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| 1250835453
| 9781250835451
| 1250835453
| 4.26
| 175
| unknown
| Mar 18, 2025
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liked it
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2.7 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review “Things are not always as they seem 2.7 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review “Things are not always as they seem, Piers. Remember that. A very little poison can do a world of good. It’s all about how you apply it.” The Bane Witch was the story of a woman growing into her powers and learning to use them for the greater good. When Piers was little, she remembers her mother's fear when there was some incident with a man who died. Taken to doctors over and over until they diagnosis her with the eating disorder Pica, she feels compelled to eat poisonous plants, specifically pokeweed, Piers is then drugged to the point of not feeling anything to try and control the pica. When her stepfather, who she never liked, dies and then her mother commits suicide, she's all alone, except for a vague memory of a great-aunt who came to visit them once, before her mother chased her away. Determined to make a life on her own, she becomes an interior designer and marries a man named Henry. In little, almost unnoticeable ways, Henry begins to control her, then comes the violence. Off medication now, Piers' senses are showing her that Henry will not only kill her but other women in the future. Thinking the only solution is to fake her own death, she does just that and takes off to find the mysterious great-aunt. She smiles in the soft light. “We don’t fear men in this house,” she tells me. “Men fear us.” This story, pretty non-stop, discusses and shows violence against women and girls. Told, mostly from Piers' pov, there's her thinking about and recounting the violence Henry has committed against her (physical and sexual), her fighting against an attempted rape, thoughts and scenes from a serial killer, and stories recounted to her from the venery (a coven of familial witches) about why they killed their marks. So while this story is about a group of women who have magical powers to use their “allure” to draw abusive men to them and then use their poison eating magic abilities to kill them, the author sure leaned into recounting, describing, and go over and over what evil acts these men commit. This is probably a mileage will vary, and while I understand fictionally serving the story, the tone and way these awful acts kept getting descriptively written out, over and over, started to give me the feeling of desensitized true crime and faintly, horror movie torture porn creeping in. It was a lot for this genre of story and I wish we could have focused more on the victims or venery members. The hunt is beginning, and my prey is out there, hunting me in return. Some of this was Gone Girl-ish with Piers faking her suicide and we get a pov from one of the detectives that is working her, initially, missing persons case. It was brilliant how Piers planned everything out and getting to see the detective work through the clues. The other half is Piers learning about being a bane witch. Her great-aunt Myrtle works to train her after the venery of thirteen females, all related to Piers, mostly want to kill her off because they don't trust she won't get them exposed somehow, but with the matriarch behind her, Piers gets six weeks to prove she can successfully become one of them. Her magic has picked a serial killer that has been operating in the area and there's some thriller mystery as the two circle each other. There's a little romance thread with the sheriff and Piers, and while we get some emotional background on the sheriff, he's not completely a flushed out character. They spend some time together, have two quick kissing to door slammed bedroom scenes, and then it's “I love you” time that I didn't really feel. “[...] You either live as a bane witch, or you die as one. There is no in-between.” This had a tendency to meander and rehash enough that I do think the pace suffered at times, Piers could get ad nauseam back and forth over her bane witch powers, accepting and using them. The ending gave us final clashes and Piers coming into her own, along with a death that was brushed away pretty quick taking away it's emotional impact. The repeated bringing up and descriptive violence against women and girls wasn't a good feeling experience for me though, it's always tougher for me in fiction to strike that right chord, and it caused me to miss some celebrating in what the bane witches were doing. However, this did have a solid ending of where Piers was going to go in life and I liked that ending for her. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 12, 2024
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Oct 12, 2024
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Aug 22, 2024
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Paperback
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| 0062847678
| 9780062847676
| B075QC3G2N
| 3.81
| 420
| Jun 19, 2018
| Jun 19, 2018
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it was ok
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I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Shiloh is a U. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Shiloh is a U.S. Marshall in the Paranormal Investigation Unit. Her have to be available at all hours job makes relationships difficult, to say the least. However, her current boyfriend Vincent has her wondering if maybe more could be on the horizon, until a Vampire decides to take over a trailer park. It is all on Shiloh as her boss goes missing, black magic is creeping around, and enemies and allies get switched around. First in a new Urban Fantasy series, Stray Magic doesn't mess around in dropping you into the world, so much so, I felt a bit lost and overwhelmed in the beginning. This is the first in the series but I couldn't help feeling I was missing some background in regards to character relationships. There are some info dumps for the world building but with references to super computers and advanced technology alongside a video rental store and flip phones, it was hard to set the story in a time and place. The acknowledgment of some supernatural and paranormal beings, being known to the world, is just that, a brief acknowledgement. I would have liked a more thorough explanation of the world; this feeling was tied into feeling like this wasn't the start of the series. Told in first person from our heroine Shiloh's point-of-view, she is our leader through the story. She is half djinn half human with abilities to grant three wishes and has Quarrel pheromones that are hard for her to control. She is tough, snarky, and fun to follow along with but it was hard to feel her emotional connection to the other characters, thus, making secondary characters feel vaguer. This story is basically Shiloh trying to solve a mystery with supernatural beings and seemingly involved in, not a love triangle, but love quad. Shiloh has her boyfriend Vincent, who, she keeps saying, she wants more with, the vampire Tennyson who she spends the most time with and while it seems there may be more on his side, there are leanings from her, and her co-worker and ex, Jaxon. What we get from her thoughts about Jaxon are mostly, her observations about how hot he looks, how pretty his eyes are, and remembering how much she liked him in the bedroom; it doesn't feel deep. There seems to be or was a deeper relationship between them but we never see it and I never felt it. The mystery/thriller angle of investigating who is behind the necromancy and black magic was fun to follow along with but we barely got to know the villain and the wrap-up of that part was rushed. There are some shocking twists along the way but some felt unsupported making the plot threads feel wild and loosely thrown about. Shiloh was a solid character but emotional connections to secondary characters helping us get to know them and create a setting and world was lacking. There was an outline of the supernatural world but random components (Shiloh's quarrel pheromones, Crux sexual transport) were thrown out there and never really integrated with the story and characters. There are loose ends at the end of the story with part of the mystery not solved and the quad love angle getting a twist. If looking for a female lead urban fantasy with supernatural beings running amok, this would fit the bill, just be prepared for this to feel more like a dry first reading and hope for emotional connections/understandings/payoffs to come in the second. Merged review: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Shiloh is a U.S. Marshall in the Paranormal Investigation Unit. Her have to be available at all hours job makes relationships difficult, to say the least. However, her current boyfriend Vincent has her wondering if maybe more could be on the horizon, until a Vampire decides to take over a trailer park. It is all on Shiloh as her boss goes missing, black magic is creeping around, and enemies and allies get switched around. First in a new Urban Fantasy series, Stray Magic doesn't mess around in dropping you into the world, so much so, I felt a bit lost and overwhelmed in the beginning. This is the first in the series but I couldn't help feeling I was missing some background in regards to character relationships. There are some info dumps for the world building but with references to super computers and advanced technology alongside a video rental store and flip phones, it was hard to set the story in a time and place. The acknowledgment of some supernatural and paranormal beings, being known to the world, is just that, a brief acknowledgement. I would have liked a more thorough explanation of the world; this feeling was tied into feeling like this wasn't the start of the series. Told in first person from our heroine Shiloh's point-of-view, she is our leader through the story. She is half djinn half human with abilities to grant three wishes and has Quarrel pheromones that are hard for her to control. She is tough, snarky, and fun to follow along with