Reading With Tyler

Name: Tarnish the Veil
Series: Sins of the Veil Watchers #1
Author: C.L. Cross
Publisher: Self Published
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Spice Rating: None

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Review:

I really did enjoy Tarnish the Veil – 3.5 is not a bad rating! The vibes were great, I got supernatural and Scooby Doo vibes (I keep explaining this one because I don’t mean hunting men in masks, I mean a group of Young Adults who don’t really go together hunting things together) and as soon as I clocked onto this I was smiling while reading because I loved it so much.

The story itself follows Erika and her cousins, Flo and Alfie, as well as a stranger, Alex, as they try to rescue their family from a cult that kidnapped them in order to complete a blood ritual they attempted once before. Erika is part of one of the original hunting families, the Lupine’s and as such she feels a great deal of responsibility to essentially not fuck up. It does lead to her making some questionable choices, but all that seem right according to the code she lives by. I liked her – there were definitely times (Pete!!!) that I wished she’d ignored the code, but to her, her name and legacy was important.

Alex and the cousins I originally thought were going to be love interests and comedic relief, but I ended up loving them all and not for roles I thought they’d play but for the roles Cross gave them. Alex, in my opinion, needs to be protected at all costs because I love him! The cousins were funny, but not comedic relief. Flo wants to prove she can be as good as Erika, as her mum, but lacks the training to do so. And Alfie is more of a book nerd who freezes up if there is actual danger. Neither of them are perfect, but they added so much to the story – and I can’t help but wonder if the next book might follow these guys rather than Alex or Erika.

I did love the characters, and the story too and for a while, the pacing was also excellent; my biggest issue was the POV situation. I had this issue with Throne of Glass too, for a while, until I got used to the authors writing style, and unfortunately one book is not enough for me to have gotten used to it. It would throw me off seeing ‘Dad’ referenced but not knowing whose Dad was being referenced because I didn’t find it to be the most CLEAR whose POV we were in…

When the pacing issues started was when I started to find myself a bit confused and less engaged in the story. I don’t think this lasted too long, because by the time we got to the end of the story I didn’t feel lost. That being said, I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I’ve spoken with my friend who raved about this book and I did realise pretty quickly that the ending thing is a me issue, not a book issue as he liked how it wrapped up. Personal preference! Books are subjective!

I will definitely be reading book 2, because as I said the POV thing has historically gotten easier for me as I’ve gotten used to the author, and because I see how there is so easily a world here that the author can explore. Do I have any idea what book 2 could be about? No, not really! But that makes me excited as it could be new characters, returning characters, interconnected standalones! Anything is on the cards. I’m very much looking forward to it.