Tag Archives: romance

Review of Contemporary Draconic Hoarding Practices, by Dae Richards

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I received a copy of Contemporary Draconic Hoarding Practices, by Dae Richards, through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
While researching his thesis, Clayton’s work leads him to Syralis the wise, a dragon and professor at the university where he studies. Syralis’ hoard contains original manuscripts which are invaluable to Clayton’s research. Clayton soon finds himself one of the few students to ever study under Syralis, and during their lessons Clayton learns not only about medieval art, but his own history and his unusual magical sensitivity as well.

Clayton also finds himself enamored of Syralis, but when that attraction proves mutual, not everybody is pleased…

Review:
Not bad for a bit of fluff, but honestly that’s all it is. I liked the characters, the world and the writing, but I would have appreciated more to the story than insta-lust, a small misunderstanding and an easy resolution. I don’t regret reading it and would read more of Richards’ work, but there was nothing here to impress me either. A nice, safe, middle of the road read.

Apocalypse Alley

Book Review of Apocalypse Alley (Blue Unicorn #2), by Don Allmon

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I received a copy of Don Allmon‘s Apocalypse Alley through Netgalley. I reviewed book one, The Glamour Thieves, here.

Description from Goodreads:
Home from a six-month assignment to war-torn East Asia, genetically engineered supersoldier Noah “Comet” Wu just wants to kick back, share a beer, and talk shit with his best friend, JT. But JT’s home has been shot up like a war zone, and his friend has gone missing.

Comet’s only lead is a smart-mouthed criminal he finds amid the mess. His name’s Buzz Howdy. He’s a con man and a hacker and deserves to be in jail. Or in handcuffs, at least. The only thing the two have in common is JT. Unless you count the steamy glances they’re sneaking at one another. They have those in common too. But that just makes Comet all the more wary.

Despite their mutual distrust, they’ll have to work together to rescue JT before a cyborg assassin gets to him first. Racing down a miserable stretch of road called Apocalypse Alley, they must dodge radioactive spiders, a lonely cannibal, and a killer Buick. They also try to dodge each other. That last bit doesn’t work out so well.

Review:
Honestly, I didn’t love this one like I did The Glamour Thieves. I liked it just fine, but there was no love. I still got a thrill out of Allmon’s world and there is a lot of humor in the book that tickled me and I really like the writing style, but the romance literally goes from gun-to-the-head-of-a-stranger to in love, in less than six hours. There is just no way to make that work for me, even if the two go through some heavy stuff together. Almost especially if they go through a storm together, because then you have to sort what feelings are just leftover from the experience and what is real. The book doesn’t even touch on that little psychological reality.

Plus, the book just never stops. There are no rest points in the narrative and I, personally, needed them. And lastly JT and Austin are hardly in the book and I missed them.

Having said all that, I’ll still be on board for book three. This might not have shown like the star book one was, but it is still a fun read and I look forward to more of Allmon’s work.

Book Review of Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (Dead Things #1), by Martina McAtee

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I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not sure where I got my copy of Martina McAtee‘s Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. I don’t think I bought it, so I either picked up as an Instafreebie or won it somewhere. If I won it from you or your blog, thank you.

Description from Goodreads:
17 year old Ember Denning has made an art of isolating herself. She prefers the dead. She spends her days skipping school in old cemeteries and her nights hiding from her alcoholic father at the funeral home where she works. When her own father dies, Ember learns her whole life is a lie. Standing in the cemetery that’s been her sanctuary, she’s threatened by the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen and rescued by two people who claim to be her family. They say she’s special, that she has a supernatural gift like them…they just don’t know exactly what it is.

They take her to a small Florida town, where Ember’s life takes a turn for the weird. She’s living with her reaper cousins, an orphaned werewolf pack, a faery and a human genius. Ember’s powers are growing stronger, morphing into something bigger than anything anybody anticipated. Ember has questions but nobody has answers. Nobody knows what she is. They only know her mysterious magical gift is trying to kill them and that beautiful dangerous boy from the cemetery may be the only thing standing between her and death.

As Ember’s talents are revealed so are the secrets her father hid and those in power who would seek to destroy her. What’s worse, saving Ember has put her cousins in danger and turned her friend’s lives upside down. Ember must learn to embrace her magic or risk losing the family she’s pieced together.

Review: 
I have a really odd relationship with YA books. 9 times out of 10, I read them and dislike the book. But there’s that 10th one, the one I read that makes me wonder why I say I dislike the genre. (Then I read the next one, which I dislike, and the whole cycle starts again.) But that occasional YA book that I so enjoy is what keeps me coming back hoping the next one will be the good one, even if it’s usually not.

Well, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things is the unicorn, the random and rare YA book that I truly enjoy. It was witty and funny and diverse. Not all the characters are white and there are both het and gay romances (even a poly among some side characters). It’s suspenseful and irreverent, playing with and making fun of YA characters and tropes, even as it used some of them.

The book could use a tad more copy editing (though it’s not too distracting, just the occasional double comma and such), it’s a little too long and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, or at least doesn’t wrap up most of the threads. But it’s definitely one I’d recommend picking up and I look forward to more.