Wages of Sin

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Aug08

It always gives me a thrill to discover a book by a new author…especially if after I finish their book I want to read MORE. Happily, this was the case with “Wages of Sin” by Jenna Maclaine. The author managed to strike just the right chord to create a fascinating historical tale of magic, vampires, and demons (oh my!) without leaving me feeling like I’d read it all before! I can hardly wait to see where she goes from here and I certainly plan to be taking that journey with her new characters.

She used to be Dulcinea. Dulcinea was a hereditary witch with loving parents living the life of the privileged titled in 1815 England. She enjoyed her life…flirting with potential beaus at show more lavish ton balls dressed in beautiful gowns. Life was simple and pleasant. Then, in one night, she lost her parents, gained her magic, and was almost killed by a former-childhood-friend/suitor-turned-vampire. So Dulcinea is dead now. My name is Cin and Dulcinea’s death is where my story begins…

I thought Dulcinea rocked!! Although a bit spoiled, it wasn’t in a bad way. Throughout this story, she deals with some very tough situations, makes some very hard decisions, and still maintains her integrity. I truly admired her for that. She became a real person to me…someone I’d like to sit down and talk with, maybe while having lunch or shopping. Did she make some mistakes? Absolutely. Did she try to fix it? You bet. Did she learn from those mistakes? Oh yeah. Hard times make for quick personal growth and maturity…or it just kills you. That was the choice Dulcinea/Cin had to make.

Her ‘hero’ is Michael. He is dashing, handsome, protective, and strong. He’s also a vampire. He also has a bit of a ‘thing’ because she has a title, and he was a peasant when he lived. Did he make some mistakes? Yepper. Did he try and fix what he screwed up? Yes. Did he learn from his mistakes? Definitely. Did these two have to do some compromising? In spades! I would characterize Michael as a Beta Alpha, can I do that? Alpha because he has many of those traits. Beta because he’s also smart enough to know he’s not the strongest/oldest and therefore must sometimes follow. Is that a great guy or what?

I can’t say enough good things about this book. I enjoyed the hero, the heroine, the plot, the secondary characters, the setting, the pacing…you name it, I liked it. Is this the next great American novel? Uh, no. Then again, I probably wouldn’t like it if it was. For a first book by a new author, I was stunned at how few problems there were. This is a solid, tight, engrossing read. Do yourself a favor…if you’re looking for something different in the paranormal or historical romance arena, pick up “Wages of Sin” by Jenna Maclaine. If you don’t like it, send me a nasty gram. For myself, I’ve already put her next book “Grave Sins” (late 2008/early2009) on my ‘to-buy’ list. show less

I love Buffy as much as the next person, so I don't mind when writers let the series influence their books. I am a little put off when it's transparently done. I mean, here we have two handsome vampires on a redemptive mission against other vampires: one older, burly, dark, and pensive; the other younger, wiry, blond, and frisky. It was distracting, quite frankly, and I spent a few moments rolling my eyes just a little. Moreover, Cin wasn't all that likable. This wasn't a bad book by any means, but nothing encouraged me to keep up with the series.

This is the first book in the Cin Craven historical paranormal romance series. There are three books in this series. I have had this book on my to be read pile for some time and was excited to finally get around to reading it. This was an engaging and quick read, I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the book’s historical setting; this book is set in the Victorian era and I always enjoy that setting for books. This book does have some action, but I would say it is more of a paranormal romance than urban fantasy in tone.

Cin is a proper woman who finds herself with strong witch powers rather suddenly. The magic system behind her witch powers is never all that well explained. She also finds herself being hunted down by an old suitor turned vampire.

I show more enjoyed The Righteous a lot, they are your somewhat typical band of good vampires that kick the evil vampires’ butts. They were fun to read about and there are some great action scenes between them.

