Category: Romance

Books, fantasy, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance, scifi, Urban Fantasy

Blood Shadows by Lindsay Pryor

Karen

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I recently picked up this book because I always participate in the Vampire Book Club’s Alpha Showdown and Kane, the main male lead in this series, killed all my favorites. I later found out that the author added a link from her website so all her fans would go and vote, now normally I’m down with this kinda stuff but clearly they knew none of the other competitors (mostly UF and PNR powerhouses like Kate Daniels, Barrons, Vlad, Charles Cornick, etc) and never voted on anything else. In fact it got kind of ridiculous with us regulars attempting to keep in our favorites and us just getting crushed by people who asked things like who’s Kate??? I shudder. I tell you this because I think I didn’t go into this book with the best mindset but it did have two things going for it (1) the cover is smoking hot (2) I got it for $1 on Amazon. Now you know where I’m at mentally here is the official blurb:

For vengeance – would you trust a vampire?

For justice – could you betray your family?

For love – are you ready to question everything you believe in?

Gifted with the ability to read the shadows of ‘third species’ beings, Caitlin Parish is the Vampire Control Unit’s most powerful agent. Despite that, her mission to hunt down Kane Malloy – a master vampire – comes with a death wish. Many have tried, but few have survived.

For Caitlin, tracking Kane is about more than just professional reputation. With her parents both mysteriously killed 7 years apart to the day, Caitlin knows that without Kane’s help she is next.

She has four days to make a deal with the wicked, the irresistible, the treacherous Kane Malloy. The vampire who despises everything she stands for.

Or die.

I’m going to warn you right now, this review contains spoilers and lots of bitching. I severely disliked this book so if you loved it, stop here. If you don’t want any further information on the story, please stop here. If you think you may like it in the future for the love of all that is holy…STOP HERE!!! You’ve been warned..

 

 

Let’s talked about the first half, now stop me if this starts to sound familiar at any point. Ready?

Caitlin is a vampire hunter with a grudge who thinks she can take down any vampire. I mean she hates them because of family issues so she has something to prove, and the little power she has she uses to hunt them. Kane is a master with a mess of power and skill. She goes after him, gets in way over her head, thinks shes captured him when in reality he ends up capturing her. Then Cat and Bones..errr I mean Caitlin and Kane end up having sex. Yeah. It was like a bad copy but all wrong somehow.

But this is the part that made me hate this book. She starts to talk about how her heart is falling for him…blah blah blah I mean the real mushy stuff girls just can’t resist. Oh her soul practically belongs to him (literally) and she just can’t help her heart. Oooooh and Kane this all powerful vampire just can’t control himself around her! you get the picture. During all this she somehow escapes, calls for back up and runs into some shifters guy. He tells her that her father, stepdad and ex boyfriend participated in the rape and murder of Kane’s sister. She doesn’t believe it. Kane, whom she’s falling in love with, tells her and he’s a liar. Her stepdad and ex boyfriend capture Kane, admit the truth and they are torturing him..here is the kicker, what does she do? As for his forgiveness? Nope! She won’t release him from the torture unless he promises to not hurt the douche bags that participated in the RAPE AND MURDER of his sister, help her escape some monster, and let her boss the puppet master of all this go. Oh and when he doesn’t agree immediately!?! She threatens him, the guy she loves and her heart aches for, yeah she’s gonna read his soul even though he’s begging her not to and is too weak to resist. You know from all the torture her family and friends have inflicted on him. But she’s not sure if she can trust him. What a peach. This makes me absolutely love her and want to read more about her. Listen she can say a million times her heart aches for Kane and his sister, but as far as I  concerned her actions say she’s a self centered bitch. Sorry, don’t like her. Not. One. Bit.

The sick part is I think I would like Kane if he wasn’t constantly fawning over Caitlin. Ugh I’m so done.

