lindaunconventionalbookworms's review against another edition
5.0
Extraordinary attention to detail! If I knew how to draw, I could totally draw all of the characters, plus all of the houses, parks, streets and offices as well. Very well written, with a lot of suspense, a little romance, some big-time scary vampires, and a huge betrayal. I loved this book, and for the first time ever, I really, really loved a fae! Gen is wonderful, strong and funny, and a little bit sneaky too, but she had to be in order to try to make it. Exciting read, and a page-turner through-out the whole book.
kblincoln's review against another edition
3.0
Urban fantasy set in London, cool accents and all. Vampire and fae-centric, this one has a half-fae "spellcracker" who gets caught up in vampire politics despite the fact that she's got vampire venom in her that makes her very wary of the vampires.
The main character is kind of cool, as well as some of the bad guys/gals. However, nothing new for me in the vampire department, as well as confusing array of characters, motives, and plots (not one but FIVE master vampires and their desire to get their hands on a mysterious spell, not to mention police and various fae, as well as flashbacks to important parts of her backstory)kept me from really investing myself in the story.
And then there's the strange black market magic spell she just happens to have that confuses things more.
Interesting imagination and characters, but the story didn't hang together for me.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: A bag of cool ranch and regular doritos all mixed up. Everytime you reach in the bag you're never sure what combination of tastes you're going to get, but you keep reaching in the bag anyway.
The main character is kind of cool, as well as some of the bad guys/gals. However, nothing new for me in the vampire department, as well as confusing array of characters, motives, and plots (not one but FIVE master vampires and their desire to get their hands on a mysterious spell, not to mention police and various fae, as well as flashbacks to important parts of her backstory)kept me from really investing myself in the story.
And then there's the strange black market magic spell she just happens to have that confuses things more.
Interesting imagination and characters, but the story didn't hang together for me.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: A bag of cool ranch and regular doritos all mixed up. Everytime you reach in the bag you're never sure what combination of tastes you're going to get, but you keep reaching in the bag anyway.
mdlaclair's review against another edition
2.0
The book was just too confusing to follow for me. You have lots of characters to keep track of. Then heroine would say that she recognized something about a person but instead of explaining it right then 10 pages later you get a vague explanation about who they were or why she recognized. To compensated for that the ending felt rushed and awkward at times. Although having everyone and their brother used as a hostage against the heroine did not help matters either. No romance to really speak of although there is multiple possibilities presented in the book. Overall this book just was not my cup of tea.
rachelini's review against another edition
3.0
There was a lot going on in this book. Maybe too much. But it was pretty entertaining.
knallen's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable slightly different sort of Fae book. It was set in London and is for adults, not really YA. It's not x-rated or anything though. I like the main character but I can't honestly decide if I like the fact that the writer made her not one but two different kinds of supernatural being. I am kind of interested to see where she goes with it and the writing was good as was the story so I'll probably pick up the next one sometime. It didn't leave me breathlessly waiting for the next one though.
stephwilltell's review against another edition
4.0
cool!haven't read a book that has a lot of supernatural characters.i've read some vampire and fairy books but nothing compares from this one.the story line was great it keeps me guessing what will happen next.a lot of action and stuff.can't wait to read the second book.
jovixmay's review against another edition
2.0
My brain hurts so badly after reading this.
Pfft, it took me five months to finish this book. FIVE MONTHS. Admittedly after the first 150 odd pages I switched to speed reading, because it was giving me a migraine.
Lately I've been very picky when it comes to urban fantasy books, but this one came highly recommended by a friend, so I decided to give it a chance. The only reason I finished it at all is because I promised my friend I would.
Anyway, after reading some great UF over the past year, it takes a lot to keep me interested. This book wasn't especially bad. It just wasn't my kind of thing. At all.
I'll start with Genny, our leading lady. This is where my issues started. She came across as really closed off, at times cold, in the beginning. On top of that she was just such a bland protagonist, I often found my mind wandering because she was so dull. The only times something remotely resembling a personality surfaced was when she was in a state of high arousal. And for being a supposedly smart and tough gal she sure did get knocked out an awful lot.
