Okay,
so jogging through Central Park after midnight wasn't a bright idea.
But Margrit Knight never thought she'd encounter a dark new world filled
with magical beings -- not to mention a dying woman and a mysterious
stranger with blood on his hands. Her logical, lawyer instincts told her
it couldn't all be real -- but she could hardly deny what she'd seen . .
. and touched.
The mystery man, Alban, was a gargoyle. One of
the fabled Old Races who had hidden their existence for centuries. Now
he was a murder suspect, and he needed Margrit's help to take the heat
off him and find the real killer.
As they worked together to
figure out who was framing Alban, Margrit discovered that this man with a
heart -- and body -- of stone made her feel more alive than ever, And
as the dead pile up, it's a race against the sunrise to clear Alban's
name and keep them both alive . . .
My Review:
I picked up this trilogy secondhand after enjoying the start of The Walker Papers series but I really didn't enjoy this at all.
My
first big issue was the MC Margrit who I took an instant dislike to.
Despite the fears of her friends she likes to go running at night in
Central Park, with the 'it'll never happen to me' smug attitude that
grated on my nerves. She seems to think she is superior because she is
all brave and better than all the scared people. Of course she is also
in a dispute with her on-off lover who she treats little utter crud. She
is cold, haughty and nasty to him and anyone else that she feels
superior to and the strange way she reacts to things was offputting. I
just did not like her at all which made it very hard to struggle on with
the book. And I do mean struggle on.
The book was so SLOW that I
felt as if I was sliding into a coma at times. The whole first part of
the story was Margrit jogging, Margrit fighting with someone, Margrit
drinking, Margrit fighting with someone, Margrit being an ass, Margrit
jogging and so on. There was a plot running alongside this about Magrit
seeing the suspect accused of a murder in the park while she was jogging
there, and the suspect approaching her to help him clear his name.
Right. What suspect approaches the lawyer witness to ask for her help?
And what the frig does he see in Magrit to make him want to lust after
and stalk her? It certainly isn't her winning personality. I just found
this story dragging and if there is one thing I hate in a book, it is a
slow start. I like to get right into some action or I get bored.
But
the thing I hated most was that irritating habit Magrit had of chanting
'irrational' over and over. She jogs to the rhythm of the word
irrational as we continually have to experience and it got on my nerves.
By page 40 she had been going on about irrational about seven times and
on page 53 she was at it again. It was chewing on my last frazzled
nerve by then.
This book was just never going to appeal to me.
There were too many things that annoyed me so I'll just stick with The
Walker Papers thank you.
Behind the facade of the sedate
sorority house, unutterable horrors seethe while tumid desires rise. All
the while, Ann White must become pervert-fodder if she hopes to pass
Pledge Week. All too soon, she finds that no act of lewdness is deemed
too demeaning, no manner of sexual degradation too foul... For there is a
secret festering in the bowels of Alpha House, an ancient carnal evil
whose stygian lust is too hideous to imagine and still stay sane. As Ann
literally dips herself into a cesspool of soul-soiling immorality, the
black revelation throbs closer and closer... Poor Ann will be slopped on, spewed in, spat upon, penetrated, humped,
poked, humiliated, bitch-slapped, gang-sodomized, plungered like a
toilet, filled like a decanter, and debased en masse-indeed, she will
willingly go through a wringer of sexual depravity to prove her resolve,
but along the way, as she converts herself into this veritable
receptacle of sullied lust, will she live long enough to unveil the true
secret of Alpha House?
TONIGHT, WE'RE GOING MONSTERING. An unrelenting
and irredeemable novel of gore-house porn and unmitigated black comedic
horror.
My Review:
This was the first Edward Lee book that I read and I knew in advance
that his writing is regarded as sick, twisted, depraved and disgusting
so I figured I knew what I was in for.I've read a lot of gory and
sexually exploitive books but I've never had my gag reflex given such a
workout!
Ann is obese, has failing grades and is in search of a
sorority that will take her in. Alpha House has a reputation for taking
losers and turning them into smart and beautiful girls, and Ann needs to
make it through pledge week to have any hope of a life. But pledge week
at Alpha House is going to be the worst week of her life.
You
really have to admire Ann's dedication to her cause! She is smart enough
to know what is going on and knows that giving up means having went
through it all for nothing. It doesn't help that she keeps getting
punished for her smart ass comments. I found Ann to be funny and
entertaining and I loved seeing her reaction to each new challenge. I
liked her twisted pledgemaster and the dark humour throughout the book
which had you laughing as well as gagging.
So what is the twisted
content of the book? Let me warn you what to expect so you can decide
whether you want to read it. Sexual encounters with WW2 veterans, old
doctors, unwashed tramps, rednecks, sports teams, monkeys, aliens and
parents. More sucking than an ice lolly convention. Toilet functions in
sexual encounters. The detail at times can be stomach churning so be
warned!
It's not a book that I would read again as I doubt my
stomach could handle it but I did find it amusing in a twisted way. It
is definitely not for the faint hearted or easily offended!
The Drakes are rather
different to your usual neighbors. They are vampires and some of the
members of the family date back to the twelfth century. One of the
children, Solange, is the only born female vampire known and, as such,
she poses a direct threat to the vampire queen. Her best friend Lucy is
human, and when Solange is kidnapped, Lucy and Solange's brother,
Nicholas, set out to save her. Lucy soon discovers that she would like
to be more than just friends with Nicholas. But how does one go about
dating a vampire? Meanwhile, Solange finds an unlikely ally in Kieran, a
vampire slayer on the hunt for his father's killer.
