Vampyre Kisses

Title: Vampyre Kisses
Author: Elizabeth J. Kolodziej
Genre: Paranormal, romance
Source: A free copy of the e-book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Werewolves and vampires have settled into a comfortable, long standing, loathing of each other. Witches, while real, are no longer living. Right?  This is the general basis of the novel, Vampyre Kisses. There is quite a bit of intrigue and action, but it's very light on the romance....but that's not really a problem. Ms. Kolodziej tells an interesting tale.






What I like:
1. Oran. He's the pet / magical flying beast. He's a tinier than tiny kitten with wings. He's awesome! I want one.

2. There is just the right mix of tensions between the werewolf beau and the vampire suitor.
While the romance plays a very minimal part in the story, the character development of the main characters is crucial. These two boys need to know how to play well together, but it just wouldn't be the same without some of that delicious rivalry.

What I dislike:

1. The mythology is distracting. There is Christianity, there is paganism, there is Wiccanism, there is Hinduism, and even the Greek and Roman pantheons pop up...yet it's all jumbled and mixed up. More than half of the characters are named after well-known "people" with equally well-known mythos. But that's not what we are given. We are given confusion. For example: Within this novel Vampires are a descendant of Cain. Okay, not an issue...this isn't a first. But....only it's not Cain...it's Kane and while the author makes it very clear she is talking about Cain from the Christian Bible...his name is spelled incorrectly and the reason for his downfall is completely incorrect.**  This is a peeve of mine. I don't mind authors taking an existing mythos and shaping it or changing little bits to make it their own....this story, however, is just chock full of mixed up, mashed up, myths and legends.

2. There are silly grammar and content errors throughout the book. I have a reasonable tolerance for mistakes of this kind. No one is perfect. Maybe the author intended that word/sentence/phrase to be read differently than I did? However, I was caught stumbling over things like "I'd had had..." repeatedly though out the book. (BTW, I'd is equal to I had...so that makes three hads in a row) There were also some minor content things such as, blood coming from scars. Scars are a healing process. Blood comes from newly opened wounds. It's alright to use that word. Even if a scar is cut open, the blood is still coming from the wounded scar...it's a wound.



Overall:  I like the story. It was a fast and enjoyable read, but I was so distracted by the mythology mash-ups and the mistakes that I can't say it is a great read. I do, however, thank Ms. Kolodziej, for allowing me to read her novel.

** Since posting this review, I have had a conversation with the author. She was very gracious but wanted to point out that my example was incorrect. She hadn't intended for Kane to be the biblical Cain. This makes a bit of the story more easy to understand. I must have been reading that bit into the text.

However, I do still feel that the mythologies are confusing, and inconsistent within themselves. Maybe by the next installment things will be cleared up.**

The Iron Queen

Title: The Iron Queen
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: YA, fantasy
Source: Netgalley.com

There is not much more I can say beyond, I adore these novels! Ms. Kagawa has created a world that combines classic, well-known fairies with new and wonderful ones. In the center of it all is a girl. A human girl who is neither a loner, an outcast, nor a doormat. Megan Chase is smart, strong, caring, and determined to take care of those she loves...human and fey.

Her romance with the Winter Prince, Ash is taken to a heartwarming...and heartbreaking new level.

She rebuilds her relationship with Puck.

And on a personal note, IronHorse is quickly becoming my favorite character.

Wildthorn

Title: Wildthorn
Author: Jane Eagland
Genre: YA, Historical
Source: E-book from Netgalley.com

This book took me completely by surprise. I had requested it without knowing much about it. I loved the corset on the cover and that imagery combined with my penchant for only hearing about paranormal novels lately, helped me to convince myself that this was a steampunk novel of some sort. I was very wrong! In reality, this is a novel about blossoming sexuality and self awareness. This is a story about a girl living in a time when being individual meant you would likely be convicted as insane. This is a story about a family who just doesn't function. While the material is much more serious than paranormals, it was a good read. I was engrossed in the story the entire way!

These are the fairies of the old tales...

Title: Wicked Lovely
Author: Melissa Marr
Genre: YA, fantasy
Source: e-reader, free through Kindle (a while ago)


Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales of all types, but it is nice to read a story where the fae are what I grew up expecting. They might be pretty and shiny, but they are also michevious, self-serving, and dangerous to the humans who catch their attention.


I also enjoyed the relationship between Aislinn and Seth. She's trying so hard to protect herself and him. He loves her.  I have high hopes for them in the following books.

My only complaint is that Aislinn seems to be willing to break "the rules" (which are clearly laid out and that she repeats often) too easily. The consquences are too easily dealt with. It's a bit disconcerting to have this danger played up throughout the novel and then so readily dismissed.

Overall:  I'm glad I snagged a copy of this. I've already added the rest of the series to my reading list.

His Lady Mistress

Title: His Lady Mistress
Author: Elizabeth Rolls
Genre: Historical Romance, e-book

This novel was an engaging read...for the most part. Often I was frustrated and grumpy at the main characters. Under the guise of caring for the other person and trying to give them what they would want both characters spoke in half-truths, left information out, and flat out refused to hold whole conversations with each other. I understand, humans (specifically males and females) have troubles communicating. I also understand that miscommunications are a staple of traditional genre romances. This was quite frustrating though. I was specifically frustrated with the hero, Max Blakehurst. He was quite capable of understanding and holding whole conversations where he expressed himself clearly without resorting to angry outbursts. He does this several times with various characters, yet, even when he's on the same page as Verity (heroine) he seems to be incapable of holding any sort of conversation beyond angry outbursts where he calls her a whore. Seeing as the characters were eventually able to actually work their differences out, I'm going to assume that the author meant for the characters' miscommunications to be this frustrating....like a lesson for the reader. See! If you are this frustrated while reading, guess how frustrated these two characters must be!

Worth the read

Little Red

Title: Little Red
Author: Sandra Fowke
Genre: e-book, erotica, paranormal-ish

First off, yes. Yes, that is the cover image that came with my Smashwords version. And yes, the book was free....but still. Ack. The cover image has little if anything to do with the story. I'm all for reenvisioning fairy tales, but when the main character isn't even a wolf....he just talks about being a werewolf and how that helps his cock to be larger. Ugh! There is a bit of D/s, a bit of age-play (as in he's 40, she's a barely legal 19) and there are a lot... No really, an abnormally large amount of misspellings and punctuation errors for a five page story. Really only MST3k or the weepingcock snark community of livejournal could do this one justice.

My favorite part: "Alice screamed his name as he took her impossibly fast..." Ummm...yeah. If the speed is impossibly fast then it didn't happen....It's part of the definition of impossibly.

Read at your own risk.