Scan barcode
A review by veronica87
Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover
2.0
What to say about this book...um, it has a cool cover? Here's the thing, if the overall plot of a book is weak but there is a yummy romance then usually the romance aspect can sustain my interest in a series. Conversely, if the romance is not all that but the plot and world building are top notch then I'm along for the ride. The problem for me with this book is that it fell short both counts, plot and romance.
As for plot, nothing really happened in this book. It was a group of people basically hanging around a house until the last twenty pages or so when the final showdown happened. The writer did manage to check off some cliches right out of the gate though. Heroine with unique name? Check. (Jayne - with an accent on the 'e' and pronounced zhuh-nay, yeah whatever. I pronounced it like regular old Jane in my head) Heroine inherits a vast fortune to make her monster stomping easier? Check. Heroine is suddenly gifted with super fighting skills that she's never had before? Check. That said, I did like Jayne overall.
The other issue regarding the plot is that we get told about the big bad but we never really see him or see him do anything really bad. He mostly exists off the page until the very end of the book. I never got a sense of who he was as a villain or why I should be rooting so hard for the good guys to take him out.
As for the romance aspect, I have to confess that I really enjoy the slow burn. Couples who are getting into bed in the first act rarely grab my interest. And so it is with Jayne and her love interest in the book. He's a nice enough guy, even if he does leave out some major information about his past, but I found the pairing lukewarm at best.
So, as a whole this was just a two star book for me. It's nothing that I would re-read. There are more books in this series and I might read the second book at some point to see if things pick up plot-wise and action-wise (since the romance angle is doing anything for me) but it won't be priority reading for me.
As for plot, nothing really happened in this book. It was a group of people basically hanging around a house until the last twenty pages or so when the final showdown happened. The writer did manage to check off some cliches right out of the gate though. Heroine with unique name? Check. (Jayne - with an accent on the 'e' and pronounced zhuh-nay, yeah whatever. I pronounced it like regular old Jane in my head) Heroine inherits a vast fortune to make her monster stomping easier? Check. Heroine is suddenly gifted with super fighting skills that she's never had before? Check. That said, I did like Jayne overall.
The other issue regarding the plot is that we get told about the big bad but we never really see him or see him do anything really bad. He mostly exists off the page until the very end of the book. I never got a sense of who he was as a villain or why I should be rooting so hard for the good guys to take him out.
As for the romance aspect, I have to confess that I really enjoy the slow burn. Couples who are getting into bed in the first act rarely grab my interest. And so it is with Jayne and her love interest in the book. He's a nice enough guy, even if he does leave out some major information about his past, but I found the pairing lukewarm at best.
So, as a whole this was just a two star book for me. It's nothing that I would re-read. There are more books in this series and I might read the second book at some point to see if things pick up plot-wise and action-wise (since the romance angle is doing anything for me) but it won't be priority reading for me.