Blood Shadows (Blackthorn #1) by Lindsay J. Pryor

Title: Blood Shadows
Series: Blackthorn #1
Author: Lindsay J. Pryor
Genre: Romance/Paranormal/Adult/Urban Fantasy

Maturity Rating: 17+
*WARNING*: VERY GRAPHIC SCENES
Overall Rating:

My Quickie Synopsis: Caitlin Parish is running out of time; she knows that whatever killed her parents is going to come after her next, even if no one believes her theories. Her best bet is to get answers out of the elusive vampire, Kane, a being notorious for his cunning brutality and irresistible charm. But Kane has his own agenda concerning Caitlin and it may not include playing nicely.

Enjoyment Factor:
For the most part, Blood Shadows is a very engaging read. I enjoyed the world-building immensely, although I do wish that Ms. Pryor went into more detail about the lore surrounding it. However, as it is with most paranormal/fantasy series, I'm sure that she'll reveal more over the span of the next installments.

You've been warned.

The sensuality of this book is through the roof; I will admit that some of said sensuality is a little questionable (slightly dubious on the consent at times). Kane is quite the persistent vampire and Caitlin, in my opinion, is just a tad unstable.
I originally wanted to give Blood Shadows a four out of five. I finished this book a couple of days ago and was all set to give it a nice and glowing review. But now that I've come back to it and reviewed my notes, I had trouble justifying the rating. That's never a good sign! The story is memorable, but it sometimes drags. A great deal of the book is spent solely on the interactions between the main characters in one locale; it gets old pretty quickly. Yes, I enjoyed the steamy bits, but give me more non-sexually-charged action, please!

Technical Rating:

Character Building:
Every scene, in its own way, lends a hand to building the personalities of the characters, and it's extremely well done. The only character that could have used more work was Xavier; I understood Rob and Max in their supporting character roles, but Xavier felt a little incomplete.

Plot Strength:
While I don't necessarily believe that there's such a thing as the over-development of characters, I did see a lack of balance between their build and the strength of the plot. Ms. Pryor has such a great concept in Blood Shadows, but her focus on the growth of the relationship between Caitlin and Kane drowns it out. A lot of the heavier plot driving doesn't come into play until the book is nearly over.

Sincerity:
My heart went out to both Caitlin and Kane numerous times! Their situations felt very real and it was absolutely heartbreaking. It's not an easy feat to humanize a story that's set in a world steeped in fantasy, but Ms. Pryor successfully did so.

Editing:
There were a few minor glitches here and there, such as misplaced words. For example, there was a sentence that said "within in" instead of "within it." So, like I said, little things. But, if you haven't noticed already, I'm a little neurotic when it comes to errors! However, they're so few and far between in Blood Shadows, so it doesn't really affect the story.
As a side note, I am far from perfect, and I make mistakes all the time. In fact, there are a few in this very blog! Don't worry; I'm just as harsh on myself, guys!

Pacing:
Because the character development and the plot development weren't balanced, the story dragged at times. Instead of character growth being woven into the plot, Ms. Pryor seemed to take a series of character time-outs. It almost felt like each character interaction had its own little time bubble surrounding it, where the plot slowed down considerably.

My Icing on Top:
I'm not going to lie; I want more Kane and Caitlin! But, guess what? The next books aren't even focused on them! Believe me when I say that I was not a happy camper when I found out. Blackthorn is one of those paranormal series that bounces around between different couples until the story lines converge. Alas, I was not looking for that kind of commitment! These series can become incredibly long, and if you become overly attached to one couple over the others, it can quickly become very frustrating and expensive to keep up. But, if you love these kinds of series and are looking for a hot paranormal read, look no further! Blackthorn is shaping up to be a solid series, and Ms. Pryor is now on my list of authors to follow.

Check out my informal review on Goodreads!

Happy reading!

-K

Darkness Falls (Reveler #1) by Erin Kellison

Title: Darkness Falls
Series: Reveler #1
Author: Erin Kellison
Genre: Adult/Urban Fantasy/Romance/Science Fiction

Age Recommendation: 17+
*WARNING*: VERY GRAPHIC SCENES
Overall Rating:

My Quickie Synopsis: Lucid dreams are now all the rage, but Jordan Lane isn't convinced that it deserves the hype. She is eventually cornered by her sister into trying lucid dreaming at a host party, where she meets the handsome and mysterious Malcolm Rook. Together they find pleasure beyond their wildest dreams, but also find terror rooted deeply within the shadows of their nightmares.

Initial Rating:

My Initial Response: Again, this comes from the anthology that I've been reading over the past week. It's called Dark and Deadly: Eight Paranormal Bad Boys of Romance. Click the link to buy it from Amazon; it's still only $0.99, so it's quite the steal! Anyway, this was a nice surprise. This is the first time I've read anything by Ms. Kellison and I enjoyed all eight chapters of Darkness Falls. Yep, you read that right. It's only eight chapters, but quite a bit can happen in such a short span! This is the main reason why I have to say hats off to Ms. Kellison. Somehow she built a complete world, full of rich characters and an intriguing plot line, within a few keystrokes (or penstrokes, if you will). Not an easy feat, by any means!

What I imagine the Reve island to feel like. So peaceful!

One of the other reasons why I'm rating this as a four is because she actually left me wanting for more. As I've said before, I don't like novellas; they are generally lacking in multiple areas that are important to me. But! I am slowly warming up to the idea of reading more novellas, and Darkness Falls has a lot to do with that. The first thing I did after I finished reading it was to check to see if the next book was already out. Color me surprised when I found out that it didn't center on Malcolm and Jordan. Very disappointed! However, upon checking again just now (just to make sure!), it looks like all information about the story has been pulled, so who knows what's in store. If you do end up purchasing the anthology, there is a snippet from the supposed next book Lay Me Down, and you'll see what I mean about it being centered on other characters.

Technical Rating: 

Character Building: 
It's interesting to me that Ms. Kellison was able to build her characters so well in such a short span when other established authors struggle to give life to their characters with twice, three times, four times, the span of what Ms. Kellison used. Not only do you connect with her main characters, but you develop a connection to some of the supporting characters as well.

Plot Strength:
There are a couple of glaring holes that cannot be ignored; however, a lot of them have to do with the overall series' plot from what I understand, so my assumption is that they will be answered as Ms. Kellison moves through the series. But, the ending was extraordinarily abrupt, and not in a good, "edge of your seat," what-a-cliffhanger sort of way.

Sincerity:
The only thing that really threw me was how quickly Jordan accepted everything. It makes sense if you think about it overly much, but I think that in this case, it was only done to save page space. Other than that, the world feels genuine and the plot seems organic.

Editing:
Full star!

Pacing:
This novella is very fast-paced, but it has to be for the amount of material that it covers. It works well with the plot though, because it makes it an action-packed thriller of sorts. Would I necessarily say that this fits in the thriller genre? Not so much. But, it is a thrilling read!

My Icing on Top:
I like this author! It actually had story to it and it wasn't just about the romance. Actually, even if you took the romance angle out of it, it would still be a highly entertaining read. There's really only one scene of steaminess, and it doesn't take up 75% of the book. Sorry, I'm still disappointed about the last couple of romp-fest novellas I forced down. I would love it if Ms. Kellison took these ideas and expanded them into a full-length novel, but as it stands now I think she's going to stick with a novella series. Only time will tell, though! If you're looking for a romance story but want something that has a well-thought out plot that doesn't heavily rely on the romance, pick up Darkness Falls!

Check out my informal review on Goodreads!

Happy reading!

-K