Lightning Reviews of erotic romance

Published May 13, 2013 by Shannon

I want to talk a little bit about two recent erotic romances I’ve read. They explored similar themes, and were compelling in their own right, but I thought a comparison would be interesting.

Sheltered

Sheltered by Charlotte Stein was my first exposure to this author’s work. What I immediately noticed was how deeply entrenched I was in the POV of Evie, our heroine. She’s grown up in a religious home, under the control of a domineering, abusive father. Then she meets Van, who is hot and sexy and who intrigues her. Her struggle is that she is inexperienced and she’s sure she can’t possibly have anything to offer him.

I loved the setup for this story. Van and Evie felt like any kids I might meet wandering around somewhere. I thought their awkwardness and their rawness was appealing, and I loved that each of them had to struggle with wondering if they were saying the wrong things. I also enjoyed the fact that Evie’s sexual inexperience isn’t something to be cherished. It’s kind of intimidating for her, because she doesn’t quite know how to ask for what she wants. Van goes very slowly with her, though, and turns out to be a caring, attentive lover. He gradually coaxes more out of Evie than she thought possible for herself, which in the end is what makes this book so satisfying. It has a bit of a fairy tale quality, and in the end I felt that the story was sweet and endearing and surprisingly empowering.

My grade: a B+.

Curio (Curio, #1)

Curio by Cara McKenna was a different take on the inexperienced heroine finding herself through lots of sexytimes. Didier was also hyped all over my romance blogging Twitter stream as one of the hottest heroes out there, so I entered the book with my cynical hype alert going full-boar.

Caroly is living in Paris as a curator for an art museum. She’s nearing 30 and she decides she wants to get rid of her pesky virginity, and there’s this superlatively beautiful model who sleeps with women. They agree to meet, and he is everything she’s ever hoped he would be. Soon Caroly and Didier are scorching up the sheets, but of course, their hearts get involved, too.

The thing I liked about Caroly was that she knew what she wanted. It wasn’t like, “Ooh, what are these strange fluttery feelings?” She takes control from the start, and Didier is happy to oblige her. I liked that, as with Sheltered, the sex scenes were integral to the story and showed the progression of the couple’s growing feelings.

That said, ultimately Curio wasn’t as satisfying for me. I can see, objectively, that the writing is better than Sheltered, but Sheltered hooked me. Curio never did. The reason for this is the first-person point of view. I don’t inherently have a problem with first person narration, but I thought it was an odd choice. It was as if Caroly–and, of course, by extension, the author–was really trying to sell me on Didier. All kinds of superlatives were used to describe him, and we do get glimpses of what lies beneath the surface of his character, but I still ended up feeling a strong vibe of YA romance. “He’s the cutest boy ever, and soooo dreamy.”

The POV didn’t put me off reading the other Didier stories Ms. McKenna has written. I’m not in a hurry to do so, but I do like her writing, and I’m curious about where else she can take Didier as a character.

My grade: A B.

Sunday Checkin- Where have I been?

Published May 12, 2013 by Shannon

My last blog post was in September. It is now May. A whole school year has come and gone since I last updated. For shame.

So what’s been going on? Let me make a list.

  • 1. I moved halfway across the country. (a good decision, though I miss my family)

  • 2. I got a job as a Reader’s Advisor at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library. (More on that in future posts, I’m sure, but money and a job are both good things.)
  • 3. I have not been reading nearly as much as I would like, but I’m still plugging along.
  • 4. I have become friends with my roommate’s guide dog. I definitely want one of my own, if I ever get the vacation time for it.
  • 5. Part of my trip to work involves a ferry. Or, as one of my friends put it, somewhat incredulously, “So you’re telling me you go to work on a boat?” Yes, ma’am. That is what I’m saying.

I do want to talk a bit about my job, as it does relate to the purposes of this blog. Basically, our library lends books out throughout the state to patrons who are print-disabled. We’re part of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and we’re also affiliated with the Washington State Library.
My day involves a lot of talking to people on the phone, many of whom are elderly, and trying to find appropriate books for them. Most of them simply can’t come in and browse the shelves at our library anyway, and it makes picking out books somewhat difficult.

I enjoy my job. The rest of the staff is warm and friendly, most of the patrons are extremely nice, if clearly somewhat lonely, and at the end of the day I feel rewarded because I’m keeping someone apprised of books.

The downside of my work, though, is that I’ve become more conscious of how much the Internet is a privilege. Many of our patrons are elderly, and don’t have computers, or couldn’t use them if they did. Many of our books are downloadable only. I, on the other hand, have thousands of books at my fingertips. I could go to Audible and buy any old audiobook I wanted. I have access to Bookshare, a website for the distribution of ebooks to the print-disabled. And now both the Nook and Kindle apps are accessible on my iPhone. there isn’t perfect accessibility–not every book I ever want to read is on one of those services–but I have it a lot better than my patrons do. Particularly if I want to research a specialized topic. As one of my colleagues put it, we have the contents of a small branch library in an affluent district. Which is fine for most things, but I know it frustrates people when we can’t fill their specialized niches.

