Good morning to all my fellow book loving friends! Today you are getting a double dose of my opinion, lucky you Below you can find my review for the newest book in the Meredith Gentry series and over at SmexyBooks you can catch my review of my very first historical romance read!

Title: Divine Misdemeanors (Merry Gentry, Book
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Release: December 9th, 2009
Buy Kindle version: here
Goodreads Entry: here
Rating: 2 Stars

I would like to say that I read this installment in the Merry Gentry series in 2 days because I enjoyed it, but the truth is… I read it because I am can’t stand to not finish a book or series I have started. Many times I was tempted to just toss it aside and give it a “Did Not Finish” tag. At first I wondered if I was set to not like this because I had followed along with Hamilton’s tweets and blog posts…. so I knew how fast this book was thrown together and how much she appear to dislike writing it. However much I wish this was the case, I don’t think it is.

Merry is a sidhe princess who has gathered a harem of men over the years, many of which I could do without. Doyle keeps me reading this series, he is oh so dark and yummy. Divine Misdemeanors picks up not long after book 7 leaves off. Merry is pregnant with twins, fathered by 6 of the men in her harem. She is now living in Los Angeles with a gathering of fey who have left the fairy mounds in St. Louis. She is back to working with the detective agency and we follow her as she is called in by the LAPD to help solve the case of a serial killer who is targeting fey.

I am not even sure where to start when discussing how bad this story is. The writing is awkward, the sex scenes drag on and are unexciting. Its almost like there is a script for Merry’s sex scenes that goes something like this:

~*~*~ Warning – below is my own writing, not a direct quote ~*~*~

He rose above me as his magically colored and surprisingly untangle-able hair swirled around us. His body was lean and tight, the part of him that is oh so male was large (note to self, each new man should be even bigger than the last). He pushed into me.

He found that spot and pumped while I watched him glide in and out. He brought me. I screamed my release and painted my orgasm on his skin

Seriously, “painted my orgasm on his skin” was used at least twice and it is a cheezy line to begin with. Secondly, no one orgasms as fast as Merry and surely not just from the sheer size of a man’s junk. Add that together with the this absolutely horrid line from one of Merry’s new men, “Not as tight as she was before I had my turn,” and I was rolling my eyes instead of needing a cold shower.

The serial killer plot of the book was weak. It felt like an afterthought, yet there was no real plot that took the forefront. There were only minor developments in the story of Merry and her men and most of the book felt like boring filler. Too often I found myself wondering why certain paragraphs or phrases were thrown in. There wasn’t even a scene with Merry and Doyle or Frost getting it on! How could there a Merry book without Doyle loving…..? Blasphemy.

Divine Misdemeanors was hugely disappointing. I am not even sure if my love of Doyle will have me picking up the next version. I am ashamed to say that I kind of wish Hamilton had ended the series with book 7, Swallowing Darkness. It was obvious that the series had to end or go in a new direction after Swallowing Darkness, but Divine Misdemeanors does nothing to encourage the reader that it is worth continuing on with.

Disclaimer: This book was purchased by me.

Other posts you may like:

• Review: Bullet by Laurell Hamilton
• Laurell K Hamilton gets a website facelift.
• Cover Reveal: Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton