Tag Archives: why choose

a demons guide to the afterlife covers

Book Review: A Demon’s Guide to the Afterlife, by Kel Carpenter & Aurelia Jane

I picked up Dark Horse, the first book in Kel Carpenter and Aurelia Jane‘s A Demon’s Guide to the Afterlife series, as an Amazon freebie. I then bought the compilation so that I could read White Raven and Black Swan.

a demons guide to the afterlife cover

Don’t get me wrong, waking up to discover my ex-husband finally killed me wasn’t fun. Finding out I had to get a job and pay Afterlife taxes about ten minutes later?
Let’s just say, this wasn’t exactly the eternal reward I was hoping for. But beggars can’t be choosers, and being a demon sure as hell beats my last occupation.
I’m well on my way to retirement behind the pearly gates when the impossible happens. The Risk Witches have a vision.

A savage shifter that can’t control his wolf.
An ancient fae lord that’s forgotten what it means to feel.
A playboy vampire king with a secret.

Three alpha’s will inherit unspeakable power. Each of them scarred. Too broken to be tamed . . .
Upper Management sent their best to ‘fix’ them. Angels. Poltergeists. Nothing worked.

So now it’s my turn, whether I like it or not.
But unfortunately for me, failure is not an option with these guys.

Combined, they have enough power to end the world—and they will.
Unless I find a way to stop them first.

Breaking people is my job. But this time…my job might break me.

a demons guide to the afterlife covers

Review:

Meh, this was OK. I picked the first one up as an Amazon freebie and, on finishing it, bought the compilation in order to finish the series. The thing is, I bought the series because book one had potential, not necessarily because it was especially good. Unfortunately, the potential never developed.

The series isn’t bad; I never wanted to DNF it. But it never got good, either. I was never excited to pick it back up or missing it if I was away. It just coasts along at mediocre, always just barely good enough to keep you reading. But no better.

I liked that Fury had a backbone and a sense of justice. I liked a lot of the characters. However, from very early on, it was evident that Fury had a serious case of being too powerful and, demons_guide_to_the_afterlife_phototherefore, too arrogant, and nothing provided a believable challenge for her. That only got worse as the series progressed, and she got progressively more powerful.

I also felt like all of the men were just caricatures. I never felt that I got to know them beyond the surface and the villain even less. The whole thing was also just unbelievably predictable.

All in all, as I said, this was an OK read. I don’t regret it. But I’m glad to be finished, too.


Other Reviews:

Tracy’s Book Reviews: A Demon’s Guide to the Afterlife

Review of Dark Horse by Kel Carpenter and Aurelia Jane

stolen queen banner

Book Review: Stolen Queen, by Jesi Donovan

I picked up a copy of Jesi Donovan‘s Stolen Queen as an Amazon freebie.
Stolen Queen cover

They are handsome.
They are monsters.
They are my husbands.

My grandfather stole from the Mad Kings; now they’ve taken me prisoner to pay his debts.

They know that I’m innocent. They know I don’t deserve to be caged like an animal. But they don’t care. They will break me and make me their Queen. They will mate me and make me the mother of their children. No matter what it takes, the Mad Kings will have what’s theirs.

my review

Yeah…I hated this. To each their own, but this was not for me. I have so many complaints, but I’ll state up front that the mechanical writing is fine. It’s perfectly readable. That’ll be my only compliment.

This might be a little spoiler-ish, but it doesn’t give much more away than is in the blurb. The kings kidnap her, throw her in the dungeon, and are consistently horrible to her. However, their goal is for her to become their queen, bear their children, and eventually (hopefully) love them. Nothing about that plotting makes sense. If you, by chance, think, “Well, maybe in context…” No, not even in context does it make sense. It simply does not make any sense.

None of the characters are even tolerable, let alone likable. We are given all four character’s POVs. One might hope that even as the men are being horrible to her, their internal monologue shows them to have some affection for her. But no, they are all about getting a return for their investment, deserving to get their dick wet, entitled to her, etc. They want her because she is the rightful queen (we’ll just overlook the fact that her grandmother is apparently still alive, so….) and will therefore legitimize their rule. She literally might as well be a physical crown for how much concern they have for her as a person, even in their own thoughts. There is nothing romantic or erotic about any of it.

Then, on page 142, I came across this quote and decided I was done. “…[B]ehind closed doors, whatever happens, happens. If we take the Queen by force and it happens to work in our favor, so be it. She will come around, boys, because we’ll make her.” Yeah, that’s them deciding amongst themselves to rape their queen. Ho-hum. They then gang up and coerce her into sex. It’s the only sex in the book, minus one totally out-of-place touching scene. I skimmed the rest stolen queen photoof the book to finish it. But there was no redeeming the story for me. Again, there is nothing romantic, despite being called a Dark Captive Romance. Not even the dark can bring this in line with romance.

I recently commented in another book review that enemies-lovers tropes (which captive romance basically is) need push and pull to work. These men consistently push, but there is no pull for the reader to get invested in. I hated this and just want to go wash my brain out now.


Other Reviews:

Magic bureau of investigation covers

Book Review: Magical Bureau of Investigation series, by Albany Walker

I picked up a copy of Albany Walker’s Homecoming Homicide as an Amazon freebie and then bought Creeping it Real and Perfectly Wicked.

Magic bureau of investigation covers

“Hey Frankie, we need ya.”

One phone call, five words, and I’m back in the town I swore I’d never return to.

Hill Crest Library smelled bad, and it wasn’t just the corpse in front of me causing it. The once beautiful building had fallen into disrepair over the past few years.

Belinda the new librarian was doing her best to clean it up, but a dead body wasn’t helping matters.

Dad needs help to solve the murder, so that’s what I’m here to do, then get out of town before anyone even knows I’m back

The case should be easy for an MBI agent, even a newly minted one like me, but before I can check into the hotel my three reasons for leaving, corner in the lobby.

My life just got a lot more complicated.

my review

This review covers all three books.

Honestly, I liked this series. But I wanted to like it a lot more than I did; I could have liked it a lot more than I did. It is mostly a series of magical investigation bureau mysteries (almost bordering on cozy mysteries) with a poly second-chance romance subplot. I liked the mysteries. I liked the romantic subplot. I really liked the way the men had an important relationship between themselves. The problem is that the subplot is too much plot for a subplot, and as a subplot, doesn’t get the attention it needs. This means that the reader is left feeling unsatisfied by it. There were a lot of conversations that needed to happen that just didn’t, a lot of groveling and forgiveness that needed to be on-page and just wasn’t, etc. It left the books feeling lopsided and ill-weighted.

The reason I didn’t rate it higher than I did, though, is for a single big reason (and this is a spoiler, be warned). The basic premise is that Frankie and her guys had an “oops” misunderstanding while casting a spell as teens and then, despite being inseparable since they were children (and one being a freaking empath, another reading magical intent), and as a result, she ran away. But she only went 45 minutes away, they knew where she was (secretly checked on her once a month), and she knew where they were (in her hometown with everything and everyone she loved). And I’m supposed to believe, as a reader, that, despite missing one another, they all went somewhere between 5 and 10 years (the exact time is not stated, but long enough to start and finish university, go through bureau training, and get ensconced in careers) none of them ever even tried to make contact. She never had reason to visit home? None of that is even magical bureau of investigation photoremotely believable, especially with the way the men structure their lives around the assumption that she’d be back at some point. That’s the foundation of the book, and it is shaky at best. I tried to suspend disbelief, but it was a struggle. It’s simply that unbelievable and undermined the entire plot.

Despite all of that, I liked the characters and world a lot. I’d be willing to read more of Walker’s work.


Other Reviews: