Ofelia GrändCritiques

DNF

The pace was a little slow but mostly neither the characters nor the plot interested me. So, is a case of "it's me, not you"

2,5 stars

Too fast, I didn't feel it had the right pace, especially for Tristan. But as in the series there are several stories of them, maybe I'll review this rating and evaluate their stories as one when ending it.

3,5 stars

I liked this much better than [b:Once in a Snowstorm|28135812|Once in a Snowstorm|Ofelia Gränd|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449575178s/28135812.jpg|48146748]. Low-angst and somewhat fluffy, was a very nice breakaway from every day life for a few hours, that's exactly what Ms Gränd promises and delivers.

Delicious story, but the ending feels a bit rushed. An epilogue (or a sequel) would be very welcomed.

3.5 stars

Sweet. Otho is adorable.

3.5 stars

Will Kyle have his own story, maybe with that troll he mentioned? I hope so.

3.5 stars

Super short, super moving. Requires tissues on hand.

I couldn't hook up with the story, partly because I couldn't connect with the idea of a werelizard, partly because it's very gritty, and I'm not in the mood.

Also, I was just remembering V (the original series) at every moment. :D

I'll try again later. It deserves a second chance.

3.5 stars

What I liked most about this story is the vision of the military, devoid of all glorification.

I read stories with soldiers, and I love them, but in real life, I'm a pacifist, weird, isn't it? I can't explain why I enjoy stories with strong military elements.

BUT, reading a story in which I can fully empathize with a soldier character is uncommon and great.

4.5 stars

All the elements in this story are simply adorable. And, as always, I enjoyed Ofelia Gränd witty writing, she is an auto-buy author for me (except when she writes horror).

I 'm not the type of reader who thinks that short stories never satisfy enough. On the contrary, I truly love short stories, even I prefer them over novels.

However, with Elevator Pitch it happens that I think that the story would really have won with a little more extension; I really longed to know how the relationship developed after the elevator episode. Instead, the story jumps almost in the blink of an eye at the end of the scene in the cafe; that left me with a taste of incompleteness.

There are personal circumstances to explain on, family relationships to understand, and the progression of a romance that would be greatly enriched, I believe, with a few more chapters.

It is this lack that I feel the only reason why I don't give it 5 stars because everything else is wonderful.

I know that Ms. Gränd has no penchant for long storytelling, but I really hope that, in this case, she goes back to this story and expands it.

I finished it last night. I found it very entertaining; I especially enjoyed the author trading the synonymy for the difference when detailing people with magical powers and skills.

Good worldbuilding joins the characters, each with their own personalities, one of the best features in this author's stories.

It's the longest story I have read from her to date (and I read most of her stories); also, I see that [b:Mind Scrambler|56553403|Mind Scrambler (Rockshade's PID, #2)|Ofelia Gränd|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609781748l/56553403._SY75_.jpg|88301668] —that I started to read today— is of similar length. Perhaps it is that Ms. Gränd is gaining more confidence in her skills to deliver more than a couple of hours of enjoyment, as was her initial statement. If this series is a sample of what the author now can see she has the capacity of offering (perhaps more than she thought of herself not so long ago), I can only give her and more of her long stories (to the shorter ones too, obviously ) the happiest welcome.

3.5 stars rounded up

I loved Kol, not so much Elijah. As in the previous book in the series - Soul Eater -, the treatment of the various paranormal characteristics is very good, especially regarding Elijah's empathy and the correlation in the behaviors between werefelines and their equivalents big cats in real life.

There are hints of an eventual story about Ulf; I hope so.

2.5 stars

Lovely characters, but the story is disappointingly short and hasty. Almost a botch in a series that I had been enjoying a lot.

Catching, it gives a lot of information without overwhelming.

I really hope that it's the beginning of a series.

A premature end, I would have preferred a little more development. I'd like a sequel, I think that there's is plenty that could be done with this story.

That hasty ending, plus some gross grammar mistakes, they diminished a little my rating.

Dani makes it perfectly clear in her review.

Knickers in a Twist was written for Goodread’s M/M Romance group 2014 Love’s Landscapes event. It’s told in third person through the eyes of Peter, a teacher, a trim, but fit lover of sexy lacey women’s underwear and Alex, an ex-firefighter, who is assisting his sister at her lingerie shop for the next few months. This story takes place in Sweden.

This is a cute, fast read. Peter is an unassuming teacher who wishes only to find a partner to share his life with and who will accept his love of lingerie. He hasn’t had any luck. All he’s had was ridicule from his mother and from possible boyfriends. Peter is very insecure about himself because of the ridicule. He is often called a ‘girl’ because of his love of lingerie and the fact he likes to bottom, even though he likes to top also.

Alex has had to retire from firefighting because of an injury. His sister has asked him to look after his shop while he is on vacation. Alex hates the lingerie shop, lingerie doesn’t turn him on except when Peter wears it. Alex has his own disability in that he’s dyslexic and only made it through school because his sister did his homework for him. He thinks that Peter won’t want to be with him because he’s stupid. This is the one issue I had with the story. If Alex has that bad of dyslexia to the point of not reading, how did he make it as a firefighter and going through firefighting school if his sister didn’t help him then? That doesn’t seem possible.

