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Ballistic Kiss is the eleventh book in the Sandman Slim series. The series features a half-man, half-angel protagonist, James Stark, in a world filled with vampires, demons, and magic. Those of us wanting some Dresden file detective noir happily stumbled onto the first self-titled Sandman Slim book back in 2009.
Stark is quite an unconventional character. Being half-angel is only the start of it. He spent years in Hell, battling demons in gladiator pits. He's also a movie junkie, owning his own movie store, practically a relic these days. A lot of old Hollywood features in the SS series, fitting considering it's set in LA and you feel the culture through the writing. You would think being half-angel would mean that he's a handsome hero. You'd also be wrong. Stark is one of the most self-flagellating anti-heroes that you will meet in fiction, but at least does so with mostly humorous internal (and external for that matter) dialogue.
I just really struggle with Stark and his relationships. He's just so stunted emotionally that it's hard to commiserate with him during his woe-is-me moments. You spend so much time in his headspace that it wears thin pretty quickly. In this case, it's Janet with whom he's gone on a few friendly dates. Janet is non-binary and attempts to explain gender assumptions to Stark. Surprisingly, he's more accepting of it than I thought his character would be given his snarky ways and he spends the rest of the novel correcting himself with his pronouns. Janet is also the reason he ends up with The Zero Lodge, because who doesn't love playing red rover blindfolded in highway traffic.
It has been a while since I found myself in a Sandman Slim novel but it didn't take very long to immerse myself back into Stark's world. There was a lot to like about it. The Little Cairo ghostly infestation was an interesting side job but the real zinger here is The Zero Lodge. While I love paranormal detective noir and I understand that making your character flawed makes them more relatable, a "little less talk and a lot more action" is needed for me to love Sandman Slim.
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Stark is quite an unconventional character. Being half-angel is only the start of it. He spent years in Hell, battling demons in gladiator pits. He's also a movie junkie, owning his own movie store, practically a relic these days. A lot of old Hollywood features in the SS series, fitting considering it's set in LA and you feel the culture through the writing. You would think being half-angel would mean that he's a handsome hero. You'd also be wrong. Stark is one of the most self-flagellating anti-heroes that you will meet in fiction, but at least does so with mostly humorous internal (and external for that matter) dialogue.
I just really struggle with Stark and his relationships. He's just so stunted emotionally that it's hard to commiserate with him during his woe-is-me moments. You spend so much time in his headspace that it wears thin pretty quickly. In this case, it's Janet with whom he's gone on a few friendly dates. Janet is non-binary and attempts to explain gender assumptions to Stark. Surprisingly, he's more accepting of it than I thought his character would be given his snarky ways and he spends the rest of the novel correcting himself with his pronouns. Janet is also the reason he ends up with The Zero Lodge, because who doesn't love playing red rover blindfolded in highway traffic.
It has been a while since I found myself in a Sandman Slim novel but it didn't take very long to immerse myself back into Stark's world. There was a lot to like about it. The Little Cairo ghostly infestation was an interesting side job but the real zinger here is The Zero Lodge. While I love paranormal detective noir and I understand that making your character flawed makes them more relatable, a "little less talk and a lot more action" is needed for me to love Sandman Slim.
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One thing that's amazing about being a reader is that you also get to discover new things about yourself. One of those things that I recently realized about myself is that I love horror westerns. Who knew?!
Through the years, there have been some great movies that I enjoyed that exemplify what the horror western genre is so I shouldn't be surprised that I enjoy the same in literature. Bone Tomahawk is a fantastic example of a western horror movie that I loved. You only have to look at Kurt Russell and his magnificent bewhiskered face to know that the Old West is alive. Train of Blood, while only 80 pages for the Kindle version, manages to pack that same rough, squinty-eyed, grit in your teeth Western feel—only this time, humans aren't the only thing in the dark.
Train of Blood starts with an explosive, grisly bang as Wagon Master Grant tells the cautionary tale of a boy who accidentally wandered off from the wagon train and met a horrible end. It's important that we understand why Grant is telling this story. It's his job as Wagon Master to get the wagon train to the destination, but he can't do his job if people won't listen to him. He's a strong character, weathered and worn. He's thinking this might just be his last trip. Isn't it time for him to settle down?
