by Jayne Castle Book 11 of Harmony -- Book 3 of Rainshadow ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 4.0 Stars
The world of Harmony has its wonders, one of them being Rainshadow Island. Just beneath its surface, a maze of catacombs hides a dangerous secret...… Halloween—with its tricks and treats—is a dust bunny’s dream come true. Just ask Lyle, Sedona Snow’s faithful sidekick. But for Sedona, it’s a nightmare. Though her new job managing a small hotel and tavern on Rainshadow is helping her move on from her tragic past, a bizarre disaster down in the catacombs has brought a pack of rowdy ghost hunters to her inn. And now, Sedona’s ex has arrived on the island, claiming he wants to get back together, just as a newcomer appears to have a strong interest in her. Cyrus Jones is the new Guild boss in town. He has his own agenda when it comes to Sedona, but even the best-laid plans are no match for the passion that springs up on Rainshadow….
I've always liked how the Harmony and Arcane Society books will often interweave with each other. And it feels like now that we have alien catacombs and ghost hunters back in the story, we've returned to the main story line of the Harmony series. Previously, in an earlier installment's review, I'd mentioned how I sometimes would forget that these Rainshadow books were part of the futuristic Harmony world. Because even in spite of having the alien created Preserve on the island, the first couple Rainshadow installments really just felt like a bunch of psychics on an island, during present day.
But with the discovery of the alien catacombs leading into the dangerous Preserve, as well as some discoveries of psychically evolved beasts, we're starting to feel more like the futuristic non-Earth world of Harmony once again. And to top it off, we're bringing back the Joneses and including a descendant of Arizona Snow--a character we met briefly in two previous Arcane Society books--who was known to be a bit eccentric with some conspiracy theories.
And... for some reason, while we continue moving forward with our new Rainshadow discoveries, I also found that this book felt a little suspiciously like a mish-mash of ideas. There's the Halloween setting, and then the small town "we take care of our own" dialogue. Then there's the strange, crystal blue alien Jurassic Park in an unknown sector of the alien catacombs, with singing predators and a lead-in to our next book in the Rainshadow series, Siren's Call. Because now we want to explore this unknown territory, but it'll be hard to do so when alien bio-engineered dinosaurs can sing you to your death.
Once again, I always love the inclusion of the dust bunnies, and am glad that we get to see more of them, and that Sedona's dust bunny companion, Lyle, gets to save the day a few times.
I'm so ready to move onto the next book to see what develops next... and also a little concerned that the series seems to be coming to its end. Unless, of course, Ms. Castle still has some ideas in the works and we've just yet to see another published book yet... pretty please?
Beginning at 12:01am on Saturday morning and running through 11:59pm on Sunday night, readers read for 24 hours out of that 48 hour period. You can split that up however you’d like: 20 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday; 12 hours each day; six 4 hour sessions with 4 hour breaks in between; whatever you’d like.
So... This is probably the most scattered, unproductive 24in48 readathon I've done since I participated for the first time a couple years ago. I'm not even sure I really tried all that hard, and barely finished one book... if you count the 30% of Entrapment I finished plus the 75% of Siren's Call I managed to read.
I suppose I just wasn't in the right mood. And then I just stopped keeping track--not mattering how loosely I was tracking in the first place--of how many minutes/hours I'd been spending reading.
I guess there's always July to give it another go.
Beginning at 12:01am on Saturday morning and running through 11:59pm on Sunday night, readers read for 24 hours out of that 48 hour period. You can split that up however you’d like: 20 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday; 12 hours each day; six 4 hour sessions with 4 hour breaks in between; whatever you’d like.
So after posting my first 24in48 update, I promptly went to cook myself some food, fully intending to eat and read at the same time. And because I over-estimated myself, I thought I would also open up my video game and play passively at the same time. But then my brother logged into the game and we ended up sucked into it for hours.
The only time I could read were during really, really passive-play times. And so, while I spent more time than I like playing, I DID manage to get about two hours, scattered, of reading done with Siren's Call.
That is all. There must be something about readathon weekends that just doesn't allow me to make time to read. I mean, I could make time, but I always end up doing something else. Le sigh...
Meanwhile, my snack plans were still useful, I suppose. Chips, popcorn shrimp... we didn't actually have pizza rolls. But since I'm craving pizza rolls, there's a high chance I will end up going out and getting some before the rest of the day is over.
Books Read
No books were finished since the last update.
Currently Reading
The Heir by Grace Burrowes | 455 pages
-- 0 pages read in 0 hours
To be honest, I'm not really getting into this book, so the likelihood I will actually read any of it during this weekend is kind of slim. Still, it is still one of the books I'm currently reading, so on the off-chance that I decide I'm going to give it a go, I'll go ahead and list it here.
Then Came You by Jill Shalvis | 572 minutes
-- 0 minutes listened to
I like having an audio book going for anytime I think I'm going to need to use my hands and my focus for something else for some time. If I'm doing some passive, mindless activity, like blogging or playing video games, then these handy little lovelies are wonderful.
Of course, I'm also not quite enjoying this particular Jill Shalvis book... yet. I do hope it picks up soon, but I'm starting to feel a bit wary of our main couple, and I'm only a little over an hour into the book...
Siren's Call by Jayne Castle | 232 pages
-- 68 pages read in ~2 hours
I had fully intended to give this book a full hour of reading after I woke up this morning. But then I started blogging and time got away from me. So I ended up only devoting about half an hour, if that at all, to this book. It was probably more like 20 minutes, but details...
Beginning at 12:01am on Saturday morning and running through 11:59pm on Sunday night, readers read for 24 hours out of that 48 hour period. You can split that up however you’d like: 20 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday; 12 hours each day; six 4 hour sessions with 4 hour breaks in between; whatever you’d like.
I woke up around approximately 10:00 A.M. to realize that I had dreamed I'd been reading. Erego, I probably should just wake up and get started on this readathon!
I don't like doing constant progress updates, but have always intended at least an update every twelve hours, starting from the official Hour Zero... but that doesn't always happen, so you end up with those little gems like "Hour Forty-One... and a Half" for some old thon updates. Life happens.
