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Book Review: Mates & Other Obstacles to Accidentally Saving The World, by Emma Eden

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I picked up an ecopy of Emma Eden‘s Mates and Other Obstacles to Accidentally Saving The World as an Amazon freebie, probably during a Stuff Your Kindle event.

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All I wanted for my birthday was a cake. Instead, I’m a snake… on a quest.

Yep, an honest-to-scales, snake. Did I mention I hate snakes?

Apparently not everyone does, because when my birthday explodes along with the bar, I’m stolen by a smoking hot shifter to his bear lair against my will.

I was supposed to be keeping a low, low profile before heading back to my secret human village. Instead I’m on a magical quest with Ward who claims we have a Fated Mates situation.

A what now?

I didn’t sign up for that. Or the uncontrollable shifting. Or his Goddess spritzing a rampaging shifter problem across the realm. Somehow I end up the only person who can find her relics because I maybe, accidentally, ate the first one. Though I don’t think they’re in the one bed we end up in. Which is probably a good thing since they don’t seem to fix my snake problem, they only make me stranger.

The quest wouldn’t be so bad if the whole continent wasn’t determined to separate my soul from my body. Even if I don’t trust him, sticking with Ward is the only chance I have to not be a snake and stop the realm from being torn apart by claws and fangs. What choice do I have? I’ll need to find a whole bucket of courage with some trust on the side to try out this mate thing and maybe save the Harrowlands.

my review

Meh, I mean, I’ve read worse, but this one just didn’t do it for me. It’s trying to be silly like Kimberly Lemming’s books, but it didn’t manage the balance. Yes, it’s meant to be funny and lighthearted, but it too often leaned into humor when plot or character development would have served the story better (not every time, but maybe some more of the time would have been nice). Plus, it went on far too long, considering how little variation there is in events, dialogue, or internal monologues. Frankly, the bottom line is that I’m sure this will be great for the right reader. I thought it was cute the way the characters supported one another, but I was ultimately bored with the whole thing.

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Book Review—Mates and Other Obstacles to Accidentally Saving the World by Emma Eden

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Book Review: The Prisoner’s Gambit, by Kira Quinn

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A couple of years back, I won a book giveaway that included the first three books in Kira Quinn‘s Mark of the Infala Series. Last Year, I read book one, The Alien’s Bond, as the Q book in my yearly Author-Alphabet Challenge. (You can see my review here.) I’m doing the same with book two, The Prisoner’s Gambit, this year.

The Prisoner's gambit cover

Being taken prisoner by ravenous green-skinned aliens was not cool, but when the Raxxian ship fell under attack, breaking apart and crashing on a planet in a galaxy far from home, Maureen realized that was only the beginning.

There was one bright side though. She had made a friend. A thickly muscled, blue-skinned hunk of a friend at that.

Stranded and alone, the pair’s attraction was obvious from the start, but much as they wanted to see where things might go between them, a new ordeal was spoon thrust upon them. One that threatened to separate them just as things were getting interesting.

It would be a struggle, but with their attraction growing by the minute it was a fight worth having. It would be hard, but if they managed to succeed, perhaps life as a survivor on an alien world wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Judging by the chemistry between the human woman and rugged alien male, it looked like it could be quite enjoyable indeed.

my review

OK, look. I did not expect to like this book. I gave the first book in the series a 2-star rating last year and did not expect this one to be any better. But I challenged myself to clear some physical books off of my shelves this year, and needed a Q for my yearly Author-Alphabet-Challenge. What I also did not expect, however, was for this one to be worse than the first. I didn’t like the character in the first book and was just sort of bored with the whole thing. This one is just plain bad.

I think the author does not know what she wants to write. There is not enough sex for me to call it erotica and therefore accept that the sex is the point, not a plot or character development. (And what sex there is is abrupt, uninteresting, and 100% not sexy. Forplay, what’s that?) But the prisoners gambit photothere also isn’t enough of a plot, and absolutely no character development. So I can’t call it a romance or a character-driven story.

Add to that, many events rely on world-building that is so unidimensional it makes little sense. The villain was only slightly removed from being the clichéd woman scorned trope (*yawn*), and I was quite simply bored the whole time. But hey, I can mark Q off my challenge list. So it’s not a total waste!

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Book Review: Touched by Magic, by Celine Jeanjean

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I’ve had a copy of Celine Jeanjean‘s Touched by Magic for a few years now. I almost certainly picked it up as a freebie, possibly during a “Stuff Your Kindle” event.

touched by magic cover

I’m Apiya. No, I’m not a badass magical assassin. I’m a barber to the supernatural.

My magic is very weak and very niche—it works best with keeping things clean.
I know. I can sense your awe at my power already. And I’m sure you can see why barbering suits me well.

Although now that I’ve mastered the art of trimming a weretiger’s regrowth, my biggest challenge is fielding the insults of the shop’s cat. Sometimes I wish I had enough magic to go deeper into the city’s magical underbelly.

You know what they say—be careful what you wish for.

Everything changes when a pair of forest fae come into the shop one night, asking for help to protect their youngling. Something’s got them properly spooked, but they won’t say what.

If it’s big and bad enough to scare the fae, it’s most definitely powerful enough to make a mouthful of me—probably a small mouthful, at that. And now that the fae have come to me, whatever’s after them is also after me.

My weak magic and a sarcastic cat for backup are unlikely to be enough to keep me alive and save the fae youngling.

There is someone who’s willing to help me—Sarroch. Arrogant, unpleasant, wealthy, and I don’t even know what kind of magical creature he is beneath his human form. Or what his motives are in offering to help.

I have no idea if I can trust him, but I’m so short on allies, I might not have a choice. I just hope I’m not making a huge mistake…

my review

I enjoyed this. The main character and her BFF banter pleasantly, and being a weak magic user among stronger mythical creatures feels relatable (as much as fantasy can). However, at 188 pages, it is shorter than the genre’s norm, and I thought that it was underdeveloped. (Two things that feel related.) It could have used those extra pages to thinken the plot, further develop the characters (and their relationship to and among one another), and sketch out the wider world the events are set in. As it reads now, I liked the main character, and the setting seems interesting. But I was never particularly invested. Plus, the mystery is solved very easily, by accident basically. This makes it the sort of series I’d pick up as freebies, but I probably wouldn’t buy it. So, a pretty middle-of-the-road read. Absolutely better than some, but not stellar either.
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#SPFBO X: Review: Touched by Magic (Razor’s Edge Chronicles #1) by Celine Jeanjean