3 out of 5 stars
Kindle Edition, 201 pages. Published September 13th 2017 by Dreamspinner Press (first published July 23rd 2013)
Blurb:
An Aloysius Tale๏ปฟ
Aloysius, the magical black cat and powerful witchโs familiar, isnโt afraid to go into battle to protect his master, but the outcome of the fight turns his feline world upside down. A direct hit of magic steals not only his memories and power, but even the body heโs lived in for several centuries. When he wakes up naked on the floor of a veterinarianโs office, it isnโt as the cat Aloysius, but as the sixteenth-century French gentleman Alain Bellarose. And when Alain sees sexy and enigmatic veterinarian Luke Elliott, he decides heโll make the best of his time as a human.
Luke is a man with secrets who generally prefers the company of animalsโthough the flamboyant boy who washes his face with the side of his hand and tries to lick his own privates might prove an exception.
Meanwhile, Witch Master Killian Barth and his secret weapon, Sammy, struggle without Aloysiusโs power to draw on. Two evil females are circling, and seeing the covenโs weakness, theyโre about to move in for the kill. When Alainโs memories return, heโs faced with the ultimate dilemma: protect his community or stay with the man he loves.
Likes:
- Pets.
- How everything was wrapped up in the end.
- Good smut.
Dislikes:
- How unimpressive Alain was.
- Luke’s past was clichรฉ.
- Wasn’t hooked.
- Constant reminders of how handsome and gay the men are.
- Tone felt sophomoric.
- Never felt like the stakes were high.
- Little magic.
- No new world building.
- Selective amnesia.
- Overuse of pet name and dumb swear words.
- Significant chunk of the story was about Killian.
- Luke’s timeline doesn’t feel right.
- Luke’s questionable choices.
Aloysius has been my favorite character for the past two books, and I was really excited for his story. I set the bar higher for this book, which I now regret because overall this book is a bland disappointment.
As a cat, Aloysius is fierce, cocky, self-assured, and a force to be reckoned with. As a human, he’s a basic twink. Alain’s not a bad guy, but he’s not memorable the way Aloysius is. I think a big part of that disconnect is that Alain’s amnesia took away a lot of his agency. With no memory of who or what he was, no money, and no clues about his past, he attached himself to Luke like a limpet. He was never really given the chance to be anything other than a weird boyfriend who got the occasional overwhelming urge to protect.
I feel like neither Alain nor Luke grew or changed much during the book. Though, to be fair, they weren’t the only focus. This book is the final one in the trilogy, and it needed to wrap everything up. That meant a lot of time spent with Killian and the gang, including a significant amount of time in Killian’s point of view.
Luke wasn’t a bad character either, if you ignore his clichรฉd past and how his timeline in New York working for Nicky and going to vet school doesn’t seem to add up. Pets are a good way to win my affection, and Luke being a vet was nice, as was Alain’s ability to speak with the animals. Like most Tara Lain novels, the smut was good, and there was a lot of it.
This book didn’t hook me at all. I put it down and forgot about it for a few days. The stakes never felt high, even when Killian was fighting the European witches. Never once was I worried about any of the characters, despite some dicey situations. The tone also didn’t work for me. I can’t explain it well, but it reminded me of high school. Maybe because it felt like I was constantly being reminded of how handsome the men were, like their appearance was the most important thing in the world.
There were a other little things that bugged me, like the overuse of the pet name ‘kitten’ and swear words ‘shitfire’ and ‘she-it’. There was little magic outside the occasional fights, no new world building, and no inclusion of the larger witching community. Not to mention Alain’s selective amnesia. He completely forgot who he was, used old-fashioned words and phrases, but remembered what plastic was.
My final complaint was about Luke’s questionable choices. He lived in fear of being found by Nicky, but didn’t move out of New York. He also didn’t have any sort of protection. I know that guns are illegal in NYC, but what about a taser? Pepper spray? A baseball bat? Hell, even a basic self-defense class. But no. That would have gotten in the way of valiantly standing up to the bad guys and saying he’d die. Literally.
“And what will you do to stop us, human?”
“Die.”
It was a good thing that moment came near the end of the book, because I was so done. I know Luke was a human standing up to powerful witches, but still. Done.
I wish I had more good things to say about this book. And honestly, it wasn’t terrible. I finished it. But it wasn’t anything better than ‘just okay’. At least the ending wrapped up well and everyone was happy.
Be sure to check out the reviews for Spell Cat (The Aloysius Tales #1), Brush with Catastrophe (The Aloysius Tales #2), Cataclysmic Shift (The Aloysius Tales #3), and the series review.
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