Mad for a Mate (BeWere My Heart, #3) by MaryJanice Davidson – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, humorous, MaryJanice Davidson, paranormal romance, series, shifters

Review of Mad for a Mate

I love this series.  For so many reasons.  Funny, heartwarming, unique writing style, footnotes, political commentary and great, great, great characters!  The cast of characters has slowly grown, and many carry over from one book to the next.

Magnus Berne seems a bit shyer in this book than in Wolf After My Own Heart.  Maybe because he is awkward around Verity Lane, the lovely shifter that ended up on the beach of his island, naked.  Verity is a squib – a shifter that can’t shift to her animal form.  As a member of the Damp Squibs, she and her friends try to prove to themselves that they are as capable as any shifter.  But when Damp Squibs start dying, Magnus brings in a private investigator because – well, things don’t smell right.  Not that Magnus can smell very well, f&^*ing allergies! 

The investigation brings Verity and Magnus together even though they annoy each other.  (You know what that means.)  Also in the story is more of the young shifters Caro and Dev, including a tearjerking scene with Dev and Annette.  Also, a wedding.  Not saying who.  There are a few candidates from this series.

Some of my favorite quotes (it’s like the author read my mind):

He gritted his teeth over the absurdity of turning nouns into verbs.

Celery is repulsive….

“If a club wants me, I don’t want them.”

Read this story, but only if you want to laugh, cry, solve a mystery and generally have a bit of fun. 

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Mad for a Mate by MaryJanice Davidson

Verity Lane might be a Shifter who can’t shift (known as a “squib”)—but woe betide anyone who tries to tell her who she is or what she’s capable of. She’s a proud member of a club for squibs out to prove themselves by participating in dangerous stunts. Which is probably how she ended up on this strange island…

Bear shifter Magnus Berne wants two things: to connect with his motherless goddaughter, and to find out who keeps dumping dead bodies on his property. When he discovers Verity on his island, he’s determined to get some answers—but it’s clear that whoever has been killing squibs is just as resolved to keep it quiet. And now that Verity is in the crosshairs, they’ll have to move quickly to stay ahead, stay alive, and stay together.

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Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse – Review

Tags

4 stars, Book Review, fantasy, Rebecca Roanhorse, scifi, series

Review of Fevered Star

After reading Black Sun, I was pleased to get an advance copy of Fevered Star, which continues the story of a world on the edge of war after the arrival of the Crow God.  Like the first novel, this one is full of power-hungry, morally corrupt characters. 

The great eclipse and associated assassinations have left a huge power vacuum and everyone is plotting for control.  In addition to the many plotters, there are the characters who captured some of my sympathy in Black Sun:  Serapio, the Crow God assassin seems lost, with many vying for control of him and his powers.  Xiala, who wanted only to re-connect with Serapio, is caught up with his enemies in a tenuous situation.  Naranpa, the once and future Sun God, is both horrified and awed by her powers. 

As fantasies goes, this series is highly original, basing mythologies on pre-Columbian American native cultures.  It also features a matriarchal society, with religions that are being defined and re-defined in the aftermath of the convergence.

I found the constant lack of cooperation, goodness and friendships to be too reminiscent of many things going on the world today.  For this reason, I had to put the book aside several times and read something lighter.   I don’t think I will continue the series.  But many will appreciate all the treachery and intrigue in a well-written story with a fresh approach to fantasy.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

There are no tides more treacherous than those of the heart. —Teek saying

The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.

The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded?

As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth.

And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages. How will Serapio stay human when he is steeped in prophecy and surrounded by those who desire only his power? Is there a future for Naranpa in a transformed Tova without her total destruction?

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Dark Theory (Dark Law, #1) by Wick Welker – Review

Tags

4 stars, Book Review, cliffhanger, Post Apocalyptic, robots, scifi, series, Wick Welker

Review of Dark Theory

In Dark Theory, a rag-tag group searches for purpose by traveling through dangerous lands.  The group starts small with unlikeable characters – the good person, Lucindi, was killed off almost immediately.  The band grows both in number and in the depth of the characters.  At first, they believe one man (the robot Beetro’s creator) is the key, but as the galaxy begins to unwind before their very eyes, the keys to survival become complex and nearly impossible. 

The best part of Dark Theory was watching the characters develop.  Lucindi is constantly held up as the angel everyone ought to be.  The idea of friendship is, at first, foreign to all of them, but as they struggle together, new relationships and values form.  Robots, humans, time travellers, evil military leaders, and scientists converge to sort out the past, present and future.  Perhaps, if they pull together, they can save the galaxy. 

This is long book – over 800 pages, but the galaxy is still at risk at the end of Dark Theory.  The story did wrap up a major plot thread, but plan to read on if you want to see how it finally ends.  Minus one star for the cliffhanger, but four full stars for such a great ensemble group of characters.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Dark Theory by Wick Welker

A robot yearns to remember. A thief struggles to forget. A galaxy on the verge of collapse.

On the fringe of a broken civilization, a robot awakens with no memories and only one directive: find his creator. But in the village of Korthe, Beetro finds only radioactive pestilence, famine, and Miree—a tormented thief with dreams of retiring after her final score. Meanwhile, the fiefdom is plunged further into chaos when a new warlord seizes control, recasting serfs as refugees and leaving derelict robot peasants in his wake. With a shared interest in survival, Beetro and Miree team up to pull off an impossible castle heist: steal a single flake of dark matter, the world’s most valuable and mysterious ore.

But as they trek through the feudal wasteland in search of answers, they realize the true extent of the chaos surrounding them: the stars are disappearing from the sky and the entire galaxy is unraveling. As he uncovers his origin, Beetro discovers he may be the key to the salvation of the cosmos—or its destruction. Time, space, and loyalty become relative as he learns the real reason he was created.

A mind-bending science fiction epic with the bones of a fantasy traveling quest, Dark Theory unfolds through a journey of betrayal, identity, and unlikely friendships in a world of darkness set at the edge of space and time. 

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