Book Review – Connor Grey series by Mark Del Franco (Part 2)

Alrighty then! This is my second review on this series. I’ve done one on the first three books in the series so this will be focused on the last three. You can find my first review here. I finished up the sixth book…almost two weeks ago? So sorry this has taken me so long. As I’ve mentioned in almost every post, I procrastinate. A lot. As I’m sure many of my fellow bloggers do at some point or another. But moving on…this review will be on the last three books of the Connor Grey series by Mark Del Franco.

 

The last three books include:

• Unperfect Souls
• Uncertain Allies
• Undone Deeds

My Rating: 4/5 stars for each book

Throughout this series I have given each book four stars. And that’s because, obviously, I have found this to be an enjoyable read. I loved Franco’s world-building and his writing style was also amazing. I actually found myself attached to most of the main characters as well. The action scenes were suspenseful and kept you wanting more and although romance wasn’t the main focus of the series, it was there.

In the last three books Connor definitely grows as a character. He can be rather childish, and still slightly arrogant, at times but overall he’s a good guy just trying to do what he thinks is best for everyone. Sometimes that includes himself, but most of the time it’s for the people he cares about. If Connor is anything, it’s loyal to those that have earned his trust. He makes a fantastic main character.

In my previous review I mentioned a few more characters including Connor’s gym buddy and police detective, Leo Murdock, the hilarious flit and Connor’s life-long friend, Joe, and Meryl, a sassy Guild researcher. As this series progresses you delve deeper into all three of their lives and, as I mentioned before, I found myself rather attached to them. Two other characters that I truly enjoyed are Shay, a young male prostitute introduced in the first book, and Dylan, Connor’s former Guild partner.

In these last three books the plot pretty much skyrockets until the ending. It just goes BAM BAM BAM! Plot twists thrown left and right. A lot goes on but it’s not overwhelming in the sense you don’t understand what’s happening. However, I do have mixed feelings about the very end of the sixth book. I found that to be slightly confusing, which left me a bit unsatisfied. By overall, this series was wonderful and I’ll definitely be looking into what else Mark Del Franco has written.

Happy reading! :)

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WWW Wednesdays #1 – May 13th

As I mentioned in my Teaser Tuesdays post yesterday, I’ll also be participating in WWW Wednesdays, another weekly bookish meme formally hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm, and revived by Sam of Taking on a World of Words. This meme consists of answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

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►What am I currently reading?◄

I am currently reading Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz. I’m a little over two-thirds done with this book and I admit I’m struggling. None of the characters are likable, to me at least. The plot was what interested me in the first place and it’s not terrible, but because I don’t particularly like any of the characters it’s just turning out to be a disappointing read. I’ve already decided I’m not going to be finishing this series and I probably won’t even review it either. I’ll post a small review on Goodreads but otherwise I don’t think I want to bother with an entire post. It sounds harsh, but it’s mostly due to laziness.

I also just started Dancing With the Devil by Keri Arthur. I read two of her other short series and really enjoyed her characters and writing style, so I wanted to try reading more of her books. I’m only one chapter in so far but even those first twenty pages have made me look forward to the rest of this book.

 

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►What did I recently finish reading?◄

I finished up Undone Deeds by Mark Del Franco last night at work. This was the sixth and final book in the Connor Grey series and it was fantastic. The ending was a bit confusing, but there were a few major plot twists that I definitely did not see coming. I posted a review on the first three books a few weeks ago and will try to get one up for the last three sometime this week.

 

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►What do I think I’ll read next?◄

After I finish up Blue is for Nightmares, I think I’ll start My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent. After deciding to read multiple books at once, I’ve tried to read one on my NOOK and the other a physical copy. I’ve also found myself flipping between adult fiction and young adult fiction. So because I will not be continuing the series by Stolarz, I decided I’d try this one out on my NOOK (since Dancing With the Devil is the book I’m reading as a physical copy). Sorry if that sounds confusing. But yeah.

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Let me know if you’ve read any of these books or even if any are on your TBR list!

Happy reading! :)

 

Teaser Tuesdays #1 – May 12th

Alrighty, so to keep myself somewhat more active I’ve decided to participate in Teaser Tuesdays, a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. A few of the blogs I follow also participate  in this meme and it looked like fun. I’ll also be doing WWW Wednesdays, so expect another post up tomorrow!

Rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I’m currently reading Undone Deeds by Mark Del Franco, the sixth book in the Connor Grey series.

My teaser:

【“I’m having some kind of double vision.”
“You’re seeing through the glamours. Not many humans venture this deep in the Tangle. The glamours are more tuned to fey sensibilities,” I said. 】

xxxxx– Conversation between Connor and Murdock
xxxxxxx(Chapter 18, page 110)

Yes, it’s a bit more than two sentences, but oh well! I’m sure other people tweak their teasers too. Hope this one was okay. Once again, I should have another post up tomorrow for WWW Wednesdays!

Happy reading! :)

Book Review – Connor Grey series by Mark Del Franco (Part 1)

As I’ve been plugging away at the Tiger Saga series by Colleen Houck, I’ve also been reading this series on my NOOK. There are a total of six books but, this review is only on the first three because I have yet to read the last three and feel like I’ll forget too many things if I wait to do a review until I finish the series.

  

The three I’ve read so far include:

• Unshapely Things
• Unquiet Dreams
• Unfallen Dead

Here is a Goodreads synopsis of the first book in the series, Unshapely Things:

In the alleys of the decrepit Boston neighborhood known as the Weird, fairy prostitutes are turning up dead. The crime scenes show signs of residual magic, but the Guild, which polices the fey, has more “important” crimes to investigate and dumps the case on human law enforcement.

Boston police call in Connor Grey, a druid and former hotshot Guild investigator-whose magical abilities were crippled after a run-in with a radical environmentalist elf. As Connor battles red tape and his own shortcomings, he realizes that the murders are not random, but part of an ancient magical ritual. And if Connor can’t figure out the killer’s M.O., the culmination of the spell might just bring about a worldwide cataclysm.

My Rating: 4/5 stars for each book

This series takes place in modern-day Boston, but with a twist: the fey and humans live side-by-side. Due to an event over one-hundred years ago known as Convergence, the fey were separated from their original world, Faerie, and ended up in our own. I really like the world Franco has created. Through his enjoyable writing style he describes this world with amazing detail and you really feel like you’ve been sucked into it. The series is mainly focused in the Weird, the neighborhood where the main character, Connor Grey, resides. The fey, who think they’re better than humans, don’t get along all that well with non-fey folk, so the Weird is a place where both humans and the fey live because the individuals who live there really don’t give a crap if you’re fey or not.

As mentioned in the synopsis, Connor is a druid and former Guild member who has now lost most of his abilities. The first book takes place about one or two years after that, so readers are introduced to the ‘new’ Connor. It’s mentioned that, due to his former position, he used to be an arrogant man who didn’t give anyone below his station a second thought. Because of the loss of most of his power, he now has a different view on life. He’s a fun main character who doesn’t care what others think about him and, although at times he still pines for his old life, he makes due with what he has.

A few other main characters include Murdock, a police detective that asks Connor to help him on the occasional fey-related case, Joe, a hilarious flit who has been by Connor’s side since he was a born, and Meryl, a take-no-nosense, smart-mouth Guild researcher. All of these characters, as well as others that I haven’t mentioned, are likable and make the plot even better.

Speaking of the plot, readers may find this series a bit on the slow side, but I found that aspect enjoyable. You really get a feel of Connor’s everyday life and, although there is plenty of action, it’s realistic in the fact that a bad guy doesn’t pop out from around a corner every couple of pages. Also, each book focuses on its own story line, but at the same time you can tell something bigger is happening behind the scenes that steadily builds up throughout every book.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next three and being able to see how Connor’s story concludes.

Happy reading! :)