Book That Haven't Worked For Me

Lately I’ve been a bit disappointed in the majority of books I’ve been reading. Perhaps I’m going through a phase? This post is a nod to my friend Kmont at Lurve Ala Mode, who from time to time will have a post called, Books I Say No To. This is where Kmont will tell why she couldn’t finish a book, or had issues with one. I have three such books that unfortunately for me are ones I have said no to where I either couldn’t finished reading, or if I did get through it, I was beyond disappointed in more ways than one.

Disclaimer alert- as always, reviews are subjective, so what doesn’t work for me, will very well likely work for others readers.

Afterlight (The Dark Ink Chronicles, #1) by Elle Jasper has an incredible eye catching cover, and when I heard the heroine was a tattoo artist, I decided to give this a go. Set in Savannah, Georgia, this Gothic feeling urban fantasy has a great set up. Riley Poe is a talented tattoo artist (or so we are told) who is her fifteen year old brother’s guardian. Just like any teenager, Seth gets into trouble, but Riley is there to make sure he’s safe and protected. Riley knows what lurks in the darkness and it’s not pretty. One night after Seth and his friends are fooling around in a cemetery, Seth’s personality begins to change, and not for the better. The reason Seth has channeled his inner vampire emo is because he and his friends disrupted a tomb and unleashed two nasty souls, a pair of psycho brothers. These brothers will stop at nothing until they have what they want. Riley will do whatever she can to save her brother’s soul, even if it means joining up with a family of Addams Family type vampires. And one such vampire, Eli, aka only my parents call me Eligius (I can’t help but think of Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer here, where the comparison between Eli and Angel is very eerie) wants Riley, not only for her special blood type, but because she eludes that snarky scent that a hot vampire male can’t stay away from. Unfortunately Eli has to work hard for Riley’s affection, because she’s not going to fall all over him. Plus one of the nasty ghost demon brothers invades Riley’s dreams and decides he’ll claim her for his own.

I got half way through Afterlight and had to stop. Afterlight is written in such a way that shows off every urban fantasy and paranormal trope possible with very under-developed characters and way to much telling and not enough showing. We are told upon page after page how bad ass Riley is from her punk wear, how many times she was arrested, and how she was stripped searched by the cops all before she could drive.

Not once does Riley really show her true colors. Even by page 150, I was still waiting for something exciting to happen. I suppose this was Elle’s way of building up the tension, but it all fell very flat. If there was a nice atmospheric of Gothic darkness and voodoo magic, I must have missed something because not once did I get I feel it. And don’t get me started on the overuse of a specific word on almost every page. I can’t even tell you how many times “Gullah” appeared. Talk about annoying. Also annoying was Riley and Seth’s foster parent of sorts, Preacher, who should be the voice of wisdom and someone Riley can turn to for advice. His role didn’t really bring anything to the story. Also his dialect, which should add flavor and make him an endearing character that you want to see again, does the exact opposite. Every time Preacher popped in for his cameo spotlight and said, “how do you do?” in his own distinctive way had me rolling my eyes.

As debuts go, Afterlight was a big reading fail for me. I had no connection to the story, Riley is a forgettable heroine and this is yet another example of a story with a bad case of tell and more tell. (Signet)


I know I’m probably going to shock people with this one, but after trying to read N.K. Jemisin, I’ve decided she just isn’t the author for me. I’ve read rave reviews about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I picked up at Comic Con. This book is all about the world of gods and mortals and I find it very comparable to Anne Bishop’s Black Jewel Trilogy books because of the underlying element of sadomasochism when dealing with the sexual elements involved. N.K.’s writing is very rich and melodic; poetry, if you can call it that. Publishers Weekly said in their review for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms that this is a convoluted book. Convoluted is perfect when describing the world that N.K has created. I just couldn’t wrap my brain around what was going on.

Both The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and the second book in N.K.’s Inheritance trilogy, The Broken Kingdoms showcases two women who are surrounded by constant danger. They are both pretty much marked for death. Yeine, the heroine in the first book, is forced to leave her homeland by her wack-a-doo maternal grandfather who needs an heir to take over for him. In The Broken Kingdoms, Oree is a blind artist trying to navigate and stay alive in an untrustworthy world. Both these woman come in contact with godlings, who seem to hate mortals and are filled with rage not only with others, but for themselves. The mythology in these two books is well thought out and intense. There’s a large amount of doom and gloom on the pages and the conversation and dialogue have hidden meanings, much like a puzzle the reader is expected to solve.

I really tried to finish both books, and even when the final countdown, or the climax if you will, that was about to occur in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, I lost interest. In the case of The Broken Kingdoms, I didn’t even get that far. I think my issue is that there is so much of an emphasis on world building and not enough emphasis on the characters. There was a great deal of pausing as well, where Yeine and Oree would basically stop time to explain what was going on, or share memories of their past. This pulled me out of the story too many times.

N.K. is for a very different type of reader and I have no doubt most fantasy fans will enjoy both The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms. As for myself, I find I have a different type of taste from N.K.’s writing.

My final Books I Say No To will be released on December 7th and one I had high hopes for since I’ve been dying for this character’s own book since the beginning of this series. Ride the Fire is the fifth book in Jo Davis’s Firefighters of Station Five series. The hero is Captain Sean Tanner, an intriguing, emotionally scarred man who became an alcoholic (which is shown in detail over the past four books leading up to this one) due to loss of his wife and two children who died in a deadly car accident. Sean arrived on the scene to late and watched his family go up in flames. He has lived with the guilt ever since, and due to his drinking, has become a danger on his job. Sean finally wakes up and gets the help that he needs.

Sean is now a clean man and welcomed back with open arms by his crew, especially Eve, who Sean suddenly has the hots for. His feelings for Eve have been building slowly below the surface, but he ignored them due to the memory of his wife and his obsession with loosing himself in the bottle. Eve Marshall has always admired Sean, but has kept her feelings for this older man a secret. But now it seems that Sean is open to something different with Eve. Both know an affair wouldn’t be a good thing because Sean is her supervisor, but since their lust is overflowing, they throw caution to the wind and get down to business.

Now you’d think Sean would finally be free of the demons that have haunted him. But that’s not the case, and someone from his past makes himself known. He taunts Sean about the accident that claimed his family and it may have not been an accident at all, but revenge against Sean.

Every single book after Trial by Fire, which I adored to pieces, have been downhill reads for me. The same goes for Ride the Fire. I found Sean and Eve to have gone through personality transplants. I felt like I was reading about two different people I’ve never met before. The sex was pretty dull and not all that interesting. There’s a lot of “I’m coming”, “oh baby’s” and “ride me hard, all night long” with Seam trying to be the alpha male in the bedroom. But in the end it’s pretty ho-hum vanilla type variety stuff. That is, until Jo writes a scene that supposed to shake things up and should be erotic. My prudish side does not find the use of cooking oil as a lubricant for some hot finger in the butt butt action in the kitchen to be sexy. And considering the sexual tone of Ride to Fire is pretty tame, this butter my bun came out of left field and has left much to be desired. Why use KY when good old Crisco is readily available for those sudden passionate encounters in the kitchen?

The suspense and the reasons behind the villain needing to take down Sean is unbelievably lacking in the tension and excitement department. Overall, Ride the Fire is just plain too predictable and yet another unforgettable read. (Berkley)

These reads were big old duds for me and authors I will probably pass up on from now on.

Have you read any of these books, and if so, do you have a different opinion from my own?