Tag Archives: witches

forecast

Book Review of Forecast (Shakespeare Sisters 1), by Jane Tara

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ForecastI downloaded Jane Tara‘s Forecast from the Amazon free list. It is still free.

Description from Goodreads:
The Shakespeare women were what the locals of Greenwich Village called “gifted.”

Sure, Rowie’s predictions were helpful for forecasting the weather or finding someone’s lost grandkid. But when it came to love, her abilities were more like a curse. Why bother dating a guy if you knew at the first kiss he was destined for some blonde from New Jersey? Nope, Rowie was much happier bringing together the people she knew were a perfect match. Until the day she kissed the man whose future she couldn’t foresee.

Review:
Well written but 100% predictable and full of far, far too many feel-goods for my taste. It’s the sort of book where the heroine is an amazing Mary Sue that everyone except the single person who has to dislike her to create enough dissonance for a plot loves her. Then, once the necessary challenge has been presented and mastered the single bitch becomes mysteriously contrite, apologises and is instantly forgiven (because there can’t be any lingering hard feelings apparently). Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, ends up happy. (How realistic is that?) I know many people love this aspect of romantic comedy. Me? I’ve over here suffocating on all of the hearts and flowers flooding the room and blocking the oxygen from reaching my poor withered heart. 

Plus, apparently I’m not nearly as good a person as Rowie, because I wouldn’t have forgiven so easily and have a hard time relating to how she could have. Her easy forgiveness kind of felt like a betrayal to me. I also thought the need to have every single person in the book paired off in the end, thus requiring attention be paid to their bit of the story, thinned the plot (a lot). I mean that’s Rowie, her mother and grandmother, Angel, Petey, Jack, Drew, Georgette, William, Shin and Jess. That’s a pretty full list of people to find partners for and try to keep a plot tight. It didn’t really work that well. 

Again, the book is well written and I didn’t notice any editing errors. It’s also pretty darned funny. I liked a lot of the sarcastic commentary. So, it’s not a fail in general, just a fail for me. 

On a side note: The series is called the Shakespeare Sisters, but Rowies an only child. Figure that one out.

Mere Mortal

Book Review of Mere Mortal, by Katie Roman

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Mere MortalI grabbed a copy of Katie Roman‘s Mere Mortal from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Samantha Dunmore would be thrilled to live quietly with her dog. However, working as a social worker for vampires makes life anything but. When an ancient vampire brings trouble right to Samantha’s doorstep she must step out of her quiet life and into a world of villainous vampires, werewolves with hero complexes, and witches out to make mischief. Armed with attitude and a blessed baseball bat Samantha decides to get her life back to normal, or as normal as she can.

Review:
I’d call this an all right read, not horrible but not spectacular either. It’s a shame, too. Because, I think it really could have been, had the author not tried so hard to add so many literary ‘must haves,’ that the book just didn’t need and done a little more editing.

What I did like: I liked Samantha. She was smart and relatively savvy in the end. (I spent a while thinking she must be a bit dim to go along with everything and not report anything, but as she figures it out so did I and she wasn’t stupid.) It was a pleasant surprise. I liked some of the cheeky dialogue and that the closest thing the book had to a hero wasn’t allowed to sweep in and solve all her problems. I also liked the basic premise of the world everything occurs in.

What I didn’t like: To put it bluntly, it felt like the book didn’t actually have a point. Samantha runs around randomly getting attacked, then the book ends. The issue with the item causing all the ruckus is never solved. In fact, its never even addressed, which left me wondering why everything suddenly settled down. Or looking at it from the other end, if it was so easily settled why make such a big deal of it to begin with? Plus, if the baddie could so easily get someone into her office, as he did, why not just do that instead of harassing Samantha at all?

There was also a weak attempt at a romance that I could have done without, as it contributed nothing to the story. Even worse, it was essentially unsupported. I suppose the reader is supposed to assume it’s been simmering for a while, but that information isn’t actually there. The uncomfortable assumption is just the only way to make it work when it suddenly shows up.

This is one of those ‘must haves’ I referred to. The romance was not necessary for the progression of the plot; it distracted from the main mystery, wasn’t really fleshed out enough to be satisfying and, in the end, just became a little annoying in its half-assedness. It felt very much like the author added it in to make the book appeal to a broader or certain audience, not because it was a legitimate part of her story. 

Having said all that, it was still a relatively amusing read and I did enjoy the experience.

Book Review of Pretty Witches All in a Row, by Lisa Olsen

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All the Pretty Witches all in a RowI snagged a copy of Lisa Olsen‘s Pretty Witches All in a Row from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Someone is picking off a coven of witches one by one. Can Sgt. Nick Gibson and his team of detectives catch the killer before he loses the pretty witch who’s got him under her spell?

Nick must cast aside his disbelief and delve into the world of the supernatural to solve the case. On hand to help is Annaliese, a member of the coven who claims to have had a prophetic dream at the exact time of each victim’s death, offering clues to the identity of the killer. Can he accept the ‘proof’ offered by unconventional means or is she deliberately leading him astray to hide her own secrets? To cloud the issue, a local evangelist is telling anyone who asks that the victims had it coming. Is religious mania the motive for murder, or is it something more personal?

Review:
This was a pleasant little read. It kept me occupied for an evening, which was all I was asking of it. I liked the main characters (though I did find Nick’s endless banter juvenile). They weren’t all that well defined. Everyone’s past stays murky. For example, something apparently happened in LA that undermined Nick’s trust in his daughter and prompted them to move to Portland, but the reader never learns what it is. Nor do you learn how Annaliese came to practice Wicca or much of anything about the coven members, etc. Everything is kept fairly shallow. Similarly, all of the side characters are mere cut outs, with no depth.

The police procedure part of the book was a mess. It was fun to read, but I had to suspend A LOT of disbelief to roll with it. Nick broke just about every rule in the book (contaminating evidence, removing evidence without permission, releasing confidential information, taking a civilian into a crime scene, fabricating statements, etc), which didn’t really match his otherwise good cop persona. Again, it was amusing but by no means believable.

Honestly, the mystery wasn’t that hard to figure out. Let’s face it; the vilification of the aged is so common that as soon as I see one old woman amidst a cast of younger ones I can pinpoint the villain instantly. The book did provide a red herring or two, to make the reader doubt the obvious, but they were weak to say the least. It’s pretty obvious who is behind everything and even why.

So, final thoughts…a fun read, but not topping any Best Of lists for me