A review by eb00kie
Skin Game by Ava Gray
1.0
This is a very light PNR/urban fantasy - mostly because the chick is Rogue lite. Everybody else, however, is pretty much normal human. The romance angle is overplayed, the characters are cookie-cutter and the climax scene is somewhat short - not to mention flat.
Actually, the characters are pretty dumb. She's supposed to be a con woman with a paranormal edge, but she's just an average mildly insensitive person with said... gift, while his only redeeming quality - considering how they both suffer from an also average case of the now ubiquitous InstaLove - is his fighting skills. Reyes, thy name is BRAWN. That, and he can cook. Next book will show the male lead knitting.
Hot, but not what I call character development
Let me spell it out for you:
"there are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard"
On the plus side, there was a secondary, albeit weak, subplot. It kept us mildy entertained and laid the groundwork for book #2.
Hey, there's actually a book #2! hehehe...
The end brought to mind a question I often find myself asking when reading romances. It is very nice to think that our choice of a happy ending doesn't depend so much on us, that there will be a friend or lover who go out of their way to will force us, con us, surprise us out of our mule-headed ways to accept, that the happy ending will be more or less planted in our hands, whether we want it or not.
Most people won't stop to help if you've fallen on the side of the road - let alone set your love life straight because you're cutting the nose to spite the face.
While romance novels (all fiction novels) are an escape from reality, this suggestion permeates literature... quite a great deal. Look at Sleeping Beauty, she's basically the epitome - of my point seeing as she sleeps most of the book. Do try something else. I'll settle for in-the-face-of-death revelation without the quite necessary demise.
Readers, this doesn't count as a spoiler. This book has no plot points to speak of, so there surely can't be a spoiler.
All in all, I finished the book - somehow - but it still gets a 1.
Actually, the characters are pretty dumb. She's supposed to be a con woman with a paranormal edge, but she's just an average mildly insensitive person with said... gift, while his only redeeming quality - considering how they both suffer from an also average case of the now ubiquitous InstaLove - is his fighting skills. Reyes, thy name is BRAWN. That, and he can cook. Next book will show the male lead knitting.
Hot, but not what I call character development
Spoiler
Not to mention, all Kyra had to take care of to avoid the trouble in the end was make a phone call and tell the one and only person who knew her, her best friend Mia, that she was ok and make plans to meet. And, oh my suspension of disbelief, your friend said she was going to take on the murdering casino owner and you just walk inside said casino and inquire the first person you meet - the chief of security in this case - if he knows anything about the-one-who-might-have-conned-his-boss?Let me spell it out for you:
"there are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard"
On the plus side, there was a secondary, albeit weak, subplot. It kept us mildy entertained and laid the groundwork for book #2.
Hey, there's actually a book #2! hehehe...
The end brought to mind a question I often find myself asking when reading romances. It is very nice to think that our choice of a happy ending doesn't depend so much on us, that there will be a friend or lover who go out of their way to will force us, con us, surprise us out of our mule-headed ways to accept, that the happy ending will be more or less planted in our hands, whether we want it or not.
Most people won't stop to help if you've fallen on the side of the road - let alone set your love life straight because you're cutting the nose to spite the face.
While romance novels (all fiction novels) are an escape from reality, this suggestion permeates literature... quite a great deal. Look at Sleeping Beauty, she's basically the epitome - of my point seeing as she sleeps most of the book. Do try something else. I'll settle for in-the-face-of-death revelation without the quite necessary demise.
Readers, this doesn't count as a spoiler. This book has no plot points to speak of, so there surely can't be a spoiler.
All in all, I finished the book - somehow - but it still gets a 1.