Black Moon by F. M. Sherrill & Becca C. Smith

Black Moon by Smith and Sherrill(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Shea Harper is forced to stay in boring, hot and dry Phoenix, Arizona for college. But once she meets the enigmatic yet positively egocentric Lucian, Shea’s life changes forever.

She finds out that she comes from a long line of descendants called Vessels. In her soul is the key to destroying an ancient prison protecting the world from darkness itself: Lucian’s father.

Up until now, Lucian has captured every descendant except Shea. With her powers awakening, all vampires want to drag her down to the pit. But Lucian is territorial. She’s the first female Vessel… and he’s convinced she belongs to him.

Saucy and tauntingly surprising, Black Moon captures the struggle between burning desire or denying the heart. This is a love story that will drain you dry.

[Full disclosure: I received a free print copy in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

I really do love the characters in this novel.  Both Smith and Sherrill did excellent jobs with their respective characters, Shea and Lucian.  I felt like I really was in Shea’s and Lucian’s shoes during their chapters and I understood their motivations for their actions.  I’ll admit it: sometimes I’m a sucker for tales of forbidden love.  And boy, does Lucian ever fit the bill here.  Our dark vampire here used to be a slave in Egypt who loved the beautiful Nefertiti but was killed for it.  After all these centuries, he still loves her despite the tragedy that befell her because of him.  His guilt and his love are clear in many aspects of his life…until he meets Shea.

As an Egypt buff, I loved the infusion of some history into Black Moon, but it was rather disappointing that Smith and Sherrill played fast and loose with the facts.  No, Nefertiti was hardly captured in battle along with her father.  No, her father’s name was not Ur-Nammu.  And no, she was certainly not a slave at court with the name of ‘wife’; by all accounts she was greatly beloved of Akhenaten.  Now, I can definitely forgive some historical inaccuracies in the name of a good story.  But when Lucian passively mentions that Queen Hatshepsut constantly reeked of myrrh, I had to laugh.  Hatshepsut was far before Nefertiti’s time and therefore Lucian’s time (since he was human then).  There were three kings with extremely long reigns between the two women, so there’s no way Lucian actually would have met her.

My griping about historical accuracy aside, I really enjoyed Black Moon.  It has quite a fast plot and so many twists and turns that my head was spinning by the end.  Yes, in the beginning it seems to be mostly character-driven but by the end it seemed to be more plot-driven.  In reality, it’s actually the best of both worlds: it’s a fast-paced novel with extremely well developed and believable characters.  I thought it got a little melodramatic toward the end, but that’s a personal thing rather than an actual flaw with the novel.  The cliffhanger at the end was excruciating; I would have read the next book without it anyway, but with a cliffhanger like that I know I definitely have to read the next book now.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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Operation Owl by Tara Quan

Operation Owl by Tara Quan(Cover picture courtesy of Elle Rush’s blog.)

A Beyond Fairytales Adaptation of Grimm’s The Owl

Five years ago, Maya Jain kissed her best friend only to have him run out of her dorm room and leave the state. When he shows up in Washington, D.C., a wanted fugitive sought after by every branch of the US government, she can’t bring herself to ignore his plight. As their physical relationship picks up where it left off, she decides it’s time to make him see her as more than the bespectacled, bookish girl he once called “Owl.”

After being accused of espionage and treason, Zack Strong needs a forensic accountant to help clear his name. Not knowing who he can trust, this white-hat hacker has no choice but to ask his former best friend and math tutor for help. Together they unravel a cyber conspiracy at the Barn, an NSA facility tasked to intercept electronic communications. But as they traverse the nation’s capital to avoid capture, Maya insists on letting their simmering sexual tension take its natural course. Even though he’s never been able to shake the memory of their one kiss, he refuses to let her give up her life for a man with no future.

 

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

Operation Owl was a solid ‘meh’ for me personally.  Yes, I went into this expecting for there to be lots of romance (which was fine) but I also expected a little bit more action.  I’ll explain.

Essentially, the big conspiracy plot that’s the reason why Zack is running plays second fiddle to the interpersonal conflict between him and Maya.  That’s just fine by me in theory, except that in practice, the actual huge conspiracy probably made up less than 25% of the book whereas the rest was about their friendship.  With a conspiracy that big, I would have preferred a little more action because it’s pretty important.  So even though Operation Owl does have an interesting plot on the blurb, it’s actually very much the ‘romantic comedy’ it’s labelled as.  (Though lacking on the comedy part.)

Despite my misgivings about the plot, I did enjoy the characters.  Maya and Zack have had a complicated relationship, to say the least.  We learn about the events of five years ago that led to Maya kissing Zack and how that in turn led to them not seeing each other in person for all that time.  When they finally meet again, having Zack being chased by the government’s hired mercenaries doesn’t exactly make for the best circumstances.  Still, they make it work and their bond re-forms.  I liked seeing from each of their viewpoints how they learned to let go of the past and just focus on the present.  This is definitely one of the better romances I’ve read.

