Tag Archives: self published

a tracker's tale

Review of A Tracker’s Tale, by Karen Avizur

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I received a paperback copy of A Tracker’s Tale, by Karen Avizur in the mail.

Description from Goodreads:

a tracker's taleWelcome to the strange and perilous world of Katherine Colebrook: FBI special agent, Los Angeles… Trackers Division.

In Katherine’s world, werewolves, vampires, púcas, and other parasapien species – forced for centuries by human fear and prejudice to live at the fringes of society – have finally come out of hiding to demand their rightful place alongside us. It’s a fragile co-existence, fraught with mutual distrust: a new social contract for which the rules are still evolving. And when those rules break down – usually when a parasapien begins preying on humans – that’s when the Trackers step in. It’s their job to hunt them down and stop them by any means necessary.

Within this elite unit, Katherine Colebrook is one of the best. Her psychic abilities made her a natural for the Trackers Division, allowing her to move between the parasapien and human worlds in ways that no other agent could. But Katherine’s calling hasn’t come without struggle and losses along the way. As a single mother, she must contend with her teenage daughter, Alexandra, who not only shares Katherine’s psychic abilities, but seems determined to follow the same dangerous path as her mother.

And so, when Katherine’s latest assignment threatens to bring that danger too close home, she finds herself faced with the toughest challenge of her career: Can she protect her daughter’s life, while battling a ruthless adversary who’ll stop at nothing to destroy her?

Review:

Generally enjoyable, if a little unfocused. I liked this. I appreciated the older heroine, the platonic male/female friendship, the bit of diversity in the cast, and the familial relationship. The writing was readable, though the editing could have done with another pass. I only had two real issues with it were. One, Katherine was a little too trigger happy and remorseless after killing. Two, the book is basically just a few weeks in the life of the main character and the random cases that come her way. That meant that it didn’t feel real cohesive and new characters were being introduced (and old ones disappearing) right up to the last page. Having said that, I’d happily read more of the series.

wild sky

Book Review: Wild Sky, by Zaya Feli

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I received an ARC copy of Wild Sky, by Zaya Feli, through A Novel Take.

Description from Goodreads:

Tauran Darrica has been retired from the Valreus Sky Guard for four years following the Battle of the Broken Wings that resulted in the death of his dragon. Now, all Tauran wants to do is spend his days forgetting the past and gambling his way to an unsteady income.

So when his old general from the Sky Guard hunts Tauran down to request his help with staving off the increasingly aggressive wild dragon population, Tauran refuses. But a fire ruins his rented room and leaves him without a place to stay, and Tauran finds himself on the road to Valreus, after all.

Tauran is determined to stay as far away from dragons as he can get, but a starry-eyed young man from Sharoani, land of the wild dragons, might just ruin his plans.

Kalai Ro-Ani has spent his life watching the stars, knowing he could never reach them. With his wild dragon Arrow, he sets out for the city of Valreus in the hope of building himself a better future than he could have stuck at the foot of the Kel Visal dragon temples.

But nobody told Kalai that only the Sky Guard is allowed to own dragons, so when Arrow kills a guard in Kalai’s defense, it looks like his adventure might be over before it can begin. But a chance encounter at the old Valreus archive offers Kalai the future he’d been hoping for. In the span of a single day, he has a home, a job, and a purpose.

In Valreus, something much bigger falls into his lap – along with a tall and striking Valrean man with a rather strange disposition.

Review:

I generally enjoyed this a lot. I thought the pacing was a little inconsistent, making it feel overly long at times, the plot progression depended on too many coincidences, and that the two main characters were a little too perfect, especially in their dealing with one another. However, outside of that, I loved the dragons; thought the plot engaging, liked the characters and world, and appreciated the slow-burn romance. I’d be more than happy to read more books by Feli, be it in this series or another.

Sever the Crown Complete Vampire Romance Series

Review of the Sever the Crown series, by Mysti Parker & Lindsey R. Loucks

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I received an Audible code for a copy of Emergence (book one) and then since I enjoyed it, I borrowed the compilation through Amazon Prime.

Description from Amazon:

◆ Start with Book One: Emergence

One woman. Five men. Together, they’ll sever the crown – or maybe the head that wears it.

Wren has a dark obsession—to find her mother’s murderers before they find her. Every new singing gig brings her closer to crossing their names from her list.

When a detective shows up with a new lead, she jumps at the chance with fangs bared. But to get the information they need, they’ll have to bust someone out of jail.

Sure. No problem. 

Ashe has just been framed for high crimes against the Southern Vampire Clan—but he’s not exactly innocent either.

While waiting for his fate, a five-pointed star tattoo appears on his wrist, similar to the tattoo of a stunning platinum-haired vampire. The sudden attraction between them is undeniable. Better yet, she’s just offered to free him. 

Sounds like a great deal. So what’s the catch?

Turns out, as their enemies close in, the catch could very well be their lives.

◆ Book Two: Defiance – Everyone knows it’s not a true vampire cult party until someone gets staked.

◆ Book Three: Obsession – Wren’s world has caught fire. But she’ll be damned if she lets it burn.

◆ Book Four: Relentless – Wren’s fourth mate just might be the death of her…that is if the world doesn’t end first.

◆ Book Five: Ascension – 3…2…1…It’s a race against time in an epic war for the throne. Queen versus queen.

Reviews:

I wrote reviews of these books as I went. I had more opinions at the finish of some than others. But overall, I liked the series but found myself growing bored by the end. I feel like the authors kept themselves constrained in the beginning, but by the last book, things were getting sloppy.

Emergence (Sever the Crown, #1)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It’s not particularly deep and I was expecting the heroine to meet all of her mates here, but it looks like it will be one per book. Despite that, I laughed several times, thought the writing sharp, and I liked the characters. Plus, the narrator did an excellent job, which always contributes. I’ve borrowed the rest of the series through Amazon Prime now. We’ll see if I like them as much when reading them, instead of listening.

Defiance (Sever the Crown, #2)

I didn’t dislike this, but I didn’t like it as much as the first. With two mates located, the Wren worship is just getting to be a little too much for me. I’m pleased to say that, despite being a reverse harem story, the book isn’t bogged down in too much sex, and the sex scenes aren’t overly long. I’m moving on to book three. We’ll see how things go from there.

Obsession (Sever the Crown #3)

I gotta admit I’m getting a bit bored with this series now. Contradictorily, it starting to feel like too much of the same (basically how amazing Wren is) and like the authors got bored with the confines of their own world and blew it open. In the previous books, we only had humans and vampires. Suddenly, here in this book, we have vampires, and witches, and celestials (aka angels and demons), lion, wolf and boar shifters, banshees, and portals through time. This felt like a huge departure from what previous books had lead readers to believe were the limits of the world.

Additionally, Wren now has three male mates, which I have no problem with. But I find it really unimaginative that there is no overlap. She gives one mate at time attention, there is no jealousy but there also isn’t any crossover. Not in the sense of having more than one in bed at a time or with any of the males feeling affection for one another. Somehow it gives a sense of monogamy, even in the Polyandrous relationship. Which might work if they weren’t all together all the time.

Also worth noting is that these books do not stand alone and this one ends on a particularly precipitous cliffhanger.

Despite saying all of that, I’m still moving on to book four. Honestly, I’ll read the whole series just to see if Zac finally gets turned and to be a mate. (I’m pretty sure he will and even think I know how that will come about, but I want to see it.)

Relentless (Sever the Crown #4)

Book four of five in a series in which the books do not stand on their own. So, it starts in the middle of the story and ends on a cliffhanger. It’s OK, but the whole series has grown stale, each book just seems to be more of the same. It’s not bad, it’s just not adding anything particularly fresh with each new installment.

Ascension (Sever the Crown #5)

I was really glad to see the fifth mate came about as I thought he would (and was who I thought). But I was so ready for this series to be finished by the time I reached the end. I felt like it just went on for too long. All five mates were sweet, but having 5 men to satisfy got repetitive. Especially since this is medium-burn (that’s a quote from one of the blurbs), so most of the sex was somewhat abortive and didn’t vary far from the most basic.

Then there was the final showdown with the villains. They’re literally caricatures. I mean every time the evil mates entered a scene they came in quoting ridiculous lines, even. There is no feeling of the rest of the vampire clan(s) (or humanity, for that matter). It all felt very surface level.

I know I’ve just been complaining. That’s my frustration coming through. But I did read five books without DNFing any of them, so I obviously didn’t hate it. The writing is still perfectly readable and I did like the characters, etc.