Tal's Book

Pretty much the same review as the first book. Really liking the story but at around 75% the writing becomes garrulous with excruciatingly detailed descriptions that are completely unnecessary. It was almost as if the author was padding, trying to make the book a certain word count or page number. Completely annoying and gets in the way of a good story with entertaining characters. I've grown attached enough to the MC's to want to keep reading so I will suck it up and read the third book, but if the same pattern follows with that one I'm going to have to give up on this series and hope the author finds a good editor some day. Shame really, with some ruthless editing this series could be in the same class as the Dresden Files.

I found this book from a recommendation on Meg Perry's website. The blurb piqued my interest and my local library had the ebook so with nothing to lose I dived in. I rated it 4 stars but in reality it should probably be 3.5 because I absolutely loved this book up to the 75% mark, at which point I felt the book should have been wrapped up. The last 25% of the book had me skimming just to get to the resolution and it felt like the MC changed drastically without explanation and the plot resolution was confusing as hell. I don't really understand what happened with the writing at the end there but I liked the first parts so much I am willing to give the second book in the series a chance. I think this series falls firmly in the Fantasy/Paranormal genre with no romance or sex whatsoever. Quite a refreshing change, just what I needed to get out of the PWP rut I've been in the last few weeks with the "it was ok" but completely forgettable MM books I've been stuck with.

This is a hard book to categorize. I realize it's a work of fiction and that I have to suspend disbelief but as a CR novel it's completely unrealistic. The characters are cliches and Tim's professional life is completely implausible. The book came across as farcical as I read it. And yet....I laughed throughout the entire book. We're talking snorting, almost pee yourself belly laughter. There is one scene where Tim manscapes for the first time and omg...go to the bathroom before you get to that scene. It's freaking hilarious. So 4 stars for making me laugh so much, I will certainly remember this book.

p.s. I forgot to mention is was a Kindle freebie, and is still currently free on Amazon.

Another DNF. Another example of terrible editing that makes the book unreadable with numerous grammatical errors that constantly pull you out of the story. Even free this is not worth the torture of reading.

Tina Adamski, Editor <- Any book with this in the credits page is now going on my auto-reject list. <br/>

I forced myself to read to the 30% mark but holy hell it was hard. The writing was horrible. It read like a badly translated foreign language book.

Ok, first off let me say the story was good. There were some copy editing errors again (malapropism i.e. passed instead of past) but the continuation of Nick's story was as engaging as ever. The dentist storyline wrap up was a bit muddled IMO, can't be more specific without spoiling it but I was still left questioning the motive. The way that story resolved seemed ridiculous to me. The Jimmy English plot resolution seemed almost trite and annoyed me when I read it. Like the author thought to himself, ok it's the end of the book I need to wrap this up quickly.

The core characters continued to be the main draw for me. I felt the murder or investigative sub-plots this time around were subpar compared to previous stories in the series. Last but not least, my biggest issue with the novel, is that it's not a novel. I paid 6.99 for a freaking novella. When you hit 85% progress it's over and you're reading another "author" interview. Then excerpts from other books. I love the character and I've loved/liked most of the stories so far but I'm getting really frustrated feeling like I got ripped off. I can buy a good 300-400 page paperback for less than $6 so why should I keep paying $6.99 for less than 200 pages of actual content? As much as I love Nick and want to see what happens next, I doubt I will be purchasing the next installment at these prices. If I can't get it from my library I will likely give up on Boystown.

Unlike others, I really enjoyed the length of this story, for me it wasn't long enough. The characters and relationship were able to be fully developed over the course of their lives from first meeting to well...lets just say the ending was bittersweet. I love when stories that are fundamentally about relationships are able to span the entire thing rather than ending abruptly after the romantic leads get together and leave me wondering what happened 10, 20 or 30 years down the road.

There were technical writing problems to be sure, and the timeline is not quite consistent. This gets confusing at times with regard character ages and events but all of that is easy enough to overlook because the love story between the two MC's is so touching and realistically portrayed. As the timeline of the novel spanned about 50 years there were many supporting characters that I became attached to and I was disappointed that the book did not tie up all their storylines as neatly. I was left wondering how long John's uncle Martin lived and what became of him and Braithwaite. Same thing for Lizzie, Charlotte & Caine. I really feel this story could have been even better had it been treated as a series rather than one work.

Still I highly recommend it for readers of historical romance. I had a nice good ugly cry at the end too.

Laugh out loud funny. Pee your pants (almost) funny. Seriously entertaining modern twist on the Camelot mythos. This book is a prime example that you don't always get what you pay for. It's brilliant and it's free. Read it.

Finished the whole series yesterday, took 7 days. Didn't expect to get sucked into another world so completely like that. Overall I loved the series from a storytelling perspective. That said, the problems as many others have commented, were also readily apparent and sometimes really distracting. A bottle or three of wine really helps with that. ;-)

Now about Fade specifically....I loved parts of it but I was disappointed in it overall. If a book could have DID (dissociative identity disorder) this one certainly did. The best way I can convey my thoughts now that it's over is to summarize my final assessments of the characters.

Hsin: Not enough of you in the last book, the best written character. That absence is what lowered the overall quality of the book for me.

Boyd: You've matured a bit but still I want to slap you upside the head so many times...*sigh* Still so naive after six years in the agency.

Emelio: Ok I know you're damaged emotionally but you need to get over these self-esteem issues you have. You deserve to be treated so much better. That said, the *ick* moment that I'm sure everyone saw coming a mile away was so not cool.

Zachary: I don't like you anymore. The way you behaved in this book was despicable. You are selfish, weak and cruel. And apparently not nearly as intelligent as we were led to believe based on your actions near the end of the book.

Vivienne: You are still a horrible excuse for a parent and human being.

Ryan: Expected more from you. Not much character growth or maturity. Hopefully you'll grow up emotionally before you die from your lung disease. Peter Pan syndrome does not become you.

Kassian: You haven't changed much over the last six years either. You've opened up and bonded with some fellow agents but you still have serious self esteem issues dude. You are a good person despite the things you've had to do to survive. Grow up already.

Yes I know there is an anthology novella that picks up two years after the end of Fade to give us brief glimpses of life after the agency for our favorite characters. I've read it. Still didn't mitigate the disappointing way Fade ended. The book felt literally unfinished. Too many plot lines and characters were left hanging at the end of Fade for even a potential sequel set years in the future to wrap up satisfactorily.