KR

Love ❤️

Revisado: 03-04-25

Sweet story, with surprising depth. The characters were great, including the minor ones. The performance was excellent. Overall, a really nice listen.

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Pleasantly Surprised

Revisado: 02-19-25

This is the first I've read Lucy Parker. I only downloaded it because it was free, and I was looking for something to listen to until my next credit was scheduled, so I really didn't have any particular expectations. From the first chapter, I was engaged, and impressed with the writing quality, as well as the excellent performance. I will admit Nicola Coughlan being one of the narrators is what made me choose this over other free titles, as I fell madly in adoration with her in Bridgerton. Though I wasn't formerly familiar with Gwilym Lee, his performance was good, as well.

I will now be on the lookout for other works by this author. 🙂

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Wow

Revisado: 12-30-22

I was riveted, utterly captivated. The story was engaging, the mystery fascinating, and the characters were complex and so very human. The novel felt atmospheric, but in a very subtle, uncontrived way. The author's writing style is both understated and rich, her distinctive figurative language fanciful and eloquent, yet still unpretentious. I just loved this book.

The performances were good, some perhaps better than others, but none really worthy of criticism (my only real complaint would be the credibility of the accents).

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Slow start and meh for a while...

Revisado: 11-01-22

Although I didn't necessarily struggle to keep listening, I can't say I was completely invested until about halfway...or maybe further.

I would say it felt like the exposition was drawn out, but I that's not really true. The main mystery of this story does, in fact, get underway fairly quickly; I think the issues are: first, it takes a lot of time -- and effort -- to warm up to the main character; and, second, I found the subplot more interesting than the main story. Obviously, this subplot will be further explored throughout the series, to which I greatly look forward.

But, back to the matter of the main character being hard to love... Magnolia is often prickly, bordering on downright unfriendly. I understand this is a defense mechanism, legitimately warranted by her history. I also suspect Magnolia's flaws are probably a deliberate aspect of her character arc, and, to be fair, she does become (even if only slightly) less tedious by the conclusion. Still, by the end, I can't say I quite love her yet, but I don't hate her, either. I'm cautiously hopeful about Magnolia as a character; as for the plot, I am very intrigued and eager to move on to the second book.

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A New Addiction

Revisado: 07-01-22

I have postponed starting this series for a long time, but every time I saw this book pop up, I reconsidered downloading it. Every time. I'm basically compelled to consume any content by a beloved author (particularly as I've been in a book slump, since I've apparently already exhausted all, or most of, my favorite authors' published audiobooks) but I had a vaguely negative feeling about this one -- nothing concrete, just this little trigger in my brain that always made me hesitate. At some point, I must have developed the notion that something in the blurb had turned me off, or, more likely, my boycott was basically a tantrum over the fact that I felt stubbornly loyal to Charley Davidson, and I just wasn't ready to give a new protagonist a chance.

Well, obviously, I finally succumbed to my compulsion and, having finished it and gone seeking the next book in the series, I realized the cause of my hesitation: there aren't enough sequels available. You see, I am a glutton. I don't like getting invested in a story, and then having to wait the author to write the next one. I prefer to wait until, ideally, a series is complete, or, at the very least, there are several books already out. But then, as I go to search for book 2, I see that book 2 is the only other one available at the moment. Though book 3 is set to come out soon, I know I'll plow through both in no time at all, and then I'll be bummed.

So, that's where I'm at now: bummed. But, I'm bummed because I really love this series. Yes, after having completed only the first book, I can already say I love this series, and that is because I love the characters. While the plot itself is undoubtedly worthy of praise, I'm ultimately a sucker for well-developed characters. A good plot is meaningless without characters I care about. And I care about these characters! As much as I care about Charley and Reyes, and Cookie and Uncle Bob? (And all the rest!) Yes, I think I do, actually. Despite my devotion to Charley, it would seem I have room in my heart for Sunshine, too. These characters, though distinct from the interesting characters of the Charley Davidson series, are just as delightfully charming and compellingly three-dimensional as their predecessors.

Another thing that never fails to draw me into a Darynda Jones novel is her unique voice. I've read plenty of funny and witty books, but there is something so irresistible about Darynda's particular sense of humor, which shines through in her characters. It is especially clever how she juxtaposes, and interweaves, levity and gravity. Her facility with witty banter and developing quirky personalities could easily fool a reader into expecting a lighthearted romp, chock-full of frivolity and hijinks but, while frivolity and hijinks may indeed be on the menu, readers should likewise be prepared for moments of intense, raw human frailty. (There is a moment between Sunshine and Auri that had me openly weeping.)

