Flight into Fantasy

Too tired to do much blogging, so here’s this week’s Booking through Thursday.

Sometimes I find eccentric characters quirky and fun, other times I find them too unbelievable and annoying. What are some of the more outrageous characters you’ve read, and how do you feel about them?

I love quirky characters, honestly, as long as their eccentricities aren’t their entire personality. One of the things I’ve liked about both the Susan Elizabeth Phillips books I’ve read recently was that the heroines really did seem like quirky people. with odd little ticks. Most authors would have made them come off as completely wacky, but SEP humanized them.

I also have to bring up Charles de Lint, which just goes to show it’s really time for me to read one of the de Lint books I’ve not gotten to. I love how he does quirky. The Crow Girls in Someplace to be Flying are arguably some of his more interestingly eccentric characters, and they’re a large part of the reason why I love that book so.

Authors that didn’t handle quirky well? A lot of them, actually. Particularly ones who write characters who are supposedly Pagan, because no self-respecting Pagan would get within 50 feet of some of these characters.

What about you? Care to share any of your more quirky characters?

Also, speaking of quirkiness, instead of blogging, I have been spending an inordinate amount of time listening to the archives of this obscure NPR show. It is a psychology geek’s wet dream, and I highly encourage y’all to download and listen to some of their episodes the next time you need something entertaining yet thought-provoking to listen to for an hour.

Title: Love Under Siege
Author: Samantha Kane
Genre: Historical Romance
Grade: A-
Reason for Reading: I fell in love with Ms. Kane’s alternate universe Regency England of happy M/M/F threesomes when I read her last book.

Synopsis: Phillip Neville and Jonathan Overton have been best friends since childhood. When
they return to England as veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, they enter the marriage
market. It doesn’t take long for them both to fall deeply in love with shy, awkward,
beautiful Maggie Trueheart. Phillip and Maggie marry, but Phillip and Jonathan do
not tell her about the menage a trois marriage the two men hope to have. When Maggie
finds out, it takes the persuasive power of both men to convince her that this threesome
was meant to be.
In the process of helping Maggie discover the sexually aggressive woman inside herself,
Phillip and Jonathan realize their love for one another is more than friendship.
Before the two men can consummate their relationship, however, a brutal attack on
Maggie and Jonathan’s self-recriminations drive the lovers apart. It will take all
the love and determination the three possess to achieve their happily ever after.

My Thoughts: Man, that synopsis pretty much gives you the whole rest of the book right there. I would make a joke that you don’t even have to read the book now, except this is Samantha Kane we’re talking about so yes, yes you do have to read the book, because it’s lovely.

What I like about the books in this series is that I felt the passionate feelings between the three characters in their various encounters. And once again, I perceived them as real people, completely different from Tony, Jason and Kate of the first book. All of them have their insecurities, and they are overcome during the course of the book.

I have to admit that there were a couple of things Ms. Kane had to sell me on. I’m not really all that into BDSM, and I was afraid after the first real sex scene that I was going to get a nonstop BDSM lovefest, but thankfully Ms. Kane chose not to go that route. In fact, every sex scene in this book was sizzling and helped to develop the characters and their relationship. Yes, even and especially the scenes between Phillip and Jonathan, and we all know what a hard sell M/M usually is for me. But in this case, like Maggie, I was anxious for those boys to get it on with each other.

Aside from the sexing, which there was a lot of in this book, the rest of the character development was, as I said, very good. I got excited to read Maggie’s book after a brief scene in Kate’s where she has a cameo, and I liked her. She’s a sweet, gentle person with a good heart and though at times I thought she was a bit of a shrew, I forgave her because she was a product of her times, and at least the characters acknowledge that maybe the rest of the ton might not approve of M/M/F triads.

Phillip was pretty cool, too. I liked that he was sensitive and gentle with Maggie, and that he was able to display his tenderness toward both her and Jonathan. He seemed very level-headed, and definitely he was the emotional support of the triad.

