Review:
*I received a free ecopy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
If there’s any one thing I can say about this series, it’s that the books have been consistently good and enjoyable, and I can always count on them to have likeable characters, snarky humor, solid plots that flow well and have at least one or two action-filled fight scenes, easy-to-read writing, and supernatural quirkiness. So this was another fun book in the series, and it had all the same great things as the previous ones.
My issue this time though was that the relationship problems felt repetitive. Ok, sometimes in real life they are repetitive—the same thing just keeps getting rehashed over and over because the problem doesn’t go away—and I do like realism in books. But the other issue was that these relationship problems didn’t have that heart-wrenching quality they had the potential for. It felt more like I was just watching two people repeatedly discuss the same thing rather than actually feeling the emotion through them, so it kind of lost the impact.
Anyone who has read my previous reviews is probably wondering why I’ve continued the series when I’ve made the same complaint in every review, and the answer is that I have genuinely enjoyed all the books, I do enjoy fun, lighter books sometimes, but I still wanted to explain my reason for not rating them higher. It’s not a bad thing for a book to not be heart-wrenching, and plenty of other reviewers have found the books to have lots of emotion, but I just think there was potential for so much more.
That being said, everything else about the book was still on par with the rest of the books in the series, and I still enjoyed reading the story and rooting for the characters!
Recommended For:
Fans of Books 1 and 2 in Stephen Osborne's Duncan Andrews Thrillers series. M/M urban fantasy fans who want some quick, light reading with likeable characters, snarky humor, and paranormal fun.
More Books in the Series:
Book Review: Pale as a Ghost (Duncan Andrews Thrillers Book 1) by Stephen Osborne
Book Review: Animal Instinct (Duncan Andrews Thrillers Book 2) by Stephen Osborne
Book Review: The Scarlet Tide (Duncan Andrews Thrillers Book 3) by Stephen Osborne
Book Review: Dead End (Duncan Andrews Thrillers Book 4) by Stephen Osborne
Book Review: Under a Blood-Red Moon (Duncan Andrews Thrillers Book 5) by Stephen Osborne
A rock band of vampires. How cool is that? It’s funny you ask about relationship problems in books. 🙂 I’m reading the Night school series and just finished book three- and the love triangle rages on. I liked it book one, wasn’t bad in book two and by three I’m like which guy do ya like??? She’s going back and forth! lol I mean not really but kinda. It is dragging on…
So yeah repetitive can be bad, if we’re just rehashing the same ground. Sounds like these are fun though… and a zombie dog?? Okay then. 🙂
I think you’d be disappointed since there’s not actually a lot of focus on the rock band thing, but, I mean, I would totally think it were cool if there more vampire rock bands 😛
And I get what you’re saying, it depends on how the relationship problems are done. Like, even if the problem persists but it continues to evolve, then it can work. But if it’s just the same thing rehashed in basically the same way in each book, then it doesn’t work so much. And love triangles that take too long can get tiring. But yeah, other than the repetition these books are fun. And this was actually the third zombie pet I’d read about this year, so that in itself was odd lol, but I guess that’s why I didn’t think too much about a zombie dog being all that weird. She’s pretty cute though lol.
Repetitive relationship problems seem to occur when a series is based on one couple and that annoys me. Like you said, repetitive relationship problems are often realistic but when it’s not something weighty it feels a bit like overkill.
I have to disagree actually because most of the series I read have the same MCs in every book, and I’ve never come across this problem before except maybe in one, but that one made everything so emotional that it worked regardless. But yeah, sometimes things that are realistic in real life are hard to make work in books, and something like a relationship problem can end up being overkill.
Glad to hear this series keeps being good. Every time you review one of these I get more curious about this series. Too bad though about the relationships problems being repetitive, I am not a fan of that, even though I do agree it is realistic. I guess it’s just a bit annoying to read about it. I rather see the characters moving forward or the problems change in some way. I am glad to hear you keep enjoying these books even though they don’t have as emotional depth as you would’ve liked. Great review!
You might like it if you do decide to try it 🙂 If you’re able to use Hoopla in your country, I’m pretty sure this series is on there, at least for the US. I don’t know if Hoopla has the same books available everywhere? But yeah, I think one of the problems with repetitive relationship problems in books is that they become predictable too. But it is still a fun series. Thanks!
I get it – and it’s a good thing when the story, characters, plot, etc., are good enough that you can overlook an issue like a relationship problem being repetitive. You enjoy spending time with these guys and being along for the ride while they solve mysteries, etc. They’re fun and funny, right? I’m glad you continue to enjoy the series despite your issue(s) with it. That says a lot of the writing. And I think this is a series I’d have some fun with. 🙂
Exactly, sometimes a book doesn’t have to blow you away to still be fun and funny and enjoyable 🙂