Anyway, after pulling my lazy self out of bed, I managed to make progress on one new book! Excellent stuff! And while I'd like to claim that I finished reading one of my current reads within these two hours I've been away, well, that's not what happened. I actually did not pass out right away after posting my "Thon Starts Now!" update, and ended up finishing Entrapment by Kylie Brant, which took approximately one and a half hours to finish.
Meanwhile, during the time I've been awake this morning, I was able to squeeze about half and hour of reading in with Jayne Castle's Siren's Call.
And no, like usual, I'm rounding my time, because I haven't been able track my reading time properly since the first time I participated in this readathon.
Hope everyone else is having a fine time this weekend, with lots of books and snacks and activity!
Books Read
Entrapment by Kylie Brant | 245
-- 83 pages read in 1.5 hours
So here's one book finished, even though I technically only had about 30% left to read. I had hoped to have Entrapment finished before the readathon weekend started so I could just start in on the rest of the books on my plan, but as I'd stated earlier, I got sucked into a video game, and stuff happened.
So instead, Entrapment gets included in my list of thon books for this winter! Now we're moving along to the next read!
Currently Reading
The Heir by Grace Burrowes | 455 pages
-- 0 pages read in 0 hours
To be honest, I'm not really getting into this book, so the likelihood I will actually read any of it during this weekend is kind of slim. Still, it is still one of the books I'm currently reading, so on the off-chance that I decide I'm going to give it a go, I'll go ahead and list it here.
Then Came You by Jill Shalvis | 572 minutes
-- 0 minutes listened to
I like having an audio book going for anytime I think I'm going to need to use my hands and my focus for something else for some time. If I'm doing some passive, mindless activity, like blogging or playing video games, then these handy little lovelies are wonderful.
Of course, I'm also not quite enjoying this particular Jill Shalvis book... yet. I do hope it picks up soon, but I'm starting to feel a bit wary of our main couple, and I'm only a little over an hour into the book...
Siren's Call by Jayne Castle | 232 pages
-- 19 pages read in 0.5 hours
I had fully intended to give this book a full hour of reading after I woke up this morning. But then I started blogging and time got away from me. So I ended up only devoting about half an hour, if that at all, to this book. It was probably more like 20 minutes, but details...
Er... well, maybe a couple hours ago. But late is better than not!!
Beginning at 12:01am on Saturday morning and running through 11:59pm on Sunday night, readers read for 24 hours out of that 48 hour period. You can split that up however you’d like: 20 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday; 12 hours each day; six 4 hour sessions with 4 hour breaks in between; whatever you’d like.
I had fully intended to start at midnight and get a couple hours of reading done before I passed out. But then I got sucked into a video game with the brothers, and then time got away from me. Nonetheless, I DID try to sneak a few paragraphs of one of my books in every few pauses in the gaming! I'm planning on passing out within minutes of posting this update, and then starting fresh in the morning... or mid-morning, I suppose.
I have the whole weekend off! However, I have to be up early for work on Monday, so that means that I will probably cut off my reading around 9:00 P.M. or 10:00 P.M., CST on Sunday night. Oh well, hopefully that'll still give me enough time to get at least one and half books read. Because that always seems to be the extent of my accomplishments for 24in48 thus far.
Currently I'm reading...
My main goal this readathon is basically to make progress on the books from one of two different series: either the last two, currently available books of the Harmony series by Jayne Castle, or the last two books of the Tremaine Tradition series by Kylie Brant. I'm not sure in which direction I'm going, but I've checked out both Siren's Call and Illusion Town from the library, and so it is more likely I'm going that way!
Hopefully I'll be able to finish reading one, if not two, of the books.
Cover Crush is a feature originally thought up by Erin at Flashlight Commentary. Every Thursday, she publishes a post featuring a book jacket/book cover that she really likes with a short commentary about it. I discovered this weekly feature via It's a Mad Mad World and decided to join in the fun! Judge a book by it's cover? Absolutely!
***
This is my favorite cover of Stephanie Thornton's historical fiction books--I think it's also her most recently publish novel in 2015. The Conqueror's Wife follows the women around Alexander the Great, and what little sample of it I've read, I kind of like, so I'm interested in pursuing the rest of the story. At the same time, I'm also interested in reading the other historical fiction novels written by Stephanie Thornton, all based on historical leaders, all focused on the women of that time.
This cover is just beautiful. That's really all I have to say about it. I love it!
Here are other Stephanie Thornton historical fiction novel covers:
It also looks like Stephanie Thornton has another new book planned called American Princess with a 2019 publication. Looks like I should get started on these other four books as soon as I can!
by Jayne Castle Book 10 of Harmony -- Book 2 of Rainshadow ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 4.0 Stars
In the world of Harmony, Rainshadow Island is home to a mysterious preserve, secrets that have been kept for centuries, and a treasure worth killing for... As a light-talent, Alice North has the rare ability to make things disappear, including herself—a gift that comes in handy during her magic act with her dust bunny Houdini. Business mogul Drake Sebastian is day-blind, since his sight was nearly destroyed in a lab accident. But he’s the one man who can see Alice when she disappears—and he needs her. On Rainshadow Island, two dangerous Old World crystals are missing, igniting a paranormal storm. Drake thinks Alice is the key to finding them, and proposes they head there, but only after a Marriage of Convenience. Alice’s honeymoon on Rainshadow is guaranteed to be memorable, as the island—and the passion between her and Drake—is about to explode...
Deception Cove continues the Rainshadow conflict, picking up where The Lost Night left off, with the search for the last two crystals, and well as figuring out what's causing the Preserve to become so psi-hot, as our characters put it. The entire community of Rainshadow is in darkness with the electricity being affected, and no outside resources able to land as the psi-hot atmosphere is causing dangerous travel.
Drake Sebastian and Alice North were both mentioned from the previous book, and it was pretty much a gimme who the main couple would be for this following installment.
Despite being the same typical romance formula that Jayne Castle is known for, I found that I really loved this installation of the series a lot. I think it mainly has to do with the atmosphere and the setting. In a sense, it kind of reminded me of some video games I used to play, where your game character travels to an unknown land and ends up trapped there until you can defeat the big boss of that level. Meanwhile, there is no electricity, and you must solve the conflict by speaking with the mysterious in-game inhabitants.
