Tag Archives: romance

Sever the Crown Complete Vampire Romance Series

Review of the Sever the Crown series, by Mysti Parker & Lindsey R. Loucks

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I received an Audible code for a copy of Emergence (book one) and then since I enjoyed it, I borrowed the compilation through Amazon Prime.

Description from Amazon:

◆ Start with Book One: Emergence

One woman. Five men. Together, they’ll sever the crown – or maybe the head that wears it.

Wren has a dark obsession—to find her mother’s murderers before they find her. Every new singing gig brings her closer to crossing their names from her list.

When a detective shows up with a new lead, she jumps at the chance with fangs bared. But to get the information they need, they’ll have to bust someone out of jail.

Sure. No problem. 

Ashe has just been framed for high crimes against the Southern Vampire Clan—but he’s not exactly innocent either.

While waiting for his fate, a five-pointed star tattoo appears on his wrist, similar to the tattoo of a stunning platinum-haired vampire. The sudden attraction between them is undeniable. Better yet, she’s just offered to free him. 

Sounds like a great deal. So what’s the catch?

Turns out, as their enemies close in, the catch could very well be their lives.

◆ Book Two: Defiance – Everyone knows it’s not a true vampire cult party until someone gets staked.

◆ Book Three: Obsession – Wren’s world has caught fire. But she’ll be damned if she lets it burn.

◆ Book Four: Relentless – Wren’s fourth mate just might be the death of her…that is if the world doesn’t end first.

◆ Book Five: Ascension – 3…2…1…It’s a race against time in an epic war for the throne. Queen versus queen.

Reviews:

I wrote reviews of these books as I went. I had more opinions at the finish of some than others. But overall, I liked the series but found myself growing bored by the end. I feel like the authors kept themselves constrained in the beginning, but by the last book, things were getting sloppy.

Emergence (Sever the Crown, #1)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It’s not particularly deep and I was expecting the heroine to meet all of her mates here, but it looks like it will be one per book. Despite that, I laughed several times, thought the writing sharp, and I liked the characters. Plus, the narrator did an excellent job, which always contributes. I’ve borrowed the rest of the series through Amazon Prime now. We’ll see if I like them as much when reading them, instead of listening.

Defiance (Sever the Crown, #2)

I didn’t dislike this, but I didn’t like it as much as the first. With two mates located, the Wren worship is just getting to be a little too much for me. I’m pleased to say that, despite being a reverse harem story, the book isn’t bogged down in too much sex, and the sex scenes aren’t overly long. I’m moving on to book three. We’ll see how things go from there.

Obsession (Sever the Crown #3)

I gotta admit I’m getting a bit bored with this series now. Contradictorily, it starting to feel like too much of the same (basically how amazing Wren is) and like the authors got bored with the confines of their own world and blew it open. In the previous books, we only had humans and vampires. Suddenly, here in this book, we have vampires, and witches, and celestials (aka angels and demons), lion, wolf and boar shifters, banshees, and portals through time. This felt like a huge departure from what previous books had lead readers to believe were the limits of the world.

Additionally, Wren now has three male mates, which I have no problem with. But I find it really unimaginative that there is no overlap. She gives one mate at time attention, there is no jealousy but there also isn’t any crossover. Not in the sense of having more than one in bed at a time or with any of the males feeling affection for one another. Somehow it gives a sense of monogamy, even in the Polyandrous relationship. Which might work if they weren’t all together all the time.

Also worth noting is that these books do not stand alone and this one ends on a particularly precipitous cliffhanger.

Despite saying all of that, I’m still moving on to book four. Honestly, I’ll read the whole series just to see if Zac finally gets turned and to be a mate. (I’m pretty sure he will and even think I know how that will come about, but I want to see it.)

Relentless (Sever the Crown #4)

Book four of five in a series in which the books do not stand on their own. So, it starts in the middle of the story and ends on a cliffhanger. It’s OK, but the whole series has grown stale, each book just seems to be more of the same. It’s not bad, it’s just not adding anything particularly fresh with each new installment.

