Genre:
Urban Fantasy
Description:
“Onyx can
smell evil. No one; not even werewolves, wendigos, or vampires, can
hide from her once they've committed a crime. When Onyx’s
paranormal investigation of a local haunting triggers the death of a
divorced mother, she is cut short by the provocative Detective Elliot
Stevens. Now she must either tempt Elliot astray from his clean-cut,
straight-edged path or change her apathetic ways and learn the truth
about who and what she is — before what she doesn't know can kill
her.”
“Bettina
Busiello is a dreamer by nature with an eccentric sense of humor. She
spends most of her waking hours either spinning yarns, venturing
online games or cuddling her cat October. She lives in Vermont where
she is surrounded by enough fresh air to make her slightly high
(which explains a lot).”
Learn more
about Ms. Busiello at her website, follow her on Facebook, or on Twitter.
Appraisal:
I have to
admit, I am torn. Blame the
Goth Girl is an interesting
story with many intriguing characters, which Ms. Busiello has crafted
in her own unique way. This is not a cookie-cutter urban fantasy. Her
fantasy world is much like our own, so suspending disbelief is easy to
achieve. There are point-of-view shifts, through well-labeled chapter
headings, between a few different characters. I enjoy this type of
story-telling; it gives me a perspective I otherwise wouldn’t have.
Also, knowing the thoughts and feelings that are going on in
whomever’s head gave me the chance to identify with them on a
personal level.
Onyx, the
main character and our Goth girl, is snarky, relatively
down-to-earth, and street smart. However, she finds herself in
foreign territory when she begins to notice otherworldly creatures
around her. She fancies herself as a paranormal investigator, when
she is not running her porn store, even though she has only had
experiences with ghosts. While that sounds interesting, I found
myself wishing for more character development with her. Onyx is not
flat though, but her past is more a mystery so far.
I enjoyed
the witty dialogue and the vast array of creatures, along with a few
humans. The plot is captivating as we learn how this world works
right along with the other players. It seems there is more to Onyx
than even she realizes.
But then…
No, no, no,
just NO! You can NOT end a book with NO resolved issues! Endings like
this are not considered a hook, it’s like slapping the reader in
the face. Where is the cliff-hanger warning in the blurb? It shows a
lack of respect to your readers, and will get you dropped like a hot
potato for the scathing burn they are left with. What were you
thinking, Ms. Busiello? This is not a good way to gain a base of
faithful readers.
No, I’m
not kidding. The book ended abruptly, and left me in frustrated
disbelief. For that reason alone the book lost stars. To tell you the
truth, I seriously considered rating this book two stars despite how
much I liked the story so far.
FYI:
In The
Beginning There Was Bauhaus is
the first book in the Blame the
Goth Girl series and ends with
a major cliff-hanger. There is one oral sex scene and several F-bombs
within, so if you are sensitive to either of these you should find
another book.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant proofing issues.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 35-40,000 words
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