I mean, that wasn't the plot of this book, in particular, but we still have that "stranded on an island" feeling, with no electricity, and our main characters must resolve the conflict to save the day. Work and plan by day; get indoors and away from the mysterious hallucinogenic fog by night. A very intriguing synopsis, indeed.
Meanwhile, I really DO love a lot of the new developments that keep popping up in this long-running Harmony series.
If there is one thing about these books, however, that kind of make me roll my eyes, it would be the deliberate pop culture references by our characters. Someone always brings up some real-time present day thing in these books, which are technically historical to them. But it feels both amusing and a little tacky at the same time. I'm not saying I don't enjoy them--they bring a little bit of strange humor to the books--but they feel awkward as well.
Meanwhile, I'm still a little confused about a few psychic abilities, and am trying really, really hard not to slam on the whole "psychic recognition of your one true love" thing. It's quite obvious that each couple's set-up for the past few books is bringing the "psychic compatibility" thing as part of the romantic attraction. Why can't we just have a "getting to know each other" romance without bringing the whole "psychically compatible and meant for each other" theme into it all?
Last, but definitely not least, Houdini made an exception dust bunny addition to our book, even if his presence felt a bit lacking. Once again, I wished we could have seen more of our dust bunny friends, as Darwina, from the previous book, gets a little bit of book time, though not quite enough.
by Mindee Arnett Book 1 of Avalon ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 3.5 Stars
Avalon was actually quite entertaining. While I had trouble getting into it in the first half, the action started picking up towards the end and the ending was quite explosive. I'm typically not a fan of science fiction, and like to reserve my sci-fi enjoyments to visual media (television and movies) as I had mentioned in my brief review of Avalon's prequel novella Proxy. I'm not saying that reading Avalon has changed my mind or anything, because it's not really that outstanding of a book.
But enjoyable is enjoyable.
The Story:
Jethro Seagrave and his team of teenage intergalactic thieves work for a dangerous criminal syndicate leader named Hammer Dafoe. When the story in Avalon starts, the crew is in the middle of stealing a ship called the Montrose. It is the metadrive technology that Hammer wants--a navigation system or whatnot that allows ships to jump vast distances in space without using the Interstellar Transport Authority (ITA) regulated gates. It is during this heist that Jeth is confronted by an ITA agent named Renford who appeals to him to botch the next job Hammer gives him: Retrieve a lost ship in the Belgrave Quadrant. Instead of bringing Hammer the ship, Renford requests that Jeth bring the ship to him instead in exchange for his aid in reclaiming Jeth's family ship, Avalon, which is currently owned by Hammer.
This is an irresistible offer considering Jeth's one life mission is to work as many jobs for Hammer as he can in order to take back Avalon. Of course, even as a teenager, Jeth knows that no one authority figure can be easily trusted, and so he decides to form his own plan to reclaim Avalon. And it all starts with this mission to retrieve the Donerail from the Belgrave Quadrant as well as the dangerous weapon aboard it that Hammer admits to coveting.
But the Belgrave Quadrant is a dangerous place, a dead zone in space where ships and people have gone missing. Those who have survived travel through the Belgrave usually don't return without losing a bit of their own sanity.
My Thoughts: Avalon is a very typical space opera that doesn't seem too unique from other sci-fi plot lines I remember from television series. What works for Avalon is the cohesiveness of Jeth and his crew (although this was already done in Firefly, and I already mentioned that I wouldn't be able to keep myself from making the comparisons). And with so many similar parallels, it really IS hard NOT to keep referencing Firefly. Of course, as a YA novel following a group of teenage intergalactic thieves who are actually pretty decent at pulling off their heists, I've got to give credit where credit is due. Avalon set out to tell a story and tell a story it did.
I'm not good at sci-fi jargon or terminology or the works. Some of the things going on in Avalon felt a bit far-fetched to me, but I let it slide because I'm not an expert on sci-fi and probably wouldn't know whether or not the world-building is legit enough to work.
Now the storytelling, however, seemed a bit dragged on. The surprise twists weren't quite surprise twists when you kind of figured it all out in the beginning. How no one ever made the connection between Cora's tantrums and emotional ups and downs with the strange destructive holes appearing on-board the ship was a bit incredible. From the get-go you already have a feeling that there's more to Cora than just a random seven-year-old child that Sierra is trying to save from an abusive household.
But whatevs.
It's a pity that very little stands out about Avalon outside of its similarities to Firefly. Avalon wasn't a bad book; on the contrary, had we had a bit more memorable moments or less flat characters, I might have found the book quite fascinating. As it is, the characters were a bit underdeveloped with fairly standard, clichéd personalities, and the story line was simple and straight forward with attempts at surprise twists that didn't... twist very well.
I have nothing against any of the characters except for Sierra. While she is made out to be an independent, resourceful, strong girl who's one weakness is her lack of faith in humanity, I felt like she could have tried to stop and think about the bigger picture of things before acting. Because it had been her one un-thought-out decision that catapults all the chaos that ensues. And in the end, while she DOES feel apologetic and regret for what she did, I still feel like she got off too easily for it. I know she's not a bad person; but she made an entirely bad decision that could have been avoided had she just calmed down and stopped to think of the consequences.
To be honest, Sierra is a nice girl, but I didn't really care for her much. Instead, I think I would have preferred Celeste for the love interest instead, but she wasn't as developed as a character as Sierra was. I'm a bit glad that the romance wasn't the biggest factor in this book when so much else was going on, though. Despite Jeth getting himself in trouble with romance for a milli-instant, at least he gets his priorities straightened out.
The most likable character is Lizzie, but only by default because I always think it's cool when authors make a young girl the sci-fi/techie prodigy geek (and she's only thirteen). This is something that is more often reserved for guys (though I don't deny that in Real Life, all the techie geeks I know are all dudes).
On that note...
Overall Impression: Enjoyable, yet mediocre read with an abundance of potential. Great writing.
Proxy is the prequel novella to the Avalon series. I enjoyed Mindee Arnett's The Nightmare Affair and so was curious about this fairly different genre she's attempting. I've never been a big fan of sci-fi nor the space opera/futuristic types of story lines (though admittedly I have enjoyed such television series as Star Trek and Firefly, or Cowboy Bebop).
