Light read. Humerous dialog, light tlromance, light action ( )

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

The premise of this book was intriguing. It originally grabbed my attention because the protagonist was a fellow book lover. While the story has enough interesting details to keep you reading, it's a bit of a letdown.

Hailey is a chinchilla milker (of all the random things!) and a divorcee. who hasn't been on a date in three years. She has a small group of friends, but mainly keeps to herself. One day, she buys a kindle, and is the recipient of an unintended download, of the soul of a magical being named Sebastian from an alternate dimension. Alex, also a magical being, tracks her down, and they have to go on an international hunt for Sebastian's body. Some action and romance ensue.

The concept as a whole is unique, but for me the writing style really threw me off. Hailey's style of speaking seems forced and unnatural. There are a lot of filler phrases. I wanted her to be more direct and more empowered, to align with Sebastian's perception of her.

Another thing that really took me out of this were the awkwardness of some of the more sexual scenes. In one, Hailey wakes up touching herself, at the gentle suggestion of Sebastian's thought direction, to satisfy his "needs." I don't have a problem with sexual scenes in books, this was just strange and unnecessary. In another sex scene, between Alex and Hailey the forced writing and language really detract from the scene itself. It was enough to make me cringe.

There is a good deal of action and some world building that kept me interested. I ended up more interested in the relationship between Alex and Sebastian, and the Coursodon world rather than the relationship between Alex and Hailey. I'd be interested to explore more of the Coursodon world itself, but I honestly don't know if I would really enjoy it all that much. ( )

This is one of the books that as I click to read, I don't remember why it is on my kindle. Was it a mad 1-click fest that left me with most of the books on my kindle? This is one of the times, it was worth the surprise.

There are a few instances that I thoroughly enjoyed, but occasionally M.L. Ryan info dumped on the reader, and those times really made me irritated. Don't treat a reader as dumb.

I will say the peculiar job, and the interactions with her cat were just the tip of the iceberg. I seriously think my kindle must be broken; mine didn't come with a hunk. lol.

( )

When Hailey orders a cheaper kindle with “special offers”, she gets more than she bargained for. Through a strange series of events, a super-natural being named Sebastian has been trapped in the kindle and is released to inhabit Hailey’s body when she turns the kindle on. Fortunately for Hailey, another super-natural (and also super sexy) being is look for Sebastian. With his help, perhaps she’ll be able to retrieve Sebastian’s body from his killer and put him back where he belongs.

M. L. Ryan’s writing style reminded me of Janet Evanovich in a lot of good ways. The snarky sense of humor is definitely there and the plot is just complex enough to be really interesting, while keeping this a particularly light, relaxing read. The main character is also very similar, particularly her disenchantment with men, and she is made relatable by the mundane details of her life that the author works into the story. Even better, the similarities to Janet Evanovich end there, with the violence and the language seeming less crude to me than in Evanovich’s work.

The sex and the strong language were actually a little more graphic than I expected. While that doesn’t necessarily bother me, in this case it felt jarringly out of place. With that exception, I very much enjoyed the writing. I also thought the plot was well done, with well-explained and creative super-natural elements plus a romantic sub-plot that added to the main story without distracting from it. I would highly recommend this to fans of paranormal romance, but also to fans of Evanovich, even those who don’t usual read stories with paranormal elements.

This review first published on Doing Dewey. ( )

I'm glad I got this as a free read. The author really tried too hard. ( )