Review: Utterly awash in stereotypes
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2014
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 4/10PROS:- The mixture of foreign and familiar elements in the story amused me. There are slave auctions and worm holes and planets at the far reaches of the galaxy, yet Blayde lives in the “last house on the left hand side” of a cul-de-sac in an alien town with stores and a school and a clinic and a community center.- The idea that someone would love you so suddenly and so much that he would risk his profession, his reputation, and even his very life to protect you is sweet.- The pacing of the story is good. There’s not too much superfluous detail. We get an idea of what’s going on, who’s doing what (not to mention who’s doing *whom*…and there’s a lot of that), and then we’re moving on.CONS:- The story is one romance and/or werewolf stereotype after another: “long and golden blond” hair, “eyes as green as the forests up in the hills,” instalove, instamating, instaeverythingelse, etc. Here’s a good quote that sums it all up, I think: “He crossed the room in about three steps, lifted the human and bent him back across his arm. ‘You’re mine!’ he growled at him and lowered his mouth to cover Ryan’s. Ryan struggled only briefly before sagging against him, and he felt Ryan’s sweet arms going around his neck to hold on tight.”- BDSM is used as a sort of therapy in the story, but it’s done in such a shallow way that I couldn’t believe for one second that the author had done anything more than read about the lifestyle in other sensational erotic romance novels.- The climax is pitifully rushed and incomplete. I mean, we’re talking 139 Kindle locations (which is approximately 14 pages on my device) to not only rescue Ryan from a murderer, but also implicate the man in a series of other crimes.Overall comments: I love werewolf stories; it is perhaps my favorite sub-genre within m/m romance. But ones like this? Where the characters can’t get through even a 10-minute conversation without some ridiculous interruption or another, like one guy overreacting to something his partner does, running outside and almost drowning himself in the pool when he accidentally falls in and his mouth is open? (No. I’m not kidding.) Ones like this just aren’t for me.