Venice Vampyr by Tina Folsom

Hi everybody, LJ here.  For some reason Will decided to pass on the review of the vampire romance book.  Big surprise! J  OK, anyway, here’s the scoop:  This is an older book in indie terms—things move pretty fast for some self-publishers, and apparently Tina Folsom kicks them out pretty fast.  Venice Vampyr was apparently published only back in December 2010 and she’s already on number three in the series.  So is this erotic paranormal romance for you?  And what does that mean anyway?

Well, more than anything else, it means hair-raising language.  I’m talking the most explicit, down and dirty language you can imagine.  Or even stronger than that!

But let’s start things with the story.  We don’t do spoilers here at BHBR, but it’s not much of a reveal to say that the story gets started when a human woman saves a vampire from drowning.  How does he want to thank her?  With sweet, sweet lovin’, and here’s where that naughty language comes in.  The author doesn’t hold back at all with her descriptions or language, and you’ll feel like you’re watching a porn film when reading this book.  Strangely, although I understand why Folsom’s books have been selling if they’re all like this one, I found the language really jarring.  I’m no prude, believe me [Note from Will:  I can attest to that; LJ is not a prude], but with the elegant backdrop of Venice for this book, it’s a bit much to hear dialogue that could have been lifted from the script of “MILF Gang Bang Vol. 4”.

Even that could have been overcome if the book were just better.  But outside of the undeniably arousing sex scenes, the rest of the book is just boring.  Folsom tried to spice it up—so to speak—by inserting photos of Venice that she took herself, but it only showed that she should stick to writing and avoid photography. 

In the end, I’ll put it like this—I guess I don’t mind having read it, but I found it disappointing both as a romance as well as erotica.  I don’t recommend Venice Vampyr for most readers and I’m going to give it two stars.

LJ 

Playing the Game by Simon Gould

Nutshell:  A crazed serial killer stalks pretty young college students in Los Angeles while an LAPD detective tries to catch him before he kills again.  A fast-paced thriller exhibiting nothing you haven't seen before.  Two stars.

Review:  So let's see...have we got the hard-boiled cop and his partner?  Check.  A crazed serial killer with a silly nickname toying with the cops?  Check.  A lawmaker belonging to a powerful, shadowy group that invisibly pulls the strings while staying above the law?  Check.  Yep, we've got all the cliches we need!

What should have been an entertaining romp wore out its welcome early, due to the many, many echoes of stories you've undoubtedly heard before.  It doesn't help things that Gould explicitly has a character refer to the main character (Detective Patton) and his partner as Riggs and Murtaugh, from the Lethal Weapon films--although it certainly does illuminate the inspiration for Gould.  We're also treated to dialogue à la Tarentino (two guys arguing over the merits of joining the rebels or the Empire in Star Wars), and so on and so on.  Of course, we're all inspired by others, but when there's so little originality displayed, it does get tiresome.

Gould's style is often clunky, as displayed in this dialogue--remember, this is something a character is actually saying aloud:  "We needed to ensure that we knew exactly where whoever was carrying out these actions was going to be once the actions were completed.  We can't run the risk of employing anyone to carry out these actions then being picked up somewhere down the line on an unrelated charge and having us as leverage to plead out a lesser charge."

It also doesn't help that the book is full of distractions.  These range from the many uses of British terms--"boot" instead of "trunk", "lift" instead of "elevator", "post" instead of mail, "takeaway" instead of (presumably) "takeout"; none of these would be used by the American characters in the book.  It makes me wonder why he didn't just place the action in London (oh yeah, they never filmed a Lethal Weapon movie there).  The apparent lack of copy editing was also maddening, repeatedly kicking me out of the story, although I did enjoy the line Gould wrote about Obi-wan Kenobi wandering around the "dessert".

I confess, I was tempted to stop reading after the part in which a cop knocks a door off its hinges with one kick, since we had evidently passed into fantasy land there.  However--and this is a big however--I kept reading.  Gould has some severe issues but he clearly gets some things right--the pacing is terrific and although the hooks are tired, they are often effective; I found myself wanting to read more in spite of myself.  If he were to use fresher ingredients, he'd come up with a pretty tasty concoction.  I'll be watching for his next offering.

The formatting of the text was fine, but the beginning was rough.  While I normally enjoy a story that throws you right into the action, I guess for Gould that means skipping the cover and title page and literally beginning with the first chapter.  I read this on Kindle for PC for 99 cents.

Rating:  A solid two stars.  Die-hard fans of the genre will probably enjoy it, but for fair-weather fans, it might not be worth the effort.  Keep watching Gould, however.

The Forgotten Echo by Jen Wylie

Nutshell:  Jen Wylie starts out with an interesting concept--a young woman shot in a parking lot finds herself saved by an Immortal and converted into an Echo (a being existing outside what we would call the real world)--but fails to develop it in any detail.  The hints of a larger story swirl around but fail to materialize.  Two stars.

Review:  First of all, I am a whore for fantasy.  Set up any story with magical otherworldy beings and I'll go home with it.  But this incredibly short story--I read it in less than half an hour--seems to be merely an outline, a summary in place of a story.  The story races along but with no detail, and characterization is thrown by the wayside.  Here's basically how Cassy thinks throughout: "I hate my Immortal! I'm going to find my Immortal! Why hasn't he called me?  I'm scared he'll call me!  I'm angry at him!  I want to protect him!".  It should have been called The Bipolar Echo.  The entire thing just seemed high-schoolish.

This cost me 99 cents and I read it on Kindle for PC.  The formatting was perfect, and I noted no editing errors within.  The author's section at the end was a nice touch.

Rating: I wish I could recommend this book, but there are too many other, better books out there, even for a buck.  Two stars.