edensgrief's review
2.0
This was disappointing. I'm a fan of Blain, and this premise had so much promise, but this book was a big miss. There's no plot or character development and the dialoge was horrible . The MCs are supposed to be the best in their class and highly revered, but they come across as whiney children and the side characters were one-dimensional. There is so much needles repetition (references to the goddess cat, the frenemy, the switch, etc.) that this book could've been 20% shorter- and a great deal better without it. The narration in the audiobook was also horrible and made the experience worse.
texnic5's review
5.0
Books!!!
I didn’t think I’d ever read a book about someone that loved books as much as I do. This book sucks you in and has you cheering from the beginning. Snark,sarcasm, and a little blood. Can’t wait to see what the Librarians get up to next time.
I didn’t think I’d ever read a book about someone that loved books as much as I do. This book sucks you in and has you cheering from the beginning. Snark,sarcasm, and a little blood. Can’t wait to see what the Librarians get up to next time.
spookshow's review
2.0
You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com
I received a copy of this book from Xpresso Tours as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating of 2.5
Janette was a body guard of the rich and fabulous. When a car accident took that life away from her and she was given barely any hope of waking up, letalone surviving, she beat the odds. She woke up and when she did, she hightailed it out of there to hide in plain sight and live the remainder of her life the best she could with her injuries. Life as a librarian suits her just fine, she has some friends, a cat and she is surrounded by books. No one cares that she limps and they even help her when she lets them. But when her former boss's best friend is murdered on the steps of Janette's library, things take a turn for the interesting. With the help from said former boss, as well as her friends and fellow librarians, they set out on the task of catching the killer, what Janette doesn't count on, is her ex-employer's need to reclaim what belongs to him.
I've read a book from Blain before. It was one of her magical romantic comedies. I was hoping that I would enjoy this book better as it's the beginning of a new series so figured the narrative might have a different voice...it didn't.
The premise for this story was awesome and that synopsis sold me the second that I read it. But unfortunately, the story fell a bit short of my expectations. The synopsis had me thinking that we were going to have a kick arse, strong female lead who is fighting back against her ex-employer who would be a dangerous and powerful man who is willing to do whatever it takes to get Janette back in some form or another. However, what I got was a female lead who is incredibly whiney and childish and a male lead who I can barely even call that, if I'm honest. He was just as whiney as his female counterpart, and he came across as a twelve year old boy who has to do what mummy tells him lest he get yelled at. This was just a real mood killer for me and I found it a struggle to get through the book as I just really didn't like these characters at all. Too much whine for me I think.
Janette has been through a lot and she has an interesting backstory, but I felt like it all took a backseat to her "fluffy Goddess" of a cat, which is called this or some variation of this literally everytime said cat is mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I love cats and understand how demanding and temperamental they can be, but I feel like it was trying too hard to be a quirk that made Janette endearing to the reader, when all it did for me is make me want to throttle her and tell her to grow up a bit. She had an interesting relationship with another character that was touted as a frenemies kinda thing, which is cool, but once again, it was laid on a bit heavy handed and was trying too hard to be a quirk in the story and the characters that it just became annoying. Also the mention and obsession over orange chicken became quite irritating, I believe this was also meant to be a quirk, it just didn't work out that way for me. Bradley, the ex-employer, man I wish he had have turned out how I envisioned in my head when I read this synopsis. Instead he was a simpering man child who was so far under mummy's finger that I'm surprised he could function. I was expecting major dangerous, rich and powerful alpha-hole male and I got a baby who possibly still needs his diaper changed. Sorry, I'm just not a fan of any of these characters at all. The parents pandered to their adult children, the adult children were whiney and my favourite character was the cat.
The story had some fantastic ideas and for the most part were executed fine, though I felt like the engagement contract was just random and out of the blue and just didn't seem to flow with the story at all. There was no questioning it or anything from the characters and it just seemed so out of place in the story. It was explained as to why it was happening, but honestly, a lot of it went over my head. There was so much technical and legal jargon in the story that I feel like I zoned out when imperative stuff was being explained because it was just prattling on and became quite boring. Also, nothing really happens in this book. It's almost a set up for the rest of the series, I was expecting at least a little action to happen, but honestly the whole book is pretty much Bradley finding out Janette is alive and functioning, her parents finding out the same, her co-workers finding out who she really is, and them all setting up this investigator cell so that they can hunt some killers. Nothing happened...I was so confused when I finished it, I almost felt like, where is the rest of the book?
