Hunter's Prey by Moira Rogers

TITLE: Hunter’s Prey

AUTHOR: Moira Rogers

PUBLISHER: Samhain

LENGTH: Novel (roughly 45k)

GENRE: Steampunk paranormal erotic romance

COST: $4.50

Two people attempting to change their lives. Ophelia, an ex-prostitute, has taken over the job of housekeeper for the bloodhounds in Iron Creek, while Hunter, a bloodhound, is trying to learn how to exist outside a cage. Neither wants to admit their attraction to the other. But when desire and emotions take charge, neither one really has a choice…

The world-building in the first book of this series intrigued me enough to invest in getting the second. However, I’m not completely sure it’s enough to keep me going after this one.

In this installment, our romance occurs between Ophelia, an ex-prostitute who has been given the job as housekeeper at the manor where the bloodhounds of Iron Creek live, and Hunter, a recently rescued new bloodhound who is still learning what it means to be one. Ophelia is done with being a pawn for men, as well as only being valued for her sex appeal, but being a housekeeper isn’t exactly what she wants either. She’s too independent and intelligent for such menial work, and decides she’s going to quit once the new moon is past. The one thing that gives her pause is the latest bloodhound at the manor. Hunter had been caged by vampires ever since being created, used as a feeding source for Nate (who has become a sort of vampire/bloodhound hybrid), and is just starting to learn what it means to be what he is. He’s afraid of what he can do, of how out of control he gets, and he’s especially afraid he’ll hurt Ophelia, since she seems to be the one woman who can really get to him. He turns down her offer to help him through the new moon (a period during which they need to feed off their partner’s lusts and desires, which is basically an excuse for lots and lots of sex over a three day period), but when she makes the arrangements for him to be seen by someone else, he refuses, demanding only her.

The story goes on from there, though honestly, there’s not much that isn’t horribly predictable. The bulk of it is spent on Hunter’s internal angst about who he really is and Ophelia’s flip-flopping back and forth on her feelings for Hunter, with a subplot about a threat running through Iron Creek supposedly bringing things together. While the world is just as fascinating as it was the first time, it’s less developed, relying too heavily on previous knowledge to work well as a standalone. I hadn’t read the previous book again before tackling this one, and found gaps in my knowledge that this one failed to fill in. For a new reader to the series, I don’t think it serves it well at all.

It’s not helped by the fact that the characterizations for both leads aren’t strong. Hunter’s primary conflict is his internal battle trying to figure out who he really is – the man he was before he became a bloodhound or the monster he is now. But because Hunter doesn’t know, we as readers don’t ever really get to find out either. It leaves him as a shell for me to project upon, an archetype to imagine going through the motions of what are meant to steamy love scenes. It’s boring, frankly. Ophelia fares slightly better, as she has a stronger sense of who she is, but just because she’s strong-willed and independent, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s interesting. She’s not. And the sex isn’t written well enough to make up for the deficiency in either of the characters.

The broader cast of characters is interesting, with both new and old faces, but the story is too short to give any of them a decent treatment. There’s barely enough time to get the main conflict resolved, let alone touch on the multitude of subplots that get thrown into the mix (most likely fodder for future stories). I would have much preferred getting some meaty time with just one or two, rather than the plethora that took over the pages.

Will I read the third book when it comes out? I honestly don’t know. This one had such potential, with a hero type that usually falls right in the middle of a bulletproof kink (the broken alpha struggling for identity), and yet, didn’t follow through on its promise. I guess it’ll be a matter of evaluating it on its own merit rather than as an autobuy as part of a series.

Readability	8/10 – Clean and does the job
Hero	5/10 – The problem is, since he doesn’t know who he is, the reader doesn’t either
Heroine	6/10 – Being strong-willed and independent doesn’t necessarily make her well-rounded
Entertainment value	5/10 – As much as I love the potential in this, I never believed the romance enough to invest in it
World building	8/10 – As fascinating as this world is, it doesn’t work as a standalone as well as it should
TOTAL:	32/50

One Good Year by Rowan McBride

TITLE: One Good Year
AUTHOR: Rowan McBride
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 824k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal romance
COST: $4.99

A year after Spade was on in a card game, he’s still devoted to his master Ace but wondering why he doesn’t feel more secure in the relationship. Ace does everything he can to convince him, but it takes another of Spade’s kind threatening to tear them apart forever for the lovers to face what it means to belong to each other…

Revisiting loved characters in subsequent books is often dangerous, especially when a lot of time has elapsed. Unfortunately, this short sequel to One Good Hand fails to deliver much of anything except a brief walk down memory lane.

