Good Enough to Keep Reading the Series But Stop It With the Petunia Shit – It’s Not Cute

Bingo Square (Round 2): Birthday!

I was going to use Stephen King this time around but I wasn’t in the mood.  I wasn’t actually that interested in reading the rest of the Bill Hodges trilogy after Mr. Mercedes but I heard there was a connection to his latest, The Outsider, so I added them to my TBR list! Unfortunately, they kind of feel like homework right now rather than something I really want to read.  When I started googling authors of the books I am more interested in reading, Karen Marie Moning was able to help me out with a 1 November birthday.

This is the second novel in the series so Mac is still developing from a pink obsessed Southern belle to a slightly less naïve and less innocent character.  There are definitely still things about her that annoy me or make me role my eyes, but I can see glimpses of where it might go so I’m looking forward to that part.

The previous book had a slightly more straight forward plotline since it involved Mac coming to Ireland to find her sister’s murderer and discovering a secret, supernatural world.  This novel focuses more on that new world, Mac interacting with some of the various factions and learning more about her surroundings, and continuing to search for the original Fae objects of power.  There’s some murder and mayhem, but it didn’t feel quite as focused on a villain and more about Mac getting her bearings, though the novel still ended with a big show down.

Despite the fact that this one wasn’t as “monster of the week” driven, I actually mostly liked this one.  It was a bit of a transition/set up novel but since it’s early in the series, it made sense to focus a bit more on Mac’s day to day life, world building and her adjustments to her new reality.  I’m looking forward to the day when Mac stops using petunia for ass, though.  Also, it’s things like that where Mac seems like an odd/annoying character – she doesn’t like to cuss because her mom taught her better but she looks at men and tries to decide if they are lefties or righties (penis related joke).  While it seems odd to me, I guess it is realistic – I absolutely believe that there are people that are offended by language while also being somewhat sex-positive.  To me, it seems a bit odd to draw lines at those places but everyone is different.

Bingo Square: Birthday!