Ascension (Sever the Crown #5)

I was really glad to see the fifth mate came about as I thought he would (and was who I thought). But I was so ready for this series to be finished by the time I reached the end. I felt like it just went on for too long. All five mates were sweet, but having 5 men to satisfy got repetitive. Especially since this is medium-burn (that’s a quote from one of the blurbs), so most of the sex was somewhat abortive and didn’t vary far from the most basic.

Then there was the final showdown with the villains. They’re literally caricatures. I mean every time the evil mates entered a scene they came in quoting ridiculous lines, even. There is no feeling of the rest of the vampire clan(s) (or humanity, for that matter). It all felt very surface level.

I know I’ve just been complaining. That’s my frustration coming through. But I did read five books without DNFing any of them, so I obviously didn’t hate it. The writing is still perfectly readable and I did like the characters, etc.

atlantis rising

Review of Atlantis Rising (Warriors Of Poseidon #1), by Alyssa Day

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I received a copy of Atlantis Rising when I signed up for Alyssa Day’s newsletter. Curious of Jack’s (the hero in Dead Eye) origins, I gave it a read.

Description from Goodreads:

Eleven thousand years ago, before the seas swallowed the Atlanteans, Poseidon assigned a few chosen warriors to act as sentinels for humans in the new world. There was only one rule-desiring them was forbidden. But rules were made to be broken…

When she calls…
Riley Dawson is more than a dedicated Virginia Beach social worker. She’s blessed with a mind link that only Atlanteans have been able to access for thousands of years. Being an “empath” may explain her wistful connection to the roiling waves of the ocean, the sanctuary it provides, and the sexual urges that seem to emanate from fathoms below…

He will come.
Conlan, the High Prince of Atlantis, has surfaced on a mission to retrieve Poseidon’s stolen trident. Yet something else has possessed Conlan: the intimate emotions-and desires-of a human. Irresistibly drawn to the uncanny beauty, Conlan soon shares more than his mind. But in the midst of a battle to reclaim Poseidon’s power, how long can a forbidden love last between two different souls from two different worlds?

Review:

This is the second Alyssa Day book I’ve read and they’ve both suffered in the same manner (this one far worse than the first, Dead Eye). Both had an interesting plot that was then shoved into the background in favor of endless repetitions of how awed the hero is by the heroine and her innate goodness. Had Day flipped this around I probably would have loved this book. As it was the whole vampires try to take over the world, Lost City of Atlantis rising to save humanity is a subplot to he’s hot and tortured and she’s kind enough to heal his heart. There isn’t enough of the first to carry the book and the latter isn’t strong enough to support all Day heaped onto it. By the end, I was desperately ready to be finished with the book.

Having said all of that, I did like the characters. I appreciated that, while Conlan was bossy, he wasn’t an alpha-asshole about it. I liked that he communicated when he was struggling with control and I liked that Riley had some agency.

When I picked this book up, I didn’t realize it was initially published in 2007. I’m always wary of any PNR that’s more than a decade old. The industry codified a lot of tropes I despise. Despite that, though this wasn’t a winner for me, I didn’t hate it as much as I could have. And that’s a plus, right?

the duke and i

Book Review of The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1), by Julia Quinn

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Look you guys, it’s only June and I’ve already read Q book for my Alphabet Soup Author challenge. Usually, I’m scrambling, mid-December trying to find books by authors that start with Q, X, Y, and Z. Not this year! *Is smug.*

I won a copy of Julia Quinn’s The Duke and I through Goodreads.

Description:

In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable…but not too amiable.

Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen.

Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar.

The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty:

Love ignores every rule…

Review:

This was ok. I enjoyed the banter between Daphne and Simon. But I thought the transition from friends to lovers to partners was abrupt in parts and jagged in others. I honestly felt Simon was trapped into it, in a sense. I don’t feel like that was the only time he was taken advantage of. And, while the overprotective brothers were amusing at times, they got annoying.

I did very much appreciate that Quinn didn’t give the father a redemptive arc. I thought she would and I hate that. Parents have been evil don’t always deserve to be redeemed in the reader’s eyes. All in all, I’d read another one. But I’m not in any hurry about it.