Katee Robert

While I am relatively new to Katee Roberts and do not have many of her novels under my belt, I still expect her stories to be escapism at its finest. My expectations include fun characters, good bedroom scenes, and plots that are as entertaining as they are fast reading. Unfortunately, Hunt on Dark Waters, her latest novel and series opener, failed to meet my expectations.

Let's start with the good. I loved the world-building. The idea of mermaids being terrible monsters was a fun take, as is Ms. Roberts' take on the Wild Hunt being a real thing consisting of magic-containing pirates and not Fae. I wanted to see more of this world and its monsters. I wanted to learn more about the politics behind the Hunt and how it got to be where it is when Evelyn arrives on the scene.

In fact, I loved the world so much, I wanted more sea action and less bedroom action. Actually, I could have done without all of the bedroom action. I didn't find any of the scenes particularly sexy. Moreover, they did nothing to enhance the story. If anything, they were meant to show how Bowen and Evelyn are fated for each other. But, we are talking about two people who met the day before and spent most of that time fighting each other. Suddenly, after some time in the bedroom, they can't live without each other. Even I can't buy that level of insta-love when there is nothing there but sex to support the relationship.

Outside the bedroom scenes, there is little more to Hunt on Dark Waters. There is little to no character development and minimal world-building. The plot is simplistic at best. Even when Ms. Roberts introduces the added complication of Evelyn's vampire ex to the mix, the story feels flat. There is so much potential here, but it feels like Ms. Roberts intended this particular story to be nothing more than a porn movie in story form, and that is the most disappointing aspect of the entire thing.… (mer)

Normally I would not rate a book I abandoned at 20% but this is truly one of the worst books I have ever encountered. The girl, Elle, is profoundly morainic. (She is of age, but she is a girl. She sneaks into the bed of the boy she likes who is her BOSS to seduce him and she uses the term "H-E-double hockey sticks.") It turns out there is someone other than said boss in the bed but since she is working in the dark she does not realize that the bed does not contain her target and plants herself on the poor visitor instead. Oopsie!

The guys are hilarious. Nathan (the boss/target) is supposed to be this man of quality of whom her mother will approve because he owns a gallery that displays "every type of art" and is a leader in the art world . . . of SPOKANE! Additionally, he has a "cultured aura" which is something I have not personally seen, but I would like the author to draw me a picture because I don't have any clue what that would look like -- is it tweedy, does the aura drink scotch, read Beckett for fun, and wear cashmere socks? Nathan's brother Gabe (the mystery orgasm giver) is considered far beneath him because he has a lot of ink and owns nightclubs "in all the major cities on the west coast." I did not get far enough to determine if Spokane counted on that list. No shade, I am sure Spokane is lovely (other than a cab ride through it from SeaTac to a conference at Gonzaga I have never been) but it is not a capitol of the art or nightclub worlds.

Anyway . . . in the first chapter girl climbs into bed with the "wrong man" and has her first orgasm (I believe she has has sex only once before, but that is not 100% clear.) She sees the giver of orgasms in the light, realizes it is the wrong guy, and runs out before anything gets penetrated and then says over and over she "almost slept with him!" Apparently she is under the impression that sex has not occurred because of the lack of penetration. I know this can be considered a gray area, but can we all agree that if you are with someone who is not a medical professional or porn camera operator and at the end of the encounter they could identify your vulva in a police lineup you have likely "slept together?" Then she worries that the reason this man was in her boss's bed is because he is her boss's lover but they she decides that is impossible because said man was attracted to her. Her friend (whom she actually shares this experience with!) confirms the original target is not Gay because her friend hooked up with him. Are there no bisexual people in Tacoma? Is there an ordinance that demands residents who are bi pick a gender to boink and stick with it? And is there an ordinance banning a gender spectrum in order to support the unilateral fucking rule? It is really confusing.

Not that it matters given the content, but I assume Ms. Robert failed freshman comp, because the writing is painful to read and the story makes no sense. For instance, Elle goes to work the next day and Gabe (orgasm giver) shows up and she treats him like dirt. She assumes there is no reason he could have a legit reason for being in the gallery despite the fact that the night before he was an overnight guest of the gallery owner.

The whole thing is sort of painful to read, but it's hard to feel the pain when you are so busy laughing.… (mer)

I did appreciate the world building and the unique take on Greek mythology and I love a good Hades and Persephone story, but there were a few little things that kind of bugged me.

I did listen to the audio version and the biggest thing to irritate me was the pronunciation of the word gyro. The narrator of Hades kept pronouncing it as it looks jiro (if you look at it phonetically) like gyroscope, but in greek in regards to the greek sandwich it should be pronounced Yee-ro with a roll on the ‘r’. I mean it is Greek mythology you would think they would go with the Greek pronunciation.

I also that the ‘P’ word was over used in the spicy scenes. It seemed like it was in every sentence during those scenes. I have read plenty of other spicy scenes that were just as hot while using that word sparingly or not at all.

The language at times also seemed to be awkward or forced and sometimes cringy for lack of a better way to describe it. That could also have been the way the narrators of the audio book performed not the words themselves.

The next time I pick up this book, I will actually physically read the book and that may change my mind on some of these points. Overall I thought it was a fun story and I do plan on finishing the rest of the series.

pepper scale… (mer)