Irene L H. (NonExistence) -
Helpful Score: 6
This is an interesting new series with unexpected twists. A bit of mystery walking side by side with paranormal. Well worth reading.
It took about 70 (good pages) to get a real feel for her main character, Kiera, but the writing is SOOO GOOD, and the "feel" was right, so I kept at it. Kiera is turning out to be a very interesting character and I really, really like it now. This one is definitely different than the norm, which is refreshing all in itself.
There is romance, but it's not trashy. I especially like the fact that they knew each other for years first, before they supposedly "fell in love." I also liked the fact that Lima kept the family away and did not overwhelm the reader with too many characters. Although, I look forward to meeting more of them--Tucker sounds devine!
I must say Lima is talented in getting the reader to read just for the sake of trying to figure what the heck is going on!
It took about 70 (good pages) to get a real feel for her main character, Kiera, but the writing is SOOO GOOD, and the "feel" was right, so I kept at it. Kiera is turning out to be a very interesting character and I really, really like it now. This one is definitely different than the norm, which is refreshing all in itself.
There is romance, but it's not trashy. I especially like the fact that they knew each other for years first, before they supposedly "fell in love." I also liked the fact that Lima kept the family away and did not overwhelm the reader with too many characters. Although, I look forward to meeting more of them--Tucker sounds devine!
I must say Lima is talented in getting the reader to read just for the sake of trying to figure what the heck is going on!
I picked up book one (Matters of the Blood) based on good reviews. It showed some potential, so I immediately checked #2 (Blood Bargain) & #3 (Blood Kin) out of my library. I read them together, so I will review them together also.
What worked. Maria Lima has a readable writing style and the overall storyline had potential.
What didn't work for me? Just about everything else. The heroine is a self confessed 'trust fund baby'. Which sounds more interesting than reality. Neither the heroine nor her boyfriend display much personality, rather blah people. Although the heroine brags that she differs from other trust fund brats b/c she has an actual job...we never really see her job. In fact she doesn't even solve the mystery/crisis/situation, just mills around until the situation resolves itself. After reading the first three books in the series, I cannot figure out what the heroine does with all her time. In book two she does a few daytime errands for her nocturnal vampire boyfriend. She has sex with the boyfriend (when he's awake), lunch with the girlfriend, and the reader is left to speculate what she does the rest of the time.
The most interesting characters (about the only interesting characters) in these books are Keira's brother, Tucker, and his vampire boyfriend. Almost without exception, everyone mentioned is into 'serial monogamy'... everyone...(eyeroll), both human and non-humans. I have deep reservations about characters aged in excess of 1,000 years, it's not a plot device I find believable nor desirable (unless the character is insane)... and this series has lots of very old characters. The heroine has a couple ex-boyfriends that are discussed much more often than necessary, they are 'on-stage' more often than the current beau (unfortunately).
Inconsistencies, the most memorable being the heroine coming into these 'awesome' powers. Which quickly becomes a confusing jumble of 'will she', 'won't she', and 'what will she become'? The storyline says one thing, does another, generally inconsistent all around and quickly becomes just another annoyance factor.
And then there's the factual errors (do some authors live in a cave?). The heroine prepares to travel from the Southwest US to Western Canada, and considers which passport to travel on (and leads us to believe she has more than 2 choices). Frankly, I've traveled to Canada several times...and until recently (before these books were written) US citizens didn't require passports to travel into or out of Canada, only valid ID. The author mentions Canadian customs stamping the passport *raspberries* IME a total error, my passport(when used)has never been stamped when crossing that border (either direction).
By book three, I'm awash in factual errors, boring characters milling around smartly, and an unbelievable mix of misunderstandings, missed communications, extended periods of major communications outages *did I mention eyerolls?*, dialogue sets a scene to do one thing then out of the blue the reader discovers something totally different happened, and other annoying plot devices.
I thought book one had interesting potential, despite the flaws already apparent. Book two continued to magnify the flaws, and by book three...I waded through the first third with numerous eyerolls, skimmed the second third, then tossed the unfinished book under my bed to languish with the dust bunnies until it was due to be returned to the library.
If you like bland, name-dropping, party-snob, rich people pretending to live like 'the folks' this could be the series for you. Otherwise, there's much better paranormal fiction available. So glad I didn't actually invest money in this series.
What worked. Maria Lima has a readable writing style and the overall storyline had potential.
What didn't work for me? Just about everything else. The heroine is a self confessed 'trust fund baby'. Which sounds more interesting than reality. Neither the heroine nor her boyfriend display much personality, rather blah people. Although the heroine brags that she differs from other trust fund brats b/c she has an actual job...we never really see her job. In fact she doesn't even solve the mystery/crisis/situation, just mills around until the situation resolves itself. After reading the first three books in the series, I cannot figure out what the heroine does with all her time. In book two she does a few daytime errands for her nocturnal vampire boyfriend. She has sex with the boyfriend (when he's awake), lunch with the girlfriend, and the reader is left to speculate what she does the rest of the time.
The most interesting characters (about the only interesting characters) in these books are Keira's brother, Tucker, and his vampire boyfriend. Almost without exception, everyone mentioned is into 'serial monogamy'... everyone...(eyeroll), both human and non-humans. I have deep reservations about characters aged in excess of 1,000 years, it's not a plot device I find believable nor desirable (unless the character is insane)... and this series has lots of very old characters. The heroine has a couple ex-boyfriends that are discussed much more often than necessary, they are 'on-stage' more often than the current beau (unfortunately).
Inconsistencies, the most memorable being the heroine coming into these 'awesome' powers. Which quickly becomes a confusing jumble of 'will she', 'won't she', and 'what will she become'? The storyline says one thing, does another, generally inconsistent all around and quickly becomes just another annoyance factor.
And then there's the factual errors (do some authors live in a cave?). The heroine prepares to travel from the Southwest US to Western Canada, and considers which passport to travel on (and leads us to believe she has more than 2 choices). Frankly, I've traveled to Canada several times...and until recently (before these books were written) US citizens didn't require passports to travel into or out of Canada, only valid ID. The author mentions Canadian customs stamping the passport *raspberries* IME a total error, my passport(when used)has never been stamped when crossing that border (either direction).
By book three, I'm awash in factual errors, boring characters milling around smartly, and an unbelievable mix of misunderstandings, missed communications, extended periods of major communications outages *did I mention eyerolls?*, dialogue sets a scene to do one thing then out of the blue the reader discovers something totally different happened, and other annoying plot devices.
I thought book one had interesting potential, despite the flaws already apparent. Book two continued to magnify the flaws, and by book three...I waded through the first third with numerous eyerolls, skimmed the second third, then tossed the unfinished book under my bed to languish with the dust bunnies until it was due to be returned to the library.
If you like bland, name-dropping, party-snob, rich people pretending to live like 'the folks' this could be the series for you. Otherwise, there's much better paranormal fiction available. So glad I didn't actually invest money in this series.