Before I read this, I was shown some Genny/Malik snippets. Out of context, they were hot. A little formal sounding, but still really good. With context? I just found Malik to be rather creepy. I suppose I have to give him credit for making Genny a smidgen more interesting to read about. Other than that, I can't say I was a fan in the end.
What was with the abundance of secondary characters? Were half of them even needed?! I gave up trying to keep track because it seemed like every chapter more just popped up. Usually I love a huge cast of characters, but these guys made no impression on me whatsoever that it made it so frustrating trying to recall who was who and what they were.
The only saving grace in this book for me was Finn. His presence is the only reason I gave this two stars.
My other major problem with this was that after 100 or so pages it started to read like a Riley Jensen book. Which, to some people, may be a good thing. I loathe that series. Why? The unnecessary sex everywhere you look. I'm all for a sexy scene or four, but this girl was In UF, I like my sexy times to further the plot, not just have the main character be turned on constantly. If that was what I wanted, I'd read erotica.
Excuse me, I'm just going to go and bang my head against the wall until I forget what I just read.
Pfft, it took me five months to finish this book. FIVE MONTHS. Admittedly after the first 150 odd pages I switched to speed reading, because it was giving me a migraine.
Lately I've been very picky when it comes to urban fantasy books, but this one came highly recommended by a friend, so I decided to give it a chance. The only reason I finished it at all is because I promised my friend I would.
Anyway, after reading some great UF over the past year, it takes a lot to keep me interested. This book wasn't especially bad. It just wasn't my kind of thing. At all.
I'll start with Genny, our leading lady. This is where my issues started. She came across as really closed off, at times cold, in the beginning. On top of that she was just such a bland protagonist, I often found my mind wandering because she was so dull. The only times something remotely resembling a personality surfaced was when she was in a state of high arousal.
Spoiler
Which was pretty much the whole last half of the book.Before I read this, I was shown some Genny/Malik snippets. Out of context, they were hot. A little formal sounding, but still really good. With context? I just found Malik to be rather creepy. I suppose I have to give him credit for making Genny a smidgen more interesting to read about. Other than that, I can't say I was a fan in the end.
What was with the abundance of secondary characters? Were half of them even needed?! I gave up trying to keep track because it seemed like every chapter more just popped up. Usually I love a huge cast of characters, but these guys made no impression on me whatsoever that it made it so frustrating trying to recall who was who and what they were.
The only saving grace in this book for me was Finn. His presence is the only reason I gave this two stars.
My other major problem with this was that after 100 or so pages it started to read like a Riley Jensen book. Which, to some people, may be a good thing. I loathe that series. Why? The unnecessary sex everywhere you look.
Spoiler
Granted, Genny doesn't actually sleep with anyone in this book, but damn did she want to.Spoiler
She seemed to want to with (Yep, you guessed it!) everyone.Spoiler
lusting after someone damn near the entire way through, with no release.Excuse me, I'm just going to go and bang my head against the wall until I forget what I just read.
blood_rose_books's review against another edition
3.0
In the first book in her spellcrackers.com series Suzanne McLeod introduces the readers to Genny who has the ability to find magic and dismantle it but unable to create it herself:
Genny Taylor works for a witch company spellcrackers.com, which is great as it means that the Vampires leave her alone, but that is all about to change. A famous calender vampire model is accused of killing his human girlfriend it seems that everyone is out for blood on this one and they all seem to want Genny's. After an old debt is called in Genny is forced to try and insert herself into the investigation to determine if there was more to the killing than just a draining of blood. Many are convinced that there was magic involved and this could send out a war between the witches and the vampires. Genny is in the middle of it all, trying to stay alive, trying to keep her past hidden and most of all trying to protect the people that she cares about, and lets just say she's not going to succeed on all fronts something has to give.
This book was just okay for me, there were some things that I could not get past and at times I found the book too slow for me and at times the story was convoluted. It seems to go this way then that way and then some how we ended up over here, I just couldn't figure out where McLeod was trying to take things. I didn't understand what the old debt that Declan had over Genny, it seemed to me that she had helped him out more than him helping her. I don't know maybe I missed something as I was reading. Overall, think she had too many ideas that she tried to test out in this book. An additional part of the confusion was due to the amount of characters that McLeod decided to introduce and they all have their part to play so you need to keep straight who is who as you try to figure out who is Genny's ally and who is not. For awhile I thought The Earl and the French Vampire were the same, just so you know they are not lol.