All in all, this book had a lot of promise but it just fell a bit short for me. If you're after characters with a bit of sass and lots of issues, and a light, easy read. Give it a go. For me, I think I'm going to have to bow out from this author. I'm in the minority on my feelings about her work, which I'm glad for. I just wish I was able to enjoy it as much as her fans do.
I received a copy of this book from Xpresso Tours as part of a blog tour in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating of 2.5
Janette was a body guard of the rich and fabulous. When a car accident took that life away from her and she was given barely any hope of waking up, letalone surviving, she beat the odds. She woke up and when she did, she hightailed it out of there to hide in plain sight and live the remainder of her life the best she could with her injuries. Life as a librarian suits her just fine, she has some friends, a cat and she is surrounded by books. No one cares that she limps and they even help her when she lets them. But when her former boss's best friend is murdered on the steps of Janette's library, things take a turn for the interesting. With the help from said former boss, as well as her friends and fellow librarians, they set out on the task of catching the killer, what Janette doesn't count on, is her ex-employer's need to reclaim what belongs to him.
I've read a book from Blain before. It was one of her magical romantic comedies. I was hoping that I would enjoy this book better as it's the beginning of a new series so figured the narrative might have a different voice...it didn't.
The premise for this story was awesome and that synopsis sold me the second that I read it. But unfortunately, the story fell a bit short of my expectations. The synopsis had me thinking that we were going to have a kick arse, strong female lead who is fighting back against her ex-employer who would be a dangerous and powerful man who is willing to do whatever it takes to get Janette back in some form or another. However, what I got was a female lead who is incredibly whiney and childish and a male lead who I can barely even call that, if I'm honest. He was just as whiney as his female counterpart, and he came across as a twelve year old boy who has to do what mummy tells him lest he get yelled at. This was just a real mood killer for me and I found it a struggle to get through the book as I just really didn't like these characters at all. Too much whine for me I think.
Janette has been through a lot and she has an interesting backstory, but I felt like it all took a backseat to her "fluffy Goddess" of a cat, which is called this or some variation of this literally everytime said cat is mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I love cats and understand how demanding and temperamental they can be, but I feel like it was trying too hard to be a quirk that made Janette endearing to the reader, when all it did for me is make me want to throttle her and tell her to grow up a bit. She had an interesting relationship with another character that was touted as a frenemies kinda thing, which is cool, but once again, it was laid on a bit heavy handed and was trying too hard to be a quirk in the story and the characters that it just became annoying. Also the mention and obsession over orange chicken became quite irritating, I believe this was also meant to be a quirk, it just didn't work out that way for me. Bradley, the ex-employer, man I wish he had have turned out how I envisioned in my head when I read this synopsis. Instead he was a simpering man child who was so far under mummy's finger that I'm surprised he could function. I was expecting major dangerous, rich and powerful alpha-hole male and I got a baby who possibly still needs his diaper changed. Sorry, I'm just not a fan of any of these characters at all. The parents pandered to their adult children, the adult children were whiney and my favourite character was the cat.
The story had some fantastic ideas and for the most part were executed fine, though I felt like the engagement contract was just random and out of the blue and just didn't seem to flow with the story at all. There was no questioning it or anything from the characters and it just seemed so out of place in the story. It was explained as to why it was happening, but honestly, a lot of it went over my head. There was so much technical and legal jargon in the story that I feel like I zoned out when imperative stuff was being explained because it was just prattling on and became quite boring. Also, nothing really happens in this book. It's almost a set up for the rest of the series, I was expecting at least a little action to happen, but honestly the whole book is pretty much Bradley finding out Janette is alive and functioning, her parents finding out the same, her co-workers finding out who she really is, and them all setting up this investigator cell so that they can hunt some killers. Nothing happened...I was so confused when I finished it, I almost felt like, where is the rest of the book?
