Review: Red Hot Fury by Kasey Mackenzie

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Hell hath nothing worse than a Fury scorned...

As a Fury, Marissa Holloway belongs to an Arcane race that has avenged wrongdoing since time immemorial. As Boston’s Chief Magical Investigator for the past five years, she’s doing what she was born to: solving supernatural crimes.

It’s far from business as usual when the body of one of Riss’s sister Furies washes up in Boston harbor. Riss discovers that the corpse’s identity has been magically altered, but as soon as she reports her findings, she’s immediately—and inexplicably—suspended from the her job. Then a human assassin makes an attempt on her life, and Riss starts to realize that someone may be trying to stir up strife between mortals and Arcanes.

When a Fury gets mad, she gets even, and Riss is determined to untangle this case. Without the support of the mortal PD, Riss turns to the one man she can trust to watch her back—shapeshifting Warhound Scott Murphy. But since Scott is also Riss’s ex, she’ll have to keep a tight leash on more than just the supernatural rage that feeds her power as they try to solve a murder—and stop a war…

Ok, let me start off by saying that I really liked that Ms. Mackenzie went for something different here. We have Furies, we have harpies, we have warhounds, we have sidhe and we have genetic tampering that leads to mixed breeds and all sorts of mayhem. The fact that there were harpies at all made me happy because let's face it, you don't see them used much in UF. Ms. Mackenzie also had a unique take on the relationship between furies and harpies and again, I appreciated the originality of it.

While I'm listing the positives, let me throw out that a lot of people are going to like that there's a semi steamy love interest in the protag's ex, Scott, who's a warhound. There's a lot of action and there's the question of who's behind all the mayhem going on. This will be enough for some people, and that's fine. Now, I'll tell you why it just didn't work for me.

Unfortunately, the writing was not the book's strong point. There was a lot of info dumping and the characters often acted like they'd been created yesterday. They have lived in this world their whole lives and several of them are supposed to be badasses that have been around the block a few times and yet, they're clueless most of the time. And it was so very dramatic. All the time. It was kind of exhausting, really.

The main character, Riss. We're told she's a badass. We're told that a lot. We don't actually SEE a lot of badassery coming from her. We see a lot of bitchiness and jumping to conclusions and convenient cluelessness, but no, we don't see a lot of badassness. I know that I was SUPPOSED to sympathize with Riss, but I didn't. She could be nice, at times, but mostly she was an immature brat that had little care for anyone that wasn't her, or wasn't a fury. Cuz no one can understand the weight of the EPIC BADASSNESS she carries but a sister fury.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. The author is a lovely woman who has been very generous in sending me an ARC to review and when told that I probably would be giving it a lower grade, she said there were no strings attached when she sent me the ARC and she would never ask me not to post a review. I respect that. I respect her for it and I respect that she had a fresh take on the UF genre, in my opinion.

I had a lot of issues with this book, but that doesn't mean that other people aren't going to enjoy this one. My girl, Wendy, reviewed Red Hot Fury and loved it. Link to review here. So, as you can see, I am not the only opinion out there.

Final grade: C-. The writing was really a D, but the fact that the author had some good concepts and cool ideas really brought the grade up.

Red Hot Fury releases June 29.

There will be a sequel coming out. I believe the title is Green Eyed Envy. So, if you enjoy this one, there will be more to come.....

There's a difference between owning your sexuality and having it own you

It's that time again!!! A rant is a comin on, y'all.

So, I'm all for enjoying man candy and girl candy and all sorts of candy. I really am. I am also known for exhorting my girls to own their sexuality. Don't be afraid to have desires, don't be a prude because you think lightning shall burst from the sky and ream your ass for having a libido. However, ladies, ladies, please, y'all don't have to be slavering, howling and acting like you're in heat at the sight of a male (and not always even a very hot one at that). I mean, have some self respect. It's getting so I can't talk about sports and actually be interested in them for the sake of the sport. Nope. It's just an excuse to parade man candy around and ovulate, apparently. You can't watch a show without girls screaming to get the short and less attractive guy out of the way so we can just watch the hung guy boff people. Srsly, y'all, there are shows where you can have little to no plot and sleazy guys packin ridiculous heat screwin anything and everything. It's called porn. Go on and get you some. Really. If women watched more of that then maybe they wouldn't try to make EVERYTHING from sports, books, tv shows, interviews, conversations, movies, etc, etc, etc into porn. Go, get thee a vibrator. And don't be cheap, get a good one. Get a good porno. Take care of that so that you can not embarrass the female population with.....well, let's just say that if it were men talking about women like that, there'd be bitch slapping involved.

So, to recap: Don't be afraid of sex and talking about it, having it, fantasizing about it, reading about it, writing about, liking the hell out of it, but let's have a lil dignity, shall we?

Also....

