Now or Never by Janet Evanovich: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Now or Never by Janet Evanovich

Now or Never, or Thirty-one on the Run, is book 31 in Stephanie Plum series, and I went and read it right after the previous one. Pulled an over-nighter with it even, so it was entertaining enough. Then again, these books aren’t very long.

For once, the book began where the previous ended, a few days later. Not that the author always remembered that there wasn’t as long a gap between the events as there was between books, and the characters spoke of events of the previous book like they’d taken place long ago. For example, Lula is ‘still’ dating a guy she met in the previous book, which was less than a week ago. Even with her dating history, dating a man for a week isn’t that great a surprise.

But at least the previous events were acknowledged, which doesn’t happen often with these books that seem to exist in their own vacuums. Stephanie’s sister, Valerie, who barely gets a mention throughout the series, even makes an appearance. I did call it though, that Stephanie would return to her apartment where she was evicted from at the end of the previous book. It would’ve been too much of a change for a series where nothing ever changes if she’d moved.

Stephanie’s big dilemma was introduced from the outset: she said yes to both Ranger and Morelli when they proposed, and didn’t’ tell either of them about the other proposal. As an added complication, there’s a fear of a contraceptive failure. Apparently she’d gone to bed with both men—which didn’t happen on page, not even a hint—and doesn’t want to commit to either of them before she knows for sure if she’s pregnant. So, in her typical fashion, she ignores the problem and concentrates on catching skips.

The collection of FTAs is fairly entertaining and keeps Stephanie and Lula busy for days. Like so often, the one that seems on the outset to be the most dangerous of them turned out to be less so, even if he was difficult to catch. The other skips would’ve been easier to apprehend if Stephanie wasn’t such a pushover, constantly giving them leeway. The most dangerous FTA is the one who they thought would be a harmless fool. Stephanie needs a lot of help to finally capture him.

The comedic relief comes in the form of Stephanie’s old schoolmate who after a brief hello decides they’re now dating and won’t leave her alone. But since he does nice things for her, like redecorates her firebombed apartment and gets her a TV, she finds it difficult to get rid of him.

What makes this book stand out are two major changes for Stephanie that’ll have an impact later. One, she finally learned how to shoot, thanks to Ranger who put his foot down and made her. Her unwillingness to touch firearms has been a running gag in the series. She even gets to put her new skill to use.

And the biggest change of all: Stephanie finally chooses between her suitors.

It happens out of page, which was bit of a let-down, but while her relationships with her men have been a staple throughout the series, they’re not the main focus, so it can be forgiven that it doesn’t steal the stage. The reader has to wait until the very end to find which one it is. The choice isn’t surprising.

This wasn’t the last book, as indicated by ‘not the end’ at the end. I hope that this will turn out to be a new start for Stephanie, to freshen up the formula, but I’m fairly sure things will continue as they’ve always been. There’s a bet of box of donuts that her marriage won’t last more than two months. We’ll see how that goes.

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich

It’s book number 30 in the series, thirty years of Stephanie Plum. I’ve been reading the series almost as long, which doesn’t make me feel as old as it should. Stephanie definitely hasn’t aged. Technology has followed the date though (hence the wholly unironical covid masks here), and isn’t stuck in the mid-nineties where the books should take place.

Everything else has stayed pretty much the same for thirty years. The formula of Stephanie and Lula going after FTAs with more determination than skill works, so why change. You’d think that in all this time they’d learned something, but not so much, although Stephanie’s started to taze the difficult skips first and ask questions later. It turns out to be an improvement, and the duo manages to bring in quite a number of FTAs without much damage to their person. Stephanie’s car obviously suffers. How else could she get a loaner from Ranger.

The zaniness that took over the books somewhere during the mid-point, has been toned down recently, which is a return to earlier books. Grandma barely does anything silly, and the comedic reliefs are a helpful graverobber and Morelli’s dog Bob, neither of which is over the top silly. Even Lula’s Grendel stalker turns out to have an almost normal explanation. The real bad guy is, like in all books, fairly deadly and causes great damage, but, like always, a bit of an afterthought within everything else that is going on.

The two men in Stephanie’s life are the same too: Morelli and Ranger. This time, Morelli is out of town, giving Ranger time to make his move. And he manages to surprise both Stephanie and the reader. And when Morelli returns, he manages to pull the same move. It only took the men thirty years to get there. It seems though, that Stephanie still needs another decade or two to choose between them.

But she’ll need to change something, because after all these years, several break-ins and a couple of fires, Stephanie has to give up her apartment. Will she choose to move in with one of her suitors? Or will this be one of those story-lines that disappear by the next book, like so often? I guess I’ll have to read on to find out.

