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Book Review: Fate Awakened, by Jocelyn Montana

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I accepted a review copy of Fate Awakened, by Jocelyn Montana as part of its book tour with Rockstar Book Tours. The book was also featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there for author information, an excerpt, tour schedule, and chance to win a copy of the book for yourself.

 

A fierce werewolf consumed by his past. A human used as bait. A connection neither expects.

A MONSTER TO EVERYONE BUT HER …
Hans lives only for vengeance. No more Pack. No friends. Only the dark void inside him tormenting him about his past. Yet when he meets a dark-haired beauty, desire tears through him and changes everything. But werewolves never take mates, and to claim her would doom him and ensure the rising evil wins.

AN ORDINARY HUMAN TO EVERYONE BUT HIM …
One moment Briony’s eating in the tavern, and the next a necromancer has her tied up in a cave as bait for a werewolf. Stuck in the middle of a centuries old battle, she needs to escape. Now. Except when the werewolf arrives and she gets her chance, she doesn’t run. No—she helps him and decides to join him to face a formidable enemy who will do anything to kill her. And with each day that passes, every gentle touch, every silky purr, the werewolf claws his way further into her heart.

BOUND TOGETHER AGAINST AN ANCIENT EVIL …
They have one month to work together to take down a sorceress. One month to decide to remain together forever. Everyone in Briony’s life has left her, and she doesn’t believe in love anymore. Secrets in Hans’s past prevent him from making Briony his. They may save the world, but will they save each other?

my reviewI thought that this book was OK. It didn’t light me on fire. But I strongly suspect that it will some people, depending on what you’re looking for in a monster romance. The writing and editing is mechanically fine. The plot holds together and the characters are likeable enough. So, it all just comes down to personal preference. And this is where I was left to just kind of shrug.

Sure, Hans is a monster who doesn’t take human form. But he feels awfully human-like. This is exacerbated by just how colloquial a lot of the dialogue is. I was often yanked out of the narrative by some particular turn of phrase that just felt a little too normal to be coming out of the mouth of a non-human who presumably wasn’t socialized in modern America.

Similarly, despite being a planet with two suns, two moons, and fantasy creatures, surprisingly recognizable things would pop up—like Baba Yaga. I mean, sure, all the monsters were recognizable ones. Though sometimes called something different, there were elves, shifters, goblins, trolls, etc. But when mythological characters show up by name, I’m left wondering if this is a different world or a far future post-apocalyptic Earth. Either is fine. But the fact that I’ve finished the book and can’t tell you isn’t. In the end, it just felt inconsistent.

fate awakened photoMostly though, I found that I was just bored with a lot of it. There’s an interesting fight to save the world going on. But it feels like set dressing to the romance. And, as sweet as that romance is, it wasn’t enough to keep me interested for 330 pages.

So, all in all, I’ll call this a middle-of-the-road read for me while acknowledging that it’ll float someone’s boat for sure.

Other Reviews:

Beers Books Boos: Fate Awakened

 

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Book Reviews: I Don’t Kneel for Monsters & Wolf’s Bite, by Atlas Rose

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I received this edition of a compilation of two Atlas Rose books in my September Supernatural Book Crate. It contains two first in series, I don’t Kneel for Monsters and Wolf’s Bite. Though some older editions of the latter have Kim Faulks on the cover too. So, I’m assuming she is (or was) a co-writer.

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I don’t Kneel for Monsters:

 I might be chained, but I’m no prisoner.
They won’t let me leave this pack of demonic beasts with their red glowing eyes and their pawing touch. They keep me locked up during the day and surrounded by their heat at night.

They keep me…
Confined.
Controlled.
Consumed.

Men who are monsters and monsters who look like men. Trading my fear for their sick, demented games. I hate them. Hate it when they make me run. Hate it when they call it a ‘hunt’. But the capture.

The capture is something I can’t stop thinking about.
Fangs and claws. Their hunger is insatiable.
Until the night I saw him.
A man standing in the middle of a labyrinth where we hid.

A man dressed in white.

He’s here to save me. Here to get me away from these monsters. I just know it. I’ll run to him, the first chance I get. I’ll get away from those demonic creatures…I’ll save myself anyway I can.

Or I’ll die trying.

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my review

I have to say that I’m just confused by this book. There are so may glaring inconsistencies (both in the plot and in the writing itself) and then the whole thing ends on a cliffhanger without providing the reader any sort of payoff for sticking with the book through all the confusion.

Here are some of the types of inconsistencies I mean. In the beginning, 5 wolves break into Arden’s house and kidnap her. However, for the rest of the book, there are only 4—Moody, Broody, Cheeky, and Alpha. (She gave them the stupid names to annoy them.) We lost a Hellhound somewhere. Where? No idea. I can’t even be sure when, because most of the time I was uncertain which hellhound was doing what.

I’m pretty sure her heart stopped about six time before she actually ‘died.’ I was never sure if it was creative license and hyperbole or if it was actually stopping. The button on her jeans was popped off twice. She was later wearing panties that had already been ripped off, same with a shirt. Do her clothes heal? So, the kind of stuff a half way attentive beta reader or editor would have caught.

Mostly I won’t be continuing the series though, because (unless its a duology) the next book will I don't kneel for monsters photoprobably provide as little pay off as this one; same for the one after that, etc. I realize indie authors are being told this whole half-a-book to hook readers is what they should be writing. I know it’s a whole thing in the industry. But I cannot express how much I hate it. In fact, the physical copy I have also contains Wolf Bite, as I said. And I’m strongly considering not bothering to read it, even if that leaves the ‘book’ unfinished and I can’t move it from the unread to the read shelf. Simply because I don’t really want to set my self up for another disappointment of a half-written book. Can this trend die yet?