I don’t know what the solution is. Clearly, everyone should be able to afford an iPhone and a computer, and there should be some magical way of transferring knowledge about how to use those devices into people’s brains somehow. Except there isn’t. And in a way I’m glad there isn’t, because I like that these older people need me. I just wish they didn’t have to.

Review: The Archer by Abigail Roux

Published September 8, 2012 by Shannon

The Archer

Title: The Archer
Author: Abigail Roux
Genre: spy thriller/screwball comedy/soap opera
Source: Ebook
Read on: September 7, 2012

Synopsis via goodreads:

Rocked to the core by traitors and spies, the Organization made an unprecedented move in bringing together six highly trained men to track down one rogue wolf: The Archer. There are three field agents: one at the top of his game, one hoping to retire, and another walking the line; a cold-blooded assassin who can use any weapon known to man; a demolitions expert who can’t resist the allure of fire; and a computer hacker with more tricks in his mouse than Houdini. This team is made up of the best of the best, and if it can’t succeed in this impossible mission, no one can. But no plan survives first contact with the enemy – especially when you can’t even find out who he is! Despite what a cluster the assignment is from the start, the six men try to get their act together to track down the rogue operative, and in the process they discover there’s more to life than the next assignment. Now it’s up to them to survive by working together and determining who the real traitor is: an unknown friend, a close-by enemy, or the Organization itself.

When I close a book I want to feel satisfaction at the knowledge that I’ve learned something, had my heart broken and then mended, experienced a rip-roaring adventure, or laughed myself silly. When I close a book, my first thought should not be, “Oh my God, that was such a mess. I can’t wait to rant about it on my blog.” But that was pretty much how I felt about this book when I was done. It was a complete mess from start to finish, it went on for way too long, and ended on a cheap cliffhanger for a sequel that hasn’t been written, which I will skip if it ever sees the light of day. I read a comment somewhere online that The Archer started out as fan fiction. I can’t find verification of this, because my google foo is not particularly strong, but if it’s true, it’s not a huge shocker.

I’m not much of a mystery reader, and I’m not typically interested in spy novels. Honestly, I bought this one because the plot seemed like it would be epic and a little cracky, and I was hoping for some fun romance amidst blazing guns. That said, a spy novel should be well-plotted, so that the reader can follow the clues and try to figure things out before the characters do. This novel was not well-plotted. In fact, I’m not convinced the author had any idea where she was going to end up once she started writing. The characters spend much of the novel crossing and double-crossing each other, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and shagging like bunnies. None of them had the first clue what was going on, and so neither did I. Characterization was inconsistent at best, and of the six major protagonists, I only really liked one of them. I felt, as I was reading, that this was the literary equivalent of a Loony Tunes cartoon, with the titular Archer being the Road Runner and all the characters being Wile E. Coyote, destroying themselves with their own incompetence. Only in this book, there was more buttsex.

Honestly, the lack of romance didn’t especially bother me. I thought at first that it was refreshing to see all the bed-hopping going on between the characters. Then it got to be a bit much, and taken to comic levels. Leave any configuration of two of these men in a room together for thirty seconds, and you’d come back to find them screwing like bunnies. That made it difficult for me to buy the supposedly epic love story between Sean and Remy, two of the agents. They’ve been working together for five years, but a bunch of betrayal and miscommunication create a chasm they keep trying to cross. After all, if their love was so epic, why did Remy literally sleep with every other member of the team at one point? And Sean wasn’t exactly celibate, either. Then, at the end of the story, that epic romance arc, which the author wanted me to care about so desperately, was simply left up in the air. There was no happy for now ending, even. Had i actually not despised both Remy and Sean, I’d have been pissed.

The one character I actually connected with was the crazy demolitions expert, Brant. I loved that he walked the knife’s edge of sanity, and that he went from crazy dude with the grenades to mother hen in three seconds flat. I also thought his hooking up with Carl, the trained killer, was much more realistic, and much less stupidly angsty, and had a moment’s annoyance when it looked like Brant would end up with someone else, a plot decision I thought owed more to amping up drama than any kind of consistent characterization.

Speaking of characterization, I had another issue. I tend to prefer my M/M books to be written by people who are OK being identified as women. It means I can put the men in the category of fantasy men and not worry too much about whether real guys would act like the ones in books, because, dude, I read romance. Romance men don’t act like their real life counterparts in het fiction, either. That said, this was a book about alpha male spies. There is no crying in baseball, and I would think that, conversely, there is no crying in spying.(See what I did there?) And yet, tears flowed like veritable rivers from these men, particularly from Sean and Remy, when one or the other would act like a total asshat to the other one.

The other problem with the story was that it takes a lot of skill to juggle six protagonists. Most authors do not have that skill. Abigail Roux is not on my list of authors who do. Even before the halfway mark, I thought there were too many characters, and then a bunch more get inserted into the cast, including a woman, whose sole purpose appears to be, I don’t know, flailing helplessly because she was accidentally stuck on a train with our merry band of Acme ® spies. The woman bothered me quite a lot, because there was no plot purpose for her being there, and no need to give her a POV chapter, both of which she got. Was she meant to be paired off with one of the other men in the sequel that is apparently in the works? I have no idea, but she was so much dead weight.

The author also tells rather than shows in several places. One of the six gets a romance, seemingly at random, and we get to find out that his love is just as epic as the Sean/Remy romance. Not because it’s proven, but because the author points it out. Another of the six is described as the gentle nurturing one, not because he is especially gentle or nurturing, but, again, because she says so.

I never believed any of these characters were good spies. Even the characters laugh at their incompetence, so reading the blurb above about how they’re all men at the top of their game makes me roll my eyes. In the end, I never saw any of them do anything awesome, and I was left feeling little was resolved, and that I’d wasted my time.
If you’re looking for action-packed spy thrills, this isn’t the book I’d recommend. If you want M/M fiction with a good mystery, look elsewhere. Only read this if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands. There was only one character I liked, and it’s Brant that’s saving this from a full-fledged F grade. There are much better M/M books out there. Skip this and read anything else.

Final Grade: D

P.S. Another book I’m reading right now is George R. R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. (Speaking of people who have too many characters in their books!) One of the characters in that book keeps wondering, sometimes out loud, “Where do whores go?” So I figured I’d make that a question I would ask in my reviews.

So… would whores go to the world of this book? they’d probably get blown up or dragged along for no good reason. But the team of super-competent Acme ® spies have no use for whores, since they’re busy with each other.

September reads

Published September 7, 2012 by Shannon

It’s September.

Where the hell did August go? I did nothing substantial, but still, it’s gone.

So. Here’s what I read this month. I read a prodigious amount. the winners were the King, the Lamott, and the first March. All, coincidentally, books I haven’t reviewed. Bad bloger. No cookie!

  • 1. Bound by Deception by Ava March (A) Loved Oliver. Thought Vincent was a bit of a douche, but a sympathetic one. Was gratified to read on the author’s blog that Oliver is one of her favorite characters. I feel like it shows.

  • 2. The Bride Finder by Susan Carroll (B) Really liked the heroine and the idea. Was amused by emo hero.
  • 3. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (B): Loved the heroine and her family. Not sure I’m quite on team Nicholas, but maybe in the next book.
  • 4. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (B): Fascinating and surprisingly funny.
  • 5. Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs (B): Nice start to a series. A bit too many characters who are set up for their own books, but whatever. I’ll read the next one.
  • 6. Bound to Him by Ava March (B): Still adore Oliver. Not quite as captivating as the first book, but that is like saying one of my favorite kinds of chocolate isn’t as tasty as other chocolate.
  • 7. Last Dragon Standing by G A Aiken (B): Least favorite of the books so far. There wasn’t much romance, and I wanted a stronger sense of commitment from the characters, but I still have book 5 and there will be a new book next month and you better believe I will own it.
  • 8. Cowgirl Up and Ride by Lorelei James (B): This is where I think the series starts to hit its stride.
  • 9. Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley (C) Meh. I wouldn’t have put up with Hawk as long as she did.
  • 10. Kiss Me, Annabel by Eloisa James (B) I loved the hero. Even when he was being a moron. This book doesn’t stand alone very well, though, and it’s been years since I read the first one.
  • 11. Rapture in Death by J D Robb (C) This one I could catch up on. I didn’t hate Roarke either, wich surprised me, because I disagree with the entire romance-loving world that he is all that and a bag of chips. That said, I had the mystery pretty well pegged, so I was a little bored in parts. Still bought the next one, though.
  • 12. tied Up, Tied Down by Lorelei James (B): Oh, Cade. Such a sweetheart.
  • 13. Alien Revealed by Lilly Cain (D): I hated the hero. The heroine used to be on the record as the worst spy I’d read about in a book, but she’s been unseated now.
  • 14. Her Ladyship’s Companion by Evangeline Collins (B) I feel like she pulled her punches a bit with this one, but I still loved it. Mmm, Gideon.
  • 15. rough, Raw and Ready by Lorelei James (B+): Favorite so far of the series. I want more M/M/F action from her. Sadly, I want a lot of things that don’t appear to come to pass. Also, I find myself reluctant to keep going, even though Colt and India’s story is next and I know I’ll like it. Weird, huh?
  • 16. What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell (B): Some of the essays were fascinating. Some felt like they meandered and never came to a point.
  • 17. Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley (C) Would have been a D but I love Tex. I want lots of books about Tex and his hatred of Nixon.
  • 18. Angel Bound by Jana Downs (D): Silly cracky pr0n with angels with ridiculous names.
  • 19. Seven Nights to Forever by Evangeline Collins (B): I adored this hero. Oh, James. <3 But given how easily the endings were wrapped up, I feel like the characters were self-sacrificing martyrs to no real purpose except manufactured angst. But again. She writes angst well, so I won't complain.
  • 20. Firelight by Kristen Callihan ( C) Wanted to love this book. There were things I adored. But I felt oddly disconnected.
  • 21. Veiled Desires by Alisha Rai ( C+) Fun erotic romance. Forgetable, but pleasant.
  • 22. Battle of the Network Zombies by Mark Henry (C) I wanted to like this one more than I did, since I loved the first books in this series. I think it was my mood that made this not the right book for me.
  • 23. Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott (A): I need to review this one. I’m not a parent, but this felt like a true account of motherhood. Lamott is such a fabulous writer, both funny and confessional.
  • 24. Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reece (B): I’m not much of a cook, but I loved the premise of this book. I still won’t be making my own cheese, but it’s nice to know i could if I wanted to.
  • 25. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (B) Darker than I thought it would be. I need to read more of her work.
  • 26. Everything is Wrong With You: The modern Woman’s Guide to Finding Self-Confidence through Self-loathing by Wendy Molyneux (C) It was cute and fun. I thought she tried a little too hard with some of the jokes, but I still giggled a lot.
  • 27. Lessons in Indiscretion by Karen Ericson (B) This was a fun short story. No depth, really, but fun and sexy.
  • 28. The Green Mile by Stephen King (A) Loved this one. Oh, John Coffey, you will always make me cry.

