Katie MacAlister

You Slay Me (Aisling Grey

Colleen

4 Stars

Sometimes I just need some light reading. You know, Brain Candy. And You Slay Me is most definitely Brain Candy. Even so, usually any time I hear the term "Paranormal Romance," I cringe. That is a sub-genre that I usually avoid. I can't point to any particular reason that I picked up You Slay Me, but I am glad that I did.

This is the story of Aisling Grey, a slightly awkward yet tenacious thirty-something courier who is assigned a job to take a priceless artifact to a buyer in Paris. She rapidly finds herself in hot water when she stumbles across a murder scene which in turn leads her into the world of demons, witches, dragon shapeshifters, and more. Along the way she also discovers that she has undiscovered powers of her own.

Can I just say how much I appreciate a non-teenage quest? I read a blurb a couple of months ago about how a disproportionate number of quests and abilities are given to teenagers, and that thought has stuck with me. It's all in good fun, but seriously: the older I get, the more unfair it seems that those little snots get all the grand adventures. Other than like, Bilbo Baggins. Do you really want the fate of the fictional worlds to always hang in the hands of hormonal little balls of angst whose brains haven't even fully developed?? I think perhaps this gross amount of Quest Discrimination is because teenagers are A) usually the most likely to be naive enough to think they can save everything, B) convinced enough of their own indestructibility to believe they will succeed, and C) not weighed down by pesky things such as jobs and mortgages. Anyway, all that to say it was refreshing to have a character in their thirties just coming into their abilities.

Back to the story itself. Sure, it was farfetched and more than a little silly. But you know what? I had a blast reading it! Even with it being a first person narration, I still enjoyed Aisling's running inner monologue and self-depreciating humor. It made me laugh so often. I enjoyed the steamy bits too. ;-) I let out more than a few salacious snickers while reading this.

I enjoyed Aisling as a heroine. She was spunky even if she was a bit of spaz sometimes. She was smart and doggedly kept at things whether she was working to clear her name or punching guys in the nose for getting handsy. I certainly appreciated that even with the steamy love angle, she did not turn into a puddle of hormones who completely loses herself as so many heroines do in those situations. The back and forth between her and Drake was entertaining even if he was a bit too domineering at times. But not enough to ruin the mood.

But my favorite part was Jim the demon in the form of a Newfoundland dog who spends his time making snarky, inappropriate comments. He made me laugh the most and was definitely the highlight of the book. There were a lot of memorable characters, but he was my favorite.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

You Slay Me (Aisling Grey

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