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Book Review of the Altered States series by L. Harner and T.A. Webb

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I grabbed Laura Harner‘s short story Altered States and the subsequent novella written with T.A. Webb, Deep Blues Goodbye, off of the KDP free list. I then bought Deadly Shades of Gold. As of the time of posting the first two appear to still be free and MrsConditReadsBooks seems to have a giveaway running for the third (though the one thing I couldn’t find posted was the closing date. So…)

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I have to start out by saying that I almost missed out on reading this series. I’d seen Altered States on the KDP list a couple of times and never paid it any attention. It had the double handicap of being a short story, which I tend to ignore, and a cover that doesn’t really appeal to me, which I ignored. I never even read the description. Mistake. I’m pretty sure M/M vampires would have gotten my attention from the start. It sure did when I found them in the blurb for Beep Blues Goodbye. It was only when I realised that they were a set that I went back and got Altered States too.

It’s a good thing I’m a little obsessive about reading descriptions of books even if I don’t like covers. Otherwise I would have passed on DBG too. And if I didn’t read reviews I wouldn’t have realised that AS is a prequel. I would have missed out on a whole lot of fun. So thank you to all those wonderful reviewers who made that connection apparent. 

Before I get on with reviewing the series let me pause and mention that all three books…or rather the short story and both novellas wouldn’t stand alone very well. It’s one story. Each ends in a severe cliffhanger and a reader would be scrambling to catch up if they read a latter book without having read the first ones. That’s why I’m breaking my usual routine and reviewing them all as one. I’m also going to forgo my usual rant about partial books. We all know I would normally make it here, ’cause yes, none of these instalments is a full story arc in itself and, yes, that normally makes me grind my teeth (especially when they are all short enough to fit in one binding). But I’m letting it go here because I got two of the three for free and enjoyed them so very much. Moving on…

I could sum my review of this series up in one explicative ridden sentence. GAWD DAMN, THAT MOTHER FUCKIN’ SHIT IS HOT!! But, while that may be all some need to know before picking the series up (probably would have been enough for me), letting my less than eloquent inner teenager (or apparently budding cougar) out wouldn’t tell you much of substance about these gems.

The series starts out following Sam Garrett, New Orleans Police Detective and gay black man. He is smart, sarcastic, sexy, and honest in his lustiness. I love that. I found his character to be a joy. Well spoken black men are too rare in fiction and well spoken gay black men few and far between. When he is partnered with the arrogant, by the books detective Travis Boudreaux things start to go a little sideways. 

When Boudreaux later “had the bad taste to sit up at his own funeral” the series finally earns its paranormal tags. There are vampires, werewolves/bears/panthers/dogs, cops, hookers, feds, Homeland security, and mobsters involved in an ever expanding plot. There is also some really, really steamy sex. One particular dance scene had me fanning myself and I don’t even know if the M/M/M ménage à trois is physically possible. (Being singularly lacking in a penis I suppose I’ll never find out.) But Wow! 

What really struck me about AS and DBG is that they were unquestionably steamy reads, but they did this without all of the power plays. No one was dominated, subjugated, or abused in any fashion. There were no whips, blindfolds, or kinks of any sort, but the sex still smoldered. I don’t mean to make grand sweeping generalities, but I kind of think modern erotica’s frequent heavy dependence on fetishism is a plot crutch. Yes, it is titillating to read about exotic sex, but it takes a stronger story to keep the scene equally captivating without taping into people’s sense of the taboo. These didn’t go there. They didn’t need to. DSoG did a little bit in the character of Henri, but he’s the über bad guy so I can forgive it. 

In and amongst all of this testosterone-laden male goodness is a story too. There is a murder mystery to solve and a gentle romance struggling to bud. There are some wonderfully colourful characters too—Russ, Jet, Danny, and right there at the end Wayne. The man-banter between these guys is great. I can’t wait for more. 

If I understand correctly there should be another book, Free Falling Crimson apparently, out later in the year. This makes me very, very happy. 

Book Review of Helen Harper’s Blood Destiny series (Bloodfire, Bloodmagic & Bloodrage)

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I initially grabbed the first of  Helen Harper‘s Blood Destiny series, Bloodfire, off of the KDP free list. I then bought the sequels, Bloodmagic and Bloodrage.

The series follow a woman named Mack who, despite being ostensibly human, has been raised amongst a pack of shape-shifters. She has a fiery temper, penchant for finding trouble, and a sexy were-panther on her tail. Of course there is more to the story than that, but you can check out the Amazon or Goodread links for a breakdown of each book. 

Review of Bloodfire:
I generally really enjoyed this book. Mack is a fun character. She has a forceful personality and an equally strong backbone. I liked seeing her stand up for herself and those that she cared about. She did seem a little too willing to sacrifice herself for them though. I also appreciated that she had accepted herself for who she was, even if there were still lingering regrets that she couldn’t be like everyone else. I must admit that, though her complete lack of verbal filter was fun at times, it did border on suicidal. There is a distinct difference between speaking your mind and not being ABLE to control yourself and what you say. The first is a sign of one’s strength of character, the second a character flaw. There were times I thought it unrealistic that she got away with so blatantly breaching protocol and the chain of command. At the top of that chain of command was Corrigan and he was a sleek, sexy joy. Though I was disappointed at how little progress was made in their ‘relationship.’ In fact, seeing where it would go is the primary reason I picked up and read the second one.

