Dead Sexy Dragon (Dragon Heat #1) by Lolita Lopez

Synopsis:
The last thing dragon shifter Stig Wyvern needs is his dead friend’s kid sister showing up on his doorstep. He’s just minutes away from entering a mating phase. Sharing his isolated house with the young woman he’s desperately lusted after for quite some time is a recipe for disaster.

But Cora Cardenas has nowhere else to go. She’s in deep trouble with some really nasty people and Stig is the only one who can protect her. That he’s deliciously sexy and makes her tingle with the simplest of smiles is just a bonus.

Cora quickly realizes Stig is hiding something from her. To make matters worse, she’s plagued with breathtakingly naughty dreams starring a shadowed lover who bears a startling resemblance to her host. And just what the hell is going on down in the basement at night?

Stig needs to get Cora out of his house but his inner beast has other ideas. He’s found his mate and she’s not going anywhere...



Cora is on the run from a bad situation and the only place she can think to hide in is with her dead brother’s marine friend. How is she to know that said friend, Stig (sans the helmet), is about to go into a heat and be turned into a dragon against his will? Of course the two of them sharing a bathroom leads to sexy times, and because this is a novella it happens very quickly.


I’m sorry to say this didn’t work for me. Truly sorry, because my usual gripes are absent. There’s quite a bit world building with a long and complex history that promises to be expanded in the sequels. The main characters are pretty well sketched with dreams and fears of their own even if I had trouble believing an immortal being that keen on joining a war after another. Due to the length of it, the story is rushed but it remains logical and believable within its world’s rules.

No, this time it was the erotica part of the book that failed me. More accurately, the erotica vocabulary:

< highlight for spoiler>
core,
cum,
cunt,
folds,
mound,
pussy,
(honeyed) sex,
tummy
</spoiler>

…yeah, no. Because I couldn’t lean on the insta-lust crutch, I didn’t buy the insta-love angle either. I simply couldn’t enjoy roadrunner fast the romance. Too much of a stretch even for my active imagination.

It’s too bad, because had the smut adjectives and nouns been less repulsive to me, I’d have wanted to read more about the world Lopez has created.



I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Review: Shaedes of Gray (Shaede Assassin 01) by Amanda Bonilla

Book info:
Form: pdf, e-book
Genre: paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Target audience: adults

 Synopsis (from Goodreads):

"I'd learned the hard way that love is nothing more than the sharpest blade, and it can easily be turned against you. I refused to let anyone have that kind of power over me ever again."

Darian has lived alone for almost a century in the shadows of the night. Made and abandoned by her former love, Darian is the last of her kind—an immortal Shaede who can slip into darkness as easily as breathing. With no one else to rely on, she has taught herself how to survive, using her unique skills to become a deadly assassin.

Darian finds herself struggling to keep her employer, Tyler, at arm's length, especially since his seductive smile makes her want to break her rules about love. The work he offers is necessary to protect the innocent—and a welcome distraction. But when Darian's next mark turns out to be Xander Peck, King of the Shaede Nation, her whole worldview is thrown into question. Darian begins to wonder if she has taken on more than her conscience will allow, but a good assassin never leaves a job unfinished.

My impressions or rather...a list of sins with the appropriate quotes to illustrate my points better :

1.
"I wore my signature black—tight pants, low on my waist; long-sleeved black nylon turtleneck that clung to every curve of my body; black boots (of course); and, to top it off, a long black duster. I admit, the coat was a little over the top, but I love dramatics."

Dear Darian- are you an assassin or a fashionista ? Who cares what you wear to work? A tip – not me. Wardrobe descriptions are so boring, especially in fantasy action books, that they should be banned unless they actually contribute to the plot. Not your case, I presume.

2.
"God, he smelled good. Comforting, like fresh-baked cinnamon bread or something equally delicious and loaded with rich spices. His unique scent swirled around in my head, and I wanted nothing more than to lean into him, feel the weight of his arms around me as I breathed him in. But then my common sense gave me a swift kick in the ass."

Olfactory overload alert – honestly, Darian, I don’t need and I don’t want to know how you think Tyler smells. I wish your common sense kicked your ass much earlier – if a guy smells so much his personal grooming level must be abysmal.

3.
"Ty never overdid it in the clothing department. He was a jeans and T-shirt guy all the way, but he knew how to make the simple garments complement his lean, muscular body. Tyler’s not even a notch below Calvin Klein underwear-model physique, and has a tousled mop of goldand-bronze-streaked hair and strange hazel eyes—green with a brownish star surrounding the pupil. A garbage bag would’ve looked like an Armani suit on him."

No, not fashion again, please, I promise, I will be good from now on, I’ll tell you everything, just don’t torture me with fashion…by the way that’s the best characterization of Tyler you can get. He is like a paper cut, heavily photoshoped male model who can’t exist because the evolution wouldn’t be so dumb to allow him to – it would be a complete waste of oxygen.

4.
"He needed to forget about me and find himself a pretty human woman to grow old and die with. And then I’d be truly alone. Wouldn’t I? 
Rain pattered against the round toes of my thick-soled boots, and I watched the drops splatter like the tears I refused to shed."

There is nothing worse than an assassin talking fashion – unless you can find an emo assassin talking alternately fashion and self-pitying rubbish chapter after chapter. Darian, I am looking at you right now.

5.
"I looked like a Goth kid’s wet dream, sitting in my black sex-kitten outfit, sipping a rum and Coke, exuding little to no emotion on the outside while my insides writhed like angry vipers."

My first general remark: your ego, dear girl, needs some pruning asap or one day you will die under it, literally crushed by its weight. My second general remark: if you wear a black sex-kitten outfit to work then you are not an assassin, you are a prostitute. My third general remark: you seem to be having diarrhoea and you aren’t aware of it– my commiserations.

6.
"Even from across the apartment, his eyes held me captive. Melted caramel flecked with gold, possessing the bright glow that I knew mine had, though his were more brilliant. The smell of him permeated the air, filling my studio with a sweetness that would put a field of wildflowers to shame. His lips curled up at the corners, hinting at an arrogant smile."

Meet Xander Peck, an overripe hottie Darian failed to murder; another jerk who will invade and foul clean air around you like an unpleasant air freshener in a dirty car. Put on your gas mask, quick!

7.
"Abandoning my signature black, I was decked out in white from head to toe. My white-on-white striped blouse buttoned up to the swell of my breasts, with my white bra visible underneath. I’d tucked the shirt into a white pencil skirt that reached to my white satin heels and hugged my hips perfectly. Business attire, to an extent."

Business attire? With a visible bra and satin heels? Unless, once again, you mean THAT kind of business…with an additional wedding-themed kink.

8.
"Despite his outrage, Tyler knew I was no delicate flower. In fact, once he’d said that I could probably take on an entire company of Navy SEALs and kill them before they knew I was there. He was right, of course."

*rolleyes* And who is a shameless, stupid braggart again? Darian of course. Honestly if your main character says such things about herself you can't help despising her.

9.
"But I kept my standards high, refusing to take any job that involved an innocent. The men who paid me eventually met their ends. Once or twice at my hand. I’d worked for a Russian mob boss for years, and just like the others, his luck had run out. That’s when I met Tyler."

