REVIEW: Private Scandal by Jenna Bayley-Burke

Private Scandal by Jenna Bayley-Burke
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

CAUTION: Spoilers

I originally rated it as 3 stars, but downgraded to 1 star upon retrospect. Like the other reviewers, the story had a wonderful premise but there were *alot* of issues left unresolved which irked me.

- Genma and her inheritance and the marriage she needs to keep her inheritance.

- Danny's friendship with Brandon upon finding out Genma kissed Brandon.

- Meagan's parents' disappearance. The crux of the story and they never showed up.

- The Carlton House. Sure they had a fundraising, but was it successful? Was the charity saved?

Moreover, there were alot of personality issues with Megan.

- Her insistence on taking Cash with her. She can't even support herself, how the hell will she support the dog?

- The non-communication with her sisters...doesn't the Carlton House have a phone she can borrow to call her sisters?

- She had no problem telling Brandon all the crap he inflicted upon her, but she consistently forgot to yell at him for his supposed infidelity?

- Her insistence to return back to her apartment after it's been trashed by some unruly males. Doesn't she work in a battered women's shelter and knows how dangerous men can be? Hate Brandon all she want, but at least he never physically threatened her.

- Once she found out about her sisters and planned to move in with one of them, why doesn't she? What with the delay?

For all Megan's self-proclaimed independence and common sense, I'm not see any. Accepting help, even from someone you hate, doesn't necessarily mean you're losing your independence. It means you're doing what needs to be done to survive. Pride before food, shelter, and clothes. Megan seem to have a bigger problem accepting Brandon's help than having sex with him (which she did on multiple time when she still hate him).

Moreover, the ending was too abrupt. There was absolutely no way Megan could have forgiven Brandon that quickly after years of holding a grudge, but yet she did. The HEA was executed very poorly.

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REVIEW: Magic's Price by Mercedes Lackey

Magic's Price by Mercedes Lackey
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The books are well written, I'm not debating that. What I am hating is the main character, Vanyel. I usually tolerate goody two-shoes to a great extend, but this character just want to make me barf. Pretty much he sacrifices everything in order to save his kingdom, a kingdom that doesn't even like him for who he is and only care for his supermagic.

Frankly the ending suck, so if anyone is expecting a HEA or HFN, this series is not for you—it's a tear-jerker. It's one thing to give up your life for the greater good, it's another thing to give up your afterlife defending the kingdom that will totally forget about you within a month's time. The former suck, the latter blows it all to hell. Sure, they'll mourn for you...for a minute and then it's back to "omg, we need another mage to defend us." Lame.

I feel so frustrated reading this series that I kinda wish Vanyel just died in the first book and saved me the trouble of reading the sequels.

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REVIEW: Sacred Fate by Eressë

Sacred Fate by Eressë
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

CAUTION: Major Spoilers

Stupid Characters

Unlikable and sometime idiotic characters. There is a difference between being innocent and being naive, and unfortunately Lassen fell into the latter. Lassen stupidly fell in love with Rohyr despite knowing Lassen could only ever be the king's concubine and not his consort. No matter, how much they love each other it was unrealistic of Lassen to not consider whether he could have a happy future with Rohyr. Love may be blind, but it sure as heck isn't stupid.

Rohyr was idiotic in the fact that he fell prey to his uncle Imcael's scheme. Just because they share the same blood doesn't mean loyalty was a given, and Rohyr fell for that *hard*. Royal family members who backstab each other for the throne? How UNsuprising. Moreover, you think Rohyr would have taken this history lesson to heart considering he remember his past-life as another king who was dealt the same crap. Past-life! OMG! Not only so, it made no sense that he accepted to marry Tyrde when he knew Lassen was his soulmate, knew the loss of his soulmate in a past-life when both Rohyr and Lassen were different people. How could he repeat this mistake? And then he expected Lassen to stick around? And slapped Lassen when Lassen didn't and thought that Lassen was pregnant with another man's baby? What a SOB!

Tyrde, stupid stupid evil Tyrde. Tyrde, if you wanted the throne, you could at least pretend affection for your king. Did you really expect Rohyr would endear himself to you for an occasional bang in the bed and your strict adherence to royal protocol? Did you really think mind-reading Rohyr would not discover your scheme to eliminate Lassen? It's fine if you make clear of your ambition, but it's NOT fine to alienate the one person your amibition rested upon.

Ending Kinda Suck

The end-fight felt rushed. It would have been better if Lassen learned to make use of his newly-founded psychic skill and to release it in the fight against Tyrde. So when Rohyr had to help out Lassen, it made the victory seem hollow.

Epic World

The world-building was superb, almost as epic as LOTR (the films). I literally felt the history of Ylandre moving across my eyes. I like how the author asserted the extinction of female-kind and the male-pregnancy right from the beginning. It didn't feel sexist to me because she build these people up as hermaphroditic aliens. Technically, this wasn't a mm-romance since the people were not truly male.

The sex scenes were creatively-worded so I wasn't bored by their shagging. Though the sex didn't evoke the oh-la-la hotness, but it was touchingly sweet.

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