Review: Parts & Wreck (Parts Department, #1) by Mark Henry

Parts & Wreck is another book where I didn't remember anything that I just read after putting it down. It's a good thing I take some notes for my reviews, because this book is utterly forgettable. Wade is a self-proclaimed playboy; women just can't resist him! I can't see why though, except he's super hot or something. Anyway, he hires Luce as his new assistant, and of course she's another one of those women who can't resist him, except that she does.

There's one very annoying thing about Parts & Wreck: the jokes. I struggle with humor to begin with, but I can normally tell when something is meant to be funny. The jokes here are all sex based, mostly about prostitutes, because apparently sex work is hilarious. Also roofies.They weren't funny and seemed more there for shock value? I don't know. It just wasn't funny at all and it bothered me.

The plot of Parts & Wreck is also pretty darn slow, which is unusually for the Paranormal genre. We don't even know exactly what Wade's job is until about a quarter of the way in, and then nothing plot related happened until...well, ever, honestly. I couldn't even tell you what the plot was suppose to be outside of the budding romance between Wade and Luce. Something about demons and surgery and prostitutes, probably.

Parts & Wreck was simply not my jam. Maybe dudes with raunchy humor, who remove organs from possessed people, is your jam. But don't forget the roofie jokes. Those shouldn't appeal to anyone.

Review: Touch of the Wolf by Vella Munn

Touch of the Wolf had me a bit nervous in the beginning because I wasn't sure if what I was reading was stereotypes or realities. So I did some research. The author is, in fact, a white woman who has a passion for Native American history due to her love of nature. Okay then. That caused me to lean more toward the uncomfortable end of the spectrum, even though it sounds like she probably had done some research. I don't know though. I just know that Jay's brother is an alcoholic and his uncle wears feathers in his hair and communes with eagles. And there's this overarching theme of the "uncooperative Native" since none of the Hoh people wanted anthropologists stomping all over their land. I'm not Native American, so I can't actually speak on any of this, but it all seemed questionable.

What I can comment on is that Jay's brother's alcoholism did wind up being used a plot devise. Winter's professor who was murdered while studying the land admits to hoping to find a Native with a weakness he could exploit. Well, that was Floyd, who he bribed with alcohol to get information and ancient relics. That is disgusting. It's certainly portrayed as being an awful thing to do, but I could have done without that part entirely.

Also, Touch of the Wolf is not the Paranormal Romance that it's marketed to me. There was a brief moment that was reminiscent of The Mask. Winter receives the illegal, ancient artifact, which is a wolf mask. She promptly puts it on, and whoa. Visions and she hears a wolf cry (to the blue corn moon), and then Jay tells her about Wolf. Wolf is totally real and a spirit in the forest. That is not paranormal. Kissing in the forest where a spirit wolf lives does not equal Paranormal Romance. It's just a poorly done Contemporary Romance that attempts to use Native American culture.

Clearly, I did not enjoy Touch of the Wolf at all. Even the big reveal at the end irritated me. The villain spent three chapters monologuing a non-explanation for the murders, which gave the rescue party plenty of time to arrive. On top of what I already discussed, the romance was boring and the sex was cringe-worthy. I don't think "her sex juices bathed his penis" is sexy in the slightest. It sounds messy. Like the rest of this book.