Review: Firelight by Kristen Callihan

Published August 31, 2012 by Shannon

Firelight (Darkest London, #1)

Title: Firelight
Author: Kristen Callihan
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Darkest London, book 1
Source: ebook
Read on: August 24, 2012

Synopsis via goodreads:

Once the flames are ignited . . . Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family’s fortune decimated and forced her to wed London’s most nefarious nobleman. They will burn for eternity . . . Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it’s selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can’t help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn’t felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

I don’t quite know what to say about this book. It has left me conflicted, because on the one hand, it has things that I love. There’s a kick-ass heroine. There’s a Beauty and the Beast story, complete with scarred on the outside hero who really just wants to be loved. The world-building feels fresh and original and unique, not like the same retread of a tired story I’ve read before.

I should have loved this book, and the only thing I can say about why I didn’t is that it’s the reverse of the problem I have with spicy foods. Being a midwesterner, I was raised on a fairly bland, unadventurous diet. Therefore, when someone sets something in front of me and promises that it’s not spicy at all, it almost always is too much for me. This book was the reverse. It needed a little more spice.

I liked the characters. Miranda is beautiful and clever and cunning, and I liked the fact that she didn’t go all swoony at Archer’s every look. I liked the fact that she negotiated her own place in that relationship. I loved the fact that she actually got to fight for Archer in the end, and did what needed to be done instead of crying about how she couldn’t take a life. I loved that she had to rescue him, in fact.

Archer was awesome, too. I thought his paranormal abilities complimented Miranda’s nicely. I loved that he was in love with her from the first, and showed remarkable patience and self-restraint. I liked that he brooded, but was overall pretty accepting of circumstances.

I also adored the setting. There wasn’t much in the way of elaborate world-building, but Callihan sketches out the details deftly as she goes, so I felt right at home. I liked that there weren’t vampires and werewolves and supernatural politicking. Instead there is magic and curses and a secret order of old men interested in that sort of thing. I liked the darkness of the setting. The series is called Darkest London for a reason.

That all said, I didn’t love this book. It didn’t ring many emotional bells. I can see that there are all these things that I look for, but there just wasn’t enough spice.

I do plan on reading the sequel, which is about Miranda’s sister, Daisy, and an awesome secondary character. I’m hoping the writing will grow on me, and I’ll like it better.

I’d still recommend this book, because I think there need to be more books with all the tropes I love. I also know other bloggers loved it a lot more than I did.

Final Grade: C

Up next: I honestly don’t know. This whole regimented schedule thing is not working for me so much as a blogger.

The death of my Kindle

Published August 29, 2012 by Shannon

I have a sad bit of news today.

As I got up from my desk this morning, my Kindle took a header and fell onto the floor. I heard an ominous crack, and sure enough, it has gone to that great electronics shop in the sky.

I’m torn about this. On the one hand, I loved my Kindle. Amazon makes it so easy to buy things, and there are so many freebies. Being the book hoarder I am, I think that’s why I loved it so much.

On the other hand, I don’t know if I’ll replace it. The Kindle Keyboard is the only Kindle that is remotely accessible. Even then, it requires some finagling to make it work. There are features that only sort of work out of the box with what rudimentary text to speech is there. Given the fact that all I can do with my Kindle is read books, which is only part of the feature set available to sighted people, I feel a bit squeamish about replacing mine. I bought it used, with gift certificate money. I paid a little over half the purchase price, which is the only way I’d be comfortable replacing it now. And then I’m not so much supporting Amazon and their continued insistence on ignoring accessibility. They get their cut, I’m sure, but mostly I’m more comfortable paying a third party retailer.

On the other hand, I do have an iPhone. And I hate reading on it. Not, of course, for the same reasons my sighted readers would. I enjoy a smoothly flowing text to speech experience, and the frequent pauses for screens to refresh on my iPhone take me out of the flow of things. Also, there are fewer freebies. Or at least I perceive that there are.

On the other hand, Apple is committed to universal accessibility, so there’s a huge part of me that thinks I should just suck it up and deal. And, given the fact that I’d much rather spend money on books rather than electronics, I suspect that, for the sake of pragmatism, that is what will win out.

Still, I am sad to see my Kindle go. I will miss you, silly electronic gadget.

Three quickie erotic romance reviews

Published August 28, 2012 by Shannon

Last night, I realized I didn’t have enough to say about today’s book. Luckily for you, I have been on a minor erotic romance novella binge, so I present some mini reviews for short works.

