Cherry Mischievous: October 2022

Friday, 7 October 2022

DATING TERRORS

Dating Terrors by Patricia Briggs in the anthology Heroic Hearts
Book 18.5 in the Mercy Thompson series
Narrated by Holter Graham
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook, paperback, & audiobook

About Dating Terrors:

The werewolf Asil finds a blind date might just turn into something more - if the woman can escape the dark magic binding her.

Source: Info in the "About Dating Terrors" was taken from the back cover of the book anthology Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes.

Asil

My Thoughts:

Asil is an old, old wolf and just biding his time until the Marrok kills him and finally give him relief of this world. However, he also have pack mates who are mischievous who set him up with three blind dates with good intentions. The first blind date was a novella titled Asil and the Not-Date (book number 17.5 in the Mercy Thompson series) in the anthology Fantastic Hope. Asil, for the lack of nothing better to do, went along with it. And for the heck of it! This is the second blind date. For a very short story, this novella managed to have a tiny plot and gave a wonderful reading time! Too short a reading time!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:

Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com \| facebook \| twitter \| goodreads \| amazon

The Narrator

About Holter Graham:

Holter Graham, winner of AudioFile's 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction & Fantasy for Sherrilyn Kenyon's Acheron, is a stage, television, and screen actor.

www.holtergraham.com | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Wednesday, 5 October 2022

REFUGE

Refuge by Karen Lynch
Book 2 of the Relentless series
Read by Caitlin Greer
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Refuge:

To keep the people she loved safe, Sara left everything she knew behind. She soon learns this new world is nothing like her old one, and she struggles to make a place for herself among the Mohiri. But it soon becomes apparent to Sara and to everyone one around her that she is not your typical warrior.

As the weeks pass, Sara builds new relationships, copes with her new trainers, and tries to manage her ever-changing powers, while keeping her unique heritage a secret. Looming in the background is the constant shadow of the Master who will do anything to find her.

Sara finds herself on a journey of self-discovery that uncovers her true strengths and awakens a part of her she never knew existed. She experiences the delight of new friendships, the sweetness and pain of first love, and a loss so deep it could be the thing that finally breaks her. At the end of it all, she discovers that the one place she was supposed to be safe might not be the refuge she thought it was.

Source: Info in the About Refuge was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20883154-refuge on 30/07/2019.

Buy Link(s):

My Thoughts:

I know that the first book is titled Relentless, but I don't really get why the series is called Relentless... is it just solely because the first book is titled that?! A bit lame for a title for a series. Anyway our main protagonist, Sara, is proving to be just slightly too stupid to live (TSTL). I sincerely hope that this is not going to become a trend in this series because that would just be too bad! Because I really am beginning to like this series! And TSTL is just going to ruin it all! On the other hand, I am glad to see that Sara is discovering her other part(s) of herself and evolving into a more interesting character. The romantic angle that this book explored more than the previous book did, is also getting interesting! Love the romance! There isn't much of a plot though. But then again, this is an urban fantasy book and not a crime thriller, so forgivable from my point of view.

The author and/or publisher obviously changed the cover art for this series from "a boy and a girl" image to a more abstract water and oil art. I'm glad they did because the "boy & girl faces" is pretty boring!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 4
Plot = 3
Narration = 3

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Meet The Author

About Karen Lynch:

Karen Lynch is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.

She grew up in Newfoundland, Canada - a place rich in colorful people and folklore to which she attributes her love of the supernatural and her vivid imagination. She moved to Charlotte, North Carolina years ago and was immediately charmed by the southern people but she says she will always be a newfie.

Though she loves supernatural fiction, she has a soft spot for Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austin. She is a fan of classic rock, country and classical music but her favorite music is the sound of a good thunderstorm or a howling blizzard. Two of her favorite past times are baking artisan breads for her friends and spending quality time with her two German Shepherds.