Review: Too Hot to Handle

Too Hot to Handle by Portia MacIntosh
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

The boys won’t leave. We can’t leave. We have to share the space. 

Too Hot to Handle was a first person point-of-view story that loved to misdirect and had a zany tone. Molly has just left a celebration where she helped her bestfriend's boyfriend surprise her with an engagement. High on love, she goes to dinner with her boyfriend of two years and has a moment where she thinks they're going to get engaged, instead he goes on about how he said he never wanted to get married. With a moment of clarity, Molly breaks up with him and then gets depressed with trying to date from apps. After eight months, she's ready to swear off guys and when a mix-up leads to her getting a two week vacation in Spain with her bride bestie and the other bridesmaids, relaxation and time with the girls is the only thing on her mind. Instead, she finds herself stuck in a villa with an all male groomsmen group. A standoff where no one wants to leave creates hijinks, battles, and Molly wanting to fraternize with the enemy. 

Honestly, he’s going to have to stop being so perfect, or I might be in serious trouble.

This had a chik-lit and women's fiction feel with a humorous bent that didn't quite jive with my funny bone, so your mileage may vary. Everyone was in their early/mid thirties and the way these adults acted finding themselves in a situation where the villa they were supposed to stay at was double booked, just didn't entertain me, rather, their attitudes and actions grated. If you're not bothered by the vibe, you'll get a story with four men and four women trying to convince the other group to leave the villa when there really isn't another option for them. They have one week until each wedding and then one week after the wedding for the wedding party members to enjoy the villa. With no side leaving, they agree to share it, the women get the bedrooms with attached bathrooms, the men get the downstairs with the kitchen, and the backyard with pool and fire pit is communal space. That's right, the men can't shower and the women can't cook food for a week. They come to a conclusion to play a series of competitions where each side picks an activity and whoever wins it, gets a point. After a few competitions whoever has the most points, gets the villa for the second week. The competitions are shown but ran through quickly and then the characters themselves kind of forget about them towards the end. 

It’s time to go for what I want, instead of being sad and scared all the time. 

As this is only told from Molly's pov, we only get a look at her budding connection with one of the men, Travis, from the other side, but there are hints that the other two bridesmaids might be having connections with the other two groomsmen. The romance doesn't really get focused on until halfway through and you won't be too certain where Travis stands. There's a misdirection moment meant to third act breakup bamboozle you but it doesn't last too long and I felt more annoyed than emotional that such a wrench was flashed in. After spending time with the group and some of their immature antics we do get a HEA for Molly but I can't say I believed wholeheartedly in it as I never really felt I knew Travis. This was a quick and snappy story and if you don't mind some immature madcap, this might be the beach read for you.

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Review: Where Shadows Meet

Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She had to take control of her own destiny. She had to act now. 

Where Shadows Meet is the first part of a duology where readers are introduced to a fantasy world of humans, vampires, and gods. This would be great as a primer for upper young adult readers you'd want to bridge to adult high fantasy, this had all those elements on a more toned down scale. The beginning, especially before the story actually starts with the family tree and glossary of characters could feel a little overwhelming, my advice, glance over it and then come back after you've read half and look it over again as the names and their positions will be more recognizable and stick with you more. The story follows three point-of-views, Favre, Najja, and Leyla. They each come from different backgrounds but their stories weave together and through their povs, the world building is created. 

I see death. And it sees me. The dead whisper in my ears, tormenting me. 

The fantasy setting land is one year into a peace treaty that has vampires mining gold in exchange for humans giving their blood. Previously, vampires and humans had been fighting for a thousand years after a god, Thana and her partner Favre, left the Heavenly Realm for the human one. Thana had killed her father, from a sword forged from Favre's ripped off wings blood, after he refused to let Thana marry Favre. This action caused Thana to become the first vampire and she was banished from the Heavenly Realm, Favre and a few other gods going with her. The humans didn't like Thana just setting herself up as queen and the war started. Favre's character brings a lot of themes about selfishness, sacrifice, and emotional abuse in romantic and familial relationships. Her povs jump from the past to show her building romance with Thana and what happened as they came to earth and then the present as Favre breaks from an imprisonment imposed on her and her bid to free Thana. You'll get most of the outer whole lay of the story from her. 

“Sometimes the only way to find out the truth is to go along for the journey. Have faith. Believe. Trust in yourself.” 

Najja is the second pov character we meet and her povs are all from the present. She's a yamaja, a messenger of fate, she has visions of death and can see and hear the dead. She fears her powers and doesn't like how her people have been regulated to an island after her great-great-grandmother delivered a vision to the vampire queen that she didn't like. Najja has issues of never feeling good enough and living up to the pedestal she puts her sister on, along with grief from losing her mother. When Reapers attack her home, her sister tells Najja that she had a vision that Najja must help the vampire princess, this sends Najja reluctantly running from her home to the capitol to find the princess. 

“It’s not so simple as us being the bad guys and them being good. Maybe once it was like that, centuries ago, but war means atrocities have been committed on both sides. It’s now up to us, the present generation, to acknowledge our past while also healing the scars that remain.” 

This leads to us meeting our final main character, the vampire princess Leyla. Leyla is the heir and as her mother has a very advanced sickness, she knows she'll be getting the crown soon, even if she feels wholly unprepared for it. Leyla's that sheltered naive but earnest character that has felt beaten down by her mother and suffers from chronic pain that also works to make her feel not good enough. When she's exploring the town with her bestfriend Danai, Reapers attack and end up taking Danai, while Najja shows up to protect Leyla. This leads to Najja and Leyla starting a small road journey at the halfway point to go and rescue Danai from the land of the dead. 

