Written as magically as the first book I read by Sarah Addison Allen, I love how smoothly and naturally she weaves the supernatural into everyday events of her books. Of course, The Sugar Queen wasn't as outstanding as The Girl Who Chased the Moon, even if it was just as fluffy. I can't say for sure what, but there were just a few things about The Sugar Queen that didn't quite work out for me.
Certainly, the author's penchant for strangely quirky descriptions are ever present:
Summer was tedious with the light dresses she pretended to be comfortable in while secretly sure she looked like a loaf of white bread wearing a belt.
***
If she could eat the cold air, she would. She thought cold snaps were like cookies, like gingersnaps. In her mind they were made with white chocolate chunks and had a cool, brittle vanilla frosting. They melted like snow in her mouth, turning creamy and warm.
If it was one thing I had to pinpoint about The Sugar Queen that I didn't care for, it would be that I had a hard time relating with the characters, and found myself a bit frustrated with their interactions, dynamics, as well as the dysfunctional family relations presented. This is a bit frustrating since both Chloe and Josey, aside from both their worlds hinging so significantly on love and romance, are actually pretty interesting heroines on paper--in action, however, they got pretty sigh-inducing, because I'm not entirely sure I know what each of their stories was supposed to encompass.
Although I DO love Chloe's strange magical ability--though I'm not sure if we could call it an ability since she doesn't consciously make it happen.
Whether she liked it or not, books always appeared when she needed them.
Along the lines of the characters being hard to relate with, I'm also a bit conflicted about how I like the two love stories that unfolded in this book. To call them romances seem a bit far-fetched: one felt too insta for my liking, and the other felt unresolved.
And, unfortunately, while Josey and Chloe could have been interesting, our two main male characters were simply flat and... well, uninteresting. I'm not entirely sure they contributed much to the story, and I found it hard to like either of them. Jake was instantly minus fifty points because he cheated on Chloe; though I'll give him props for coming clean with her even though it took three months. Adam was just plain boring. And his whole spiel about how Jake shouldn't have even said anything to Chloe about cheating on her was a bit disagreeable.
And then this brings me to something I felt a bit unhappy about. Chloe's break-up with Jake had to do with two things: Jake cheated on her, then he refused to tell her who the other woman was, which further angered her, sending her into a more chaotic spiral just to figure out this nagging piece of information she was being denied. But this isn't why I was unhappy with the situation, the characters, the book itself.
I'm unhappy because I'm not sure what kind of message was being presented. Basically, aside from Josey and Jake, it seemed, almost everyone around Chloe were making little comments about how Jake needed to give Chloe space and that eventually she would come back to him... as if the two simply had a disagreement and Chloe was just overreacting. The blasé way in which Jake's father, and even Adam, were acting about what Jake did made it seem like it wasn't a big deal.
But Jake cheated. And telling him that he needs to just NOT do anything, give Chloe some space, and wait for her to come back to him, because apparently everyone thinks that Chloe has nowhere else to go and no one else to go to... it made me a bit upset, truth be told.
Even the books were getting on my nerves, because things titles like Finding Forgiveness, A Girl's Guide to Keeping Her Guy, and Old Love New Direction kept popping up around Chloe--as if it were her duty to fix her relationship with Jake. Then the book Madam Bovary even popped up when she was about to head out to meet with another man. The entire situation just seemed so one-sided, and again, I'm not sure what kind of message this particular love story was trying to present.
Boy cheats on girl. Girl has to fix relationship?
Anyway, enough about that rambling. In the end, The Sugar Queen had been entertaining enough to keep me reading, even if I was a bit frustrated by most of it. The entire Della Lee part of the story started becoming pretty predictable quite early one, though I'm going to admit, she might have been one of my favorite characters next to Helena. I felt a big giggly whenever Helena referred to Josey and her mother as "Oldgret" and "Oldsey." I found that cute in a quirky way.
The Moon-spinners was a very enjoyable read, if you overlook the fact that there is a significant amount of meandering into tangents that do nothing tThe Moon-spinners was a very enjoyable read, if you overlook the fact that there is a significant amount of meandering into tangents that do nothing to forward the story. Mary Stewart is excellent with her writing. It's atmospheric, beautiful, and extremely smooth and easy to read, while at the same time thoughtful and witty.
While I'm giving it a rather high rating at 4 Stars, truth be told, this isn't the most thought inspiring book I've ever read. The mystery is pretty much a non-mystery, and every event and detail seems to fall right into place for Nicola as she investigates and explores. Even connections made were quite convenient as I was quite surprised at how she came to a lot of her deductions since very little fact lead to some of her conclusive ideas.
Her line of thought often perplexed me, but not in that, "Oh, that's genius!" way. More like that, "I'm not sure how you came up with that," way.
Honestly, the story within The Moon-spinners was quite bland.
What was winning for this book would definitely be Stewart's writing, and maybe the characters, though a lot of male posturing was involved that had me a bit frustrated. Nicola also came off a little TSTL, though, I'm not entirely sure I could completely classify her as such since she DID display an equal amount of sensible, logical behavior.
Meanwhile, the romance was pretty subtle, and I'm having a hard time trying to decide whether or not to file it into the insta-love category. Nicola and Mark seem to grow attached to each other quite quickly, but with the way their relationship unfolds, I hesitate to even file this book into the romance category, truth be told, though it's there. The interaction between the two are quite minimal, had very little chemistry, and is questionable as a romance, really. And so I found myself more enamored of the interactions that Nicola has with her cousin Frances, with the hotel manager, Tony, even with Lambis or the fifteen-year-old Colin.
Anyway, I will definitely look up more Mary Stewart works, as I did indeed enjoy this read a lot, despite some of my complaints.
***
I read this book for Romance Bingo 2017, for the Gothic Romance square.
Other possible squares: - Insta-love - See my opinions in the review. - TSTL - See my opinions in the review. - Love is Murder - There is danger, murder, and a somewhat of a mystery. - New Adult - I think Nicola is mentioned to be in her early twenties, as is Mark - Love (Free Space) ...more
I feel like our MC, Maggie, should just take out an advertisement and broadcast everything about her life into public: where sActual Rating: 2.5 Stars
I feel like our MC, Maggie, should just take out an advertisement and broadcast everything about her life into public: where she lives, where she works, all of her trade secrets, what she and her son look like, and how best to infiltrate her home--a home she doesn't even bother taking precautions to secure or guard while there's a serial killer running around killing women.
And her reason for not locking her doors or windows at night while she's sleeping, is simply because the house is too hot, there's no central air. But she says that there's an air conditioner in her bedroom. She really could lock all the doors and windows at night, then lock herself and her son in her bedroom and sleep with the air conditioner on. Maybe.
