Cia's Reviews 2



Time for a few reviews of the books, ebooks, and online stories I've read this week! Grab a cup of your favorite warm beverage, coffee, tea, cocoa, on this cool fall day and enjoy!!

Crying For The Moon by Sarah Madison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
MM Paranormal

I won a print copy of this book, which I received a few days ago. Finally having some quiet time, I sat down to read it. It took me about 2 hours start to finish, but I slowed down a little to enjoy certain... parts. LOL

The writing was quite well done, with only a few errors, and the flow was perfect. Sarah has wonderful writing skills that draw you into the story, even if the story is about a house betraying its new owner with all it's crumbling quirks, at first. The characters all had interesting side stories, which were introduced here and there to explain their personalities and quirks quite well. I find that to be a hard thing to do in a story that holds so many peripheral characters that are vital to the story.

My thoughts on the villian's dastardly plot were that it was a bit thin. The main character, Alex, is not dim-witted by any means, but he couldn't see what Victor was trying to do? I saw that when the first mention of him and his reaction to Alex's relocation was brought up. So, that aspect of the story, was a bit thin.

I didn't go into this for a mystery however, which is good because certain other elements, which I don't want to spoil, were very obvious. Who the characters all 'were' was pretty easy to figure out, including their supernatural inclinations. I still liked the mythos of the supernatural that was used, though. It wasn't insanely different but just enough to make things fun.

There are elements left that I'd love to see explained in later stories. Why Nick's people have so little money. The aftermath of Victor. Alex's plans to do with Victor's little reveal about their past. The progression of the relationship between Alex and Tate. Tate's past. There's certainly a lot left to be explored. I'd definitely buy follow up books to Crying for the Moon.

Shattered Heart by Nikki McCoy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
MM Dystopian M/s *Content Advisory*

Shattered Heart was a very dark story, but one I still enjoyed. I really liked Corin's character, for the most part. I felt that his revelation, and reversal of his feelings about Markus, was a bit understated when Markus had his little revelation though. The emotions the book brought out seesawed in me. Sometimes I was okay with their relationship progression and others I simply couldn't 'believe' it. That lack of ability to tuck their happiness together into a neat package had nothing to do with the Master/slave dynamic, which I have enjoyed before, but more that it just didn't feel like it was the proper fit between them, even at the end. Then again, I might not be making at sense at all; the feeling I was left with created such a vague dissatisfaction that it's hard to pinpoint any one element and say, "This, this is what is bugging me." Usually I can.

The writing itself flowed quite well, and I didn't notice many errors. The plot was pretty predictable, as were the characters, but I still stayed up super late to read the story simply because I wanted to know for certain what would happen. I had to. That eclipsed my slight issues and made this a 4 star story for me. I appreciate the author's ability to write such a controversial genre, and do it pretty darn well.


Online Free Fiction

Late Night Rodeo by Branflakes length:2908 words
Synopsis: Kevin finds himself driving a drunken girl home. Why is she so far from home?

My review: Thanks Branflakes, now I'm gonna have nightmares! You add in some interesting bits to consider. Like, was she always nuts? Or was it a 'gay' thing, after her comments about how Texans don't like gay people? How'd she know the cop? Was it the guy she was arguing with and they just didn't notice?

Foolish games by kolgrim length: 330k
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My review: Long. Complicated. Very angsty and the drama was a bit extreme, but I still read this start to finish over 2 days. I liked it, just felt that a lot of the scenes could have been pared down to make this a more readable story, with a tight plot.

Okay, I hope if you pick any of these stories to read you enjoy them as much as I did. More reviews will be coming soon!!