Alien Revealed (The Confederacy Treaty, #1)

Warning: Spoilers below.

Title: Alien Revealed
Author: Lilly Cain
Genre: Science fiction romance
Series: The Confederacy Treaty 1
Source: ebook
Read on: August 17, 2012

Synopsis via goodreads:

Inarrii agent Alinna Gaerrii was tasked with observing the Starforce base on Earth. Crash landing her observation pod onto the base was not part of her mission briefing. Neither was making “m’ittar”–mind contact–with Major David Brown, the human who discovered her amongst the wreckage.David thinks she’s a psychologist sent to evaluate his Special Forces team, and Alinna goes along with his misconception, seizing the opportunity to observe humans up close. But their daily contact has unexpected side effects, and Alinna soon invades David’s dreams. Through their intimate mental connection she allows him to express his forbidden physical desires.Alinna delights in the sensory exploration and grows excited by the prospect of a treaty with the humans and a potential life mate in David. But an attack from an unknown ship sends the base into chaos, and Alinna may be forced to reveal her lie, erasing all hope of a successful treaty, and driving David away forever…

This synopsis sounded awesome. I love sci-fi romance, and I was intrigued by the life mate thing being initiated by the heroine. For the first quarter of the book, when Alinna and David are separated, I even enjoyed myself. I loved how unassumingly egalitarian Cain’s future is, with women being just as powerful as men. Then Alinna and David met, and my love evaporated.

My latest blogger crush, Kelly has used the term “I hate you except when we kiss.” It’s a common trope in romancelandia, and I think it can be done well. In a scant 100 pages, many of which have to be spent on elaborate dream sex scenes, it is impossible to make this work. At least, it didn’t work for me in this case. David mistrusts Alinna from the get-go, possibly because she is the worst spy ever, and is a terrible liar. This, of course, means Alinna swoons for him.

When things finally reach their climax, David does something unforgivable that I didn’t even know still happened in romances. He gives Alinna booze. She’s an alien. The booze affects her strongly, and only then does David seduce her. She was clearly OK with it, but ugh. I thought that made him a total douchenozzle.

Alinna was problematic for different reasons. I had problems with the whole premise of her character, because I would have thought that someone meant to observe without getting caught would have a better ability to lie under pressure, even if it’s not innately something her people do. I also wondered why she didn’t just give herself up after the first dream sex scene. Her character is basically cast as completely helpless, and I found that annoying.

I loved the idea of this book. First contact is my favorite sci-fi trope, and I love cheesy vaguely humanoid aliens. But this book’s execution was terrible.

Grade: D

Angel Bound (His Guardian Angels, #1)

Title: Angel Bound
Author: Jana Downs
Genre: paranormal romance
Series: His Guardian Angels
Source: Kindle
Read on: August 23, 2012

Synopsis from goodreads:

Madigan has a successful career as co-owner of a bakery and has never really been passionate about much else. His mother has always claimed that he was the son of the Archangel Raphael, but he’d never had reason to believe her. That is, until Madigan finds himself hunted by angelic fanatics who see him as an abomination. His father has assigned him guardian angels to act as his protection from the hunters. The five men desperately search for a solution for Madigan’s protection and find only one viable option. Madigan must become Angel Bound, married in angelic terms, to all of his guardian angels. Now Madigan has gone from having no relationships to having five simultaneously. All of the men will have to learn to balance desire and duty in order to ensure Madigan’s safety and happiness above all things. [Siren LoveXtreme Forever ManLove: Erotic Alternative Paranormal Ménage Romance, M/M/M/M/M/M, angels, HEA]

I forget why this came up, but someone I adore on Twitter, who knows who she is and therefore I won’t name and shame her, sent me a link to Siren Publishing’s Lovextreme imprint. After goggling about how inaccessible the website was, I eventually settled in to see how many lovers one person could have. In my meanderings, I found this book. Y’all know my tendency to read cracky erotic romance, so onto my Kindle it went.

This book was exactly as terrible as I knew it would be. Madigan is such a girl. Normally, I’m OK with that in M/M romances, because I read them for the fantasy, and because some authors can write sweet, somewhat effeminate men that I like. Not so in this case. Firstly, our hero goes by Madi, which I imagine to be completely emasculating. He also does a lot of quivering in terror, and his angels have various, vaguely girlie nicknames for him. The laid-back surfer angel calls him Cutie. The antagonistic bad boy angel calls him Bright Eyes. If anyone called me either of those things, I might want to punch them.

As for the angels, they’re sketches. But then, I didn’t think it was possible to draw five fully realized characters in less than 100 pages. We have the leader who is driven by obligation. We have the laid-back surfer dude angel. There’s the gruff, shy dude (who I secretly adored because the “no one can ever love me” trope is my cryptonite in a hero), There’s the bad boy. And then there’s the other guy, who shows up halfway through and tells them they all have to have an orgy to protect Madi from the bad angels. (Come on, you guys, that is not a spoiler, given the synopsis.) Also, all the angels have silly names. Michel and Uri work for the archangels Michael and Uriel respectively, and then we have Cross, which just packs a whole wallop of anvilicious symbolism, Bren, and, lastly, my boy Dex. I am trying to picture in my mind how a passage from this version of the Bible would read. “And thus an angel came down and said unto them, ‘Behold, for I am Dex.’”. And I laugh. A lot.