but it was hard to feel her emotional connection to the other characters, thus, making secondary characters feel vaguer. This story is basically Shiloh trying to solve a mystery with supernatural beings and seemingly involved in, not a love triangle, but love quad. Shiloh has her boyfriend Vincent, who, she keeps saying, she wants more with, the vampire Tennyson who she spends the most time with and while it seems there may be more on his side, there are leanings from her, and her co-worker and ex, Jaxon. What we get from her thoughts about Jaxon are mostly, her observations about how hot he looks, how pretty his eyes are, and remembering how much she liked him in the bedroom; it doesn't feel deep. There seems to be or was a deeper relationship between them but we never see it and I never felt it. The mystery/thriller angle of investigating who is behind the necromancy and black magic was fun to follow along with but we barely got to know the villain and the wrap-up of that part was rushed. There are some shocking twists along the way but some felt unsupported making the plot threads feel wild and loosely thrown about. Shiloh was a solid character but emotional connections to secondary characters helping us get to know them and create a setting and world was lacking. There was an outline of the supernatural world but random components (Shiloh's quarrel pheromones, Crux sexual transport) were thrown out there and never really integrated with the story and characters. There are loose ends at the end of the story with part of the mystery not solved and the quad love angle getting a twist. If looking for a female lead urban fantasy with supernatural beings running amok, this would fit the bill, just be prepared for this to feel more like a dry first reading and hope for emotional connections/understandings/payoffs to come in the second. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Jun 04, 2018
not set
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Jun 16, 2018
not set
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Jul 29, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| Brom
*
| 1250622026
| 9781250622020
| B0CQHL43VF
| 3.94
| 810
| Sep 17, 2024
| Sep 17, 2024
|
liked it
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2.7 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Devil wants me in his belly like a 2.7 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Devil wants me in his belly like a wiggle worm. Evil in Me started off on a fast chaotic note, Adam is trying to fight the voice in his head telling him to kill. He's powerless as he watches himself burn down a synagogue and stab the Rabbi and his wife to death. Readers are let in that it's a ring that has clamped itself onto Adam's finger and is feeding him these urges. As Adam hacks off his fingers trying to get the ring off, it just keeps spider crawling back onto another one until Adam takes his own life. The story then jumps from 1951 Brooklyn to 1985 Enterprise, Alabama and twenty-three year old Ruby. “I am Lord Sheelbeth...your savior, your master.” The flames flared as she spoke. One of my favorite parts of this story was how the author took the time to develop the supernatural background. Taking from religious mythology and giving it some spin, Brom gives us the ring's story. It's from a time when gods ruled and Lord Sheelbeth was in her heyday, until the Baalei Shem cut the ring off Sheelbeth's finger, cut out her eye, tied her to the ring, and imprisoned her in a hell. While Sheelbeth can weave urging magic into songs sang by the souls she has taken throughout her life, that are manifested as worms in her belly, she can't force anyone to act on these urges. This is done by Beel, a shedim (one of god's unfinished souls), who Sheelbeth had previously imprisoned and can possess the body of the ring wearer, controlling their body. I wasn't well versed in these religious stories, so don't fear if you aren't either, I had no problem understanding everything. We get povs from Sheelbeth, Beel, and later another demon, Vutto, controlled by Sheelbeth, to expand their characters and even though they come from a hell, don't be surprised if you start to feel for them. With the beginning giving us the introduction to the ring, it sets-up a great foreboding feeling as we get to know Ruby. She's on her last week of community service, stopped taking her medication for bi-polar, and just trying to white-knuckle it and not lose it over how everyone aggravates her. Listen, she had some legitimate reasons to. When she heads over to Mr. Rosenfeld's home, the same last name of the previously murdered Rabbi, you know things aren't going to go well for her. Sure enough, the ring ends up on her finger and then we're on a ride to save her life. Josh was the Rabbi's brother and manages to give Ruby a heads-up on what's happening, even manages to douse the ring in red powder (angel's blood) to cloak Sheelbeth's power, while they try to find a way to get it off Ruby's finger. While the ring is cloaked, Ruby is still possessed by Beel, but he's been looking for a way to get from under Sheelbeth's control and helps as much as he can with finding a way to break the ring's grasp. I got . . . bored. Help is to be found in Atlanta where Josh knows a Dr. who specializes in ancient Hebrew mythology and theology. There, they learn that if Ruby sings a song from the heart, with the help of many souls, they can compel the ring off. Which is perfect, because Ruby used to be in a punk band and her ex-bandmate just happens to be in Atlanta. The second half gives us ghosts, demons, murder, redemption, and a serial killer. I wasn't really a fan of the Richard serial killer addition, his pov and addition felt clunky added on and honestly the story would have been better without it, wanted kick him out of the band. Along with Richard, Ruby's almost step-father had a story arch that made me think there can be too many musicians in a band, Ruby was the lead singer and could carry this story without those two. The ending was a wild ride and had some of that chaotic punk music feel but like Ruby's band The Night Mares, this story needed a drummer to anchor it, Ruby had enough characterization for lead singer and Sheelbeth and Beel easily could have anchored but they got pushed and rushed aside too much by those characters I wanted cut-out; the story threads were riffing all over the place without a solid connecting feel. This was a supernatural story that had horror, punk music and satanic panic '80s highlighting, and heart from some unlikely places, fun but off the tracks at times. (The author also did a really cool collaboration with a punk band, The Maxines, to produce some of the original songs created in this, make sure to check those out!) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 12, 2024
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Sep 25, 2024
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Jun 17, 2024
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ebook
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| 0451412788
| 9780451412782
| 0451412788
| 3.77
| 1,809
| Oct 06, 2009
| Oct 06, 2009
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it was ok
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This is apparently a spin-off series. I highly recommend reading Darkyn, the series it spins off from. Otherwise, you'd be like me and have no idea wh This is apparently a spin-off series. I highly recommend reading Darkyn, the series it spins off from. Otherwise, you'd be like me and have no idea what in the total Earth is/was happening. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 14, 2024
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Jun 25, 2024
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Jun 14, 2024
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0063249219
| 9780063249219
| 0063249219
| 3.97
| 3,311
| Oct 01, 2024
| Oct 01, 2024
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really liked it
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review I feel like I know what a percentage of the rev I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review I feel like I know what a percentage of the reviews are going to be like for this, “This could have been an email”. BUT, hear me out, if you're going to buy this book, buy it right now. This is for all my Gothic atmosphere reader friends, read this during the months of late August through December first. Is it 384 pages of set-up that could have been condensed into a pre-series novella? Probably. BUT, it is dripping in such delicious Fall/spooky season atmosphere, that I reveled (ok, a little after the midway point before the ending ramped up, I maybe felt it drag some) in the story. Moning was atmosphere-ing and crafting for that rent that was due and I was completely transported. I know it's not how publishing works but I would have loved this published September first and then the second immediately available October first, because, hold my hand, this ends on a big cliffhanger. From the ashes of my mother's fiery grave, a wild thing had arisen. With any Gothic atmospheric story worth it's salt, there's a spooky house, and our lead character, the story is mostly told all from her point-of-view, has just inherited one, with conditions. Readers meet Zo as she's begging for a job, after having lost another due to having to call in sick to take care of her mother. Her mother has cancer and since it's only been Zo and her mother all her life all the care falls to Zo, they've been on the run since Zo was fifteen with her mother claiming Zo's father is after them. We get a little clue that Zo may have some magic to her, insight into feeling something is very wrong, the house she was renting burned down, with her mother in it. Before she can even really process that, she's notified of the inheritance and abandoning Indiana to try and start over in Divinity, Louisiana. There, the townspeople all seem to act odd around her and she learns that in order to inherit the House at Watch Hill and the 140 million (!!!!) estate, she'll need to live in the house, alone, for three years. Home to three centuries of secrets, blood, and lies, the