Review ~ Relish (Vicious Feast #2) by Kate Evangelista

Synopsis:

I left Lunar Manor broken, seeking comfort in the hands of Laurel "the Dragon" Hardy, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Gossip. Okay, I may have used him to ease the pain He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named caused by his confession of loving someone else. On New Year's Eve! Granted, he was drunk off his ass, but still! I stay with Larry mainly because the dreams are getting worse. Worse enough to wake me in the middle of the night needing the touch of another to save me from losing my mind.

Unfortunately, the handsome bassist of the uber successful indie rock band, Vicious, is never far from my mind. I thought I was rid of him once and for all only to have him show up at my hotel in London. Luka Visraya's power over me is intense. No matter how far I run, I always end up circling back to him.

If you think my story is just some romance about two lovers getting back together, think again. Little did I know that returning to Luka meant I'd be plunging myself into a world more familiar than I ever thought possible. Trust me when I say I didn't believe it either when the truth finally came out.

Review:

What on Earth did I just read?

As soon as I hit the climax, I decided that Relish is such a huge disappointment to me. The book was going so well, but once the revelations hit. . .it went downhill, and fast. Relish didn’t seem like a paranormal book at all until the climax, which is very bad, considering that this book is a paranormal one—or supposedly, anyway.

I like Kate Evangelista’s writing style—it’s solid, it’s entertaining, it’s good. Relish, though, needs to be polished. The world-building sucked, if you considered the book all in all. I was so excited to read this book because I really liked Savor, but then Relish is such a huge let down. This book could be so much more, if only the world-building and twists are placed right.

The ending was rushed, considering all the paranormal things happened (and was revealed) there. I understand the twist, but it didn’t do the story justice. I got the impression that this book is two different stories forced into one, and not in a good way. It was pretty good until the last 60 pages, from where the story went from confusing to completely bizarre.

I’m very disappointed with this book. I hope there are no more books like this from Kate Evangelista, because I really like the way she writes. She just needs practice in world-building when it comes to paranormal stories.

~ Zee

P.S. This book is out of print (but temporarily, I think). It has become a limited edition because the original publisher closed its doors to the publishing community some time ago. The first book, Savor, is currently circulating in local book stores (Philippines) under Sparks Books. I'm not sure if they are going to publish Relish locally, too.

Anyway, I need good recommendations so I'd stop reading books I end up not liking. *sigh*