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obsidian_blue's reviews
3060 reviews
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
4.0
It took me a long time to start Doctor Sleep. I remember reading "The Shining" when I was a pre-teen and being scared to go to sleep for weeks without my handy flashlight next to me. I felt for Danny Torrance and his family as they were trapped in the Overlook hotel where people that were dead did not stay dead. I always wondered what happened to Danny and his mother after they survived the Overlook. Doctor Sleep allows us to see what kind of man has Danny (Dan) become since "The Shining."
When the novel begins we have Danny and his mother still recovering from the events at the Overlook. We a visit from Dick Hallorann thrown in we readers quickly find out that Danny is still dealing with the events at the Overlook and we find out an interesting side effect to the shining. Stephen King then throws the novel forward into Danny's (now known as Dan) early to mid twenties who we come to find out has become a drunk who drinks to forget his past. The novel zig-zags through Dan's life and we also have incorporated into the novel some asides to characters called "The True Knot" who apparently know what "The Shining" is and want it for themselves. Additionally we have the characters of Lucy, David, and their daughter Abra.
I have to say that I was very taken by the characterization of Dan in this novel. After everything he has been through who would not have some scarring left from that. However, I felt disappointed that we do not get to get into his life with his mom growing up except for a few short sentences referencing her and Dick. To have Dan just falling and hitting rock bottom was believable except for the part that I doubt that Dick would have ever let Dan fall that hard without a little tough love and getting back in touch. I felt as a reader that Stephen King left off some important information for me to just get into why Dan just slid as far down as he did in the world.
Regarding the characters who made up "The True Knot", I really did not find them scary at all. Definitely horrible villains but they did not make me feel as fearful or scared as I did while reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars" or the character of It in "It" (involuntary shudder) compared to those villains these people were just lightweights. I really wish that they had not taken up as much of the novel as they did or we had been able to understand exactly what moved them besides just staying alive.
I found the character of Abra interesting along with her parents and I would love to see this character followed-up on in a subsequent novel but find that once the connection to Dan was finally explained by King that I just felt disappointed. It really didn't make a lot of sense and I felt that the explanations of how everything tied together actually made the novel lose its steam at that point so when we go into the last couple of chapters I found myself not as engaged as I should have been.
All in all this was a very nice sequel to "The Shining" but I think it would have been better if we just didn't have the whole "True Knot" characters in the novel or if we did they really should have been scarier or at least I should have been scared for our heroes.
When the novel begins we have Danny and his mother still recovering from the events at the Overlook. We a visit from Dick Hallorann thrown in we readers quickly find out that Danny is still dealing with the events at the Overlook and we find out an interesting side effect to the shining. Stephen King then throws the novel forward into Danny's (now known as Dan) early to mid twenties who we come to find out has become a drunk who drinks to forget his past. The novel zig-zags through Dan's life and we also have incorporated into the novel some asides to characters called "The True Knot" who apparently know what "The Shining" is and want it for themselves. Additionally we have the characters of Lucy, David, and their daughter Abra.
I have to say that I was very taken by the characterization of Dan in this novel. After everything he has been through who would not have some scarring left from that. However, I felt disappointed that we do not get to get into his life with his mom growing up except for a few short sentences referencing her and Dick. To have Dan just falling and hitting rock bottom was believable except for the part that I doubt that Dick would have ever let Dan fall that hard without a little tough love and getting back in touch. I felt as a reader that Stephen King left off some important information for me to just get into why Dan just slid as far down as he did in the world.
Regarding the characters who made up "The True Knot", I really did not find them scary at all. Definitely horrible villains but they did not make me feel as fearful or scared as I did while reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars" or the character of It in "It" (involuntary shudder) compared to those villains these people were just lightweights. I really wish that they had not taken up as much of the novel as they did or we had been able to understand exactly what moved them besides just staying alive.
I found the character of Abra interesting along with her parents and I would love to see this character followed-up on in a subsequent novel but find that once the connection to Dan was finally explained by King that I just felt disappointed. It really didn't make a lot of sense and I felt that the explanations of how everything tied together actually made the novel lose its steam at that point so when we go into the last couple of chapters I found myself not as engaged as I should have been.
