Crimson Death

In this installment of the Anita Blake's saga, there are international vampire problems afoot. It seems that Edward is already in Ireland trying to sort out a recent spate of vampire related killings that have thrown the area in and around Dublin into chaos. The human inhabitants of Ireland have always believed that vampires cannot rise on their soil - something to do possibly with the magic of Fairy which protects them. It's also for this reason that they have not called in Anita. There is a stigma against necromancers and the local authorities are also put off by her bloodthirsty reputation.

However, things are heating up enough, and Edward has been talking her up so it's just possible that they could extend an invitation to The show more Executioner shortly if they cannot solve the problem on their own. If that happens, Anita is hoping to take Damien, who was made a vampire in Ireland and knows something of the vampire scene which has been thriving there for centuries. There is a concern that Moroven, the evil vampire who created Damien and rules Ireland is acting out because she is no longer living in fear of the Mother of All Darkness and her Harlequin. It's also possible that she's completely lost her mind and is now slaughtering wantonly. Alternatively, something else entirely could be going on and the only way to find out is go to the Emerald Isle for a visit.

Will Anita be able to keep her people safe or will Moroven target those she loves most in an attempt to gain power in the new world post-MoAD?

To begin, I'd like to say that this book is really really tedious and honestly a cringey slog from beginning to end. The edition I read was 710 pages long. We learn in the first chapter that there is a vampire problem in Ireland and so know that Anita will be going to Ireland. However, she doesn't make it to Ireland until page 375. So if you want to read this book, begin by tearing it in half and tossing the first half in the garbage. You will have missed nothing. I would also recommend you throw the second half in the trash, because the plotting of this book is deranged and the "mystery" is extremely underdeveloped and takes a back seat to time-wasting conversations.

Now - to the numbered list of complaints:

1. Damien is back again. It's probably been a half dozen books since Damien has been mentioned in more than just passing. It's like LKH woke up and remembered that before all these fucking tigers, Anita had a triumvirate. It turns out that Damien has been having non-stop nightmares where he wakes up sweating blood. He thinks this is happening because he's been isolated from Anita and Nathaniel because he's been going steady with his girlfriend Cardinale. Anita was more than happy to take him off her sex rotation and was glad that he found a girl to be monogamous with, but now, against her will, she has to sleep with Damien. At least, sleep in the same bed. Damien thinks that if he can fall asleep next to his triumvirate, he'll be able to sleep soundly. His girlfriend, Cardinale, is a hellacious bitch who told him she would rather see him dead then even just platonically sleeping in bed with anyone else. I cannot be mad at Cardinale because she is such a ridiculous caricature designed to demonize femininity that it's clear she's not intended to be a real person, but just to be a comically bad partner for Damien so there is no complexity when their relationship suddenly ends and he rejoins Anita's harem. Cardinale has insisted that she move into Damien's room in The Circus of the Damned, even though that's a pretty bizarre decision considering they basically each have a dorm room, and now they've cut their living space in half. She's also committed the unforgiveable offense of decorating his room "all girly" which is a crime on par with infanticide in Anita Blake land. She's covered the walls in pictures of flowers. She's put pink sheets on their shared bed. She's selected a flowered bed spread and a flowered rug for the floor. And her huge wardrobe has taken over the closet so Damien has to get dressed somewhere else because there's no room for his clothes. He admits that he didn't ever speak to her about any of this but secretly hates it. But it's fine, because Cardinale has broken up with him for daring to try to not die. Their entire relationship has been conducted off screen so there are literally no stakes. The only purpose the extended discussion of this relationship serves is to remind the reader that Anita is awesome because she's basically a man and men are way better that women who suck.

2. So when Anita, Damien, and Nathaniel agree to sleep together to see if it helps with his nightmares it takes way too much awkward and boring conversation for them to actually get into bed. Here's the thing, Damien is very very straight. He's like, totally not gay at all, and it sorta freaks him out that he'll be in bed with Nathaniel. But they eventually shoehorn him into bed. However, the triumvirate find themselves drawn into Damien's nightmare which appears to be possibly happening in real life, possibly in Ireland.

