The Heart of War by Lisa Beth Darling

                                  

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: The Heart of War
Author: Lisa Beth Darling

Author Site 

Buy Link
Publisher: Moon Mistress Publishing

Genre: Dark/Erotic/Paranormal/Romance

Length: 501 pgs.
Reviewed by: Gray Dixon

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 3

Presentation: 2

Editing: 1

Story: 2

Writing Ability: 1

Overall Card Rating: 

                                                                   

The Book: The publisher provided this blurb and it appears here exactly as on the publisher's website -- Meet Ares God of War, the greatest Warrior the world has ever known. He's moody, grumpy, dominant, ravenously sexual, and above all, built like a Greek God.

Suspected of killing his Daughter in-Law, Psyche, and long in exile from Olympus, the solitude of Ares' secluded Greek Isle is interrupted when Magdalena MacLeod a plucky little Fey washes up on his shore after believing she's been shipwrecked. It's not mere fate that has brought the unlikely couple together yet it may be what tears them apart.

Branded with a golden chastity belt bearing the mark of Cernunnos, Celtic God of the Forest and Death, Alena has been on the run from her husband the Great Horned God for 200 years.

When the Olympians discover her presence on Ares' island, they send Apollo to the island while Ares is away with orders to bring her to Olympus. With nowhere to run and strikes a bargain with the God of War--her virginity for his protection.

Ares sees a sweeter deal; her in his bed and himself back in his rightful place on Olympus among the Gods. If it means turning Alena over to Zeus afterward, well that's of no consequence to him...is it?

After Alena proves herself to the God of War in battle and in his bed, the Ares must choose between his Divinely Dysfunctional Family, his pride, and Alena.

Get lost in this sweeping dark saga of lust, rage, revenge, and redemption. Battle Ancient Gods while falling in love with Ares God of War and Alena MacLeod. They share a love that will rock the world from the heights of Olympus to the Celtic moors, but will it be enough? Will love triumph, or will revenge and rage win the battle for the Heart of War?

The Review:  Initially I couldn’t wait to read The Heart of War. I love mythology, and looked forward to a contemporized tale of a classic Greek hero finding true love. Lisa Beth Darling disappointed in more ways than I could have imagined. After the first two pages I literally wanted to close the book and forget reading further, but I calmed down and decided I would give the story a second chance. After a long weekend, I finally finished and couldn’t wait to put an end to the grueling agony of reading this tragic attempt at calling itself an epic, dark, erotic saga.

Where do I begin with all the defects of this book? First, the dizzying effect I had from the head hopping between the characters was disconcerting, especially when occurring within the same paragraph. This happened throughout the entire novel. Second, the multitude of editing problems such as misuse of words, grammar, missing words, backward pronouns (her used instead of he), and misspelled words, all added to the overall dysfunction.

However, the plot disturbed me most of all. The villain’s obsession with having sex with his own granddaughter, the heroine, didn’t sit well with me.

The hero, Ares the God of War is in exile on an island with a harem and a few guards. (Read as they have lots of sex) None of the action is put on the pages for a reader to enjoy, only implied. The author dedicates much dialogue to talking about sex but the one scene that shows it is drab. Keep in mind this story is supposed to be an erotic saga, I saw little, another point I found disappointing. The sex scenes throughout were mundane, ordinary, and left me feeling nothing for the characters.

The heroine, Alena MacLeod, washes up on the beach, with apparent amnesia and claims to be a shipwreck victim, but fails to say how she survived a swim in the ocean with bound hands. After they have sex, Ares sets out to verify her story about working at a refugee camp in Africa. (Huh?)

Turns out the camp is what I assume is similar to the Leonardo DiCaprio movie about the black market of blood diamonds. Alena worked as a missionary in a camp where children did the mining of the diamonds. She saves a young girl, but in the course of doing so is tortured, raped, and left for dead, but one day is plucked from the sky by Eros, the God of Love, because he has been watching and is falling in love with her. (Huh again?)

The story doesn’t get any better. I tried to feel for the characters, but couldn’t get into them because they made no sense. The editing kept getting in the way for the most part, pulling me out of the story. This novel, if cleaned up and polished would have a fighting chance. Right now, even if the publisher offered it as a free read, you would pay too much to add The Heart of War to your library.

