Tag Archives: urban fantasy

My Blood Runs Blue

Book Review: My Blood Runs Blue, by Stacy Eaton

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I’ve had Stacy Eaton‘s My Blood Runs Blue floating around in my Kindle Cloud since 2012. I’d basically forgotten about it, being burried in my TBR as it was. However, the audio versions of the series have apparently just come out and they were promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, having been reminded the exist, and since I’ve been making a concerted effort to read some of my older ebooks lately, I dug this one out to try.

my blood runs blue cover

“I’m still a cop, and my blood runs blue.”

Officer Kristin Greene has always felt that something was missing from her life. Even though her job with the Fawn Hollow Township Police Department keeps her busy, she continues to feel as if there is something else out there she is meant to be doing. Kristin finds herself investigating a homicide where a young woman has had her throat ripped brutally out. As she begins to dig for the answers, she finds herself thrown into a world she never knew existed. When Julian and Alexander crash into her life, she finds herself being pulled into a love triangle that has been going on longer than she has been alive. Kristin in determine to figure out who they are and why they keep calling her Calista. Join Kristin as she fights to learn the truth about the recent murder, the two seductive men who have entered into her life and the real truth about herself in a suspenseful tale that weaves paranormal into to the realistic world of law enforcement.

This wasn’t horrible, but it didn’t particularly resonate with me. Some of what bothered me was objectively problematic, like some sloppy editing*. I noticed a couple word-order issues (such as “It had been a small gift to myself after had Trevor died.”) and missing letter mishaps (like ‘she’ being ‘he), and a lot of repeat words that just made for awkward reading. Things like:

When we were done talking, it was decided that Gabriel would stay at the house with the Taylors in case Damon came to the house after Gina Marie.

Hopefully the meeting tonight with Julian would give me some answers. Julian. Sigh…The thought of seeing Julian…

I walked into the restaurant and told them I was meeting someone. I told them I would wait by the bar until he arrived.

None of it was atrocious, but I noticed. I also thought names were used too often in dialogue, making it feel stiff.

A lot of what bothered me was subjectively problematic though—things I personally disliked, but might not bother others. One of my least favorite writing critiques is the dictate to show not tell. It’s not that it’s bad advice, I just hate it because it’s so often quoted that it’s lost any real meaning, IMO. But in this case I really felt it. This book is told, not shown and it meant I didn’t really connect with any of the characters.

What’s worse, a lot of the story is told in lengthy, disruptive flashbacks. So, I was never able to settle into the flow of the narrative. This was extremely exacerbated by the fact that almost every scene is seen from AT LEAST two POVs. So, you’d read scene from, say, Kristan’s POV and then go back in time and read the same scene from Alex and/or Julian’s POV. Notice the and/or. Yes, there were times you’d read it from all three. This made the narrative stutter painfully and I did not enjoy it. But it might not irritate others as badly.

I had a similar feeling about the romance aspect. The two men were in love with an idea and it had nothing to do with who Kristan actually was. They might as well have been fighting over a watch, for all the importance her, as a person, held. And the way she threw herself at whichever was in front of her meant I never formed an attachment to either man. I simply didn’t care who she chose. I might have been a little more interested if she’d chosen both. But that was clearly not on the table.

Lastly, I appreciated that Kristan really was strong and independent. But I hate author’s tenancy to make even the strongest female character fall unconscious repeatedly. Despite being an experienced cop, Kristan manages to trip over her own feet and knock herself out AND get knocked over and unconscious by a dog. This is a ‘frail female’ trope that can die as far as i am concerned.

I do actually have the next book in the series. (Well, it’s book 3, as 2 is a short story that I don’t have.) But I don’t plan to read it. I’ll keep it, in case I change my mind at some point. But right now, I’m not interested.

