Bayou Born (The Foundling #1) and Bone Driven (The Foundling #2) by Hailey Edwards

 

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Deep in the humid Mississippi bayou, a half-wild child is dragged from the murky waters. She has no memories, no family and is covered in mysterious markings. Adopted by the policeman who rescued her, Luce Boudreau follows him onto the force, determined to prove herself in the eyes of those who are still suspicious.

However, there's more of a battle ahead than Luce could possibly imagine. She may be an orphan without a past, but no one - including Luce herself - could ever be prepared for the truth of her dark, powerful destiny...

 

I've been wanting to try this for a while, mainly because it's set in Mississippi and I haven't seen very many books set there. I also lived within driving distance from the town this book is set in so I was interested in seeing how things would be portrayed in this book. I thought the overall atmosphere of the bayou and Mississippi in general could have been better described. There are names of several towns that I lived near in these first two books, but there wasn't quite enough to differentiate it from anywhere else. No one in the book felt truly Southern to me, but it didn't bother me too much. 

Most of the paranormal/urban fantasies I've read lately have been rather mediocre, especially the self published ones. I think they've all just lacked some character depth, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I ended up really liking it a lot. The characters were well written, except for maybe, as I said before, not feeling very Southern. 

There were a couple of twists that I thought were well done. I didn't see one of them coming at all. I was a little disappointed, after the main character's identity is revealed. It wasn't really a direction I was wanting or expecting the book to go in, but after I got used to the idea it grew on me.

There were certain aspects of this that reminded me a lot of the Crow's Curse series by Laura Bickle, but I'm liking this better. Mostly though, this felt pretty unique and I liked it enough to read the second book, which I've added my rating and the description to below. As of now, I'm planning to continue on with the series.

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Life as a cop in Canton Town, Mississippi, is never dull - particularly when hiding deep within you is a demon bent on the apocalypse. Luce is doing her best to pretend her two worlds aren't crashing into each other, but what should be a routine arson investigation takes a shocking turn when Luce discovers a link between the suspects and her own dark secrets. There's no turning back, even though her search for the truth threatens to burn her old life down around her.

Lines are being drawn in a war Luce barely understands, and she just might be on the wrong side of them. Now she must embrace her powerful destiny, or the ones she loves most will pay the ultimate price.

 

 

Shoreline: 2nd Edition by Jennifer Loy

My rating: 2.5 of stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Fantasy
Content: Strong language, Several sex scenes that start out steamy but end up mostly fade to black.



Dr. Trina Parker flies to the island of Oahu for a medical conference. All she wants is for the conference to be over and to get some peace and quiet at the Lanikai beach house she rented for the week. One night, while taking a dip in the ocean, she gets caught underwater between two figures in a struggle-enemies, rivals...and mermen. Soon, Trina finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime. Journeys into the depths of the sea, secret cures, and an intimate relationship with a mythical creature, challenge all the science Trina has learned as fact. Will she choose the love of her life, her career, or get the best of both worlds?

Another guilty pleasure read because sometimes I guess I just need to read this kind of stuff. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, but anyhow... I read the one I had bought for the reading challenge (Merman's Kiss) and thought to myself, surely books with mermen in them have to be better than this one was... apparently not.

I picked this one up because it was a stand-alone, and it sounded more romantic than erotic, which is NOT my thing. I will say that my main problem with this book wasn't the Merfolk, although there were a few issues there, especially in the beginning. My main problem with this book is the main character. How can a character be a doctor who is so intelligent, but still be too stupid to live at the same time?

There were a lot of interactions between characters in this book that didn't make sense. For example (minor spoilers here), a woman is attacked and left unconscious, and then found by a man she just met a few days before. Instead of taking this unconscious woman with a head wound to the hospital, he tries to take her back to her house, but it's locked and he can't get in, so he takes her to his place and puts her in his bed. This woman wakes up in the middle of the night beside this man she doesn't really know and just takes it in stride. He did nothing to her, but she doesn't know that. She doesn't freak out. She doesn't try to leave. People don't act this way! This is also a woman who was sexually assaulted as a teen. I think she would have been traumatized by this experience. We do come to understand why the man probably didn't take her to the hospital much later in the book, so that part made sense after that, but why get in the bed with her? This same woman is almost raped by a different man near the beginning of the book and she doesn't seem phased by that either. Unbelievable.

So obviously I had some real problems with the way characters behaved in this book, and I thought this was pretty dumb and cheesy at times, but also kind of romantic at times too, but not nearly enough to make up for the things I didn't like. For the life of me I just can't figure out why it was so hard to put down. I enjoyed reading it enough to give it 3 stars, but the other issues with the story make me want to give it 2 stars. That's the reason I settled on 2.5.

