If you like paranormal reading, anything in the realm of paranormal, then this book is for you. Paloma and Willow are shadow warriors (which is basically a very hard to kill human-esque type of character that protects humans and kills paranormal beings who intend to cause humans harm). Paloma and Willow are smoulderingly hot women. Paloma and Willow are confident and tough-as-nails when it comes to breaking the baddy's ass across their knees. 

That is where my positive description for Paloma and Willow ends.

Paloma and Willow are also pretty rough around the edges, they rarely brush their hair, openly talk about sex and other personal matters in public, they also happen to have pretty foul mouths... and that isn't just limited to their language either. One of the sisters belches like Barney our of The Simpsons and each time this was mentioned (and it was frequently mentioned) I kept visualising this:



I understood that these characters were meant to buck the fantasy/paranormal 'female protagonists are perfect princess's' trend, but really?! Did we need to go this far? Paloma and Willow read like they belonged in a white shift on some redneck yokel's property with a baby on the hip, fifteen others running rampant and another in the oven. Something like this:



My distaste for the almost comical regression of Paloma and Willow's manners and basic human courtesies aside, I actually quite liked the story. I thought the concept and ideas that were explored were refreshing, and despite the somewhat annoying insta-love, I felt that the different levels of romance and heartache that both girls experienced was unique.

The writing was a bit rough in places, while nothing was explicitly wrong, there were times that things could have been written in a much more concise and clearer manner. It was fairly minor things, like use of adverbs and some of the other word choices.

I really liked how much the two girls cherished their family and the relationship dynamics of a large brood of siblings. I was slightly miffed by the way the girls called their dad 'daddy' but I know that happens in real life. Note: I'm pretty sure I picked up the same thing in Angela's other book I read: The Bite. I'm starting to see a theme here Angela and I'm not liking it!

I think I'll give Angela one more chance to wow me with her books. If that doesn't happen, I think that'll be it for me and reading Angela Horn's work.

An alright book if you can look past the rough-as-guts female protagonists, their potty mouths and the glaring insta-love and see the unique ideas and concepts behind them.

A few things I noticed:

One point before, and at 58% - Capitalized author/beta notes are in the text: 'is a foreshadowing alert really necessary here?'

92% - Even feeling like crap, Paloma keep (delete keep, insert kept)...

So far, it's okay.   Trope-y, with a love triangle that is annoying the crap out of me, and not much substance.   It's very simple, and not in the Asimov puts together beautiful simple sentences that underscore the deep ideas way.   It's a shallow simple, which does make it incredibly quick read, even with all the misuse of tenses.  

Also power blue was used to describe a color all the way through the beginning.   It was finally, finally, called powder blue.   

A power blue car, power blue clothes, power blue nail polish.  

This is the only power blue I can find: 

Pool stuff!

Which is clearly not what was meant.   So far I see a two, two and a half star rating unless both the content and editing start getting better in the second half.  Even with that, even with a fantastic ending, it wouldn't gain more than one star because I really don't think anything could save this from the terribad errors in the beginning. 

There is a time for everything, and at the moment it is time for tears. And those are damn happy tears. *smile* I am seriously crying right now, seeing how Gator is climbing the ranks on Amazon. I am so freaking proud of you, Ang, I have no words. So yeah, I better shut up and let the ranking speak for itself. Anyway, you are awesomesauce. *Hugs*

Gator by Bijou Hunter #298

Gator is a killer, hired to terminate the lives of Mia and her shit father by a paranoid low life loser. Evil scum all of them, but the moment Gator sees Mia he knows she is a keeper. A child whore once, pimped out by her parents, she is hiding in her head and following orders more than anything. Still Gator sees something in her that nobody else was able to see until now.

Mia is damaged through a traumatic past, or rather her whole childhood is traumatic, but once Gator and she comes to know eachother she is growing mentally, and accepts that not everything is bad beyond repair. There is love after all. It might be an ugly love but love nevertheless. Still it´s obvious that Mia is struggling even more with her life than Jake. Still, it´s not the usual cliché riddled narrative of a damaged h/possessive alpha male H, but a story of healing together and individually with all the backlashes that comes with the territory. Fighting demons in your life is not an easy task, not when they have taken over every inch of your body, a life lived under their thumps.

