Tag Archives: book review

Souljacker, Lily Bound #1

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Book Review

SoulJacker

By: Yasmine Galenorn
Urban Fantasy
2 Stars

Lily O’Connell, a succubus, owns Lily Bound, an elite sex salon in the Blood Night District of Seattle. When a client is murdered in her house, a patch of skin missing from his chest, she knows there’s something evil afoot. Then comes the news that the Souljacker—a tattoo-artist-turned-vampire—has escaped from an institution for criminally deranged Supernaturals. And he’s hunting and killing everyone he has ever inked.

With one of the Souljacker’s tattoos on her thigh and nowhere else to turn, Lily hires Archer Desmond, a chaos demon and PI, to help her track down the vampire before he finds her and her friends. But Lily didn’t plan to fall for Archer. And as the old tales say—a succubus who falls in love will destroy the heart of the one she seeks to claim.

The main character of this series is a Succubus, with a Chaos Demon lover. How can that not be good?

This is exactly what I thought when I decided to start on Lily’s journey. If I hadn’t been listening to it at work, where I’m suited up and unable to easily stop the player and change it to something else, I probably wouldn’t have even finished it.

Trite. That sums it all up. It was the word that kept exploding in my head as I mentally groaned at the pure uninspired telling of what should have been a fantastic UF tale. Yasmine Gaelnorn uses all the right keywords but just can’t pull it off. There are Bisexual tones, with erotic sex scenes, witches, vampires, and Fae, and did I mention Succubus and Chaos Demon? I can’t say it enough: how can this not be good?

This centuries-old creature apparently has zero life experience to draw from when the shit hits the fan. The only time in centuries of living, of hiding, among humans, does anything happen is for the purposes of this book. Ugh. It was just all too cliche. And I love cliche. I don’t even think it was cliche, now that I say that. It was just so non-imaginative. Is there a word for that? Uninventive? Trite.

And how is a Chaos Demon not hot, and fun, and just everything great about urban fantasy? Well, he’s not. And the sex scenes weren’t even great. The book’s main character is a succubus. “Need sex now?” “Yes, please.” “Okay, excuse us for a few minutes.” Trite.

Basically, read any other Urban Fantasy book.

Kingdom of Shadow and Light

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Book Review

Kingdom of Shadow and Light

By: Karen Marie Moning

Dark Fantasy
4 Stars

From the moment MacKayla Lane arrived in Dublin to hunt her sister’s murderer, she’s had to fight one dangerous battle after the next: to survive, to secure power, to keep her city safe, to protect the people she loves.

The matter of who’s good and who’s evil can be decided by the answer to a single question: Whose side are you on?

Now, as High Queen of the Fae, Mac faces her greatest challenge yet: ruling the very race she was born to hunt and kill—a race that wants her dead yesterday, so they can put a pure-blooded Fae queen on the throne.

But challenges with her subjects are the least of her concerns when an ancient, deadly foe resurfaces, changing not only the rules of the game but the very game itself, initiating a catastrophic sequence of events that have devastating consequences and leave Mac questioning everything she’s ever learned and everyone she’s ever loved. Now begins an epic battle between Mortal and Fae, Seelie and Unseelie, would-be kings and would-be queens, with possession of the Unseelie King’s virtually unlimited power and the fate of humanity at stake.

From the exquisite, deadly gardens of the High Queen’s court, to long-forgotten truths found in the Sacred Grove of Creation, from the erotic bed of her enigmatic, powerful lover to the darkest, seductive reaches of the Unseelie kingdom, Mac’s final journey takes her places no human has been before, and only one human could possibly survive . . .

One who’s willing to sacrifice everything.

What a bittersweet read this was for me. The Fever books are a favorite of mine. I revisit them when I need to curl up and get away. Having them come to an end is both exciting and heartbreaking.

It was a good ending; everything tied up nicely (this is hard to review w/o spoilers. Just trust me). A stressful read, in the best way, I was gripped from the first page, my heart shredded in terror at what might befall these favorite characters. Easily 60% of the book flew by as I raced to see where Mac and Barrons and the rest of the gang would land. So many heart-wrenching stomach drops along the way.

While I was very pleased with this read, I thought a few points might have been fleshed out more. A more drawn-out tete-a-tete with the villain, for one. Still, it was a satisfying ending, just a little too fast for me. This is a common complaint from me, though. I always want more!

I do feel the need to go back and re-read the previous Mac book. Sometimes, I felt she was a little too impulsive, too reactionary. I think she grew out of that a bit from the last book, but maybe I remember it wrong…

If you haven’t read the Fever series and love Dark Fantasy, dark romance, brooding males, strong females, and modern magical cross-overs, this series is for you. And you don’t have to wait like I did for the next books to come out! All 11 are lined up and ready.

Happy Reading! 🙂