The Story in Brief:
The novella details one of the missions Jeth and his crew are sent on by his employer, a large criminal syndicate owned by a man named Hammer. In order to make enough money to retrieve his family's ship and home, Avalon, Jeth has no choice but to do Hammer's bidding.
The crew is stealing a precious ruby from the Grakkus empire, and it seems that this job is just easy pie until someone on Jeth's crew betrays them.
My Thoughts:
I'm going to say that this is the first time I've read a space opera story. Watching television series and movies and anime series seems fairly different as the action in futuristic space settings translate better to me in visual media.
Nonetheless, this novella was quite enjoyable after I got through the initial few chapters of set-up and semi-world building. I can't say that it was the most exciting thing I've ever read, and the characters seem quite flat and not quite so stimulating. Everything passed by in mediocrity, though for a novella I'll give it leeway. With comparisons of this story line and the characters to that of Firefly, I may have begun to create some biases, as Firefly was an exciting, complex series with well-developed, complicated characters and an extremely entertaining story line. Not to mention the actors brought everything to life.
Going into Avalon, I'm hoping that things can move upwards of the mediocre enjoyable-ness factor. After all, there's potential in a story such as this, and I'll try not to make too many comparisons to Firefly as I read it. With more room to work with, hopefully an entire book will do well to bring the characters to life and deliver an exciting story to boot.
by Kanae Hazuki -- Review of Volumes 1 to 4 -- ~ Goodreads ~ Average Rating: 3.0 Stars
Reviewer's Note on 1/21/2018: (1) I used the series page on GR as the link for this book. I didn't feel like linking all four books, as it didn't seem necessary. (2) I didn't feel the need to change anything in this review aside from a few grammatical errors and typos if I found them. So this is a direct copy and paste. Onward to the original review!
I haven't exactly been actively reading lately, even though I'm almost done with both The Book Thief and The Distance Between Us. But since it feels like I'm so behind on my Reading Challenges, and because I've been back in my anime groove lately I decided to pick up some manga as well. Of course, I'm kind of conflicted as to whether to count each volume as one entity of a book, or the entire series as one book.
Since, most of the time, manga volumes are published as separate books, I'll choose the former. (And it also helps me use them as sort of "cheat" books to catch up on my Reading Challenges. I'll make up for them later with a higher number of books read as well as longer novels in the 500+ pages range... maybe.)
Anyway...
Being a long time manga/anime fan, it's not hard for me to fall right back into the whole ordeal given the right anime or manga.
Sukitte iinayo isn't the best of manga story lines out there, but it's a cute, refreshing love story in the typically stereotypical and sometimes frustrating shoujo manga world where the girls are always cute, weak, bumbling idiots and the dude is Mr. Perfect Prince Charming. Indeed, this manga is a breath of fresh air.
I saw the anime first and got curious about the manga and so I started reading it, quickly blowing through the first 4 volumes.
And while I DO say that it's a refreshing new take on the "Cinderella meets Prince Charming" base trope (with a female lead whose got a heck care attitude about the world around her), it's still not very outstanding as a romance. Nonetheless, it's cute and I've enjoyed what I've read so far and will continue to read the rest of what's been released.
Tachibana Mei isn't your typical female character, but then again, given some time, she slowly transforms into one. Kurosawa Yamato is, of course THE typical shoujo manga male (not surprising there), but he's not a bad guy either (also, not surprising). As a couple, they work out pretty well, and it's refreshing to see the couple get together right off the bat rather than going through truckloads of misunderstandings, missed timings for confessions... the like... just to get them to admit they like each other.
Of course, that only means we get lots and lots of obstacles in the form of other peers trying hard to break up the relationship. Which is sad, because shoujo manga is so often full of vindictive people to the extreme.
Was high school always like this? I'm so far removed from teenaged years that I'm not even sure anymore. (Granted, I was always the invisible loner who could care less about other students and their drama...)
This manga series is still ongoing, having just finished up with Volume 11. The anime itself only goes as far as Volume 7, so I'm interested to see where the story goes after the anime's ending.
I will admit that I never thought I'd get back into anime and manga again, but the phase sure is lasting long right now.
Reviewer's Note on 1/21/2018:It didn't last long...
One wicked Christmas night… Trapped by a blizzard, the sight of notorious rogue Sir Lawrence Daunton almost makes schoolteacher Rose Westerhill turn back into the snow! When it becomes apparent she has nowhere else to go Rose accepts his offer of shelter, vowing to remain indifferent to his practiced charm. But as the temperature outside drops, she finds the wicked rake's sizzling seduction impossible to resist. For one stolen night Rose abandons her principles—and her body!—to his expert ministrations. Christmas with the rakish Lawrence promises to be a thoroughly improper yuletide celebration….
This historical romance by Sarah Mallory was written really well, but the actual story and the characters were quite frustrating. On top of that, I was a little disappointed that the entire "snowbound" scenario really only lasted a couple chapters, then the rest of the book was just a typical romance with a reformed rake and the prudish schoolteacher. I may or may not have started drifting off, or setting the book aside due to boredom.
As for our couple, they were pretty standard. I didn't find Sir Lawrence to stand out much, but he was a neutral, good man. Rose was more likable during the snowbound duration, but afterwards, I feel like she was a bit over-extreme in her prejudice against Sir Lawrence. I understand that she has a history and can see why she's so cautious, but she went to the point of simply wanting to always believe the worst of Sir Lawrence no matter that he'd been nothing but honorable towards her from the beginning.
In contrast, I found it kind of hard to believe that she would take the word of her fiance, Magnus, and her future sister-in-law, Althea, without really giving it more thought. She's been around Magnus and Althea enough that you'd think she wouldn't place so much credence in their words or actions. So it came across as her trying to find any reason possible to discredit Sir Lawrence, even if it hadn't been warranted.
The romance was super frustrating, and I'm not sure there were even any characters I liked.
The background mystery about the sunken ship, and the investigation of it seemed kind of blah.
I may try another Sarah Mallory book, but I DO hope that this one was just a fluke.
by Laura Griffin Book 12 of Tracers ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 3.0 Stars
This is a Laura Griffin Tracers novel, so it is dark and gritty and real where you need it to be. The premise was typical of most crime thrillers, and I'm always in love with how crime scene investigation and forensic science is incorporated.
