Craved (Gwen Sparks #1) by Stephanie Nelson

Summary from Barnes and Noble:

Gwen Sparks just wants to live a peaceful life in the supernatural town of Flora, but from the moment she read about the first murdered witch, all hope of peace was abandoned. Possessing the rare ability to read the memories of dead, she volunteers to help catch the culprit behind the string of drained witches. Gwen has to team up with the one man who broke her heart, deal with a ghost who pulls her into the deathly realm at will, and a fight off the advances of sexy but frustrating vampire who not only craves what runs through her veins—he wants her heart.

Review

So I read this on a reccomendation from Awesome Sauce. And I love Awesome Sauce, in the past I’ve gotten some great leads on my trashy/paranormal reads. They’re even nice enough to send me tips via Goodreads.

So I’m loathe to say this next part…

But I must…

‘Cause it happens…

I didn’t like this book! *eek* And yes, I did dislike this book with an exclamation point. I’ll give you that I was harder on this book because I picked it up during a time when I was dying for a can’t-put-it-down type of trashy romance. I needed a bodice ripper at it’s best. Luckily I didn’t put all my bookish dreams into one pot…Ashley over at Into The Hall of Books turned me onto The Night Huntress Series and it was love at first sight! So, while this first attempt [Craved] by Nelson held some potential for future trashy-ness I just couldn’t get past the bad writing.

You see in general I think trashy romances get a bad name. We’re told not to expect much from them…even I call them trashy…which is a slightly dismissive term of a genre that is the number one selling type of book in the Ebook market. Any who, back to my point. Craved wasn’t well written. It had potential. It reminded me of a book that was in it’s rough draft form…it was begging for an editor to comb the pages and help the author massage more depth into the plot, correct some flow issues, and generally edit. The whole thing reminded me of the brain vomit some students attempt to turn in after pulling an all nighter. That spew that ends up on a page after a student has consumed information but either is too scared or too late to fully sort through their info. It’s not that the bones of the story weren’t there…they just weren’t properly finished.

That being said I did enjoy the concept. A very powerful Witch solves a crime and falls in love with a Vampire. The sex scenes bordered on erotic and while they were satisfying *pun intended, lol* a little more heart from the characters would have driven home their point *pun not intended, if you see the pun that is…* I think a good sex scene needs not just physical tension but emotional tension as well. Nelson’s characters were a little rough to fulfill the latter element.

This book seems to be the start of a series. I don’t know that I’ll tune in for the next installment without better reviews across the board.

Rating: 1/5 Great idea, poor follow through. 

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Dangerous Magic by Alix Rickloff

BookTalk

Gwenyth Killigrew, the Witch of Kerrow is used to being woken up in the dead of night. At the spinsterly age of 30, Gwenyth has been performing the duties of healer and midwife for Kerrow and the surrounding lands for many years. Very little could shake the unflappable calm that comes with Gwenyth’s beauty, experience, and her ability of second Sight.

But then the seas brought her Captain Rafe Flemming. A dangerous man, a pirate both on and off the high seas, Captain Flemming has been running a prosperous smuggling trade off the west coast for years. Rafe was born to the peerage and fell from grace during a Navy mutiny. Now he’s found himself on the famous Witch of Kerrow’s doorstep soaking wet and bleeding.

Both the Witch and the Captain have hidden desires…Gwenyth for a daughter to whom she can pass on her gift of sight and healing…Rafe for revenge upon those who wronged him in the past…

They’ve struck a bargain, these two lonely characters. Rafe will play stud to Gwenyth’s child if Gwenyth will travel to Rafe’s ancestral home and use her Sight to find him a wife. But both will have to throw their carefully laid plans to the wind if they are to take a chance on love…

Review

I was surprised how much I grew to like this book. I wasn’t sure in the beginning if the tale was going to be well told or not. At times I felt like the author didn’t complete thoughts for me…didn’t fully set a scene. I’d just pop into something days after the last scene. Not a whole lot of prep for that.

