In which I finally get some DIK

It looks as if the Desert Isle Keeper madness that Lisabea has started will be continuing. And since I guess this is the last day for stowaways, I’ve finally gotten a chance to participate.

Now, I know that all three of you who read this blog are dying to know what books I’d take with me on a desert island. Well, wonder no further, for here they be.

• A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin - it’s a four-book series, but we’ll pretend that someone will have compiled them into a ginormous omnibus edition that I can use to either way things down on the island or drop on the heads of my enemies.

• The Little Country - Charles de Lint
• A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L’Engle
• Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold
• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
• Demon Night by Meljean Brook

There you have it. Yeah, I cheated, like, a lot, by counting ASOIAF as one book, but if I were really marooned on a desert island, I couldn’t just pick my favorite out of those four, not without refreshing my memory about stuff that came before. Plus, there are some great potential island inhabitants in those books… or at least there are a bunch of cynics in that book who hide their soft hearts beneath hard, callous exteriors, which, uh, I find hella sexy.

Book lust

I went on kind of a tear on a yahoo group recently and bitched about how I sometimes feel that authors expect all reviewers to look for things to say to trash their books. Obviously, I disagree with this assessment, as evidenced by tonight.

Tonight I was vassilating between two books that I will start tomorrow. Both are paranormals. One is by an author I love. The other is by a new to me author who sent me an E-ARC of her September release. Being a series whore, I need to read the first book before I tackle the second. I was already leaning toward the new to me author, so I went looking for reviews of her first book, which I intend to read in preparation for this one.

The book incidentally, is Dark Thirst by Sarah Reinke. I knew nothing about it, except the fact that Ms. Reinke writes books that all sound very good. So I checked out reviews.

Sadly, the most recent was by Debra Ann MacGilivray, so I ignored that, and went on. And now I am excited to read this book because of the following things that I gleaned from the Amazon reviews:

• Beta hero. Mmm, I lurve me a good beta hero/alpha heroine dynamic. I know, that makes me a freak in the romance world, but anyone here reading this won’t be shocked by that revelation.

• The hero is deaf/mute. After my crush on Nick Andros from The Stand by Stephen King, I am all about the deaf-mute characters, because I think the struggles for communication are fascinating. And I am not deaf or mute, so my disability baggage won’t kick in every time the author does something of which I do not approve.
• Vampire mafia. How awesome is that?
• Did I mention virgin hero? Oh, sign me up.

I also think it’s awesome that this is an interracial romance, but quite honestly that’s just a side benefit. I am looking forward to a darkish paranormal, hoping for a strong heroine, and totally stoked about the virgin hero thing.

Now I just pray that this lives up to my expectations!

Look kids! A book meme!

Holly over at Book Binge, who I like to think of as my good blogger twin, posted a meme. Given how opposed we are to original content over here I thought I’d do it.

Contemporary, Historical, or Paranormal?
Paranormal, followed by historical and contemp. It really depends on my mood.
Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback?
Erm… ebook.
Heyer or Austen?
Heyer. She’s witty and funny and I loved both of the books I’ve read by her, whereas–and here I will no doubt get smote–I’ve never really had any desire to read Austen.
Amazon or Brick and Mortar?
Amazon. Or, actually, Fictionwise.
Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Borders. There isn’t a B&N anywhere near where I live, but there is a Borders, and the Borders people are very nice.
Woodiwiss or Lindsay?
Lindsey is the one I’ve read. I haven’t felt any need to try Woodiwiss, either.
First romance novel you ever remember reading?
Hmmm, aside from Thunder Heights by Phylllis Whitney? Probably A Knight in Shining Armor by Deveraux. Unlike Holly, I really kind of liked the ending, but I don’t know if I could read it again and feel similarly years later.
Alphabetize by author Alphabetize by title or random?
By author. Like Holly, I also alphabetize by title and put series together. My ebook collection is the most organized thing in my life.
Keep, Throw Away or Sell?
Since I mostly read ebooks, I make sure I can get them again if I want to and then throw away, unless they’re books I absolutely must reread.
Read with dustjacket or remove it?
N/A.
Sookie Stackhouse or Anita Blake?
Sookie. Not that I intend to read any other books in that series, but yeah, she was less annoying than the one Anita Blake I tried to read.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Chapter breaks, unless I’m using my Book Port, which is my glorified ebook reader for the blind, in which case I stop reading when I’m tired and it will pick up right where I left off.
“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
“Once upon a time.”
Crusie or SEP?
SEP I love. I haven’t read Crusie. (I know, le shock! Quel horror!)
Buy or Borrow?
Borrow, mostly. Except I do spend way more than I should on ebooks.
Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?
Recommendations from people I trust. Occasionally if a blurb catches me I’ll try something.
Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?
Tidy endings. Even in series. I don’t need every subplot resolved, but I don’t like when a book just… stops.
Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?
Whenever. I’ll read anytime, anyplace. Books help me wake up, and I have been reading more nonfiction to relax.
Series or standalone?
I am a huge series whore. I keep telling myself I won’t get caught up in any more, then I make a liar of myself and end up reading a series book anyway.
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
I think my Kate Elliott discovery qualifies. I loved King’s Dragon but even when I first picked it up nobody else had ever heard of it.

Daily musings

I have class tonight, and am still in the stage where this is exciting. I even enjoyed the chapter I read in my textbook. And I’m one of the non-elementary ed majors. I even prepared for the class by finding some classic children’s books from my youth that I want to reread. Most are in the middle grade to YA category, which I suspect is going to be my favorite part of the class.

In my adult reading, though, poor Sookie’s getting so shafted. I have a bunch of stuff I want to be reading, none of which involves her. I’ll give Ms. Harris points for the fact that I am thinking in terms of Sookie as a character I don’t like, and not just that Dead Until Dark isn’t a book that’s working for me. I guess it’s just hard for me to suspend my disbelief about characters who sit there and fail to notice that every man with a working penis wants to put it inside their personal vajayjay. Although, that being said, I do love me some Sam. I might continue reading the series just for him. (Incidentally, Holly said once that Nick was her favorite hero name. Sam is mine. So make of that what you will.)

Er… Anyway. Next on my list is the new Loretta Chase, and then at some point very soon I really want to read me some Josh Lanyon and Ally Blue. I’ve also got a few Harlequin Historicals that look good that I have to review and I want to go back to my epic fantasy series that I started last month.

Some people wish they had my TBR anxiety, I’m sure, and I feel like a snot every time I muse about what I want to read next and then proceed to waffle about it.

