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Book Review: Monsters Within, by R.L. Caulder

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I received this copy of Monsters Within by R.L. Caulder in a monthly subscription book box. (I don’t remember which one.) But I also have a Kindle copy I picked up as a freebie at some point.

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Have you ever lost yourself in a fantasy world you created?

That’s how I’ve survived the years alone in a reality where humans cower in fear of supernatural creatures hiding behind the veil.

All I’ve ever had is my pen, my notebook, and the world I created to make it through the days as a ward of the state, suffering at the hands of the real villains of the world…Humans.

The pages of my notebook hold three sinful, feared monsters. Ones that I certainly shouldn’t be pining over since they aren’t even real.

I question my grip on reality when real life and fantasy collide as my words suddenly come to life. Out of the pages climb each of the beautifully twisted monsters I created with my ink.

Dark Imaginarium Academy claims to want to help me learn about my new powers. The Headmistress says they can protect me, but I’m not so sure about that.

The one thing I am sure about? I’ll destroy the world if they try to take my monsters from me.

Because my creations aren’t just monsters—they’re my soulmates.

my review

Soooo, this simply isn’t very good. It reads VERY MUCH like a teen, self-insert fantasy romance. Which, in one manner, makes sense to the plot. Self-insert fantasy is what the main character writes to create the monsters in the first place. On the other hand, nothing feels like this parallel was a stylistic choice by Caulder, and it simply isn’t any fun to read. Both because it is boring and because the amateurish writing and plotting reinforced the teen-like feel.

Additionally, the teen-like feel clashes with the collegiate setting. It feels like high school (they have detention, set similar schedules, petty high school drama, and a most specialist, special girl who is special main character, etc.). The character is only 21 (and all the magic miraculously appears at midnight on her 21st birthday), so she would be legal, and you feel that is an monsters within photoauthorial manipulation rather than fitting the plot even a little bit. She feels 16, at most.

Add all of that to a plot that feels, at best, sketched out, rocketing from point to point with no build-up or resolutions, characters who go through major shifts in reality with absolutely no reaction or adjustment time, stock, cardboard cutout heroes, cliched, mean-girl villains, and inconsistent characterization of the heroine, and I was simply done. I finished the book to finish it, but I’m not at all interested in more.

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Book Review: Suddenly Summoned, by Beatrix Hollow

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I have a signed copy of Beatrix Hollow‘s Suddenly Summoned. However, I cannot remember if I got it in a subscription book box or bought it during an online author-signing event.suddenly summoned cover

Luckily, it doesn’t take much social confidence to plot a massacre. All you need is an ancient ancestral grimoire, a shameful obsession with demons, and the proper motivation. Check, check, and check.

Yep, I’ve raised a demon from Hell. The first person that dared to summon in three hundred years. I gave him my eternal soul and in exchange he gave me a vicious bloodbath.

The world knows me as Beauty, the coven massacre slayer, and I’m stuck living out my pathetic life at the supernatural prison, Dreary Isle.

Now I have a savage demon magically chained to me–petting my hair and rasping in my ear how he wants to kill me. I’ve also got Max, my frustratingly platonic best friend who I’m responsible for getting locked up. Then there’s my broody leprechaun with mischievous eyes, who makes a lot of flirty promises–including escape.

Lastly, there’s the warden. He’s insane and has a grudge against my ancestors. A devil owns my soul but the warden is what frightens me. He’s something more heinous than a violent demon…

He’s a psychotic god.

my review

I thought this was an OK read. I liked the main characters and where the story seemed to be going. But it was also far too slow a burn for me. I don’t just mean for my preference, either. The slow-slow burn made the book feel like it dragged, not hitting the expected plot points when expected. (There is no sex, for example, because no relationship has progressed far enough.) And while that isn’t necessarily bad, there wasn’t really enough other stuff to fill the void. So, it felt a little mid.

All in all, however, I liked it enough to try and buy the next one in the series. Unfortunately, there isn’t one, and isn’t likely to be one. The author appears to have pulled it from publication and has it listed on her website as something she intends to re-edit and re-publish, but she has no ETA for when that might happen. (And obviously, there is also no apparent work on the rest of the series.) So, I suppose here ends my Faustian adventure.

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Book Review: Ghostly Touches, by Salem Cross

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I picked up a copy of Salem’s Cross‘ Ghostly Touches as a freebie last year.

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They came to me in the dead of night.

I should be used to ghosts, I’m a necromancer after all. But the three men who show up at my house aren’t the spiritual beings I’m used to. These Ghosts are part of a brotherhood so secret that they were thought to be a myth.

When they ask for my help, I leap at the opportunity to aid these warriors.

But none of us expected my help to come with a price tag. Now our souls are bound to one another and unfortunately, being this close to each other secrets are starting to slip out. I can’t afford to have anyone know who, or what, I really am, but with a curse hanging over our heads and with someone suddenly after us we’ll have to stick close if we want to survive. With the Ghosts looking out for me, I should be safe… right?

my review

Despite a notable lack of worldbuilding, this was an ok read. I liked Willow a lot and liked that she was the initiator in the sexual scenes, and there was no shaming for that. The plot was interesting enough that I wasn’t bored, and the writing was readable. I would probably read the next one in the series if I could find it free or get it at the library, except for one very big problem. I only liked one of the four men in the harem. A second I could tolerate. I disliked the other two from beginning to end. Yes, I know authors have to leave room for characters to grow. But they didn’t grow enough in this book for me to be in a rush to pick up the next one so I could spend more time with them. I finished this book legitimately more interested in the Reaper Willow never actually spoke to in the book than any of the love interests.

Side note: One doesn’t narrow their pupils when they glare at someone.

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