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Sierra Fox #1
A Patch of Darkness
All it takes is one weak seam for everything to fall apart.
In a perfect world, Sierra Fox would have stayed away from the Council she left years ago. But in this world—where spirits have the right to walk among the living—it’s her job to round up troublesome spooks and bring them before that very same Council.
Though her desk is piled high with open cases, she can’t resist an anonymous summons to a mysterious late-night meeting with a bunch of other hunters, each of whom seems to have a unique specialty. The news is dire: something is tearing at the fabric of the universe. If the hunters can’t find who or why in time, something’s going to give in a very messy way.
As current cases, family secrets, new clues and her tangled love life slowly wind themselves into an impossible knot, Sierra finds herself the target of a power-sucking duo intent on stealing her mojo. And realizing she holds the key to the last hope of sealing the widening rift.
Warning: Spook catching: may contain traces of ectoplasm and otherworldly nasties. Not recommended for those with allergies to ghosts, demons, and with boyfriends who think your power is theirs. While reading, avoid dark patches and stay to the light.
In a perfect world, Sierra Fox would have stayed away from the Council she left years ago. But in this world—where spirits have the right to walk among the living—it’s her job to round up troublesome spooks and bring them before that very same Council.
Though her desk is piled high with open cases, she can’t resist an anonymous summons to a mysterious late-night meeting with a bunch of other hunters, each of whom seems to have a unique specialty. The news is dire: something is tearing at the fabric of the universe. If the hunters can’t find who or why in time, something’s going to give in a very messy way.
As current cases, family secrets, new clues and her tangled love life slowly wind themselves into an impossible knot, Sierra finds herself the target of a power-sucking duo intent on stealing her mojo. And realizing she holds the key to the last hope of sealing the widening rift.
Warning: Spook catching: may contain traces of ectoplasm and otherworldly nasties. Not recommended for those with allergies to ghosts, demons, and with boyfriends who think your power is theirs. While reading, avoid dark patches and stay to the light.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 15, 2012
3 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Yolanda Sfetsos
78 books236 followersWriter. Bibliophile. Collector. Animal lover. Horror freak.
My name is Yolanda, and I live in Australia. I write horror tales that bleed into other genres. I'm a horror freak from way back and a total bibliophile! I also collect cute stuff, love cozy vibes, and enjoy going for walks.
You can find all my book & social media links here: https://linktr.ee/yolandasfetsos
My name is Yolanda, and I live in Australia. I write horror tales that bleed into other genres. I'm a horror freak from way back and a total bibliophile! I also collect cute stuff, love cozy vibes, and enjoy going for walks.
You can find all my book & social media links here: https://linktr.ee/yolandasfetsos
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 14, 2012
Sierra Fox is a Spook Catcher. It is well known that ghosts roam around. They even have their own council. When the ghosts get too rowdy, home owners call on Sierra to come take care of the problem. When Sierra gets a mysterious note dropped off at her front door, she follows the note to a time and place to meet hunters of creatures she didn’t know existed. They were brought together by another type of person(ish) to help out with a problem.
A Patch of Darkness is the first in an Urban Fantasy series. The main plot line here is Sierra trying to figure out what is wrong with the ghosts, and why so many demons pop up, but underneath it is a mystery—who is messing with the Sierra? I am surprised that this is the first book in the series. There is a ton of back plotting done, which can make the novel drag a bit. The back plotting goes into why Sierra hates the council, what they did to her and for a long time leaves the reader wondering.
It is the romantic plot lines that bothered me. Sierra is dealing with a lot of crazy stuff, and on top of that she is juggling boyfriend Jonathan. Hints are dropped, no not dropped, slapped across the main characters face that he may be involved in more than she thinks. She ignores it for the majority of the novel which I didn’t understand, but that has to do with characters, and I will get to that in a moment. There is also another minor romantic subplot with the P.I. upstairs, but this became distracting, and didn’t seem to add a lot to the main events.
It is safe to say Sierra was hard for me to identify with, and it didn’t help that I felt detached from her relationships. The only one that felt real was her relationship with her assistant Ebony. Sierra uncovers a secret about her past which should have been life altering, but I didn’t feel as if it was, and when it affected her emotionally, I was just ready for her to move on. This has a lot to do with the amount of stuff Sierra tells the reader. Instead of experiencing the characters through actions, we experience them through Sierra’s judgments that are proven wrong, and hard to relate to.
The story takes place in Australia, which was fine by me. The descriptions are nice, and easy to follow. Also the story has its slow spots, but picks up very quickly when the action happens. Sierra does a lot of ghost hunting which makes for some really great fun scenes.
The story is left with some questions for a second novel. The main problem with it is that though it ties together at the end it lacks emotional impact. I wanted to feel more for the main character than I did, instead I put things together faster than she did, and couldn’t always understand her judgments. Instead of experiencing things the reader is told a number of things which lead me to feel uncertain about the main character. Unreliable protagonists are usually okay in my book, but because of the holes between her and other characters, I left the novel feeling distant.
