Monday 2 January 2012

Book Review: Possession by Missy Maxim

Ugh.

I wish I hadn't started the year with this book. I don't often read erotic fiction because it tends to be so poorly written. (Or should I say so poorly edited?) But, I was in the mood - if you know what I mean - and this seemed to tick the right boxes.


I should mention as well that this was my first Kindle download for my iPad2. I didn't know whether I'd like reading off the screen (tried it once with my Nintendo DS and found it too awkward) so I went with something around the £1 mark. Big mistake?

At least I didn't pay any more for this book. (Always look on the bright side, right?)

The novel had a good premise: A virginal young woman gets kidnapped by a vampire who wants her for a courteasan. He leaves her at a finishing school for demons with the instructions to leave her untouched - something her tutor has a difficult time doing. Sounds good, right?

It would have been if it had been written by a decent author.

One of the main things that bothered me about this novel was the dialogue. Every character in the book talked essentially the same way although they were different sexes, species and had different backgrounds. The British slang was both over used and badly used. Perhaps Missy Maxim has never met an actual British person before because she does not seem to know that, slang words aside, they speak differently than Americans do. It made the whole novel feel false.

There were other problems with the story, of course, things like lack of characterization and lack of focus - but the other main thing about the novel that really bugged me was the sex. It was sold as an erotic fantasy but the only thing the sex scenes (yeah, both of 'em) made me fantasize about was reading a different book. But in all fairness, I kind of made my mind up when she used the phrase "his prick." Boo.

4 comments:

  1. Im a big fan of snuff books. For didn't reasons but even I'm having a hard time with either lack of storyline or lack of hot steamy sex. yes I want my cake and eat it too.

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  2. Ok I hate auto correct. Shoot me now.

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  3. Lol! I know what you mean... It's like the people who write this stuff are too embarassed to treat their work as proper writing. I want to be able to hold erotic fiction up to the same standards as everything else I read - which means it often fails miserably. Can you recommend anything that's actually good?

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  4. Are you my friend on shelfari? Add me. But I'm mostly on goodreads now. Love that app!! My goal this year is to add every book I read as I read them so there will be more erotica on goodreads. I can't read on my iPad either. Anything with a back light ends up giving me a headache.

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