The author is Swedish and I’m guessing English is not her first language, but she did a great job with writing this story.

I liked the characters and the idea of sexy, buff men in lingerie. This is a cute fast, comfy, light read. I give this 3 Stars

Elevator Pitch is a cute, fluffy short story about bear shifter Bjorn Ritter, and bat shifter Cecil Baxter. The story is told in third person from Bjorn and Cecil’s povs.

If you’re looking for a quick, sweet read, this book could be for you. It uses the forced confinement trope for Bjorn and Cecil to get to know each other. Bjorn is an almost forty-year-old bear shifter who owns a coffee shop and is still under his mother’s thumb. Cecil is an artist and is terrified of bears, actually all shifters. They become trapped in an elevator and Bjorn helps calm Cecil down by talking to him and Cecil gives Bjorn some life-changing advice.

Both characters’ personalities are well done and I can see them as a couple. The story ends with a strong HFN.

I can’t give more hints about Elevator Pitch because it’s mostly about dialogue and the humorous exchanges between Bjorn and Cecil. You’ll just have to read it. I give this book 4 Stars

Mind Scrambler is the second book in the ‘Rockshade’s PID’ series. It stars Kol Jaecar, captain of the Rockshade PID, and Elijah Long, the twin brother of Elora who also works at Rockshade. This is told in third person from both Kol and Elijah’s pov.

3.5 Stars



First, I’ll start with the cover. The colors and mood pair well with the first book in the series. I’m guessing the cover model is supposed to be Kol. Somehow, he doesn’t strike me as Kol because throughout the book he’s characterized as big and having a demeanor that is rather frightening and the cover model doesn’t seem like that at all to me. The only thing in common is his dark hair.

The blurb does a good job of explaining the plot. Pretty much Kol wants to be around Elijah because he’s his mate, but Elijah can’t stand everyone’s emotions blasting him. Kol also wants to protect Elijah because he was kidnapped and Elijah’s previous relationship was abusive. Someone is hunting Elijah again and some of the story uses the forced proximity trope which is one of my favs. The relationship didn’t move fast because Elijah was very damaged and didn’t want anything to do with Kol. I think the author handled Elijah’s recovery well especially in comparison to many other authors’ books I’ve read where suddenly the MCs find each other and the damaged MC is cured of his emotional scars. Kol and Elijah’s relationship took time. Kol was extremely patient although he slipped up a few times, like twice he let Elora take off with Elijah when she thought she could look after him. Totally dumb on Kol’s part, because Elora didn’t have the ability like the shifters would have.

I liked Kol's character more than Elijah's. The slow build-up of the relationship was convincing for me, although at the same time frustrating which is probably what Kol felt. By the end I could believe in the two as a couple.

There’s one problem I had with the story and it was the part dealing with finding Beau, the poor shifter under Varg’s control. Nothing was ever mentioned about what sort of shifter Beau was nor how they found him. It was mentioned as an afterthought in the epilogue that ‘they raced against time to find Beau and did find him’. For me, I found that a weak cop-out. The story built up a lot around how, what and who Varg was using, and then at the end readers are only given a name and ‘they found him’. It was a big let-down after the big build-up, so I’m not happy with the epilogue even though Kol and Elijah get their happily ever after. I really wish there had been an exciting scene written about Beau’s rescue instead of what we got.

I don't want to forget to mention the editing. English is not this author's first language, so there are numerous places where the word usage and sentence structure is incorrect. There are more mistakes than in the first book. I completely blame the editors and proofreaders, who are likely paid to do their jobs for not catching these errors. Sure friends who beta can catch some of the errors, but that's not their profession. The final gate-keeper is the editor and they didn't do their job in catching the errors. This is another reason I marked down stars.

In the end, Mind Scrambler did a good job building the relationship between Kol and Elijah. I would call this a paranormal romance with less magical happenings than the first book. That’s why I like the first book more than I like this one. If you’re looking for a paranormal romance book with shifters and a damaged human that reads more like a regular romance since there isn’t much magical happenings, then this book could be for you. I give this book 4 stars because Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars.

Soul Eater is the first book in the ‘Rockshade’s PID’ series. It stars Detective Thaddeus Ezax a wizard, and Sandulf Hunter, a werewolf ghost. This is told in third person through Thaddeus and Sandulf’s povs.



First the cover. It’s simple, but eye-catching, I like it. I’m didn’t get a feel of how Thad looked in the story so I can’t say whether this cover model looks like him or not. I just get a feeling that this isn’t how I imagined him.

