Vampires in America The Vignettes Vol 2 was a very enjoyable read. I love the VIA world so getting to catch up on all my favorite vamps with cute little stories is so much fun for me. I knew I would get some smexy time with Cyn, Raphael, and the other Vampire Lords and mates. What I didn't expect,but was pleasantly surprised about was the stories about Juro. I loved the story with Juro and Luci, but my all time favorite story in this book was of how Juro and his twin brother Ken'ichi became vampires. I am super intrigued by the hunky Japanese twins and would love more of the sexy twin duo. I would love for Ken'ichi to get his own book. Hint hint!!!! This book was an easy, sexy read that gave me my fix of Vampires in America while I wait for Quinn's book!
Vampires in America The Vignettes Vol 2 was a very enjoyable read. I love the VIA world so getting to catch up on all my favorite vamps with cute little stories is so much fun for me. I knew I would get some smexy time with Cyn, Raphael, and the other Vampire Lords and mates. What I didn't expect,but was pleasantly surprised about was the stories about Juro. I loved the story with Juro and Luci, but my all time favorite story in this book was of how Juro and his twin brother Ken'ichi became vampires. I am super intrigued by the hunky Japanese twins and would love more of the sexy twin duo. I would love for Ken'ichi to get his own book. Hint hint!!!! This book was an easy, sexy read that gave me my fix of Vampires in America while I wait for Quinn's book!
What can I say it's Ruby Dixon and her books are like a drug to me. I love them all so much. They are my happy place, my comfort. This was a very cuteWhat can I say it's Ruby Dixon and her books are like a drug to me. I love them all so much. They are my happy place, my comfort. This was a very cute read. Brux is such a sweet broody hero and Melody is fun and outgoing. I loved them both so much and thought they made a really cute couple. ...more
Well it was better than the last one, but still had long boring parts. Too many different new people and cultures to keep up with. I can't remember anWell it was better than the last one, but still had long boring parts. Too many different new people and cultures to keep up with. I can't remember anyone's name but the main couple and the Carpathian males. There was more page time with the couple and a little less fighting in this read which helped make this book more likable. The couple had a bit more depth that helped too. I wish she would go back to writing like the first ten books. I don't find myself looking forward to the books anymore. It doesn't feel like coming home anymore. It feels like a chore. Each new book I go into with no connection to the people because most are new. Nothing seem dangerous because everything is so over the top it's lost it's shock value. I might just wait to read the other books until It's Gary, Josef, or one of the kids of the past couples. All these new guys don't hold my interest at all....more
Please stop destroying beloved series by not ending them when it's time. Stop coming up with convoluted, confusing, over the
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Dear Authors,
Please stop destroying beloved series by not ending them when it's time. Stop coming up with convoluted, confusing, over the top, ridiculous, overly complicated, and monotonous plots to keep the series going. Yes your series is popular. Yes it has a large following. True you and fans may not want it to end. Nothing last forever. You can only upgrade the bad guys so many times before you run out of baddies. How many damn apocalypses can there be in one series? How many overly complex and preposterous story lines can you drum up? At some point that horse is going to die. Beating that dead horse, putting making up on it, dressing it fancy doesn't make it better. Please stop dragging it out. Stop taking these amazing series that touch so many with compelling story lines and characters that fans love and turn that into a caricature of it's former self because you don't want to end it.
Below are my thoughts on this book so Spoilers SPOILERS lots of SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!
First off let me say that I have been reading the Dark/Carpathian series for around 12 years. That's right I have spent years of my life investing into this series. I have loved and eagerly looked forward to every book buying them as soon as they release. I have spent in the upper 100s of dollars collecting this series in hardback and kindle editions. So to say I have been a dedicated fan would be putting it mildly.
It hurts me to say this but, I truly think it's time. This series has gone on too long and strayed away from what made it so special in the first place. I feel like Christine Feehan has fallen into a trap that a lot of authors/ and tv show writers fall into when trying to keep their series going.
Jumping the shark, Nuking the fridge, Forest Gump-ing it, going Off the rails, A bridge too far, the one upper, whatever you call it the meaning is the same. To ruin a work(series, show, etc.) by introducing new plots, characters, and ideas that are so far-fetched and ridiculous that it declines in quality. I tend to refer to Dark Blood as the beginning of the end. That was were I started to notice some cracks in my beloved Dark series. I noticed CF seemed to be adding a lot of page fillers in that book that were stupid, boring and added nothing to the book. For example all the spells and Carpathian language(gibberish that CF made up).