mansion on the hill was a dark, slumbering beast. There's more will restrictions and hoops for her to jump through and she starts to clue in that some very weird things are going on. It's a lot of searching/wandering around the house and secondary characters acting shady, the attorney that almost seems fatherly towards Zo but won't spill his secrets, the mechanic Devlin who acts protective and attracted towards her but seems to be holding back, an owl that seems to understand her when she talks, and her bestfriend from highschool who is suddenly saying she needs to tell something very important that Zo's own mother kept from her. You're going to need patience and want to sink into the atmosphere if you're going to enjoy this. For my romance friends, there's some will they/won't they tension between Zo and Devlin and when Zo first arrives in town, she hits the sheets with someone she meets in a bar (the man introduced himself as Kellan, then we learn later, last name MacKeltar, yes I screeched), so possible love triangle on horizon, but she's pretty strong with Devlin in this. And I was a witch. As I mentioned the latter second half definitely ramps up with action and answers, there's another mysterious pov (Alisdair) that pops up every once and a while in the book and we get, a small, idea about who they turn out to be. It's pretty obvious throughout that Zo has some sort of magical abilities, with ominous outside characters swirling around her and her trying to figure out if they are friend or foe. You're going to get the set-up for the lore of the world, Highblood and Royal families, dark and light witches, warm and cold vampires, shifters, and the mysterious grey witches to ground you in the new series world, along with really getting to know Zo. What you'll also get though, is not much story movement, it's vast majority set-up until the end, and a big cliffhanger. However, this was dripping in delicious Gothic atmosphere that would be absolutely prefect for the spooky season. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 30, 2024
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Oct 10, 2024
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Jun 04, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 1538769255
| 9781538769256
| 1538769255
| 4.15
| 52,858
| Sep 03, 2024
| Sep 03, 2024
|
liked it
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Ophelia was now the eldest Grimm. A 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Ophelia was now the eldest Grimm. A dead mother made her much more than an orphan. Phantasma opens with Ophelia's mother dying in the night, causing Ophelia to hurry and perform a ceremony where she is transferred her mother's magic. Her younger sister Genevieve, has always wanted to leave their family necromancy business behind, resenting how it tied Ophelia to Grimm Manor, their home. However, Ophelia won't turn her back on centuries of family history and intends to take over the business of helping people communicate with the dead. Until bankers show up and suddenly they only have a few weeks to pay off a severely due loan their mother inexplicable took out, before they lose Grimm Manor to the bank. Ophelia senses that Genevieve knows more than she's telling and when she leaves a note saying not to worry and she'll be back in a couple weeks, Ophelia just knows Genevieve has entered Phantasma, a haunted mansion just arrived in New Orleans, and plans on entering herself to find Genevieve. For as long as she could remember, the voice had been there, in the darkest corners of her mind, telling her to walk through certain doorways or her entire family would perish. This started off with a really cool concept, a traveling haunted mansion run by devils where contestants can enter and try to make it through levels based on the nine Circles of Hell, where if they are the last person standing, they'll receive a Devil's Grant (basically a wish granted). There's explanation of paranormal hierarchy, with Ghosts, Apparitions, Phantoms, Devils, Specters, and the like, which I thought was going to lead to a pretty detailed structured rich world. Ophelia even enters the mansion pretty early, around 15% to get the story rolling right away. However, I kind of found a lot of the elements added to create atmosphere ended up feeling a lot like window-dressing, leaving me ultimately disappointed in the lack of depth. The golden bauble had been in her family for generations, enchanted with a powerful magic that bound it to its wearer. This takes place in New Orleans but as the vast majority of the story is inside the Phantasma mansion, you won't get the feel for the city. I don't remember the time period being explicitly mentioned but with Ophelia riding in carriages and a motor vehicle being a sensation, along with her dresses and male attire of vests mentioned, it seems like it's supposed to be Victorian era. But the vernacular feels pretty modern, ex. - “I fucked his best friend on the back of a float”, “Who in the unholy fuck is knocking on peoples’ doors this early in the morning?”, and “For fuck’s sake,”. I'm guessing the clothes are Victorian era to help set the Gothic tone this was mentioned as having but Gothic stories are all about atmosphere, usually a big chunk created from the restrictions of the time, and well, language plays a decent part of helping to mesh the time period with the reader and I can't say I felt the Gothic atmosphere at all, the clothes were window-dressing. Phantasma. The Devil’s Manor. A place often spoken about in whispered rumors and haunting cautionary tales in the dark. The romance comes in when a Phantom named Blackwell, who Ophelia actually met before entering Phantasma, makes a bargain with her, he'll help Ophelia get past the levels if she helps him find a heart and key, what he told her needed to be set free from Phantasma when they first met but can't remember saying. Blackwell has no memory of existing outside of Phantasma but picks someone every time the mansion starts it's games to try and help him get free. A locket Ophelia wears around her neck that has been passed down through generations of women in her family warms when it's around Blackwell and she takes this as sign to trust him. She's also pretty physically attracted to him. You probably can tell where this is leading and a little before the half-way point, we start to get “Good Girl” scenes. The dirty talk was there but the emotion was not for me, there just wasn't enough emotional or relationship depth developed and as such, all those physical scenes may have used the trendy hot words but they were window-dressing and I found my eyes glazing over whenever the clothes came off. “Ophelia,” he repeated, tasting every syllable. Her name on his tongue sounded like a wicked prayer. “You are exactly the person I’ve been waiting for.” Along with being a lifelong romance fan, I've been a lifelong horror fan, why I was so excited for this but while the levels would occasionally have some gory descriptions of deaths, window-dressing in place of any actually feelings of horror, tension, or fear. This felt more New Adult to me, in regards to maturity of characters and tone and I'd put Christopher Pike books ahead on the feeling horror scale. The levels Ophelia has to complete don't last very long and while we get to know some other contestants and devils, they're more blip on the radar secondary characters. As we raced through the trials when it's time to complete them, lingered on Ophelia wandering through the mansion trying to find what Blackwell's looking for, and hopped from physical scene to physical scene between the two, I felt the middle second half started to feel stretched out. A deep sense of dread began to sink into her gut that being within Phantasma wasn’t going to be the thing that broke her. The ending really rushed Ophelia's and Genevieve's plot, but delivered on answers. Ophelia learns some family secrets and what Blackwell's story really is, and while it is pretty obvious (I would say blindingly obvious and Ophelia should have realized much sooner) what the answer was to what connects and could solve Blackwell's issue, it was an enjoyable plot thread. Once Ophelia and Blackwell figure out some things, the ending again feels a bit rushed as it jumps to give readers a quick look at where things are and are headed. One element that I thought worked really well and want to mention is Ophelia's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, since this was a paranormal book, I was wondering where this element was headed. Ophelia hears a “Shadow Voice” in her head that causes her to have to do things in threes, otherwise the voice says her family will die. The story showed how this tormented Ophelia and the struggle of how living with such a form of OCD can effect people and I thought how Ophelia battled it showed a care and respect for this aspect of her character. While I found a lot of elements to be window-dressing and the romance didn't have the depth to deliver the emotional connection I like to feel from my romance leads, others who like a little descriptive gore without the deep emotional horror feel, trendy dirty talk scenes, and a New Adult vibe, might want to give this lighter horror and romance mash-up a try. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 14, 2024
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Aug 23, 2024
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May 10, 2024
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1250244056
| 9781250244055
| B0CFJSP5N1
| 4.14
| 16,874
| Aug 06, 2024
| Aug 06, 2024
|
liked it
|
