Review: Jade (Violet Series #3) by M.L. Med
Paranormal Romance
Released: September 1, 2015
Smashwords

Reviewed by Sheena

Vampires and Demons have never got along. The centuries old feud continued with no end in sight, until now…

Dominic has always been a bit of a ladies man…ok lets face it. He’s a man whore. Seeing his friends around him find their mates one after another has only made him more aware of what he can’t have. That is, until he wakes in a hotel room with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, with no memory of how he got there.

Lilith has always been different. It wasn’t until her Demon brother found her at a young age that she realized why. She has always enjoyed the simple things in life, surrounding herself with color and crafts to fulfill her soul. Her life is predictable and safe. It isn’t until she meets a dangerous red haired Vampire that her existence is turned completely upside down.

Favorite Quote: She wanted to tell him to go to Hell.  She wanted him to shut up. She wanted him to care.

WeIp! I didn’t DNF. Though this was certainly a near-miss.  Usually for me to wave the white flag and save myself, things have to be knee jerk repulsing or not working in a way where reading is not enjoyable- or a fruitless endeavor.  There were several times during this novel that I felt led down a plot path and then abruptly abandoned and left to fumble my way back to civilization, manage to head down a road that made sense again, only to be left and bereft again…wandering…wondering…what??.  In a word it was ambitious. And I am inclined to give a nod to ambition with the caveat that you freaking bring it. Especially in the paranormal romance realm where you are free to create your own world with your own rules- buzz word- rules.  Even with the most fascinating of premises, there has to be some rhyme and reason to comfortably suspend reality- yet avoid tumbling into WTF is going on here-land.  Instead of weaving together, the different plot lines smashed into one another haphazardly.  I can certainly tell you what happened but I can’t tell you how I feel about what happened because with the chaotic pace and competing story lines, investing in these characters across the board was near impossible. Tuh! I mean there were sexy, emotionally volatile and possessive vamps and demons and I couldn’t connect with a one of em! No fair!

Right away we meet Dominic.  A lusty vamp who is new to relationships and has spent his long life loving and leaving every female he’s taken to his bed.  Jacked up on what he believed to be the vampire version of marijuana, Dom goes on a bender and wakes with lush little Lilith tucked in his bed.  True to his nature, he instantly appalls her and unceremoniously boots her from his bed!  Dom the douche is at his most dastardly as unbeknownst to him, Lil is an Incubus demon whose mating is tied to her climax and sex, their forged bond, left unenforced will kill her. Lilith also has a big, bad ass demon brother who is hell bent on seeing her virtue respected- but who has time to worry over such things, Dom’s got shit to do!

“Look, I’m sure you were good last night. Mountains moved while fireworks went off and all that shit. But I’m done now.  Move on sweetheart.  Call me if you want another ride.”

He was an ass. He knew this. He had perfected it over the years.  He had needed to learn the quickest way to get rid of the girls that hung on.

The best parts of Jade, are the moments where we are inside Dom’s head as he wrangles with his growing attachment to Lilith and their scenes together.  There is an insta-mating due to her Incubus nature, however, there is not insta love and while as a romance aficionado (snort), I can roll with insta-love in most scenarios, I found an appreciation for the effort the author expended to create the space for Lilith and Dom to struggle with their newly forged connection and experience the bumps and uncertainties that come with the spark of new love.  Jealousies, nascent trust and insecurities all revealed themselves at one point or another and it made the actual resolution that much more sound.  Unfortunately, everything outside of their romantic journey was clusterfuckish.  I barely managed to follow the parallel story lines regarding the bad blood and tentative alliances between the vampire and demon species, and the “danger” didn’t register. Really awful things happened to Lilith but there was no real anticipation or build up, or come down for that matter.  Things sort of hit the fan and then things were peachy again in one fell swoop.

Overall, there is the requisite sexual tension and sensuality, however, I believe the novel would have been best served by doing away with the multiple angles and narrowing the focus to Dom and Lilith, who in and of themselves were quite interesting though Lilith is more of a plot device than a character- she was Dominic’s literary prop and I only wish she had a little more pop!  In fact that is another reason I held out until the end- waiting for Lilith to come alive a little.  In comparison, Dominic is an interesting hero.  He transforms from crude to charming and I quite enjoyed witnessing his growth.  There was a weird familial twist that felt out of place, but again, those plot points were a little clumsy and I glazed over most of it in befuddlement.  I can’t say that I will continue on in this series.  Jade was enough for me.  There is perhaps an audience for this sort of novel, the author’s voice isn’t bad at all, but that can only take you so far before you need a bit of meat in a story to back it up.

Grade: C-

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