Book Reviews

Carmel Crush

Carmel Crush (Cupcake Bakery Mystery #9) By: Jenn McKinlay

Plot:

When a breakup via cupcake threatens to crumble their friend’s life for good, Mel and Angie race to solve the murder as this New York Times bestselling series continues…

Love is in the air at Fairy Tale Cupcakes as Angie prepares for her wedding, but co-owner, Mel, is preparing for a breakup. Her old friend, Diane Earnest, is dumping her fiancé after discovering he’s only marrying her for her money. She wants Mel to personally deliver a batch of caramel breakup cupcakes to the louse and give her a play-by-play of his reaction.

When Mel finally tracks the man down, the look on his face isn’t the reaction she was expecting: he’s dead. After the police arrive and see the incriminating cupcakes, Diane becomes their prime suspect. If she hopes to taste freedom again, Mel and Angie must make sure the real killer gets their just desserts…

Review:

This was not one of the more entertaining and fun Cupcake Bakery books. I’ve never been a fan of Mel, it’s always been the side characters that have me enjoying the series, but this time they were just as annoying as her. The constant Mrs. Tate Harper and Mrs. Joe DeLaura, or whatever their last names are, was annoying. I’ve always hated that and I felt like I was beat over the head with it. There was constant “I’m not good enough for my man” to the point where I almost stopped reading. Angie and Mel were both like this so it was just constant. If maybe one of them had been confident with some self-esteem it might not have been so bad, but you’d get finished reading about one’s “failures” and have to start reading another. It was awful.

The mystery at least was fine. There were plenty of suspects to kill the guy, the clues were there to pick out who did it, the dude “deserved” to die. It was the only good part of the book.

Oh, before I forget, Mel’s college friend was awful. She was supposed to be unsympathetic to a point, but because of reasons owing to Mel’s lack of self-worth and messed up view of the world, she felt like she had to help her out. There was even a “cute” little romance between Diane and her IT guy. Of course this is all thrown away in the last part of the book and I just wanted to scream.

The views in this book about women and their relationships were awful. You do not owe someone big if they save you from being rapped and the video of your rape being distributed. They were being the bare minimum of a decent human. When you get married it’s not just about being someone’s wife and what you can offer them. I feel like McKinlay knows this but it was not clearly conveyed in the book and because of everything else that was going on it added to the lack of a positive female message.

I was really disappointed with this book, but I feel like I’ve invested so much time in the series so far that I need to continue it. Hopefully, things are better in the next installment.

2/5

Son of No One

Son of No One (Dark Hunter #23) By: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Plot:

It’s not easy being life’s own personal joke, but Josette Landry has made an unstable peace with the beast. Life will continue to throw every bad thing it has at her, and she will continue to not put her head in an oven. But that’s okay. That which doesn’t kill her will just require a few hours of mental insanity. Completely down on her luck, Josette takes a job with a local paranormal group trying to get their own cable show as a photographer and camerawoman. Yeah, they’re even crazier than she is. The only paranormal thing she believes in is the miracle that keeps her rusted out hoopty running. But when her group accidentally releases something truly evil into the world, they are forced to call in reinforcement.

From the moment Josette meets Cadegan, she knows something about him isn’t quite right. And it’s not just because she can’t even begin to pronounce his last name: Maboddimun. Mysterious and armed with lethal sarcasm, he seems a lot older than his apparent age…

Centuries ago, Cadegan sold his soul for vengeance against the betrayer who cursed him. Forced against his will to do good, he hates everything in life. All he wants is a way out. But for the damned there is only eternal suffering. And yet there is something about Josette that intrigues him as much as it irritates and frustrates him. Something he can’t seem to fight, and the last time he felt this way about a woman, it cost him his soul.

He knows he has to stay away from her, but the evil her friends unleashed is hellbent on consuming her soul. Something he cannot allow. If one more innocent is taken, he will be sent back to an unimaginable prison that makes his current hell look like paradise. But how can he keep her safe when his being with her is the greatest threat of all?