The wagon train has all kinds of obstacles. Mud and muck are troublesome enough but when you add human fallibility to the equation, there's no end to the difficulties that can arise. Grant handles it all: the grumbling, pouring rain, rattlesnake dens—though there are some human casualties. That comes with the territory, doesn't it? And what else comes with the territory when you are taking a wagon train from Oklahoma City to California? Indians. Of course, these are no conventional Indians. Motivated to push back against the encroaching white men and their lies, each tribe sent their medicine men and bravest warriors to convene. They succeeded in concocting some serious magic and conceived shapeshifters of the braves, brutal creatures capable of ripping a man apart.
When I say this was a short read, I don't just mean the page count. I was captivated by the story. The wolf-like shapeshifters honestly aren't what drove the story for me. The characterization, environmental hazards, and the integrity of the Wagon Master enthralled and entertained me for the brief span of time it took to inhale this novella. I've not read anything else by R.C. Rumple, but I will most definitely keep an eye out for any of his future delvings into the horror western genre. He took what could have been a plodding storyline and made it into so much more.
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Through the years, there have been some great movies that I enjoyed that exemplify what the horror western genre is so I shouldn't be surprised that I enjoy the same in literature. Bone Tomahawk is a fantastic example of a western horror movie that I loved. You only have to look at Kurt Russell and his magnificent bewhiskered face to know that the Old West is alive. Train of Blood, while only 80 pages for the Kindle version, manages to pack that same rough, squinty-eyed, grit in your teeth Western feel—only this time, humans aren't the only thing in the dark.
Train of Blood starts with an explosive, grisly bang as Wagon Master Grant tells the cautionary tale of a boy who accidentally wandered off from the wagon train and met a horrible end. It's important that we understand why Grant is telling this story. It's his job as Wagon Master to get the wagon train to the destination, but he can't do his job if people won't listen to him. He's a strong character, weathered and worn. He's thinking this might just be his last trip. Isn't it time for him to settle down?
The wagon train has all kinds of obstacles. Mud and muck are troublesome enough but when you add human fallibility to the equation, there's no end to the difficulties that can arise. Grant handles it all: the grumbling, pouring rain, rattlesnake dens—though there are some human casualties. That comes with the territory, doesn't it? And what else comes with the territory when you are taking a wagon train from Oklahoma City to California? Indians. Of course, these are no conventional Indians. Motivated to push back against the encroaching white men and their lies, each tribe sent their medicine men and bravest warriors to convene. They succeeded in concocting some serious magic and conceived shapeshifters of the braves, brutal creatures capable of ripping a man apart.
When I say this was a short read, I don't just mean the page count. I was captivated by the story. The wolf-like shapeshifters honestly aren't what drove the story for me. The characterization, environmental hazards, and the integrity of the Wagon Master enthralled and entertained me for the brief span of time it took to inhale this novella. I've not read anything else by R.C. Rumple, but I will most definitely keep an eye out for any of his future delvings into the horror western genre. He took what could have been a plodding storyline and made it into so much more.
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Harrow Lake features Lola Nox, the daughter of a film director. Her father's film Nightjar has managed to have a cult following in the small town of Harrow Lake. Her mother acted in the film and disappeared when Lola was just five years old. When Lola comes home to their New York apartment and finds the door ajar and her father stabbed many times, she is shipped off to the town of Harrow Lake to stay with her maternal grandmother that she hasn't seen since her mother disappeared.
In spite of a hint of the paranormal is a YA thriller. The inclusion of Mister Jitters, former man, now a cannibalistic creature that lives in Harrow Lake's caves is a clever redirection. Mister Jitters lived in the woods making moonshine during Prohibition and hiding them in the subterranean tunnels around the lake. Caught in a landslide and trapped with the bodies of other townfolk, no one wanted to risk digging him out and being caught themselves. When they finally were able to get to them, they found the bodies with human teeth marks and no Mister Jitters. The town has long since attributed weird disappearances to Mister Jitters getting hungry.
As Lola settles into the creepy town of Harrow Lake, she discovers more and more about her mother and the town itself. Lola isn't a particularly likable character. In fact, she's rather flat. The more you read, the more you understand why. We discover how controlling and protective her father is. She's not allowed to have a cell phone or normal teenage things. However, when starting the book, it was hard to be invested in her character especially since some of her internal dialogue was at odds with the sheltered existence she supposedly led.
