Book Review: Faith Hunter’s Kicking It

Posted February 2, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Book Reviews

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Source: the library
Book Review: Faith Hunter’s Kicking It

Kicking It


by

Chloe Neill, Chris Marie Green, Christine Henry, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Lucienne Diver, Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Shannon K. Butcher


It is part of the , Jane Yellowrock #6.25, , , , , , series and is a paranormal romance, urban fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by ROC Trade on December 3, 2013 and has 349 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Other books in this series include [books_series]

Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Some Girls Bite, Friday Night Bites, Twice Bitten, Hard Bitten, Firespell, Hexbound, Drink Deep, Charmfall, Biting Cold, House Rules, Biting Bad, Blood Games, The Veil, Midnight Marked, Dark Debt, The Sight, Blade Bound, The Hunt, Wild Hunger, The Beyond, The Bright and Breaking Sea, "Slaying It", First Blood, Raven Cursed, An Apple for the Creature, Death's Rival, Blood Trade, Blood in Her Veins, Mercy Blade, Shadow Rites, Bloodring, Seraphs, Dark Queen, Shattered Bonds, Black Arts, Broken Soul, Dark Heir, Cold Reign, Blood of the Earth, Curse on the Land, "Water Witch", "Explosion On King's Street", Skinwalker, Dirty Deeds, "Shiloh and the Brick", "Black Friday Shopping with Nell and Occam", Circle of the Moon, Blood Cross, Spells for the Dead, "Easy Pickings", True Dead, Dirty Deeds 2, Trials, Junkyard Cats, Rift in the Soul, Grave Witch, Grave Dance, Grave Memory, Grave Visions, Grave Ransom, Grave Destiny, Grave War, Vamped, Undone, Unknown, Ghost Town, Rachel Caine, Bite Club, Dark and Stormy Knights, Devil's Bargain, Devil's Due, Last Breath, Unseen, Hex Appeal, Unbroken, Black Dawn, Working Stiff, Two Weeks' Notice, Bitter Blood, Kiss of Death, Fall of Night, Daylighters, Prince of Shadows, Ink and Bone, Paper and Fire, Ash and Quill, Killman Creek, Honor Among Thieves, Smoke and Iron, Honor Bound, Honor Lost, The Grimrose Path, Blackout, Basilisk, Doubletake, Nevermore, Shadowed Souls, Living on the Edge, Razor's Edge, Burning Alive, Finding the Lost, Running Scared, Living Nightmare, Blood Hunt, Edge of Sanity, Dying Wish, Falling Blind, Rough Edges

Series:

“Forked Tongues” (Holly & Andy, 3)
“The Devil’s Left Boot” (Jane Yellowrock, 6.25)
“High Stakes” (Chicagoland Vampires, 8.25)
“The Parlor” (Latter-Day Olympians, 3.5)
“Red Isn’t Really My Color” (Black Wings, 2.5)
“Snakeskin” (Trickster, 0.5)
“Ruby Red” (Alex Craft, 2.5; Darque Files, 0.5)

An anthology of nine short stories revolving around a theme of footwear.

The Stories

Rachel Caine‘s “Forked Tongues” seems mislabeled unless it’s a metaphor for lying ass demon. Witches are under attack in Austin, and Holly Caldwell and her boyfriend, the Old West zombie Andy Toland, are hurtin’ until they find the reason for it. And after events in Hex Appeal: “Holly’s Balm”, 2, the cops aren’t interested in helping out.

It’s those boots, they’ve got juice. A good story albeit very short, but then I’m prejudiced towards this short story series. On the negative side, I realize that, having read the first two stories, I’m filling in a lot of blanks Caine left. I’m not sure “Forked Tongues” will make sense unless you’ve read at least one of the previous two: Strange Brew: “Death Warmed Over”, 1, or/and Hex Appeal: “Holly’s Balm”, 2.

Shannon K. Butcher‘s “Stolen Goods” is a good one! I love Butcher’s creation of her sexy, sultry thief who needs to be brought back to the path. Between those sexy red boots and the matching handbag…she hasn’t got a chance against leatherworker Marcus Brighton’s convictions.

Really well done. Butcher has created an entire world in just over 40 pages and makes me want to read more!

Chris Marie Green‘s “The Girl With No Name” is another good one except for all the vague bits. Part of the vague is useful, which helps you empathize with Lilly as she tries to figure out who she is and stay alive. It gets vaguer yet when they don’t explain about a dragon’s line of vampires??, although Green does provide a tease of background.

Faith Hunter‘s “The Devil’s Left Boot” brings Liz and Cia, the twin Everhart witches, up against Layla, their high school mean girl. Seems Layla is missin’ her mama and wants their help. Ha. Ha-ha-ha.

I’m not impressed with this one, and lord knows I wanted to be. Instead, it’s all tell and little show. Worth reading if only for the resolution between these two sisters and Jane.

Chloe Neill‘s “High Stakes” was just dumb. A threat from Lindsey’s past arises, and sure, she needs to deal with it. But Neill doesn’t give any good reasons why Luc can’t come along and be her backup. It immediately leaps into a dump situation. Which is almost as stupid. In New York, Lindsey leaps right into trouble without scouting the situation…duhh… And again, all tell and little show.

Lucienne Diver‘s “The Parlor” weaves back and forth between good and huh? It takes awhile before we even learn the protagonist’s name, and it feels as though we were simply dropped into the story. I felt as though I were scrambling. Maybe that’s a good thing as it seemed that Tori was scrambling to figure things out as well.

Christina Henry‘s “Red Isn’t Really My Color” puts this one in my TBR file. I like Beezle! It’s a whole lotta world in this short story and incorporates the fairy tale of the Red Shoes. Ick. Amarantha, the faerie queen, has a major hate on for Madeline and her many greats-grandfather, Lucifer. It’s a twisty, tricky story involving those red shoes, although it is somewhat simplistic. We’ll have to see how good the full-length stories are.

Rob Thurman‘s “Snakeskin” is a ten-years-previous prequel and introduces Zeke and Griffin. That said, Trixa is delighted with the liar who shows up at her bar — she tells the best lies — and does her best to fulfill Elizabeth Rose Burke-Lane’s request.

This was good. Thurman leads you up the garden path with the larcenous Trixa, perky, happy, and deadly when she investigates. Oh, yeah, Trixa will give Bethy what she wants all right. It’s a sudden twist and yet fulfills the specifics of the bargain.

Kalayna Price‘s “Ruby Red” introduces us to Briar Darque and her partner, Derrick Knight — huh, Darque Knight *waggles her brows* — when they investigate shadow creatures before they get sent to check out some grave witch named Alex Craft.

Briar’s a cold one, but there are hints of warmth and want in her, but this short story is more an introduction to Darque’s philosophy and her partner whom I don’t believe we met in Grave Memory, 3.

The Cover and Title

The cover is a deep purple of lights and darks in a plank’d floor and a stony wall with the lightest lilac showcasing a woman’s legs, the calf of one raised and black booted leg resting against her knee, her cuff’d forearm resting on that upraised knee, and holding a tactical knife. You can’t miss the these boots…yep, a 3 ½-inch heel in black, glossy, over-the-knee leather.

Oh, yeah, these boots are definitely Kicking It: These Boots are Made for Stalking with the men following with their tongues hanging out, LOL.