Summoning the Night (Arcadia Bell, #2) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Apr 23, 2017 Denisa rated it liked it

Shelves: disappointing, romance, relaxing, cute, interesting, uf-or-paranormal

I wanted a bit more

I enjoyed the first book and frankly, I expected a bigger BOOM from this one. Yeah, it was a good read and all that, but I just wanted more.

I liked that it was fast-paced and really easy&fast to read but it's still just a good book, not a great one. ...more

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Jul 17, 2020 Snarktastic Sonja rated it liked it

Ok - Honestly I read this one almost 6 years after I read the first one. The details on the first are iffy . . . So, you ask, why didn't I read the first one again before I read this one? Because I do not remember LOVING the first one enough to want to revisit it before I read this one. I'd rather move on in the story than stop, again, on the first one. Also, because I failed to write a review of the first one, I don't remember why I didn't move on in the series. After reading this one, it could Ok - Honestly I read this one almost 6 years after I read the first one. The details on the first are iffy . . . So, you ask, why didn't I read the first one again before I read this one? Because I do not remember LOVING the first one enough to want to revisit it before I read this one. I'd rather move on in the story than stop, again, on the first one. Also, because I failed to write a review of the first one, I don't remember why I didn't move on in the series. After reading this one, it could have been for many reasons, not the least of which would be the library didn't have it.

So, with that out of the way, which all affects my view of this book, I am not sure how I liked this one. When I started it, I enjoyed the dialog, I enjoyed the relationships, I was just enjoying reading. Somewhere along half way, I wondered why I was still reading. Then, about the 3/4 mark I remembered why. I very rarely suffer this roller coaster and I am struggling to determine what my issues were.

One of them may well have been that I didn't remember as much of the first one as I thought I did. There were reminders along the way, but no real info dump. This would be a GOOD thing, had I read them right after the other. Another issue may well have been the demon and magick mashup. I'm just not a fan of demons, and this may well have been the reason that I didn't move on to begin with. They hit me wrong. The come up against my theology and I struggle with them. But, again, I don't remember enough of the first book and they way the world was established to decide if I can tolerate them here or not. Another reason may have been one of the "leaders" in the story. I just downright didn't like him. It wasn't because he was evil . . . it was because of the way he was portrayed . . . he did bad things, but the author treated him more like this was normal, commonplace behavior rather than bad. For some reason, may have been my mood, this just irritated me.

So, why did I keep going? I loved Cady's relationship to those around her. I was an absolute sucker for her relationship with Jupe. But there was also Kar Lee and Lon and even Bob . . . the Norm Peterson of the bar. She well and truly cared and watched out for them.

As to why it dragged in the middle and picked up at the end . . . I honestly don't know. I just dunno. It isn't unusual for a story to have ebbs and flows. But this one seemed like . . . they had a mystery, but they solved it quickly and ran in circles for a third of the book. And, then it was solved. But, the answers were there the whole time.

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars on this one. It is truly 3.5. I ended on 3, because the frustration over wrote the happiness in my memory of the book. I am likely to move on to the next book because I DO care about Cady and her relationships. And, the series IS complete in 4 books so I just don't have much further to read to get the whole story.

I may, however, actually have to re-read the first! ...more

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