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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Rated 3.0-3.5 stars.
The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar follows the wild adventures of owner Sam Quinn, werewolf extraordinaire. When women start showing up murdered and marked with scars identical to the ones Sam carries, her life takes a tailspin into crazy. Now Sam has to watch out for werewolves, psychic visions that entrap her to kill, and angry customers. Partnering up with her sarcastic demon cook, wichee employee, and protective vampire lord, Sam sets out to remind everyone that she is a survivor. A survivor that won't be put down again.
I will warn readers that this story does have trigger warnings of sexual assault and torture that are mentioned throughout the story, but not on-screen.
The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar was an enjoyable quick read. The entire premise of an underground supernatural community and the bookstore/bar that services them fits nicely into my favorite genre of urban fantasy. Defying the stereotypical ferocious female bartender norm, Sam Quinn is a gentle and kind soul that has endeared herself to the supernatural community of San Francisco. The glimpses of Sam's backstory that Kelly gives us helps explain the strength and depth of Sam's character. However, I felt like the story lost a lot of this strength and depth amidst the constant and repetitive psychic attacks. While I loved the interplay between Sam and Clive, the hot vampire master intent on saving Sam, their interactions sometimes painted Sam as the "helpless" girl instead of the survivor she truly was. I will add that the ending of the book does redeem Sam the survivor, but the middle portions of the book do not necessarily paint this picture.
Besides the romantic interactions and character presentation, The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar created a new concept of urban fantasy to offer readers seeking something close to home but still imaginative. Although certain aspects of supernatural living in San Francisco is hinted at in Kelly's story, the wealth of details about community regulations, species explanations, or even patron interactions in Sam's bar/bookstore was sorely missing. Adding more information into the story about how the community actually functions would have seriously contributed to this story, setting it apart from other urban fantasy stories. As it is, Kelly wrote a fun introduction to the world of Sam Quinn, but with almost 300 pages in the book it seems like there was a lot of unused space.
Overall, this was a fun read that introduced the supernatural scene of San Francisco without overwhelming readers with details. The stage is set for the adventures of the residential bookstore/bar owner. Despite the length of the book, the story was missing a depth of details that would vault it from ordinary yet interesting to compelling and engaging. Sam Quinn's adventures will make you laugh and perhaps keep you engaged long enough to continuing reading what happens next.
The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar follows the wild adventures of owner Sam Quinn, werewolf extraordinaire. When women start showing up murdered and marked with scars identical to the ones Sam carries, her life takes a tailspin into crazy. Now Sam has to watch out for werewolves, psychic visions that entrap her to kill, and angry customers. Partnering up with her sarcastic demon cook, wichee employee, and protective vampire lord, Sam sets out to remind everyone that she is a survivor. A survivor that won't be put down again.
I will warn readers that this story does have trigger warnings of sexual assault and torture that are mentioned throughout the story, but not on-screen.
The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar was an enjoyable quick read. The entire premise of an underground supernatural community and the bookstore/bar that services them fits nicely into my favorite genre of urban fantasy. Defying the stereotypical ferocious female bartender norm, Sam Quinn is a gentle and kind soul that has endeared herself to the supernatural community of San Francisco. The glimpses of Sam's backstory that Kelly gives us helps explain the strength and depth of Sam's character. However, I felt like the story lost a lot of this strength and depth amidst the constant and repetitive psychic attacks. While I loved the interplay between Sam and Clive, the hot vampire master intent on saving Sam, their interactions sometimes painted Sam as the "helpless" girl instead of the survivor she truly was. I will add that the ending of the book does redeem Sam the survivor, but the middle portions of the book do not necessarily paint this picture.
Besides the romantic interactions and character presentation, The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar created a new concept of urban fantasy to offer readers seeking something close to home but still imaginative. Although certain aspects of supernatural living in San Francisco is hinted at in Kelly's story, the wealth of details about community regulations, species explanations, or even patron interactions in Sam's bar/bookstore was sorely missing. Adding more information into the story about how the community actually functions would have seriously contributed to this story, setting it apart from other urban fantasy stories. As it is, Kelly wrote a fun introduction to the world of Sam Quinn, but with almost 300 pages in the book it seems like there was a lot of unused space.
Overall, this was a fun read that introduced the supernatural scene of San Francisco without overwhelming readers with details. The stage is set for the adventures of the residential bookstore/bar owner. Despite the length of the book, the story was missing a depth of details that would vault it from ordinary yet interesting to compelling and engaging. Sam Quinn's adventures will make you laugh and perhaps keep you engaged long enough to continuing reading what happens next.
