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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
I came to this book through a romance review website (SBTB) I one hundred percent trust, so I was a bit surprised by the troubles I had with this book. I also seem to remember reading Lauren Dane stuff before that felt more polished.
It started in the first paragraph: “Or the hotel near the hospital, several hour’s drive away, where her father was recovering from a stroke several hour’s drive away from Diablo Lake.”
I reread that sentence twice in disbelief at the clumsiness of it, so easily corrected by an editor. Unfortunately, clumsiness at this level popped up every couple pages or so and messed with my reading experience (this is a personal taste thing. It might not bother a different reader)
And that’s a shame. Because Diablo Lake is home to a cozy, fun, community of feisty witches, stupid young werewolf males, and a small town life centered around the mercantile, a soda counter, and restaurant.
Katie Faith is called home by her father having a heart attack and she has to take over the soda counter, as well as face the werewolf who left her at the altar years ago. Luckily. Jace Dooley, a rival werewolf, offers her an apartment close to his pretty quickly and steamy fireworks ensue.
This is one of those paranormal romances where the couple gets together quickly and most of the tension is provided by stupid pack rival people getting up in Katie Faith’s face. There’s quite a lot of Katie Faith and her witch friend Aimee talking smack, caring for each other, stopping by the parents’ house to check in about events and bring groceries, and some snarky comments about wolves who leave the door open when they go to the bathroom.
So it was fun. Not thriller, dangerous fun, but cozy fun. Even some of the events that Katie Faith labels “upsetting” and “out of control” consisted mostly of a rival werewolf coming in and calling her a skank (no jumping her in a dark alley, no property destruction, no blood drawn, quite…tame actually). There’s also very little of our hero Jace Dooley in wolf form. (or anyone in wolf form for that matter. And there’s also some talk about shifter cats but they don’t play any role that I can see in this book other than just window dressing).
But I wanted more. I wanted an edge of danger, more integration of the actual werewolf into the story, more emotional tension between Jace/Katie Faith where they seem to be instantly okay with each other’s personalities and constantly being attracted to each other no matter what the other person is doing, and more editing on clunky sentences.
On the basis of SBTB’s recommendation I went ahead and bought the second book in the series because it was on sale. I’m hoping the second book ends up being a bit more polished than this first one, because it definitely put me off at a sentence level.
It started in the first paragraph: “Or the hotel near the hospital, several hour’s drive away, where her father was recovering from a stroke several hour’s drive away from Diablo Lake.”
I reread that sentence twice in disbelief at the clumsiness of it, so easily corrected by an editor. Unfortunately, clumsiness at this level popped up every couple pages or so and messed with my reading experience (this is a personal taste thing. It might not bother a different reader)
And that’s a shame. Because Diablo Lake is home to a cozy, fun, community of feisty witches, stupid young werewolf males, and a small town life centered around the mercantile, a soda counter, and restaurant.
Katie Faith is called home by her father having a heart attack and she has to take over the soda counter, as well as face the werewolf who left her at the altar years ago. Luckily. Jace Dooley, a rival werewolf, offers her an apartment close to his pretty quickly and steamy fireworks ensue.
This is one of those paranormal romances where the couple gets together quickly and most of the tension is provided by stupid pack rival people getting up in Katie Faith’s face. There’s quite a lot of Katie Faith and her witch friend Aimee talking smack, caring for each other, stopping by the parents’ house to check in about events and bring groceries, and some snarky comments about wolves who leave the door open when they go to the bathroom.
So it was fun. Not thriller, dangerous fun, but cozy fun. Even some of the events that Katie Faith labels “upsetting” and “out of control” consisted mostly of a rival werewolf coming in and calling her a skank (no jumping her in a dark alley, no property destruction, no blood drawn, quite…tame actually). There’s also very little of our hero Jace Dooley in wolf form. (or anyone in wolf form for that matter. And there’s also some talk about shifter cats but they don’t play any role that I can see in this book other than just window dressing).
But I wanted more. I wanted an edge of danger, more integration of the actual werewolf into the story, more emotional tension between Jace/Katie Faith where they seem to be instantly okay with each other’s personalities and constantly being attracted to each other no matter what the other person is doing, and more editing on clunky sentences.
On the basis of SBTB’s recommendation I went ahead and bought the second book in the series because it was on sale. I’m hoping the second book ends up being a bit more polished than this first one, because it definitely put me off at a sentence level.
I don't know what I expected when I started this book. But, it certainly isn't what I got. The flow was awful. A section would start with a statement that implies more than one point, but then point two never came. The grammar wasn't too hot either. There were multiple sentences that I had to re-read just to understand what they were saying. Sometimes I thought it was just the fact that I am not from the south, and they obviously were. But it wasn't consistent enough for that to be the explanation. And the southern twang was annoying - either use it, or don't. Or, at least, be consistent about when to use it. "Y'all" would just pop up out of nowhere.
The only good thing about the book is that it made me curious enough to know what happens with the Pembrys to actually finish the whole thing. That is why I gave it two stars instead of one. I'm actually considering reading the next book just to find out.
The only good thing about the book is that it made me curious enough to know what happens with the Pembrys to actually finish the whole thing. That is why I gave it two stars instead of one. I'm actually considering reading the next book just to find out.