As for Jonathan… Oh, Jonathan. I loved him so much. He suffers from nightmares as a result of the war, and I loved the scene in which he comes to Maggie, all wild-eyed, and begs her to help him forget with the tried and true method of healing sexx0rz. I thought his self-recriminations at the end were a bit too emo for my tastes, but it all comes right in the end.

As for the other characters, we get a few scenes with Kate, Tony and Jason, and there’s some more sequel-baiting. Unlike most authors though, Kane handles the sequel baits in a way that doesn’t feel tacked on and has me wanting to know more. I’m particularly intrigued by the Duke of Ashton and his partner, Brett, and Daniel Steinberg, the Jewish dandy. I hope they will all get books of their own soon.

My quibbles were fairly minor. It took me a bit longer to get into this book than the last one, and I thought that there was still a distressing tendency to emote rather than talk at times. I’m not really all that convinced that real Regency men, even in an alternate universe, would have some of the conversations these people did, and they had a tendency to psychoanalyze each other that definitely felt a bit too modern. But at least they talked, which is more than I can say about some books.

All those things aside, I loved this book for being exactly the quick comfort read I really needed. I am definitely a Samantha Kane fangirl, and absolutely cannot wait to keep reading what she has to offer.

Title: The Manolo Matrix
Author: Julie Kenner
Genre: Romantic suspense/chick lit
Grade: B-
Reason for Reading: I really liked the first book in this series so I figured I should keep reading the trilogy.

Synopsis: Aspiring actress Jennifer Crane knows all about games — the games girls play to get a guy; the games actresses play to land a part; and the good old game of credit-card roulette. (How else is a girl supposed to afford her shoes?) But she never expected to be playing a game with life-or-death consequences. Unable to successfully score an acting gig, she has, instead, been cast in the role of reluctant bodyguard to a real-life assassin’s target — a dashing FBI agent of all people! — and must embark with him upon a scavenger hunt across Manhattan in search of the ultimate prize: survival. Before this, Jenn’s definition of fighting dirty has been elbowing her way to the front of the line at a Manolo sample sale. Now, if she wants to stay alive, she’s going to have to learn a few new uses for her stilettos. . . and they ain’t pretty.

My Thoughts: This book didn’t quite work for me as well as the previous book. This is because from the summary I quoted above I was expecting Jenn to be more of a kick-ass chick than she actually was.

I actually liked Jenn just fine once I warmed up to her. She was kind of a ditz, but I thought that her reactions were very real and very human. Devlin was a pretty good hero, too. He’s a bit of your stereotypical tortured hero, but I also found him compelling enough. Unfortunately, I didn’t really buy the romance between the two, and it felt just a tad forced.

I also didn’t think the plot worked quite as well in this second book. While it was still a fun, zippy read, I was annoyed that Jenn, despite being cast in the role of protector, didn’t do all that much protecting. She was also the one who spent a good majority of the book in danger, and she actually ruminates at one point about how she’s glad that Devlin will be able to protect *her*. Naturally, this cheesed off the Inner Feminist something fierce.

Also, I really do want more of an explanation as to who’s behind the game, because it seems to me like there’d have to be a lot of people complicit in some pretty shady stuff in order to have several of these games going on at once. Also, at one point Jenn withdraws $20,000 from the bank, which, even in New York, really ought to make someone suspicious.

Despite my nitpicks, I had fun with this book and will definitely be reading when I get the chance.

