Seize Your Copy Crux (Southern Arcana, #1) Produced By Moira Rogers Released As Publication
The Crux of a Different Matter Altogether
Mackenzie Brooks is on the run from a crazy stalker, For a month she's fled from city to city, forced to survive in ratty motels, burning through her meager savings, haunted by confusing dreams and desperately trying to stay ahead of the threat chasing her.
When she ends up in New Orleans, her financial situation demands she takes a job as a bartender to try to bolster her funds, The owner of the bar, Nicky Peyton, knows something isn't quite right with Mackenzie, guessing she's on the run and doubting she's got a place to stay as Mackenzie had insisted.
Nicky calls in a favor, asking her best friend and private investigator, Jackson Holt, to shadow the skittish Mackenzie on her way home from the bar one night to assure Nicky that her newest employee and friend is safe and has a place to sleep.
When Mackenzie picks up her tail that fateful night, and they meet face to face, it sets their lives on a path neither could have dreamed of, . . even in their worst nightmares, . . and introduces Mackenzie to a truth she would have to be insane to believe, Soon the reality of magic and shapeshifters, mad Seers and psychics is set to crash down on them both and only their bond and the help of a few friends will save them.
sitelinkCrux started out strong, the visceral fear and uncertainty of Mackenzie was well written and the plot quickly paced through the induction of Mackenzie both to Jackson and into a world she isn't sure she can actually believe in.
I was set to really enjoy this book and thought it had a lot of potential with an interesting premise and unique character set, Unfortunately, I'm starting to feel like a bit of a curmudgeon, because much like the last few books I've read that got great reviews and were highly rated, I just barely liked this book and almost rated it two.
After a great beginning, I think the book just fell apart for me, On just about every front,
The pieces were there for a really kick ass urban fantasy/paranormal romance, I thought the cast of characters were strong and the plot definitely appealing and interesting, The execution, however, was so lacking I repeatedly stumbled over my willing suspension of disbelief, I could understand why some characters were willing to help Mackenzie, and utterly befuddled by the motivation in others and no believable explanation for those questionable motivations were given.
I totally bought into the decisions made as the plot got more and more dangerous, . . but couldn't figure out why some aspects of the plot were even included, as they did nothing but lesson tension at important points, There were a few instances where I felt actions taken or character development directly contradicted previous definitions and information, And without wanting to include spoilers, I know I sound overly critical and vague, and that frustrates me because I have several pointed questions about specific events,
I will say this, . . I don't think this will add too many spoilers, . . one of the bigger points that bothered me was the Alpha's personal participation, given his definition in a previous part of the book, And I was never fully invested in the relationship between Mackenzie and Jackson because of the odd way I felt it developed, I liked them together, but I just didn't feel like they were given enough time to develop beyond a physical attraction, nor was the narrative in that area fleshed out enough to get me to where they were by the end of the book.
As a result, sitelinkCrux ended up feeling very much like a puzzle with a bunch of brilliantly colored pieces, but the placement of each just wasn't quite right, so the puzzle as a whole didn't come together for me into one cohesive story.
There was a lot of promise, and a lot of potential, but I just didn't feel it was ever realized for me, And the parts that didn't work for me didn't work to such a large degree that I would have to think very hard before continuing on to book two of the series.
ed for sitelinkOne Good Book Deserves Another, I had heard a lot about this series and author on twitter and I just to check it out, I am so glad I did, The Southern Arcana series has become entered my radar and are simply an automatic buy for me right now, She is on the run from a man that claims that
they are meant to be together, He is also a shifter and they are supposed to be destined for each other and save their race from extinction,
Mackenzie is a shifter that doesnt know she is a shifter, She has all this power within her that she has no access to because she has been closed out from it as an infant,
Jackson is a PI and his best friend is a wolf shifter, When she asks him to investigate her newest bartender, Mackenzie, because she thinks there is something wrong with her, Jackson gets int the ride of his life,
I loved this book, It was such an easy read and so cool, Mackenzie is a very complex character and it was really awesome to get to know her and see her grow and change so much throughout the novel,
Jackson is HOT and a great leading man, Very determined, strong and protective, he and Mack make a great couple and their love was something you just have to get behind, its unavoidable,
The romance in Crux is sizzling, but it does not take away the merit of the plot, A terrible villain and great action make up up for a thrilling and sexy ride that you just cannot put down,
If you are into Paranormal Romance, I absolutely recommend this book to you! You wont regret it!
Smuttastic Coven Group Read: August
This book is complicated, not so much in its essence, but more in my reflection.