3.4 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review No one noticed that Cordelia moved 3.4 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review No one noticed that Cordelia moved in unison with her mother. No one ever did. When a Sorceress Comes to Call was a historical magical realism story about a coming of age girl gaining the strength to fight back against her mother. Cordelia is fourteen years old and having stopped attending school years ago, only gains a sense of normalcy when a local girl Ellen can randomly meet up with her on one of her rides. Cordelia begins to realize that having a mother that is so controlling, not only of her thoughts but through what Cordelia calls “obedience”, where her mother actually controls her body, is not normal. It's when Cordelia gets a painful realization of betrayal that the only other friend she thought she had, her mother's horse Falada, tells her mother everything as her familiar and her mother does something that shines the light on what a true monster she is, that Cordelia begins to fight back, with some help. Fear took her suddenly by the throat, a formless dread with no name, no shape, only a sense that something was wrong, something terrible was coming this way. I thought this was a little less eerie than What Moves the Dead but you'll still find gruesome animal body horror, magic, supernatural elements, and thriller aspects. This was mainly told through Cordelia's eyes and the creepy tension and fear she feels from her mother was woven in strongly throughout the book. Once of the most powerful scenes for me was when Cordelia learned of Falada's betrayal. At this point, he's been her rock and the only one that seems to give Cordelia strength and when she lost that I hurt so bad for her and felt the numbness this gave her. (I must have some residual horse girl leftover from childhood because I refused to stop thinking that Falada wasn't on the side I wanted them to be for an embarrassing long time) We get a different pov when Cordelia's mom decides it's time to get a new benefactor, after she deals with her old one in a gruesome manner, and sets her sights on a squire a few towns over to marry. The squire's spinster sister Hester comes into the picture and with a little bit of magic herself, she senses right away that this new woman is “Doom”. My mother is a sorcerer. Around the midway point, Cordelia confides into Hester her fears of what her mother is and that she needs to be stopped; after what Hester has felt and seen, she doesn't need much convincing. The second half brings in more characters with friends of Hester that she writes to, under the guise of a house party, but really she's calling for reinforcements. Along with friends, she invites Richard, her old lover and the man that once asked her to marry him. Through them we get a little tiny romance thread that I enjoyed with their second chance romance and Hester finally mature enough to decide love is more important than letting the glare of societal expectations rule the day. Hester's more mature pov paired with Cordelia's youth, delivered a well rounded hitting all those emotions story. And part of her— a tiny part that she had never quite lost— wanted to be there and wanted it all to be true so that her mother would love her and maybe things would change. The ending delivered a, kind of quick, magical explanation (hitting the right “notes”??), along with the story's continued message of “water, wine, salt, and holy ground” dramatic end. There were winners, losers, and probably a lifetime of trauma from what was witnessed. The story was an enjoyable ride with it's really likable characters, a great seasonal read to pick up. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 12, 2024
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Sep 15, 2024
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May 05, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 0008643016
| 9780008643010
| B0BYCZX7KN
| 3.15
| 3,593
| Apr 11, 2024
| Oct 01, 2023
|
it was ok
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review She felt the stranger’s gaze tracking her as I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review She felt the stranger’s gaze tracking her as she traipsed through the woods. On Ruby's walk home from her bartending job, she's felt a stranger's eyes. She's scared but also turned on. When the man steps out of the shadows finally, he's got glowing silver eyes and growls. Ruby's the “freak” goth girl in her small town and keeps to herself, so she feels it's on brand for her to not completely fear this stranger. It's when a wolf attacks her one night, another comes out of the woods to save her but ends up injured and she has to drag him home to take care of him, only to wake up in the morning to a naked man in the wolf's spot that Ruby starts to think maybe fear isn't a bad thing. He’d spent the last five years wrangling that side of himself, denying that side of himself, trying his damnedest to act human, to be human. But lately, his control was slipping. Ever since she’d started walking through his woods. Her scent drove him wild. I'm going to give it to you straight, by one percent a “cock is twitching” and depth is pretty much nonexistent, worldbuilidng or character wise. Ruby and Rafe's connection is based on finding each other physically attractive, she wears short skirts and red lipstick, he's growly and muscly and they turn out to be fated mates, relationship development done. Rafe hangs around to protect Ruby and her sister Lena that she lives with ever since Lena lost her job because of a sickness, that doctors can't figure out, which causes her to trance out. Rafe walks Ruby to her job sometimes, there's some side characters that are identified as witches, nymphs, and we get to meet Rafe's werewolf brothers, Theo and Knox. Lena's barely in the picture but she seems a big part of what is going to be a continuous thread throughout the series, she could be a seer, someone who can see the future. Lena cocked her head, as if hearing something no one else could. “They’re coming.” There's not much for setting, we're in the bar, the house, and woods at times and for lightly brushed in backgrounds, Ruby lost her parent's young and lived with her aunt, there's also her continuous thinking about how the town (which we never really see) thinks she's a kinky freak. Rafe gets more with flashback scenes to how he once fell in love with a human and how that blew things up in his pack life, fighting with his father and then the fallout that lead to him leaving the pack and living on his own. He's constantly thinking about how he's a danger for Ruby, not good enough for her, but not being about to stay away because of that pesky smell of her being his mate. She was looking at him like he was a monster. Like the monster he was. He hadn’t wanted anyone to look at him like that again. Especially not her. These two were a lot of dirty talk wanting each other, with some foreplay sex for the vast majority of the story, kind of confusingly, because of the vibe of what the story seemed to want to be, they don't actually complete the bedroom deed until at around 90% of the story. With the lack of story, this should have just leaned into the sexy times and let these two rip, but it almost had them acting more like late teen to early twenties in thought and action (Ruby's 25 and Rafe is 200ish yrs old). She was in love with a werewolf. She was in love with Rafe. After numerous going in circles of Rafe not good enough for Ruby, Ruby wanting to have sex with him, and talking about the danger Ruby could be in, we get some wolves attacking Ruby again. This prompts Rafe to take the plunge with Ruby because he realizes he does love her and can't let her go. After Rafe takes care of the attacking wolves, they spend a month having sex in the woods and then we get an epilogue that showcases Rafe's brother Theo and his “friend” Phoebe, who look to continue the wolves searching for the seer story thread. I really don't know what else to say other than if you're looking for a light character and setting Litte Red Riding Hood inspired story, Rafe says he's a furniture maker, so put on some Pony by Ginuwine and feel free to zone out read. ...more |
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1
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Oct 12, 2024
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Oct 17, 2024
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Mar 22, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 006124502X
| 9780061245022
| 006124502X
| 4.05
| 2,033
| Oct 01, 2007
| Oct 30, 2007
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liked it
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2.5 stars
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Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 29, 2024
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Mar 07, 2024
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Feb 29, 2024
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0593550404
| 9780593550403
| 0593550404
| 4.02
| 430,304
| Feb 06, 2024
| Feb 06, 2024
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liked it
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Buddy Read this with the wonderful Wanda, for all our thoughts, quotes, and comments: Bride buddy read Thought Misery had a bit of an Ilona Andrews her Buddy Read this with the wonderful Wanda, for all our thoughts, quotes, and comments: Bride buddy read Thought Misery had a bit of an Ilona Andrews heroine vibe, which made me wish for more than one pov (Misery's) so that I could get more depth on some of the plot threads and character emotions. Some surprises and steamy scenes, and I would definitely jump on board again if Owen every gets his own book. A little bit of Gothic vibes, mystery, suspense, and romance, with more of a New Adult tone, to me. ...more |
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1
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Aug 08, 2024
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Aug 16, 2024
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Jan 21, 2024
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Paperback
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| 0553563343
| 9780553563344
| 0553563343
| 3.89
| 3,343
| Feb 01, 1996
| Feb 01, 1996
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it was ok
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'Tristan Lennox – founder, CEO, and primary stockholder of Lennox Enterprises – offers one million dollars to anyone who can prove that magic exist
'Tristan Lennox – founder, CEO, and primary stockholder of Lennox Enterprises – offers one million dollars to anyone who can prove that magic exists outside the boundaries of science.
