Review: Zerk

Title: Zerk

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/d/B0785JJ2KZ/

Author:  RW Krpoun

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments

RW Krpoun is apparently a fan of two things, zombie apocalypse stories, and protagonists that are a little touched in the head.  Both of which are fine with me because he uses them to tell a damn good story.

So Zerk is our hero and he's got a friend named Bear.  When you figure out what Bear's story is, it's pretty touching.  No spoilers, but it was a legitimately emotional moment for the old and crusty curmudgeon.

Anyway, if he pumps out a sequel I will definitely read it.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Right of Retribution 2

Title:  Right of Retribution 2

Author: William D. Arand

Rating: 5/5

Comments:

As I'm writing this, this book is just over a week from publication, but I just finished the beta read last night.

Not really much to say, other than I enjoyed it immensely.  Warner faces challenges that were unexpected, makes new friends, and generally grows as a character.

I expect this will be one of his best releases ever.

Full disclosure,  book 1 is my favorite of his, having supplanted Fostering Faust 3, and Swing Shift (1-3).

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Wrangler 3

Title:  Wrangler 3 (The Wrangler Saga)

https://smile.amazon.com/Wrangler-3-Saga-Hondo-Jinx-ebook/dp/B08W7PHGLS

Author: Hondo Jinx    

Rating: 4.75/5

Comments

 I'll just state up front I'm kind of a fan of Hondo Jinx.  I have read the first 2 books of this series and liked them both enough that I picked this one up as soon as it came out.  This is another good addition to the series, and I think probably equal to or better than the first 2.  That being said, he's not breaking a lot of new character ground with this, Braddock, Brawley, and Dan would all get along like brothers.  If you don't like Brawley and Dan, you won't like Braddock (and that's ok, I guess).

The Wrangler world is however a very interesting setting, and a lot of the stuff you kind of had to just accept in book one gets pulled together in this book and you find out some of the "why's".

Anyway, good fun, and I will definitely read the next book, which is allegedly the finale.

(For those of you wondering, it lost points for some gratuitous POV switching, and a couple minor annoyances)

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: The Irish Brigade

Title:  The Irish Brigade:  A Fallen Empire Novel

Author: J.F. Holmes

Rating: 4/5

Comments

 This is the story of a mercenary company and tends to jump around between characters, which is pretty typical for novels of this genre.  I generally find this annoying, and it wasn't a great feature in this book, but I worked through it.  Some cool back story, interesting characters, and plausible events make it pretty enjoyable.  I expect I'll read the next one.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Bloom and Dark

Title:  Bloom and Dark

Author: Regina Watts

Rating: 1.9/5

Comments

I read this up to something like 40%, but I couldn't really tell you what the story was supposed to be other than page after page of exposition about how amazing the dark elf queen is.  Before I dropped it I did a random test, and there were FOUR pages of the protagonist navel gazing about the queen with NO actions or dialogue.

I honestly don't know why anyone would read this, but I'm sure she has a market.  I am not it and I doubt I'll try another one of her books without a stellar recommendation from someone I trust.

Oh and it had sex, for whatever that's worth.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: The Traveler

Title:  The Traveler

Author: Xander Jade

Rating: 2.5/5

Comments

I grabbed this book with a little bit of wariness because it was recommended on Facebook.  I was right to be wary. Honestly I’m surprised I finished it. 

Let’s start with the protagonist.  He’s an MIT graduate with dual majors, who is outdoorsy, and has several years of practicing Krav Maga.  I thought “my god it’s a Mary Sue”, but I shouldn’t have worried, as he, or maybe the author proceeds to demonstrate his ignorance in a variety of topics from construction, farming, to animal husbandry.  Some examples are, building a workbench that’s 5 feet tall,  buying 4 milk cows, and starting a foundation for a new house on top of the grade.  For those of you who aren’t aware, a conservative estimate for milk output for 4 cows would be in the 8 gallons per day, and possibly up to 30.

So beyond the stunning ignorance and mistakes of the protagonist, you have a story that’s very bland.   The characters have all the depth of a raindrop.  Here’s a good example,  the protagonist is sent to this new world.  He wakes up and rather than expressing surprise, shock, fear, or panic, he simply heads off down the road, not even worried about why all his stuff is gone.  Not once in the book did he try to figure out why he was in this new world, nor really consider getting back home.

We also have some gratuitous POV shifts which add nothing to the already weak story.

Anyway, if your only criteria for a book are monster girls who are horny, well then you might like this, but honestly the sex scenes are just as poor as the rest of the story.  Otherwise, take a pass on it.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Mana Beast

Title: Mana Beast

Author: Bruce Sentar

Rating: 3.4/5

Comments

Basically my reaction to book 2 was about the same as book one.  The cultivation aspects are pretty cool but the inter-personal interactions are so simplistic as to be magical.  I'm talking going from "just met, suspicious of you" to "married, love of my life" in a matter of days magical with no apparent reason for the change.  I took off .1 of a point for Michelle's incessant use of the word "Stud" which honestly was so bad I almost didn't bother finishing it.  I have it from a reliable source that the author has been informed of this issue (I wasn't the only one discussing it) and is going to moderate it going forward.  For the love of all that's good and holy I hope so.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Between World (The Occupation Saga Book 1)

Title: Between Worlds (The Occupation Saga Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/Between-Worlds-Occupation-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B08VD7DKC7

Author: J.L. Williams

Rating: 4.7/5

Comments

This book was mentioned on Cebelius' Discord and I picked up to give it a read without even reading the blurb.

Really quite entertaining.  Jason, the protagonist, finds himself pushed into a completely alien environment, and has to work hard to adapt to some new realities.  Good characters, with believable if sometimes implausible, interactions. I read it in a day, and admit I was late to work because of it. He does some light POV switching, some of which is honestly superfluous but it's not too bad.  

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Hamartia

Title: Hamartia (Mountain King Saga – Book 2)

https://www.amazon.com/Hamartia-Monster-Harem-Fantasy-Mountain-ebook/dp/B08VJB2SGG

Author: Cebelius

Rating: 5/5

Comments

Ok, so if you read MKS 1 you know that it’s the story of one man’s accidental heroism which lands him in a very bad situation on Celestine. I don’t even think “very bad” is sufficient to encompass the horror of his situation.  But that’s book 1.

In book 2, Abram finds himself in control of Svartheim and beset by threats.  He is empirically not a “good” person, but all the way through you have to kind of agree with most of his actions.  He goes out of his way to avoid unnecessary death, and work for the good of his people.  He has one moment of irrationality, which was completely justified, and commits an act which even he says he regrets later, but you have to kind of sympathize with his actions.

In the end, I found myself hoping there’s a way out for him.  All in all a good story, if not a completely happy one.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: Floating Hunger

Title: Floating Hunger (Yard Gnome Action team book 3)

https://www.amazon.com/Floating-Hunger-Yard-Gnome-Action-ebook/dp/B0836PDN4R

Author:  RW Krpoun

Rating: 4.3/5

Comments

This is currently the last book in the series, but there are plenty of hooks to continue the story if he decides to.

This book was just as good as the others, but I marked it down just a touch because there were some obvious points where he cut/paste the description of X in from the earlier books, and it really wasn’t needed.  We’re on the third book, we  know X, just give us a sentence or two for us to reconnect, not the whole 2-3 paragraphs you used in book one.

The POV switching was about on par with book 2, and of course we just had to see what the antagonists are doing (bleh).  Definitely a good cast of characters though, I hope to see them again.

Bedroom Activities:  Offscreen reference

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