Bark at the Ghouls

GR Cleanup Read in 2011

I listened to Motor City Fae as an unabridged audiobook. It is a light and frothy, fun filled read but it goes crazy overboard on the sex scenes. Normally I wouldn’t say such things because a well written and creative sex scene can enliven even the blah-est of stories, even if only for a few minutes, but this time I felt as if I were reading the same scene over and over and it got a bit stale and same-old. Yeah, I know the heroine has soggy panty syndrome and the hero has a huge one that hardens when the wind blows (so embarrassing, really, considering the poor sucker wears tights quite often) but do those issues need to continually be shoved in my face? Even I can only take so much before my ears begin to bleed.

And speaking of bleeding ears I will head straight to the narration. Simply put it ruins the story. The narrator’s deadpan and slow as hell reading of the text saps the life out of the book and the characters. There is no emotion put into the reading and seeing as most of the book takes place in “the motor city”, this narrator with her Irish or British accent (sorry I couldn’t pinpoint it), really threw me off and out of the story. Her faux American accent, mainly the portrayal of the heroine, was terribly grating. Choosing this woman as the narrator was a weird choice, she’d be much better suited to a darker edged Maeve Binchy novel than this piece of sexy fae fluff. That’s all I’m saying.

Other than that, I very much enjoyed this story. It was an infectious read, that doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously and gleefully borrows its world building and descriptions from everywhere. I’m good with that because the characters have spark, chemistry and charm and honestly I just have a thing for long haired elves with pointy ears and big eyes.

You won’t find anything new in this plot. A handsome fae bard named Ric (Alaric), is sent on a mission to locate the long missing princess/missing heir in order to retain her place of power. There’s a vote or something that is going to happen and the Queen needs the heir in order to tip the scales in her favor. She sends Ric because he’s her favorite plaything and she knows he’ll charm the gal into doing exactly what she orders.

Meagan is one of those free-spirited, go with the flow artsy type heroines that have been around since the dawn of romance. She is immediately smitten with Ric, even before she sees his true elf form, and pretty much swallows whatever he offers up (read into that whatever you wish) but she’s not stupid and so airy-fairy that she can’t think things through and fend for herself when necessary. But don’t worry there’s nothing heavy here. There’s minor danger but no real sense of doom and gloom and any deep potentially fiery obstacles were brushed away with pleasantries and everything was A-ok again. It’s just a fun fantasy with a lot of sex. Decent but probably not memorable. I’ll read the next though, just not in audio format.