Who do you think you’re fooling, Darian? High standards, no innocents involved, and a Russian mob? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on. By the way who died and made you God to distinguish between innocents and guilty?

10.

All the sins have been taken from the first part only, mind you. Add to those: an insufferable love triangle, insta-lust, nonexistent female characters other than the heroine, a very awkward, 1st person limited narration which can be put to shame by many fanfic authors, woody dialogues, infodumps galore, a freakin’ katana and you get something I mistook for a novel and is, in fact, a collection of dumbest, most obnoxious cliches. 

Final verdict:

An unintelligent being with an overinflated opinion of herself gets beat up by anything not human, still never learns, and is annoyingly vulnerable to masculine good looks. And forget about the Bechdel test because who needs company of other women when there are GUYS around. Your life should completely revolve around guys even if you are that kick-ass assassin chick, right?

A DNF, nuff said.

Review: Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse 13) by Charlaine Harris

Genre: paranormal romance

Target audience: adults

Form: pdf, e-book

Synopsis:

Sookie is going to face  sharp, unexpected turns and twists of fate. Nothing new, right? Ok, perhaps nothing new for the faithful readers of the series but it is supposed to be new to her. You see, she will have to redefine her love life and her social status. She will have to face the music after the magic revival of Sam Merlotte, her former boss and her business partner. She will be pursued and harmed and hurt. She will experience the force of true friendship and the bitterness of an estrangement. She will find her true partner for life. She will be shot at and wrongly accused of murder. Will she survive? It’s the last part, officially anything can happen and yet…and yet… you don’t have to be a Sherlock Holmes to guess the rest. Because the rest is the silence (and I would love to add ‘the silence of the lambs’ but I suppose I would get you spooked so let’s leave that out, ok? Just an innocent remark in parentheses).

My impressions (with spoilers):

Writing a book is a strange business. Sometimes you think you get all the ingredients for a great story and you find yourself one character or one scene short for a complete, unparallel disaster. Sometimes you think the whole enterprise is just a silly prank and you are wrong again. Finishing a popular series is even a stranger business. You already know it’s been a success, you have your devout audience, plenty of people have nourished their own expectations concerning the story and now they want you to deliver. What to do? Fulfill the wishes of your most faithful fans (hey, they deserve it! They’ve voted with their money and made it happen!)? Follow stubbornly and proudly your own vision (providing you’d had one at all)? Listening to your editor, publisher and marketing gurus who are whispering in your ear some uncomfortable truths (‘hey, it’s the last chance to earn a bit more, most probably not to be repeated any time soon!’)? All of the above? Neither of the above?

I completely agree that finishing a series is more daunting a task than starting one. I do applaud Ms Harris that she never went back on her word (she’d promised she wouldn’t follow the example of Twilight and her Sookie would never become a vampiress). Still the last Sookie novel left me cold, miserable, shrugging and sad. As I predicted some time ago (and no, I wasn’t alone) Sookie ended up with Sam. Yes, it was a kind of disaster. I’m writing it without even a drop of malicious satisfaction.

Yes, I used to like that silly Sookie girl and her supernaturally exciting albeit completely small-scale life in the middle of nowhere (read: the southern rural America). Some of the installments were better, some were worse but in those better ones I found really good observations about the contemporary America and its inhabitants – their hopes and fears dressed up as supernatural creatures of different but mostly bloody sorts. Meanwhile the last part sounded banal and boring, from the beginning to the very end, as if it was written by somebody else who just gritted her teeth and ploughed through the plot to finish the blasted thing once and for good. Yes, the book consisted of roughly the same elements as the previous ones but somehow the whole magic was gone and my interest was never stirred, not even once.

Now the list of my woes. Sookie predicaments rang hollow. Her love life went into a nose-dive with Eric so clearly out of the picture most of the time (if I had to be honest it had gone into a nose-dive even one or two installments earlier but at that point you still could hope). I didn’t care whether the unimportant and completely superficial crime riddle concerning the death of a certain white trash slut called Arlene would be solved or not. I didn’t enjoy the cavalcade of different, half-forgotten characters from previous parts the authoress forced to parade through more than half of the book without any sense, reason or fun. The new child of Eric, an ashen blonde called Katrin the Slaughterer, was almost comically bland compared to other vampires who had been presented in the heyday of the series. The almost- final sex scene between Sookie and Sam left me bored stiff and yawning (seriously, I bet sex in elderly nursing homes can be more hot than that). Nothing made sense. Nothing was new or clever or funny. Nothing worked anymore.

Final verdict:

Yes, I have been warned not to read this one. Yes, I couldn’t stop myself, especially that a friend lent me the book so I didn’t have to buy it. Yes, I regret it ended how it ended. Yes, I wasted an hour or two of my life again. Flames to dust… Now I need a pick-me-up rather badly. In fact it should be added to every copy of this novel for free.

Review: The Ritual (Theft and Sorcery 01) by Erica Dakin

Book info: 

Form: pdf e-book 

Genre: paranormal romance, fantasy
Target audience: adults 

Synopsis:

It is a first person narration of Chiarin or Rin, a half-elf girl living in a world where cross-breeds are discriminated against, shunned and persecuted for what they are. She has a twin sister, Shaniel or Shani who is a sorceress. Magic is a rare gift but also a dangerous one, because coveted by elven aristocracy; once you get into their service they’ll never set you free. That’s why both girls have to hide and lead a hand-to-mouth existence.

One night Rin, a professional cutpurse, is robbed by another half-elf, a very handsome man called Zashter who has…an identical twin brother, Mior, and Mior happens to be…another sorcerer. Rin first avenges herself by causing the arrest of those two but soon her sister and her conscience make her regret that move so she breaks into the prison and set Zash and Mior free.

After carrying out her ambitious plan, all of a sudden, she offers to accompany those two complete strangers wherever they are going. Zash reluctantly agrees, apparently because he has a very dangerous and important mission to fulfill – obtaining  four powerful artifacts, one for every natural element, as required by his shadowy boss. He is a master thief, though; with the support of his brother’s magic he can manage without anybody’s help even the most ambitious endeavours. Being also very handsome, he can have a new lover in every town he visits. What does he really need both sisters for?

My impressions:

It is the first part of a paranormal romance series and I am not going to criticize it for that – it would be as stupid as complaining that lemons are yellow and sour. If you don’t feel like reading about pointy-eared hotties making out on every possible occasion don’t even look at the book, as simple as that. Still I am going to carp a bit because in my humble opinion it could have been a lot better.

I liked the idea – half-elves who live in a hostile world where they have only two possible career choices: either become slaves or criminals, sometimes both, but never independent adults with a normal life. Our characters chose what they chose and never looked back. Fine. Just why they had to be two pairs of identical twins with identical skills is beyond me. A bit of variety is always a nice thing but unfortunately variety is not this novel’s forte.

Then you have the world building which is so sketchy that almost borders a catastrophe. Rin more often than not focuses on her romantic feelings, rarely sparing some time for the surroundings or politics or anything at all. The easy way Zash agrees to take both sisters under his protection and provide some tutelage is fishy from the very start; however dear Rin remains in the dark for most of the novel, never even daring to confront her lover or ask him the simplest and most natural questions. She is so busy, kissing, stealing, dreaming and kissing again. It would be such a nice change to have an interesting, clever heroine who actually knows how to make use of those two gifts in practice, especially when confronted with a handsome stranger.

