Tamara Mataya

Summer Indiscretions has the potential to be something special. Melanie and Blake have a combustible energy that blends instant attraction and the insecurities of doubt to deliver a tempting foray into romance and the baggage that goes along with it. Following the heart, is a scary risk and I thought how Ms. Mataya presented a first person look into matters of the heart was original in delivery but at times lacked in feeling. The premise and the chemistry between Blake and Melanie are huge assets to this author's credit.… (meer)

Although this is a fast read and the middle portion pulled me in, there are so many problems with this book that it's hard for me to imagine continuing on with the series. Aside from the characters being fairly flat and inconsistent, there's also the problem of premise. From the protagonist not acting believably in the beginning right on to the fact that a whole population seems to have been waiting for her to come save them -- despite not knowing she existed, and despite the fact that they could have done what she ends up doing all on their own -- the opening chapters of the book display a number of issues. Not to mention the fact that the protagonist herself is one of the less consistent characters I've read in some time, and suffers pretty seriously from ranging back and forth between two extremes of attitude and confidence -- most of the time, she's either half-panicked and wondering how she'll ever manage to do what she's signed up for, wishing someone would come save her, or else she's suddenly the most confident, capable, and powerful 21-year-old ever. In other words, she's annoyingly inconsistent, and takes on whatever attitude/persona happens to be convenient to a particular moment, whether that's damsel in distress or amazing heroine, and it gets old quickly.

Things move quickly in the middle, and it's easy to get wrapped up in the book, but then as the larger plot comes into focus, it also becomes clear that the premise for the series itself, and the primary conflict, are so derivative of X-Men that the connections can't be ignored. At best, you could say that this hinges on characters more built from classic fantasy (elves, sprites, etc.) than characters with powers that are more reminiscent of a sci-fi world... but really? The further into the book you go, the more it becomes clear that this is only a slightly twisted version of the X-Men world, dumbed down and sprinkled with romance, a an annoying 21-year-old's sarcasm, and a whole lot of panicked, flat characters.

So, obviously, I wouldn't recommend this book, and I certainly won't be continuing on with the series.… (meer)