Pagan Elements: Mythological gods and goddesses, Greek and Celtic.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Number Theory by Noah Bogdonoff

                                              

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Number Theory
Author: Noah Bogdonoff

Author Site

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Publisher: Untreed Reads Publishing

Genre: Fiction/Math

Other: M/M

Length: 4 pgs.
Reviewed by: Russ Allen

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 1

Presentation: 2

Editing: 3

Story: 2

Writing Ability: 3

Overall Card Rating: 

                                 

About The Book: A short story about a boy who views himself and the world in mathematical terms.

The Review: This is a very unusual story about a boy who relates to everything in binary or mathematical terms, and his interaction with his parents, teachers, tutor, friends, classmates, and world. This includes a brief homosexual encounter with ninth-grader Matt, who kisses the boy leaving him with the feeling that he has kissed “x,” the unknown value that he hates but will come to love, which is full of possibilities that open a whole new and colorful, if not numeric dimension to his life.

While interesting in its use of symbols, I am not sure that there is a point to this story, and that it might have been told more effectively in a different way.

Pagan Elements: N/A.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Devon Falls Series by Raine Delight

 

                                          

PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title:  Devon Falls Series: Fiery Magic, Haunting Magic, Red Hot Magic, Sticky Magic
Author:  Raine Delight

Author Site

Buy Link: 

Fiery Magic

Haunting Magic

Red Hot Magic

Sticky Magic
Publisher:  Aspen Mountain Press

Genre: Erotic Romance/Paranormal 

Length: 25-48 pages each
Other: M/F

Reviewed by: Violet Harper

About The Book: Fiery Magic: Damien Dracon is back in Devon Falls, and he is about to woo the one lady he left three years ago. Family secrets and youthful pride forced him to give up the one good thing in his life: the love of Alicia Stevens. What he doesn't expect is that Alicia has a secret of her own, and it may just tear them apart. Can two former lovers find it in themselves to forgive one another and let love grow between them? Or will past secrets haunt them and tear them apart? This 4th of July is about to get explosive in Devon Falls.

Haunting Magic: Rodrick Dracon is the twin heir to the Dragon Inn. When he finds himself longing for a mate after being footloose and fancy free, he finds himself drawn to the most obnoxious, brassy woman he has ever met: Jaxon Sinclair. She is the one woman who doesn't melt when he goes by or hangs on his every word. She is just aggravating and down right sexy as sin! Soon the sparks fly, passion goes into boiling and Halloween approaches. Can a wolf shifter get this woman to heel before the full moon? Or can Jax turn the tables on this ladies man and tame the wolf?

Red Hot Magic: With the help of a charity fundraiser, Jenna sets her friend, Raven, up to find Mr. Perfect.  Raven though, has found Mr. Perfect...in her dreams. Now, if she could only find the sexy man in real life.

Sticky Magic: When a stranger stops in at her shop, Jenna is surprised by the immediate attraction. Apparently, Marc is too because he wants to get to know Jenna. A whole lot better and won’t take no for an answer.

The Review: The town of Devon Falls is home to some different kinds of people. From a family of shapeshifters to mages and dreamwalkers, the men have a little bit of everything. This idea creates a setting ripe for a series of stories about this town’s unique inhabitants.

Each of the short stories is set up along similar plot lines.  Two people, destined to be together, meet and have sex, which means they live happily ever after.  In two of the stories, the couples had established a previous relationships, whether as former lovers or as mutual antagonists. The other two operated on the love-at-first-sight premise.

Of all the stories, Haunting Magic is the best and the longest. It’s the only one where there was more than a minimal attempt to let the story unfold and to develop the characters at all. It was also free of plot incongruities that plagued the rest of the stories. The remaining of the stories read like summaries until the obligatory sex scene. I can honestly say that I didn’t feel much heat or emotion in any of the stories, and this was due to the lack of character development. Of course, the repeated phrase ‘drunken monkey sex’ doesn’t do much to set the mood, either.

The writing style is very amateurish. Clichéd statements pepper prose that is at times awkward and unwieldy. For example: ‘Raven walked into the Inn decorated with flying cupids and hearts hanging from the ceiling.’ According to this sentence, Raven (the character) is decorated with cupids and hearts.

All of the stories suffered from head-hopping. A section might start out from the woman’s point of view and shift to the man’s point of view and back again within four paragraphs.  Things like this, when added to the numerous grammatical errors, make it seem like this is something that came out of a freshman creative writing class. While there is potential here, and I saw growth from the first to the last story, it has yet to be realized.