Of course, since she gives no reason as to why she's also being so open about her entire life with "John," her new online potential boyfriend, I suppose her behavior is par for TSTL anyway. They'd only met all of twice, maybe; he takes her on a cyber date, refuses to send her a picture of himself... so SHE sends him a picture of herself with her son... y'know, just to hint that she'd like to see a picture of him. She spends a lot of time telling him anything and everything about herself, even some of the confidential stuff she works with as a reporter.
And at that point, she STILL has no idea who this guy really is.
Honestly, if "John" weren't our male MC, playing undercover to try to "get to know" Maggie, and get friendly with her to make it easier to protect her, I foresee Maggie stumbling into some psychotic serial murderer who probably uses the internet to lure unsuspecting lamb to be chopped. For a single mother who's apparently heard and seen a lot of stuff in her job as a crime reporter, she really doesn't seem to have a grasp about how dangerous strangers can be.
I'm not sure why she figured that she knew and understood "John" so well. I'm not even sure why she was so quick to trust him. I suspect this was just part of the plot device to get our hero and heroine into a situation where there would end up being super-angst by the end of the book, because lies and deceit are being tossed around. I also figure that we might be playing into a bit of the "You've Got Mail" thing (a movie of which I loved, BTW, when it first came out in 1998).
Keeping in mind that this book was written in 2001, when internet was still kind of a newly developing commodity, I suppose I shouldn't give her so much crap about not realizing the dangers of cyber scams and cyber predators. Maybe. In present day, people still fall for these things, no matter how many warnings are put out there. But she is a crime reporter--I figured that, having seen and heard so much about the dangers of the world, she'd have more of a sense of basic security than to trust a strange man she'd never met online before so readily.
Even before the age of computers, you wouldn't just trust a random stranger enough to tell him your whole life's story after just one conversation... right?
Back to the book itself...
I had considered pulling my DNF trigger as each chapter progressed. Maggie didn't get any less frustrating, and Nick is kind of boring anyway. There are literally no other characters of any significance in this book. Maybe Rambo--but he's a dog, and most of the time, animal companions tend to make a difference--except that he wasn't all that present in the book.
But, as it turns out, I was curious enough about the identity of the serial killer than I would have liked. And also, I don't think I've ever DNF'd a crap book written by Brenda Novak--and there have been some pretty bad ones--if only because there's a certain, attention-grabbing train-wreck quality to her story progressions. The action keeps moving forward, and you can't seem to find a stopping point because the action keeps moving forward, and the next thing you know, you've read half the book and then some... so you may as well finish the rest of it. It's only another hundred and fifty pages after all--how long could that take?
Also, at some point in the book, Maggie starts gaining some sense; I think this was after the serial killer starts contacting her by leaving her voice mail messages on her work phone, and implying that he knows what she went shopping for one night, as well as what color panties she owns. Then she freaks out and starts thinking about the safety of her son, her friends, and herself. Then she starts locking her doors and windows, agrees to have a police team stationed outside her home to keep her safe, agrees to leave her son at a safer location most of the day while she's at work, agrees to let our main hero move in with her for the sake of not being alone.
It doesn't matter that she barely knows said main hero; she knows only that he's in town for a short while, he's a new photojournalist who is working for her newspaper temporarily... he's been hitting on her and watching her at work...
He's really an undercover FBI agent trying to investigate the serial murders while keeping an eye on Maggie since the last victim was also an investigative reporter who'd had contact with the serial killer.
Of course, Maggie doesn't know this. Because she doesn't know anything about the men she meets in this book before she lets them live in her home, or learn about her entire life's story.
Anyway...
The crime aspect of the book wasn't entirely engaging, truth be told; and the ending chapters were standard "damsel in distress" scenario. The romance was lukewarm, and a bit off-putting considering how much lying and secrecy went into the entire relationship since the beginning.
Maggie is your standard, innocent and almost virginal heroine, who's only ever had one sexual relationship with an ex-husband, and is super conservative with her own behavior, even though she readily breaks out of her prudishness for the hero. Obviously she's had sex, since she has a son, but she certainly acts like it's a new thing to her.
Nick is the standard broody alpha with commitment issues... who lusts after the heroine, but finds that he's ready to settle down and get married and be in love for the long haul after he meets said heroine. Because of that special "I've never felt this way before" factor.
I can't say I'm a hundred percent fond of Brenda Novak books, but for some reason, I end up finishing them easily, and keep coming back for more. At the very least, they're not entirely terrible, even if this one DID get really frustrating.
Other Possible Squares: - Murder Most Foul: For obvious reasons. - Amateur Sleuth: Female MC is a reporter, although the entire investigation is kind of laughable. - Romantic Suspense: There is romance, there is suspense, there is murder and mayhem... - Terrifying Women: Romantic suspense with a murder, written by a woman.
One of the things that bugged me the most about these Nikki Heat books has always been the summary blurbs--they always try so hard to be exclamation pOne of the things that bugged me the most about these Nikki Heat books has always been the summary blurbs--they always try so hard to be exclamation point, and "Big Awesome Words!" worthy, that it just sounds super lame. If the ghost writers for Richard Castle put as much effort into the actual crime thriller story outline and plot as they did being meta about the television series, or making the book out to be like it was written by "New York Times Bestselling Author," the books might be more than just serviceably enjoyable.
Well, make it two things: I also don't like how over-the-top the writing styles sometimes get. Too deliberate in making out the main character, Nikki Heat, to seem like a super perfect super detective, and too deliberate in singling her out as the only super perfect super detective who ever does anything right. It can get annoying pretty quickly.
Driving Heat is another installment of the Nikki Heat series that is decently entertaining, but can get a bit tedious in how long it takes to outline a scene, or a few actions that should ideally only require a few words. It also doesn't help that I found the characters and their actions all frustrating, as if everyone was deliberately being difficult to each other just to piss each other off. It made for a lot of unnecessary drama that almost felt childish.
I will give the book props on the insights of Nikki's new development in how much more complicated it is to be promoted to a higher position of power than one would have thought. Becoming Captain of the precinct brought to light all the banal, menial work that a leader also has to deal with, like little complaints from all the staff, and mountains of paperwork, tedious meetings, signing service contracts with the vending machine company, and very little time for actual crime fighting. It makes me wonder if Nikki understands how different her role will be now that she's not simply in charge of a small homicide detective squad--it DID get me frustrated each time she would rush off to investigate the murder when what she really needed to be doing was delegating tasks to her team, rather than trying to do everything by herself.
The beginning of the book was not a strong start, and the build up was also a bit lackluster. The second half of the book, after the entire NYPD's computer network got hacked, was actually a bit more interesting, but only because it does a pretty good job of putting into perspective how much we, as a society, depend on computer technology and the ease of access thanks to internet resources.
I actually found it pretty amusing to see Captain Heat rushing off to the library for some of her sources.