I was tempted to DNF this one but stuck it out. There are a lot of transitions that felt choppy to me and I lost a feel for who was speaking at times. Also, a LOT of plot holes, like there were ideas that were meant to go somewhere but got dropped during editing. There's plenty of creepy details and the townspeople are super weird, but it felt cliched. The ending wasn't much of a surprise to me. I surmised it probably about 3/4 of the way through but again, there aren't many movies/books that the plot twists really startle me so consider that my reader fault and not that of the author. I think readers who don't typically read horror will find it to be an unusual read. It also clearly fits in the YA category, although there are some pretty serious implications of abuse and mental illness. I just don't think I was the right audience for it.
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In spite of a hint of the paranormal is a YA thriller. The inclusion of Mister Jitters, former man, now a cannibalistic creature that lives in Harrow Lake's caves is a clever redirection. Mister Jitters lived in the woods making moonshine during Prohibition and hiding them in the subterranean tunnels around the lake. Caught in a landslide and trapped with the bodies of other townfolk, no one wanted to risk digging him out and being caught themselves. When they finally were able to get to them, they found the bodies with human teeth marks and no Mister Jitters. The town has long since attributed weird disappearances to Mister Jitters getting hungry.
As Lola settles into the creepy town of Harrow Lake, she discovers more and more about her mother and the town itself. Lola isn't a particularly likable character. In fact, she's rather flat. The more you read, the more you understand why. We discover how controlling and protective her father is. She's not allowed to have a cell phone or normal teenage things. However, when starting the book, it was hard to be invested in her character especially since some of her internal dialogue was at odds with the sheltered existence she supposedly led.
I was tempted to DNF this one but stuck it out. There are a lot of transitions that felt choppy to me and I lost a feel for who was speaking at times. Also, a LOT of plot holes, like there were ideas that were meant to go somewhere but got dropped during editing. There's plenty of creepy details and the townspeople are super weird, but it felt cliched. The ending wasn't much of a surprise to me. I surmised it probably about 3/4 of the way through but again, there aren't many movies/books that the plot twists really startle me so consider that my reader fault and not that of the author. I think readers who don't typically read horror will find it to be an unusual read. It also clearly fits in the YA category, although there are some pretty serious implications of abuse and mental illness. I just don't think I was the right audience for it.
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My Date With a Wendigo centers around Elizabeth Rosseau and Abigail Lester. While they knew each other earlier in life and became close, Abigail up and disappears, leaving Elizabeth wondering what went wrong. Elizabeth is now a therapist and Abigail is, of all things, a wendigo attending meetings to help her not eat humans. I don’t typically review F/F paranormal romance but this book sounded too unique to pass up.
The book starts out with Elizabeth “Liz”. It’s been six years since her best friend Abigail took off without warning. Liz clearly has some unresolved issues. She has the emotional IQ of a slug. While she tells herself she’s an adult and a well-adjusted therapist, she has some questionable behaviors. Too many nights in bars and failed relationships has her reaching out to Abigail’s old phone number hoping it’s the same. Abigail, as we find out, has a furry issue of her own. Thanks to a wilderness accident, she was turned into a wendigo. She’s hiding out in a cabin in the woods, only coming to town to go to a diet support group for “fiends” aka monsters (monsters aren't PC, ya know) whose conditions cause them to want to eat humans.
The support group is actually pretty funny if you can imagine a wendigo, an incubus, a selkie, an anthropophage (I had to look that one up), a ghoul, and a vampire all sitting around talking about trying to not eat people. It’s such a normal scene with such a weird twist that it’s pretty humorous. Sometimes you fall off your diet and have guilt about it. In their case, you might just eat your significant other accidentally. The fiendish world that the author creates was really fun to get lost in for a while. There’s the support group, but also the community center with its black market and art classes for vampires.
While the paranormal aspect of the book worked well for me, the relationship itself had some bumps. Liz seemed way too copacetic with finding out that Abby is a wendigo. Wendigoag (yes, that’s apparently the correct plural) are not attractive things. Go ahead, if you don’t know what one looks like, google it. I’ll be waiting…Back? Yeah, they are gross and terrifying. Out of all the creatures that you could choose to want to have sexy time with a wendigo would not be in my top 100. While it was a unique choice, Liz’s vociferous acceptance was a little dubious. Be friends, sure! Hold hands, er, claws with? Not so much. Maybe it would be convincing if like a werewolf, she transformed only during some set time frame?
