Mandi and Tori each had a book they couldn’t finish (DNF=did not finish) recently. And here is why.
Mandi:
His Darkest Embrace by Juliana Stone (Jaguar Warriors, #2)
Paranormal Romance
November 1, 2010
Paperback, 361 Pages
Avon
I heard such good things about book one, His Darkest Hunger, I was eager to try His Darkest Embrace. These characters from the start lacked chemistry. It is hard to explain why some heroes and heroines have this, and others don’t but I did not feel chemistry between Jagger and Skye at all. They both felt like such flat characters – I didn’t understand their attraction to one another. Skye doesn’t trust him, yet submits to a kiss. Jagger feels this overwhelming need to protect her, but it felt false in my opinion. They just never clicked together for me.
The beginning is slow – although events happen…they never caught my interest. Jagger comes off as too brash and unlikable. I stopped at about the halfway point. Is there a chance things turn around? Possibly..but I don’t have the desire to find out.
Tori:
Prince Charming Doesn’t Live Here by Christine Warren (The Others #3)
Paranormal Romance
November 2, 2010
Paperback, 288 Pages
St. Martins
When Danice Carter is asked by her firm’s founding partners to help him with his granddaughter, Rosemary, she jumps at the chance. It seems easy enough. Track down Rosemary, get her to file a paternity suit, show boss her awesomeness, and go home. But when she makes an appointment and Rosemary doesn’t show up….she knows this will be anything but easy.
Private investigator McIntyre Callahan has been hired to find Rosemary at all costs. But when he runs in to Danice at Rosemary’s home, he finds he wants to investigate her. Half fae, half human, Mac does everything to stop Danice from getting involved but she won’t listen. Even if it means following Mac to certain death.
I have always had a hit or miss relationship with Christine Warren’s The Others series. Some will grab me and have me pulling an all-nighter. Others haven’t. This was a no go for me. The first 50 pages were fantastic. Fast paced with engaging humorous dialog between two highly evolved characters. Then Danice began to get on my nerves. While I enjoy a strong, independent heroine; when they cross the TSTL (too stupid to live) line I’m done. And she did. Mac, our super yummy hero, spends one week telling her not to follow him. Even giving her the nasty gory details of what could happen to her. So what does she do? Blows him off and goes. That was forgivable. It’s what happens next that caused me to drop the book and not look back. She bitched and blamed Mac when what he predicted came true. Hello? And the whole time he’s apologizing and trying to help her. In fact, all the females in the book come off as stupid, jealous, or shrews. I didn’t understand. After that I had to put the book down.
Hey Tori/Mandi,
I feel the same way about Christine Warren. Some of her books I love, others not so much;(! Anywho, hopefully next week brings you guys some better reads
Kristin
I've got His Darkest Embrace on the review pile *hhmmmm* When characters fall flat it is one of the biggest challenges to finish such a book. It's always such a bummer when it happens :( And as for Prince Charming Doesn't Live here…I still have to read book one in this series to find out if it's up my alley :)
Let's hope your current reads are much better than these two DNF's for you!
Mandi,
Such a shame about His Darkest Embrace. It's currently on my TBR pile, I read the first one and felt a little dis-heartened by it but enjoyed the side characters more. Think I'll still give this one ago but if I don't enjoy it I think I'll be leaving the series alone!
Tori,
Oh man I'm so confused with Christine Warren's books, as her Others series is a re-release from another named series so all she does is extend the original text on some of the books. Although some of them are new ones. I'm tempted to give up this series because the last few I have read have been rather disapointing compared to the start of the series!
Tori: I won't read Christine Feehan because of a very similar situation. Hero tells heroine to stay put for her own safety and so he can handle the danger without distraction, and she ignores his request and starts running around like an idiot anyway. I tried another book and had similar dislike for the heroine. I don't bother with her books anymore.
~Lindy
Too bad on these! But if there's no chemistry, it's hard to stay interested. And nobody likes jealous, shrew women, they are just irritating. I'll be skipping these!
3 word reason why I refused to even consider His Darkest Embrace.
Jagger and Skye
Nothing good can happen once the author decides those are good names.
/still reads & loves BDB – inconsistency, I has it ;)
LMAO @ Missy Ann! I can't even count how many books would be disqualified if I thought too much about the characters' names. Half the time I couldn't tell you the h/h names while I'm still reading the book. Selective memory…*giggle*
~Lindy
That sucks that you both came across dfn's :(
Kristin- Ya gotta take the risk I guess. :)
Leontine- I enjoyed Warren's earlier ones a lot.
Ally- Hmm…I didn't know they were re leases. :( Yea, the last few have been meh.
Christine Warren used to be an autobuy for me but her last 4 books have followed the exact same pattern as your review outlined so I've dropped her from the line up.
Better luck on your next read…
aromagik- A bitchy or idiotic heroine turns me off everytime. *sigh*
Jenny- I just can't handle all the screechy drama. lol
Missy Ann-lmao I totally agree.
Blodeuedd- It makes me sad too.
Cybercliper- That's how I have felt. Different names but same story. :(
Same here – bitchy or TSTL is always a DNF for me. Good thing we've all got varying tolerance levels, or some books would never get read. ;)
~Lindy
LOL @ Missy Ann ;)
I read a book by Warren once (I think) couldn't draw me in.
Smokinhotbooks- :(
Bummer about these books guys!
And Mandi! My heart is torn asunder regarding HIS DARKEST EMBRACE. Like you, I've heard nothing but good things for book one. Awe man, I'm so bummed that book two sucked!
Bravo! Bravo!
For being honest.
I don't like every book I read. Some are DNF's; some may be 1's, other 5's.
These two didn't even make it past the cover stage with me. YUCK!
I've read both of the Jaguar Warriors books so far, one I purchased, the other I got from Netgalley, and I wasn't thrilled with either of them by any stretch. I'm probably done with the series at this point and can see why #2 was a DNF for you. Bummer though.
I've always had a hit-and-miss relationship with Warren's books, too. Back when I was keeping up with her series, it seemed like every other book was a DNF.
The Others series just popped up on my radar. I'm keeping the hit or miss thing in mind while I read them!
Skye doesn't trust him, yet submits to a kiss.
Huh? I don't get how you can not trust someone but yet trust them enough to be intimate…
And it drives me nuts when I don't know the 'why' behind an attaction.
As for the TSTL heroine…I completely agree with you Tori. Doing something when told not too = stupid, but then blaming someone else for the consequence? *heads desk*
Hey, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your website in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening
in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Other then that, fantastic blog!