Another day, another class

So my summer class started today. I like my children’s lit teacher. Or, at least, the woman who is teaching the first two sections of the class. She seems to really like kids, and the class is going to be fun, I think. But of course she was an English major and an academic, so she sniped about the romance genre, saying that it wasn’t real literature because naturally you only need two brain cells to read it. She made up for it by reading aloud from one of my favorite children’s books ever, (”Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day, if you’re counting.) but still… I wanted to sic some of y’all on her, or give her a book recommendation. (I defy anyone to read a Janice Kay johnson superromance and tell me that isn’t some damn fine writing and serious lit-ra-ture.) Or, you know, there are always Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, who are nowhere near “trashy Harlequin” status. Then she said something like, “Children’s books usually have hope at the end. Too many adult books have depressing endings.” I know I smirked meanly and thought, ‘Not the ones I read.’

Oh, and there was an interesting side conversation in my class in which I probably upset a few of the elementary ed majors in attendance. A bunch of them were saying that they used to be readers but, and someone actually did say, “Who has time to read?” Someone else pointed out that she had friends who made time, but she stated that she didn’t know how they could. So naturally I piped up and said I was one of those, because university student or not, I really need something to read at some point in the day. It makes me feel like I’ve done something productive, even if I haven’t, and even if what I’m reading isn’t 700 pages of weighty prose with a depressing ending, I figure I’m still learning something, even if it’s just what not to do if I ever get off my ass and write a book.

Speaking of books, I managed to walk out the door without my primary book-reading gadget. I was so upset! I couldn’t read my current book, because it wasn’t on my emergency backup reading gadget, so I settled for reading the first Charlaine Harris book. I don’t know if Sookie Stackhouse and I are all that compatible. It started when she told the readers she had a disability. Uh, snookems, yes, not being the world’s smartest individual is certainly nothing to be proud of, but reading minds? Not a real disability, darlin’.

I feel compelled to finish the book, and at the moment it’s cruising somewhere in the C range, and I also know that Charlaine Harris fangirls are probably going to be shocked–shocked I say!–that I don’t understand the brilliance that is Sookie Stackhouse. I’m sure that Charlaine and I will get over it with no hard feelings.

In the department of things that only amuse me…

I realize this has nothing to do with anything I usually talk about over here, but it is an observation I am making.

I really enjoy the New Age channel on my XM radio. I’ve had it on today in the background, and it’s worked beautifully as background music. But occasionally, when they need a station ID, this woman with a slight British accent comes on and says something poetic. She seems to actually be reciting some poetry, though I haven’t paid attention to what she says.

It did, however, occur to me that it would be highly, highly amusing if the posh British lady said something completely out of the blue like, “There once… was a man… from Nantucket.” and then proceeded to recite the rest of the limmerick with the same intensity with which she recites everything else.

OK, possibly I may be the only one who would laugh, but there you have it, the strange workings of my mind. You should, by all rights, be terrified.

Review: Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones

I was going to make this an actual TGTBTU book review, but have decided not to, mostly because (1) I’m lazy and (2) I just want to freak Lisabea out by writing up two blog posts in as many days. So, here, have a mini-review.

Title: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: humorous nonfiction
Grade: A
Reason for Reading: I’ve wanted to read this book forever. I love fantasy, and I was under the impression that this book would be funny. It was.

Synopsis:

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a comprehensive guide for those undertaking Tours of Fantasyland. This authoritative A-Z constitutes an essential source of information for all who dare to venture into these imaginative hinterlands, providing acute insights into such mysteries as how HORSES reproduce, the varying types of VIRGIN and the importance of CLOAKS to those embarking on the Tour. Features include:

A map.
Lively background on the denizens you will meet, including Barbarian Hordes, and Elves who claim they did not evolve like humans… Certainly there seems to be no Elvish ancestral ape.
Full details on catering arrangements: Beer always foams and is invariably delivered in tankards. The Management is not concerned with the taste of it. That is your funeral.
Useful hints on coping in Fantasyland: Armour is, in the opinion of the Management, cheating. Torture is obligatory at some stage in the Tour.
Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a committed Fantasyland traveller, The Tough Guide has everything you need to get the most from your Tour.

My Thoughts: I loved this book. The tongue-in-cheek humor really worked for me, and it’s obvious that Ms. Jones, a fantasy writer herself, is laughing with us as she writes about the various tropes employed in fantasyland. And she’s right. I’ve seen most of these in some form or other.

I’m glad I picked this up. I know I’ll be keeping it and referring back to it periodically as I read more fantasy books.

Big Beautiful Men?

Look, Lisabea! A post!

Mrs. Giggles today has a post about some romance epub which is requesting stories featuring big, beautiful men.

Excuse me while I giggle for just a second at that one.

I can see someone writing slightly huskier guys, but given that nobody is writing romances about women my size even when they’re writing rubenesque heroines, I’m not thinking this is a trend that will be embraced. (All I’ll say about my weight is that I *wish* I were a size 14, because then I could buy cute clothes without having to sacrifice my soul to get them.)

Also, given the already present need of some epublishers to start pandering (that’s the only explanation I can see for the presence of all the older woman/younger men books coming out of EC), I just don’t think most readers are going to want that kind of realism in our heroes. If our fantasies run toward having some hard-bodied stud adore us and think we are the sexiest thing since sliced bread, even though we are really 45, overweight, and developing more grey hairs than non-grey ones, why would we want to read about some short, pudgy, balding guy? Even I, who would like to think of myself as… not a shallow person at all… would probably raise an eyebrow there, even though I am not in the older woman demographic of reader.

So no, I don’t think we’re going to see a trend in big, beautiful men, because there’s not really enough of a fantasy in it for the stereotypical romance reader. Or, you know, for me. But then, my fantasy man is any guy who is strong-minded enough that he isn’t threatened by me when I’m in opinionated bitch mode. Half the time the men I read about don’t strike me as being the sort that could deal very well with women who, y’know, think. Which is why my fave heroes are the smart asses. I could take or leave the body type, as long as I loved the mind inside said body. But then, I could just be weird.

Meta blogging

Ahhh, blogging. I haven’t been doing enough of it over here lately. But I’ll try to get better, I really will.

Last night, while other people my age were no doubt getting drunk, cavorting and having fun, I was scrounging up links so that we could update the links page over on TGTBTU. I didn’t realize just how many romance bloggers I should be reading but didn’t know about until I went hunting around for updated links. Makes me want to update my own links list, except, well, I’m lazy so that won’t happen today.

Also, thanks to the evil plan I’m sure Lisabea has orchestrated, I’m dipping my toes into, uh, straight (heh) M/M romance. This is because I plan on reviewing some F/F stuff over on TGTBTU, so I figure that the least I can do is read a little of everything. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I was looking at my to be reviewed list and realizing that I really need to not read some paranormals for a while, so that I can find my love for the subgenre again. So I’m hoping some gay contemps will be enough out of my comfort zone that I’ll want to go back and read about magic again. Which is important because I have an ARC to review soonishly, and I don’t want to get into it feeling uninspired because what if the book is the best thing evah?

