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Primrose Files: Aliens, Smith and Jones – Blaine D. Arden
“It’s not all about serving coffee and typing reports.”
Working for a secret organisation specialising in alien cover-ups, Connor Smith is no stranger to the abnormal or dangerous. His love life on the other hand… not so exciting. Until he reluctantly agrees to a blind date and meets the perfect bloke, Jason.
Things are finally falling into place for Connor, so of course that’s when he attracts an alien stalker.
Noah Jones, ex-alien, has been stranded on Earth and forced to live as a human since 1648. Alone and detached from the world around him, Noah has spent centuries observing and recording humankind. In all that time, he’s only experienced a connection with a human once… until he finds Connor.
Even knowing Connor is in a relationship, Noah can’t ignore their potential bond, or stay away.
While dealing with missing alien artefacts, a dangerous and shadowy group of collectors, and the ever-present Noah, Connor finds his orderly life crumbling around him. At least he still has the perfect boyfriend…
When Noah goes missing, Connor is forced to face the feelings growing between them and the mounting evidence that Jason isn’t who he says he is…
Aliens, Smith and Jones is a riff on the fated one/mate theme popular in animal shifter stories. Noah is a Rei, a purple alien blob of energy whose species visit other planets to observe and record. He was stuck on earth for almost 400 years. Somewhere along the way, he transforms into a human. The Rei absorbs energy and they have one particular individual, their mate, with whom they have a special connection. Noah had found this long time ago with Daffyd and he didn’t expect to find it again in this modern age.
Connor, whom I found bland and forgettable, works for Primrose, a Men in Black type of organization that handles anything and everything alien. He usually ends up a victiim of his bestfriend, Isa’s matchmaking schemes. Isa introduced him to Jason and they hit it off. On the surface Jason seems to be the perfect boyfriend.
The trouble with this set-up is that it’s hard to care about Noah and Connor’s romance when they are so hung up on other people. Going in, I knew Jason was in the picture. I just didn’t expect Noah would have his Daffyd too. Also Connor spent more time with Jason, time that could have been spent establishing his relationship with Noah. Aliens, Smith and Jones would have worked better had the romance given more time to blossom.
I also don’t understand the point of killing off an important secondary character. It really didn’t do anything to the story except give a little bit of unnecessary drama to the proceedings.
There were a bunch of more interesting characters who would be great leads in their own books like Lieutenant Matthews, Isa’s boss, and Francis the shy, geeky tech. It would also be great if there were aliens working in the organization as oppose to just herding them off to some island. I hope Noah does well as a consulting adviser in Primrose.
This is a good example of a 2.5-star book. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t quite like it either.
P.S.
I received a copy of Aliens, Smith and Jones from
Cayendi Press
via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:
2.5 Stars – far from hate but not quite a likeSoundtrack: Stars are Spaceships
Artist: Funeral Suits
Album: Lily of the Valley -
Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories – Andrea Speed
A collection of tales filled with monsters, be they human or beast, ranging in setting from dystopia to pitch black noir and even general silliness. From the ludicrous to the frighteningly plausible; from deep space to after the end of the world. There are clumsy werewolves and bloody revenge, monster sleep overs and a dieting fad sure to kill your appetite.
Whether looking into the past or the future, you’re sure to find that stuff gets really weird.
Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories is a collection of flash fiction showcasing Andrea Speed’s fertile imagination. These stories range from death by crab invasion, random futuristic adverts, your average vampires and mages, and adventures in alternate dimensions. I love the stories! They were usually just a couple of pages long but most felt complete, some have high-impact and the rest showed good promise if turned into full-length books.
