Book Review - Carnage by Shantel Tessier

 Carnage by Shantel Tessier

If you read for dark romance, then this is excellent, as always: creative, detailed and diverse. 5 stars (Be sure to pay attention to content/trigger warnings, if you need them. This one's intense.)

If you also read for the story/plot/characters, you might be disappointed, as I was. SPOILERS follow.

I really liked the first three books in this series. Sabotage was Meh.

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This book is over 500 pages long which was too long. Only about 25% of it is story and most of that happens at the end of the book. But I had to finish it because I just am compelled once I start a book, plus I was so looking forward to the Spade Brothers, it's the next to the last book in the series currently available, I need to get to Haidyn's book and I couldn't figure out the bad guy which is really unusual for me. This review is unusually long because I invested so much time in reading this and ended up being disappointed in it. I'm a little worried because the last book, Madness, is almost 800 pages. Fingers crossed.

Ashtyn and Saint's relationship is fraught with misunderstandings. They've know and been in love with each other for years but they can't have a simple conversation. So annoying. They've grown up in a secret society full of power hungry, and duplicitous people. Ashtyn just doesn't seem too bright. She doesn't seem to recognize or care about the obvious enemies all around her. Saint, despite the generational expectations of his life, years of training, testing and torture, lacks the self-control that would have gotten him to his position. He just makes dumb choices.

People just get in and out of super special and secure Carnage without any real good explanation or skill. The bad guy ends up being this dude who causes havoc but there aren't any good explanations on how he manages to wreck their lives. He's just some guy. His patrons are dead or disabled, so where is he getting his money and crews? And Saint has seen his face in a couple of key events/videos, but he's shocked, shocked I tell you, as to his significance.

Other things happen, too, without good explanations, like the disappearance and deaths of the Spade Brothers' fathers. They just disappear.

Wish me luck with the next book. I like Haidyn, so I'm a bit nervous. (It's not the last. There's another one in the works.)

Book Review - The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

"For humans and vampires, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself."

This is a 6 book series organized into 3 couplets. The first four books are complete.

I liked the main male character, Raihn. He's big and strong and hot and still nice, caring and funny. 

Unfortunately, so much of the rest fell short. I had a hard time getting past the Hunger Games element of this story and that's a huge focus of the book. The world-building and character development just weren't enough. If I wasn't curious as to how the author was going to pull the two main characters out of the you-or-me predicament, I would have stopped reading. And I found the ending unwhelming.

The fight scenes or competitions packed a lot of energy and page space. They were tough, but I just didn't buy Oraya making it out alive. There was little buildup showing us her training, showing us how this small, puny human was so good at killing vampires. She's got attitude, and lots of help but few actual skills that make it believable for her to constantly best superior killers.

I feel the idea of the story was bigger than the execution and I ended feeling flat about it.

I give it 3 out of 5 Vampire Butterflies.