Tag: author-beats-up-hero • BookLikes

review 2013-12-07 01:20

Real or not real? After some fumbling a worthy completion to a great series

Opening Line:"I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather."

Real or not real; I finally finished Mockingjay? Thankfully real, because this just didn’t hold my attention like the fantastic and innovative HUNGER GAMES or leave me trying to catch my breathe like CATCHING FIRE did. In the end though I still loved Suzanne Collins violent, bloody and utterly defeated conclusion to this series, it just took a bit lot of effort to get through to it. We aren’t left hanging where the love triangle is concerned either, with Collins giving us a realistic and satisfactory glimpse twenty years into Katniss’ future and who she finds herself there with.

All told Mockingjay is a brutal and despairing ride as Katniss, Peeta, Gale and just about every other character we’ve met so far wages war on the Capital and its President Snow. Yes a lot of people die here and I’ll be honest at times Mockingjay lost me. In fact I actually put it down more than once with no real ambition to pick it up again, as it just seemed to drag with endless battles, hospital visits and politics and if it hadn’t been for my curiosity about who Katniss ends up with I probably wouldn’t have bothered finishing it at all.

This is due in no small part to the fact that our heroine spends most of the book either waking up in hospital after being injured or recovering in a drug induced haze from one thing or another. This became monotonous, stalling the story. And while I appreciated Katniss’s battered state of body and mind -especially in the closing chapters I also found it overkill and wondered where that strong, take control girl from previous books had gone. On the other hand after what she’d been through its a wonder she didn’t just keep hiding in the closet, taking 'morphling' and shutting out a world gone mad where no one is who they seem anymore.

I was also very let down by the final climactic battle which for the most part we are told not shown because Katniss is again unconscious, even Snow became rather a non-issue here. And one if my biggest personal disappointments would have to be that we didn’t get to see Gale’s character fleshed out more. I had really been hoping that this would be his book, his time to shine and show us why Katniss loves him. Instead he remained frustratingly vague.

I believe Suzanne Collins probably had the outcome to this series in her mind from the very first page of Hunger Games, unfortunately with this book she just wasn’t sure how to get us there and fumbled along with her conclusion. The ending chapters and epilogue are amazing though and almost make up for the bumpy, tiring ride that is Mockingjay, almost. And after all was said and done it was Buttercup the cat that had me crying and I'm not even a cat person.

author beats up hero end of days in a coma shelf 10 Suzanne Collins unconscious war YA

review 2013-12-03 00:35

Another smokin hot addition to the series

BUGGY

Opening Line: “Go wide! Go wide! Come on Skyler pass the ball!”

Line Of Fire is book #4 in in the romantic, suspenseful and sexy firefighters of station five series. This time through we get apparent Brad Pitt lookalike Tommy Skylar’s story. At 23 he’s the youngest member of ‘A’ shift, a former star quarterback, Tommy had dreams of going to the NFL until the death of his brother in Iraq changed everything. Striving to make his parents proud Tommy joined the Fire Dept but still isn’t sure it’s where he wants to be.

So far I’ve really enjoyed this series, I mean how could you not? With hard bodied firemen heroes, smoking hot love scenes, and exciting action-suspense storylines it’s always a great ride. Part of the fun in reading these books is also the anticipation of how many trips to the hospital our heroes will have to endure before they get the bad guy and win the girl. Jo Davis just loves to beat up her men and it’s become a bit of a game for me counting the injuries. I also like how all the books are connected with updates from past characters and continuing story arcs. Here we get to catch up with 6-Pack, Zach, Julian and their Captain Sean’s ongoing struggle with the bottle.

ER nurse Shea Ford has been trying to avoid Tommy’s irresistible charm and ongoing advances. She thinks that he’s way too young for the strong feelings he brings out in her and that she’d be much safer dating Prescott, a boring city planner. After Tommy lands in her ER (the 1st time) Shea finally concedes to a date and the two fall for each other pretty quickly after that.

Of course while all the romance is taking place we also have an arsonist on the loose and while I didn’t find his POV particularly interesting, his bad guy antics do enable Sean to finally hit bottom and land Tommy in the hospital again, this time with surprisingly devastating injuries. Ironically I had just been saying to myself; Davis is taking it easy on her hero when whammy a burning building collapses on him, changing his future forever.

All in all a pretty good read although I have to admit it’s my least favourite from the series. I had a tough time feeling the connection between Tommy and Shea or believing that he was ready for a HEA at 23 especially when he read like such a mama’s boy. And then there was the gratuitous anal sex scene at Tommy’s parents house which I suppose was meant to show the depth of their love (?) in a Lora Leigh sort of way however I found it unnecessary and weird especially considering Shea‘s secret. A lot of times this just felt like Davis was going through the motions with stilted, fluffy dialogue and an almost repetitive story line. Still I can’t wait to read Sean’s conclusion to this series next in RIDE THE FIRE.

author beats up hero firefighters of station five #4 firremen Jo Davis men in uniform romantic susp scars r sexy shelf 11