Tag Archives: self published

ever strange

Book Review: Ever Strange, by Alisa Woods

I picked up a copy of Ever Strange, by Alisa Woods, as an Amazon freebie last September. ever strange

An incubus FBI agent, a billionaire witch, and someone spiking street drugs with deadly magick.

Zane Walker’s undercover in Chicago’s deadliest drug cartel—and his magic is as dirty as the enhancers they peddle. When a beautiful witch storms in, making demands she thinks she can back up with magick, he’s forced into a split-second choice… and his monster rages out.

Ever Strange’s father was murdered. They made it look like an overdose, but Asher Strange, world-renown med-magick researcher, would never take tawdry magick enhancers. But before she can get an autopsy, her father’s body disappears… and being one of the richest witches in the city means she will get answers.

Someone’s putting deadly magick into street drugs… and it’s killing people all over the city. Zane’s magick is monstrous, and Ever’s power brings out his beast. But she insists on finding her father; and keeping her safe has suddenly become his job—on top of stopping an epidemic of overdoses that just might be cover for a serial killer. Together, they work to stop the dark magick that’s stalking the streets of Chicago… and try to keep their own secrets from consuming them both.

my review

I thought this an amusing, if shallowly developed, story. I picked it up because the blurb inferred that the male character used sex magic and the female one was a billionaire. I thought that subverted the norm, where woman are usually associated with sex and men with financial power. The book didn’t really utilize it in any significant way though. The characters were actually pretty standard. She was plucky and, yes, rich, (but still somehow innocent and down to earth, of course) and he was extremely dangerous, dark and brooding (but not actually the psychopathic killer people think him, of course).

But I did like both characters. After the initial introduction we see a softer side of Zane that I appreciated. No alpha-asshole here! And Ever saved the day with her skill more than once. So, no wilting violets either. And the whole thing is easily readable with no contrived misunderstandings or too-stupid-to-live drama to complicate things. But the plot is pretty thin, the world basically sketched out, and and the whole thing more more fluff than depth. But I’d read the next book if it was put in front of me.

ever strange

blood hunted banner

Book Review: Blood Hunted, by K.E. O’Connor

Somewhere out if the wide world of the internet I picked up a freebie copy of K.E. O’Connor Blood Hunted, way back in 2017.
blood hunted

Her supernatural ability could be the death of her…

Macie is grieving the loss of her father and facing a deadly challenge; a powerful vampire has died and she has to host her.

Blood Hunted is book 1 in the Heir Hunters series, featuring Macie Thackery, Sarah Greenburg, a powerful witch and Damien Rule, Macie’s usually trusty vampire sidekick.

Macie needs to step up to the challenge of hosting this dangerous vampire. Will she survive this case and successfully keep Heir Hunters running?

my review

Meh, I didn’t think this was horrid, just not great either. It started out pretty well. But then the middle stumbled along, a bit aimlessly, finally finding some footing in the super cliched ‘vampire who uses mental persuasion to force lust on the main character who everyone wants’ territory and I started to lose interest pretty fast. Eventually, the book did move past it and my interest was piqued again toward the end. I think I’d read another Heir Hunters bookcertainly it was readable and the world interestingbut I’m not any real hurry about it.

blood hunted

something wicked

Book Review: Something Wicked, by Emery Nicolson

Emery Nicolson‘s Something Wicked was promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight. And while I didn’t agree to review it for the tour, everyone who participated was given a free copy of the book.

something wicked cover

Something wicked this way comes…

You’d think being the descendant of powerful witches would grant me the power to sort out my life, right? But you’d be wrong. I’m stuck in a rut, disdained by my family, and my romantic life is a disaster. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I have no magic?

When a cursed heirloom is stolen, I should stay out of it and leave the retrieval to those better equipped but everything seems to lead back to me…

With the help of an enigmatic bounty hunter, I may be able to clear my name and retrieve the artefact before death and chaos are unleashed upon my beloved city but doing so could cost me everything — including my life.

my review

I generally enjoyed this. I liked Millie, liked that she stood up for herself, knew when to accept help and when to fight on her own. I liked the hero (he was suitably sexy) and the BFF who was loyal to the core. The writing was readable, with one exception (which I’ll address), and the world seems an interesting one.

I did think Millie made a few Too Stupid To Live decisions, which I could feel were just to move the plot along (which is making the architecture of the story a little too obvious). I really liked that it’s hinted at that the hero had been secretly in love with Millie for a long time. But I was super disappointed that this was never actually discussed. The sassy half-succubus BFF was actually kind of cliched, even if I liked her. All the BFFs in such books seem to be a little slutty and pushing the heroine to go have more sex (which is fine, but also super common). I thought the whole situation with Millie’s family was left unattended and that felt left out in the abrupt ending. And the reasoning for the villain’s obsession with Millie was pretty thin.

Last, the writing has a few formal quirks. I read an ARC, so it’s possible this will change. But I sensed it was part of the writing style, rather than editing errors to be caught in the pre-publication final edit. Things like this: “I already know there is no point in climbing back into bed for my brain is wide awake and buzzing. Thank the Gods it is Saturday and that I do not need to be anywhere…” The ‘for’ is anachronistic and the lack of contractions makes the sentence clunky. This runs throughout the book and irritated me. But that is, no doubt, a matter of preference.

For the most part I had fun with the story and would be happy to pick up another.

something wicked