Overall rating: 2 stars
Genre: Shifter Paranormal Romance
Plot: 4/10
Ending: 6/10
Writing: 3/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Hero: 7/10
Heroine: 4/10
Supporting Characters: 7/10
Humour: Not really
Sex: Not really
Feels: No
HEA:
Thoughts:
Genre: Shifter Paranormal Romance
Plot: 4/10
Ending: 6/10
Writing: 3/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Hero: 7/10
Heroine: 4/10
Supporting Characters: 7/10
Humour: Not really
Sex: Not really
Feels: No
HEA:
Spoiler
YesThoughts:
Spoiler
Too much taking and words getting going nowhere. Her name did my head in and it was repeated far too much
There wasn't anything that really made this a paranormal story. The characters are werewolves and witches, but there was very little use of their powers. There also wasn't any sort of major event, fight, etc... so the story had little ups and downs.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
A bit of a rocky start with some repetitive phrases and no clear breaks between the hero and heroine's POV (that continues through the whole book), but I had fun reading this and will definitely borrow the second as well.
[Re-read review] Ok, all this time I've been pronouncing the hero's name "Jayse", like Chase with a J. But in this re-read I caught that his initials are J.C.D., so is "Jace" supposed to be said like "Jay-cee", rhyming with Casey?? I don't like that at all, so he's going to stay "Jayse" in my head!
Also think that this was perhaps too much world-building to cram into one book, but it does make for a good back-to-back read with the second one.
[Re-read review] Ok, all this time I've been pronouncing the hero's name "Jayse", like Chase with a J. But in this re-read I caught that his initials are J.C.D., so is "Jace" supposed to be said like "Jay-cee", rhyming with Casey?? I don't like that at all, so he's going to stay "Jayse" in my head!
Also think that this was perhaps too much world-building to cram into one book, but it does make for a good back-to-back read with the second one.
This was recommended by a book blog I follow when it was on sale, so I picked it up to give it a shot. I'm a fan of paranormal romances, so a whole town built around its population of shifters and witches sounded excellent. I enjoyed the book and found it refreshing in some ways and derivative to a degree in others.
Katie and Jace, our couple for the novel, have a surprisingly adult and even relationship once they get together. There is no manufactured drama between them, they handle things like Katie's "gun-shyness" and Jace's "control-freak tendencies" like adults, usually by talking about them. Once they're a couple, they're a couple, and they present a largely united front to pretty much everyone around them no matter what goes on. This is RARE in the genre, honestly, as most of the conflict and drama is built around misunderstandings between the happy couple, so I found it refreshing and pleasing to read a story that wasn't. There is some sex but it's not explicit and tends to focus more on how amazing they each find the other, so I'd probably rate it R at most.
The witch powers and shifters were explained nicely and neatly, but the real story is the political scenarios around everyone in town. This book does a good job setting up the current situation and filling in the backstory, and leaving the way open for more books in the series to continue on the storyline. Some of the shifter bits were derivative, but then again there's only so much you can do with werewolves who have a pack hierarchy, so that's not necessarily a mark against the book.
There's a wide range of characters, very much in a small-town Southern setting right down to the names and some of the phrasing. The description on GoodReads says it's "Diablo Lake, WA" but it's not, it's set near Chattanooga TN. Some people will enjoy this sort of setting and verbiage, some won't.
I enjoyed the book and will likely pick up another in the series at some point.
Katie and Jace, our couple for the novel, have a surprisingly adult and even relationship once they get together. There is no manufactured drama between them, they handle things like Katie's "gun-shyness" and Jace's "control-freak tendencies" like adults, usually by talking about them. Once they're a couple, they're a couple, and they present a largely united front to pretty much everyone around them no matter what goes on. This is RARE in the genre, honestly, as most of the conflict and drama is built around misunderstandings between the happy couple, so I found it refreshing and pleasing to read a story that wasn't. There is some sex but it's not explicit and tends to focus more on how amazing they each find the other, so I'd probably rate it R at most.
The witch powers and shifters were explained nicely and neatly, but the real story is the political scenarios around everyone in town. This book does a good job setting up the current situation and filling in the backstory, and leaving the way open for more books in the series to continue on the storyline. Some of the shifter bits were derivative, but then again there's only so much you can do with werewolves who have a pack hierarchy, so that's not necessarily a mark against the book.
There's a wide range of characters, very much in a small-town Southern setting right down to the names and some of the phrasing. The description on GoodReads says it's "Diablo Lake, WA" but it's not, it's set near Chattanooga TN. Some people will enjoy this sort of setting and verbiage, some won't.
I enjoyed the book and will likely pick up another in the series at some point.
Sweet and funny. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series!
this was really a 5 star book for me , the Characters are engaging , there is humor and romance, you get a real feel of the town with out being to text book. I gave it only 4 stars because of the ending, its not a cliff hanger, not at all, but the story is unfinished. so I will have to get the next book and so on .. which won't be a problem since I LOVE everything Lauren Dane writes, but I still don't like an unfinished ending :)
Katie Grady and Jace Dooley had a moment while she was in high school, and now they are back together in the same town again. The major twist Katie is a witch and Jace is a werewolf prime and they live in their hometown full of supernatural people. As Katie and Jace grow closer so do the problems of her ex-fiance and his family not wanting them to have a happily ever after.
Lauren Dane outdid herself with the character development and world building. I adore the tangents that Katie went on and her BFF Amie build her out of. I can't wait for the next in their story.
Lauren Dane outdid herself with the character development and world building. I adore the tangents that Katie went on and her BFF Amie build her out of. I can't wait for the next in their story.