One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: The Watchers, Book 1
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 336 Pages
Formats: Paperback
Publication Date: 8/2/11


They call themselves Watchers after the angels from whom they descend, but to those who hate and fear them they are called archdemons, abominable, vile beasts who feed on flesh and blood, who manipulate and corrupt the cherished humans around them. They are the bastard children of angels and humans. Abominations to heaven and cursed for it, denied heaven, denied hell. They are the Nephilim.

And it so sucks to be them.

Grouped in clans based on their angel ancestors, they are more than cursed with Oblivion, they are cursed to fight and make war with each other, to be enemies through time, a deep and instinctive hatred that is as much a part of them as their demon forms and hungers. But they can be enslaved. And with such slaves, Clan Azazel has waged a deadly war on ancient rival Clan Samyaza, leaving only a handful alive.

Now Artur Camulus, chieftain of Clan Samyaza and desperate to protect his clan, commands Cade Leucetius to go to an archeological dig in Israel, and in so doing, cross a line of honor and commit a act Samyaza had previously thought anathema. He was to find the dormant Watcher from outclan, a woman unaware of her heritage and sure of her humanity, and see her through her transition, anchor her through the sex that all of their kind need to reach maturity and enslave her and her magics for their own as he does so.

Maddie Durant had survived a malignant tumor in her brain only to become a pawn between forces she didn't believe existed prior to her trip to Israel. Now, as a vigilante faction intent on the death of all demons seems to be allying with one of those they condemn, and a clan war threatens to explode into open violence on the streets, she is both potential savior and helpless victim, and her indomitable spirit draws potential jailer Cade to her in ways he'd never expected, despite the curse that makes them enemies.

The rules are clear, his orders sacrosanct, and yet the heart of a demon may be all that stands between life...and a damnation more devastating than even heaven could imagine.

Joy Nash kicks off this dark, decadent series with a wealth of original mythos and intriguing history that offers fresh breath to a well-worn genre. There is much to appreciate in The Unforgiven, and fans of dark romance and grim fantasy should be thrilled by the groundwork laid here. The plot is thick, rich, and wonderfully diversified, the world extremely well defined, and the characters three dimensional...though not necessarily likable.

With two main antagonists as potential enemies in this debut, Clan Azazel and DAMN, an unfortunate acronym for Demon Annihilators Mutual Network (the human organization intent on wiping demons from the earth), not to mention the persnickety angels and hellfiends, Nash has set the series up with a firm foundation of really hateful bad guys with several complex motivations that her protagonists can fight with wit, wings, and wrath. It was a rather impressive display in a debut novel.

But it was not without it's problems.

To set up the world and define the players, Nash used a shifting focus in a third person point-of-view narrative, breaking up the scenes of the plot arc for Cade and Maddie with scenes focusing on Artur, on Cybele's brother Lucas, even on the chieftain of Clan Azazel, Vaclav Dusek, not to mention many, many scenes from the past, focusing on Maddie's ancestor, Lilith. It painted a uniquely complex and highly stylized picture of the world for the series, but it just didn't allow for any room or rhythm for a true romantic connection between the main characters. In fact, as a reader, I was so overwhelmed by the minutia, by the shifting perspectives, by the abrupt transitions, that I ended up feeling disgruntled on several fronts.

I loathed Artur. I found him utterly unlikable a character, jealous, petty, and small, and if he's supposed to be a good guy, he's got a long, long, freakin' long way to go. Sex - and hey, normally a huge fan - became something disturbing in the book as it was utilized as the anchor for transitioning Nephilim and a method to enslave. In fact, that alone unsettled me to such a degree that the very long (god, it seemed to take forever) transition scene for Maddie was painful in places, not erotic, not something joyous, not even something loving or at all tender. And the need for Gareth to go through transition with Cybele anchoring him actually hurt my heart with its implications.

And don't even get me started on the relationship between Azazel and Lilith. I like to think of myself as being fairly open minded, and I understand that it was several millennia ago, and demons will be demons, but that was disgusting.

I love books in which the good guys have a dark side, and aren't White Hats. I prefer it when they heartily embrace the many shades of gray. But in The Unforgiven, alleged good guys (Artur in particular) were virtually indiscernible from the bad guys in action, history, and thought. It's a dangerous line to tread, because if you can't tell the good from the bad, what's the point?

I feel the same about books with dark themes - I love them, don't get me wrong, but without hope, without a glimmer of something good or positive, the dark becomes despair, and there's no fun in reading that. Cade and Maddie should have provided that glimmer in this book, but because so little of the story dealt with any sort of relationship evolution between them, and there was no explanation of relationships for Watchers to begin with (not even the mate bond was explained, just referred to), it just didn't work out that way. The romance ended up lacking emotion, and Cade and Maddie's feelings felt like dusty footnotes by the end, rather than being actively engaged.

On a conceptual level, the book is fantastic, and it's extremely well written. The depth and imagination involved, the creativity, all of that was undeniably impressive. It's a dark book, with dark characters who have dark and disturbing - and sometimes horrifying tendencies, and do unspeakable things. I can appreciate that on a stylistic level. I think, though, that it overreached for a first book in a series, and was more ambitious than necessary. I was left feeling like too much got crammed into what is, for a series debut, simply the first chapter. 

Disclosure: An ARC was provided by Dorchester Publishing via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Anthology
Series: N/A
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 322 Pages, 4528 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback
Note: This review is based on the Kindle edition, which no longer seems to be available.


Obviously I'm more than a little behind on my reading, as I had fully intended to enjoy this anthology of holiday novellas during the actual holiday season, but I'm glad I finally sat down to enjoy them. Sometimes funny, often sweet, and rich with the flavor of my favorite time of year, this anthology is definitely worth a read...no matter what month is face up on the calendar.


Getting caught speeding his way through Holiday, Florida on the way to Miami for a wild celebration of the Richmond Rogues latest World Series victory pretty much ruined baseball player Alex Boxer's raucous plans for the holiday. Sentenced to forty hours of community service as the small town's mall Santa, he's stuck in a hot, too-tight costume next to a flatulent deer and nut cracking nutcracker Holly McIntyre, faking a hearty ho, ho, ho...instead of sipping brews on a hot beach and using his yule log to give a pair of busty beach bunnies in thongs a very merry Christmas.

Holly sees right through Alex. He's rich, sexy, and entitled, and he'd do just about anything to get out of his Santa stint. She doesn't even blink when his sexually suggestive comments and behavior are aimed her way. She wouldn't have expected different. It's her reaction to him that concerns her. That he sets her body to burning isn't any surprise, but the longer he's in her company, the more her heart is invested...and that's scary enough to curdle her eggnog.

As a big fan of Kate Angell's Richmond Rogues series, I was looking forward to this short holiday novella, considered book 5 in the series. In many ways, it didn't disappoint. There was genuine humor, yummy sexual chemistry, and some sweet romance. There was a sexy if womanizing baseball player, and a plucky, strong female lead. I enjoyed Alex and Holly together, and I admired how Holly didn't take much of Alex's crud. I appreciated how she maintained a very realistic view of their relationship. I do wish the character definition had been given a little more attention, because they lacked a little of the spark of individuality I'm used to Angell imbuing in her characters.

The narrative got a little choppy and rapid fire as the story progressed, with more straight description of action and events as opposed to a more flowing narrative that includes a wider descriptive pallet of background, scenery, and emotion. It started to take on a bit of a rapid-fire recitation sort of feel that gave me the impression that the story was being trimmed to fit a certain length. The extremely abrupt ending and sudden resolution further cemented that feeling.

Despite that, I felt like this was an entertaining addition to the Richmond Rogues series and a nice representation of Kate Angell's lighthearted, very fun, sexy style.


Thanks to years of suffering nothing but bad luck around the holidays, Jessica Jones is convinced she suffers from a Christmas curse. Considering that this Christmas Eve she's had her car and purse stolen, forcing her to hold up a supermarket for the $39.95 she's owed...with a gun that she thought was empty...which then causes her to take a hostage to assure her freedom...and that hostage turns out to be a bodyguard who is ex-CIA, you can sort of see why she's under that assumption.

