chez_jae: (Books)
Shifting Fates (Crescent City Witch, #1)Shifting Fates by Meredith Clarke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished an ebook last night: Shifting Fates by Meredith Clarke. It's the first in the author's "Crescent City Witch" urban fantasy series. The main character is orphaned Rosalie who has just learned she may be the subject of a prophecy.

Rosalie makes do in New Orleans by giving ghost tours. When she feels a connection to a handsome stranger on one of her tours and he later saves her from an attacker that he claims is a vampire, Rosalie learns that there really are things that go bump in the night. In an effort to keep Rosalie safe, Spencer takes her to the cabin he shares with his three friends--all of them wolf shifters. They are convinced that Rosalie is the powerful witch who's been prophesied to bring together the supernatural elements. She doesn't want to believe it, but as her powers manifest and the leader of the vampires targets her, Rosalie is forced to accept that her life is about to change in a very big way.

I found the beginning of the book more interesting than the latter part. I didn't really care for how Rosalie went from being mundane to wielding ALL THE POWER. This is billed as a reverse harem. Not exactly my cup of tea, but when it's done right it works. With this first book, we don't really delve into that aspect except that Rosalie is inexplicably drawn to all four of the new men in her life. There's lots of nuzzling and touching and hugging, and she does get down and dirty (literally!) with one of them. I didn't understand how the vampires were able to attack in broad daylight. The author glossed it over as they were 'dream walking' (meaning they weren't physically there), but if Rosalie was warned that someone could harm her physical body by harming her astral body while dream walking, wouldn't the sun have done in the astral vampires? I also felt there wasn't a lot of resolution at the end.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Did I fight Zeus in my sleep or something?"
♦ I could've balanced my entire checkbook on the globes of his ass."


Started out great, fizzled out by the end. Average score.
chez_jae: (Books)
A Dead and Stormy Night (Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries #1)A Dead and Stormy Night by Steffanie Holmes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I finally finished slogging through A Dead and Stormy Night by Steffanie Holmes last night. It's not that it wasn't entertaining; I simply wasn't engrossed in it. This is the first book in the "Nevermore Bookshop" mystery series, with main character Mina Wilde.

After a heartbreaking diagnosis that she is slowly going blind, Mina gets her heart broken all over again when her best friend, Ashley, blabs it to the fashion designer they are both hoping to intern for. As a result, Marcus Ribaldi passes over Mina in favor of Ashley. Mina leaves the hustle and bustle of New York to slink back home to the small village in the UK, where she grew up. She lands a job at Nevermore Bookshop, which used to be her escape from the world when she was young. The new owner, Heathcliff Earnshaw, is a grumpy sort, but he's easy on the eyes, and his roommate, James Moriarty, is equally handsome, as well as a shameless flirt. The store's mascot is a temperamental raven named Quoth. Mina is shocked to learn that each of them--Heathcliff, Morrie, and Quoth--are, in fact, the fictional characters from her favorite authors. The bookshop itself seems to be a portal, drawing literary characters into the real world. Mina can't wait to sink her teeth into such a mystery.

Just when Mina thinks things may be looking up for her, Ashley blows back into town, acting as if she never betrayed Mina's confidence. Later, after Ashley shows up dead at Nevermore Bookshop, Mina becomes the prime suspect. Now it's up to her, with help from her smokin' hot new friends to find out who really murdered Ashley to clear Mina's name.

This was billed as a 'reverse harem' story. That is so not my cuppa tea, but paranormal mysteries are, so I gave it a try. The book was interesting and fun and, yes, hot. Characters were done well enough, especially Mina, in whose pov the story is told. Some plot points were left hanging, but since it's just the first in a series, I can let that slide.

Favorite lines:
♦ "There's always a reason to drink."
♦ Floor, just swallow me now.
♦ ...one should always take the opportunity to get paid for reading and drinking tea.
♦ "Imagine being the pickle in the middle of that beef sandwich?"


Entertaining for the most part. Four stars.

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