HOWEVER, what didn't make sense to me was why everyone made it seem like they were transported back into the pre-internet age when really only the functioning government organizations had been hacked in New York. Apparently all personal cell phones, personal internet, non-government computers were still workable. While understanding that crucial, confidential police investigation evidence and documents couldn't be sent via non-encrypted channels, it seemed a bit extreme that none of our homicide detectives had their own personal laptops or hot spots of which to conduct some of their online researches.
Sure, there was no accessing police network documents, but did Nikki really have to rush off to the library to research some of the information she needed to find?
Anyway, as I'd stated somewhere, this book actually felt like it was a lot longer than it really is. It even felt like there were more than one story line taking place as the book progressed. And to be honest, without having much interest in watching anymore of the television series, I don't know if I'll be interested in continuing this book series either. Driving Heat is entertaining in some aspects, and if you're a fan of the series (television or book), then it will still be right up your alley.
There are continued, and fleeting meta references to the television show, Castle, and even a drop about Firefly and Nathan Fillion every so often. But if you've grown tired of these things and find them more wearisome than amusing... well, this book won't really do much for you.
With the slow start and some over-dramatic moments between characters throughout the beginning of the book, I had started getting wary of how the restWith the slow start and some over-dramatic moments between characters throughout the beginning of the book, I had started getting wary of how the rest of the story would play out. There was the potential for a love triangle, a frustratingly childish sibling rivalry, and one of those rich and snooty high society mothers who is just mean because she can be.
Meanwhile, most of the book felt a little dragged out since the main suspense conflict was simply floating around in the background. We spend a whole lot more time looking into the angsty romance and the tenuously fragile relationship between a set of brothers.
Surprisingly, when I was about to give up on this book being any good, things began to pick up midway, and got kind of exciting. There were still a lot of events that defy logic a big, and still a whole lot of angst-ridden romantic drama.
At the least there was an emotional climax that might have gotten me a bit teary-eyed, but when it comes to kids in a work of fiction, I find I'm getting soft. Kids and animals. And this book manages to present an adorable young girl who is having a post traumatic reaction to her mother's death from a few years prior to this book's setting--apparently, ever since a tragic accident that took said mother's life, the little girl had just stopped talking.
The events surrounding the little girl's recovery, I wish could have been explored a bit more. Of course, this is a romantic suspense about our main couple, so... yeah... But what little we get to see about how the little girl starts talking again was quite touching... even if slightly incredible.
All-in-all, the book was enjoyable, kept my attention, and had me breezing through it.
I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I went into this book, but the truth is, I'm not even sure if the book met my expectatActual Rating: 3.5 Stars
I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I went into this book, but the truth is, I'm not even sure if the book met my expectations anyway. Behind the Scenes is enjoyable and well written, and the characters are all quite unique in their own ways. I liked Kennedy's independent spunk, and her ability to take care of herself. I also loved that she wasn't created to be flawless, but was also able to recognize her own weaknesses so she could work on them. She wasn't cynical about her own worth either, and knew exactly what she was capable of without being overly arrogant. In comparison, Rogan was also Perfect Boyfriend material, being quite... well, perfect in many ways.
These people are all good people, but to be honest, it also makes them a little flat and boring, especially when the story does a lot of small time skips here and there.
Nonetheless, the semi-investigation and the security set-up that took place in the book was outlined really well.
This is, at best, a mediocre, yet quite enjoyable read.
If I had to complain about something, I think it would have to be the romance. Kennedy and Rogan seem to fall in love and start talking serious relationship much faster than I liked. On top of that, people start mentioning how the two of them seem to have something going on. And yet, as the reader, I'm not entirely sure when and where their unofficial courtship began. One moment, they were discussing the terror attacks. One moment, they monologue about their intense attraction.
But then the very next moment, they're talking deep feelings and "meant to be" and stuff like that.
When their relationship starts up for real, though, it was pretty sweet.
The identity of their mysterious terrorist is rather predictable, but probably only because subtle hints were thrown out here and there. Maybe.
Anyway, enjoyable as it is, this isn't a book I'd reread, but since I DID find it entertaining, I'm not complaining.
It's been some time since reading the first book in this duology, Wildwood Dancing. And while some details are quite memorablActual Rating: 3.5 Stars
It's been some time since reading the first book in this duology, Wildwood Dancing. And while some details are quite memorable, others are a little hard for me to recall without digging out my review and refreshing my memory.
There is one thing that I can say for certain: Juliet Marillier's writing is forever and always magically amazing! There's just something about her use of words, her imaginative creations, and her interesting characters... And to repeat myself from my review of Wildwood Dancing, she has a way with her creativity that allows you to see her world and her setting so vividly--though Cybele's Secret DOES take place in the real world more than the fantasy world, it still feels like a fantasy world with all the mystical, magical elements presenting themselves.
On a side note, or two:
I had gone into Cybele's Secret thinking that, like Wildwood Dancing, it was based on some fairy tale. But it quickly became apparent that this second book is a story of it's own, based in the same fantastical world Marillier had created from the first book. There is really no retelling in sight, and instead, she makes use of the mythical Anatolian goddess, Cybele, to build a quest for our main characters.
Second, I can readily say that I personally liked Cybele's Secret more than Wildwood Dancing; however, Cybele's is less memorable for the fact that it DID tend to drag out in a monotonous way as the story build-up progressed in the beginning.
The Story: Paula travels with her father to Istanbul as his assistant, determined to show him that she is capable of helping him work his trade, as well as acquire a special item that must remain a secret from others in merchant circles. It is called Cybele's Gift, and very few know of it's existence, and any mention of this item could bring forth unwanted attention from the wrong people, simply because of the symbolism Cybele's Gift stands for--an old religion that must be abolished by the mainstream cultures.
As Paula is now situated in a place where the culture for women is quite different than what she is used to, and could present as dangerous to her, Paula's father insists on hiring a bodyguard, both to escort her when necessary and to keep her safe. And so Stoyan, a large, dark-haired Bulgarian man-boy enters the picture. Even as Paula goes about her day-to-day, assisting her father with his trade business, conducting her own research at the revered Irene of Volos's sacred learning sanctuary for women, she seems to have picked up a quest given her from the Other Kingdom.
The Other Kingdom is the fantastical world she and her sisters had gone to often years prior, where they partook in the magical festivities of the fairy folk, such as dancing and feasting. Paula, herself, had always spent her time there in conversation with the more scholarly folk. But the portal had been long since closed to the sisters, and so now that something presenting itself from the Other Kingdom has made its appearance, Paula has found herself more than excited for a chance to see what is going on.
Because whatever the quest she's been given, it might also pertain to Cybele's Gift, as well as her now lost sister Tatiana. And meanwhile, the acquisition of said item might not be as secret as Paula and her father thought it was, since many others have been invited to its viewing, including the dashing, infamously known Portuguese pirate Duarte da Costa Aguiar, who seems to have taken a shine to Paula.
