3 out of 5 stars
Kindle Edition. 222 pages. Published April 14th 2017 by Dreamspinner Press (first published September 30th 2012)
Blurb:
Sammy Raphael is a crappy witch, and on top of that, he can’t seem to get a boyfriend. Where other supernaturals can bring down lightning and manifest wealth, Sammy can paint. Granted, the “prophetic” paintings he creates at night always come true, but they never predict anything important. Sammy feels like a total loser with a worthless ability.
One night he paints a gorgeous guy who turns out to be his secret crush, the human Ryder, but Ryder’s changed so much he’s almost unrecognizably beautiful. Then Sammy paints an angel who turns out to be a witch. But is that witch also a devil—a devil who can bring down Sammy’s whole community and everyone he loves? And why the hell does Ryder keep changing? Aloysius, the black cat familiar, always backs a winner. So why is he backing Sammy?
Likes:
- Aloysius.
- The mystery surrounding Ryder and Lucien kept me hooked.
- Good smut.
- The occasional points of view from Ryder and Lucian kept me curious.
- Good to see the changes in the witching community since the last book.
- Sammy’s powers were interesting.
- More magic than the last book.
Dislikes:
- Sexual assault and rape.
- Sexual assault and rape that weren’t addressed.
- Main romance didn’t start until halfway through the book.
- Romance between Ryder and Sammy went from 0 to 60 in a flash.
- Time jump between books not addressed at first.
- Ryder constantly turning to sex instead of answering Sammy’s questions.
- The romance felt like a subplot.
- I don’t think it would be a good reread.
- Lots of little inconsistencies.
After my horrible experience rereading Spell Cat, I was a little hesitant to read Brush With Catastrophe. To my surprise, I enjoyed the book. Sammy was relatable and his powers were cool. Best of all, I was hooked by the mystery surrounding Ryder and Lucian. Finding out who they really were and what they were up to was what drove my interest in the book.
The romance is wildly different from what I’m typically used to, and not in a good way. Sammy spends literally half the book with Lucian, with Ryder solidly in the ‘straight and completely untouchable’ category. Right up until that changes. When Lucian’s kicked to the curb and Ryder’s suddenly available, there’s a lot of sex, but little romance. No flirting, no getting to know each other as lovers, and no internal conflict. Just boom, they’re together, and the only problem between them is Ryder’s family issues.
Credit where it’s due. The sex is hot. And there’s a lot of it. So much so that Ryder uses sex as a way to distract Sammy when he starts asking questions. That got annoying fast.
You can’t talk about the sex in this book without bringing up the sexual assault and rape. Like in Spell Cat, the sexual assault goes unpunished. Hell, it’s practically unmentioned after the fact. As is the rape. It’s my least favorite thing about Tara Lain as a writer. This is not the first book where the main character is sexually assaulted and it’s not dealt with. But it’s especially noticeable in this book.
Sammy’s not without his faults, but I liked him. Does he do some stupid things? Sure, but it’s established early on that he has low self-esteem and is desperate for a boyfriend. There are a ton of red flags with Lucian, but I don’t fault Sammy for staying with him. Lucian knows how to turn on the charm. Even Killian fell for the act.
Once again, Aloysius was awesome. He’s undoubtedly my favorite character. Seeing Blaine and Killian again was fine. I don’t particularly care for them, but with how prominent they are in the coven, it would be hard to leave them out.
I do think a lot of the magical culture has been improved on. There’s more of it, for one. More magic, more time spent discussing issues in the magical world, and more people in the coven. Seeing the changes made to the community since the last book was nice. I would have preferred to know about the one year time gap between this book and the previous one sooner than at the 37% mark, so it would have been easier to put things in perspective.
There are a bunch of little inconsistencies and things that don’t make a lot of sense. Like when Ryder comes back from summer vacation with his big change, and even his eye color is different. Everyone just accepts it like it’s no big deal. You’re telling me that Ryder didn’t even bother wearing colored contacts to at least make his transformation seem normal?
When I’m reading a really good fantasy novel, it’s easy to know which authors spent a lot of time with their world building, and which ones didn’t. This book, and the previous one as well, did not feel like it was fully flashed out in the author’s mind.
Sadly, like the previous book, I don’t think Brush With Catastrophe would make a good reread. The romance alone isn’t strong enough. With the mystery surrounding Ryder and Lucian gone, the book lacks a hook.
I hope the final book in the trilogy will be good. Or at least has no sexual assault. With Aloysius as one of the main characters, I have high hopes.
Be sure to check out the reviews for Spell Cat (The Aloysius Tales #1), Cataclysmic Shift (The Aloysius Tales #3), and the series review.
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