After that I noticed that plot getting more far reaching. A ton of new characters were added. I can't remember half of them or keep them straight. Newer and badder bad guys that come off more like a joke. I mean really first it was time and the human extremist that were the bad guys. Then it was Vampires and human extremist, then it was badder vampires, then ancient badder- vampires, then Jaguars, then a Mage, then Lycans, and of course lets not forget the then dead mage Xavier, brought back to life with help of his secret brothers because surprise they are triplets. Their name my god their names. Xavier, Xaviero, and Xayvion. It's like he is a Pokémon with different evolutions. Every time I read their names I think of Eevee and all her evolutions.
Dark Whisper is book 32 and it was boring af. It was so lackluster that I will be going to the library for now on to read the new books. Vasilisa and Afanasiv didn't stand out to me and I bet by next year I won't remember them at all. They had no connection, no romance to speak of and really they had very little depth. All the time and pages it would have taken to give them some depth and development went to fights. Stupid eye rolling fights that aren't even action packed just a bunch of mental fights, spells and a sprinkle of action.
Then CF comes up with the newest baddie Lilith the underworld queen/demons. What's next Aliens? At one point Afanasiv tells his lifemate that Lilith blackmailed him into a contract for sex in hopes for a baby. Don't worry he didn't touch Lilith but he also didn't break his word. How you ask? Well he made a astral projection of himself that slept with Lilith. Lilith being a power demon queen of hell couldn't tell a real male fucking her from Astral dick. I mean really?? REALLY? No one in CF's camp didn't think to say "umm CF this might be a bit much" No one?
I was bored the whole book. Truly didn't enjoy any of it except for Razvan, Ivory, Skyler and Dimitri. I can tell CF did a lot of search in tarot cards, but honestly I don't give a crap about that. I don't need to hear about everyone's readings and what each damn card means. It's just more page filler like the spells and Carpathian language. There is only one way to fix this series. Forget the ancients from the monastery or sprinkle them between other books. Go back to the Carpathian mountains. Back to the way the first 10 books were written. Develop your characters and their relationships. Give them depth. Focus on the romance, families and friendships. No one cares about badder villains, or overly complex battles. No one cares about made up languages, fake spells, and long winded card readings. Go back to the basics. What made this series stand out was the beloved characters that touched the readers and the strong connection we felt to them because they felt real. If the series keeps going down the path it's on now it will crash and burn.
Yes there have been some good books in the series as of late, but they are getting less and less. I want more than anything to get Gary's book. I have wanted his book since book 4. I would also love to get the kids books. The prince's son, Gregori's twins, Josef etc. their books would be amazing. Still I don't know how much more I can take. This is my first time ever giving CF a 1 star and it hurts my soul. With each new book I get closer to quitting this series, and that just breaks my heart.
Ever since reading Lassiter(which is to date the biggest disappointing read of my life)The BDB has lost it's shine. I was and still am so upset with the plot of Lassiter and all the bs that didn't make any damn sense in that book that I didn't even want to read Darius. Truly I can't state this enough Lassiter broke my heart. I loved the BDB and I feel like Lassiter shit on my heart. However I decided I would read Darius to try and get over the hurt of Lassiter and maybe rediscover my love for this series. Didn't happen for me. Though Darius wasn't as disappointing as Lassiter(it would be hard to beat that shit show), but it wasn't very good either.
Anyone that has read the BDB series knows that Beth's mom was human, that she died in childbirth, that She freaked when she learned Darius was a vampire and that Darius died in a car bombing in book one. So I knew it wouldn't be a happy happy joy joy book but I was curious about Beth's mom. The problem with this book is it's about as deep as a puddle. Darius and Anne didn't have a great love story they didn't even have 5 days together. I didn't buy their shallow insta-love and I didn't feel any connection to them as a couple. In past books I thought of Darius as a bad ass warrior strong and loyal. He was the heart of the BDB family, but in this book he came off emo, and his Debbie downer act was off putting.
Anne didn't impress me at all. She falls in love with a man she knows for a few days, finds out he is a vampire and runs for 9 months till she dies giving birth to Beth. As a reader there was nothing to connect to because she wasn't developed. Also wtf was up with the SV and the whole messing in the lives of her creations? Where was freewill? Also what was up with that ending? How did Darius get to decide he was done being JM and just bounce? What the fuck does that mean for JM? I swear some of the things JR Ward does in these books make no sense, contradict past books, and drive me batty. I didn't even care that Anne and Darius were reunited in the fade they were like strangers that had sex once and had a baby. I don't know how romantic it is spending eternity with a one night stand. Just saying! I worry about this series and I don't like what I'm seeing.