Got this meme from Kaillana

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

I am so getting crucified for this one, but… Despite the fact that I know lots of bloggers who adore the books, I can’t really picture myself reading anything with a description consisting of “Gay Regencies in Space”. I’m sorry, J. L. Langley. I’m sure your books are awesome, and eventually I might even get over myself, but not today.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

Hmmm, a world cruise with Miles Vorkosigan, Eve Dallas and Melanie Prescott (the latter from Julie Kenner’s The Givenchy Code ) would be highly entertaining to me. Mostly because I’m not sure they wouldn’t try to kill each other.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

The most boring novel that I haven’t already read? Well, it’s hard to know if I’d consider it boring in that case. Although that being said, I couldn’t get through Ian McEwan’s to save my life, because I found it boring and the characters unlikeable, so maybe that one.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

Lord of the Rings. I have tried, several times, to read those books, and each time the books have beaten me up and made me their bitch. But given that a lot of fantasy readers are Tolkien snobs, I have, um, pretended to more knowledge of the books than I have. (I suppose that a brief stint of reading Sam/Frodo fanfiction shortly after the movies came out hardly makes me an expert, but I at least know what happens in the books and so don’t feel any particular urge to read them.)
As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?
Hmmm. I’ve usually got a good memory for stuff like that, so that’s never happened to me that I’m aware of.
You’ve been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP)

Madeleine L’Engle’s House Like a Lotus and Charles de Lint’s Someplace to be Flying. Just because both are good stories and I adore them.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
French. Maybe I would appreciate the nuances of French writers more if I could read them in the original language.

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint. Actually, most of de Lint is good for a reread now and again.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

I’m not sure what I’d say here. I probably wouldn’t have read Samantha Kane if not for bloggers. I also like the various book meme type things that get posted now and again, like Booking throutgh Thursday. Of course, those things are definitely not what I’d participate in if it weren’t for blogs.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

Oh man. I wouldn’t be picky. I’d just want everything to be in Braille, because it’s been a long time since I actually held a physical book in my hands and I’ve always thought that sighted people are entirely unaware of how lucky they are that they can just go wandering through the isles of a bookstore and grab whatever looks cool. That’s not how it works in my world, and I have to admit I’m envious.

Title: Ain’t She Sweet
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Grade: A-

Reason for Reading: Iadored the last SEP book that I read, and I was curious about this one, and I have to admit the plot kind of intrigued me.

Synopsis: (stolen from Rosario):
Ain’t She Sweet?
Not exactly . . .
The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she’d sworn to leave behind
forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey
had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But fifteen years
have passed, and life has taught Sugar Beth its toughest lessons. Now she’s come
home — broke, desperate, and too proud to show it.
The people of Parrish don’t believe in forgive and forget. When the Seawillows, Sugar
Beth’s former girlfriends, get the chance to turn the tables on her, they don’t hesitate.
And Winnie Davis, Sugar Beth’s most bitter enemy, intends to humiliate her in the
worst possible way.
Then there’s Colin Byrne. . . . Fifteen years earlier, Sugar Beth had tried to ruin
his career. Now he’s rich, powerful, and the owner of her old home. Even worse, this
modern-day dark prince is planning exactly the sort of revenge best designed to bring
a beautiful princess to her knees.
But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who’s learned
survival the hard way.
While Sugar Beth’s battered heart struggles to overcome old mistakes, Colin must
choose between payback and love. Does the baddest girl in town deserve a second chance,
or are some things beyond forgiving?

My Thoughts: I wonder if two books is enough to bring a person onto my list of favorite authors. Because I really adored It Had to Be You and I also loved Ain’t She Sweet.

There was a lot that was similar between Ain’t She Sweet and It Had to Be You. Both feature outwardly confident heroines who nobody thinks much of but who are pretty kick-ass in their own slightly spacey way. In both cases, the women arrive on the scene and cause havoc, much to the consternation of the men they’re paired up with.

What I liked about both books was the same. I really like the emotional struggles that both women had to face, and I loved the dynamics that played out in the relationships each had with her family and those around her. I also admit to a small and secret weakness for stories about small Southern towns and I thought that SEP put in a lot of authentic-seeming detail about Southern life. At least, this Midwestern girl bought it.

