Tagged: novella
Novella: Wings of Hope by Pippa DaCosta
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
“I am his muse. But not for long…”
When Mammon, the Prince of Greed, ‘acquires’ a half-blood slave known as ‘Muse’ for three nights, and bespells her with tales of a world where people live like kings and queens among towers of steel and glass, the seed of hope takes root in Muse’s soul. But hope, for a half-human half-demon creature like her, is a dangerous thing. Especially when that tentative hope springs from the honeyed words of a Prince of Hell. What is Mammon’s price for freedom?
Meanwhile Da’mean, her ruthless owner, would rather see her dead, than free. She belongs to him. She is his muse. And no beast will take her from him.
The world of the elemental demons is harsh and violent. Muse’s kin are merciless, blood-hungry beasts, but little do they know, Muse has something far more dangerous coiled inside her, desperate for a taste of freedom.
Her humanity.
After reading the first book in The Veil series, I found out I could get a free copy of this prequel novella, Wings of Hope, through signing up for DaCosta’s newsletter. Obviously I did and got this novella for free. I devoured it in less than half an hour.
Muse here is a very different character. She’s terrified of her master, who heaps every sort of abuse possible on her young body. At the same time, she’s very stubborn and refuses to unleash her demon side when Da’mean provokes her to anger. She doesn’t always win when it comes to controlling her demon side but she desperately tries. That’s when Mammon strides in and changes everything.
Let’s get one thing straight: Mammon isn’t doing this out of the good of his heart and Muse knows this. She’s constantly looking for an angle with him as he tells her of Earth and humanity, painting a happier picture than she could have ever imagined on her own. Mammon is, first and foremost, a demon and when Muse gets into trouble, he’ll do some things to protect her but he’s not going to go out of his way to be the hero. That makes for an interesting dynamic in their relationship in the beginning and you can sort of see that dynamic later in the first full length book of the series, Beyond the Veil.
The pace is quite fast as this is a novella but it does have quite a bit of character development packed into those few pages. Muse goes from terrified, abused creature to a human being that longs for so much more out of life, even if it costs her everything. She’s not the Muse that readers will recognize from the rest of the series but her characterization here explains a lot of her trust issues in the main series. Despite that, you don’t even need to read the series first. This can be read as a standalone novella to give you a taste of Pippa DaCosta’s writing style and I’d highly recommend it for The Veil series fans and people who have never read her work before. Wings of Hope gives us a great feel for how much Muse has really come, what sort of a man (demon?) Mammon is and a bit of a clearer picture of the netherworld, something Muse mentions only in passing.
Basically, whether or not you’ve read the main series before reading this prequel novella, you’re going to love it. There’s great world-building, character development and pacing jammed into these 58 pages. I highly recommend giving it a try.
I give this novella 5/5 stars.
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Electrify Me by Bibi Rizer
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
All Gloria Falcon wants is to have a nice New Year’s Eve with a nice man. Is that so much to ask? But after seven disastrous New Years in a row, this year she’s trying something different. Committed to spending her New Year’s Eve manning the phones at a suicide crisis phone line, Gloria is sure the karma she earns will break her New Year’s curse. But when a blackout cancels her night of philanthropy, rather than spend the night moping in the dark, she goes on a ride along with the cute electric company lineman who failed to fix the power.
Charlie Zhang is not much of a New Year believer either. He’s coasting through life after being discharged from the army and trying not to let his cynicism of pretty much everything define him. When Gloria Falcon climbs into Charlie’s life, and his repair truck, neither of them expect this to be the New Year’s Eve that changes their minds, and their fate, forever.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through Masquerade Tours’ Reader Round-Up program in exchange for an honest review.]
I picked Electrify Me because I was looking for some light-hearted reading. I didn’t really expect much and unfortunately the book didn’t deliver all that much.
The characters are okay. Gloria herself is much more realistic than Charlie. She’s a down on her luck 24 year old woman who was born on New Years and seems to be cursed to have bad things happen to her. In the beginning of the novella you can really feel her exasperation with her situation but also her sense of humour about the whole thing. She has a “How could it possibly get worse?” attitude that sees her through some pretty awful mishaps on that cursed day. What I really didn’t like about her character was that she was volunteering to man a suicide crisis phone in order to help her karma. That’s rather a glib attitude to take toward suicidal people and their problems; it really didn’t feel like her heart was in it. However, it was a part of her character and didn’t really affect my enjoyment of her character.
