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scrollsofdragons's review
4.0
The Orange Cat- A rather amusing tale.
Bad Publicity - Patrick being a father, not a good one but the feels are real.
Lady of the Lake -A lovely vacation between one of my favourite couples of all time.
Rituals Sneek Peek - Gabriel's mother is back, maybe? Ooooh drama.
Bad Publicity - Patrick being a father, not a good one but the feels are real.
Lady of the Lake -A lovely vacation between one of my favourite couples of all time.
Rituals Sneek Peek - Gabriel's mother is back, maybe? Ooooh drama.
heathersbike's review
Read these as part of the collection. Just marking it so I don't get excited there's something I haven't read.
lolasreviews's review
4.0
I got this e-book because I pre-ordered Betrayals.
Overall this was a fun read with 3 short stories and the first chapter of Rituals, book 5 in this series. The first two short stories are very short, but give a bit of character depth, personality and background that was a nice touch. The stor about the orange cat is a bit creepy and was told from Gabriel his point of view. Bad Publicity was a Patrick story which was quite fun with a few small twists and I liked how we get an idea of how he thinks about Gabriel.
The story Lady of the Lake was a lot longer than the first two short stories and I also enjoyed that one the most. It follows a mystery Liv and Ricky run into on their vacation, this takes place between book 3 and 4 if I am correct. The story was enjoyable and worked well as a short story and made me want to pick up betrayals as soon as possible. My only complaint was that there was very little Gabriel, I am team Gabriel and he did/ said something stupid at the end of book 3 and Liv and Ricky aren't too happy with him right now. It's hard to see their relationship a bit strained.
These stories remind me why I love this series so much and had me looking forward to the next book. I'll have to read betrayals soon as I am looking forward to be back in this world.
Overall this was a fun read with 3 short stories and the first chapter of Rituals, book 5 in this series. The first two short stories are very short, but give a bit of character depth, personality and background that was a nice touch. The stor about the orange cat is a bit creepy and was told from Gabriel his point of view. Bad Publicity was a Patrick story which was quite fun with a few small twists and I liked how we get an idea of how he thinks about Gabriel.
The story Lady of the Lake was a lot longer than the first two short stories and I also enjoyed that one the most. It follows a mystery Liv and Ricky run into on their vacation, this takes place between book 3 and 4 if I am correct. The story was enjoyable and worked well as a short story and made me want to pick up betrayals as soon as possible. My only complaint was that there was very little Gabriel, I am team Gabriel and he did/ said something stupid at the end of book 3 and Liv and Ricky aren't too happy with him right now. It's hard to see their relationship a bit strained.
These stories remind me why I love this series so much and had me looking forward to the next book. I'll have to read betrayals soon as I am looking forward to be back in this world.
thechaoshour's review
5.0
Loved these stories! They were all a lot of fun and exactly what I expected from Cainsville.
lpcoolgirl's review
5.0
Loved this collection of short stories, of Gabriel, of Patrick, and of the road trip that Liv and Ricky went on! Fantastic, and I need to reread Betrayals!
acanuckreader's review
4.0
The Orange Cat
This may have been one of my favourite of the tales in this book. It gives us more insight into Gabriel as a professional before the beginning of the Cainsville series. It is almost like gothic satire, reminding me a bit of a classic horror tale with a satirical modern spin on it. It also shows why Gabriel is so open to the thought of magic, and something otherworldly, other than Rose's powers to foretell the future.
Bad Publicity
God, does Patrick have an ego or what? I hate to say it but he is still one of my favourite characters even though I know he's not the best guy in the fight. I actually really liked this story because it actually showed how his ego might be his downfall one day.
Lady of the Lake
This was an interesting story for me, skirting the edges of Cainsville, and taking place somewhere I've driven along here in Canada. I found it interesting, as Olivia and Ricky did to find out how different places, and cultures have many of the same fae tales but under different names.
The Lady of the Lake was a formidable opponent and the danger, despite this being an in between tale, felt quite real for these two.
The visions as always were a little horrific, and I did appreciate getting a little bit more of Ricky's point of view on Olivia's relationship with Gabriel. It only served to flesh out his character more.
This may have been one of my favourite of the tales in this book. It gives us more insight into Gabriel as a professional before the beginning of the Cainsville series. It is almost like gothic satire, reminding me a bit of a classic horror tale with a satirical modern spin on it. It also shows why Gabriel is so open to the thought of magic, and something otherworldly, other than Rose's powers to foretell the future.