So yeah. Aside from the novelty, there’s not much to this story, and while its silliness amused, I’m not sure it did so in a way the author intended.

Grade: D

And, to end things on a positive note:

Veiled Desire (Veiled, #1)

Title: Veiled Desire
Author: Alisha Rai
Genre: contemporary erotic romance
Series: Veiled 1
Source: Kindle
Read on: August 24, 2012

Synopsis via goodreads:

Look, but don’t touch… Leyla Karimi can’t keep her eyes off the hunky guy living in the house behind her. How could any woman resist ogling Dr. Mason Barrett, especially when he makes it so easy by parading around in his skin and skivvies? If it was only their age difference, she would have made a move a long time ago. Except Mason is more than a neighbor. He’s her baby brother’s oldest friend. It’s not like they can have a casual fling and walk away in the morning. Mason’s been doing a little lusting-okay a lot-for quite some time. When he catches Leyla peeking, it’s a sure sign she could finally be ready to heat up his nights with loving. One taste of her lips, though, and he doesn’t want a “little” of anything. He wants it all. Unwilling to jeopardize a lifetime of friendship for a one-night stand, Leyla is reluctant to throw caution to the wind. When he’s kissing her senseless, though, it’s hard to remember all the reasons why she should hold back… Warning: Contains a hot hero who doesn’t mind baring it all in the name of love, a heroine who doesn’t settle for less, a sweet romance, steamy sex in a car and more good lovin’ in bed.

I liked this one. The story is quite simple. Woman lusts after hot guy who is her brother’s BFF all grown up. He lusts after her, too. She ogles him. He knows. They hook up. Rai lets us get to know these two, though. By the end of the book, they seemed like people I might run into anywhere. Their dialogue felt real and natural, and I loved their interactions. The conflicts are relatively un-earth-shattering, but they were real issues anyone would have. The sex scenes were fun and steamy.

That said, I’m not sure it’s the kind of story I’ll remember. It was a pleasant way to spend an hour or two, but it’s easily forgettable. I’d try Alisha Rai again, particularly if she wrote something longer, and I might pick up the second book in the series.

Grade: C

Up next: A book everyone in the blogosphere seemed to have loved but me. How sad.

Review: Her Ladyship’s Companion by Evangeline Collins

Published August 27, 2012 by Shannon

Spoilers below. You have been warned!

Her Ladyship's Companion

Title: Her Ladyship’s Companion
Author: Evangeline Collins
Genre: Historical erotic romance
Source: Kindle
Read on: August 18, 2012

Synopsis from goodreads:

A debut novel of erotic intensity set in the Regency era. In the Scottish countryside of Selkirk, Lady Isabella Stirling resides at Bowhill Park, serving penance for a sin that nearly ruined her family. For five years she has been condemned to a loveless marriage and confined to the estate where she does little more than tend her rose garden. With her husband absent for months at a time and few visitors, Bella lives a lonely existence, denying the passions that burn within her very soul. Then her cousin comes for a visit and makes an outrageous suggestion: what Bella needs is a lover. A hired lover. Despite her need, Bella says no. But soon Mr. Gideon Rosedale arrives-and he is at her service for two weeks. Indulging in what she intends to be a harmless flirtation, Bella is overcome by Gideon’s intoxicating presence. And when she at last permits him to satisfy her desires, she discovers she’s done the unthinkable-she’s fallen in love.

Earlier this summer, during my wild binging on the works of Ava March, I stumbled across an interesting fact. Apparently, she wrote het erotic romance, too. Armed with this intriguing factoid, I proceeded to do my best Annie Wilkes impersonation and found out, rather quickly, that Ava March’s other pen name was Evangeline Collins. And she had two books. Which I promptly bought, thus ending my psychotic fangirl moment.

What I like about Ms. March’s books is here under the Collins pseudonym as well. She writes excellent beta heroes, and Gideon Rosedale is so adorable. He’s not particularly angst-ridden, or at least no more than you’d expect considering he’s a gigolo. He’s getting a little bored with his life pleasuring women, and he expects this assignment in Scotland to be more of the same. He’s surprised when Lady Isabella Sterling turns out to be more than she seems.

Bella (God help us all, Twilight has ruined this name for everybody) is a passionate creature. Five years ago, she was caught in a compromising position with the stableboy and basically thrown at the first man who’d marry her. She was ensconced in Scotland, where her husband would occasionally show up in order to cow and terrorize her. She feels that being lonely is preferable to being terrified, and she doesn’t exactly have many options. She’s outraged when her cousin suggests she should take a lover, but secretly a little thrilled, too. When Gideon shows up, she makes it clear she doesn’t want to do anything he’s not comfortable with, and thus begins their flirtation.

I adored these characters. They’re both stuck in a terrible place in their lives, Gideon little more than a whore and Bella an abused wife. The way they come together is delightful. I love it when a romance gives me glimpses of emotional as well as physical intimacy. I also love how Gideon’s profession turns out to be more of a hindrance to later sexytimes than you’d think. Bella wants to see his control slip, and that’s exactly what Gideon can’t give her.

That all said, some of the plot choices were contrived. Lord Sterling, for example, was problematic. He’s an abusive asshole, of course. He’s impotent. Of course. That means Bella’s a virgin. Of course. He had no redeeming qualities, and I was disappointed he never twirled his mustache anytime and cackled, because he was certainly capable of it. I knew early on he was going to have to die for there to be an HEA, but I thought the way that came about was also incredibly contrived.

The secondary characters were leading far more interesting lives than Bella and Gideon. I want to know about Bella’s swashbuckling pirate brother, and her headstrong sister, who clearly had a romance of her own. Not to mention the awesome French cousin. I’m also torn about their reaction to Bella’s situation. It makes sense that she wouldn’t have told her family she was being abused. It doesn’t make sense that they’d just leave her to rot out in Scotland. Maybe her holier-than-thou dickhead older brother would, but I’d think a rescue mission would be just the thing for hoyden younger sister and pirate younger brother! And yet, they only reacted when it was nearly too late.

I wasn’t sure how the heroine being married would work for me. Given Sterling being such an asshole, I was glad she took happiness where she could get it. I’m not sure many authors could sell me on marital infidelity and make it work in this way, but I bought it, and I did pull for Bella and Gideon’s chance at a future together, where the power both held would be more equal.

As with her Ava March books, Evangeline Collins delivers an emotionally gripping love story with characters I adored. It’s not my favorite book of hers, and it does feel like the early work it is, but I’m pleased to know she can write as satisfying a love story between a man and a woman as she can between two men.

Final Grade: B-

Up next: She’s a terrible alien spy. He’s a terrible military officer. Together, they fight. A lot.

Review: Rough, Raw and Ready by Lorelei James

Published August 24, 2012 by Shannon

Rough, Raw, and Ready (Rough Riders #5)

Title: Rough, Raw and Ready
Author: Lorelei James
Genre: contemporary western romance
Series: Rough Riders, book 5
Source: Kindle
Read on: August 19, 2012

Synopsis via goodreads:

Chassie West Glanzer hasn’t been a stranger to drama and tragedy. A year of wedded bliss to sexy-as-sin cowboy Trevor Glanzer has brought her the happiness and contentment she never thought she’d find, and mellowed Trevor’s rodeo wanderlust. Then Trevor’s old roping partner ambles up the driveway—and Chassie’s life changes drastically. Trevor never expected to see Edgard Mancuso again, after it became clear he couldn’t be the man Edgard needed. Now Edgard is back from Brazil to sort out their tangled past, and Trevor is plagued with feelings he thought he’d buried over three years ago. Although Trevor is hat-over-bootheels in love with his sweet, feisty wife, the sense his life is missing a piece has always gnawed at him. Chassie’s shock that Edgard and Trevor were once lovers turns to fear of losing her husband. Or worse, fear that Trevor will stay with her only out of a sense of duty. Yet as the three of them spend time together, the sins of the past blur and fade, leaving raw emotion—and unbridled passion. Passion that could heal…or cause irreparable damage to their future.

I was excited to get to this book. I think this was the Rough Riders book that I first heard about, and since I’ve loved M/M/F stories for years, I knew I’d love it. I was not disappointed, and though it doesn’t appear any other books in this series deal with similar dynamics, I loved the fact that Ms. James went down that road.

I’d always liked Trevor as a character in the previous books, even if I did mock him for having a penis ready, willing and able to serve any woman on a whim. The emotional drama between himself and Edgard was hinted at in the first book, so this story brings that arc to a close.

Chassie was a great match for him. I am a sucker for a plain Jane heroine with a big heart. She was empathetic and kind, and a little overwhelmed that this hot cowboy had chosen her of all people. When Edgard Mancuso, Trevor’s old roping partner, shows up at the ranch, it’s Chassie who makes him feel welcome. Trevor’s all torn up about what Edgard’s presence means and what it will do to Chassie if she finds out about his past, so he avoids spending time alone with his former lover, so it’s Chassie who befriends Edgard.

Then, of course, the inevitable happens and Chassie catches Trevor and Edgard in a compromising position. She freaks out, but in the end, of course, she decides that she needs to do whatever she can to make her husband happy.

I appreciated the fact that Ms. James didn’t sugar-coat the triad here. Nobody’s quite sure it’s a good idea, but since Trevor and Chassie and Edgard are such nice people, none of them want to hurt the others. The scenes between the three of them start out tentatively, but then passion erupts, as it always does. There’s more to a relationship than just sex, though, and the three of them spend enough time talking for my liking. None of the relationships in the book got short shrift, and they were each different. Trevor and Edgard are very different men, and the relationships each have with Chassie are different from the one they have with each other.

As ever in a Lorelei James book, there’s other stuff going on. We get more McKay family drama, and I particularly loved what she did with Colt McKay, whose book is next on the list. There’s also drama in the Glanzer family, and I loved the contrast between the warm and loving McKays and the bitter, awful Glanzers. I also loved the fact that the McKays aren’t treated here as the best things since sliced bread. There are people that think they can be bastards, and I liked that some of that got voiced.