My Thoughts: I must admit, even though nothing really stands out about Cybele's Secret, I DID really enjoy reading it. But there is also a whole lot of story going on in this one book as well, and I can't help but notice that, even though everything is, indeed, based around one quest and one progressing story line, the book sort of, almost, feels like two (or maybe even three) separate stories. It's kind of like playing a video game with a introductory cut scene, then a "Part 1: Developing the Hero" stage where our main characters build up their inventory and knowledge for the future quest, and then we go on to "Part 2: The Quest" and actually go on the adventure to complete the quest. Then you get an epilogue of sorts, a "Part 3: After the Adventure" type of conclusion.
Of course, it's written rather more enchantingly than a simple video game walk-through... or even my own half-baked summary above.
Cybele's Secret is a well-written tale of myth, adventure, and inspirational lessons. But I have to admit, the awkward repetition given by Paula about how the Other Kingdom's quests are often laid out specifically to teach people lessons started getting a bit tedious after the third or fourth time she mentions it. I mean, what are fairy tales if not created to teach our youth some sort of story to live by? And I'm also going to admit that during the actual quest... really Paula seemed a bit useless as the brains of this expedition--the majority of the time, it was Stoyan who figured out each challenge and how to go about completing them. Answering a few riddles was all fine and dandy, and gives Paula a chance to showcase her scholarship and intelligence, but the rest of the time, she kind of just stands there and frets, which made me a little frustrated. Especially since we keep going on and on about how she's the smart one who knows how to solve all the puzzles thrown at her.
While I'm on my brief rant of what I didn't care for in this book: I didn't care for the awkward, forced insertion of our love triangle... if you could even call it that. Truth be told, the chemistry between Paula, Stoyan, and Duarte felt more like friendship than romance. And I can't help but to feel that a triangle was inserted more for the sake of having a love triangle rather than that it made sense.
But aside from that, I DID absolutely enjoy Cybele's Secret, and found the interaction Paula had with all the characters, including her love interests, quite intriguing. The discussions she had with both Stoyan and Duarte were intelligent and thoughtful. Her interactions with Irene were inspirational.
The story line and progression were easy to follow, unfolding smoothly as each event presented. Well... all except for that little snag between the unofficial parts one and two (see above), where I really, really think that that scene happened because there was no other way to transition.
Meanwhile, the main villain of the story was really not so hard to spot when said villain starts displaying annoying erratic behavior, including being an uninvited busy body in Paula's life.
So... even as I finish writing this review, it occurs to me that I don't really know whether I truly liked this book more than the first of the Wildwood duology... or if maybe the two books kind of stand on equal footing. Admittedly, I was more frustrated with the young characters of Wildwood Dancing than our trio in Cybele's Secret--though Duarte DID come close to making me roll my eyes or head-desk a few times. Paula herself could have been a bit less love-struck--this seemed a bit out of character for her.
The concluding book of this young adult Arkwell Academy is a pretty great round up of the trilogy altogether. My thoughts aboActual Rating: 3.5 Stars
The concluding book of this young adult Arkwell Academy is a pretty great round up of the trilogy altogether. My thoughts about this last book is really no different than what I'd thought of the first two books: The Nightmare Charade is very enjoyable, and it has a lot of great potential to expand upon its world. I still feel like it's missing something to make it rank more in the awesome category, but I DO have to give the book props for managing to keep my attention so well. Whether that's because it's a mystery, or simply because of how easy it is to read, I'm not sure; however, I DO know that I gleaned a good amount of entertainment from it, and even got some feels wrenched out of me towards the end.
The truth, though, is that there is little about this book I can think of to complain about. Maybe that Dusty still seems so easy to push around by her teachers and her ex-boyfriend. Or maybe that there were some moments wherein I got a little lost as to what was going on (although that could have been because I was listening to the audio book and lost focus at some points). The ending certainly felt a little more angst-ridden than I would have liked, but I sort of saw it coming miles away.
The main villain--the guy who killed the previous book's villain, as well as kidnaps two Nightmares--was a bit of a surprise to me, however, and I DID find myself a bit blindsided; though whether this was in a good way, or a bad way... I'm really not sure.
Once again, the characters, our kids, are great when they get together to investigate the murder and kidnappings--Dream Team, indeed. I'm just glad there's so much camaraderie between our main couple and their "side-kick" best friends.
And maybe I've thought of one more thing to quibble about: Our two main characters kind of fall flat compared to the two "side-kicks," if I were really to be honest with myself. Dusty has a way of sounding kind of dull in her narration, and aside from the fact that Eli isn't a typical, young adult novel broody teenage boy, he's actually a bit ordinary and boring. While it's true that I like that he's not the standard YA main male character, I also wish there was more to him in this book--he feels less interesting than he did in previous books.
In contrast, Lance and Selene are both pretty awesome and cool, especially Selene with her badassery, trying out for the Gladiator team and flying around with her Siren wings, owning the battle with just her badass, badassery alone... Selene was always a great character from the beginning, and I love that she stays true, as the supportive best friend throughout.
Note to author: Selene needs her own book.
As far as the romance between Eli and Dusty is concerned, while I'm glad that the two of them never faltered in their feelings or their determination to be together in spite of the Dream Seer Curse, I DID feel like Dusty dwelt a little too much on Eli and their love and their entire "Fated to be Torn Apart" scenario.
Otherwise, The Nightmare Charade is still a readily enjoyable book that doesn't have all those over-exhausted YA cliches to bog it down. I'm certainly content with what I got out of it, book, series, and all!
This book may also work for these other squares: - Murder Most Foul: The murder actually happens off-stage, and only mentioned at the beginning of the book, so this might be a stretch. - Amateur Sleuth: Dusty, Eli, Selene, and Lance are definitely not law enforcement, as young teenage students investigating a murder, a kidnapping, and the possible rebirth of an old nemesis. - Monsters: There are any number of creatures mentioned in this book, including Dusty, who is a Nightmare (or a half-kind Nightmare), which is a creature who feeds on people's dreams. Then there is Selene, who is a Siren; and a phoenix is even presented; mermaids are mentioned... I mean, basically, The Arkwell Academy is a school for different kinds of magic creatures. (On a separate note, I may or may not use this book for the Monsters square instead, depending on my mood.)
Full cast audio drama by Audible -- Robert Glenister || Book's Main Narrator -- Rupert Penry-Jones || Robert Stern -- Jack BoActual Rating: 3.5 Stars
Full cast audio drama by Audible -- Robert Glenister || Book's Main Narrator -- Rupert Penry-Jones || Robert Stern -- Jack Boulter || Simon -- Emilia Fox || Carina -- Andy Serkis || Engler -- Stephen Marcus || Andi Borchert
I bought this audio book with an Audible credit when I first discovered that I could enjoy audio books. After listening to my first audio book, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, an approximately 3-hour radio drama adaptation headed by James McAvoy (!!!) and Natalie Dormer, I went on a search for other full cast audio books, especially of the "audio drama" or "radio drama" persuasion--I thought sound effects would be a bonus. I stumbled upon The Child, hemmed and hawed about purchasing it, but finally just did so--and there it sat in my Audible library for at least two years.