The bare bones of it is that I enjoyed this jaunt through the world of English shifters. I know it might not be true, but it feels like most shifter stories are set in the US and it was nice to find myself in Cornwall for a change. Well worth the read.

Review of Bloodmagic:
Bloodmagic picks up roughly six months after the conclusion of Bloodfire and finds Mack in a whole new environment, facing all new challenges, but many of the same faces. She’s still dancing around Corrigan and trying her absolute hardest to protect her friends and family from him. It’s touching. She does make some new friends, however, and I liked all of them. Mrs. Alcoon is just sweet as can be, if a little eccentric and Solus’ ceaseless arrogance is amusing. As in the first book I thought Mack’s ability to walk into situations in which she was enormously out manned and succeed was a little hard to swallow. I mean in the Bloodfire she took on a Demi-god and here a citadel full of mages! Maybe Solus isn’t the one I should be calling arrogant.

Since the primary reason I decided to continue the series (not the only one, it is just a fun series) is to see what happens between Mack and Corrigan I was completely disappointed at the end of the book. I don’t want to give anything away, but yeah, disappointed in the end. I also noted a few more editorial mishaps and consistency breaches than in the first. For example, Mack refers to a knee buckling kiss at one point that I have no memory of happening. I even went back to reread the passage in question and couldn’t find it. I liked it enough to buy the third though.

Review of Bloodrage:
I’ve officially decided that this is one of those series that might never end. There will always be one more adventure for Mack. I’m a little peeved about that, starting to feel a little strung along. Be that as it may, I enjoyed the book. Perhaps not as much as the first two. Focusing as this one does on Mack’s experience in the school it has a bit more of a Harry Potter feel to it and the series seems to have lost a little of it’s earlier focus. Mack is still a smart mouthed hot head. Corrigan is still a sexy shifter. Alex is still funny and Solus is…well, still Solus. Of all the new characters I like Thomas the best, though I don’t think he grovels anywhere near enough for his initial misdeed and his personality takes about a 180 from his first meeting with Mack to his subsequent meetings. There’s a fairly big reveal in this storyline, but it still ends completely open for the next book, Blood Politics (which is apparently due out later this year). I enjoy the experience of reading the Blood Destiny books, but with no conclusion in sight I don’t know that I’ll be running out for more.

Vampire Rule

Book Review of K.C. Blake’s Vampire Rule

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I grabbed K.C. Blake’s Vampires Rule off of Amazon’s KDP recently, only to discover that I had already ‘purchased’ it from Smashwords at some point in the past. Guess the synopsis really appealed to me if I thought to download it twice. (Note: as I wrote this I noticed that it is currently free on both sites.)

Description from Goodreads:
They don’t call him Jackpot for nothing.

Jack has always beat the odds… at least until now. When he was attacked by a werewolf, vampires saved him. When he got tired of living the vampire life, another werewolf attack freed him, making him human again. Now Jack just wants to live a normal life, but what’s normal about a hunter girlfriend, a brother who wants to stake him to be on the safe side, and a head werewolf building an army to rule the world?

Review (with some spoilers):
I’m having a little trouble writing this review. Not because I don’t know what I want to say, but because I don’t want to write the exact same review 15 other people already have. The truth is, however, that just like a number of previous readers, I found the idea of this story fascinating but the execution lacking. Jack, Silver, and Jersey’s destiny was an interesting one, but there were a number of plot holes and a couple just curiosity holes. For example, they have to fight the head werewolf, so what about the head vampire that was created at the same time as him? He’s never mentioned. Surely he was important at some point.

I thought that the characters were a little flat and I greatly disliked the way that Silver was constantly treated as a child. She had trained her WHOLE life to be a werewolf hunter. Jack had just been introduced to the art. But everyone was willing to let him take the lead and all of the risks. Why? Was she really so weak? If so, how had she survived so long without him? I mean she’s part of the prophecy (or whatever) too. It smacked of paternalistic sexism…have to protect the precious, fragile female at all cost. Oh god, just gag me.

I did really appreciate Jersey Clifford in all of his poetry spewing badness. He felt like he had more depth than all of the other character combined. Cowboy and Lily had a lot of potential too. Similarly the interaction between Jack and his brother was thought provoking. Billy’s experience surely had to be the hardest of any other character. He deserves some credit.

It was hard to reconcile the ‘we have to save the world’ plot line with the ‘innocent love’ storyline. I suppose if I was 15 and didn’t know how much more life had to offer I might be able to relate to the importance of being a couple (holding hands, carrying her books, etc). But as an adult I found the whole thing too…too vanilla. Granted, I am an adult and this is a YA book (and I’d expect it to best appeal to the lower age brackets of the genre). But even if I could get excited about it, I have a hard time believing two people tasked with such a heavy destiny would stop in the middle of it to cuddle and declare their undying love. Not the time people.

My final and extremely inelegant say on the matter is that the book was alright and will likely appeal to Twilight‘s younger fan base.