Told in 1^st person from Spade’s POV, this is a short revisit in Spade and Ace’s lives together, almost a year after Ace won Spade in a poker game. Spade is an alien species, designed to be the perfect match for whoever owns him, and in the first book, proved he was the right partner for Ace when their bond was solidified. Spade meets another of his kind who has been looking for them ever since they crashed fifteen years ago, but his intentions soon become evident. He thinks Ace will hurt Spade, so he’s determined to separate the two permanently by erasing their memories.

While I really enjoyed the first book, and often find this author very enjoyable, this story ultimately didn’t work for me. First of all, it relies too heavily on knowing its predecessor, with characterizations that tell more than show and too little attention breathing fresh life into them. Even recognizing it won’t work as a standalone, however, it becomes mired in its own over-romanticism and sentimentality. These guys are mushy from the very start, and it borders on nauseating because there’s just no ebb and flow to make their relationship feel real.

On top of that, we’re introduced to Ancel, another of Spade’s kind, who was defective and thus has other abilities that Spade doesn’t. He becomes this omnipotent force that threatens to come between Ace and Spade, but his conflict is introduced too late in the story for it to have much impact, not to mention I had very little opportunity to really get to know him as a character before the threats began. Maybe if he’d seemed more genuine or if I’d known him better, I wouldn’t have been as annoyed by what felt like manufactured conflict.

In all fairness, I think this short novella would do best with readers who were highly invested in the couple as based on their first story and really want to see something – anything – with them again. Otherwise, I’d pass.

Readability	7/10 – Overly romantic and too repetitive to be a quick read
Hero #1	5/10 – Even though we’re in his POV, I felt I knew him better in the first book than this one
Hero #2	6/10 – His constant indecision and fear were grating
Entertainment value	4/10 – Doesn’t work as a standalone at all
World building	5/10 – Too much is left unexplained, new readers won’t get it easily
TOTAL:	27/50

The Concubine's Tale by Jennifer Colgan

TITLE: The Concubine’s Tale
AUTHOR: Jennifer Colgan
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 23k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $3.50

Curator Cait Lang is under orders to show their latest acquisition to collector Grant Pierson, a prospect she doesn’t really look forward to since she finds the man’s smug, know-it-all personality annoying. Grant is glad to finally have the chance to spend some alone time with ice-queen Cait, hungry to find out if she ever comes unruffled, but the story behind the papyrus on the auction block proves to be more enticing than either of them anticipate…

While this story had an interesting set-up, the actual follow-through didn’t quite live up to its initial promise. Essentially, it’s divided into two separate stories, the contemporary one between Cait and Grant, and the Egyptian one between Nayari and Khanu. Cait and Grant are professional acquaintances, with neither really knowing much about the other. Cait finds his superior attitude annoying, while he has never really looked past her ice-queen persona. He decides to see if he can get past it by inviting her out for a private dinner while she’s telling him about the papyrus, and though dating clients is forbidden, she agrees, largely because she’s curious, too. She begins relating the translation, making it clear it’s been embellished, and the story alternates between the rising tension between them and the growing attraction between the concubine and the warrior set to protect her.

The story Cait tells is a romantic one, about a concubine being used as a pawn in her master’s bid to become Pharoah, the world painted there rich and fascinating. Nayari is lovely to watch, from her initial pride to her horror at what’s intended for her to her growing feelings for Khanu. This story provides the strongest momentum for this short novella and offers glimmers of just what it could have been. Unfortunately, none of the other characters possess the same intrigue or depths. Nayari’s story is essentially a tool to get Cait and Grant over their initial misgivings and make them hot and bothered enough to ignore the order not to get involved. Not enough time is spent on developing them as real people for the attraction between them to feel organic, and the back and forth starts to feel very by-the-numbers.

The publisher calls this a paranormal story, but that’s stretching the definition. The problem is, this doesn’t fit neatly into any one category. The historical tale is clearly the most developed and compelling, but it’s tucked inside a contemporary package. The paranormal label likely springs from the mystical ending that Grant eventually discovers to the Egyptian lovers, but it lacks the credibility the rest of the tale offers. Though the publisher doesn't indicate it as such, this is likely meant to be a companion piece to another of the author's works called "The Soul Jar." There's an excerpt for that at the end of this, but in all fairness, I didn't realize this might be linked to something else (and thus give the ending more veracity) until after I started writing this review and went to the author's bio to get her web address. I never read the excerpts Samhain pads the end of their books with (a truly annoying practice, as those words get added into the total word count and can make unsuspecting buyers think they're purchasing a longer work). Frankly, I shouldn't have to happen to stumble across that excerpt/blurb to discover the ending I didn't buy for a second is rooted in another work.

Readers wanting paranormal attributes will be disappointed. If anything, I’d suggest this to lovers of Egyptian stories. That’s what it really has going for it.