On black romance and white privilege

I finally got around to reading SB Sarah’s latest column on the segregation of black romance. I found the comments interesting, but figured I would just make a post over here rather than leave my own massive comment since I’m not sure how good I will be at making sense.

I really can’t speak too much about AA romances since I don’t know of all that many authors who write them. I’ve got something by Beverly Jenkins TBR, and I think I’ve got a couple of Brenda Jackson books as well. But honestly, I am one of those readers who truly would not care about the race of her protagonists as long as I got a good story out of it. But what did interest me in the comments of the SB site was the discussion about white privilege since I’ve been thinking about it lately.

This last semester, I’ve been taking a Global Women’s Studies class. The class was problematic for a variety of reasons, but one of the complaints I heard a lot (since it came from my sister, who also took the class) was that we attend a primarily white community college. In fact, my sister and I, being commuters from the larger university town, have our own prejudices about the school we go to, which is that most of its students are affluent but lazy. So we wondered why we were learning about global women’s issues when we didn’t talk much about our own issues as white women.

I realized when I read some of the homework from the last week of class exactly why that was. It occurred to me that feeling like we were marginalized because our issues as white women weren’t addressed in that class is a bit like those conservative talk show pundits bemoaning the fact that affirmative action discriminates against white men. Puh-lease. How can we possibly have any right to complain about discrimination if we’re the dominant culture?

Anyway, this point got driven home to me when I read two articles. The first was about the support black upwardly mobile women got from their families/friends vs. the same support white women got. I don’t really recall too much of what the article said specifically, except that I found myself thinking, “Well, duh. I could have saved you millions of dollars of grant money to tell you the same thing.” And then, the second article about white employers and their attitudes toward black women elicited the same reaction. And then I realized just how ingrained my white privilege is. Because if I’m not surprised by the reactions of those white employers, doesn’t that mean I should reevaluate my own beliefs?

I think that privilege in general is something that we all experience in some way shape or form whether we want to admit it or not, and acknowledging that yes, we are the dominant ethnic group/sexual orientation/what have you so we should especially be aware of how things work for people who are not so privileged is the first step toward dispelling some of those privileges. And I think we akll have privilege even if we don’t realize it. My mom was asking me the other night if I thought we would ever live in a world without prejudice and honestly, I don’t think we will. I think it’s human nature to emphasize our differences and I think it’s also human nature to see ourselves as marginalized even if we, well, maybe aren’t so much,. I mean, if people can get into snits because other people judge their reading tastes, of all the insignificant little details there are to notice about a person, then what hope is there for more engrained prejudices?

I really hope this made sense. I’m off to begin writing a major paper, so my brain will probably slowly begin to leak out my ears.

Random mini rants

Dear Well-Respected Ebook Publisher,

Even though Sybil makes fun of me for it, I still enjoy your books. I particularly enjoy getting the chance to pick from your new offerings, because I don’t always want to read the erotic offerings that your parent company produces.

That being said, I really wish there had been some note attached to the book from your house that I just finished, something along the lines of, “Hey dumbass reviewer! You’re not reading a romance here. Please adjust your expectations. KTHX. Sincerely, the management.” Something like that would have saved me from floundering along for the first third of the book and going “Huh? Wha…?”

Thanks very much.

Sincerely,

Shannon

P.S. I love how you go out of your way to tell us not once, but three times on your submissions guidelines that F/F isn’t allowed. It makes me want to write a hot F/F romance just so I can… uh… not submit to you guys.

OK, moving on, since that last bit of snark failed:

Dear apparently popular and presumably male M/M author,

I tried to read one of your books because for some reason I thought that, it being longer than most erotic romances, there would be a plot. Hmmm. Not so much.

I will keep in mind that apparently the need to say fuck every five sentences isn’t just a trait of the less mature among my male peers. It apparently imbues your story with a sense of real masculinity. Or, um, something.

I’m not a prude, but man, that coupled with the fact that the first sex scene happens within, like, the first ten pages and this is not a short book, was seriously too much. I’m glad I have a stronger stomach than this, because that story? Probably would have ensured that I’d never pick up another M/M novel if I hadn’t decided that I’m determined to find one I’ll like.

Thanks so much for your lack of help in this mission.

Sincerely,

Shannon

A book you aren’t buying but should

One of the things I hoped would happen when I started reviewing full-time at The Good, the Bad, and the Unread is that I was hoping I would get to discover some buried treasures that people might not have heard of or might not be reading for whatever reason. Sometimes, those buried treasure books have been the worst bits of drek ever to cross anyone’s ebook reader. I wish I could get back the hours I spent on Friday with one such book, which was so vile I won’t link to it, because really, some people just don’t need the attention. But then, there are the buried treasure books that are genuinely wonderful.

I’ll be posting a more structured review over at The Good, The Bad, and the Unread later, but rfor right now, I’ll simply tell you all to go out and buy Life on the Move by Megan Reilly. I literally just finished it, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to get some flavor of A grade, because I immediately felt the need to go squee over it.

The blurb:

Home is where the heart is. Until the truth comes knocking.

Casey Smith and her dad move around a lot, so packing boxes, driving all night, and moving into a new apartment in a new town is nothing, well, new to her. While it’s weird that her dad is so restless, she’s never really minded before—after all, there’s nothing she can do about it.

But this time is different. This time they’ve moved to a place where she almost fits in. She’s even made some friends, including Ethan, a gorgeous guy who could turn out to be more than just a friend—if only she could be sure she’ll have time to really get to know him.

Just when her life is starting to have all kinds of possibilities, a knock comes on the door.

And everything Casey has ever known is turned upside down.

You can even read an excerpt here.

I didn’t expect to like this book, because while I’m not against YA books in general, they’re not really the sorts of books I read frequently. Besides, the last YA romance I tried was Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, which I hated with the fiery passion I normally reserve for right-wing talk radio. But Life on the Move doesn’t even compare. The characters are nuanced, and they are real, and the story manages to work extremely well despite its short length. And while this book does have a great romantic subplot, there’s so much more to it.

As I said, I’ll write up a more formal review later, but seriously, go forth! Buy the book! You can thank me later.

OMG I’m done!

I finished a series today!

I feel like this is something to be celebrated because I’m a fairly slow reader and I’m easily distracted by shiny things. Plus, now that I’ve started reviewing full-time, though I get to pick and choose what I review I’m still learning to compartmentalize my non-review books. And since there are so many series out these days, following a ton of them seems difficult.
Anyway, today I finished the last of the Sons of Destiny books by Jean Johnson. I’ll probably have reviews for the third and fourth books posted over at TGBTU, but I figured squeeing about finally being done was definitely of the awesome.

