Currently Reading:
Kitty and Ben hit Vegas for their honeymoon. Kitty does a live TV show from there, and the couple are staying in the same hotel as a gun convention with many werewolf hunters in attendance. I’m about a third of the way through and so far so good. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Book Review: Second Skin by Caitlin Kittredge

My rating: @@@

Finished Second Skin over the weekend. Finally.

I'm now invested in this series, so I was into it and relished the path. That being said, though, I'm noticing that in these kinds of genre series it's difficult to maintain the romantic/sexual tension of a relationship past the first or second book. Spoiler (highlight to read): Luna and Dmitri break up.

It's kind of like The Jewel of the Nile [Blu-ray], sequel to the hit movie Romancing the Stone [Blu-ray]. Episode one (Romancing the Stone): female and male meet under adventurous circumstances. She can save herself, but he is good to have around for backup ... and other things. Episode two (Jewel of the Nile): what happens after happily ever after? Those qualities which were so great in a danger situation can become problematic when these same people are dealing with the day to day mundanalities of life.

Luna and Dmitri are like that in this book. I suspect that the author couldn't take the angsty will-they-won't-they storyline any further and opted to cut her creative losses and move in another direction.

Luna's stubborn refusal to let other people in also felt like it went to a new level in this book but not in a good way. Think Anita Blake after about book 5 or 6 in the series. Still a likeable character with flaws, but her behaviour was extreme in a way sometimes that made her harder to relate to than in the previous books.

But I still enjoyed the book. And will buy the next one as soon as it comes out if I can. If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, I would recommend this one for your collection as well.

Buy Second Skin on Amazon.ca

Book Review: White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison

My rating: @@@

White Witch, Black Curse is the latest release out in the Rachel Morgan series by Kim Harrison.  I just finished it over the weekend. 

If you’re already into the series, you’ll want to read it – like me – to see what happens next to some of your favourite characters.  Let me save you some of the suspense.  Rachel’s actions get her into further trouble. 

Best: Kisten’s murderer is revealed and that part of Rachel’s history is wrapped up.  It’s an emotional moment.  Worst: Rachel continues to do things which isolate her from the community around her and get her involved in things she probably shouldn’t get involved with.

Kim Harrison always spins a good tale.  I wasn’t bored.  But neither was I compelled to pick up the book and read it through in one sitting.  Maybe it was the book and maybe it was my headspace last week, but I suspect it was the book more than anything else.  IMO, Ms. Harrison is starting to lose the energy of the story line – something that often happens after the third or fourth book in a series.  Ivy is less compelling.  Jenks is dealing with the worsening health of his partner Matalina.  Rachel faces some mild sibling disapproval issues and the reality of her mother finally moving on – both emotionally and physically – after many years of mourning.  Al pops up and is entertaining.  There’s a banshee sub-plot that creates some tension.  And once again, Rachel makes some weird and vague emotional decisions when it comes to her love life – such as it is.

I’m really not sure where Harrison can or will go from here with these characters.  As far as I can tell, the next book will involve Rachel getting involved with a former ghost/witch/runner (sigh) and Jenks will probably have to lay the mother of his offspring to rest.  Ivy will do what Ivy does.  Maybe there will be more fun with Trent who was relatively absent from this book.  

I’m glad I read it because I’m already invested in these characters.  And it was well written.  It just didn’t grab me the way the earlier books in this series did.  Jenks’ insights rang a little hollow, and the consistent evidence of Rachel’s bad choices when it comes to her non-business relationships just kept being reinforced in a far too obvious way.

Sure, I’ll pick up the next book.  But maybe I’ll wait a bit longer after it comes out to get it … and maybe, just maybe, I’ll wait for the paperback edition.