I picked this book for a challenge and I am so glad I did. I was sucked right in to the plot right away.
Sam is just alike able character her hard struggles makes us want to root for her.
Vamps, Wolves, Demons, Witches oh my. Oh and a Dragon! I freaking loved it all the characters are interesting in their own way.
Clive is hella hot and I am so glad he sees Sam for who she is. The softly she feels with him is what I was rooting for. I love that he know her strength and shows her just how strong she really is.
I also really enjoyed the narration as well.
Sam is just alike able character her hard struggles makes us want to root for her.
Vamps, Wolves, Demons, Witches oh my. Oh and a Dragon! I freaking loved it all the characters are interesting in their own way.
Clive is hella hot and I am so glad he sees Sam for who she is. The softly she feels with him is what I was rooting for. I love that he know her strength and shows her just how strong she really is.
I also really enjoyed the narration as well.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture
Moderate: Rape
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
This book reminded me of the Alice Worth series so much. I loved it. I laughed throughout the whole book. The character development is fantastic and I feel we really get to know individual characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Excrement, Death of parent
CW Rape, torture, scars, attempts of mental possession
Good start to a new series. I enjoyed the main character and the world building. I wish the bookstore had more of a presence in the story, mostly the bar is being talked about. Good option for the "chosen one" trope. Nice romance, enjoyed him being patient and slow and the fact that I'm calling that out just shows how low the bar for men really is.
Good start to a new series. I enjoyed the main character and the world building. I wish the bookstore had more of a presence in the story, mostly the bar is being talked about. Good option for the "chosen one" trope. Nice romance, enjoyed him being patient and slow and the fact that I'm calling that out just shows how low the bar for men really is.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Independent Publishers Group, and the author via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Sam is a book nerd extraordinaire and owner of the Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar...she's also a werewolf. For the last seven years she's been happily hiding in her hobbit hole, serving drinks and slinging books to the weird and wonderful otherworldy creatures who inhabit San Francisco. However, something has changed lately, all of a sudden Sam can't keep out of trouble. She has threats on her life coming from all angles and is staring death in the face more often than not, and this just isn't great for business. Along with the help of her Demon cook, her Wicche bartender and the sexy Master of the City vampire patron, Sam is out to find out who has a mark on her head. Can she find them before they take her down? And is this connected to her attack from seven years ago?
Oh wow. What an absolute BREATH OF FRESH AIR! I love urban fantasy, I really do, it's the genre that got me back into reading when I was around eighteen after having been on a reading hiatus for around seven years. But as another reviewer of this book said, Urban Fantasy has a tendency to get very samey. Sometimes it feels like if you've read one, you've read them all, and that doesn't make for fun reading times. Something about this book just made me HAVE to request it. I'm not sure if it was that kickarse simple yet effective cover, the blurb of a sassy lone wolf with a scarred past, or if it was just the title that drew me in, I honestly can't tell you, mainly because I don't remember, but hey, lets go with a mixture of all three, hey?
So! We have Sam who is a lone wolf living in San Francisco who for the past seven years has been trying to move past a horrific attack that has left her incredibly scarred (inside and out). She runs an awesomely named bar and bookstore, and I was just totally here for her character. She's got sass, she has deep seated issues, which anyone could understand because of what has happened to her, and about now is where I'm going to insert the trigger warnings for remembering a rape and torture. I don't feel like I'm spoiling anything as we learn super early on what happened to Sam that lead her to being where she is now. While she has a lot of trouble trying to work through the past, I feel like she really grew as a character simply in this first installment. We have a woman who has been beaten and broken down and was left on her own to survive or die, and she's just trying her best. I feel like Kelly really handled the sensitivity of Sam's situation extremely tastefully, well and with a lot of care. I really felt for Sam, and I honestly wish that she was real so I could go and visit her fine establishment and hang out. I feel like I could be friends with her and I love a beautifully flawed character who is trying to work through their issues who just seems so real. We are introduced to quite a few characters, seeing as the main setting is a bar, but the main ones that carried through the story who we got to see the most were all fantastically written in supporting roles with their own distinct voices and personalities. I absolutely ADORE her Cook. I didn't feel too much for Mr. Master of the City - Clive - at first, but I started to come around to him by the end. I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop in future books.
The story line was incredibly well thought out and executed and just kept me glued to the page the whole time. This was one of those books where you were reading, and flying through the pages, but you didn't feel like you had read much. The narrative just flowed so well and it really felt like I was living in the story each time I picked it up. A book that can make you forget you're reading it deserves ALL the marks in my opinion.
