This is my first truly “smut” book. Everything smut and spicy is so BIG on social media that I decided to see what the fuss was about with a book I’ve had for awhile but kept putting off. This is my first Katee Roberts book, too, so I’m sure that people who are familiar with her work are not surprised in the least that this was smut with a “plot” that revolves entirely around said smut. Do with that as you will. Loosely, this book is about vampires, with a half vampire trying to find a way to escape these predators and her abusive father. Along the way she learns there is more to her than meets the eye and apparently sex and orgasms and breeding is the way to unlock her powers and her freedom. I think the only thing I’m really glad about is that I read this version rather than the books individually, otherwise I think I would have been even more disappointed.
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“Knight in Paper Armor” is a dark dystopian novel set in the near future, where corporate greed and racism have completely taken over and divided up America (and I assume other countries but they’re never really talked about). We follow Billy, a young Jewish boy with incredible physic powers; able to take away the physical and emotional pain of those he touches, as well as mind controlling them if his darker tendencies get pushed too far. When Billy is finally allowed to leave the facility where he’s being tested on to attend school like a “normal” teen, he meets our female main character, Natalia. Natalia is an immigrant from Guatemala, a fact she has to hide, pretending to be from Mexico instead—though she faces a lot of bigotry for that, too. Billy and Natalia deal with extreme racism from practically the start, their world is brutal in every sense of the word, and the author is not shy about sharing their experiences in great detail. The topics covered in this sci-fi fantasy dystopian are important and very much apply to the world we live in today, but I do not think this book is appropriate for the audience it’s intended for…. I’m a big fan of Wells’s “Murderbot” series so I wanted to give her new fantasy book a try! But I went in knowing that “Witch King” is nothing like the Murderbot novellas, and I didn’t expect it to be, either. These are all new characters in a world very different then what I was used to, so of course I didn’t go in expecting the same humor and voice that I get with Murderbot. I think a lot of people kind of forget or don’t realize that when starting this book… Which is a dual timeline of our main character, a demon named Kai, and his witch bestie, Ziede as they try to uncover who abducted them, why, and the greater conspiracy around that—all while going back 60 years to see a young Kai as he becomes the demon and Witch King we see in the present chapters. This is a very ambitious fantasy world full of complicated political intrigue and warring factions and races all with their own kind of magical abilities and belief systems. The magic system felt vague from start to finish, however, and I think only one timeline truly delivered on the experience I was hoping for from Wells. Ever since reading “The Girl with the Stars in Her Eyes” I’ve been waiting for a new release from Axelrod, and behold! She is here and she is stunning! “Love on the Byline” follows former college classmates and secret crushes as they reconnect five years later. Now, Blake is a cub reporter at a gossip magazine that she hates, and Oliver is the best friend turned personal assistant to her latest celebrity assignment: the arrogant Brandon Cody, who, on first appearances, doesn’t look like he’s changed much from when she last saw him. But, much like Axelrod’s previous release, our main cast of characters are filled with a surprising amount of depth, accomplish huge growth amidst interpersonal mysteries and secrets, oh, and have palpable tension and steamy encounters, all packed into a very smooth contemporary romance. Seriously, Axelrod is quickly becoming one of my auto-buy authors! “The Witch King” is a fantasy parallel of real-world issues, for example: racism, slavery, and anti-LGBTQA+ movements to just name the big ones. This book is not an allegory of any of that, and is quite clear in its messaging. I don’t say this because it’s a bad thing, but it more to accurately summarize the plot of this story without getting into specific details that could be considered a spoiler. I want/need to read more diverse books so reading a book by a trans author about a trans witch was perfect, especially when you throw in the complications of two different worlds (literally) colliding and then the difficulties of fighting against a fated-mate type trope. But while I love the idea of Wyatt, as a main character I found him to be anticlimactic. |
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