16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Turkey, June 2, 2007
This review is from: Dante's Girl (A Kayla Steele Novel, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I can hardly believe some of the five star reviews. This writer must have some loyal friends.
The narrative bounces around among too many characters, the great majority of whom suffer from cardboard characterization, to say the least.
The writing starts out OK, more or less average or slightly below, for this type of book. The narrative carried me along all right for a while, but then the action scenes start coming fast and furious... and the real problems kick in. Her incredibly strong, fast, dangerous, invincible vampire and werewolf types are just that...except when it's convenient for them to be slow, stupid and easily distracted; then that's what they are.
There's little consistency, and the characters seem to love to stop in the heat of battle and have long involved conversations about the nature of their relationships with each other or someone else who's not there.
I totally lost it for this book during a pre-climactic battle scene on a stage where a vampire rock band was performing. Two of the 'Hunters' are engaged in a heated swordfight with the vicious female vampire, Cyan. The two Hunters, Ninette and Phil, are a couple, and Cyan is at first, as much as the two of them can handle together.
Suddenly, our protagonist, Kayla, is menaced by a vampire/bandmember and Phil finds time to break off from the sword battle to wander over and defend her by way of distracting the attacking vampire with a flattering conversation about his beautiful guitar.
Puh-LEEZE! I felt like I had suddenly jumped from an adult book to reading a script for a saturday morning episode of Scooby-Doo.
This is an obvious attempt at starting a Franchise character, and it comes to a relatively half-hearted conclusion with "To Be Continued..." written all over it. The challenge of starting a franchise is to make the first book interesting enough that you want to find out what's going to happen to the protagonist next. This didn't even come close for me.
I will say that the author shows some potential, but perhaps needs a better editor or at least more self-discipline. She is at least, a better writer than the atrociously bad Lauren Hamilton.
If you are a regular reader/fan of Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Carrie Vaughn, Patricia Briggs, Simon R. Green, Jim Butcher, etc., then this book is a 'must-not' read, as your standards are probably already to high for this to be anything but a disappointment.
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sorry I can't agree with previous reviews, March 27, 2007
This review is from: Dante's Girl (A Kayla Steele Novel, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I was very excited to find a new vampire series to read, but found myself very disappointed instead. I found the book to be very confusing with way too much going on at the same time. It was very hard to keep up with all the characters and who was who. Instead of introducing the characters gradually, she pretty much threw them all in at once, as if this was a sequal rather than the first book in a series. Although the premise was good, the character development was poor and I did not get a chance to really care about any of them. Ms. Rhodes should read the J.R. Ward - Black Dagger series and get a few ideas of how its done.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Threads left dangling..., February 18, 2007
This review is from: Dante's Girl (A Kayla Steele Novel, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Kayla Steele has lived in California for a year. She works at a cosmetic counter with a horrible boss and a snobby co-worker. All Kayla wants is for her boss to leave her alone and for her boyfriend, Karrel Dante, to ask for her to marry him. Karrel's job with the American Humane Society often takes him away from her. But tonight Kayla is positive that Karrel is going to pop the question to her. So when Kayla's world crumbles from beneath her feet, she is totally unprepared.
Karrel Dante has a secret life. Working for the AHS is only a cover story. In truth, he is one of a ultra-secret government team that hunts down werewolves. The Hunters, as they are called, keep the werewolf numbers down and stops the cops from getting any bodies. So far they have been successful. On the night Karrel plans to propose to Kayla, he is betrayed by one of his own and murdered. Rightfully fearing that the werewolves or vampires would go after Kayla, Karrel makes a bargain with The Other Side.
Kayla finds herself attacked by, if she can bring herself to believe it, werewolves. She is rescued and taken to a secret underground base by a group of people who say they were friends of Karrel's. Kayla has been marked for death. If she has any hope of survival, Kayla will have to take a crash course in the Dark Arts and learn fast!
**** I have read at least one other book by the author, Natasha Rhodes, and believe this tale has more potential for her to explore her talents. When writing a book within a series, such as "The Nightmare on Elm Street", an author must deal with writing within boundaries which already exists. This is the first book in the "Kayla Steele" series, so Natasha Rhodes has the opportunity to think outside-the-box. I believe this book sets a solid foundation on which the author can build and expand upon. As the reader, I could watch as Kayla's super natural blinders are pulled from her eyes and she deals with the unbelievable. I learned about the non-human creatures as Kayla did.
My biggest problem is that even though the foundation is set and humanity is saved by the ending, the author closes the book with five or six MAJOR plot threads dangling. Readers are left wondering, and more than a bit frustrated, until the next book is published. ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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