Day: September 16, 2014

Guest Review: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Posted September 16, 2014 by Whitley B in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Ace, Jove, PenguinGenres: Urban Fantasy

Magic BitesWhitley’s review of Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way…

I’ve been hearing about this series for ages and I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to reading it. It’s a solid, entertaining start to a series. The only complaint I could possibly make (and even that’s just personal preference) is that it’s…rather perfectly typical of the genre. It does all the common themes and tropes of paranormal romance practically perfectly, but then again, there’s no deviation from the common themes and tropes. For me, I found that a bit dull. For others? Well, it may very well be the perfect cherry on top.

I really liked the setting of this book. The varying periods of “magic” and “technology” interplayed well together, and I enjoyed the adaptations that humans devised for it. I usually dislike the idea that magic and electricity are antithetical to each other (I have my reading-between-the-lines reasons) but in this case it was done with enough thought and purpose and flair that I found myself pulled along quite happily. There were plenty of fun little details in the world to keep me entertained, but even better, they had enough big-picture context to make sense and work together to make a rich whole. Too often I see books where the fun details are all you get, but this book sidesteps that trap nicely.

The characters and plot, as I said, are pretty staunchly stereotypical. Kate as the cynical, snarky badass, vampires as vaguely metrosexual deviants, shapeshifters as butch and territorial, etc. While there’s really nothing new in here, there’s also a distinct lack of anything bad. It’s so easy to turn vampires necromancers and werewolves lions into caricatures of the different personality types, to the point of being insulting in one case and abusive in the other, but this book took a nicely toned-down approach to both and managed to make me (me, if you know me, this is a big statement) actually enjoy a macho-aggressive werewolf lion character.

Overall I think the book was more promising than it was knock-your-socks-off. There was a subdued, typical feel to it that I think is to due to its position as “first in a series” than anything else. So much time was given over to establishing things that we don’t really dive into any of the characters, and Kate suffers most from this lack. On the other hand, there’s potential for all sorts of shenanigans and nothing bad in this book that will prevent me from enjoying said shenanigans, so I’d still count that a win.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Ace Books.  You can purchase it here or here in e-format.


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Guest Review: Shatter by Erin McCarthy (+ a Giveaway!)

Posted September 16, 2014 by Tracy in Giveaways, Reviews | 5 Comments

Reviewer: Tracy
Shatter by Erin McCarthy
Series: True Believers #4
Also in this series: True

Publication Date: September 2nd 2014
Genres: New Adult
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Kylie Warner prides herself on being optimistic, but after finding her best friend in bed with her boyfriend and flunking chemistry, her upbeat attitude has taken a dive. Even an impromptu hook-up with her sexy new chemistry tutor only brightens her mood slightly. After all, it’s not like she’ll ever see the tattooed scholar again…

While he’s a whiz at complex equations, Jonathon Kadisch has trouble when it comes to figuring out women. So when Kylie tells him that she’s pregnant after their night of passion, he’s at a complete loss. He’s prepared to be a good father—unlike his own deadbeat dad—but he’s less prepared to fall for the genuine and alluring blonde bearing his child.

With emotions running high, Kylie wonders if Jonathon’s devotion is out of growing love or looming obligation. And when heartbreak threatens to tear them apart, Jonathon will have to fight for the only girl who’s ever made him feel whole…

 

Tracy’s review of Shatter (True Believers #4) by Erin McCarthy

Kylie is not really an incredibly impulsive person but when the chance to sleep with her tutor, Jonathan, comes up, she takes it. She’s emotionally unavailable as she is still distraught over finding her best friend and boyfriend had slept together. She doubts her choices now as she thought she was in love with Nathan and he turned out to be an ass. What does that say about her?

Jonathan knows it’s wrong to sleep with Kylie as he’s her tutor but he can’t seem to help himself. He’s intrigued by her from the first minute he sees her and can’t get her out of his mind – even when they don’t see each other again.

Cut to a couple months later and Jonathan is in the coffee shop where he and Kylie studied only he is now shell-shocked.  Kylie has told him that she’s pregnant and he’s dumbfounded. He doesn’t handle things well and Kylie walks out. Jonathan starts to rethink his education choices – stop at Masters or go for the Doctorate? – as he knows he now has to provide for his child. He wants to be in the baby’s life and as he spends more time with Kylie he knows that he wants to be with her as well – permanently.

Life has a way of throwing curve balls at people, however, and Kylie’s not sure, when it comes right down to it, if Jonathan is with her because of her or because of the baby. She pushes him away in an attempt to save her heart but she’s already fallen for him.

This was another great book in the series. I really loved Kylie and Jonathan together. He was the hot nerd guy that I always love to read about (and look at). An amazing brain, glasses and tattoos – what’s not to love? On top of that he was a really fantastic guy. Yes, he had his issues – don’t all men? – but he worked through them and I think it made their relationship, in the end, that much stronger.

Kylie was wishy-washy at times but I had to give her kudos for all the emotional (and physical) crap she went through in the space of a year. If that didn’t show her strength, I don’t know what does. I could completely understand her doubts about Jonathan – not because he deserved it but I think I would have been doubting my judgment as well after what she went through.

I really like books where at least one of the characters is “normal”. Let me explain. Kylie came from a good home. She had 2 parents who loved her – siblings and they weren’t poor. She didn’t have a whole lot of angst in her life from her childhood and was really a pretty optimistic person. I know a lot of people don’t care for people who are dark and riddled with issues but when I read a book with a character like Kylie I just love it that much more. There are a crap-ton of people in the world like Kylie who still can get hurt and bounce back, who can still have boy/girlfriend issues and still be an interesting person – with an interesting story! I think in this case Jonathan had enough of the parental issues for both of them.

Overall I found this to be a really great read. It kind of sounded like this was the last book in the series as things seemed to be wrapped up with the couples, but I’m not sure. If it was up to me I think I’d have the author keep going as it’s just so good. 🙂

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Series:
Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover

This book is available from InterMix. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

four-stars


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