My Review:
Solange
is about to become a full vampire on her 16th birthday, just like her
brothers, but with major complications. An ancient prophesy suggests
that she is destined for the throne of the Vampire Queen, and its
current owner Lady Natasha is feeling a bit paranoid. It doesn't help
that vampires from all over are coming to pay respects to Solange, all
wanting to capture her so she will give them vampire babies and power if
she takes the throne. Add in vampires that want to kill her, human
hunters who want to destroy all vampires, a bounty on her head and the
possibility that she might not survive the change itself, and life is
pretty tough for her, her family and human best friend Lucy who are
determined to protect her.
This is definitely an above average YA
book. Yes it has the romance element that I don't usually like, but it
doesn't feel hokey or overused. The chemistry between Lucy and Nicholas
feels genuine and innocent at times. Too many YA books have a lack of
chemistry in their romances but this one sizzles nicely, and you WANT
the two of them to get together which is pretty important.
The
Drake family and Lucy are good 'real' characters that you are rooting
for. We get the story from two POV which I'm not usually keen on but it
worked well in this case. Lucy has the feisty kickass attitude that I
like but being human, she doesn't have super skills to back it up. That
makes it easy to relate to her, dealing with her love angst feelings,
wanting to be brave and knowing that she is in a lot of danger from the
Drake enemies. The other narrator is Solange, dealing with being the
only girl in a family of over-protective vampire brothers, being the
object of attention from hunters and vampires alike, and just wanting to
be a normal girl like Lucy. Helena is strong and scary, the vampire
mother that you don't want to mess with. The brothers have great
charisma and personality and you want to see more of each of them. Of
course, my favourite is Nicholas as we get to know him best through Lucy
and Solange.
The plot is always moving and full of tension as
you wait for the next attack to happen. There is always something
happening or being planned which is nice for YA as sometimes I feel this
genre gets too slow or love dominated. This book manages to keep a good
balance with some humour added in when Lucy is around. You also know
that you will learn more about the rest of the family in future books,
which is something to look forward to. I liked the plot, the fight
scenes and the characters a lot and will look forward to reading the
next book in the series.
This bundle includes the
first four novellas in the Babet & Prosper series: One Less
Warlock, Magrat's Dagger, A Different Undead, and Bad Juju.
Babet
Spellbound, a witch, works with River City's supernatural, detective
squad to help solve crimes the regular police don't investigate. When
she teams up with Detective Prosper Blade,--a gorgeous, bear
shifter--she discovers that River city offers lots more than crab cakes
and po'boys for enticing treats. Working with Prosper proves a
challenge--both for Babet's magical skills and her libido.
My Review:
Babet is a witch and Prosper is her bear shifter police detective
boyfriend and together they try to solve mysteries, along with Morgana,
Babet's faithful snake. This is a book made up of four novellas full of
magic, paranormal activity and a touch of romance. I think I would
describe them as cozy paranormal mysteries.
I'm not normally a
romance kind of girl but the romance element works because we have a
recently established couple who work well together professionally and
personally. Both are characters that you instantly warm to which is
something that I like about Judith Post's writing. Her characters are
always ones you like and you care what happens to them. The side
characters are interesting and add to the story.
I reviewed my two favourite stories below.
Magrat's Dagger:
The
plot itself is a fight to control a magical dagger which is the only
weapon that can stop a summoned demon. A group of coven witches died
stopping him the last time he was summoned so now Babet and her friends
must find a way to destroy him. Naturally the demon and his allies do
not want this to happen and are determined to kill the witches and
destroy the dagger. There was a good amount of action, the story was
entertaining and I liked all the characters working together to avoid
disaster.
A Different Undead:
Babet sees a witch on the street
who is meant to be dead and discovers that a necromancer is raising the
worst dead witches to form a dangerous army. Babet, the coven and the
vampires need to stop them. I liked the uneasy relations between the
witches and vampires as they try to stop a common enemy.
I
enjoyed these well written tales and would have continued with all the
novellas had they been available on paperback to go back to and read
again. I use my ereaders for books that are to be read, so I don't store
books on there for rereading in the future. And with my short term
memory being bad, I like to get a real copy of the books I really enjoy
so I have a permanent copy to refer to.
I would certainly
recommend these novellas and the full length books that I have read by
this author-Wolf's Bane and its sequel Shadow Demon.
Welcome to Reading with Chuckles! This is where I fill you in on what
I'm reading each week-what it is, where I got it or heard about it,
what I think of it, if I'm continuing with it or abandoning it and any
special offers I'm aware of where you can try the book yourself.
Comments are welcome but no spoilers please! It's not fair to other
readers!
I am now on to my winter readathon. This means I'm turning my
attention to series that I've started and liked but never got round to
finishing. So I hope to get through a LOT of books and catch up with a
few favourites!
I switched my attention to two series that I started a while back-the Jaz Parks books by Jennifer Rardin and the Drake Chronicles by Alyxandra Harvey. Bleeding Hearts was good as there is more of Lucy in it but even that didn't make Blood Moon as good. It was the most disappointing of the series so far-too long and too much angst. One more bite was much better than the last two Jaz Parks books so I have high hopes for the final three books. I managed to fit in a short story as well which was a bit dull. I didn't get as much reading done over the festive period as I hoped but I'm back on track now.