Also, the Sons of Destiny series all will be published either by the end of this year or in early 2009, according to the impression I got from the author’s website. The fifth book is scheduled to be released in June, and I’m looking forward to it with eager anticipation, the kind of eager anticipation I last reserved for the Harry Potter books. In fact, the only book I am anticipating *more* would be the fifth in the Song of Ice and Fire series, which will probably come out around the time that pigs start to fly.

Anyway, all this got me thinking about the depressing number of series I’ve started but not finished: The In Death books, the Dresden Files, the Psi-Changeling books by Nalini Singh, Marjorie Liu’s Dirk and Steele series, hell, the Miles Vorkosigan books (although in that case it’s more because Miles is one of my very few fictional character crushes and I’m not entirely ready to give him up just yet.)

Anyway, after being thoroughly depressed by the mount of series I’ve started but not finished, I thought, ‘Well, you know, you do have books TBR that are the first volumes of series that are not out yet. Maybe I should become a J. C. Wilder fangirl and try her Coven series from Samhain. Or I could read the first book in Melissa Lopez’s Netherworld series, also from Samhain, and Sarah Reinke’s vampire romance, which is part of a series and the title of which has escaped me.
Or, you know, I could ignore this topic altogether and just keep reading. I already promised that the next few books I read would be review books so that Sybil doesn’t kill me.

Review: Geek Love by Katharine Dunn

Title: Geek Love
Author: Katharine Dunn
Genre: contemporary fiction
Grade: A+
Reason for Reading: Honestly? I wanted something that wasn’t a romance, and I’d read this book before, so I decided to go with my random yen to reread it.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

The novel is the story of a traveling circus run by Aloysius “Al” Binewski and his wife, “Crystal” Lil. When Al’s circus begins to fail, the couple devise an idea to breed their own freak show, using various drugs and radioactive material to alter the genes of their children. Who emerges are Arturo (”Arty”), a boy with flippers for hands and feet; Electra (”Elly”) and Iphigenia (”Iphy”) the Siamese Twins; Olympia (”Oly”) the hunchback albino dwarf; and Fortunato (”Chick”), the normal looking telekinetic baby of the family — as well as a number of still-borns kept preserved in jars in a special wing of the freak show. The story is told by Oly in the form of a novel written for her daughter Miranda.

My Thoughts: A word of warning: This is not a romance. There is no HEA. There are casual mentions of rape, incest, torture and murder within these pages. This is one of those novels that genre writers like to pick on when they talk about literary fiction. But I love it, precisely because of the fact that it’s a macabre, gruesome book.

The story centers around the Binewski family, who own a traveling carnival. Father Al and mother Lil have decided it is economical and profitable to breed their own freaks, and so they do. There is Arturo, the Aqua Boy, who has flippers for hands and feet. There are the twins, Electra and Iphigenia, Siamese twins, Olympia, the book’s narrator, who feels that as an albino hunchback dwarf her freakishness is rather prosaic, and then there’s Fortunato, who is perhaps the strangest out of all of them. The Binewskis on the surface seem to be a typical nuclear family–well, apart from the fact that they set out to breed freakish children–and then the reader is drawn beneath the surface and gradually the picture that is revealed turns out not to be very pretty.

It’s hard to describe exactly what it is about this book that works so well for me, but I think that, in essence, it’s the writing style. By turns it is lyrical and vulgar, and the combination is oddly compelling. Dunn has a deft hand at characterization, too, and describes her characters with an economy of words that nonetheless brings them to life. For example, she says of Arturo: “His favorite trick at the ages of three and four was to put his face close to the glass, bulging his eyes out at the audience, opening and closing his mouth like a river bass, and then to turn his back and paddle off, revealing the turd trailing from his muscular little buttocks. Al and Lil laughed about it later, but at the time it caused them great consternation as well as the nuisance of sterilizing the tank more often than usual. As the years passed, Arty donned trunks and became more sophisticated, but it’s been said, with some truth, that his attitude never really changed.” And my other favorite quote is in reference to the Chick: “The dumb little fuck was supposed to be so goddamn sensitive, how come he couldn’t figure it out? All he had to do to make me like him was need me. All he had to do to make Arty like him was drop dead.”

The plot here is like a trainwreck. It is told alternately during the present day and in flashbacks as Olympia remembers her life. We can tell right away that life has been neither easy nor kind to Oly, but the journey to the point where everything falls apart for her is still a compelling read. Most of the compellingness of the plot has to do with the sheer train-wreck potential that these characters are. Reading about them is like watching a freak show–you’re not quite sure what they’re going to do, but you’re fairly certain it won’t be ordinary or forgetable. This is also one of maybe three books ever that succeeded in making me cry. I count that as a positive, since it demonstrates that Ms. Dunn did an excellent job with characterization.

I’m still not entirely sure that I’ve articulated all the things I love about this book, but if you’re up for an odd, visceral read, this is definitely the book to try.

Review: Taming Heather by Lorie O’Clare

Title: Taming Heather
Author: Lorie O’Clare
Genre: paranormal erotic romance
Grade: C
Reason for Reading: I bought this ebook a couple of years ago on the strength of an excerpt I read on the Ellora’s Cave readers yahoo group, to which I no longer subscribe because OMG the traffic!
Synopsis:

Heather Graham had one thing in mind—furthering her career. And an exposé on the werewolves in her community would do just that. All she needed was to get up close and personal with one of them, and she could write an article that would give her front-page coverage across the nation. Her career would skyrocket! And Marc McAllister was just the man—and werewolf—to help her do it.

But when Marc realizes Heather’s flirty behavior exists solely so she can exploit werewolves in her newspaper, he decides it’s time to show little Miss Graham exactly how a werewolf behaves. And Marc McAllister isn’t just any werewolf, but purebred Cariboo Lunewulf—wild, strong, aggressive and the quintessential alpha male.

In a clash of wills, bodies and souls, Marc and Heather set off enough sparks to start a raging fire. Drawing the wild side out of Marc hits Heather with a bolt of lust that won’t go away. Unexpectedly for Marc, he may just have met his match in the little spitfire.

But their biggest hurdle may not be with each other, but from another direction entirely.

My Thoughts: Well, I imagine that the fact that I probably b ought this book two years ago and have only now actually finished it says a lot for the meh reaction that I experienced. It’s not a bad story, but neither is it the best thing I’ve read.

The characters were likeable enough, although Heather Graham kept dropping me out of the story because isn’t that the name of a pretty famous Harlequin author I’ve never read? And you know, reading along and thinking, ‘Hmm, Heather Graham. I have one of her books in the TBR. What was it about again? Let me pause and do a google search.” is not condusive to the fact that I am being rivetted.