Despite all the sameness, this book managed to get me out of a reading slump, which I’ll count in its great favour, hence the four-star rating. Maybe I’ll even go back and read the previous book in the series, which I couldn’t finish. Not because it’s necessary to read it to understand the subsequent books, but to keep my thirty-year run intact.

Love Between Fairy and Devil Vol. 1 by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Love Between Fairy & Devil by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang

This is the original novel on which the TV series of the same name is based. However, as becomes clear already from the description, the original and adaptation share the premise and that’s about it. The two stories are completely different. So, if you’re looking for something that deepens the story of the TV adaptation, this isn’t it. The two are so different that there’s no point in trying to compare them either. (There's also an animated version that appears to follow the plot of the book more faithfully, but I haven’t watched it myself.)

The start of the book is maybe the weakest point of the story and very vague about how events have unfolded before the opening scene. Demon Lord Dongfang Qingcang has resurrected after a hundred thousand years, having been bested by Lady of the Scarlet Wastes, the god of war, and immediately captured by the officials of the heavenly realm. But he has had time to take a hostage, an orchid fairy Xiao Lanhua, and forced her to switch souls with him, so that he occupies her body and vice versa. He then uses her mouth to convince the troops that she’ll spend the rest of eternity imprisoned with him to make sure he never escapes.

He escapes, of course, and there’s nothing Xiao Lanhua can do, as she’s behind bars inside Dongfang Qingcang’s body. But as she tries to prevent him from leaving, she accidentally destroys her own body. Now the Demon Lord’s soul has escaped and she’s trapped inside his body with no body of her own to return to. So, out of options, she heads to the ghost realm to find his soul. She finds it, but when he tries to take his body back, she refuses to leave until he provides her with a new body.

The first volume is about the two of them travelling mostly in the mortal realm looking for a suitable body for her. But she soon realises he has an agenda of his own and he’s only helping her because it temporarily aligns with his interests. They get into hairy situations, and despite his better judgement, he finds himself saving her time and again. But he betrays her equally often, and by the time the first volume ends, the two are still together only because she’s managed to force his hand to keep her alive.

The first volume isn’t much of a romance, but it’s a good start to that direction. Dongfang Qingcang starts—and continues—as a truly evil character, but the presence of Xiao Lanhua, first inside his body and later with her own, starts changing him, and he occasionally finds himself doing things to please her—in his own fashion. She has no romantic feelings about him either, and the volume ends with her wholly disillusioned about him.

I liked this story very much. It didn’t matter that it didn’t match the adaptation. It’s fast-paced, funny, and well-written. The stakes are high from the start and they don’t lessen by the end of the volume. I didn’t miss the side-plots and other characters that filled the adaptation. The two were enough to carry the story. I liked Xiao Lanhua especially. She was strong and resourceful and not a clueless, wide-eyed creature wholly at the mercy of Dongfang Qingcang like in the adaptation, even when she was at his mercy. And he was truly evil and selfish, not just posturing.

The ending wasn’t a cliffhanger as such, but it doesn’t conclude anything either. The story has only begun and I really have to find out how this original version continues from here.

 

The Vengeance by Emma Newman: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Vengeance by Emma Newman

The Vengeance starts The Vampires of Dumas series, which I find both an intriguing and a slightly misleading series name. Vampires barely make an appearance, and it isn’t set in Dumas’ own time either. But it is inspired by his novels set centuries before, in the era of musketeers and swashbuckling pirates.

The book starts as a pirate story. Morgaine is a daughter of a female pirate captain sailing in the Caribbean. She’s lived her entire life at sea and loves it, and knows nothing of her mother’s life back in France. But on her deathbed, her mother makes a confession that sends her reeling—and heading across the ocean to France.

Morgaine isn’t her daughter. The real mother has searched for her for twenty years and she needs Morgaine’s help. Fired up by her anger towards the fake mother, but also anger towards the person who ordered her death, she sails to France to rescue her mother and avenge the death of the woman she thought of as her mother.

She is wholly unprepared for the polite society. But so is the society unprepared for her. And she isn’t given a chance to find her land legs. People are after her, trying to kidnap her left and right. One of them succeeds. He claims to be her father, and tells her not to go after her mother. She doesn’t listen.

Joining her on her quest is a young woman, Lisette, whom Morgaine’s father has hired as her (much needed) governess. Together, they go to see and rescue Morgaine’s mother. But things aren’t at all like she had imagined. And it may turn out that the one person she needs revenge on is the one she wanted to connect with.

This was a good, complete story, and clearly a stand-alone. Either there are different characters in the next book, like often in Ms Newman’s series, or Morgaine’s next adventure will be something completely different. It wasn’t a long book though, and the pacing was a bit off. 

