Villere House by Leslie Fear, C.D. Hussey
My rating: 3/5 cats
in which karen gives urban fantasy/paranormal romance another shot!!
with much the same outcome: i can see the appeal and it’s fun but i will probably never become one of those people who reads it regularly. but i do like dipping my toes in every once in a while, to keep those readers’ advisory skills moist.
for me, this genre is like the sophisticated version of monsterporn. although please to be noting: the relationship in this book is purely human-on-human with some ghostly assistance, but the paranormal elements are more like matchmakers than participants. mostly. mostly. and this isn’t a particularly erotic book. meaning—your mom can read it as long as she doesn’t mind a little sex. and she had you, so she’s probably okay with it. sorry if i just caused upsetting mental images. here—look at this until they pass:
so!!! this book takes place in new orleans
like many books of this type do, because its permissive alcohol policies make you less freaked out when you encounter the paranormal, and makes it easier to fall in love with them. or at least into bed.
but so lottie is having her spring break here, with two other girls. but the two other girls are really embracing the spirit of new orleans and spring break, while lottie is kind of more chaperone than spring break woo.
she was orphaned as a teenager and came up through the foster care system, which has made her a little more cautious than her traveling companions. but then she meets a guy with the scrabble-valuable name xavier villere, and she also begins having vivid sequential dreams with historical details she couldn’t possibly know and things start getting a little spooky when they carry into her waking world. like, water starts talking to her.
GET YOUR FUCKING ELBOW OFF OF ME!
no, but seriously, folks.
so xavier comes from a family big in the voodoo community (also, unlike so many romance novels’ ideas of what an attractive man is, this one actually sounds hot. i’d be into him.) so it becomes
a little bit of this:
and a little bit of this:
a little bit of this:
nooo! that is a different book!
and like—half a second of this:
because it’s new orleans!
and so it becomes this great mystery/horror/romance mashup: what do her dreams signify and who were her people and why are all these spooky things happening and should she kiss this boy?
but even though it is not my usual genre, i liked it. the romance element is handled well—the characters are likable and their reservations are natural and it’s neither wild passionate silliness nor obstacles-for-the-sake-of-obstacles. you want these crazy kids to get together. yeah, there are the stock romance conveniences of the two characters being hot AND financially well-off AND kind AND driven, but it’s fantasy—they’re gonna be better than most people, otherwise it would be like reading your own diary. and your diary doesn’t have ghosts.
so, yes—if this is your genre of choice, i would say give it a shot because i dug it, so why not?
oh, but be careful of papa legba—he’ll put a wire up on you!
which is only a funny joke if you watch the same combination of shows i watch.
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