Book Review: Stifled (Summoned #2) by Rainy Kaye

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: March 28, 2015
Publisher: TeZLA
252 Pages

Dimitri would like nothing more than to live a low-key life in Naples, Italy. His girlfriend, Syd, has other plans.

After three months of researching, she is positive she has found a jinn on a killing spree in San Diego, California. Since Syd gave Dimitri the one thing he thought was out of reach, he feels obligated to use his ill-gained talents for her cause.

A few hours back in the US proves that Dimitri and Syd didn't quite make the clean escape they had thought. As they trail the elusive jinn, someone else trails them. What should have been a simple trip to confirm once and for all if the jinn are living among humans, instead reveals a community keeping dark secrets.

Unfortunately for Dim, the only way out is in.

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The scariest thing isn't being stifled; it's finding the courage to speak up.

I didn't like this one as much as the first. I went in, fresh off finishing Summoned, ready to follow in the new adventure and it was just...underwhelming. And a bit convoluted at times as well.

Dimitri, now having been freed, is living with Syd, her grandmother, and her sister in Italy. He wants nothing more than to leave the past behind him and start his new life and basically just try to figure out what freedom means but Syd has other plans. Her obsession with the jinn is far from sated. When she finds a rash of killings in San Diego that she believes are being committed by a jinn, she drags Dimitri back into the world he so wanted to escape. Needless to say, they find the jinn and then some.

My main issue with this book was Syd herself. Having seen what being a jinn did to Dimitri and how much freewill was just not a thing, it was just rather inconsiderate of her to assume he;s be okay with everything she was doing - mainly, asking him to pretend to be a controlled jinn again. Everything he escaped from was now back to being front and center - burglary, kidnapping, murder - Syd saw no problem with involving Dim in this because it was for knowledge. I mean, doesn't he want to know more about his life and the other jinn? For someone who supposedly was in love, she acted rather childish and very selfish. Only caring about her goals and not bothering to see how much stress this was causing Dim. And can I mention how awkward the sex scenes were? Yikes.

Another problem was the pacing vs. plot. There was just so much plot thrown at us that it was extremely hard to focus on just one thing. Because of this, a lot got lost in translation. I didn't care about any outcomes because I wasn't given time to care. I wanted to see Dim grow in his freedom, deal with the struggles of being normal and he wasn't given that opportunity. The author basically told us and we were to accept it at face value before diving into the multiple mysteries that hounded this book.

When I said I wanted more of the history of the jinn, this was not what I had in mind.

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I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Summoned (Summoned #1) by Rainy Kaye

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: March 28, 2014
Publisher: TeZLA
237 Pages

Twenty-three year old Dimitri has to do what he is told—literally. Controlled by a paranormal bond, he is forced to use his wits to fulfill unlimited deadly wishes made by multimillionaire Karl Walker.

Dimitri has no idea how his family line became trapped in the genie bond. He just knows resisting has never ended well. When he meets Syd—assertive, sexy, intelligent Syd—he becomes determined to make her his own. Except Karl has ensured Dimitri can’t tell anyone about the bond, and Syd isn’t the type to tolerate secrets.

Then Karl starts sending him away on back-to-back wishes. Unable to balance love and lies, Dimitri sets out to uncover Karl’s ultimate plan and put it to an end. But doing so forces him to confront the one wish he never saw coming—the wish that will destroy him.

A dark twist on the genie folklore, SUMMONED follows a reluctant criminal as he unravels the mystery of the paranormal bond controlling him.

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When most of us think genies, this is what we think of:

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Magical being tied to a lamp that can grant wishes. Right? Unless you watch Supernatural and think they’re more like this:

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Well, not according to Dimitri. Dimitri has no magical powers, by all appearances he’s human. Except he’s not. He’s a genie. Dimitri was born with the genie bond in his blood like his father before him and his father before him and so on. Of course if there’s a genie bond then there’s also the master bond – those who can control the genies. The Walkers have held the master bond over Dimitri’s family for as long as he can remember. The way it works is pretty simple. Karl Walker can summon Dimitri at any time and once he says those three little words “this I wish”, it’s on. A slight humming in the head of the genie guarantees that the wish will be fulfilled, because if it the humming in his head overtakes him, possibly killing him.

It’s an interesting take on an old legend. Only the head of the family line can hold the master bond, once that person is gone is moves on to the heir or the next family member if there is no heir. Same for the genie bond. This is the only life that Dimitri has ever known, ever cared to know. Until he meets Syd.

I was a little wary of Syd when she first arrived. It just seemed to perfect in the ‘right place, right time’ sort of thing. And ultimately it did end being one hell of a coincidence, it wasn’t in the way I expected it. Let’s just say there’s more to her than meets the eye.

The story in itself was interesting. Genie falls in love with human but realizes that he will most likely never be able to have a relationship with her because of his bond. I mean, how does one explain disappearing out of thin air? And also a past of murder, kidnapping, and burglary? Especially if one is under compulsion where he can’t reveal what he is to people. Poor Dimitri, his life is just so complicated. And then there’s Karl Walker. What does he want? What is his end goal? Why are his wishes increasing in quantity and intensity? What used to be a summons every few weeks or so has become one a day, if not more.

The story and the writing style kept me interested. I wanted to know more about the origins of the genie/master bond but since this is the first in the series, I’m hoping we will get to know more in future installments. I was more interested in that then the love story. It was a little awkward and hard to see why they came together. I didn’t want for them as much as I wanted Dim to be free.

Off to read the second.

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I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.