*Note/edit: Goodreads has a note that states, “My Blood Runs Blue was originally released in 2011. This 2014 version has been revised and re-edited.” My version predates 2014, but Amazon doesn’t show an update available to me, which would infer that I already have the updated version. So, I don’t know what that means for the editing comments. Make of it what you will.

my blood runs blue

the wave of silence

Book Review: The Wave of Silence, by Xen Randell

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I recently picked up a copy of Xen Randell‘s The Wave Of Silence as an Amazon freebie.
the wave of silence

As with most disasters, this one began as a potentially good idea. A breakthrough for humanity.

After a science experiment gone awry which throws the world into chaos and destruction, Alex finds herself alone and on the fringe of surviving.

Fanged, savage strangers called strigòns populate the Earth, entering from one of the dimensional tears; and despite their mutual animosity and hatred, Alex and her super-smart dog Einstein hop on an adventure to save both their and the strigòns’ worlds.

Will this group of unexpected allies save what’s left of their post-apocalyptic worlds or is the damage too great to be repaired?

Follow Alex and Einstein in their quest and see how far it gets you.

my review

I freely admit that I chose to read this book entirely for the dog on the cover. So, I didn’t go into it with high expectations. Which is good, because I’d have been disappointed. I think pedestrian and not particularly well edited is the kindest way to describe it.

The book sets up an interesting premise and world and then goes about completely not utilizing it. The whole book is basically traveling to the important thing they’re supposed to do, as opposed to the actual thing, completion or prevention of the things, and/or the fall-out of the thing. I was frankly bored for most of it. Which meant I had nothing to distract me from the messy editing and sometimes impenetrable writing. Like this, for example, “Soft susurrus of the more persistent leaves concerted with the melancholic whine of the late autumn wind kissing naked tree branches.” Do you know how long it took me to figure out the wind was blowing through the trees?

Add to all that the predictability, deus ex machina saves, and the way everyone lusted over the rather lack-luster heroine and I was just plain not having a good time, my dude. Glad to be done with it.

the wave of silence

witches for hire

Book Review: Witches For Hire, by Sam Argent

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I’m not sure where I got Witches For Hire, by Sam Argent. It’s been resting in my Caliber file since 2017 though. So, I suspect I picked it up during one of DSP’ events. But I wouldn’t swear to that, only that I came by it legitimately.

Witches For HireAll recovering drug addict and witch Jeremy Ragsdale wants is to shamble on to the next job without any disasters. Instead, the temp agency saddles him with a fellow witch who hates him, an Amazon one violent outburst away from deportation, and a knight from another world as his boss. Even worse, their jack-of-all-trades magic business stumbles upon a conspiracy to kill Desmond the Great, Atlanta’s sexy star magician. Jeremy must prevent it without letting his colleagues know that he not only has ties to the energy vampires behind the plot, but that his past misdeeds might have instigated the attacks.

Despite Jeremy sporting a suit and tie like a good witch, his lies snowball to bite him in the ass. The lack of trust brewing between him and his teammates could cost Desmond his life and Jeremy his progress on the straight and narrow path if his secrets are revealed. Because no matter how much Jeremy has reformed, there’s still enough bad witch in him to kill anyone who messes with him or the people he cares about.

I had a truly odd experience reading Witches For Hire. The book has an awesome cover and blurb (though much of the blurb, while accurate, is irrelevant to the story). I liked the characters. I enjoyed the humor. I liked the voice or tone of the storytelling. The writing was mechanically competent and I don’t remember any big editing mishaps. By all accounts I should have adored this book.

But…and it’s a big but…the book would do well as a second or third book in a series. It does not, however, do well as a first. There was so much missing backstory that was hinted at throughout, and world-building that was left hazy, at best, that I spent most of the book asking “what is happening” and considering DNFing it.

I can’t count how many times I went online to check if there was a prequel or if this was a spin-off from another series. As far as I can tell there isn’t and it isn’t. It really is a first in a series, all on it’s own. And as much as I wanted to love it, the stingy was information was doled out, one frustrating crumb at a time, was a style that didn’t work for me.

The thing is though, there was so much I did like (even if not enough to rescue this book) that I’d be willing to give an Argent book another chance. Like I said, odd.

witches for hire