Readability	7/10 – The Egyptian portions read much more vivid and interesting than the contemporary portions
Heroes	6/10 – One didn’t have enough depth, the other was too idealized
Heroines	6/10 – Nayari is fascinating, but Cait suffers the same problem Grant does
Entertainment value	6/10 – So much potential in this, but it just never gels together
World building	7/10 – The Egyptian world sizzles, which makes the weak contrast to the contemporary even more disappointing
TOTAL:	32/50

Raw Heat by Charlotte Stein

TITLE: Raw Heat
AUTHOR: Charlotte Stein
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $4.45

In a world where the werewolves have won and the humans have been driven underground, Serena Kent is a nurse assigned to watch over one of their captive wolves. She’s been enamored with his size and calm nature ever since he was brought in, but consorting with them is grounds for the incinerator. It doesn’t help that he becomes her friend, but when she makes the bold move to touch him when he’s obviously aroused one day, everything changes…

This is going to go down as one of my guilty pleasure books. Because it’s a quickie, erotic read that might not deconstruct well upon finishing, but damn, did it have me going as I was reading it.

There is no foreplay. The very beginning of the book thrusts the reader into Serena’s perspective as she realizes the werewolf she’s been tending to for the past year is aroused as she’s washing him down. She’s been fighting her own attraction to him, and in the heat of the moment, helps him get off. It changes the dynamic between them, breaking down a wall that had been there. Connor is unlike most of the other werewolves the humans have captured, surviving longer, never going feral. He’s also in love with Serena, but the last thing he wants is to hurt her. She’s having none of that, though. Now that the barriers between them are down, she wants everything she can get.

I got sucked into this almost from the start. The prose has a sultry, breathless quality to it, and the heroine’s perspective is tense and hungry right out of the gate. Since she’s also obviously someone a reader can sympathize with – a nurse who doesn’t necessarily see all the bad in the werewolves, unlike her best friend Tara who takes glee in torturing them – I abandoned reservations and threw myself into the moment with her, anticipating my questions about the world they inhabit and the characters they are to be answered afterward.

Those didn’t really come. Connor is an archetype, the strong yet honorable savage trapped in circumstances beyond his control, while Serena never really fleshes out beyond her feelings for Connor and her disdain for what is going on among her co-workers. The world is left somewhat unexplored as well. I learned the basics of what is going on – wolves above ground, humans below – with a few details thrown in for good measure, but I never really felt immersed into the setting to feel like I was completely there.

But here’s the thing. Mostly, I didn’t care. Connor’s a type, sure, but, well, that one tends to be one of my bulletproof kinks. I adored him, regardless of the fact that I don’t think I ever really knew him, and when things go dark in the latter third of the story, I cheered him on. The prose and story length go a long way in compensating for these other shortcomings, as well. I wonder if it had been longer, with the same relative lack of explanations, if I would have been less enamored with it. I honestly don’t know.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. This worked to entrance me for its short duration, and I cheered at the ending. I can’t really ask for more.

Readability	8/10 – Sultry and breathless
Hero	8/10 – Do I think he’s that realistic? No. Did I fall for his strong but silent & honorable type anyway? Oh yeah.
Heroine	6/10 – Wanted more depth to her since it was her POV, but she served her function well
Entertainment value	8/10 – In spite of its simplicity, I got sucked into the sensuality, forbidden nature of this novella
World building	7/10 – Fascinating details, but a lot gets unexplored in favor of the erotica
TOTAL:	37/50

Ghosts of Boyfriends Past by Vivi Andrews

TITLE: Ghosts of Boyfriends Past
AUTHOR: Vivi Andrews
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 41k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $4.50

Witch Biz Marks is cursed. Every Valentine’s Day for the past three years, the man she was seeing died. Once she figured out what was going on, she tried swearing off men, but so far nothing has worked. So when reporter Mark Ellison shows up at her store, trying to ferret out the true story behind the so-called Black Widow of Parish Island, her immediate attraction to him sends off all kind of warning signals. She tries to push him away, but the more she pushes, the more intrigued Mark gets. Not even discovering that the ghosts of her three so-called victims live with her is enough to throw him off…

Humorous books don’t have to be laugh out loud funny to work. Sometimes, it’s enough to be charmed by the prose and turn every page with a smile on your face. That’s certainly the case for this short novel.

When her grandmother died, leaving her alone, Biz did the unthinkable. She cast a spell looking for love for herself. That was the one big no-no she was taught, and as a result, the spell turned into a curse. For the past three years, the man she was seeing has died on Valentine’s Day, leaving her terrified to get involved again. It’s also left her with three ghosts, sharing the old house that also serves as her charm store. The one thing she wants to avoid is someone else dying, so when reporter Mark Ellison shows up in her shop asking questions, her walls go up. He’s gorgeous, and she’s immediately attracted. It’s got warning bells all over it. She tries to push him away, but Mark is convinced there’s a story behind the three deaths. He’s decided he’s not going anywhere.

