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For those of you who read my Week in Review will remember that I had a slightly disappointing week in my selection of books. I tried to be good and not buy or request any more books from NetGalley. I can't say I was entirely successful.....in fact...epic fail! So what did I read?
I was perusing my Amazon recommends....again...and shouldn't have been I came across Trace of Magic (Diamond City Magic 1) by Diana Pharaoh Francis (Bell Bridge Books, August 29, 2014). I tried to be sensible and downloaded the sample first but ended up buying the book. Trace of Magic is set in a world of magic where criminal factions call Tyets rule the city. Riley is a very powerful tracer who can trace people even when they are dead. She is living below the radar so that she doesn't become a pawn in the battle between the Tyets. Riley uses her very specific and very special powers to save kidnapped children. She is very good at her job and very good at staying in hidden until she meets Tyet cop Detective Clay Price. Price blackmails Riley into helping him solve a missing person's case and it all becomes a bit too personal for the couple as the longer they work together the more they are drawn to one another. Price is everything Riley has avoided her whole life but her freedom may be too high price to pay.
On the whole this book was 'ok'. I say that because I liked Riley and even liked Price as characters. I thought the Tyets made for an interesting backdrop to the plot. Frances explains the society, the evolution of the Tyets' rule and mining of drugs that the Tyets' used to fund their existence in the first few chapters of the book. Unfortunately, the mining and the drugs didn't really factor in the plot so as plot points they didn't really stick in my head. In fact I completely forgot about them. I also thought that Francis introduced the romance a bit too early in the story which, for me, made it lose credibility. Imagine this if you will....you have just be shot and almost die. You have been saved by the hunky cop who represents everything you hate and have been running from your whole life but who you are attracted to. You have been unconscious for 3 days and when you wake up you the hunky cop is by your bedside. Do you:
a) roll over and go back to sleep because getting shot and almost dying is tiring stuff;
b) despite the fact you have been shot and almost die you have sex with the hunky cop who you barely know and belongs to a Tyet;
c) you manage your growing attraction to the hunky cop despite wanting a more physical relationship because you have just been shot and almost died.
I am sure that you can guess what I would have chosen but what option the author decided to go for. Despite this I still thought the action was well balanced and interesting. I am looking forward to finding out what happens next.
It was a good week for pre-orders for me as Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs (Ace, March 3, 2015) appeared on my Kindle. This is the fourth novel in the Alpha and Omega series and is set 3 years after Charles and Anna first get together. In this instalment Charles and Anna travel to Arizona to visit Charles' childhood friend Joseph. Joseph is now an old man and dying from cancer which leads Charles to reminisce about his past and feel the burden of his near immortality while watching his friend slowly die. During their visit a Fae tries to harm Joseph's grandchildren which leads the couple to find and stop the kidnapper. Their investigation opens up a whole can of magical worms as they discover this is not an isolated case and just another step in the escalation of a war that the Fae want to start against humans.
I really enjoyed Dead Heat and I have decided that I prefer this series to Brigg's Mercy Thompson series. Brigg's starts the story with Anna trying to convince Charles that they should have children, something she has been researching with Samuel (Charles' doctor brother). Charles is worried that having a child will harm Anna who he loves and make him and the child vulnerable to his many enemies. This parenthood thread is woven throughout the story not just with the missing children case but also in the dynamic between Joseph, Joseph's werewolf father Hosten and Charles. Hosten is still a healthy man watching his elderly son die from a human disease when he could have been Changed. I found the scenes between Charles and Joseph rather touching and made me wonder whether Briggs had written these from personal experience. This book has everything from a perfect balance of action vs romance, good character development and the subtle development of the series plot arch. In short another great book in this series.
I am in the middle of reading The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman so I hope to tell you all about this next week. Until then Happy Reading.
On the whole this book was 'ok'. I say that because I liked Riley and even liked Price as characters. I thought the Tyets made for an interesting backdrop to the plot. Frances explains the society, the evolution of the Tyets' rule and mining of drugs that the Tyets' used to fund their existence in the first few chapters of the book. Unfortunately, the mining and the drugs didn't really factor in the plot so as plot points they didn't really stick in my head. In fact I completely forgot about them. I also thought that Francis introduced the romance a bit too early in the story which, for me, made it lose credibility. Imagine this if you will....you have just be shot and almost die. You have been saved by the hunky cop who represents everything you hate and have been running from your whole life but who you are attracted to. You have been unconscious for 3 days and when you wake up you the hunky cop is by your bedside. Do you:
a) roll over and go back to sleep because getting shot and almost dying is tiring stuff;
b) despite the fact you have been shot and almost die you have sex with the hunky cop who you barely know and belongs to a Tyet;
c) you manage your growing attraction to the hunky cop despite wanting a more physical relationship because you have just been shot and almost died.
I am sure that you can guess what I would have chosen but what option the author decided to go for. Despite this I still thought the action was well balanced and interesting. I am looking forward to finding out what happens next.
I really enjoyed Dead Heat and I have decided that I prefer this series to Brigg's Mercy Thompson series. Brigg's starts the story with Anna trying to convince Charles that they should have children, something she has been researching with Samuel (Charles' doctor brother). Charles is worried that having a child will harm Anna who he loves and make him and the child vulnerable to his many enemies. This parenthood thread is woven throughout the story not just with the missing children case but also in the dynamic between Joseph, Joseph's werewolf father Hosten and Charles. Hosten is still a healthy man watching his elderly son die from a human disease when he could have been Changed. I found the scenes between Charles and Joseph rather touching and made me wonder whether Briggs had written these from personal experience. This book has everything from a perfect balance of action vs romance, good character development and the subtle development of the series plot arch. In short another great book in this series.
I am in the middle of reading The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman so I hope to tell you all about this next week. Until then Happy Reading.
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