I don’t want to be overly cruel and dwell too long on obvious plot flaws: like the fact that a certain monastery, full of stupid, kinky monks and some browbeaten sex slaves, contains a well which water heals every disease and can bring you back to life; seriously, the author wants me to believe nobody has ever considered taking it over and enjoying an everlasting and extremely profitable trade, not to mention an instantaneous and full recovery? Really, nobody was interested enough to gather an army of professional soldiers and punish those hideous monks for their depravity, keeping in mind that the reward might be worth more than a kingdom plus you would get those delicious women to play with? Nobody? How very improbable…

Let me finish my musings in a positive way – I appreciate the fact that the book ended the way it did, without any of those ugly cliffhangers. Funnily enough it made me curious about the second part – curious enough to buy it when it is available and the mood strikes again.

Final verdict: 

Good idea, not really great execution. Don’t think too much while reading this book – the effects might be disastrous. However if you want something steamy and lowbrow easy to read, with elves, half-elves, magic and thieves, this novel might fit the bill. 

Series review: Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

First of all:
here you can find the titles of novels as listed on Goodreads, available in Black Dagger Brotherhood series. And much more. You might notice that the series enjoys overall a very high ranking - that's why I was lured into trying it. I skimmed just three books and surrendered to the inevitable - each one of these was for me a DNF of a kind. Why?

My impressions:

It is easy to recognize one of these series from the first book. The author introduces you to a group of available men and/or women – they might constitute a big, extended family or a unit of fighters/warriors or a pack of werewolves – relatively young, close-knit, highly trained and rather secretive. In this case it is a coven of male vampires called the Black Dagger Brotherhood led by Wrath with a mission of fighting ugly lessers. In every installment one of them is paired with an appropriate love interest a.k.a a worthy female, Wrath being the first victim…er…happy bride groom of the aforementioned pairing.

All the characters share several tell-tale traits – for example every single one of males is handsome and muscled (actually let me quote one of the novels to make my little review more colourful: ‘built like a brick shithouse’ and ‘hung like a Louisville Slugger’ was the actual description) but also in some way conflicted, with shadows in their past (in other words pop psych at its finest). At first it might seem an interesting idea but after two-three books you find you have to stifle a yawn or two, so similar to each other they all seem. Also every one of these ‘worthy females’ is invariably pretty, kind, curvaceous, young and honorable. Damn it, even intelligent. They might behave sometimes like a skunk but only with their ‘chosen one’ so it remains more or less acceptable.

Well, it is a world where you recognize your second half instantly and without any necessary hassle and once you fall in love, you stay in love no matter what. Vampires dress well in brand-name clothes and swear like your common–or-garden thug. They tattoo (or rather carve) the name of their beloved on their own backs. If they have sex (and there’s plenty of it) it is always and unvaryingly mind-blowing experience with multiple orgasms and such trifles. Of course, despite being kick-ass, as-hard-as-nails, tough-and-rough, leather-clad professionals every single one of them has that white fluffy bunny buried deep inside. Who can find the bunny? Who can make a big, muscled macho vampire snuggle and moan and lick your metaphorical shoes, all sappy and soft, while proposing on his knees or on all fours or on his back, with all limbs flailing about, his position completely depending on your mood and preferences? You guessed it – a worthy female, the one and only.

 If there are any problems in this vampire paradise you get Her Holiness Scribe Virgin - an entity who is neither a virgin (she has a vampire son and daughter!) nor a scribe but a deus-ex-machina solve-it-all fairy godmother of the scarier kind. Add to that blend a bit of family drama, bad childhood memories, feminist whiffs and some unpleasant torture – the parts of particular vampires’ past experiences – and you get in a nutshell what this series is about. Artificial as hell and sweet as glucose-fructose syrup. If you swaped these heroes and heroines with, say, My Little Ponies, nobody would notice.

 Rubik's cube  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is of course a lot of steamy scenes during which male parts and female parts are getting closely acquainted, no inhibitions. It is a paranormal romance, very close to paranormal erotica after all, right? Insta-lust and insta-attachment seem to be two virulent diseases plaguing these stories – as soon as a male or a female gets a whiff of their future mate they are in a constant hormone overdrive mode and you can be sure: in the end every Jim will get his Jane, no matter what obstacles are thrown their way and they will remain blissfully happy, like ‘a Rubik's Cube solved (another quote - isn't the writing style lovely?). The syrupy sweet ending is one of the features the readers of such novels are expecting, actually one of the most important reasons they  buy and devour those books with a notorious regularity of a sugar junkie.

There have been ten books published so far and there will be two more. I really can't help thinking that it speaks volumes about the state of the publishing business and not exactly kind words, mind you.
Junk food literature, nothing else. Well, if you need a nice piece of junk food from time to time who is to say you can’t have it? And who is to judge you? Not me.

Bon appétit or tuck in! In my case, however it was...

Review: Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

Book info:

Form: pdf, e-book
Genre: YA fantasy, angels and demons, paranormal romance
Target audience: YA

My review of the first part you can find here

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

What I liked:

Not much...the curse of the second book, eh? Firstly let me assure you that angels and demons/chimaeras are and act as just ordinary guys and gals in this series which was a kind of relief. If you keep it in mind all the time you'll be fine. I was also rather pleased that the author didn't forget about humans and Prague although there was less of it than in the first part. I also appreciate that Laini Taylor tried to show the ugliness of the war and politics.

Liraz and Hazael I found the most likeable characters. Their change of heart and reticence to kill the chimaera felt real in comparison to Akiva's fickle compassion towards Karou's kin.

What I didn't like:

The romance between Karou and Akiva made me yawning too many times. Let's face it, the author continues with a Romeo and Juliet cliche at practically every turn PLUS a comedy of errors, not my favourite plot device either.  Karou behaves like your average befuddled teenager - she  struggles and is shamed and digs deep to find her inner strength again. But watching her struggle is boring because it is also predictable. 

I thought Mik and Zuzana were pretty pointless characters. I don't even know why Zuzana had a POV, as she could add little to the story. I guess her romance with Mik was supposed to sweeten a bit the lack of hot scenes between Karou and her beloved but I didn't really care about either of them.

I was also surprised that one of secondary characers was named Festival. I swallowed Madrigal in the previous part because it was a less common noun but Festival, honestly? Can't you think of a more original, fresher name without so many ordinary connections?

Still my main carping and the thing that disturbed me the most during reading was the lack of intelligence among practically all characters. Karou is being deceived by the simplest trick on Earth and, although she now remembers her previous life and experience, she can't see through it, at least until the truth bangs her on her head. Akiva is an angel and a seasoned warrior, far older than Karou, but he behaves exactly as a teen boy would: he dithers and doubts his girl not seeing the obvious, he lets his superior to manipulate him into an assassination and then he has to bear very painful consequences. Honestly, has anybody out there heard about strategy and planning? 

