Tag Archives: self published

Crying For The Moon

Book Review of Crying For The Moon, by Sarah Madison

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I borrowed a copy of Crying for the Moon, by Sarah Madison from Hoopla, through my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Vampire Alexei Novik may have the teeth and the coffin, but he’s given up the lifestyle for an old fixer-upper in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Weary of his past, Alex plans to keep to himself, but it seems his sexy, new neighbor, Tate, can’t take the hint—a good thing, since it turns out he’s handy for all kinds of things around the house. Tate even gets along with Alex’s werewolf friends, though one of them pointedly reminds Alex that their friendship is a bad idea. 

If a platonic relationship is a bad idea, the growing attraction between Tate and Alex is a disaster waiting to happen. Loving Tate will draw him into Alex’s dangerous world, and Alex is torn between having the relationship he’s always craved and keeping Tate safe. Tate won’t take no for an answer, however, and seems to handle everything Alex can throw at him without blinking. Just when he thinks things might turn out all right after all, Alex’s past catches up with him—forcing him to make a terrible choice.

Review:
So that was, um, well, that was….not very good, in my opinion. Look the writing is mechanically fine, but the story is flat and dull. There is almost no conflict. Only one bit pops up predictably (because the reader sees the obvious foreshadowing) out of nowhere (because it’s not there and then it is for no real reason) and then is defeated in no time at all (because of course it is). There are large chunks dedicated to unimportant things and, unless I was just misunderstanding what was supposed to be happening, I would advise the author to actually see an uncut penis before suggesting the things she seems to think could easily be done with a foreskin and maybe a penis in general if she imagines someone could blithely stick their tongue down a urethra. I’m just sayin’.

I did like the characters and the representation of werewolf pack behavior and the interesting lore around the vampire’s coffin. I didn’t really approve of the Alexi’s solution at the end, but that’s neither here nor there. I think this is a case of just not a good book for me. I’m sure others might love it.

Bonus side note: I especially cringed when I hit this sentence: “Her sculptured cheekbones and rich, café au lait coloring gave her an exotic look that made her stand out among women in general, but among Nick’s friends, she was clearly the diamond in the rough.” The author managed to use a food reference to describe a black woman (who was of course from New Orleans), squeeze the dreaded ‘exotic’ word in there to fetishize her, and then topped it with a cliche, all in one sentence. I’m a bit iffy about the ‘stand out among women in general’ too. So, that whole sentence left me agape.

Book Review of Blood Ice & Oak Moon: A Coon Hollow Coven Tale, by Marsha A. Moore

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I won an audible copy of Marsha A. Moore’s Blood Ice & Oak Moon.

Description from Goodreads:
Esme Underhill is about to discover a darkness hidden inside her that could destroy her chance for independence and possibly kill her.

Esme’s mother took her young daughter away from Southern Indiana’s Coon Hollow Coven to prevent her from learning about the unusual witchcraft she had inherited. When Esme is twenty-seven, her beloved Grammy Flora passes away and leaves her property in the Hollow to her granddaughter. With this opportunity to remake her life and gain independence, Esme attempts to emulate Grammy Flora as a wildwood mystic who relies on the hedge world of faeries to locate healing herbs. But fae are shrewd traders. When they open their world to her, she must meet the unknown malevolence of her birthright.

Thayne, the handsome king of the fae Winter Court, faces his own struggle to establish autonomy as a new regent. He is swept into the tempest of Esme’s unfolding powers, a dangerous threat to his court. His sworn duty is to protect his people, despite Esme’s beauty and allure, which tear at his resolve.

Both Esme’s and Thayne’s dreams of personal freedom are lost…unless they can trust each other and overcome surmounting dangers.

Review:
Sigh. This may just be a case of a book being poorly matched to a reader, but I didn’t much care for this. It wasn’t all out bad, but it wasn’t great either. If I had to break the review of my experience with this down to one statement, it would be both the book and the audio narration (by Jean Lowe Carlson) were only ok. Neither very good, but not all out bad either, or at least not to my liking.

I found the writing, especially the dialogue really stilted and stiff. This was apparent in the actual writing, but I think it was exacerbated by the way it was read by Carison.

Some people will probably like this kind of Mary Sue heroine, but I don’t see the appeal. She was 27, but the book reads like it is YA. Esmerelda was constantly on about becoming (not being, but becoming) and independent woman. Despite this, she was also always moaning about her mom, or daddy or grammy. And in the end, wanna know what she felt made her feel more independent than anything ever did before? Getting married. Arg, someone get me a drink STAT! And this after spending most of the book all cut up because of one bad past relationship. It was cliched.

She also defeated an all-powerful enemy with presumably hundreds of years of training and experience in less than a page with no training or experience of her own. I won’t quite call it deus ex mechana, because she had the power already. But I also couldn’t believe it.

I felt no chemistry between Esmeralda and Thayne and at no point did I see their relationship develop. They were just in love all of a sudden and she was being handed a princess’ happily ever after for no apparent reason.

I didn’t truly understand why her and her black amber were so sought after. I have no idea what the underlying motivation of at least one of the villains was, and only a vague idea about the others. (And why have so many independent enemies?) And at one point an established dictum of the universe, that fae can’t lie, is broken.

All in all, this is a strong case of ‘special snowflake’ heroine and I didn’t care for it. But I bet others really will.

Vagabond Circus Series Boxed Set

Book Review of Vagabond Circus Boxed Set, by Sarah Noffke

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Sarah Noffke was giving away Audible credits for the Vagabond Circus box set, including Suspended, Paralyzed and Released, and I ended up with one of them.

Description from Goodreads:
When a stranger joins the cast of Vagabond Circus—a circus that is run by Dream Travelers and features real magic—mysterious events start happening. The once orderly grounds of the circus become riddled with hidden threats. And the ringmaster realizes not only are his circus and its magic at risk, but also his very life. 

Vagabond Circus caters to the skeptics. Without skeptics, it would close its doors. This is because Vagabond Circus runs for two reasons and only two reasons: first and foremost to provide the lost and lonely Dream Travelers a place to be illustrious. And secondly, to show the nonbelievers that there’s still magic in the world. If they believe, then they care, and if they care, then they don’t destroy. They stop the small abuse that day-by-day breaks down humanity’s spirit. If Vagabond Circus makes one skeptic believe in magic, then they halt the cycle, just a little bit. They allow a little more love into this world. That’s Dr. Dave Raydon’s mission. And that’s why this ringmaster recruits. That’s why he directs. That’s why he puts on a show that makes people question their beliefs. He wants the world to believe in magic once again. 

Review:
Overall, I enjoyed this series and thought that the narrator, Steve Barnes did a good job on the audio version. I liked some of his voices better than others. I loved Finley’s, for example, but hated Charles’. But it all averaged out. Here are my brief thoughts on the story, written as I completing each book.

Suspended
Pretty good so far, I say ‘so far’ because it’s obviously just part one of the trilogy. It ends on a cliffhanger. But so far I like the plot, the magic system, and the characters. (Though I spent a lot of the book thinking Finley was a total jerk-face.) There is a bit of insta-love, which is annoying. But I kind of see opportunities for it to be explained in the future. We’ll see. I’ll hold of final judgment until I finish the series; all of which I have, since I’m actually listening to the Vagabond Circus Boxed Set.

I do have to admit though that I’ve been really annoyed by the short chapters. Maybe that wouldn’t bother me so much if I wasn’t listening to an audio instead of reading it, but it feels like the narrator is always having to interrupt the story to note, “Chapter 64,” etc.

Paralyzed
Very much a middle book in a trilogy where the books don’t stand alone. But, taking the series as a whole, it’s still fairly enjoyable. The villain has finally been revealed and the primary couple is finally admitting to loving one another.

Released
I generally enjoyed it. I was seriously disappointed that the author seemed to go back on all the diversity she’d included in the series by having the sole queer character (as well as only black main character) die and the only other woman of color that I recall be horrid and also dying. I don’t think you get accolades for including diverse characters (which I was all geared up to give) if you just kill them off.

I also thought that, given that the circus was full of powerful, skilled people, the ending was overly drawn out. But it was still pretty good.

Overall, I enjoyed this series and thought that the narrator (Steve Barnes) did a good job on the audio version. I liked some of his voices better than others. I loved Finley’s but hated Charles’. But it all averaged out. Here are my brief thoughts on completing each book.