What I love most about this author’s work is the crispness of her prose. It’s quippy without being annoying, bantery in all the right places, and moves along at a brisk enough pace to make the book seem shorter than it actually is. While I didn’t laugh out loud during it, I did go through it with a smile and a certain joy. It’s hard not to enjoy these two characters interacting with each other, or the multitude of colorful secondary characters that pepper the cast. Everyone has a frothiness to them, even the hard-edged Gillian, Biz’s best friend.

The two leads are suitably appealing. Mark is charming and determined, while Biz has an everywoman feel about her that would spark something in most female readers. I did wonder what Mark saw in Biz specifically, whether his reactions were genuine or a product of the curse, but that’s a symptom of the story rather than a flaw in the characterization. As fun as Biz can be, too, her back and forth attitude with Mark and how she’s going to deal with him grew old halfway through the book. The story is already very quickly paced. Toss in her constantly changing feelings, and I had a sense of whiplash by the end.

Still, with such sparkling prose and light mood, this rates higher than a lot of other holiday stories I’ve read. Not all of her backlist appeals to me, but the more I read by her, the more likely I am to give them a go anyway.

Readability	8/10 – Crisp humor and brisk pacing
Hero	7/10 – Charming, but I’m never really sure just what his attraction was to her
Heroine	7/10 – Loved her humor about the whole thing, but the back and forth of her attitude toward Mark got old
Entertainment value	7/10 – It wasn’t as laugh out loud funny as I’d expected, but I did go through it with a smile on my face
World building	8/10 – The world of Parish came to sparkling life, though I would’ve liked a little bit more about the magical side of things
TOTAL:	37/50

And Hell Itself Breathes Out by A.R. Moler

TITLE: And Hell Itself Breathes Out
AUTHOR: A.R. Moler
PUBLISHER: Torquere
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 74k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal erotic romance
COST: $6.99

In a bid to gain more power, two young men in an exclusive fraternity begin performing blood rituals, leading to deaths that remain unsolved by DC police and the SIS. Two authority figures, Agent John Benchley and Detective Evan Garrett, are working the cases independently until they realize they can get further working together. Then, their working relationship turns into something more…

I’m always excited about finding books that try to do more than the usual romance, but sometimes, they end up biting off more than they can chew.

In a series of short scenes, we’re introduced to a wide range of characters – the power-hungry, greedy fraternity brothers; agents in the SIS, a special branch of the federal government that deals with the odd and the occult; detectives in the DCPD. It gradually narrows down to the primary players, Agent John Benchley and Detective Evan Garrett. When they start sharing notes, things start coming together, but bodies are still stacking up.

The problem with this novel is that it can’t decide what it wants to be, and as a result, never really succeeds at any of them. There’s the paranormal angle, with the ritualistic murders; the police procedural angle, with the careful deconstruction of the cases; the romance, with the slow, steady relationship between John and Evan. It tries, it really does, but the prose isn’t nearly sophisticated enough to pull it off. The scenes are too short and static to build any sort emotional connection, and the constant headhopping and frequent editorial errors (missing prepositions, missing articles, etc.) only added to that disconnect.

Each does have strengths, though. Careful detail is given to the procedural aspect, sometimes too much. The romance sets itself apart from the norm with the gradual build-up. It was refreshing to have two strong leads not immediately jump into bed together if it wasn’t appropriate. The bloody paranormal angle is effectively gruesome (though more sensitive readers might want to be wary). I just wish it had been put together more smoothly, with a better balance so that I could genuinely care. I’ve had better luck with other stories by this author, so I know it can work. Just not in this one.

Readability	5/10 – Headhopping, proofing errors, and short jerky scenes did nothing to create any kind of flow
Hero #1	5/10 – Nice and intelligent, but it took too long for him to form any kind of personality
Hero #2	6/10 – More interesting than John, but suffers from the same lack of focus for too long
Entertainment value	3/10 – The story’s lack of focus prevented any one angle from succeeding satisfactorily
World building	7/10 – The procedural aspects were well thought if a tad boring
TOTAL:	26/50

From Afar by Ava March

TITLE: From Afar
AUTHOR: Ava March
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 73k)
GENRE: Gay historical paranormal erotic romance
COST: $3.50

For three years, Raphael has admired Aleric from afar, but one night, when Aleric gets attacked by thieves, Raphael finds himself at Aleric’s side. A bad injury has Aleric hovering on the brink of death. Incapable of imagining a world without Aleric in it, Raphael does the unthinkable. He turns him. Now he just has to hope Aleric doesn’t hate him for it, or that London’s vampire clan leader will allow either of them to survive his transgression…

I like good erotic scenes as much as the next gal, but if it’s trying to be sold as a romance, too, I need a little bit more than that. This novella is a perfect example of just not enough.

