Series: Magnified (book 1)
Genre: LGBT (m/m), Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Cover: I’m a little bit confused. Does it have a hidden meaning I’m not getting? (edit: look at the comments below for justloveromance’s explanation of this cover)
Trigger warnings: Holocaust
Description: On her deathbed, Yani’s Great Grandmother reveals she has one last story from her past to tell: that of his Great Uncle Yakov, who helped her survive the Nazis. It’s a story of vampires and werewolves he can scarcely believe—and in the wake of his Great Grandmother’s death, Yani realizes the story is far from over.
The world of vampires and werewolves isn’t a safe place for a human, even one with Yani’s unusual family history. With danger at his door, the smart thing would be to run, but much like his Great Grandmother Yani has never been very good at running away—especially with his loved ones and the whole world at stake.
Review: The idea of this book is very interesting, but the outcome… not so much.
Let’s start with the good things, shall we? I loved how many supernatural creatures there were and how each species interacted with the others. The main character is jewish and it’s a big part of him, which was interesting, because I don’t know much about jewish culture. Sadly the book got very lecturing at times and… honestly, I don’t know why some information was in it. For example: Yani thinks about how Jews are not brawny (can you even say something like that about a people?) and then suddenly the reader gets told about Christoph Columbus and the Jews back then and I was like ‘Where’s the connection? Why do I need to know this now?’.
Even worse, I couldn’t connect with Yani or the other characters. I didn’t understand why he so readily accepts there are vampires (his uncle did the same by the way) and I didn’t feel the romance. And of course Yani is a special snowflake – I won’t tell you more, so no spoilers. Why can’t we have MCs who are just normal human beings in a world of supernatural? It would make a nice change, that’s for sure.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.
Categories: ARC Reviews, Reviews
The Queer Bookish 
Oh, the cover is apples and honey, which are traditional Jewish symbols. We eat them at the New Year to show that we want the next year to be sweet!
But it’s unfortunate that the book doesn’t work quite right. I love books with Jewish MCs, but the blend of the vampire/werewolf mythology with a very Jewish story-line seems strange, especially when there are Jewish mythologies that could be referenced instead? Okay, maybe I’m just pushing my own desires for a story onto this one :D.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aaaaaaaaaaah! Okay, then it makes sense! Thank you.
The vampire/werewolf thing does get a little old after a while (I still like to read them occasionally), but new mythology would be really, really great. I think there are a lot of people who know little to nothing about jewish mythology? Now I want somebody to write about it… You aren’t planning on writing a novel like that someday? Maybe? *hint hint*
LikeLike