Tag Archives: self published

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Book Review: Devilish Deal, by Jenna Wolfhart

I received a signed copy of Jenna Wolfhart‘s Devilish Deal in last month’s Supernatural Book Crate.
devilish deal
Last month, I was living out of my car. Now, I’m couch-surfing in Brooklyn. It’s about as glamorous as it sounds. All I’ve got are some bad memories, an empty bank account, and a pigeon I named Hendrix.

So, when a mysterious, sinfully hot man offers me a deal, I have no choice but to accept. I’ll pretend to be his live-in girlfriend for a month. In exchange, he’ll give me a job at his exclusive club in Hell’s Kitchen.

Only problem is, there’s way more to Asmodeus than meets the eye. He’s a literal demon. Like, from the underworld. He’s rude, dangerous, and probably a killer. But if I break my deal with him, I’ll lose my soul.

Fortunately, it’s just a month. A month of heated stares and fake kisses that feel all too real. My soul—and my body—can totally survive this…right?

my review
This is one of those books that you finish and think, “It was fine,” and then can list of half a dozen ways that it really wasn’t, even if you don’t feel like it truly deserves to get panned. I found Mia prickly and unpleasant—far beyond what the weak excuse for history called for. All of the demons came off as slapstick and goofy, rather than intense (as seemed to be the intent). The only sex scene came while drunk, which is fine—I’m not the morality police—but it was still kind of icky and unnecessary to the plot. And the twist in the last paragraph (or the hook for book two) was ridiculous, honestly.

But, even having said all of that, the writing was easily readable and I wouldn’t go so far as to say I disliked it. It was just kind of a weak showing, worth reading for the amusement, but never going to top a best-of list.

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DARKEST MATE

Book Review: Darkest Mate, by Alexis Calder

I accepted a copy of Alexis Calder‘s Darkest Mate for review, as part of its tour with Rockstar Book Tours. It was also previously featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight.

Weakness means death. Or worse.

After I was abandoned as a child, I was taken in by the Shadow Pack. A group of
ruthless, lawless, shifters who have only one rule: never let anyone see your
weakness.

In exchange for them keeping me alive, I owe them. The leader of the Shadows is
as handsome as he is ruthless. And he’s offered to wipe my debt in exchange for
marriage. He’d offer protection, but it would cost me my freedom.

Survival in the Shadows depends on back alley deals and shady alliances. It’s
become a way of life that I stopped questioning years ago. When a routine
burglary goes wrong, I find myself captured by the one family I never should
have crossed.

The Umbra family owns this city. They make us Shadow wolves look like the good
guys. They should have killed me for my crimes, but there’s a tiny problem… It
turns out Madoc Umbra is my fated mate.

Instead of killing me, I’m a prisoner. The rest of the family doesn’t know of
our bond and I intend to keep it that way. Madoc’s brothers want to end my
life; he wants to break the bond. I just want to get the heck out.

As long as I don’t let them see any weakness, I might have a chance of making
it out of here alive.

Darkest Mate is a full-length paranormal romance. 17+ for dark content,
steamy scenes, and language. This is book one in a trilogy and is not a
standalone. Mind the cliff.


my review

This was a fairly middle of the road read for me. If I used star ratings on the blog, I’d give it a 3. But I think whether people like the book or not will depend on if they like the tropes used or not. Because there isn’t anything new here. Almost every aspect of this plot and the characters will be familiar to anyone who read the genre. But if you happen to like those elements, they’re done as well as anywhere else. The writing is also quite good.

The thing for me, though, was that I spent the entire book honestly angry that Ivy was being so unbelievably stupid. And I don’t just mean that as she was doing something excessively stupid, but unbelievably stupid in the sense that I absolutely did not believe that the character, as written, would do the stupid thing she did and continued to do. It was 100% unbelievable AND stupid, which pretty much undermined the legitimacy of the story.

The book got moderately more interesting for me at about the 80% mark. But at that point it wasn’t enough to save the book. I’d like to know what happens between Ivy and Madoc. But I don’t think I’ll continue the series. I just don’t think my temper can handle it. But different strokes for different folks and you may not have the same reaction.

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Book Review: Eclipsed Heart, by K. Margaret & Dagmar Avery

There is a new Indie Book Store/cafe, called Spine, not too far from my house that I’m super excited about. I stopped in, had a cortado, and bought some books recently. Eclipsed Heart, by K. Margaret and Dagmar Avery is the first of two books I bought.
eclipsed Heart cover
The Apocalypse is coming. The Brotherhood has watched and protected this world from the oncoming darkness for as long as time has existed. Each age brings a new threat, a new way for the darkness to eclipse the light forever. It has been over five hundred years since the last major trials, and the world is due.

Isaac Tsagakis dreams of the end, and the woman he must find. Beautiful and perfect, she is the first of four that is needed to ensure the world does not end, and humanity isn’t thrust into the depths of an unimaginable hell. But finding her in a city as large as Savannah, Georgia is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. He needs to find her, bond with her and keep her for always. And he is ready.

Magnolia Morgan has no idea just how special she is. A librarian obsessed with the ancient world, she stumbles onto her wildest dreams just talking to Isaac one night. A man she would never consider talking to her, she is enraptured and excited that for once, her normal dull existence is going to be shaken up by the sexy bar owner who kisses like the devil. But other forces are at work against the Brotherhood, forces that have been working in the shadows, watching, planning…and they want Maggie as well. Isaac is going to have to rely on all his strength and experience to ensure she becomes his for all time because the fate of the world is in her hands.

my review

In a lot of ways this book is fine. The writing is fine. The sexy times are fine. The world and the plot are shallow, but fine. The editing is a little dodge, but mostly fine. The book is mostly fine. I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy it.

The problem is that it is like someone said to me, “Hey, go ahead and make a list of ALL your most hated cliches and tropes and we’ll just put them ALL in a single book for you.” Man, this story and the characterizations in it hit just about all of my least favorite things to find in a book, especially a romance.

But what really clinched it for me was two things. One, Isaac goes about bonding Maggie (and all the men knew he was doing so), but at no time is Maggie made aware of this. Which I considered problematic. Consent is a thing, ya’ll! And, two, all the men—the MC and the side characters who will be the MCs of future books—were complete douche bags, especially in the way they thought and talked about women. It’s kinda hard to invest yourself in a romance with men you literally find yourself wrinkling your nose and sneering at. And that’s before we even get into all of the gross gay, “lady boy,” and sexist jokes. Take the worst locker room, dude-bro banter and multiply it a few times.  No, I did not appreciate these MCs at all. And I have no desire to spend any more time with them.

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