Cat Devon’s Entity series is a light paranormal romance series, one where each book has its own couple, story, and one could be read as a stand-alone without reading the previous novel. In this series there are vampires, demons, witches, and more. Set in Chicago in a vampire run neighborhood, the dynamics of their particular group was one of the parts I liked best about this series.
Intrigued by something on the lighter and happier side, I decided to dive in and I found the first two books to be fast and fun reads, but neither was entirely successful. Both had very simple plots and very quick hate to love type relationships with very few surprises. Since they are similar in those regards, and both are recent releases that I’ve just read I will review them both here today.
Sleeping with the Entity (book 1) by Cat Devon
Grade: C
Book 1 in the “Entity” series opens with our human heroine, aka cupcake shop owner Daniella Delaney walks into a bar to meet with Nick (Vamptown clan leader) in an effort to get his approval for her shop. She doesn’t actually need it, so from the start I didn’t understand the premise. But anyhow – it turns out she can’t be glamoured or influenced by the vampires and this sets off a chain of events that has vampire males coming out of the woodworks to try and make her their own because… reasons.
I was sad that the cupcake making heroine had mostly boring flavors in her shop, red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla were repeatedly discussed. At least she did have a cast of fun characters working for her! I also was disappointed by the story arc overall. We had a real opportunity here to let Daniella discover her own power and uniqueness, to let her have some action and adventure and instead Nick is there. Protecting, shielding, making the discoveries for her. There were some nice moments, some funny conversations as well.
“Have you heard of Waterloo?” he abruptly asked.
She nodded. “The song by Abba.”
“No.” he said curtly. “The battle of Waterloo. Napoleon versus the Duke of Wellington.”
There is such a contrast between the dark and brooding vampire Nick and the happy baker Daniella. I had hoped that we would see more humor as well as growth from both of them. I would have enjoyed it even more if they had really gotten to develop their relationship a lot more beyond initial lust as well. With such an unlikely couple, I felt like there was a lot of missed opportunity there.
The Entity Within (book 2) by Cat Devon
Grade: C-
Zoe Adams and her grandmother show up in Vamptown, witches who were banished from Boston and now are at Nick’s doorstep because he had promised long ago to the grandmother that they could always come stay in Vamptown. This is most definitely not ok with Damon Thornheart vampire and demon hunter who despises all witches and wants them gone.
I’m just going to say it – this book didn’t make sense and never came together for me in any satisfying way. Damon hates Zoe on principle but is attracted to her. Zoe hates Damon because he’s an ass, but she is also very attracted. Then poof, at the appropriate moment in the plot, they’re having sex.
The one element I really enjoyed in this book was Bella, Zoe’s talking cat (familiar).
“Go away. You’re disturbing me.”
“Tough shit,” Damon growled.
“I believe they have medication for that,” Bella drawled. “Stool softeners or laxatives might help you with your problem.”
Funny talking cat aside, the poof into insta-love and the plot that was more hot mess than intriguing had me really not loving this book.
My overall opinion is that if you like silly paranormal romance where plots don’t hold up to scrutiny that are very superficial and light, and you don’t mind the kind of situation where love can be instant and there may be vaginas with magical powers, well then this series may be for you! Despite my C grades for both of these books, I find myself drawn to the premise of the third book and am thinking I might have to check it out. There was a certain quality to this author’s writing that makes me want to go back for another try.
Hmm wat did sound intriguing, now really is not going to end up on my wishlist. Sorry you are disappointed May.