All in all this was a very nice sequel to "The Shining" but I think it would have been better if we just didn't have the whole "True Knot" characters in the novel or if we did they really should have been scarier or at least I should have been scared for our heroes.
A Girl Like You by Gemma Burgess
2.0
I finished reading Gemma Burgess's "The Dating Detox" and promptly bought the next book in her 'London Girls' series. This novel and "The Dating Detox" could be read as standalone novels.
In "A Girl Like You" we have Abigail dealing with being single for the first time in years. Abigail broke up with her long-time boyfriend and quickly moved in with Robert (best friend of her sister's fiancee). With Robert's expertise on how to be single and enjoy it Abigail starts to date and eventually even begins to relish her singleness until she meets "the one."
I really did love the character of Abigail in this novel. To me she was a delightful mess. I can only imagine how weird it would feel to go from a long-term relationship to being single in London. Ms. Burgess is able to delightfully capture all of the characters like Abigail, Robert, Abigail's sister and close friends.
However, I could only give this novel two stars. This was due to a lot of errors I found in this novel and a plot shift that changed the dynamic of the first half of the novel. With regards to the errors I found, several times I would just find a character speaking and all I would see is "," or a character would be "kissging". I don't know if this was because of my Kindle version or not but thought I would let other customers know that it was in my version of this book.
Second, the plot shift was a major issue for me. We have Abigail being happy to be single and free and when the plot shifts she becomes an entirely different character. I struggled to finish the novel once this happened. When the plot re-shifted again I was pretty fed up with Abigail. At this point I was all out of sympathy for the character and was happy when the novel came to a close. I really did love "The Dating Detox" but just did not care for "A Girl Like You" at all.
In "A Girl Like You" we have Abigail dealing with being single for the first time in years. Abigail broke up with her long-time boyfriend and quickly moved in with Robert (best friend of her sister's fiancee). With Robert's expertise on how to be single and enjoy it Abigail starts to date and eventually even begins to relish her singleness until she meets "the one."
I really did love the character of Abigail in this novel. To me she was a delightful mess. I can only imagine how weird it would feel to go from a long-term relationship to being single in London. Ms. Burgess is able to delightfully capture all of the characters like Abigail, Robert, Abigail's sister and close friends.
However, I could only give this novel two stars. This was due to a lot of errors I found in this novel and a plot shift that changed the dynamic of the first half of the novel. With regards to the errors I found, several times I would just find a character speaking and all I would see is "," or a character would be "kissging". I don't know if this was because of my Kindle version or not but thought I would let other customers know that it was in my version of this book.
Second, the plot shift was a major issue for me. We have Abigail being happy to be single and free and when the plot shifts she becomes an entirely different character. I struggled to finish the novel once this happened. When the plot re-shifted again I was pretty fed up with Abigail. At this point I was all out of sympathy for the character and was happy when the novel came to a close. I really did love "The Dating Detox" but just did not care for "A Girl Like You" at all.
Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery
2.0
The first novel in Susan Mallery's "Fool's Gold" series focuses on Charity Jones and Josh Golden.
Charity is recently hired as city planner in Fool's Gold. Charity is orphaned and is happy to be putting down roots in Fool's Gold and hopes that she can finally find a nice guy to settle down with after so many dating disasters. Josh is a world renowned cyclist who has moved back to Fool's Gold to recover from a bicycling accident that continues to haunt him.
The initial plot intrigued me but in the end I have to say that I found this entire novel to be a two star book. It really pains me to give this novel two stars. I mean seriously this does. I love Susan Mallery's Blackberry Island series and I am a bit perplexed that the author who wrote those novels wrote the "Fool's Gold" series as well. I purposely chose the first two books in this series for my To Be Read (TBR) 2014 pile because I loved the Blackberry Island books so much.