Bad Publicity
God, does Patrick have an ego or what? I hate to say it but he is still one of my favourite characters even though I know he's not the best guy in the fight. I actually really liked this story because it actually showed how his ego might be his downfall one day.
Lady of the Lake
This was an interesting story for me, skirting the edges of Cainsville, and taking place somewhere I've driven along here in Canada. I found it interesting, as Olivia and Ricky did to find out how different places, and cultures have many of the same fae tales but under different names.
The Lady of the Lake was a formidable opponent and the danger, despite this being an in between tale, felt quite real for these two.
The visions as always were a little horrific, and I did appreciate getting a little bit more of Ricky's point of view on Olivia's relationship with Gabriel. It only served to flesh out his character more.
kelspe's review
4.0
This is a prequel to the Cainsville Tales by Kelley Armstrong. If you preordered her last book or reserved it at the library, you could email her lovely assistant for a copy. I had preordered Betrayals months before it came out but only recently realized I could get this book. I'm glad amazon keeps all your prior invoices available. It is a nice little gift that the author gave to her fans. I thought that was very sweet of her and enjoyed the stories very much.
The Orange Cat was my favorite from all the shorts because Gabriel is the narrator and I love Gabriel. The Orange Cat is a take on Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cat (which ironically I read for the first time last fall). Gabriel has a case involving an orange cat. The story itself is similar to Poe's but I loved all the bits she added in between that gave us more insight into Gabriel when he was young.
The Orange Cat was my favorite from all the shorts because Gabriel is the narrator and I love Gabriel. The Orange Cat is a take on Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cat (which ironically I read for the first time last fall). Gabriel has a case involving an orange cat. The story itself is similar to Poe's but I loved all the bits she added in between that gave us more insight into Gabriel when he was young.
natashambrown's review
4.0
LADY OF THE LAKE-
I like this story for a change it had a few easter eggs and was obviously longer. I technically haven't finish but I can't read the next short until I've read Betrayals!! (so excited!!) but for now a happy 4 stars
I like this story for a change it had a few easter eggs and was obviously longer. I technically haven't finish but I can't read the next short until I've read Betrayals!! (so excited!!) but for now a happy 4 stars
tempscire's review
4.0
Nice little collection of solid stories. There is also a preview of the book after next (Betrayals not out at the time of this writing), with the note not to read it yet. Well, I always like to push the envelope, and for the record, it looks like Rituals is going to pick up immediately on the heels of where Betrayals stops (and it stops on a dramatic note, too, it seems). So yeah, if spoilers aren't your thing, not even the first sentence of that preview is safe! (ETA: is it a spoiler to say this is actually not so? Anyway...)
Gabriel's story, The Orange Cat, is enjoyable but doesn't really add to the overall universe or establish any fresh insights to his character. It's just a quirky tale from when he was a brand new lawyer.
Patrick's story does at least give us some flashes of insight to the skewed logic he has with regards to Gabriel, though he's not as callous as he seemed to Liv. Three cheers for evil fake-librarians!
The biggest portion is the novella sequel to Deceptions following Liv and Ricky on their (enviable) road trip vacation into Canada. It was engaging, pretty well-paced (though Liv and Ricky always start to hew too close to romance novel/paranormal romance for my tastes: I love them together, but jeeze, I'm tired of how horny they get, which derails the plot. I retroactively apologize for any similar PDA I have subjected people to in the past!), and has a couple twists. There were a couple sections that were confusingly pronouned. The chapters switch POVs between Liv and Ricky, which I don't mind, except Ricky is written in 3rd person while Liv is in 1st. Stands out a little more when that shift happens every other chapter or so.
Liv I continue to mildly dislike. I was frustrated previously with her total unthinking acceptance of all the crime and shady deals going on around her between Gabriel and Ricky. She actually acknowledged that this book with a weird, stupid, dismissive attribution of that kind of sangre-froid to her fae blood. What? For starters, she was like that before she discovered the fae, and she didn't bat an eye then either NOR did she even worry that she should be worried. (Maybe I just completely do not relate to perfect self-assurance?) Ricky thinks about she worries about her fae blood making her insensitive (again, bullshit - this is almost as bad as the "bad seed" predestined crap from a couple books ago)--- and again, no, Liv has never seemed particularly concerned, and I'm a little bothered by the fact that the Liv he describes doesn't really match up with what we see from Liv's POV. I like Armstrong's work, but she isn't that subtle for me to think it clever foreshadowing.
