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FIVE STARS ! ! ! !
I read a Goodreads review of this book and was intrigued, so I got a copy for my Kindle and started reading. And then didn’t stop until I’d consumed every single word.
Wow.
I have a new author to add to my favorites list. Yayyy! I so love love love when that happens!
There are so many things I enjoyed about this book. That it’s in first-person, that the heroine is snarky and fun and has a very droll sense of humor. That she’s also smart and has major supernatural mojo of an unusual variety. That the hero is sexy and gorgeous are givens, but his “situation” adds a new complexity that I enjoyed. And the relationship between the two is fresh and different and very hot without dipping into the pornographic.
I love the secondary characters and their humorous love for Charley, the MC. I love the trouble Charley gets into (reminds me a bit of Karen Chance’s characters, not in terms of being derivative, but simply because Charley rockets from one death-defying situation to the next, keeping you on the edge of your seat).
I immediately tried to download the next book in the sequel, only to discover (with much profanity, all internal since my young daughter was present) that it’s not available. I’ll be checking today to see when the book will be released, since I’m antsy to find out What Happens Next?? I just love when the characters get into my head like that!
(Can I say it again? I loved this book!)
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THREE STARS
Let me begin by saying that although I’ve enjoyed the Dark Hunter books I’ve read, every one has been an emotional flogging. Unlike the others, however, in which we catch only nightmarish glimpses of what the characters suffered, Acheron wallows in page after page of appalling misery, torture, deceit, and every atrocity one person could commit on another.
This led me to hate pretty much every one of the characters for not DOING something. Yes, the first half was set thousands of years ago, which meant every individual was at the mercy of the ruler’s horrific whims. Granted, women were property and utterly dependent upon male family members. But STILL . . .
It also made it impossible to believe that Acheron didn’t become psychotic very early on. The guy was turned into a sex slave at the age of eight. For decades, he was raped, beaten, and tortured by no less than 12 and often as many as 18 “customers” every day. Then subjected to the same by his uncle every night. He was fed only after he “performed” satisfactorily but, since the performance standards and “rules” were quixotic, arbitrary, and intended to torment, he rarely ever ate.
Yet, somehow, he’s maintained not only his sanity, but his capacity to care, to show mercy? It was too enormous a stretch for me to make. I wound up skimming the first half — honestly, how many times can a guy be whipped, violated, humiliated, castrated (they grow back — ewww), starved, drugged . . . Time to skim skim skim.
I gave this book three stars for the second half of the book, in which the heroine appears and provides an opportunity for Acheron’s redemption. But having read the first half, it was extremely difficult to believe that the same guy could not only be the savior of every disabled child, homeless person, and eternally damned Dark Hunter under his leadership, but he still retained the capacity to fall in love.
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FOUR STARS
I’ve been addicted to the Fever series since I picked up Darkfever one rainy afternoon at the drug store. Luckily for me, four of the five had already been published at this point, so I devoured all of them in the course of three days. Then began the long wait until the fifth and final book, Shadowfever, was released.
Finally — the extraordinary number of loose ends that have grown tangled from book to book got resolved. As well, cameo appearances from Moning’s Highlander series were fun and I enjoyed reading Mac’s impressions of each character.
But.
There were aspects that set my teeth on edge. Often those cameos felt pushed — as if Moning was trying to figure out where to plug in Adam Black, Dageus, Cian, and all the others. Frequently, the resolutions felt a bit contrived and at least as tangled as the issues themselves.
I also prefer characters to emotionally mature as they progress through their trials, especially through the course of a long book series. That Mac kept making the same blasted mistakes (relentlessly) even when she berated herself at great length for each and every one . . . sheesh, it made me nuts. Then, hey presto, in the course of maybe three pages, Mac suddenly “gets” it. But, when presented with an opportunity to fix everything one page later, she reverts to the same maddening pattern. (Honestly, there were times I couldn’t figure out why Ryodan (and, heck, Barrons) didn’t just kill her and MOVE the bleep ON.) Another couple of chapters of berating herself, another opportunity to atone . . . well, you get the idea. When this very lengthy book was coming to a close, only THEN did she genuinely grow up. And the suddenness of it felt unnatural. Just as the sudden resolution of a certain Dark Hulking Someone’s pathological surliness feels awfully fast.