Overall, I liked the book I think, . . but holy crap on a cracker, it has some problems,
The novel's plot was pretty cutandpaste of most standard fiction tropes crazy powerful bad guy hunting down the innocent heroine, The antagonist of the story, ironically, shared a lot in common with the protagonists, . . Shocking, right This statement finds itself more along the lines of Author's Fault rather than the actual development of the story, Frankly, while the book was decent, it was painfully obvious that absolutely no character development took place over the course of Crux, . . with ANY of the characters,
Jackson was likable, Mackenzie was likable. All the secondary cast of characters were likable, Sadly, that's the problem. From Prologue to Epilogue nothing stronger than outside influences affected the characters, There was, truly, almost a poignant lack of internal conflict, both with the characters independently of one another, as well as in the context of being a couple, Neither character experienced growth, nor loss, nor difficulty, This, I feel, is largely why the climax of the book felt so disappointing, So much buildup and drama was established in Getting The Bad Guy that, when said scene arrived, it very much felt as a WhamBamThankYouMa'am deal,
Ironically, while both the plot and characters were mediocre in their quality, the pacing of the novel was very well executed, At no time did any particular scene feel exasperatedly drawn out, even when considering the Crux's storytype parameters, The writing was tight and fluid, and this made for true reading enjoyment, When an author can utilize good technical skills in making a story flow well, even in spite of some tremendous pitfalls to their work of fiction, color me impressed.
Lastly, my final complaint against this book deals more towards its romantic elements, and yet still circulates back to my original Big Problem with Crux, As noted before, this novel bites big ass in character development, as well as characterization, Sadly, while there was nothing specifically wrong with Jackson and Mackenzie, their lack of onpage presence and personality made them, sadly, very unimpressive to read, These two were easily forgettable, and this could be why I found their romance to be uninteresting, and a total failure in being believable, I doubt very much if ever there was a literary couple with as little chemistry and fire as Jackson and Mackenzie, In truth, I found more heat and spark between Mackenzie and another minor character of Crux than I did with the hero, . . and this is saying something, since I'm betting said minor character wasn't even heterosexual!
However, . . the book wasn't a total loss, Overall, I have to say I'm wavering perpetually between aandstar ranking, I've even changed it three times back and forth since writing this review, On the one hand, I sailed right through the book, and found myself engrossed in the story, On the other hand, that engrossment did not achieve a good payoff, since frankly, the book is easily forgettable, I both liked it, and thought it was okay, .Stars
Well this wasn't my favorite book by Moira Rogers, I did enjoy the chemistry between Jackson and Mackenzie, At times I thought the action was a little slow, but overall it was a good book that inc, many aspects of the paranormal world, In Crux we meet Mackenzie Brooks who has been on the run for months from a crazy stalker that seems to find her no matter where she goes and is willing to go to any extreme to get her.
After months of running, she ends up in New Orleans working at Mahalia's which is run by Nicole Peyton, a shapeshifter that comes from a world Mac knows nothing about.
Nick enlists her friend Jackson Holt, a private investigator and spell caster, to find out more about Mac and to possibly help her out, Jackson gets a glimpse at the type of trouble she is in and being the southern gentlemen he is offers to help her out, Mac is hesitant at first accepting help from Jackson, in part because she doesn't want to see him get hurt by her stalker and in part because she is attracted to him but can't afford to be distracted by her emotions while trying to escape a crazed stalker.
As the danger surrounding Mac grows, Jackson steps in to protect Mac and figure out why the stalker is after her and risks everything to keep the woman he has begun to care about safe.
The book is a wellpaced read where you want to rush ahead to the next pages to figure out the mystery of Mac's stalker as well as her upbringing.
Mac is a tenacious heroine that has faced difficult trials in her life and particularly in the past few months, Mac really needs someone to trust and follows her instincts about making friends with Jackson and Nick, Nick is a great character that gives everything to help people she cares about, She is definitely a favorite of mine and I loved her in the second book Crossroads, And Jackson, what's not to like he saves damsels in distress and cooks delicious Italian food, The authors do a great job of creating dynamic characters that you understand and care about and fight scenes that you hold you breath during because you're afraid of what's going to happen.
The villian they created as well was well done and super creepy, I was happy with the ending he met up with, it was well deserved,
I give this bookout ofstars, sexy shapeshifters and spell casters combined with a story you didn't want to put down, Jackson
Mackenzie
stars
Read January
I enjoyed this one! Loved both hero and heroine, Great sexual tension/chemistry between them, Liked the secondary characters too, Looking forward to reading more in this series, I have been in a reading "funk" lately, Almost everything I have been reading is just "O, K. " So, when I read the description for Crux, I thought I might have stumbled upon a new series with the promise of truly being good, Unfortunately, it did not deliver for me, Don't get me wrong, I liked it, I just did not love it,
Mackenzie Brooks has been on the run for over a month from an insane stalker, Marcus who believes she is destined to be his wife and the mother of many supernaturally gifted babies.