Anyway, book Heather is certainly not the worst heroine I’ve run across lately, but I thought that the lengths she went to to cover her werewolf story were a bit TSTL. Her storyline also progresses the way I expected it to, with no real depth of characterization.

Marc was drawn slightly better. He was a dominant, sexual man, and I thought that the chemistry between himself and Heather was pretty intense. I also really liked the fact that he really does seem to be primally attuned to his inner beast.

I also liked the werewolves that are featured here. They seem genuinely fierce and primal creatures, not simply guys who like to run around on the full moon and howl. I didn’t really understand the politics of this particular werewolf pack, but that’s OK. It’s not particularly important to the story.

There is some sequel-baiting that was pretty obvious but not excessively annoying, and I’m not entirely certain if I’m going to fall for it or not and read th3e rest of this series. Overall, I think I could like the kinds of stories Lorie O’Clare tells, but this one was pretty forgetable.

Review: Candles Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell

Title: Candles Burning
Author: Tabitha King and Michael McDowell
Genre: Horror
Grade: A-
Reason for Reading: I validated the book for Bookshare, and though I only really skimmed it on validation, I thought the story looked fascinating.

Synopsis:

An extraordinary southern saga begun by Michael McDowell and finished after his death by Tabitha King.

Known for his chilling Blackwater series, author Michael McDowell left behind the unfinished manuscript for Candles Burning upon his death in 1999. In the spirit of the ghost stories that Michael loved, Tabitha King has taken up where he left off, weaving a Southern gothic fabric of murder, guilt, innocence, corruption, and survival, in the voices of the living and the dead.

Calliope “Calley” Dakin is just seven when her beloved father is tortured, murdered, and dismembered by two women with no discernible motivation. In the aftermath, Calley and her mother find themselves caught up in inexplicable events that exile them to Pensacola Beach, where-in a house that’s a dead ringer for Calley’s late great-grandmother’s house-a woman awaits their presence. For Calley is no normal little girl.

My Thoughts: I don’t read horror all that often. Mostly because even when it’s good horror I really don’t think I’d enjoy a constant diet of books that scare me. That being said, the horror in this book is largely subtle. There are a few supernatural events, but nothing is scarier here than the horror of the things people will do to each other.

I adored Calley as a heroine. She starts out the book a typical bratty seven-year-old who is wise beyond her years. She hears and sees things that nobody else around her does. She was a fascinating little girl, and I loved her narrative voice and the wry way in which she told the story. I especially loved that she didn’t sugar-coat her life. She knows as well as the reader does that her mother is a selfish, vain, shallow woman who really doesn’t like her very much, but Calley loves her in spite of all that.

The plot unfolds slowly, but rather than bog the story down with its deliberate pacing, it kept me drawn in. This is not a book to read quickly, and in fact I have a feeling I will be rereading it again at some point, because I’m pretty sure there are a lot of nuances I missed the first time around. McDowell and King manage to convey a definite sense of atmosphere here. Obviously, the book takes place in a time and place before I was born, but I really felt like I understood the South of the 1950’s as I read, and it was a horrible, fascinating place.

If I have any quibbles, it’s that the answers, when they are all revealed, all happen in a rush, and there’s not really any big major confrontation. I think I would have preferred for the last bit of the book to have been drawn out just a little bit more so that I could digest what had actually happened.

Aside from that, though, this book very much deserves the A grade, and I recommend it highly for anyone who enjoys Southern gothic stories.

Review: Sunfire by Lynne Connolly

I was going to post this review over at TGBTU, but I think I’ll post it over here instead since the book in question has already been reviewed by someone over there and I do have the second book in the series for review once I get around to it.

Title: Sunfire: Pure Wildfire, Book 1
Author: Lynne Connolly
Genre: Erotic paranormal romance
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: I was assigned Ms. Connolly’s forthcoming release, Icefire, for review, and I prefer to read series in order.

Synopsis:

Rock meets classical. Paranormal meets mortal. Will anybody get out alive? The members of rock band Pure Wildfire are firebird shape-shifters. Manager John Westfall will sacrifice anything for the power they wield, even his daughter Corinne.

Corinne attracts Aidan in a way he’s never known before. He’ll do anything to release her from Westfall’s trap. He offers her marriage, but Aidan wants more from Corinne — he wants her heart. And he’ll give her his in return.

Classical guitarist Corinne is desperate to escape her father’s control. She loves Aidan but craves her freedom — can she trust him to give it to her? Can she trust the wild man of rock with her heart? There’s only one way to find out. Dive into the wildfire!

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, and the primary reason I did was because of the hero.

Aidan Hawthorne, a name I absolutely adore, is the guitarist for the popular rock group, Sunfire. He also happens to be a shape-shifting firebird, and not only that, but he’s that rarest of all firebirds, the Phoenix. I don’t often go gaga over the heroes in my books, but I think a lot of that is simply because I don’t find a lot of them particularly sexy. Aidan, however, is totally the kind of guy that I would hook up with in real life if he showed up. He’s got a wonderful combination of tenderness and wild masculinity, and I just wanted to smuggle him away and take him home.

I was also pleased that, given how much I loved Aidan, Corinne worked for me as a heroine. She could have simply been one more martyr heroine, but she wasn’t. I loved watching her slowly realize just how much manipulation her father had done, and I was relieved that she didn’t choose to remain with him out of a sense of blind loyalty. Corinne also deserves some accolades, because I don’t think I could have remained sane with sisters like hers.

I really liked the romance here. We know from the beginning that there’s attraction between Aidan and Corinne, but they move gradually and at a reasonable, logical pace into love. What misunderstandings and conflicts that arise along the way are natural for the progression of their relationship, and the black moment near the end is quite emotional. The sex was hot, and really did enhance the developing relationships. The only caveat I had about the sex scenes was one near the end, where there’s some anal action and Aidan uses soap as a lube, which seems a bit uncomfortable and had me wincing in sympathy.

Connolly does tend to sequel-bait fairly heavily, not a huge surprise considering that this is a series about a rock band. For the most part she succeeds, giving us tantalizing glimpses of the rest of the band, but I never fully got a sense of who they were as people. Well, we learn quite a bit about Aidan’s brother, Ryan, but the rest were inigmas to me for the most part.

As for the non-romance plot, for the most part I liked it. My only real issue was that I felt that Corinne’s father was almost cartoonishly evil, and he was dealt with with such swift efficiency that I wondered why Aidan hadn’t just found some other way to end that particular threat.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a lot, and I’m very much looking forward to reading the second book in this series.

Where I’ve been lately

Some months ago, I ran into Sybil on a yahoo group. It soon became clear that we have exactly the opposite taste in books, and so, armed with this knowledge, Sybil has begun twisting my arm, reletlessly, for book reviews. She’s even sweetened the pot with offers of free books–as many as my little heart desires.

So I’ve officially become a staff reviewer for The Good, the Bad, and the Unread.

What does this mean for all four of you who read my blog? Well, I’ll still post reviews over here, especially series books that people have already reviewed at Sybil’s. And there are a few books I do intend to read this month that I wouldn’t post up over there, like Tabitha King’s Candles Burning which is a horror book I’ve started and would love to finish if I didn’t stop being distracted by shiny objects.

Anyway, I do have a few reviews posted over at Sybil’s, so I’ll go ahead and round up those links.

Jaliya Speaks

Shannon C.,’s note: My blogging partner, Jaliya, apparently has an adversarial relationship with Wordpress, so I’m posting this on her behalf.

So, I have been telling myself that while Shannon has been out living life to the fullest this weekend, I was going to keep all of you lovely people company. I’m the other half of Team Awesome, except that I have a whole heck of a lot to catch up on because Shannon knows how to give the content like nobody’s business. Also, as she said somewhere below, I keep geting distracted by shiny things. Maybe she won’t be home by the time I remember how to post again and then you all can say that I kept you from boredom the whole weekend long.

I am making an effort to try to be better. I put the pro in procrastination and am working on my follow through! One of the shiny things distracting me is this huge to be read pile. I was going to write out a list but I don’t know how to make it look all shiny and blogtastic, so I’ll mention it the next time around.

The lovely folks at Joyfully Reviewed has a very kickass interview of Lauren Dane whom I love like a kid loves candy. It also helps that she lives in my neck of the woods. Woohoo, go Washington state!

In the interview, she gives the best writing advice ever. It’s especially great for those like me who really really want to write an EBook but are procrastinating out the yinyang or have some serious confidence issues in their writing. “STFU and Write”

I can totally dig that. I have read her Witch’s Knot series and will be gobbling up the next one. I’ve loved that entire series and wish I could have sold the lovely Shannon on the awesomeness that is her books. Reading that interview was a great start to my weekend of which I essentially didn’t do very much. You know how it is…shiny things!

And now for my request. It is rumored that I wish a certain part of a time period which seems to be featured in many romance novels would fall off of a cliff. It’s true. I have tried reading novels set during Regency England. I want to enjoy them. I swear I want to devour such books and talk about the awesomeness that is Regency England. Except I can’t because I really, really hate everything I’ve read. Admittedly, it probably isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things. But there’s only so many virginal heroines yearning to be touched and then getting all pissy when our daring hero looks at them crosseyed. I hate the excessive amount of exclamation points because it really really bothers me. I am not a grammar guru by a long shot, but if I am noticing it then there’s something wrong. The women in the novels that I have read seem so very shrieky and angry and hateful and it makes me want to spit nails. Poor Shannon has had to deal with my rants over the phone.

So I’m asking you all to help me. Please give me some ideas of a novel with a hero and a heroine that I can love and want to take home for ravishment. Please make me love a genre that everyone else seems to squee over while I stand on the outside making a sour puss face. I will make you cookies. alright, so you might not want me baking anything that you’re likely to consume, but still, I will be a happy Jal. And then I’ll review that book and comment you up the kazba.

Alright, I’m done now. I always feel like I need to write some spiffy closing remark to these things. I can’t just stop. How do I end a blog post? Peace out? Catch you on the flip side? Word to my maternal unit? Happy trails on the internet express? Time to fizzle in the hizzle? This is really hard. I’m done now!

IMPORTANT BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT!

I’m behind in my blogging by quite a lot–I need to post something my blogging partner wrote because Wordpress hates her right now, I need to point y’all to some of my reviews posted over at The Good, the Bad and the Unread, and I had a few various and sundry other thoughts, but, dude.

KU BEAT MEMPHIS IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NCAA GAME!

I am feeling really proud to be a Jayhawk right now. And let’s not talk about the fact that I didn’t actually watch the game or anything. Because that is not the point! I have no idea what the point actually is, but rock chock Jayhawk anyway!

Review: Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu

Title: Shadow Touch: Dirk & Steele, Book 2
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Genre: Paranormal romance/urban fantasy
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: I really enjoyed Tiger Eye, and wanted to explore this world Liu has created.

Synopsis: Elena Baxter can heal people with her mind. Artur Loginov, who has a dark past involving the Russian mafia, can read objects with a touch. Both of them are kidnapped by a mysterious organization calling itself the Consortium. The Consortium knows about their abilities, and wants to recruit them for its own nefarious purposes. Elena and Artur end up forming a mental connection while they’re at the consortium’s base of operation, and soon they are involved in an adventure full of intrigue, violence, and a potential love that will last a lifetime.

My Thoughts: This story was quite lovely. Yet again, Ms. Liu integrates her world-building very nicely with the romance. The action keeps moving at a brisk pace, and I found the Consortium to be the creepiest set of villains I’ve read in a romance in quite a while. I also liked that there aren’t very many, “Well, as you know, Bob” type conversations. Liu spells out for the reader what she needs to know, but lets us draw our own conclusions.

I remember that I liked Artur in the last book. He’s done some pretty dispicable things in his past, and he knows and accepts that about himself. Here, we get to delve inside his head, and we find out that he hasn’t had an easy life. A lot of authors would have chosen to make Artur a bucket of near-endless angst, but Ms. Liu doesn’t take him in that direction. He is a strong, sexy, complex man and I was glad he got his HEA.

Elena I couldn’t get into so much. I felt that she wasn’t nearly as well-drawn as Artur, and so she overshadowed him for much of the story. For a while, I thought she would also be the kind of heroine that’s simply full of sweetness and light, incapable of even contemplating doing a bad thing. But even Elena has the lines she won’t cross, and thankfully, she does what she has to. As with the first book, the romance is over relatively quickly. There’s really not much conflict at all between Artur and Elena, and they spend so much time literally inside each other’s heads that one couldn’t have been sustained all that long anyway. that normally would have creeped me out, but I liked how Ms. Liu built up the telepathic connection.

The secondary characters are interesting. We get a few glimpses of some of the old favorites from the Dirk and Steele agency, and we meet a couple of very intriguing shape-shifters, one of whom is the hero in Ms. Liu’s recent Dirk and Steele book, if memory serves. Once again, the introduction of these characters serves the plot, and even in the few scenes where I didn’t so much think that was the case, those scenes were mercifully short.

Overall, I liked this slightly gritty paranormal romance/urban fantasy. The romance is a bit weak, but it’s more than made up for by the well-drawn characters and the high drama, and hopefully it won’t be five months before I pick up the third book in this series.

