"Iron & Velvet" by Alexis Hall

Iron & Velvet by Alexis Hall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I must say, I loved the cover and the title of this book. I don't normally say this in a review, but the cover intrigued me enough to get the book. When I opened it up to begin reading, I found I was very surprised. Firstly, there are a lot of typos and a number of very slang words that I had never heard before. In fact, I had to look them up. I found the definitions of these slang words on UrbanDictionary.com. Words like, "woofle," "wibbly," "wotsit," and "faffed," to name a few, baffled the hell out of me. The whole story reads in what I would consider British slang. Personally, I would have preferred a little more polish overall in this story. However, with that stated, I did really like the story.

Kate Kane is a faery princess by birth, but is a P.I. (Paranormal Investigator) by career choice. As I first started reading this, I became concerned that the author may have mimicked another series I’ve read, that I love very much. However, as the story progressed, I found the only commonality between this story and the other, which I’m not naming on purpose, is that the main character is a P.I. and a faery princess. After that, it builds on its own.

Kate is called in to investigate a murder that has paranormal written all over it. Though Kate is a professional P.I., she kind of handles the case like the proverbial bull in the China shop. She jumps in, makes her insinuations, causes a war to break out then realizes she was wrong and starts all over again. During this investigation, she falls in love with the Prince of Cups, which happens to be an eight hundred year old female vampire. I’d never heard of a woman holding the position of “Prince” so this threw me a bit. You have to understand, I’m an American and this book is written in British slang or perhaps, commoner English. So, it’s quite possible that I’m the only one who didn’t understand. The author does help you to understand what the Prince of Cups is though.

This wasn't a thought provoking story. But the author did such a great job detailing the surrounding areas that one could literally lose their lunch. However, I believe that was the intent as you get into the story. She had to trek through some extremely nasty areas. (No, I'm not saying… read the story yourself!) I would have loved to have had as much detail to describe the intimate moments between Kate and Julian (Prince of Cups). It seemed too shallow for me. However, it leaves me to think that this series will grow into something more and I hope to read the next in this series as well.



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"Moon Called," by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Moon Called,” by Patricia Briggs started slow at first. There seemed to be a lot of world and character building. There was a lot of information poured into the story as well. However, the author built a believable world with believable characters.

Briggs described the hierarchy of the werewolves well. She explained little innuendos such as what it meant to look into an Alpha’s eyes. It was a way to show dominance. I felt she described Mercy into a strong female protagonist, with just enough smarts to know when she should back down. One fact not made clear was the description of a skin walker. Briggs explained in the story that Mercy was a skin walker, but then described Mercy as a Coyote. To me, a skin walker is a Native American legend where a person with supernatural ability could turn into any animal she desired. To be able to transform, the legend says the skin walker would require a pelt of the animal she wanted to be. Granted, more modern telling of the legend either removes the pelt or uses it for only the initial change. If the person wanted to be the same animal every time they changed, they would no longer need another pelt. Mercy was always a Coyote. So far, there’s no indication that she can turn into anything other than a Coyote. With that said, I believe Mercy has some other tricks up her sleeve, and I really hope to see this series take off in that way, revealing more and more.

Now, I was kind of bothered that there was no romantic factor in this book. Not every book needs to have romance or eroticism, but it sure adds to the pleasure of reading. However, again, this book looks to be a jumping off point into an excellent series. Briggs left a lot of loose ends that I foresee having a delightful tie-in into the next book in this series.

This is an excellent book. I’ve rated it 4 out of 5 stars because I do feel it was lacking just a bit as mentioned above.

You can get your copy of Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) today!


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