The eroticism begins almost immediately, with vampire Raphael perched in his favorite tree, watching the object of his lust and affection with a prostitute. He jerks off, then proceeds to follow Aleric home. When Aleric is jumped by thieves, Raphael intervenes to help. His aid comes too late, however, and Aleric is mortally wounded. Raphael reacts to the moment and proceeds to turn him.

To be honest, not a whole lot happens after that, except sex, a little bit of tension regarding the head of the London vampire clan, and then some more sex. So while the author’s prose affords satisfying tension within the erotic scenes, when it comes to anything else, well…there’s just not much there. Both male leads suffer from stunted characterization. They’re not unlikeable. They’re just very one-note. Raphael is consumed with his crush on Aleric, while Aleric spends too much time floundering from his vampire adolescence to have any real understanding of what he might be like. Without being able to connect to them emotionally, I can’t connect to the romance, no matter how sizzling their sex scenes might get.

As impressed as I was with the facility of slipping into the author’s human historical world, I was equally disappointed by the paranormal aspect. We get some answers about how the vampires work in her vision, but not many, and in a market where every author tends to pick and choose which mythos to use, that’s a detriment. It’s understandable why more aren’t forthcoming. Raphael is an outsider to the vampire world, and his one real source of information is a potentially deadly one to him. But choosing to gloss over real answers because of a protagonist’s lack of insight felt like a copout. It’s too easy, and left me ultimately dissatisfied.

Overall, this was an easy, hot read, but if you’re looking for any type of depth of real romance, you’re not likely to find it here.

Readability	8/10 – Smooth and easy, with just a hint of being too terse
Hero #1	6/10 – His loneliness is appealing, but so much of his characterization is zeroed in on his feelings for Aleric that he doesn’t really get to escape that for more
Hero #2	5/10 – Nice enough for the erotic sections, but not interesting enough to anchor the romance
Entertainment value	6/10 – Reading purely for the eroticism, it works, but the romance and the paranormal world-building are too shallow to rate this higher
World building	7/10 – The human world is painted well enough, but Raphael’s outsider status seems like an easy excuse to not bother answering valid questions about the vampire world
TOTAL:	32/50

Shapes in the Blood by Kim Knox

TITLE: Shapes in the Blood
AUTHOR: Kim Knox
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 27k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $4.99

Aila can’t believe how her luck has changed. The hottest guy at her new job has asked her out, and it looks like she’s actually going to get what she wants for a change. But when he shows up late, then drags her to a war memorial and starts talking about needing her, alarm bells begin to peal louder than her hormones. She tries to leave, but he won’t let her go easily. She has no choice but to accept the help of the strange man who suddenly shows up, telling her she’s just this demon’s latest intended victim…

I’d hoped choosing an author I’d enjoyed before would make this a good reading week for me, but unfortunately, this is probably the weakest story I’ve read by her yet.

It starts in a rush. Aila has been working for six weeks at her new job, and just that morning, garnered the attention of a gorgeous co-worker. He asked her out for that night, then ended up showing four hours late for their date. The lust she has for the man overrides her better sense, and she agrees to go out at that late hour, but when he directs her to a war memorial for some annual ritual he does, then proceeds to tell her he needs her help in doing what he’s come to do, she finally comes to her senses. She tries to leave, but he doesn’t want her to go, changing right before her eyes into something not quite human. A stranger then appears out of nowhere offering to help, and on instinct, she tosses him her car keys and lets him drive her away.

It only gets confusing from that point on. I could try explaining it all, but honestly, it took me so long to figure it out for myself—and even then, it took the bulk of the information that doesn’t get revealed until the very end—that it would be pointless for me to try. Because that’s this story’s greatest weakness. The ideas behind the world-building are ripe with potential, incredibly intriguing and different from the norm, but the way they’re conveyed is next to impossible to keep straight. Details get twisted around by dreams that might not actually be dreams, while facts about who Aila is and what the demons wants with her are vague and unnecessarily circuitous. The novella is only 27k, but it reads much longer, mostly because of the lack of clarity given to the world-building and what exactly is going on with everything.

Part of that likely stems from the thick tension that permeates the story from page one. The author excels at UST and making things steamy, but in this case, it ends up obscuring the actual story that’s being told. Too much focus is placed upon Aila’s raging hormones, all the way down to awkward dreams that play out her hidden thoughts about Matt, the stranger who helped her escape. It’s too hard to tell where manipulations end and genuine reactions begin, and while some of that is intentional, there’s just too much. It gets in the way of understanding who Matt and Aila really are, and if there is any kind of real future there outside of the too-convenient one we’re told they’ll have.

As much as I’ve enjoyed this author in the past, I can’t recommend this story at all except to romance readers who are mostly interested in hot tension rather than clear storytelling.

