Tag Archives: werewolf

Craved

Book Review of Stephanie Nelson’s Craved (Gwen Sparks #1)

Leave a reply

CravedI downloaded a copy of Craved, by Stephanie Nelson, from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Gwen Sparks just wants to live a peaceful life in the supernatural town of Flora, but from the moment she read about the first murdered witch, all hope of peace was abandoned. Possessing the rare ability to read the memories of dead, she volunteers to help catch the culprit behind the string of drained witches. Gwen has to team up with the one man who broke her heart, deal with a ghost who pulls her into the deathly realm at will, and a fight off the advances of sexy but frustrating vampire who not only craves what runs through her veins—he wants her heart.

Review:
I think the most I can say for this one is ‘Meh.’ I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t really all that impressed either. I was expecting to like it too, since it has so many great reviews. But I found myself irritated and confused more often than not.

To begin with, Gwen got on my nerves from the very first page. Her whole ‘he broke my heart’ spiel was like a broken record. Then when it came out that this relationship that ended, broke her heart and left her so bereft she was unable/unwilling to open herself and love again had only lasted 8 months, I just pretty much said a mental ‘pishaw.’ Overreaction anyone?

Then there was the fact that Nelson set up magical rules, but didn’t seem to follow them. Why don’t Gwen and Aiden have a blood bond if Gwen’s same interactions with Ian resulted in one? How did removing Gwen’s magic from Aiden break his addiction if he was addicted before he encountered her magic to begin with? If Gwen had certain magical abilities, how come she occasionally managed to do things she shouldn’t have been able to do? I realise some of this was the development of a new talent, but why was it suddenly popping up?

Then there was the whole premise of witches’ blood being addictive. I have a really, really hard time figuring out how this small fact has remained unknown for all eternity. Seems to me that at some point some vampire would have gotten his/her hand on a witch and gone ‘oh yeah, that’s some good stuff right there.’ So the whole plot of this ‘new drug’ seemed implausible at best.

Then there were the pitiful sex scenes. They were all really, really rushed–some no more than two or three paragraphs and there was very little detail…or for-play. Which was apparently OK because Gwen can, enviably, orgasm at the drop of a hat. (Not to mention the characters odd tendency to hop to it while in otherwise dangerous situations.)

I noticed a few editorial errors and the book was in first person, which I generally dislike. But I admit that the writing was pretty good. And though Aiden often appeared weak, I did really like how much he loved Gwen. Many of the issues I’ve highlighted as annoyances for me might not irk other readers. So, this might just be a case of the right reader for the book.

Alaskan Fire

Book Review of Sara King’s Alaskan Fire (Guardians of the First Realm #1)

Leave a reply

Alaskan FireI grabbed a copy of Sara King‘s Alaskan Fire from Amazon’s KDP list. 

Description From Goodreads:
Blaze MacKenzie is a freakishly-tall heiress who just discovered that her ‘parents’ actually found her abandoned as an infant in some bizarre human sacrifice in the woods. Along with that nasty little bit of information came a six hundred thousand dollar check, a strange golden feather, and the ability to move to the Alaska Bush and begin her dream-life living off the Grid.

Unfortunately for Blaze, life in rural Alaska isn’t as peaceful as she expected. Among her many startling discoveries is that her sexy new handyman, Jack Thornton, has already ‘claimed’ the territory that her new lodge is sitting on …

Further complicating matters, Jack makes it clear to Blaze that there are a good many things that go bump in the Alaskan night, and when a pack of werewolves goes rogue and starts killing or turning everyone along the Yentna River, Blaze and Jack find themselves in a fight for survival in this magic-soaked Land of the Midnight Sun.

Review:
I generally enjoyed Alaskan Fire. I found Blaze and Jack endearing. I found the two of them together hilarious…vulgar, churlish, and occasionally infuriating, but all in a really funny way. They curse like sailors, call each-other names, sass each-other constantly and basically fight for 400 pages. But they also support and protect each-other at the same time. The bathtub scene was especially sweet, if a little disgusting.

Between Blazes’ size and strength and Jack’s comparable shortness and large swath of helplessness, I found the whole reversal of gender roles a nice addition. So was the fact that Jack was a wereverine instead of a werewolf. It’s interesting that King decided to make her male lead the less glamorised species. I don’t know that I’d read a book about what Blaze is either. (I’m trying not to spoil it.) So it was something different.