Review:

Yeah, I’m done with this series. There’s always another world ending, apocalypse coming event, or a bigger badder demon. It’s just not interesting anymore and I don’t care about the wider world, at all. I don’t even want to see the previous couples anymore. The series has gone on long enough, the world isn’t fun, I wish she’d just end it and move on to something else instead of just adding more in the world.

At least this book returned to one couple and their “romance” but it was love at first sight, amazing sex, then they switch bodies and have even more sex. It was weird and at times confusing. There was no wooing, it just went straight to sex and sacrificing for each other, and learning about the hero’s tortured past. It feels like Dark Hunter novels are just torture porn at this point.

Jo started off interesting, but quickly got to a point where the only thing that mattered was her man. Literally all of her problems disappeared once she got with him. Apparently all her rich relatives and friends won’t help you unless you get a man, or she won’t accept their help until she’s got a man. It was stupid.

I liked Cadegan at first but then after a series of stressful events he all of a sudden is pushed over the edge and turns into his demon self. The event that pushed him over wasn’t any more stressful or threatening than previous ones so no idea why it set him off and the others didn’t. Of course the only thing that could stop him was the love of his woman.

I felt like it was poorly plotted all around and not entertaining at all after a promising start. So I’m done with the series, too many recent installments have left a bad taste in my mouth.

2/5 

Silver Silence

Silver Silence (Psy-Changling Trinity #1) By: Nalini Singh

Plot:

Control. Precision. Family. These are the principles that drive Silver Mercant. At a time when the fledgling Trinity Accord seeks to unite a divided world, with Silver playing a crucial role as director of a worldwide emergency response network, wildness and chaos are the last things she needs in her life. But that’s exactly what Valentin Nikolaev, alpha of the StoneWater bears, brings with him.

Valentin has never met a more fascinating woman. Though Silver is ruled by Silence–her mind clear of all emotion–Valentin senses a whisper of fire around her. That’s what keeps him climbing apartment buildings to be near her. But when a shadow assassin almost succeeds in poisoning Silver, the stakes become deadly serious…and Silver finds herself in the heart of a powerful bear clan.

Her would-be assassin has no idea what their poison has unleashed…

Review:

Now this is what I wanted! The previous book, Allegiance of Honor, was basically a combo epilogue for the Psy-Changling series and a prologue for the Psy-Changling Trinity series. It showed you all the couples from the previous books and it set up the world for this new series. It was alright, but honestly too long for what it was, but whatever.

Silver Silence is about the Psy Silver, who is head of the EmNet, which is a humanitarian organization that helps out all the races. She has chosen to remain Silent because she feels that’s the only way to control her incredible power.

Valentin is the alpha of the bear clan in Russia. I loved the bears so freaking much. There better be more books about them because they were so much fun. If I was a changling that’s who I’d be. Family was everything, which is normal in a changling clan, but they’re also very in each other’s lives more than the other changlings we’ve met so far. As the alpha Valentin was all the bear traits cranked up to eleven and I liked him a lot. I did find it kind of weird that he liked to put his hands around her neck, but he never choked her so eh.

The couple has great chemistry and their romance was so awesome. By far the best part of the book was them and their interactions with the bears. I thought that the issues that began to arise with Silver’s power felt kind of contrived and the solution very abrupt, but it did give us Part 2 of the book which was just so sweet so I don’t know.

We were given a little hint at the leader of the Consortium, even though the bad guy in this wasn’t working strictly under their desires. You got to really see the struggles that are going to shape the world and I kind of understand why we haven’t gotten a human Psy relationship yet, at least not one that I remember off the top of my head.

I’m looking forward to the next book, it doesn’t come out till later this year, so hopefully I’m able to stay caught up this time.

4/5

When Beauty Tamed the Beast

When Beauty Tamed the Beast (Fairy Tales #2) By: Eloise James

Plot:

Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a Beauty . . . Naturally, she’s betrothed to a Beast.

Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has left the earl immune to the charms of any woman.

Linnet is not just any woman.