Possession by C.J. Archer

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal, Paranormal Romance
Content: A makeout scene, two women are almost raped


When the ghost of a notorious killer possesses the body of an upper class youth, London's pre-eminent medium, Emily Chambers, must exorcise it before the spirit goes on a rampage. As if this isn't distraction enough, she must fight her feelings for brooding ghost, Jacob Beaufort, who doesn't like the new man in her life - the handsome and very much alive, Theodore Hyde.


This was not as good as the first book in the series. I was annoyed with the lack of plot advancement. The only answers we get in this book are about Emily's father. Other than that, there are no answers to be had in this book, just a lot of frustration. On top of that, there are things that the possessed characters do that wouldn't have just been swept under the rug. Their reputations would have been ruined. It also bothered me that the female characters that are almost raped in this book seem to get past it so easily.

In the last book, I was really rooting for Jacob and Emily to get together, but after reading this one, I felt really annoyed at Jacob. He's like a yo-yo with his feelings and actions. Poor Emily. All the brooding he does in this book gives Edward Cullen a run for his money. That isn't making me want to continue on with this series, but since there is only one more book, I probably will, just to see how things end up.

The Medium by C.J. Archer

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Ghost Story
Content: Clean


Seventeen year-old spirit medium Emily Chambers has a problem. Actually, she has several. As if seeing dead people isn't a big enough social disadvantage, she also has to contend with an escaped demon and a handsome ghost with a secret past. And then there's the question of her parentage. Being born an entire year after her father's death (yes, a year) and without the pale skin of other respectable English ladies, Emily is as much a mystery as the dead boy assigned to her.

Jacob Beaufort's spirit has been unable to crossover since his death. It might have something to do with the fact he was murdered. Or it might not. All he knows is, he has been assigned by the Otherworld's administrators to a girl named Emily. A girl who can see and touch him. A girl who released a shape-shifting demon into the mortal realm. Together they must send the demon back before it wreaks havoc on London. It should be a simple assignment, but they soon learn there's nothing simple when a live girl and a dead boy fall in love.

This is the first book in a YA paranormal trilogy. I'm a sucker for stories about ghosts, so this was right up my alley. Overall I really liked this. I thought Emily was very likable, and Jacob as well, even though he got grumpy a few times.

I was a little disappointed that Emily and Jacob didn't take a more active role in chasing the demon down and finding it's victims. I was expecting more demon hunting than we got. Instead they end up investigating who summoned the demon instead of hunting it down. I guess that was a logical way to eventually find it, but it lacked the demon hunting action I was looking for.

The romance in the story was pretty good. I liked the forbidden love aspect of a living girl and a ghost falling for each other, and the fact that Emily is able to actually touch Jacob as well, worked nicely in the story, otherwise the romance would have been very limited. That being said this was a clean romance with nothing more than kissing. It is YA, so I wasn't expecting more than that.

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Content: Strong Language, Sexual Situations, Sensual Scenes

 

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

This book ended up being a huge disappointment for me. I really love the Kate Daniels series and the Innkeeper Series, but I didn't find this to be as good.

First, did Ilona Andrews really have this phrase in a book?

"I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and shivered."

UGH! Also, that cover. Everyone and her sister, including me has complained about that cover, but after reading the book I feel like it actually fits the book pretty well. Yes it's cheesy, but Mad Rogan spends a lot of time in this book shirtless, and Nevada, although she may not dress that way, spends a whole lot of time lusting over Mad Rogan's shirtless body, which is also cheesy. All of this resulted in the book feeling a bit closer to PNR than UF. So I kind of can see where the publisher was coming from when they gave the book that cover. But no, I don't personally like the cover. I also didn't personally like those aspects of the book either.

My biggest problem with this book is Mad Rogan. There are things about his character that really bother me. First, he is most definitely a narcissist who is very likely a psychopath or a sociopath. Second and most importantly he kidnapped her and mistreated her. Sorry there is no way she should be attracted to him after this. Third, he kept putting the moves on Nevada when she told him no. That is not ok. When Nevada told him she wanted to keep their relationship professional he should have respected that, even if she was attracted to him and he knew it. That doesn't make it ok for him to act as though no means yes. She did nothing to invite his attentions, she kept what she was feeling to herself. This all bothered me so much that I'm not sure there is anything Ilona Andrews can do to make me like Rogan at this point.

Also I don't need to be beaten over the head with how powerful and attractive Rogan is, how big he is. I get it, let's move on. This happened so many times in this book. We are going along with the plot and then have to stop and admire (lust) over Mad Rogan. 

There is also very little world building in this book. I don't really read Ilona Andrews for great world building, but even the Kate Daniels series has better world building than this.

Things I liked:
-Grandma was an interesting character. I kind of wish the book had been about her.
-Nevada. I liked her when she wasn't lusting over Rogan's shirtless body.
-The Magic. It was interesting.