Unfortunately, I'm not much enamored with TSTL characters. I can't say that I've come across too many of them in the Tracers installments previously, but I also can't say that they didn't exist.
In Touch of Red, she certainly did exist.
The Story:
At the scene of a gruesome murder, Brooke Porter discovers evidence that a witness might have escaped after the fact. What ends up being more surprising is who this witness may be, and the fact that said witness is probably in a lot of danger. Without hesitation, Brooke is determined to find this witness and keep him safe.
Detective Sean Byrne is in charge of this homicide case, and realizes that he may have to keep an eye on Brooke when the Delphi Center trace evidence expert decides to play at being detective. While he's more than happy to get a chance to spend more time with Brooke, it doesn't escape his notice that the murder has become just as sinister as the carnage at the crime scene suggests.
My Thoughts:
There's very little to say about this book without getting into a rant.
Don't get me wrong--I really enjoyed Touch of Red, much as I've enjoyed all the Tracers novels. It's intriguing, it's fast-paced, and it involves one of my favorite subjects. I also love how Laura Griffin incorporates more than just the current criminal case, showing us a scene where Brooke has caught up with two days worth of work, just analyzing fingerprints from different cases on her workload. She's not just narrowly focused on the "case of the week," but because crime labs have more than one case going at a time, they've got backlog, and they've got piles of work yet to be finished.
So I love how the focus of the "case of the week" is balanced enough to be realistic.
The romance was sweet, and probably could have been better if I had liked Brooke a bit more. In fact, I absolutely loved her character from the previous book, and was set to enjoy her from the beginning of this book. But at some point, she became so narrow-sighted and focused on "her witness" that she seemed to be teetering on reckless obsession. I get that she was worried for the safety of the witness she discovered; I get that she felt it might have been her fault for bringing this particular person to the killer's attention.
What I don't get is how a level-headed trace evidence expert, who is supposed to also understand how the law works, as a medico-legal specialist, throws all of her common sense out the window for the last half of the book. She also ended up kind of irrationally screechy... Okay, well, she didn't really screech or anything, but she might as well have been. Because she just started making all sorts of general, blanket assumptions that made it seem like she was the only one concerned about the witness's safety and finding the killer and blah, blah, blah...
She was basically telling all of her colleagues that they weren't doing their job.
It got a bit old. Especially when she started imagining slights from Sean based on her own history with men. I don't really think it was fair to him.
On the bright side, we have a not-broody alpha male this time around, who didn't feel the need to tell the heroine what to do all the time. I'm not saying that he didn't try once or twice, but when he realized it was not the way to Brooke Porter's heart, he let it go, even if grudgingly. And he never really went as far as caveman-styling his way into her life.
Anyway, the book was enjoyable on a certain level, and we do get to see more of some past characters as well as an introductory to what seems like the next couple in the Tracers installment--once again, somehow managing to seamlessly being part of this book without sticking out awkwardly. And I approve.
by Tami Hoag Book 3 of Doucet ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 1.5 Stars
The scream heard by no one is the deadliest. In the rural parishes of Louisiana's French Triangle, young women are disappearing one by one, only to turn up on the banks of the bayou, strangled and cast aside where they are sure to be found. But there is one trophy the killer prizes above all others, one woman who must be silenced forever.... Attorney Laurel Chandler did not come back to Bayou Breaux to seek justice. That once-burning obsession had destroyed her credibility, her career, her marriage—and nearly her sanity. But when a ruthless predator strikes too close to home, she's lured into a perverse game from which there may be no escape. Once before, Laurel's cries against a monstrous evil went unanswered. Who will listen now?
1. Tami Hoag can be a good writer.
I can see it in the other two books she's written that I recently read. The story progression isn't absurdly staunched or anything like that. And she can be good with words. Unfortunately, I think she tried WAY too hard to emphasize EVERYTHING in this book. The purple prose is strong with this one, suffocating and deliberate in its plight to squeeze meaning into every scene and every dialogue and every action.
It got tacky.
The only part of the writing I really DID appreciate about this book was the vivid imagery about the bayous. But otherwise, everything else (character descriptions, action descriptions, character dialogue, character monologue...) all just needed to be toned down a notch. Even all the sex scenes were so flowery that I started envisioning rose petals and climbing vines in the background framing our couple as they made passionate love.
2. The story (and the romance, since this is what the book was mainly about) was pretty much Lucky's Lady Redux. Same time, same place, same heroine, same hero, different story, same formula. The only difference is that this one had a murder mystery in the background as well as in the last 50% of the book (see my reading update at end of post for more info).
Jack Boudreaux and Laurel Chandler are no different than Lucky and Serena in their personalities, the courting ritual, and their physical appearances (except that Jack may have one-upped Lucky by throwing in a kidnapping offense on top of the spewing of sexual innuendos, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and plain rude arrogance; and playing the self-pity game to the tipping point).
3. The murder mystery is as significant to the story as me sitting in my home listening to the news telecast a serial homicide the next state over.
Basically, until we hit the half-point of the book, it HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ME, period. I was almost wondering if the murder mystery even existed anymore.
And also, the killer was obvious from the very moment that he appears in the book and all but tells you that he's the "brilliant predator" he keeps talking about.
The investigative process on this serial killer case was laughable.
4. I wouldn't pay a dime to have Laurel Chandler represent me in court even if I had no other choice.
The book keeps alluding to how she's an excellent attorney and has a shining record of great case investigation and whatnot. But she blows one case (because she didn't have enough evidence, and all but went public with her cause despite not having enough evidence to make these claims, which strikes me as an amateur move for some hotshot lawyer with a shining record), and then goes crawling into a hidey-hole, never to be seen again in her outstanding career field.
Because she lost ONE case!
Outside of the courtroom, she cannot stand up for herself or her sister. She won't say anything at all when it matters. And half the arguments she starts with a witty retort or a controlled, well-thought out line usually fizzles within seconds, and she's left fuming mad and speechless because she can't finish her argument. Instead, someone else has to resort to coming to her rescue--usually Jack with his threats of physical violence, because being a disbarred lawyer and all, that's how we solve ALL our problems.