The collection is divided into 5 parts. The first part is the apocalypse section where various world’s end scenarios were speculated. This is my favorite part. The first story When the Rains Came reminded me of Hitchhiker’s Guide but instead of saying good bye and thanking us for all the fish, the dolphins participated in the wholesale slaughter of humanity along with the rest of ocean life. “Clean the oceans, humans” I think is the takeaway message here. It’s the End of the World as We Know It and I Don’t Give a Fuck stood out the most for me. Not only the title says it all and the MC was ace, the unnamed MC did the things I planned to do in case people were wiped out by a virus. Magic welders, aliens and vampires were also featured and there was another interesting scenario where the world falls apart because people were infected by ennui. Very plausible really. A couple of times the author was inspired by Oscar Wilde’s idea of the end of the world. Not the brightest view of humanity overall in this part of the collection.
The second part is full of absurd randomness from The International House of Cthulhu where you either eat the food or the food eats you, to Mr. Fix-it, a sweet human+bot slash where a human named Elon, with the help of a nice bot name Slom, tries to survive aliens taking over the space station. In between these, there is a cute love story, Cartoon Logic, where comic strip characters step out of a door to the real world and the fun, Mad Monster Sleep Over where monsters try to find answers to a fellow monster’s death. It is also apparent Andrea Speed does not like Christmas. I like the idea of turning the beloved Christmas symbols into terrifying beings because a monster Santa is really scary. Probably inspired by the French film or by Billy Idol, Eyes Without a Face is about pesky disembodied eyes infesting a house where a gay couple lives. Where these things come from nobody knows but yeah, that’s how random this is.
Part three is what I like to think of as the Tarantino section. Keyword: hard-boiled. Think Jackie Brown or Kill Bill. Women exacting revenge, slitting throats, firing shotguns. The title piece Shotgun Bastards features a woman shooting her way through a mob to rescue her captured twin brother who has vital information. She Broke Gods was about a woman on a mission to save all the girls trapped by a sex slave gang. She pretends to be a victim then proceeds to slaughter the gang. The two are the most action pack of the entire book. I would love to see these as movies.
Part four is more randomness, probably sketches and ideas and more monsters. Wolf & Fox is a zombie apocalypse scenario that left me wondering whether Wolf and Fox were humans or anthropomorphic animals (I wouldn’t be surprise if they were animals standing on two feet/paws). I was also shipping them but I guess it wasn’t that kind of story. They Fight Crime is a fantasy story vaguely inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk where magic-welders Coy and Danay fight skreaks with magic beans. What skreaks are, I don’t know. Spark Joy was about a women who was so meh about life but found a way to bring the spark back, literally. This is something most bored potatoes (me) can relate to minus the pyrokinetics. Noise is about that weird neighbor you never know would go berserk any minute so you have to treat nicely. Probably the weakest story of all.
Lastly, we have the sci-fi/fantasy part full of vampires, rebels and space-pirates. Past Prologue has a Ghost in the Shell feel to it where a woman with cybernetic body parts is hiding from the Imperator. This one has a nice twist in the end. I would like to see this as a full-length novel because the futuristic setting and the world are really interesting. Discount Skin Ticket and Seven Days of Fang are stories about darkest desires and the price people are willing to pay for them. The desires are the usual desires (immortality and some such) so I’m hoping someday we can have stories where the darkest desires involves something like secretly wanting to be Rainbow Brite. Soulmates and My Bloody Valentines are dark and compelling romance stories the author created for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group and plans to expand someday. I hope she does.
Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories is my first Andrea Speed book. I think it’s a good introduction to her work. The stories grab me from the start and majority of them worked.There is a streak of dark humor in some and others are just plain dark which I really liked. If you have a short attention span like me or want an in-between book for those 1000+ page door stoppers, this is a good book to dip into for some bite-size fun.
P.S.
I received a copy of Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories from Less Than Three Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Burnin’ Up
Artist: A Flock of Seagulls
Album: The Light at the End of the World(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40097180-shotgun-bastards-and-other-stories)
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Consulting Royalty: Matters of the Heart – Alli Reshi
Demitri is a consultant to an Earth-based task force that solves extraterrestrial crimes. But even his extensive knowledge and non-Earth perspective are strained by the hunt for a serial killer. The situation is further complicated when his childhood friend Devin, a notorious criminal, comes under his care while recovering from a coma. Between hunting a killer, convincing his team to trust Devin, and trying to help Devin recover, Demitri is pulled in too many directions, and he’s not sure he’ll manage to accomplish any of his goals.