So, this book was goofy as hell, but probably obviously when it's about a twenty year old woman who is being tried as a witch and then gets transported to the futuristic 1996. Arian has been shuffled around all her life, she never knew her father and her mother was a courtesan in King Louis IV court. When her mother marries a Puritan, the natural next step for a courtesan from Versailles, Arian is forced to be sent away from her grandmother and travels to America to be with her mother. Except her mother has died but the stepdad didn't get the romance genre memo about being wicked and isn't a bad chap, except he's a Puritan. So whoopsie, Arian now has the devil in her and is thought to be a witch. But hold on, Arian did make candlesticks dance around the dude's head, so saints preserve me, I had to kind of side with stepdad at this moment. Before Arian's mother left one of her johns, she stole an emerald amulet and gave it to Arian. Whenever Arian clutches the amulet, whatever she wishes to happen, happens! Arian thinks she is a witch! But, Arian, my gal, it's 1680ish Witch Hysteria, let's be a little more careful. However, Arian did get the romance genre '90s memo about hot blooded heroines and she clutching that amulet for all she's worth. Puritans always get the memo and the new Reverend in town is ready to drown a witch. Shocking, it's made out that he seems to have the hots for Arian and if she agrees to stay with him in his attic Red Room, he'll save her soul (I want you all to keep this hovering in your mind). Arian not about him and while they throw Arian into the lake to drown, this random Scottish woman (seriously, the most random character) steals back Arian's amulet from the Reverend and throws it into Arian's hands as she's drowning. Arian thinks a goofy rhyme/spell. Arian's now in 1996 flying on a broom in the sky. Bring in our billionaire who has put out a challenge to prove that magic is real with a prize of 1 million dollars. Arian shows up on her broom and crashes his party. The rest is probably obvious with 1600s Arian saying and doing goofy things when she doesn't understand 20th century things and slowly warming the heart of the cold cynical billionaire. There was some funny cute moments from this aspect. He groaned. Christ, it was worse than he thought. He wasn't dying of a heart attack. He was falling in love with a witch. He didn't need a cardiologist. He needed an exorcist. What wasn't predictable was the tie-in billionaire Tristan had with the amulet and a certain Reverend. I'm going to put the tie-in stuff in spoilers, so skip if wanting to be clueless going into reading (view spoiler)[Tristan made his bills as a tech genius inventing some super computer but has a cloud over him after his partner disappeared years ago and Tristan was found with blood on his hands. The partner's dad has tried forever to get him convicted but no body, no crime. The partner's dad is a ̶m̶a̶g̶i̶c̶i̶a̶n̶ illusionist (Michael!) randomly and lurks around being creepy. Somehow he knew the amulet around Arian's neck is...The WARLOCK!!!! Warlock was an invention by Tristan that would give you whatever you asked for while holding it. It disappeared with his partner the night his partner tried to kill him for it. Why Tristan started the magic competition, to lure his partner with Warlock out. Tristan has fallen in love with Arian but now he thinks she's in cahoots with his partner to take over his business and Arian goes through it as she realizes she's not a witch. It gets revealed that Arian's father is Tristan's former partner....AND THE REVEREND. Did you keep what I told you to in your mind??? I thought Reverend/partner didn't know he was her dad but when Arian gets sent back to 1600s, he reveals he knew??? And when Tristan time travels back to save Arian, Reverend/partner taunts he was going to go to the future with Arian and live as man and wife spending Tristan's money????? I don't know, y'all. (hide spoiler)] I can not write a coherent review of this book, I feel like only over mimosa brunch could I get out everything there was to ̶q̶u̶e̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶d̶l̶y̶ talk about this story. After the middle falling in love, rinse repeat of Tristan feeling betrayed then loving Arian, time traveling, and REVEREND WEIRDNESS, there was the eventual HEA. And a little thrown out maaaaaybe about Arian's witchy possibilities. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 13, 2023
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Oct 24, 2023
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Oct 13, 2023
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Mass Market Paperback
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| B00HDLR39A
| 3.79
| 53
| Dec 14, 2013
| Dec 14, 2013
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liked it
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At a little under one hundred pages, this novella starts off the Under Realm Assassins series. Readers are introduced to a world where supernatural be
At a little under one hundred pages, this novella starts off the Under Realm Assassins series. Readers are introduced to a world where supernatural beings are all aware of one another but still exist undercover. Cole is a vampire and an Under Realm Assassin, a group even whispered about by the other supernatural and Analette is a witch from one of the most powerful families. This started off really interesting with dangerous and mysterious Cole on the hunt and Analette breezing in shaking up his world. Their attraction happens pretty quickly but in a novella, that is unavoidable. I did like our two characters together, though. Their first encounter had good back and forth, their bedroom scenes had some heat, and overall, there was a certain magnetism to them. As the first in the series, it laid out an interesting world of supernaturals and the Under Realm Assassins that lurk below the surface. Read full review at: Reading Between the Wines Book Club Merged review: At a little under one hundred pages, this novella starts off the Under Realm Assassins series. Readers are introduced to a world where supernatural beings are all aware of one another but still exist undercover. Cole is a vampire and an Under Realm Assassin, a group even whispered about by the other supernatural and Analette is a witch from one of the most powerful families. This started off really interesting with dangerous and mysterious Cole on the hunt and Analette breezing in shaking up his world. Their attraction happens pretty quickly but in a novella, that is unavoidable. I did like our two characters together, though. Their first encounter had good back and forth, their bedroom scenes had some heat, and overall, there was a certain magnetism to them. As the first in the series, it laid out an interesting world of supernaturals and the Under Realm Assassins that lurk below the surface. Read full review at: Reading Between the Wines Book Club ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Dec 19, 2015
not set
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Jan 04, 2016
not set
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Sep 03, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 1250808030
| 9781250808035
| 1250808030
| 3.78
| 2,989
| Feb 13, 2024
| Feb 13, 2024
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liked it
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Everything had changed. Everyone ev 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Everything had changed. Everyone evolved. Except her. If you've been reading the Supernatural Singles series, you've probably been waiting for Maxwell sister Olive and Guardian Angel Bax to finally cut the tension between them and kiss already. If you're new to the series, I'm not sure I'd recommend jumping into this third installment, you'd miss a lot of worldbuilding and character relationships. In this New York City world, a Supernatural reveal has happened and the witches, vampires, demons, shifters, angels, and any other supernatural creature you can think of exists out in the open with humans. The series has, so far, focused on triplet witches, the Maxwell sisters. With her two other sisters already finding love, Olive is feeling stagnate in her job as a professor and in her social life, and when her roommate goes on a campaign of sleeping with every strange man she meets, Bax, her “just a” friend offers up his apartment for her to move into. This brings her into close quarters with the angel and puts strain on keeping her less than friendly thoughts about him to herself, especially when he decides to join in and help her with a Dare I Docket list. To date, he’d now broken two of the three central—and most important—GAA Rules of Conduct. The first: Don’t tell your Assignment that you’re their designated Guardian. The second: Don’t get your Assignment killed. The third, which he’d yet to break and had no intention of doing so: Don’t fall in love with your Assignment. Bax has his own feelings about Olive he's trying to fight and when he gets her as a Guardian Angel assignment, she becomes even more off limits. A huge disappointment to his Warrior father, Bax doesn't want to fail at being a Guardian angel but he also hates keeping it a secret that he's been assigned to be Olive's protector as she decides to check off her Dare I list of activities. These two did have some cute chemistry between them but this was a story that seemed to have a lot of little additives that ultimately ended up stealing some of their spotlight for me. Olive's sister is dealing with becoming the next Prima (head witch) and the issues and drama surrounding that, especially when their grandmother and former Prima goes off on her own, kind of butted into the story. Characters showing up that normally I would feel connected our two mains to the existing world ended up annoying me; Harper's (demon friend of theirs) constant focus on turning anything and everything into a sexual innuendo or making it about sex just really got old for me. “You’re gorgeous,” she heard herself blurt out. “I mean . . . your wings are gorgeous. They’re beautiful.” His lips twitched in enjoyment of the moment. “Just my wings?” “Please. You know you could grace the cover of any angel romance book and light imaginations across the globe.” “Do I light up your imagination?” Along with Olive trying to learn to be less rigid, Bax had to work out how he was going to live his life on his own terms, instead of thinking about what his father might want. It gets revealed that he's a talented artist and him learning to embrace that side of himself and chose what he wants out of life was his journey to make. Coming to this decision for Bax, and Olive thinking she needs to take more chances in life, felt more like the character emotional journeys we went on, more than the romance. There was a good amount of open door bedroom scenes in this in the second half and dirty talk but while the words were on the page, I again, missed the charm and intimacy of the emotion and relationship development. It wasn’t what you did that moved you forward the most, but the people who stood by your side when you did it. It was your family—your found family. The ones you chose to surround yourself with because them not being part of your life wasn’t a possibility you wanted to think about. The last twenty percent has our leads dealing with the eventual fallout you know is about to happen when Olive learns and thinks that Bax has only been spending time with her because he was assigned to be her Guardian Angel. The resolution felt natural to the characters with nothing being dragged out or ignored smoothed over and you get a happily ever after. Some of the little additives started to feel disorganized and about nothing while at the same time taking up too much of the spotlight, taking away from the romance. It's great that romance wants to give us two fully formed characters but I miss the focus on having our leads actually together and focusing on developing the romance because in a romance genre book, that's what I'm here for. This did have cute and steamy moments, and if you're looking for a lighter read for Halloween, this is a pretty fun world to immerse yourself in for a while. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 24, 2023