To clarify, I don't mind Liv not being a bleeding heart cinnamon roll. Just...acknowledge and don't throw weird left field rationalizations about blood in there. (And if we're going to insist that our trio is an incarnation of Matilda et al., NOT reincarnations, NOT slaves to pre-fated arrangements, can we really back off attributing everything to blood and DNA?) And work out wtf IS Liv's motivation for helping anyone? If she is just basically nice but not especially good (I know that feel), why was she volunteering at a women's shelter before? (What, besides cars, sex, mochas, and luxury goods, gets Liv motivated to do anything she does?)
Eh.
I will say I approve of Gabriel being in the doghouse, not just with Liv but with Ricky to a lesser degree. Her reactions there seem pretty reasonable but mature. Gabriel in his own way is trying to correct for it, and it's not going especially well for him. However, this is being handled in a rather sensible, mature way: no screaming fits, passive-aggressive ultimatums, total freeze-outs, or so on. Just kinda crappy-but-good-hearted people who respect one another and everyone's boundaries, trying to deal with trust issues and consciously not going the route of crazy brats. Good for them!
Gabriel's story, The Orange Cat, is enjoyable but doesn't really add to the overall universe or establish any fresh insights to his character. It's just a quirky tale from when he was a brand new lawyer.
Patrick's story does at least give us some flashes of insight to the skewed logic he has with regards to Gabriel, though he's not as callous as he seemed to Liv. Three cheers for evil fake-librarians!
The biggest portion is the novella sequel to Deceptions following Liv and Ricky on their (enviable) road trip vacation into Canada. It was engaging, pretty well-paced (though Liv and Ricky always start to hew too close to romance novel/paranormal romance for my tastes: I love them together, but jeeze, I'm tired of how horny they get, which derails the plot. I retroactively apologize for any similar PDA I have subjected people to in the past!), and has a couple twists. There were a couple sections that were confusingly pronouned. The chapters switch POVs between Liv and Ricky, which I don't mind, except Ricky is written in 3rd person while Liv is in 1st. Stands out a little more when that shift happens every other chapter or so.
Liv I continue to mildly dislike. I was frustrated previously with her total unthinking acceptance of all the crime and shady deals going on around her between Gabriel and Ricky. She actually acknowledged that this book with a weird, stupid, dismissive attribution of that kind of sangre-froid to her fae blood. What? For starters, she was like that before she discovered the fae, and she didn't bat an eye then either NOR did she even worry that she should be worried. (Maybe I just completely do not relate to perfect self-assurance?) Ricky thinks about she worries about her fae blood making her insensitive (again, bullshit - this is almost as bad as the "bad seed" predestined crap from a couple books ago)--- and again, no, Liv has never seemed particularly concerned, and I'm a little bothered by the fact that the Liv he describes doesn't really match up with what we see from Liv's POV. I like Armstrong's work, but she isn't that subtle for me to think it clever foreshadowing.
To clarify, I don't mind Liv not being a bleeding heart cinnamon roll. Just...acknowledge and don't throw weird left field rationalizations about blood in there. (And if we're going to insist that our trio is an incarnation of Matilda et al., NOT reincarnations, NOT slaves to pre-fated arrangements, can we really back off attributing everything to blood and DNA?) And work out wtf IS Liv's motivation for helping anyone? If she is just basically nice but not especially good (I know that feel), why was she volunteering at a women's shelter before? (What, besides cars, sex, mochas, and luxury goods, gets Liv motivated to do anything she does?)
Eh.
I will say I approve of Gabriel being in the doghouse, not just with Liv but with Ricky to a lesser degree. Her reactions there seem pretty reasonable but mature. Gabriel in his own way is trying to correct for it, and it's not going especially well for him. However, this is being handled in a rather sensible, mature way: no screaming fits, passive-aggressive ultimatums, total freeze-outs, or so on. Just kinda crappy-but-good-hearted people who respect one another and everyone's boundaries, trying to deal with trust issues and consciously not going the route of crazy brats. Good for them!