I figured it was high time I started going through my book shelves, and made myself include The Child in a must read list for 2017. Also, I've been pretty into listening to audio books lately--it's nice to listen to a story unfolding while you multi-task: doing the laundry, cooking dinner, rearranging the bedroom, playing Minesweeper, etc...
Anyway, moving along... again.
I'm a big fan of crime thrillers, and truth be told, The Child was actually quite excellently executed in the mystery/thriller area. I must admit, there were a few instances that made me feel extremely uncomfortable--instances I cannot mention, as those would be spoilers--but when those instances passed, I made myself move on. Granted, I'm still conflicted about how I feel about how dark and gritty and squicky some of the events in the book had ended up getting, but overall, not a bad experience.
There were a lot of instances where the story employed the "cliff-hanging scene" method, which absolutely drives me crazy, especially if you already have an idea where that scene is headed, and the cut-off seems a little unnecessary. There were also a few logic holes during the middle of the book that had me frowning a bit, not quite understanding why these logic holes weren't getting addressed, even at the end.
In truth, the characters were a bit hard to relate with, and I found myself a little more annoyed by some of their actions rather than intrigued.
The only other complaint I have is mainly for the audio book presentation. While I love full cast performances, and, as I had stated above, sound effects are great inclusions, I found the quality of the sound effects a bit lacking in this audio drama. It was a great effort, don't get me wrong. Sound effects really DO add to the experience. But unfortunately, a lot of the times the sound effects made it kind of difficult to discern what was being narrated, which you immediately see in the beginning of the book with the rain scene and the dialogue between Robert, Carina, and Simon--at times, I had to turn the sound up because I could barely make out the dialogue between our characters, but then that also increased the volume of the falling rain.
Then there was the creepy voice known as 'The Voice,' which was mechanized and sometimes kind of grainy sounding--I had a hard time figuring out The Voice's dialogue sometimes as well. I won't deny that it DID give me a chill every time it spoke, though, which I kind of see as one of the things I enjoyed about this audio drama.
Some Final Thoughts: While it may sound like I had a whole lot of complaints about this book, to be honest, I DID enjoy it enough to breeze through the entire 6+ hours of audio book within two days. Of course, it might have also been because I'm in the middle of another book I'm not enjoying right now. It might even have been because audio books are just great ways to pass the time when you just want to bask in a nice, passive activity while playing some computer games or folding your laundry.
But I won't deny that The Child is indeed an exciting crime thriller that, despite a few logic holes and snafus, was very well written, well presented, and well executed.
It indeed kept me guessing, although I'm not sure how I feel about the darker, more sinister turn that the book took towards the middle. Don't get me wrong: I've read a lot of dark, heavy stuff in my lifetime. I suppose I had just been expecting one story line, only to be blown away with a different twist. And again, I'm not sure how I feel about that.
And I'm also not sure how I feel about the epilogue in which an exposition fairy explains to us a lot of things that probably didn't get a chance to be inserted into the actual story line itself.
I think I had been expecting a whole lot more from this book than a simple teasing introduction. While the book is tagged as a mystery, and the coverI think I had been expecting a whole lot more from this book than a simple teasing introduction. While the book is tagged as a mystery, and the cover even suggests that this is a "Humorous Mystery Series," I certainly did not find any part of that title to be true.
It's probably why the series was renamed to simply Two Guys Detective Agency? The concept was going to be a nice one, even if a little overdone. Two sisters, down on their luck when they find themselves husband-less and broke, reluctantly team up to take on a private investigation agency.
The summary suggests so much more than what actually happens in the book. We spend a good 60% of the book itself setting up the "What will Linda and Octavia do now?" part of their failing marriages and broken families. And while I liked the whole aspect of them maybe finding a niche in taking over Linda's husband's investigation agency, starting off by helping him close a few domestic cases, the entirety of that story line maybe comprised about 10% of the book... if even that.
I was even hoping that maybe the two would stumble upon a criminal case and a murder and help solve that case, and maybe make a name for themselves. But aside from closing a few insurance fraud cases, and maybe helping to find patient zero for a spreading STD case in a nursing home (the conclusion they came up with was both, a long stretch, and not at all able to be proven with anything but speculation), nothing that these two women do suggest that they are cut out for investigative work.
Which makes me extra resentful that I felt righteous indignation on their behalf that everyone else also snapped to the judgment that the two of them couldn't possibly be good investigators, for other reasons that I didn't like. Because it's the truth, but the other people didn't know that they were doing a laughing-stock of a job being investigators. They were just all, "Well, you're just a stay at home mom and wife. What could you possibly know about investigative work?"
Anyway...
To be honest, Two Guys felt like a drawn out introductory of sorts. The only true mystery was the question of what happened to Octavia's husband, Richard, and what he ended up getting himself involved in. Then there was the very, very open-ended conclusion regarding Richard's dealings, which turned out much more chaotic than I had expect... and also wasn't quite concluded, if we were to really be honest with ourselves.
Virtually nothing is really solved in this book, but the characters convene and close out the story as if everything is just wrapped up nicely with a bow on top. And I probably would have been less upset if everything had been wrapped up nicely with a bow on top. But there are so many loose ends, and so many more questions that need to be answered, and even so many turn of events in the entire story that made absolutely no sense.
The missing case files that the D.A.'s office is still requesting from Linda's husband, Sullivan's agency and how they relate with a murder case labeled "Foxtrot" was never closed out. The mysterious evidence bag that Richard left with the maid, who was then killed, and which now leads to an even bigger mysterious twist in the book was, again, also still left hanging.
Then there's the death of Linda's husband, Sullivan, which I kept getting vibes that there was much more to it than a simple heart attach. I keep trying to connect the "Foxtrot" case with his death, and my line of thinking when it comes to crime thrillers, or even cozy mysteries, is that there is definitely a connection.
And then, for some reason, I find Dunk Duncan--the private investigator who works on more high-end cases--kind of shady. Mainly, the fact that he offered to pick up all of Sullivan's open cases seemed a little sketchy to me. Or maybe I'm just paranoid. And then I'm even seeing some sketchiness in Detective Oakley Hall as well--something about him gives me bad vibes.
Unfortunately, as I already stated, there were so many things left unanswered, so many loose ends that had no tie up. And the ending was so abrupt that it might as well have been a cliffhanger--it almost feels as if our author just sort of needed to wind things up and turn in a manuscript because she was meeting a deadline, and screw the quality of the book.
Anyway, I'm contemplating reading the next book whenever it finally gets published, though, to be honest, it's kind of a stretch, and I might just stop here. Aside from the children and the dog, and maybe Brittany, the Waffle House waitress, I didn't really care for anyone else in this book. Octavia was driving me insane with her self-absorbed selfishness, and Linda really, really needed to grow a backbone.
