Two more books read

I know it seems I'm just being lazy by not writing more about the books, but I want to write something about them all and I want to get at the same pace I read to keep the blog organized and on my personal schedule.

These two books were second and third in this new year of reading, they didn't affect me the way I imagined and I'll leave only a small comment about my impressions instead of a lengthy comment where I'd have to invent subject because, like I said, I don't have much to say about them...

The dragon shape shifter Thorolf is known for an impressive lineage, raw power in battle, and an

impulsive indulgence of his appetites. The last has made him an outcast from his fellow Pyr, and even his hunt for their dangerous opponent, the Slayer Chen, hasn’t helped. Beguiled and weakened by Chen’s ally Viv Jason, Thorolf finds himself drawn into a trap, as bait to lure his fellow Pyr to extinction. The only one to come to his aid is a woman he already knows to be a thief—does he dare to trust her with not just his own life but the survival of his kind?
Chandra is a sorceress who has trained all her life for a battle against evil that she knows will shape the future. She has never wasted time on the pleasures of the physical realm, much less experienced passion—until the firestorm sparks between herself and Thorolf, demanding more from her than she ever expected to give. Will the firestorm provide new power, or be a dangerous distraction that gives Chen the chance to triumph forever?  

Comment: This is installment # 10 in the Dragonfire series by author Deborah Cooke. This is the first book that has been released as a self publish. It took me some time to get it but finally I managed it. There's still one final book in the series and I admit it will be emotional to let the world go, but the story needs an end and it's better to see it finish with structure and meaning than to have things dragging.

This is Thorolf's story, he has his firestorm after two years missing, the others didn't know where he was, but in this book his mate shows up and it's someone no one saw coming. I admit I wasn't very certain about the pair and part of the story is bittersweet because of all the memories and emotional baggage they have to leave behind. After that happens, the HEA doesn't seem that special, to be honest. The story line is close to an end, one of the enemies dies, the other is almost caught and I foresee an amazing final book. This one has interesting world related elements, but the romance didn't win me over and was weaker than I wished for Thorolf.

Grade: 6/10

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Comment: This is a book written by a Portuguese author. The title is translated to "by instinct" and it's a set of chronicles she wrote for a newspaper or magazine. The chronicles are written rather ethereal meaning they don't always have a clear or obvious goal, it's mostly the ramblings of the author on certain themes. Obviously, I preferred some chronicles than others, especially those where the subject was something one could understand or recognize. I'm thinking particularly about the chronicles where the author does a caricature of the typical individual who acts or thinks a certain way, like housekeepers who only care about soap operas or the shy guy who can't demand anything out of anyone and it's always left behind in life. 

The writing itself is very colloquial, very modern and vibrant but I admit I didn't always care about the subjects chosen nor the way the author would generalize a situation based on a specific detail or even the tone with which she accomplishes that. It's her voice and that's fine but overall, I wasn't impressed. The chronicles are short which helped in going through them all.

Grade: 5/10