Not as giddily awesome as the last book in the series, but a good installment.
This one takes a bit of a different track. It takes Emma out o3.5 stars
Not as giddily awesome as the last book in the series, but a good installment.
This one takes a bit of a different track. It takes Emma out of London and to the small village where she was born and where her parents were murdered. There is a series of murders that points to a Supe perpetrator. They are not supposed to be outside of London, but as we learned in the last book there are quite a few who live on the down-low outside of London.
There are a couple of reasons I didn't rate this higher: One the one hand, I loved learning about Emma's background and how she became a Phoenix. So that was a plus. But On the other hand, this book has one of those convenient tie-ins we where the past and present murders connect with the protagonists own personal long standing memory. On the other, other hand it was all by manipulative design. But I don't think the execution of the story bore that out.
Also the motives of the big bad were so, very meh. Kinda like in the first book when we learn the motives of Emma's murderer. This one was just as much of a 'That's it?'
And finally this is the second book in a row where Emma is saddled with an officious, blowhard superior who takes over her investigation and isn't as good as she is and gets in the way more than they help. Yeah it is only the second time, but it already felt old.
Emma has come in to the Supe squad, established trust, solved some high profile crimes and turned the office around. Yeah she is a newly minted detective but It is established that the Supe squad is an unpopular and dreaded posting. That being the case, and Emma doing a bang up job why not just let her keep doing it as the person in charge? Anyway, this part just feels like additional conflict for conflict's sake, when the murders and investigation and the Supe personality, culture, and politics themselves already offer an embarrassment of riches there.
Still I am enjoying this series quite a bit. ...more
This was fantastic. The best book of the series so far and an excellent deployment of the 'time loop' (aka Groundhog Day) trope.
In this one Emma gets This was fantastic. The best book of the series so far and an excellent deployment of the 'time loop' (aka Groundhog Day) trope.
In this one Emma gets the call of a suicidal vampire threatening to jump off the top of the London Eye. Quickly followed up with a bunch of werewolves who have taken a tour boat hostage, quickly followed by a bank robbery in a bank used by the Supes where there were casualties. And to top off a crazy day there is a horrific murder that hits close to home.
Demoralized and despondent and in shock after her long day from hell, Emma drinks a potion that has been given to her by the enigmatic Deveraux Webb -- the urbane outlaw who lords over a merry band of thieves -- as a thank you for the solid she did his niece in the last book.
Whereupon she finds herself in her car midday receiving a call about a suicidal vampire climbing up the London Eye.
It takes her more than a long moment to get over the shock and disbelief of what is actually happening. But she realizes what an opportunity she is given. She has the option of preventing multiples deaths because she knows what is going to happen.
After an exhausting and not as successful an outcome as she needed on this re-do, Emma tracks down Deveraux and learns that she get three resets until the timeline stops rewinding and goes forward as usual.
I loved how this played out. First I loved how many different things happened throughout the day, there was a kind of chaos of events. I loved that in trying to fix things, Emma causes other outcomes that she could not predict for and that in turn caused others problems. So while she prevents some tragedies she knew happened that first time, her interference just caused different ones. Each reset she learns a bit more. Until the final one -- the ones she knows matters the most -- she works smarter, not harder.
I enjoyed every moment. I enjoyed riding along with Emma as she figured out what she did wrong on the first and even second repeat, learning that it wasn't as important to try to stop every bad thing from happening (there were so many) but instead knowing where she had to be to subtly redirect things to win the day. I thought the writing of this was clever and fun.
I added this installment to my romance shelves because the romance kicks in between Emma and Lukas in a big way.
In this one Emma has become an official detective and is now the head of the Supe Squad. I guess it really is a case oYeah, this series is fun a read.
In this one Emma has become an official detective and is now the head of the Supe Squad. I guess it really is a case of the team reflecting the leadership. Under Emma's leadership things have changed a bit. Gone are the lackadaisical constables. Her energy and attitude toward policing has become infectious with her team and they are more engaged and enthused in their work. Emma is still a newbie but she has quickly caught on that she has to act as much like an alpha as the werewolf clans and yummy Vampire Lord, Lukas.
In this one, she finds herself between grieving human parents and the werewolves. Their son petitioned to be turned when he was 18 and his parents blamed the werewolves. The son was killed in a senseless car accident and had been buried. But his remains have gone missing and the parents blame the werewolves again. But they swear they never touched the remains. And Emma discovers that other dead werewolf remains have gone missing
While that is happening, a young vampire is killed and other vampires are being targeted for their blood.