Too much time was spent on the voyage to France, even though it didn’t affect the story in any way. And the book was closer to 70% mark before the women headed out to find Morgaine’s mother. That journey was mostly skipped, even though it had a great impact on the endgame. Perhaps the story wasn’t meant to conclude here originally, with maybe the second book about the events with Morgaine’s mother, which would explain the pacing.

Biggest sufferer was the relationship between Morgaine and Lisette, which happened sort of behind the scenes. One minute it didn’t exist and the next it was there. It was lovely that the women found each other, but if you’re reading this for a romance, heightened emotions and angst, that won’t be there.

The supernatural element was sidelined too. If there hadn’t been the series title revealing it, I wouldn’t have expected it when it emerged around 65% mark. It would’ve been an excellent plot twist. Now, I kept expecting it the entire book and was a little disappointed with how long it took. But we got an intriguing glimpse and I hope the follow-ups will dwell in the supernatural world more.

The ending was a bit hasty, and the reader is left with many questions about the other players who wanted to kidnap Morgaine, and what their agenda was. It was slightly too convenient as well, but it was done on Morgaine’s terms, and it was good. The writing was great and kept me engaged. I’d read more of this series, whether it’s about her or other characters.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

April reading recap

April wasn’t quite as hectic a reading month for me as March was. I finished five novels and ten manga. Three of the novels were review copies and of those, A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennet was by far the best. The second Ana and Din mystery set in a very unique world is maybe the best novel of the year so far. (Click the book title for my review.) In comparison, I liked A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang considerably less, mostly because I found it under-developed. Saint Death’s Herald by C.S.E. Cooney was good, but not as mind-blowing as the first book in the series. Still, I’d read more.

I also read two novels for myself, both of them Chinese boylove novels. Riverbay Road Men’s Dormitory Vol. 1 by Fei Tian Ye Xiang is a contemporary romance set in an imaginary Chinese city, and it was a good start to a series. You’ve Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post Vol. 3 by Blackegg continued the historical series with a volume that was maybe the best so far.

I read eight manga review copies. Among them were three follow-ups. Worst Soulmate Ever: Proposal by Haruta is the second volume about a dysfunctional alpha-omega couple who despite their constant arguing manage to tie the knot. Tokyo Alien Bros., Vol. 2 by Keigo Shinzo is about two aliens trying unsuccessfully to assimilate among humans as they are scouting the earth for potential invasion. The second volume was better than the first. Firefly Wedding, Vol. 2 by Oreco Tachibana continues the story of a kidnapped heiress stuck on an island of prostitutes with her kidnapper. It’s still not my favourite series, but the second volume was better than the first.

Ask and You Will Receive by Niyama was a very good start of a gay romance about two men, one of whom doesn’t know he’s gay and another who can’t stand the first. I’ll definitely continue with this one. A Vampire in the Bathhouse by Niko Izuki was a sweet story of a found family. No romance yet, though that may come later. 

Honeko Akabane's Bodyguards 1 by Masamitsu Nigatsu was a bit boring and a lot violent high school romance about a secret daughter of a yakuza boss who is surrounded by a class full of bodyguards. The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protégé 1 by Fumito was a fun and very awkward comedy romance of an older man suffering from erectile dysfunction and a younger man who admires him. The romance didn’t really get anywhere here as the older man doesn’t know he’s gay.

I also had a review copy for an unofficial BTS biopic that was so bad I had to stop reading, so I won’t mention the maker. And I read a manhwa that I wish I’d stopped reading: Lady Devil, Vol. 1 by Choco FUKI. It’s an unapologetic romance based on incest between twins, on top of which the story is really stupid, boring and badly written. I don’t recommend it.

Luckily, I had a couple of manga that I read for myself and really loved. My favourite feel-good manga, The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity by Saka Mikami, has reached sixth volume. Here, Rintaro and Kaoruko, the two sweetest protagonists, finally start dating. And I read Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless vol 1 by Nozomi Uda. It’s a fun slice of life high school comedy about a boy who has absolutely no energy and dedicates his life for finding ways to avoid everything. I’m reading it on MangaUp! and there are no English versions published yet. I’ve caught up with the story there, so I’ve probably read at least half of the 13 volumes out in Japanese so far, but I’ll only list the first one here.

I’ve caught up with The Apothecary Diaries on MagnaUp! too and will add vol 14 soon, as I didn’t have time to add it in April. I’ve read other manga there this month as well that don’t have published versions in any language yet, like the fun high school romance Otaku x Gal by 138neco and Souchu. I’ll list those if they ever get Goodreads entries.

So, a fun reading month again, despite the couple of misses. Stay tuned for more.