But, and this is most important in a romance, I began to like and understand my characters. I really enjoyed Gwenyth. Her second sight added a lot of understanding to the text, and the integration of her powers were really well done. Plus, Gwenyth was so sure of herself, confident even when she had been thrown to the wolves of the Ton. Bravo.

And that scene…the one where they break up (yeah, you know it happens in all romances, lol). Ugh, heartbreaking…why, oh why, can’t she have her love now! Let it all go! Take a chance! I can’t go further than that without risking major spoilers…but that scene we see through Cecily’s eyes…let’s just say *tear*

Rafe bordered on a bit of asshole-ness for a good bit of the text. But he never crossed the line into a territory in which I disliked him, or his decisions. Rafe always seemed to come through in the end. By the time the whole dream-prophesy hits…you’ll be rooting for the guy. Because Rafe has had some drama in his life, made a mistake or two, but he really deserved happiness and so does Gwenyth. You’ll really want them to find that happiness together.

3.7/5: Witchy romance that has all the heat and the heart to go along with it.

*Copy received from Carina Press via NetGalley…Thanks!*

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Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

BookTalk

Emma thought her life couldn’t get any worse. Within a year she’d lost both her mother and her twin brother leaving her with a grieving alcoholic of a step dad to take care of her. After her stepfather wrapped both of them around a tree Emma is left not only with a massive scar on her arm but a wounded soul as well.

Brendan is the creme de la creme of New York society. The richest, most attractive, athletic guy at Vincent Academy. He doesn’t even own a hairbrush…that’s how naturally hot his features are…straight out of bed he’s rock star perfect. But he’s sickened by the cliques that come with wealth. He’d trade it in a heartbeat for something wild and real.

Emma will move to New York and as the wounds of her past begin to heal she’ll find herself involved in a thousand-year old curse…and find her soul mate in Brendan. But their path is not straight, instead full of ancient history, witchy spells, and the gossip mill that is an Upper East Side private school. They’ll have to trust in each other because the only thing worse than a curse is a trashed high school reputation.

Review

I. Loved. This. Book.

It surprised me, it was so funny from the start. Emma is kinda snarky, a little geeky, and super funny. I officially liked her when she referred to super-sweet-teen-perfume as a “unicorn fart”. Where has that expression been all my life?! The writing was witty, and the way Emma narrates her experiences was by far my favorite part of the book. From random comments about teen life, to watching her fall for Brendan, the way Emma described it all gets an emotional response from the reader.

And now for the insta-love. I’ll admit in the beginning of this book I wondered if this was going to be too much like the Fallen series. It’s hard not to compare the two as Spellbound is about soul-mates finding each other. The plot involves the souls of Emma and Brendan being reincarnated again and again over the span of 1,000 years which is very Fallen-esque. But, I was happy to find that aside from the reincarnation/curse aspect the two tales are very different.

First off, neither Emma nor Brendan are aware of the curse. Sure, Brendan admits to it being an old family joke, but nothing that he’s ever taken seriously. It was cool to see these two fall into insta-love and figure out their connection. It was a great twist that it was a new concept to both of them, rather than one being more knowledgeable about the situation than another. Plus, they have a lot of swoon-worthy moments over their brief courtship. Brendan plays a little bit of the too-cool-for-school guy in the beginning, but it’s the little things he does for Emma that make the reader swoon.

Another thing that I loved was that this book was a stand-alone. The whole story was wrapped up in one book. Shultz gives a teaser at a potential companion novel starring Angelique, but the curse that is the center of this story concludes within the pages of a single book. The end action may have happened a bit dramatically in comparison to the rest of the novel but it was an end I didn’t see coming and I’m always happy when that happens. I am now excitedly awaiting more info on Angelique’s title…If Spellbound was any indication it’s bound to be a fun and funny romp filled with lots of love.

Rating: 9/10

P.S.

Brendan is always joking that Emma is a ‘musicologist’ but really both characters are constantly pictured in the book with ear buds in their ears…Shultz has taken this obsession one step further for Spellbound fans by creating a playlist on iTunes featuring songs that are special to both Brendan and Emma. Check out the back of your book for the reasoning behind each song choice.

Download the Playlist on iTunes: Brendan & Emma’s Playlist

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