A Chip in His Shoulder (Falling Sky, #1) in Riptide Publishing

Dec 14, 2011 BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme rated it really liked it

Shelves: m-m, vampire, the-romance-reviews, cyberpunk

Love and hate are so close at times; it's hard to tell in the heat of passion.

Liam was betrayed by Daniel and has the opportunity to confront him after five long years. Liam's been given a contract to assassinate Daniel by Daniel's father. With pleasure, Liam greets Daniel with a loaded gun in both his hand and pants. Not all is what it seems. Daniel still loves Liam and his world has come crashing down around him before he had a chance for his plans to come together. Old wounds are opened a ...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Valentina Heart rated it liked it

Shelves: glbt, glbt-sf-futur-fantasy-paran, the-romance-reviews

This review was originally written for The Romance Reviews and can also be found there.

Cyberpunk with a paranormal touch and a promise of a fast and dangerous ride is exactly what A CHIP IN HIS SHOULDER is. L.A. Witt created a fast paced action with a lot of detail and a world of possibilities.

My interest in this book started when I first saw the cover. Honestly it is still one of the best ones I've seen, because it's simple, hot and dangerous and in a way tells a story of its own. If I've read This review was originally written for The Romance Reviews and can also be found there.

Cyberpunk with a paranormal touch and a promise of a fast and dangerous ride is exactly what A CHIP IN HIS SHOULDER is. L.A. Witt created a fast paced action with a lot of detail and a world of possibilities.

My interest in this book started when I first saw the cover. Honestly it is still one of the best ones I've seen, because it's simple, hot and dangerous and in a way tells a story of its own. If I've read the blurb, it's been a while since then because I was convinced starting that it was a contemporary. Maybe that will teach me to pay attention to words and not hot hunks. A weakness, can't help it. So when Liam started talking about mods and light sensitivity, I felt as if I'd dropped in the middle of a movie and had to poke at five people around me to tell me what was going on.

Turns out he's a vampire/mercenary who lives in the Gutter, lower part of the world where the poor people live and work, where the air is barely breathable, crime is the norm and one is likely to get anything he wants for a price. He is hired by his former lover's (who'd betrayed him and landed him where he is) father to kill his son, Daniel. Liam doesn't ask why because all he wants is the money and revenge can only sweeten the deal.

Not to go into long explanations, the father is the real villain and he'd set them both up, wanting to get rid of the threat they represent each in his own way. That was fine with me, actually the whole future with modifications and advanced technology was interesting and something I like reading about. But the way it was presented could have been better. The feeling of starting the story from the middle took too long to fade and by then I was overwhelmed by the technical details I had no background to base them on. The fact that Liam was a vampire didn't quite fit into the story and while I did get used to it, even by the end, I didn't see a point in it. I also wondered how exactly did the human race come to the level where they became vampires. Were they turned or born? Evolution maybe? Way too many questions and definitely not enough answers.

The mutual forgiveness from both characters seemed far-fetched and their sudden attraction too close to a fairytale. I really couldn't get into the romance part of this story at all and could easily say there was no romance at all. The love/hate relationship I very much like, but even that definition couldn't be used in this particular story.

I debated between rating this with two stars and three, but decided I really did like the action parts and the whole ‘powerful villain' vibe they revolved around. I thought it was well developed and the only thing that made much sense.

The ending was rather open, as if another book is planned sometime in the future, but since I didn't much care for the characters and there was no emotional side of me invested into this story, I was fine with it.

Cyberpunk is rare in m/m romance, and as such I would say if asked – go and try this book. If I am going to remember it long enough to actually say that is another thing entirely. Since I've read and liked a couple of books by this author, I know it's not a matter of lacking ideas or talent, just that L.A. Witt has a very diverse style and while one book might be perfect, another might be a complete miss. ...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Adara rated it really liked it

This is a fast-paced love/hate cyberpunk thriller. An implant-modified vampire is hired to assassinate his ex-lover, only to find out he's been double-crossed, and the only one who can help save him is the man he thought he wanted to see dead for putting him in that position in the first place. It may sound convoluted, but the sparks fly as these two fight with each other before putting old issues aside to focus on the current problem.

While they make it out of their initial predicament, the stor ...more

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Nov 08, 2011 Moniqee rated it liked it

I enjoy reading this story and the characters but the ending left me underwhelming...I mean..is this first of the series or whatsoever coz being a standalone just not appealing enough for me.

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Jan 15, 2012 Wendy❤Ann rated it really liked it

Shelves: sex-partner-mm, species-vampire, genre-fantasy, app-stanza

Another great book by L.A. Witt! This one was different from the typical contemporaries that I’ve read by this author – very imaginative indeed. The entire story takes place during the space of just a few hours, so it’s such a small snippet to really get an in depth feel for the characters or alternate world. However, the author really overcame that hurdle for me and I found myself completely immersed and rooting for Liam and Daniel against the odds. Boy, would I love to see a sequel and see the ...more

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