Day: September 2, 2020

Series Review: Future Series by Kate Hawthorne and E.M. Denning

I can’t actually rate this series, seeing as how I DNF-ed the last two books.

Series rating: Not Recommended

Books in order:

Likes:

  • Low angst.
  • Romance started fast.
  • No open homophobia.
  • Hot smut, and lots of it.

Dislikes:

  • Not much tension.
  • I didn’t finish the last two books.

For the first time since I’ve started doing series reviews, I didn’t feel like it was fair to give an actual number rating. Mostly because I didn’t finish two out of the three books. So, simply put, I don’t recommend this series.

The first book was nice. Not the best thing I’ve ever read, but it made me excited about going on to the next book. And then I was completely disappointed to not click with either of the other to books.

My disinterest in the second book came squarely from the lack of tension and conflict. The book was mostly about sex, or the lack of it. It simply wasn’t enough to keep my attention.

The third book turned me off almost from the first page. Luis was not a character I could root for or care about. And I’ve learned from years of reading romance that if I don’t care about one of the men, I won’t enjoy the romance.

To be fair to this series, I think a lot of the problems I had with the books were specific to me. Someone who doesn’t have the same pet peeves as I do wouldn’t have disliked Luis so intensely. That being said, the fact that I dropped two books in a row makes me hesitant to read anything from either of these authors again.

Review: The Arch-Mage’s Firebird by K.L. Noone

A good story idea, but way too short.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Kindle Edition. 41 pages. Published February 1st 2020 by JMS Books LLC

Blurb:

Thomas East was meant to be the youngest Arch-Mage in history, a magical genius and a solver of problems. But he hadn’t expected quite so many problems — not to mention the endless meetings, bureaucracy, and political negotiations. So he’s currently hiding in a sleepy California seaside town, working in an ice cream parlor and avoiding everyone he’s let down … until a firebird in need of rescue crashes into his shop.

Nicholas Incandesco has far too many problems. He’s a firebird, a shapeshifter, and a power source, and a lot of magicians could use someone with his gifts. He’s also technically a murder suspect with two magical bounty hunters on his trail. He just wants someplace safe to land, and the attractive witch behind the ice cream counter might offer a sweet refuge.

This encounter might be exactly what both Nicholas and Tom need to find themselves … and rescue each other. 

Likes:

  • Started off right when the action begins.
  • The story was good.
  • Tom wanted to help the familiars and magical creatures.
  • Both Tom and Nicholas seemed nice.
  • Tom was sympathetic.
  • The romance was fast but sweet.
  • Included a playlist.

Dislikes:

  • Way too short for my tastes.
  • Lots of backstory.
  • Hard to form a deep bond with either character.
  • The prose is a bit too flowery for my tastes. Lots of long sentences and semi-colons.

I’ll admit to being sucked in by the blurb and not checking the page length. My mistake. I could tell right away from how the story opened that this was going to be short. I expected a novella, but at only 43 pages, it’s not even that. A short story that’s on the long side, maybe.

I love a good novella, but this story is simply too short for my tastes. It focused basically on two scenes – in the ice cream parlor and in Tom’s apartment. Aside from that, there was a lot of backstory. That’s the downside of starting a story in the middle of action. You then have to explain how everyone ended up there.

From the backstory, I got a good feeling about both Tom and Nicholas. It was a little sad that I was judging them for their past actions rather than for the present ones, but I did approve of how Tom had fought to get magical creatures and familiars more rights in the magical society. I also sympathized with how Tom’s idealistic ideas of changing the world for the better came crashing down in the face of bureaucracy and greed.

The story was an interesting one, and a lot was packed into the few short pages. It definitely left me wanting more. I think there’s enough possibility here to have turned the story into a full-fledged novel, or even a good-sized novella, and I can’t help but wonder why it wasn’t. It was too short for me to form a deep attachment to either man, and left me wanting to watch the relationship actually develop. All that was on the page was the first blush of romance.

Then again, the flowery language, while fine in such a short story, would have gotten overwhelming in something longer. It wasn’t bad, just not suited to my tastes. I like simplicity, not overly long sentences, lots of semi-colons, and abundant similes. I’ve read fiction written by poets before, and that’s what this story reminded me of. I don’t think I could have read an entire novel filled with sentences like, “Companionable sunbeams, plump and indolent, traveled across the end of the bed. Met sheet-hills of white froth and plopped down, content.”

I did like that the author included a playlist of songs she listened to when writing. That was new to me.

Even though this story isn’t listed as part of a series, it’s loosely connected to two other stories, and I plan to read both of those as well. But sadly, they’re equally as short.