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emjay24's review
1.0
I got through over half the book before I realized I was bored reading it. It could have been good. The main character is a supernatural creature, sort of like a vampire, but not, and their kind is known for being inbred and very mean and evil. he decided in her adolescence, when she was 100 or more, that she couldn't keep on with her family, being so evil, and she wanted to be good, and she separates with the rest of her kind. Fast forward to present time. In this world, all supernatural creatures have one or two soulmates, and when they see them, they just know, and instantly bond. I kind of liked that idea. Beware, because this book is graphic with sex, which is fine with me, but maybe not some people. The main girl finds both her soulmates, and her daughter also finds both her soulmates, all at the same time, but now they must fight off something bad that's come to town. The characters all seem fake and under developed. This is more of a romance novel and less a supernatural story with a real plot. I appreciate that soulmates can go across gender and supernatural species line, but it all comes out boring. There's better books to read.
ellelainey's review
4.0
Book – Dark Indiscretions #1
Author – Shakuita Johnson
Star rating – ★★★★☆
Plot – good, unique
Characters – good variety, could use more exploration
Movie Potential – ★★★★☆ – a lot of swearing and sex
Ease of reading – very easy to read
Cover – ✔
Suitable Title – ✔
Would I read it again – ✔
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. The concept of Mystics and all the other ‘creatures’ is a really interesting concept. I like that instead of using ‘werewolf’, ‘witches’ and other common terms, the author has decided to branch out a create new formulae for these creatures, giving them new histories, powers, personalities and names. I think it shows the author has taken a lot of time, and spent a lot of time on research putting this new ‘world’ together.
There are, however, a few things that you should be aware of. One, there should be a huge WARNING tag on this, because there is a truck load of swearing and explicit sex. The F-bomb drops about every sentence, so if you’re sensitive to that, be warned.
The story is clever and intriguing; it’s rather simply done, but it is easy to follow and kept my attention right the way from start to finish. I read this book in two nights; half one night and half the next.
Jenny, our MC, is a Mystic, which is sort of like a witch but with more interesting background. Mystics are known as brutal and violent and Jenny has her own dark past that no-one truly understands. Throughout the story, we are fed little snippets of her past, when it is relevant to the story, which really works for me. We’re introduced to her daughter, Krista, who has her own secrets. The basic plot is that Jenny must confront her past, which leads Krista and Jenny to the two men that are their mates. Krista has two mates, as does Jenny, but the difficulty is in the fact that Jenny’s two mates are already mated to each other, so the transition isn’t exactly smooth.
I do have a few small issues, however. The story starts a little jumpy. We’re introduced to Jack and Tay first, and they’re in a club one minute and then the next they’re suddenly at home, in their bedroom bathroom. It’s slightly confusing because we have no hint that they’ve even gone anywhere. One minute they’re giving each other ‘the look’ that says they want sex, and then the next they’re already in the middle of it and there’s talk of a bathroom. At first I thought of the club bathroom, but it just didn’t read right, and then later it shows them going straight to bed, so it takes a little more attention than another story to figure out where everyone is and what they are really doing.
Also, there is a mention of 14 people fitting into a vehicle late on in the story. However, by my count there are 16: Jenny, Jack, Tay, Nathan, Taz, Kain, the twins, Nathan’s mum and dad, his two brothers, one sister, Billy, Bain and Brian.
There’s also a plot gap that makes me wonder. We’re told that Jennifer can teleport just pages after she wakes up to discover herself surrounded by a crime scene. She panics at the crime scene about how to get out of the house without causing a scene from the blood on her. She also admits, earlier, that she’s cleaned up many crimes by her daughter. Why, when she finds herself in this situation, doesn’t she clean up her own mess and teleport back home? It would be a simple solution, but it also wouldn’t involve calling her daughter and getting her, and her mates, involved, which wouldn’t lead to Jennifer discovering her mates too. It seems a bit of a plot gap, because it would make more sense to use the teleporting, or admit that she’s so stressed out she can barely function, so that would make teleporting dangerous/something she doesn’t think about.
One last thing was that there are ‘word meanings’ at the end of the story. I think it would have been better to have this at the beginning, so that when the new, strange words entered the story we would better understand what they meant. Sometimes the explanation of what they are is a little later than we need it to be and not as explicit as it could be.
Overall, I really liked the book and the characters. I look forward to reading Book 2 soon and seeing how the story and the characters progress.
Author – Shakuita Johnson
Star rating – ★★★★☆
Plot – good, unique
Characters – good variety, could use more exploration
Movie Potential – ★★★★☆ – a lot of swearing and sex
Ease of reading – very easy to read
Cover – ✔
Suitable Title – ✔
Would I read it again – ✔
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed this book. The concept of Mystics and all the other ‘creatures’ is a really interesting concept. I like that instead of using ‘werewolf’, ‘witches’ and other common terms, the author has decided to branch out a create new formulae for these creatures, giving them new histories, powers, personalities and names. I think it shows the author has taken a lot of time, and spent a lot of time on research putting this new ‘world’ together.
There are, however, a few things that you should be aware of. One, there should be a huge WARNING tag on this, because there is a truck load of swearing and explicit sex. The F-bomb drops about every sentence, so if you’re sensitive to that, be warned.