- Beth (Guest Revewier)
A Patch of Darkness is the first in an Urban Fantasy series. The main plot line here is Sierra trying to figure out what is wrong with the ghosts, and why so many demons pop up, but underneath it is a mystery—who is messing with the Sierra? I am surprised that this is the first book in the series. There is a ton of back plotting done, which can make the novel drag a bit. The back plotting goes into why Sierra hates the council, what they did to her and for a long time leaves the reader wondering.
It is the romantic plot lines that bothered me. Sierra is dealing with a lot of crazy stuff, and on top of that she is juggling boyfriend Jonathan. Hints are dropped, no not dropped, slapped across the main characters face that he may be involved in more than she thinks. She ignores it for the majority of the novel which I didn’t understand, but that has to do with characters, and I will get to that in a moment. There is also another minor romantic subplot with the P.I. upstairs, but this became distracting, and didn’t seem to add a lot to the main events.
It is safe to say Sierra was hard for me to identify with, and it didn’t help that I felt detached from her relationships. The only one that felt real was her relationship with her assistant Ebony. Sierra uncovers a secret about her past which should have been life altering, but I didn’t feel as if it was, and when it affected her emotionally, I was just ready for her to move on. This has a lot to do with the amount of stuff Sierra tells the reader. Instead of experiencing the characters through actions, we experience them through Sierra’s judgments that are proven wrong, and hard to relate to.
The story takes place in Australia, which was fine by me. The descriptions are nice, and easy to follow. Also the story has its slow spots, but picks up very quickly when the action happens. Sierra does a lot of ghost hunting which makes for some really great fun scenes.
The story is left with some questions for a second novel. The main problem with it is that though it ties together at the end it lacks emotional impact. I wanted to feel more for the main character than I did, instead I put things together faster than she did, and couldn’t always understand her judgments. Instead of experiencing things the reader is told a number of things which lead me to feel uncertain about the main character. Unreliable protagonists are usually okay in my book, but because of the holes between her and other characters, I left the novel feeling distant.
- Beth (Guest Revewier)
June 10, 2012
Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: A new, and less cooler, version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Ghost catchers, witches, and werewolves, oh my.
Opening Sentence: “Are you daydreaming again?”
The Review:
In the first installment of this new urban fantasy series, Sierra Fox, by Yolanda Sfetsos, we are introduced into a world where ghosts are legalized citizens with their own set of laws. The main character, Sierra Fox, is a ghost catcher: a registered person that mediates between humans and ghosts. If a ghost breaks the law, she is duty-bound to apprehend it and turn it over to the Ghost Catcher Council, the company in charge of regulating and enforcing the laws binding ghosts. And while Sierra owns her own ghost catching firm, she still must deal with the Council’s dictates for her profession. In the course of her work, Sierra stumbles upon irregularities with several ghost’s behaviors. The further she digs into the situation, the deeper she finds herself involved with the larger issue that has potentially apocalyptic consequences; a tear in the fabric of our world. She is invited to join a very special group that is charged with finding the “tear” that is allowing other entities to come into our world, without restrictions or inhibitions, and fixing it. All the while, Sierra must deal with her torrent love life, exuberant and untrained apprentice, and secrets revealed about her family’s past that may hold the key to unlocking her new powers.
Sierra’s character is mercurial at best, wishy-washy at worse. For someone that owns her own business, she displays a rather large lack of organizational skills. She can’t seem to focus on any one thing or she focuses on the most unimportant detail at the time. Although this can be an endearing quality in a character, Sierra strikes me more as a weak heroine rather than one that is overwhelmed with the revelations of the story. Even in her love life, she is constantly trying to convince herself that she loves one man, while pining away for another.
The secondary characters are introduced but not really given the opportunity for readers to relate to. I am hoping that this is just because it is the first book and that individual characters will be given their due in subsequent novels. Take for instance Sierra’s apprentice, Ebony. She is important to the daily workings of Sierra’s business and seems to be counted as a close confidant, but when things start going crazy, you get the feeling that Ebony is a double-agent. The lack of trust that Sierra feels makes it harder for readers to connect with her apprentice. I’m left with the feeling that one would have for annoying co-worker: Just ignore them until they get themselves fired. This is not a feeling that I would expect have for a sidekick.
Sierra’s love life is also hard to relate to. She is consistently reminding herself about how lucky she is to have a great boyfriend in Jonathan and how much she is in love with him. But again, when push comes to shove, her lack of trust makes Jonathan seem far more sketchy than one would assume from a close lover. It doesn’t help that she tries to not think about her friend and office neighbor, Jason Papan. There is some sexual tension between the two, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. I can only assume, again, that further development will come along in the next books.
