Review: All For You by Dana Marie Bell
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 01 29, 2013
I really wanted to like this book but I had a hard time doing so. It had a really interesting premise with Nephilims but....1)it could have used a glossary as there were many different types of Nephilims and Shemyazas (their arch-nemesis) most of which we were told via dialogue between the main characters but many had no part in this particular book so it felt like she was info dumping instead of world building.2)The hero got mad at the heroine because she did something that labeled her TSTL (Too Stupid to Live) and actually said "Even you aren't that stupid." at which point I would have giving him a big F.U. and left his winged butt where he stood, but not her. Nope she was just smiling like an idiot because she realized he didn't frighten her (which after a violent past as a battered woman it was understandable why a man shouting at her in anger would have made her curl up in a ball but the man said she was stupid! Come on!)3)The heroine then proved repeatedly that she truly was that stupid and continued to do TSTL things.4)The hero eventually proved that he was also TSTL.5)The mystery was explained in a way that I felt completely let down.6)The heroine has something like 20 best friends (slight exaggeration) all of whom were mentioned at least once during the course of the book even though some were not actually in the book at all.7)Abby is being stalked and she's terrified it's her ex who is supposed to be in prison for life yet she doesn't try to contact the prison to make sure he is still there. No one does.8)This book uses a version of the 'mated' theme to explain why couples are together yet it appears that a mate is not a once in a lifetime thing and a Nephilim can indeed have more than one during the course of their lifespan. This seems a bit confusing and it's just not explained enough.9)The Nephilims have something unique about each one of them but they are essentially human. They don't appear to be super hard to kill. They are not bullet proof and their lifespans are the same as humans. I really prefer my supernatural boyfriends to be a little like Superman. Sigh, yet another disappointment.10)I had a hard time grasping how old the characters were as their dialogue seemed quite juvenile. I thought the bunch of them were teenagers for a moment (especially when the heroine thought to herself "She hoped they understood how tired she was, because soon she'd be seeing little ponies prancing on the ceiling, farting rainbows everywhere." Really?)Anyway, it really did have potential and the suspense on who was stalking Abby and why was compelling. I found myself wanting to get back to the book to find out what would happen but I ended up just disappointed. On a side note I think Dana Marie Bell generally writes erotica and it was evident in the wording during the sex scenes. Although I am not a fan of erotica I didn't hate the sex scenes in this book. I liked that the plot was not overshadowed by the sex and the sex scenes did not feel out of place when they occurred.Overall, I will give this author another try and read the second Nephilim book when it comes out sometime in the future.(I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.)