Made For Sin by Stacia Kane
Published by Loveswept
Published on: August 30, 2016
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 205
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Karen Marie Moning raves that Stacia Kane “delivers dark, sexy urban fantasy at its finest.” Now Kane introduces her most addictive antihero yet: a Las Vegas PI who makes his own luck—and embodies everything that’s oh-so-right with Sin City.
A lot of bad hands get dealt in Vegas, but E. L. Speare may be holding one of the worst: He’s cursed with the need to commit sins, and if he misses his daily quota, there’s hell to pay—literally. Fortunately, his hometown affords him plenty of chances to behave badly.
But Speare’s newest case really has him going out on a limb. The right-hand man of a notorious crime boss has been found dead in a Dumpster—minus his right hand, not to mention the rest of his arm. What catches Speare’s attention, however, is that the missing appendage was severed clean by a demon-sword, a frighteningly powerful tool of the underworld.
Speare’s out of his element, so he turns to a specialist: Ardeth Coyle, master thief, dealer in occult artifacts, and bona fide temptress. Ardeth’s hotter than a Las Vegas sidewalk on the Fourth of July, but she’s one sin Speare has to resist.
The dismembered corpses are piling up, unimaginable evil lurks in the shadows, and if this odd couple hopes to beat the odds, Speare needs to keep his hands off Ardeth, and his head in the game.
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Stacia Kane has been taunting readers with the prospect of a new DOWNSIDE GHOSTS novel for FAR too long by constantly referencing “book 6” in blog posts, listing the release date as TBA on her website, and don’t even get me started on GoodReads’ catalogue entry. So, when MADE FOR SIN was announced, I jumped on it in the hopes that the author’s writing style, albeit in a different format, would help ease the Chess/Terrible void.
Alas, no such luck. While I did see similarities between the above-mentioned series, and her newest work in the form of another antihero protagonist, and gritty universe; overall it was lacking in original ideas. Las Vegas isn’t exactly an innovative setting, nor were the parallels between the city and its reputation for sin avant-garde. The PI, mafia, and Frankenstein-esque murder mystery angles weren’t very groundbreaking either.
I enjoyed the demonology with its artefacts, rituals, and how the provenance of E. L. Speare’s curse was unearthed. This title was intended to stand on its own, so we were spared the unpleasantness of unfinished plot threads, and the dreaded cliff hanger ending. Although, there was definitely enough material for a second installment, and I’d be open to learning more about this world should Kane feel the need to expand upon these characters.
The third person narrative wasn’t the ideal way to convey Speare’s perspective; I found him to be pretty abrasive, and not in a he-been-done-wrong kind of way even though that was actually the case. His treatment of Ardeth was horrid, and there was absolutely no reason for it. Fortunately, she was a strong secondary in her own right which compensated somewhat for the lead’s deficiencies. Thank goodness the romance didn’t pan out.
Don’t rush out to buy MADE FOR SIN because it’s no substitute for DOWNSIDE GHOSTS.
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Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
This is the second review for this that I have seen where the reader was disappointed. I haven’t read this author yet but I do have the first in the Downside Ghost series on audio. I think I might skip this one and just stick with the other series though this one sounds interesting. 🙂 Great review!
This is the second review I’ve read that basically said the same thing. Bummer! I actually have it for audio review – I grabbed it hoping the same thing as you – that it would fill a little of my Downside Ghosts void. *sigh* maybe the narrator will be great and will make me like it a little better.
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Aw. That’s disappointing. Give the readers what they want is what I say! HOpefully, you’ll get your book 6 some time soon.
I have not had the best luck with her books
I heard mixed things about this one but I still need to finish her other series so we’ll see
I pretty much felt the same way. This was no Downside. I didn’t even think it was as good as Megan Chase, her first series (I think). It wasn’t bad, but I would check out a book two if one is provided. If/when another Downside book shows up, I’m going to have to do a relisten to know what was going on. Not that this would be a bad thing. 🙂
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Oh. Some how I missed she had a new series starting. I guess it’s really different from our favorite one. I’m still curious about it though. Thanks for sharing!
I completely agree that this has nothing to do with Downside Ghosts, and Spears is no Terrible! I was able to just enjoy this story on its own, though, and I found all the mythology and the dark universe to be strangely alluring.
Still cross my fingers for more Chess and Terrible, though!
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