Friday, August 16, 2013

Review & Giveaway: Box Office Poison by Phillipa Bornikova

Box Office Poison
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Publisher: Tor
Linnet Ellery Book #2
ISBN:   0765326833
ISBN13: 9780765326836
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher

What happens when exquisitely beautiful elves start getting all the roles in Hollywood? Human actors sue, that’s what. In a desperate attempt to keep the squabbling inside the Screen Actors Guild from going public, the president of SAG forces the two sides into arbitration.

Enter Linnet Ellery, a human lawyer working for a vampire law firm, to serve as arbitrator. Linnet discovers that there are sinister forces at work in Tinsel Town determined to shatter the fragile peace between elves, vampires, werewolves, and humans. Someone has been coercing famous elven actors into committing sudden and terrible acts of violence against humans in a series of tragedies that could turn the tide of public opinion against all the supernatural Powers.

During the course of her investigations Linnet realizes that a puzzling secret surrounds her, and that a strange power has been affecting the very course of her life. . . .

BOX OFFICE POISON follows Linnet and David to LA where they are to arbitrate over a case between human and Alfar actors.  She ends up having to solve a mystery on the outskirts of the case without compromising her position as an impartial arbitrator while dodging killers while she is at it.

Linnet caught my eye in THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME. Starting off a tad boring she quickly had me wondering what could possibly happen to her next. She has a lucky streak when it comes to trouble. She dodges death many times. She seems to surpass everyone's expectations and catch the attention of power players at every turn. I thought I would be sad still that John was stuck in Fae. Linnet seems just as determined to get him out but she isn't consumed by the need. I ended up being OK with that. I really liked David. He is nothing like the other vampires and seems to genuinely care about what happens to Linnet on top of that. There is some chemistry there between the two and I am interested in seeing it explored more. Vento and his owner continue to be a mystery. They are turning out o be pretty big players in the storyline but I still have no clue what their true role is or who they might really be. I know for sure that they are both there to protect Linnet, I just don't know why. 
 
I have had fun with both books in this series. The characters are interesting and I enjoy the legal parts of the plot. The action is always engaging to me. The humor keeps me laughing and there tends to be a lot of emotions throughout the story. I really like how each book has a main storyline that is wrapped up by the end of the book. No waiting to see a resolution or huge cliff hangers to have to ponder over. You are still left wanting to read the next book but you are satisfied. 

I gave it 4/5 stars
US Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway