Howlin Books

11:13 am 25 July 2016

The curse was an interesting aspect. But it felt a bit like adding paranormal romance elements to a story that wasn’t meant to be one.

Annalia is a great character (love her name), she’s lived a sheltered life but she isn’t weak or afraid. She meets her challenges head on and comes out on top (mostly).

Court won’t be added to my Book Boyfriends list, but I still liked him. He’s a bit too forward at times and occasionally a jackass, but overall he’s endearing.

Very good, steamy historical romance. I’ll definitely continue the series.

11:09 am 25 July 2016

Jane is one my favourite heroines. She actively pursues Hugh and is sexually expressive (not in a slutty way), which is a nice change of pace to most historical romance. Hugh is endearing, which surprised me because I found him a bit dry in the first book.

The suspense plot is exciting, Grey is an intriguing and skilled enemy. The situations resolution is a bit anticlimactic, though. The romance overtakes the action a lot, leaving it a bit deflated.

Overall, the story is captivating. The romance is fun and sexy, expanding the characters hopes and beliefs, resolving itself contentedly.

romance 2016 summer-books

11:04 am 25 July 2016

This is a dirty book, simple as. The story and writing are a bit weak at times and I came across a few typos.

I didn’t like any of the characters. Moira was alright but Zach made no sense at all. I couldn’t feel any real connection between them and a lot of the dialogue made me cringe.

If you want a book for some dominate/submissive sexy times and little story, then this is the one for you.

romance 2016 summer-books

10:59 am 25 July 2016

I love Karen Chance’s books. LOVE THEM! So, this review is totally biassed from the get go.

I’m firmly on Team Pritkin but I really enjoyed this insight into Mircea’s character. It’s a lot easier to understand his actions later from reading about his formative years as a baby vampire. He struggled a lot as a masterless vamp in an unknown world, which made for tedious reading some of the time. He was a little complainy but we’ll forgive him, he’s just too pretty not to! There’s a lot of development of the Consul as well; where she’s from, who she was as a human, how she was made, and how their relationship developed.

The tone and pace are different from the Cassie books. It’s a bit darker, similar to the Dory books, but there are some very humorous moments and action. Though, there is less action than the other books.

The imagery in this book is just beautiful. The dresses, the city, the food, the spectacle of convocation had me wishing I could time travel. It made me think of Victoria Frances artworks quite a bit, as well.

I find myself being way more sympathetic to the vampires now. I was never a big fan of the mages but they annoyed me less than the vamps. It was interesting to see things from their perspective.

vampires 2016

10:55 am 25 July 2016

This one is my favourite from the series. I absolutely loved Maddy, anyone should think twice before messing with her! Ethan annoyed me sometimes, he pined for his good old days of boozing and broads a bit too much and he was always angry. Together, they’re one of my favourite book couples.

The suspense plot is the least dangerous of the books but I found it to be the most interesting.

This book is great, definitely worth a reread.

romance summer-books

10:47 am 25 July 2016

One of the best urban fantasy books I’ve read. Gets straight into the action with effortless world building despite being the first in a series.

There’s a lot of sex and sexual situations throughout the book but amazingly it doesn’t get in the way of the story. The sexy times work alongside everything to progress the plot, which is hard to do!

The mix of science fiction and fantasy, which I don’t usually like, works really well here. At no point did the science stuff make the werewolf stuff seem silly and vice versa.

Riley is an absolutely brilliant character. She’s a fighter without having to prove how tough she is (happens a bit too much in UF/PNR). She’s somewhat of a moral libertine but that seems to be the mindset of the werewolves here. Either way, it’s great to read about a woman that doesn’t act like casual sex with someone she’s attracted to will make her a bad person.

Great start to a series, I’ll definitely continue it.

vampires 2016 shifters-fae-other summer-books

10:43 am 25 July 2016

Sadly, this one was not for me. The story was predictable, the romance made no sense, and the suspense fell flat.

The story is told from the perspective of the power couple and the big baddie, leaving no mystery at all to the plot. Knowing each side's game plan made for a pretty boring read.

The romance between Clasita and Ryder developes stupidly fast. I felt no connection between them at all. They said the words but it was as effective as saying them to a tree. I could understand it if they were pushed together by the prophecy but all involved insist it's true love.

The language shifts between a modern dialect and olden-style weirdly, with a fair bit of modern swearing that didn't really suit the characters. I have nothing against swearing it just didn't feel natural here. The mix disrupted the flow of the story, making it seem like some of the characters had a split personality.

The lore was interesting, though. The background for Aladair and the plot for the series intrigued me. I might check out the next book but I'm not in any hurry to do so.

2016 shifters-fae-other

7:34 pm 19 July 2016

I love Karen Chance’s books. LOVE THEM! So, this review is totally biassed from the get go.

I’m firmly on Team Pritkin but I really enjoyed this insight into Mircea’s character. It’s a lot easier to understand his actions later from reading about his formative years as a baby vampire. He struggled a lot as a masterless vamp in an unknown world, which made for tedious reading some of the time. He was a little complainy but we’ll forgive him, he’s just too pretty not to! There’s a lot of development of the Consul as well; where she’s from, who she was as a human, how she was made, and how their relationship developed.

The tone and pace are different from the Cassie books. It’s a bit darker, similar to the Dory books, but there are some very humorous moments and action. Though, there is less action than the other books.

