Come Alive (Experiment in Terror, #7) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

May 23, 2013 Regina rated it liked it

Shelves: favorite-authors, favorite-series, owned-kindle, urban-fantasy-uf, ghost, horror, dark-gritty-urban-fantasy, sex-sex-sex

So I have been avoiding this review for weeks now. My typical style of reading a Dex & Perry book is to read it from cover to cover in about 24 hours, staying up late, peaking during work and basically avoiding life in order to read. Come Alive took me over a week to finish. After gorging on the first 20%, I gradually lost interest. Come Alive should have been perfect we have:

Dex and Perry together - -CHECK
Lots of Dex and Perry Sex -- CHECK
Ghosts and other scary stuff -- CHECK
Lots of drinking

So I have been avoiding this review for weeks now. My typical style of reading a Dex & Perry book is to read it from cover to cover in about 24 hours, staying up late, peaking during work and basically avoiding life in order to read. Come Alive took me over a week to finish. After gorging on the first 20%, I gradually lost interest. Come Alive should have been perfect we have:

Dex and Perry together - -CHECK
Lots of Dex and Perry Sex -- CHECK
Ghosts and other scary stuff -- CHECK
Lots of drinking and vices -- CHECK

What don't we have in Come Alive?

Relationship progression -- NOPE
Fleshed out characters (including Perry) -- NOPE

My biggest complaint for Come Alive is the point of view. The point of view is Dex's. It is fun to be in his head for a short novella, but for a novel I don't think it works. When the story is told from's point of view, we get complete character development of all the characters in the story. We see Dex as a three-dimensional character, we see Ada as a three dimensional character but with Dex's point of view this doesn't happen. Perry had almost no character in this story, she is all shining blue eyes, biting limits, hurt expressions, sometimes spunky, and all big tits -- but nothing else. We don't fully see her beyond these one-dimensional clips. I am not just talking about Dex's lust for Perry -- this isn't just a function of Dex being a guy. The manner in which the story was told gives us very little of Perry as a person.

My other complaint is there is the absence of depth in terms of the story that was in the earlier novels. There are these easy leaps in the story to accomplish stuff or pass on information - rather than letting it unfold in a more natural story telling way. There is a lot of telling by the characters during the big reveals -- rather than showing by the author and letting the characters learn by experiencing.

So you don't think I am all negative, here is what I like about this book:
1. The sex scenes, yes they are hot.
2. When Perry and Dex were just hanging out it was fun -- whether in Seattle or in NOLA.
3. There is a scene toward the end of the book that is pretty satisfying.
4. The reveals about the characters and the world (even though the method of how it was done was just not great writing or storytelling).

In the end, of course Come Alive is enjoyable. It just isn't great. Dex and Perry fans will enjoy this book and be left at the end stunned with the reveals and anxiously waiting for the next in the series. ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Feb 19, 2013 Rhiannon Frater rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorite-author

This is actually a 3.5 review. It's an average between two different scores.

5 stars for the horror element.

2 stars for everything else.

When I started reading the Experiment in Terror series it was because of Perry. She was young, immature, naive, and struggling to find herself while also trying to find a place in the world. She's only 22 at the beginning of the series and has had a very bad lot in life, so I totally sympathized with her even when she was being dumb. I also enjoyed her ever e ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2013 Francesca the Fierce (Under the Covers Book Blog) rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-read-2013, humor, hott, i-had-to-read-again, books-read-2020

Before I committed myself to reading this series earlier this year, I kept thinking that all the fangirl reviews were probably all hype. I mean, it’s not possible to gush over every single book and be so in love with a character, right? After experiencing the addiction, I can only just be one more of those fangirls. Squeeing and oohhhhhing and aahhhhhing.

Karina Halle gave us an amazing treat with COME ALIVE. For all of us starving Dex lovers, this was PERFECT! All Dex, all the time. I was on

Before I committed myself to reading this series earlier this year, I kept thinking that all the fangirl reviews were probably all hype. I mean, it’s not possible to gush over every single book and be so in love with a character, right? After experiencing the addiction, I can only just be one more of those fangirls. Squeeing and oohhhhhing and aahhhhhing.

Karina Halle gave us an amazing treat with COME ALIVE. For all of us starving Dex lovers, this was PERFECT! All Dex, all the time. I was on Dex overload. Well, actually not because there is no such thing. But experiencing this book from his perspective was different and amazing. I love being in his screwed up head!

As I’ve said time and time again, this series just gets better and better with each book and I really don’t know how Karina Halle does it. COME ALIVE tops all the others! While Dex & Perry are together, their relationship isn’t on solid ground. There are important reasons why they shouldn’t be together. And things are starting to be more about them, their powers and their mission than just about filming the show. But the show takes them to NOLA.

If there’s one thing that I’ve always enjoyed about this series is how Ms. Halle keeps things interesting by changing the big bad in each book. And in NOLA she does to zombies in her own creepy way mixed in with all the voodoo feel of the setting. Loved it!

I won’t give any spoilers but Dex & Perry have decisions to make about their future and about what’s to come in their relationship, if there is to be one. But they also have to know how to protect themselves to face their future, their fate.

Maximus comes back in this book, NOLA is his home front, and we find out more about his past and his love. I couldn’t help but sympathize. He added a great dynamic to the show though and I was happy that we got to see that side of him.

Oh and be warned! It is possible to fall in love with Dex even more. I just did! Now would it be really greedy to ask for a novella based on COME ALIVE from Perry’s POV? I need more. More! MORE!!!!! Never satisfied, even when I am.

Favorite Quotes:

“You’re my home, Perry. And I will be yours.”

…death by relaxation, preceded by death by pussy.

“What a bunch of fucked up, lovelorn, ghost-seeing shitburgers we are,” I said. Fuck. I needed to get out of the room before I started having my period. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2013 Kerstin rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, read-in-2013

Well, what can I say? I have waited for this book with baited breath, and after getting some glimpses into Dex's mind through the novellas, I was looking forward to a whole book in his POV. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. I think Perry's POV just works a lot better for me. I'm used to her voice and through her eyes Dex always seemed this sexy, slightly crazy and pervy enigma. Actually delving into his brain, knowing that pretty much every thought he has is sexual, was a li ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2013 AH rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-boyfriends, ghosts, urban-fantasy, zombies, demons, sos-bookshelf-bingo, paranormal, horror, zzread-nov-2013

Finally, we get a glimpse inside Dex's mind. Dex is one horny dude and his mind is only on Perry.

In this installment of the Experiment in Terror series (book 7 already!), Dex and Perry have been threatened with the cancellation of their web series unless they take on someone to supervise. Guess who the supervisor is? None other than the douchecanoe himself - Maximus. Dex and Perry reluctantly accept his help and the three are off to New Orleans to investigate a haunted house. What follows is th ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2013 Cindy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, pnr, fave-pnr, favorites, magic, ghost-haunting, e-book, scarydarkbits-uf-pnr

..."You're my home Perry. And I will be yours."...

Holy schnikees! I loved loved loved this book. This is one of my favorite series ever, and this new addition, in Dex's pov, did not disappoint. As much as I enjoyed Perry's voice in the previous books, I loved that this one let us into the hilarious and crazy mind of Dex. Some questions are answered, whilst others are raised, and the overall plot was fantastic. It's a roller coaster of emotions, y'all, I'll tell ya that! I know I'm being a bit va ...more

Like · see review