I was always under the impression that a good lawyer is excellent with words and can manage to, even if not manipulate a situation verbally in his or her favor, be able to stand up for herself or others and at least leave the debate with some form of dignity. A good lawyer should have the ability to argue a point with facts and fancy words that drive people crazy, without resorting to quiet tantrums or gawking like a dumbfounded goldfish. But Laurel's typical reaction to a confrontation (many of which she was the one to initiate in the book) is simply standing there and fuming.
Also, Laurel is hot and cold. She returns home so she can be pampered and not have to do a thing but relax, but she simmers when her aunt and her sister try to coddle her. She's got her own problems to deal with and doesn't want to do anything remotely close to legal obligations, but she'll butt her nose into others' problems, and when they request, she becomes their legal go-between to help settle their problems (which she does a shit job doing, by the way). She is indignant that Jack is a terrible, annoying, arrogant man, and that she is this pure, innocent, Mother Theresa type who doesn't just sleep with anyone... but ends up having sex with Jack anyway; and on top of that, she can't seem to keep her self-control under check. As with the rest of the confrontations she initiates, she can never seem to win an argument with Jack, but after her first witty retort, he'll smirk at her or say something alluding to sex or sex parts or any kind of sexy times and she is putty and forgets why she's annoyed with him in the first place.
She also seems to become sexually aroused and heated very easily around Jack, which is why she has so much trouble finishing her arguments with him.
And then she slut-shames her own sister.
5. Jack is a self-pitying cry baby who exaggerates his problems.
I understand that he's been caught in tragedy and a terrible few years as a hot shot lawyer who went down the wrong road. I get it. But the point didn't need to be reinforced in his monologues repeatedly. Cause I get it. And even though you came across a bad streak when you were hotheaded, there are other issues in life other than your own self-made misery for you to try and care about. Case in point, when Laurel is going through a big heart-breaking loss near the end of the book, rather than being there for her, he chooses to reveal his own past and making the situation all about him.
So then Laurel feels bad for him
despite the fact that her sister was just discovered murdered
and tries to console HIM instead.
Jack is a walking double standard because he's allowed to pry into Laurel's past and make remarks about how she needs to forgive herself and move on with life. But when anyone even glances in the direction of his own wounds, he crawls into his own self-made prison and growls at everyone walking by. He's allowed to wallow in his self-pity, but when he comes across Laurel doing it, he makes rude remarks about the pot calling kettle and how she's arrogant to think she can shoulder all the world's responsibility. Then she calls him out on his own assessment, using it to compare his own tragic past and he tells her she's wrong, pushes her out the door, and goes whimpering to his hidey-hole again.
I get that there was a lot of darker content and subject matter in this book. I'm not ragging on it. I just think it could have been handled better. Rather than hammering the point about our characters' tragedies every other chapter, how about we move on with the story and try to see our characters into development and a Happily Ever After... or something akin to that. Or not. The point is, we needed to move on with the story after everyone's wallowing in self-pity was re-emphasized for the fifth time--cause otherwise the book just gets depressing.
I'm at the edge of trying to decide whether or not to finish this series. I own the paperback copy of A Thin Dark Line, then went and checked out the first three books from the library so that I could get around to reading A Thin Dark Line, but now I'm having misgivings.
A Reading Update @ 46%(originally posted on October 15, 2014)
Well, lookie here! The book finally remembered that it's supposed to have a murder mystery.
Maybe now that our couple have gotten past the sexual tension, we'll quit dancing around each other's elaborately emotional and conflicted monologues about wanting and can't having (or something like that) and cut back on the romantic angst a little bit to have a story?
There has just been too much going on in this book, with too much monologue, and too much description, and too much of... everything! But at the same time, there has been absolutely NO story progression. I don't even know what this book is about anymore aside from following a dysfunctional set of characters and their relationships with each other, while the main couple lust after each other and continue to give one-sided monologues about how they want to sleep with each other, but they don't want to make things complicated, so let's try to stay away from each other, because we can't complicate a non-relationship that isn't there anymore than it already is complicated. But well, Hey! Let's fall into each other's arms reluctantly anyway and almost have sex, because that totally helps to NOT give the wrong impression that we actually want each other.
Yes, the darker subject matter mentioned in the book is saddening and I'm not trying to rag on that.
But the fact still remains that a whole lot of nothing has happened within this first 50% of the book. And it's frustrating.
This is my fourth Tami Hoag book. If things don't get better, I might have to rearrange my reading lists and rewrite my Reading Challenge selections. She's a good writer, but I think she might have gotten a little carried away in this one. And I have a feeling she's better at simple Romance novels than she is at Romantic Suspense--the first book in this series, which is a Romance, plain and simple, is so far the better of these Doucet books... and probably because Remy Doucet didn't come off as a complete douche nozzle.
Or maybe I'm just not picking the right books.
Hence the fact that I have started two new books and finished two others since I began reading this one.
by Tami Hoag Book 2 of Doucet ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 2.5 Stars
As wild and mysterious as the Louisiana swamp he called home, Lucky Doucet was a dangerously attractive Cajun no woman could handle. His solitary life left no room for the likes of elegant Serena Sheridan, but Lucky couldn't deny her desperate need to find her missing grandfather. He would help her, but nothing
more--yet once he felt the lure of the flaxen-haired beauty, an adventurer like Lucky couldn't help playing with fire. Serena felt unnerved, aroused, and excited by the ruggedly sensual renegade whose gaze burned her with its heat, but she did not dare tangle with a rebel whose intensity was overwhelming, who claimed his heart was off limits... Deeper and deeper they traveled into the steamy bayou, until with one electrifying kiss her resistance melted into liquid desire. And the devilish rogue found he'd do anything to make Serena Lucky's Lady.
There's a little blurb in an author's note at the start of the book that mentions how Lucky's Lady is Tami Hoag's first foray into the Romantic Suspense arena after a career of writing strictly romances and romantic comedies. So I decided to take this into account when I started reading the book. I've only read two other Tami Hoag books in the past--one of which I don't even remember the book or the title since it was a long time ago, and the other was the first book in the Doucet series, The Restless Heart, of which I had just recently read.