Said ex-CIA bodyguard and Brad Pitt look-alike Luke Carter mostly thinks Jessica is a harmless lunatic...until the gun goes off. Before he knows it, he's handcuffed to the crazy bird and has a gun pointed at his head - the one part of his body currently not covered by Kevlar. He's cursing his lackadaisical response when he gets his first glimpse of Jessica without her Santa getup...and tumbles head over heals down the daunting chimney of love. Convincing the determined if utterly inept criminal to walk the straight and narrow with him, however, may take a Christmas miracle.

This delightful comedy farce by Sandra Hill may be a little dated with the many references to a younger Brad Pitt and his cinematic accomplishments of the early to mid-nineties, as well as a reference to IBM computers, but it's a fast, fun romp that made me grin. Definitely do not take this one seriously, it's not meant to be, but its ridiculous exaggeration and silly buffoonery made me chuckle.

There wasn't very much in the way of character development or plot, but you could find some if you squinted and looked really hard. There were also a few tendrils of a more serious nature with mentions of Luke's deceased wife and a childhood that breathed distrust into Jessica. I thought the ending was a little awkward and too quickly resolved (so common in this format), and the emotions of a key scene during the resolution seemed discordant with the actions and dialogue. Oh, and no adult should ever refer to a thirteen-year-old as sexy for any reason. It's icky and disturbing, as is speaking of her and to her as if she were a prostitute.

Love-at-first-sight stories don't usually do anything for me, but this one didn't bother me at all in that regard. Maybe because the comedy was so exaggerated and it was so obviously not to be taken seriously. Naughty or Nice was absurd, ridiculous, and flat out fun, even with the flaws.


Casey was used to taking care of her flighty and irresponsible younger sister. She'd been doing it since they were both children. As a computer programmer, she knew she could work anywhere, so she even moved from their Florida home to the mean streets of New York City when Emma decided to try to make it as an actress on Broadway. Now, as a major New Years Eve promotion for a posh jewelry store approaches a critical technical deadline, Casey is working nonstop to get the programming set to roll out to the billboards in Times Square. Emma has other ideas.

Cajoled, begged, and practically dragged out of the apartment she shares with Emma, Casey finds herself taking Emma's newly ex-boyfriend's place at a remote Upstate New York lodge for a Christmas holiday away from it all. And the last place Casey wants to be is away from it all.

Within minutes of arriving, her gorgeous and selfish sister has hooked up with one of the two brothers who are working their for the proprietors, their Aunt and Uncle. Casey is locked out of her room with no place to sleep, and has to rely on the gorgeous but stoic Matt Van der Staapen for a place to lay her very weary head. Fed up with her sister, out of her element in the middle of a blizzard, cut off from the world she knows and loves, she has to rely on a man too gorgeous for her to trust. Merry frickin' Christmas.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this nifty novella. Less comedic than the first two in this anthology, Nash struck the sort of perfect blend of character definition and romantic development that so many authors fail to achieve in shorter-length stories. It was realistic, sweet, and tempered with just enough conflict to provide some meat without tilting into dramatics or becoming cloying. In fact, from a strictly technical standpoint, it was one of the most comprehensive and satisfying novellas I've read.

The narrative was smooth and sophisticated, well balanced, and full of the sort of details in scenery and Dutch holiday culture that add depth and dimension to the backbone of the story, and the dialogue was genuine and maintained a steady conversational flow. When you add in the character definition, everything pulled together quite nicely and provided a highly satisfying read.

I didn't like Emma, whose selfish actions and flighty behavior never lead to any of the consequences she deserved, and I didn't totally buy into the main romantic conflict towards the end, which seemed a little out of character for Matt in particular, but the thoughtful and mature resolution to that conflict was supremely satisfying and more realistic than often seen in contemporary romance. This was a lovely and surprisingly robust holiday novella that I would enjoy pulling out to reread around the holidays. It really closed out this anthology on a very high note.