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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
DNFing because of blatant colorism. What is the point of including characters of color if you’re going to give them white traits like BLUE EYES?? and just stick a hispanic last name on there and call it good?
Tell me you’ve never met or cared about POCs without telling me: write this book.
Tell me you’ve never met or cared about POCs without telling me: write this book.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nice and angsty, good pining. I liked it quite a bit. Strong and compelling characters, enough drama to feel indulgent but not totally over-the-top. There were some tense changes (slip-ups?) that jostled the reading experience for me.
My relationship with vampire novels, especially ones that fall in the romance category, is like a person who loves spicy food even if it gives them stomach problems most of the time. The reason I keep diving in despite that? The possibility of finding novels like Cutting Your Teeth. Many of the common tropes are there: much older vampire saving young human damsel dude in distress, some new twist on traditional supernatural lore, and a small dose of chosen one. Author Caylan MacRae crafts an LGBTQ+ narrative that transcends these.
A supernatural mix between horror and romance, it's the very real characters and their very real problems that anchor this story so much for me. I wouldn't have thought I'd find topics like childhood trauma and existentialism in my vampire novel, but I'm thankful for it. The plot reminded me of an onion, layers upon layers yet still managing to be cohesive all the same. And parts are going to leave a bad taste in your mouth, but they are supposed to. Don't forget those couple of elements of horror tossed into the blender even if sweeter moments can lull the reader into a false sense of security.
Tone and word choice round out why I enjoyed Cutting Your Teeth so much. The main character, a barely ex-teenager on the run, keeps the right amount of sarcasm and edginess without feeling overdone. I blame my decision to read the novel on the cage fight in the first chapter and excerpt. The description made it easy to picture what was happening, and more than in just a visual sense because of the frequent appeals to other senses too. That same quality persisted throughout. In fact, the novel was pretty near perfect with only a few scattered errors.
I highly recommend Cutting Your Teeth to any fan of supernatural, or any Supernatural fan for that matter. I hope the inclusion of an impala and the chemistry between characters (not just the romantic leads) were a nod in that direction. If not, the chords struck were very similar. A world was built with this first book, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to it in the rest of the series.
A supernatural mix between horror and romance, it's the very real characters and their very real problems that anchor this story so much for me. I wouldn't have thought I'd find topics like childhood trauma and existentialism in my vampire novel, but I'm thankful for it. The plot reminded me of an onion, layers upon layers yet still managing to be cohesive all the same. And parts are going to leave a bad taste in your mouth, but they are supposed to. Don't forget those couple of elements of horror tossed into the blender even if sweeter moments can lull the reader into a false sense of security.
Tone and word choice round out why I enjoyed Cutting Your Teeth so much. The main character, a barely ex-teenager on the run, keeps the right amount of sarcasm and edginess without feeling overdone. I blame my decision to read the novel on the cage fight in the first chapter and excerpt. The description made it easy to picture what was happening, and more than in just a visual sense because of the frequent appeals to other senses too. That same quality persisted throughout. In fact, the novel was pretty near perfect with only a few scattered errors.
I highly recommend Cutting Your Teeth to any fan of supernatural, or any Supernatural fan for that matter. I hope the inclusion of an impala and the chemistry between characters (not just the romantic leads) were a nod in that direction. If not, the chords struck were very similar. A world was built with this first book, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to it in the rest of the series.
Though the book is now officially out, I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy. Therefore, some of my thoughts and feedback may be no longer relevant.
That said:
This book had a very good premise, but it was not well executed. The book is non-stop action, which is great because you don't want to have a lull in the story...but nothing was given a chance to breathe. As a result, none of should have been huge emotional payoffs felt earned. The main character laments that he doesn't know when he was last cared for or feels like he can't have love, etc....but he was broken up with less than a week prior to the start of the book and has a guy calling him "my love" two days after they officially meet. Towards the end of the book the love interest says he had "long abandoned" a plan...but that plan had been abandoned less that a week before he said that. The characters weren't given time to have character growth, and there was so much happening that things were being solved too quickly and too easily. Need a quick escape? No worries, theres inexplicably two horses tied right outside. It's sad because the world building is there, the concept was there, but this almost felt like it needed to be split into two books and then had the emotions and personal relationships grow more.
The Goodreads profile for this author says that this is their first book, and I sincerely hope they continue writing. I feel that they have some wonderful ideas, and I would love to read future books from them, I just hope they can delve a little more into the much needed emotional resonance of story telling.