I wasn’t expecting to like Sugar Beth, and figured she’d be kind of a hard sell for me as a heroine, but I liked her quite a lot. I loved her strength and her wit, as well as her vulnerability. I don’t think she’s the sort of person I would want to know in real life, but I loved watching her bloom in this book.

Colin was a bit less easy for me to get into. He felt a bit too stock-character-ish for me, and I just couldn’t really get a sense of who he was in my head. I should have really adored him, because he exhibited all the signs of my favorite kind of hero–he was something of a nerd, he was witty and he could be sarcastic. But he fell flat to me, which is a pity because everyone else was drawn so well.

The other thing that got to me was that so much of these people’s lives revolved around high school and getting their revenge on Sugar Beth. Some people really deserved to feel that way–she absolutely was horrible to Winnie–but just because your friend blows you off for some random guy isn’t really a good enough excuse to throw wine on her blouse in my opinion.

Aside from those small quibbles, though, this book had me from first to last page, which is a miracle given the fact that my sinuses are trying to eplode out the sides of my head. Highly recommended.

I’m not holding my breath for the notion of being able to throw out scintillating posts in the next few days. Apparently, all my wishing and praying that the creeping crud every goddam person at my college seems to be experiencing would pass me by only caused the cold germ fairies to laugh and mock me.

So I’m getting sick, which sucks. I intend to spend as much time curled up with my latest book as is humanly possible, which probably won’t amount to all that much given that I promised my folks I’d come over tomorrow. So if you don’t see me around for the next couple of days it’s because I’m going to be praying to the germ fairies to let me get better by Monday so I don’t miss class. Not that I’ll be much *good* in class, but but I have a paper due, so I have to show up.

Anyway, I had an on-topic (for this blog) point to make, which was that I’ve decided that instead of doing an Author Appreciation Month next month, I’m going to try to catch up on some of the series I’ve started, of which there are millions. My goal is fairly simple, actually–I want to finish the last two BDB books. No, I haven’t read either of them, because Butch and Marissa wasn’t one of the storylines I was eager to read more about when I read the first three, and also I am a spoiler whore, anjd there will no doubt be things that irritate the crap out of me. But in between Ward’s books, I’ll be reading more from series I love, like Nalini Singh’s and Marjorie Liu’s paranormals, and it’s probably going to be time for another J. D. Robb soon.

Title: The Veil of Night
Author: Lydia Joyce
Genre: Historical Romance
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: Joyce is the author of the month at my favorite romance related Yahoo group.

Synopsis: Byron Stratford, Duke of Raeburn, walks in shadow. Spoken of only in whispers, he lives alone in his crumbling manor, a cold, enigmatic recluse who does not abide visitors, lest they discover his secret shame.This is the man Lady Victoria Wakefield must confront to save her family. Little does she suspect that she will emerge from her journey as his shining sun-or that their passion will be the only defense against the true darkness threatening to destroy them both.

Summary: Lady Victoria Wakefield is irritated to receive a terse, dismissive letter from the Duke of Raeburn, to whom her brother Jack owes a lot of money. He says there’s nothing he can do for Victoria and Jack, but that he’ll discuss the matter with her if she comes to Raeburn Manor. Victoria does so, and agrees to stay there with the Duke for a week as his whore, after which time, if she fulfills her part of their bargain, he will forgive Jack’s debts. The week is a life-changing experience for both of them, as they each become fascinated with the other. But Byron, the reclusive duke, has a secret that could shatter Victoria’s growing affection for him.

My Thoughts: This book hearkens back to some of the first romance type books I ever read. I went through a phase in late elementary school when I devoured Phyllis Whitney books by the truckloads. Often, these involved women going to exotic locales and living in dark, crumbling homes, surrounded by people they couldn’t trust. I really liked the Gothic atmosphere I found in this book.

It was also a very character-driven book, which I appreciated. There wasn’t a suspense subplot, the characters didn’t have to solve any mysteries, and the conflicts they had to overcome were very much internal. I really liked that, and I had a good sense of who Byron and Victoria were by the end of the book.