So far, this is my favorite offering in the series. I have a lot more of these books to read, and even though I know none of them will bring me hot M/M/F goodness, I look forward to more emotional drama and fun family dynamics to come.

Grade: B+

Up next: A favorite author uses a trope I generally hate in a way that mostly works for me.

Review: Tied Up, Tied Down by Lorelei James

Published August 23, 2012 by Shannon

Tied Up, Tied Down (Rough Riders #4)

Title: Tied Up, Tied Down
Author: Lorelei James
Genre: contemporary western romance
Series: Rough Riders, book 4
Read on: August 17, 2012

Synopsis:

The strongest bonds are the ones unseen Rough Riders series Businesswoman Skylar Ellison is firmly in control of her life. So getting tangled up with a sexy Wyoming cowboy-and conceiving a baby in the parking lot of a honky-tonk-wasn’t in her plan. Since it appears the daddy has taken off for greener pastures, the only thing to do is pull up her bootstraps and carry on alone. Cattle rancher Kade McKay returns home after a year on the range, and is knocked for a loop when he learns he’s the father of a three-month-old baby girl. When Skylar refuses to marry him, Kade grits his teeth, moves in and plays house by her rules to prove he’s a man in for the long haul. Despite Skylar’s insistence they are to remain strictly parenting partners, their old passions flare hot as a brush fire, spurring Kade to demand absolute sexual surrender from the headstrong woman. Skylar willingly submits her body to the hot-blooded cowboy but she’s leery of handing Kade the reins to her heart. Can Kade convince Skylar the wicked sex games aren’t a temporary distraction? Or will he have to bust out the ropes to show her he wants to be tied to her.forever? Warning: this book contains: no holes barred kinky sex scenes, wicked rope play, blunt language, and yowza lots of hot cowboy nekkidness.

I am torn about this installment of the Rough Riders books. In many ways, I liked it. Cade was such a sweetheart in the previous book. A bit of a bonehead, but a sweetheart, nonetheless. I was happy to see him and Skylar get their romance. That said, in hindsight, Skylar bothered me, and there were a few messages that I found problematic. There are spoilers below. Stop reading now if you don’t want to know.

First, the good. Yet again, Ms. James doesn’t belabor big misunderstandings. See, Skylar and Cade met when she confused him with Cade’s identical twin. He thought she was hot, so they went out on a date and he never disabused her of that notion. She found out anyway, after a bout of hot sex in a parking lot, and, rightly, huffed off. Cade did some huffing off of his own, grazing cattle in the wilderness for a year. When he returns, his mother lays into him, informing him that he should do right by her only grandchild, so Cade does. All this happens within the first chapter or two. There are no long stretches of book where my disbelief is suspended while the characters act like boneheads.

When Skylar and Cade do get together, the scenes with them are lovely. I liked watching them find each other again, first as friends, then as bed partners. Cade was quite patient with her, and I liked watching Skylar unbend enough to accept him into her life. Then Skylar ends up at a McKay family reunion, and it was nice to see that she was as overwhelmed by the McKays as, I think, most people would be.
I loved the family dynamics in this book. Skylar and her sister India had a relationship that felt real. Y’all know I read these books for the McKays and their soap opera, and I wasn’t disappointed on that score, either. It was handled with a light touch this time, but there was plenty of sequel baiting worked in, and I didn’t even care.

As I’ve said before about other books, the romance worked for me, for the most part, which I’ll talk about later. There weren’t many huge, life-alteringly dramatic conflicts keeping the two protagonists apart, and I thought what issues each character faced were realistic, which was why I pulled all the more for them. The sex scenes are delivered with Ms. James’s trademark hotness, and there were relatively few extraneous scenes. Trevor Glanzer and his penis of generosity did not make an appearance for a three-way, and I don’t recall any M/M action at all. This was fine, and I’m not sure it would have benefited the story anyway.

That said, I did have some issues. Firstly, apparently Skylar employs a lot of women in her factory where she makes herbal soaps and lotions. Many of them have been through domestic violence. She says domestic violence is an issue she cares deeply about. However, she has little security at the factory. Anyone can just walk in, and Cade frequently does. Also, the women bring their children to on-sight day care. To a place with no security. Cade calls her on that kind of nonsense, and she gets offended. It’s one of the climactic scenes of the book. Given how she says she cares deeply for her employees, why was this not a priority for her? It didn’t ring true, and her lack of foresight felt engineered as a means to another source of conflict with Cade.

My other issue was that at one point in the book, several characters, all of them male, have the “Women may say they want a gentleman. But really they want to be dominated and for someone to take control.” conversation. This is a conversation I hate in books, particularly in romance. I know it’s true. Lots of women do have ravishment fantasies. I do, however, resent a man’s taking that choice away from a woman. Granted, it turns out Skylar is one of those women, but is this dated message something we still need to perpetuate? Really? It makes my inner feminist sigh. A lot.

Despite those problems, I did enjoy the book, though it is not my favorite of the series.

Final Grade: B-

Up next: Trevor Glanzer and his wonder penis get their own book!