Review: Kitty Takes a Holiday

So the actual time I finished reading Kitty Takes a Holiday was March 7th, but thanks to my Goodreads updates and some page skimming I think I recall my overall feelings on this installment of the Kitty Norville series. This is my third time reading this book, and it’s getting three stars from me (one star drop from the original rating I gave it.)

Basically, I was coming off of a high from Kitty Goes to Washington. The previous book had such a tight narrative. The pacing was good, and interesting things were happening just about all the time. In Kitty Takes a Holiday, that changes a bit. You see, after Kitty’s traumatic experiences in Washington, she decides to take a break from the public eye and hide out in a cabin in the middle of nowhere to write her memoirs. Naturally things don’t go as planned, and her writer’s block is interrupted by a dramatic visit from Cormac and Ben. Something terrible has happened, and Cormac needs Kitty’s help to keep Ben alive. I’ll avoid spoilers, but basically this is one of my favorite moments in the series.

What follows is a really interesting couple of days as Kitty works to handle this incredible dilemma the boys have set in front of her. She tries to keep everyone’s morale up, but of course, tempers flare and fur gets rubbed the wrong way. Eventually, things sort of plateau, and a calm point is reached–until that calm is once again shattered, as another problem demands Kitty’s attention: since she had arrived at her cabin, someone has been leaving dead animals on her porch–likely in an attempt to curse Kitty. Cormac brings in his witch doctor friend, and as that whole issue unravels, things seem to climax in my opinion.

I say seem to, because the trouble is this “climax” occurred around 190 pages in. After that? Things drastically slow down as we see Ben and Kitty wrestle with a legal battle in an attempt to keep Cormac out of jail for his latest actions. As they do that, feelings are wrestled with as an attraction that had been developing between our chatty werewolf and bristly lawyer sort of comes full circle. I really, really struggled with these remaining 110 pages. After enjoying the first half of the book so much, I was very disappointed by the sudden drag in pace.

Ultimately, my feeling is that, while Kitty Takes a Holiday is still a worthwhile read for any Kitty Norville fan, it just isn’t as good as the second book. Ironically enough, I feel this book is probably the most fitting (so far) of the “paranormal romance” tag that everyone seems so eager to attribute to the series.

If you like this review, please check out my other reviews on Goodreads!

And while you’re at it, why not give my own fantasy romance novel a try? It’s available on Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes!

Keep On Swimming

Hello that one person who remembered to check my blog! It’s good to see you! What have I been doing since my last post from ages ago? Well, I’ve been following Dory’s advice. I’ve just kept swimming. (I have this sinking feeling I’ve used this reference on this blog before…)

To be more clear, I’ve been doing a lot of things. Chief among them is the more mundane stuff that would be too boring to go into detail. You know. That whole “stay at home mom” thing. Then, more interestingly, I’ve been doing a lot of work for this gaming news site called Cliqist. I’ve mentioned them before, and while I know I linked some articles I did for them on this blog, I don’t think I ever really talked about that in detail. And yes, that is my real name. Anyone who bought the Tributaries e-book would have learned it too, since I had to put my name for the copyright. Surprise! Or is it? I’ve had this blog so long, I forget what I’ve already covered, ha!

Anyway… Basically, I’m trying my hand at game journalism. I know, it seems odd after that whole Gamer Gate mess, but I sort of fell into it considering my interest in actually writing games. Currently I don’t get paid much at all, but I do get paid (small comfort), and I’m starting to generate some contacts in the indie game world, so that’s really cool! At first, working for Cliqist was very much a side thing, but I’ve been taking it more seriously the last few months. Right now there’s two kinds of writers for Cliqist: Contributors and Staff Writers. I signed up to be a Staff Writer, and let me tell you, the level of work between the two classifications is fairly significant. At least, significant enough for me that editing Eikasia’s second book has been much tougher…

But I just want to say that I HAVE been managing it! S’cuse me while I pat myself on the back.

I think the only real bad news is that I don’t see the book getting done in time for Christmas. I mean, it could happen, but I think I’d have to scale back the Cliqist work, and right now I’m unwilling to do that. Maybe in a month or so, I’ll make an editing push and ease up on Cliqist. Still iffy on that one.

Still though, I’ve been making some pretty important headway into editing my next book. I mentioned on Twitter how Eikasia Book 2 had once been edited to second draft, but all that work was lost when the site that was hosting it closed down without warning. That put me right back to square one–working with a scary rough draft. Yikes! But after publishing the newly edited first novel, Tributaries, I realized that I was going to have to radically change the sequel to maintain continuity. Basically, everything on the Eikasia site from Chapter 2 of Book 2 will be completely different. It’s going to be a complete overhaul of the plot and events, with some new characters that weren’t there before. I’m even considering changing the original title, “In Sight, In Mind” to something else (which is why I keep saying “Book 2” all the time!)

At the moment I’m writing completely new material, so the editing process has slowed down as I switch gears to reinvent a pivotal scene from the original draft. It’s scary, but kind of exciting at the same time! I might share something of the new stuff in the near future, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Meanwhile, I think I’d like to resume my book review series this week. I have two finished books that I need to do reviews for, plus one I’m nearly done with, so keep a lookout!

And that’s all I have really. I was thinking of sharing a flow chart I made for Book 2, but I’d have to redact some things to keep some surprises under wraps. Am I a tease? Maybe.