Cantarella by You Higuri

 Links for Book Descriptions: Goodreads & Library Things

 

I remember quite clearly the day that I picked Cantarella off the bookstore's shelf. I was perusing the manga section to see if there were any new releases and I pulled Cantarella off the shelf to inspect the cover and summary. Immediately, I was mesmorized by Higuri You's artwork, which is just as good in the inside as the cover.

As I read Cantarella, I was not only amazed by the artwork, I became interested in the Borgias family and their real life history, which later sparked me into watching Showtime's The Borgias.

Now, there are subtle hints of shounen-ai in Cantarella, which is not that surprising from a manga-ka known for yaoi, but for me, it was more than welcome, and it does not take away from the story.

My Verdict: Five stars out of five

Slayer's Kiss by Cassi Carver

 Links for Book Descriptions: Goodreads & Library Things

 

 I won this book in a First Reads Giveaway on Goodreads.

This book was okay, in my opinion. I personally wouldn't be interested in reading the sequel.

There is more emphasis on smut rather than plot or character development (which is not a bad thing if what you are looking for is smut - I admit sometimes that I read stuff just for the smut). However, the plot just seems kinda thrown together (if this wasn't the case and if there was a nice balance between smut and plot I would have rated this higher).

Kara is a kick-ass character and I enjoyed reading about her night job with Abbey but I just couldn't relate to Kara on any level. I really disliked Julian, particularly his attitude towards Kara. Also, I thought his possessiveness was too overbearing. Gavin was meh, I didn't have any opinion on him either way.

I did not feel the romantic feelings between Kara and Julian and I thought it was too soon for them to be throwing around the "love" word when they hardly knew each other and were just hooking up.

My Verdict: Three stars out of Five