Kitty Takes a Holiday

I love the Kitty Norville books but I HATE the covers. They are everything the books aren't: clichéd, wannabe-glamorous, vapidly sexual and totally unoriginal. If I wasn't reading the audiobook version, I'd have to add a "Don't judge me by my cover" sticker to the front. Why do the publisher's do this?

Sigh.

Underneath the cover is another good read in the Kitty Norville series about the werewolf host of "The Midnight Hour - the talk show that isn't afraid of the dark or the people who live there."

Except, in this novel, Kitty is taking a break from her show so she can write an autobiography, hence the "Kitty Takes A Holiday" title.

I like the way Carrie Vaughn adopts move titles for her books, it's inclusive some how, inviting the reader show more to a peer-to-peer relationship based on a common culture. Or that could be nonsense that I make up when my over-used brain takes time off to write book reviews.

Don't be mislead, this isn't a jolly jaunt to the seaside. Kitty's holiday starts off feeling like a self-imposed exile that isolates her from her fans and the energy and focus her show gives her.

Kitty is so bored by the countryside and so blocked in her writing that she ends up calling in to a newly established rival to "The Midnight Hour" and pretending to have a problem to discuss.

Then things get worse: curses, corpses, and a creature with glowing red eyes and very evil intentions.

"Kitty Takes A Holiday" is darker than it's predecessors. Humour is only an accent colour here, the main palette of the book is much more sombre: power and what you or who you are prepared to sacrifice to get it; hate and fear and how they blind you, and twist you and lessen you; Irredeemable, insatiable, life-destroying evil and the strength needed to confront it and the power of belief to change not just what we see but who we become.

There is more violence and death and this book and the consequences for everyone involved are more severe. Kitty learns more about why Cormac hunts and kills werewolves and has to consider whether she can endorse the violence he brings with him everywhere. Kitty also starts to understand that her public status as a werewolf makes her a target for those who fear her power or abhor her unnatural status.

I think Carrie Vaughn took a risk by having Kitty so depressed, disempowered and unsure of herself for large parts of this book but it more than paid off in terms of making Kitty into a more rounded person who understands her own nature and is finally able to choose her path rather than just react to the actions of others. show less

What I loved of this, I really loved. The lawyer bits drove me mad - I really can't stand court procedural - but they were well written, and well executed, so I guess I'll live. Seriously, subject matter I loathe, and I still enjoyed the book. That's hard to pull off.

Honestly, I had to laugh when Kitty had writer's block. After all she's been through the thing that seems hardest for her is writing a book about herself. So she's hiding out in a cabin in a small town, she's making friends with the locals, and she's keeping to herself. Then Cormac shows up and they have their usual on-again off-again sexual tension. (Seriously, after the first book and what he said about her there is no way I would go near him were I Kitty.) In the meantime, someone or some thing is leaving dead creatures around Kitty's cabin and it's creeping her out. There's also a new paranormal DJ out there and Kitty is childishly angry about it.

Later, Cormac comes back with an injured Ben in tow. They were out hunting and Ben got show more bit. We learn a great deal about their joint past in this book, about fathers and sons and boys who are brothers in all but blood. They have a promise--if either one gets infected the other will kill him. Ben wants Cormac to remember that promise. Cormac, surprisingly, isn't so keen on the idea, and to Kitty it's right out. Ben hates the idea of being a werewolf and all that hate makes Kitty feel, well, pretty terrible. But she hangs in there, she tries to help Ben accept what he is now, even though it isn't something she chose for herself or would have ever chosen for him. She's at war with herself over this, her human side hurting and scared for Ben, her wolf side wanting a pack mate and a mate. Meanwhile, Cormac is torn between his promise to Ben, his love for Ben, and his desire for Kitty. This is what makes the book for me, the relationships between the three of them. I enjoyed this book very much. show less

I am still amazed by how good these books are. This is only the third in the series, but it’s the best yet. Kitty is continually pushed into growing into a more complex, more interesting character and is already so different than how she was in the first book. She’s a different sort of heroine than the one we typically see in a lot of paranormal romances; she seems much more vulnerable, which I really enjoy. I love a badass female main character, of course, but I also like that Vaughn changes it up and gives us a different type of heroine. Also, I live for how petty Kitty is in this book.

I like that we get to see more of side characters in this book, like Cormac and Ben. We learn so much more about them, so the cast of complex show more characters is growing in this series.

The unique cool thing in this book as opposed to the two previous ones is that we get to see more about different sorts of magics and beliefs. They deal with a different type of shapeshifter in this book, and I really enjoyed seeing how different cultures’ shapeshifting stories tied together.

This series still has me hooked! I can’t wait to read the next one.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

Again, a much more realistic set of events than the usual urban fantasy. No saving the world, no fighting against the Great Evil. They run into something seriously nasty, but it's relatively weak - both bullets and appropriate magic work against it. Eventually. Kitty does get into a sexual triangle, sort of, which is annoying (why does every urban fantasy have to have the female protagonist wildly attractive to every man around her?), but in context it actually makes sense. We find out a lot about Cormac and Ben, too, which is interesting. And they don't win, in the end - don't exactly lose, but it's still a hard ending. I was actually crying in the next-to-last chapter. The best scene, for me, was when Kitty actually talked to Ariel. show more It's not at all what I was expecting, which made it even better. Kitty got a bit of egoboo, which she really needed. And the conversation with her mother right after that, too. One of the reasons I really like the Kitty books, the reason I keep calling them realistic, is that I can imagine being or knowing these people. I can see these situations really happening. Which makes it a much stronger book, a much more engrossing story, than one where the protagonist is the center of Great and Terrible Happenings. Me gusta. show less

Kitty keeps growing on me -- just when I start to think, "too much whining" and go to set it down, the plot kicks off and the humor kicks in and it's an interesting ride to the finish. I love the themes of family and pack and collecting people around you. I hope she can continue to do that. I also sympathize with creative burnout, so it's cool to see someone struggle with that and overcome it.

Kitty Takes a Holiday
3.5 Stars

In the aftermath of her exposure to the world, talk show host and werewolf, Kitty Norville, takes a much-needed break to lick her wounds and write her memoir in a small cabin in the Colorado mountains. However, Kitty's vacation soon takes a turn for the worse when gruesome animal sacrifices are left on her doorstep. This is only exacerbated by the arrival of bounty hunter Cormac Bennett bearing Kitty's unconscious lawyer, Ben O'Farrell, who has been bitten by a werewolf.

While this is an entertaining series with good world-building and an appealing heroine, there is something missing. It is clear from this installment that that something is the romance, or more importantly, the lack thereof.

Yes, Kitty's show more chemistry with the enigmatic Cormac was hinted at, but never actually developed into a relationship. Now with Ben becoming Kitty's new love interest, it is clear that any possible romance with Cormac is dead in the water. This would not be an issue if Ben were anything other than a mundane beta, but he is and had absolutely no chemistry with Kitty whatsoever. In fact, it seems that their relationship is nothing other than lycanthropy-induced sex.

The plot itself is engaging with Kitty's mysterious stalker and the attack on local cattle. The eventual explanations are satisfying with some exciting moments. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that Kitty isn't more of a kick-ass heroine. She's a freakin' werewolf for crying out loud, so why doesn't she act like one.

Overall, this series has potential, so I will be reading the next book. Nevertheless, if the romance and character development don't improve, I may have to call it quits. show less