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Oct 25, 2023
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Jul 31, 2023
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1546906533
| 9781546906537
| 1546906533
| unknown
| 4.07
| 29
| Sep 30, 2017
| Sep 30, 2017
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it was ok
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2.5 stars
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Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 02, 2023
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Jul 22, 2023
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Jul 02, 2023
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ebook
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| 9798987465400
| B0BYNFTXTB
| 4.14
| 63
| unknown
| Apr 01, 2023
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it was ok
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review He stood in the dark bathroom doorway, holdi I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review He stood in the dark bathroom doorway, holding a handmade radio. Five year old Rory sees things, houses on fire and a green grid that seems to underline the real world. Realizing that it scares his mom and she doesn't see the same things he does, he starts to keep his visions to himself, until one day he turns on a handmade radio. In the mad dash to leave Chad, Rory's dad, Rachelle didn't even know she had the radio that used to have Chad madly tinkering away with. When Rory turns it on and a high pitch scream sound emits and suddenly a mad coyote is breaking into their home, Rachelle can sense the nightmare of what Chad turned into, happening again. With her bestfriend, a warlock, and helping stranger, Rachelle will have to work to figure out what is going on and visit her past if she wants a future for her and her son. “Lake of fire...” Rachelle's quiet whisper was involuntary. Kill Radio was a creepy building horror with some of the usual suspects, ghosts, demons, occult members, witches, magic, and possession. The story gets going right away with Rory running scared and getting a stranger named Stanton to come back to his home to help his mom, who he says is being attacked by a monster. The story, in a structured style it liked to use for the rest of the book, then jumps back in time and readers learn what happened to cause Rory to be on the run. I don't have to be linear reader, so I didn't mind the flashbacks and thought the style did add to some of the thriller aspects. What I did have problems with at times was some continuity, Stanton seems to be forgotten in a scene and at one time Rachelle was in a rush to get Rory to daycare but then that's forgotten as she goes back in the house to talk with someone. I also thought Stanton's character struggled in the story. He starts to sleepover at Rachelle's house because she's scared but this guy must be able to sleep through a World War because he never wakes up and it's as if he's not even there most of the time. It became clear why the author had him lingering around when you get to the end and he plays an important role but his character just never felt utilized quite right in the vast majority of story. Rachelle opened her mouth to scream, but her breath caught in her throat. Its legs lengthened. It looked like a deer with no torso or hind legs. You won't get the full story on the radio until the end but it's obvious that it's some kind of portal opener or attraction for demons, as they start to show up after it gets turned on. The demons were suitably creepy, even if I wasn't fully on board with the plotting of why they were possessing people but I did like the twist on how and why ghosts were used in the story. Rachelle gets a little romance arc when she gets a new boss, James, at work, who then turns out to have secrets of his own. James background of why and how he became a warlock wasn't quite worked out as well as I would have liked, it reminded me of Stanton and the just go with it, because the story needs his magic knowledge. By sixty percent the puzzle pieces are mostly together for the characters and the final battle is building when Rachelle realizes she will have to face Chad again. They were coming up from deeper within now. From the underworld. From hell. The bad ones were coming. And it would only get worse and worse. The ending gave us flashbacks from Chad and we learn why the radio was made and how Chad has been haunted by it. This leads to a horror action battle with ghosts, demons, dads, and magic. Like I said, it becomes clear why some characters, Stanton, were left lingering around (except for Gaia?? she was Rachelle's bf but not much bfing from her and felt like a pretty empty character) and why James had to have been a warlock. Around 70% I felt it started to lose steam because of some of the issues I mentioned, not fully worked out or put together well in some aspects, but the story did have a pretty cool concept and some creeptastic imagery scenes if looking to dive into some fun Fall vibes. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 24, 2023
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Aug 18, 2023
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May 26, 2023
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Paperback
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| 1982180021
| 9781982180027
| 1982180021
| 4.23
| 8,664
| Apr 11, 2023
| Apr 11, 2023
|
liked it
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“I haven't stopped thinking of you,” he said. “I might have been gone, but I took you with me.”
I've only read the first ten books in the BDB serie “I haven't stopped thinking of you,” he said. “I might have been gone, but I took you with me.” I've only read the first ten books in the BDB series, so while I've got a firm footing in the world, I'm not up-up-date on the latest happenings, which I think may have helped me here? Where I left off, Lassiter was just being introduced, so I haven't had to suffer and wait with all you for his book all these years, the anticipation building. The war with the Lessers seems to have been settled? But, oh wait, Lash is back? The only disappointment I really felt about this is that I've missed the climatic war ending, but oh boy can I see you all feeling manipulated that, record scratch, it's not over? “Wrong deeds for the right reasons,” she intoned. There were the,usual, numerous offshoot threads going on in this, and since I didn't come into this with a big connection with Lassiter and/or Rahvyn, this might be why I enjoyed the story. I can't say I ever really felt like I knew Rahvyn, she seemed too ethereal(?) good to me. It seems I came in after they've already connected and have love formed between them and this was just about Lassiter accepting that he could have Rahvyn in his life. It felt a little disconnected that Devina seemed to play a huge part in keeping them apart, but there was never a big battle scene or anything between them? It was just Lassiter figuring out that the curse kind of worked in his favor and instead of staying away from Rahvyn, he should be with her. “I bonded with who I thought you were,” he whispered. “But yeah, I'm in love with who you actually are.” That third act breakup, with Rahvyn pushing Lassiter away, felt so forced and contrived, she asked questions but didn't really stay and listen for the answers. I didn't get how it seemed important that Lassiter didn't have his halo and then suddenly, he did? This just felt like a rush job to do what happened to Wrath (oh my gosh, I see what all the emotion was about now!) and get that thirty year jump so the kids can be grown up. I've been dying for Nalla's book years ago when I read Zsadist, so, I'm not completely upset, lol. Anyway, it was fun to check in and see where things are and the world still keeps my interest because the world-building has such width and breadth. I do wish there was a new enemy, because it does feel like another Lessening war is rinse and repeat, but my attention is remained caught and I'll still be checking into this series. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 06, 2024
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Jun 11, 2024
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Mar 27, 2023
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1250835437
| 9781250835437
| 1250835437
| 3.70
| 2,016
| Oct 03, 2023
| Sep 26, 2023
|
really liked it
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Close your eyes, Cordelia, her mother would I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review Close your eyes, Cordelia, her mother would say. Don’t look at them. But more importantly, Never, ever speak to them. The Witches of Bone Hill is a perfect story for the Halloween season with it's Gothic tone, supernatural mystery, and two sisters on their own trying to figure out and survive their family history and legacy. Told all from younger sister Cordelia's point-of-view, readers come into her life as it's completely falling apart. Her soon to be ex-husband has cleaned out her bank accounts and is currently destroying her credit as he gallivants around with her former assistant, that she caught in flagrante delicto with her husband in the kitchen. As she's trying to sell her house to stay ahead of the creditors, receiving a note from a bookie threatening that she is now on the hook for her husband's fifty grand owed, Cordelia receives a phone call from her sister Eustace, who she hasn't talked to in five years. It seems the great aunt that they have never met has passed away and left them her estate, which includes a house called Bone Hill. This place, with its gothic sensibility and family history, might hold the only answers she could hope to find about who and what their mother was, why she left, and what happened to her. Right away the story sets the tone as the sisters are driven up to the old Victorian looking home, with it's gables, turrets, and antiques. Once inside, they discover a picture of women standing in a circle and one in the middle levitating, along with a pentagram looking shape on the floor of one of the rooms. I could feel the spookiness already creeping in and when Cordelia looks up the stairs and sees a woman in black dress and white hair, I knew the chills where on the way. Cordelia and Eustace's mom always kept