Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

I love a good pun, so of course I had to pick up this book as soon as I heard the title. Usually this pun-based readers advisory system fails, but this time I was not at all disappointed.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Samhain LaCroix is just existing post-high school. He has a crappy fast food job, but good friends and a supportive mom and sister. One otherwise normal day an encounter with a bad customer changes Sam's life forever. The customer, Douglas, is a local necromancer and one of the most powerful paranormal people in Seattle. No one dares cross him. He recognizes that Sam has a small necromancy power and from that point on makes Sam's life hell. When threats don't work Douglas actually kidnaps Sam.

While in captivity Sam meets Brid, a female were-fae hybrid roughly his age. Despite the awful circumstances--sparks fly between them and being held together helps make the situation more bearable for both, especially since Sam is being "taught" necromancy by Douglas. Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) for Sam, Douglas's idea of teaching more closely resembles torture.

The hijinks are wacky but the non-stop wisecracking is broken by moments scary, sad, and touching. The characters, especially Sam and co. (especially his best friend, Ramon), are quickly but expertly developed. Actual character motivations drive actions, which is refreshing in the paranormal YA genre (which is often plagued by characters only reacting in ways to drive the plot, no matter how against character the reactions seem.) Characters are added in through-out the story, including a sassy 10 year old ghost and Brid's protective family, setting up for future sequels while helping to wrap this adventure up nicely.

This book was just the right mix of slacker redemption story and paranormal romance. The humor didn't overwhelm the serious bits or vice versa. As an added bonus, each chapter heading is a song reference, and while some might be a little old...I doubt many people will have trouble getting the joke(s). The paranormal genre is oversaturated, especially in the YA market, but this fresh book is well worth checking out whether you are a long-time genre fan or just want to dip a toe in to see what all the fuss is about.



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Dark Lover

Ugh, I started this book months ago but ended up skimming through the end last night. I just couldn't take another description of the forced and contrived tension between the main characters. I feel like my feelings about Twilight and this book are going to give people the impression that I hate Vampires, especially romantical ones, but that is simply untrue! I <3 Gail Carriger's "Soulless" delievered all the things this book tried for but failed to achieve.

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Wrath, Rhage, Tohrment, even these character's NAMES make them sound like pro-wrestlers and the descriptions in the book "giant, towering, intimidating, scary, scarred, muscled, mountainous" don't help much. In fact, I kept picturing all of the Brotherhood as the pro-wrestler "The Undertaker" and all of the "lessers" as that kid in "Powder." That isn't even the worst problem with this book, but it certainly didn't help me get into the story at all.

So, basically Darius, an important Vampire/member of the Brotherhood (protectors of vampires from some arbitrary war with the vampire hunters known as "lessers") is killed by the lessers. As luck would have it, he'd just asked the leader of the Brotherhood/future king of Vamps, Wrath, to watch out for his half-human daughter, Beth. Darius never bothered to introduce himself to Beth, but we are supposed to believe he's always watched out for her and cared for her. Evidently daddy dearest watched her from afar as she went from foster home to foster home like a creepy stalker. In Ward's world vampires don't mature until their 20s when they become vampires...a transition which they may not survive. Her world building is pretty intricate and even involves a glossary at the front of the book (thank goodness.)

Things are complicated by the fact that Vampires only really get much nutrition from feeding from the opposite sex of their own species (which must be unpleasantly intimate for the gay vamps.) Most vamps have some sort of relationship with their feeding partner, but our kingy, Wrath, he just has never been much interested in his partner Marissa. Of course, his disinterest means Marissa is totes in lurve with his beefy self. But, Wrath meets Beth, Darius's neglected urchin of an intrepid reporter (of course) and he's instantly all hot in the pants for her. She's instantly all hot in the pants for him. They basically explode from overwrought metaphor. It is pretty gross and not sexy. Also the fact that Wrath is so damn intimidating that scariness roils off of him like tangible waves in all directions scaring Beth to bits just before they hit the sack the first time makes me cringe. And I'm not really sure why, but the Vamps are kind of wussy and die easily so why am I supposed to be all gushy about them in the first place? Way to ruin the appeal, J.R.

For some reason though I really liked the servant character Fritz though. I guess because he kept trying to help Beth make sense of the crazy-storm around her, which not a whole lot of anyone else did.

Seriously, do yourself a favor, skip this book and read "Soulless" by Gail Carriger or anything by Kelley Armstrong or early"Anita Blake" stuff by Hamilton instead.

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