This was recommended to me by someone who likes a lot of the
same books I do, but it flopped. I think I understand what Evanovich was trying
to accomplish, because I appreciate good-humored supernatural books (especially
with the theme of the 7 deadly sins) but this one had some definite plot
issues. Basically Elizabeth, a baker in small-town Massachusetts, loves her
solitary lifestyle as a baker in a creepy, old house her aunt left her. Then
this guy shows up, says she has magical powers and that they need to go find
these stones which embody the 7 deadly sins. Even though Lizzy doesn’t really
want to change her life, she goes along with him because… I’m really not sure. I
have a few problems with this book, including language, bad plot devices, and
lack of background.
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| A lot of Goodreads people bitched that it was just like her Plum series, but worse. Since I haven't read the Plum books, I couldn't tell ya. |
The author’s language could be confusing because the main
character had limited understanding of the situation. Elizabeth is entering a
new world and has a new identity, but has no interest in exploring either, so
we’re left with a flat POV. I think we were supposed to be wow-ed by her
ability to make AMAZING cupcakes, but I just got hungry and irritated with her
narrow-mindedness, especially since her coworkers were uber into magic. Her
coworker even tried some spells with hilarious results.
The governing body of Magical People Who Are Given a Weird
Title sent a guy to help her out. Diesel (crap name) is always trying to get in Lizzy’s pants, but can’t, cuz both of them could
lose their powers, or some such bullshit; it was a terrible and poorly
disguised plot device. It seemed like Diesel was trying to copy Matthew
McConaughey’s rogue-ish adorableness but failed utterly.
In addition, Evanovich doesn’t give a lot of background. who
Diesel is or what the agency he works for is trying to do is never fully
explained; neither is the cat that came to the house or Lizzy’s aunt’s true
identity (we’re meant to suspect she was magical). I know writing backstory can
be tedious, but it’s necessary for the readers to be able to follow along with
the story. If I were Diesel and was trying to persuade someone that this whole
other world exists, I would give the full history of it and the stones they’re
searching for instead of just trying to build up enough sexual tension without
the expectation of release.
But the worst aspect was that the mystery of the stones and
why they’re important isn’t explained at
all. She’s blindly sent to look for ‘em because she has a fake, poorly
developed power that never woulda flown in the X-men universe.
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| This guy was a mutant whose skin could stretch to whatever length, which is gross and pretty useless. His abilities were still better than Lizzy's. |
She also has no
idea what the bad guy’s purpose in finding them was. I mean I got most of the
way in to the book and still have no idea why they're so important.
One plus: Evanovich interpreted what “gluttony” was in
interesting and creative ways, but it still was not enough for me to recommend
the book to anyone. I had to dig into my Kim Harrison series to restore my
faith in supernatural books.
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| I prefer Wrath, anyway. |
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