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Liked It “I thought this book was entertaining and a different kind of paranormal. I really liked the "mystery" part of the book. The heroine was kind of hard to like because she did a lot of stupid things that she knew would get her into trouble. I don't like damsel in distress/ idiots in distress...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “I wanted to like this book. It was an okay read, I was able to make it to the end, but it's not a keeper or a book I would ever re-read. |
Newest Reviews
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“I thought this book was entertaining and a different kind of paranormal. I really liked the "mystery" part of the book. The heroine was kind of hard to like because she did a lot of stupid things that she knew would get her into trouble. I don't like damsel in distress/ idiots in distress heroines. Otherwise, the side kick characters were well written and the story was interesting enough to make me want to read the next in the series. Hopefully Zoe learns some of her lessons and gets wiser. ”
Amber R wrote this review Wednesday, February 2, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“For the first half of "Wraith," I really enjoyed the story and the fact that Zoe was as clueless as I was about the paranormal events surrounding her. However, after a couple hundred pages, several aspects of the book started to grate on my nerves.
Sarah W wrote this review Saturday, December 18, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Weldon's writing style is meant to be cute, fun, and relateable, with Zoe's narration being very stream-of-consciousness as she jumped from one thought to the next, but after awhile it just got annoying. Add that to the fact that Zoe has zero common sense and constantly put herself into situations where she was completely unprepared (and without backup), and she made for a very un-sympathetic protagonist.
I also thought that Weldon could have done a much better job explaining the different paranormal creatures that inhabit her world. I could never figure out the difference between wraiths, symbionts, phantasms, etc., so by the end of the book, I couldn't even categorize Zoe. Hopefully these problems get better as the series progresses.”
“I don't know if anyone actually reads anything that I write about the books I read, but if anyone does, I need some help. Has anyone read the rest of the books in this series? I have started, or want to start A LOT of series. Because of that, I am always way behind on everyone of them. I always tell myself that if I start a series and don't think it is just great, then I will drop it so I can spend more time on the ones that I do think are great. But, the problem is, that i have a hard time letting them go. I read this book, I know the characters and now I almost feel obligated to keep reading.
Pat A wrote this review Thursday, November 4, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This book, for me, started out very slow. About 70 pages in I had decided that I would not continue with the series. However, it then got very good and I shot thought almost all the rest of it until the end which I didn't enjoy.
So, what I need to know, is does the series get better? Should I continue? If anyone has any advice on the subject, I would love the help.”
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“An urban fantasy, written in what I’d call the ‘chick lit’ style (you know, first person female with a lot of personal commentary), I surprisingly found myself hooked rather quickly into the story.
JackiAnne wrote this review Sunday, May 2, 2010. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Zoë hires herself out as a kind of investigator, finding out information for people willing to bid for her services (on eBay, no less). She does this through astral projection, following her targets and acquiring information. One night she witnesses a murder, and the killer—to her surprise—is another astral traveler. The killer manages to mark her, and Zoë’s life takes a turn for the uber-weird.
It’s hard to describe what happens next, because I’m still not sure I fully understand it all, at least, not without a handful of diagrams and a couple pie charts. If you’re interested in the unusual and unique, I’d give this book a read. I really liked it, and I’m going to start reading Spectre, book two in the series, next…starting tonight!
”1 of 1 members found this review helpful“I wanted to like this book. It was an okay read, I was able to make it to the end, but it's not a keeper or a book I would ever re-read.
Christie... The Paranormal Romance Junkie wrote this review Saturday, December 26, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The heroine was almost too stupid to live. Granted, she stumbled into some powers she didn't understand, but she always kept getting herself in trouble. In my opinion, she never made any smart decisions.
And the story was disjointed, hard to follow. I had to keep going back to try to understand what was going on. I like a story that flows, so you can enjoy it. Not one that confuses you and makes you wish it was over.
For reference, some of my fave series are: Kresley Cole "Immortals After Dark", Patricia Briggs "Mercy Thompson", Jeaniene Frost "Night Huntress", Richelle Mead "Dark Swan" and "Georgina Kincaid"”
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“First in an excitingly different and new paranormal series. Zo‘ Martinique has turned her unusual ability into a career. When she's traveling, she can't be seen which makes her an ideal professional snoop. Industrial espionage, surveillance, whatever. But one night things get out of hand while she's outof- body. She witnesses a murder and a soul stealing, and discovers she has unwelcome company: Trench- Coat, a ghostly killer who can see and hurt her. Teaming up with a blue-eyed police detective, she tries to solve the case and improve her love life. She also enlists the support of her psychic mother and the ghostly couple who haunt her house. And with murderers, kidnappers, and a desperate ex-porn star involved, Zo‘ needs all the help she can get.
Nisareen - So Much To Read So Little Time wrote this review Friday, November 13, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“this was a pretty good book. Zoe gets into all kinds of trouble being a traveler, and meets up with a fellow traveler who kills someone in front of her.
Lesa C wrote this review Wednesday, November 4, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
He also makes a grab for her, and marks her hand with a weird brand.
