’s betrayal, Riley drops out of school and takes a job on a lackluster paranormal investigation show. When the crew arrives in Portland to film an episode about a local legend of feuding ghosts, he stumbles across Logan working at a local bar, and learns the truth about Logan’s plan.

Their destinies once more intertwined, the two men attempt to reforge their relationship while dodging a narcissistic TV personality, a craven ex-ghost, and a curmudgeonly bar owner with a hidden agenda. But Logan’s date with destiny is looming, and his life might not be the only one at stake. 

Review:
I have to admit that, while I didn’t dislike this, it wasn’t a big winner for me either. As much as I liked Riley and Logan (and I did), as interesting as I found the mystery (and it was), as amusing as I found the side characters (and they were), as often as I laughed (and I did ) I thought this was inelegantly written and at times just too over the top.

I completely understood that the characters were meant to be conflicted, wanting one thing but trying to do another, but the constant back and forwards annoyed me and it felt clunkily done. Logan’s internal dialogue was not enough to pull it off for me. What’s more, it all came down to an unwillingness to communicate that I found frustrating.

There was also one last twist toward the end that I thought way too coincidental and unbelievable. I don’t even think it contributed to the plot. The last event it prompted to action could have still happened without it.

All-in-all, I had complaints that kept me from loving it, but I did enjoy it. There is plenty of room between a book being a favorite and not liking a book at all. Riley was especially likable.

Snowmancer

Book Review of Snowmancer, by Olivia Helling

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SnowmancerI downloaded a copy of Snowmancer, by Olivia Helling, from Amazon. It was still free at the time of posting.

Description from Goodreads:
A partner he could trust. That’s what Prince Heir Ilyas wanted most in the world. Instead, he spent his days alone defending his future throne from his younger brothers and reaping the rewards of their estates. But when he receives his latest conquest, a slave named Jem, he’s abducted to the far reaches of a frozen wasteland to be sacrificed to Jem’s backwater god.

Someone who would see him. The one thing Jem knows he can never have. Instead, Jem walks the world searching for the sacrifice that will save the people who fear and shun him — the beautiful and proud Ilyas. Capturing Ilyas might have been simple, but keeping him safe for his god is another matter.

Trapped in their struggle and tight quarters, they’re both haunted by the whisper in each other of the warmth they dared not dream for. But nothing can stop the Dark God from coming. Nothing short of death. Can one kill the other? Or will they both be destroyed?A partner he could trust. That’s what Prince Heir Ilyas wanted most in the world. Instead, he spent his days alone defending his future throne from his younger brothers and reaping the rewards of their estates. But when he receives his latest conquest, a slave named Jem, he’s abducted to the far reaches of a frozen wasteland to be sacrificed to Jem’s backwater god.

Review:
Let me give you the perfect illustration of the type of impression this book makes. I read it yesterday, finished it about 11 and then went to bed. Until I sat down this afternoon and picked up my Kindle to find something to read, I’d wholly forgotten I read a book the day before. Nothing about Snowmancer stood out enough to be remembered without prompting, less than 12 hours later!

Now, it’s not a bad book. It was entertaining enough in a shallow sort of way. It has good atmosphere. You do feel the helplessness of the situation and Jem is a wonderful character. But I never could follow the progression from captive to captivated. Ilyas just seemed perfectly content to float along with Jem, despite threat of imminent death. His continued haughty attitude didn’t fit his situation at all and felt forced. There was basically no history to the characters and the climax/HEA was of the hand-waving variety. And I mean that as in it seemed to come exceedingly easy and without the need of further explanation and as in there was actual hand waving involved.

If you have an hour or two to pass this isn’t a waste of time, but it’s also not worth carving time out for.