Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas

Posted on March 25, 2008 by janicu

Sherry Thomas

I won this book at Dear Author a couple of weeks(?) ago with the promise to post something about the book. I just got it on the 21st and so I've been reading like mad (well first I had to finish Exit Strategy) to post about it before the 25th when it comes out. That's today! I made it!

This book blew me away. I felt completely depressed reading half of it – Lord and Lady Tremaine have a "marriage of convenience", living in different continents, not saying a harsh word about one another, but for all purposes they are strangers – not seen together since the night of their wedding, ten years ago. In between the present story there are flashbacks that explain the past and what happened to make things the way they are now. Gigi betrayed Camden when they were both young and in love because she was desperate not to lose him, but conversely it was that very act that tore them apart. Camden is completely immovable in his decision to leave her and reside elsewhere, no matter how much she begged at first, even though this separation was probably as heartbreaking to him as it was to her (I could have just screamed). When Gigi finally gave up, they both took their own lovers and lead their own lives, far apart.

What brings this situation to a head after ten years of separation is the start of this story. At the beginning of Private Arrangements, London is agog over the gossip that Lady Tremaine has petitioned for divorce, because she want's to marry someone else! Even more shocking is the news that Lord Tremaine himself is in England, and knocking at her door.

Gah. I can't even explain how wretching this was. Their first meeting and talking is shown to the reader in flashbacks, in complete contrast to the present time of the story. They are both engaging and witty characters, clearly well-matched for one another and no one else. And I loved the writing – it had a light, lyrical touch, with a lot of wit. I really felt them falling for each other, I felt how desperate Gigi was, and how devastated they both were over what happened after their wedding. I saw the betrayals on both sides, and the stupid decisions which led to even stupider ones. And worst of all YEARS go by. TEN years, that kills me. I wish it was one year! I could have handled that better, the timeline and all the missed chances in that time just sent daggers into me. I was getting annoyed – the author is toying with my emotions, why is Camden being such a jerk?! Why can't he forgive her? Is this author perhaps EVIL?

But then the more I read the more I understood. It was a different time then, the rules of honor were different, and that played a part in this. The book is set in the 1880's and 90's and it adheres to that well. Dispite his own past decisions, Camden comes back and no matter how calm they pretend to be, the chemistry is sizzling. Not only that, the tables get flipped and Camden begins to realize how desperate Gigi was not to lose him ten years ago. Now it's his turn to contemplate doing all he can to keep Gigi his wife, tied to him always. I was quite pleased when I realized that – Poetic Justice? Good.

But 10 years?! TEN!!! I suppose this is the one thing that kills me with this book since I keep going on about it.

My favorite part was the last 50 pages. A keeper, just to read and get to that part.

Meanwhile there is also another side story that I quite liked – with Gigi's mother, Mrs. Rowland, the pushy mother, hell-bent on her daughter marrying a duke, and then hell-bent on her daughter and son-in-law getting back together. When Gigi files for divorce, and she sees that Gigi may actually go through with it, she looks around for *other* dukes in the neighborhood, which leads to some amusing consequences that I really liked reading about. And she's hell-bent there too.

Here is a excerpt

Here are less ranty about 10 years reviews at Dear Author and The Good, The Bad and the Unread (1, 2)

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The Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on March 10, 2008 by janicu

The Down Home Zombie Blues

Linnea Sinclair

Yes I AM reading all the books Linnea Sinclair has ever written. This is the newest one – came out end of last year. And it's about zombies. Unintentional – but I've read three books with zombies in them this year! This is one, then there's Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry, and finally – Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway (which I have to review on here). Are zombies becoming a trend? I thoughtfully stroke my chin.

So basically – what I usually think about Sinclair's books - lasers, spaceships, sci-fi, action fun stuff which I seem to love right now. Space opera, yay! This is totally that. Oh and kissing, as you see on the cover.

In this book the zombies are this alien hybrid created in a lab – half machine, half tenticle-y animal, they move in a pack, guided by the zombie leader (C-Prime), they jump out of portals and suck out people's lifeforces by clamping onto their heads with a big tentacle (braiiinnn). I was a bit confused about the mechanics of the lifeforce-sucking until I figured out they used the tentacles. Liked the alien-zombie angle. Anyway, Jorie Mikkalah is a Guardian Force commander trying to kill all the zombies on the "nil" planet Earth, while Theo Petrakos is a divorced cop who gets caught up in the crossfire, eventually joining up with the Guardians to help save the planet.

