Aerulan

Gets a 2 1/2 because it wasn't bad by any means but it didn't blow my skirt up either.
Generally well written (better writing skills than a lot of the scifi/futuristic romances I've read) but something about this one kinda turned me off the story, though I can't put my finger on what exactly. Never really connected with the characters and the set-up felt slightly off. Still willing to try other stuff by Fawcett though, I'll be eager to see what she does next. I think the whole premise with the aliens was just not quite believable enough.  Or maybe we just didn't get enough info to explain things. I couldn't get it to work in my head and it kept knocking me out of the story. Solid skills, interesting concept, but not quite there for me.

It's set in a fantasy version of Transylvania in 1331 and the characters use phrases like "exit strategy", "define the variables", "clue you in", and "doesn't do random". Those are all direct quotes. The whole book is like this. Cover to cover anachronisms, really really blatantly stupidly obvious anachronisms. It's just sort of embarrassing to read. You expect the characters to pull out smart phones and order pizza or Chinese food after a hard day. The dialog and the way they think and act is so relentlessly modern I wondered why she bothered setting it in the 1300s if she wasn't going to make any effort to actually set it in the 1300s. Just because the world includes magic and dragons isn't an excuse for sloppy writing. And this book is nothing but sloppy writing.

I had a similar issue with her first Dragonfury book. Mainly that it was full of really obnoxious slang and irritating speech patterns. I just can't stand the way Callahan writes dialog. Which is too bad because she has some neat story ideas I'd like to read. But not if the characters do any talking. At all. Ever. Definitely an author who's style doesn't work for me, not going to try any more of her books.

If you don't care about this sort of thing the book might be a fun read. Totally ruined it for me though.

Writing was really really awkward, and the characters were idiots. Plot was pretty weak too.

This was a tremendously fun read. Finished this in one sitting because it was just too much fun to quit.

Stupid stupid stupid villains in this one. Which ruined the book for me.

In many books, the villains define the conflict that drives the story, if the bad guys are so imbecilic they couldn't put on a hat correctly it pretty much kills the story. Exactly what happened here.

 I liked some of it (and I really wanted to like this one) but it never quite worked for me. I felt like the suffragette bits were tacked on and didn't really do anything for the story, likewise her profession as a doctor felt like it could have been handled in a way that was more compelling. Actually most of the story feels like that, lots of potential it never manages to live up to. It's a neat concept and I love historical fantasy and fairy tale re-tellings so this should have been perfect for me. All the right elements for a great story but nothing really comes of it. It's like its' got plenty of flash but no substance. Also I was not a fan of the animals (who were standing in for the seven dwarves), the were much too blatantly used to further the plot, some subtlety please would be nice.

This would get negative stars if I could manage it.

Second time I've tried a book by this author, made myself finish this one and now I'm sorry I bothered. Total waste of time. No redeeming qualities.

This is what drove me crazy about this book.  The bold emphasis mine.

Then Claire, the intuitive, the empath, the most vulnerable.

“Be careful, Claire. I feel it stirring. I would stop it if I knew how. Protect yourself and stay away from large bodies of water. You’re most vulnerable there.”

They were in contact now, reassuring each other, the elder sisters checking on Claire, an empath and the most vulnerable.

 Can you say 'vulnerable' one more time? I think I missed the point of that paragraph, were you implying she's .....vulnerable?

That isn't bits taken out of context from separate parts of the story, that's the whole awkward passage as it reads on the page. And if that were the only time it would be fine. But she pulls the same stunt all through the book. Every possible bit of information is repeated over and over and over sometimes within a paragraph or a sentence of the last time you were told that particular bit of info. It's the same with the dialog, it seems like the characters spend most of the book rehashing the same things when they talk. You'd think it would be frustrating for the characters, having the same conversation a dozen times. It was certainly frustrating to read. I'm not stupid. I don't need to hear something a dozen times before I understand it, but this author seems to like to beat you to death with everything.

Almost as bad was the fact that none of the characters had any consistency. Claire refuses to help Neil find out what happened to his son, for perfectly valid reasons, like that she's inexperienced and her mother who has found lost/abducted kids before would be a better choice. Not to mention the whole danger to her sanity part of using her powers. But he insists on the fairly flimsy justification of "But I only trust yooouuu!" and she immediately caves and then is suddenly obsessed with finding the kid and all her reasonable objections are just gone.
And Neil is the same way, he wants her to help then instantly starts arguing with how she tries to do so (because he knows best when it comes to how to be a psychic, obviously) and undermining her efforts at every opportunity.
And that's the pattern for everyone in this, they say one thing "go over and make friends with your new neighbor, Claire", "He's your protector stick close to him", "Stay out of his problems it's dangerous, and you're vulnerable" and then flip and say the opposite without any reason for the reversals. And they go back and forth again and again throughout the book.

Ugh, I really didn't like this book. And the more I write the more irritated I get with myself for wasting time finishing this book when I could have been reading anything else. Cereal boxes, VCR instruction manuals, something.

As I was reading this I was sure that it was a later book in a series, probably fourth or fifth and that author just wasn't good about giving you enough info about events from the previous books for everything to make proper sense. But it's actually the first in this series, which makes me think even less of the book. There is obviously a lot of back story but you never get a clear look at any of it. And I'm usually not the type to have trouble telling what's going on with a story. But this one is very frustrating, there are lots of characters but you never really see how they relate to each other or the events that occur. There is this sense that if the author would just tell you what is going on that you'd like the book. But she never does. Characters are at odds and nobody comes clear about why, people make choices that aren't adequately explained by the story. Meh. Not going to be looking for more by this author.

I've really liked the books by Sinclair that I've read so I thought this one sounded promising, it didn't live up to the others. The idea was neat but the details were irritating.

An alien who is the leader of a group of soldiers who hunt "zombies", in this case alien bug things that eat people's bodily fluids by chewing on their heads, is sent to Earth. Now that's fine, sounds like it will be funny and interesting. But it turns out that English, modern English at that, is almost identical to an alien language, even the written form can be understood by these aliens. So you get some lost in translation bits but mostly they can communicate fine. And it's so far fetched that it just threw me out of the story and I never got back in. 

Language is incredibly complex and can change rapidly and the idea that an alien civilization would develop an identical language. Because apparently English can just generate spontaneously in another species on a completely separate planet without any connecting cultures or history or common root words or anything is such bullshit.

Add in things like the cop who ends up helping these aliens hunt their zombies fires a gun in his home in a busy residential area (with very nosy neighbors established as part of the story) and yet nobody calls in gunshots to 911. It wouldn't have taken much to smooth over these details and make them make sense, hell I would have been delighted if some sort of translator device had been used, anything would have been more believable. Sentient mushrooms you wear as a hat that translate via telepathy would have been easier to take. That would have solved 90 percent of my issues with this story but no, modern English is apparently not exclusive to Earth. Even words like zombie that have a very specific meaning and cultural origin are somehow shared with a species on the other side of the Universe.

If you are not bothered by stuff like this Down Home Zombie Blues might be a satisfying read but it ruined it for me. Suspension of disbelief only gets you so far.

Solid fantasy, not flashy just a very satisfying story.

This was terrible, I'm sorry I bothered to finish it. Total crap. Nauseatingly bad. Was having HULK SMASH rage while reading it. Stupid sexist, misogynistic shit trying to be funny.