Tag Archives: self published

the vampire's curse

Book Review of The Vampire’s Curse (Things in the Night #1), by Mandy Rosko

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I think I picked my copy of Mandy Rosko‘s The Vampire’s Curse from Smashwords. Though if I’m honest, I’m not 100% sure.

Description from Goodreads:

With this kiss… In a city that cannot be found on any map that is inhabited entirely by witches, warlocks, vampires, and werewolves, Kyle McKane is seeking a cure for a curse that turns him into a blood hungry vampire during the night, and leaves him an exhausted, sleep deprived human during the day. …she will cure him… Jackie Moore is probably the worst witch in the city apart from her ability to heal wounds and illnesses with a touch of her lips. She rarely sees outsiders and is stunned to come face to teeth with Kyle when he finally succumbs to his hunger and attempts to bite her. …whether she wants to or not… Instead she grabs him by the ears and kisses away his curse before he can sink his fangs into her. The problem is that the cure is only temporary until Kyle turns again the next night, and then goes out in search of Jackie so that she can cure him again, whether she wants to or not.

Review:

This simply wasn’t all that great. But more important in terms of my personal review, it didn’t push any pleasure buttons for me. So many times I stopped and asked myself, why do authors do that. Why do they never truly punish the villains? Why do they use the protagonist’s capacity to forgive to prove how good they are, even when the person doesn’t deserve (hasn’t done work toward) forgiveness? Why do they think sappy backstories make them forgivable? Why do they give the male half of a mystical pairing special powers, but not the female? Why do they make female characters so wishy-washy and internally uncertain? Why do they set the bar so low for male characters that they get credit for being wonderful for doing almost nothing? Why do they make twist so damned obvious? Why do some authors make the ultimate villain literally the only other named character in the book (not too hard to figure out when there is only one person on the board)? So many times I found myself asking why did this author have to ruin this book this way. Plus, it took me 3 whole days to finish it. So, it felt like it went on forever.

haunted

Book Review of Haunted, by Shari Nichols

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Author Shari Nichols sent me a paperback copy of Haunted.

Description from Goodreads:

When medium Karly Matthews agrees to move into a haunted inn, she’s not sure what’s more dangerous, the ghost or the sexy innkeeper she tries to resist. She’s can’t deny the intense rush of desire she feels every time he’s near. When she agrees to embark on a no-strings-attached relationship, she finds herself thrust into a world of mind blowing pleasures. Now she must face the aching truths of her past.

Hotel heir Thayne Harper has a laser-like focus on success that doesn’t include the help of his family. He’s always been the black sheep, living in the shadow of his dead brother. His dreams are put to the test when a supernatural entity threatens to ruin everything. The one bright spot is the woman who intrigues his mind and heats his blood.

If only he can convince her that, despite his bad boy ways, he can change for the good. Her love becomes his only salvation. Passion burns white-hot as a dark threat looms. The ghost doesn’t want them to be together and sets her sights on Thayne, luring him to a place that goes beyond death. Will Karly be able to save him before it’s too late?

Review:

This was ok; certainly, the writing was readable and I didn’t notice any particular editing issues. I just think it wasn’t really my sort of book. I thought the lust and then the love were too instant and there wasn’t anything to support it. Further, I thought the manner in which Thayne pursued Karly felt more like a skeevy come-on artist than legitimate feels and the way, no matter what scene was happening, sexual thoughts were interjected cluttered the narrative.

I don’t actually mean to suggest it wasn’t a good book. I just think there are plenty of people who will enjoy it more than me. I was pretty so-so on the whole thing.

the ravens ballad

Book Review of The Raven’s Ballad (The Otherworld #5), by Emma Hamm

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I’ve been very into Emma Hamm‘s books lately. This is book five in the Otherworld series. However, books one and two are a duology, as are books four and five. (I’ve not read the standalone third book). I borrowed this fifth book, The Raven’s Ballad, through Amazon Prime.

Description from Goodreads:

Once upon a time…

A curse can only be broken by luck or an impossible feat, and Aisling has tried numerous impossible feats. Every morning she changes into a swan. Every dusk she has a few moments with the man she loves, only to watch him forced into the form of a raven by the same curse.

When it becomes clear the curse is directly connected with an ancient, awakening evil, she sets off into the depths of Underhill to find answers. Unfortunately, this is a journey that must be made alone.

Bran refuses to believe there isn’t another way. Split off from his queen, he joins forces with the Seelie Fae and the Druids. Darkness spreads throughout the Raven Kingdom. Both king and queen fight to protect their people, their home, and the love they have for each other.

Review:

As I said, this is the fourth book by Emma Hamm I’ve read and I have to say it was my least favorite. That isn’t to say I didn’t like it, just that it wasn’t as strong in the things that made me love the others. Also, it’s the only one I got in kindle instead of audio. So, I suppose there’s a chance that the lack of Siobhan Waring’s narration affected me. Though, I don’t think that was the case.

The reason I say I didn’t love this one as much, is that what I liked about the previous three books in this series is that Hamm subverted a lot of the expected tropes, especially around women. Here she played into them. While this still made a readable story that I enjoyed, it didn’t light me up as much as it would have if she hadn’t. As examples (and this is a spoiler), the female villain is trying to destroy the world because she was spurned by a man. This has to be the number one most common reason women in fiction go bad. *yawn*

Also, what I most enjoyed in The Faceless Woman (the beginning of this duology) was the banter between Aisling and Bran. They spend 95% of this book apart and I missed them as a couple, even if I understood why it had to be that way.

Lastly, I noticed several copy edit mistakes. For example, ‘she’ is ‘se’ at one point and Aisling came out AIsling more than once. None of them disrupted my reading and they aren’t super common, but they are there. They may be in all the previous books too. But as I said, I listened to them, rather than read, so I wouldn’t have noticed.

I did appreciate the presence of a strong M/F platonic friendship. Neither character was even gay, thereby prohibiting a romance. Two people of opposite genders were simply allowed to love each other as family, despite there being no blood between them. I wish we could see that more often. (As a side note, I would love to see a gay pairing in this universe somewhere. I don’t even understand why creatures like the fae would conform to heteronormativity. I mean, that just seems so human and beneath them. *shrug*)

I also still liked Aisling and Bran as characters and recognize how much they grew as people, especially Bran. I look forward to reading more of Hamm’s writing.