Musings and Ramblings

Sealed with a Curse

Weird Girls, #1

Cecy Robson

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Narrator: Renée Chambliss
Date of Publication: September 3, 2013
Abridged or Unabridged: Unabridged
Length of Production: 10 hrs and 1 min

The Wird sisters are content to avoid the local vampires, werebeasts, and witches of the Lake Tahoe region—until one of them blows up a vampire in self-defense. Everyone knows vampires aren't aggressive, and killing one is punishable by death. But soon more bloodlust-fueled attacks occur, and the community wonders: are the vampires of Tahoe cursed with a plague?

Celia reluctantly agrees to help Misha, the handsome leader of an infected vampire family. But Aric, the head of the werewolf pack determined to destroy Misha's family to keep the region safe, warns Celia to stay out of the fight. Caught between two hot alphas, Celia must find a way to please everyone, save everyone, and oh yeah, not lose her heart to the wrong guy—or die a miserable death. Because now that the evil behind the plague knows who Celia is, it's coming for her and her sisters. This Wird girl has never had it so tough.

I have heard nothing but great things about this series, yet I never found the time to actually read it. So when I was able to get it on audio I thought, "Okay, now I can get into this series." But that didn't happen either; something else always seemed to trump it. Which made this a perfect book for my Month of TBRs.

I want to start with the narrator. You know the sister Victoria on Mike and Molly? The one who with that high, slightly nasally little girl voice? Very, very close. I'm sure that some may find it cute. For me, it grated and made the entire 10 hours uncomfortable. I totally feel bad because other than, you know, her voice, Renée Chambliss did a pretty good job with the inflection and emoting.

I was a bit confused listening to the story itself. It felt like we joined the series mid way through, not starting at book one. And though there are 2 prequels, this book felt more like it should have been 5 or 6, not 1. There were quite a few backstories that were just glossed over that I was a bit frustrated with. Plus I totally didn't get why Celia felt that she had to help Misha out. She kept going on and on about how her and her sister's stayed out supernatural issues, but all it takes is Misha hinting there could be trouble and they are jumping in with both feet. And what the heck was the werewolves and insta-lurve thing with the sisters all about?

I did enjoy the differences between the sisters and how they all worked together to protect each other.  I liked that they weren't each a version of superwoman, but that each one had some serious flaws in their powers and each one was a unique personality. Another thing I liked was that the girls still had their days jobs, and actually went to work.  And when the supernatural crashed their work, they struggled to keep the two worlds apart and had to deal with the backlash of them colliding.

I'm torn between switching to the print version and continuing this series and knowing that I still won't have the time, so I should keep going in audio.  Either way, I continue with the series and see where it leads me.  I gave this book 2 "It was Okay" stars.