Book Review: Flight from Death by Yasmine Galenorn

Title: Flight from Death
Series: Fly by Night, Book 1
Author: Yasmine Galenorn
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: July 7, 2015 by Berkley

I’m Shimmer, a blue dragon shifter. Thanks to a mistake, I was exiled from the Dragon Reaches and sentenced to work for Alex Radcliffe, a vampire who owns the Fly by Night Magical Investigations Agency. Now, not only do I have to adapt to Earthside culture, but every time I turn around, somebody’s trying to kill us. And worse, Alex is as gorgeous as he is exasperating. But you know what they say: All’s fair in love and bounty hunting…

When an old friend of Alex contacts him about a haunting at the High Tide Bed & Breakfast in Port Townsend, Washington, we think we’re on a simple ghost hunt. But our investigation quickly transforms into a deadly fight as we uncover an eighty-year-old murder, a cursed house, and a dark force trapping the spirits within. To stop impending disaster we must break the curse and lay the angry spirits to rest.

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Reviewed by: Babs

In a Nutshell: I really wanted to like this. Dragons! Vampires! Really seemed right up my ally. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me.

Why I Read This Book: I've been wanting to try Yasmine Galenorn and the start of this new series seemed a good opportunity.

What I Liked: I liked the new-to-me supernaturals like forest wights and water dragons. I also liked the interesting secondary characters--Tonya, Degoba, Chai. I really wanted more of Tonya and Degoba.

What I Didn't Like: The tone did not work for me or something. The story and characters felt flat and one dimensional to me. I didn't really care about Alex or attached to Shimmer or concerned how things ended up. I found the little allusions to a Tonya / Degoba romance and Patrick's past romance with Tonya's mom more interesting than what was going on with Shimmer and Alex.

I also didn't notice any witty banter, snark, or much humor. I’m a big paranormal romance / urban fantasy reader and I think I’ve come to expect it when reading them. I missed it.

I liked reading about the wights, a new-to-me supe. That said, I didn't think it was possible but I thought there were too many supernaturals--dragons, weres, vampires, witches, djinn, spiritwalkers, water spirits, sirens, ghosts, forest wights, Fae. I got new creature overload or something.

Overall Impression: Flight from Death didn’t work for me. Maybe because it was a first book in a series – still needs to find rhythm, doing info dump? I wish I liked it more. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the series.

Bab’s Rating: