Nina Post

The story concept is strong, the humour is definitely here, but the writing is weak. Way too many needless details, a tendency to tell more than show and in terms of 'solving' the not-really-a-mystery, not enough transparency of clues to the reader. There's a fine line between telegraphing the plot to readers too early with bulky clues, and keeping them completely in the dark until the end when the MC says "I knew all along; I had it figured out from the first." and then not explain why she knew all along. Character developments were pretty choppy too.

In spite of all of this though, it was a surprisingly readable, almost compellingly so, book. It definitely needs a strong editor and a lot of re-writes, but as is, it's still a fun read, once you get past the first couple of chapters, which is only something I was able to do because I had no other book available at that moment. I'd have DNF'd it otherwise. As it is, I was entertained in much the same way a B movie entertains: it was fun and frivolous.

This is the first in a series, but unless there's been some draconian editing done in them, I'm not likely to read any further.… (more)

I went into this book looking for a funny, sarcastic lead character, and I wasn't disappointed. Yes, the book had a few problems (character development wasn't great, the plot could have been tighter, and there were too many things just left hanging), but I enjoyed the humor a lot. The short chapters made the book fly for me. I like it didn't take itself too seriously, and as long as you understand all this, I think you will enjoy it. A strong main character was a plus, and making her a bounty hunter who hunts vampires, while trying to avert the apocalypse, was what caught my eye in the first place, so the absolute zaniness of it all was just icing on the cake for me.

4/5 stars.… (more)

As a cat lover I couldn't pass up this book. It was a light mystery featuring countless cats and parallel universes with humor sprinkled throughout. Our detective, Shawn Danger, is realistically flawed with family problems, but is devoted to his job, leading to family problems. Unfortunately, the family bit wasn't a perfect fit, feeling forced, especially at the end. I did love, though, how adorably awkward he was with Sarah and pleased that this light romance fit well, added to the humor, and didn't take away from the mystery. My three complaints are that the parallel universes and the physics behind them were poorly explained, Shawn's poor cat spent way too much time in his carrier, and there were a lot of loose ends like the unexplained car damage (or did I miss something?). Overall, the cats were great, the mystery was intriguing, the characters were unique and interesting, and the premise was interesting, but poorly explained.

This review can also be found on my blog: https://katpersephone.wordpress.com… (more)

"The Last Condo Board Of The Apocalypse" reminded me of a Groucho Marx quote:

"It's nice work if you can get it... but I don't get it."

This novel is stuffed with creative ideas, comic juxtapositions, Single Purpose Angels that seem like loner-Minions with a snack obsession, Angels of destruction wearing business suits and grimly determined smiles and through all of it runs our I'm-good-with-disguises-perhaps-because-I-have-no-idea-who-I-am heroine.

The plot seems to be onion-paper thin. It doesn't drive the action so much as give a group of potentially comic personalities a place to bump into one another and produce random flashes of humour.

This kind of thing either works for you and carries you away or leaves you feeling like the only sober, celibate, vegetarian at a drunken orgy in a steakhouse.

Add to this the irritation of low production standards: missing words, duplicate words, typos and weird fonts in the ebook and my but-it-may-get-better hopefulness was replaced by: "I used to be an optimist, but I knew it wouldn't last." I'm moving on.… (more)