I had a good time reading this. There were some interesting dynamics in here (a love triangle and some bad exes), and there wasn't a silly misunderstanding between the two characters – no silly drama, just a real worry about how they are literally from different worlds. I liked the romance (but my favorite is still Games of Command), and it was balanced well with the plot of the zombie invasion problem. I liked how the language differences were overcome (Jorie realizes that English is like the alien language of Vekran) and they do kind of get to know each other as they improve their communications. Still, I was a bit disappointed to find out that some Vekrans were stranded near Earth at some point, because *I* wanted a tongue in cheek reference to the movie "Galaxy Quest". Theo jokingly mentions warp speed and Jorie asks him how he knows what that is and I totally thought of "Galaxy Quest"! But it was not meant to be.

I also liked how Jorie is independent and can take care of herself – she's better what she does than any other guy in the story, so thing that nagged at me was how often Theo would try to save her. He'd throw himself at her while they were shooting in order to get her away from some tentacle. But he's the zombie-killing novice, not her. Yes, he loves her and wants to protect her, but I thought it would be cooler if he didn't feel the need to be all "I am man and shall save you my woman!!". He should be all: "Oh look at her killing things, I'm so proud" and just watch her back, no throwing himself at her to shove her from harm's way. At least she saves him too, but she sensibly shoots things instead of shoving him. Other nit – Jorie thinks to herself about other women who haven't snapped up Theo and wonders if they are "blind and unsexed" like three times at least throughout the book. Nothing against the phrase, but it's unique enough that I noticed when it was reused.

I need to buy more Sinclair books but I must hold myself back because of the TBR. I also want Ann Agguire's Grimspace because it's supposed to be in this genre. I went to B&N and it wasn't there!! WHY.

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Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland

Posted on February 27, 2008 by janicu

Star of the Morning: A Novel of the Nine Kingdoms

Lynn Kurland

This is a fantasy novel by an author who usually writes romance. I hear she has some popular time travel romances out. I think I was curious to read this because I liked her voice in the The Queen in Winter anthology. There's a little half-teasing tilt to it, especially when the characters banter with one another.

So this is a straight fantasy, with a little romance (not really in your face). Adhémar, king of Neroche has suddenly lost his magic powers, his magical sword doesn't work anymore, and he's very put out by it. His youngest brother Miach, who is also the archmage, suggests that he travel to the most unlikely place to find someone who can wield the sword. At the same time, a mercenary named Morgan who has been asked to bring a magical dagger to the king. They cross paths but Adhémar can't reveal his identity or the reason for his quest and Miach can't reveal why she's going towards the palace or that's where she's headed. Miach pops in to check on his brother and starts tagging along because he's interested in Morgan even though he's supposed to be monitoring the kingdom's borders. There's some light banter between the brothers (king – grumpy, archmage – deflecting grumpiness with practiced ease), and also humor from Morgan's belief that the king is a huge jackass who should keep his mouth shut. She proclaims this any chance she gets. The conflict here is that Morgan loathes magic but Miach is a mage so he worries about what she thinks when she finds out. At the same time Morgan is very troubled by her quest and about learning that she has an affinity for magic.

The book started out amusing – I really liked the beginning, but after a while it went into the usual fantasy quest route and I started to lose interest. There wasn't anything very urgent or compelling going on that would keep me glued to the page, the pacing was quite relaxed. Perhaps too relaxed. I almost walked away from this book even though I only had 50 pages left, I just wanted to skim the end and had to make myself read it (and that's where more interesting things started to happen). I'd recommend this for readers who don't generally read fantasy and want something light and wholesome to read. I also had the random thought that this story lends itself to being easy to read out loud. I was thinking – "I bet my grandmother could read this out and it would be ok, because this book has nothing really dirty in it". Maybe some cursing and graphic violence would give it some pizzaz, but I don't think that's the author's thing, and it wouldn't fit into the rest of the story anyway. Oh well – it wasn't a bad read, but to me, a bit tame after what else I've been reading lately. This is the first book of a trilogy; the second book is The Mage's Daughter and continues this story.

P.S. My fiance didn't like this cover. Hmmph! I ignored him. The only thing I have to say about the cover is – she should be wearing pants. She's supposed to be a mercenary.

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Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on February 9, 2008 by janicu

Games of Command (Bantam Spectra Book)

Linnea Sinclair

Have I mentioned I think these books are addictive? Yes? I read one and 2 weeks later you get three reviews about books by this author. I think I'm going to go through her whole backlist soon, but I'm actually holding myself back at the moment. I'm trying to make the TBR go down first (131).