The imagery in this book is just beautiful. The dresses, the city, the food, the spectacle of convocation had me wishing I could time travel. It made me think of Victoria Frances artworks quite a bit, as well.

I find myself being way more sympathetic to the vampires now. I was never a big fan of the mages but they annoyed me less than the vamps. It was interesting to see things from their perspective.

vampires 2016

5:59 pm 6 July 2016

This is my favourite book in the series so far. And it's only the third one, plenty more to go, woohoo!

The evolution of Kaderin and Sebastian's relationship is natural and believable. Which makes it a nice refresher to the 'fall in love in two days' trope we often see in paranormal romance. I loved both of them. Kaderin was strong without ever feeling like she had to prove herself. Sebastion was understanding and not overly possessive (for once).

The Hie competition was exciting and introduced so much more aspects of the Lore. Each book focuses mainly on the romantic storyline, but this one explored the world more as well. Introducing new species, connections, and relationships. I think the competition sets up the story for the following book as well.

1:49 pm 5 July 2016

The Warlord Wants Forever - Kresley Cole

This is a really quick read, could be read in one day, so it suited me nicely to finish off my TBR reading challenge. As a novella series opener, there’s little world building, but enough to get a good grasp of what’s going on. Most first books get bogged down explaining the different creatures, their history and politics. Cole does it quickly and when necessary so it flows smoothly with the story.
Easily one of the dirtiest books I’ve ever read (not that I’m complaining), lots of sexy times. The plot doesn’t suffer for it, though, and we still get a good understanding of the characters. Myst is protective, independent, and surprisingly modern despite her age. Wroth is honourable, (insanely) possessive, and surprising old fashioned despite his age. They’re both very likeable characters that I would love to read more of. I’ll definitely continue this series.

vampires 2016 shifters-fae-other summer-books

Source: http://howlinbooks.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/the-warlord-wants-forever

1:47 pm 5 July 2016

I found this one a bit boring. The underlying story is pretty interesting and would be exciting to read if it was explored more. However, this book is really all about Autumn and Kenton hooking up (a few times) and living Happily Ever After.

Autumn really annoyed me at the beginning of the book. She complained quite a bit about being too beautiful and then decides to work as a stripper (sure thing sweetie). She gets much more likeable after the first chapter, though. Kenton, I can’t make up my mind on. Reynolds books focus on alpha males and he is definitely one of those but Kenton freaks me out a bit. I cannot figure out what he does for a living, he’s either a hitman or just a Professional Badass. Whatever it is he has ‘a very particular set of skills’ from where I don’t know. Coming from a seemingly vanilla background it doesn’t make much sense. The point is he protects ‘his woman’ and freaks me out in the process.

The story is romantic without making me gag and unlike a lot of romances, they don’t fall in love after two days which is good (that drives me nuts!). Their relationship makes a natural progression from frenemies to lovers in a decent amount of time. The smutty stuff is good, not too often or too little and never gets weird.

romance 2016 summer-books dnf-or-meh

Source: http://howlinbooks.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/assumption-by-aurora-rose-reynolds

1:45 pm 5 July 2016

The beginning of the book was a bit strenuous. I hated Lachlain and Emma was annoying. He was way too pushy and possessive and she was super wimpish. They do get better throughout the book but I still think Lachlain is just a bit too possessive.

Emma grows into a formidable character, though. She learns to hold her own against all the controlling bullshit that gets thrown at her. Lachlain tries his best to reel in the alpha crap but I’m still not all that impressed with him.

Despite my misgivings about Lachlain, I was rooting for the two of them. The story was captivating, thrilling and sexy.

What I really love about this series, is the world Cole has created. The mythology of the Lore is fascinating. I’m really excited to find out more about the various creatures inhabiting it.

vampires 2016 shifters-fae-other summer-books

Source: http://howlinbooks.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/a-hunger-like-no-other-review

1:42 pm 5 July 2016

I can’t make up my mind on this one. I enjoyed it. The story was really good but I wasn’t into the relationship between Kell and Lex. Lex annoyed the crap out of me. She was overly stubborn and repeated the fact that she’s a cop to every character and herself constantly.

The lore of the world is interesting. The witches seem to be like werewolves but they don’t shift. They got the whole long life and mating thing going on.

There’s a few instance where they try to explain the magic via science. I hate when they do this in fantasy books. You don’t need to explain it, it’s magic! But that’s just a pet peeve of mine.

I found the first 140+ pages boring, the pacing was slow and action minimal. It picks from half-way point, though, and is worth finishing.

It was good, not great, I’ll probably read the next one but I’m not in a hurry to read it.

2016 shifters-fae-other summer-books magic-users

Source: http://howlinbooks.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/wicked-ride-review

1:35 pm 5 July 2016

Having never read steampunk before, I didn’t really know what to expect with this. But I gotta say I freakin’ loved it!!! I loved the partly mechanical creatures, the airships, the history, the pirates, and all of the characters. It’s rare for me to say, that someone in a book didn’t annoy me but I loved them all.

The series has been added to my TBR and I can’t wait to start.

This is a prequel novella to The Iron Seas series, I don’t know if the characters feature in the main books or if it has an effect on the storyline.

2016

Source: http://howlinbooks.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/here-there-be-monsters-review