Vampir Okulu-Kasketbol Maçı-Chris Harrison itibaren Nemesis Kitap içinde LIT biçim

Shannon Crabill shannoncrabill — I really liked this book. It kept you reading to find out what happens next. It is a romance book.

Jago Silver jagoillustration — ** spoiler alert ** Ohhh, the big kerfuffle book. I had only glanced at a couple of reviews on Amazon before I read this so I wasn't aware of the extent of the reader outrage, only that the Sophia/Decker dream was dead. That wasn't enough to send me into a tailspin but it did amount to a heartfelt "WHAT?! Ah JEEZ..." I was rooting for Sophia and Decker. Not in a crazy way, but I thought their scenario was fairly scorching when introduced in Flashpoint and had since then been set on torturous slow burn, the kind that makes you scream with frustration but in a good way...supposedly the last couple of books held hints towards it being put on ice- and yes, Sophia kissing Dave at the close of Into the Fire was a big one- but I obviously chose to ignore them or believe them to be misdirection. I don't really care about all the arguments behind the couples in this series, I just ask for some damn serious chemistry at least. And Dave? Does not cut it. Simple as that. I appreciate that Suz tries to throw in as much variance as possible, from character's ethnicities to backgrounds to personalities, sometimes to a fairly ridiculous degree, but when I read a romance, I tend to envision the same shadowy hero in my mind. I'll breeze by whatever description is given- bald, black, white, short- and focus on the smile, the laugh, the way he talks, the way the others talk about him, and what he does, so every hero morphs into that one alpha male, just with varying degrees of humor and angst. Lovely. But Dave, dear Dave, just does NOT morph! I tried, I really did, I tried to jam him into that Holy-God-Yes-Please mold but the dude just doesn't fit. Read the description of him in Flashpoint, or the "skinny guy with love handles" bit and you'll find romantic escapism out in the alley, beaten with a skillet. And having the wussy guy who deeply believes in his own wussiness constantly need to be reassured by his love interest or just wondering about her second-pick adoration for him is not particularly hot. Ah hell, it was just a slightly icky set-up from the start, and damned if poor old Decker hasn't been snagged in two of these triangles- first with Nash and Tess, and then, almost simultaneously, Dave and Sophia. So Sophia, on her own or with Dave, does not set me on fire. Sophia with Deck, now that could've been interesting. But I'll live. Deck, as it turns out in this book, is the key- Deck is hot with anyone. And he's hot here with Tracy. Didn't see it coming- although reading back, she's always found him attractive, so there's that much- but that's fine too, since while she's not a completely different character, she's definitely "matured" (that, I guess, is the word for when an author has left the development of a character mostly off the page between books)enough for her to be more likable and feasible as a foil to the warrior Deck. In fact I liked that the slightly flighty, slightly persecuted receptionist was the one to score big with Deck- it had an element of that Max/Gina so-wrong-that-they're-right which I really dug. I just wish I'd seen more of her becoming the person that she was in this book, and what happened with her and Izzy after Into the Storm... Also, the Into the Fire trend of plotting and a billion characters unfortunately continued- I have no idea what was really going on throughout most of the story in regards to their mission, and while I like Nash and Tess, I was glad to see them wrapped up- and not in the good way but more 'finally!' Man, those kids from the first few books got off lightly- Joan, Mike, Kenny, Savannah, Meg, Nils, all got their start and happily ever after in one book- even Tom and Kelly's drawn-out "angst" was just about when they would get married. Of course, I sorta assumed Nash and Tess were solid after Flashpoint, but was proved wrong, and Sam and Alyssa are set to star in the next book, so there's nothing to say Meg and Nils don't have to jump through some more hoops too. Maybe it's something to do with the 86'ing of the WWII flashbacks- used to be one primary romance that ended with HEA, one secondary that was ongoing, and one flashback plotline- which, admittedly, did nothing for me. Now there's that third slot to fill and in the last couple of books it's made for fairly hectic reading. All that said, I want more Izzy, I want to catch glimpses of the old faces- like Cosmo and Jane out helping search for the lost dog in Into the Storm- and I want to know exactly WHAT Suz is going to do to Sam and Alyssa, whose story is what got me into this mess in the first place. Bring on the next one!