The baddies are no good either. Thiago, the leader of the Demons, is crudely cunning but not intelligent enough to hide his 'scorched earth policy' guerrilla war from Karou or at least find a good excuse for it. Finally in the end happens something which looks like a big plot hole: (spoiler, highlight to read) another chimaera guy called Ziri takes the control over the body of dead Thiago, killed by Karou during a rape attempt, in order to hide the killing from other chimaeras and let Karou live. Excuse me? How exactly it could happen, without a resurectionist, a necklace, magic, and so on? How come we haven't been told about it before?

Final verdict:

I liked the first part far better. I fear in the last installment love will simply have to conquer all, especially the common sense, interesting narration and logic. Perhaps sweet but so boring...

Review: Kiss of Steel (London Steampunk 01) by Bec McMaster

Book info:
Form pdf format
Genre: paranormal romance, alternate history fantasy, steampunk-flavoured
Target audience: adults

Synopsis:

After the tragic death of his father Honoria Todd found herself in dire straits: impoverished, with two younger siblings to care for, one of them seriously ill, forced to move to a seedy quarter of London to save on her lodgings and forced to change her name because she had to hide from her father's aristocratic patron, Vickers. If she thought her major difficulties were over she was wrong. Soon enough Blade, a self-styled ruler of Whitechapel, asks her to pay him a visit. Honoria lives now on his home turf so either she will earn his protection or she'll sink spectacularly, dragging her sister and brother behind.

Blade is a rogue blue blood - a kind of civilised vampire but not sanctioned by the government. He is also known as the master of the rookeries—no one dares cross him. It's been said he faced down the Echelon's army single-handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood-craving he's been quicker, stronger, and almost immortal. What can Honoria offer to him? Her beauty? Her blood? Or maybe she can simply teach him how to read and speak like a gentleman?

Matters between these two get complicated every ten pages. Blade knows more about Honoria than the girl would like to divulge. Honoria lies to him because she distrusts blue bloods in general, having been treated horribly by some of them. Still their mutual attraction seems to be a prevalent factor - that and the diaries of Honoria's father with a secret every blue blood vampire would gladly kill for.

What I liked:

I liked the vampires and werewolves (here called verwulfen) and the whole premise with vampires being scheming aristocrats and politicians who keep ordinary humans as thralls to feed upon. Oridnary citizens have to pay taxes in blood; some of them are forced to work in Blood Factories. What a pity we couldn't visit one of them, though. The romance was also good and steamy - no complaints here. Whenever Honoria and Blade meet sparks are flying and of course they end up together.

What I didn't like:

First let me tell you that the name of the whole series, London Steampunk, is highly misleading. I could count steampunk elements of this novel using fingers of just my one hand. First: steam cabbies. They appear 5-6 times throughout the book never playing an important role in the narration. Second: a mechanical arm of one of Blade's ruffians, again never being something more than a prop. Third: Honoria's father unusual gun, also never described in more detail. Add to it some mechanical spiders Honoria's childhood nemesis, Leo, used to put into her bed. Steampunky? I'm afraid only superficially so. I am not impressed. I know steampunk is a fashionable genre but it demands more from a writer than just mentioning some machinery here or there.

What's more I must say I never bought Blade as a well-rounded character. Don't get me wrong, as a love interest of Honoria he is more than fine but as an evil overlord, controlling one of the nastiest London districts, he was out of place to say the least of it. He should be a ruthless, cunning, violence-prone bas***d, and he was portrayed as a Mother Theresa wannabie who carries razors and drinks blood. All his thralls love him because he treats them like a cat lover might treat newborn kittens. He's never hurt an innocent in his life (insert a guffaw or two here). All very fine but why actually his ennemies fear him? Because he kills them with kindness? In real life such a tame mobster would be overthrown in a second by one of his closest buddies.

Finally the cover art doesn't work for me either - not even one single moment. If it is supposed to portray Blade and Honoria then I regret to inform you that Blade's hair was light blond or golden even, not dark, and Honoria, being brought up as a lady, would never ever be caught outside in such a vulgar outfit, straight from a house of ill-repute.

Final verdict:

Overall the book was not bad for a debut but, as it was definitely more paranormal romance or alternate history fantasy than steampunk, I felt a bit cheated. I don't like being cheated. Oh well. I bought it cheap. ;p

Review: Come The Night (Vampire/Werewolf Trilogy #3) by Susan Krinard

Book info:
Form: paperback from my local library
Genre: paranormal romance, werewolves
Target audience: adults

Synopsis:

 

Gillian Delvaux, nee Maitland, a young widow with a 12-year-old son, belongs to a very exclusive pure blood British werewolf family. Noblesse oblige – she must marry an appropriate candidate even if it is the 20th century and normal people have something to say about it. She doesn’t. The problem is her father, sir Averil Maitland, still treats his children and household as if he was a medieval prince and them – his chattels. It concerns mainly Gillian but also to some extend her younger brother, Hugh. Marrying or in fact doing anything without their father’s consent is out of question. Sir Averil plans to organize a Convocation of all pure blood werewolves from Britain and abroad and he wants to choose Gillian a new husband (of course without consulting anybody, let alone his own daughter).

Still there was that Great War not so long ago (the novel is set in the Roaring Twenties) during which Gillian worked as a nurse in London and met a very nice young American soldier, Ross Kavanaugh. Ross was only ¼ of a werewolf but somehow it didn’t bother her. In spite of the fact her dad would disapprove (to put it mildly) she decided to have a child with him (and didn’t inform him about it – are you seeing a pattern?). Then she married promptly a Belgian werewolf who, very conveniently, went to war one week after his marriage and died. The boy, named Toby, has been raised at Snowfell, the manor his grandfather, and, being a bright boy, found out about his real father and decided to visit America and meet with Ross. All alone and without as much as by your leave of course. Like mother like son…

Meantime Ross Kavanaugh, a disgraced ex-police officer, is having a lot of free time as a down-at-heel unemployed without any hopes for a new career and hardly any money. What’s more the New York police force, his former buddies, are almost sure he has been corrupted by a mafia and has killed a woman. When young Toby shows up as a stow-away and declares he is his son it seems that it is just another stroke of bad luck, especially that his mother and uncle are close behind. Who needs a son when he hardly has two dollars to rub together? Who needs a former aristocratic lover who abandoned you once for no reason at all and haven’t contacted you ever since? Who needs more problems? Or maybe it is actually a chance to start anew?

 

What I liked:

 

First of all the plot is interesting and rather original as it tells not the ordinary a-boy-meets-a-girl-and-they-fall-in-love-but- there-is-complication story but something a bit more real and twisted. Both main characters are mature with their issues and responsibilities. Additionally Gillian must fight her father’s prejudice against ‘mongrels’ (so mixed blood werewolves) and humans – secretly she doesn’t share his rabid opinions but, being dependent on him and completely dominated, she hides it most of the time. I must admit I had hard time getting to like our Gillian – her love for Toby seemed to be her one single redeeming quality. True, she treated the servants well and, while on her own, she behaved like a normal sensible and almost human being but in the presence of her father she became a puppet repeating stupid things and hoping that this time she wouldn’t be punished that badly. Or if she did, nobody would find out.

When it comes to the relationship between Gillian and Ross it was indeed all barbs and thorns, almost no roses– but I wouldn’t expect less. Krinard explores the relationship between two people from two different worlds that fit the "opposites attract" adage. In fact till the very end you are not sure whether they will reunite at all, even for their son’s sake.

