If you try to sell us an uber assassin trained from childhood that went around the world eliminating high profile targets for some sinister organization please don't make her a girly hysterical bundle of nerves in stressful situations.
You can't eat the cake and have it too. Either you have a damsel in distress or you have a badass. Pick one.
Being a trained and brainwashed agent that has no idea of how to live a normal life and deal with concepts like compassion or friendship is a common trope that nonetheless can be enjoyable if executed well but you have to keep your characters consistent.
This is something I see all the time and I just can't comprehend how no one seems to be bothered by it.
The writing is decent but the plot is weak and full of holes.

Another common flaw that annoys the hell out of me is this weird split in maturity. One second they act like teenagers and the next they have a serious heart to heart that sound like straight out of what I imagine a bad "how to be an adult" self-help book would sound like. Extremely stilted and unnatural. Usually, I associate this flaw with YA but this book might as well be tagged as YA considering how it is overflowing with ya tropes.

Ultimately it all goes the typical cringy and clichée "with the power of friendship" yadda yadda route which is where I gave up. ( )

Erin kicks butt!

The storyline is interesting and I liked a lot of the characters but I think there were a lot of unnecessary fighting scenes that could have been cut out and the author could have focused more on giving Erin a personality. I mean, she had a personality but she was just a little too badass and perfect. I like my leading ladies to be a little flawed. Give them a foul mouth or garlic breath or something.

I did like this book though and think it has a lot of potential. I look forward to the next book. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Rosie O’Grady’s Paranormal Bar and Grill series. I borrowed this book through Kindle Unlimited.

Story (3/5): This started out as a pretty awesome concept. I loved the backstory about Erin training with the Illuminati as an assassin from a young age. I also loved that she realized she was being manipulated and chose to leave that lifestyle. Honestly, I ended up kind of wishing this first book was that back story rather than what it ended up being. Erin ends up landing in a smallish town and working for a small magical bar she stumbles into (Guild Codex: Spellbound series anyone...OMG it was exactly the same). From there she gets kind of forced into a turf war between vamps and werewolves and possibly another Hunter from the Illuminati.

What started out as an intriguing character and backstory degenerated into a complete mess of politics and Erin stumbling around from one bad situation to another.

Characters (3/5): I initially really liked Erin and thought she was going to be interesting to read about. Her naivete about the world and relationships, despite being an assassin for years, was intriguing. However, she quickly started to just kind of “go with the flow” of things and stumble around a plotline that put her into one suspicious position after another. I lost interest in her and respect for her quickly. The other characters at the bar also seemed initially to be very intriguing. Unfortunately, too many characters were introduced too quickly and the descriptions of them all weren’t very memorable. This made all these side characters blur into just a mass of extra people that I didn’t care about or engage with.

Setting (3/5): The setting was fine. It started out kind of cool with the whole secret Illuminati base, but that quickly turned into a typical bar in a small city urban fantasy type of setting. Nothing all that unique or intriguing.

Writing Style (3/5): There were some cool ideas in here, the action scenes are decently written, and I liked the way Erin used magic. This is definitely a bit more gritty than some other urban fantasy I have recently read; just more gore and more swearing and more adult topics. However, I didn’t ever engage with the characters well and didn’t enjoy that this devolved from something unique into something that was quickly very typical urban fantasy. This ended up being a mashup of vampire politics, secret mage associations, outlying faerie towns, etc, etc. It’s like too much was introduced too quickly and it was hard to care or place what was going on. Despite the short length I almost didn’t finish this.

My Summary (3/5): Overall there were some things about this I liked but it ended up being pretty mediocre when all was said and done. The start is the best part here with the Illuminati background and Erin’s interesting childhood. After that the story is a very typical and very messy blend of vamp politics, secret mage associations, and other typical urban fantasy tropes. Erin takes very little initiative and kind of just lets the disorganized plot push her around. Too much was introduced too quickly and none of it made a lot of sense. I really wanted to love this but just ended up wanting to be done with it and move onto something else. This makes me very sad because I was hoping Kingsolver would be a new favorite of mine! ( )

Fun read

But there are some issues with the MC’s voice. I’m not sure the character’s motivations were fully realized, as a few scenes felt off. Not totally out of character, but as if the various parts weren’t properly woven together

For instance, as an assassin she makes a great thug. She worried about being memorable, then took actions that were the opposite of quiet and unnoticeable and didn’t really try to rationalize or coverup afterwards.

All that said, I enjoyed the writing. A little shallow on the world building, and the entire first chapter felt like an infodump, but the plot moved nicely and never felt too forced.

I will look for the next novel. ( )

Fun read

But there are some issues with the MC’s voice. I’m not sure the character’s motivations were fully realized, as a few scenes felt off. Not totally out of character, but as if the various parts weren’t properly woven together

For instance, as an assassin she makes a great thug. She worried about being memorable, then took actions that were the opposite of quiet and unnoticeable and didn’t really try to rationalize or coverup afterwards.

All that said, I enjoyed the writing. A little shallow on the world building, and the entire first chapter felt like an infodump, but the plot moved nicely and never felt too forced.

I will look for the next novel. ( )