But here’s the thing. I kept reading. Voraciously. There’s just something about Karen Marie Moning’s writing that sucks me in and hangs on like an Unseelie Gripper. Until that final page, the dang thing isn’t going to let go.
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Regretfully, ONE STAR
I picked this book to read for three reasons — 1) I was sitting with my eight-year-old in the doctor’s office for FOUR HOURS this afternoon, bored out of my mind while she played iTouch games (lots of sick kids being fit in on a Monday); 2) I’ve enjoyed other Lynsay Sands’ books; and 3) the title made me giggle.
I’ll confess to having skimmed the narrative and focused on dialogue and/or action. I’ll also confess to having a massive pet peeve about repeat words . . . and, as much as I enjoy Sands’ books for the light reading pleasure they are, there are a lot of repeat words. Yet another reason why I skimmed!
That said, if you’re looking for a book that’s pure entertainment, Bite Me If You Can is worth picking up. So what if it was predictable? I enjoyed watching the hero, Lucian, go from grumpy to smitten. Especially when the hunky former Atlantean takes advice from a pimply teenage bookstore clerk on how to win the woman of his dreams. As well, there were a ton of similarities between The Accidental Vampire’s Elvi becoming a vamp/learning the rules and Bite Me’s Leigh becoming one. Elvi is a restauranteur . . . so’s Leigh. And then there’s . . . well, you get the idea. LOTS of similarities.
Bite Me’s bad guy appears at the very beginning, but not again until the very end — at which point, the plot gets resolved really fast. But I can’t say I minded since the book isn’t really intended to be suspenseful. It’s meant to be a light-hearted, fun read. And it is.
So if you’re looking for a sorbet to sandwich between dark, meaty reads like Feehan, Kenyon, or Moning, try Bite Me If You Can.
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THREE STARS
Overall, I enjoyed this book, although I did get tired of Denise’s misreading every single-teeny-tiny-little thing Spade did and said. Including his posture and expressions. And, of course, she consistently got his intentions wrong. Every. Single. Time. The guy not only hauls her around the world trying to save her suspicious hiney (and her family’s) from a vengeful demon, incurring enormous expense and debt (both financial and political), but he sticks with her through her continued mistrust and waffling warmth/coldness. Her massive smack-down immediately following their first (ahem) night together was especially annoying, although I was relieved that the author didn’t take off on that track and split the two up for a while.
I’ll try more of Frost’s books because I enjoyed the lightness as a balance to meatier/darker reads like Kenyon. And I enjoyed the dialogue and the steam — a good mix of romance and heat.
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TWO STARS
Everyone — and I mean everyone — I’ve talked to loved loved loved this book. And I so wanted to. I really tried to. But . . . it was a freaking whipping.
I wound up keeping it on my Kindle and, when I was between books and sitting at the dentist’s office, waiting in carpool lane at school to pick up my daughter, or pretty much had nothing better to do, I’d read this book.
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else since I know it’s genuinely loved by eleventy-million readers.
But . . . gasp. I was sooooo happy when I finally finished it. I don’t plan to get the sequel.
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FIVE STARS ! ! ! ! ! ! !
This series just gets better and better. I adore Curran and Kate, as well as the awesome cast of secondary characters. While Curran and Kate are strikingly similar to Briggs’s Mercy and Adam, I still love the play between them, the mate “dance,” the developing devotion to one another, and their awesome senses of humor.
I can’t wait for Book 5!
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FIVE STARS
I’ve read this book before and am indulging myself by reading it again. Love love lovin’ it!
[done now]
Yup, just as much fun the second time around. Love me some zombies!
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FIVE STARS
Phenomenal, gorgeous book. My heart soared higher with each page read.
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FIVE STARS
I genuinely enjoyed this book. Heading the list of reasons why is the spin on shapeshifters — how they came into being (I’m a fan of those treacherous fae!), how their people evolved, and the way the human world reacted when their existence was discovered.
I also liked the characters — how they interact with one another, the dialogue, how well-rounded they are.
And, oh yeah, the heat was pretty, hmm, wow . . . [fanning face]
Here’s hoping Ashley continues with these characters!
