Review: Vassily the Beautiful

Vassily the Beautiful by Angel Martinez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I really liked this story. It really spoke to me on a number of levels, not all of them comfortable. This may not be a story I go back to repeatedly but not for any lack in the story.

This book covers so may different topics and much of it is done well. There's a struggle for independence and recovery after a debilitating accident. There's addiction and recovery. And of course there's love; both the kind that's blind to any imperfections when the mother chose a less than savory man refuses to see the faults in both him and his sons, and the unconditional love between Vassily and Sumi.

This story had high points and low. There were times I wanted to stop and yet I had to keep going even knowing that the story could never be a perfect HEA. And yet it still ends very satisfyingly and in a way that the imperfection of it still adds to the HEA. There's no miracle cure, no surgery, no drug, no last minute hail-mary-pass that fixes everything, what's done is done, and yet they still find love and happiness.

This is not so much a sci-fi story as one of survival and overcoming obstacles. A definite recommended read, but not for the faint of heart. Some of the issues covered, forced addiction and the humiliation that comes with it may be disturbing for some. It definitely touched a cord in me.

Well done!



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Review: Ervin's Dilemma

Ervin's Dilemma by Stephani Hecht

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This is the first book in a new series for this author and although the ground work was done in her "Lost Shifter" series, there is a lot of potential as I've always wondered about Chris's pack and I hope to learn the differences between being part of the pack vs being part of the cat coalition.

The story between Ervin and his half wolf/half human mate Miles, although very similar to a lot of stories available on the market was pretty good. The characters, though stereotypical were well rounded enough that I was able to care about them. The love story was sweet but not over done. I'm hoping that there will be more to this as this first book really doesn't lead anywhere. There's no big story line, no major problems left open, so I'm not sure where this author is going with this series.

I normally really like this author's work, but this really came off as a cookie cutter story with very few if any original elements. I hope that the next story will lead to a more original and better thought out story line.



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