But I DO find the parallel of both women, having molded their entire lives around their respective husbands, then finding themselves in a quandary when they both lose their husbands, kind of a great premise to bounce off of. If anything, it gave the two a chance to rekindle their estranged relationship.
So, the truth is, this book is definitely no Brown and de Luca, and our heroine was definitely not as much fun as Rachel dActual Rating: 2.5 Stars
So, the truth is, this book is definitely no Brown and de Luca, and our heroine was definitely not as much fun as Rachel de Luca had been. Obviously, it's a different book, and a different series, written at a different time--practically ten years prior. But I can't deny that I had my hopes. Sleep with the Lights On was fun and eerie and fast-paced and extremely entertaining.
Thicker Than Water had promise and loads of potential--the story premise is intriguing, the characters were great... well, some of them were. And while the beginning of the book was kind of rocky--dialogue felt a little stilted, events seemed kind of incredible, and back story might have been a bit rushed--the first half of the book found its footing and progressed at a wonderful pace.
But then, we hit about halfway into the book, and everything sort of plateaus. I mean, sure, a lot of important events start happening, but I couldn't help but feel that Julie's stubborn reluctance to confide in Sean about her secrets, even after everything that has happened, made the story drag out a bit. I get the noble "this is my problem and I will deal with it" schtick that a lot of us love to call Noble Idiocy; Julie is motivated to keep her daughter safe, and doesn't want more people to know her secrets than necessary.
But there comes a time in the story progression where a repetitive refusal to finally confide in someone who has proven his trustworthiness over and over again becomes a bit... well, vexing.
I have no problems with Julie, as an individual. I understand where she's coming from. She's terrified for her daughter's safety and has taken it upon herself to keep the girl safe; she doesn't know who she can trust and so has lived a lifetime learning to trust only herself. But there were at least three, or maybe four, or five, instances in the book where I think I gave a frustrated sigh because she wouldn't tell Sean anything about what was going on. Even after she exclaims to him that, yes, she DOES indeed trust him.
I mean, the guy keeps mum about a murder weapon, for crying out loud; and then he doesn't say a thing about finding out one of Julie's secrets about being part of Mordecai Young's Young Believers sixteen years ago.
But every time he does something to help Julie, she becomes suspicious that he's just out for dirt on her so he can get his next big scoop. Despite the fact that he'd had dozens of opportunities to out all of her secrets and has not done so.
From a story progression standpoint, this keeps the story itself in a very stagnate place where nothing moves forward because our heroine isn't letting anything move forward. And we all know that the refusal of one person to confide her secrets to the people who matter can readily cause more trouble in the upcoming conflict, maybe even get someone killed. But even if not from a story structure standpoint, the fact that Julie's main goal is to protect her daughter could very easily backfire on her when she tries to take everything into her own hands, even though she has no effective solution to her problem that isn't simply just to run away.
So maybe it should have been time to bring someone she can trust into her circle and see if there could be another way of achieving her needs for survival. Because every time she adamantly refuses legitimate, professional aide in her plight, she digs herself deeper into another ditch... and well, I just kept expecting her to put herself, or her daughter, or even Sean into mortal peril...
The conclusion of the book felt a little crazy and a little rushed... like, I had no idea, really, what was going on. However, I DO kind of see the whole "full circle" of events transpiring. It was just executed kind of poorly, to be honest.
As for the romance... it wasn't terrible, truth be told. Sean was a great character. Julie, I didn't really relate with, even if I DO understand the reasons behind her actions. The two DID have some great banter going on, and so as a partnership of co-anchors, they were great together. As lovers... maybe not so much.
I did adore Dawn, however, and loved her interaction with just about everyone.
I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. I was expecting some historical fluff, and while the book was definitely fI'm actually quite pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. I was expecting some historical fluff, and while the book was definitely fluffy, it was actually also kind of inspirational, even if not on any global levels.
Beatrice is kind of the odd sheep in her family of extraordinary people, as the summary states. Her mother, the Lady Mary, is well-respected and authoritative; her father a great knight and warrior whom even the king has become envious of. Her brothers readily follow in Sir Arthur's footsteps in kind, and her sister, Lady Faye, is the perfect beauty, wife, and mother.
Meanwhile, Bea is simply known as the one with hair-brained ideas who keeps finding herself in one form of trouble or another. But when her family is in trouble, she takes it upon herself to seek out her father with hopes of saving the day.
In truth, Beatrice could have been that heroine I love to hate. Bea is naive and innocent, too trusting of others, at times kind of ditzy. And her main hair-brained idea in this book truly DOES get her and her companions into a lot of trouble. But aside from all of that, she's a Mary Sue of epic proportions as even one of her fellow companions states that she's a rare person with a big, warm heart.
And so while she's a heroine I normally can't stand, somehow, Bea comes off kind of endearing, and manages to show us that she's so much more than what she's always described as. There's a lot of feisty and a churning mind under her lovely, sweet personality that I don't think characters in the book give her enough credit for.
One thing that bugged me includes how Bea's family treats her, even by the end of the book. If she's ignorant about current events or even family goings on, it's because nobody ever tells her anything. And when she actively seeks out answers, they either omit facts or lie to her or just tell her that she doesn't need to know, keeping her completely in the dark. So I feel like the whole "Bea shouldn't do anything if she doesn't know what's going on" mentality is a bit unfair to her. Hard to keep a wandering child from falling off a cliff if you don't warn her that it's there, or what will happen if she gets to close.
Even as the conclusion rolled around, I still didn't know whether or not Bea's adventure was pointless. The family still isn't really saying anything about what they already knew, or what kinds of precautions were already active--there are STILL secrets being kept.
Which brings me to the second thing that didn't work for me as the ending. Truth be told, it was a nice, well-rounded ending. But it was well-rounded because we pretty much pick up all of the story's stray eggs and stick them all in the basket and call it good. I mean, everything just fell together like we were in a hurry to wrap up the show or something.
Anyway...
The book started off a little hard to get into, as I had a hard time with caring about the characters. It wasn't that I didn't like them; they just didn't mean anything to me, and neither did the story. So I'm glad that things picked up pretty quickly, and with the short length of this novel, the progression was straight-forward. We set off on a journey, and despite a few random detours, the book pretty much took us where it meant to take us since day one.
On a side note, I loved the rag tag group that Beatrice manages to collect along her way. I mean, she really only picks up two people to join her gang, and one of them was a little brat boy of a thief who kept trying to manipulate Bea's emotions; however, it DID make the adventure a little more amusing. I definitely loved the inclusion of Ivy and her subtle, budding friendship with Bea, and the small spark of romance with Tom.
Again, this book was more enjoyable than I'd expected, and that is always a good thing. I can't say that I completely fell for Garrett by the end of the book, but I don't dislike him either.
