Review: Careful Flowers by Kieran York

A slow build with a satisfying resolution, but lacking in technical skill. 3 stars.

Careful Flowers starts out awkwardly in the middle of a conversation. A case of taking en medias res a little too far. Context arrived quickly but my investment in the story took much longer. I enjoyed the extended supporting cast in this novel, from former hippies to the estranged extended family; everyone was believable and colored the conflict well.

My biggest disappointment in this story came from the craft. Pacing worked well, but the sentences didn't vary much. There's also constant jumping between simple past (I ate food) and past perfect (I had eaten food) that muddied the enjoyment of reading.

I appreciated both the resolution of the mystery and the romantic conflict. I worried that the romantic conflict would resolve by forcing only one party to change rather than compromise from both, and I'm glad to see I was wrong!

TL;DR: 3 stars. This is a solid book with excellent characters, but it's lacking a few style points.

Review: Rescuing Jack by Caitlin Ricci

A solid hurt/comfort but the ending is rushed. 3 stars

I love a good hurt/comfort story and Rescuing Jack is a great entry for this genre. It's a werewolf story where the paranormal is just a side-note to the character-driven focus. Marius (werewolf) who works and owns an animal shelter has a talent for pairing animals with new owners. Jack (human), recently sexually assaulted, thinks he needs a guard dog to keep the world at bay.

I enjoyed the details of Jack and Marius' progressing relationship and the reflection of Jack and Missy's trust issues. The biggest disappointment for me, however, is how quickly the sexual recovery happens. The majority of the progress Jack and Marius make in this book occurs over a 12 hour period maybe a week after they've met.

The external consequences of the attack (a video, extortion) are also treated like window dressing. The situation never felt very dire for me as Marius simply calls in his brother to take care of the issue.

I'm fond of the characters in this story. Everyone is distinct and running their own lives beyond Jack and Marius. Each voice remained clear and I'm particularly fond of Marius' brother even though he only got a few pages of screen time.

I feel like the book ended before it needed to. Jack grows rather dependent on Marius and the timeline doesn't provide enough room to show him growing into his own. I would have liked to see more of Jack standing on his own feet and knowing he could make it. Marius' brother also stirs up the comfortable relationship Marius and Jack have established but the book ends before any of that can be explored to resolution.

Over all, a solid book that I enjoyed in a single afternoon. Characters are relateable, the violence in Jack's past is handled realistically, and I'm fond of the animal shelter backdrop. Marius tries his best to do good, makes mistakes, and owns up to them.

TL;DR: 3 stars. Not much closure at the end, but an interesting character drama nevertheless.

Review: Cut & Run by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban

I liked this novel over all, but not enough to fall in love: 3 stars.


Cut & Run ended up on my to-read list because it's won several awards and is consistently among the recommended books I find scattered around the internet. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't wow'd either.

I felt both the main characters were very strongly developed. From the beginning they have distinct and fun personalities that naturally clashed; the best kind of setup for an 'opposites attract' story. About half way into the novel I'm hooked, the characters are connecting with each-other and the plot is getting tense.

When things fall apart between them, the story also takes a turn for the worst. The characters develop to a point that they effectively swap stereotyped rolls which I found to be very appropriate given their experiences. And the relationship between them also faltered as it should.

However, there was no time dedicated to the characters in their new personalities in order for me to re-connect with them or to make their romantic re-connection believable. The story never recovers from this. The romance is appropriately stilted from the trauma of the plot but there was never enough time to settle into their new reversed and/or damaged personalities. It became all about plot and significantly less about characters.

Also, this book is co-written between two people and it really shows. The point of view is all over the place, often switching without warning from one paragraph to the next. This breaks the flow of reading and also causes some awkward pronoun issues. It constantly bothered me. The POV issues really stuck out in the second half when the personalities changed so dramatically that I couldn't rely on body language or dialogue content to clue me into who was doing or saying what.

These two issues really prevented me from getting lost in the world and devouring this story, which is unfortunate! The worldbuilding is excellent and the character dynamics were consistent throughout the novel. I very much enjoyed the investigation procedures (even thought the 'ah, ha' moment was deus ex machina). I thought pacing and tone were excellent across the bar. There are a lot of great things going for this story.

TL;DR: 3 Stars. There are some big craft issues but the important stuff was done right. I'll pick up book two, but I'm not sold on the series.

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