My Date with a Wendigo is a sweet, second chance romance at its furry little heart. It’s meant to be light-hearted, and it is often laugh-out-loud funny, but it does read very young. While I would put this as NA, the explicitness of later was still a bit shocking in comparison to the age that Liz acts most of the time. There are quite a few logistics to work out when you decide to date a hairy cannibalistic fiend that I never had reason to consider and probably never will again. Recognizing the message of love and acceptance, at the base of this book is two people who were best friends and each wanted more without knowing how to tell the other that. Like any relationship, there are hurdles to get over. If you can overcome them together, the relationship is stronger for them, right? If one of you needs to be muzzled while you do so, well, every relationship has its problems.
The book starts out with Elizabeth “Liz”. It’s been six years since her best friend Abigail took off without warning. Liz clearly has some unresolved issues. She has the emotional IQ of a slug. While she tells herself she’s an adult and a well-adjusted therapist, she has some questionable behaviors. Too many nights in bars and failed relationships has her reaching out to Abigail’s old phone number hoping it’s the same. Abigail, as we find out, has a furry issue of her own. Thanks to a wilderness accident, she was turned into a wendigo. She’s hiding out in a cabin in the woods, only coming to town to go to a diet support group for “fiends” aka monsters (monsters aren't PC, ya know) whose conditions cause them to want to eat humans.
The support group is actually pretty funny if you can imagine a wendigo, an incubus, a selkie, an anthropophage (I had to look that one up), a ghoul, and a vampire all sitting around talking about trying to not eat people. It’s such a normal scene with such a weird twist that it’s pretty humorous. Sometimes you fall off your diet and have guilt about it. In their case, you might just eat your significant other accidentally. The fiendish world that the author creates was really fun to get lost in for a while. There’s the support group, but also the community center with its black market and art classes for vampires.
While the paranormal aspect of the book worked well for me, the relationship itself had some bumps. Liz seemed way too copacetic with finding out that Abby is a wendigo. Wendigoag (yes, that’s apparently the correct plural) are not attractive things. Go ahead, if you don’t know what one looks like, google it. I’ll be waiting…Back? Yeah, they are gross and terrifying. Out of all the creatures that you could choose to want to have sexy time with a wendigo would not be in my top 100. While it was a unique choice, Liz’s vociferous acceptance was a little dubious. Be friends, sure! Hold hands, er, claws with? Not so much. Maybe it would be convincing if like a werewolf, she transformed only during some set time frame?
My Date with a Wendigo is a sweet, second chance romance at its furry little heart. It’s meant to be light-hearted, and it is often laugh-out-loud funny, but it does read very young. While I would put this as NA, the explicitness of later was still a bit shocking in comparison to the age that Liz acts most of the time. There are quite a few logistics to work out when you decide to date a hairy cannibalistic fiend that I never had reason to consider and probably never will again. Recognizing the message of love and acceptance, at the base of this book is two people who were best friends and each wanted more without knowing how to tell the other that. Like any relationship, there are hurdles to get over. If you can overcome them together, the relationship is stronger for them, right? If one of you needs to be muzzled while you do so, well, every relationship has its problems.
A Flood of Posies was a strange mishmash of dysfunctional family relationships, a flooded world, and sea monsters. Told through a variety of flashbacks and intertwining timelines, Meuret tells us of Doris and Thea, sisters with a pernicious relationship. Thea is an addict, constantly seeking for her next hit. She doesn't care about anything else really than where her next fix will come from. She's on her way to Doris' house to ask her for money when the world changes. A flood suddenly rises out of nowhere and drowns the world. Those who survive are left clinging to anything that floats, hoping to find a way in this watery new world.
Doris is cast as the proper sister, doing what is anticipated of her, marrying well, and creating the life that her mother thinks a respectable woman should have. All because "it made sense". Of course, this is a huge bone of contention between the two. So much that they each struggle to overcome their pasts, even as the world overflows. The characters are remarkably one-sided. I wanted them to be more than they were. Doris remained the stodgy, disapproving sister and Thea was, even after a year in this new water world, focused on the heroin she couldn't have.