They all wake up covered in blood because Damien sweats blood when he has nightmares. They therefore decide any more awkward, cringey conversations must wait until they shower. I counted. It's 6 chapters before they actually make it into a shower. Instead, the reader is assaulted by tedious, pointless, gross and insulting conversations with just random people they meet in the hallways. Which brings me to point 3:

3. I've discussed my deep moral objection to the existence of unisex bathrooms in The Circus of the Damned basement. The 24 hour bodyguard army is apparently constantly running around the place, working out, and showering all naked together. The first time the unisex bathroom makes an appearance in these books, one of the female guards feels so uncomfortable using them that she asks Anita to go in with her. Anita herself is then so violently harassed that she is forced to physically overpower her own employee. Apparently, this proven dangerous asshole is not only still on the pay role, but makes another appearance to again threaten Anita. This motherfucker, known as Ricky, points a gun at Anita which apparently makes her realize that by defending herself earlier she's emasculated him which has made him dangerous. She's hoping that she can let him beat her up in training later so that he can save face. WTAF??? There is so much wrong with this. First of all, Ricky should be fired and blackballed because he's a menace. Second of all, the Circus should review their shower policies because something is off if employees are justifiably nervous about using it. Seriously, imagine that the boss herself is assaulted while trying to shower and the dude who did it remains on staff. How could anyone feel safe at that point? Third of all, it's so poisonously bad that Anita is blaming herself for Ricky's criminal behavior. It is her fault for not firing him for misconduct, but Ricky started off a dangerous asshole and her only fault is enabling him.

4. Nathaniel doesn't respect safewords. I've wanted to bring this up before, but for a guy who supposedly scenes a lot in the bdsm community, he regularly violates the rules of said community. He has an established history of trying to put Anita in situations where she cannot use her safewords to stop things she's uncomfortable with. In this book, Anita says "yellow" and is ignored. When she later says "red" Nathaniel treats this as yellow and just backs off. This is a huge violation of trust but is presented by the book as him just being some sort of harmless scamp. I don't like it. It's dangerous representation and it makes me not like Nathaniel. Which bring me to ... sigh ... point 5:

5. Nathaniel rapes everyone and the book just treats it as fine and not a big deal. Okay, I'll grant that at this point, losing consciousness and waking up to find out that you've been having sex with people unknowingly for a really long time is like, a theme. It's gross and repetitive, but if you've come this far in the series, you know that rape is essentially a leitmotif. However, in this book, Nathaniel now has vampire powers, rolls both Anita and Damien and continues to use their bodies to fulfill his wildest sexual fantasies for several hours. He says he didn't know he was doing it, but prior to this, Damien was so skittish around same-sex relations that he didn't even want to sleep in the same bed as Nathaniel. Now he has penetrative sex with Nathaniel several times with no problem and Nathaniel didn't think to question it.

Anita is fine with it almost immediately, but that's expected because this has happened to her several times by now. However, not only is Damien fine with it, now he's into Nathaniel. Both Anita and Nathaniel realize this is out of character and conclude that Nathaniel has used vampire powers to make Damien bisexual. At least bisexual when it comes to Nathaniel. And they are just ... fine with that. They barely discuss it. This rape scene is very bizarre and seems to be just there to handwave Damien joining Anita's harem again and being okay with being in bed naked with other dudes. It's weird. It's offensive. I don't like it at all.

6. No one in this book talks like a people talk. I have, at this point, a physical reaction to the phrase, "What does that mean?" Everyone says it in Anita Blake Land all the time, even when it's painfully clear what someone means. It's a thinly veiled excuse to explain things over and over again which serves the purpose of padding this already bloated book even more. Furthermore, everyone in this book feels perfectly comfortable demanding that Anita have sex even if she doesn't want to. I practically screamed when one of her body guards, an employee currently on the job, jumped into a conversation that did not concern him to pressure Anita to stop being such a prude and just have sex with someone already. First of all, how about we let women make their own sexual choices without feeling the need to force them to justify those choices? It's gross. And offensive. But to have an employee feel comfortable enough to prescribe sexual choices for their boss is just BEYOND.

You can open this book to any page at random and find a tedious and cringe-worthy conversation taking place. Dialogue in these books predominates, as the author has obviously figured out that it chews up pages like nothing else. Despite writing so much of it, she's singularly bad at it.

7. The Setting. I was actually hesitantly excited to see that this book would be taking place in Ireland. Obviously, this was before I realized it would be nearly 400 pages before we actually GOT to Ireland. However, I thought we would at least get some interesting local color. Alas, I think I learned more about jet lag than I learned about Ireland. Ireland was decidedly not another character in this book. It barely appears. For all that we are promised fairies, they barely appear. The portion of the book that takes place in Ireland is almost completely consumed by the local authorities stomping around being pissy because they don't like Anita. There's the typical dick measuring contests that we've come to expect in these books. There is the unreasoning and wildly unprofessional displays of hatred and prejudice. There are the never-ending descriptions of new characters' physiques that more and more trend towards objectification. Especially when a woman is being introduced, we are treated to judgements about their persons that inevitably compare them, typically unfavorably, to Anita.