The blurb hints at what’s happening in the plot but I’ll add a bit more. The author created an interesting world of magic users, shifters and humans. Thad Ezax comes from a long line of accomplished wizards. Only Thad is anything but. He’s rather mediocre actually. He works with other shifters and Elora, who I’d call a Seer. She can sense things if holding an object belonging to a person. The shifters in the group don’t trust the wizards/humans and they in turn don’t trust the shifters because shifters are emotional and aggressive. Shifters think they are better than wizards and this is one conflict in the story. Everyone is attempting to get along while they search for missing people. It all leads up to Thad stealing a wolf-shifter’s skull and pulling the wolf back as a ghost. He has no idea why he did it or how he did it. The wolf-ghost is Sandulf. Sandulf and how he died and got called back as a ghost is another mystery. He’s now magically tied to Thad so they have to cooperate. Thad is still confused on how he did it and is fumbling his way to answers. He also has to explain the ways of the magical community to the shifters he works with, which is kind of forbidden, but Thad has to give them information in order to solve the crime. There are many subplots in this book which kept it interesting. The author did a good job of weaving them all together.

I liked the various characters. They all had distinct personalities and the author did a good job of keeping them consistent throughout the book. Thad is smart, but insecure about his abilities. Readers find out why he’s not that great a wizard by the end of the book, and the answer is interesting. Sandulf is a different kind of Alpha werewolf. Yes, he is dominant, but more easy-going with a sense of humor. He’s very protective of Thad since Thad is his mate. But it’s hard to protect him when Sandy as he’s called, is in ghostly form. The author did a great job of having the MCs adapt to their predicament and work out the issues they had with each other and with Sandy returning as a ghost. I could believe in them as a couple.

There were some issues with grammar that the editor should have picked up on and corrected.

Overall, I enjoyed Soul Eater quite a bit and have already read the second book in the series. I’ll leave a review for that in a week or so. I give this book, 5 Stars and recommend it to anyone who likes to read about magic and shifters.

When Skies Are Gray is the story of Levi Campbell, a soldier, and Madoc Griffiths, Levi’s older, ex-boyfriend. The story is told in third person from Levi and Madoc’s povs.



I enjoyed this quick, second chances short story. The blurb does a good job of explaining what the story is about but I’ll go over it a bit. Levi, in a fit of rebellion over Madoc’s insistent demands to have adventures and meet new people, signed up to the Army. And Levi hates it. Madoc insisted Levi not communicate with him, and Madoc is miserable but keeps insisting he did the right thing. So you have two miserable guys and how they’re going to solve their dilemma.

I’ve been following this author’s writing career since she wrote a story for the Goodreads prompt event many years ago. Her writing has greatly improved. I especially enjoy the Nortown Series. The author has gotten even better at conveying the emotions of characters. Madoc and Levi have distinct personalities and I could feel Madoc’s misery at being without Levi, but at the same time I wanted to scream at him for being so stubborn that he was making both them of miserable. Levi wanted Madoc and it’s clear that he would take him back but he was honoring Madoc’s wishes.

The only part of the story that I felt could have used more expansion was where Madoc came to the realization of why he really wanted Levi to have adventures. It felt like Madoc solved his crisis within a couple of sentences once he talked it out with someone. I would’ve liked to see a more extended soul search and his epiphany would have seemed more realistic to me. But that’s the only part of the story I have a quibble about.

This is well edited and I don’t even remember if I spotted any errors, which if I did, they were minor.

When Skies Are Gray is an enjoyable quick read. I liked Madoc and Levi, but felt Madoc’s light bulb moment could have been fleshed out more. Because of that, I give this book, 4 Stars.


I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest and unbiased review.

Ghost Dater is a Halloween holiday story starring Thad and Sandy from the first book in the ‘Rockshade’s PID’ series. The story is told in third person through both Thad and Sandy’s pov.



There’s no blurb for this book yet so I’ll give a brief rundown of the plot. Halloween was the night Sandy was murdered. It was also the night Sandy was resurrected by Thad. It’s not a day that Sandy wants to acknowledge, especially with the parties and all the good food he can smell but never taste again. So, Sandy has been extremely grouchy and has been getting on Thad’s nerves. Thad is annoyed that Sandy is grouchy, but he also thinks that Sandy is no longer interested in him until he finds out Sandy misses tasting food. Thad sets out to find a magical way to allow Sandy to taste again, but he has to also keep it a secret which is hard to do since Sandy is tethered to him and has sharp werewolf hearing.

First, I’ll review the book cover. I really like the imagery on the covers for this series, I think the graphics fit. However, I don’t think the models for the covers represent the characters. I’m guessing it’s Sandy on the cover this time, because last cover was Thad. And this model doesn’t look like Sandy either. I believe he has long hair and is always in t-shirt and jeans. Except when he dresses up later in this book. Even though this is a pretty cover, it doesn’t look like Sandy.

This was a very fast and easy read even for me, and I’m not a fast reader. It was also fluffy and there weren’t really any conflicts. I’d consider this a light read. And that’s probably why I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be fluffy and light, but for me personally, I hoped for deeper complications. I also didn’t feel as drawn or connected to Thad and Sandy as much as I did in the first book. The writing is fine, I didn’t notice any glaring errors or anything.

Ghost Dater is a quick, easy, fluffy read. It’s a story to clear your palate after an angsty book. I was just hoping for a little more depth and connection to the characters. I give this book 3 Stars.