All in all I felt as if Charity and Josh were very flat, that the plot was patently absurd, and that the romantic chemistry was just not there. However, if only these things were present in the novel I would have still given it 3 stars. However, what really caused me to drop this novel down to two stars was the fact that several times throughout this novel it was shown that being a single woman with a good job was not enough. I several times had to put this book away because of that sentiment that kept being expressed by every single character that came into contact with Charity. She is told at one point to not purchase a home because she may meet a man and if they marry what is the point in having her own home. Several characters keep rhapsodizing about how hot Josh is, how perfect his body is, etc. and these are grown women with careers. I am not saying that women don't gossip (please) but each character was pretty much turned into a drooling imbecile around Josh and it became off putting after a while.
I am going to read book #2 since it is on my TBR 2014 pile and I hope that the series rebounds since in my mind it has to improve from book #1.
Charity is recently hired as city planner in Fool's Gold. Charity is orphaned and is happy to be putting down roots in Fool's Gold and hopes that she can finally find a nice guy to settle down with after so many dating disasters. Josh is a world renowned cyclist who has moved back to Fool's Gold to recover from a bicycling accident that continues to haunt him.
The initial plot intrigued me but in the end I have to say that I found this entire novel to be a two star book. It really pains me to give this novel two stars. I mean seriously this does. I love Susan Mallery's Blackberry Island series and I am a bit perplexed that the author who wrote those novels wrote the "Fool's Gold" series as well. I purposely chose the first two books in this series for my To Be Read (TBR) 2014 pile because I loved the Blackberry Island books so much.
All in all I felt as if Charity and Josh were very flat, that the plot was patently absurd, and that the romantic chemistry was just not there. However, if only these things were present in the novel I would have still given it 3 stars. However, what really caused me to drop this novel down to two stars was the fact that several times throughout this novel it was shown that being a single woman with a good job was not enough. I several times had to put this book away because of that sentiment that kept being expressed by every single character that came into contact with Charity. She is told at one point to not purchase a home because she may meet a man and if they marry what is the point in having her own home. Several characters keep rhapsodizing about how hot Josh is, how perfect his body is, etc. and these are grown women with careers. I am not saying that women don't gossip (please) but each character was pretty much turned into a drooling imbecile around Josh and it became off putting after a while.
I am going to read book #2 since it is on my TBR 2014 pile and I hope that the series rebounds since in my mind it has to improve from book #1.
Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn
5.0
The main protagonist of this novel is Jillian Kane. A well respected architect and a mother of two children with a handsome husband Jillian appears to have it all to the outside world. However, Jillian is keeping a secret that her picture perfect life is nothing but a fraud. With a husband who works in the police force Jillian has no one to turn to when her perfect husband starts abusing her.
Just a word of warning to potential readers. This is a very tight thriller centering around domestic abuse. At times the story made me physically cringe and at times I got felt ill reading about the ways in which Jillian was mistreated by her husband Gordon. I think it is because the author, Suzanne Redfearn, manages to write so well that you feel as if you are a silent witness to everything that Jillian is going through. Ms. Redfearn rights this character so well I honestly felt as if a real live friend was going through this and I was afraid that she would eventually be killed by her husband. I gave this novel five starts because I thought it perfectly encapsulated what a woman goes through while she is being abused and what happens to her afterwards even when she manages to get away. I now that this a reality that many women have gone through in their lives and reading about how Jillian does her best to protect her children--Addie and Drew--from Gordon and doing her best to not antagonize and at times to antagonize Gordon just so that either way she would have some peace manages to allow readers to feel just as helpless as Jillian.
Just a word of warning to potential readers. This is a very tight thriller centering around domestic abuse. At times the story made me physically cringe and at times I got felt ill reading about the ways in which Jillian was mistreated by her husband Gordon. I think it is because the author, Suzanne Redfearn, manages to write so well that you feel as if you are a silent witness to everything that Jillian is going through. Ms. Redfearn rights this character so well I honestly felt as if a real live friend was going through this and I was afraid that she would eventually be killed by her husband. I gave this novel five starts because I thought it perfectly encapsulated what a woman goes through while she is being abused and what happens to her afterwards even when she manages to get away. I now that this a reality that many women have gone through in their lives and reading about how Jillian does her best to protect her children--Addie and Drew--from Gordon and doing her best to not antagonize and at times to antagonize Gordon just so that either way she would have some peace manages to allow readers to feel just as helpless as Jillian.