Are these isolated incidents or are they connected?
An meanwhile Emma learns a little but more about the benefits of her resurrection,
This was another solid police procedural/mystery with Emma (and us) learning a little bit more about the supe world and herself. We meet another type of Supe, the Ghouls. I liked how the story is furthering both our and Emma;s perceptions of her new world.
And most fascinating of all we meet another character, a human king of the underworld-type. He and his band of thieves and miscreants are a lot of fun. I loved their first meeting with Emma and look forward to seeing more of him.
The culprit(s) this time was better conceived than in the last book. I do take a point off because they benefited from a lot of plot armor to get to the final confrontation.
But the ending was good and plants a few future bombs that might go off down the road. ...more
Emma Bellamy is a detective in training. She just has to do one more rotation before she becomes a ful3.5 stars. A pretty solid intro to a new series.
Emma Bellamy is a detective in training. She just has to do one more rotation before she becomes a full fledged detective. To her horror she is placed in the Supe squad... the division that is responsible for dealing with crimes that involves any supernatural being. In this universe, Vampires, Werewolves, Pixies etc. all exist. There are laws that govern how their crimes are dealt with. It is an unpopular posting and has become the place where allegedly they park the fuck ups. Which is weird because Emma seems very competent and smart.
To the Supe squad she goes and under the aegis of the current Detective in Charge there she begins to learn about the community she is policing. It is ... not great. The co-workers are bored and phone it in. The Detective in charge of the squad is smart and streetwise but is more interested in the status quo than actual policing. Emma is serious about police work and the whole thing feels like a rather poor fit, especially since she steps on toes almost right off the bat. But she is barely there two days before she is lured to what is supposed to be a meeting with her mentor but what is instead a trap where she is murdered.
Yup. She is killed. But to her surprise (and the poor morgue employee who is there when it happens) she wakes up in the morgue alive and feeling better than well only twelve hours later.
But Emma doesn't have time to let her own death slow her down. Things suddenly get very exciting in the Supe Sqaud. Her mentor goes missing, a werewolf is killed and oh yeah. she needs to solve her own murder.
This was quick and entertaining. All of the charm is in the set up and in Emma herself. It is an urban fantasy police procedural rather than a mystery, even though there a few mysteries to be solved, the writing and methods approach it like a police work.
Emma is bright and quick and energetic. There were a few times when i questioned her actions but they didn't rise to the TSTL level, but rather felt in line with a person who is a rookie on the job who is making actual rookie type mistakes. But she is a good character to root for. Since this is an ongoing series, I hope Emma grows into her role with confidence. There feels like there is some heft there. The Supes are a cagey bunch who would pounce on any weakness. I suspect they might be surprised by Emma over time.
I felt bad about one of the deaths and would have liked to spend more time with that person. Emma does manage to solve the murders that take place (including her own) and in the course of doing so we learn a lot about the various characters and the make up of the supe community.
The most fascinating thing is of course why/how/wtf of Emma's resurrection. That is a ongoing mystery (well if you don't pay attention to the book cover it is). I do wonder how public her little quirk will eventually become and if that will become an issue.
There is no romance although there is a certain vampire Lord who practically has a honkin' neon sign over his head that says "Love Interest."
I don't rate it higher because the motive for the murder(s) were pretty much a let down. Yeah I don't need a super clever mystery but the reason for the culprit(s) to do what they did was what I would call a dud.
Still I am all in on the series and am already queued up with the next one!...more
Some of this book was cute and funny. But too much of it felt... contrived?
This is a fake dating book. I am not a fan of this trope. But wh2.5 stars.
Some of this book was cute and funny. But too much of it felt... contrived?
This is a fake dating book. I am not a fan of this trope. But why did you read this if you don't like that trope, Tina? You ask. Well, I am attracted to plot and sometimes a writer can include a trope I don't like, but the plotting, character development, dialogue, and writing can transcend a less than desirable trope. And honestly all those things should. The book shouldn't be the trope, the trope should exist within the framework of the story as an element, but not the overriding identity of the book.
