I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Nice Werewolves Don’t Bite Vampires by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi. Always fun comfort listens for me.
Tag: PNR (Page 3 of 5)
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews. One of of the books of 2020 I’ve been hanging out to read.
Monthly Mini Review
Always Be My Banshee by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi & Jonathan Davis – B+ The overarching plotline of the Mystic Bayou rift is finally resolved in this book – but never fear – there are potential new storylines opened up too so (hopefully) there will be more books to come. Because there is such a strong through-story though, even though each book has a new couple and a HEA, I’d still recommend starting at the beginning with How To Date Your Dragon to get the most out of this book. I’ve loved all of them so I see this is a feature not a bug. Plus, the books are available on Audible Escape, so subscribers don’t have to pay anything extra to listen.
Brendan O’Connor, a banshee from Ireland, has come to Mystic Bayou, along with Cordelia Canton, a “touch-know” psychic, on special assignment from the League to investigate the mysterious box revealed in the previous book. Technically, Brendan is dead (or something similar at least) so he is able to touch the box without any ill effect. Cordelia has been avoiding touch from people for her entire life – she’s overwhelmed by emotions and memories when she does touch someone or something unexpected and it is with delight that she finds she can touch Brendan and only receive “white noise”. That is not why they get together. I was very happy it was made quite clear in the book that while there were things that made it easier for them to be together, what actually drew them to one another was a more emotional connection. Continue reading
Sirius and I are over at Dear Author with a joint review of Give Up the Ghost by Jenn Burke. Entertaining second installment – I really enjoy the found family aspects of the series.
Monthly Mini Review
Cronin’s Key by NR Walker, narrated by Joel Leslie – C+/B- I picked this up a few months back when it was an Audible Daily Deal. I paid $4.35 for it. NR Walker is an author I’ve read a little of before and one who is featured a number of times in my TBR and I’d heard good things about Joel Leslie too and the sample sounded okay so I bought it.
Alec MacAidan is a detective with the NYPD. He is chasing down a suspect when another man appears in front of him suddenly and is shot by a wooden bullet. The man says something about a key and gives Alec a message and then crumbles to dust. Alec’s colleagues think he’s delusional but then another man – a handsome redhead, walks into the police station. Alec is instantly drawn to him and when the man tells him to put his arms around him, Alec does and they both vanish. The redhead is Cronin, an ancient vampire who has been waiting and searching for his fated mate for more than a thousand years.
Alec is “good with weird” but learning he is the Key the first vampire spoke to him about, learning about the existence of vampires at all and learning that he is the fated mate of one of the most ancient of vampires is all a bit much. Alec is at first quite resistant to the lack of free will inherent in the fated mate thing. I was wondering where it would go but the story didn’t really engage with it despite its promise. In the end Alec just accepted it – and when I say “in the end” the entire book takes place within about a week. Continue reading
Why I read it: I downloaded this one with the #AudibleRomance package.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) What doesn’t kill you sometimes makes you wish it had…
Priddy’s a lost soul in a part of Cornwall the tourists don’t get to see. He’s young, sweet-natured and gorgeous, but that’s not enough to achieve escape velocity from his deadbeat village and rotten family life.
He’s a drifter and a dreamer, and self-preservation isn’t his strong suit. An accidental overdose of a nightclub high leaves him fractured, hallucinating, too many vital circuits fried to function in a tough world. When a friend offers him winter work in a lighthouse – nothing to do but press the occasional button and keep the windows clean – he gratefully accepts.
His plans to live quietly and stay out of trouble don’t last very long. A ferocious Atlantic storm washes a stranger to Priddy’s lonely shore. For a shipwrecked sailor, the new arrival seems very composed. He’s also handsome as hell, debonair, and completely unconcerned by Priddy’s dreadful past.
Priddy has almost given up on the prospect of any kind of friendship, and a new boyfriend – let alone a six-foot beauty with eerily good swimming skills – out of the question entirely. But Merou seems to see undreamed-of promise in Priddy, and when they hit the water together, Priddy has to adapt to Merou’s potentials too, and fast. His lover from the sea might be a mere mortal from the waist up, but south of that line…
Far-flung west Cornwall has a hundred mermaid tales. Priddy’s loved the stories all his life. Now he has to face up to a wildly impossible truth. Merou’s life depends upon his courage and strength, and if Priddy can only find his way in the extraordinary world opening up all around him, all the ocean and a human lifetime needn’t be enough to contain the love between merman and mortal.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): While I have many Harper Fox books on my TBR, I haven’t read most of them. I remember enjoying Life After Joe after it was first released – way back in 2010 now. What sticks in my memory is how well Ms. Fox writes melancholy. There is a way she writes which is poignant and sweet and sad but not tipping over into emotional torture porn or OTT melodrama. Like Nora Roberts, Ms. Fox makes me care about characters quickly. And in Priddy’s Tale, I cared so much about Priddy almost from the start of the book. He’s young and a little lost, recovering from an accidental drug overdose which has derailed a life which was already difficult because of an abusive father. When Priddy’s best friend, Kit, leaves town to attend university, Priddy feels very alone. Continue reading
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