I do have a few complaints about the book. The first is that I thought the chemistry between Cin and Michael was just so-so. They do the insta-love thing which I don’t really like. They also don’t seem to have a ton in common besides a dislike of evil vampires and some strange attraction to each other.

My second complaint is that there is pretty much no world building here or explanation of why/how paranormal creatures exist in this world. I prefer my paranormal romance books to have some world building and a solid plot.

Which leads me to my third complaint...the plot here is very very simple and predictable. There really isn’t all that much that’s complex going on in this story; it’s incredibly straight-forward.

The writing flows well and is decent. The book is an incredibly quick read and entertaining. While this book isn’t anything special it was decently done and provided me with an afternoon of easy reading and amusement.

Overall this was a decent paranormal romance vampire book. Everything in here was okay but not great. I felt like the chemistry between the two main characters could have been better, the world-building was non-existent, and the plot was pretty predictable. That being said this was exactly what I was looking for...a nice easy read that was fairly engaging and quick. I would recommend if you want a light and easy paranormal romance read. I probably won’t continue with the series because I just like my books with a bit more plot and a more complex and interesting world. show less

I first read this book when it was self-published in 2006 and loved it. When I heard that Jenna Maclaine got picked up by St. Martin's Press I was so excited. So, naturally I had to read it again.

This book was even better the second time around. After reading this the first time, I really got me interested into reading Historicals again. Ms. Maclaine has created an exciting and fresh twist on witches and vampires. Cin and Michael burn bright from their first meeting and they keep you turning the pages, to see what happens next. My favorite thing though is "The Righteous" themselves. A group of vampires fighting evil, I can't wait to find out more about them and what's next for them.

I read this when it was self-published, so maybe some of the things that drove me crazy are better now that it's made it through an editor. (Although, when I tried to give it another chance in its revised form, I found too many of the same problems, so I didn't ever finish the re-read).

Anyway, the sheer number of WTF? moments specifically related to the sociocultural context in which it was set made it almost completely nonsensical. (i.e., the world-building was crap. Those characters in that time would not have known that, and they certainly wouldn't have talked about it like that. That = many different things. The one "that" that stands out most in my memory relate to the goddess Kali.)

The characters were... unfinished? It was like show more watching stick-figure cartoons set against a nonsensical backdrop. I can see how some people might find that enjoyable in a zany sort of way, maybe, but I got the sense that it wasn't deliberate or intentional on the author's part, which may be why it drove me so batty. Or it could be that the characters were so here! there! all over the place I never got a good understanding of why they behaved as they did.

I liked the concept, but the finished product didn't really pull together for me. show less

Mourning the death of her parents ad shutting herself up in her room, it’s the last thing she needs to have her life endangered by a vampire who wants to possess her wild and uncontrollable powers. She finds herself and her servants imprisoned in her own house, knowing the evil is waiting just outside to capture her or worse. Her only hope is the mythical band of vampire warriors who kill evil vampires and they arrive when summoned and bring with them the hero who develops a deeper relationship with the heroine. It was an alright book but really nothing special or groundbreaking. It was really geared more towards the fantasy genre than romance so it didn’t intrigue me as much. Also, the story is based in historical England yet show more modern phrasing more often than naught crept in and ruined the setting. If your book is set in the past, it’s laziness when you can’t keep the speech in the period. Also, I didn’t much like the heroine or hero mainly because they weren’t memorable. I won’t read the other books in the series. show less

Another debut novel that rocked my socks off! Jenna Maclaine comes out swinging with this first book in the Cin Craven series, and creates a character that you root for all the way. Cin is strong yet vulnerable, sassy and sweet. Micheal is her perfect match! A grand love arises out of this wonderfully detailed story about life, loss, danger, love, sacrifices, death and magic.

I absolutely loved it and am anticipating the next novel in the series, Grave Sins, due to be released in February 2009. A prequel to Wages Of Sin can be found in the already released anthology, The Mammoth Book Of Vampire Romance. It tells Devlin and Justine’s story.