Charlie, however, was rather dull. You could exchange him for pretty much any other romantic interest in any other erotica or romance novel and you wouldn’t notice a difference. (But to be fair this is a little more multicultural than usual because he is Asian.) He’s boring and polite and although he’s physically attractive he has the sort of personality that induces drowsiness because he’s so boring and perfect. He’s hot because he’s training to be a fireman, he volunteers for shifts on New Years for extra pay and credit at work and he always helps out whenever he can. Those are awesome traits and would be kind of refreshing because I hate the whole ‘bad boy’ trope but at the same time, he doesn’t have much in the way of anything interesting. His conversations with Gloria are pretty predictable and he really just comes off as bland. Nothing really stands out about his character.
The writing was generally okay but some of the sex scenes caused me to laugh out loud because sometimes Bibi Rizer gets a little creative with her descriptions and strays into purple prose territory. Most notably: “Kissing Charlie feels healthy. Nutritious even. As though I’m getting vitamins and minerals and will wake up with thicker, shinier hair and skin that’s twenty-five percent more luminous.” It kind of killed the mood for me. But the rest of the sex scenes were generally okay, if a little boring.
As for the plot, well, it was a little predictable. Usually awesome writing would make up for that but since the writing was ‘meh’ the plot came across as ‘meh’ as well. From the time Gloria and Charlie meet you pretty much know what’s going to happen but the other plot events are just as predictable. I know you don’t generally read romance or erotica for the plot but it just left me bored.
Basically, this book was ‘meh’. It wasn’t terrible but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
Novella: Hero, Cursed by Diantha Jones
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Before he knew the Oracle.
Before he knew the Quad.
Before the Great Unknown threatened his world.
He was a hero, cursed forever.Shunned by a family that doesn’t understand him, demigod Lenka Tahile aka “Swindle” is a complete loner and he likes it that way. Then he meets the hero, Ace Remedy, the brother of an infamous demigod Prince, and his life goes from bad to worse. Ace is loud, rude, and disruptive to his peaceful existence in every way. He’s also hilarious and daring, and Swindle ends up finding a friend just when he thought he’d never have another.
But little does he know, becoming friends with Ace was all part of the Fates’ plan. Now his past is slowly coming back to haunt him and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. Nothing but try not to bring to light the lost love, the failed hopes, and the cursed existence that he would kill to keep in the dark.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
Just as a side note, this is book #3.5 in the Oracle of Delphi series so you do have to read Prophecy of Solstice’s End first unless you want to be disappointed by massive spoilers.
One of the characters that has always intrigued me the most in the Oracle of Delphi series (other than Chloe and Strafford) has been Swindle. He’s the son of Hermes but was cursed because of Hermes’ decisions. Lots of awful things that have happened to him are not his fault, but in Hero, Cursed we learn some about some awful things that were his fault and see how he carries the guilt around.
I loved not only getting to see how Swindle got involved in the Quad prior to the main series, but also some of his other lives, including as a member of the Argonauts with legends like Jason, Caster, Pollux and Atalanta. His adventures with them were fascinating and when you compare how he was then to how he is in the modern era, you can definitely see that he is not the same every time he’s reincarnated. He’s a totally different person but he retains some of his memories from his past lives, just enough to torture him. I particularly liked seeing how he initially reacted to the curse; he took things far better than I would, that’s for sure.
Not only did we get to see Swindle fleshed out way more than he is in the main series, we get to learn a lot more about Apollo’s nefarious plans and how Swindle actually got involved in Chloe’s bodyguard. I don’t want to give too terribly much away but needless to say that he’s not necessarily the most willing participant in Apollo’s schemes. It will be interesting taking that knowledge into the fourth book Prophecy of the Betrayed Heir if only to see whether or not Swindle will defy Apollo and ignore his threats or keep his secrets and potentially harm his friends.
The plot was fast-paced and although the time frames jumped because of Swindle’s different lives, it was a very logical and clear flow. We didn’t suddenly jump from Jason and the Argonauts to Swindle’s fateful dream as Inis. No, the different time frames were clearly marked and the order they were put in was logical. (I know I keep emphasizing that but logical flow is something that seems to be lacking from a lot of POV-swapping books.) The plot advanced quickly but we were given information in little chunks throughout the novella so as not to slow it down. There was no sudden info-dump anywhere, thankfully, and the cliffhanger at the ending was very intriguing.
Basically, Hero, Cursed is a great addition to the main Oracle of Delphi series and it has whetted my appetite for book four. I can’t wait!