What I liked about the characters of Byron and Victoria was that, though we’ve seen their type before–the dried-up spinster and the cynical rake with an OMGMYSTERIOUSPAST!!!11, they were very well developed. Victoria has a compelling reason for remaining a spinster, and it’s by choice. It’s even a fairly sensible choice, in my opinion, and not just out of some silly notion of waiting until she can marry for love. (Not that marrying for love is silly, I just think that it’s often presented that way in some of the more wallpaper historicals I’ve read.) Byron, on the other hand, is the type of character that certain other historical romance heroes only wish that they were. He is reclusive, and with good reason, and he’s cultivated rumors that make him out to be more of a shady figure than he is. Joyce could have made him silly in his broodiness, but she didn’t, and I understood why he would hesitate to reveal his big secret.

The big secret, though, is the one major flaw that I saw in the book. Byron held out just a bit too long for me, since I had it figured out way before Victoria did, and way before it got spelled out to us, the readers. I also thought that Victoria’s acceptance of the secret didn’t have the emotional punch it could have had, which was disappointing.
Overall, this was an enjoyable book, even though it didn’t really wow me. In fact, I set it aside several times and it probably took me twice as long to read than it could have had I been into it. But of course, that’s a purely subjective reaction, and I know readers who absolutely adore this book unto distraction. I’m not one of them, though I’m definitely intrigued enough to read another Lydia Joyce book.

W00t, time for this week’s Booking through Thursday!

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

I bet mine aren’t really all that obscure. And it’s not usually the books that gbifve people pause. I always feel like Charles de Lint is kind of an obscure author, even though he’s pretty popular among the sort of people that like his brand of urban fantasy. As for romance, I’m still such a newbie to the genre that I read books others rec me, which sort of negates the whole obscurity thing.

Sorry for the radio silence today. I’ve been playing with my new PDA-type thing.

It’s seriously very awesome, and as soon as I can actually use it effectively I intend to take it with me to class.

In the meantime, tomorrow’s my long-ass day in the halls of academia, which sucks, but if I’m feeling inspired I might actually manage a review by the end of the day, given that I’ll probably finish my book at some point during the day.

Also, it’s weird what posts get random comments, no? Because it’s never the ones I think will. This post, for example, by all rights shouldn’t generate any, but will, because of the whims of the comment fairies, likely net me thousands of the little buggers by the time I get home.

Title: Demon Moon
Author: Meljean Brook
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: Because we adore Meljean Brook around these here parts and we are working our way through her backlist.

Synopsis: Stunning as a mortal, Colin Ames-Beaumont took on an unearthly male beauty when he became a vampire centuries ago. Cursed with tainted blood, he is doomed to spend eternity without a companion, without love of his own. But even for vampires, the heart wants what it wants, and Colin has long been intrigued by the quirky Savitri Murray. Her breathtaking honesty and unconventional beauty have held his attention far longer than most women, but combined with that intoxicating scent of hers, he finds Savi completely irresistible…

Savitri has promised her grandmother she will settle down with a suitable boy. But what suitable boy wants a bride who finds herself battling demons and Nosferatu day after day? And then there is that pesky, undeniable desire she feels for that persistent vampire…

My Thoughts: I hate this summary. It makes the story found in Demon Moon seem so silly and cliched, when really, there is nothing silly or cliched about this book. This summary doesn’t mention the other important things going on around Colin and Savi, like that there’s a demon impersonating Colin, or that the vampire community in San Francisco is leaderless, or that something is going on in the realm of Chaos.

That’s probably one of the biggest strengths and one of the biggest flaws in Demon Moon. There’s a lot going on, which makes everything much more exciting, but sometimes the myriad plot threads overwhelmed me.