I may or may not continue on in this series.
***
I read this book for Romance Bingo 2017 for the "Headless" Woman square.
Other possible squares: - New Adult - Bea and Garrett are fairly young, and I doubt they are any older than their mid-twenties. - Virgin & Best First Time - For obvious reasons. - Rogue - I would label Garrett as this. - Historical Romance - I think this book takes place in the Middle Ages. - Love (Free Space)
Personal biases aside, this was actually not as bad as I had been expecting, though not as great as I'd hoped for either. While the beginning was kinPersonal biases aside, this was actually not as bad as I had been expecting, though not as great as I'd hoped for either. While the beginning was kind of slow to get into, and the characters were hard to really relate with or like, this was overall pretty entertaining with a plot twist that was actually quite startling, in a good way.
Still, lots of plot holes, and try as I might, I couldn't really get myself to like any of the characters. Even the sometimes adorable toddler got annoying at times. And I felt like a lot of the family conflict felt unnecessary, but kept in tone with the whole dysfunctional family theme going on.
One of the things that has always bugged me about the few Lisa Jackson books I've read is the exposition fairy insertion. At some point in time (or several moments, in this book), someone will sit down and have a discussion, outlining what's going on in the story, detail by detail. As if the reader had the memory of a goldfish and didn't already know all the facts up to that point.
There were a few scenes at the beginning like this, and several little moments where our main detective did as much, giving the same details and reasons over and over again as to why certain people couldn't be a suspect. So on and so forth.
This kind of insertion is often times jarring to a reader. I would like to just move forward with the story rather than sit around discussing what's happened since we last convened three pages ago. And I don't need to be told five times that Cissy couldn't possibly be the killer--after all, this is a romantic suspense novel, romance being first priority. It'd be a little hard to have a Happily Ever After™ if our main heroine were a psychotic murderer.
Again, I also had some problems with the characters, but not so much that I didn't like them as much as I just felt like they were NOT interesting, in the least. And we'll just leave it at that.
The ending picked up and got a little more exciting. The empty mansion scene where the elevator frightens Cissy was actually done pretty well. The horrific twist near the ending was also, as I've stated, quite startling, and I liked it.
Otherwise, this is a nice book you can read on a rainy day if you've got nothing else on hand.
I'm going to be totally honest and say that this series caught my attention, mainly because of the book titles. I imagined throwing a series review together like this, because it somehow felt aesthetically pleasing (see review post title above). I suppose it also helps that Kay Hooper's an author I like, and truth, I find a lot of her earlier work more enjoyable than some of the boring drivel she's been putting out lately.
Don't get me wrong: I'm still holding out hope that the Bishop/SCU series will find its former glory.
But this review is about Quinn/Thief duology, so let's get back on track.
Unfortunately, partway through the first book, I had a niggling feeling that I was missing something--that there was a whole world of Quinn/Thief out there that might belong in a different story, or even in prior books written by Kay Hooper, connecting to this world. So I did a search and found a four book series from Harlequin Loveswept called Men of Mysteries Past, which involved such titles pointing to the four main alpha male characters who all appear in the two books, Max Bannister, Wolfe Nickerson, Jared Chavalier, and the master thief Quinn.
There's also a very blatantly obvious connection between them that doesn't present itself until the very end of the duology; and while I hadn't really thought about it while reading the two books, it didn't strike me as surprising when revealed either.
Still, I was... a bit flummoxed and not sure how to continue this duology. Especially since the book was dragging a whole lot to begin with anyway, what with all the characters sitting around and discussing security, and gangs of thieves, and Quinn's thieving career... with absolutely no action going on. It reminded me of those last few trilogy arcs of the Bishop/SCU series where the characters simply spend all of the book sitting around and just... well, discussing things.
It got boring fast.
I DID do some backtracking after I finished the first book, and reread Hooper's author's note a bit more carefully, realizing that she had, indeed hinted at previously published works and her love for Quinn the master thief, thus leading to this re-imagined duology, which is supposed to center mostly around Quinn. She admits that some of the scenes and dialogue is copy and paste, but that the majority of the two books are definitely new material with some different actions and scenes.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. And yet I HAD to read the second book because of all the loose ends and the mysteries and the secrets yet to be resolved/revealed. Unfortunately, I can't very well admit that all the loose ends were cleaned up. The ending of the duology was quite open-ended, both with the criminal thriller parts and the romance parts.
It all felt unsatisfying and unfinished. Needless to say, while the books were quite easy to read, I'm not entirely certain they were really worth the time put into them, considering how scattered and hop-scotch the progression was, and how unresolved everything felt. And how deliberately mysterious Hooper was trying to make all the scenes seem, while making all of her characters talk and monologue way too much.
Truthfully, there was so much going on in the first book that I really couldn't tell if Ms. Hooper had an actual direction to her story progression. The main premise was there, though, don't get me wrong. But I had a hard time following one character after another without wondering if details were being left out, or if I was already supposed to understand the fairly underdeveloped characters in this universe.
And truth, aside from maybe Storm Tremaine and her cat, I really had a hard time liking any of the characters. Four broody alpha males, two feisty damsels... it's a typical dated romance, though two couples are showcased together in the first book. And while I DID enjoy the bickering and insta-lust to immediate insta-love between Wolfe and Storm (these names!), I found the romance between Quinn and Morgan completely incredible, starting with the fact that there's a modicum of psychic hinting between the two, as well as Morgan's TSTL actions that make absolutely no sense. Which is a big disappointment, because I had expected so much more from her.
In terms of storytelling, Once a Thief was definitely what you would call a "set-up" book. Because nothing really happens except for a maybe last minute villain; this book read like an introductory of sorts. Which is a lot of pages for setting up the world and the story.
To my extreme frustration, Always a Thief didn't fare as well either. Pretty much this entire second book just continues the story line from the first, with all the same quibbles and irritating draggy-ness that I really didn't care for.
Morgan's TSTL characteristics didn't improve, despite all the narrative efforts to make her sound like an intelligent, witty, independent woman. At least there's a scene wherein she, herself, points out just how TSTL her actions have become since she'd met Quinn, the master thief. Of course, it still didn't stop her from continuing to rush into danger for no good reason; although, since very little negative came out of her actions, I suppose I don't know why I'm complaining.
Oh, that's right, maybe because we've still got some sort of strange psychic connection being emphasized between Quinn and Morgan that makes absolutely no sense at all.
Meanwhile, the rest of the characters are shuffled into the background. Truth be told, I would have liked to see more on the development between Quinn and Jared, once we find out what their connection is... but the book sort of just fazed it out and made it seem insignificant in light of all the scattered activity of the main conflict, and the non-romance-romance going on between Quinn and Morgan.
