Tag Archives: why choose

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Book Review: Flirting With Monsters series, by Eva Chase

I picked up a copy of Eva Chase‘s Shadow Thief as an Amazon freebie. Then, I purchased the compilation of the whole series (Shadow Thief, Twilight Crook, Dusk Avenger, and Dark Champion).

On a side note: I’ve just spent two and a bit days with no power (so, no internet). This means that it has been a few days since I finished these books, so they’re no longer fresh in my mind. Apologies if the review is a little sparse as a result.

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When a sassy thief sets three demons free during a heist, she doesn’t count on them following her home—or insisting on repaying her with their protection. This gal isn’t looking for an entourage, even if it’s made up of sexy supernatural hunks. But when it turns out the monstrous men have a lead on the creeps who murdered her family, she’s all in.

Track down the baddies, hook up with a demonic hottie or two, and don’t get killed along the way. Piece of cake, right?

my review

Since I read this whole series as a single entity, I’ll review it similarly. I thought that this series started out well. The writing is easy to read, and the plot whizzed alone. I enjoyed the sass and the easy devotion of the romantic partners. However, as time went on, some cliches crept in, characters started getting introduced and then dropped without explanation, and some sections started to drag. Honestly, I think the whole thing jumped the shark by an entire book.

I enjoyed book one, liked book two well enough, started to lose interest in book three, and only bothered to read book four in order to finish the series. None of it is bad. I just think Chase should have wrapped it up sooner than she did. (Plus, the epilogue was pat and predictable.)

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Other Reviews:

Traveling Bookworm: Flirting with Monsters, by Eva Chase

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Book Review: Escape of the Fae, by Taylor Spratt

I picked up a copy of Taylor Spratt‘s Escape of the Fae as an Amazon freebie.

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A thousand prisoners against one? Bring it on…

The name’s Jessy Gilchrest and I’m nobody’s fairy Princess. I’m a Cage fighter, pack leader and all around bad-ass alpha Fae. They say I’ve got a little impulse control problem and they’re right about that.

I robbed the Vampire King’s Castle and it got me thrown into Poison Penitentiary, home of the most blood-thirsty creatures in the Magical Sect. A dark secret haunts this place, clinging to the air like a disease and in here, everything goes bump in the night.

I’m not worried though. Because I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid. I got caught for a reason. They’ve got my younger brother locked up in here. He’s innocent and I’ll stop at nothing till he’s freed. There’s just one problem with my brilliant break-out plan. Remember that little impulse control issue I mentioned earlier?

I got in a fight with the warden on the first day and now she’s promised freedom to any prisoner who can finish me off.

Four of the prison’s deadliest inmates’ step in to help me. A Werewolf, Dragon shifter, Vampire and Demon. What do they want in exchange? Let’s just say they’ve got a taste for Alpha Fae. A big one.

my review

Honestly, this was just bad. I knew it was going to be a slap-stick sort of read. So, that wasn’t a surprise. I was hoping for something light-hearted and sexy-funny. But there is ridiculous and silly in a fun way, and there is ridiculous and silly in a stupid way. I was hoping for the former, but this book is the latter.

The characters are somehow both overblown and flatly underdeveloped. The villain is cliched. The dialogue is an embarrassing mess. There are plot holes galore. The book barely seems to have been edited at all, and then it all ends on a cliffhanger.

I am not interested in continuing the series.

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Other Reviews:

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Book Review: Crooked Paradise series, by Eva Chance & Harlow King

I picked up an Amazon freebie copy of the Crooked Paradise series by Eva Chance and Harlow King. Well, technically, I picked up Scorned Princess on its own and later picked up a compilation with Scorned Princess, Perilous Lady, Ruthless Queen, and Lethal Empress.

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A rebellious gang princess, four hot dangerous gangsters, one psycho stalker, and a revenge scheme that could destroy everything in Paradise Bend…

My arranged marriage should have forged an alliance between my fiancé’s gang and my father’s. It turns out my fiancé had other plans. Like slaughtering my entire family the night before the wedding.

I make it out alive, left with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. To crush the prick who betrayed me, I have to turn to the biggest pricks of them all.

Hot, cocky, and dangerous, Wylder Noble and his men rule Paradise Bend. If I pass their brutal tests to prove I deserve their help, my ex doesn’t stand a chance.

But there are deeper troubles stirring in my hometown. While I try to figure out whether I’d rather kiss or kill my infuriating allies, I’ve got a deranged psycho leaving gruesome presents at my window. Outsiders are invading our streets, preparing for war.

If they think our little county will be easy pickings, they couldn’t be more mistaken. The Nobles are far from noble when tackling a threat, and I’m no damsel in distress.

Before this is over, someone’s going to bleed. And this time, it won’t be me.

my review

Since I have this as a compilation/omnibus, I read all the books back to back. So, I’ll just review them in the same manner; as a single entity. (All the books end on cliffhangers until the end, anyhow. So, it’s really one story in the end.) And I was pretty meh on that one story if I’m honest. I’ll say upfront that the writing and editing are fine. I was just incredibly bored. There is a lot of filler, and by the third book (when a frankly unbelievably unbelievable twist allows them to win against incredible odds), I was skimming. I think this might have made a really good duet. But stretching it out to a 1000-page quartet thinned the plot to the point of transparency.

I did like that the men in the group were not all physically prime. Gideon’s inclusion was Crooked Paradise cover photoespecially nice, as was Rowen’s softer, artistic side. But the villains were cliched, the plot dragged and became predictable (except for the Hail Mary/deus ex machina solution that miraculously presented itself when needed most and makes no sense in context—didn’t see that coming for obvious reasons), and the baby-makes-six epilogue felt incredibly out of place in a series in which condom use had been assiduous.

All in all, I don’t regret reading it, but I’m really glad to be finished with it finally.


Other Reviews:

YA Bookish Blog: Crooked Paradise