That said:
This book had a very good premise, but it was not well executed. The book is non-stop action, which is great because you don't want to have a lull in the story...but nothing was given a chance to breathe. As a result, none of should have been huge emotional payoffs felt earned. The main character laments that he doesn't know when he was last cared for or feels like he can't have love, etc....but he was broken up with less than a week prior to the start of the book and has a guy calling him "my love" two days after they officially meet. Towards the end of the book the love interest says he had "long abandoned" a plan...but that plan had been abandoned less that a week before he said that. The characters weren't given time to have character growth, and there was so much happening that things were being solved too quickly and too easily. Need a quick escape? No worries, theres inexplicably two horses tied right outside. It's sad because the world building is there, the concept was there, but this almost felt like it needed to be split into two books and then had the emotions and personal relationships grow more.
The Goodreads profile for this author says that this is their first book, and I sincerely hope they continue writing. I feel that they have some wonderful ideas, and I would love to read future books from them, I just hope they can delve a little more into the much needed emotional resonance of story telling.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book takes its time for you to get to know the characters. I sort of wish Killians motivation would have been shown more. I get that it wasn't shown to build up suspense, but it made his actions feel a bit out of character.
There was also a lot that was revealed about Ezra twords the end that sort of felt just a bit over the top for me. Having said that, I enjoyed reading this, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
There was also a lot that was revealed about Ezra twords the end that sort of felt just a bit over the top for me. Having said that, I enjoyed reading this, and I'm looking forward to the next one.
author reached out for arc review copy!
This follows Ezra a guy who is always on the run from his past and moving around constantly when he makes an unusual friend. His past starts to catch up with him to the point Killian turns him and we are thrown into the world of vampires and hunters.
i adore vampire books so this was definitely a fun read for me, it’s definitely not as dark or horrory? as it could be with the supernatural elements but i did really like how it explored vampires and how it’s talked about in the book with the struggles of been one while also keeping your attention on the characters and not diving too deep into history of vampires.
I’m defiantly a character driven reader so this book worked really well for me as i loved the main cast of characters. I really like ezra even though he was fairly stereotypical for a main character who rushes in and doesn’t care of consequences but it worked with his backstory, i liked the love interest killian i found him a really interesting character and would love to have learnt more about him as we only get glimpses of his past, and Mari one of the other main cast i think the trio really worked and the friendship they have really shines through. it’s definitely fits with the found family troupe vibes and it’s really warm feeling so it good to see these characters who have been through a lot of shit be able to have this family love. i think the relationship could of been explored more and definitely took a backseat in this book as there was too much other things going on which took focus over the relationship. I’m also someone who can’t forgive easy so i definitely think think the ending of this felt a little rushed with the emotions and was all ok again when like i’m still mad at the characters.
I do think some parts of this book were short due to there been a lot going on like i could read a whole book on just Ezra boxing at the start i found that really interesting for it to never really be mentioned again (understandable with what happens but) and the ending things happen which i think i would of liked more context on but that may come later.
but overall i really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it specially for a debut novel! If you want a gritty queer vampire found family book with little to no spice then id recommend this!
This follows Ezra a guy who is always on the run from his past and moving around constantly when he makes an unusual friend. His past starts to catch up with him to the point Killian turns him and we are thrown into the world of vampires and hunters.
i adore vampire books so this was definitely a fun read for me, it’s definitely not as dark or horrory? as it could be with the supernatural elements but i did really like how it explored vampires and how it’s talked about in the book with the struggles of been one while also keeping your attention on the characters and not diving too deep into history of vampires.
I’m defiantly a character driven reader so this book worked really well for me as i loved the main cast of characters. I really like ezra even though he was fairly stereotypical for a main character who rushes in and doesn’t care of consequences but it worked with his backstory, i liked the love interest killian i found him a really interesting character and would love to have learnt more about him as we only get glimpses of his past, and Mari one of the other main cast i think the trio really worked and the friendship they have really shines through. it’s definitely fits with the found family troupe vibes and it’s really warm feeling so it good to see these characters who have been through a lot of shit be able to have this family love. i think the relationship could of been explored more and definitely took a backseat in this book as there was too much other things going on which took focus over the relationship. I’m also someone who can’t forgive easy so i definitely think think the ending of this felt a little rushed with the emotions and was all ok again when like i’m still mad at the characters.
I do think some parts of this book were short due to there been a lot going on like i could read a whole book on just Ezra boxing at the start i found that really interesting for it to never really be mentioned again (understandable with what happens but) and the ending things happen which i think i would of liked more context on but that may come later.
but overall i really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it specially for a debut novel! If you want a gritty queer vampire found family book with little to no spice then id recommend this!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It was fine but read like fanfic. No world development, no character development. Overall rather boring.