Tara Quan’s writing style is actually very good.  It’s well-suited to the contemporary feel of her novel and while it is pared-down, I was never confused about the setting or which character was speaking (as sometimes happens when authors try to cut too much description).  She does an excellent job with the sexual tension of both characters and by a certain point in the book you’re just ready to scream at them to go and have sex already.  Which is sort of the purpose of that unresolved sexual tension, I suppose.

So character-wise and writing-wise, I really have no complaints.  I would have liked for there to have been more focus on the conspiracy, but that’s just me.  At least the conflict was resolved nicely (but not necessarily neatly) at the very end and it would almost be believable were I not such a cynic about politics.  Again, that’s just me; it’s actually quite a satisfying ending from a reader’s standpoint.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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Fairytale Apocalypse by Jacqueline Patricks

Fairytale Apocalypse by Jacqueline Patricks(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

A ROMANCE OF APOCALYPTIC PROPORTIONS.

Two worlds bound by magic…
Three people joined by destiny…

Lord Kagan Donmall rules the Verge, the border that protects the magical Fae Inlands from the mundane mortal world. Recently, the Verge has been failing and he suspects the source of magic is fading. His prayers to Danu have gone unanswered, until now.

The young mortal, Lauren Montgomery, hears the message of Danu and eagerly agrees to be the Lady of the Verge, for she desires more than a mundane life.

But Lauren’s twin sister, Tessa-ever her sister’s protector, challenges the decision. The Verge falls, and the Fae and mortal worlds suffer a double apocalypse.

Now Kagan, Lauren, and Tessa must survive in this new, hostile world and discover a way to repair that which has been destroyed while navigating the bonds of duty, love, and vengeance.

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I have a confession to make about this book.  When I requested it on NetGalley I expected it to be a shameless romance involving little or no thought.  I was looking for guilty pleasure reading that day.  So imagine my surprise when not only does Fairytale Apocalypse turn out to be serious, it turns out to be good!

What really surprised me were the characters.  Yes, there’s the typical older protective sister dynamic with Tessa (she is the older twin) but there also is a lot of resentment about her role as the protector.  Since Tessa and Lauren are essentially the same age, their totally different personalities come into conflict constantly.  Tessa is grounded and very mature for her age whereas Lauren…well she’s definitely a dreamer, but she’s also kind of flaky and naive.  Lauren is not necessarily the best match for Kagan, the Lord of the Verge, who is very serious, could never be described as naive and old by mortal standards.

I was also pretty impressed when Jacqueline Patricks decided to modify the tropes she was using, rather than being lazy and playing them straight like so many authors.  I can’t really reveal all that much without giving away the storyline, but just imagine a double apocalypse (in the Fae world and mortal world) where powerful people like the Fae can’t use their magic any longer.  How would they cope?  Could they even survive in a mortal post-apocalyptic world, let alone a Fae one?  It’s actually very interesting because it makes the plot far less predictable.

The world-building was excellent, no doubt about that.  Yes, the Fae world is sort of a typical fairy world: there’s dangerous lurking around every corner and the pretty things are probably what will kill you.  But at the same time, Patricks put her own spin on it and included some fascinating new creatures as well as older creatures that are usually neglected in fantasy.  All of the fae have swords that communicate with them, something you would think would end up being ridiculous but really didn’t.  It was actually quite a fascinating bond and I wish we had learned more about it.  There’s always next book, though.

So here we have a fantasy with themes of love vs. duty and sacrifice for the greater good.  We also have amazing characters, a really interesting and unpredictable plot as well as some pretty great world-building.  I really can’t ask for anything else, other than for Jacqueline Patricks to hurry up with the next book!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Zombies: More Recent Dead by Paula Guran

Zombies More Recent Dead by Paula Guran(Cover picture courtesy of Prime Books.)

The living dead are more alive than ever! Zombies have become more than an iconic monster for the twenty-first century: they are now a phenomenon constantly revealing as much about ourselves – and our fascination with death, resurrection, and survival – as our love for the supernatural or post-apocalyptic speculation. Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction. We’ve again dug up the best stories published in the last few years and compiled them into an anthology to feed your insatiable hunger…

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I’ve been suffering from a severe case of Walking Dead withdrawal for a few months, so I figured that I might as well get back into that zombie kind of mood with a new anthology from some well-known authors.  Jonathon Maberry, Neil Gaiman and so many more authors that I actually like were included in this anthology.  Where could it go wrong?

Apparently, almost everywhere.  This is a non-traditional zombie anthology, which I knew when I requested it.  All of these zombies are either thinking zombies or just kind of dead shells of their former selves come back to life.  I don’t mind reading about these types of zombies.  It’s a newer (more terrifying in some ways) take on a creature that is a little over-hyped by pop culture.  Of course, being that people are people, sometimes they would do disgusting things with these zombies: have sex with them, make them servants, etc.  It’s sad to see that my faith in the worst impulses of humanity is still justified.