Readability	6/10 – Clarity gets sacrificed for oblique prose
Hero	4/10 – Hints that I should find him attractive, but the story is too muddled to give me any kind of idea of what he’s truly like
Heroine	4/10 – Um, ditto
Entertainment value	3/10 – Though the sexual tension runs rampant, it’s not nearly enough to counter the muddy storytelling
World building	5/10 – Great ideas, poor execution
TOTAL:	22/50

For Your Eyes Only by Melissa Hosack

TITLE: For Your Eyes Only
AUTHOR: Melissa Hosack
PUBLISHER: Silver Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $3.99

Dragged out on Halloween by her best friend, Lily finds herself a wallflower again until the most gorgeous guy she’s ever seen begins talking to her. She decides to take a chance when the attraction between them sparks, but when she wakes up the next morning and discovers he’s actually a ghost, she has to decide if the fact that only she can see and touch him is all that matters…

While I’ve had my eye on Silver Publishing for a while, this was the first story I was tempted enough to buy. The blurb on the publisher’s site hinted at something a little more complex than the usual ghost story, but unfortunately, that’s not what I got.

Lily is shy, but willing to live vicariously through her best friend. She agrees to get dressed up for Halloween and go out dancing, but finds herself alone at a table, watching from the sidelines yet again. That changes when a man begins talking to her. Nathan is the most gorgeous guy she’s ever seen, and his humorous charm, telling her he’s dressed up as a ghost when he’s wearing a T-shirt and faded jeans, relaxes her enough to enjoy his company. At her friend’s urging, she gets up the nerve to invite him back to her apartment, where they spend the night having sex. In the morning, however, she discovers that his ghost description wasn’t a cute joke. He actually is one, and as soon as he gets outside a yard from her presence, he becomes incorporeal again.

The reason I bought this story was because of this sentence from the publisher’s blurb: In a complex relationship between woman and ghost, the pair must wonder how long they'll be able to keep Lily's human friends from asking too many questions about the boyfriend they never see. That hinted that it might actually tackle the ghost issue in a new way, even though I knew from the pricepoint and novella length it wouldn’t be very long. Unfortunately that never happened. Lily and Nathan meet, they go back to her place, they have sex a few times, then it cuts to a year later. Any depth it might have had was wasted in the time jump, and instead, I got very mediocre sex that was just way too coy for my tastes (using life essence for come, for instance). It’s not helped at all by the rather pedantic writing, or the fact that Lily’s characterization remains flat for most of the story.

I’d almost written it off completely when it got to the resolution, but a turn in the plot I hadn’t quite expected helped bring it up a bit. It still ends too abruptly, however, just as the complications would be interesting to work through, so while the finish might have raised my overall enjoyment of it up a tad, it wasn’t nearly enough to convince me to try other works by this author. It felt too much like a wasted opportunity when it was done.

Readability	6/10 – Too simplistic for the most part, with the sex scenes too coy for me
Hero	5/10 – Mildly charming at first, but lacks depth
Heroine	4/10 – Though I didn’t dislike her, I never really felt like she was a real character
Entertainment value	4/10 – The ending saved this from being a complete wash
World building	6/10 – Little is done to explain the paranormal aspects of this until a big information dump at the ending
TOTAL:	25/50

Intimate Whispers by Dee Carney

TITLE: Intimate Whispers
AUTHOR: Dee Carney
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 52k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Sabrina Turner hears dead people, but it’s not a gift by any means. They bombard her at the worst times, driving her mad as she’s incapable of tuning them out. The only way for her to banish them for a while is by allowing another spirit to have his way with her, giving her body to him for hours until the world is silent again. Another attack leaves her in a fugue state at her local grocery store, where her neighbor Jason sees her and takes her home. When she says something to him only his dead brother would know, he’s driven to find out how and why. The truth will bring them together, but the reality of what she has to do just to survive the voice just might drive them apart…

I meant to get this done and reviewed before Halloween, but the holiday ran away from me. It would have been appropriate, given its slightly creepy tones.

Sabrina Turner hears dead people, and the only way she can get a temporary reprieve from the madness it creates in her is to have sex with one of those same spirits. She refers to it as Him, and considers him her savior. After she gives him what he wants, she gets some peace and quiet for a while. During her attacks, she loses time, forgetting where she is, who she is. It’s during one of these that her neighbor Jason finds her at the grocery store. He volunteers to take her home, but just before she shuts the door in his face, she says something only his dead brother would say. Unable to shake the questions it’s raised, he goes back to her apartment and demands answers. The only reason she gives him a hint of what she’s like is because he played the nice guy and helped her get home when he didn’t have to. They try another technique to make contact with his brother, but that doesn’t help much either. Jason is trying to forget about the whole incident when the ER contacts him and asks for his aid in getting Sabrina home. She’s had another attack. Thus sparks a series of events that will bring them closer together. The only problem is, both of them are holding back secrets, afraid of what the other might think.