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THREE STARS
As a Texan and a horse rancher, I also love the book’s small-town community. Miller deftly paints both sides of this often insular lifestyle — the warmth and genuine caring people have for one another, the comfort of knowing who everyone is and where you fit in, against the sometimes claustrophobic elements of those same people knowing everything about your life . . . the good as well as the embarrassing, seeing you at your best and at your worst, ALL the time.
That said, I was a bit frustrated by the abrupt changes of heart Melissa, the heroine, experiences in an effort to move the romance with Steven along. She leaps into bed with him after having met him only two days earlier, then she’s cold and ugly toward him when their professional lives create the tiniest bit of friction. That Steven remains true toward Melissa just makes her seem that much nastier and him just a little too good to be believable.
Another annoying thing is that Melissa’s angst over getting involved with Steven is that she was previously involved with a single dad who had two sons. The guy wanted to get married, but she kept dragging her feet — while she loved the boys, she was afraid to love the dad because loving someone makes you vulnerable to their loss (in the event of death or if the person stops loving you). So the dad eventually got tired of her jerking him around and he dumped her, found a sweet local woman, married her, and now they’re expecting their first child together. Melissa uses the situation to convince herself she’s not meant to love anyone and the town locals (as well as her family) pretty much reinforce this belief by tiptoeing around her and coddling her about her pain over the breakup. WHEN SHE CAUSED THE BREAKUP HERSELF ! ! ! ! It’s like blaming the gun because you shot yourself in the foot. I kept wanting her to woman-up and stop moaning about a situation for which she was solely responsible.
Because of this breakup, Melissa has psychosomatic allergies around pets — an excuse not to have a dog or cat because, of course, people outlive their pets all the time and she doesn’t want to love something only for it to die . . . well, SOMEtime. This was a huge head-scratcher for me and I could only figure that Miller included this element to show that Melissa was majorly screwed up (umm, kinda noticed that in the first few pages!), especially since her beloved fraternal twin is the town’s vet so her Perfect Home (gorgeous and adoring husband, beautiful kids) is difficult for Melissa to visit. Oh no! A cat walks through (ahhhh-CHOOO). Oh no! Gorgeous hubby sweeps twin sister in for a big smooch (heartbroken pangs that Melissa is never going to have such love). Perfect child gives twin sister a sweet hug (more heartbroken pangs that Melissa is never going to have a child of her own). Twin sister cooks to perfection, her home is beautiful and tidy and a genuine HOME where everyone is welcome, it’s noisy and filled with life and happiness (cue Melissa’s ongoing angst).
[spoiler alert]
Which makes it all that much harder to believe that when Steven almost dies in a tussle with an armed bad guy, right at the very end of the book, Melissa suddenly does a total about-face. All her suffocating fears go out the window, as well as her so-called allergies, and now she wants to be with Steven, adores his family, wants a dog of her own, agrees to get married, and promptly gets pregnant. Even harder to swallow (since this all happens in about three pages), she gives up her role as town district attorney and decides to become an animal rights advocate/legal defender, thus leaving Steven’s role as town defense attorney unfettered and their relationship uncluttered. But this is the same woman who spent 95% of the book talking about how driven she is, how career-focused, how competitive, that she’d never walk away from anything (well, except for handsome single fathers who are awesome in bed) . . . .
I’ve enjoyed Miller’s McKettrick series and was thrilled to see that she’d started a new one (the Creeds are cousins of the McKettricks and cut from the same sexy-as-hell, rugged, integrity-driven, no-nonsense cloth). I’ll definitely try the next Creed book, but without the same degree of enthusiasm as I began this one.
[ARC provided by netgalley]
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AT THE TOP OF MY LIST
Here are my most beloved authors, those whose books I’ll buy and read (Kindle and print editions) simply because one of these amazing writers wrote it:
Patricia Briggs
Darynda Jones
Karen Marie Moning
Karen Chance
Seanan McGuire
Ilona Andrews
Robert Parker
Jim Butcher
Lee Child
Dean Koontz
. . . . dreamy fan-girl sigh . . . .
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For more of my book reviews, please visit goodreads.com:
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