The main baddie, Ethan Warbrick was nicely constructed – I mean here the psychological basis of his undeniable insanity. It is always a pleasure to encounter a complicated baddie. I also liked the mentioning of Hitler and the fact that pure blood, snobby German werewolves wanted to support a human only because he shared their stupid ideas – the hypocrisy pure and simple!

 

What I didn’t like:

 

Reading this one I asked myself more than once: where are the Roaring Twenties? They even disappeared from the official title of this series (according to Goodreads; my library copy still features them). Maybe it was the right move because you get here just a description of an amusement park in Coney Island. I mean, there is no indication whatsoever what colourful era we are dealing with – no balls, no clubs, no jazz, nothing. It seems as if the author got bored of the original idea and decided to get rid of it. The characters are staying at Snowfell for most of the novel and Snowfell is like a medieval stronghold – completely isolated – but even when Gillian was with her son in New York she hardly ever went out. Pity.

Apart from that I must tell you that in my humble opinion Ross and Gillian didn't work well as a couple, even a quarreling one. Gillian was too rigid and cold and also maybe a tad too selfish. I found her a female character difficult to like or relate. I could understand her but, after the umpteen argument about past and a lot of icy stares and upturned noses, it made me wonder what the appeal was for Ross. She got her HEA in the end but it was almost a kind of surprise. She deserved to stay alone and think her priorities over.

Finally the fact that Ross, a complete underdog, penniless, hunted by the police, werewolves and lovely Ethan, managed to solve ALL mysteries and ALL his and his friends’ problems seemed a bit over the top. It reminded me of these silly Hollywood movies in which the protagonist saves single-handedly his girlfriend, his country and the whole planet. And then he has a beer and a burger with his best buddies.

 

Final verdict:

 

This novel was neither outstanding nor exceptionally bad – better than your average werewolf tale, I grant you, mainly because a dash of interesting psychology, but featuring several flaws which spoiled my reading a bit. Still I don’t regret borrowing it from the library.

BTW I also discussed this book with Tasha/Heidenkind - the result can be found here. Drop by and say hello! 

Review: Chasing Midnight (Roaring Twenties series 01) by Susan Krinard

Book info:

Book format: paperback, borrowed from my local library

Genre: historical paranormal romance

Target audience: older YA and adults

Synopsis:

Allegra Chase was turned into a vampire by her father’s close friend. It was her only chance to live to the full and have some fun. As a teenager she fell ill (something sounding like a progressive muscular dystrophy) and, abandoned by her posh friends, boyfriend and even her mother, she was left to wait for her death in an empty house with only one servant. Small wonder that, being given the second chance, she took it without regrets and never looked back. Small wonder she doesn’t want to swear allegiance to anybody – be it a vampire, a human or a werewolf, even if it means she is an oddball in New York, considered a traitor or a dissenter. Who cares when you can hound Greenwich Village with your bohemian friends in tow, having the time of your life?

Griffin Durant’s parents and siblings, a whole family of werewolves, were killed by a fire when he was just 14. He was able to save only his little sister, Gemma. Then he was drafted and the First World War left his psyche horribly scarred even though he survived. Now Griffin, a wealthy bachelor living in Long Island NY, wants nothing more than forgetting who and what he is. He steers clear of the local pack or, in fact, any supernatural creatures and tries to find his sister a nice, respectable human husband. However a teenage girl during Roaring Twenties is able to stir trouble as efficiently as any of her contemporary peers – Gemma clearly doesn’t share the narrow outlook of her conservative older brother. She doesn't see a point.

Allegra and Griffin meet and have to cooperate because their friends get into serious trouble. Soon enough it becomes obvious that the disappearance of Margot De Luca, a friend of Allegra and a daughter of a local mafia boss and Malcolm Owen, a poor playwright and her beloved, is a part of a larger scheme of a truly sinister character. What will take to discover who really stands behind it?

What I liked:

At first I thought it was just another vampire novel with a kick-ass heroine but set at the beginning of the 20^th century (that’s why the subtitle). After all vampire fiction is as common as muck nowadays. This one was a bit different, though.

Maybe it was because of the period. Roaring Twenties in the USA (but not only of course) were the era of jazz, prohibition and mafia, the time of flappers, a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, excessive makeup, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, drove automobiles (imagine that!) smoked, had casual sex and generally flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. Allegra is such a flapper even if for slightly different reasons – she finds it an excellent way to express her love for freedom. Yes, she frequents speakeasies ( establishments that illegally sells alcoholic beverages), has a bunch of bohemian human friends and seduces men but only in order to drink their blood. This novel proves that a vampiress doesn’t have to wear black leather, wield a catana (or another sharp weapon) to be considered a kick-ass heroine. The strength of Allegra lies in her psychological make-up – she can think and she uses her brain, she is altruistic up to a point, she knows what she wants and she doesn’t hesitate to get it. Overall the vampires and werewolves of New York fit that period perfectly, bootlegging, fighting among themselves for supremacy, not unlike in any good mafia, or dreaming about the ultimate supremacy.

Psychological veracity was another feature I really appreciated. Allegra and Griffin are dynamic characters. They fall in love almost at first sight but it takes time before they are able to overcome their own limitations and prejudices. Griffin is shocked by Allegra’s free manners and independence, not to mention the fact that werewolves despise vampires. Allegra cannot believe Griffin wants to suppress his natural instincts of a predator and expects the same from his sister. It takes them long to see that they are really very much alike, even longer to trust each other at all. They don’t jump to bed instantly, their relationship rings true and is a pleasure to follow – in my opinion it was a real highlight of the story. I liked little Gemma and her clumsy attempts to imitate Allegra as well, it was a good move to make her play a bigger role than that of a supporting damsel in distress.

The world building was ok – perhaps not very original or especially prominent but still interesting enough to add to the story.

What I didn’t like:

I admit the plot had its weaknesses, especially at the end. In my opinion everything is resolved far too slickly during one bloody showdown; then main leads and their friends get their orange blossom- scented HEA, bad people kill each other, summertime and the livin’ is easy…at least in Long Island.

I was especially surprised when the elders of the pack, who had an excellent opportunity to fleece poor Griffin, willingly reduced their claim by half because…they feared too much money might have a degenerative effect on the werewolves. Excuse me? You are a bunch of brutal mafiosos and all of a sudden there are no greedy people among you? Have you had an epiphany of a sort? It would be far better if Griffin, a rich, clever businessman after all, found a legal loophole or drove a really hard bargain and snatched a part of his money back. But he, poor puppy, was too busy being in love or saving his beloved Allegra and the pack had to take pity on him…a bit too good to be true, don’t you think? Especially that he and the pack were hardly on friendly terms…

That's how Allegra might
look like...indomitable!

I am also not a fan of the cover art. Seriously, the book is about Roaring Twenties, such a colourful period, and instead of flappers dancing charleston or mafia boys shooting each other they put just a blue face with amber eyes and a were in the background...I would never pick it up just because of the cover. Look how many nice, period-related pics I was able to find in a matter of minutes! I think each of them would be better than the original cover!