The story is clever and intriguing; it’s rather simply done, but it is easy to follow and kept my attention right the way from start to finish. I read this book in two nights; half one night and half the next.
Jenny, our MC, is a Mystic, which is sort of like a witch but with more interesting background. Mystics are known as brutal and violent and Jenny has her own dark past that no-one truly understands. Throughout the story, we are fed little snippets of her past, when it is relevant to the story, which really works for me. We’re introduced to her daughter, Krista, who has her own secrets. The basic plot is that Jenny must confront her past, which leads Krista and Jenny to the two men that are their mates. Krista has two mates, as does Jenny, but the difficulty is in the fact that Jenny’s two mates are already mated to each other, so the transition isn’t exactly smooth.
I do have a few small issues, however. The story starts a little jumpy. We’re introduced to Jack and Tay first, and they’re in a club one minute and then the next they’re suddenly at home, in their bedroom bathroom. It’s slightly confusing because we have no hint that they’ve even gone anywhere. One minute they’re giving each other ‘the look’ that says they want sex, and then the next they’re already in the middle of it and there’s talk of a bathroom. At first I thought of the club bathroom, but it just didn’t read right, and then later it shows them going straight to bed, so it takes a little more attention than another story to figure out where everyone is and what they are really doing.
Also, there is a mention of 14 people fitting into a vehicle late on in the story. However, by my count there are 16: Jenny, Jack, Tay, Nathan, Taz, Kain, the twins, Nathan’s mum and dad, his two brothers, one sister, Billy, Bain and Brian.
There’s also a plot gap that makes me wonder. We’re told that Jennifer can teleport just pages after she wakes up to discover herself surrounded by a crime scene. She panics at the crime scene about how to get out of the house without causing a scene from the blood on her. She also admits, earlier, that she’s cleaned up many crimes by her daughter. Why, when she finds herself in this situation, doesn’t she clean up her own mess and teleport back home? It would be a simple solution, but it also wouldn’t involve calling her daughter and getting her, and her mates, involved, which wouldn’t lead to Jennifer discovering her mates too. It seems a bit of a plot gap, because it would make more sense to use the teleporting, or admit that she’s so stressed out she can barely function, so that would make teleporting dangerous/something she doesn’t think about.
One last thing was that there are ‘word meanings’ at the end of the story. I think it would have been better to have this at the beginning, so that when the new, strange words entered the story we would better understand what they meant. Sometimes the explanation of what they are is a little later than we need it to be and not as explicit as it could be.
Overall, I really liked the book and the characters. I look forward to reading Book 2 soon and seeing how the story and the characters progress.
see_sadie_read's review
2.0
Years ago, when my husband and I were young and had time for such things, we used to enjoy something called Good Wine/Bad Movie night. It was exactly as the name implies. We would take turns picking out a good bottle of wine and a bad movie. The idea being the better the wine was, the worse the movie could be. We had a lot of fun on such nights. You couldn't take the drack we were watching seriously (serious B grade sci-fi was a favourite), but when paired with high quality alcohol you would have been laughing at it too. It was fun.
If Dark Indiscretions was a movie, it would have been a prime contender to pair with an excellent Côtes de Bordeaux. It's bad. I mean, really bad. The only reason I'm not giving this a one star is because it's so bad it trips over into the 'so super-bad it's funny' category and since I'm the sort who enjoys staying awake to watch the cheesy late-night fantasy fair I actually got a kick out of this.
I cringed at the writing. The dialogue just about killed me. The plotting was a disaster. The editing was MIA. The character development was nonexistent. The sex was brutally blunt, brusque even. The POVs and tenses were erratic at best. But it was like a train wreck I just couldn't look away from. Not once did I consider putting it down and not finishing it. I was too busy being amused at it's horridness.
I highlighted a number of examples that I had intended to include here, but I think at this point it might just seem cruel. Instead, I'll link to my Amazon highlights. (I hope that even works.) And despite my assertion that the book is a rolling disaster, I'd still recommend it to people like me who enjoy a good cheese-fest on occasion, maybe a little WTFery thrown in on the side. This is the book for you.
If Dark Indiscretions was a movie, it would have been a prime contender to pair with an excellent Côtes de Bordeaux. It's bad. I mean, really bad. The only reason I'm not giving this a one star is because it's so bad it trips over into the 'so super-bad it's funny' category and since I'm the sort who enjoys staying awake to watch the cheesy late-night fantasy fair I actually got a kick out of this.
I cringed at the writing. The dialogue just about killed me. The plotting was a disaster. The editing was MIA. The character development was nonexistent. The sex was brutally blunt, brusque even. The POVs and tenses were erratic at best. But it was like a train wreck I just couldn't look away from. Not once did I consider putting it down and not finishing it. I was too busy being amused at it's horridness.
I highlighted a number of examples that I had intended to include here, but I think at this point it might just seem cruel. Instead, I'll link to my Amazon highlights. (I hope that even works.) And despite my assertion that the book is a rolling disaster, I'd still recommend it to people like me who enjoy a good cheese-fest on occasion, maybe a little WTFery thrown in on the side. This is the book for you.
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