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Northridge
After eighteen years of being homeschooled and isolated from the world, Wesley Kent finally gets a chance at freedom when he’s accepted to Northridge University. The news overwhelms his psychologically unstable mother, pushing her toward a violent breakdown. But despite the episode, Wesley arrives in Northridge and meets Bryce, a sexy upperclassman and his new roommate.The pair struggle, unsuccessfully, to disregard their hormone-fueled attraction toward each other. Wesley soon discovers a secret box buried in the nearby woods. The contents ignite a dangerous chain of events which threatens to extinguish their new romance--along with their lives.
- GenresM M RomanceFantasy
185 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 17, 2015
23 people want to read
About the author
Jace Payne
3 books30 followersJace Payne is a proud Boston boy living in the heart of the south, a change that took some time to adjustments. He started retreating to books at a young age, when other kids were busying themselves with sports and other things. It was until he entered college that he discovered his love for writing. It started with short stories for class, then escalated to a blog, featuring short erotic fiction. Dark South: Shifter marks his entry into the world of erotic romance. His passions lie within the world of the supernatural—werewolves, feisty witches, and unpredictable ghosts. If they lurk in the shadows, you can safely assume they will appear in his writing. No creature is safe.
He lives with his partner of four years, David, and their cats and dogs, and both of them have a deep love for all things spooky. Halloween is their absolute favorite time of the year. Jace is fortunate to be surrounded by people who support his love for writing, and do everything within their power to help him succeed. Living in the south, erotic romance isn’t always seen as a good thing, but that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his passion wholeheartedly. And he has no intention of stopping, no matter what challenges he may encounter. Keep your eyes open, as he has many more novels to come—if his loving dogs decide to stop barking long enough for him to write.
He lives with his partner of four years, David, and their cats and dogs, and both of them have a deep love for all things spooky. Halloween is their absolute favorite time of the year. Jace is fortunate to be surrounded by people who support his love for writing, and do everything within their power to help him succeed. Living in the south, erotic romance isn’t always seen as a good thing, but that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his passion wholeheartedly. And he has no intention of stopping, no matter what challenges he may encounter. Keep your eyes open, as he has many more novels to come—if his loving dogs decide to stop barking long enough for him to write.
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December 21, 2015RATED BROKEN HEART--
DNF at 43%, then I cut to the last 10% to read the ending
I had to dust off my very rarely used DNF card on Northridge.
Because the telling, the weird details, the distancing from the blurb...it was becoming a chore to read. I'll make this as quick as possible and list my issues.
But maybe this review might help find the right sort of reader. I'm just not the one. There are plenty of popular authors whose technique of telling are similar to this. Maybe their readers/fans might want to check this paranormal new adult out.
I'm unsure if this is romance. The erotic moments weren't necessarily erotic (meh steamy-ish?)...so I guess it's more in the gay fiction camp? The attempts were vague and way too soon. Maybe it got more graphic deeper in the book but as I did read the ending...it's more in the HFN camp. And while I'm on the sexual note, the blurb hints to "hormone fueled attraction" between the roommates. How could there be any tension if the virgin gives it up so quickly (and oddly) at 23%. There was barely any sexual tension. We go from Wes talking to the guy to handjobs. I have a hard time buying repressed main characters just jumping into sexual situations so quickly. This author isn't the first to do this. Also, the flirty moments were at odd. And the love interest...uninteresting. What is he? Why make him have a similar background? (broken home, lonely, wears the same sized clothes, etc)
The pacing? Off.
The first POV which is usually a winner for me sadly was not. It became telling from the beginning and continued that way. The reader is placed into Wesley's head. He lived a life not many can tell: extremely sheltered being home schooled by a mother who suffers from a lot of mental health diagnoses. The fact that Wesley is functioning and able to leave his house after being imprisoned there should have been a great starting point. But it got lost in the superficial once he left home on his housemate. I had red flags that I ignored from 6% with the massive breakdown (that I feel was added for effect's sake) Truthfully if taking a step back - would Wes really just carelessly set his parent up like that? It seemed like it was setting her up for that reaction. I know you can't plan ahead but you can try to be proactive and there were no measures taken. Rang false to me, then again maybe I might not be the right person to read it being in the field I work in.