Final verdict:

It was a really nice surprise – I liked this book better than I thought I would. It was far more intelligent than your ordinary vampires-and-werewolves story and the setting won me over. I recommend it to people who like their  paranormal romance with  historical flavour, some nice backstory and a HEA guaranteed! BTW there are two more books of this series but it seems each of them features a different set of characters so I suppose you can easily read them as stand-alones. I am definitely going to try at least one more!

Review: Tempest Rising (Jane True 01) by Nicole Peeler

Book info:

Form: pdf format
Genre: paranormal romance
Target audience: adults

A quote that made me laugh:

“She liked a very particular kind of plot: the sort where the pirate kidnaps some virgin damsel, rapes her into loving him, and then dispatches lots of seamen while she polishes his cutlass. Or where the Highland clan leader kidnaps some virginal English Rose, rapes her into loving him, and then kills entire armies of Sassenachs while she stuffs his haggis. Or where the Native American warrior kidnaps a virginal white settler, rapes her into loving him, and then kills a bunch of colonists while she whets his tomahawk. I hated to get Freudian on Linda, but her reading patterns suggested some interesting insights into why she was such a complete bitch.” 

 Synopsis: 

 Once upon a time there was a girl called Jane True. She was slightly different than other girls her age. Or simply different than any other girl, period. She loved to swim. In fact she had to swim in the ocean every single day, even in winter, no matter how cold the water was - it made her happy. She lived with her father in a small town in rural America and she was very often alone because people thought she was as weird as her mom who appearead one night mysteriously during a storm and then disappeared when Jane was six. One day Jane's boyfriend, Jason, died in an ocean whirlpool; allegedly he wanted to rescue Jane (he didn't know she needn't any rescuing) and drowned instead.

After that sad incident people started blaming Jane for everything and shunning her for good. Then somebody else died in the same place (the whirlpool) and Jane found his body. That’s why a certain vampire investigator called Ryu entered Jane’s life for good. Or for bad. Many other supernatural beings followed his suit. Finally Jane felt accepted and was surrounded but equally weird company; she found out who and what she was. Will she be more happy now?

 What I liked: 

 I wanted to like so many things here and I managed to like just a few. I suppose I expected something different. Ok, let me count the good points of this novel.

 At first Jane seemed really a sweet girl, although a bit brainless. A certain sea horse seemed to be a nice idea of a pet – I would love to have one in an aquarium! Anyan, one of male secondary characters, seemed to be a nice doggy. I liked Nell the garden gnome. Certain Nagas weren't a completely bad idea. Ryu…no, I think I’ve had enough of handsome, cheeky, overly cocky vampires. The book was overall very readable even though its content was rather shallow – it took me just one evening and several hours in the morning to finish it. There were some funny scenes and descriptions (see the quote above). Here, that’s it.

The cover fits the story perfectly: adult - non adult. The girl is naked but she has the face of a porcelain doll and as much personality as a toy.

 What I didn’t like:

 As you might guess I had huge issues with the main female lead. Really Mount Everest huge. I didn't expect I would have to change into a mountaineer while reading light prose just for fun.

First our sweet Jane, a woman supposedly approaching thirty years of age, most of the time behaves like a whinny teenager without one single ACTIVE brain cell under her mop of dark hair . Let’s ponder over this: her mom disappeared when she was six. Jane knew there was something strange concerning the whole event, something connected to the ocean, a thunderstorm and water. Now Jane, after some time spent in a college mind you, is working in a bookshop. Believe it or not but she never ever tries to find on her own who her mother was and what might have caused her sudden disappearance. Why didn’t she, for heavens’ sake, think of searching the Internet or perusing/purchasing any dictionary of magical creatures, myths and legends? Not curious enough? Loss of literacy? No computer skills? Too busy being miserable? Too busy shelving all this romantic crap they sell at Read It and Weep (what a name for a book shop ‘rolleye’)? Waiting for a miracle to happen?

 Then she repeatedly claims all the people living in her little town hate her. Seriously hate. Unfortunately her credibility is damaged a bit when the reader finds out that in fact she has not only a loving father but also several friends: her two lesbian employers, the owners of Pig Sty, the only local bar, a certain elderly lady…you start wonder: why are you complaining Jane? Just because SOME people hate your guts? Well, that’s life, my dear! It can happen to even the most popular girl or boy everywhere!

 Then our sweet Jane engages herself romantically with a vampire she’s just met. Or rather throws herself at him. Her reasons? Well, since the death of her boyfriend, Jason, she’s been so lonely and her bed so cold (translation: Ryu looked good, she wanted to have sex rather badly and there was no better alternative around). Correct me if I am mistaken but an adult woman while dealing with a complete supernatural stranger should have used her brain, not her hormones. Perhaps Jane is transsexual and her brain just goes south in times of crisis. Anyway I think she mixes the notion of the right body mass index with the right personality. Small wonder soon enough she finds out  that she might have liked another guy (Anyan) a tad better. Here I hit another snag. A romantic threesome seemed to rise its ugly head very early on. Ryu is a decent guy for a vampire but of course Anyan is not bad either – who to choose? As Jane already went to bed with Ryu I am rather sure she will decide to switch her allegiance in the next installments. I am not curious enough to check whether I am right.

 Final verdict: 

 One more such position and I will have to read a scientific paper or solve some maths problems to return to sanity. Seriously.

Review: Lothaire by Kresley Cole

Book info:

Form: pdf e-book
Genre paranormal romance
Target audience: adults

 Warning:

 It is a part of hugely popular series which I read, despite being repeatedly told not to, completely out of order (it is, I believe, the book number 12). Due to that fact my review might be skewed and rather unjust although still fully reflecting my personal opinion. 

 Synopsis:

 One old, bad, murderous vampire called Lothaire the Ennemy of Old looks for his bride – he needs her badly because she only can ‘blood’ him, in other words make him function again. Without a bride any vampire is ‘frozen’ – no hearbeat, no sex, no fun. Ok, he can have fun providing he loves carnage…but after several centuries the effects of even the best carnage can wear off.

 Finally Lothaire finds his bride. Her name is Ellie and she is a hillbilly gal from Appalachians, born and raised in a little dingy trailer among a family of miners. What cheer. Small wonder he believes for half of the story that his real bride must be somebody else - like a demonic goddess hiding in Ellie’s luscious body, reemerging from time to time to demand clothes, jewels, clothes, a nice carnage, shoes, more clothes, spa treatment, blood, clothes, sacrifices, jewels, clothes…you get the drift. Poor undereducated Ellie who did a time in prison due to that goddess’s bloodthirsty habits, has just one hidden weapon, one advantage and one chance: sex. Will it be enough? Who will Lothaire appreciate more and for what reason? Will Ellie get rid of her demonic parasite who is hell-bent on destroying her soul? 

What I liked: 

 Despite the snark that somehow sneaked (or snuck) into my synopsis at an early stage this book had some advantages. Firstly and foremostly it had a sense of humour. Clashing together the worlds of Ellie and Lothaire provided a lot of comic relief. I admit I sometimes laughed despite myself – not a bad thing in my current depressive mood. Lothaire is pretty much all that he was billed to be: snarky, crazy, hilarious, and completely out of his league when having to deal with Ellie.

