layawaydragon
Written on Oct 24, 2013
Unfortunately, I am not that awesome. This happened back in 2013 and I'm just now posting the review. No excuses. Shit happens, but I should've handled it better/differently. I did read it and wrote a review then but life got in the way. I've only edited it recently for clarity and grammar. Now, it's finally up!
TW: Transphobia. From douche weres and Heidi's response to ask both to shut up, including the victim defending themselves instead of telling off the fuckfaces. Ugh.
I've waffled on the rating for awhile. I want to give it 3.5 stars for being better than The Trouble With Fate as a book almost all around. Yet I want to give it 2.5 for Heidi being less than she was and the biggest hurdle this go around.
Recommendation: If you didn't like Heidi last time,...I don't know, I liked her before and think she got worse so YMMV. (But she def. Gets better, so much better in the third book)
Urban paranormal romance fans will feel right at home with a comfy variant of genre standards. It’s firmly tailored if you're looking for a dark hero or a minor transgender character. If you fell for their romance or don't mind the melodramatic, you'll probably fair better than me. But do not, under any circumstances, skip the first book.
The Good:
More mystalking in Threall
Exploring Merenwyn
Smoother, more refined and focused than The Trouble With Fate, incorporating threads that felt random and unsecure
Tons of action and drama
Heidi and Towbridge working on their relationship, actually talking.
Cordelia. Fucking saved most of the book for me.
The Bad & The Ugly
Transphobia
Some convenient events
Heidi
Heidi not defending Cordelia properly
Heidi not doing fucking anything
Heidi: Sleeping Beauty with lovesick blues instead of a magical curse, waiting to be saved and awake enough to whine about it.
Heidi only snapping out of it to defend her man. Fucking were pissing contests
Only seeing the Heidi that won me over after Towbridge arrives towards the very end
Obviously, Heidi really pissed me the fuck off this time around. I cannot stress this enough. She's the reason I continued the series. There were so many issues but the interesting world wasn't it, she was.
I miss my dark hero that struggled and supported two people on her own. Instead of gaining some sense, she went from recklessly active to meekly stagnate. She made herself into a damsel in distress.
And yes, it's a fucking conscious decision. She knows it. She does it anyways. And she's been like this for 6 months! GRRRRRRR. She's aware it's wishful thinking and denial but doesn't change until it's too late. Waiting for “Balto to save her”. FUCK YOU. That's a great movie, I LOVE Balto and you don't deserve Balto. And Towbridge is NO Balto. HOW DARE YOU. (Tha'ts on page 197. Of a 400 and some page book. )
And now I'm crying. THAT'S how great Balto is. Get it right, Heidi. Get your head on straight. And no, I don't by your insta-love “can't live without him” fucking bullshit. UGH. The blurb is very honest and on point with this at least. I just didn't realize it'd last that fucking long nor irritate me this much.
**Deep Breath**
I swear to fucking gods if Cordelia wasn't there trying to smack some sense into her, I'd have quit. Of course, Heidi doesn't do right by her at all (GRRRR! Even if Cordelia wants to fight her own battles, she's the Alpha.). But I would not quit on Cordie. She kept on so I did too. I can't say it enough: Cordelia saved this book from being DNF'd. Even with everything else being better than The Trouble With Fate.
Sadly, if Heidi doesn't pull through, there isn't enough Cordelia to make me finish reading. I have hope Heidi will recover fully considering the end, but shit, I didn't think she'd pull this shit either so IDK. (Update: Read the third book, The Problem With Promises, and Heidi's good, so I'm good.)
At least Heidi and Towbridge talk and work on their relationship. It gains some depth. It's still insta-love and Heidi's response to being alone is fucking ridiculous but there's some forward movement with them. I may be too bitter to really appreciate it because of everything else but I recognize it. Good for them. But as a couple, they haven't won me over yet.
World Building & Plot:
I loved how interesting the world building was in The Trouble with Fate. From twists on standards and the new mystwalking and Asari. However, there was a lot of shit going on and it wasn't firm like cement that needed time to dry. Heidi's mystwalking felt random and shoehorned.
Thankfully, it's explored properly in The Thing About Weres and threads are incorporated fully. It's now a part of Heidi and the story instead of a freaky one-off. With no seemingly dead-end jaunts or bullshit moments that break immersion, it felt smoother, refined and focused.
Both books are over short periods of time and are bursting at the seems with things to stay preoccupied with. There are some surprises that are balanced out with convenient events leaving it solidly and entertainingly average.
And there's still more to this world and the Stronghold story that I'm excited to see. Now if Heidi can get her act together, this would be a highly recommended new urban paranormal series