Once in Ireland, Anita spends eleven pages at a crime scene before it's back to proving points to the local cops who treat her with an irrational disrespect for someone whose help they've specifically requested. From there she just bounces from one pointless meeting to another. They go to two or three pubs for various meetings with contacts who can provide no information at all. This whole time, by the way, they are carting their comatose vampires around in duffle bags. Just let that sink in for a minute. They're having drinks in a bar and Damien is under the table in a duffle bag. Along with the other vampire, whose name I literally can't remember. This is such a bizarre choice that is presented as normal. Even though the thin material of the duffel bag is the only thing protecting these vampires from a sudden, fiery death, and even though they will only be useful after nightfall, we are to believe that this is not a truly ridiculous thing to do.

Obviously, this telegraphs that at some point, Damien will wake up before nightfall and be useful because that's something he can do. Which happens. He's not really useful, but he's there. Just. The number of times they are out in the world walking around and the author chooses to remind us that one of their party is toting a literal human body in a bag on their back. And I'm supposed to not snicker at the ludicrous picture that makes.

8. Anita is crazy unprofessional. She's invited to travel internationally to a country where she is not welcomed. Not only does she bring a hugely outsized entourage, but she absolutely refuses to not make out with them constantly. I don't even work with her, and I got nauseated by the daisy chain of men she has to kiss one after another whenever she's leaving a room or just feeling emotionally vulnerable. It's weird. It's inappropriate. It's also usually very tonally dissonant.

9. The pacing of this book is unforgivably bad. At this point, I'm used to a majority of these books being completely pointless and then the author remembering that she's supposed to have a plot in the last 50 pages, but this is just a really glaring example of this. The final 20 pages of this book are a WILD FUCKING RIDE. In that time Anita is kidnapped from her hotel room, is taken to Moroven's secret castle, finds out that Nathaniel and Damien have also been abducted, escapes, realizes that she's accidentally taken 3 brides at once, tries to raise a graveyard of zombies - fails, uses her necromancy powers to make ghosts able to fight vampires, witnesses Moroven's demise by primarily offscreen action and also finds out who has been killing people in Ireland. OH! She also finds out that the weird prophecy about how she needs to marry a tiger was misinterpreted and somehow has been fulfilled by accident when Domino was killed and she was forced to drink his blood.

The funniest part of this is when Damien shows up and just points at a random vampire we've never seen before and says, "It was him! He's the one who's been killing everyone in Dublin." And then, I guess he died in the fight? I reread the ending but couldn't find out whether he ever actually died. It was that frigging chaotic. As for Moroven, she died off screen. I guess Damien killed her animal to call (off screen) and then her human servant literally pointed a gun at Anita and said, "I'm going to kill you now," but one of her new brides jumped in front of the bullet and shot him to death. So I guess Moroven died from the dual trauma of both her human servant and her animal dying at the same time. Later, in the epilogue, we learn that she was a fairy or something. Which explains why she was able to make vampires in Ireland. THE END.

Sheesh. This book has to be read to be believed. But honestly, don't read it. It's so bad. And boring. And long for no reason. show less

Ok, I'm still reading it, but I'm not sure for how long. I'm still in the beginning, puzzling over why the "catch-up exposition" is taking place within an awkward and stilted dialogue with Damien. Why is Anita lecturing Damien on things that she learned from Damien? *sigh*

Argh. Page 373 and they are still not in Ireland. We've had lectures/drama/arguments and more stilted, repetitive dialogue about: poly, bondage, babies, powers, why Anita's the best lover and all the other potential lovers are really just obsessive, controlling jerks. Why Anita's the best master and all the other masters are obsessing controlling jerks. More new powers. Baby drama. And I think I've read a sentence that says "older vampires hide their facial expressions show more because showing emotion was tortured out of them" at least 15 times. Every time Anita interacts with a vampire who makes a facial expression (or not), we have that explanation.

Also now getting to read a bunch of horseshit opinions on bisexuality, which are pretty offensive, and learning the definitions of vanilla sex according to Hamilton.