Wesley would have big experiences (ex. moving out, first crush, first sexual experience, first party) and it would be ignored or downplayed for longer paragraphed about coffee making or bath soaps or other mundane superficial things. And when I saw the name dropping (it didn't happen a lot in the first 42% but to me it was wasted page time)
The character voices? Sounded older than teens. Wesley could be explained away since he was raised by his mother and his aunt with barely any contact with teens his age. However, when most of the college students began to be interchangeable in dialogue, for me, there is a problem. There is ghostly sexual activity, we get more page time about soap or short shorts.
Wesley forgets his mother...18 years and he just seems to forget her especially after the big event at 6%? And he becomes a superhero witch. No big deal. He does from sort of having a social anxiety to being able to handle it?
I had to give up after I read more page wasting time about superficial things instead going back to the premise. Or at least focusing on the interesting aspects of Wesley.
Maybe the story got better in the part I didn't read. But from what I read at 90% and on...not by much. And the loose ends get too neatly tied up especially with the mother that seemed to be in the background.
This meanders too much and I like my paranormal (if there is a suspense angle) to be interesting. I don't like ghosts and witches aren't my favorite either but it got lost in the mundane for me. I don't do well with a plot that meanders.
On a serious note : if I could rate anything, the forward of Northridge is more than five Hearts. It's unlimited Hearts. I was moved. This is the author's last work. Sadly, Jace Payne died a few weeks before this story was published.
I wished I would have loved this story. It seemed to end with room for more books in the future.
May the author R.I.P.
A copy provided for an honest review.
I had to dust off my very rarely used DNF card on Northridge.
Because the telling, the weird details, the distancing from the blurb...it was becoming a chore to read. I'll make this as quick as possible and list my issues.
But maybe this review might help find the right sort of reader. I'm just not the one. There are plenty of popular authors whose technique of telling are similar to this. Maybe their readers/fans might want to check this paranormal new adult out.
I'm unsure if this is romance. The erotic moments weren't necessarily erotic (meh steamy-ish?)...so I guess it's more in the gay fiction camp? The attempts were vague and way too soon. Maybe it got more graphic deeper in the book but as I did read the ending...it's more in the HFN camp. And while I'm on the sexual note, the blurb hints to "hormone fueled attraction" between the roommates. How could there be any tension if the virgin gives it up so quickly (and oddly) at 23%. There was barely any sexual tension. We go from Wes talking to the guy to handjobs. I have a hard time buying repressed main characters just jumping into sexual situations so quickly. This author isn't the first to do this. Also, the flirty moments were at odd. And the love interest...uninteresting. What is he? Why make him have a similar background? (broken home, lonely, wears the same sized clothes, etc)
The pacing? Off.
The first POV which is usually a winner for me sadly was not. It became telling from the beginning and continued that way. The reader is placed into Wesley's head. He lived a life not many can tell: extremely sheltered being home schooled by a mother who suffers from a lot of mental health diagnoses. The fact that Wesley is functioning and able to leave his house after being imprisoned there should have been a great starting point. But it got lost in the superficial once he left home on his housemate. I had red flags that I ignored from 6% with the massive breakdown (that I feel was added for effect's sake) Truthfully if taking a step back - would Wes really just carelessly set his parent up like that? It seemed like it was setting her up for that reaction. I know you can't plan ahead but you can try to be proactive and there were no measures taken. Rang false to me, then again maybe I might not be the right person to read it being in the field I work in.
Wesley would have big experiences (ex. moving out, first crush, first sexual experience, first party) and it would be ignored or downplayed for longer paragraphed about coffee making or bath soaps or other mundane superficial things. And when I saw the name dropping (it didn't happen a lot in the first 42% but to me it was wasted page time)
The character voices? Sounded older than teens. Wesley could be explained away since he was raised by his mother and his aunt with barely any contact with teens his age. However, when most of the college students began to be interchangeable in dialogue, for me, there is a problem. There is ghostly sexual activity, we get more page time about soap or short shorts.