Now the group of supernatural experts that Sierra joins is pretty interesting. Each person is considered an expert in their area; Witches, werewolves, demons, vampires, and ghosts. Though, in this world only ghosts are recognized, the rest are still believed to be myth. At least, it was that way until Sierra started working with them. This story only explores the witch and demon hunter for any length. I thought the premise was a little too superhero-ish for me, but it works within the story. I ended up relating more to them than I did with Sierra. Maybe it was the lack of commitment on Sierra’s part that makes me dislike her.
The world itself is also of note. Ghosts are allowed to live together in homes with humans and it is perfectly acceptable practice. The Ghost Catcher Council is corrupt, like we believe all big business and government to be, and Sierra is the underdog fighting the system for her place within it. The idea of a tear in the seam between worlds is also a good idea. The “man”, for lack of a better word, known to the group as the tailor, is responsible for bringing the group together and clueing them in on the problem. He reminds me a lot of Charlie, from Charlie’s Angels; the enigmatic overseer of a group that goes out and fights the bad guys, or supernatural creatures in this case, for the good of humanity. Even though he explains his presence and his purpose in all of this, the tailor remains vague. I hope that that was on purpose.
Overall, I am not that impressed with this book. That, however, will not stop me from reading the next installment on the hopes that it will get better. I enjoyed the idea enough, appreciated the prose, and was intrigued by the secondary characters to warrant lenience on my initial impressions. I would not, however, recommend purchasing this novel. It is more of a-good-find-at-the-library type of book.
Notable Scene:
My heart beat fast against my chest, but I could only feel it. All sound was gone.
The demon bowed its head towards mine. I didn’t move an inch and actually dared to meet those horrid eyes. Horrors no human should ever be forced to see were lost inside. The dark, harsh patch this creature came from was worse than any vision of hell humans conjured up. Boiling lakes of lava merged with rivers of blood, kept flowing by the tormented human souls imprisoned for all eternity.
Tears slid down my face, blurring the vision.
I closed my eyes, trying to place an invisible shield between myself and the creature responsible for setting up such savage, eternal torments. The imagery raced inside my head long after my eyes were shielded, fast-forwarding through countless humans stupid enough to tempt fate by sitting inside magically charged circles and pentagrams, in hopes of conjuring such monsters.
Since I couldn’t completely close my eyes to everything, I shut my mind, cutting off the obscenities the demonic creature spewed.
The Sierra Fox Series:
1. A Patch of Darkness
2. Split at the Seams
FTC Advisory: The author provided me with a copy of A Patch of Darkness. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. The only payment received came in the form of hugs and kisses from my little boys.
Quick & Dirty: A new, and less cooler, version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Ghost catchers, witches, and werewolves, oh my.
Opening Sentence: “Are you daydreaming again?”
The Review:
In the first installment of this new urban fantasy series, Sierra Fox, by Yolanda Sfetsos, we are introduced into a world where ghosts are legalized citizens with their own set of laws. The main character, Sierra Fox, is a ghost catcher: a registered person that mediates between humans and ghosts. If a ghost breaks the law, she is duty-bound to apprehend it and turn it over to the Ghost Catcher Council, the company in charge of regulating and enforcing the laws binding ghosts. And while Sierra owns her own ghost catching firm, she still must deal with the Council’s dictates for her profession. In the course of her work, Sierra stumbles upon irregularities with several ghost’s behaviors. The further she digs into the situation, the deeper she finds herself involved with the larger issue that has potentially apocalyptic consequences; a tear in the fabric of our world. She is invited to join a very special group that is charged with finding the “tear” that is allowing other entities to come into our world, without restrictions or inhibitions, and fixing it. All the while, Sierra must deal with her torrent love life, exuberant and untrained apprentice, and secrets revealed about her family’s past that may hold the key to unlocking her new powers.
Sierra’s character is mercurial at best, wishy-washy at worse. For someone that owns her own business, she displays a rather large lack of organizational skills. She can’t seem to focus on any one thing or she focuses on the most unimportant detail at the time. Although this can be an endearing quality in a character, Sierra strikes me more as a weak heroine rather than one that is overwhelmed with the revelations of the story. Even in her love life, she is constantly trying to convince herself that she loves one man, while pining away for another.
The secondary characters are introduced but not really given the opportunity for readers to relate to. I am hoping that this is just because it is the first book and that individual characters will be given their due in subsequent novels. Take for instance Sierra’s apprentice, Ebony. She is important to the daily workings of Sierra’s business and seems to be counted as a close confidant, but when things start going crazy, you get the feeling that Ebony is a double-agent. The lack of trust that Sierra feels makes it harder for readers to connect with her apprentice. I’m left with the feeling that one would have for annoying co-worker: Just ignore them until they get themselves fired. This is not a feeling that I would expect have for a sidekick.
Sierra’s love life is also hard to relate to. She is consistently reminding herself about how lucky she is to have a great boyfriend in Jonathan and how much she is in love with him. But again, when push comes to shove, her lack of trust makes Jonathan seem far more sketchy than one would assume from a close lover. It doesn’t help that she tries to not think about her friend and office neighbor, Jason Papan. There is some sexual tension between the two, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. I can only assume, again, that further development will come along in the next books.
Now the group of supernatural experts that Sierra joins is pretty interesting. Each person is considered an expert in their area; Witches, werewolves, demons, vampires, and ghosts. Though, in this world only ghosts are recognized, the rest are still believed to be myth. At least, it was that way until Sierra started working with them. This story only explores the witch and demon hunter for any length. I thought the premise was a little too superhero-ish for me, but it works within the story. I ended up relating more to them than I did with Sierra. Maybe it was the lack of commitment on Sierra’s part that makes me dislike her.
The world itself is also of note. Ghosts are allowed to live together in homes with humans and it is perfectly acceptable practice. The Ghost Catcher Council is corrupt, like we believe all big business and government to be, and Sierra is the underdog fighting the system for her place within it. The idea of a tear in the seam between worlds is also a good idea. The “man”, for lack of a better word, known to the group as the tailor, is responsible for bringing the group together and clueing them in on the problem. He reminds me a lot of Charlie, from Charlie’s Angels; the enigmatic overseer of a group that goes out and fights the bad guys, or supernatural creatures in this case, for the good of humanity. Even though he explains his presence and his purpose in all of this, the tailor remains vague. I hope that that was on purpose.
Overall, I am not that impressed with this book. That, however, will not stop me from reading the next installment on the hopes that it will get better. I enjoyed the idea enough, appreciated the prose, and was intrigued by the secondary characters to warrant lenience on my initial impressions. I would not, however, recommend purchasing this novel. It is more of a-good-find-at-the-library type of book.
Notable Scene:
My heart beat fast against my chest, but I could only feel it. All sound was gone.
The demon bowed its head towards mine. I didn’t move an inch and actually dared to meet those horrid eyes. Horrors no human should ever be forced to see were lost inside. The dark, harsh patch this creature came from was worse than any vision of hell humans conjured up. Boiling lakes of lava merged with rivers of blood, kept flowing by the tormented human souls imprisoned for all eternity.
Tears slid down my face, blurring the vision.
I closed my eyes, trying to place an invisible shield between myself and the creature responsible for setting up such savage, eternal torments. The imagery raced inside my head long after my eyes were shielded, fast-forwarding through countless humans stupid enough to tempt fate by sitting inside magically charged circles and pentagrams, in hopes of conjuring such monsters.
Since I couldn’t completely close my eyes to everything, I shut my mind, cutting off the obscenities the demonic creature spewed.
The Sierra Fox Series:
1. A Patch of Darkness
2. Split at the Seams
FTC Advisory: The author provided me with a copy of A Patch of Darkness. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. The only payment received came in the form of hugs and kisses from my little boys.
May 26, 2012
Sierra Fox is a Ghost Catcher. She doesn’t hunt ghosts, but she does know how to communicate and deal with them.
Ghosts are known in this world. Humans know of their presence by feeling the bone chilling coldness. Usually ghosts don’t bother people, but sometimes a poltergeist will show up and get into mischief. They’re known for that.
In fact, that’s how she met her boyfriend Jonathan. He works in a bookstore, and the Poltergeist was tearing up books.
When Sierra helped take care of the problem, she and Jonathan clicked.
But she wanted to take things slowly. After a few months of their dating, her job kept getting in the way of their alone time.
Seeing ghosts has been something she’s been able to do since she was a baby. Her grandmother had the gift, but it skipped a generation, and her mother didn’t believe her.
Her grandmother had died when Sierra was a child, so her spirit/ghost had been there to help her through the hard times of dealing with the ghosts that spooked Sierra.
When she got older, she had learned to pretend they weren't there. But now that the Ghosts were known, she was able to advertise her job.
So her job was keeping her from having a normal life. And although Jonathan was a sweetheart and tried hard not to be offended about her having to cancel out on their alone time, or be interrupted while eating dinner by lonely ghosts that he couldn’t see, it was still putting a strain on their relationship.
When Sierra answered a call and went to help out with a haunting. The old lady that answered the door was as sweet as could be. She said she enjoyed about 20 years of having the ghost living in her kitchen, but it wasn’t until recently that the ghost started getting physically violent.
Sierra had noticed the heat coming from the kitchen and the smoke coming from under the door. She knew it wasn’t a ghost she was dealing with, but a demon. She called Father Luke to help her exorcist the demon out of the kitchen.
But what really happened was something that Sierra couldn’t even explain!
She knew she took the day off work to sort through her thoughts. She got a note on her doorstep Midnight @ 669 Wallace Street
After trying to get some sleep but failing, she knew she had to go to this address.
When she got there, she ran into a rude man who claimed he was a Vampire hunter, Conrad Hicks. A few mins later, another older man shows up, Oren McKee, a Witch Hunter. Then there was Vixen, a werewolf hunter and finally Lavie, a Demon hunter.
The man who called them all together, Burr.
We are here because we need to start working together if we want the fibers of the worlds as we know them to stay stitched together. And we’ll need the help of every single one of you.”
Burr works for a secret organization called Patch Watchdogs.
This book is about the different worlds that have different supernatural’s – and when the seams of the worlds start to unveil , the supernatural’s can get through. Being a Ghost catcher, Sierra had banished a few too many ghosts to the other worlds that didn’t get along here. There are a few too many who would love to get a hold of her.
Vixen felt the same way about the Vampires she had banished, as well as the others. So working together to find this tear in the patches would seem to be the only way to go.
This book was fun to read. Lots of original supernatural things hidden in here that made it more fun. The characters were great. None of them got along very well, so their bickering was consistent :)
Looking forward to reading the next book to the Sierra Fox series :)
Ghosts are known in this world. Humans know of their presence by feeling the bone chilling coldness. Usually ghosts don’t bother people, but sometimes a poltergeist will show up and get into mischief. They’re known for that.
In fact, that’s how she met her boyfriend Jonathan. He works in a bookstore, and the Poltergeist was tearing up books.
When Sierra helped take care of the problem, she and Jonathan clicked.
But she wanted to take things slowly. After a few months of their dating, her job kept getting in the way of their alone time.
Seeing ghosts has been something she’s been able to do since she was a baby. Her grandmother had the gift, but it skipped a generation, and her mother didn’t believe her.
Her grandmother had died when Sierra was a child, so her spirit/ghost had been there to help her through the hard times of dealing with the ghosts that spooked Sierra.
When she got older, she had learned to pretend they weren't there. But now that the Ghosts were known, she was able to advertise her job.
So her job was keeping her from having a normal life. And although Jonathan was a sweetheart and tried hard not to be offended about her having to cancel out on their alone time, or be interrupted while eating dinner by lonely ghosts that he couldn’t see, it was still putting a strain on their relationship.
When Sierra answered a call and went to help out with a haunting. The old lady that answered the door was as sweet as could be. She said she enjoyed about 20 years of having the ghost living in her kitchen, but it wasn’t until recently that the ghost started getting physically violent.
Sierra had noticed the heat coming from the kitchen and the smoke coming from under the door. She knew it wasn’t a ghost she was dealing with, but a demon. She called Father Luke to help her exorcist the demon out of the kitchen.
But what really happened was something that Sierra couldn’t even explain!
She knew she took the day off work to sort through her thoughts. She got a note on her doorstep Midnight @ 669 Wallace Street
After trying to get some sleep but failing, she knew she had to go to this address.
When she got there, she ran into a rude man who claimed he was a Vampire hunter, Conrad Hicks. A few mins later, another older man shows up, Oren McKee, a Witch Hunter. Then there was Vixen, a werewolf hunter and finally Lavie, a Demon hunter.
The man who called them all together, Burr.
We are here because we need to start working together if we want the fibers of the worlds as we know them to stay stitched together. And we’ll need the help of every single one of you.”
Burr works for a secret organization called Patch Watchdogs.
This book is about the different worlds that have different supernatural’s – and when the seams of the worlds start to unveil , the supernatural’s can get through. Being a Ghost catcher, Sierra had banished a few too many ghosts to the other worlds that didn’t get along here. There are a few too many who would love to get a hold of her.
Vixen felt the same way about the Vampires she had banished, as well as the others. So working together to find this tear in the patches would seem to be the only way to go.
This book was fun to read. Lots of original supernatural things hidden in here that made it more fun. The characters were great. None of them got along very well, so their bickering was consistent :)
Looking forward to reading the next book to the Sierra Fox series :)
May 15, 2012
I gave it 2.5 stars
Sierra is a spook catcher and her job and seeing how she does things was definitely the best part of A PATCH OF DARKNESS. The book had a good array of characters and I felt that Yolanda did a good job with their overall development of them. Yolanda plugged in to Sierra's past with the Council a lot and It was nice to see the back story and get a feel for what Sierra had been through. Sierra gets a mysterious note one night and finds herself in a new supernatural hunter type group yet the group really didn't do anything. I thought it was a bit weird to introduce it yet not really have them all work together. Sierra did see some of the others outside the group and a few helped her out but like I said as a group nothing was accomplished.
The whole relationship between Sierra and her boyfriend Jonathan annoyed the heck out of me. I mean how is she still with him at the end? Just don't understand it. She is portrayed as so incredibly strong in everything else about the novel and has dealt with dirt bag men in her past yet she ignores just about every sign that Jonathan is hiding something and just might not be on the up and up and when she finds out she doesn't drop him immediately?