Struggling to come to terms that Mia has some serious problems Gator/Jake also takes good care of her. He has taken her into his own world, but is it really a better life? A killer and a whore in an ugly place noone wants to be voluntarily under normal circumstances. 

Sex isn´t fun for or in Gator. It´s raw, sometimes painful albeit not all too graphical so the uglier scenes are bearable.

Mia suffered some serious injuries when she was pimped out as a child whore by her shit father. Mia can consent, though, but she is often more compliant than being demanding on her own. She often acts like a confused child, beaten into submission rather than living her life on her own terms.

Gator makes sure she is okay with everything, though. He doesn´t force her until she fully understands that it will change her life. Sex is a way to make her his but also, and that´s important, to take her out of her own private hell Mia is in. Jake is waiting even it drives them both a little nuts at times. Possessive and protective he might not exactly know what to do with her, but once decided Mia is his Jake does everything to make her happy.

In the end Jake kills for Mia especially to get her vengenace for all the injustice that was done to her, until Mia gets Jake his vengenace in return. A low life loser who needs to be killed for all the beatings, abuse and starvings they both suffered in their crappy childhoods. A literal and metaphorical death that is simply needed.

As always in any Bijou Hunter novels there is a feeling of alienation. The characters don´t really belong to the place they populate, they are looking to be someone somewhere. A paradise, a place of their own, so it´s not surprising how Jake describes himself at one point:

"I was the son of a murderer and his victim. I could have been happy to wipe asses and kiss feet. I could have bowed to others and begged for scrapes. I didn´t do that shit because I´m not what my parents made me. I´m what I decide I want to be."

We get mostly Gator´s POV with short interceptions from Mia in between. The double POV makes the story extremly fluid and no real adjustment is needed to the different voices.

The sentences are rather short, they hammer down on the page like machine gun fire, and there is nothing fancy about them. Instead everyone and everything is constantly on the edge. A gritty tale of love, vengeance and healing even Jake and Mia are both beyond redemption. Sure, there is a sort of a HEA and we get a glimpse of a better life they have build for themselves but in the end one can only hope that it will last forever.

Gator is a Natural Born Killers style romance noir novella about two lost, fucked up people in an ugly world where no therapy will fix what´s wrong with them.

(Legal disclaimer: I beta-read "Gator" by Bijou Hunter, as I did with other books by the same author, and read the book in different stages while in the making, as well as the final version. I received a free copy from the author and my review is based on the version for sale, not any previous drafts.)

Totally inspired by Shelby's post, go read that, too!

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Shelby's right. The good guys hardly get any screentime compared to the bad guys we try to raise awareness of so we stay away from them and no one gets hurt.

Here's some self-published authors I've interacted with who are totally lovely, don't care if you like their books or not, and can be vouched for by yours truly:

Nenia Campbell: I haven't read her books because I only like the sound of some unwritten ones (better get on that, Neny!) but she is full of sunshine and love for everyone, reader, fan, hater, whatever.

C.J. Archer: Gracious and grateful, she's one damn classy lady. And did I mention she's an Aussie? She's only ever been polite and respectful, even in the face of a newly obsessed fan.

Derrolyn Anderson: I initially met her through a review request, but she's one of the biggest sweethearts I've ever come across, posts inspiring and funny shit, and I am so glad we are friends. Her book The Athena Effect was pretty awesome, too. Stays out of drama and supports reviewers.

Angela Horn: Angie is a force to be reckoned with and an admirable crusader for reader's rights. I have some of her books but not the time to read them yet. Has only ever been respectful to me.

Linda Hilton: I actually read one of Linda's traditionally published novels way back before Goodreads even existed, and was totally stoked to find out she's an awesome friend as well as writer, and is deadly honest as well. Can't fool her, doesn't take any crap. Wish I had her guts, frankly.

Georgina Taylor: She's fucking wicked, down to earth, and massively sweet. I've actually met her so I can confirm the duck lady status, too. Not sure if her books are still for sale?

These are just the guys I interact with the most on various social media so they are whom I recalled off the top of my head.