Kyrie

I'm 50-50 as to whether or not I really minded this book. The writing itself wasn't bad. It was an amusing story, with colorful characters and scenery, I found myself wanting to know more about the characters in this world, and I was rooting for them to work things out. I also want to know where Leonard learned to cook.

But...well, I can't exactly say the premise wasn't great, because the idea itself makes for an interesting story. Five bad boys needed to be hooked up with the one woman who can redeem them. It's romance-smut that basically writes itself!

It's just...the using of already established fairy tale characters. For instance, in this one, the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

Now, not all the bachelors are ripped from other stories. There's a Djinn in there that I'm pretty sure was an original construct - or, at least he wasn't based on the Robin Williams Genie from Disney's Aladdin. But otherwise, you've got Hatter, the Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, Gerard (Gaston) from Beauty and the Beast, and Captain Hook.

Maybe part of my problem is all I can picture are the Disney equivalents of all those characters...actually, I think that might be it.

Also trying to figure out how she gets around the whole bestiality thing with Wolf. I'm very, very tempted to get the rest of the books, just to find that one thing out.

...another problem I had was the romanticizing of Hatter's madness. Hall painted him as a tortured soul, caught just at the border of insanity and sanity, jumping between the two at the drop of a hat. (Hehe.) During his fits of insanity, he could be cruel, and nasty...which, fine. I get that. But the way it was handled in the relationship left me a bit uncomfortable.

“Does your boyfriend often fly into random fits of anger, causing you physical harm and emotional trauma? Don't worry about it! He'll be in a better mood later...he's just a tortured soul! You can temper his insanity if you just love him enough!”

And I thought Twilight was bad with that...

I've been meaning to read [b:The Assassin's Curse 13533650 The Assassin's Curse (The Assassin's Curse, #1) Cassandra Rose Clarke https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335967954s/13533650.jpg 18229805], but haven't gotten around to it just yet. I needed a good break after reading [b:A Game of Thrones 13496 A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369520317s/13496.jpg 1466917], though, and saw that I had this book sitting around. I decided I'd read this as a sort of taste-test to see whether or not I should put more effort into finding The Assassin's Curse.The answer is yes.The Wizard's Promise is a kind-of sort-of sequel, set in the same world as the Assassin's Curse duology. There was a bunch of world-building in this book, and key terms were explained, so you don't have to have read the first duology to appreciate The Wizard's Promise. I'd imagine that there's more to enjoy in there for someone who has read the first series, though.I loved the world-building in this book. The atmosphere of the story was great, especially towards the end of the story. The masked procession - both the introduction and the twist - was just so creepy and so wonderfully established. The bit with the twisted procession was definitely my favorite part of the story.The plot is a tad bit slow, with most of the action happening at the beginning and the end, with a gaping hole in the middle where nothing much happened, as far as plot progression goes. Hanna gets a job fishing and starts trying to save up money to make her way home. That's really all that happens for a good stretch of time.I didn't really mind the slow pacing. Sure, there were times where I wished something would happen, but in general, there was so many things being described that I was never bored.There's a downside to me choosing to read this now, of course. The publisher, Strange Chemistry, went out of business, so I have no idea when, or if to expect the second book.Ah, well. I've got the first series to read, I suppose.