I loved reading about both the Cheung and Jamieson family interactions as well as about the everyday problems that weighed on Tiffany, and on Chris. II loved reading about both the Cheung and Jamieson family interactions as well as about the everyday problems that weighed on Tiffany, and on Chris. I liked reading about how the characters were trying to discover themselves at different ages and stages in their lives. And I loved the kittens. My heart melted and I wanted to find a kitten for myself right away. For cuddles.
However, I did not buy the romance. I didn’t see any chemistry between Tiffany and Chris, and when the compulsory I love you’s were said I was asking myself why. I didn’t see them fall in love or even rekindle a high school crush. Am I happy they worked things out and ended up together—not a spoiler, this is a Harlequin romance? Yes, but mostly because of their extended families rather than for the couple themselves....more
A decent follow up for the first book in the series. Apart from the paranormal world, I liked the fact that this time the half demon was conscious aboA decent follow up for the first book in the series. Apart from the paranormal world, I liked the fact that this time the half demon was conscious about giving her a choice in a very fundamental choice. I would have liked the scene to be even clearer on that front but I guess the author was in a hurry to get to the totally unnecessary alluded sex scene.
Who among us while walking by the river Styx doesn’t stop to think that this is the opportune time to have sex? I ask you, who?
Also, Eve Silver continues to write about mixed-race couples. This time the heroine was half Egyptian, half Japanese. I wish I knew enough of Japanese culture to fully appreciate proverbs—or know if they were real or not....more
A decent paranormal on the plotty side. The characters are developed but at the expense of the relationship development. I spied a logic lapsus or twoA decent paranormal on the plotty side. The characters are developed but at the expense of the relationship development. I spied a logic lapsus or two, but I don’t know whether I should be blaming the slightly wooden translation or the original text.
There wasn’t any explicit sexual content, so I can’t call this an erotica, but the presence of ancient Egyptian deities ensures the book aimed for adults and mature teens. And horror flick fans.
Should or shouldn’t I mention this? It’s a mix race couple, and for once the black woman was stronger character than the white man. Of course, they’re both hardly human, so they have that in common. ...more
It’s been six months but I remember buying this book because I’d seen a semi-positiveThis review can also be found on Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell-blog.
It’s been six months but I remember buying this book because I’d seen a semi-positive review on a blog—Dear Author probably—and because a romance of a mixed-race couple in the 1860’s Wild West sounded intriguing. Especially since neither character is white.
Unfortunately the story didn’t live up to its promise.
I did like the start of the book, although I did think it somewhat boring. The author spends a lot of time setting the scene and describing the life of a Chinese worker building the railroads for a pittance and the life of a black single woman trying to build a new life and a business for herself and her friend. Bias, racism, sexism, it’s all there and prevalent in the vernacular.
As if that’s not enough to create obstacles to the couple’s happiness, there’s also their inability to fully understand each other. Quiang speaks but a little English and he and Leah have to communicate through gestures, looks, and touches.
There’s all this, and what does the author do with it? Nothing. Cullars glosses over all the difficult—and rewarding—steps of a meaningful relationship building and focuses on the paper thin physical attraction instead. There’s a brief mention of how Leah and Quiang learn to communicate with the help of a dictionary, but they don’t really talk to each other. When they’re together they’re either taking their clothes of and having sex or putting their clothes on and thinking about having sex. And those sex scenes are bad. There’s creaming and there’s tumescence, there’s orbs and there’s the infamous “her sex” euphemism.
After all that, the story and my rating for it could have been saved had I bought Quiang’s interactions with the triad members. I can’t really pinpoint my problem with them, but something in the language used left me unconvinced. It wasn’t just Wao’s refusal to call an erection an erection, it was also how the revelation of the misappropriation was handled. Until then, I had liked Quiang’s willingness to engage in shady businesses for quick profit and that both characters had such defined lives outside each other, after it just felt anticlimactic.
I didn’t want a happily ever after epilogue, I wanted to read how they get there.
So what does the book have? Good historical description with nascent characterisations, but without any real character or relationship development, and a whiff of Wild West adventures. It simply wasn’t enough for me. ...more
Loading...