The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene
5.0
Three women and one teacup service is the start of a beautiful friendship in The Vintage Teacup Club. When Jenny Davis comes across a teacup service at a market she thinks she has finally found the service that she can use at her wedding themed vintage teacup party. However, two other women also want the service--Maggie and Alison--and the three women together come up with a solution to share the service while also hunting down more vintage teacups to use.
I know that this book was released in November 2013 but since I did not have a chance to open this book until 2014 I am still counting it as one of my favorite reads of 2014.
I think that the author Vanessa Greene managed to make write this novel very well with three distinct female characters and juggle their story-lines and not manage to make it feel overcrowded. That is a very hard thing to do I think and she manages to do so deftly without making it look hard at all. Usually when I read a novel with multiple characters I end up really loving one and just kind of ignoring the other ones I don't identify with at all. However, this time I really did identify with Jenny, Maggie, and Alison. All three women were so distinct and at different phases of their lives (about to be married, married for a long time, and divorced) so you could definitely see where they were coming from with their experiences. I also thought it was a very smart way to set up these women like female archetypes maiden, mother, and crone.
I would love to read a follow-up novel with these characters some day or at least a subsequent novel with all new characters with some sneak peeks at these three.
I would definitely recommend picking this up to read!
I know that this book was released in November 2013 but since I did not have a chance to open this book until 2014 I am still counting it as one of my favorite reads of 2014.
I think that the author Vanessa Greene managed to make write this novel very well with three distinct female characters and juggle their story-lines and not manage to make it feel overcrowded. That is a very hard thing to do I think and she manages to do so deftly without making it look hard at all. Usually when I read a novel with multiple characters I end up really loving one and just kind of ignoring the other ones I don't identify with at all. However, this time I really did identify with Jenny, Maggie, and Alison. All three women were so distinct and at different phases of their lives (about to be married, married for a long time, and divorced) so you could definitely see where they were coming from with their experiences. I also thought it was a very smart way to set up these women like female archetypes maiden, mother, and crone.
I would love to read a follow-up novel with these characters some day or at least a subsequent novel with all new characters with some sneak peeks at these three.
I would definitely recommend picking this up to read!
Vintage by Susan Gloss
4.0
I am starting to really like the "vintage" genre romance and chick-lit novels that are coming out lately. I think it's because most of the clothes, appliances, dishes, harkens back to an earlier time and people like imaging themselves as debutantes at a ball.
This novel focuses on three women who come into contact due to a vintage store, Hourglass Vintage, that is located in Madison, Wisconsin. These women are Violet, April, and Amithi.
Violet owns Hourglass Vintage, but due to an unexpected development by the owner of her building may found herself without a home or store in a few short months. April is 18 years old, pregnant, and alone. Dealing with the death of her mother a few months earlier and her fiancee breaking off her wedding, she interns at Violet's store. Amithi comes into Violet's store trying her best to give away clothes that she feels are tainted by her husband's betrayal.
I loved all three of these women as characters. However, Amithi's storyline really did not flow with the rest of the story lines in this novel. I think her storyline would have made a great standalone novel or a sequel to Vintage: A Novel. April and Violet's story lines are more closely entwined since they both are working at the store and becoming closer to each other. Amithi would drop in here and there but was not really involved with them at all. A side character, in this novel, Lane, was more interesting to me and actually would have fit in nicely with Violet and April's storyline. I found myself more interested in Lane since she seemed to have such a surreal life as an actress that had her giving that up to be a wife and mother.
I can't wait to see what Susan Gloss writes next.
This novel focuses on three women who come into contact due to a vintage store, Hourglass Vintage, that is located in Madison, Wisconsin. These women are Violet, April, and Amithi.
Violet owns Hourglass Vintage, but due to an unexpected development by the owner of her building may found herself without a home or store in a few short months. April is 18 years old, pregnant, and alone. Dealing with the death of her mother a few months earlier and her fiancee breaking off her wedding, she interns at Violet's store. Amithi comes into Violet's store trying her best to give away clothes that she feels are tainted by her husband's betrayal.
