Review: Hisses and Honey by Shannon Mayer

Hisses and Honey by Shannon Mayer
Series: Venom Trilogy #3
Published by 47north
Published on: March 7, 2017
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 240
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley

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The climactic final volume of The Venom Trilogy by USA Today bestselling author Shannon Mayer.

Humble baker turned supernatural Alena Budrene is lovely and lethal, and for the first time, she’s owning it. Finally rid of her low-life ex-husband, she’s free to date sexy vampire mob boss Remo, who respects her as both a Supe and a woman. She’s on good terms with her difficult mother, and she’s growing comfortable with her powers.

But just when it seems things are falling into place for Alena, Hera strikes again: the Aegrus virus rages across Seattle, threatening the life of everyone in its path—including Remo, infected by Hades. The only way to stop the carnage is to face Hera and her army in a no-prisoners battle to determine the fate of the human race—and Alena’s future.

In a sweeping voyage from the Seattle bar scene to a netherworld populated by murderous gods and monsters, Alena confronts one adversary after another on a quest to set the world right for both humans and Supes and demonstrate her power—to the gods and to herself—once and for all.

As much as I admire Shannon Mayer’s other bodies of work, after three installments I think it’s safe to say that the VENOM TRILOGY was a bust for me. HISSES AND HONEY was the worst of the bunch which is unfortunate because I still held on to a glimmer of hope that Alena might pull through in the end.

This novel was the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the Urban Fantasy genre. Exhibit A: the romance. Remo dumps Budrene to “protect” her, and then two other suitors immediately line-up to take his place (ok, only one is a serious candidate, but still). I hate everything about this trope from the sacrificial lamb of a relationship to the insta-love-replacement.

Exhibit B: Alena View Spoiler »DIES « Hide Spoiler. Authors are permitted to play fast and loose with most of the founding rules of reality, it’s one of the perks of writing Speculative Fiction. However, there are a select few that should be handled with extreme care such as View Spoiler »killing the protagonist « Hide Spoiler! I don’t care if the world consists of gods, and potent magic, this is a big red flag that should be avoided at all cost.

Exhibit C: limitless power. I’m a little fuzzy on the timeline, but no more than a couple of weeks have elapsed since Lena was a diminutive human dying of the Aegrus virus. Yet, since then she’s defeated countless members of the pantheon, changed the unfavourable laws governing supernaturals, and saved the population from certain death. All with minimal help, training or repercussions.

HISSES AND HONEY is for readers who still believe in the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, and Santa.

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