Victoria Danann
Author of My Familiar Stranger
About the Author
Series
Works by Victoria Danann
The Witching Hours 1 copy
Lobos (Big Bend Wolves) 1 copy
Associated Works
Romancing the Paranormal: All New Tales [Anthology 13-in-1] (2015) — Contributor — 16 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Danann, Victoria
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- author
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Texas, USA
Members
Reviews
This book had all my catnip.
A strong heroine with fighting skills. Interdimensional travel. Vampires. A dog who was a very good boy, yes he was! I was ready to give this book 5 stars before I even opened it up. So, keep in mind that my review may be influenced by such a dizzyingly steep let down. Get comfy, because I have so many feelings that I ended up spending an entire lunch break ranting about this book to the admin at my job, and he only cares about dad books, like, the ones about show more submarines and, I don't know, World War I trench warfare.
First and foremost, the writing style is very much not for me. There are multiple POVs, but the voice didn't change much between the characters, so it just felt like the same omniscient narrator throughout. Worse, that narrator felt very detached from the story. It honestly felt like I was reading a summary of what happened rather than reading about events unfolding.
What a succinct and unemotional way for someone to describe their own grief at the recent loss of a teammate. This entire book almost reads like a first pass outline of a book, like the author was sketching out scenes, filling in a line of dialogue or two already in her head so she could include them when she comes back to actually write the book. I'm not sure that it actually happened, but I could swear entire scenes would pass without any written dialogue. Just the narrator saying, "Dude told Girl this idea, and then Girl said that was a great plan, and then they left to go do the plan."
Entire scenes would get glossed over in this way, including one that I think any reader would look forward to: the scene where handsome commando man informs Elora that she had traveled to a different dimension, something she didn't know was possible and certainly didn't do on purpose. Do you want to know how that conversation went? Lol, so would I.
That's it! That's what you get. Next time we see her, she's absolutely very ok about the whole thing, like she just fell asleep in Wales and woke up in New Jersey. Hell, I would be more upset about being forced into a surprise trip to Jersey in the SAME dimension than she was about being 300-ed into in a different dimension.
Speaking of, her getting shoved into a different dimension is the very first scene in the book. Very exciting, right? Well, savor it, friends, and settle in, because you're in for the most excruciatingly long plot setup in the history of books (and I've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy), because that's the last bit of action for 350 pages. If you're math-ing at home, that's over halfway through this inexplicably 600-page book. Just months and months of their day-to-day lives on this military base.
So all this can be chalked up to writing style (some might say skill, but I'm not a writer, so what do I know?). If this was all it was, I would give this book two stars and be on my way. But oh no. It's time for some rage. Are you ready to be angry? Because I'm angry.
There is one POC in this book that I can remember. She is a black flight attendant who is (barely) in one scene. First, her skin color is described in coffee terms, which makes me want to scream. "Are there no other brown things in the world than coffee and chocolate?" I scream into the void. But what puts the icing on the cake is that Elora HATES her on sight because she's decided that the flight attendant likes her teammates, men the flight attendant has likely seen on previous private flights, but does not like this random lady she has literally never met before.
This is it. This is all that this WHORE with skin like coffee with some milk in it or whatever does before Elora starts seething. Why is the one black person in this book singled out as a shitty strumpet, and why is it for such an impossibly small slight? If I went berserker on every woman who "regarded me coolly" I would never make it out of jail.
Also, there's two scientists named Thelonius Monq, and every indication points to these men being white. How the flip flap fuckity fuck are you going to give TWO characters the incredibly distinctive name of an iconic jazz musician, and yet neither one of them seems to be black? As the book went on, I kept waiting for some kind of connection, some kind of explanation for why this woman has appropriated the name of a very famous black man and plopped it on to a white scientist. Even just a little wink of acknowledgment for the actual Thelonious Monk: a throwaway line about how he plays the piano, a weird predilection for wearing sunglasses inside, ANYTHING. And now, here I am. I've finished the book. Folks, there was no explanation.
Speaking of problematic depictions of people with a different level of melanin than white people: one of the characters is an albino man. Oh lord. Of course the albino character is nicknamed Ghost and of COURSE he's grotesquely evil . I had to go back and check the publish date, because no way this book was written after, like 2005. Wrong! It was written in 2012! The Da Vinci Code movie and it's fuckery with a character with albinism was released a full 6 years BEFORE this book! Do better.
But you know what? None of these was the worst part. The worst part, I'm going to hide behind some spoilers because a) they ARE spoilers but also b) content warning for sexual assault.
If you are ok with a not-so-big spoiler and want to know a little more:Elora and another character have sex when Elora has been drugged and is completely incapable of giving consent.
If you are ok with knowing all about how the book ends so you can witness my rage: Ram straight-up rapes Elora. She's drugged with aphrodisiac, he knows she's drugged with aphrodisiac, he knows she can't really consent to sex in that state. He actually thinks about all that. But you know what? He rapes her anyways, because he loves her SO MUCH and there is no other way to keep her alive through this bout of Mega Horniness.
They're in a military base with a state-of-the-art infirmary that kept her alive even when so many of her bones were broken and all her skin was flayed off her body. Are you telling me that that same infirmary couldn't take care of her for one night until this drug was out of her system? An infirmary at a military base for a elite teams of commandos whose sole purpose is to hunt vampire? Vampire whose main weapon for hunting victims is this exact drug? An infirmary that has developed both a vaccine and a cure for the vampire virus? But they can't take care of someone whose been given a date rape drug, so the only cure-the only way to make sure she survives the night-is Ram's dick. SURE OK.
So he rapes her, and she clearly does not remember anything about what happened the next morning. There's no "hey you should probably be really careful, because one of our co-workers slipped you a date rape drug last night, so you are SUPER in danger, even in your own home," there's no "by the way, so we know who the bad guy is, who gave you your one and only drink last night? Since that's probably the person who drugged you," and there's certainly no "by the way, we had sex last night even though you couldn't consent; we good?" He just clams up and thinks, I should probably figure out who drugged her... but then doesn't actually TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHO DRUGGED HER. I'm serious. He does nothing. He asks zero people zero questions. Just, never thinks about it again.
So she doesn't remember, whatever. Until! Until she kisses Storm (don't even get me started on this storyline which took up several hundred pages, seemingly only to serve as a set up to make him a sad angsty boi for the next book) and she gets an electric shock and all of a sudden she remembers everything that happened when she was drugged (unexplained! maybe Storm's electric memory lips are explained in the next book, but I won't be finding out!) Is she upset? No, you silly goose! She realizes that she loves Ram, abandons Storm on the tarmac and runs off to Ireland to find her HEA with Ram! WOW!
ALSO the entire rape is for nothing, because it turns out Ghost did it to see if she was affected by aphrodisiac to make sure he could use it on her during his Unnecessarily Complicated Master Evil Plan for Revenge (UCMEPR). Except, when it came time to implement said UCMEPR, uh oh! He just, like, lost the aphrodisiac at some point? Like, it slipped out of his pocket? So he never used it? So the impetus for the rape didn't even serve the plot by being a part of the UCMEPR? Would it make it better if it did? No. Does it paradoxically make it worse that it doesn't? Absolutely.
Anyways, the big climactic battle happened, and then there were 100 more pages in the book. Didn't I mention pacing issues? I'm pretty sure I did.
The only reason I didn't DNF this is because I know that usually the first book in a series can be pretty rough, but if you can get through it, there's usually a big improvement in Book 2. The concept for this book was so perfectly designed for me that I was hoping I could get through this to move on in the series. But the more I read, the less I wanted to read the next book. I ended up reading an emergency Ilona Andrews book right after this just to confirm that something didn't break inside of me while reading this and now I just hate books. show less
A strong heroine with fighting skills. Interdimensional travel. Vampires. A dog who was a very good boy, yes he was! I was ready to give this book 5 stars before I even opened it up. So, keep in mind that my review may be influenced by such a dizzyingly steep let down. Get comfy, because I have so many feelings that I ended up spending an entire lunch break ranting about this book to the admin at my job, and he only cares about dad books, like, the ones about show more submarines and, I don't know, World War I trench warfare.
First and foremost, the writing style is very much not for me. There are multiple POVs, but the voice didn't change much between the characters, so it just felt like the same omniscient narrator throughout. Worse, that narrator felt very detached from the story. It honestly felt like I was reading a summary of what happened rather than reading about events unfolding.
He could see that, from their point of view, this would appear to be odd behavior. Truth told, he had been trying to cover up a little depression since Lan’s death. Intellectually he knew he wasn’t responsible, but his heart wasn’t in complete agreement.
What a succinct and unemotional way for someone to describe their own grief at the recent loss of a teammate. This entire book almost reads like a first pass outline of a book, like the author was sketching out scenes, filling in a line of dialogue or two already in her head so she could include them when she comes back to actually write the book. I'm not sure that it actually happened, but I could swear entire scenes would pass without any written dialogue. Just the narrator saying, "Dude told Girl this idea, and then Girl said that was a great plan, and then they left to go do the plan."
Entire scenes would get glossed over in this way, including one that I think any reader would look forward to: the scene where handsome commando man informs Elora that she had traveled to a different dimension, something she didn't know was possible and certainly didn't do on purpose. Do you want to know how that conversation went? Lol, so would I.
[Storm] went straight to see how Elora was doing and tell her the news that she was about to get some well deserved answers to a whole lot of questions. He held back nothing that he considered pertinent, not even the information that there had been, in his dimension, an Elora Laiken who died young of pneumonia. He did not mention her royal heritage or equestrian hobby because he was interested to learn how closely these details would match up with the Elora Laiken who was now stranded in his world.
That's it! That's what you get. Next time we see her, she's absolutely very ok about the whole thing, like she just fell asleep in Wales and woke up in New Jersey. Hell, I would be more upset about being forced into a surprise trip to Jersey in the SAME dimension than she was about being 300-ed into in a different dimension.
Speaking of, her getting shoved into a different dimension is the very first scene in the book. Very exciting, right? Well, savor it, friends, and settle in, because you're in for the most excruciatingly long plot setup in the history of books (and I've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy), because that's the last bit of action for 350 pages. If you're math-ing at home, that's over halfway through this inexplicably 600-page book. Just months and months of their day-to-day lives on this military base.
So all this can be chalked up to writing style (some might say skill, but I'm not a writer, so what do I know?). If this was all it was, I would give this book two stars and be on my way. But oh no. It's time for some rage. Are you ready to be angry? Because I'm angry.
There is one POC in this book that I can remember. She is a black flight attendant who is (barely) in one scene. First, her skin color is described in coffee terms, which makes me want to scream. "Are there no other brown things in the world than coffee and chocolate?" I scream into the void. But what puts the icing on the cake is that Elora HATES her on sight because she's decided that the flight attendant likes her teammates, men the flight attendant has likely seen on previous private flights, but does not like this random lady she has literally never met before.
She regarded Elora as coolly as she gushed flirtatious warmth toward the men. Naturally, they were oblivious to the double standard of behavior. “Good evening. I’m Minerva. I’ll be your attendant for this flight.”
This is it. This is all that this WHORE with skin like coffee with some milk in it or whatever does before Elora starts seething. Why is the one black person in this book singled out as a shitty strumpet, and why is it for such an impossibly small slight? If I went berserker on every woman who "regarded me coolly" I would never make it out of jail.
Also, there's two scientists named Thelonius Monq, and every indication points to these men being white. How the flip flap fuckity fuck are you going to give TWO characters the incredibly distinctive name of an iconic jazz musician, and yet neither one of them seems to be black? As the book went on, I kept waiting for some kind of connection, some kind of explanation for why this woman has appropriated the name of a very famous black man and plopped it on to a white scientist. Even just a little wink of acknowledgment for the actual Thelonious Monk: a throwaway line about how he plays the piano, a weird predilection for wearing sunglasses inside, ANYTHING. And now, here I am. I've finished the book. Folks, there was no explanation.
Speaking of problematic depictions of people with a different level of melanin than white people: one of the characters is an albino man. Oh lord. Of course the albino character is nicknamed Ghost
But you know what? None of these was the worst part. The worst part, I'm going to hide behind some spoilers because a) they ARE spoilers but also b) content warning for sexual assault.
If you are ok with a not-so-big spoiler and want to know a little more:
If you are ok with knowing all about how the book ends so you can witness my rage:
They're in a military base with a state-of-the-art infirmary that kept her alive even when so many of her bones were broken and all her skin was flayed off her body. Are you telling me that that same infirmary couldn't take care of her for one night until this drug was out of her system? An infirmary at a military base for a elite teams of commandos whose sole purpose is to hunt vampire? Vampire whose main weapon for hunting victims is this exact drug? An infirmary that has developed both a vaccine and a cure for the vampire virus? But they can't take care of someone whose been given a date rape drug, so the only cure-the only way to make sure she survives the night-is Ram's dick. SURE OK.
So he rapes her, and she clearly does not remember anything about what happened the next morning. There's no "hey you should probably be really careful, because one of our co-workers slipped you a date rape drug last night, so you are SUPER in danger, even in your own home," there's no "by the way, so we know who the bad guy is, who gave you your one and only drink last night? Since that's probably the person who drugged you," and there's certainly no "by the way, we had sex last night even though you couldn't consent; we good?" He just clams up and thinks, I should probably figure out who drugged her... but then doesn't actually TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHO DRUGGED HER. I'm serious. He does nothing. He asks zero people zero questions. Just, never thinks about it again.
So she doesn't remember, whatever. Until! Until she kisses Storm (don't even get me started on this storyline which took up several hundred pages, seemingly only to serve as a set up to make him a sad angsty boi for the next book) and she gets an electric shock and all of a sudden she remembers everything that happened when she was drugged (unexplained! maybe Storm's electric memory lips are explained in the next book, but I won't be finding out!) Is she upset? No, you silly goose! She realizes that she loves Ram, abandons Storm on the tarmac and runs off to Ireland to find her HEA with Ram! WOW!
ALSO the entire rape is for nothing, because it turns out Ghost did it to see if she was affected by aphrodisiac to make sure he could use it on her during his Unnecessarily Complicated Master Evil Plan for Revenge (UCMEPR). Except, when it came time to implement said UCMEPR, uh oh! He just, like, lost the aphrodisiac at some point? Like, it slipped out of his pocket? So he never used it? So the impetus for the rape didn't even serve the plot by being a part of the UCMEPR? Would it make it better if it did? No. Does it paradoxically make it worse that it doesn't? Absolutely.
Anyways, the big climactic battle happened, and then there were 100 more pages in the book. Didn't I mention pacing issues? I'm pretty sure I did.
The only reason I didn't DNF this is because I know that usually the first book in a series can be pretty rough, but if you can get through it, there's usually a big improvement in Book 2. The concept for this book was so perfectly designed for me that I was hoping I could get through this to move on in the series. But the more I read, the less I wanted to read the next book. I ended up reading an emergency Ilona Andrews book right after this just to confirm that something didn't break inside of me while reading this and now I just hate books. show less
Elora Laikin is pushed into an interdimensional portal just before an assassination attempt. Imaging being run through a blender and flayed alive, at the same time, and somehow surviving. Also imagine being dumped in the middle of a super-secret military base. It's the headquarters of an elite unit, who are part of a 600-year-old Order, and whose purpose is to kill vampires.