She is more than merely lovely: her wit and charm brought a prince to his knees. She estimates the earl will fall madly in love—in just two weeks.

Yet Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her own heart by a man who may never love her in return.

If she decides to be very wicked indeed . . . what price will she pay for taming his wild heart?

Review:

Linnet, Beauty, is gorgeous and she knows it. I appreciate that, it annoys me when beautiful characters on her level somehow magically don’t realize it. What makes her even better, she doesn’t abuse her looks. She uses them, of course, but they haven’t made her a horrible person. She’s fun and smart and witty and once she got away from her family the book was great to read.

Piers, the Beast, is going to be a duke and due to a childhood incident he has muscle damage to his leg which causes him to be in constant pain. Think Dr. House. He’s an ass, but he’s so much more redeemable than House is, he can be mean but he’s never intentially cruel. Well, once but he was hurting so it was forgivable.

The ending is very climactic, I was on the edge of my seat, and I cried a few times. Also, holy cow Eloise James sex scenes are…well they’re very good.

I liked this book a lot even though I was prepared to hate it since Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite movies. After looking ahead in the series, though, I’m kind of concerned because the upcoming stories have no appeal to me. I will get to them, but I’m not in a rush.

4.5/5

Allegiance of Honor

Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changling #15) By: Nalini Singh

Plot:

The Psy-Changeling world has undergone a staggering transformation and now stands at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: Old enemies. New allies. Wary loners.

But a century of distrust and suspicion can’t be so easily forgotten and threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment. As rival members vie for dominance, chaos and evil gather in the shadows and a kidnapped woman’s cry for help washes up in San Francisco, while the Consortium turns its murderous gaze toward a child who is the embodiment of change, of love, of piercing hope: A child who is both Psy…and changeling.

To find the lost, protect the vulnerable—and save Trinity—no one can stand alone. This is a time of loyalty across divisions, of bonds woven into the heart and the soul, of heroes known and unknown standing back to back and holding the line. But is an allegiance of honor even possible with traitors lurking in their midst?

Review:

This book and series really, reminds me of the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Both started out as basically Paranormal Romance, girl and guy meet, fall in love, danger, sex, happily ever after. It was a formula I loved and what made these two women stand out were the worlds they created along the way. They were interesting and complex and well thought out. However, both of them have sort of dropped the Paranormal Romance, or put it on the back burner. It’s there, but not as big a part of the story as it used to be. Instead we’ve got history and politics and seeing what happens after happily ever after. Their casts have become so large and people want to see all the past people that the book becomes, basically, a look at all the past couples. It’s a bit frustrating as a fan of the original format, but I’m not sure if what either series has become is a bad thing.

Allegiance of Honor did not have a romance in the normal sense. There were letters sprinkled throughout from a human that lost his love years ago and searched for her but failed to find her. Until the end of the book when he finally does. The rest of the book was almost like a massive epilogue. It peeked into almost every single couples lives that we’ve met since the first book. It’s about their lives and the allegiances they’re cultivating. It was interesting, but not what I wanted, it was also kind of confusing because I honestly don’t remember everyone’s name and story at this point.

There is an author’s note at the beginning of the book where Singh explains that the previous book, Shards of Hope, is the end of an arc and that Allegiance of Honor is the beginning of a new one. It made sense, Shards of Hope wrapped things up pretty well. There were still questions about the world, but you knew things were going to be alright, because everything always is in Paranormal Romance. If she’s moving past that, though, people are going to have to start dying. People we’ve become invested in and that’s going to suck.

I was hoping that this book would be a return to form, that we would be given a new pair of people to watch as they fell in love while they protected their loved ones. I was hoping for humans and that’s what I got, kind of, they just weren’t given any time.

This is a great series, the world created is amazing and intricate, this is not the book to start with, though. Even though I was disappointed I plan on continuing the series, but I really hope she returns to the original formula.

3/5

Side Note: I am not caught up with the Dark Hunter’s series so it’s entirely possible that Kenyon has returned to her previous formula and clearly I’m not caught up on Singh’s series either.