And I have liked this author's work and I am always up for being surprised and gratified when an author can be the exception to a rule and upend my expectations. But this book was an illustrative example of what I dislike the most about the fake dating trope. It needs to make sense and this one, imo, did not.
It starts out with an interesting premise. Riley is a romance author who grew up in Nevada (basically the desert) but always wanted to live by the sea. so she moves to a Pacific NW town of Port Stewart. She also decides to get a new local cell phone number. She quickly learns that it was the former cell number of a guy named Connor who comes from a big family and apparently hasn't informed everyone of his new number because he is still getting texts to the old number that is now Riley's. And the texts don't only come from family and friends, but one of the more persistent texts is from one of Connor's exes named Ava.
Ava doesn't believe Riley doesn't know Connor. She believes that Riley is in fact Connor's new girlfriend. Ava and Connor had been together since they've been kids and have had an on again/off again volatile romance and Ava is coming back to town for their 10 year HS reunion and has put Riley on notice that she is gonna get her man back.
Ava isn't the only one who wants Connor back, apparently the entire town is rooting for Ava and Connor to get back together. And I am not exaggerating, The. Entire. Town. How do we know this. Because within a day of Ava texting Riley, The. Entire. Town knows that Riley is Connor's new girlfriend and are taking sides. Mind you, Riley has not ever met the man.
Could she have shut this down with a well placed.. 'Who the fuck is this Connor dude y'all keep talking about? Never met the man in the my life." Yes she could have. But did she? No. Because that would mean we couldn't contort ourselves into the fake dating trope.
When Connor finally makes an appearance at her door, it is to introduce himself and to propose that they fake date because Ava won't leave him alone and The. Entire. Town. wants them back together. Could Connor have shut all that down with a well placed "Mind your business and no, Ava, I don't ever want to get back together."? Yes he could have. But did he? No. Because... Trope.
Instead we get them putting on a belabored show for the town. And when I saw show, I mean that literally, because every single thing they do is on display for the town. It is like their entire existence is for the delectation of the observers of the town and everyone has an opinion and are constantly watching them. It was so bizarre.
Of course this is fake dating that turns into real emotion because that is the trope, but even the 'I love yous" are done on full display for everyone in town. It was like dinner theater for goodness sake.
So yeah.. the reason for the fake-dating felt overly contrived. There was one limp explanation that Connor was a 'people-pleaser' because of the reasons we are given about his background. But dude, grow a pair.
Ok, maybe that was a bit harsh. Because one of the things that did work for me was Connor's background, his family and their place in the town. And it does explain why Connor would care what people thought. But it really was a but much. I do wish this had been a dual POV. I would have loved to know more about Connor's inner thoughts and maybe I wouldn't have been so unimpressed with him.
And even though I hated that the entire town seemed to exist to be an audience to this romance, I actually liked the different personalities in the town. They were all different and funny and interesting.
Surprisingly, I thought the character of Ava was one of the more enjoyable aspects. I thought she was gonna be a run-of-the-mill OW asshole, but she wasn't , she was very well drawn. I really enjoyed her texts with Riley and their evolving relationship. And yeah, I liked the way the author drew the history of her relationship with Connor as well.
So yeah, like I said. There were parts that were funny and enjoyable but those parts would get derailed by my exasperation with how the trope seemed to gobble the story.
And finally as a person who reads diversely, I would like to shout out this author for making her town diverse. As well as being one of the small, but growing number of authors who do not automatically presume that their charaters are white by default. Instead of only describing their a character skin's color when they are POC, she also makes a point to indicate when a person is also white, not just assuming we know they are. It is a small thing, but I like to note it when it happens.
I had this book reserved in the library awhile, but when I got it I wasn't sure if I really actually wanted to read it. I generally like Christina LauI had this book reserved in the library awhile, but when I got it I wasn't sure if I really actually wanted to read it. I generally like Christina Lauren but some of their stuff can be miss as much as hit for me. And the plot of this isn't exactly one of my favorites. I find the 'must be married to get an inheritance' in modern romances to be just a variation on fake-dating which is one of my very, very least favorite tropes. But I got off the waiting list and had just finished a book that was pretty heavy, so I needed a palate cleanser.
The first part was actually quite funny.
The heavy lifting in the story goes to the heroine, Anna. She is worth all three stars of the book. She is interesting, decent and has the funniest inner voice. Liam, the hero is fine. But he definitely took the backseat to Anna for me.