Wesley forgets his mother...18 years and he just seems to forget her especially after the big event at 6%? And he becomes a superhero witch. No big deal. He does from sort of having a social anxiety to being able to handle it?
I had to give up after I read more page wasting time about superficial things instead going back to the premise. Or at least focusing on the interesting aspects of Wesley.
Maybe the story got better in the part I didn't read. But from what I read at 90% and on...not by much. And the loose ends get too neatly tied up especially with the mother that seemed to be in the background.
This meanders too much and I like my paranormal (if there is a suspense angle) to be interesting. I don't like ghosts and witches aren't my favorite either but it got lost in the mundane for me. I don't do well with a plot that meanders.
On a serious note : if I could rate anything, the forward of Northridge is more than five Hearts. It's unlimited Hearts. I was moved. This is the author's last work. Sadly, Jace Payne died a few weeks before this story was published.
I wished I would have loved this story. It seemed to end with room for more books in the future.
May the author R.I.P.
A copy provided for an honest review.
February 24, 2016
I received a copy of this title to read and review for Wicked Reads
DNF: automatic 3 stars.
The writing style wasn't to my tastes. Wesley was too emotionless, with stilted, wooden 1st person narration. After eighteen years of being with his agoraphobic, mentally ill mother 24/7, he's preparing to board away at school. Knowing his departure will harm his mother's fragile mental state, he goes anyway. I'm not against this, as Wesley has a right to live his life. What he has no right in doing is how he didn't make sure his mother had a stable place while he's gone.
Like sociopaths, his aunt and Wesley actually discussed if it wouldn't be better if his mother just killed herself after he left so they'd be done with it (all told, not shown). This woman's son and sister just tossed her in the trash. When she goes into a panic attack because Wesley is leaving her just as her husband did when he died, the sister dials the phone. Done. Emergency services show up. Done. I don't even know what the panic attack entailed except that the only descriptor was 'the worst panic attack she'd ever had.'
It was only two or three paragraphs at most, something that should have been the most terrifying half hour of Wesley's young life.
Well, it should be major. But it's written devoid of any emotion, in mere paragraphs, losing the hard-hitting feel it should have had. Then, Wesley just leaves like nothing happened, without a backward glance. 18 years this woman raised him, home-schooled him, loved and cared for him... With his mother having a major break, being escorted out by EMTs and police to a psyche ward (imagine the terror and powerlessness an agoraphobic would feel being removed from their safe haven against their will, and placed into a vehicle with loud sirens. Well, you'll have to imagine it since it wasn't written)
Wesley just... leaves and feels nothing at all. No inner monologue, no fear or worry for his mother. She doesn't even deserve an afterthought.
Sounding shallow, vapid even, and coldhearted sociopath, next Wesley gets off a train, and then the author describes the man who is to escort him to school, in great detail, paragraphs' worth of detail the mother wasn't given. I don't even know the mother's name, or what she looks like, but I do know everything you could know on a first impression of meeting this man, right down to his 'chocolate' boots that are to his knees and sharply dressed chinos, with chiseled features... ... ...
At that point, before I truly gave the book a chance, I had to abandon the read, as I feared this emotionless narration would continue. Worse, I feared how this review would turn out. Also, I need to state the dialogue was stilted, sounding a decade older than a teenager, without contractions. Everything important felt like it was disregarded in lieu of describing clothing and physical features.
The writing style wasn't for me, and I couldn't finish the book.
DNF: automatic 3 stars.
The writing style wasn't to my tastes. Wesley was too emotionless, with stilted, wooden 1st person narration. After eighteen years of being with his agoraphobic, mentally ill mother 24/7, he's preparing to board away at school. Knowing his departure will harm his mother's fragile mental state, he goes anyway. I'm not against this, as Wesley has a right to live his life. What he has no right in doing is how he didn't make sure his mother had a stable place while he's gone.
Like sociopaths, his aunt and Wesley actually discussed if it wouldn't be better if his mother just killed herself after he left so they'd be done with it (all told, not shown). This woman's son and sister just tossed her in the trash. When she goes into a panic attack because Wesley is leaving her just as her husband did when he died, the sister dials the phone. Done. Emergency services show up. Done. I don't even know what the panic attack entailed except that the only descriptor was 'the worst panic attack she'd ever had.'