All in all, this book had a lot of promise but it just fell a bit short for me. If you're after characters with a bit of sass and lots of issues, and a light, easy read. Give it a go. For me, I think I'm going to have to bow out from this author. I'm in the minority on my feelings about her work, which I'm glad for. I just wish I was able to enjoy it as much as her fans do.
deanie's review
4.0
Honestly, at first I didn't really like this book. It took a lot for me to get into it. But once I kept going, it just kept getting better. I like the characters, I like their system of magic, and the story about the oppression of certain peoples is very timely (in a good way, not a preachy political way). I'm actually really looking forward to find out what happens next.
redhairedashreads's review
2.0
2 stars - It was ok
Well this was disappointing. This book started out really interesting with librarian Janette coming to work finding that a murder happened. Janette is a former bodyguard of a rich man who was injured in a car accident, and is now hiding from her past. Janette is also a exsanguinator, a controller of blood, and is a very powerful one at that. From this, I expected a kickass heroine who is hiding from her ex-boss so she can live her own life and learn to deal with her disability. Sadly, that isn’t the case.
Janette should have been a strong female character, especially considering she is basically a blood bender. Instead Janette quickly let her old boss back into her life with no fight at all and after that, just let him and his family basically take over her life again. Yes, I did enjoy the banter between Janette and Bradley, but that doesn’t overlook everything else. Janette and Brandley were both very flat characters overall. Janette basically became a woman who constantly talked about her cat, her need for orange chicken, and her ability. She didn’t have much personality outside of that. Bradley, the ex-employer, wasn’t scary or anything. He was a sweet man, who was also a very flat character. He was only seen taking care of Janette, the cat, and doing whatever his mother said. I expected an alpha male because she was running from him but that wasn’t the case at all.
The world had some interesting parts but for the most part, was lost in the long dialogues filled with extensive details that don’t go anywhere really. They are after a killer of politicians but any time it was discussed it got very technical and a bit boring. One aspect of this world that should be noted is that they discuss lifetime contracts to a person, which is what Janette was running from, and it basically means they are slaves. I didn’t like that at all and it seems like it will get worse because the politicians in this world are trying to make it even more like slavery.
My biggest issue with this book though is that nothing really happens. This 500+ page book is basically a lot of dialogue about who might be doing the murders, repeated injuries to Janette, and them attempting to start a investigator cell to hunt the killers. That is it. I felt like I am missing half the book, which I guess is going to be book two.
While this did have an interesting premise, it just didn’t work for me. I stuck it out hoping it would get better but sadly it didn’t and I am left feeling confused. I will not be reading book two.
Trigger Warnings: car crash recounted; panic attacks; emergency surgery; heroine is shot; murder; gore; blood depiction;
justrun's review
2.0
So I realized going through my current "reading" list; I neglected to check this off as finished.
I had to double check that I finished it.
The premise was fabulous. I enjoyed the main character, her backstory and the side characters. They were all well developed and the banter was great.
All of that being said; when you got to the 60% ish mark. It just went from enjoyable with a good consistent rhythm and plot building to just a "dumped" feeling. Just so much plot without the fun of the characters that we had the first half of the book. There was also a lot of OVER explaining the legal stuff they were doing and the political stuff/laws/amendments etc. So much so, that it really took away from the overall book for me. Enough that it went from a 4 star book in the first half; to 2 star book by the end. All that stuff could have been edited out or done more concisely. I felt like I was getting more education/explanation on the plot versus actual character development and interaction which is why I like the initial first half of the book.
Not sure if I'm going to pick up the second or not.
I had to double check that I finished it.
The premise was fabulous. I enjoyed the main character, her backstory and the side characters. They were all well developed and the banter was great.
All of that being said; when you got to the 60% ish mark. It just went from enjoyable with a good consistent rhythm and plot building to just a "dumped" feeling. Just so much plot without the fun of the characters that we had the first half of the book. There was also a lot of OVER explaining the legal stuff they were doing and the political stuff/laws/amendments etc. So much so, that it really took away from the overall book for me. Enough that it went from a 4 star book in the first half; to 2 star book by the end. All that stuff could have been edited out or done more concisely. I felt like I was getting more education/explanation on the plot versus actual character development and interaction which is why I like the initial first half of the book.
Not sure if I'm going to pick up the second or not.
shelovestoread81's review
5.0
My friend Rhonda recommended this book and she was not wrong that this was great. The MC was sarcastic and great. There were so many ups and downs that made this book great. I can’t wait to read the next one when it comes out.
slc333's review
3.0
Both enjoyable and somewhat frustrating.
