RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

 3* Decent tale, but very much told, not shown. Flashbacks weren't organic and slowed down the stry towards the crescendo. This is my first book by this author, that reads like her first book. Pacing is off, the tale is very much told, not shown, and at 70% gone, it should have been ending. But, at that point the author started delving into Sheridan's brother going missing, into the baddie's past and thoughts and machinations, and feelings, and everything slowed right down. It took me out of the take at this point, and a couple of times before. What I didn't get was how there wasn't a hint of Scouse in anyone's speech. This tale is set right bang in the middle of Liverpool and there's no way that at least one character wouldn't have been speaking that way. Even without the accent, there'd have been local expressions, but the only thing there was, was 'butty'. I know the author's a Brit, but I'm not sure she wrote an authentically Scou...

 3.5* Couldn't connect with the romance, but intriguing enough that I'm up for book 2. Several things seem embellished about this book - 1) the female lead herself. We know there's some kind of deity connection in her past but we don't get to see her as a person, just as someone thinking with their libido. She's portrayed as having backbone and courage in the first few pages, but then the aforementioned kicks in and we dont get to see her personality. And just as the reveal comes, the book ends on a cliffhanger 2) the so-called friendship? Doesn't exist and neither the female lead nor the supposed friend seems bothered about it 3) the male lead? A pale version, no pun intended, of any number of vampire males from any number of vampire novels. BUT...there was potential. I liked the world that the author was describing, so I think book 2 might be worth a read. I'm not sold on the romance, nor am I sold on people, which the made-vamps essentially still are, bei...

 4* Decent intro to this author. Sad that the characters weren't really likeable. This has good bones, decent writing and had me into the tale enough that I read it in a couple of hours, despite not liking Tess or her use of Nora. The characters felt real, none more so than Kenny, the pre-teen caught between her warring parents, but I was also a bit irritated at how little the police and characters, especially the ones being 'used' (trying not to spoiler here) didn't protest more and seemed OK with non-answers.  It also felt like the parents gave up on their marriage far too quickly, with the mother moving on to a new lover, and the father existing in a sort of limbo. Nora was decent and blurred the lines a little for what seemed like not-unreasonable reasons, and yet at the same time, she knew something was amiss with a particular event that had to involve the cops, yet stayed quiet about it. In a case where cops themselves were already not looking top shiny. Still, it...

 2* Not a pleasant female lead, and how she can live with herself...! I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this. The lead may not be sorry but I'm sorry that I was taken in by the first 5 pages and settled in for what I thought would be a decent read, but what wasn't.  Arc courtesy of NetGalley and HQ.

 Member Review Cover Image:  JL is a class act - this had beautiful turns of phrase, decent whodunit/s and the right ending. I'm not a fan of abbreviated endings, but sometimes you need them for a touch of realism, like here. I mean, about 2 pages before the ending, I'd already gotten what for me as a lover of all things furred and four-legged, was the icing on my (reading) cake, so no complaints. This wasn't a complicated tale nor one that needs to be read in series like most JL tales and it was quick and easy to get into, without a huge infodump about the leads' pasts. There were enough characters, enough bits that weren't as cut and dried as they seemed, to make this a decent, enjoyable but not taxing tale. Is it one of JL's best? If you like deep and complicated, huge misunderstandings and angst, maybe not, but as a standalone, and a lighter-feeling one, despite the death and prison and break-up/s, this was an entertaining read. Let's hope this is JL bac...