BOOK REVIEW: Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
Release Date: September 28, 2010
ISBN-10: 0441019455
ISBN-13: 978-0441019458
Source: purchased copy

Cerise Mar and her clan are cash poor but land rich, claiming a large swathe of the Mire, the Edge swamplands. When her parents vanish, her clan's long-time rivals are suspect. But all is not as it seems.

Two nations of the Weird are waging a cold war fought by feint and espionage, and their conflict is about to spill over into the Edge-and Cerise's life.

—Goodreads

Book Review

This is the 2nd book in Ilona Andrew's The Edge paranormal romance series. I must admit that I wasn't all that enamored with the 1st book, On the Edge. It did not engage & excite me as much as I had hoped it would, especially considering how much I totally adore the Kate Daniels series. Fortunately, this followup installment improved upon its predecessor and reminded me why I'm such a huge fan of Ilona Andrew's writing.

Bayou Moon was fairly well paced, and I did not think there were any moments when the plot dragged. In fact, there was always something interesting going on, with emotional & physical conflict present at every turn. There were also some fight scenes dispersed throughout the story. For the most part, they were well written, but I felt that they were a bit too short and too easily resolved for my liking. I'm an action junkie, so I love elaborate fight sequences.

The standout aspect of this book is by far our protagonist duo. I will admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for love-hate (or rather hate-love) romantic relationships. I think it's a fun ride to see the main leads go from pushing each other's buttons to slowly (and a bit reluctantly) falling in love with one another. Cerise and William have sizzling chemistry practically from the very first instant they meet. I thoroughly enjoyed the way they got under each other's skin, how they bantered, and the way they tried to resist their perpetually growing mutual attraction.

Both William and Cerise's characters were well-developed and easy to connect with. What I really loved about them was the fact that despite having supernatural abilities, they are both very real. They have flaws, insecurities, secrets, fears, dreams, vulnerabilities, and plenty of emotional baggage. They make poor choices and sometimes follow their hearts when they should be following their heads. And as their relationship evolves, so do they. The love that develops between Cerise and William is entirely believable and makes sense. They have a lot in common, and their romance grows in stages, rather than jumping from point A straight to point Z. There was a fun push-pull dynamic between them and some truly titillating tension that had me glued to my seat.

I only had two real problems with this book. My first issue has to do with the other characters. I found the two primary villains of the story to be underdeveloped and somewhat caricature-like. Also, the side characters, despite being unique, were not as well defined as I would have liked them to be. Some of them popped in and popped out of the story very abruptly and made me question their purpose.

My other issue was with the changing perspective. I liked reading the story through Cerise and William's alternating points of view. I even appreciated getting more direct insight into the main villain's thoughts & machinations. However, at rather random moments in the second half of the book, certain chapters would switch perspectives to that of a couple of the supporting characters. I found this to be a bit disorienting, and I did not feel like it contributed in any significant way to the development of the story.

Book Rating

BOOK REVIEW: Siren Song by Cat Adams

Paperback: 368 pages
Release Date: June 8, 2010
ISBN-10: 0765324946
ISBN-13: 978-0765324948
Source: purchased copy

Nothing if not resilient, Celia Graves is slowly adjusting to being a half-human, half-vampire Abomination. But her troubles are far from over.

Her best friend’s murder is still unsolved, the cops are convinced she should be in jail, and her old lover, the magician Bruno DeLuca, has resurfaced in her life, saying he has something important to tell her.

The vampire attack that transformed Celia kicked her latent Siren abilities into high gear, and now she’s been summoned to the Sirens’ island to justify her existence—and possibly fight for her life—in front of the Siren Queen. Celia isn’t sure she’ll survive to make the trip. The demon she defeated previously hasn’t exactly gone quietly—he’s left Celia suffering from a powerful curse.

—Goodreads

Book Review

I really, really wanted to love this book, since I was thoroughly entertained by Blood Song, the first installment in the series. Most of my issues with this book revolve around the plot. The pacing was just not very well balanced. Majority of the story moved along rather slowly. At somewhat random parts, brief moments of action were introduced, but were soon followed by rather mundane scenes that were far more detailed than they needed to be. Then abruptly towards the end, the action was kicked into high gear and careened into a rather quick conclusion. Significant developments/events felt rushed and not as explored as they should have been.

I was also disgruntled and disappointed by the plot twists. As a reader, I generally like to be surprised. I like a good mystery and unexpected revelations. I even like the occasional red herrings thrown into the mix. However, these tactics need to be effectively incorporated into the story, make sense, and be justified. A couple of big twists in Siren Song made absolutely no sense to me. They seemed like forced plot devices with no natural progression or cohesion with preceding events. Both twists involved people Celia holds dear, who completely acted out of character. In Blood Song, Cat Adams built these characters up to have important roles in Celia's life and hinted at even greater involvement in the future. Sadly, that was basically thrown out the window. In this book, these characters very briefly pop in, trample on everything they were setup to represent, and pop back out just as abruptly. I found myself saying, "What the frak just happened?...why, Cat Adams, why?!" I was left feeling perplexed and frustrated.

Honestly, the main thing that kept me reading was Celia's character. I still very much liked her in this book. She is well written and easy to connect with. As in the first book, I found myself drawn into her multifaceted struggle. Celia is faced with a lot of challenges, threats, and heartaches, and she just keeps on fighting and pushing ahead. She is strong but vulnerable, and she is very smart and resourceful. I like the fact that her being a bodyguard is actually believable. Too often, urban fantasy heroines are setup to be private investigators, police officers, bodyguards, etc. and they act in ways that make you very skeptical of their qualifications and capabilities. So, I was very happy that this was not the case with Celia's character.

Book Review