Review: The setting, the worldbuilding, the hero and heroine - everything about this novella has its own unique twist.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2014
The premise and setting for Queen of Hearts grabbed me instantly. A supernatural "collection" agency based in Las Vegas is charged with rounding up errant supernatural creatures. The heroine of this novella, Claudette or Claude, is one of those collectors. Although she's now retired and owns her own pawn shop she's been commissioned to help with a particularly difficult job. Luckily, Claude's excellent track record as a Collector isn't the only trick she has up her sleeve. She's a deadly feline shifter and has a unique background as a professional dancer in one of Vegas' finest shows.Jason is a gargoyle who works for a famous Vegas magician. He stole a precious gem called the Queen of Hearts and bringing in the jewel - and Jason - is Claude's job. However, there is more to Jason than meets the eye. Sloan, his boss, is a real slimeball who cares nothing for rules or really anything but himself. And he is holding something over Jason. What is just another job for Claude turns into something else entirely when she finds herself attracted to Jason and putting her career - and life - on the line to serve true justice and help Jason.This was a very enjoyable story. The story and storytelling is excellent. I love Kristen Painter's writing and don't need to know anything else about a book other than that she wrote it in order to read it. That was no different here. This novella has a little bit of everything - action, mystery, humor, romance. What I really, really loved about it, though, was how it was set in the backdrop and flow of Las Vegas and Jason's gargoyle status. Gargoyles aren't your typical PNR/UF heroes, but there different and fascinating and I wish they were featured in more stories.I absolutely loved Claude's confidence and competence. She really stood out from the pages as her own person and that was wonderful. That doesn't include her general talent for buttkickery. If I could shift into a large predatory cat I think "I'll shred you like junkmail" would be my threat of choice, too.I didn't feel that so much about Jason. He was more one-dimensional for me and had an interesting past that could have added more depth if it was fleshed out here and there. While I'm on characters I'll also mention I wish there had been more significant supporting characters, though another Collector named Ares really got my attention toward the end. This type of thing might not bother other readers but character development is the most important thing for me to really love a story and although novellas are shorter with less page time for this I still felt there was some opportunity missed.My other big problem with this story is that it's supposed to be paranormal romance. It felt more urban fantasy-y right up until the last chapter or so. More romance would have gone a long way for me.Queen of Hearts is faced paced and moves forward very nicely. I loved the Sin City Collector world and worldbuilding done by Painter. It had just the right mix of real world vs. paranormal with no glaring holes or missing pieces. It only made me want to know more about the Sin City Collectors. Despite the problems I mentioned I did like this story. I read a lot of PNR/UR but QoH was witty, interesting and refreshing, and I was delighted to read another world created by Kristen Painter.