One answer that I'm not fully convinced of the answer is this: Is the flood real? Either the world is fully engulfed and there truly are Leviathan-like creatures (or Posies, short for Poseidons) luring those left above into the watery depths OR it's all a heroin-induced nightmare contained in Thea's drug-addled brain. Even the ending, while borderline sappy, didn't help me decide.
A Flood of Posies, besides that hauntingly beautiful cover, was mesmerizing in the cadence of the writing. There were some beautifully written descriptions and passages that spoke to me. Her prose is absolutely lovely and was a joy to experience. Tiffany Mueret completely drew me in with this story of sisterly adversary, affection, and the illusions of addiction.
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Doris is cast as the proper sister, doing what is anticipated of her, marrying well, and creating the life that her mother thinks a respectable woman should have. All because "it made sense". Of course, this is a huge bone of contention between the two. So much that they each struggle to overcome their pasts, even as the world overflows. The characters are remarkably one-sided. I wanted them to be more than they were. Doris remained the stodgy, disapproving sister and Thea was, even after a year in this new water world, focused on the heroin she couldn't have.
One answer that I'm not fully convinced of the answer is this: Is the flood real? Either the world is fully engulfed and there truly are Leviathan-like creatures (or Posies, short for Poseidons) luring those left above into the watery depths OR it's all a heroin-induced nightmare contained in Thea's drug-addled brain. Even the ending, while borderline sappy, didn't help me decide.
A Flood of Posies, besides that hauntingly beautiful cover, was mesmerizing in the cadence of the writing. There were some beautifully written descriptions and passages that spoke to me. Her prose is absolutely lovely and was a joy to experience. Tiffany Mueret completely drew me in with this story of sisterly adversary, affection, and the illusions of addiction.
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I'm not a fan of reality television. It's too ridiculous and conspired for me to enjoy it. However, I am a fan of B-movie killer creature free-for-alls, and this installment of the Rewind or Die series doesn't shy away from blood and guts. When you have killer creatures, does it really matter how ludicrous it is? I don't think so.
When a plane full of wannabe famous reality contestants crashes on their way to an uninhabited tropical destination, the survivors discover that it's not so uninhabited after all...and the locals are hungry. This gore-fest rejects all pretentious attempts at suspense building and immediately goes for the throat. Sole Survivor seemed a little overwhelming at first with all the different characters. Who are all these people? What are their backstories? Who cares! They're dead!! Don't get too attached—not that you would given the scarcity of setup but the lack of character building works in the story's favor.
In fact, it's easy to find yourself rooting for the other team. The "drop bears" aren't exactly cute and cuddly koala cousins and therefore have no problem with ripping off your face! The only thing bigger than these furry muscles is the body count as they rip and tear and gnaw their way through the contestants. Eventually, some of group wise up to what's lurking in the canopy above and actually manage to knock off a few of the creatures, but don't fear, there's still plenty of teeth and claws to go around—not to mention the other contestants!
Sole Survivor is a quick read bursting with all the best mangled and macerated demises. No two deaths are alike! Snappy dialogue and tongue-in-cheek humor made this marsupial murder fete another Rewind or Die win.
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When a plane full of wannabe famous reality contestants crashes on their way to an uninhabited tropical destination, the survivors discover that it's not so uninhabited after all...and the locals are hungry. This gore-fest rejects all pretentious attempts at suspense building and immediately goes for the throat. Sole Survivor seemed a little overwhelming at first with all the different characters. Who are all these people? What are their backstories? Who cares! They're dead!! Don't get too attached—not that you would given the scarcity of setup but the lack of character building works in the story's favor.
In fact, it's easy to find yourself rooting for the other team. The "drop bears" aren't exactly cute and cuddly koala cousins and therefore have no problem with ripping off your face! The only thing bigger than these furry muscles is the body count as they rip and tear and gnaw their way through the contestants. Eventually, some of group wise up to what's lurking in the canopy above and actually manage to knock off a few of the creatures, but don't fear, there's still plenty of teeth and claws to go around—not to mention the other contestants!
Sole Survivor is a quick read bursting with all the best mangled and macerated demises. No two deaths are alike! Snappy dialogue and tongue-in-cheek humor made this marsupial murder fete another Rewind or Die win.
