Nina Schluntz's Blog

This is the third novel I’ve read by this author, although it’s listed as a new series, it takes place in the same world as the previous Deamhan novels. (you can follow it just fine, even if you haven’t read the others)

Unlike the other novels, this one follows one Deamhan in particular, Maris, from day one of her becoming a Deamhan. I enjoyed this method of introduction to the Deamhan world. I never felt like the character knew more than me, so we both learned through trial and error, who to trust and who not to trust.

The story is quite graphic, these are not friendly or romantic vampires. (Deamhan are similar to vampires but of a different species, there’s a glossary in the back to help you sort it out.) Humans are killed without remorse, which can take a bit to get used too. But if you are a dire hard vampire or horror fan, this book should be right up your alley and on your to-read list

A lot of love stories are hard to believe, because you have two characters that have just met and they are suddenly madly in love. And you as the reader know it’s just lust but you’re forced to believe it’s true love because the author says so.

This book dared to be different. The two men in this book have been friends for decades, best pals. And the adage, you end up marrying your best friend, comes true for them. When one friend decides he wants to experiment and try a few homosexual things out with his longtime friend, the two end up falling for each other.

If the backstory of them having known each other for so long wasn’t there, it wouldn’t have been a believable story. Same for how paranoid and insecure Jeremey is. He was given a backstory, parents abandoning him, which explained why he has an illogical fear of his new lover leaving him. That’s how you make real believable characters. You give them a history.

The best parts of this novel were the witty dialogue between the characters. Just when things were seeming too serious, a character would say a one line zinger that would leave you in stitches. Just like a real friend would. Again, this book shined in the believability department.

A homosexual black man who can morph into an alligator? Who has an affair with an eighteen-year-old white boy? In Louisiana? In the 1950s? There was so much potential to this plot set up I couldn’t help but read it.

Sadly, the story fell short of my expectations. The whole alligator shape shifting deal never had a point. Why give a character that ability but then have it play no role in the plot? He did morph a few times, but he could have morphed into a mouse, kitten or puppy and the story would have been the same. I was hoping for some alligator fight scene where he defends the white boy.

The racist thing, never really played much of a part either. Really, this book could have taken place today, rather than the 1950s and people’s reactions to the couple would have been the same. Same for the gay factor, no one really reacted much different than they would have today.

So… what did happen in this book? Nothing. The whole book read like a tease. I rolled my eyes when the “sex magic” was introduced. But again, nothing really came of it either. They would create magic when they’d have sex… and what would they do with that magic? They fixed some brakes on a car that were going bad. No joke.

The writing style read a little rough for me too. I could tell the author was attempting to be creative and detail oriented. But the details were directed at the wrong items. I’m reading an erotic sex scene and getting a graphic description of the color and design of the boxers one of them is wearing. Yeah… you’re just slowing down the story buddy. Or the suspenseful scene where we are getting into the car to go save the mom from some guys who have boxed her car in, and we pause the story to tell me how the character uses his sleeve to open the car door cause the sun has made it so hot. I’m sure you get the idea. Those moments just jerked me from the story and made it difficult to stay in the moment.

So, would I suggest giving the book a read? Well… no… not really. This one wasn’t bad, just not as good as it could have been.

This book was a quick read, really a short story novella more than a novel. The plot was a twist on the ongoing debate of who is hotter to be with? A vampire or a werewolf? This book goes with, why decide? Be with both.

I wasn’t a fan of the twist **spoiler**where the girl is declared to secretly be a fairy. It seemed a little too copy-cattish from the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse Novels to me. But it’s hard to be original when you are dealing with vampires and werewolves, so I’ve just come to expect such things when I’m reading this genre of books.

The characters had enough development and back story that I felt this novella could have been a full-length novel. I was disappointed by how short it ended up being.

If you are looking for a M/M/F erotica that’s a quick read, this is a good book to pick up. Even if you aren’t into the werewolf/vampire scene, you’ll enjoy it.

After watching the movie DUFF. I discovered there was a book! I immediately downloaded and read the entire book in one setting. Sadly, the main aspect I liked from the movie, was not in the book. I liked how in the movie, Bianca and Wesley were in the same social class. They were next door neighbors who used to play together as kids. But now they’d grown up and grown apart. The movie is about them falling back into their friendship and finding out that they mean more to each other than they want to admit. It’s the age old story of falling in love with your best friend.

In the book, not so much. Wesley is an outrageously super rich kid, who fills the void of his absent parents with girls. Super hot, super rich, every girls wants him, it’s a bit too much. In the movie, the kid is made an equal, he even has faults, he’s shown as failing one of his classes. No mention of school troubles are shown in the book. He’s basically perfect in every way, except all the sex he enjoys having. And even that is a plus, cause that is exactly what Bianca, the DUFF, ends up wanting.

In the movie, her parents are already divorced and she has a stable home life. In the book, the break-up is just starting. Her father falls off the wagon and begins drinking. And Bianca has issues with a past boyfriend. All problems she wants to forget about. What better way to do that, than having sex with the hottest boy in school? And it’s what he does, he sleeps with girls to fill his own void. It’s a perfect match up.

In the movie, that is not the theme. There is not nearly as much sex, I mean, this book had more than most eroticas I’ve read. Which shocked me since this is a book targeted at teenagers.

There is a nice moral to it all. In the end, Bianca stops judging people and learns that everyone is a DUFF in some way. No one is good at everything. And she attempts to make her relationship with Wesley more healthy, not sure that will happen, but the reader can make their own conclusions.

See my full movie review at my blog: https://mizner13.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/duff-movie-review/

I’ve only read a few Vampire books. And most seem to just copy each other in one aspect or another. This book was refreshing in the fact that it wasn’t just about Vampires. The author created their own supernatural creatures called Deamhan. Background and history was given for all these races, so much so, that really, Vampires could have been excluded and then the book would have been completely original.

The plot was riddled with conspiracies, lies and the like. Pretty much every character you are introduced too, likely has an ulterior motive going on. To me, I like my stories less bogged down with backstabbing and lies, all those subplots can get confusing. But this story did a good job of keeping it all straight.

See full review at: http://mizner13.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/deamhan-book-review/

I normally don’t like books in a medieval/fantasy setting. Most of them just aren’t written well. But after reading the free sample on Amazon, I realized this book might be an exception. I was already hooked.

(SPOILERS REMOVED)

So… it was an amazing read and I’m giving it five stars. It’s written very well, especially considering the genre. Like I said, I normally avoid medieval fantasies because they are written horribly. Although some of the events are a bit crazy, it all makes sense with the plot and the rules of this author’s world stays consistent. My only warning to readers is, be prepared for the fact this is a dark erotica, and that it’s very graphic.

To see the full review, including spoilers: Monster review