Outside of a Dog

masukomi (📚) reviewed One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop (Paperback, 2021, St. Martin's Griffin)

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: …

Loved it, couldn't wait to see what would happen next

5 stars

Absolutely loved this. It is so much better than the blurb made it seem.

Short (spoiler free) summary: The female protagonist meets a woman who's become separated from her original timeline in the 1970's and is trapped in the subway forty years later. They fall for each other as the protagonist tries to unravel what happened and free her from her eternal subway ride.

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The cast of characters is great. They feel vibrant, alive, and filled with entertaining personality.

When we finally encounter the sex scenes, they don't feel forced or artificial and they're very hot.

I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. The story lies somewhere between slice-of-life, mystery, and urban fantasy (barely), and I loved every moment.

masukomi (📚) reviewed Blood Kissed by Keri Arthur

Blood Kissed (EBook, english language, 2017, Keri Arthur PTY LTD)

In a world where magic and science sit side by side, and powerful witches are …

Enjoyable "Popcorn" read Despite Heavy Tropes

4 stars

Short version: Like popcorn, it's a simple fun read that manages to rise above its all-too-common trope.

The core trope: Strong female protagonist with special ability / power gets embroiled in something dramatic, encounters hot and angry werewolf man, who helps address the central plot problem.

She's irrationally attracted to him even when he's being an ass-hole and the context is anything but horny-making.

He's irrationally mad at her, but ultimately forced to accept that she's right, and together they stop the bad guy.

I'm happy to report there's no hot vampire competing for her affections, and the protagonist and werewolf don't actually have sex before the book ends. 🤯

I'm happier to report that it rises above the standard crap that's written around this trope in many ways.

Kerri has written some unique characters, and an interesting new world setting where werewolves & witches are a significant part of …

Short version: Like popcorn, it's a simple fun read that manages to rise above its all-too-common trope.

The core trope: Strong female protagonist with special ability / power gets embroiled in something dramatic, encounters hot and angry werewolf man, who helps address the central plot problem.

She's irrationally attracted to him even when he's being an ass-hole and the context is anything but horny-making.

He's irrationally mad at her, but ultimately forced to accept that she's right, and together they stop the bad guy.

I'm happy to report there's no hot vampire competing for her affections, and the protagonist and werewolf don't actually have sex before the book ends. 🤯

I'm happier to report that it rises above the standard crap that's written around this trope in many ways.

Kerri has written some unique characters, and an interesting new world setting where werewolves & witches are a significant part of government, at least as far as Australia is concerned, and wild magic sources are things witches protect for the good of all.

The main character's a low-powered witch with a human familiar who's just trying to run a coffee shop & stay hidden from her family.

Her familiar is a dark skinned "amazonian" hottie who is well written, but the story would be 1000x better if she was the love interest and they were just trying to have a happy life together instead of the tropey stuff about deep angry voices being hot despite all rational thought.

Honestly, the romantic interest subplot with the werewolf is the only real problem with this book.

If you're looking for a fun urban fantasy read, and can overlook that, I actually recommend it.