I'm over at Mama Kitty Reviews with a post on why I love to read. Check it out if you're so inclined. It felt a bit like posing naked for some reason, lol. What? I'm shy :P

ARC Review: Assassin's Honor by Monica Burns

Description from Goodreads:
A woman with visions of the past...

Archeologist Emma Zale sees the past when she touches ancient relics. It’s how she uncovered evidence of an ancient order of assassins—the Sicari. When a sinfully dark stranger shows up on her Chicago doorstep demanding an ancient artifact she doesn’t have, he drags her into a world where telekinesis and empaths are the norm. Now someone wants her dead, and her only hope of survival is an assassin who’s every bit as dangerous to her body as he is to her heart.

Bonded to an honorable assassin...

Ares De Luca comes from an ancient Roman bloodline of telekinetic assassins. A Sicari, he’s honor bound to kill only in the name of justice. But when the woman he loved was murdered, Ares broke the Sicari code and used his sword for revenge. Love cost him dearly once before, and he’s not willing to pay the price again. At least not until hot, sweet, delectable Emma walked into his life. Not only does she hold the key to a valuable Sicari relic, she might just hold the key to his heart.

Their dangerous passion will redeem an assassin's honor.

This book had a lot of potential. The archeology with ruins and ancient artifacts of ancient orders was a premise that could have been so cool. The writing was fairly well done, which is a major thing for me. Nothing can kill a book for me like poor writing. Even if it has a great concept.

Unfortunately it was ruined a bit by the rather annoying heroine and the overly self castigating hero.

The heroine was frustrating for me because at times she could seem so reasonable, at least in her mental narration, but as soon as she opened her mouth she reminded me of a rabid puppy. She consistently jumped to wrong conclusions for most of the book and basically conducted herself like a bull in a china shop. I also was annoyed because she had good instincts and yet she consistently chose to ignore them. Why must heroines do this? Does it make them cute and feisty to be loud, biting and ignore common sense? Not for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a heroine that can give as good as she gets and isn't all fluff and even ones with a sharp tongue, but foaming at the mouth with misplaced righteous indignation does nothing for me. Furthermore, her overly guilt ridden attitude and fear of her abilities when she did something justifiable out of self defense got really old for me. You don't have to be a flower child to be an acceptable heroine in my book. And with as sharp a tongue as she had, she was no flower child to begin with.

The hero was better and generally more likable, but his constant need to be the biggest martyr ever was very tiresome for me. I wanted to tell him to climb down off the cross and join the rest of the world. His devotion to his order was admirable, but I found little that I liked about the order so it also seemed irritating at times. Many times it seemed to be just another tool he used to flog himself over his lost honor. Considering the flaws in his order I don't see how he, as one of the most honorable and noble in the order, had ever really lost his honor to begin with. Again, that is just my view, I understand that other people will perceive that differently.

The romance was nice and often times refreshing in the way that although they had many spats and misunderstandings (often because of Emma's love of jumping to wrong conclusions) they really did seem to get over them quickly when they would stop long enough to discuss it rationally. Sadly the romance was bogged down by Ares constantly beating himself up about the relationship and Emma also beating him up about the relationship. I know that sounds harsh, but it honestly felt like that a lot of times. In her head, Emma would try to see it from Ares' perspective and be reasonable, but as soon as she would open her mouth bitterness and assumptions would pour forth.

Overall, the book was entertaining, but for me, fairly forgettable. I was frustrated because I saw flashes of good writing and great potential in this story, but the characters were never able to deliver on that promise.

My final grade is a C+

I know that many fans of paranormal romance are going to enjoy this one, it just didn't stand out from the crowd for me.

And for the haters that want a laugh.....

I'm not a huge Perez Hilton fan. He buys his own hype and is generally filled with a kind of self righteous/self loathing thing. Plus he likes to start needless crap. However, this is a damn funny video and it makes me giggle. I may love Gaga, but almost every celeb that tries to have a huge "mission" or "stance" tends to kinda explode into their own monster (yes, a pun). So, I love Gaga, but am able to laugh at this, too.

Alejandro Vid Out

Ok, the video for Gaga's song Alejandro just released today. It's controversial, melodramatic and rather dark. Let's hear what your take on it is.

Lady Gaga - New Music - More Music Videos

Happy Monday and a Winner!

Happy Monday everyone! Hope it's a good one wherever you are. It's hot and sunny here. Maybe a little too hot, lol.

Ok, so the winner of the signed set of Kate Daniles series by Ilona Andrews is................ Anna Dougherty!! Please contact me at brk.nlssn@gmail.com with your mailing address.

Thanks to all who entered. I had so many entries that I wish I had more sets!

Thanks for playing and they're will be more chances to win things later.

ETA: Kate DANIELS. Jesus, I can spell. I swears it. No more blogging with no coffee and no glasses. ::grumblegrumble::