Side note – amazon is only showing the newer covers, at least to upload to vox. I think the line probably looks more cohesive with the new covers – an amorous couple plus spaceship. It also looks like its romance and science fiction now. I have the older cover though. I think they both have pros and cons but I think they're both equally nice looking.

This book is about Captain Tasha Sebastian (Sass), a member of the United Coalition forces and Admiral Branden Kel-Paten of the Triad. Sass has just been assigned to Kel-Paten's ship as part of the new Alliance between their governments, but she has a hidden past she doesn't want him to know about. Meanwhile he has something he doesn't want her to know about. He's a biocybe – half man, half machine, supposedly unable to feel emotion, but he's been secretly pining for her for years. Enter mercenary Jace Serafino. He's just been rescued by the Alliance and he has some major secrets of his own that could bring down parts of the Alliance. Sass and Dr. Eden Fynn (Sass's best friend) get suspicious when Jace reveals some of what he knows. They don't know who to trust.

As with the rest of the books, there's a lot of action, space fights, and cool technology bandied about. I always enjoy the world building. I also have noted that each of the books so far seem to be in their own universe (or part of the universe) - I haven't seen overlapping names of governments, religions, or races yet. Unless I missed one. There are common things in terms of characters using coding skill to hack into computers or ship mainframes, or being brilliant at fixing a dying spaceship on the fly. I love reading those bits.

In this book we also see more than one romance – it's two parallel romances. The center one was Sass and Kel-paten's, and I prefered that one out of the two. Probably because of the comparison of Kel-paten's experience in his worklife compared to the utter lack of experience he has with personal matters. It made his personality strangely vunerable and endeering to read. At times I felt like *wincing* because he was so out of his element trying to deal with Sass and his feelings.

Another interesting element was that there were pets in this – the furzels, which I imagined to look exactly like cats, except these were psychic, translocating, fighter cats. They talked to each other in a childlike way that provided comic/cuteness relief (once or twice it was a little too much for me but overall, they were amusing). I could imagine my cat talking this way sometimes.

This book is the most recent book published of the ones I've read so far. The author's website says Games of Command starts of in a similar way to her book Command Performance (part one of a series, but the rest was never published), but most of it is new. And out of all the three books read so far (this, Gabriel's Ghost and Finder's Keepers), this is my favorite. It's a keeper, and Linnea Sinclair is on my autobuy list. I'm having a lot of fun reading these. Crack I tell you.

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Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair – part 2!

Posted on February 7, 2008 by janicu

So after feeling alll unfulfilled and going on and on about how Gabriel's Ghost feels like it needs another book, I looked at the author's website to find – THERE IS A SEQUEL! Yes! The book is called Shades of Dark (apparently it was renamed from "Chasidah's Choice") and is coming out in July 2008. I feel all better now and take back what I said about book 1 being unfinished. Maybe I should look this stuff up huh. But seriously the book did not say there is a sequel! What would I do without the internet?

P.S. I was on Linnea Sinclair's website because.. I think her writing is like crack. Fun space opera crack.

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Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on February 1, 2008 by janicu

Gabriel's Ghost

Linnea Sinclair

Oh my, look at this cover. Racy! I have another cover but vox gives me an error if I try to get it.

Since I'm on the space opera kick and my Borders is closing and there are sales, I went and bought about $50 worth of books there. My TBR is 129-ish. Don't judge me, I am weak. I will make it go below 100 some day. I say this and then I laugh a little.

Also – man I am depressed that this Borders is closing. I've been going there for 9 years. It's in walking distance. 😦 There's a Barnes and Noble that's a couple of blocks closer, but I still like the Borders better. If you live in Westchester, New York, the White Plains Borders has a 40% off sale now until it closes on Saturday (tomorrow). I could cry.

I picked this one up because I knew it was standalone plus I'd just read Finders Keepers by the same author. I guess this cover to the left conveys that this is both romance and science fiction with spaceships and stuff. Which it is – Chasidah Bergren was a Fleet Captain when she was courtmartialed for a crime she didn't commit, and sentenced to the prison planet Moabar, where life expectancy is very low. After two weeks, Gabriel Sullivan, a mercenary she's spent time trying to capture in the past, finds her and offers to help her escape the planet. Of course there are things she doesn't know, like why he tracked her down of all people, and what is he doing alive, because he was supposed to have died years ago. Larger things are happening and she is part of it. Much fun space opera action ensues.