In summary, I highly recommend this novel. It guarantees the potent hit of dopamine I've come to expect from a Darynda Jones story. And, as always, Lorelei King is absolute perfection, particularly as a channel for Darynda Jones's voice. There are plenty of phenomenal narrators, but I honestly can't imagine anyone but Lorelei King bringing Darynda's characters to life as beautifully as she does. This writer/narrator pair is divine. So, if you are (like I was) scrolling through reviews to decide whether or not to pull the trigger, let this review tip the scales. Do it. You won't regret it.

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Can we uninvite the main character?

Revisado: 04-07-22

The story had potential; the main character, not so much.

Mackenzie Grey is sort of a terrible person, and not just at the beginning of Book 1, but by the end of Book 4. I’d like to say she’s simply an unenlightened fool, but she does actually have some moments of reflection, where she even acknowledges her faults. She just does absolutely nothing to change them.

So, how do I rate a book with a decent story, but also a protagonist I can’t root for? Unfortunately, my feelings for the protagonist–probably best described as disdainful–corrupt my overall impression of this series, particularly considering the series is named after Mackenzie Grey. It truly would have been a better series without her, because the plot was engaging enough to keep me listening, despite wanting to throat-punch the main character.

She is, quite frankly, a narcissistic asshole. She is irrational, immature, reckless, and headstrong, all in a really un-cute way. Oh, and also cocky and absurdly overconfident. I’m almost inclined to call her sociopathic, because even her moments of self-sacrifice manage to be selfish and careless of other people’s interests and/or feelings. Her heroism is more performative than authentic.

She isn’t especially charming, and I don’t recall her being described as drop-dead gorgeous (as if this would really suffice, anyway) so I truly can’t fathom how she draws admirers. The fact that she had even one love interest, let alone three, is truly unbelievable. The fact that anyone without a familial link to her felt any inclination to care for her simply boggles the mind.

***Spoilers ahead***
After being a part of their world for about a minute, Mackenzie decides she's just gonna go ahead and create a massive upheaval in the entire Lycan Society, in the name of fighting for equality for Lunas, but then, after actually effecting a significant paradigm shift, she completely abandons all of them. Like…what?! She impulsively decided to stick her nose into an established system–not that I advocate that system, but those oppressed by it were not even champing at the bit to change things. But because their status quo was offensive to Kenzie’s outsider sensibilities, she arrogantly set her mind to overthrowing the entire order -- at the request of no one, mind you -- and despite having exactly zero investment in the society she was hell-bent on changing. She just popped in, vigorously stirred the pot, and then, with a careless little shrug, she bounced.

Also, she has no loyalty. The only other person she is ever really interested in fighting for, for more than an eye-blink (ahem, Emma) is Amy, and I wouldn’t really call that loyalty, either. It comes off more like a proprietary obsession; the protagonist's own words/thoughts would seem to indicate a type of codependency, as she describes Amy as grounding her, but, really, aside from these thoughts/comments, there is little evidence she needs her friend at all. Amy is definitely the one doing the heavy lifting in this friendship.

Is she loyal to her human family? Well, this really isn’t tested, so who knows? Is she loyal to her bio-dad? Hmm…kind of? Sometimes? Hard to say. The only thing that’s clear is that she’s content to keep him around as long as he is beneficial…or at least as long as he’s not an outright hindrance to her continuation of all her selfish, reckless behaviors.

What about loyalty to Lucien, the surrogate daddy vampire who, despite his initial aid coming under the auspices of repaying a debt, seems fairly devoted to her until his breaking point? Nope, she seems pretty indifferent to his sudden cold-shoulder (ha, no pun intended!). The fact that he could so easily turn on her, or that his turning on her is so obviously a result of being so hugely disappointed in her, appears not to tug at her conscience, nor her heartstrings, at all. (I have some grievances with Lucien’s and Amy’s reactions to that situation, too, but I won’t go into it, as I’m trying to curtail the length of this already quite long review.)

As to the love interests (I won’t even mention Roman, as she has even less invested in him than she has in Sebastian and Jonah) she doesn’t show much loyalty to either of them, either. Even her supposed divided loyalty between Sebastian and Jonah is really not loyalty at all, to either of them. It’s far more self-serving. She simply doesn’t want to make a choice, and while she doesn’t go so far as outright deceiving them–because she’s quite happy to play the noncommittal asshole–she definitely doesn’t disabuse them of their interest in her. And sure, she doesn’t make any effort to ensure that their affection will endure in her absence (because that would be too much like giving a shit, wouldn’t it?) but she also never offers any kind of closure, either…unless ghosting them was supposed to count as closure. Even after one of them outright confesses his love for her, and the other is pretty obviously equally in love with her, she feels no compunction to let either of them know she isn’t interested in them in return and they should just move on.