I liked the premise of the book, the twist on the ghost whisperer theme with the heroine being plagued by the voices to the point of madness. The attacks are described well, coming to life even as Sabrina is driven mad by them. Much of that is helped by the author opting to occasionally show the attacks from Jason’s POV. He brings a poignancy to what is going on with Sabrina that her perspective lacks.

Sabrina’s perspective is where the book falters for me. Her characterization is solid enough, but the more I got to know her, the less I liked her. I found her attitude toward Jason bitchier than what was called for, and her behavior often callous in regards to his feelings. I understand her point about how she doesn’t have the space in her life to worry about anybody but herself, but that wasn’t enough for me to explain away how cold she was. In fact, even after she warmed up to Jason, I still found her personality a little off-putting. I didn’t start liking her more until very nearly the end.

On the other hand, Jason was a darling. He came across as caring and sincere, a little on the earnest side, and I found his self-honesty about how he’d never considered dating a black woman endearing. His chemistry with Sabrina was off the charts, too, a fact I could easily recognize even if I didn’t like her very much. He was more patient with her than I imagine most men would’ve been, and the fact that he sticks around through so much is testimony to his wonderful nature.

I did find the resolution easy and kind of obvious, but I appreciate the fact that the ending doesn’t sugarcoat other problems by giving them an easy out. Sabrina and Jason still have things to fight against when the story draws to a close, but then again, so do real life couples. This one might not be a definite keeper, but it does make me curious about the author’s other work. I like that she takes some risks and isn’t afraid of being true to human nature. It’s worth it to find out if that’s prevalent in other titles, too.

Readability	8/10 – The erotic elements work best in this, though the prose is solid throughout
Hero	8/10 – He was the heart of this, his caring nature sold me from the start
Heroine	4/10 – I understood her but for the bulk of the story, I really didn’t like her for being so bitchy
Entertainment value	7/10 – I liked it for Jason and for where it dared to go, but would’ve liked it more if I cared about Sabrina a little
World building	7/10 – Aspects of her talent were handled really well, but I wanted more into her past and why/how she had this gift in order to better understand it
TOTAL:	34/50

Brass and Bone by Cynthia Gael

TITLE: Brass and Bone
AUTHOR: Cynthia Gael
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 36k)
GENRE: Steampunk paranormal
COST: $3.59

Lady Abigail and her partner Simon are called upon an old friend of hers for a very delicate job. He needs her to take cargo across the globe on her airship, with the witch he’s captured as part of the magical lock that will seal it forever. There’s a lot of money involved, too much to resist, but Simon thinks the witch’s keeper – her ex-lover – is too cavalier and dangerous about this entire mission…

The more published steampunk I read, the more I wonder what the big deal is. Because if these are the best the genre has to offer – and it seems everybody across the internet proclaims steampunk as the next big thing by begging for more – then I really have to ask just how awful the stories are that don’t manage to get published. Because this novella I recently finished just doesn’t cut it.

It starts out well enough. Simon and his partner Abigail rob a man of a device, having been hired to steal and deliver it for a hefty sum. Things go mildly awry when Simon is poisoned by the thing, but he is treated in time to suffer no long-term damage. He finds out the next morning that they are traveling to see an old friend of hers, a man he can’t stand, because he was both the one that hired them for this particular job and is in need for more work, something he says only Abigail can do. Once they get there, they discover they are to transport something to Australia, where it will be locked away forever using the combined blood of a witch and a human. He has a witch on hand, a French woman named Cynara, but she is treated as more of a thing and prisoner than a person. He’s sending along a keeper, the man who was Cynara’s lover before he turned her over to this group of Witchfinders, and so the four set out on this around the world journey.

If this sounds interesting, don’t be fooled. It’s a muddle and turns even more tedious after they actually leave. The story is riddled with so many weaknesses, it’s difficult to pinpoint just which holds it back the most. First of all, the author chooses to write it in alternating 1^st person POVs – Simon’s (the male half of the airship pair) and Cynara’s (the female witch half of the paranormal pair). I normally love 1^st person, but I find it much more difficult to switch between two within the same story, especially from chapter to chapter. It erases the deep perspective 1^st person creates, and forces the reader to start over again with a character from scratch. Don’t get me wrong. It can be done, but it requires top notch writing and voices to truly pull it off. That doesn’t happen here. Instead, we only get one decent voice – Simon’s. When it switches to Cynara, the entire story gets thrown into confusion, largely because much of what happens in her POV is told instead of shown, and the world-building explaining the magical/paranormal aspects of the story is some of the sketchiest I’ve read in a while.

