Review: Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men

Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I haven't read the first book of this series, but I found that I didn't need to in order to be able to enjoy this one. Jane Jameson ex-librarian, current vampire, is a refreshing change from other urban fantasy vampires. Optimistic, snarky but not too snarky, still trying to get used to her new state of undead without delving too much into the realm of morose wistful sighs. The setting of small-ish town in the south where everyone is just slightly related and always ready for some kind of family fight/gossip is a great change too.

The romance element isn't that strong in this book, I'm guessing that most of the heavy emotional lifting for Jane was in the first book, and looks to be set-up for the third book. As such, it's a fast, amusing read. You will quickly figure out most of the plot points before they happen, but there's enough humor that I didn't mind sitting back and waiting for them to show up.


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Review: Choose the Sky

Choose the Sky by Elizabeth Cole
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was the first book by Cole that I have read, I liked the fact that it was set in 1141, a completely different time than we are used to seeing in 'historical' romances.

I found the beginning a bit hard to get through, it felt like the first two chapters were just a bit too much in the way of an info dump that could have been handled later in the story. I would have liked it to have started at chapter 2 to give a bit more suspense to Lady Domina's character. the pacing picks up once we get back to her castle.

The only main problem I had with the story was how the issue of consent was handled. Although probably accurate for the times, I had issues with how that part of the relationship started and how Sir Luc kept saying that he would respect her wishes and then still soft pushing them. Maybe I'm just overtly sensitive, but it made me start skimming those parts of the book as I didn't find the interactions enjoyable.

The mystery about who the trader is would have been solved much faster if everyone had stopped being so self-centered and just thought about it logically, so I actually found myself slightly sympathizing with the villain at the end.

Fast read, slightly irritating relationship, interesting setting that I wish had been expanded on a bit more.

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Review: How To Marry A Werewolf

How To Marry A Werewolf by Gail Carriger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Carriger's introduction of novellas that give a little bit more backstory on some of the side characters found in her main novels has been a really interesting approach at giving the reader more of the characters. Sadly, the length of the novellas inherently limit that 'more' quite a bit. We don't get the full build-up and nuance of rumor and romance that is common in her longer novels.
I always find myself wishing for a little more, which I guess is both a good thing and a bad thing.

'How to Marry' gives us the backstory of Major Channing, but not until almost the very end of the story. His love interest Faith turns out to be a much more interesting character. An American geology fancier with a questionable reputation and thoroughly terrible parents. I would have really liked a longer novel about her, something that explains how is has been able to stay a kind, thoughtful person with her background. She has hints of a cunning nature that with a little bit more cynicism would make her a very formidable force. I am hoping that we'll see that part of her bloom in later books.

Biffy and Lyall do show up at one point and are awesome (I don't think that they could be anything else) and we get a few more hints of the personalities of the other pack members and possible characters that might show up in future books, but the story is mainly about Faith hunting Channing and Channing not quite getting it and FEELINGS. I was a little surprised how dim he was honesty when it sounded like he has spent the last 100 years meditating on his own emotional being in the hopes of suppressing it.

Faith's cousin is a darling character who I hopes shows up again, but we only get a few lines about the pack's babies. Basically, they are fine.

Fast read, a nice little snack for the Carriger fan who wants a bit of romance and high emotions.

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Review: Brightly Burning

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from a friend, which is the only reason that I read it to be honest.

I'm not very into YA and have many, MANY, issues with Jane Eyre so I would not have picked up this book on my own. I'm glad that I did read it though. The world building is engaging and the Jane character, Stella, shows a lot more self agency than Eyre did, which was one of the things I didn't care for in that book.

Shortening the life expectancy of the society helped bolster the believably of the romance, as well as dropping the Rochester character, Hugo, age to 19. Having the main characters 17 and 19 gives a little bit of wiggle room when it comes to accepting some of the stupid behaviors and choices that they make. There is also less brooding and angst than in Eyre even though Hugo does his hardest to bring the drinking and mood swings. And perhaps that's the weakest part of this book, when Donne doubles down on the incorporation of scenes and plot points from Eyre. The party/parlor parts especially had me raising my eyebrow pointedly. Although Donne uses Hugo's rank as captain and employer as a way for him to get Stella to do what he wants, the fact that she does after showing so much backbone in other things made me irritated.

The secondary plots helped to take some of the edge off my annoyance, I felt like the science fiction and mystery parts would have gotten along nicely without the Eyre aspects if they needed to.

However, it still comes down to the same problem that Jane Eyre had, the heroine is more interesting than the hero and you just want her to go out and be her awesome self without him. Although the feeling I was left with at the end of this book was just mild eye-rolling at her as opposed to full-on book throwing that happened at the end of Eyre.

Engaging, fast read. Bogged down a little by the source material but the setting and tweaks to the plot were good.

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