“I’m glad you’re here with me. We’re here and we’re surviving and maybe, for tonight, that’s enough.” 

A lot of this first duology book was getting to know our three main characters, as we spent time in their heads, some of the soliloquies did go on long enough to slow the pace down, but I didn't really feel that way until the beginning second half as I thought some of Favre's feelings were retread one too many times. This is a story, though, that I think is worth investing in the time, it's moving parts might not seem to fit together at first but I thought as it went on it was pretty smooth how the author worked to slowly bring them together. Najja's there to try and protect Leyla and not allow one of the outcomes of fate, the one Favre wants to bring on, freeing Thana. There's the destructive romance between Favre and Thana and then the building one between Najja and Leyla. I did think Najja and Leyla's emotions and romance was rushed and I wasn't a total believer in it but the second book in the series could build on those emotions. 

I’m forced to watch as she rows away, toward the island where souls go at their end, to the place where shadows meet. 

This obviously ends on a cliffhanger, the ending of this dances into horror, which I enjoyed, but the rush of the events happening felt a little jarring after the majority of the book's pace was more slow moving. The worldbuilding was less about the physical setting and more about the social and cultural structuring of society and how that emotionally impacts individuals. There was also a lot of working in mythology, fairytales, and folklore that I enjoyed and will have you saying, I recognize that every so often. The characters fit an upper young adult classification and if you go in expecting a high fantasy primer feel, you'll enjoy this one. The combined elements of vampires, humans, and gods, how this was structured to weave the three main characters together, young adult emotional themes working through, and at times richness to the writing, made this intriguingly enjoyable.

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Quickie Rant Review: Touch of Enchantment

Touch of Enchantment by Teresa Medeiros
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Unhinged. 

If you read the first, unhinged in the same way but worse. 

Time travel again but no real romantic relationship development and for such a wacky supposed to be funny tone, why did I have to read about a nine year old girl's trauma about getting gang raped???

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Review: The Usual Family Mayhem

The Usual Family Mayhem by HelenKay Dimon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.8 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She looked at the suffering passed in silence from generation to generation and said enough. 

The Usual Family Mayhem was a rolling offbeat story with tons of heart. Told all from Kasey's point-of-view, a late twenties woman who hasn't quite found her niche in life, when she gets put on the spot at her latest job, she suddenly finds herself pitching her grandmother's bakery as a possible business for her company to acquire for investors. Kasey's boss gives her two weeks to travel from D.C. to back home in North Carolina to get her grandmother Mags and Celia, her grandmother's partner, in life and business, to sign a deal with them. Taking the paid trip home, Kasey finds herself dipping and dodging questions from Mags and Celia about why she's really back home and trying not to show those deep feelings she has about Celia's nephew, Jackson, her childhood nemesis. There's also the little issue of Kasey thinking Mags and Celia have set up a side hustle of poisoning abusive husbands and she sets out to investigate. 

The two women who'd raised me and who I loved unconditionally were hiding something. 

Your enjoyment of this is going to hinge on how much you can tolerate of the left-of-center, slightly unhinged personality Kasey has. As this is all told from her, there's no escape, I found her more charming than exasperating, which worked in my favor. I did think it took way too long for Kasey to come clean (65%) to Mags and Celia about why she was in town and I thought that hurt the pace of the second half; you're going to yell at her to just tell the truth more than once. I was pleasantly surprised at how much the romance (fade-to-black) played a part in this, Jackson shows up early and sticks around to be that grounding, trying to be voice of reason, that Kasey needs. Even without his pov, his actions and words make it clear to readers that he has feelings for Kasey, even if Kasey is oblivious because she can't shake off the shame of when she made a move and Jackson went running (a totally warranted reaction from him at the time!). I greatly enjoyed their dynamic because even though their personalities are opposites, you see how they compliment each other and how they'd work together, he calms her and she lightens him up. 

They'd built a community based on the most desperate kind of need. 

Kasey's investigating of her grandmother's business and what she thinks they're involved in started off haphazard fun for me, but, like Kasey dodging the truth and not just coming out and explaining why she was there, she dragged it on a bit too long. In the latter second half when all four sit down to finally talk and explain, I think the emotions are going to hit some unexpectedly, I found myself tearing up when Mags and Celia finally had their say on how their lives went and what they chose to do about it from points on. For most of the book, the tone is kept light and goofy because of Kasey's personality beat, but the hints of deeper are there worked in. A lot of the women in this are survivors of domestic violence, a heavy topic, but while we get no flinching away stories of it, it's how it's told from the women's perspectives, their stories coming from their voices is what kept the mood from dragging down darkness to instead comforting strength uplifting. 

“No one tried to rescue us. We want better for other women.” Celia reached out and took Gram's hand. “Even women we don't know.”

While Kasey could be her own worst enemy at times, Jackson's father makes a good bid for being the villain of the piece by trying to impose his will, wants, and needs on everyone in his orbit. This drags Kasey and her work and her relationship with Jackson into contention with what the dad wants and leads up to a confrontation that ultimately helps to wrap up Kasey's work and romantic issues, so a needed villain. The lead up to the HEA gives normally in control Jackson vulnerability and Kasey found strength to deliver two sweet declarations. This was off-beat fun with heart, go find this one and pick it up. 

(Not me wishing Mags and Celia had a blog for me to comfort read)

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