It’s partly because I was overwhelmed by what was going on and partly because of bad timing that I felt a certain disconnection with the plot of the story, hence why I’m not praising it to the heavens as it probably deserves. At the time I read this book, I was headed back to my spring semester of classes, which involved an excess of paperwork, trying to figure out where the hell everything was, and some unpleasant news regarding my financial aid. So when I did sit down to read the book, I wanted to be transported, and I really wasn’t.

That being the case, though, there was a lot here to love, and I think DM probably would stand up to a reread when my life isn’t so hectic. I absolutely adored Savi as a heroine. She’s not nearly as kick-ass and cool as Lilith, but she rang true for me. I don’t necessarily need to identify with a heroine in order to like her, but Savi and I have a lot in common, aside from the whole demon-slaying thing. We’re of a similar age, and I thought that her dissatisfaction with some of the stuff going on in her life felt real, because I’ve had similar thoughts. I also really loved that Savi was a normal 21st century woman with a normal 21st-century woman’s sexual experience.

Colin I liked a lot, too. I do think he’s a much more compelling hero than Hugh of the previous book, and I loved that I could hear his voice in my head as I was reading. He was, in many ways, your typical vampire from romancelandia, but I also felt that he transcended the cliches. I loved watching his constant struggles not to lose his identity over time, and I came to appreciate his need for people to reaffirm for him that he was still good-looking. I also loved Savi and Colin together. Their romance was very sweet and poignant, and Ms. Brook strings their happy ending along. I kept waiting until the last few pages of the book to see how she was going to make everything work.

It was also good to see some of the secondary characters we’ve come to meet in Demon Angel. I loved seeing Lilith and Hugh, and their cameos were deftly handled. I am also intrigued enough by some of the other characters presented that I am excited to read Drifter’s book, Demon Night next.

Overall, highly recommended if you can be sure you’ve got the time to really savor the book the way I, well, didn’t.

I’d been trying to articulate my thoughts on why the whole mentality of “We should all be nice and never say anything mean to anyone” strikes me as silly, but, and here’s the ironic bit, I couldn’t figure out a way to say what I had in mind in an even-handed way, which is the tone I want to come across. Finally I decided fuck even-handedness. Here’s what I think.
What has bothered me ever since I started reading romance even semi-seriously a couple of years ago was that there was no way to voice a dissenting opinion about anything. There still isn’t, in a lot of places. A friend of mine recently told me that on a Yahoo group she is on, the mods made people stop discussing the Cassie Edwards plaigiarism issue because there might be CE fans on the list who might be offended. And after my mouth hung open in astounded “What the fuck?”, I eventually came to the conclusion that that loop would not be a good place for me. Because while I have nothing substantial to say about the CE plaigiarism issue beyond the fact that I still don’t have a clue how to spell plaigiarism, I think it is something that needs to be discussed, and I think that potential new readers ought to get some idea of what they might be picking up.

I’m also a cynic and I nitpick liek whoa. I did that even before I started reviewing on my blog, and I will probably always do it. Because 99 percent of what I read isn’t omgthebestthingeva! and I imagine that 99 percent of what most people read has flaws, too. That’s why I really love me some Dear Author and Smart Bitches. When I discovered SB and later DA, I was relieved. “Whoa,” I said to myself. “People who won’t blow sunshine up my ass and will tell me that something sucks.” Furthermore, it was sites like those that made me feel better about my reading tastes. These were people that were proud of what they read, and had no shame in pointing out that they read Dara Joy or LaVyrle Spencer or Judith McNaught. Sometimes controversy happened, but I was OK with it, because even when I didn’t have an opinion on a topic, I found the discussion fascinating.

All that is to say, I don’t think I’d have started seriously reading romance if it weren’t for the supposed mean girl bloggers. Remember that bit where I said I was cynical and nit-picky? Yeah. So are Candy and Sarah and Jane and Jayne, and so if they recommend a book, then I’m probably at least going to like it if not outright enjoy it.

