dramastef's Full Review: Katie Macalister - You Slay Me
I'm not sure how Katie MacAlister's Aisling Grey, Guardian series hit my radar, but somehow the first one, You Slay Me, found its way to my library queue. I have a vague recollection of someone telling me it was fluffy, but laugh-out-loud funny like the MaryJanice Davidson Undead series. I'm here to tell you that that is a far cry from the truth.
Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling) Grey is in Paris for the first time, working as a courier for her Uncle. She is supposed to deliver a package to Mme. Aurora Deauxville and be on her merry way. Unfortunately, when she arrives at the Deauxville estate, the lady of the house is strung up in what appears to be a dark magic kind of ritualistic killing. A man named Drake Vireo is also at the scene posing as an Interpol officer. Once he steals her gold dragon aquamanile, however, and leaves her to face the real police, she realizes that he might not be what he claimed to be.
A few amazingly coincidental encounters with truly forgettable characters later, and Aisling has found out that Drake is actually a dragon (the incredibly gorgeous head of his sept) and she is what is known as a Guardian. (I can't explain it to you because it was never really explained to me.) Drake and Aisling have weird, surrealistic dream sex in which he claims her as his mate but she still isn't convinced that he's innocent in the murders. Oh, she's found two more in quick succession. The murders have something to do with gathering three tools that can be used to summon a powerful demon lord.
The best part of the book for me? Aisling decides to raise a demon of her own to help her in her quest. Effrijim (who prefers to be called Jim) is a wisecracking, sarcastic, beautiful Newfoundland dog. For those who may not know, I have my own Newfie who rules our house like a gentle demon lord. It's kind of sad though when the scenes with a Newf are more memorable than the sex scenes. Or the action scenes. Or any of the other scenes.
I didn't totally hate You Slay Me. It just failed to capture or keep my attention. I picked it up and read a few chapters, put it down and read two books, picked it up for another two or three chapters, put it down for another two books, and so on until I finally finished it last night because my library pile was full of only books to go back. The writing isn't horrible by any means. The plot is semi-interesting. But in an extremely overcrowded genre, You Slay Me does nothing at all to stand out.
Though I've been known to keep reading a series even if the first book was simply average, I can promise that I wouldn't read the next book in this series (Fire Me Up) if it jumped off the library shelf and landed in my hands.
Aisling Grey is a courier enjoying a free, work-related trip to Paris when she learns she's a Guardian. That's a keeper of the Gates of Hell, for thos...More at HotBookSale
Beginning a new paranormal romance series, MacAlister introduces courier Aisling Grey. While on a free, work-related trip to Paris, she meets the sexy...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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