them on the road, never settling for too long and never talked about her family. The sisters are confused as the home and antiques seem to point to the family having money and they start to wonder why their mother kept them from it. Cordelia sees this as an opportunity to sell and get the money she needs to pay everyone off but the estate lawyer, who claims to come from generations that have served her family, tells the sisters that they must stay at the house, as there is a contingency against them selling. The will obviously is a way to keep the sisters at the house and while it generally worked, the contingency talk later on got a bit messy and I felt myself just having to go along with it. What concerned her more was the hulking groundskeeper and his bedroom eyes, the things he wasn’t saying more than the things he was, the effect he had on her. Men like that didn’t roll out of the womb covered in ink and defiance— they were damaged somewhere along the way. And Cordelia hated to admit just how much she yearned to know what his damage was. Along with the estate lawyer that will have you wanting to keep your eye on him and his nephew that acts like a chauffeur, there is the groundskeeper, Gordon, who makes you want to keep your eye on him for a different reason. Adding in some romance, Gordon is a former rock star who's mother worked on the estate as a maid and then had her own mysterious death. Gordon seems to be working there as a way to grieve and maybe find out what really happened to her. Cordelia and him have some instant attraction and then it becomes what all does Gordon know and can Cordelia trust him. Since I was mostly here for the chills, I really enjoyed this little romance additive but it's definitely not the star of the show. Cordelia and Eustace trying to figure out their family history and the supernatural elements are the spotlight and they delivered. When she opened her eyes again, she read the answer in the mirror before her, her heart icing over. In the blood dripped and spattered across the opposite wall, righted only by the reversal of its reflection, one gruesome, gut-twisting word had formed. Witch. The first half of this book had me thinking this would be a five star because I love Gothic mystery and this had the setting and the tone but the second half meandered a little too much and then, along with the contingency, some threads got a bit too disheveled in trying to keep the mystery alive. Cordelia and Eustace's family history was fascinating and I liked how it brought in an unexpected element of old Norse history with the supernatural. I thought the villain of the piece was pretty obvious and then when we got the whys, they had gotten too lost in stretching the story out for a little too long. The whole mob, owing money to the bookie thread really seemed unneeded to me and shared some of that messiness I was talking about, it could have been removed in favor of streamlining, cleaning up the story; Cordelia already had enough reasons to be desperate for money. “I am what lies behind,” the woman said. “And I am what lies ahead. Hella of the Bones. Speaker for the dead. I wield the Seidr.” She drew near to Cordelia , placing a finger between her breasts. “And you are of my vӧlur.” Cordelia and Eustace's relationship added some heart to the story, with the sisters coming together again after the five years of estrangement and Eustace had her own magical journey. While most of the tone of this was Gothic, the second half and ending did bring in some horror elements, there was very descriptive scenes of animal cruelty and general blood and gore. The magical lore created, ghosts, and human relationships all made this a spooky seasonal read that I highly recommend. “Don’t you want to know?” “If we’re witches?” ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 10, 2023
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Sep 25, 2023
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Mar 26, 2023
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 9798987112212
| B0BTJ6JS76
| 4.41
| 381
| unknown
| Feb 06, 2023
|
it was ok
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2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. My knowing's neither good nor evil 2.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. My knowing's neither good nor evil...it just is. All her life, Madeline has gotten tingling sensations from certain items that lead to intuition that turns out to be eerily accurate. When she buys a box with trinkets from a local estate sale, she suddenly starts to have dreams about a Puritan girl from the 1710s. With the encouragement of her aunt Phoebe and friend Chelsea, she enlists the help of a History professor she had a connection with at a bar one night, Evan, to try and find out who this Maria girl was, and a mysterious old sailor, Noah, helps her explore her unearthly talents. Normal was a boundary I'd worked hard to live within because it meant being accepted by society and loved by my mom. Sea Magic started off as an intriguing fantasy mystery, mentions of the Penbrook Mermaid, Madeline's dreams that start off more watching a film observant but morph into time travel, veered into Historical Fiction, and then ended in the metaphysical. I liked the beginning mystery aspect of searching out who Maria was for Madeline. I am someone who went through a Golden Age of Piracy phase, so when Maria's full name (Hallett) popped up, I got my own tingling sensations and then when her suitor introduced himself as Samuel Bellamy, I knew all the spoilers. I still enjoyed Madeline working with Evan to put the puzzle pieces together and the tidbits about the Whydah incorporated into the story. However, at the midway point, that whole puzzle is parsed out and the second half went more into the metaphysical and began to lose me. What was it about a woman's power that made men vilify her, turn her into something dark, dreadful? There was a lot of co-opting different cultures spiritual practices (Evan's totem is a mermaid, Madeline does Shamanic conscious dreaming) along with characters adopting pseudoscience (astrology). The second half and especially the last 20% went metaphysical with Madeline's goal shepherding Maria's wandering soul into the afterlife, guided by Noah. It tied into Madeline's magical gift of intuition but not really the first half tone of searching out who Maria was mystery. The story was told from Madeline's point-of-view (the dreams start off from Maria's) making her the most filled out character but I felt all the other characters needed to be flushed out more, especially Evan since he had a romance with Madeline. The romance ended up feeling underdeveloped because it was pushed to the side and Evan's character just never developed for me. They kiss and have an open-door scene but it was dry more than emotional. I enjoyed the historical fiction aspects with the Whydah (Screecham sisters get a shout-out, too) and the connection to Madeline searching out the mystery of who Maria was but the romance didn't evolve the emotions I was looking for and the metaphysical turn at the end lost me. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Feb 15, 2023
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Feb 22, 2023
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Feb 13, 2023
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| 3.20
| 1,291
| Apr 11, 2023
| Apr 11, 2023
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liked it
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I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He was different, like her. Someone who mig I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. He was different, like her. Someone who might look human, but was distinctly not. Peeraphan has always known she is different, a Thai mythological kinnaree born in a family of humans. Hiding from outsiders what she is, has made her feel that she can never truly be herself and allow herself to shine. Dancing has been an outlet and when her frenemie Sirin offers her a pair of beautiful red shoes, she wonders why Sirin is being so generous but is compelled to try them on. Bennett is a centuries old vampire and a member of the Darke Consortium, supernaturals and humans who search out magical items to collect and safe guard them. When he arrives too late to stop the red shoes that make their victims dance to their death from being worn, he deadens any feelings he might have for the dancer he can't take his eyes off of. When the dancer manages to stop dancing, Bennett is shocked and is thrown into a battle against an old enemy vampire, while growing closer to the one he's trying to save. “The wearer might be doomed, but at the same time, only the wearer has the chance to break the curse of the red shoes with a true acknowledgment of everything they are, everything they have ever done, everything they have the potential to do. Such honesty would counter pride and vanity and set you free.” With a gorgeous cover that centers the female main character, Peeraphan, Wings Once Cursed and Bound begins the Mythwoven series. To me, this was more of an urban fantasy story that had a romantic element in it, integrating a lot of cool mythological, supernatural, paranormal, and folklore. Peeraphan knows she's kinnaree but not all that means, as far as her abilities and origins. At the end of the book, after the story, there was a Field Notes on the Supernatural and Paranormal and while I liked how it summarized all the beings introduced, I wished more of the kinnaree could have been explored in the story; I liked and cared for Peeraphan and wished this important aspect of her had been filled out more. Through Bennett, we learn that vampires can be made and born, he's born, and some other trademarks but, like with an aspect of Peeraphan, I wished we could have explored more of his background. If this is supposed to be romance genre, I want my two main characters to have more of a center stage for their romance, this felt more like a fantasy story with Peeraphan leading us into this newly discovered world. She needed help to save her own life. As far as world-building, I thought this focused on the right part, all the different supernatural characters and their characteristics. Like I said, I considered this urban fantasy, so the world is as we the reader know it, the fantasy component is through all the different beings existing in the reader's world. We learn that the Darke Consortium is actually one of many groups around the world, they're the good guys with trying to protect humankind by collecting the intentionally dangerous magical artifacts. Bennett's enemy, Francesco is the bad guy and as the story goes on, we learn that he's also tied to a “Babel”, a single or group trying to cause havoc or gain for evil purposes from the artifacts. When Bennett brings back Peeraphan to the sanctuary of the Darke Consortium , we see they have an attraction to each other that could grow and the world gets filled out as we're introduced to all the Darke members, one including a distant cousin of Peeraphan. “I am kinnaree.” There were two really great scenes that stuck out to me, Peeraphan and Bennett dancing in the air and then the sponsor of the Darke turns out to be a dragon and when Peerphan first meets the dragon, it will suck you right in. The dragon informs