I liked the main character Genny as her background, heritage and powers were very interesting and it makes me want to learn more. Genny's mother was Fae and her father was Human but he was a vampire when she was born. This makes me think that somehow during the process of his change into a Vampire he was able to sire a child. Though this aspect is never fully explained, it makes sense with the apparent blood lust that Genny has at certain points in the book as well as the very cool magic spell that she has had attached to her body. I have yet to read a book where a Fae could not use magic but could dismantle magic, so I like that McLeod was able to put a new take on magic. I hope we get to read more about how unique that Genny is and more about the Prince who is hunting her.
Genny is pretty guy crazy in this book and I believe that this is mainly linked to the uniqueness of her blood. It did get annoying at times that everyone seemed to want her both men and women and for me this just took away from the already convoluted plot.
This book was an okay start to a series but it didn't Wow me like I wanted it to. I think if you like the main character you will like this book and want to continue on as the overall plot never really seems to come through, as there are so many subplots and too many characters to get to know in one book. I think I will read the next book in the series as I do find everything about Genny interesting but I'm not rushing out to buy it.
Enjoy!!!
Genny Taylor works for a witch company spellcrackers.com, which is great as it means that the Vampires leave her alone, but that is all about to change. A famous calender vampire model is accused of killing his human girlfriend it seems that everyone is out for blood on this one and they all seem to want Genny's. After an old debt is called in Genny is forced to try and insert herself into the investigation to determine if there was more to the killing than just a draining of blood. Many are convinced that there was magic involved and this could send out a war between the witches and the vampires. Genny is in the middle of it all, trying to stay alive, trying to keep her past hidden and most of all trying to protect the people that she cares about, and lets just say she's not going to succeed on all fronts something has to give.
This book was just okay for me, there were some things that I could not get past and at times I found the book too slow for me and at times the story was convoluted. It seems to go this way then that way and then some how we ended up over here, I just couldn't figure out where McLeod was trying to take things. I didn't understand what the old debt that Declan had over Genny, it seemed to me that she had helped him out more than him helping her. I don't know maybe I missed something as I was reading. Overall, think she had too many ideas that she tried to test out in this book. An additional part of the confusion was due to the amount of characters that McLeod decided to introduce and they all have their part to play so you need to keep straight who is who as you try to figure out who is Genny's ally and who is not. For awhile I thought The Earl and the French Vampire were the same, just so you know they are not lol.
I liked the main character Genny as her background, heritage and powers were very interesting and it makes me want to learn more. Genny's mother was Fae and her father was Human but he was a vampire when she was born. This makes me think that somehow during the process of his change into a Vampire he was able to sire a child. Though this aspect is never fully explained, it makes sense with the apparent blood lust that Genny has at certain points in the book as well as the very cool magic spell that she has had attached to her body. I have yet to read a book where a Fae could not use magic but could dismantle magic, so I like that McLeod was able to put a new take on magic. I hope we get to read more about how unique that Genny is and more about the Prince who is hunting her.
Genny is pretty guy crazy in this book and I believe that this is mainly linked to the uniqueness of her blood. It did get annoying at times that everyone seemed to want her both men and women and for me this just took away from the already convoluted plot.
This book was an okay start to a series but it didn't Wow me like I wanted it to. I think if you like the main character you will like this book and want to continue on as the overall plot never really seems to come through, as there are so many subplots and too many characters to get to know in one book. I think I will read the next book in the series as I do find everything about Genny interesting but I'm not rushing out to buy it.
Enjoy!!!
schomj's review against another edition
4.0
Fast-paced, dark, with flashes of very dry humor. World-building is intricate. Gen is a pretty well-developed character and will become more so over time, I assume. Secondary characters were interesting, but very secondary to Gen. Reminds me a bit of Anne Rice meets Kim Harrison, but I wouldn't call this derivative. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to the next in the series.