 What’s more the book mentioned some great and profound issues. It showed that you must be really careful what you wish for. It proved that going to bed with somebody is not the same as falling in love with him/her even if sex was good. It argued that greed is bad as it might make you as blind as a bat and happiness is worth every sacrifice, even if it means hurting your own ego. It downplayed the vengeance and praised family values. Too bad that, in my humble opinion, all of these truths were hidden in a very cheesy mush of a plot.

 What I didn’t like: 

 Hmm…let me think. In order to enjoy this one I would have to be logically impaired. Seriously. Although I am not a great philosopher, just a simple working woman, I sometimes cannot switch off thinking while reading. When I am handed a wrong book…woe is me.

 Let’s start with the first chapter. Here we are introduced to Ivana the Bold, the proud and beautiful vampire mother of young Lothaire. This woman, in a fit of righteous rage, defies publicly the king of Horda, a very powerful vampire, her ex-lover and the father of her child under whose roof she lives; as a result she is thrown with her son out of the castle. The conditions outside are brutal – think winter in Siberia. What’s more the happy daddy murders his boy’s favourite puppy as a good-bye gift in order to get his message across. You. Are. Not. Wanted. Here. Eff. Off. All good and well, sadistic vampire fathers happen, but in the same chapter we are told that a) Ivana comes from the royal line of the Daci, a species of vampires who are very clever, cunning and extremely wise creatures b) she cares about her son more than about her own life. Well, riddle me this: how come a mother and a very clever creature who schemes as she breathes could have endangered the well-being of her only offspring just to have a good, cat-fight with her ex-lover over a human woman, allegedly lesser than animals? Her brain went on holiday?

 Then the same woman finds herself trapped and surrounded by human peasants. Her father (one selfish swine in the form of the Daci king) is near but he doesn’t come to rescue her in order not to endanger the secret location of his hidden kingdom. Ivana burries her sonny in a snow mould breaking and blooding her nails (awww) and then she exposes herself, being captured, gang-raped and burned to a cinder. Wait a moment…she was supposed to be a vampire, right? A male vampire can lift a whole train without breaking out into a sweat. As a female she might be weaker so let her lift just one measly wagon. Still she is far stronger than even a bunch of humans. Why couldn’t she defend herself? What was wrong? A momentary lapse of her abilities due to stress?

 I could continue quoting similar scenes and making my review obnoxiously long, repetitive and dull but I will spare you, my dear reader. Just one more thing: rarely did I read a book in which there were so many those horrible, truly horrible Russian swear words included. I grant it, the author got them perfectly right, the transcription and all. Perhaps if you don’t know Russian you might treat them just like innocuous local flavour as the main character is half Russian or something. Let me tell you, though, that I winced every single time I met them in the text. They are…well…I think I’ve written ‘horrible’ too many times in this paragraph so let me make use of my lovely Penguin Thesaurus. Dreadful. Appalling. Abominable. Detestable. Utterly Obscene. Here you go. If my poor mum heard me saying them she would smack me and tell me to wash my mouth with soap for fifteen minutes.

 Final verdict: 

 I know Kresley Cole is one beautiful woman who has many fans out there. She’s written many novels, got them published and people have been reading them – it is a huge achievement. I do not intend to make those people angry or insult their tastes. Some books are the right thing for you, some are not. This was not my cup of tea.

Review: Dark is the Night (Dark Justice) by Brindle Chase

Genre: Paranormal erotic romance

Pages: Ebook, 173

Published: June 2011

Synopsis (most of it from Goodreads but I tried to be creative):

Katherine Wells is Cleveland's top homicide detective. She's hot on the trail of the so-called ‘Antoinette killer’, a serial murderer dubbed into that moniker because he leaves the string of burnt and beheaded bodies behind. New victims keep turning up all the time. While searching for clues, Katherine encounters Alexander – they meet in a pub where the last couple of victims had been seen the night of their murder. Alexander’s intoxicating old world persona captivates her and she suddenly finds herself head over heels in love. It is a rather torrid love affair - the passion is so overwhelming that her sense of law falls into blissful chaos.

As an elder vampire, Alexander lives alone and struggles for anonymity in the modern world. Killing isn't personal; it's to prevent the victims from becoming your own undead rivals on a limited area. What’s more, his kind can't be discovered. With Katherine's investigation getting too close to the truth, the other vampires demand he eliminates Detective Wells. Katherine discovers Alexander's supernatural secret and he learns Katherine's the detective he must silence. Well, he's everything she ever wanted and everything she stood against; she is the love of his life. Torn between their feelings and the law she's sworn to uphold, they must make difficult choices against time, the police and the other vampires.

What I liked:

An erotic romance....right...it was definitely a position outside my comfort zone but I've read a lovely review of Lis and decided to give the book a try. As curious as a cat, you know. If I wanted to be nasty (completely out of my character of course) I would say this book is a kind of “Twilight” for adults. By and large we are dealing here with a similar premise: a very handsome vampire predator all of a sudden finds his true love (or soul mate or whatever you call it) in a shape of a mortal woman and she is only too eager to join him but…he hesitates. However, that comparison would be rather unkind because this novel was simply darker and better. Alexander is one old vamp who could break such a whimpering idiot as Edward in two and then floss his teeth with all those sparkles left on the floor. Already the opening scene shows him hunting and killing two people; we know at once it is not a nice, goody-goody bloodsucking ‘vegetarian’ killing off the last wildlife specimens and being proud of it. His detachment is kind of scary and his reasoning behind the kills – chillingly flawless.

I also rather liked Catherine –she is a smart, confident and successful woman; she works in a male dominated profession but knows how to deal with her colleagues and criminals as well. When she meets Alexander their passion is explosive and all of a sudden nothing else matters (Metallica anyone?), not even the moral standards or Katherine's job - after all, you can find another position but what are your chances of meeting another love of your life any time soon? I still appreciated the fact that, despite being a bit mentally challenged every now and then (or, to put it boldly, falling into a mating haze as soon as Alexander is in the proximity) she was completely aware that her moral structure is breaking down like thin ice beneath a careless skater She mentions it several times and here you have one quote:

"And then it hit me again. I was standing there naked with a gorgeous but homicidal vampire, plotting to cover up his crimes. My crimes. We’re not talking about misdemeanors here, these were hard core felonies. Murder, tampering with federal evidence and hacking the FBI. Jesus Christ what had become of my life that it all made sense, perfect sense?"

I appreciated also the fact that Katherine, like any intelligent woman, guessed who and what Alexander is just after one display of his superhuman strength and agility; afterwards she wasn't shy to ask and he had enough reason to tell her the truth. I am sick and tired of characters, be them male or female, who are described as intelligent and then behave like complete morons - e.g. it takes them almost half of a book to solve a "mystery" the average reader is able to work out after one page.

What’s more? It is a first person narration as we are presented both sides of the story (Alexander’s and Katherine’s) simultaneously. It is not my favourite type of narration but it didn’t bother me here.

Finally it did make for a highly erotic read. It is basically one of these novels which might help you reduce your carbon footprint significantly – take it to your bathroom, turn cold water on, start reading and all of a sudden your shower is hot and all the room- steamy!