When I read Gabriel's Ghost I was mentally comparing it with Finders Keepers, and it feels like it's a later novel. I just checked and that's true. I didn't see the repetition in phrases I was seeing in Finders Keepers, so that habit is gone. Also the romance is more complicated in this book, less predictable. Despite that, although the writing still pulled me in, I liked Gabriel's Ghost less than Finders Keepers. The first part of the book was very interesting, but then about halfway through, the story started to lag. I felt like the relationship should be all resolved by then and I' dlike to see it build from there, but it was just being dragged backward and having wrenches thrown in because Chaz Doesn't Really Know the Truth About Gabriel. She would find out something, freak out a bit, then got over it and become reasonable. But this keeps happening because Gabriel gave her the facts in little crumbs. I think the book could have been better if this didn't go on as long as it did. Plus, to add to this – the hints about Gabriel were all over the place. There were a couple of things I didn't guess that were minor, but if Chaz had figured the obvious this book would have been shorter in a good way because the story picks up towards the end and then – it ends! A couple of major parts were resolved, but.. certain other very large questions are not. IS there is another book? If there is, I would feel happier. They never really completely fix the issue that they are trying to fix. This book ends one battle but more are forthcoming. There are also major prejudice in certain characters which our heroes have to confront soon. I wondered how that was going to go. Plus, in the end, I wasn't completely convinced that there was proof Chaz wasn't being manipulated. I felt like that wasn't resolved as well as it could have been. More could have been said! So not a bad read but for me it was cut short.

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Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on January 24, 2008 by janicu

Finders Keepers

Linnea Sinclair

I'd kept seeing good reviews of Linnea Sinclair's books on different blogs so I went ahead and picked this up when I was in Arizona.

I think the cover is a big hint that this is a sci -fi. It is rather space opera, action-y with guns and spaceships and wars. But. It's also romance heavy, at least for a sci-fi book. My impression when I was reading this was – if you like sci-fi, AND you like romance, you'll like this. If you only like one genre and not the other, I'm not sure you'll enjoy yourself. This was shelved in the sci-fi/ fantasy section, but I'd call it more of a crossover book. I found it rather an addictive read myself. After the first chapter (which I thought started off slow in the first couple of pages), it got interesting.

Trilby Elliot is the captain of an OLD spaceship which she uses to transport cargo as part of her business as an independent freighter. The ship is a bucket of bolts and full of non-functioning parts barely kept together by Trilby and her robot Dezi. Trilby is constantly running out of cash and calculating how much she can repair with the money she gets on her next run. To keep costs down, she secretly uses an uninhabited planet that's far from the path of usual space traffic to make modifications to her ship. While she is there another spacecraft crashes to the surface and Trilby discovers an unconscious man thrown out of the wreckage. This man calls himself Rhis and says he is a leutienent in the Imperial forces who crashed on the planet after escaping enemy 'Sko. Chases, gunfights, political intruige, romance, undercover work and alien encounters follow.

This was good for a fun read though I did notice some nits:

Dezi reminded me a lot of C-3PO.. I guess I didn't care too much about this, but it could be annoying to others.
I noticed that the author repeated certain things a few times -certain phrases were repeated in the same area of text. Some examples: Trilby thinking how certain Zafharian traits must be in the water, Rhis thinking of Trilby as a air sprite, and all the times Trilby kept turning around and bumping straight into Rhis's chest (what was up with this?). It started to jar me when I kept seeing things repeated, especially phrases.
The romance was predictable. I think the setting and the rest of what was going on is what made it interesting here.
There is the Zafharians, the 'Sko and the Conclave, but all of these factions have other nicknames which Trilby uses in practically the first 3 pages. It took me a little while not to be confused and realize Zafharians = the Imperials = the Empire and also figure out the other names used when referring to The Conclave and the 'Sko.
I never did get exactly ALL of the plot of what was going on with the bad guys and their plans at the end of this book. It felt a little sparse on the details or maybe I missed something obvious. I got most of it, but.. I still have a couple of but.. what would they gain by doing it that way?

Anyway, besides those nits, I have to say, I was glued. It was a fun way to pass an afternoon and I'd gladly read another one by this author.

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A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

Posted on December 19, 2007 by janicu

A Hunger Like No Other (The Immortals After Dark Series, Book 1)

Kresley Cole

I won this book sometime around the beginning of 2007 but after reading 100 pages in I put it down for about 6 months. Since I'm trying to read 100 books this year I picked it up again this week and finished it off.

