Day: November 20, 2020

Series Review: Blackstone Manor by Kassandra Lea

An interesting series, but it needed more development.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Likes:

  • Unique premise.
  • Gargoyles.
  • Both Io and Cinder are nice.
  • Sweet romance.
  • Short, quick reads.
  • Everything was wrapped up nicely.

Dislikes:

  • Needed more world building.
  • Minor errors in every story.
  • ‘I don’t know how things really work’ style lazy writing.
  • The villain was cliché.
  • Didn’t feel like the author had sketched out the characters well.
  • Wanted more character development.

I am a child of the 90s, and as such I have fond memories of the Gargoyles cartoon show. So when I saw that there was an MM romance short story series featuring gargoyles, I knew I had to read it. Gargoyles are underrepresented in romance, which makes this series really stand out.

Aside from the gargoyle aspect, the series has another unique aspect. Masonry gargoyles protect important old buildings, which keeps the balance between the worlds of the living and the dead. Unfortunately, this aspect isn’t developed. Not only that, but you can be forgiven for forgetting that it’s part of Io’s life at all, since he doesn’t protect any building other than Blackstone Manor, and even that was only to win Cinder’s favor.

My biggest disappointment about this series was the lack of world building. Lots of interesting things were hinted at but never expanded on. A little bit of extra information would have brought the stories up to the next level. I suspect the lack of world building was due to lazy writing. Neither main character knew how or why the old buildings they protected were capable of keeping the balance between worlds. Not only that, but neither man was interested in finding out. I accepted that with Io, but it didn’t fit Cinder’s personality.

Luckily, both Io and Cinder were nice characters. They weren’t perfect, with Io being a little too immature for my tastes, but he had a good heart. Again, I wanted more from the stories, this time in terms of character development. I wanted Io to mature a little. Cinder does relax and learn to let loose at the end, which was nice to see.

Their romance, while quick, was sweet. I was a little worried about their compatibility at first, but it turned out all right in the end. There was some nice smut in the first two stories, but the last two were completely devoid of on-page smut.

The non-romantic plot stretched over all four stories. It wasn’t bad, but I don’t think it was strictly necessary. I would have preferred more depth to the characters or the world building. As it was, the villain was cliché, I never worried that Io was really in danger, and the way everything was wrapped up at the end of story three was really underwhelming. I was glad for the fourth story, which tied up the final loose threads, and ended everything on an upbeat note.

I don’t have much interest in reading anything else by Kassandra Lea. She’s clearly got the imagination and the writing skill, but I felt like she didn’t have a great grasp on the characters. A few times, developments came from left field, making it seem like they were thrown into the story just because.

Review: Captive Mate (Mismatched Mates #2) by Eliot Grayson

Not as good as book one, but still a good read.

4 out of 5 stars

E-book. Kindle Unlimited. 207 pages. Published August 25th 2020 by Smoking Teacup Books

Blurb:

Captured, imprisoned, and…falling in love?

Arik is many things. Shaman, necromancer, a little on the snarky side…no one could ever accuse him of being boring. But one thing he never intended to be was imprisoned by angry werewolves. Maybe casting that love spell on the sexy alpha pack leader wasn’t such a great idea after all.

Matthew Armitage has a problem. Several of them, actually. And the biggest one is Arik. The shaman can’t be trusted. He’s dangerous enough to get the entire pack killed. Matthew knows that. But knowing doesn’t make it any easier to keep his mind (and hands) off Arik. Surely everything he’s feeling is a side effect of the spell…right?

It’s not long before enemies of the pack start circling—including one intent on claiming Arik as his unwilling mate. If they have any hope of surviving, Arik and Matthew will need to work together. And if they want a shot at happily ever after…well, they’ll just have to cross that bridge when they get to it.

If they get to it…

Captive Mate can (sort of) be read as a standalone, but works best when read in order as part of the Mismatched Mates series, beginning with The Alpha’s Warlock. This book contains a vivid memory of a sexual assault, but the assault occurs in the past and off-page and is not between the main characters. 

Likes:

  • Interesting non-romantic plot.
  • Matthew was a good guy.
  • Still like Nate and Ian.
  • Arik’s shifted form.
  • Happy ending.

Dislikes:

  • The past sexual abuse was an inescapable part of Arik’s past.
  • I had trouble warming up to Arik.
  • Arik was oblivious to his own feelings.
  • Not as good as book one.

I was excited when I saw this book was out. The Alpha’s Warlock was the book that first introduced me to Eliot Grayson, and I loved it (it got a 4.5 star rating). But when I saw the note at the end of Captive Mate‘sblurb saying it should be read as part of a series, I knew I had to reread The Alpha’s Warlock. It was a little embarrassing to admit that I couldn’t remember more than the main plot points of The Alpha’s Warlock a mere eight months after reading it, but 2020 has been like five years long, so whatever.

I do think rereading The Alpha’s Warlock was a good decision. Captive Mate picks up right after it, and the events flow seamlessly from one book to the next. But there was a downside to my choice. I really enjoyed Nate and Ian. And Arik and Matthew simply weren’t as captivating.

The blame lies a bit with both men. Matthew is a little bland. He’s a nice guy, does the right thing most of the time. But he doesn’t get any point of view sections, and isn’t shown to have hobbies or a job outside of running the pack.

Arik can be described by any synonym of aloof. He deliberately keeps people at a distance, trusting no one but himself. It was hard for me to warm up to him. Arik wasn’t given the chance to do anything to make me care for him.

The way Arik was supposed to be sympathetic was mainly because he was captured by Matthew and his pack. Especially after reading The Alpha’s Warlock right before starting Captive Mate, I didn’t have a ton of sympathy for Arik. Yes, being captured sucked for Arik, but he was massively uncooperative.

This was because Arik expected the worst in people. It was how he’d been treated his whole life. Which brings me to what I disliked most about the book. It’s true that there’s no on-page rape. But it’s mentioned constantly. The sexual abuse Arik suffered left a permanent mark on him, one that’s inescapable.

When I wrote my review for The Alpha’s Warlock, there was a preview of Captive Mate. My comment from that review was “the sneak peek for the next book made me a little hesitant. I thought Nate had a bad life, but Arik definitely had it worse. I’m okay with angst and traumatic pasts, but expecting to be raped because it had happened before is a little too intense for me. I’ll give the next book a shot when it comes out, and hope that Arik gets to spend most of it healing.”

Ultimately, Arik was able to heal. He got his happy ending, with Matthew and with the pack. But he still had to go through a lot of shit to get there. Including facing his most recent rapist. I don’t consider myself a squeamish person, but Arik had a lot of trauma. He was damaged. And it got a little hard to read at times.

Arik’s resilience and determination was what ultimately made me warm up to him. His distance was for self-protection. It made him oblivious to his own feelings, which made things between him and Matthew draw out longer than they otherwise would have.

The non-romantic plot was just as good as in The Alpha’s Warlock. A lot happened, which tied in with book one and set up a lot of potential trouble in the future. No other members of Matthew’s pack were introduced, but Colin Kimball from the neighboring pack got some page time, so I’m assuming he’ll be the focus of the next book.

I’ll definitely keep reading the series. I enjoy Grayson’s writing, and I love seeing previous couples pop back into the story. It was great to see Ian and Nate during this book, and I hope that in the next book, Arik will be shown to have healed and settled into the pack even more.