It was only two or three paragraphs at most, something that should have been the most terrifying half hour of Wesley's young life.
Well, it should be major. But it's written devoid of any emotion, in mere paragraphs, losing the hard-hitting feel it should have had. Then, Wesley just leaves like nothing happened, without a backward glance. 18 years this woman raised him, home-schooled him, loved and cared for him... With his mother having a major break, being escorted out by EMTs and police to a psyche ward (imagine the terror and powerlessness an agoraphobic would feel being removed from their safe haven against their will, and placed into a vehicle with loud sirens. Well, you'll have to imagine it since it wasn't written)
Wesley just... leaves and feels nothing at all. No inner monologue, no fear or worry for his mother. She doesn't even deserve an afterthought.
Sounding shallow, vapid even, and coldhearted sociopath, next Wesley gets off a train, and then the author describes the man who is to escort him to school, in great detail, paragraphs' worth of detail the mother wasn't given. I don't even know the mother's name, or what she looks like, but I do know everything you could know on a first impression of meeting this man, right down to his 'chocolate' boots that are to his knees and sharply dressed chinos, with chiseled features... ... ...
At that point, before I truly gave the book a chance, I had to abandon the read, as I feared this emotionless narration would continue. Worse, I feared how this review would turn out. Also, I need to state the dialogue was stilted, sounding a decade older than a teenager, without contractions. Everything important felt like it was disregarded in lieu of describing clothing and physical features.
The writing style wasn't for me, and I couldn't finish the book.
January 20, 2016
A Joyfully Jay review.
2 stars
I’m just going to say from the start that this book was not for me. I had serious issues with the logic, plot, and love story, and that’s a shame because the premise was so intriguing.
I kinda wanted to throw in the towel on this book. I felt like Wes was so wooden a character and Bryce was too clingy, and the other people they met—mind you this entire book takes place in the week prior to classes beginning—were caricatures. The drunk rapist frat boy. The goth witch. There were so many elements of plot that just fell short for me. I was anticipating suspense and felt like any time some began to build, it was just cut from under me with a quick (often not grounded in any sense) explanation. The romance between Bryce and Wes was stilted, but maybe it was the clunky dialogue that threw me off. I was also tired of the “bad witch” being a bitch all the time. We had not even “met” her in the book and she was “that bitch” from the start. Really? Ugh.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
2 stars
I’m just going to say from the start that this book was not for me. I had serious issues with the logic, plot, and love story, and that’s a shame because the premise was so intriguing.
I kinda wanted to throw in the towel on this book. I felt like Wes was so wooden a character and Bryce was too clingy, and the other people they met—mind you this entire book takes place in the week prior to classes beginning—were caricatures. The drunk rapist frat boy. The goth witch. There were so many elements of plot that just fell short for me. I was anticipating suspense and felt like any time some began to build, it was just cut from under me with a quick (often not grounded in any sense) explanation. The romance between Bryce and Wes was stilted, but maybe it was the clunky dialogue that threw me off. I was also tired of the “bad witch” being a bitch all the time. We had not even “met” her in the book and she was “that bitch” from the start. Really? Ugh.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
August 26, 2017
I know that I read the blurb for this book before starting it and had found something interesting. I couldn’t remember what I had read at all though. So, I sat down to read without knowing anything about what I was taking on. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to find romance, action, and a bit of paranormal.
This book was really fun to read. I loved the characters. I loved the setting. I loved the storyline. Sure there were one or two things such as how quick the romance and love came about that got me. I really didn’t care while reading though. I was having fun.
Great book. I just wish that the author was still around to write more. It made me very sad reading the start where there was a note. I think readers lost a great writer.
This book was really fun to read. I loved the characters. I loved the setting. I loved the storyline. Sure there were one or two things such as how quick the romance and love came about that got me. I really didn’t care while reading though. I was having fun.
Great book. I just wish that the author was still around to write more. It made me very sad reading the start where there was a note. I think readers lost a great writer.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews