Lately I’ve been hearing more and more about how valuable books are that can be considered “slipstream” or simply, books that can be marketed toward multiple markets and genres. On the one hand, this makes total sense to me but, on the other, it can create a lot of confusion.

[Edit for clarity] On average, we receive a few books a week to review and/or promote. Out of these books, the majority of them have misleading marketing (cover art, blurbs, and promotional letters from the editors) that makes it difficult to understand what audience the books are being marketed toward. The following titles are examples of what I’ve been encountering.[End Edit]

Take for example a post-apocalyptic series by author Faith Hunter; my review of Seraphs covered a little bit about my expectations. After reading the back cover and the editor’s letter, I did not expect “angel sex” to be an integral part of the plot but there it was in all its glory. Frankly, I don’t care whether or not an author chooses to write about sex, drugs, or adult themes, but what I do want is the ability to choose a book based on the understanding that that’s what the book contains. In this case, I felt that the sex literally overpowered the rest of the story so much so that I was let down – even though there were other unique setting elements that could have been explored further.

On the flip side a widely-overlooked book, in my opinion, is another book I had reviewed entitled Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert. I had expected to read a paranormal romance novel replete with witches and a victorianesque house—especially after reading the back cover—but this story was not about witchcraft. In fact, it was less of a romance and more of a mystery. (There was only one romantic scene.) Partially inspired by psychic experiments and a re-invention of Alchemy, the novel was fairly “tame” when it came to romance, even though it was integral to the plot and the tension between some of the characters.
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