The cover screams "vampire" novel but the two protagonists are a Lykan (werewolf) and a Valkyrie/vampire halfbreed. And she's the one half vampire. Yes, slightly confusing cover. Anyway, the werewolf Lachlain has been imprisoned by the vampire horde for 150 years, chained to a rock burning to death over and over (he's immortal and keeps reviving), so he's close to insanity when he smells Emmaline and recognizes her as his mate. This discovery propels him into escaping by gnawing off his own leg. Then he follows her scent, but when he finds her and sees she's vampire (his sworn enemy) he treats her very badly, kidnapping her and scaring her. Emmaline has actually never met a vampire before, she was raised by the Valkyries – fierce warrior women who channel electricity, and she's very sheltered – at 70 she's the youngest of them.

My thoughts in lazy bullet form:

As the first book of the series there is a lot of series setup stuff. There were some shifts to show what Emmaline's aunts were up to and references to certain players who I think will probably either get their own books or show up later. This set up felt like it was unnecessary to the story but I did like reading about Emma's aunts.
I did like the world of the "Lore" – with the Vampire Horde as the bad guys, a faction of rebel vamps, the Lykae clan, the Valkyrie and lots of fighting and old hatreds amongst them. I especially liked the Valkyrie – this was a fresh concept. Warrior maidens who cried for courage in their dying breath and whose cries were answered by old Norse gods, they gain sustinence from electricity and love to shop.
Lachlain was Scottish and his dialog was driving me crazy – no' , aye, ken, tae, lass.
There were a few of those "one true love" pairings here. The Lykae have their Mate and the vampires have their Brides. I'm not a fan of this destiny thing. It feels like a cheating – a deus ex machina instead of really giving me the reader a good reason why two people should be together.
Emma had a very modern dialog in contrast but I liked it much better. I laughed a couple of times from her remarks, and from a couple of her aunts (Nix and Regin in particular).
Lachlain acts like a big fat jerk and I don't think Emma made him pay enough for it. Actually I couldn't see the attraction after the first half of the book and what he does. I think this disbelief made me put the book down in the first place.

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Hot Mama by Jennifer Estep

Posted on December 5, 2007 by janicu

Hot Mama

Jennifer Estep

I had fun reading Karma Girl so I picked up the second book Hot Mama, when it came out last month. This was also like candy – really easy and fast to read, fun and campy, but I ended up not liking it quite as much as the first one in the series for a number of reasons.

This is the book dedicated to the story of Fiona Fine, successful fashion designer who is really Fiera, part of the Fearless Five. We continue a few months after Karma Girl leaves off with the Five moving on with their lives and Fiona, after mourning her fiance's death has started thinking about dating again. In the meantime, two more ubervillans – Intelligal and Siren, have entered the scene in Bigtime, New York. Much of the first part of the book rehashed book one – so new readers could read this book without reading the first one (but they would probably be spoiled for book one's ending).

Fiona Fine aka Fiera is a different character from Carmen Cole – and this was probably part of my issue. She's got a fiery personality to match her superpowers but sometimes stubborn and willfull felt like bullheaded and obtuse! I missed Carmen because she paid attention to details while Fiona sort of stomps all over the place and ignores subtlety – even when it was so obvious to everyone else. In Karma Girl I could guess the secret identities of many of the superheros/ubervillans. I think it wasn't meant to be hard to do, but in Hot Karma it felt like we got twice the amount of hints and Fiona isn't even *trying*. At least when Fiona finally figures it out she does say how ridiculously obvious it was, which somewhat mollified me because I was ready to throw my hands up at that point.

I felt that while there were a couple of compelling emotional story arcs in here (Fiona's grieving for her fiance, falling in love and dealing with vigilante revenge) the book moved forward through Fiona's dating, working, and fighting the bad-guys without me to feeling like I really connected with her character. Emotions of hers were repeatedly brought up but I still coudn't buy it. I got that she was hot-tempered, but I wish I understood her reason for her flare-ups more than – so and so is annoying. Also when she thought about her fiance she'd describe his qualities but I didn't feel emotionally connected to her grief just because she kept saying she was sad. I could buy Carmen's actions and thoughts in Karma Girl and that coupled with the zany story made me really like it. In Hot Mama the fun stuff was there but I didnt feel as involved in Fiona's character. It's weird though – I mean this book is a seriously easy read. So Fiona wasn't enough for me to put the book down, and the rest of the world in the book kept me engaged, but once I finished I felt unsatisfied with how I felt about her character. Maybe this is a matter of preference. I'd be interested if others agree/disagree about Fiona. Meanwhile I'd still recommend this for those looking for an unserious, very-much-like-candy read.

