Cheree Alsop

There's nothing really wrong with this. It just feels a bit... I don't know, clunky. Too much. No nuance. Especially the characters, and I guess that's what's bothering me. Because obviously, I wasn't expecting literature, but I've read plenty of other books of the same type, and this one just doesn't feel that great compared to others.
I had hoped that this book would end at a reasonable place in the story, but unfortunately it ends right in the middle. I guess it's understandable since the author is offering this one for free, but there are 4 more books in the series. I don't know if I want to read all of them just to know how it ends.… (meer)

This one makes me very sad because most of it was amazing.
It starts out with a very unique premise and that is saying something in the current world where every idea is just a rehash.
The execution is also very entertaining. It's cozy and light-hearted. The world-building behind it doesn't really make a lot of sense but it's a case where realism would get in the way of a really good story so it's not a problem at all.

Sadly the book doesn't know where to go and just kind of meanders without a proper goal which is still fun because the idea itself is unique, interesting, and refreshing. But the conclusion went completely wrong.
The climax is fine, if uninspired, but the wrap-up is horrifically cheesy and sounds like a middle-grade book with the intention to teach mutual respect and tolerance by painfully obvious example.
It's like the characters act out acceptance and respect in a very exaggerated way in the hopes that even the particularly slow kids will pick up on it.
There already was a thread of this throughout the book but it was subtle enough to not get in the way of the story and I fully agree with the message itself.
But the way the end beats the reader over the head with it just feels so incredibly patronizing and unnecessary.
It's this belittling virtue signaling that just rubs me the wrong way.
Without this horrible ending, I would have rated this 4 stars, and even though I enjoyed the earlier parts of the book I now feel no desire anymore to get the second one.… (meer)

I try to avoid paranormal books. I usually don't feel particularly entranced when I read them (maybe it's the Twilight effect). However, this book has a plot that instantly piqued my attention: A werewolf girl named Carys fails an intended assasination on Duchess Samara Andrian while she was in her beast form. Instead of being killed on the spot, she is cruelly fitted with a seemingly unbreakable silver metal collar that scorches her skin that will guarantee surefire death by suffocation the second she tries to phase into her wolf form. Finally, after being bludgeoned in the head, she is unceremoniously tossed into a completely dark dungeon.

Little did Carys know, she heard someone knocking in the adjacent cell and out comes a brick! She realizes her odd cellmate Vandar is not only trying to escape the prison after being personally locked up from false charges, he is a teenage vampire with a complicated past.

In between vicious torture sessions that nearly kill Carys, Vandar tries his best to drag her into his cell where trickle amounts of moonlight help heal her body enough just to stay alive. They are supposed to be mortal enemies, and yet the equally difficult position they ended up in with certain death their only solace entices them to forge a truce... and maybe even more than that.

Some people didn't like it that the prison section of the book is slow, I personally loved it. It's the portion of the book with the strongest character development (Vandar however gets a more interesting story than Carys). I enjoyed Cheree's overall easygoing writing, it kept the story interesting and moved things continuously forward. The flashback scenes are not too many and they carry a huge importance in the plot. Like a few other stories I have read, this book divides chapters between the story told from Carys's and then Vandar's respective POV's.

There is a plot hole in the story regarding the torturer. He is supposed to dispose of Vandar's body until he discovers the truth and sees a familiar looking person throwing themself down a cliff in order to rescue the discarded body bag. He then appears again in the final scenes of the book seemingly oblivious of the events that happened in the cliff. This was a plot hole that should have never happened. The person who disposed of the body could have been any lowly guard.

That said, I would very much enjoy a sequel. This book is supposed to be a part of a trilogy, but so far there isn't any in sight for now. I'll look at some of Cheree's other works and see if the stories are interesting. I like how she writes and enjoyed this book quite a lot despite the plot holes.… (meer)