 

 

Books, fantasy, funny, great reads, indie author, Out of the Box Blogs, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance, scifi, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Rant Alert: mistakes in books

Les

Ok, anyone who knows me, knows one of my biggest pet peeves is grammar and spelling mistakes in a book.
That being said, I will overlook occasional mistakes, no one is perfect. However, I was recently reading a book series that I bought as a bundle, and it was riddled with mistakes.
It drove me crazy!!! I almost stopped reading it. I didn’t stop, because of 2 reasons.
1. This was a really good story. I really liked the idea.
2. I just have a feeling this is a small publishing company, and or an indie author.
I have a love for indie authors, who have amazing stories and just haven’t gotten that “big break” yet. I respect their efforts, their time, and their amazing abilities to write some of the best stories.
Please, before you attack me, know that I DO NOT blame the authors for these errors. Their job is to create magic, a world I can escape to, not to know how to spell every word or know every grammar rule. I blame proofreaders, editors, and beta readers.
If these mistakes were missed by the proofreader, then I am sorry you need a new profession in the case of this story. The editor should probably move on too, they should have seen the errors before it went to publishing. Also, what beta readers would read this book and not at least tell the author about the errors.
I just had to say something. I even tried to find the author on social media and other places, just to talk to her before I posted my review on Amazon, and to offer my services as a beta reader or proofreader.

I think she has an amazing gift and it is being short changed because of errors that should have been fixed.
I also want to know about the other people who reviewed the books. They were giving 5 stars and not one mentioned the errors. Some of these were ARC reviews. When I do an ARC review I will always let the author or publisher know of the errors if I can. If not, it will still be mentioned in my review. I think it’s a poor excuse for a reviewer, if they are not going to be honest.
I was nice and gave 3 stars. I feel like without the errors the story would have been a 4 or 4.5 star book.

Do excessive errors in books drive you crazy?

Peace! ✌🏻

Les

Books, indie author, paranormal romance, Romance, scifi, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Just. One. Book.

Karen

This is a call out to all authors who so kindly read my blog but as a an update the will have a wish list on Amazon by Monday. I personally am a strong supporter of libraries since they were my escape as a child. Thank you to any and all who at least take the time to read the blog!!

Margaret Elysia Garcia's avatarThrowing Chanclas

Just. One. Book.

I live in a town of 1200 people in the Northern Sierra Nevada –where it meets the Cascade Range near Mt. Lassen National Park and about two hours drive northwest of Reno, NV.  Two hundred of that population is students. Over the years as the population dwindled after mines closed, then mills–nothing except tourism and retirement have emerged as ‘industries.’ Many businesses have closed down and with it many things we take for granted—like libraries.

The local junior/senior high school has not been able to purchase new books since the 90s. Some of the “check outs” for old books are in the 1980s. There are no books by people of color in the library. Hardly any books by women are in the few book cases except your standard Austen and Lee. It’s an uninviting place. There hasn’t been a librarian for nearly a decade. And volunteers weren’t allowed. The…

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Books, Reviews, Romance

Yours, Truly by Krista Lakes

debra

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3.0 stars.  I hate giving this rating but for me, I truly feel it is accurate. First, I actually enjoyed the story. This is a modern day re-telling of Cinderella and I love fairy tales. Part of loving fairy tales is the willingness to suspend belief. I willingly do this to enjoy a story. However, a few things are hard to suspend belief in. Let me explain. AJ and Kat meet and hookup at a wedding. AJ is Kat’s boss, even though they have never met. This is not unusual, however the company is a national shoe company so I have to ask how do you work for a national company and not know what the owner looks like even though you have never met. Kat has to leave the morning after before AJ wakes up. She leaves a note for him (which subsequently is partially destroyed and AJ can’t find Kat with the leftover note) and she also leaves behind a shoe (a Loubatin). (This is the proverbial glass slipper). Now, I am not a shoe person, but I do know Loubatins are well known, sought after, expensive shoes. How do you leave behind a Loubatin and how do you not find the second shoe when you find the first apparently because we only hear about one shoe AJ found? AJ and Kat meet 2 weeks later when Kat makes a work presentation to AJ. Of course, they hook up again. Now, in the middle of all of this, AJ is dealing with his partner’s sex scandal with employees. Obviously, AJ and Kat decide to keep their relationship quiet because AJ needs to get past this scandal and save his company. Kat finds out she is pregnant and decides she is going to tell AJ (albeit, later than she should have). Before she can tell him, she faints and AJ rushes her to the hospital. Once he finds out about the pregancy, the happily ever after happens!! What??!! Where is the resolution to the company scandal? I don’t know where it went. This is my big problem–it does not get resolved in this story. The scandal that has occupied AJ’s thoughts and decision making just disappears from the page. This disappointed me and is the reason for the rating.

The author’s writing style was fine and I liked the characters. My rating is almost exclusively because of the lack of resolution for the subplot (that I felt was interesting). I have heard good things about this author’s books and would consider trying another one in the future.