Truthfully, I think I probably reset my outlook on this book after reading Once a Thief, but that still didn't keep me from feeling a twinge of disappointment that things didn't work out the way I'd been hoping. And when I say "work out the way I'd been hoping," I mean get more exciting and less boring, as well as turn Morgan into a more sensible character who doesn't just accept all of Quinn's lies with a shrug and a "whaddya gonna do?" just because she's somehow fallen in love with him (in spite of all the lies and secrets); or who doesn't just go rushing into danger without a backup plan.
In light of this, I kind of miss having Storm and Wolfe bicker at each other.
~~~
Overall, I feel like maybe if I'd known about the previously published four book series that was the jumping board for this duology, I maybe would have given some thought to reading that one first, then maybe coming back to this duology some time later. Instead, now that I've finished with this two-book series, I'm not entirely sure how I'd feel about going back and picking up Men of Mysteries Past and seeing if it would be more worth my time.
Another last thought... I had a fleeting moment to wonder whether or not Hooper had intended to extend this duology to a trilogy or maybe another foursome. Though to be fair, I suppose there would then have to be some more clever wording with the book titles, as Once a Thief, Always a Thief has a nice ring to it already. Adding more might undermine that aesthetically pleasing review post title I still found I looked forward to presenting......more
I'm going to be totally honest and say that this series caught my attention, mainly because of the book titles. I imagined throwing a series review together like this, because it somehow felt aesthetically pleasing (see review post title above). I suppose it also helps that Kay Hooper's an author I like, and truth, I find a lot of her earlier work more enjoyable than some of the boring drivel she's been putting out lately.
Don't get me wrong: I'm still holding out hope that the Bishop/SCU series will find its former glory.
But this review is about Quinn/Thief duology, so let's get back on track.
Unfortunately, partway through the first book, I had a niggling feeling that I was missing something--that there was a whole world of Quinn/Thief out there that might belong in a different story, or even in prior books written by Kay Hooper, connecting to this world. So I did a search and found a four book series from Harlequin Loveswept called Men of Mysteries Past, which involved such titles pointing to the four main alpha male characters who all appear in the two books, Max Bannister, Wolfe Nickerson, Jared Chavalier, and the master thief Quinn.
There's also a very blatantly obvious connection between them that doesn't present itself until the very end of the duology; and while I hadn't really thought about it while reading the two books, it didn't strike me as surprising when revealed either.
Still, I was... a bit flummoxed and not sure how to continue this duology. Especially since the book was dragging a whole lot to begin with anyway, what with all the characters sitting around and discussing security, and gangs of thieves, and Quinn's thieving career... with absolutely no action going on. It reminded me of those last few trilogy arcs of the Bishop/SCU series where the characters simply spend all of the book sitting around and just... well, discussing things.
It got boring fast.
I DID do some backtracking after I finished the first book, and reread Hooper's author's note a bit more carefully, realizing that she had, indeed hinted at previously published works and her love for Quinn the master thief, thus leading to this re-imagined duology, which is supposed to center mostly around Quinn. She admits that some of the scenes and dialogue is copy and paste, but that the majority of the two books are definitely new material with some different actions and scenes.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. And yet I HAD to read the second book because of all the loose ends and the mysteries and the secrets yet to be resolved/revealed. Unfortunately, I can't very well admit that all the loose ends were cleaned up. The ending of the duology was quite open-ended, both with the criminal thriller parts and the romance parts.
It all felt unsatisfying and unfinished. Needless to say, while the books were quite easy to read, I'm not entirely certain they were really worth the time put into them, considering how scattered and hop-scotch the progression was, and how unresolved everything felt. And how deliberately mysterious Hooper was trying to make all the scenes seem, while making all of her characters talk and monologue way too much.
Truthfully, there was so much going on in the first book that I really couldn't tell if Ms. Hooper had an actual direction to her story progression. The main premise was there, though, don't get me wrong. But I had a hard time following one character after another without wondering if details were being left out, or if I was already supposed to understand the fairly underdeveloped characters in this universe.
And truth, aside from maybe Storm Tremaine and her cat, I really had a hard time liking any of the characters. Four broody alpha males, two feisty damsels... it's a typical dated romance, though two couples are showcased together in the first book. And while I DID enjoy the bickering and insta-lust to immediate insta-love between Wolfe and Storm (these names!), I found the romance between Quinn and Morgan completely incredible, starting with the fact that there's a modicum of psychic hinting between the two, as well as Morgan's TSTL actions that make absolutely no sense. Which is a big disappointment, because I had expected so much more from her.
In terms of storytelling, Once a Thief was definitely what you would call a "set-up" book. Because nothing really happens except for a maybe last minute villain; this book read like an introductory of sorts. Which is a lot of pages for setting up the world and the story.
To my extreme frustration, Always a Thief didn't fare as well either. Pretty much this entire second book just continues the story line from the first, with all the same quibbles and irritating draggy-ness that I really didn't care for.
Morgan's TSTL characteristics didn't improve, despite all the narrative efforts to make her sound like an intelligent, witty, independent woman. At least there's a scene wherein she, herself, points out just how TSTL her actions have become since she'd met Quinn, the master thief. Of course, it still didn't stop her from continuing to rush into danger for no good reason; although, since very little negative came out of her actions, I suppose I don't know why I'm complaining.
Oh, that's right, maybe because we've still got some sort of strange psychic connection being emphasized between Quinn and Morgan that makes absolutely no sense at all.
Meanwhile, the rest of the characters are shuffled into the background. Truth be told, I would have liked to see more on the development between Quinn and Jared, once we find out what their connection is... but the book sort of just fazed it out and made it seem insignificant in light of all the scattered activity of the main conflict, and the non-romance-romance going on between Quinn and Morgan.
Truthfully, I think I probably reset my outlook on this book after reading Once a Thief, but that still didn't keep me from feeling a twinge of disappointment that things didn't work out the way I'd been hoping. And when I say "work out the way I'd been hoping," I mean get more exciting and less boring, as well as turn Morgan into a more sensible character who doesn't just accept all of Quinn's lies with a shrug and a "whaddya gonna do?" just because she's somehow fallen in love with him (in spite of all the lies and secrets); or who doesn't just go rushing into danger without a backup plan.
In light of this, I kind of miss having Storm and Wolfe bicker at each other.
~~~
Overall, I feel like maybe if I'd known about the previously published four book series that was the jumping board for this duology, I maybe would have given some thought to reading that one first, then maybe coming back to this duology some time later. Instead, now that I've finished with this two-book series, I'm not entirely sure how I'd feel about going back and picking up Men of Mysteries Past and seeing if it would be more worth my time.
Another last thought... I had a fleeting moment to wonder whether or not Hooper had intended to extend this duology to a trilogy or maybe another foursome. Though to be fair, I suppose there would then have to be some more clever wording with the book titles, as Once a Thief, Always a Thief has a nice ring to it already. Adding more might undermine that aesthetically pleasing review post title I still found I looked forward to presenting...
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