Except, by the end of the anthology, I was really, truly struggling to finish it.  This is not a long book, by the way.  It’s only 480 pages and it should not have taken me so long to finish, but I really had to force myself to keep reading about 2/3s of the way through.  Why?  Because, for the most part, it was boring.  Most of the stories, even by authors that I really liked, were quite boring.  Yes, they showcased the new type of zombie very well but some of them didn’t seem to have a point (or a plot) and still others were so boring that you forgot how the story began by the time you got to the end.  It’s not like I have a short attention span, either.

None of the characters really stood out for me here and even though it’s only been a week since I read this, I couldn’t really name more than two or three of them.  This anthology just did not pack the punch I’ve come to expect from authors like this.  In the end, I was more disappointed than entertained, which is not something you want when you’ve just read through almost 500 pages.

I give this anthology 3/5 stars.

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Blood Diva by V. M. Gautier

Blood Diva by V. M. Gautier(Cover picture courtesy of Mythical Books.)

The 19th century’s most infamous party-girl is undead and on the loose in the Big Apple.

When 23 year-old Parisian courtesan, Marie Duplessis succumbed to consumption in 1847, Charles Dickens showed up for the funeral and reported the city mourned as though Joan of Arc had fallen. Marie was not only a celebrity in in her own right, but her list of lovers included Franz Liszt – the first international music superstar, and Alexandre Dumas fils, son of the creator of The Three Musketeers. Dumas fils wrote the novel The Lady of the Camellias based on their time together. The book became a play, and the play became the opera La Traviata. Later came the film versions, and the legend never died.

But what if when offered the chance for eternal life and youth, Marie grabbed it, even when the price was the regular death of mortals at her lovely hand?

In 2014, Marie wonders if perhaps nearly two centuries of murder, mayhem, and debauchery is enough, especially when she falls hard for a rising star she believes may be the reincarnation of the only man she ever truly loved. But is it too late for her to change? Can a soul be redeemed like a diamond necklace in hock? And even if it can, have men evolved since the 1800′s? Or does a girl’s past still mark her?

Blood Diva is a sometimes humorous, often dark and erotic look at sex, celebrity, love, death, destiny, and the arts of both self-invention and seduction. It’s a story that asks a simple question – Can a one hundred ninety year-old demimondaine find happiness in 21st century Brooklyn without regular infusions of fresh blood?

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

As my regular readers are probably well aware of by now, I love opera.  It makes up the bulk of music I’ve listened to in the past two years or so and since there’s nothing on television anymore it also makes up the bulk of movies/performances I watch.  I guess you could say I’m an opera fanatic, so when I saw this book on NetGalley I decided I’d go for it.  After all, while I’d never heard of the real Marie Duplessis, I sure loved Violetta in La Traviata.  I figured it would be nice to see a different take on the woman behind the legend.

 What was really clear from the beginning is the Gautier loves opera and she loves the book by Alexandre Dumas fils.  She has this excited energy about both of them that you really just can’t fake.  However, to me it seemed like her love of opera sometimes exceeded her knowledge of it.  When referring to a famous aria from Verdi’s Rigoletto she called it “Dona e mobile”, which is not correct Italian.  It should be “La Donna e mobile”.  At another point a vampire tells her he calls blood l’elisir d’amore because of the Rossini opera; that’s not really possible because Donizetti wrote the opera in question.  Some other errors like saying “vencere, vencere” is the last line of the aria “Nessun Dorma” can be attributed to the lack of knowledge of characters, but the two examples above should have been caught in the editing process.

For all of my nitpicking, I really did enjoy Blood Diva.  Marie/Alphonsine is a great character and is very three dimensional.  She struggled so much with her transition to being a vampire and now she struggles with being a vampire because she’s falling in love with a human.  A human that doesn’t (and can’t) know about her past.  Marie also really struggles about what she’s forced to do for work because sometimes the elder vampires (in order to gain funds for the communal fund to help other vampires) sometimes make her revert to her old profession.  It’s actually kind of sad that she was gifted an immortal life on her deathbed and yet, for all that she’s seen and learned, she’s back where she started 200 years ago.

This is mostly a character novel, so it helped that both Marie and Dashiell were three dimensional.  The one thing I really loved was that their relationship was intense and beautiful, but that it also had its rocky moments.  Contrary to how they’re portrayed in many novels, relationships are rarely straightforward and couples in love do argue.  Marie and Dashiell certainly argue, but you can always feel that they love each other.  Considering their relationship takes up most of the book, I really appreciated that Gautier spent so much effort on it.

The plot was pretty good right up until the end.  As I’ve said, this was character driven so of course it’s going to be slower than a plot-driven novel, but Blood Diva never really drags.  The characters are far too interesting for that.  My only problem is that the ending left me unsatisfied.  It fits with the theme throughout the book of Marie’s fictional incarnations, so I don’t mind that the ending was not necessarily the most cheerful ever.  I just felt unsatisfied, like “I read all that only for it to end like this?”.  It didn’t feel like there was much closure, really.

Still, Gautier’s writing style was beautiful, her pacing was excellent as well as her characters and she had that kind of excitement that you just can’t fake.  Despite the ending and the little mistakes I really, really enjoyed Blood Diva and I hope that Gautier, whether under this pseudonym or another, writes more novels in the future.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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