Bite of Betrayal by R.L. Caulder

Fiction

Alina’s tale in Bite of Loyalty began late on a Saturday night, early Sunday morning really, when she was essentially rescued in the form of being taken to another realm by a goddess who sensed that she was in need. From there she got barely one night of rest before she immediately had to prepare for her new life as a vampire. Having very little control over her new urges for blood and knowing next to nothing about the rules and etiquette of vampire society, she is expected to attend classes the next day with students, all of whom have been vampires for quite a while and are well versed in all the things she is not. The entire book spans just four days. Bite of Betrayal, the second book in the Blood Oath series, begins where it left off, on a Wednesday morning. Things progress with the same intense, expedited speed in book two, with Alina just making it through her first week at the Academy. 

This book could be so much better if there was more detail, more plot, more depth. I think that if the author could have spread the timeline out it could have potentially been on the same level as some of the truly great fantasy series that are popular right now. Because honestly, the speed at which things occur really makes the story hard to believe, even though it is a fantasy series about vampires. But, I don’t find myself saying that about other books in the same genre, because the way that time moves and feelings and rapport between characters develop in other more complex stories make them truly believable. And even though I know that magic and superpowers and unusual creatures aren’t real, it feels like they are when the story is well written. The best I can say about this book is that the spicy level is equal to that of the first, and those few scenes were worth reading.

The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Fiction

This book had me changing my mind about what I thought was happening every few chapters. I reached a point where I was thinking, some of this is not making any sense, what the heck is going on? After the truth of what was actually happening was finally revealed, I was like, ok, this is a bit much. Then something even crazier and unexpected occurred. I’m trying to think of another book I have read that had me going through so many plot twists and turns, a story that kept puzzling and surprising me, and I am having a really hard time with it. 

At first you think you’re reading a story about a missing girl, as narrated primarily by the girl herself, the person who kidnapped her, and the older sister who is desperately trying to find both the girl and the person who took her. But at some point you start to realize that things are just not adding up in a way in which this situation is the reality. There is not much more that I want to say, this is not a book I want to spoil for anyone by revealing too much, because this is the perfect book for readers who love psychological thrillers. Be prepared for depictions of mental and physical abuse, torture, mental anguish, animal cruelty, and consider skipping this novel if any of those themes disturb you. I will say, as a lover of cats, some of the excerpts made me very upset. Additionally, when the point in the story came to where I believe most people will start to feel sympathy for Ted, it was easy for me to do so given the author’s descriptive imagery, which enabled me to clearly visualize what had been done to him. This book has me curious to know if the author’s other works are just as amazing. 

Bite of Loyalty by R.L. Caulder

Fiction

I am now almost constantly on the hunt for spicy novels. Pretty much any time I get a whiff of a book that has a mature audience rating I find myself almost immediately researching what it is about and pondering if it is worth me buying. I think I may have found a decent series in the Blood Oath books by R. L. Caulder. 

We are introduced to the young Alina Van Helsing, a family that is synonymous with vampire slaying, as she must endure the task of choosing a husband now that she has had her twenty-first birthday. A tragedy occurs while she is out celebrating with her friends, one which puts an immediate stop to the dreaded obligation of marrying young which she was very much looking to avoid. Her life changes incredibly drastically in less than a week, I am not quite sure how she manages to handle it. As you are reading, it is hard not to notice how fast paced everything is, with events progressing in a matter of hours and days rather than weeks. I would have enjoyed more detail and more of a drawn out plot, but at least the spicy scenes are well written and there are three more books in the series that I am looking forward to reading. I give this story a two out of five on my spice scale, and I hope that in the next book maybe that spice will go up to a three.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

Fiction

I don’t read the classics very often. But when I do, it’s because I feel like it’s something I should read, because it’s a well known piece that history just can’t seem to let anyone forget. In this case however, a friend of mine was praising his love of classic literature after we got into a discussion about books. I mentioned that I would read anything, and he literally walked to his house to pick up one of his two copies of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea for me. 

This was a great book! It didn’t bore me, which I was a bit anxious about before I started. The author beautifully describes various fish and sea creatures that the narrator sees during his journey, some of which I knew of, being an admirer of ocean life, and I can verify that they were described accurately. I love the enthusiasm that is expressed by Professor Aronnax whenever he is able to study a creature by observing it through the large glass panel of the library. The only thing I was disappointed in was the abrupt ending. I would have loved to know a little bit more about what happened to our three captives, but I guess I will just have to take solace in knowing that they got what they wanted in the end.

God of Malice by Rina Kent

Fiction

This is the darkest and most well written book I have read in this genre so far. The story was actually decent, even though the male main character was incredibly brutal and harsh, I would go as far as to say too much so, and I found the female protagonist too forgiving and meek. There were minimal spelling and grammatical errors, and as annoying as I found them I wasn’t as irritated as I have been in the past when I discovered them littering a novel that had a poorly written story. I like that this is a standalone, because I don’t believe there is anything more that needs to be said between the characters of Killian and Glyndon. I do like that there are additional novels featuring some of the other characters that we were introduced to here. I’m trying to imagine if the author is going to go equally as dark, or slightly less so, in the next few novels, of which there are currently three more with a promise of another two in the future. I am intrigued to see what direction the stories take when the focus is on some of the other characters, because I don’t think it is possible for there to be a man more deadly and unmoveable than Killian. This is definitely a five out of five on the dark romance scale, the scenes being graphic, there is a great deal of unkindness, force, and mind games; it is a far cry from a traditional lovers tale with a perfectly happy ending.

Update:

I recently re read this book because I finally decided to read the rest of the series and I wanted a refresher.

The absolute control Killian demanded throughout the entire novel actually started to really irritate me. No one should desire that much control over another person and no one should allow someone to have that much control over them. I don’t care that Glyndon feels as though she has some darkness in her and Killian makes her feel something, he’s mentally abusive, physically abusive, and possessive. Glyndon has been going to therapy, but she needs more and perhaps a new, better therapist if she thinks that Killian is good for her inner demons. For a young woman who comes from a powerful and influential family, it’s incredibly unbelieveable for me as a reader to see her in her own head come to the conclusion that there is no escaping this man. Sure, he has money, power, and connections too, but if she said just one thing after the first incident with Killian, I guarantee that things never would have progressed in the way that they did. Her brother was ready to murder Killian immediately without even knowing any of what went on between them based on his reputation alone, and later on in the story both her grandfather and father wanted to end the guys life when they thought he only broke her heart.

Glyndon’s friends are pretty useless and awful too. The girls she lives with complain that Killian keeps demanding more and more of her time, forcing her to sleep at his place and be alone with him all the time, but they don’t really do anything about it. They just give up on her. Or, they are all just as weak willed and spineless as their complacent friend. It’s just frustrating. So sure, the initmate scenes are spicy, darkand questinable as they are, but the fact that Killian wrongs Glyndon in so many ways and suffers no consequences for it just doesn’t seem feassible to me. I know it’s fiction, but this is a bit too extreme. Aren’t we in the middle of a feminist movement? Maybe that’s why a lot of the elements of this novel bother me so much.