Pagan Elements: None. Though the books contain magical creatures, everything is firmly rooted in Christianity.

Cover (Rated 1-10): 5-The covers were average as far as production quality goes.  The content of each was sweet, but they were generalized and they could have gone with any book.  Nothing visual ties the four together as a series.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Killer Dolls by Angelica Hart and Zi

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title:  Killer Dolls 
Author: Angelica Hart and Zi

Author Site

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Publisher: Champagne Books

Genre: Romance/Suspense

Length: 106 pgs. Other: M/F

Reviewed by: Keri Stratton Alley

About The Book: After bio-terrorists use ricin to kill a man, they plan to attack innocent children by using ricin filled handcrafted dolls created by Letti Noel.  After years of building her business, Letti now longs for romance and commitment, and thinks she might have found it in Taut Johnson.  Only unbeknownst to her he is an FBI agent working undercover to find the terrorist.  He knows he can't allow a relationship to develop until the case is over, yet finds that he is unwittingly falling for Letti, and now she is in danger, bringing back the past and a fear that he cannot protect those he loves.

Meanwhile, children are in increasing danger.

Meanwhile, there is another death. 

Meanwhile, Taut's deceit threatens their growing love even as the stalking terrorists threaten their lives.

The Review: I was torn in giving a rating for this book.

On one hand, I loved the extensive vocabulary employed by the authors. It’s not often I get to read a romance novel with such an impressive vocabulary. There were occasional turns of phrases that verged on poetic. I genuinely liked the two main characters, Lettie and Taut, and their budding romance was an enjoyable diversion.

On the other hand, at times the extensive vocabulary was overemployed, leaving scenic descriptions sounding more like clinical reports than suspenseful fiction. And twice, in the middle of a love scene the authors referred to Lettie’s pudendum. Pudendum? I know what it means, but the word gave the scenes a medical feeling that was off putting enough so the rest of the scene lost its spark. And that’s too bad, because the sex scene without the use of the word pudendum was sizzling.

The authors have an interesting descriptive style that takes a few chapters to get into. “The vehicle converged into a wooded area, it known for frequent fornication by lovers who had only a car and no money for a room.” And I was confused by the repeated and elaborate descriptions of the sexcapades of Lettie’s coworkers at the beginning of the book. These very personal bits of information just weren’t relevant to the story; they didn’t advance the plot, or give insight into Lettie’s character, and most of the people discussed never appeared in the book again. The terrorist plot that is the background for Lettie and Taut’s romance could have used a bit more development to add to the suspense. I felt as though the book struggled to be both a romance novel and a suspense/thriller but never fully accomplished either one.

Pagan Elements: none

Cover (Rated 1-10): 3

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & the Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

A Long, Hot, Delicious Slide by H.C. Brown

PAGAN & PEN REVIEW

Title:  A Long, Hot, Delicious Slide
Author:  H. C. Brown

Author Site

Buy Link
Publisher:  Noble Romance Publishing

Genre: Contemporary erotica/Paranormal

Length: 43 pages
Other:  M/F-M/M

Pagan Elements: Yes

Reviewed by: Russ Allen

About The Book: The son of a millionaire, Cooper Merrick's life could not be better, except for his marriage and his father. To solve one problem would only increase the other.  Nevertheless he divorces his wife, Gillian, after both separately have sex with Troy, her tennis coach whom she brings home for a ménage a trois, and he decides he is gay.  He then comes out to his hot gym buddy, Jax Strand, who has lusted after Coop for years. After having sex they decide to pursue a relationship—but will that be possible after Coop discovers Jax's incredible secret? Will both of them survive the homicidal response of Coop’s father to their plans?  In the end will they find a way to live in both their worlds? [Edited from the Publisher’s Book Blurb, in part due to an error in that description].

The Review: This is a fairly average story with a few high points, some weaknesses, and one aspect that, had the author focused and expanded upon it, could have improved the whole.

On the plus side are the events leading to Cooper’s divorce from Gillian, which actually results from Coop’s realizing his true sexual orientation.  Though the gay sex portrayed in the story is typical to that in similar stories: impetuous; acrobatic; exaggerated; promiscuous; originating in lust but, in the case of Coop and Jax, becoming an expression of love; these incidents are well told and adequately erotic.  So too, the description of the developing relationship of Coop and Jax is among the best of the story, though the post-divorce Coop comes across  immature while Jax is clearly the adult.