I loved all three of these women as characters. However, Amithi's storyline really did not flow with the rest of the story lines in this novel. I think her storyline would have made a great standalone novel or a sequel to Vintage: A Novel. April and Violet's story lines are more closely entwined since they both are working at the store and becoming closer to each other. Amithi would drop in here and there but was not really involved with them at all. A side character, in this novel, Lane, was more interesting to me and actually would have fit in nicely with Violet and April's storyline. I found myself more interested in Lane since she seemed to have such a surreal life as an actress that had her giving that up to be a wife and mother.
I can't wait to see what Susan Gloss writes next.
Party Girl by Rachel Hollis
5.0
The main character in this novel, Landon Brinkley, is excited that she landed an internship with Selah Smith, an event planner to the stars. Landon gets to mix with the rich and fabulous while also dealing with a soul killing, puppy kicking boss. Having a surly roommate with a hot brother is also making things interesting in her life.
First off, I want to say that I thought that this entire novel was firing on all cylinders. The characters were flesh and blood people to me. The plot really worked. The love interest was a good one and thankfully though I was initially afraid of some ugly love triangles rearing their ugly heads there was nothing to be concerned about in the end.
I think what really works though is that with the little details and factoids that are sprinkled throughout this novel you can tell that an industry insider wrote this book. I had a lot of fun guessing who might some of the stars be that were referenced in this book.
This novel is being compared to The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel due to it being written as a roman a clef. I think that the main reason why I didn't care for "The Devil Wears Prada" as a novel that much (besides the grammatical errors galore) the main character in that novel was not likable at all to me. Landon was likeable and competent in her job and she killed herself to make sure that she did good work so I felt a vested interest in seeing her succeed. Towards the end I was so dissatisfied with "The Devil Wears Prada" I honestly didn't care what happened to anyone in that book.
With the addition of interesting side characters such as Landon's roommate Max and her co-worker Miko we also get to break things up a bit with their insights into Hollywood and the craziness that is Landon's job. It would be really great if we get some follow-up on those two in any subsequent sequels starring Landon.
First off, I want to say that I thought that this entire novel was firing on all cylinders. The characters were flesh and blood people to me. The plot really worked. The love interest was a good one and thankfully though I was initially afraid of some ugly love triangles rearing their ugly heads there was nothing to be concerned about in the end.
I think what really works though is that with the little details and factoids that are sprinkled throughout this novel you can tell that an industry insider wrote this book. I had a lot of fun guessing who might some of the stars be that were referenced in this book.
This novel is being compared to The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel due to it being written as a roman a clef. I think that the main reason why I didn't care for "The Devil Wears Prada" as a novel that much (besides the grammatical errors galore) the main character in that novel was not likable at all to me. Landon was likeable and competent in her job and she killed herself to make sure that she did good work so I felt a vested interest in seeing her succeed. Towards the end I was so dissatisfied with "The Devil Wears Prada" I honestly didn't care what happened to anyone in that book.
With the addition of interesting side characters such as Landon's roommate Max and her co-worker Miko we also get to break things up a bit with their insights into Hollywood and the craziness that is Landon's job. It would be really great if we get some follow-up on those two in any subsequent sequels starring Landon.
Steal Me, Cowboy by Kim Boykin
3.0
Girl (Rainey Brown) has hot boyfriend (Adam) who wants to be a baseball player. Boyfriend after not realizing his dream moves to mid-west and coaches a minor league softball team. Girl decides to surprise boyfriend and car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Girl meets hot dude (Beck Harnett) in a cowboy hat.
I have to say romance novels taking place in the mid-west with men in cowboy hats are always hands down going to be a guilty pleasure read to me. That said, though this romance worked well at times, there were enough things that didn't gel with me while reading this which is why I rated the novella three stars.
First, the timeline for the hero and heroine to meet and fall in love made things way too unbelievable to be believed. Beck decides he is in love with the Rainey after about three days. Rainey starts to have feelings for him too in the same timeframe. I know that this is a novella clocking in at only 102 pages. However, there could have still been a way to weave in a longer timeframe or something so that the reader doesn't go from Rainey meeting Beck to having feelings for him in just a day or two after having us believe she is desperately in love with Adam and wants to make a family with him.
Additionally, though the character of Rainey was very enjoyable, Beck was not. Beck's character did not interest me at all. He seemed sulky and just acted like a jerk a few times and I really could not understand why Rainey was attracted to him at all. I didn't really get an everlasting love vibe from him at all. He just seemed intent on "stealing" Rainey from her boyfriend because she was short and cute. Neither of them really shared hopes, dreams, what they wanted out of life. I can't truly enjoy a romance read when in the back of my head I start thinking how the two leads will be divorced in a few short years.
Finally, there was a side plot with Rainey's boyfriend was brought up and then vanished out of thin air. I think that could have made it more interesting and could have added some meat to the overall story.
All in all, I found this to be a quick easy read.
I have to say romance novels taking place in the mid-west with men in cowboy hats are always hands down going to be a guilty pleasure read to me. That said, though this romance worked well at times, there were enough things that didn't gel with me while reading this which is why I rated the novella three stars.
First, the timeline for the hero and heroine to meet and fall in love made things way too unbelievable to be believed. Beck decides he is in love with the Rainey after about three days. Rainey starts to have feelings for him too in the same timeframe. I know that this is a novella clocking in at only 102 pages. However, there could have still been a way to weave in a longer timeframe or something so that the reader doesn't go from Rainey meeting Beck to having feelings for him in just a day or two after having us believe she is desperately in love with Adam and wants to make a family with him.
Additionally, though the character of Rainey was very enjoyable, Beck was not. Beck's character did not interest me at all. He seemed sulky and just acted like a jerk a few times and I really could not understand why Rainey was attracted to him at all. I didn't really get an everlasting love vibe from him at all. He just seemed intent on "stealing" Rainey from her boyfriend because she was short and cute. Neither of them really shared hopes, dreams, what they wanted out of life. I can't truly enjoy a romance read when in the back of my head I start thinking how the two leads will be divorced in a few short years.
Finally, there was a side plot with Rainey's boyfriend was brought up and then vanished out of thin air. I think that could have made it more interesting and could have added some meat to the overall story.
All in all, I found this to be a quick easy read.
Wallbanger by Alice Clayton
3.0
The main character Caroline settles happily into her boss's old apartment when she is awakened by wall banging. Finding out that she shares a bedroom wall with her next door neighbor who has a harem on call when he is in town is keeping her up all the time. Christening her neighbor as "Wallbanger" she decides she wants nothing to do with him though he is a hot globe trotting photographer. Eventually, due to "plot" Caroline officially meets her Wallbanger neighbor and finds out his name is Simon. The entire novel is Caroline getting to know Simon and fighting her growing attraction to him.
So to start what really did work for me was the beginning of the novel and how Caroline first grew aware of Simon. Reading her descriptions of what was going on with three of Simon's girls and her cat Clive's responses to one of them had me laughing out loud. I thought it was interesting and really funny how readers learned how Caroline lost her "O" and that she had not had a relationship with a man in a really long time. I even initially loved the introduction of her two best friends Sophia and Mimi and thought I would get a chic lit/raunchy romance which sounded good to me. I do want to say the sex scenes are quite explicit and I loved them a lot. The only thing I would quibble about regarding the sex scenes is that those scenes went on and on and on (and not in a good way) to the point that I did get a bit bored while reading.
Now, that said, I still only gave this novel three stars. This was due to the fact that about a third of the way through the novel Caroline started to work my nerves. A lot. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Caroline acted like a brat because of Simon. He was not much better in my mind and after the first official meeting of these two surrounded by their friends I was seriously embarrassed. I think after a while the whole book just turned really juvenile. The constant double entendres between Caroline and Simon stopped being interesting and funny and just got repetitive quick. Caroline constantly dickering with herself over what should she do next got really boring. I wish that Alice Clayton had worked in more information on Caroline's job as a designer. Her job just seemed set up to have her squeal like a girl with her boss or be sad about Simon. Any work she had to do or was doing was quickly glossed over in a sentence or two.
