The Wolf and the King Author: Tami Veldura Title: The Wolf and the King Series: None Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: M/M Rating: One Petal On the Author's Website: http://www.tamiveldura.com/books-for-sale/stand-alone-short-stories/ Summary: Kaleb is under pressure from his closest adviser. Either choose a husband and take the throne of his people, the shifters of the world, or one will be chosen for him. But Kaleb doesn’t want just any husband. He wants to find his mate, the one man that the gods put in this world specifically for him. Richard thinks Kaleb is a fool to trust in myths, but Kaleb insists he’s looking for a forever love and he’s determined to find it. Parker is a lowborn wolf shifter and not interested in bowing to any tiger, that is, until Kaleb parades by and their eyes lock. For a second nothing else exists, just the two of them and the knowledge that they are meant to be together. It’s fate. But the advisor pushes Kaleb on, and it’s up to Parker to find a way to reach his true mate. Wolves have been oppressed by the tiger royalty for generations, but it’s Kaleb who fears the bond he and Parker share. Something or someone is scaring Parker’s mate into an arranged marriage he doesn’t want. Parker knows that Kaleb is his, but unless Kaleb can make a stand, they’ll be apart forever. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC via the author in exchange for an honest review. As king, Kaleb has certain responsibilities, one of which is to find a suitable mate. His advisor has a list of candidates, but Kaleb wants to find his true mate. Unfortunately, true mates are a myth and his advisor is going to make sure Kaleb chooses someone whether Kaleb likes it or not. This book had far too many flaws, the worst of which was the fact that physical and emotional abuse was used as a plot point. I have read plenty of books with on-screen abuse that handled it with delicacy and emotional depth that allowed for a very real and very terrible issue to properly evolve the characterizations. This story used the abuse as a crutch to push the plot, and that I find difficult to respect. Kaleb's decisions hinged entirely on that abuse, which meant he didn't have a real personality. Parker, the love interest, wasn't given enough pages to flesh out his personality either. He's either having sex with Kaleb or locked in a cage, so readers barely get to know him. The plot was also limited with almost zero world building to provide any depth to the situations Kaleb and Parker find themselves. The only glimmer of potential in the entire story was the political schism between the tigers and wolves, but aside from mentioning in the beginning that the issue exists, the author appears to have forgotten about it entirely. Going into depth on that could have provided an opportunity for Kaleb and Parker characters to get fleshed out, given depth to the book, and provided a real plot. Maggie's Recommendation: The physical and emotional abuse of one of the characters was used as a plot-crutch, which was terrible, and overall the story lacked depth in plot, characterization, and world building. I therefore cannot recommend this book.
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Water to Burn Author: Katharine Kerr Title: Water to Burn Series: Nola O'Grady 2 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/F Rating: Three Petals On the Author's Website: http://deverry.com/?page_id=51#Water Summary: Just when Nola O'Grady thinks she has it all... Nola's the new head of the San Francisco branch of the Agency, the Psychic organization so secret that even the CIA doesn't know it exists. What's more, for some mysterious reason, Interpol has assigned her lover, Israeli secret agent Ari Nathan, to her new bureau as her permanent "bodyguard." But everywhere she looks she sees a Chaos manifestation spying on her. Inexplicable "rogue waves" are sweeping innocents to a water death before she can save them. She has two increasingly dangerous searches on hand, for Reb Ezekiel, the supposedly dead prophet from Ari's past, and for the mysterious "Brother Belial," head of the Chaos cult they had managed to take down. To top it off, her brother Michael is dragging Nola and Ari into his attempt to rescue his girlfriend from a radioactive alternate dimension. How is Nola supposed to serve the forces of Harmony and maintain the balance between Chaos and Order when she can't even keep her own family under control? Maggie's Review:
Nola's new job means new responsibility, but it doesn't change the fact that her family is the source of most of her problems. This time, it's Ari's past that is stepping in, with a crazy prophet his family followed during his childhood suddenly appearing. All of that combined might just be too much chaos for Nola to be able to continue doing her job safely. What I really enjoyed about this book was the focus it put on providing additional depth to Ari's characterization. Readers were provided enough to get to like him in book one, and this book continues on that vein with his backstory. That provided a much better understanding for why he acts the way he does and that only made me like him and his relationship with Nola even more. The best part of learning about Ari was the fact that Kerr was able to provide all of that depth without skimping on the rest of the story. The plot was engaging and kept me hooked, Nola and her family continued to grow as characters, and all of it came together in a very enjoyable book. Maggie's Recommendation: The characterizations really took flight in this story, which gave the book a nice amount of depth and helped move it along in the series. I really enjoyed reading the story and that is why I recommend it. A Study of Fiber and Demons Author: Jasmine Gower Title: A Study of Fiber and Demons Series: None Genre: High Fantasy Pairing: M/M/F, Poly, Ace, Bi Rating: Two Petals On the Author's Website: http://jasminegower.com/fiction/a-study-of-fiber-and-demons/ Summary: When Alim is exposed by his rival Liam for academic corruption, his career in the Pinnacle University of Scholarly Magic is destroyed, and only a breakthrough in the study of the highly-profitable essence known as demonweave will be enough to regain his standing. His efforts to restore his reputation are disrupted by the University, however, when they assign him to uncover a means to replicate the production of demonweave, along with a team of experts on demon magic: his nemesis, Liam; his primary competitor in the field of demon research, Sylvestra; and the handsome and tender-hearted professor, Jack. As if that wasn't bad enough, Alim is well-aware the University intends to sell demonweave to mages for a hefty profit, and they will expect their researchers to do whatever it takes to discover a way to control the production of demonweave, even at the risk of the demons who create it—and there's no telling how the demons will retaliate. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Despite his less than illustrious past, Alim is still considered an expert on demonweave. When a team is put together to go out and study it, Alim is therefore chosen. Except, the people also chosen on his team are his arch enemies. It's a mission bound for failure. Alim just doesn't know how bad it will all be when it's all over. Someone desperately needed to pull Gower aside before this story was published and explain that "fiber" is not a word that will draw readers. Fiber has certain connotations that don't have much to do with fantasy literature. It certainly almost kept me from requesting this story. I suspect that had the title simply been "A Study of Demons", I wouldn't have been nearly so reticent to give it a try. (There is an identified psychological impact of titles and covers that all major publishing companies utilize to entice readers, so I don't think my saying this in a review is too off base.) That said, the cover was interesting enough that I did decide to pick the book up and I was happy to learn that fiber was a magical term of some importance in the book. I found many parts of this story to be equally poorly composed. For example, the characters themselves were interesting, yet at the same time not a single one of them was actually likeable. Being able to identify with the characters is a big aspect to pulling readers into a story and that just wasn't possible here. None of the characters were good people--in fact most of them are so deeply flawed that I couldn't help wondering if they were actually the villains of the story. In some ways that makes them more human and providing that flawed aspect does show good writing ability, but without anything to draw me in, they only made the beginning of the story drag. In fact, the story didn't actually pick up until the demons arrived, which is towards the end, and that was only because some world building was finally included. Maggie's Recommendation: I picked this book up despite the less than inviting title and, while I didn't think it was bad, I did think much of it was poorly composed. The characterizations were mostly unlikable and that greatly hurt my overall enjoyment of this story. I therefore cannot recommend it. Day Shift Author: Charlaine Harris Title: Day Shift Series: Midnight Texas 2 Genre: Paranormal Pairing: M/F Rating: Three Petals On the Author's Website: http://charlaineharris.com/day-shift/ Summary: There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous. Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular — and very wealthy — clients dies during a reading. Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight... Maggie's Review:
Manfred is in trouble: a wealthy client has died during a private psychic reading with him and her son is trying to pin the murder on him. To make matters worse, the attention of the press falls on Midnight, which only survives because the magical denizens can stay anonymous--which isn't possible with cameras and press hanging around all the time. Solving the murder will require Manfred to team up with Olivia, one of the more secretive of Midnight's residents, but the extra attention on her might just destroy them both. I was so hopeful for this story when I read the summary because I thought it might finally go into some depth about the magic use in this world. Readers learned absolutely nothing about how Manfred speaks with the dead in book one, and unfortunately we were only provided a glimpse in this book. It almost feels like the fact that magic exists in this world is an afterthought, which is a shame given how much of the characters' lives revolve around their use of magic. Then I learned that this series is set in the same world as Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series and I can't help wondering whether Harris is relying on readers having read that series first to understand the magic. Since I've read the other series, I can safely tell you it is not enough to understand Midnight Texas' magic. Maggie's Recommendation: I did like this book, so I will recommend it, however I continue to be disappointed overall with the series. In this one I hoped the magic would finally be given some depth, but aside from a few parlor tricks it really wasn't and that lack of depth has been consistently hurting the series. . Fraud Twice Felt Author: J.T. Hall Title: Fraud Twice Felt Series: The Oddities 2 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Pairing: M/M Rating: Three Petals On the Author's Website: https://jthallwriting.wordpress.com/published-works/ Summary: Three weeks after solving his old boyfriend’s murder, bounty hunter Derwin Bryant is trying to let go of the past and embrace his new life with Elliot Leed, a former rentboy and fellow Oddity. Elliot, meanwhile, is trying to adjust to working at Bob’s Bail Bonds and having a real relationship despite his strange power of Object Reading. Hanging over the couple is the fear that Roy Yoshiro, notorious gang lord, will make good on his threats to claim Elliot. If that happens, not even Derwin’s superhuman strength will be enough to protect the man he loves. Their concerns are overshadowed when Derwin’s friend asks for help finding her missing son. It’s not long before the case takes Derwin and Elliot back to the crime-ridden underbelly of the city and straight into Yoshiro’s clutches. Two gangs are vying for power, and Derwin and Elliot get caught in the middle of their very public fight. Derwin and Elliot must find a way to thwart both gangs’ plans and escape alive. This time, one misstep could spell disaster for all the inhabitants of Nis. Maggie's Review:
I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Derwin and Elliot are starting their relationship on strong ground. The feelings between them are mutual and they are both more than willing to work to keep it. Unfortunately, the rest of Nis isn't as interested. A friend's child has gone missing, bringing Elliot to the attention of a gang leader that wants him back. For both Derwin and Elliot to survive, their relationship has to come to an end, and that's not a solution either are willing to live with. All of the world building and characterizations for this series was already accomplished in the first book, so at this point there isn't anything new to add. That was a mistake in my opinion. The truly great series are always evolving as the characters learn more about the world and about themselves. The only growth in the entire book was Elliot beginning to grow up, which was unfortunately not well fleshed out. I needed to learn more about Derwin and about the strange and very interesting world they live in for this story to have needed depth. What I did enjoy was the plot. It kept me hooked from the first page and each twist and turn was interesting to read. It was also predictable, but I didn't mind being able to guess what was happening beforehand because it was still a well-written story. I particularly liked learning about Elliot's magic, which he has begun to learn more about in his quest to join Derwin as a private investigator. Maggie's Recommendation: Despite this book lacking any continued growth from book one, I did enjoy the plot and the magic. I do recommend it and I am looking forward to book three in the series. |
Magnolia's Reviews
Maggie reviews paranormal and fantasy novels and novellas. She also interviews authors and hosts giveaways. Archives
April 2018
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