Tag: magic

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

Aloysius, the magical black cat and powerful witch’s familiar, isn’t 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 he’s lived in for several centuries. When he wakes up naked on the floor of a veterinarian’s office, it isn’t 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 he’ll make the best of his time as a human.

Luke is a man with secrets who generally prefers the company of animals—though 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 Aloysius’s power to draw on. Two evil females are circling, and seeing the coven’s weakness, they’re about to move in for the kill. When Alain’s memories return, he’s 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 cliché.
• 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.

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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 clichéd 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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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Be sure to check out the reviews for Spell Cat (The Aloysius Tales #1), Cataclysmic Shift (The Aloysius Tales #3), and the series review.

2 out of 5 stars

Kindle Edition. 201 pages. Published October 31st 2016 by Dreamspinner Press (first published March 19th 2012)

Blurb:

When Killian Barth, history professor, meets Blaine Genneau, quantum physicist, they ignite their own big bang. But sadly, Killian walks away. He doesn’t do physics professors. In fact, he doesn’t do humans, because Killian is the most powerful male witch in 10 generations and, though gay, he’s expected to save his declining race by reproducing.

He can’t even have sex with Blaine, because he’s been taught that sex with humans depletes his power. But if that’s true, why can young human, Jimmy Janx, dissolve spoons with a thought? Somebody’s a lying witch.

With his powerful cat familiar, Aloysius, on his shoulder, Killian brings the lightning against deceit and greed to save Blaine from danger and prove love is the greatest power of them all.

Likes:

• Aloysius.
• The non-romantic plot.

Dislikes:

• Insta-lust.
• Can’t keep my attention.
• Killian ended up sounding whiney.
• Nonconsensual BDSM.
• Random POV changes.
• Not much magic.
• No world building.
• Killian doesn’t feel like a master witch.
• No real romance.
• The characters feel 2 dimensional.

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This was a reread for me. I remember liking the book, which was why I was so surprised when I couldn’t get into the story. After finishing the book, I realized that I dislike almost everything in it. The only exceptions are the cat, Aloysius, and the non-romantic plot involving the witch community.

The first thing that really turned me off was the insta-lust. This might have been the most extreme example of it that I’ve ever encountered. Added into the mix is Killian’s lack of experience with love and long romantic relationships. It makes him act like a teenager, including the “No reason for him to exist” moping when his on again/off again relationship with Blaine is off again.

Their relationship was fueled by lust and didn’t go much farther. There was no building of their relationship, none of that feel-good falling in love. They spent very little time together that wasn’t having sex or trying desperately not to have sex. Sure, they confessed their love, but I didn’t see it. It felt more like they decided they were in love because that’s what the plot needed.

Killian’s attraction to Blaine was based a lot on the fact that Blaine liked him without knowing that Killian was the Witch Master. Basically, Blaine was the first person to be nice to him without an ulterior motive. That’s not the building blocks of love. It just highlighted how sheltered Killian was.

Killian doesn’t act like a Witch Master, or much of a witch at all. The magic in this book is basically just a plot device, and a boring one at that. There’s no world building, no explanation of why witches exist, and no exploration of the witching community at large.

I have liked a lot of Tara Lain’s books in the past, but there is a trend in some of her books that I just hate – sexual assault that goes unpunished. Off the top of my head, I can think of two other examples besides this book that include sexual assault where the character doesn’t report the matter. Killian basically does the same thing, so instead of putting that down to his character, I put that on Lain. Killian had the power and position to punish his attacker, who tuned a consenting sexual encounter into a nonconsensual one involving BDSM. It’s the lack of punishment that bothers me so much, and the fact that it feels like a pattern in Lain’s writing.

My final complaint is how two-dimensional the characters are. Power hungry women, faux Russian mobsters, creeps, and college students. Looking back on the book, it doesn’t feel like any of the characters had depth. The worst was Jimmy, not because he was 2D but because he didn’t sound like a college student majoring in physics. Not when he says things like “Jeez” and “I can’t believe you still loved me when you thought I might be the death of everything you hold dear.”

I wanted to like this book. I did before. But I need the romance to be more important than the lust. Because I knew what would happen with the plot, the curiosity that fueled my interest was gone. I’m going to assume that the question of ‘how will this relationship work’ was what made me like the book the first time. I hope the next book in the series will be better, but my excitement for it has dulled significantly.

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Be sure to check out the reviews for Brush with Catastrophe (The Aloysius Tales #2), Cataclysmic Shift (The Aloysius Tales #3), and the series review.