By the fourth book, despite the fact that she did finally choose one of them, this little sociopath still isn’t sure if her feelings for him actually rise to the level of love?! I legit do not understand this character! We readers usually are disappointed when the romance is insta-love, but this one goes so far in the opposite direction, it seems more like the protagonist is just emotionally dead inside, which is saying something when one considers that this character would generally best be described as being more feeling than thinking. But, it would seem that, though she indeed operates on raw, unexamined impulses, she still has zero emotional intelligence.

Now that I’ve spent so long complaining about the main character, I’ll offer a brief opinion on the supporting characters. All three love interests were appealing enough, I suppose. Sebastian was my favorite, though I can’t articulate exactly why. Roman is the most interesting, and definitely the most dashing. He is fun and witty and utterly wasted on Mackenzie, so I guess it’s best she didn’t keep him hanging on. Jonah is the typical love triangle “beta male”. He's occasionally spineless, petty, whiny, etc., but he does have more cool moments than most sad suckers in this category. Meanwhile, Sebastian is frequently overbearing, overreactive, and seems to be always shouting.

Also, oddly, there were some occasions when Sebastian’s and Jonah’s personalities seemed interchangeable. (Yeah, I know this is a weird claim to make when I expressed favoring one over the other, but I did indicate that it was only occasional.) There were some instances, especially earlier in the books, when the guys would alternate their good cop/bad cop roles. At one time, Jonah would be the one getting exasperated with her, while Sebastian just grinned and found her amusing; at another time, Sebastian would growl at her for being an immature fool, while Jonah defended her. I get that people are mutable and susceptible to their moods, but this was inconsistent enough that it took a while for their respective personalities to solidify in my mind, and, even now, I don’t know if I would really call them solid at all. While I feel like Jonah’s personality was adequately presented, I think Bash is still somewhat of an unknown (which may be why I favor him, because there is still undeveloped potential there). Either he’s the classically appealing stoic hero – you know, standing off in the distance on the moors, surrounded by morning fog and his swirling greatcoat – or he’s just your run-of-the-mill, hot alpha-male, who operates on basic instincts and expresses himself through uninspired grunts and testosterone-fueled actions, which we only find adorable, because…muscles! If I’m honest, the latter is probably better supported by the story.

In conclusion, Mackenzie Grey has earned a place at the top of my list of despised protagonists. I can’t say she’s the worst, but she’s definitely in the top ten. She is an unlikeable, flawed character who makes little to no growth throughout four books. Her character arc is a flat line. Really, much like Mackenzie’s investment in most of the folks in her life, I had almost no investment in her. I couldn’t care less if the series had concluded with her demise. To be fair, I barely cared about any of the characters. I feel like the story was mostly driven by the plot, while the characters, in general, weren’t just weren’t unique enough, or inspiring enough, to be exceptional. Except Mackenzie. She was entirely exceptional, just not in a good way.

As for the narration...well, I love Nicole Poole, but this wasn’t my favorite performance of hers. Perhaps it was just the way the characters were written, but there were quite a few moments where the performance came across as overwrought and over the top. I mean, was Sebastian truly always yelling, or was it just how she portrayed him? One thing is for sure, there were a lot of instances where her Scottish accent was cartoonishly bad. Just so, so bad. That being said, I still love her, and I’m just gonna give her a mulligan on this one.

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Nope

Revisado: 02-24-22

I'm four chapters in, and I just can't anymore. While this book is, presumably, written by and for adults, the writing doesn't reflect this. At only four chapters in, and I can't even count how many times the main character has made small-penis comments -- or had small-penis thoughts -- about her antagonist. Like, I can forgive one small-penis insult, but, seriously, after this many remarks, I now just think the main character is not intelligent (or mature) enough to think of a better comeback. The antagonist is equally juvenile, taunting the main character by calling her "Rice", instead of "Rhys". You wouldn't be blamed for thinking these were some foolish middle-schoolers, but they are purportedly in their twenties.

There is also some questionable grammar and odd diction. It isn't precisely that words are used contrary to their respective meanings, but that the words that were chosen aren't necessarily the best options for their particular sentences. It's as if more elaborate synonyms were chosen when their simpler counterparts would have actually read more fluently. In general, the writing seems overwrought and melodramatic, and is overly embellished with figurative language that comes across as amateur rather than high-brow. As an example: "Pressure shoves into my chest as I slide on my sneakers and grab my black bookbag." On top of the passive phrasing, the word "shoves" just feels off. Also, as you can see, the intensity level is inexplicably already at a 10, despite the only action at this moment being her putting on shoes and grabbing a bag.