I did occasionally want to gag at Blazes’ tendency to revel in being protected when she was so obviously a capable woman. It felt very much like she was choosing helplessness over competence at times. I had similar feelings about the sex scenes (though there really weren’t many of them) and how much she wanted to be dominated…and how often the reader is reminded of how ‘male,’ masculine,’ ‘manly’ Jack is. Surely there are more creative ways to say Blaze thought his strength was attractive.

The book did seem to go on and on…and on and on and on. The book is roughly 550 pages long and there really isn’t any more to the plot than your average PNR, which is usually between 250 and 350 pages. I actually started to laugh toward the end as I passed ending after ending, only to find another chapter leading to what could have (really probably should have) been the conclusion. By which I mean scenes that would traditionally be the end of a PNR book. There are four or five of them consecutively. Plus, after the first appropriate place to wrap up, the book’s feel changes dramatically. It went from angsty and angry to hearts and flowers almost instantly.

The feeling of endlessness was also exacerbated by the fact that throughout the book any and everything took forever and a day to actually happen or happened more than once–the second and third escape attempt, for example. There were large chunks of downtime–the whole Brad and the rain section, almost all of the farming/building scenes, etc. And there was A LOT of ranting on about heritage breeds and such. Now I completely agree with the message in all of it, but it was played just a little heavy handedly…or maybe repeated too frequently.

All-in-all I’m glad to have read it, would happily read the sequel, Alaskan Fury, if it fell in my lap, and will keep my eyes open for more of Sara King’s writing. I think the book could do with a fairly ruthless pair-down to tighten the plot up, but I still enjoyed it.

Addendum: You can see my review of book II here. 

Shifting Shadows

Book Review of Amanda Kelly’s Shifting Shadows

Leave a reply

Shifting ShadowsI downloaded a copy of Amanda Kelly’s Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide, #1) from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Party boy and werewolf, Jay Dellarson is stunned when his uncle hires a human to be his newest assistant. Kira Franklin is a sheltered girl with a mysterious past who’s finally taking charge of her life. When Jay and his pack begin to spend more time with the new girl in town, things start to unravel. Kira fights to keep her secrets hidden but when she finds out the truth of the town’s inhabitants it puts her in greater danger than ever before. While discovery of the werewolves’ secrets is dangerous, it’s discovery of Kira’s secrets that could place everyone in the middle of a vicious war.

Review:
This was an alright read if you like the kind of thing. It is told in first person, which I generally dislike. To complicate things it is told in first person from the perspective of two people. I found this really distracting and annoying. Now, I did appreciate being able to see both character’s POVs, but I’ve found myself constantly having to double check the chapter headings to remember who was currently narrating.

I really, really liked that this was not a case of insta-love. I found the romance a lot more realistic for the time it took to develop. But this was definately one of those books where the heroine manages to charm everyone effortlessly and by the end it starts to feel just a little too kumbaya for my taste–with everyone throwing wonderful affirmations around. This always strikes me as an underdevelopment.

The book seemed to throw the magic in all of a sudden. One moment Kira is going along as a normal girl unknowingly hanging out with the werewolves, the next she is suddenly off doing her thing. (I don’t want to give a spoiler, but suffice it to say there is no build up and so the reveal seems very abrupt.) I also didn’t quite grasp the seriousness of her situation. I understood she was in hiding because of the war. But she wasn’t anyone special to it, not a princess or the daughter of a leader or an active participant. She was just one girl so I saw no reason for her to be any more hunted than anyone else. Therefore all of her and her family’s precautions seemed really over the top.

It also ended without ending. I know that this is the first of a series, but my absolute, number one, literary pet peeve is…I would call it a cliffhanger, but that’s not right. A cliffhanger infers an actual conclusion of some sort while leaving some thread open for continuation. Nothing in this book concludes. There is one red herring event that substitutes an ending, but that’s just a cheat. The perpetrator of the mysterious attacks that plaque the whole book is not only not revealed it isn’t even addressed because it is still open and in the air.

I think this probably counts as New Adult as opposed to YA since the characters are all in their mid-twenties, but there isn’t any sex. I’m still figuring out what falls into that genre. I enjoyed the read.