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Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Posted on November 11, 2007 by janicu

Halfway to the Grave: A Night Huntress Novel

Jeaniene Frost

Halfway to the Grave is already on the NYT bestseller list in its debut week. And I was one of the people who bought it a day or so after it came out (hohoho, yes Barnes and Noble gift card!). The spine calls it "paranormal romance" and it was shelved in the romance section, but after reading it I have decided that my best description of it would be an urban fantasy for romance readers. This book is the first of what looks to be a series, so there is an open ended feeling to it that die-hard romance readers who need a HEA may not appreciate, but I personally liked it and it made me want to read more of this series. I'd be interested to see what other readers thought.

Anyway, this is the story of Cat – half vampire, half human, she is the product of her mother's rape 22 years ago by a newly turned vampire who apparently still had some viable sperm. Her mother's hatred of vamps overshadows her love for her daughter and Cat is pushed into the dangerous job of becoming a vampire-slayer at an early age. Every chance she gets, Cat goes to seedy bars, baiting vampires to try to suck her neck and killing them. Up to her usual tricks, she encounters Bones, and recognizes him as a vampire, but unlike other vamps, he ignores her baiting and later bests her when she tries to kill him and he thinks she is working for some vamps herself. Bones is also a vampire hunter, and after deciding she isn't a threat, just a self-taught slayer, he suggests an alliance and help with her training.

Overall I'd say I liked it. When I picked it up to read, I'd read 100 or so pages at a time, then put it down again. So – engaging but I was also antsy this week so it took me longer to read than it usually would. I shall buy book 2 when it comes out.

Bits I liked:

1) The cover!! It is pretty gorgeous. It's all matte finished and the artwork and coloring is amazing. Plus the author's name – Jeaniene Frost. That's a cool name.

2) Cat. Her character is unusual – I felt like even though she starts off somewhat young-seeming in this book, you see her growth and she matures a lot. This reminds me a little of Faythe in the werecat series by Rachel Vincent, except Faythe has a very strong family support structure and Cat practically has none (her family lives amogst bible-thumping stock that seem to expect her to sin). I guess she's a little broken by her past but she's more vunerable than hard.

3) Fight scenes – oh especially towards the end, but the training was fun to read as well. Cat is a trigger-happy ass-kicker so there is much of that happening. I also enjoyed how her half-human part made her seem much less of a threat than she actually was, until she moved with inhuman speed, or her eyes glowed green. Fun to read.

4) Bones' humor. The bantering between Cat and Bones was good. They spend a lot of time in each other's company throughout the book, though Bones has Cat's number while Cat's still growing up. There were quite a few things Bone's said that amused me, and Cat does also make a few smart-ass remarks, but she didn't go over the line into being annoyingly smart-assed.

Some nitty things:

1) I think practically everyone is going to comment on this – Bones has a british accent, has hair bleached white and high cheekbones. Mightly similar to a certain character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This felt a little odd to read. Also when I read the part where Cat gives him a christmas present. It sounds like a black duster. Hmm.

2) At the start,Cat's dialog like calling Bones a suck-neck instead of what I'd expect in that situation – a chance to really swear like a sailor, made me pause. It made me think like the heroine was kind of immature, like she was in high school rather than in her early 20s. This did get better after the first 100 pages of the book. The last 100-150 pages were the best bit of the book where I didn't feel this anymore.

3) Slightly connected to the youth of the heroine. There were some bits where felt like there was a lot of angst on Cat's part. Her love interest was very aware of her hangups. He was consistently handling her with care, and I found it a little unbelievable that he was that patient, and loved her so much so quickly to be that way. The bumps on the road felt more on the romance novel, throwing a wrench into the love story side than what is typically in urban fantasy. And I don't know if it was Cat or love interest, but there was something a little too fast in the pacing of their feelings. This could be just me who felt this way, but even then I don't really think it was bad, this type of thing is pretty romantic to read, but it's part of why I'd call this urban fantasy for romance readers. Anyway, sort of mulling over this one still.

4) Stylistic comment – In the beginning, a lot of the vampire world was described in a long conversation between Cat and Bones. It felt like an info-dump.

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