TBR for April

Last semester, before I got my handy dandy ebook reader, I had a pretty firm grasp on the books I wanted to read fairly soon, because I’d use Text Aloud to record the ebook text files onto mp3 CD’s that I’d play on my way to school. Now that I have the ebook reader, I can just read whatever I happen to click on next. Which means that shiny things keep distracting me. So I thought it would be useful to write up a list of books I’d like to finish reading for this month. I’m too lazy to hunt up Amazon links, since this is an activity I’m trying to do to calm myself down so I can sleep. Hopefully, you’ll manage to forgive me. Hopefully, I will remember to go back through and edit this list as I finish reading them. Any that are left over I’ll just move onto the list for next month.

• Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian (I know book 3 is supposed to be the awesome one, but I’m a wank about reading order and I think this is the first Midnight Breeds book.)

• Carnival by Elizabeth Bear (I keep hearing that she’s an awesome writer and I find her LJ entertaining.)
• Son of Avonar by Carol Berg (I started this one months ago, loved it, then got distracted by something shiny, so I’d like to start fresh.)
• Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop (I hate starting a series and not finishing it and even though I was underwhelmed with the first book, I should probably read the second while I can sort of remember what happened.)
• Doppelganger by Marie Brennan (She leaves interesting blog comments. That proves exactly nada, but hopefully I’ll like the book.)
• Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (I like the Dresden Files books. I’m about due for another one.)
• A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole (I’ve been told this series might be more up my alley than some other paranormal vampire books out there.)
• Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day (I’m pretty sure I’m not going to like this much, but hey, at least the protectors of humanity aren’t vampires or lycanthropes. The premise alone interests me enough to try.)
• Greenmantle by Charles de Lint (I haven’t read a de Lint book in months and I like his earlier stuff better.)
• King’s Dragon by Kate Elliot (Yet again, I started it, never finished.)
• Gideon by Jacqueline Frank (Why not? It’s Christine Feehan light, but the first book kind of had its charm.)
• The Shadow Game by Christine Feehan (those people that told me that Feehan’s Ghostwalkers books are tons and tons better than the Carpathian books had better be right, dammit!)
• Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn (I really liked the bits of her pagan-y book I was validating for Bookshare, so I put her novels higher on the TBR pile.)
• The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason (I can’t believe this book beat out Meljean Brook in the DABWAHA tournament going on over at Dear Author and Smart Bitches. It better be fantastic is all I’m saying.)
• The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt (I keep meaning to read this and haven’t gotten around to it yet.)
• The Master by Jean Johnson (I love this series. This is definitely one of the books I will be getting to this month.)
• At Love’s Command by Samantha Kane (I am so sad that this will be my last Samantha Kane book for a while. And Lisabea says it’s awesome, so I won’t horde it.)
• Candles Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell (I validated this for Bookshare, but didn’t end up reading very much of it. What I did glimpse was intriguing enough that I’ll definitely be getting to this one.)
• Immortal in Death by J. D. Robb (I’m about due for more Eve and Rourke goodness.)
• Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh (I got my friend Jaliya to read the first book. She’s now read all of them. *Sigh* I need to catch up.)
• Bitter Waters by Wen Spencer (I don’t know if I’ll get to this one this month or not, but it’s another series I have a prayer of finishing, sooo… We’ll try.)
• Stardoc by S. L. Viehl (Another blogger I read. The commentary about her vampire books has been mostly meh, but I think I’d like to start with her sci-fi.)
• The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson (Validated this one for Bookshare. It was an excellent scan, so I didn’t get to read nearly enough of it. But the Repairman Jack books are ones I’ve been interested in, so we’ll see if they work for me.

OK now… I promise myself that if I don’t read all the books on this list–which I won’t–I won’t guilt myself over it. I’ll never whittle down the list of books I want to read OMG right now, but I figured having a list of books I wanted to try might keep me organized.

Review: Triad by Lauren Dane

Title: Triad
Author: Lauren Dane
Genre: paranormal erotic romance
Grade: C-
Reason for Reading: I don’t remember how Lauren Dane wound up on my radar. I think a friend recommended that I try her, so I did.

Synopsis:

Lee Charvez is a witch in a family where all of the women are born with inherent gifts of power. She is a witch dreamer, she has the ability to walk in dreams and the subconscious and to work magic there. There is only one Charvez witch dreamer each generation and she’s the strongest in generations.

She meets the man of her dreams, literally, when she bumps into Aidan Bell outside their apartment building in New Orleans. He’s a three-hundred-year-old vampire with the face of a wicked angel, and he has no problem with claiming her as his own. As if that isn’t miraculous enough there’s another man, a powerful wizard, Alex Carter, who makes their partnership into a triad. Problem is, there’s no time to sit back and enjoy her newfound loves because there’s a demon out to destroy the source of her powers, and her entire family in the bargain.

My Thoughts: I could have enjoyed this a lot, and for the first quarter of the book, I did. It never would have been an A book for me, but it was headed toward B territory. Then the momentum just kind of fizzled and I ended up sitting on the book for several months without finishing it.

Lee Charvez is a powerful witch. She’s a witchdreamer, which means that she is even more powerful than your ordinary witch, and she is born of a long line of powerful witches who protect the city of New Orleans. This makes her come across as quite a Mary Sue. She doesn’t really struggle except in the basic sense that she has to control her power somehow, and I felt that everything pretty much fell into her lap.

Nowhere did things fall into Lee’s lap more than the romances. It looked like Ms. Dane was going to give a nod toward some emotional complexity involving the menage relationship, but she never quite does so. Lee meets Aidan, realizes that she has some kind of connection with him, and a few pages later they’re married… after only scant hours have passed. From there, there’s no real conflict between the two of them, and Ms. Dane pretty much dismisses any jealousy issues that Aidan might be having when Alex shows up. Apparently, in paranormal romance, good sex cures everything.

There was a lot of sex, and after a while, it got a bit repetitive. I was, however, disappointed that Ms. Dane didn’t quite do much with the simmering attraction between Alex and Aidan. I really thought she would, and I understand that in other series, she does explore the M/M aspects of her menage relationships in greater detail, but in this case I was disappointed.

As for the plot… Well, like I said, it felt too easy. I never got a sense that anyone was in real danger, so there was no sense of urgency during any of the pivotal scenes. The villains were of the typical moustache-twirling “Bwahaha, I am teh evol!” variety, which made them boring.

There were nice moments, though. I was intrigued by the relationships between Lee and her family, and I did like all of the characters. There were some lovely, sweet, tender moments that I enjoyed. I also did like that the fact that Lee is such a Mary Sue isn’t really all that lost on any of the characters.