Wolf’s Bite:

I carry his bite mark on my shoulder…and the memory of what I’d done in his bed.

Phantom, the Alpha of Crown City Wolves might think he has a handle on me…
He might think this is more than what it was…

He’s about to find out he’s wrong.

I don’t belong to the Wolves of Crown City. I belong to the FBI.
My sole purpose has been hunting scum who sit in their ivory tower and shatter people’s lives.
I’ve hunted the Costello for years now.
They’re lower than low…they are liars…they’re mobsters.

They’re Mafia.

This is more than a case for me.

This was personal.

The last bullet in my father’s policing career. Ruined because of them.

Only a war erupted. A war which I’m now part of…a war between the beasts that roam my city and the powerful Immortals they answer to.

I replayed that night in slow motion. Fangs. Blood…and Phantom. The Alpha of the Wolves. The one I saved from a rogue Vampire.

And the one who saved me.

my review

I will grant that this book was significantly better than the first in the compilation. But that’s a long way from saying it’s good. It could be a heck of a lot closer though, if Rose hired an editor…or even just enlisted a friend to beta read and keep track of the inconsistencies.

About halfway through this book, I posted a whole Tiktok suggesting some authors need a beta service geared solely toward keeping track of a character’s clothes so that they don’t take bras off twice, etc. I didn’t name her, but Rose was who I was talking about.

@seesadieread how does something like this get consistently missed is my other thought. #authortalk #authortok #books #smexscene #booktalk #booktok #authorserivice #reader #seesadieread #books #editing #youalreadydidthat #monsterromance ♬ original sound – SadieF

I’m generally pretty patient about editing. But Rose’s editing is so consistently shoddy in this department that I started to lose my will to continue, after a while. Oddly, it’s not even typos and the normal sloppy editing. Rose just can’t seem to keep track of the elements of her plot. A wolf approaching someone who is already leaning on him, for example. Clothes that get taken off or ripped up more than once, etc.

Outside of the editing issue, I’m torn. I did like the characters. I especially liked how desperate Phantom and his pack were and how we got to see his POV, even if he showed an alpha a-hole face to the world. I’m interested to know what happens next (if I can tolerate more of the inconsistencies).

wolf's bite photoI wasn’t aware that this is a spin-off series. And there were definitely some elements that made no sense to me. Characters were named that were not in the book, a whole war raged for reasons I didn’t know about, etc. So, I would not recommend reading this without reading Rose’s other series (despite being labeled book one). And it ends on a cliffhanger. I am SO tired of books that don’t end!

All in all, I think I’d continue the series if I came across a free copy. But I don’t think I’d buy another book so poorly edited.

Other Reviews:

a kingdom of flame and fury

Book Review: A Kingdom of Flame and Fury, by Whitney Dean

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I accepted a review copy of Whitney Dean‘s A Kingdom of Flame and Fury through R&R Book Tours. The Book was also featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there for an excerpt, author information, tour schedule, and (if you hurry) a chance to win a copy of the book.

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At ten years old, Raven was mysteriously willed to be the next ruler of Seolia, a kingdom nestled within the realm of The Four Kingdoms. Orphaned as a baby, she has spent fifteen years ruling over a kingdom she believes she did not earn all while hiding secrets: she possesses dark magic and she thirsts for blood. Now at almost twenty-five years old and with a sudden addiction to stealing life, Raven must fight through her new procured darkness to save her soul, but when a mysterious stranger arrives in her kingdom, she starts experiencing vivid dreams that detail who she truly is. As she slowly starts to unravel her story, what she uncovers at the end of the spool will change the course of her life and her kingdom forever.

my review

I went into this book with such high hopes. But it honestly just strangled them, one extra page at a time. I’ll give the author that the writing is mechanically competent, the editing is pretty clean, and the world is interesting. I didn’t even hate the characters. But the book is far, far, far too long for the plot that it contains. The middle just draaaaaaags, and then the whole thing finishes on a cliffhanger. So, there’s not even any payoff after sticking with it until the end.

I might have been able to tolerate that if it wasn’t paired with constant whiplash changes in character attitudes and behaviors. “I won’t do this.” Does it. “You can’t do that” Does it. “I’ll do the thing.” Doesn’t do it. “I love this man.” Hates same man. “I don’t sexually love this man.” Has sex with him. Back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forwards. I’m talking a full half of this book is just characters flipping between opposing attitudes/opinions/actions. And I was just completely done with it far before the book was done with me. Yes, I understood that the author was trying to show that the characters were conflicted, but it just felt contradictory and exhausting.

Even the narrative is contradictory. Here’s an example. The reader is told no one ever goes in the woods and there is virtually no crime on the island. Raven walked into the woods and was immediately accosted by a serial rapist. If no one goes in the woods and there’s almost no crime, he’s two rarities at once. He contradicts two pillars of the world as the reader has been told it exists. Exhausting.

Further, this is labeled a dark romance. I don’t think it’s a dark romance. It’s a freaking tragedy. I recognize the elements that Dean was trying to paint as dark romance. But it’s just toxic, abusive behavior without enough shading to make it an actual dark romance. Lastly, and this

a kingdom of flame and fury

Special edition cover

one was just an annoyance, but it really annoyed me. Nothing about Raven—her situation, her attitude, her demeanor, her kingdom, her training, her history, her interactions with others or them with her—felt queenly. Nothing. The book isn’t even clear on what she rules. Was it a country, an island, a town, or a village? Village is used more often than anything else. So, she’s the queen of a village? Linguistically, it doesn’t even make sense.

I think this book will find an audience. Exhausting whiplash aside, most aspects of it aren’t bad. I am just apparently not that audience.

Other Reviews:

Bookworm Bunny Reviews: A Kingdom of FLame and Fury

A Kingdom of Flame and Fury