Boring. Stupid. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Plot may occur yet, but I'm starting to doubt that.

Ok, plot finally kicks in when they get to Ireland (pg 400 or so?), but there are some massive holes -- as in, I didn't realize that one of the characters died until a later scene. Not the Anita Blake I remember, so this will be the last one I read. Polyamorous processing just isn't that interesting, and that's what these books have become. I mean, there were maybe 2 sex scenes in an 800 page book, and Anita has become all about the bodyguards and no longer does her own badassery. Meh. show less

This book could be used as an example of how not to write a book. I very rarely think that when reading a book, especially about one of my favourite authors, but how this got passed editors I don't know. It's appallingly lopsided. Over three quarters of the book is dedicated to relationship crap - not intimate scenes, actual relationship crap. Navigating not just Anita's relationships, but those of every other character. It felt like I was in a video game, where every time the main characters stepped into a room something was triggered. In this case a new scene, a new emotional drama. I like paranormal romance because it is a mix of the two, I don't care for petty jealous squabbles over and over again.

The job part of each Anita book is show more shrinking. This time it was a handful of chapters, and it was even more rushed. I understand that authors want to use their writing to talk about issues personal for them, and in this case, poly relationships. But when your book becomes more about that then the actual paranormal/supernatural elements, then you've messed up pretty badly.

This is book 25, and honestly? It's one too many for me. I'm a lot later to the annoyance train as I've been less bothered by the intimate scenes. Now I just feel like I was betrayed into reading this next instalment because the previous few books had some good stuff. Thankfully I got hold of a copy through my library, so it's not actually cost me anything - and it takes a LOT for me to consider the financial worth of a book purchase. Will I read the next one? Probably, but I don't hold much hope for it any more. show less

Dear gods. I’m almost stunned. This is gonna be a long one.

This was, quite frankly, the worst Anita Blake book of the entire series. Yes, I’m aware of the very rocky road of this series. I have followed it from its early moments of awesome as it careened every downwards, occasionally showing sparkles of hope but ultimately plunging deeper into the abys and hitting rock bottom and then positively wallowing there

Well, this book went deeper. At rock bottom it pulled out mining equipment and made a spirited effort to reach the centre of the earth. And may have achieved it. If I was not already 25 books into this series I would have DNFed this book so hard, formatted my tablet, exorcised said tablet, burned it and then scattered the show more ashes over at least 3 different bodies of water. I honestly don’t even know where to begin because there’s just so. Much. Awful.

Ok, let’s start with the rapetastic, misogynist, homophobic shitstorm that is Damian, his partner Cardinale and this utter trainwreck of awful

Firstly, we have to remember that all women in this series are terrible if they are not Anita. Oh, since the very very very straight Anita who is still straight decided to start having sex with women in the straightest way possible there are some female names following Anita around pretending to be full characters while fawning and serving but not exactly existence (And, hey, I’m generous about calling Anita Blake characters, characters-I’ve even accepted Micah as a character rather than a walking penis). Fortune, Echo, Magda – they’re just names that drift around behind her without actually doing anything – which is lucky for them

Because when we actually have a woman? They become a parody of awfulness – Cardinale is presented as utterly irredeemable, unreasonable, incapable of being professional or mature or sensible. Her every attitude is treated as utterly unacceptable – the idea the she actually wants a monogamous relationship with Damian is considered not to be love but “obsessive jealousy” (this applies to anyone who wants monogamy in this series because Laurell K Hamilton has decided this is a sign of deep emotional damage and evil); she is violent, emotional, uncontrollable – and literally says she would rather Damian be dead than with anyone else. She commits the unforgiveable sin of decorating their shared room with flower prints (how dare she be so female!). She also literally loses her shit because Damian has the temerity to LOOK at other women and feed on them (he is a vampire, she is a vampire). She is incapable of doing her job properly because she can’t stop stalking Damian.

Oh and she’s thin because she’s starving – just in case you thought for a second Anita was saying something almost complementary about her. And in case we weren’t clear we have this:

Cardinale is like the ultimate drama queen, an extreme girl. Let’s not be subtle about the misogyny, let’s just lay it out there.

Of course Anita, we’re reminded repeatedly, is “one of the guys” and Damian, a man who is literally a thousand years old, says “You don’t think like any woman I’ve ever met”. She’s not like those other terribad awful women, guys! Don’t worry!

She also coins the phrase “girl trap”. This is when terrible, manipulative, awful, emotional, unstable woman asks mean unfair questions of her long suffering man who cannot possibly give a good answer so is being set up for an argument. She uses this phrase a lot.

So having established that Damian’s long term monogamous girlfriend is the absolute worst, we throw in some woo-woo reason why Damian absolutely has to have lots of sex with other people (monogamy is evil!) and we run into the next great trainwreck of this book – rape.

Damian agrees to sleep with (non sexually) Anita and Nathaniel because of their woo-woo bonds which means if he doesn’t he gets terrible nightmares (remember, this is the series where if you don’t consent to all the sexy times, the magic will force it on you and absolutely no-one is allowed to ever say no to sex). Nathaniel is bisexual (this book, it tends to alternate depending on the author’s mood) and wants to have sex with Damian – Damian is described as “very heterosexual” and “homophobic” because he doesn’t want to have sex with men (yes, as we’ve seen repeatedly before, while Laurel K Hamilton is happy to include the shit storm of homophobia we’ve seen repeatedly, and continually degrade and demean gay men and lesbians, she also thinks homophobia means “not wanting to have sex with your own gender”. Which is, y’know, what “heterosexual” actually means.) So to get past that hurdle Damian borrows Anita’s magic to mind control Damien to having sex with him.

Let’s repeat that – Nathaniel uses magic to rape Damian. Not only rape him but he uses this magic to change Damian’s sexual orientation so he’s bisexual (for Nathaniel only – of course – because these books never deal with LGBTQ orientation, only as a fetish – which I’ll come to).

Anita’s concern about all this? Is how hot she finds two men together – and concern about the lack of using condoms. They don’t have the slightest concern that Damian has just been raped and his sexual orientation magically converted (which is revolting and terrifying).

What’s almost ironic is through this Anita has finally acknowledged that the Mother of All Darkness raped her and several weretigers by mind controlling them with mystical woo-woo and into an orgy they don’t remember. Excellent that this is finally acknowledged as rape and Anita has issues form that, especially about having sex with the men who were involved – except we go from that to her cozying up with Micah who raped her on first meeting and no-one even coming close to acknowledging that Nathaniel did the same thing in this very book to Damian and Anita, including forcing Damian to completely discard his sexual orientation – and there’s not even a second of acknowledgement of this even while labelling the previous rape. How can someone not draw the comparisons?

Of course Damian isn’t mad or upset or even slightly perturbed by this because why would he be about a rape that Anita is getting off on? He even recriminates himself for daring to have issues about having sex with another man (how dare he not wanting to have sex with someone he’s not attracted to!)

We end up with Nathaniel being sad that Damien may be angry with him so Damien gives his rapist a hug – and then keeps on hugging and comforting him. He even strips off in front of Nathaniel, his rapist, to turn him on. And he says this:

“I love that you both want me”

This. Is. His. Rapist. Not one day after the rape and he’s stripping off in front of him and saying how much he loves that his rapist is turned on by his naked body.

Anita notes “I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so relaxed and happy before”.

Hahaha, yes isn’t it wonderful how rape and mind control totally help with centuries of abuse! Dear gods I need a drink with this… Damian has been RAPED INTO HAPPINESS aaarglebaaargleeeaaaaar

We also continue the theme of no-one having a right to say no to sex. See, Jean-Claude is concerned about sexual contact with Cynric because when he joined them he was under 17 and he’s still under 20 – Jean-Claude sees him as a child an even calls him “nephew” because that’s how he envisages that relationship (which I prefer to Anita’s “I’m having sex with this boy and also going to parent’s evenings as his guardian at school” approach. Because uckies uckies uckies). Well clearly Jean-Claude has to get over that because how dare he have sexual reservations about anyone?! Nope that is now allowed in the Anitaverse so we have an awful scene of them bringing Cynric into a foursome with Jean-Claude, Anita and Nicky – because Jean-Claude cannot have any boundaries, no-one can.

Read More show less

Personal recommendation: don't go into this expecting much of anything, and then you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Of course, after the last book, where I got so frustrated I actually gave it a single star and a rant, where I told myself I was stopping the series altogether, I fully didn't expect to pick up this 25th book at all.

Especially because we were going to have to deal with whiney-boy Damian as a main character.

But. Haven't I invested so much time and energy loving this series as a whole? But. If I can just ignore the constant insert part A into part B endless sex scenes, wouldn't this be better? But. If I can ignore the fact that so much relationship drama is dragging me around as if I had a noose around my neck and some cowboy show more was riding away holding the other end of the rope, can't I just focus on the police procedural and the supernatural goodness?

Yeah. I can. I have been for so many books, now, ever since right after Obsidian Butterfly, admittedly my favorite book of the series.

So, yeah, this wasn't so bad.

Damian and Nathaniel and Anita were the first complete triumvirate. They were the weaklings. They were also the first solid power base that Anita had since all the crap between Richard and Jean-Claude. I hoped to see a lot better stuff between them, but then Damian's thread was just marginalized and the author turned him into the ugly red-headed step-child. Literally. For more than a dozen books. And all the while, Anita collected men (and now women) as if they are trading cards and those relatively solid storylines and wealth of opportunities with her supernatural power base just kinda slipped away.

Until now. Hell. I was very worried it'd be just another whiney whiney Damian story, but no, he's actually starting to grow up and take responsibility, which is about time since he *is* a 1000 year-old vampire. I was relieved. It felt like some of the good times I had before Obsidian Butterfly, when Anita was backed into a real corner and she had to dig *really* deep for some hidden juice. And she does, once again. The supernatural stuff in this one was great. It's the main reason I keep on reading the series.

Ireland. The leadership of the Harlequin. What does Mommy Darkness's shards of power mean for Anita's fate? I mean, the American Vampires are just consolidating their power, now, but there *is* another whole world out there. I'm glad that this issue is being addressed, finally. I hope to see even more of that. This book is actually establishing a very solid reason to do so.

Damian's old master, the lady of fear, is an awesome reason for Anita to go on a political duck-hunt across Europe and beyond.

As for the tragic death of a main character? Well, what can I say? It's about time. And no, it's not Damian. As far as I'm concerned, he's golden again. It's nice to have the hints of an actual triumvirate that WORKS. You know, rather than just using relationship drama to limit the overpowered monstrosity that is Anita Blake, we might actually get back to core issues like Ethics and Other Overpowered Monstrosities. :)

So yeah, if I ignore those things that annoy the shit out of me, I have to admit that the rest of this book was pretty damn cool. This is the Ultimate Flawed Novel, but I can't help but think that we need to have a cheat-sheet for readers of the series. Something like an Anime Filler List for tv episodes that don't follow the Manga, but in this case it'd be pages we can successfully skim or just plain skip because of relationship drama or tired sex scenes.

Yeah, Um, you can skip pages 23-68, 74-82, 112-150, etc., etc. :) (Not real pages you can do this with, I'm just citing an example.) :) We need this for the whole series, then. Let people enjoy a really awesome UF, sometimes skipping whole Character-Named books entirely, and love it as much as some of us have, but without the angst. :) show less

a great big fat empty book

lkh's primary writing technique seems to be to have her character start to do something and then be distracted with pointless arguments and negotiations for several more chapters before beginning to start talking about maybe doing something.

this particular book is well over 600 pages long, starts with a call from edward needing help, and anita doesn't even get to edward until page 379.
compare against obsidian butterfly, which also starts with a call from edward, where anita reached him by page 6.

everything i liked about anita and edward as characters has been corrupted and twisted until they're no longer characters i really care about.

finally, lkh once again chose to wrap up everything that might have been show more good about crimson death in the last few quick chapters. the plot used to be as vital a character as anita or edward, but it was the first one to go, many many books ago.

ever since anita started leaving the shower in narcissus in chains, but got distracted into the ardeur, i've grown more and more tired of the way this series is being written, but i am happy to report that i am finally cured. i can't believe it took this long, but i'm done with buying anything of lkh. it's all tease and zero satisfaction. show less

I enjoyed this book more than some of the more recent releases. In my opinion, there is still WAY too much romantic drama and not enough story. I also feel that the ending wraps up way too fast and isn't given enough time/space to flow. I was glad when the books stopped having as much sex but it was simply replaced with relationship drama. When I read a book I want to be engrossed in the story itself.

I greatly enjoyed Nathaniel coming into his own. The kitten has grown up and showing he has claws. We get to see him really exhibit how clever he is and his ability to not panic in a bad situation as well. I'm glad this triumvirate has finally strengthened but it would have been nice if it had involved a bit less mind-rapey.

I used to make show more reading the new releases the top of my reading list but they have severely dropped over the years. I am really hoping the author can incorporate more story back into the books and drop the amount of romantic drama. I do not believe it should have taken half the book to get the characters to Ireland and less than 10 pages for the big finale with a short epilogue. show less