With a title like “Really Unusual Bad Boys“, you would expect something out of the ordinary. Oh it’s out of the ordinary all right. MaryJanice Davidson has written a story that’s out of this world…bad.

It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read and it probably won’t even make my top 10 list of worst books ever. A romance novel set in another dimension is weird, but hey, I love sci-fi and fantasy, I could roll with that. It’s utterly predictable, but that’s not necessarily a death nell, aren’t all romance novels formulaic? So what’s my problem with it?

It’s trite and written at what seems to be a 4th grade reading level. Have readers gotten so dumb that we have to spell everything out, remove all big words and teach simplistic moral lessons in every book? At one point in this book, I believe the point was essentially made “just because someone looks different than you, doesn’t mean they’re a bad person”. Really? I NEVER knew that! Oh wait, I learned that on Sesame Street before I even knew how to read.

So if you know a licentious 4th grader that would like to read a fantastical romance novel, then maybe this works. Otherwise, it probably doesn’t belong on your summer reading list.