Tag Archives: self published

semi-charmed banner

Book Review: Semi-Charmed, by Isabel Jordan

2 Replies

I picked up a freebie copy of Isabel Jordan‘s Semi-Charmed about this time last year.
semi-charmed cover

She’s infamous.
He’s legendary.
Together, they’ll be epic…or a complete train wreck. It could go either way, really…

Psychic and paranormal PI Harper Hall isn’t that surprised when her business partner skips town. She never really trusted the jerk anyway.

But if Harper wants to consult for the police on a high-profile case, she’ll need a new partner– preferably one with some supernatural talents of his own.

Noah Riddick, a slayer left jobless when vampires went public and earned human rights, is perfect for the gig. Too bad he’s grumpy, anti-social, and completely resistant to the idea of working with her.

Riddick’s dark secrets and shady past forced him into exile from human society–an exile he was comfortable with until gorgeous and exasperating Harper waltzed into his life. Now, all too aware of how unlifelike his life has been, he realizes partnering with her might be the best thing that could ever happen to him…even though it might be the worst for her.

Fighting vampires, making immortal enemies, staging daring rescues…it’s all in a day’s work. But falling in love? Well…that’s a little trickier. Even for the Semi-Charmed Harper Hall.

I enjoyed the heck out of this. The world is interesting, being 5 years after vampires have come out to the public and involving characters who had previously been part of the (now disbanded) secret organization to hunt them. Those characters are likable, each in their own way. Harper is snarky and feels genuine, and Riddick is dark and broody but not in an alpha a-hole way. The plot ticks along nicely, so I was entertained. I didn’t even mind the pop-culture references, which oftentimes make me gnash my teeth. (Pop culture references aren’t endearing if you’re not up to date on pop culture, just saying.)

I did think Riddick’s insta-love needed an explanation, Mischa and Hunter’s subplot (with a POV) felt out of place, and some of the characters were a little cliched. But all in all, I’d be happy to read another book in the series (and by the author more generally).

Funny side note: For the longest time, I looked at this cover wondering what a pick axe had to do with the plot. I finally figured out that it is a cross-bow and things made a lot more sense. LOL

semi-charmed photo

Other Reviews:

Review: Semi-Charmed by Isabel Jordan

grave stakes banner

Book Review: Grave Stakes, by Grave Grahme

Leave a reply

I recently picked up a freebie copy of Grave Grahme‘s Grave Stakes on Amazon.
grave stakes cover

BRITT
I thought I’d seen everything.

A decade as a cop tends to make anyone cynical. Even a cop with great instincts.

Until I follow those instincts one night, and get my throat torn out.

That’s a new one.

Odder still, I wake up in the ER with no trace of the lethal injury. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled to be alive, but my memory is blank.

I’m going to find out what happened.

pnrI followed a man that night. I have a feeling he has answers.

Finding him might kill me.

ETIENNE
I was the king of the city. Untouchable.

Until a hired assassin tried to kill me.

My saving grace? A police officer caused a distraction allowing me to dispatch the assassin.

My mistake? Saving that police office. A woman who haunts me with the sweetness of her taste.

Someone is power-hungry enough to try to make me permanently dead. I need an expert to help uncover the source of the threat.

And I know just where to find a detective.

Whether she wants to help or not.

my review

Meh. This was a fine read. I didn’t hate it. It didn’t light me up, either, though. I really liked that the heroine is older. I don’t think an exact age is ever given. But, she has some grey in her hair and has been in her job long enough to be the mentor instead of the mentee. I liked the archetypes that the men are filling. I liked the snarky tone, and the writing is pretty clean and easy to read.

But I also don’t feel like the book lived up to its own potential. The villain is paper thin and dispatched with no fanfare (super anticlimactic). I did not feel any connection between the romantic leads. The lust is instant and baseless. So, I can’t even say I felt the erotic chemistry.

