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Book Review: Lord of Population, by Elizabeth Stephens

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A copy of Elizabeth Stephens‘ Lord of Population came in my most recent Renegade Romance book box.
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She thinks she can steal from me, the little human. Adorable. I can’t decide what will be more fun – the hunt, or what I will do to her when I catch her. And I will catch her. There is nowhere she can run.

Abel was of perfectly sound body and mind when she looted the Other’s corpse. He looked dead. Wait. Did he just smirk up at her? No. Definitely not…

Hiding out in an abandoned townhouse, Abel doesn’t expect to hear that same bloodsucking alien come knocking on her door or that, when trouble finds them, he might stand at her back, rather than stab her through it.

But when he offers to help her cross the ruined world of Population, Abel knows better than to believe him. Because when he looks at her, it’s with a hunger that seems to go beyond the taste of her blood and, when he asks for payment, he requires the one thing she can’t give up.

Her trust.

Run all you like, little human. The sword you carry won’t be enough to stop me from coming for you. You’re mine. Blood. Body. Heart.

my review

Goodreads tells me that “Lord of Population is a relaunched and combined edition of Population and Saltlands.” That it is two books combined into one is not surprising. You feel it as a reader. In fact, it feels like three. Arc one is Abel meeting and falling for Kane. Book two would be Abel and Mikael’s rescue plot. The third is dealing with Elise. (I hope I made those vague enough that those who’ve read it recognize what I mean, and it isn’t spoiled for those who haven’t.) So, yeah, the book is a little clunky in that regard. “But at no point was I like, OMG, when will this end?!”

I had other complaints. The book starts out giving you a rough, tough, alpha bad-ass alien. Then, he pretty quickly turns into a mild-mannered feudal lord, loved by his subjects, one and all. *Whiplash…and disappointment* The plot pretty predictable. I can’t think of a single twist that caught me off-guard, not even the last one. And the editing starts to fall apart toward the end (both copy edits and content edits). For example, we’re told someone is clean-shaven, and then, on the same page, Abel touches the person’s beard.

Complaints or not, however, I generally enjoyed this. I liked the characters. There are a few heavy topics dealt with. While rape in the dystopian world is inferred, it never happens on-page to the main character (so I didn’t have to read it). And I liked the story in general, better than I liked Taken to Voraxia (which I didn’t hate), for sure.

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The Tattered Page: Lord of Population

 

I fell through a portal and into a gargoyles arms

Book Review: I Fell Through A Portal And Into A Gargoyles Arms, by Dana Isaly

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Always on the lookout for authors whose surnames start with ‘I’ for my yearly Author Alphabet Challenge, I picked up a freebie copy of Dana Isaly‘s I Fell Through A Portal And Into A Gargoyles Arms from Amazon.

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After getting laid off from my job, all I want to do is go home, put on a Halloween movie, and take a hot bath to soak away my troubles.

But things take a turn as soon as my head sinks below the water.

When I come back up for air and open my eyes, I’m not in my bathtub anymore—I’m in the arms of a very large, very gray, very masculine man.

Turns out, he’s a gargoyle, and I’m no longer in my world.

Thoren says I’m his mate, that he’s waited for me for his entire life. And there’s no denying this pull between us. But I’m determined to figure out a way to get back home.

There’s just one problem, the bond is growing stronger every day. When he’s away, there’s a heaviness in my chest. And when he’s near, my body aches for him.

Leaving him may be harder than I originally thought.

my review

I Fell Through A Portal And Into A Gargoyles Arms Dana IsalyI have read one other book by this author, which was a dark romance that I did not like at all. I chose not to continue the series, even though I owned all of it. (That’s not an easy thing for me to do.) However, I decided to give her another try with something completely different. This is a largely plotless, fluffy fantasy romance. I thought it was sweet and entertaining. There’s not a lot to it. The title tells you all of it, really. But he is a giant cinnamon roll that falls first, and she has enough backbone not to feel limp in the circumstances. If you want to read something mildly spicy just for the feels, this one will fit the bill.

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Book Review: Sweet Abandon, by Sarah Urquhart

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I picked up a copy of Sarah Urquhart‘s Sweet Abandon as an Amazon freebie a few years back.

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Baker Bonnie Boone has had too many bikers dip their fingers in her butter cream. She’s done with them, but when a hot as hell biker rides into town, he slowly melts the single life she thought she wanted.

Easton Young, uncomfortable as a bear shifter in the city, hit the road in search of more of his own kind. His plans are delayed the moment he walks into Firebrook’s local bakery and smells his mate. Denying her will only cause them both pain.

She drops her guard, and he sees a home in her heart. But neither are willing to let go of their carefully laid plans, leaving their love in the dust, in sweet abandon.

my review

This was sweet, and I liked that he fell first and he was growly but not a controlling alpha-hole. However, I did find him insufferable for much of the book, thinking he could have his mate without having to actually give anything up while she was expected to accept whatever scraps he tossed her way. (Of course, he wasn’t thinking of it that way. But…) Meanwhile, she was obsessively holding on to a hurt and refusing to allow herself happiness in a manner that barely made sense and certainly showed no adult emotional intelligence. They did both eventually grow past it all, though.

The real problem for me was that the whole thing was just ridiculously contrived. All the tension and conflict in the book could have been solved with a single conversation, which made it a little hard to feel deeply invested. Plus, despite being book a prequel to a new series, the Firebrook Bears series, it is pretty obviously a spinoff of something else.

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