She runs to New Orleans where she takes a job as a bartender, Her boss, Nicole Peyton has secrets of her own and sense Kenzie has troubles, So, she hires a friend, Jackson Holt, P, I. to follow her to make sure she is safe, Kenzie discovers she is being followed and a friendship blossoms, Now, Mackenzie's discovers that the supernatural world is not a myth and her world is about to change forever, Sounds good, right Well, it just did not deliver, This book read like a short story rather than the beginning of new series, The author jams friendship and love within the firstpages, It just did not feel believable, Ms. Rogers had plenty of opportunity to set up solid characterizations before moving on to unbelievable attachments, After all, the book is onlypages, She could have added anotherpages to allow the characters to blossom before jumping right into the plot, Read it for yourself and you decide, God, I cannot wait for my favorite sequels to come out, I am so reading challenged!
I'd rather a book just be bad from the start than to tease and entice me before leaving me high and dry,
Sampling this book WILL NOT help you determine if you'd like to buy it or not,
At First, . .
Storyline is interesting amp suspenseful,
I'm enjoying the para plot of the FMC running from a 'stalker' claiming to be a her fated para mate,
We begin the story with her on the run, She heads to NOLA and gets a job at a bar, Her new shifter boss is concerned about her skittish behavior and calls in her para buddies to investigate, Enter the MMC, Jackson, his partner, and a host of other friends, They all immediately adopt Mckensie into their group,
The writing is crisp, clean, fun, engaging, and believable, The flow and pacing are moving along quickly,
My only complaint at this point is that voice infliction and word choices could be a little better,
"So what if his eyes kept flickering back to Mackenzie and her lustrous hair, "
In terms of a character's voice matching his/her persona, Jackson often uses girly word choices,
If willing to go with it because the plot is good so far,
And, then
Falling Apart By Midpoint, . .
Did we switch authors somewhere
The writing crawls, The plot is falling apart, The characters aren't developing.
I'm atand realize this story has been steadily falling apart at the seams for some time,
The Romance Is Shitty, . .
Mackenzie and Jackson are NOT progressing individually nor as a romance,
He's hot. She's hot. They're hot for each other, Both think her stalker, para, and overall dangerous situation means that it's no time to get hot,
She begs him, throws herself at him, always initiates, and is the aggressor here sometimes in lucidity and sometimes in a frenzied heat, Ehh, the way it's written, it's a turn off,
Meanwhile, Jackson's response is lukewarm at best, girly at worst, It reminds me of a city girl swatting at a fly, Sure he occasionally throws in an 'oh, it's so difficult to contain myself, ' But his actions and dialogue DO NOT portray a man struggling to contain heartfelt feelings nor manly lust, More like someone indifferent.
So, it's a rinse, recycle, and repeat of an unbelievable sexual angst situation that's much ado and leaving me bored, annoyed, and unfulfilled,
Speaking of Repetitive, . .
I'm tired of hearing the same plot lines multiple times to extend this Crux's word count,
Steven the cat, for example, explains what he knows to Jackson, Offpage, Steven tells the same to Mahalia, who then turns around and recounts it to the FMC, making the second time we go through the shit,
Anyway .
The only thing forcing me forward is the para plot line, and even it's on thin ice,
Collapses In On Itself
As this shitshow progresses, all the pieces start rolling around and crumble into a heaping pile of rubbish,
The MCs never develop because too much time is spent intro'ing and planting seeds for the secondary character books to follow,
Zero chemistry. Zero sexy times. Zero heartthrob. Zero Zero Zero.
The FMC is a stranger to these people and they're ALL willing to die for her,
The leader of the wolves, who has nada to do with this, is willing to risk his most prized possession, which also happens to be his child, to fight someone else's fight.
. . whom he's never even met,
Inaction! it takes multiple chapters of BS schematics and horsing around for the rescue attempt, TMI, and it's useless info at that,
Bad guy turns
' Laughable.
Meaningless death of a secondary character followed by asinine selfblame by the MCs, Eyeroll.
Escape of the bad guy turned good guy and the FMC via a thug with a conscious and death wish,
Sex scene FROM HELL! This shit was what I imagine it would sound like if Ann Colter amp Bill Orielly had sex, Half a fucking chapter of yapping as they are attempting to have sex the first time, And I'm not talking 'oh baby do you like it that way, this way, etc', . . I'm talking I expected them to start a discussion on the nutritional value of broccoli any fucking minute, Horrible!
I love you out of nowhere,
Stupid AF bad guy solution and resolve, It was a bunch of stringed together para nonsense that didn't fit with what had already happened and was dull and anticlimactic,
Bottom Line
Excellent para idea that started well but quickly became a complete fail in execution,
Recommend No.
Continue forward in series No,
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