A PATCH OF DARKNESS gave us plenty of action but most of the time while reading I was frustrated or just not that attached to the scene. I think the series has some potential but only if book 2 address' some holes and gives Sierra some better judgment towards her relationship.
Sierra is a spook catcher and her job and seeing how she does things was definitely the best part of A PATCH OF DARKNESS. The book had a good array of characters and I felt that Yolanda did a good job with their overall development of them. Yolanda plugged in to Sierra's past with the Council a lot and It was nice to see the back story and get a feel for what Sierra had been through. Sierra gets a mysterious note one night and finds herself in a new supernatural hunter type group yet the group really didn't do anything. I thought it was a bit weird to introduce it yet not really have them all work together. Sierra did see some of the others outside the group and a few helped her out but like I said as a group nothing was accomplished.
The whole relationship between Sierra and her boyfriend Jonathan annoyed the heck out of me. I mean how is she still with him at the end? Just don't understand it. She is portrayed as so incredibly strong in everything else about the novel and has dealt with dirt bag men in her past yet she ignores just about every sign that Jonathan is hiding something and just might not be on the up and up and when she finds out she doesn't drop him immediately?
A PATCH OF DARKNESS gave us plenty of action but most of the time while reading I was frustrated or just not that attached to the scene. I think the series has some potential but only if book 2 address' some holes and gives Sierra some better judgment towards her relationship.
Read
May 3, 2012Setting this one aside for now. I'm about 40%ish of the way through. I really can't get into it. Also spoiler -
July 8, 2012
This is book one of the Sierra Fox Stories. A great story. Great suspense. An unusual storyline. I can't wait to read book two.
August 7, 2012
2.5; I wanted to punch Sierra a lot.
February 16, 2014
I discovered this book a little while ago when I had a pile of Kobo coupons and was looking for some new authors to try. The big six don’t take the coupons so I started peeking through some of the smaller publisher websites to see if there were any new books that caught my eye. And A Patch of Darkness definitely fit the bill because it’s got a great premise, a nice setting, and some great characters. And it’s the start of a series and I love following characters who get a longer-than-a-single-book journey.
A Patch of Darkness really worked for me because I really liked the protagonist. In a world where people know that ghosts exist (but not necessarily other supernatural beings), Sierra Fox is a 26-year-old renegade spook catcher. She’s got an independent streak like no other, and powers that she’s slowly realizing are atypical for a spook catcher. She lives with her grandfather’s ghost and learned a lot about her powers from her grandmother’s ghost, from whom she inherited her powers. Instead of sticking with the Council, she struck out on her own, operating her own spook catching business with only a foul-mouthed assistant named Emory for backup. I actually really like Emory as well and she has a nice role to play in A Patch of Darkness, though I won’t comment on it since that might qualify as minor spoilers.
Sierra also has a complicated love life. It’s not a full-blown love triangle since her boyfriend Jonathan hasn’t figured out just how interested Sierra is in Jason Papan, the private investigator who works in the same building as Sierra but he’s well aware of Papan’s interest in out heroine. And I really hope Sierra ditches Jonathan ASAP because he’s a secretive, manipulative tool. He starts off okay but it quickly becomes clear that he’s a no-goodnik. Papan, on the other hand, is sexy, fun, and caring, so it’s something of a no-brainer in terms of who I think Sierra should be dating, at least right now. This is only the first book in the series so my opinion may change when I tackle book 2 but right now I am staunchly on the Sierra-Papan train.
Another strength of A Patch of Darkness is the exciting world that Yolanda Sfetsos has created. Spook catching is a viable career in this urban fantasy series but it’s a career that seems to be open only to women. It’s never made explicit in the novel but all of the spook catchers we meet are female and a male catcher isn’t referenced. These spooky powers are based down from grandmother to granddaughter, skipping a generation, which has to create some strange family dynamics. It definitely did for Sierra, whose mother remained a nonbeliever until her death. There are also hints that you can lose these powers if you’re not trained to use them properly, which is an interesting twist. There are male employees in the Council but they seem to be confined to recruitment and staff, not fieldworkers. I’m curious to learn more about the series mythology and I hope the next book gives us a bit more detail.
As it turns out, there are other supernatural beings, they’re just still in hiding. Demons, vampires, werewolves, witches, and probably more all inhabit this universe, as Sierra learns when she’s recruited to join a secret team. There are also references to something called the Obscurus. Is fitting we know absolutely nothing shout it by the end of the book but I hope it’s a plot thread that will get picked up in future stories.
APatch of Darkness is a promising start to this series and I’m glad that I have Split at the Seams queued up on my e-reader! I thoroughly enjoyed my first foray into Sierra Fox’s world and I can’t wait to see what Sfetsos has cooked up for Sierra’s next story.
http://ireadgood.wordpress.com
A Patch of Darkness really worked for me because I really liked the protagonist. In a world where people know that ghosts exist (but not necessarily other supernatural beings), Sierra Fox is a 26-year-old renegade spook catcher. She’s got an independent streak like no other, and powers that she’s slowly realizing are atypical for a spook catcher. She lives with her grandfather’s ghost and learned a lot about her powers from her grandmother’s ghost, from whom she inherited her powers. Instead of sticking with the Council, she struck out on her own, operating her own spook catching business with only a foul-mouthed assistant named Emory for backup. I actually really like Emory as well and she has a nice role to play in A Patch of Darkness, though I won’t comment on it since that might qualify as minor spoilers.