The spectrum of the response of Coop’s father to his divorce, homosexuality, and decision to stay with Jax, from trying to kill them to approving of their relationship, stretches the imagination.

The most positive aspect of this story is its all too few glimpses into Jax as a gay Faerie [no pun intended] and his “Other World.”  If those parts had been expanded and elaborated upon, including a very open approach to sexual activity, the story would have been more interesting and well above average.

Pagan Elements: This story contains characters that are identified as “ Fae” and “Faerie,” and contains passages that reflect their reality and glimpses into “Other World.”

Cover (Rated 1-10): 3. The two men on the cover look younger than those portrayed in the story, and the expression on the face of one [not the Faerie] lacks any emotion despite the erotic setting. However, the fact that the other is a Faerie is conveyed by his wings suggesting that element of the story.  I am at a loss as to the reason for the title, and would probably not be drawn to the book by it or the cover illustration.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Romeo's Dead But Juliette Faked It by Christine McKay

PAGAN & PEN REVIEW

Title: Romeo’s Dead But Juliette Faked It
Author: Christine McKay

Author Site

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Publisher: Champagne Books

Genre: paranormal/erotic/comedy

Length: 63 pgs.
Other: BDSM *  M/F * M/F/M  * M/F/F * F/F * M/M * F/M/M *   Ménage * Multiple Partners/Spanking/Voyeurism

Pagan Elements: yes

Reviewed by: Brandi

About The Book: While landscaping, Gretchen Parks, a descendent of a powerful witch queen, uncovers a vampire in her backyard. Times are tough and she filches treasure from his staked skeleton, unaware she’s just broken her ancestor’s curse. Once awake, suave Frenchman Jean sets his sights on Gretchen. His belle laide, beautiful ugly woman, is far from being a romantic. Convincing a jaded middle-aged woman that she’s still smoking is tough work, but turning her into a vampire hottie may get him staked. Toss in a coven of goddess-worshipping witches and a pack of supernatural wolves and watch this cheery town squirm like a chemical-soaked anthill.


Can’t witches, goddesses, vampires, and townsfolk all get along? Apparently not in this memorable tale of how matches not made in Heaven sometimes work, and why walking in the woods at night is ill-advised (unless you want to catch your neighbors dancing naked in the moonlight).

The Review: I started out enjoying this book, but it went downhill quickly. I had a very serious problem with Gretchen (the female lead character) being presented as though there is something wrong with being over thirty years old and in double digit clothes. Even Jean (the male lead) doesn’t seem that thrilled with her appearance; until of course, he turns her into a vampire and she reverts back to how she looked at twenty years old, thin, young, and svelte.

The story is categorized as a comedy, and there are definitely some great one-liners and quite a few chuckles along the way. The story itself, while interesting and showing much potential, seemed to be rushed. The story could have been much better if the author allowed herself the word count to work out some of the finer details of the plot, specifically the involvement and motivation of the supporting cast, who the book is full of but never fully explained.

All in all, it was a cute story. Christine McKay has a unique voice, and it was an entertaining read.

Pagan Elements:

Cover (Rated 1-10): 8–very cute.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Her Maine Man by Sylvie Kaye

The Pagan & The Pen Reviews

Title:  Her Maine Man
Author:  Sylvie Kaye 

Author Site

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Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Genre: romance

Length: 315 pgs. 
Other: M/F

Reviewed by: Keri Stratton Alley

About The Book: One weekend a year to bare your soul and your passion. He couldn’t believe the sweet deal she was offering. No commitment, just pure release.

The Review:

The premise for the plot was good enough: city boy Jon travels to a tiny Maine island to tell his mother’s clandestine lover that she has died. Unbeknownst to Jon, that lover has sent his daughter, Maddie, to tell Jon’s mother that he is unable to make it to their yearly tryst. The two of them meet, have instant romantic chemistry, and proceed to meddle in each other’s lives until the happy ending, after discovering and destroying a secret plot that could ruin the rural island. Pretty typical romance novel fare.