Additionally her two best friends were really not that well drawn and both of them were strictly one dimensional characters. I could not tell you one thing really important about those two except Sophia had auburn hair and Mimi was short. I wish that we had more time to delve into her friend's a bit more especially a good portion of the novel is taken up by Caroline trying to "fix" her friends relationships. Even at the end of the novel I could not tell you much more about these characters.
I know there is a sequel to this novel, Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series) is coming up and I will probably purchase it since I am curious on how Simon and Caroline are doing. I am just hoping that the kinks that I noted in the novel get worked out in the follow-up.
So to start what really did work for me was the beginning of the novel and how Caroline first grew aware of Simon. Reading her descriptions of what was going on with three of Simon's girls and her cat Clive's responses to one of them had me laughing out loud. I thought it was interesting and really funny how readers learned how Caroline lost her "O" and that she had not had a relationship with a man in a really long time. I even initially loved the introduction of her two best friends Sophia and Mimi and thought I would get a chic lit/raunchy romance which sounded good to me. I do want to say the sex scenes are quite explicit and I loved them a lot. The only thing I would quibble about regarding the sex scenes is that those scenes went on and on and on (and not in a good way) to the point that I did get a bit bored while reading.
Now, that said, I still only gave this novel three stars. This was due to the fact that about a third of the way through the novel Caroline started to work my nerves. A lot. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Caroline acted like a brat because of Simon. He was not much better in my mind and after the first official meeting of these two surrounded by their friends I was seriously embarrassed. I think after a while the whole book just turned really juvenile. The constant double entendres between Caroline and Simon stopped being interesting and funny and just got repetitive quick. Caroline constantly dickering with herself over what should she do next got really boring. I wish that Alice Clayton had worked in more information on Caroline's job as a designer. Her job just seemed set up to have her squeal like a girl with her boss or be sad about Simon. Any work she had to do or was doing was quickly glossed over in a sentence or two.
Additionally her two best friends were really not that well drawn and both of them were strictly one dimensional characters. I could not tell you one thing really important about those two except Sophia had auburn hair and Mimi was short. I wish that we had more time to delve into her friend's a bit more especially a good portion of the novel is taken up by Caroline trying to "fix" her friends relationships. Even at the end of the novel I could not tell you much more about these characters.
I know there is a sequel to this novel, Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series) is coming up and I will probably purchase it since I am curious on how Simon and Caroline are doing. I am just hoping that the kinks that I noted in the novel get worked out in the follow-up.
Night Broken by Patricia Briggs
3.0
Mercy's mate and husband Adam receives a phone call from his ex wife (Christy) begging for help. She has a stalker and he has already killed someone to get her back. Moving back in with Adam and Mercy ends up bringing lingering tension between Mercy and the Pack. Also there is a new enemy that will stop at nothing to get back Christy.
I was waiting to savor "Night Broken" for a weekend when I would have nothing to do but re-read "Frost Burned" and then this novel. This is Patricia Brigg's eight novel in the Mercy Thompson series. Long-time fans know that Patricia Briggs only plans two more novel in this series and though I will be sad to see Mercy go with novels like this one it will be a little easier to take.
Though the character of Mercy has grown and changed since she has been mated to Alpha werewolf Adam a lot of other characters in the series have not. I ended up only giving this novel 3 stars though at times I wavered between 3 and 4 stars. This was due to too many plot points, pacing issues, and a total re-write of certain characters that are in the Pack.
There seemed at times way too much going on in the novel for me to focus on just one thing. For example, the vampires make an appearance and threw a new wrench into Mercy and Stephen's relationship. The plot already had a lot going on with Mercy and the Pack trying to figure out who Christy's stalker is without involving the vampires. I really wish this could have waited for the next novel or just left out all together. I think why it bothered me so much is that we have Adam just shrugging off this new wrinkle and acting like it's no big deal. Yeah the same Adam who about lost it when he thought that Stephen was taking over Mercy's mind in "Bone Crossed." The addition of the fae scrambling around also made it hard to concentrate on the bigger plot which was taking down Christy's stalker.