Being secretly in love with Devin isn’t helping matters.
It’s like I stumbled into an episode of a crime investigation drama mid-season, something like CSI: Extraterrestrials, episode 6. It started with a recap of the previous episode’s cliffhanger where Devin threatened to kill the POTUS and Demitri tried to stop him. The writing assumes you are already familiar with the characters and how the world is set-up. Putting together everything is no hardship and things do come together okay, although a bit of world-building would do a lot of good. I find the world of multi-specie entities interesting and I hope Alli Reshi might add more details to what is potentially a rich universe to mine with stories.
Demitri and Devin are childhood friends from a faraway planet who were exiled because Devin was deemed insane and Demitri was involved in illegal research in an effort to help his friend. They are also both sitting on a love confession to each other for centuries. Out with it, boys! I am a sucker for a friends-to-lovers trope done well so I was rooting for Demitri and Devin (said rooting involves sitting them together and smacking their heads). Devin is still tagged as a criminal and I am curious about his fate so next book, please.
There were hardly any details about them but the rest of the team, Benn, Isaac, Gabrielle, Amy, and Sally were likable people. I want to get to know them so some background info would be nice. They all knew Demitri was in love with Devin, heck, maybe assume they were boyfriends already. They were all egging on the Demitri to just get it on already but the poor man had to keep it all bottled up inside.
The case was a minor subplot, minor as in easy to solve. It was simply a matter of identifying the right specie then wait for it to appear. On the upside, it was another way to introduce an interesting new alien to the story. I’m hoping the next case would be more challenging and the investigation be more rigorous. It’s partly what I signed up for after all.
So, major points on the interesting premise, the characters and the romance, hopefully better world building and harder cases to solve next time. This series shows good promise so I want to see where the author takes it.
P.S.
I received a copy of Matters of the Heart from Less Than Three Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it
Soundtrack: My Best Friend
Artist: Weezer
Album: Make Believe(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40107347-matters-of-the-heart)
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On Andross Station – J.C. Long
Hikaru Adachi has come to Andross Station to discover what happened to colleague and fellow Inquisitor Katya. Thane, a tracer, has arrived at the station seeking a bounty on Galen Horn, one of the Unity of Planets’ most wanted men. They will find their paths cross as their interests intersect, and soon they are on a hunt that is more dangerous than they know, for Horn has enlisted some dangerous allies, including one from Thane’s past. If Thane and Hikaru together can’t bring Horn down, he will set in motion a plot that will see the entire station destroyed in an attack of massive proportions.
On Andross Station is a fast-paced sci-fi novella about a search for a missing person and a hunt for a terrorist. One of the things I liked best about this novella is the world-building. It’s easy to picture out a universe of varied life-forms, busy, thriving space stations, and galactic governments with hidden agendas. J.C. Long was able to conjure these images without dumping too much information. His concise but informative descriptions of alien life-forms made me want to know more about the various species scattered throughout and the Tracers universe as a whole.
The main characters were Hikaru Adachi, an Inquisitor tasked to find out what happened to Inquisitor Katya, and Thane, a Tracer and half-Alooran. Hikaru is a telepath and has a Virtual Intelligence implant which he uses to get information and hack systems. As an Inquisitor, he is pretty deadly but the moments when he talks to the VI or when he uses his telepathy, he seems distracted and I couldn’t help thinking that might be a good moment to take him out. Thane is out to catch Galen Horn, a known terrorist with a huge bounty on his head. Thane was curious about the Inquisitor so he checked him out and felt the pull of mutual attraction.