If left on their own, the two main characters would not have been quite enough to keep me interested through the whole story. The sex scenes were marginally steamy, and the dialogue between them was occasionally strained. But the background characters the couple continued to encounter gave the story a well needed, and well written, humorous overtone. From the retiree doing wheelies on his lime green motorcycle, to the overzealous baseball mother who beats on Jon for sitting on the wrong side of the stands, to a Stetson wearing vacationer with a wry sense of humor and hilarious jammie pants, the background characters are all well thought out, quirky, and hilarious. “Next thing Jon knew he was in the middle of a catfight with the biggest, baddest, geriatric lion in the stands… “Take that and that.” She clobbered him with her pink donut-shaped hemorrhoid cushion.”

As a story, it would have been a delightfully pleasant bit of brain candy was it not for the author’s frequently awkward sentence structure. Though I am far from a Grammar Queen, I was distracted from the story by the frequent use of incomplete sentences instead of semi colons. I think the effect the author was trying for was an internal monologue quality, but that style took my attention away from the plot. I find it difficult to truly enjoy a story if I’m constantly distracted by the mechanics of the writing.

Pagan Elements: None.

Cover (Rated 1-10): 5-The image is a nice variation on the standard romance novel cover. Plus, I’m a “Maine-ah” so I was immediately interested in reading a story set in my home state.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Midsummer Night by Erin O'Riordan

PAGAN & PEN REVIEW

Title:  Midsummer Night

Author: Erin O’Riordan

Author Site

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Publisher:  eXcessica Publishing

Genre: Contemporary romance

Length: 268 pgs.

Other: M/F, F/F, sex in public places (no exhibitionism)

Pagan & Pagan Elements: yes/yes 

Reviewed by: Violet Harper

About The Book: Priestess-in-training and part-time witch, Zen Van Zandt loves biology grad student Ramesh Sudhra. Only two things stand in the way of their happiness: his traditional Indian-American family doesn’t welcome Zen, and Zen’s training requires a yearlong vow of celibacy. Between Ramesh’s stern mother’s disapproval, Zen’s vow of celibacy, and her assistant’s romantic troubles with a wild new witch, Zen wonders if she and Ramesh will ever see their wedding day.

The Review: 

Midsummer’s Night has a large cast of characters. The majority of the novel is told from Zen's POV.  Ramesh and various other characters tell a tiny portion of the story. I found this annoying because I expect to be in Zen's head, and then suddenly I'm not. Some readers who read the first novel in the series might look upon suddenly finding themselves witnessing sex between main characters from the first novel as a visit to old friends, but I found it extraneous to the story. It added nothing to the plot or character development.  It was sex for the sake of sex. Since the majority of the story is 3rd person limited, it should all be that way. 
  
Zen is supposed to be empathic, but the feelings are labeled instead of described. It’s ironic that Zen is able to experience other people’s emotions, but the reader isn’t able to do so.  In this way, Ms. O’Riordan’s writing style is very post-modern, which I thought didn’t quite match up with the intended spirituality of the novel.   


The love scenes were steamy, but they were virtually the only parts of the novel where the characters seemed real. That really bothered me, and it made it hard for me to remain engaged as I read. There wasn't enough plot for the story to be plot-driven and there wasn't enough emotional detail for it to be character-driven.   


Finally, I read this through the lens of a Pagan practitioner. The couple from the first novel (Allie and Orlando) had a Catholic wedding and agreed to raise the kids as Catholics. I find that to be incongruent with their supposed belief systems, and it wasn't really rationalized.  This didn't really bother me all that much until the main character, Zen, decided to embrace Hinduism.  Her transcendental experiences with the Hindu holy places were described in stunning detail- the only place besides the bedroom where that happened. I would have preferred to have that detail given to the Pagan experiences. However, no rationalization was given for Zen's religious conversion. She had a Hindu wedding.  As a Pagan, I find this serial 'jumping ship' disturbing. I know there are similarities between Pagan and Catholic beliefs/rituals and between Hindu and Pagan beliefs/rituals. I would have liked to have known the reasoning behind these departures from the Paganism all the characters supposedly embraced as their belief systems. 

Pagan Elements: Candles, tarot readings, Imbolc celebration mixed with birthing ceremony, reversal of gender terms (e.g. old husband’s tale instead of old wives tale, oh goddesses instead of oh god), Winter Solstice celebrations

Cover (Rated 1-10): 1—There was no cover art on the e-book. Looking online, I found a cover for the print edition. It was done in shades of violet, so it definitely would have caught my attention.

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.