What I didn’t like:

If you cook you know how important it is to be careful with the right dosage of sugar. Too much and your dish is ruined; without it, though, it would be bland. The excess of sugar is also my main complaint when it comes to erotica books – too many sex scenes, obscuring the plot or sometimes even substituting it entirely (the last case makes a book DNF instantly, I hate plotless books) are really not my piece of cake. Do not look for a lot of complex world build up or psychologically viable background because more often than not you will be disappointed.

Accordingly I must admit I would like this novel far better if there were more psychology and action (outside bed that is). It wasn’t bad but it could have been better. I suppose it’s, by and large, a matter of your reading preferences. After all it would be stupid to buy a hairdryer and then criticize it for not having all the functions of your mobile phone... I don't know why but somehow this title made me very domestically inclined. ;-).

The cover is misleading and rather bland. I think the character of this book is not reflected in it. I also was able to find some grammar mistakes - the editor could have been a tad more thorough.

Final verdict:

If  you like your paranormal romance very steamy you will enjoy this one – it was an entertaining read although a bit dark and bloody. Definitely not “Twilight” anyway!

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Book form: e-book, mobi format

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 27, 2011)L

Language: English

Target group: older YA  (like 16+) and adults who like the genres
Genre: gothic urban fantasy, paranormal romance

Synopsis:

Meet Karou, a reclusive seventeen-year old art student who lives in Prague. She is a girl with incredible blue hair and a collection of strange tattoos, including one on each wrist (reading "True" and "Story") and open eyes (hamsas) in the centre of each palm. She draws fantastical creatures called chimaeras, made up of mish-mash body parts taken from different animals. She tells equally fantastic stories about them with a cynical grin and people think she just has colourful imagination like every artist. The problem is that these stories are true and she really leads a double life – something not always easy to combine, especially if you are a school- attending teenager and you'd rather hang out with your friends doing stuff... 

Karou lives on the fringes of two words, never sure where she really belongs and who or what she is. Her chimaera family is hardly willing to reveal any secrets and more and more frequently her foster father, called Brimstone, sends her out on strange and dangerous missions around the globe to buy teeth of different creatures, human teeth among them, in underworld black markets. Karou brings them back to his secretive magical workshop but she is never told what he needs them for and why so many are needed at all. She becomes sick and tired of these missions and secrecy.


When scorched black handprints starts appearing on doors to different magical portals all over the world, rumors start flying of angel sightings. The acpocalypse seems to be drawing near. But it's not until Karou comes face-to-face with one of these angels, a seraph warrior to boot, in a back alley in Marrakesh that she realizes what it really means to her.  It seems the apocalypse will be something very personal. The angel, treating her as an enemy at first, tries to kill her but then, unexpectedly, he decides against it. It seems that he recognized her and Karou is drawn to him as if they were meant to be together and she has been looking for him all along. Is he really the one? 

What I liked:

The way the book starts. It is a paranormal romance but it starts where usually such novels never dare to thread – Karou rejects, like for the umpteen time, a clumsy attempt to kiss and make up, made by a boy called Kazimir who is a devastatingly handsome young actor and a selfish orifice in one (quite a mish-mash, don't you think?)- as soon as he took Karou’s virginity he boasted of it to all Prague and the immediate vicinity in minute detail; he also started cheating on her with one of their mutual friends in no time at all. Now he wants Karou back because... she can help him earn more money. Isn't he a sweetie? Such a piece of normality in an YA book I always like and appreciate. The way Karou treated the said orifice boy (ok: an asshole, here you go) was also great – her feelings were hurt but she still showed a great sense of humour and a lot of integrity. Let’s face it, integrity is something most contemporary teens seem never heard of so it was a fantastic lesson delivered without moralizing. Well done!

The setting. Prague is a magical city and it was obvious the author has felt that charm as well. The fact that this book’s narration takes place mostly there I found really enticing and I must mention we get a few nice descriptions of different streets and places. What a pity we never hear Zuzana or Karou actually speak Czech.

As I’ve already mentioning the setting…the narration pace is not bad either! Laini Taylor weaves words together beautifully and she crafts the plot so that you are completely pulled into her world, captivated and forced to read on. You simply devour her creations and her unique fantasy Prague. I liked demons a.k.a. chimeras the best.

The sense of humour. You got one sample in my Tuesday Teaser not so long ago. It is always easier to make me like a book when one or several of characters are cynically sweet. Here the dialogues between Karou and her friend Zuzana were my favourite scenes. That and the little creature called Kishmish – I simply adore the name! If you don’t know any Slavonic language you might wonder why – here is the explanation. I use this word from time to time if I want to describe something that doesn’t resemble really anything at all. Kishmish, as its name indicates, is a mixture of different animals, in this case a bat and a crow or a raven.  A great idea for a name of a small demonic entity!

Finally...the wishes. You know the saying - be careful what you wish for because sometimes you can get it. It is a recurrent theme in this book as well - emphasizing the fact that plenty of people don't think about their wishes at all despite the fact that they should do it for their own good.  Brimstone pays for the teeth he buys with wishes currency in the form of beads or metal discs; some of these wishes are innocuous - they can do little more than make another person sneeze or itch; the others can be so enormous that the rippling consequences are impossible to predict. The whole premise brings new meaning to the saying, quoted above. I like new meanings so I enjoyed it very much. I hope that narrative theme will be continued.

What I didn’t like:

 Well…angels. As simple as that. No surprises, I know - more often than not I have issues with them. In this novel angels are not only divided into males and females (the same is true for demons) and I somehow always find such a division deeply wrong, but they also come as heavily muscled, incredibly handsome/beautiful beings which, nevertheless, have to use a bathroom (gasp!) and shave (a double gasp!) Of course I am thinking about the males but I suppose she-angels shave as well, maybe just different body parts; anyway I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. Well, would it actually hurt if these angels turned into humans? Ok, I might have survived angels and their shaving issues if not for another, bigger snag. Enter Akiva, the bane of the book!

Akiva the seraph warrior and the main squeeze of our sweet Karou is too handsome and too schematic for his own good. Almost no sense of humour, just a lot of attitude, soldier training and two big wings which can set a house on fire. No fun. To tell you the truth while I was truly engrossed in the first half of this book, by the time Akiva was introduced and the story began describing his love with Madrigal (a demon girlfriend from his past, I say no more because it is a major spoiler) I had slowly begun to lose interest. I simply knew what would happen next as if a malevolent fallen angel whispered it in my ear. Unfortunately I was right every single time. No good - omniscience is bad for your morale.


Then the pinkish romantic thread hit me like a ton of rose petals (always nicer than a ton of bricks but equally heavy and a bit stifling after a while) - Romeo and Julliet, the star-crossed lovers and their tragic story haunted me all over again throughout the second part plus some reincarnation as condiment and an eternal battle between…er…two evils…well…anyway these were the most silly parts in otherwise quite original YA book. I can clearly see the direction in which the author is going and so I am half in half out for the next installment that, I am sure, will be published in the near future. I fear it might ruin the initial premise for me. It would be such a pity. What's more, we might not return to Prague any time soon although I do hope we will. We’ll see.

Final verdict:

Not bad start for an YA romantic book but...I have a feeling it might get worse. A lot worse. I do hope I am wrong. Still, before I get the second installment I will have to read some reliable reviews.