Despite the things I disliked about this book it was still entertaining, which is why I'm on the fence about reading the next book in the series.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Content: An almost sex scene


When I picked up A Discovery of Witches I was hoping for a good, non-cheesy paranormal romance (yes those do exist) I enjoyed the whole mythology of the story. I thought it was interesting the way vampires were tied to wolves in behavior, but mostly I thought this book was disappointing, and also annoying.

For me this book kind of broke down into three parts. First there is the whole historian aspect. While we are in this part of the book the lead female, Diana spends most of her time researching old manuscripts. When she isn't doing that she's running, rowing, and doing yoga. She pretends she isn't a witch and doesn't practice witchcraft because of some things that happened in her past, except of course when she wants to get a book off the shelf, which didn’t make much sense. Mostly this part of the book is ok except there are way too many details that could have been edited out of the story.

The major complaints I have about this part of the book would be first, the yoga scene. Yes, the Vampire in this book takes his lady friend on a yoga date. Imagine it, a whole room full of vampires, witches and daemons...doing yoga...to Rocket Man. This was not meant to be funny. I'm sure I will giggle to myself and shake my head anytime I hear the song Rocket Man from now on. After that scene I honestly wasn't sure if I could take the book seriously.

Second, the other complaint would be that Diana throws on drab clothing and doesn't bother with makeup, then has the annoying habit of thinking about how plain and unattractive she is. There is one point when she looks in the mirror and notes how much she looks like her mother and then wonders how her mother got her pale eyebrows and lashes to stand out. Well Diana, it's called makeup, surely you’ve heard of it? If a woman is perfectly happy with herself without makeup and dressed in drab clothing, that's fine with me. Just don't do those things and then complain about the result.

When we get to the second part of the book we have the vampire history and lore. We are whisked away to another place and it almost feels like another time because it's so isolated. I have a slight issue with the consistency of the main character in this part of the book. The main character is no longer into running, rowing, and yoga. I get that rowing is out of the question because of where they are, but she doesn't even seem to think about it or miss it, not the running either. In fact she doesn't do those two things for the whole rest of the book, and barely any yoga either. It just seemed to be such a big part of who she was in the first part of the book. Instead now she is suddenly a horsewoman. I wouldn't have a problem with this if it had been mentioned before as part of who she was.

I did begin to enjoy the book more at this point though, mostly because it was less tedious. I enjoyed the glimpses into the past lives of some of the characters. A lot of Matthew's history is uncovered here. I wanted to like Matthew, and sometimes I did, but throughout the book he tells Diana what to do, makes decisions for her without telling her, and keeps secrets from her that are relevant to her and to their relationship. He basically treats her like a child. He isn't the only character in this part of the book that does this to her though. There is the housekeeper at his place in France (And by the way, why would a vampire want to spend her whole life being a housekeeper?) that does it too.

***Minor spoiler here. If you don't want to read it skip down to the next paragraph. Matthew and Diana eventually declare their love for each other and make an oath that, in vampire society means they are married. There is a very nice romantic scene that begins and then suddenly I'm sitting here blinking, not believing what I've just read. After getting married and all kinds of foreplay Matthew says they aren’t going to have sex? Did he really just say that? After that whole romantic scene that appears to be leading up to it? I cannot believe any woman would put up with this. None of his excuses or reasons make much sense either. No man in his right mind would do this and it continues this way throughout the whole rest of the book.

When we finally get to what I think of as the third part of the book, we are in America at the house Diana grew up in. This part of the book almost feels like watching an episode of Bewitched or reading Harry Potter with the enchanted house and all the ghosts and spells. I actually liked this section of the book the best. I wish the whole book had been like this. As it is I didn't really think this part matched the tone of the rest of the book. The worst part about this section of the book is that we now get Diana’s aunt also treating her like she is a child. She tells Matthew when they decide to go for a walk outside that Diana needs to put on warmer clothes. She doesn't even tell Diana, she tells Matthew like she's a child and he's her father or something. I mean really, the woman is 36 years old! She doesn't need other people to tell her how to dress or when to eat or when to sleep. This stuff happens constantly in this book. There are times when Diana pushes back over these things, but then we are back to the same behavior all over again. Throughout the book Matthew tells Diana that she is brave, that she is like a lion, that she is willful, but I don't see it. She just lets everyone push her around and tell her what to do. One other nit-picky thing is when we discovered Diana was a horsewoman in the last part of the book, she says it's because she grew up on a farm around horses, but the whole time we are on the farm not one horse is mentioned. I think Diana is just good at what she needs to be good at for whatever is happening in the story.

So to sum it all up, I liked parts of this book, but I thought it was overly long and needed to be edited down. I thought the personality and interests of the main character should have been more consistent throughout the story. It kind of felt like the author wasn't sure what kind of book she wanted it to be as feel of the story seemed to change from one location to the next. Also I'm tired of rude alpha type males in books that think the women they love are helpless and boss them around. I will not be continuing on with this series.



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