Perhaps, despite all the aforementioned, this book has a really fresh and interesting plot that makes it all worth it. Admittedly, I haven't read far enough to know one way or the other, but, at this point, I haven't gleaned enough of an inkling to forge ahead. Maybe this book would have benefited from better editing and revisions? Or perhaps just more writing experience?

As for the narrator, she wasn't terrible, but it's really hard to judge her narration skills when I found so many issues with the writing. I'm inclined to say her performance was overwrought and melodramatic, but, considering I've described the writing thusly, maybe it was just the writing and not at all the narration? Or, did the narrator's performance compound the situation? I'm not sure.

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One of my favorite JA Huss books so far!

Revisado: 02-10-22

Most of the JA Huss books I've read thus far have been of the dark and twisty variety; while those have admittedly been enjoyable, this subgenre isn't one of my favorites. I tend to only read a handful of this type per year and, considering what a voracious reader I am (for example, I've gone through 5 books in the past 7 days) this says a lot about my opinion on this type of romance. But then, a few days ago, I read Vic Vaughn is Vicious and was very surprised by the dramatically different tone of it (though the playfulness of the title was indeed a hint). Happily, Alonzo also has this lighter-hearted, humorous tone, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The plot was certainly less complex than most other Huss books, but that's not to say it was totally insubstantial, and, in fact, this isn't necessarily a complaint, anyway. But it's the characters that really secure the win for this book. I loved the witty banter and chemistry, not just between the two leads, but with nearly all the characters. Honestly, the two Boston brothers that are included are probably more endearing in this book than in their own books. It was nice to experience them in somewhat less dangerous and intense situations, particularly as the plotline spanning their books was one that really requires a high degree of suspension of disbelief. Though there are a few related elements in this book, overall, this story is comprised of considerably more prosaic events.

(Very vague spoiler ahead, but if you don't like to have any hints at all, it's probably best not to read on.)

I think my only complaint is really just the end of the story. It isn't a bad ending; in fact, the characters do get an ending I am quite satisfied with (as most readers will presumably also be). It's just that the pacing feels a bit off there at the end. After the climax, the falling action feels somewhat attenuated, and perhaps even a little abbreviated. The story seems poised to leave the characters at an indeterminate place that is wholly unsatisfactory. Fortunately, this is resolved in the epilogue, but something about this just came off a little like an inelegant summation.

Despite this, I really loved this story, and these are undoubtedly some of the best JA Huss characters I've read so far!

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Nothing says romance like laser tag

Revisado: 01-26-22

Okay, maybe I just didn't get it. Like, are these two warring factions (who are supposedly bitter enemies) really hashing it out by way of laser tag??? Am I the only one that this strikes as absurdly silly? What next, pillow fights? I mean, I appreciate the progressiveness of these folks finding a non-lethal means of working out their grievances, but, at the same time, it really minimizes the impression that they are even truly enemies. If both teams are so easily satisfied with this solution, maybe it's time to give up the grudges altogether? I just couldn't take the so-called rivalry seriously at all. It would be more believable that maybe, in this small town, there is such a dearth of entertainment that folks have had to fabricate an elaborate backstory for their weekly community laser tag game. (Wait, was this actually about LARPing...?)

I honestly can't believe it held my interest as long as it did (made it to Chapter 25). I would like to say that is because I at least found the characters interesting, but...upon reflection, no, they really weren't all that remarkable. Even the main characters read mostly like stock characters. Our protagonist was especially underwhelming; despite a few moments of a maturity beyond the expectations of her years, her attitude toward the love interest was frequently the tedious tough-girl, hard-to-get act we see in far too many young female protagonists. So, yeah, I get that she's only 21, but she still doesn't have to be a cliche. Also, the male lead seemed too old for her, somehow, not in years, but in that he seems to be a grown up, while she still seems like a teenager.

So, I just couldn't.

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Bad Habits

Revisado: 10-29-21

The story was good, though it does feel like it's flagging a bit. I have lost a little excitement and may take a break before moving on to the next book.

There is something that has really become annoying, which I believe may have begun in the previous book, but is definitely more pronounced in this one: the repeated use of "the not-human" and "my roommate". I get that his species is yet unidentified, but it begins to feel really awkward and clunky.

And the "roommate" thing is even more cringe. He obviously isn't just an ordinary roommate. I can only assume this descriptor is used to underscore that, though we all know very well he is the love interest, for now, she is determinedly keeping her feelings toward him non-romantic. But, after once or twice, we readers are smart enough to get what you're conveying. No need to beat us over the head with it.

Don't get me wrong, I like this author. I'm not sure if she is self-published, but it seems like this little bad habit should have been caught by an editor. Nevertheless, I am still interested in where this story will go, so I will pick it back up after a little break.

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