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Defiance got majorly screwed over by her ex-husband and his mother in her divorce. In spite of putting her heart and soul into owning a resturant, it’s ripped away from her with some low blows and a shady lawyer. Luckily, she finds out that the grandmother that she never knew bequeathed her a huge house. Sure, it needs some work, but where else does she have to go? Something is super weird though as people keep randomly showing up asking her to find things, both inanimate and not.
Having read the Charley Davidson series, there are a lot of similarities between the two. Dephne (identity crisis, much?) is super snarky so there’s really a lot of fun banter. She just seems so incredibly flighty though and not at all like a 40 year old woman. After a while, it kind of got on my nerves. Slow down, girl and listen to what people are trying to tell you. She has this idea that she has 3 days to turn down the house, but she won’t stop long enough for anyone to tell her this rule doesn’t exist! It’s also a bit cliched with the whole chosen one/power of three type trope and the instalove, though a hot inked handyman can come work in my house in a kilt anytime.
Betwixt was a light, bubbly book to binge. I’m not immediately tuned in enough to want to throw myself on a sword to get the next book in the series, but it was cute and bubbly and a nice reset before continuing on. If you love the Charley Davidson series, I think you’ll find that the correlations of MC, best friend, love interest, and supportive secondary characters will drawn you right into the Betwixt & Between series.
I give Betwixt 3 out of 5 propellers. I just didn’t love Defiance/Dephne and it really distracted me from the storyline.
Read more reviews at Wicked Cool Flight
Having read the Charley Davidson series, there are a lot of similarities between the two. Dephne (identity crisis, much?) is super snarky so there’s really a lot of fun banter. She just seems so incredibly flighty though and not at all like a 40 year old woman. After a while, it kind of got on my nerves. Slow down, girl and listen to what people are trying to tell you. She has this idea that she has 3 days to turn down the house, but she won’t stop long enough for anyone to tell her this rule doesn’t exist! It’s also a bit cliched with the whole chosen one/power of three type trope and the instalove, though a hot inked handyman can come work in my house in a kilt anytime.
Betwixt was a light, bubbly book to binge. I’m not immediately tuned in enough to want to throw myself on a sword to get the next book in the series, but it was cute and bubbly and a nice reset before continuing on. If you love the Charley Davidson series, I think you’ll find that the correlations of MC, best friend, love interest, and supportive secondary characters will drawn you right into the Betwixt & Between series.
I give Betwixt 3 out of 5 propellers. I just didn’t love Defiance/Dephne and it really distracted me from the storyline.
Read more reviews at Wicked Cool Flight
Rebel is a human bounty hunter who hunts down supernatural creatures. Her true goal is to avenge her brother's death by finding the piece of memory missing.
Hunter's Quest wasn't exactly what I expected. The main character felt very young, leaving me to feel like this was a YA fantasy. She has this tough snarky attitude and yet nothing was really that big of challenge for her. It did have an interesting variety of creatures which I enjoyed but again, no creature was out of reach. Hunt a dragon? Fine. Best a leprechaun? Fine. Any time she got into trouble she couldn't handle someone showed up to help her out of it.
It was a light fluffy read with interesting characters and lots of action. I think I'm just used to UF characters like Kate Daniels.
Hunter's Quest wasn't exactly what I expected. The main character felt very young, leaving me to feel like this was a YA fantasy. She has this tough snarky attitude and yet nothing was really that big of challenge for her. It did have an interesting variety of creatures which I enjoyed but again, no creature was out of reach. Hunt a dragon? Fine. Best a leprechaun? Fine. Any time she got into trouble she couldn't handle someone showed up to help her out of it.
It was a light fluffy read with interesting characters and lots of action. I think I'm just used to UF characters like Kate Daniels.
The Kelping by Jan Stinchcomb is number nine in Unnerving's Rewind or Die series. Those of you expecting a horror-filled flesh-eating mermaid tale might find it a little tame. What's inside these 67 pages is a more insidious tale of mermaids infiltrating a sleepy little seaside town. It starts out quite strong with out-of-towner Nick meeting a beautiful woman on the beach and ends with Nick caught up in a deadly Beachside tradition. Then we meet Dr. Craig Bo.