It was amusing and while there is no info dump (which is a good thing) it sometimes seemed a bit disjointed or confusing in places - like i was expected to know things or figure things out about the world building, magical system and Janette's history with the Hamptons without being given any information to do so. And while it is marketed as the 1st book in the vigilante magical librarian series it reads more like the first part of an ongoing serial than the first book of an ongoing series as it is more a string of admittedly entertaining interactions between Janette & B , their families and Janette’s librarian friends as they go about forming an investigative cell to solve a series of murders possibly linked to political conspiracies. But there is no resolution of the story arc completed to make it a stand alone book. Its like the author started writing the story, hit a certain word limit and published what she had irrespective of where the story was at. I imagine the next book will be the next part of the story but I find serialised books frustrating. Series are fine - even continued larger story arcs thru a series work but individual books need their own story arc too. And that needs to be tied up. I am interested to see where the story goes but not sure about the serial journey required to get there.
It was amusing and while there is no info dump (which is a good thing) it sometimes seemed a bit disjointed or confusing in places - like i was expected to know things or figure things out about the world building, magical system and Janette's history with the Hamptons without being given any information to do so. And while it is marketed as the 1st book in the vigilante magical librarian series it reads more like the first part of an ongoing serial than the first book of an ongoing series as it is more a string of admittedly entertaining interactions between Janette & B , their families and Janette’s librarian friends as they go about forming an investigative cell to solve a series of murders possibly linked to political conspiracies. But there is no resolution of the story arc completed to make it a stand alone book. Its like the author started writing the story, hit a certain word limit and published what she had irrespective of where the story was at. I imagine the next book will be the next part of the story but I find serialised books frustrating. Series are fine - even continued larger story arcs thru a series work but individual books need their own story arc too. And that needs to be tied up. I am interested to see where the story goes but not sure about the serial journey required to get there.
ellanasan's review
1.0
Did you know that the MC wanted to be a a nurse and that she found her cat as a kitten during a storm? Because you will be told. Repeatedly. At length. Every 3 pages.
This book was so terrible? I’m sorry, I really am, but it is? The word building makes no sense, the writing is terrible, the sheer amount of repetitions is mind blowing and the characters are sooo bland. Never mind the fact the MC is such a « special » snowflake.
For a book that deals with a « bad ass » MC I also found it quite sexist. And can we go further with the stereotypes? I gave up at around 60%. Nothing was happening anyway and from what was happening not much was making sense.
That’s not a series I will continue.
This book was so terrible? I’m sorry, I really am, but it is? The word building makes no sense, the writing is terrible, the sheer amount of repetitions is mind blowing and the characters are sooo bland. Never mind the fact the MC is such a « special » snowflake.
For a book that deals with a « bad ass » MC I also found it quite sexist. And can we go further with the stereotypes? I gave up at around 60%. Nothing was happening anyway and from what was happening not much was making sense.
That’s not a series I will continue.
puria's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. Magical vigilante librarians, what's not to love.
The inter personal relationships were a mess, the interactions were a mess. It's like she was going for a snazzier gilmore girls reparte but it was too much in the book. There was too much constant dialogue which did nothing to take the story forward. The witty comebacks didn't feel witty and just felt long. At some points it was like reading a play. The story and plot could have been interesting if it was not hindered with bad characters and even worse lay outs. Yes the Hampton family purchased her for life contract, but they all seem to be vending over backwards to make her comfortable and treat her reverently, so they cannot be bad ppl.
I felt like her description of Bradley repeatedly before he had lines was a completely different person then the Bradley that was. It was disconcerting.
Reading this felt like pushing through molasses, I am not sure I will continue.
The inter personal relationships were a mess, the interactions were a mess. It's like she was going for a snazzier gilmore girls reparte but it was too much in the book. There was too much constant dialogue which did nothing to take the story forward. The witty comebacks didn't feel witty and just felt long. At some points it was like reading a play. The story and plot could have been interesting if it was not hindered with bad characters and even worse lay outs. Yes the Hampton family purchased her for life contract, but they all seem to be vending over backwards to make her comfortable and treat her reverently, so they cannot be bad ppl.
I felt like her description of Bradley repeatedly before he had lines was a completely different person then the Bradley that was. It was disconcerting.
Reading this felt like pushing through molasses, I am not sure I will continue.