There’s also a trigger warning for SA. So, I’m not complaining about that. But I also always grave stakes photoassess if an SA is actually integral to a plot or if an author could have skipped it without changing the story any. And that is 100% the case here. It just wasn’t needed.

All in all, I’d be willing to read the next series. In fact, I’d like to. This one kind of felt like an extended prologue more than anything else. But alas, it isn’t out yet, and I’ll probably have forgotten about it by the time it is.

Other reviews:

scars banner

Book Review: Scars, by Dana Isaly

Leave a reply

I picked up a copy of Scars (by Dana Isaly) as an Amazon freebie. Well, I picked up a copy of The Triad series.
Scars cover

My family hired someone to kill me. One day I was the sole inheritor of my family’s fortune. The next I was diving out my bedroom window, leaving everything behind. I’ve been hiding for years, successfully outrunning my demons. I was getting by, making a life of my own. Until the Triad came for me. Dangerous. Wealthy. Corrupt. The Triad run this city. And they think I’m the key to getting my family out of their way. The plan is to exchange me for a truce. But if I go back, I’m as good as dead. Convincing them to keep me is my only chance of survival. They have no clue just how valuable I can be. I am so much more than they bargained for.

my review

This book was not a winner for me. I think the fact that I own all three books in the series and am stopping after this first one should tell you a lot. I am not a person who likes to leave things unfinished, especially when confronted with a cliffhanger. But I’m just not invested enough to continue. There are a couple of reasons for this. Before I get to them, let me give a positive and say the mechanical writing seems fine. It’s perfectly readable.

Now, the reasons this didn’t work for me: to start with—and not entirely the fault of the book—have you ever accidentally picked up two books that were just too similar too closely together? I read Den of Vipers last week. So, when I started Scars, I very quickly realized that it is very, very, very similar. That timing isn’t Scars’ fault, but one does have to ask why it so so very, very, very similar.

What’s worse, when I went to investigate on Goodreads, I found allegations that this is a rip-off of not Den of Vipers but Sarah Bailey‘s Four Horsemen series (which I have not read). I don’t know which derivation came first (and I suspect this is all old news in the book world), but I do know it’s at least one too many.

Second, I don’t have a problem with PWP. But there being 3 books in this series suggests that it isn’t actually supposed to be porn without plot. Otherwise, what is carrying over into multiple books? But this moves so quickly, develops so little, and gives the characters so little depth that it felt like a waste of my time. (It felt like Isaly decided she didn’t need to give us any more than an outline because we’ve all read the story so many times already that the reader is expected to be able to just flesh it out on their own.)

Third, the sex. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable for me. I don’t want to kink shame anyone who is into such things, but I found the spitting and lack of respect very offputting. The spitting I will just let stand with ‘yuck.’ But the lack of respect I want a word about. I am well aware that humiliation kink is a thing, and it’s super common in this genre. But when characters have known each other less than a day, have had no conversation, and the reader is given no reason to believe the man involved knows the woman’s preferences, all it feels like is internalized misogyny served up with pick-me garnish. It’s not sexy.

Similarly, and maybe more importantly, the love is so instant that I couldn’t figure out how (as a reader) I was supposed to believe that Scarlet was anything more than any of the other dismissable women the men had shared in the past. How, after 48 or so hours, I’m supposed to believe she’s the one, based on…………….

Lastly, a list of more minor points; there just isn’t any finesse or nuance here. Isaly just tosses it all out on the table and expects us to be grateful for it. The Triad of the series title does not scars photorefer to the Chinese mafia but rather to the fact that there are three men. (The choice of name makes me wonder if Isaly simply didn’t do enough research to realize it already has real-world associations.) The book is supposed to be set in England (I think); one of the men has a Yorkshire accent, for example. But I got no sense of place from the book’s setting, speech patterns, etc.

All in all, I think the safest thing for me right now is simply to set this series aside and back away slowly.

Other Reviews: