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Werewolves of Brooklyn

Book Review of Werewolves of Brooklyn, by Brad Vance

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Werewolves of BrooklynI nabbed a copy of Brad Vance‘s Werewolves of Brooklyn from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Darien Mackey wasn’t looking for an adventure. For ten years, he’d been happy living in Brooklyn, working as a butcher in the same job, living in the same apartment, dating some “nothing-special” guys. Until one night his buddy Jacob talked him into taking ayahuasca, the soul-changing drug. And Darien had a vision…of a wolf, its all-too-human eyes on him, its paws on his chest, its enquiring mind in his own… 

Darien Mackey is changing. He’s more confident, more assertive, hungrier, hornier. And his world is changing around him – his job, his home, his beloved Mechanic’s Library all falling victim to the predations of unscrupulous developers, bent on demolishing the old Brooklyn he loves and replacing it with a forest of condos. But he’s no longer a passive observer of his own life, and as this thing, this power, grows inside of him, he resolves to fight back, to preserve the way of life he loves. 

And he’s not alone in the fight. The Lipsius Preservation Society of Brooklyn stands ready to assist in the battle, even though it seems like a bit of a joke to Darien, with its King and its Duke, Marquess, Earl and Viscount. 

But there’s nothing funny about his growing attraction to Albeus Finley, King of this mysterious Court. And when slumlords and condo-mongers start to die mysterious, violent deaths at the hands of savage animals, Darien begins to realize that something is afoot in Brooklyn – something supernatural. 

And it’s afoot in him, too…

Review:
Ok, first things first, as a point of information rather than part of the review: despite the cover, this is not a historical novel. With the exception of a rather lengthy flashback this has a contemporary setting. That surprised me. As did the fact that the story ends at 82%, the rest being a sneak-peak of another book.

Moving on. I basically liked this but it felt insubstantial, at least the latter half did. It had a very strong start but then the pace picked up and everything happened too quickly and there developed a ‘Darien can do anything without consequences feel’ that just felt like poor structuring. The romance was almost instant, though I’m still not sure if this was a ‘fated mate’ scenario or just insta-love. There were mysteries left unsolved–why was Darien progressing in his change quicker than others, what was the friend’s trip like, where was the Count from, what happened to Daniel, what’s with the court titles anyway, etc.

There were also some hinky sexual roles going on. I’ll grant that I’ve been party to a few ‘penetration politics’ discussions lately, so maybe I’m just on the lookout for this, but I was greatly disturbed by the very clear association with bottoming and submitting or being submissive. Even when one character was described as a ‘power bottom who’s always in control’ he was also described as a submissive for being the catcher. How is that being submissive? I get it with the wolves, sure, but this was general. And it was all complicated by how much topy-top-top Darien’s personality changed once he decided he was willing to ‘submit’ to Albeus. At one point he (6 foot plus and over 200 pounds) really was carried up the stairs in a princess hold while he clung weepily to Albeus. That should tell you something.

I did appreciate that the men were kind of like hipster bears. (Though Darien hated the term hipster.) But they were big and bearded, wore flannel and long johns and started youthful urban businesses. Hipsters. Either way, it was nice to see a different body type presented as sexy.

Book Review of Full Blooded (Jessica McClain, #1), by Amanda Carlson

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Full BloodedI bought an ecopy of Full Blooded, by Amanda Carlson.

Description from Goodreads:
Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared.

After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.

But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can’t control her like he can the rest of his wolves.

When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there’s no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.

Review:
I thought this was ok. There were things I liked, like Jessica’s insistence on independence and the way Rourke went all desperate and weak-kneed at toward the end, not to mention needing rescue. But while I found the latter half of this amusing and would read more of the series, I wasn’t overly impressed.

One of my number one dialogue pet peeves is when characters say each-other’s name all the time. Think on it; if you’re having a conversation with someone, especially if it’s just the two of you alone, how often do you say their name? Maybe once, in the beginning to get their attention, if even then. In this book these characters used a direct address or name in almost every interaction, sometimes multiple times in the same brief conversation. It drove me absolutely crazy. It just feels so very unnatural.

There is non-stop action in this book and, while action is good, it prevents boredom, there is no downtime in this book and I think it needed some. The characters needed a breather here or there, so that the reader could take a moment to digest. You’re never given any time for big reveals to settle before the book whizzes off to something else, denying the moment any gravitas.

It’s also a cliffhanger. True, it’s not a precipitous as some of them I’ve encountered and I don’t mind some open threads to carry over into a next book, but nothing really wraps up in the story, which annoys me in general, but is especially annoying when the ebook is $8.99 (a new paperback is only $5.20). Seems a little expensive for just part of a story, and that’s honestly all this is.

crash

Book Review of Crash (Westside Wolf Pack #1), by Zoe Perdita

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CrashI picked up a copy of Crash, by Zoe Perdita, from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Ben Singer, an omega werewolf, has been in love with his former best friend and the alpha scion of their wolf pack, Axel, from the time they were teenagers. Ben thought they were mates, but the rules of their pack kept them apart.

Axel Cross is a fuck-up. The sexy tattooed wolf threw away his chances of ever becoming pack alpha at seventeen, and Ben has no idea why.

When Axel’s uncle kicks Ben out of their Pittsburgh pack, it’s the chance the omega has been waiting for. Then Axel demands to accompany the smaller wolf. The only problem is Ben wants to run away for good – away from the pack Axel’s uncle decided the omega should join and away from Axel. 

But Axel doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He’s determined to go with Ben, even if the omega doesn’t want him around. 

While desire stirs between Axel and Ben, years of heartache haunt them. Can the alpha and omega let go of their past and the old pack in order to find a bright new future together?

Review: 
I basically enjoyed this book. I thought Axel was an interesting character and liked Ben well enough. I was disappointed to find such a strong representation of the common hetero romance “Damsel In Distress” trope. I can’t even begin to estimate how many of those het romances feature a tough hero who hurts the woman he loves by forcing distance between them for her own good, without giving her a reason. Only to then protect her secretly from a distance and then return and claim her when he’s ready, expecting all past slights to be instantly forgiven. This is a very common trope in het romance and I wasn’t thrilled to find in it my MM, because one of the primary reasons I read MM (other than it’s just sexy) is to get away from these same heavily gendered versions of male-female relationships. (And there is no question here of which man represents the ‘woman’ and which the ‘man.’) Despite that, I did enjoy seeing how Axel struggled with the reality of his decisions.

While I quite liked Axel, asshole alpha as he was sometimes, Ben didn’t light my fire. I found him to be an overly stereotypical queer kid and his constant mouth got on my nerves. Yes, I got that was part of his personality, but he mouths off relentlessly to people he was otherwise terrified of. (Really, that’s not how terror usually works.) And he does so knowing it’s Axel who will be punished. He loves the guy, you’d think he’d be invested in not getting him punished. Similarly, as adults I found his constant sexual innuendo exhausting. Again, I get it, he does it as a means of deflection and self-protection, but I got so tired of reading it.

I found the writing fine, with the exception of the constant ‘taller wolf, ‘smaller wolf,’ ‘Omega,’ ‘Alpha/Alpha Scion’ (the author wasn’t consistent in which was used, which was problematic as I believe, per world-set up, he was an Alpha Scion but with no pack to lead, not yet and Alpha). I really did need an explanation on pack hierarchy and politics though. I understand alpha/top dog, omega/bottom dog. But there is no explanation of what makes an omega an omega. I assumed Axel was an alpha scion by virtue of being the Alpha’s son. But Ben’s parent’s were mid-level pack members, not omegas and Ben was labelled as such even as a small child. So it can’t be family position and isn’t necessarily just his smaller size or personality (as it wouldn’t have developed yet). In the same vein, Axel’s need to prove himself worthy before taking over the pack (and thus throwing that chance away) doesn’t make a lot of sense considering the two previous alphas. Neither of them would qualify as worthy.

Anyhow, I had complaints, yes. But if I came across the sequel I’d be more than happy to read it. I enjoyed more than I didn’t.