I’m not sure that I’ll be rushing out to buy the next book, and I’m not sure I’d recommend this one, but it’s certainly not the worst book, or even the worst menage story out there.

Lightning reviews: The Mannhof series by Alice Gaines

One of the complaints I hear a lot around blogland is that a lot of paranormal romances are basically retreads of each other, even though the notion of paranormal romance ought to invite a lot more variety in the genre. This seems to be true for me–after all, how many times can I read about fated vampire mates or fated shifter mates or, hell, anybody’s fated mates without wanting to snap?

That being said, Alice Gaines isn’t writing the same old paranormals. In fact, my reaction upon learning, from my friend Jaliya, to the series I’m going to be writing about was pretty much, “What the fuck was she smoking?”

I am, of course, referring to the Mannhof,/a> series from Changeling Press. Normally, I don’t buy from them much because when I buy ebooks, I want to buy something that’ll last me a while. But this series had me breaking that rule, because it’s about shape-shifting motorcycles. Yep, you read that right. I was startled, too, and then intrigued. Could Ms. Gaines pull this off?

Surprisingly, the answer is: mostly. It’s not the shape-shifting motorcycles that I had much of a problem with. I don’t think shape-shifting inanimate objects will become the next trend in paranormal romance, although what do I know? But the premise is certainly not one I’ve read before.

The books in the series go in this order:

• One Owner, Lady Driven

• Driven to the limit
• Driven to Justice.

The problem with all three of these books, for me, is the problem I have with a lot of shorter ebooks. There’s not really enough story to let me get to know the characters. They are painted in very broad strokes, and though each of the women faces different issues in their lives, I thought that the healing process and the road to love required a bit more time than the space permitted.

One Owner, Lady Driven starts off the series when Claire Wilcox purchasses one of the horrendously rare Mannhof motorcycles at an auction. When the bike changes into a stud named Will, well, there goes Claire’s productivity and her sense of control.

To be honest, I didn’t ever warm up to Claire. I thought it was awesome that she knew exactly what she wanted and went for it, but she was kind of a shrill harpy, and I hate reading about those. I also felt horrible for her junior executive, Ted, who Claire never appreciates. She never really thanks him until the end of the book, and I thought she should at least give him a raise. As for the romance? It worked for me mostly except for one scene in the climax of the book where I thought the hero was being kind of a whiny, codependent jackass.

Driven to the limit worked slightly better for me. Lauren has come home from rehab, and now she’s back working for Dagger, a successful rock star who is into drugs, violence, and the whole party scene. Lauren’s only bit of solace is Dagger’s Mannhof motorcycle, Jake.

This book worked the best for me out of the whole trilogy, at least it did after I stopped fretting about why anyone would want to bear her internal struggles to a motorcycle. I know I wouldn’t. The nearest thing to talking to machines that I do involves cursing at them. But hey, whatever works for Lauren.

I liked watching Lauren recover some of her self-confidence, and I loved the climactic scenes in the book.

Driven to Justice rounds off the series. Cop Charlie Thomas’s job is being threatened because she insists on going after the men who raped her. With the help and love of Nick, another Mannhof motorcycle, she might just manage to do it.

I wanted to like this last story very much. But I thought that, yet again, everything was dealt with too quickly and easily as per the word count. Charlie could have been a great complex character, but she wasn’t really allowed to be. The thing is that at least in the end she is agreeing to go to therapy, which made me feel a lot better about the lightness with which the issue of her rape was treated.

Overall, I thought the series was cute. It’s nothing that’s going to stick around very long in my memory–well, the shape-shifting motorcycles pretense totally will–but it was a pleasant enough read. I would have liked for each of the boys to have had a distinct personality. They really didn’t, so it was hard not to see them as basically pieces of meat.

I think I might be interested in some of Ms. Gaines’ longer works, but for this series, I’m going to go with an overall grade of C+.

Review: The Wolf: Sons of Destiny, book 2 by Jean Johnson

Title: The Wolf: Sons of Destiny, book 2
Author: Jean Johnson
Genre: fantasy romance
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: For once the phrase, “I love this series like a fat kid loves cake” is perfectly appropriate. Because though the first two books in this series have their flaws, they are charming and I keep wanting more.

Synopsis: Alys of Devries has loved Wolfer, the second in the eight brothers now exiled on the island of Nightfall since she was a tiny child. However, for the past few years she has been living under the thumb of her cruel uncle Broger. At last, Alys escapes Broger and comes to Nightfall, where she once more reunites with the man she loves. But Broger’s machinations are far from over.

My Thoughts: As with the first book in this series, this book is campy and a guilty pleasure read. But in this installment, we get more of Johnson’s world-building, a bit more character development of everyone around, and a really sweet romance.

I actually liked Alys a lot better than I liked Kelly. In another author’s hands, she would have been incredibly wishy-washy and irritating, but for whatever reason, she worked for me. She is gentle and sweet, and we actually do see the mixture of bravery and timidity that everyone mentions, though it gets tiresome to hear about said mixture of bravery and timidity every five minutes.

Wolfer stood out a lot more for me as a character than did Saber, which is all to the good. Yes, he is described in terms of being a predator, but at least we didn’t get to hear about his raging beast within. And for all that he was described as somewhat wild, he was really quite cute and cuddly and a genuinely good beta hero. I just wanted to give him a hug and muss up his hair.

As for the romance, well, see, that’s where I start to quibble. It’s mostly over by about the halfway point of the book. There’s no real dark moment for either of these characters, just a minor bad patch that is easily straightened out. I would have liked their courtship to have been just a tad more complicated instead of basically tossed aside there at the end for external conflicts. That being said, I do like that Ms. Johnson’s sex scenes aren’t always full of sparkles and fireworks. They are, in fact, fairly realistic for romance novel sex scenes. At first I thought that was a bit irritating, but now I’ve decided that’s an idiosyncracy I can live with.

As for the secondary characters, I thought that there was some good development happening. I do like that Ms. Johnson gives her men distinct enough personalities that you can tell one from another. And some of them (like Evanor, my current favorite) are, once more, wonderfully non-alpha. So it was good to reconnect with the brothers again. That being said, there was waaayyyyyy too much Kelly in this book. I thought she had a bad habit of stealing every scene she was in, and her personality definitely eclipsed that of the shy, gentle Alys. It’s awesome that Kelly stole the show in her own book, but she already had her turn, and after a while she irritated me. Particularly since she started gloating about her sex life to Alys within five minutes of their meeting, which would have really irritated me IRL.

The plot is slowly coming together, too. There’s enough of a story arc that we have good reasons to keep reading the series. I’m fascinated by the idea of a land of female mages, and I can’t wait to see what Dominor’s been up to since the events of the last book.

Overall, this is a fun addition to the series and comes recommended.