Tag Archives: self published

Book Reveiw: Captured by the Alien Savage, by Marina Maddix & Flora Dare

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Captured by the Alien Savage, by Marina Maddix & Flora Dare was a freebie on Amazon. I’ve had it for a couple months, but I picked it up and it read now because I recently noticed that all the alien romances seem to feature blue aliens. On a lark I did a quick google search and came up with more than 50 of them. I even wrote a half joking blog post about it. I ended that post with the question, “…where’s my chartreuse alien, or mauve, or red?” Well, given that two days later I happened across a, I kid you not, pink alien romance in my TBR, I had to read it.

Description from Goodreads:
Just when I think nothing else could go wrong…I see her. 

My crew and I are on a desperate mission hunting a villain, but he’s always one step ahead. Now we’re stuck in orbit over a primitive planet called ‘Earth’ without enough fuel to get us home. And worst of all, every last one of us is about to go into heat. 

That’s bad. Very bad. 

Our only hope of survival lies somewhere on the surface. I can’t afford any distractions, least of all a beautiful, curvy human female who my body tells me is my fated mate, my amavar. But that’s impossible! My mate can’t be human… can she?

Review:
I think…no, I’m fairly sure that this MUST be parody. And as parody it’s pretty good. It’s hilarious even. I mean he’s a hot pink (occasionally flushing to purple) alien stud who features a penis, with a retractable carapace, that when unleashed swells in the middle, vibrates AND GYRATES. He can even use it as a homing device to find his mate, literally being let by his cock. They fuel their ship on diet coke and have to return home quickly or they’ll all go into a mating frenzy and kill each other. It’s like all the normal alien erotica tropes on steroids. As parody I call it a success. If someone wrote this to be serious….um, sorry.

Descended From Dragons

Book Review of Descended From Dragons (Moonlight Dragon #1), by Tricia Owens

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I grabbed Tricia Owens‘ Descended From Dragons when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
To save Sin City, she must battle Hell. Too bad the odds are against her. 

Beneath the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas lies another city. A secret city in plain sight, full of warlocks and demons, shapeshifters and golems. A city that feeds off the chance magick that is generated by gamblers and which is ruled by mysterious beings called the Oddsmakers. 

It is in this strange underbelly of the occult that Anne Moody runs a cursed pawn shop for the desperate, the curious, and the magickally inclined. Though the job is boring, it keeps her under the radar. None of her customers have any inkling that she is a dragon sorceress with a power that’s been feared throughout history. One day, a visitor to her shop pawns a stone statue that is more than it appears. The statue is a gargoyle named Vale, who is shrouded in mystery and secrets. When she learns that Vale is possessed, and that the person responsible for cursing him plans to take over Las Vegas with a horde of demons from Hell, Anne realizes it is up to her to defy the Oddsmakers and save the city, and possibly the world.

Review:
Eh, amusing enough but not overly impressive, nothing we haven’t all seen before. But I still enjoyed the couple hours it took to read it and I’d read the next one. I liked that Anne unequivocally saved the day and that the characters were racially and culturally diverse. The ending felt a bit abrupt and the world wasn’t very developed. All in all, a nice fluffy book to pass the time with, as long as you’re not looking for something particularly original.

Dog with a Bone

Book Review of Dog with a Bone (Black Dog, #1), by Hailey Edwards

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I picked up a copy of Dog With a Bone, by Hailey Edwards, through Instafreebie.

Description from Goodreads
Half-bloods with Thierry’s skill set are given two options. They can join the conclave’s marshal program, or they can pack their bags. Turn down the job offer, and you’ve just shredded your residency pass for the mortal realm and booked yourself a one-way ticket to Faerie.

Texas is the only home Thierry has ever known, and she’s not going anywhere. Even if it means following in her notorious father’s footsteps as a peacekeeper. But pinning on the badge opens her eyes to the fact sometimes fae need protection too, and that sometimes humans are the real monsters.

Review:
Another reviewer started their review this was: “Dog with a Bone introduces a young Thierry Thackaray who has just become a marshal – a fae cop. ” I read that and thought, Um, no it really doesn’t. The book doesn’t introduce anyone or anything. It just drops you right in the middle a story and leaves you there to flounder.

I started this book and then checked again and again to be sure it REALLY is book one, because I had no idea who or what anyone was. I could figure out what was happening fairly easily. But the characters, their species specifications? Nope, that was a loss, especially when there was supposed to be a meaningful relationship between two of them and we’re given nothing about it. I felt no connection with these characters. I wasn’t given the opportunity to develop one.

This literally feels like the latter half of a book. LITERALLY. Like I said, I kept looking for a prequel or SOMETHING to add to it. Alas, nothing seems to exist. There are several series set in this world. Maybe this is a spin off of one of them and the beginning of Thierry and Shaw’s story is in one of them. But it sure isn’t here.

I technically read Dog With a Bone book in the Black Dog Series Bundle, books 1-3. But I won’t be bothering with the next. The writing, what there is of it, is engaging. I liked what I did see of the characters and world. But I LITERALLY felt like this book was missing half its content.