Ms. Hoag is a very good writer and sets up the imagery and location of the bayous and nature really well. At the very least, the images in my mind are quite vivid.
Unfortunately, the story suffers from everything else.
I'm under the impression that the book forgot that it was supposed to be a Romantic Suspense until sometime towards the ending--and then we just throw in a random scene for suspense sake and it's pretty much over before it's started. Sure, there was a lot of the "conspiracy" and the "melodrama" and the straight out "drama" that lead up to the point (that actually could have been cut pretty short), but it still felt like reading a plain old traditional romance novel that tried to inject some suspense into it in the eleventh hour so it could join the club.
Serena returns to her old childhood home for vacation from her psychology practice in Charleston only to find that her grandfather has gone into hiding in a cabin out in the middle of the swamps. For reasons (big bad conspiracy reasons), her twin sister, Shelby has not bothered to tell Serena the whole story, opting simply for claiming that Gifford Sheridan has lost his marbles and just ran off. So, in the heat of stupid pride and stubborn anger, Serena goes to find a guide who will take her out into the swamps to find her grandfather and bring him home.
This is when she meets Lucky, douchebag of the century who is sexist and lewd and keeps throwing sexual harassments innuendos at Serena (more on him later), and her entire life begins to turn upside down when conspiracies, family drama, and an angst-ridden, lust-filled romance invades her perfectly settled lifestyle.
For a romance novel, it probably wasn't a terrible book. As I had stated in my review of the first book in this series, I don't typically read books that are strictly romances; especially the stock standard, carbon copy, traditional romance novels with the same illustration of the same, barely dressed couple manhandling gripping each other tightly.
And Lucky's Lady was definitely no different than a typical romance novel (of which I have read few even if not many). In fact, as I read this book, I kept picturing that illustration as our main couple:
Serena Sheridan is the standard, uniquely gorgeous woman who is supposedly independent, successful, and intelligent and insightful, prim and proper… practically a Mary Sue of her own caliber. She’s got a dry, sarcastic streak about her (which works for some grins, but no straight out laughs), and she’s not afraid to stand up for herself… supposedly.
Etienne “Lucky” Doucet is, physically, the guy on the cover (not this book's cover, but the stock standard romance novel cover I'm picturing in my mind) with his wild hair and eyes, chiseled features, built body, bulging bicep, and eternal shirtlessness. He’s the standard romance novel hero/faux-antihero whom women of the ages fantasize their excitements around--dangerous, roguish, on the edge of the law, and somehow alluring despite all of his douche-y qualities. On the inside, he’s got the standard Heart of Gold, as well as a broken spirit.
In real life, any self-respecting woman would kick him in the shins and run away for the behavior he exhibits which ranges from sexual harassment, to sexual assault, to downright rude, disrespectful, and plain scary. But this is a fictional romance novel with dated and cliche standards, so every woman is certainly going to become attracted to him and allow this attraction to cloud their inconsistently swaying judgment in his character. I especially love the whole "No, no I don't want to have sex," "Yes, yes you do want this," "Well, okay, I guess you're right, yes I do want to be ravished," exchange that takes place in so many of these romance novels (AND in this book); then the guy gets what he wants, the girl's crying... but that's okay, it was mind-blowing sex, so everything is alright... Excuse me while I go roll my eyes a fifth time. But that's okay, because in the end, the guy is the most perfect man ever, never mind that he was an arrogant, egocentric, sexist douche-nozzle in the beginning; his standard Heart of Gold and his sad, sad tragic past that broke his soul makes up for his douchery.
And so goes our standard romance of the uptight and prissy, intelligent, yet also naively innocent woman who comes into our dangerous rogue’s life in order to make him fall in love with her and change his life while her life is turned upside down. There’s lusting, there’s insta-love, there’s angst, and of course, there’s the big “we can’t be together for reasons” quip that plays as the main conflict in 90% of romance novels.
The heroine is always prim and proper and needs a bad boy to liven up her life, because her life is a lonely pit of sorrow even though she is properly independent and successful in the rest of her life. The hero is always the dangerous bad boy who needs a prim and proper innocent lady to fix his broken soul and reform him back into civilized living…
Or something to that effect.
And then the book remembers that it’s applying for the Romantic Suspense club as well and so throws in a random conspiracy and obligatory Damsel in Distress scene to mark off its checklist.
As a Romantic Suspense, it was a nice attempt.
I’m filing this story away as a regular old Romance novel, though because I never felt the suspense in it. Had I not been told that this book is being classified as a Romantic Suspense, I probably wouldn’t have suspected it at all. As a traditional romance novel, it probably hit upon the usual marks with the same, replayed formulaic story line and the same formulaic characters.
So it wasn’t a bad story. Serena has to deal with her family history and conflicts while battling other things; Lucky has to deal with his own personal demons while battling other things. The two have to work out their own romantic conflicts, and the bad guys sort of get the justice they deserve served to them… sort of. I’m a little put out that Serena’s twin sister, Shelby still gets let off, scot free without repercussions to her life and still finishes of the story as if she hasn’t learned her lesson.
But I guess that’s real life for you--sometimes not everything gets tied up in a perfect little bow. And so long as we have our Happily Ever After for the main couple everything else is fine, right? I’m not really too bothered by it myself.
I can’t say that I really enjoyed the romance or the characters. And since there was barely much story line to contend with, well, I’m giving this book a big old mediocre rating. If you like romance novels and you like your Happily Ever Afters (as I do), then this book won’t bother you. But if you’re also looking for a little bit more substance, I’m not sure I’d go for this one. Since I didn’t really care for the characters, the book and the romance didn’t impress me.
Tami Hoag is a good writer though, and I’m holding out hope that the rest of the series will be more enticing and the romances a little less formulaic. The next book in the Doucet series, Cry Wolf, sounds like it has more of a murder mystery/crime thriller angle to it, so I’m interested. I’ve read that her Kovac/Liska series is actually done really well, so I’m interested in checking those out when I get a chance.
by Tami Hoag Book 1 of Doucet ~ Goodreads ~ Rating: 2.5 Stars
As a world-renowned globe-trotting photographer, Danielle Hamilton was at home with Tibetan nomads and Kenyan bushmen. But she didn’t think she’d survive six weeks in the “wilds” of New Orleans babysitting her sister’s five children. Then help arrives in the form of the most unlikely nanny Danielle could imagine. Tall, dark, and Cajun, Remy Doucet isn’t really a nanny and he isn’t accepting Danielle’s certainty that true love isn’t in the cards for her. He’s convinced that her self-control masks a deeper need to let go, and he’s determined to prove she could trust him with the memory of a tragedy that still haunts her dreams...