Sierra also has a complicated love life. It’s not a full-blown love triangle since her boyfriend Jonathan hasn’t figured out just how interested Sierra is in Jason Papan, the private investigator who works in the same building as Sierra but he’s well aware of Papan’s interest in out heroine. And I really hope Sierra ditches Jonathan ASAP because he’s a secretive, manipulative tool. He starts off okay but it quickly becomes clear that he’s a no-goodnik. Papan, on the other hand, is sexy, fun, and caring, so it’s something of a no-brainer in terms of who I think Sierra should be dating, at least right now. This is only the first book in the series so my opinion may change when I tackle book 2 but right now I am staunchly on the Sierra-Papan train.
Another strength of A Patch of Darkness is the exciting world that Yolanda Sfetsos has created. Spook catching is a viable career in this urban fantasy series but it’s a career that seems to be open only to women. It’s never made explicit in the novel but all of the spook catchers we meet are female and a male catcher isn’t referenced. These spooky powers are based down from grandmother to granddaughter, skipping a generation, which has to create some strange family dynamics. It definitely did for Sierra, whose mother remained a nonbeliever until her death. There are also hints that you can lose these powers if you’re not trained to use them properly, which is an interesting twist. There are male employees in the Council but they seem to be confined to recruitment and staff, not fieldworkers. I’m curious to learn more about the series mythology and I hope the next book gives us a bit more detail.
As it turns out, there are other supernatural beings, they’re just still in hiding. Demons, vampires, werewolves, witches, and probably more all inhabit this universe, as Sierra learns when she’s recruited to join a secret team. There are also references to something called the Obscurus. Is fitting we know absolutely nothing shout it by the end of the book but I hope it’s a plot thread that will get picked up in future stories.
APatch of Darkness is a promising start to this series and I’m glad that I have Split at the Seams queued up on my e-reader! I thoroughly enjoyed my first foray into Sierra Fox’s world and I can’t wait to see what Sfetsos has cooked up for Sierra’s next story.
http://ireadgood.wordpress.com
October 14, 2013
http://www.bookchickcity.com/2013/06/...
A Patch of Darkness by Yolanda Sfetsos was one of those books that I felt sure I would love. The synopsis promised an interesting story with the type of kick-ass, damaged heroine that we’ve all come to know and love from Urban Fantasy novels.
Sierra Fox makes a living finding ghosts and sending them up in front of the Council that has done so wrong by her in the past. Nothing and nobody is what they seem as Sierra tries to sort both her private and work-life out, whilst changing the dire fate of mankind.
At first it seems as though Sierra is used to this odd world in which she lives, but as the story develops and new creatures and issues come to light, she seems very shocked by them all. In all honesty, she is not at all the kickass heroine that I was hoping for her. The best characters are those which develop throughout the story, and are moulded by the events, but Sierra remains the same throughout the novel. She apparently has more power than she realises, but nothing really explains why this should be. She just has flashes of this new and improved power whenever it seems necessary to the plot. She also has frequent episodes of TSTL, such as realising that maybe she shouldn’t have followed the villain of the piece into somewhere isolated after all. It’s not that she’s a hateful heroine, or anything like that – the issue is really that she is not very well-developed initially, and she makes little progress throughout the book.
Another thing which was a little patchy was the world-building. It was very reminiscent of other Urban Fantasy books that I have read and enjoyed, such as Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as a lot of world-building is sometimes a little confusing, and a point of comparison can be helpful. However, the world that Yolanda Sfetsos created doesn’t have enough character of its own to stand truly apart from the worlds that have presumably inspired it. ‘Facts’ about the world are doled out as and when they seem necessary to the plot, which stops the issue of info-dumping, but threatens the credibility of the story.
The writing itself is not the best that I have ever read, but that often doesn’t matter when the story is engaging enough to make it unnoticeable. This wasn’t the case in A Patch of Darkness, however, as the writing was constantly a little clumsy. At other times there were grammatical errors, and incorrect use of punctuation which makes it seem as though I am nit-picking, but they were just really obvious as my attention wasn’t held by the book.
The cast of secondary characters are all pretty one-dimensional. The only one who was really interesting was Sierra’s sort-of-neighbour, Jason Papan, who actually manages to keep a secret for most of the book. The others just seemed to be there to move the plot along, or for absolutely no reason (although the novel is part of a series, so something might develop later). Jonathan, Sierra’s boyfriend, presents a bit of an enigma, but emphasis only seems to be placed on him when there is a lull in the action.