When she recovers, Elora meets Storm, Kay and Ram, the members of the team before who she made her "entrance." show more Interdimensional travel is supposed to be impossible, so the three don't know what to make of her. They also can't help but notice that Elora is gorgeous. She shows them that she knows her way around the world of martial arts and fighting. Ram is something of an overgrown adolescent; he is a 6-foot-tall elf, who mates for life, and seriously messes up the courtship process with Elora.
Going up against vampires in the field, Elora shows more resourcefulness than brains. Many missing person reports seem to center on a Manhattan night club. The four get jobs there and keep their eyes open. An attack occurs, and Ram is seriously injured. In the tunnels under the cities, Elora is betrayed, and left naked and chained in a locked jail cell, with a couple of hungry vampires. Does she survive? Does Ram survive? Who does Elora "choose"? Is it possible to find true love while fighting vampires?
This is a really good paranormal story. It is just strange enough, without overdoing it. The romance part is well done, too. This is very much worth a sequel. show less
When she recovers, Elora meets Storm, Kay and Ram, the members of the team before who she made her "entrance." show more Interdimensional travel is supposed to be impossible, so the three don't know what to make of her. They also can't help but notice that Elora is gorgeous. She shows them that she knows her way around the world of martial arts and fighting. Ram is something of an overgrown adolescent; he is a 6-foot-tall elf, who mates for life, and seriously messes up the courtship process with Elora.
Going up against vampires in the field, Elora shows more resourcefulness than brains. Many missing person reports seem to center on a Manhattan night club. The four get jobs there and keep their eyes open. An attack occurs, and Ram is seriously injured. In the tunnels under the cities, Elora is betrayed, and left naked and chained in a locked jail cell, with a couple of hungry vampires. Does she survive? Does Ram survive? Who does Elora "choose"? Is it possible to find true love while fighting vampires?
This is a really good paranormal story. It is just strange enough, without overdoing it. The romance part is well done, too. This is very much worth a sequel. show less
I don't know why the author split this story into two volumes because this ends right on a cliff-hanger, in the middle of the plot. If I didn't already have the second part, I would have screamed. This is book 7 in a series about a woman who has a bitter divorce and moves to England to find out she's the appointed magistrate for non-humans to adjudicate their disputes. This is not the weakest of the series, but it's weaker than most. The magical characters seem to have this weird dichotomy show more of revering Rita as The Magistrate, while treating her like an uneducated child who can't make her own decisions. Hopefully part 2 will make up for the lackluster part 1. show less
4.5 Stars from Between the Bind
This book was a RIDE! I simply cannot say enough great things about Victoria Danann and the genius that is My Familiar Stranger. Danann's writing style is uniquely honest and captivates her audience with both plot and characters in a well-developed and thoughtful world (or "worlds" as it seems). I cannot believe that this book is only a $.99 read.
The Love Nest:
Elora Liaken is the perfect meshing of kick-assness and vulnerability. Literally dropping into an show more alternative dimension after watching her family be assassinated, Elora is saved by Storm, the de facto leader of the elite B-Team in the paranormal military unit, "Black Swan." All Elora remembers of Storm is his delicious smell and comforting words while drifting in and out of consciousness. Well, that and another voice saying, "We should kill it."
After healing, Elora distinguishes the latter from B-Team's resident womanizer, Ram, who immediately recognizes Elora as his elven mate. Showing more brains than brawn, he doesn't try to force his culture on Elora, knowing that humans rarely mate for life. Ram is crude at best while competing for Elora's affection - but he is unaware that the competition is with not just one other man, but instead, two! The last in this triad being the ancient, overtly sexy, and repentant vampire, Istvan Baka.
These relationships seem to be straight forward at first, but progress interestingly enough and actually? One of my initial complaints is now my most favorite piece of Danann's puzzle. I really did want Elora to choose each one of the men depending on the page I was on, to the point of being extremely frustrated that said gentleman was taking time away from my current fav, but, in what I've come to know as classic Danann style, this was exactly the point. As a reader, you are physically but moreover, emotionally pulled in several directions - just like Elora.
There is not one clear stand out mate until a choice is made and you're like WHAT?! HIM?! Wait...but what about...?! These relationships develop organically, taking ample time before jumping into any sexual relationship. I enjoyed the flirting so much! Most writers do not give enough attention to the simple act of flirting. *sigh*
**SPOILER**
The major qualm I had with this trio of suitors was that Baka wasn't really ever in the running for me. Even though he was sexy as all get out, he was never a true contender for Elora's heart. So this "trio" is really just a "duo" with a super sexy friend involved.
**END SPOILER**
Our Heroine:
The premise of a woman not needing protection from her man also brightened the read. I loved how competent Elora was in all aspects without being an unobtainable heroine or perceived as perfect - well from anyone but her men!
The Awesome:
Danann's world building is quite astounding. She has a knack for detail and can write such vivid imagery that I could recount to you with reasonable accuracy what rooms and buildings looked and felt like. I could not however tell you just what all three of our male characters looked like...well except some inappropriate details. ;)
This book had a slow first few chapters but once I understood Danann's style and relaxed into her flow I enjoyed every page turn. I will be waiting ever-so-patiently (HA!) for the next installment, The Witch's Dream to be released in Fall 2012. show less
This book was a RIDE! I simply cannot say enough great things about Victoria Danann and the genius that is My Familiar Stranger. Danann's writing style is uniquely honest and captivates her audience with both plot and characters in a well-developed and thoughtful world (or "worlds" as it seems). I cannot believe that this book is only a $.99 read.
The Love Nest:
Elora Liaken is the perfect meshing of kick-assness and vulnerability. Literally dropping into an show more alternative dimension after watching her family be assassinated, Elora is saved by Storm, the de facto leader of the elite B-Team in the paranormal military unit, "Black Swan." All Elora remembers of Storm is his delicious smell and comforting words while drifting in and out of consciousness. Well, that and another voice saying, "We should kill it."
After healing, Elora distinguishes the latter from B-Team's resident womanizer, Ram, who immediately recognizes Elora as his elven mate. Showing more brains than brawn, he doesn't try to force his culture on Elora, knowing that humans rarely mate for life. Ram is crude at best while competing for Elora's affection - but he is unaware that the competition is with not just one other man, but instead, two! The last in this triad being the ancient, overtly sexy, and repentant vampire, Istvan Baka.
These relationships seem to be straight forward at first, but progress interestingly enough and actually? One of my initial complaints is now my most favorite piece of Danann's puzzle. I really did want Elora to choose each one of the men depending on the page I was on, to the point of being extremely frustrated that said gentleman was taking time away from my current fav, but, in what I've come to know as classic Danann style, this was exactly the point. As a reader, you are physically but moreover, emotionally pulled in several directions - just like Elora.
There is not one clear stand out mate until a choice is made and you're like WHAT?! HIM?! Wait...but what about...?! These relationships develop organically, taking ample time before jumping into any sexual relationship. I enjoyed the flirting so much! Most writers do not give enough attention to the simple act of flirting. *sigh*
**SPOILER**
The major qualm I had with this trio of suitors was that Baka wasn't really ever in the running for me. Even though he was sexy as all get out, he was never a true contender for Elora's heart. So this "trio" is really just a "duo" with a super sexy friend involved.
**END SPOILER**
Our Heroine:
The premise of a woman not needing protection from her man also brightened the read. I loved how competent Elora was in all aspects without being an unobtainable heroine or perceived as perfect - well from anyone but her men!
The Awesome:
Danann's world building is quite astounding. She has a knack for detail and can write such vivid imagery that I could recount to you with reasonable accuracy what rooms and buildings looked and felt like. I could not however tell you just what all three of our male characters looked like...well except some inappropriate details. ;)
This book had a slow first few chapters but once I understood Danann's style and relaxed into her flow I enjoyed every page turn. I will be waiting ever-so-patiently (HA!) for the next installment, The Witch's Dream to be released in Fall 2012. show less
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