The mystery was well thought out though I figured out one of the culprits rather early on, and I can't honestly tell you how or why. Nothing gave it away as such, I just had this feeling that this person was responsible for some things that had happened, and it turned out that I was right. However, the revelation of the other culprit involved was hinted to through dialogue between a couple of characters, but you still didn't quite know who was responsible or why. So in the end the mystery of the story was handled well and I quite enjoyed it. It kept me going, the need to know what the hell was going to happen to Sam next just had me staying up past my bedtime.
I feel that this is a very character driven novel and what will be a series, which works quite well for me because I've always found that I enjoy a character driven story so much more. Something about the way these stories are written just makes the characters seem even more real to me and never fails to have me sneaking in some reading time when I should be doing other things.
All in all, this was an incredibly promising start to what I believe is going to be a kick arse series. If you love a character driven story with well developed characters full of sass, then give this one a go, you won't be disappointed!
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Independent Publishers Group, and the author via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Sam is a book nerd extraordinaire and owner of the Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar...she's also a werewolf. For the last seven years she's been happily hiding in her hobbit hole, serving drinks and slinging books to the weird and wonderful otherworldy creatures who inhabit San Francisco. However, something has changed lately, all of a sudden Sam can't keep out of trouble. She has threats on her life coming from all angles and is staring death in the face more often than not, and this just isn't great for business. Along with the help of her Demon cook, her Wicche bartender and the sexy Master of the City vampire patron, Sam is out to find out who has a mark on her head. Can she find them before they take her down? And is this connected to her attack from seven years ago?
Oh wow. What an absolute BREATH OF FRESH AIR! I love urban fantasy, I really do, it's the genre that got me back into reading when I was around eighteen after having been on a reading hiatus for around seven years. But as another reviewer of this book said, Urban Fantasy has a tendency to get very samey. Sometimes it feels like if you've read one, you've read them all, and that doesn't make for fun reading times. Something about this book just made me HAVE to request it. I'm not sure if it was that kickarse simple yet effective cover, the blurb of a sassy lone wolf with a scarred past, or if it was just the title that drew me in, I honestly can't tell you, mainly because I don't remember, but hey, lets go with a mixture of all three, hey?
So! We have Sam who is a lone wolf living in San Francisco who for the past seven years has been trying to move past a horrific attack that has left her incredibly scarred (inside and out). She runs an awesomely named bar and bookstore, and I was just totally here for her character. She's got sass, she has deep seated issues, which anyone could understand because of what has happened to her, and about now is where I'm going to insert the trigger warnings for remembering a rape and torture. I don't feel like I'm spoiling anything as we learn super early on what happened to Sam that lead her to being where she is now. While she has a lot of trouble trying to work through the past, I feel like she really grew as a character simply in this first installment. We have a woman who has been beaten and broken down and was left on her own to survive or die, and she's just trying her best. I feel like Kelly really handled the sensitivity of Sam's situation extremely tastefully, well and with a lot of care. I really felt for Sam, and I honestly wish that she was real so I could go and visit her fine establishment and hang out. I feel like I could be friends with her and I love a beautifully flawed character who is trying to work through their issues who just seems so real. We are introduced to quite a few characters, seeing as the main setting is a bar, but the main ones that carried through the story who we got to see the most were all fantastically written in supporting roles with their own distinct voices and personalities. I absolutely ADORE her Cook. I didn't feel too much for Mr. Master of the City - Clive - at first, but I started to come around to him by the end. I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop in future books.
The story line was incredibly well thought out and executed and just kept me glued to the page the whole time. This was one of those books where you were reading, and flying through the pages, but you didn't feel like you had read much. The narrative just flowed so well and it really felt like I was living in the story each time I picked it up. A book that can make you forget you're reading it deserves ALL the marks in my opinion.
The mystery was well thought out though I figured out one of the culprits rather early on, and I can't honestly tell you how or why. Nothing gave it away as such, I just had this feeling that this person was responsible for some things that had happened, and it turned out that I was right. However, the revelation of the other culprit involved was hinted to through dialogue between a couple of characters, but you still didn't quite know who was responsible or why. So in the end the mystery of the story was handled well and I quite enjoyed it. It kept me going, the need to know what the hell was going to happen to Sam next just had me staying up past my bedtime.
I feel that this is a very character driven novel and what will be a series, which works quite well for me because I've always found that I enjoy a character driven story so much more. Something about the way these stories are written just makes the characters seem even more real to me and never fails to have me sneaking in some reading time when I should be doing other things.
All in all, this was an incredibly promising start to what I believe is going to be a kick arse series. If you love a character driven story with well developed characters full of sass, then give this one a go, you won't be disappointed!