His family though.. whoa! They are awful(collectively) although the kids are cool (even though theu are stuck with horrible names!) and His dad is an utter monster. No wonder that family is fucked up.
The Paradise question is a lavish destination wedding for Liam's youngest sister who is getting married. His family is super-duper rich and basically have the entire resort in Pulau Jingga in Indonesia to themselves. The descriptions of the accommodations, the food the scenery sounds exquisite and made me want to hock my house for a vacay.
But this middle part is pretty fraught from reader perspective. Liam and Anna had been married five years previously as a fiction, went their separate ways and had had not seen each other in the ensuing four years until now she has to put in an appearance so he can finally get his inheritance the marriage promised. He had successfully kept Anna away from the family because he himself is almost mostly estranged. But he knows nothing about Anna and had been feeding his family outdated information about her.
It becomes a waiting game to --- not exactly see if they get outed (because that feels a foregone conclusion given the one big gaping inconsistency in the story Liam fed his family about Anna), but how they get outed. So this part is mostly watching how Anna navigates the waters with Liam's family, seeing them learn about each other and fall inevitably in lust (only one bed!) and in love. This part isn't super exciting or revelatory... it progresses like you would expect, so just kinda story filler as you wait for the shoe to drop. So to me the middle part dragged and the comedy leaches away.
Once the shoe does drop the story gets immediately more interesting. The fallout and aftermath brings the all angst and emotional heavy lifting. The ending was good.
The audio-book narration was very well done....more
I dunno. I read this in anticipation of reading the second book. But I dunno...
The entirety of my rating is on the writing. Kennedy Ryan can write! AnI dunno. I read this in anticipation of reading the second book. But I dunno...
The entirety of my rating is on the writing. Kennedy Ryan can write! And I admit was bracing for angsty. But maybe I just was not in the headspace for this brand of it. Honestly I found it depressing.
I don't hate second chance and I don't hate cheating in romance. And I absolutely appreciate including grittier subjects (view spoiler)[(this one had a miscarriage and mental health issues) (hide spoiler)]). But the ingredients in the specific recipe that made up this book didn't taste too good to me.
I still plan on reading the second one in the series but maybe I'll wait until I am in a better headspace for it and the pall of this one isn't lingering too much....more
Not bad. The audiobook narration elevated the story imo.
This takes place in Kentucky where the author used two of the things the state is most famousNot bad. The audiobook narration elevated the story imo.
This takes place in Kentucky where the author used two of the things the state is most famous for: Horses and Whiskey to ground her to rival families.
In one corner we have the Horsey family, the Blackburns. And in the other corner we have the Whiskey family, the Mardraggons (..I am sorry I just could not take that name seriously...). These are not just rivals but straight up enemies of the Montague/Capulet sort. They hate each other. The enmity is based on an incident that resulted in the deaths of two young lovers from their family during the CIvil War days. The hatred has been crystallized over the years and the families have perpetuated for so long that by this point in time rationality has left the building.
But hormones are gonna hormone and 10 years ago Ethan Blackburn (the oldest son and heir of the Blackburns) got it on with Alaine Mardraggon (younger daughter of the Mardraggons) one night while they were both drunk. He went his way and she went hers to France.
However, she did not go away unscathed as she was pregnant with Ethan's child. Now fast forward back to the present and Alaine has died and in her will wants 9-year old Sylvie to be raised by Ethan, and not by her own family. Dun.Dun. DUNNNNN! Cue dramah!
Ethan is gobsmacked to learn ten years later he is a father, and his daughter is also a Mardraggon! So now he has to contend with a grieving, hostile little girl, the Mardraggons, and his own doubts about being a father since he has always felt he could not commit to any one person.
Luckily we have Marcie. Marcie is the Principal at Sylvie's school who Ethan turns to for advice and slowly comes to love.
This is a slow burn romance and kinda-family saga all at once. All of the drama, plot and conflict centers around the parentage issue and navigating the waters with the family rivalry. The romance itself is rather meh. Marcie is level headed and gives great advice, and Ethan and she decide they are in love in the end.
I liked the overall story and the vibe of the book and the narrators of the audiobook were superb.
I could not rate it higher for a couple of reasons:
1) the romance was meh. I can absolutely love books where the romance was meh but everything else was crack-a-lackin' along. But this was not quite there. The family rivalry/secret child plot was good, but it didn't kick into that higher register of really great. The place where I could handwave the 'eh' feeling I got from the romance.