Peeraphan and Bennett that there is a way to save Peeraphan's life and get the red shoes off, a cave of truth and around the mid-way point, we get a journey to the cave. It was after the cave and Peeraphan doing what needed to be done to save herself, that I thought the story slowed some for me. This was mostly told in Peeraphan and Bennett's pov but we get some from Thomas (Peeraphan's cousin) and a witch named Marie that works for the Darke and while I liked those characters, I did think it slowed some of the momentum as it stole away from Peeraphan and Bennett's romance; first in a series issues. For the first time in not just days, but years— maybe the majority of her life— she had something she wanted to do that was bigger than just herself and the expectations of her immediate family. This felt like a purpose. The last 30% gives a climax scene between Peeraphan, the Darke members, Francesco, and “Babel”. It was after the battle that I thought even more steam was lost, unfortunately, it's when we get back to the romance. Bennett deals with his feelings of possibly outliving Peeraphan (there was some filling out of his character with having loved and lost before), each declaring their love, and then two bedroom scenes. I thought the fully intimate scenes felt both tagged on the end and since their romance didn't have the depth I was looking for, they didn't hit me they way they were supposed to, that tagged on feeling. This is an adult fantasy, Peeraphan is early thirties, but it also had a tone of YA to me at times, the way her learning about herself journey was relayed and most of the romance tone between her and Bennett. To me, this was a good urban fantasy story that just happened to have a little romance in it. I did like how the writing style had a leading me into the story, instead of pushing, feel and with all the cool different supernatural and mythology incorporated, I can see these elements and plot sustaining a series. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 06, 2023
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Mar 23, 2023
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Feb 07, 2023
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Paperback
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| 1250808014
| 9781250808011
| 1250808014
| 3.82
| 5,946
| Feb 07, 2023
| Feb 07, 2023
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really liked it
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3.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Now that Rose had a little extra t 3.5 stars I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Now that Rose had a little extra time on her hands, she was . . . lost . .. Second in the Supernatural Singles series, Not Your Ex's Hex was a paranormal and fantasy world story that put the spotlight on the second Maxwell sister, Rose and Damian Adams. I haven't read the first book but I thought the author did a good job catching newbies up on what happened, eldest of the Maxwell witches magical triad triplets, Vi, finally came into her power and displaced Rose as the Prima Apparent (Prima is the head witch of the Supernatural Council). Rose, gladly, not only lost her job but an unwanted fiance and now is feeling adrift as she moves from working for a ride share to working at the local bar, Potion's Up. Damian is a half-demon who is bestfriend's with Vi's soulmate, a veterinarian and owner of an animal sanctuary, and oh, has a soul hex on him that if he falls in love, he'll lose his soul. He's all about one and done encounters but a few months later, when he runs into Rose, he can't get their one night stand out of his mind. The more he embraced his inner demon, the less Damian saw of Damian. He hadn’t been fully aware of precisely how off-track his life had gotten until he faced the wrath of a pissed-off teenage witch and earned himself his very own hex. That was his wake-up call. And finally, after years of Hunting, he realized he had two choices: give up his humanity to become one of the volatile lowlifes he Hunted, or hold onto it with everything he had. I enjoyed the magical realism/urban fantasy world this had, think a lighter toned Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews or Third Shift by Suleikha Snyder. There's a good amount of friends and family but they stayed enough to the side to let Rose and Damian shine but came in enough to fill out the characters and world. Even though our main couple had a one night stand months ago, they get a push to be together when Rose has to complete some community service hours at Damian's clinic/sanctuary. Their teasing friendship chemistry was pleasurable to read and even though I said the tone was lighter, Rose gets horribly injured at one point but the scary danger of it was rushed through fairly quickly, never getting too dark, they curse and hit the sheets and desk pretty often. They had that chemistry snark towards each other that flowed to softening when they rescue puppies and then a little before the midway point, they come up with their friends with benefits agreement. And then his eyes locked with hers across the room. The second half brings in more of Damian's half-demon issues, him trying to control his inner demon and dealing with his brother Julius. Julius is on the Supernatural Council and wants Damian to return to Hunting (think supernatural bounty hunter). Damian needs money for the sanctuary, so he's already thinking about it and when Julius involves Rose, getting her to want to hunt, Damian agrees so he can take assignments with her to protect her. This was a bit longer than usual contemporaries, around 340 pages and while I overall liked how it didn't like the story was rushed, there were some pieces that didn't feel like they smoothly fit and maybe could have been left out. There was a mean girl trio that tied into Rose's ride share job, a random flashback from Damian's past that could have worked if went longer and showed his hexing but as the only flashback felt uselessly placed, a no pants subway ride that didn't hit the mark for me, a live cams scheme by Rose to help the sanctuary that could have been left out as there was a later, rushed, adoption fair featured, and a few other little things that when I think back on them, didn't tie-in the best. I would have much rather had that time given to more resolution with Damian, his inner demon, and his brother. They belonged together, and he wasn’t about to let something as minor as a Soul Hex prevent that from happening. The last twenty percent had Damian's hex coming more into the picture to be dealt with and we meet the ex witch that hexed him, following with the tone, she's not as evil as thought to be with a surprise reveal. If you're looking for a sizable cast of characters that keeps them around but gives the spotlight to the main couple, a lighter toned paranormal world, and steamy open door love scenes between two leads that had fun chemistry, this is definitely a world you'll want to hop into. Rose's younger sister Olive looks to be getting the set-up with her new roomie, guardian angel Bax. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 15, 2023
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Feb 18, 2023
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Dec 18, 2022
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Paperback
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WhiskeyintheJar
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paranormal
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Oct 12, 2024
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it was ok
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Jun 16, 2018
not set
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Jul 29, 2024
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Sep 25, 2024
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Jun 17, 2024
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| 3.77
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it was ok
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Jun 25, 2024
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Jun 14, 2024
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| 3.97
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really liked it
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Oct 10, 2024
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Jun 04, 2024
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Aug 23, 2024
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May 10, 2024
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Sep 15, 2024
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May 05, 2024
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it was ok
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Oct 17, 2024
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Mar 22, 2024
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Mar 07, 2024
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Feb 29, 2024
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Aug 16, 2024
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Jan 21, 2024
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| 3.89
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it was ok
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Oct 24, 2023
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Oct 13, 2023
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| 3.79
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Jan 04, 2016
not set
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Sep 03, 2023
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| 3.78
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Oct 25, 2023
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Jul 31, 2023
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it was ok
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Jul 22, 2023
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Jul 02, 2023
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it was ok
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Aug 18, 2023
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May 26, 2023
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| 4.23
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Jun 11, 2024
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Mar 27, 2023
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| 3.70
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really liked it
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Sep 25, 2023
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Mar 26, 2023
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| 4.41
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it was ok
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Feb 22, 2023
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Feb 13, 2023
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| 3.20
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Mar 23, 2023
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Feb 07, 2023
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| 3.82
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really liked it
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Feb 18, 2023
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Dec 18, 2022
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