“I stopped believing in ‘happily ever after’ a long time ago, Anna Marie,” I said. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
– Elliott James, Charming
Grade: 5
I picked this book up on sale on Audible because it looked intriguing and I’ve learned that with the 1 year return policy Audible has you might as well try something unusual. It has been wallowing in my queue for just about that long when I had to read it or lose my ability to return it. Ten minutes in, I was hooked and buying the next three in the series!
John Charming was born under a the dueling curse of half werewolf blood and a Templar Knights geas which has left him compelled to hunt down paranormal monsters that are violating the Pax Arcana. But as someone carrying monster blood himself, he’s at odds with the very order who trained him to fight those monsters – the Templar Knights. It’s a pain in the ass.
This is Urban Fantasy at its finest. It may not be as gritty as some readers expect (I’m looking at you Dresden fans. Not every freaking UF book has to be held up to a Dresden novel!), but I really enjoyed the irreverence for a change. I think this genre has a lot of room for this type of book and I gobbled it down.
What else I liked was the entirely new take on Prince Charming and the world building that went with him. There are a lot of unique monsters, monster lore, and exceptional monster fighting because of it. I get super bored and often lost during fight scenes, but James has a real way of penning battle scenes so I can picture exactly what is going on. They also seem realistic – which for a book about Valkyries and Werewolves makes me giggle.
OMG and the laughing. I laughed so much! At the end of the day this book is freaking hilarious. With lines like, “Wearing nothing but sneakers and a semi.” And “Popular young adult novels notwithstanding, vampires only sparkle when they burn.” Are just a few bon mots you have in store for you.
Bottom Line: Enough romance for the non romance fan, enough action for the adrenaline junkie, humor all around, stellar writing, and an exciting bit of world building. Pick this one up.
Audible Reader: Fantastic. Dreamy voice, well paced, and I’d buy other stuff by him.
Cybil Solyn
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