First Watch in Riptide Publishing

Sep 26, 2011 BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, paranormal, m-m, author-gift, tentacles

When the one you want to win loses, it becomes a disappointing ending. This is a 3.5 star for me. Edouard is a bad boy. He signed his soul away and needs to pay for his bargain. Rather than graciously submitting to the "monster" with tentacles, he tries to find a way to kill the monster.

I felt bad for the monster. The forces sexual violation of Edouard is delicious. YAY for tentacle sex and unwanted anal probing. Woot! I only wished Mr. Hansen wrote it more graphic and more whimpering from Edoua ...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Elisa Rolle added it

A strange mix of fantasy and gothic and historical, First Watch was probably not really a romance but more the story of a very special friendship. Edouard made a big mistake when he accepted to “sell” his soul to a monster; he is now paying with his life, and his body, his debt and he is searching in every way to find a way to escape. Farid is his last chance.

The strange thing is that, first of all I feel a little of selfishness in Edouard, true, he is in a very bad situation and alone he has no ...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Amara rated it it was amazing

5+/5

I’m not even sure what to say about this one. Since I finished it, I have been stuck on… OMG THIS BOOK IS AWESOME! A review, this does not make. Honestly, I really had no intention of reading First Watch; tentacles are so vera much not my thing. But I stared at that beautiful cover, and it began to intrigue me. When I finally saw the blurb… it flew to the top of my TBR pile. I’m so glad I didn’t let the tentacles scare me off, I’d have missed out on a fabulous book by an amazing writer.

Peter ...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Kassa rated it liked it

I’m not really sure what category First Watch falls into, more sci-fi than anything else with a somewhat vague romantic thread and ending. I quite like the writing and the sci-fi bent with Edouard endebted to some sea creature for his life but the ending feels too easy and the romance feels thrown in and rushed. Despite these stumbles, I think First Watch stands out as unique, captivating, and worth reading. I’m interested to see what else the author has to offer but I’m leery about anything wit I’m not really sure what category First Watch falls into, more sci-fi than anything else with a somewhat vague romantic thread and ending. I quite like the writing and the sci-fi bent with Edouard endebted to some sea creature for his life but the ending feels too easy and the romance feels thrown in and rushed. Despite these stumbles, I think First Watch stands out as unique, captivating, and worth reading. I’m interested to see what else the author has to offer but I’m leery about anything with a pseudo romance attached. I think the sci-fi elements are considerably stronger and better executed than the romantic additions.

The story starts with Edouard on his way to report to the captain for “duty.” This of course involves submitting to the many tentacles of the captain with all the various mouths and teeth. It’s immediately creepy, fascinating, and I couldn’t look away. Thankfully the story doesn’t go into too much detail but what it does offer is really well done. From there we eventually learn that Edouard was saved from death by this creature and therefore bound to him for eternal life. The creature uses Edouard for sex (I think) and Edouard calls upon his old friend Ruiz to help him kill the creature.

First off the creature is so creepy and well done that I immediately loved it. The story offers just enough details without giving too many so the captain is shrouded in mystery. It’s the writing equivalent of a dark, scary movie where there is almost never any light but the shadows move enough to scare you and get your imagination going. It’s not gruesome or horrific so much as simply ominous. We never learn exactly what kind of creature the captain is but probably some kind of mutant octopus with a thing for human men.

The plot is pretty basic with a few too stupid to live moments, such as Ruiz’s botched assassination attempt, but for the most part the writing helps make up for any stumbles in logic. The characters are pretty thin and flat as the story doesn’t really waste much time or energy trying to flesh them out. The main focus of the short story is definitely the captain and the situation Edouard is in. There are brief mental forays into the past to explain how Edouard and Ruiz met, but other than that the story stays firmly on showing their actions without a lot of explanation of their character.

Part of this is why the pseudo romance doesn’t really work for me. Because the characters are so thin and not really brought to life, their connection feels more of old time friends helping each other than old lovers trying to reconnect. Edouard and Ruiz supposedly have a romantic past but this is told to the reader and only the last sex scene shows any emotion between the two. This last scene feels tacked on and artificial. I didn’t really feel any chemistry between Edouard and Ruiz and in fact felt more confused emotion between Edouard and the captain.

Overall I liked reading First Watch but definitely more for the science fiction angle than for the romance. The first is well done with some really inspired writing and imagination while the second feels manipulated and added in rather than natural and fitting with the story. I’d be interested to read what the author does next as long as it has a sci-fi bent.
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Dec 24, 2011 Cecile rated it really liked it

For those of you that know me... and those that don't this is my little statement about short books.... I do not judge short stories on the rush of their relationships, because they are just that - short stories. So, yes the relationships always could have been drawn out more, yea it seems like they fall in love to fast and of course the story could have been made longer... but it is a short story. So with that said.... here is my review... I was given this book for my honest thoughts... So let' ...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Crys Harris rated it really liked it

This book is hard to review because what was happening was so awful, so gruesome and creepy that it rather affected my enjoyment of the story. That said, the writing was great, with concise, meaningful sentences. There're sufficient allusions and clues to the backstory without much exposition on it. The glimpses into the nature of the creatures was plenty. Somehow, the author managed to imbue the encounters between Edouard and the captain with a fair amount of eroticism, even though I was horror ...more

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Aug 23, 2011 Cat rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-books, m-m, paranormal, dark-fantasy, review

Ok from the cover I had a preconceived notion of what this book was like in my mind and what I read just blew my mind...Not what I though at all... This is my first book by this author I was very pleased.

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