I give this novella 5/5 stars.
Novella: The Donor by Nikki Rae
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Casey Williams and her family are poor. Her parents work non-stop and so does she, just so they can keep the trailer roof from leaking.
They’re getting by fine enough when the headaches start. Then there’s the nosebleeds. And the inevitable doctor’s bills.
Fortunately for Casey, there’s MyTrueMatch.com: an exclusive, quick, and almost easy way to pay it all back before her parents even have to know.
All she has to do is give a man she’s never met whatever he wants from her body.
Inside or out.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I’ll admit it: I thought this book was about sex when I requested it on NetGalley. Considering the blurb, I don’t think that was an unreasonable assumption because a lot of erotic novel blurbs are. I was honestly looking for a little guilty pleasure.
What I got was a poignant, touching story that left me an emotional wreck for a full day afterward.
So obviously, this book is not about sex. No, it’s the story of Casey and her journey to confront not only her medical reality but her long-ignored emotions. It’s a story of forgiveness and dealing with your past, especially the things that hurt you before. And although I can’t really say much without giving away the whole story but it is also a tale of love; not necessarily romantic love but the kind of platonic love you feel for your family. The Donor is a story that can mean many things to many different people and these are just some of the things I pulled out of it; Nikki Rae’s story is so deep that you will probably take away different lessons and themes.
Casey was just an amazing character and I don’t I’ll ever be able to forget her. She’s young, just about to start her life away from her family, but poverty and those medical bills that were mentioned in the blurb are conspiring against her. So she turns to a sketchy and exclusive website where she meets Jonah Black, a mysterious but kind man who decides to make her his donor. Casey’s character arc as she confronts her problems and finally, finally forgives herself is just amazing and although I’m not an emotional person I’m tearing up just writing this review. Both Jonah and Casey were so real, so vivid, that you can’t help but become attached to them as characters.
The real reason The Donor is such an amazing novella (aside from the characters) is Nikki Rae’s writing. She just has an absolutely amazing writing style. It’s simple but poignant, conveying emotion without being too sappy, using symbolism but not being in your face about it. I know that it’s very hard for authors to find a balance between emotional and overly melodramatic, but Nikki Rae found such an amazing balance that if you aren’t left feeling a little something by the end of the book you clearly don’t possess a human heart.
So what can I say? Not everyone will like the ending but it stays true to the characters and the overall tone of the novella. It will leave you an emotional wreck but it will also make you confront your own fears and live your life just a little more richly because of it. There really are no words for how awesome this book is.
Seriously, just go buy it.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Novella: Iced in Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs
(Cover picture courtesy of Wicked Green Smoothies.)
Beware… there’s a nasty spirit threatening to ruin Christmas. Come spend the holiday at Ravensmore Castle with your favorite Shadow Walkers. Iced in Shadow may be read standalone. It takes place after Desired by Shadow.
If you enjoy persnickety gods, supernatural creatures and ghosts with the ability to manifest physical bodies, then try Iced in Shadow.
[Full disclosure: Cynthia Luhrs contacted me and asked me to review her novella after seeing my reviews of the first two books in the series. She provided me a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.]
Most novellas in series don’t actually add anything to the series. They’re just sort of a slice-of-life of the characters that can be read as a standalone novella or are just rehashings of events already covered in the previous novel(s). This is not the case in Iced in Shadow! It’s not necessary to read before Reborn in Shadow (book 3) but it does some really important setting up for the novel that gives it a little more depth.
Hamish, Colin’s brother that quite deliberately caused his downfall, is back as a Shadow Walker. How does such a villain get to fight on the side of good, the side that protects humans? Is he really all that evil in the first place? I won’t spoil too much but I have to say that maybe things aren’t as straightforward as they seemed in regards to Hamish’s character from the first two novels. He’s more complicated than I thought and it adds quite a bit of depth to someone who’s shaping up to be a very three dimensional character.
Also unlike a lot of novellas, this one actually has a plot. There’s a very deliberate reason behind writing this and I loved the surprise ending. I don’t want to give too much away again but let me just say there’s going to be some family in-fighting in Reborn in Shadow because of the confrontation at the end of this novella. I also think there will be a little more romantic tension between our two Shadow Walkers and their wives because of the events that take place here.
Yes, this can be read as a standalone but you will get so much more out of it after you read Lost in Shadow and Desired by Shadow. It really builds on the story and it makes me even more eager to get a start on the third book, Reborn in Shadow.
I give this novella 5/5 stars.