VERDICT:
All in all, A Patch of Darkness was an OK book. There was nothing awful about it, but I think that with a little further thought, it could have been a great novel. Everything just needed a little more filling out to give the novel and its characters a life of their own
A Patch of Darkness by Yolanda Sfetsos was one of those books that I felt sure I would love. The synopsis promised an interesting story with the type of kick-ass, damaged heroine that we’ve all come to know and love from Urban Fantasy novels.
Sierra Fox makes a living finding ghosts and sending them up in front of the Council that has done so wrong by her in the past. Nothing and nobody is what they seem as Sierra tries to sort both her private and work-life out, whilst changing the dire fate of mankind.
At first it seems as though Sierra is used to this odd world in which she lives, but as the story develops and new creatures and issues come to light, she seems very shocked by them all. In all honesty, she is not at all the kickass heroine that I was hoping for her. The best characters are those which develop throughout the story, and are moulded by the events, but Sierra remains the same throughout the novel. She apparently has more power than she realises, but nothing really explains why this should be. She just has flashes of this new and improved power whenever it seems necessary to the plot. She also has frequent episodes of TSTL, such as realising that maybe she shouldn’t have followed the villain of the piece into somewhere isolated after all. It’s not that she’s a hateful heroine, or anything like that – the issue is really that she is not very well-developed initially, and she makes little progress throughout the book.
Another thing which was a little patchy was the world-building. It was very reminiscent of other Urban Fantasy books that I have read and enjoyed, such as Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as a lot of world-building is sometimes a little confusing, and a point of comparison can be helpful. However, the world that Yolanda Sfetsos created doesn’t have enough character of its own to stand truly apart from the worlds that have presumably inspired it. ‘Facts’ about the world are doled out as and when they seem necessary to the plot, which stops the issue of info-dumping, but threatens the credibility of the story.
The writing itself is not the best that I have ever read, but that often doesn’t matter when the story is engaging enough to make it unnoticeable. This wasn’t the case in A Patch of Darkness, however, as the writing was constantly a little clumsy. At other times there were grammatical errors, and incorrect use of punctuation which makes it seem as though I am nit-picking, but they were just really obvious as my attention wasn’t held by the book.
The cast of secondary characters are all pretty one-dimensional. The only one who was really interesting was Sierra’s sort-of-neighbour, Jason Papan, who actually manages to keep a secret for most of the book. The others just seemed to be there to move the plot along, or for absolutely no reason (although the novel is part of a series, so something might develop later). Jonathan, Sierra’s boyfriend, presents a bit of an enigma, but emphasis only seems to be placed on him when there is a lull in the action.
VERDICT:
All in all, A Patch of Darkness was an OK book. There was nothing awful about it, but I think that with a little further thought, it could have been a great novel. Everything just needed a little more filling out to give the novel and its characters a life of their own
May 30, 2012
A Patch of Darkness reminded me of a roller coaster: with its high and low points. It could have been smooth as a sea tide, but -alas- it was more like a "fun" ride :) as the two didn't merge that well.
I felt the beginning was the weakest part of the story. So if you start and feel like giving up, keep on reading :D.
The plot and the world were interesting, and so was the bunch of side characters, even when just sketched. Unfortunately Sierra's sidekick was unbearable and more than once I wondered why Sierra lets her underling steam-roll her or simply badmouth/answer back. (Ebony reminds me of Tina from Deadtown without the tragic back-story.)
And here comes a bigger problem I had with this book. We have this powerful, strong heroine who can't stop people from using her. I understand that as readers we are privy to knowledge the characters don't have. Unfortunately in UF this is, simply, not true (first person POV and all that). So if a character fails to understand danger (clearly spelled as such), she comes off as willingly stupid. And she acted in a similar way too many times.
I think it's safe to say Sierra was hard for me to identify with.
So, I liked this action- and ghost- packed story but it lost half a star for character coherence and the (at times)nausea-inducing ride :)
If the sequel had been already published, I might have bought it, if only to see how Ms Sfetsos resolves the unfinished questions. I fear that I'll forget about this series by the time it comes out. But we'll see...
April 28, 2014
Most of the drama and issues in this book were so blatant and in the main character's face that it was ridiculous for her to continuously push shit off to the side like it would all go away. This would not have pissed me off as much if it was just in the beginning, but there is no character development to show maturity and honestly I don't know how she can be that fucking retarded and not kill herself while taking out nasty ghosts and shit.
August 23, 2015
This book has all the potential for a great series, but the pacing and development lead a lot to be desired. Characters go into info dumps at a moment's notice. Scenes are set in a order that could have been changed, and it would have vastly improved the flow. Overall, I found myself forced to finish, which isn't a good sign of a book.
dnf
July 11, 2015I could not get into not. I was reading but not feeling it so I felt it was time to admit defeat
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