Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Diamond Rough
SERIES: Fairy Mafia #1
AUTHOR: Serenity Snow
PUBLISHER: Evernight Publishing
LENGTH: 204 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2018
BLURB:
Born into a family of premier jewelers, Jorja is a half goblin who knows her place is at the head of her family business. There’s only one problem. Her grandfather is certain men were made to lead, but he’s willing to make an exception if Jorja settles down.
Jennifer hardly knows Jorja, but she’s running out of money, about to lose her home, and has no prospects. So, when Jorja offers to pay Jennifer to be her wife in name only, Jennifer can’t resist.
Jennifer doesn’t t expect to fall in love any more than she’s prepared to be dragged into the lawless world of fairy vendettas and murder. Unwilling to live that way, Jennifer is ready to walk away from the burning passion she has with Jorja. But when Jennifer becomes a target, Jennifer realizes there’s no place safer than in Jorja’s care.
REVIEW:
This is my second book by Serenity Snow. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first book I read of hers, but her sultry sapphic characters and no-holds-barred supernatural settings intrigued me, so I was excited to dive into this one. I ended up enjoying parts of it, but there are still some things about her characters and plotting that get in the way of what could be an awesome story.
First of all, I love that Snow often writes both butch/femme and interracial couples. So much of F/F fiction these days is overwhelmingly white and femme/femme, so seeing a handsome butch like Jorja put her moves in a sexy femme like Jennifer made me interested in them right away. Their steamy, slightly kinky sexual dynamic is excellent, and their love scenes are always fire. I also liked the side characters and family members, even if they weren’t always very nice. They did a great job of further characterizing each woman.
But I had a lot of issues with Jorja as the story went on. For me, the vulgar way Jorja treated Jennifer was more of a red flag than a flirting technique. Instead of Jorja being a slick, cool butch woman, the author tried to hard to make her exactly like a chauvinistic straight man, which sapphic ladies know is a complete turn-off. There’s nothing wrong with a little possessive, protective behavior between partners once in a while, but Jorja’s controlling, callous, aloof attitude towards Jennifer made me want to smack her, not kiss her.
These ladies could heat up a scene, but where’s the softness? The vulnerability of two women coming together for the first time? Every time they took two steps forward towards a loving, trusting partnership, they took three steps back with scenes of overwhelming dislike and hostility towards each other. And Jorja would get way too physical. Spanking and punishment play can be incredibly erotic, but when it seems more like domestic discipline, it leaves me totally cold. And she even threatens to throw Jennifer out of a window, which is never okay. I could see where the author was going with this—Jorja and Jennifer are not 100% human, so they have instincts and attitudes that edge towards the animal or monster rather than the woman. But it still doesn’t make for a very enjoyable romance.
In regards to the supernatural aspect of the story, I have mixed feelings. I like the balance between crime drama and fantasy—I think they mixed well together to create a cool, urban setting. But for the first half of the book, the goblin and faerie dog parts of each woman had no impact on the plot whatsoever. For whole chapters, I completely forgot this was even a fantasy work—it often reads more like a “millionaire needs a wife” story rather than a supernatural mystery. I quite liked the more traditional romance tropes, but once the supernatural elements took over at the halfway mark, I was immediately more invested.
This story contains a lot of common romance tropes that don’t always fit together perfectly. It’s part fake-dating, part bonding/mating, part shifter. There’s a mafia element and a mystery element. It’s a bit of a mess at times, and I got whiplash as I cycled through what felt like a half dozen different genres. But I like the grittiness of Snow’s writing, and her imaginative settings and scorching love scenes have me interested in more.
RATING: 
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