One big plus about this story is that it is mission-centric and not romance-centric. While I am 100% OK if there was no romantic sub-plot at all and the novella is purely sci-fi with the characters who just happened to be gay, I feel I really didn’t get to know Hikaru and Thane well. I think the author barely scratched the surface and I would have wanted a better development of their characters as well as their relationship. More background information about them would be appreciated.
The mission is what it’s all about. It’s what kept me glued. Going on what felt like a covert tour of the space station while chasing bad guys and avoiding getting caught was exhilarating. Hikaru and Thane went from gambling dens to restricted areas on their search for Katya and Galen Horn. Hikaru showed his bad-ass martial arts skills and scary telepathic powers. Thane wasn’t a slouch either. That revenge against the sadistic psycho Happy was very satisfying. They make a good team.
It’s stated that On Andross Station is part of Tracers universe so I thought I might need to read other books in the series. However, I didn’t have any problems piecing together everything and the novella as a whole could be read as a standalone. It also felt like a prequel and if it is indeed one, I would be delighted to read the rest of the series.
P.S.
I received a copy of On Andross Station from Ninestar Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Hunted Down
Artist: Soundgarden
Album: Screaming Life/Fopp(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41079439-on-andross-station)
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REVIEW: Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector by Nicole Kimberling
Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector – Nicole KimberlingVampire Hunter. Leprechaun Fighter. Food Inspector. Keith Curry has his work cut out for him. NATO’s Irregulars Affairs Division is a secret organization operating in thousands of cities around the globe. Its agents police relations between the earthly realm and those beyond this world, protecting citizens from both mundane and otherworldly dangers. Former chef turned NIAD food inspector, Special Agent Keith Curry found out about magic the hard way and is now determined to keep dinner safe for everybody. Includes the novellas Cherries Worth Getting, Magically Delicious and the never-before-published Bring Out Your Best plus bonus shorts and more!
The shared world of Irregulars is the kind of well-realized world authors can play around with and have lots of fun. I enjoyed the original Irregulars anthology where every conceivable mythological creature is real and there are special agents doing magical investigations. I had hoped for more stories about NIAD and all the humans and extra-humans like Rake and Archer, Deven and Silas, and Half-dead Henry and Jason.
Nicole Kimberling happily granted my wish with a short story collection about former chef and food inspector Special Agent Keith Curry and his boyfriend, trans-goblin and NIAD strike force member, Gunther Heartman. I like the slice-of-life feel of the interrelated short story format because I can read about several different cases while keeping up to date with Keith and Gunther’s relationship without having to deal with too many details.
Keith describes himself as average but he’s pretty damn good at his job. He goes above and beyond and gets into a lot of trouble. He has no magic but he gets by with tenacity, quick thinking and a bit of luck. Gunther is a snow goblin who was magically transformed into human form in-utero. He is blue-eyed, dark haired, really good looking and very loyal to Keith. He is close to his mom and dad and his gazillion cousins in the Heartman clan. And despite his ferocious goblin lineage, he is an “all-around sweetheart”. I love them both!
Cherries Worth Getting: posted here
Cookie Jamboree: I keep hearing about this Cookie Jamboree Gunther was so gung-ho about. Nice to know that the perfect Gunther Heartman has a dorky side. Cookie cutter collection?! Really?!
The Little Golden Book of Goblin Stories: Because goblin moms are the best! Expect to feel teary-eyed.
Magically Delicious: Keith deals with potty mouth leprechauns and missing pixies while Gunther is hospitalized. He gets three wishes but what would he wish for? Needless to say, this case involves defying death in creative ways. This story’s a win.
The Most Important Meal of the Day: The apocalypse has arrived. Keith makes breakfast for a lazy-ass wizard as the world falls apart. Equal parts urgent and laid-back. My favorite of the collection.
Bring Out Your Best: Contaminated blood investigation takes Keith and Gunther from vampire bars and deadly entertainment sports arenas to air force bases where Keith talks to a jet plane. Also, unsubtle hints from Gunther but Keith thinks he might not be good enough to be a Heartman. For crying out loud, just do it, Keith!!! That ending tho ( ˘⌣˘)♡(˘⌣˘ )
This is such a fun read! Definitely recommended!