The pacing was off a bit too. Instead of Mercy and Adam finding out more about Christy's stalker we get an info-dump via a character that really should not have known anything about this person. It would have made better sense if the friends she made around the Columbia River in "River Marked' would have provided this information. Or better yet anyone else. We also get a welcome surprise via Mercy's family and I wish we could have spent more time developing that new person then jumping back and forth among three plot points.
The members of the Pack that are still against Mercy is getting to absurd proportions. I could have sworn in "Frost Burned" that everyone in the Pack had finally accepted Mercy and there was no more of this she's just a coyote and doesn't belong nonsense. However, this novel re-sets all of that and we have Pack members who I could have sworn were all for Mercy (Daryl, Aurielle, and Mary Jo) now siding against Mercy for Christy. There were at least half a dozen times I wanted to slap the fictional character of Christy and it just made no sense to me that werewolves that are trained to spot a lie were letting themselves get manipulated by an ordinary human woman. The ending with Christy and Mercy made me really upset. I can only hope that we don't get a re-hash of this nonsense in the next novel.
Finally, I really loved that Patricia Briggs decided to tell "Frost Burned" from Mercy and Adam's point of views. I really wish she had kept that up for this novel since it would have been nice to see what Adam was thinking about things.
I still recommend and think long time fans will enjoy.
I was waiting to savor "Night Broken" for a weekend when I would have nothing to do but re-read "Frost Burned" and then this novel. This is Patricia Brigg's eight novel in the Mercy Thompson series. Long-time fans know that Patricia Briggs only plans two more novel in this series and though I will be sad to see Mercy go with novels like this one it will be a little easier to take.
Though the character of Mercy has grown and changed since she has been mated to Alpha werewolf Adam a lot of other characters in the series have not. I ended up only giving this novel 3 stars though at times I wavered between 3 and 4 stars. This was due to too many plot points, pacing issues, and a total re-write of certain characters that are in the Pack.
There seemed at times way too much going on in the novel for me to focus on just one thing. For example, the vampires make an appearance and threw a new wrench into Mercy and Stephen's relationship. The plot already had a lot going on with Mercy and the Pack trying to figure out who Christy's stalker is without involving the vampires. I really wish this could have waited for the next novel or just left out all together. I think why it bothered me so much is that we have Adam just shrugging off this new wrinkle and acting like it's no big deal. Yeah the same Adam who about lost it when he thought that Stephen was taking over Mercy's mind in "Bone Crossed." The addition of the fae scrambling around also made it hard to concentrate on the bigger plot which was taking down Christy's stalker.
The pacing was off a bit too. Instead of Mercy and Adam finding out more about Christy's stalker we get an info-dump via a character that really should not have known anything about this person. It would have made better sense if the friends she made around the Columbia River in "River Marked' would have provided this information. Or better yet anyone else. We also get a welcome surprise via Mercy's family and I wish we could have spent more time developing that new person then jumping back and forth among three plot points.
The members of the Pack that are still against Mercy is getting to absurd proportions. I could have sworn in "Frost Burned" that everyone in the Pack had finally accepted Mercy and there was no more of this she's just a coyote and doesn't belong nonsense. However, this novel re-sets all of that and we have Pack members who I could have sworn were all for Mercy (Daryl, Aurielle, and Mary Jo) now siding against Mercy for Christy. There were at least half a dozen times I wanted to slap the fictional character of Christy and it just made no sense to me that werewolves that are trained to spot a lie were letting themselves get manipulated by an ordinary human woman. The ending with Christy and Mercy made me really upset. I can only hope that we don't get a re-hash of this nonsense in the next novel.
Finally, I really loved that Patricia Briggs decided to tell "Frost Burned" from Mercy and Adam's point of views. I really wish she had kept that up for this novel since it would have been nice to see what Adam was thinking about things.
I still recommend and think long time fans will enjoy.