Bo is a pretty despicable human. From the outside in, he has the perfect life with a beautiful wife and kids but that's not good enough for Dr. Bo. A big donor, a family man, the town's prominent dermatologist, he sees himself as a god, personally responsible for the beauty of the faces around him. He has a dirty little secret though. He's being blackmailed after an indiscretion at the beach one night. Not that it's the first time. He has a long history but it's okay because he never kissed them and it wasn't with minors or men. It was easy to lie to his wife, Penelope because he loved her so much. Gag.
After the Kelping, a tradition where the year's Sea King is crowned and then layered with sea kelp, something bizarre starts happening. He slowly realizes that there's much more to the women of his town and his wife that he ever knew. The kelp starts overtaking his body as he turns into another being—one that craves the sea. And he's the kind of man who gets what he deserves.
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Bo is a pretty despicable human. From the outside in, he has the perfect life with a beautiful wife and kids but that's not good enough for Dr. Bo. A big donor, a family man, the town's prominent dermatologist, he sees himself as a god, personally responsible for the beauty of the faces around him. He has a dirty little secret though. He's being blackmailed after an indiscretion at the beach one night. Not that it's the first time. He has a long history but it's okay because he never kissed them and it wasn't with minors or men. It was easy to lie to his wife, Penelope because he loved her so much. Gag.
After the Kelping, a tradition where the year's Sea King is crowned and then layered with sea kelp, something bizarre starts happening. He slowly realizes that there's much more to the women of his town and his wife that he ever knew. The kelp starts overtaking his body as he turns into another being—one that craves the sea. And he's the kind of man who gets what he deserves.
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Poison and Honey is an urban fantasy novella, but the world-building reads every bit as good as a full-length novel. While it is set in what simply known as "Otherworld", there is nothing simple about the world Kristen Brand creates here. Leigh was abducted from Earth through a gate portal into Otherworld, where she now serves as a servant in the palace. Considered a "mud person", Leigh is looked down upon by the others as disgusting and lazy. The palace is vast with shadowed alcoves and back hallways. The royals are narcissistic, harsh, and beautiful but not all the creatures here are perfection personified. Goblins, horse-headed men, scaly sea creatures, and others fill out the cast. There's a very Unseelie vibe given to this dark and dangerous world. Everyone is plotting and scheming and playing their own hand very close to their chest.
Leigh is the perfect protagonist. She's smart and strong, but she keeps her strengths hidden as well as her agenda. She's able to survive in this new world by doing what she's told, but inside she's a seething mass of vigilante resentment and rage. When she's pulled into the prince's service, she's conflicted by this man that she should loathe. Dredarion isn't all he appears. His machinations against his brother lead you to believe that he is just like the others, but there's someone underneath who might be, dare I say, human? There are definite fireworks between the two, but thankfully, no instalove. I'm such a sucker for conflicted romances in UF and these two are like moths to the flame if that flame is all actuality a bug zapper.
I can't tell you how much I adore when my preconceived notions of a book get completely demolished. That's a weird thing to admit, isn't it? It's true though. Poison and Honey walked up behind me and whacked me upside the head with everything it had in it. The characters are fantastic, the world-building is sublime, there's no end to the action, and there's that smoking little ember of heat thrown in for good measure. Oh! There's even this scene with a decaying zombie-ish skull-bear that did my horror-loving heart good! So. Good.
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Leigh is the perfect protagonist. She's smart and strong, but she keeps her strengths hidden as well as her agenda. She's able to survive in this new world by doing what she's told, but inside she's a seething mass of vigilante resentment and rage. When she's pulled into the prince's service, she's conflicted by this man that she should loathe. Dredarion isn't all he appears. His machinations against his brother lead you to believe that he is just like the others, but there's someone underneath who might be, dare I say, human? There are definite fireworks between the two, but thankfully, no instalove. I'm such a sucker for conflicted romances in UF and these two are like moths to the flame if that flame is all actuality a bug zapper.
I can't tell you how much I adore when my preconceived notions of a book get completely demolished. That's a weird thing to admit, isn't it? It's true though. Poison and Honey walked up behind me and whacked me upside the head with everything it had in it. The characters are fantastic, the world-building is sublime, there's no end to the action, and there's that smoking little ember of heat thrown in for good measure. Oh! There's even this scene with a decaying zombie-ish skull-bear that did my horror-loving heart good! So. Good.
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