2) the author's tendency to stop action or momentum to describe a room. Like really? Ethan is about to come face to face with his hated rivals after a bomb revelation and we have to stop and talk about the wainscotting, the drop ceilings, and the italian flooring? This happened a couple of times where the action was paused to go into DEEP detail about room decor. I mean, I like to visualize a room and all but there was questionable placement sometimes. DItto with first person POV describing themselves in a way no person ever thinks of themselves (e.g. my cornflower blue eyes and red flowing hair).
3)The writing for Sylvie felt discordant to me. She is a 9 year old who felt more like she should have been 15 or 16. I know some kids can be mature for their ages, but Sylvie spoke and acted with a maturity that was jarring. Also she was really an asshole for the whole first part of the book.. Hey, I get a grieving kid acting out. But there were times when she was manipulative, bitchy and cruel -- again in a way that felt waaay too mature for a 9-year-old. And again... luckily we had Marcie. I will say the author wrote Marcie very well. She was pure grown folks! And her come-to-Jesus talk with Sylvie turned the tide. It was the perfect balance of reasonable and authoritative without being mean. It was exactly the way someone should talk to a child acting out. And, also to the author's credit, she let Sylvie hear the words. I swear I wanted to reach through the book and throat punch that kid. I HATE bratty children (and no, I am not talking about toddlers, they don't know how to use words) but a child who is written like a 16 year old who acted the way this child did deserves a throat punch. But again, luckily, I loved the growth and ended up really liking Sylvie. She still was written too old for her age, imo, but the character was much more enjoyable in the back half of the book.
The Mardraggons feel one-dimensional. I get it, this was largely from Ethan' POV so his perception of them should be skewed. And there is obvious sequel-bait for the one Mardraggon who comes off as rather decent if stand-offish.
So this was a good listen and whetted my interest enough for the sequel....more
Quick read. Very tightly written story of a young couple who are kept apart by their feuding parents. The rich girl (Lainie) and poor boy (Hunter) staQuick read. Very tightly written story of a young couple who are kept apart by their feuding parents. The rich girl (Lainie) and poor boy (Hunter) start the story as seniors in HS , ready to run away together once they turn 18.
But cottoning onto their scheme, Lainie's parents spirit her away (basically kidnap her) to keep her away from Hunter. And since her father is super powerful he adds insult to injury by getting Hunter's college scholarship revoked (somehow...). Unable to find Lainie and now unable to afford college and knowing his parents were aware of Lainie's kidnapping before it happening, Hunter leaves his parents' home in disgust and enlists in the army. He doesn't tell them where he is going, so he basically disappears from their life. Lots of anger and rage.
Lainie manages to escape her parents' luxurious prison to run to Hunter, but she is too late and no one knows where he went. Taking a page out of Hunter's book, she leaves town never to speak to her parent sagain. Lots of tears and sorrow.
Fast forward 1o years later, Lainie is now an EMT and Hunter has finished his final tour and is working stateside as a pilot. It is sheer chance he sees a report about a female hiker gone missing and realizes it is Lainie. He rushes to join the rescue effort.
And the rest is how these two crazy kids reunite, spill some secrets and finally have a long overdue reckoning with their parents.
The author packed a LOT of story in a 187 page book. The writing was very spare, not super descriptive, but very fast paced and action oriented. And with a central romance that remained front and center.
I kinda fell off this series and this author after some of her writing started to feel a bit pedantic in places. Just didn't want to read a romance whI kinda fell off this series and this author after some of her writing started to feel a bit pedantic in places. Just didn't want to read a romance where I felt like I was getting a stealth lecture on things like teen pregnancy or divorce or domestic violence or some such. So yeah I stopped at book 3.
I decided to try this one when it cycled in as a recommendation on my Hoopla and I needed something to listen to on a long car trip.
Yeah, so. This was fine. Just fine. I liked the back story of Grace, the heroine, who was an elite figure skater. The descriptions of her life as a competitive skater and how it shaped her was the best part of the book. The romance, the other characters, the relationships.... were rather ... eh. It this book were a color it would be beige. Just fine. A inoffensive listen for a long drive.
TBH, Therese Plummer, the audiobook narrator was more of a draw than the book itself. A full star of this rating is hers....more
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