Zoe comes back to herself but knows something is differant, what did the other traveler do to her?
When she has a client that asks her to investigate something shady Zoe senses there is more than meets the eye to this whole deal.
With the watchful eye of the sey detective she gets in up over her head... and more.
”
“I was into the first chapter of Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre, when something made me pick up Wraith by Phaedra Weldon. The first chapter got me hooked: the beginning was nice; the middle, startling; and the end, shocking. After Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict, I wanted a paranormal mystery heroine that isn't so fierce and intelligent for a change.
maydiwayatangnawawala wrote this review Saturday, June 27, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
But... Just like numerous characters, good and bad, in fantasy stories everywhere, I forgot to take heed of that classic warning, “be careful what you wish for, you might get it,” I wished, and, indeed, got very little of the 'smarts' that make heroines admirable...
Even though Zoe Martinique has the ability to astral-travel, a talent that launched her career as a small-time snoop, she is far from being able to handle murder, on the physical and spiritual levels. While out of body, she witnesses a ghostly creature, who she dubbed Trench-Coat, shoot and steal the soul of the man he killed.
What's more harrowing, this improbable killer can see and hurt her.
What follows is one mishap after another, due to Zoe's insatiable curiosity and incomprehensible logic of why she has to dive into the thick of things with little preparation and no word to those who can help in case something goes wrong—which something always does!
I don't know who were at their wits end more, me or Zoe's psychic mother, the goth-techno friend, or their two gay ghost housemates. By the nth kidnapping, abduction, serious injury, I was pulling my hair by the roots. It didn't help that Zoe is a trying-hard pa-cute, hard-headed mama's girl! Her habit of making mental notes at very other page was also distracting.
If only her love interest, Lieutenant Daniel fraser, would be sharper. But no; he's an open book, and he probably thinks his case is too, spilling all the juicy details to then stranger Zoe just because she asked.
On the brighter side, despite these irritants, the plot and supernatural elements are interesting. I was engaged enough by the story, even if I had to crawl my way past my own mental notes (why, you dumb....!; no, don't do thaat!!!; wait for ….!!!!) to finish it, and read the sequels—but only because I have this irritating habit of finishing what I started... despite the mental notes.
”
“This is a very interesting book for those who like the supernatural word.”
Lizziegh E wrote this review Monday, April 13, 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Zoë Martinique lives in a strange life. Her mom runs a tea/occult shop out of an old Victorian house, with the help of the ghostly gay couple that haunts the house and Rhonda, an urban fantasy cross between [a href=http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0024267/]Penelope Garcia[/a] and [a href=http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0020059/]Abby Sciuto[/a]. And Zoë herself is a strange character, possessing the ability to shuck her body and astrally travel about the city at will. It's Zoë's career path, auctioning her services as a super spy off on ebay, that leads to trouble when on an out-of-body spy mission she witnesses a creepy, Vin Diesel look-alike kill and reap the soul of a vice president of a major Atlanta company. Worse the creep marks her somehow, binding the two of them together and sending Zoë on a life changing mission to save herself and others.
MicheleLee wrote this review Friday, October 3, 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I have very mixed reactions to this book. To begin with it was very hard to get into. Zoë makes a lot of TV/movie references, she speaks directly to the reader often and her attitude is rather childish. Zoë's mother, the ghosts and Rhonda come off flat, and, honestly, annoying. The flow of the action, and therefore the tension, is consistently interrupted by Zoë's comments to the reader or attempts to be funny (usually with pop culture references) which nine times out of ten aren't. At one point, after the plot finally starts to be interesting, the flow is completely broken by a scene in which Zoë's "loving" mother holds Zoë at gunpoint and forces her to submit to an exorcism. I very nearly stopped there. Even though she's 28, Zoë's mother, Nona, treats her like child, even to the point of drugging her and physically restraining her to keep her from following the plot. Not only does this make Zoë seems even more childish, and disrupt the core plot, dragging it out more than needed, but the later references to Nona only acting out of love just don't coincide with her actions making the mother-daughter dynamic feel more like an abuser/Stockholm syndrome relationship.
However, there are some interesting ideas in Wraith. Primarily is the reoccurring theme of people using Zoë's body against her. She gained her power during a traumatic rape and even after she becomes comfortable with it over and over people capture Zoë's body while she's out running around astrally and use it as leverage against her in a variety of ways. Whether Weldon realizes she's layered this theme into Wraith or not I'm not sure, but I did find myself continuing, wanting to see Zoë overcome this problem as much as I wanted her to have beat off her original rapist.
The dynamic between Zoë and the two leading males in the book is also interesting, especially as unlike other urban fantasy books that stick closer to the romance Happily-For-Now ending this series seems poised to go into some very dark, rule-free territories that are interesting and new.
There's also something to be said for the plot itself, which has unexpected twists of mystery, centers around planes of existence rather than the ways the character exist and spans into a multitude of human races that are sometimes missing from other urban fantasy tales.
I'm not sure I can recommend Wraith at this point, but I can't exactly dismiss it either, making it one of the more difficult reads, and difficult reviews I've done in a while.”