P.S.
I’m not into the genre but man, those goblins love their metal. Keith likes it too, so a metal love song for you both.
I received a copy of Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector from Blind Eye Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:
Cherries Worth Getting – 3.5 stars
Cookie Jamboree – 4 Stars
The Little Golden Book of Goblin Stories – 4.5 Stars
Magically Delicious – 4 Stars
The Most Important Meal of the Day – 4.5 Stars
Bring Out Your Best – 4 StarsOverall:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Entrails of You
Artist: Suffocation
Album: Suffocation(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38814322-grilled-cheese-and-goblins)
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Eidolon – E.S. Yu
When Cyrex Corp, one of the foremost bioaugmentation companies in the world, sends Vax to assassinate Zai Lumero, Vax thinks it’ll be a simple, straightforward job. Zai is only a journalist, after all, and with his bioaugments, Vax has never botched a job before. But then the hit unexpectedly goes south, and before Vax can correct his mistake and finish Zai off for good, he discovers that Cyrex has turned on him, putting him in their crosshairs as well.
With no one else to turn to, he strikes a grudging partnership with Zai to help him expose Cyrex’s connection to a missing persons case and take the company down. Getting along with a justice crusader who hates Vax’s profession with a burning passion isn’t easy—though Vax finds himself drawn to Zai in a way he never expected.
As they race against time to unearth Cyrex’s secrets, Vax can’t shake the feeling that Zai is hiding something from him. And the closer he gets to uncovering the answers—of how he’s related to Zai’s investigation, and how Zai is connected to a past that Vax can’t remember—the more he suspects that finding out the truth might destroy him.
The book caught my attention with two magic words: assassin and asexual.
Eidolon is a sci-fi book about an assassin who was hired to kill a journalist investigating the company the assassin is working for. When he tried do his job, he was in for nasty surprise.
Vax, the assassin doesn’t seem to be hard-core and deadly. He seemed more like a harassed salaryman trying to get the job done and get the boss off his back. His boss being Atali Norman, CEO of Cyrex and one hell of a manipulative bastard. When Vax was confronting Atali, I was like, just shoot him already! Don’t talk to him, he will mindfuck you! Vax then proceeded to prove himself human.
Zai, the crusading journalist, is out to uncover the nasty secrets of bioaugmentation companies.I liked that he is very dedicated to his job. Meeting Vax was like meeting a ghost but that doesn’t stop him from involving Vax in doing what he set out to do. There were a LOT of complications, personal and otherwise but Zai was, if anything, determined to do good so he made it work.
I think this should really be two stories. First is the sci-fi dystopian thread where humans were augmented with electronic parts for medical purposes or more insidiously to create super soldiers and spies.
This is a fast read and the writing was easy to go through.
I liked the world building here. It was not bogged down by info-dump but relevant bits and pieces were mentioned here and there that mesh naturally to create a good picture of the futuristic city of Orphis. There was a big mystery and some action scenes. This part by itself makes for an interesting read.
The second part was a hurt-comfort story about a man trying to deal with PTSD, depression and amnesia. This had a more contemporary feel, the futuristic elements were insignificant and barely mentioned. I liked how the mental issue and the asexuality were handled. I felt the friendship more than the romantic spark between Vax and Zai. I think Vax is in dire need of friends right now although their relationship had a good potential to be so much more exciting had the story been solely about second chances and dealing with mental illness.
Overall, I wasn’t blown away but I liked the story. The sci-fi elements were done nicely, the mystery was intriguing enough to hold my attention, the premise was interesting and the prose is uncomplicated. However, the first part and the second part seemed disconnected and I would have preferred two different stories if not a better transition/connection between the sci-fi mystery and the drama part.
P.S.
I received a copy of Eidolon from Ninestar Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked it
Soundtrack: Someone Great
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: Sound of Silver(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41059670-eidolon)