I don't read many books that are singularly romance novels, though I AM a hopeless romantic--I like my romantic suspense novels and I HAVE indulged in few romantic comedies and like to enjoy other genres if they happen to have a side of romance to accompany them.
I read this book because it is listed as the first book in the Doucet romantic suspense series and introduces to us the first Doucet sibling, Remy, as well as mentioning the protagonist of the second Doucet book, Lucky. I came across the last book in this series A Thin Dark Line at a warehouse sale and had bought it in tandem with several other warehouse sale books (17 books bought for $7, yo!). And so with the interest in the series itself and my OCD-ness for reading book series in their proper order...
This book presents as a pretty traditional, standard romance novel with lots of lusting, lots of emotions being flung around, and some angst to wrap it all up. I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't the best book in the world. The beginning of the book was kind of aggravating, but the story got better as the book progressed, so I'm not complaining too much--I might have taken offense to Remy's whole spiel about how women should know how to cook and clean and take care of children and automatically, naturally have maternal instincts and how it's absurdly ridiculous that Danielle doesn't have any of these qualities.
If fictional characters were tangible, I may have kicked the man in the shins myself, so I took pleasure in watching the kids do it for me.
Speaking of the kids... this is how I know this book is purely fictional and written in an old-fashioned sense geared toward a warm-hearted audience. It utilizes the whole "kids do the darnedest things" cliche in the most comically unbelievable fashion to create endearment towards the book. Because it's fun to watch a bunch a kids wreak havoc in the fictional world so long as some nice guy can come by and fix their behavior without resorting to hiring a drill sergeant. In real life, behavior like that probably wouldn't fly no matter how rich you are.
Overall, this book made for a good few hours of entertainment.
by Courtney Milan Book #1: Proof by Seduction | Goodreads | Rating: 4.5 Stars Book #2: Trial by Desire | Goodreads | Rating: 4.5 Stars Book #0.5: This Wicked Gift | Goodreads | Rating: 2.0 Stars
I'm not sure I have much to say about this series. I became a fan of Courtney Milan after reading her Brothers Sinister series not too long ago and had planned on picking up more of her work after seeing a lot of great reviews about them.
Truthfully, Courtney Milan's writing is wonderfully witty and fun, and I love the concept behind both of the Carhart novels, even if some of it got a little heavy. The chemistry between our characters was wonderful, and I just love the dialogue!
Milan includes an author's note, as well as discussion in Q&A at the end of the new enhanced Kindle edition, a volume that includes both books as well as the novellas and short stories, that the Carhart books were not her favorite creations. I assume that these are her debut novels/series, and it definitely shows. If I had to make a comparison, the Brothers Sinister series was definitely much more well-written, and the characters much more lovable than the ones in the Carhart series.
She was his last chance for a future of happiness... A gifted fortune-teller from a humble background, Jenny can make even the most sophisticated skeptic believe her predictions simply by batting her smoky eyelashes. Until she meets her match in Gareth Carhart, the Marquess of Blakely, a sworn bachelor and scientist. He just didn't know it yet Broodingly handsome, Gareth is scandalized to discover his cousin has fallen under the spell of "Madame Esmerelda," and vows to prove Jenny a fraud. But his unexpected attraction to the fiery enchantress defies logic. Jenny disrupts every facet of Gareth's calculated plan--until he can't decide whether to seduce her or ruin her. Now, as they engage in a passionate battle of wills, two lonely souls must choose between everything they know...and the boundless possibilities of love.
Aside from the beginning of the book wherein I really wanted to put my fist into Lord Blakely's face... the rest of the book made me squeal. Because then we find out that "Rude, Despicable, Arrogant Gareth Carhart" was really just "Socially Award, Misguided Gareth Carhart"... and I'm all squeals. Though not as much as I'm all squeals about Jenny--I absolutely LOVED her!
Not much else I can think of to say. The characters were outstanding, although I did find myself a bit frustrated and annoyed with Ned a lot of the time.
The elephant thing was fabulous!
SHE CANNOT FORGET THE FIRE HE IGNITED ... In the three years since her husband left her, Lady Kate Carhart has managed to forge a fulfilling life for herself. But when Ned Carhart unexpectedly returns, she finds her tranquility uprooted --- and her deepest secrets threatened. Though she has no intention of falling for Ned's charms, Kate can no longer deny the desire that still burns in her heart. OR THE PROMISE OF HIS LOVE ... Ned is determined to regain his wife's trust by using unbridled seduction. But just as Kate surrenders to Ned's passion, her carefully guarded past threatens to destroy her. Now Kate must place her faith in the only man she's ever loved, and the only one who has ever betrayed her ...
I can't decide how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I really, really loved Kate, a lot! On the other hand, the main conflicts in this romance/self-revelation historical were kind of frustrating. It really wasn't until the second half of the book that things started picking up a little bit.
And I can't believe that I actually found myself annoyed with Jenny's behavior after all the things she'd been through in the first book. I hadn't expected the snobbish dismissals she directed at Kate, and still don't understand the explanations given in the end for her rude behavior.
I understand that there's a deep, underlying conflict to do with Ned... but I just couldn't help but feel like his stubbornness got dragged out a bit.
In the end, it was really Kate who won me over.
Lavinia Spencer is too poor to be anything but practical. But when her younger brother lands himself in trouble, she has no choice but to do the unthinkable. She accepts the help of the dishonorable man that she’s always wanted, even knowing that it might mean her ruination…
I think that this novella was doomed to fail the moment our hero chose to coerce the heroine into having sex with him. The fact that our heroine didn't need coercing and was very willing to sleep with him doesn't make a difference. I feel like I wouldn't be able to trust a man who'd be willing to do such a thing, whether or not there were justifications revealed left and right. He didn't know that she was willing, and he didn't know that she could very well have refused him--he still went there.
