AOTM Birth Of The Nyxian BR!

**Spoilage**

**2 Stars**

As some of you know - and most of you care nothing about - I decided to start an Author Of The Month thing and I started with Amanda R. Browning and her first book titled Birth Of The Nyxian.

That being said, I didn't care much for what I read and I only got about 45% done. I started it on 7/21, or so Goodreads says, and on 8/10, I was only 45% done. It never takes me that long to read a book. And still, today on 9/8, I have not finished it nor do I have any desire to do so.

Harlow and Aiden are just too perfect for each other. Harlow loves vampires and Aiden loves that she loves vampires and isn't afraid of them. Harlow has long auburn hair and Aiden loves girls with auburn hair. Aiden is Irish or Scottish and Harlow just happens to be a huge history buff who happens to have a picture of his childhood home up on her wall.





It's just too much. There was no building of their relationship, nothing to make her think twice, no courting - it was basically insta-love. There were absolutely no plot devices - when there should have been - to try and force them apart - NADA. It was too perfect.

The sex scenes weren't terrible....but they weren't great either. Par example:  "I lifted myself and aligned him with my entrance."




I'm pretty sure it was an attempt to have 'tasteful' and non-descriptive sex scenes but the effort doesn't come across in the writing. I read somewhere that this was "YA" but I highly doubt that. there ARE sex scenes, all characters are very adult and the situations are nothing a teen - even when suspending reality - would be able to relate to.

Technically, this book was all over the map. There were very few typos, if any. But the POV's all sounded the same, things that Harlow had already explained that happened were getting repeated by Aiden in his POV, the dialogue was pretty bad - I mean, nothing flowed. It was written without the reader in mind. Every situation was explained to the point where there was no guessing and no suspense. It was very predictable. Which beta readers and any editor worth his or her salt should have caught and red flagged BEFORE publishing. Mind you, I'd only read just under half of this book.

I suppose if I read more, I would understand where Nyx fit into all of this, but from what I read - which should have been more than enough to explain - Nyx felt like an afterthought thrown in to try and spice up a love story. Which is really what this was about, IMO. I'm all for love stories, but when the rest of your story is consumed and overshadowed by the believablity of your love story, you have a problem.

I didn't care much for the writing, the characters or the storyline but for people who LOVE sappy romance, I say go for it and you'll more than likely love it. Those like me who like action and a really plot-driven book with twists and turns, I would not recommend this to you.

I was given this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid and will not recieve any kind of compensation for posting this.

Third Person POV & Mira Teaser

I tend try to stay away from third POV for the simple fact that I kinda dislike how mine reads. It's a bit pretentious and a lot impersonal. But then again, I think a lot of the 3rd POV's out there by various authors sound impersonal. Yes, I get that I am, in a way, just an observer. But most of the time, I like to feel like I'm right there beside the MC, experiencing every nuance of their adventure with them; their fear is mine and their romance is, too.

That being said...I have a teaser/snippet from one of my WIPs and I'd like feedback on whether my 3rd POV is completely terrible tolerable. Lol


"“Okay,” Mira whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “Tonight is about us.” She started her personal pep talk. “Tonight will be amazing.” She could hear David’s key jingling in the door when her heart started kicking up speed. “Deep breaths, Mira.”
    As soon as the lights in the house went flickered, Mira knew it wasn’t David at the door. Her pupils dilated, blood rushed through her veins, thumping too hard in her ears. A chill of familiarity skittered down her spine, squaring her shoulders and settling in her stomach. 
    It started to burn where it lay, singeing though it wasn’t fear. She’d known this day would come for the last couple decades. Besides, fear was reserved for the ill prepared and the weak. Mira was neither and fear was a luxury she never could afford. 
    The lights flickered again, casting dark shadows in the house she’d called home for the past five years; making potted plants and light fixtures much more sinister than they’d ever been. A brief twist of pain struck her in the gut right before she was thrown off her feet; as if being pulled by an invisible force. Mira soared through the air until her back hit a wall, the force of her one hundred thirty pound frame buckling it. Air whooshed from her lungs, catching on her tonsils and choking her just in time to steal the words coming from her lips.
    “No, no. Don’t get up on account of me. I’m just here to kill you.” The smile in that familiar voice was obvious. “What? You don’t look too happy to see me, doll. You had to know that I’d find you sooner or later. Whatever could be the matter?” The door flew open and that petite figure she knew stood in the doorway, her voice taunting Mira with every syllable.
    “Oh, I don’t know, Chris.” Mira ground out; refusing to be anything but her normal bitingly sarcastic self. “Maybe the dwarf pinning me to my foyer wall and mucking up my freshly polished African Teak floors with dog shit on her last season Prada knock-offs?” Mira gave the woman a taunting smirk before fire flared on her left cheek.
    “I see you still haven’t acquired any manners.” Chris said tiredly. “Doesn’t really surprise me.”
    “Who needs manners when I can piss you off easier with a few simple well placed four-letter words?” the sting of a slap came back to Mira’s face, the residual effects of the hexwork leaving an acrid scent in the air. “Resorting to using hexes for little ole me, Chris? I’m flattered.”
    “Just getting started.” The small woman smiled and pulled a palm-sized vial of something dark from her pocket and unscrewed the top; beginning to chant in Latin. 
    “What,” Mira bit out around the pain of her jaw locking up on her. “No circle?” She asked as three lone droplets of a dark, inky liquid hit the floor. Mira hoped that wasn’t what she thought it was.
    “I would, but hubby is due shortly. Wouldn’t want him to interrupt.” The chanting in Latin resumed and Mira chuckled darkly, finding a morbid sort of amusement out of the entire situation. 
    She recognized the words, of course. The curse was written by her. "

Pg 4 of Untitled WIP

Sooooo....thoughts? Opinions? Rainbow gifs?

:D