My God I love Ruby Dixon. I swear her writing is my happy place. Her books bring me such joy and are so addictive. When she's common was very cute. I My God I love Ruby Dixon. I swear her writing is my happy place. Her books bring me such joy and are so addictive. When she's common was very cute. I loved lord hairball aka Zhur, and I loved Maeve. Zhur made me laugh. Seeing the spoiled haughty prince living on a lowly farm ....priceless. Maeve was great. I loved that she didn't take his shit. She was nice to him but didn't come off as a doormat. She did a great job of melting that rude spoiled shell and making him more down to earth(lol for a alien) and likable. They made a great couple and I loved their relationship. I also really liked getting more of Ruth Ann, Ruthie, and the clones. What I really wanted more of was Leah and Rem. I need their story asap. Rem was so hard and grumpy I really want to know his story. I also like that humans are becoming more accepted by the snotty aliens. Overall a great read and I can't wait for Prince Rem's story! ...more
When I read Fourth Wing a few months ago I didn't really like it, but I didn't hate it. Because it was so popular I decided to give it one more shot to see if book two could win me over. Spoiler alert it didn't!!!!! Can anyone explain to me how I can read two books, one of which the audiobook was 28 hours long and I still don't know what the fuck is going on in this series. Truly it's one of the most confusing books I've ever read. A ton of names, cities, kingdoms, rules, gods, powers, bad guys, deaths, dragons etc. crammed into a book with no depth to connect you to the info. What I did understand was stupid and made no sense what so ever. The rules of the world contradicted each other. The plot was poorly hashed out and the characters were very one dimensional. Being on book 2 I should be able to feel like I know the main characters well, but everything I know about them I learned in the first few chapters of the first book. They got no deeper as the series went on. If I wrote everything I didn't like about this book in this review, I'd be here forever so I'll just name a few and be done.
Let me start with Basgiath the most stupid war college ever! They don't train their students, they don't protect them, they don't make them stronger, they aren't honest with them, and they don't give a single shit about anyone in the school. In both books we readers are told over and over that Basgiath is in desperate need of riders, yet more riders die from going to Basgiath than in battle ever. Basgiath literally lies, tortures, abuses, and kills their own students. There is nothing good, cool, or worthwhile about Basgiath war college. I'm pretty sure they are the bad guys. I know I wouldn't want to go there. I mean how stupid is it that you need fighters but you keep killing them off left and right for the fuck of it. I get that RY was trying to up the stakes but instead it makes Basgiath and everyone that wants to go there look stupid. I could go on for hours about all that is stupid about Basgiath but let me move on to Violet and Xaden. Violet has to be the weakest "kickass heroine" I've ever read. Honestly she can't fight, she can't ride and she can't use her magic well. She is always hurt and injured and she is weak of mind. She is suppose to be so smart yet she does some of the dumbest shit. I'll give you one example. There is a fight scene when Liam's sister(who is not trained well and will get her ass kicked) is getting ready to spar/fight in front of the whole class. This is dangerous for Liam's sister as fighter kill each other for fun all the time. Since Violet promise Liam as he was dying in book one that she would watch over his sister Violet needs to help her. Now super smart Violet (who btw, poisoned everyone she fought in book 1 and was never caught even as all her opponents were dropping like flies) decides to help Liam's sis by poisoning her opponents too. Of course the way she drugs the fighter is by crushing a powder in her hand and then cough blowing said powder in the other fighter's face. No one seeing powder flying from someone's hand into another persons face even with a ton of people standing super close. Nope nothing to see here. Also powder wouldn't fly everywhere and get in or on other people around the crowded mats nope not at all. It was just so damn stupid.
Xaden was a sad imitation of Rhys from ACOTAR. He kept going on about loving Violet and yet he kept hiding things from her, knowing it was why she didn't want to be with him. His bullshit of if you want to know just ask line was getting old. Violet was no better lying to everyone else and being pissed at Xaden for lying. The Cat is the bitchy ex that wants Xaden back was just stupid added drama that I'm sick of reading in books for real. Xaden and Violet were apart a ton in this way too long book. When they were together they kept having the same stupid ass fight. They are all suppose to be in their 20s but they read like 15 years old. I felt no connection to either Xaden or Violet. Most likely because they were so one-dimensional. I've seen puddles with more depth. In the first book I kind of liked the dragons in this book they came off flat and lame. The bad ass dragon Tairn never seem to be there for Violet when she needs him and Andarna God RY ruined Andarna by making her bitchy and saying it's because she is a teen. Whatever. Andarna like Xaden was gone most of the book. Oh and I loved that Andarna was a super special kind of dragon that no one else knew about, because Violet is so special she gets all the special dragons......NOT. RY threw everything she could think of in this book to make it exciting. Then for good measure she threw in the kitchen sink, and it still fell flat. I mean really Jack is still alive and a bad guy ohhhhhhhhhh please spare me. Then that ending with Xaden happened and I was just like whatever. Truly I felt nothing. Well that's not true I felt annoyed that I wasted 28 hours listening to a book that was this bad. Sorry to the fans. Don't come for me if you loved it great! I'm glad it worked for you. I just didn't like it.
This book was a nice 4 star read for me. I love Ruby Dixon and her books are always a comfort read for me. The only thing that I didn't really care f This book was a nice 4 star read for me. I love Ruby Dixon and her books are always a comfort read for me. The only thing that I didn't really care for was(view spoiler)[ Skarr having two cocks (hide spoiler)] I love Skarr's personality. I loved how much Vivi and Skarr were a team and had each others backs. I would have liked to learn more about the others....more
Ok so let me start this review out by saying that I only read this book because of Tik Tok. I read ACOTAR a few months back and fell madly in love with that series. Everyone that read Fourth Wing told me it was just as good as ACOTAR if not better. Then after seeing everyone raving about it on Tik Tok and the high rating it has on goodreads, I thought I really need to read this book. Boy was I disappointed. Don't get me wrong it was ok, but nothing to write home about.
I liked the dragons and their sass. I liked the idea of them having close bonds to their riders. In the same breath I didn't understand how the author one minute said the dragon and their rider are so bonded if one dies the other does too. Although some dragons can still live but the rider dies period. Call me crazy but that seems like it would be a special close bond lives tied together and all. Then RY turned around and had dragons letting their riders fall to their deaths, or dragon-less rides kill another rider to get a chance at their dragon. Hello I thought the super smart powerful dragons knew who to choose as their riders and bonded to them to the death? It felt like forced drama and danger. The book also says how riders are fewer and fewer every year, and yet they are letting students kill each other for funsies.
I had mixed feelings on Violet. I liked her but at times I didn't. She was super smart but weak, and I don't mean how she was sickly. I mean she at times came off weak minded to me. Like just kill Jack already damn. I also thought her inner thoughts came off like a high school girl not a grown ass women. It felt like the world and plot were not fully hashed out. Readers are told Violet is weak and fragile every few pages yet we never find out what is wrong with her? What is her illness that made her so weak? There were tons of other plot holes like that all through the book.
I think what really kept me from loving this book is the copy cat vibes it gave off. The world set up is totally like Divergent. I mean come on Violet is totally suppose to be Tris. The fight matches divergent. The cadets completely over the top hunting and killings of each other was all hunger game-ish. Then there is Xaden aka Rhsysand from wish.com. Xaden was a sad imitation of Rhys never coming close to being as yummy, sexy or badass as Rhys. In keeping with the coping of ACOTAR we have the shadow powers and Xaden being the baddest of the land, and the knock off Tamlin aka Dain. I seen bits How to train your dragon sprinkled in there too.
It's really hard to get into a book that feels like a cheap knock off of some of your favorites, but not as good. So while this book was a ok way to kill some time I never felt any connection to it. It's like when you turn on the Hallmark channel and watch a Christmas romance. You know they are decent, but they all are pretty much the same generic story with different actors in it. So yeah I may pick up the second book but I'm not in a hurry.
I have been loving Cliff since he showed up years ago in Bastien's book. So since book 3 I have watched him and other vampires fight with honor to not turn evil in hopes of being cured. I was really hoping that they would either find a cure or find a way to turn the vampires in the the immortals. So needless to say that after years of having my heart break for Cliff and the others, to have DD write that cop-out ending for him let me down so much. She did him and the other vampires fighting so hard dirty. I would have been ok with them being healed to human or turn Immortal but to have (view spoiler)[only Cliff healed by Seth's father (hide spoiler)] I feel bad for all the other vampires. I also feel bad for Cliff. He should have been the cure and saved the day. I'm just so damn disappointed.
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