Skip to main content

Venom and Vanilla by Shannon Mayer

Brief synopsis (no spoilers):
Alena is dying from a virus that only affects humans. She is given the opportunity to turn her back on her morals and become a supernatural creature. Once she does that, she is hit with challenge after challenge, just to remain alive as a "Supe". There's no trusting anyone!

Category:
Fiction, fantasy

Why I chose this book:
Kindle First

My personal opinion:
I have to pan it, for the language and adult themes. I cannot recommend this book to anyone. But I wanted it to be good. First of all, the language was completely unnecessary- it should have been left out. Secondly, the sexuality was completely unnecessary- the feelings of desire and betrayal could have been brought into the story without so much detail. Keep it to PG-13. Thirdly, pick a genre. Is it a monster novel (werewolves, vampires, witches), or is it a mythology novel (Greek)? I understand that those all fall under the umbrella of "supernatural", but at the beginning, Alena is given the choice between the monster options. If Greek was an option, mention it then... Pick a genre, cut the language and the adult theme, and I'll give you two (yes, 2) gold stars! Until then, no stars.

Warnings
Language: Fairly frequent, including a couple F-words
Violence: Frequent, but not graphic
"Adult" situations: Fairly frequent references to nudity and extra-marital sex. Nothing too graphic, but definitely present
Death: Sorta

Movie rating equivalent:
R

Protagonist description:
Alena is strong-willed as a human, and just plain strong as a Super Duper

Point of view of story:
Third, focused on Alena

Book length:
Medium

Story flow:
Frantic. The story covers about 3 days, and feels like it's flying the whole time.

Grammar and spelling issues:
None!

Character connection (no spoilers):
No, thanks

For series:
Independent or integral:
Unknown

Series review as a whole:
Pass. I think the story line is going to be fine, but the target audience is... limited. This is NOT a kid-friendly series. And it's not an adult fairy tale series. And it's not even a teen vamp rag. It's somewhere between Percy Jackson (Greek Mythology in the modern world), and a potty-mouthed "bodice ripper".

If you only have time for one, read
:
If you like it, start at the beginning. I will be picking something different.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Happily Ever After Kiera Cass

Brief synopsis (no spoilers): Short novellas and after stories from the perspective of other main characters from The Selection Series. Includes: -The Prince (with the two bonus chapters), Maxon’s novella -The Guard, Aspen’s novella -The Queen, Amberly’s novella -The Favorite, Marlee’s novella -Three scenes from Celeste’s POV -Lucy’s scene (bonus scene from The One) -The bonus epilogue -Where are they now? Category: YA Why I chose this book: Selection of novellas filling in gaps in The Selection series.  My personal opinion (the review): Of the entire series this was by far and away my favorite. I loved getting to hear parts of the stories from other perspectives. There was also additional details not found in the original story. All my questions or things I wondered about where answered through these stories.  Warnings Language: None  Violence: None "Adult" situations: As with the other novels, a few scenes with more description than I would have liked. ...

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Summary: Every book needs you to turn the pages. But not every book needs you to tap it, shake it, jiggle it, or even blow it a kiss. Innovative and timeless, Tap the Magic Tree asks you to help one lonely tree change with the seasons. It begins with a bare brown tree. But tap that tree, turn the page, and one bright green leaf has sprouted! Tap again—one, two, three, four—and four more leaves have grown on the next page. Pat, clap, wiggle, jiggle, and see blossoms bloom, apples grow, and the leaves swirl away with the autumn breeze. (Amazon) Attention Span/reading level: Perfect for my three year old. I would say that ages 2-10 would really enjoy something like this. It really keeps kids engaged and makes them feel like part of the story. There is one word to one sentence per page. Good uses for book in teaching: Interaction, that the reader takes part in making the story, what a tree can do (leaves, blossoms, fruit) Favorite part:      Child: The fact that ...

Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Summary: Two mice make a teeter totter. Soon a frog comes along and wants to join. Can the mice balance all the friends who want to play with them? Attention Span/reading level: 3-6 years old, usually 5 or less words on a page Good uses for book in teaching: Balance, science Favorite part:      Child: When the frog joins in     Mine: That the mice keep playing at the end  Least favorite part: None:   W arnings/negative feedback: None.  Review: This is a really simple but fun way to introduce the idea of balancing and weight to kids. It's fun to show them how it must be equal on each side to balance. Showing that size can affect weight is shown on the page where all the animals are on one side with the big bird on the other. This could be a fun activity to replicate with toys if doing a science lesson at home.