The telling vs. showing is a problem that runs throughout the entire story, though. For too much of it, it reads like a summary of a much longer work, skipping over what felt like should have been crucial events, skimping on the details on too many things. Characterizations suffer as a result. The only one who felt fully well-rounded and real to me was Simon. Cynara falls short on believable motivations or interest, her keeper Henri is too secretive to be anything but frustrating, and Abigail is put on a pedestal by Simon. The only aspects of the story that seem to get a good balance of loving detail are the steampunk gadgets. Abigail’s airship alone merits nearly 500 words of description, just so “you may visualize it when I discuss such aeronautical locations as the bridge, engine room, galley, hold and so forth.”

Here stems the roots from which my problems with most of the steampunk stories I read grow. I buy a genre book to read a story and be entertained in some fashion, not to be regaled with the author’s imagined gadgetry that seems to fit into this new world. Ultimately, I still need to experience an actual story, and I mean experience it, not told it. Too often, that feels like it gets forgotten, in favor of lavishing all this attention on the elements of a steampunk world. World-building is fantastic, but not the sole purpose.

Though it doesn’t say so on the site, this novella has to be the first in a series, because the conclusion is very open-ended, with nothing actually resolved. It’s just as dissatisfying as the rest of the story, but I won’t be bothering with any more that might come along. I’ve read enough of this author’s voice to know this style is just not for me.

Readability	6/10 – Alternating 1st person POVs with lots of telling makes this very tedious to get through
Characterization	5/10 – Simon fares the best, but the rest of them come off as vague or caricatures
Plot	5/10 – Incomplete since it’s clearly meant to be part of a series, with little sense of flow
Entertainment value	3/10 – Started off well, but the disjointedness of the plot as well as too much tell rather than show turns this into a slog
World building	6/10 – The steampunk aspects are all right, but everything on the paranormal side leaves a lot to be desired
TOTAL:	25/50

Soul Survivor by Misty Evans

TITLE: Soul Survivor
AUTHOR: Misty Evans
PUBLISHER: Carina
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 52k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $4.49

Keva Moon Water’s dead body is at the center of what looks like a ritualistic murder, the bodies of five dead women surrounding her. FBI agent Rife St. Cloud knows evil when he sees it, but when Keva comes back to life right before his eyes, he’s just glad to have a living witness to this awful crime. The hospital declares Keva a miracle, but she only cares about one thing – finding out why Rife doesn’t remember the brief life they shared together a thousand years ago…

While I’m not a big fan of soul mate stories, I am a fan of reincarnation ones, as well as Native American lore. I jumped all over this when I saw it, but unfortunately, its execution left it severely lacking.

It starts out all right, with Rife St. Cloud, an FBI agent on vacation, called in to look at a crime scene by his cop grandfather. The murder scene looks to be ritualistic, with six dead women, but as he’s looking at the woman at its center, she comes back to life. She is rushed to the hospital, where the doctors and nurses are amazed at her miraculous recovery. For his part, Rife is just glad that he has a witness he can interrogate now. Keva Moon Water is a bit of an enigma, and while he has a lot of questions regarding her past, his primary concern is who would want to kill her. What he doesn’t realize is that Keva is immortal, living the past thousand years as a result of trying to save her lover’s soul. She recognizes Rife as his reincarnation, but Rife has no idea about the truth, still disbelieving even after she tells him her story.

There’s the ongoing thread of Keva’s spurned fiancé wanting to prove to her he’s worthy of her—the core of the murder plotline—but it takes forever to get to a point where that plays a strong part. With the exception of a brief scene or two, the first half is dedicated to Keva trying to show Rife the truth about his soul in clumsy, boring information dumps. It tries to break up the flow by jumping back in time with flashbacks, but those never felt like they gelled with the rest of the story. It’s all tell, tell, tell, and boring telling at that. I got so bogged down with all the backstory that is necessary to get even a fraction emotionally invested in the current events of the story that I didn’t even care about the people it was trying to sell me on. Rife felt generic and predictable, while Keva’s attitude got on my nerves. She tells their story to Rife in hopes that he’ll remember, but there’s no finesse to it. I couldn’t help but think that someone who’d lived a thousand years should’ve been better at that kind of thing by now.

The pace does pick up in the latter half, but that just meant it got me to the end faster, not that I actually enjoyed it. Of all the characters in the book, I actually thought the bad guy was the most interesting, even if he did do some truly horrific things. But that’s not nearly enough to make up for my other misgivings about the story. It could be that this author’s voice isn’t for me, which is a shame since I really liked the ideas behind the basic story. I probably won’t read another one to find out, though.

Readability	6/10 – Lots of clumsy information dumping in the first half makes this read a lot slower than it should
Hero	4/10 – Kind of generic and boring, to be honest
Heroine	5/10 – Strong, but I found her brand of bluntness a tad offputting
Entertainment value	4/10 – I was bored to tears by the middle of the story, it took a lot to finish it
World building	7/10 – I liked a lot of the ideas, blending the Native American lore with the paranormal, it was just the execution that was clumsy
TOTAL:	26/50