Showing posts with label Nerine. Show all posts

Title: Dhampir Passions

Author: Mary Corrales

Publisher: Eternal Press, 2009

Buy Link: Buy Dhampir Passions Here!

Rating: You Could Read

Reviewer: Nerine Dorman

Blurb:

Can everlasting love be found in a paranormal cauldron of greed, bloodlust, passion and murder?

Living in the post-war American Western Barrans, Linea Kamiya is in danger of becoming a vamp master's minion. While she hides Desmondi's evil mark from the townsfolk of Whickeup, the town council intends to take her farmland for themselves. Linea's only hope lies with an enigmatic stranger.

Raduslav Dracula is hunting for the vampire who stole the Draculesti Bloodstone from his family's gravesite. When Radu's attraction to Linea turns physical, he knows he will have to battle with his heart as well as the demon Desmondi.

Is the half-blood Dhampir strong enough to embrace his own cursed nature to defeat Desmondi?

Review:

Dhampir Passions presents an intriguing premise in its dystopian futuristic setting but misses the mark when it comes to solid world-building and overall execution. For one, I feel that there's a lot of "tell" but not enough "show". It's all fine and well to have mutant "Mammoth Wheat" but I wanted to see this; know more about the mechanics and sociology of this post-apocalyptic world. The villagers seem to react with mob mentality, as an example. A lot of intriguing threads are presented, but are not fully developed.

The pacing also needed attention, progressing often in a very haphazard fashion. As a reader I felt rushed, the characters not given enough space to develop their motivations, which were murky, at best. At times the text felt awkward and some of the word choices out of place. Linea comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue, Radu idealized and a bit too stoic for his own good. I wanted to connect with them, but couldn't.

I felt that the author was holding me at arm's length, as though I were reading the script for a TV programme. In fact, I felt that distance of a viewer, rather than reader, who emotionally engages with a story. I really wanted to like Dhampir Passions but, to be quite honest, it needed a lot more work before publication. This is very much a case of "almost, but not quite there" for author Mary Corrales.

Title: Play It Loud

Author: Gina Lee Nelson

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Buy Link: Buy Play It Loud Here!

Rating: You Need to Read

Reviewer: Nerine

Blurb:

Claire Ashton-Howard strikes out on her own to prove to herself, her Upper East Side family, and Downtown Magazine, she has what it takes to be a journalist. When she rescues Evan Price from the path of an oncoming subway train, she stumbles onto the story of a lifetime.

A devastating motorcycle accident stripped Evan of icon status. Now ready to make a comeback, the former pop star must confront the demons in his past and convince Insignia Braff Music he's more than a has-been. Drawn to Claire's passion, Evan allows her into his guarded heart.

Revealing his painful secrets will cement her reputation. Little does Claire know that immersing herself in Evan's life will cause her to question herself. As the days pass, Claire's heart and head take sides.

The love of her life? Or the story of her life? She can't have both.

Review:

Claire Ashton-Howard is determined to approach life on her own terms, despite her privileged upbringing. Although she was groomed to be a professional musician by her parents, she dreams of being a journalist. While out researching a story about homeless people, she inadvertently saves the life of a famous musician, Evan Price, who, after a horrible motorcycle accident, is intent on making his comeback. Sensing a story, Claire auditions as a backing musician, hoping to dig up dirt for an exclusive inside scoop. The only thing is, she never bargained on falling for the man and having her feelings returned with equal intensity.

Be it my background in music or my present involvement in the media industry, Play It Loud resonated instantly with me. I immediately empathized with the characters in this little page-turner. Gina Lee Nelson tells a heart-warming, engaging story and it was easy to forgive the few patches where her narrative could have benefited from stronger transitions. It's refreshing to see a contemporary romance author put effort into her setting and secondary characters, offering the right blend of romantic tension and textured story arcs. Gina Lee Nelson takes a well-worn trope and gives it a unique sparkle with undertones of humour drawing to a satisfying conclusion.

Title: Shell Shocked

Authors: Angelia Sparrow and Naomi Brooks

Publisher: Pink Petal Books

Buy Link: Buy Shell Shocked Here!

Rating: You Want to Read

Reviewer: Nerine

Blurb:

Sean Dempsey came home from Iraq with artificial knees, scorched retinas and a lot of baggage. He supplements his disability checks with money made writing romance novels under a female pseudonym, ironic as he has grown very nervous around women since a certain suicide bomber. When he meets Gabriel Herne, legless phone psychic, the sparks startle him. It's everything he's written about and never believed.

Swept into a whirlwind romance, Sean has to learn about his newfound bisexuality and his lover's pagan faith at the same time. And when he has a religious experience of his own, he discovers everything changes in its time, just like the Wheel of the Year.

Review:

Now heavily dependent on his medication, Sean Dempsey is scarred both emotionally and physically when he returns from the war in Iraq. With extensive surgery to his legs behind him, he struggles to cope in NYC, his PSTD often making it difficult for him to go into public. Even sleep doesn't provide sanctuary, as he is plagued by terrible nightmares. Yet, incongruously, he gets by, writing romance novels under a nom de plume. Then he meets Gabriel Herne, a wheelchair-bound phone psychic, and the feelings of attraction are very much mutual.

Overall, this is a well-written, well-told story. While I felt there could have been more conflict (and I kept waiting for some massive try/fail cycle that never happened) I nevertheless found the authors' exploration of Sean and Gabriel's lives together very touching. I liked the realism. The characters are not super-rich. Hell, they don't even drive cars, and they work hard to get by. The fact that love isn't all wine and roses, is also a plus point here. The characters get pissed off with each other and they admit when they're wrong, they're ordinary folk just trying to get by without the false glitter of hyper-realism. Also, there are no miracle cures for Sean, no great epiphanies that shake his world other than the quiet realization of his love for Gabriel. Shell Shocked is a tale sensitively told by two ladies who deliver consistently good-quality prose.

Title: Born Again

Author: Joel Dodd

Publisher: Mundania Press

Buy Link: Buy Born Again Here!

Rating: You Want To Read

Reviewer: Nerine

Blurb:

Al's life has gone to the dogs. Memory blanks, nightmares, and a disturbing new appetite for small, furry animals. Not to mention his reclusive, nocturnally gothic frat brothers who never seem to attend lectures, and his deliciously-scented girlfriend and her pals.

Standing at the lamppost of the crossroads of his life, everything that is odd in Al's life comes together to unmuzzle his true, inner self and reveal who his true friends really are.

Review:

Al's got problems. He's not sleeping too well, he has heightened senses and he's been puking up bits of animal remains. At the insistence of one of his fellow students, he goes to see a psychiatrist who recommends him for a CAT scan, and that's when he starts discovering some very strange things about himself.

Born Again is a deliciously malicious short story that plays with the stock-standard university horrors we love to watch on late Friday evenings. Although I would have liked to have seen Al question his odd situation a bit more (it was abundantly clear to me, as a reader, what was going on) I enjoyed this tale very much. As a reader I would have liked to have experienced more of a sense of impending doom while Al tries to piece together his mysterious condition but overall Dodd is a strong storyteller who kept me engaged with the narrative.