Not that I’m a mean girl fangirl. OK, I am, but I have disagreed with them. Karen Scott, for example, will never convince me that reading literotica is inherently bad or that there’s no place for, say, twincest in romance. I’ll admit that sometimes I find her a bit too quick to judge people without getting all her facts, and the anonymice that comment on her blog are sometimes too out and out mean, even for me. I also think Jane of Dear Author can be a bit too terse for my tastes, and I can understand why someone wouldn’t necessarily want to visit a site called Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for fun. But I do think those bloggers all have value, and I like what they have to say. Besides, I never would have encountered some of the really cool people I’ve met in romancelandia if it hadn’t been for the mean girls. Hell, I probably wouldn’t have read some of the authors I’m really digging lately, like Meljean Brook and December Quinn, if I hadn’t liked their postings on SB and DA.

And here’s the other thing about mean girls in any community. Every community has them. A friend was telling me about a message board his wife frequents, which is about collectable dolls. There are mean girls in the collectable doll community. When I was actively Pagan (not just the questioning agnostic I am today), I discovered mean girls in the Pagan community. And there are people that will get into frothing fits of self-righteous anger every time someone mentions Fandom Wank. So the romance community isn’t the only one with mean girls, because obviously there are mean girls pretty much everywhere online. I mean, hell, there are mean girls in knitting communities, which, to me seems like the kind of activity engaged in by sweet little old ladies who you wouldn’t think would have a mean thought in their head.

Lastly, I want to talk for a moment about sisterhood. I have a sister, and so everytime anyone mentions the sisterhood with regard to romance, I start to giggle. Because let me tell you about my relationship with my sister.

I love my sister. I would give her the shirt off my back if she asked it of me. She has held me when I’ve cried, we’ve shared some laughs and there’s pretty much nothing we wouldn’t tell each other. That being said, we are the first to pick at each other. If you look on my long disused Myspace page, you will see comments from my sister. I believe one of them involves her calling me a whore. They probably all do. Because twisted as it is, that’s an expression of love. And you bet if my sister ever got caught blatantly plaigiarizing from a huge collection of sources, I would make fun of her for it endlessly, and I wouldn’t have that much sympathy for her. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t still love her to distraction, but she’d certainly understand that I disapproved. And I think that the romance community needs more of people being honest and actually saying what we think than it does all the sticking together, holding hands and singing Kum Baya.

Here’s a question for the four of you currently reading this blog.

What would the ingredients be for your perfect book that hasn’t yet been written?

Mine? I would adore reading about a very alpha man–preferably an ex-S.E.A.L.–who realizes he is a complete and total submissive and likes being ordered around by a kick-ass heroine with no annoying neuroses and no desire to go shoe-shopping.

Also, I’d love to read some feminist fantasy where the female protagonist doesn’t have to be shrill about how she is an excellent warrior/mage/insert-male-profession-here despite being a woman. I want her to be kick-ass without having to point out the setbacks she faces in her patriarchal society for being a woman.

Oh, and I want lesbian romances I would actually read. The ones I keep seeing have plots that feel too BDSM-tastic for my tastes, so I’ve tended to avoid them. But I would settle for more F/F content in general, as long as I felt like it wasn’t exploitative, or simply a prelude to the real sex0rz, which, of course, happen between a man and a woman.

Oh, and I want to read a western paranormal romance. I know Sarah McCarty, one of my favorite authors, is writing something like that, but she can’t come out with her Western werewolves soon enough for me.

In all these, I want three-demensional characters who aren’t perfect. I want convincing villains that scare the crap out of me, or internal conflict that I identify with because I understand the motivations involved.

So what about you? What are your perfect books that haven’t been published yet? Also, feel free to point out books that fit any of my criteria in the comments.

Some time ago there was a lot of discussion about how one can be a romance reader and a feminist at the same time. I’m probably going to tread over some old ground, but hey, this is my blog. If I want to repeat what more articulate souls than I am have already said, then that’s my prerogative.

For me, the best romances do tend to be very empowering for women. I love the stories where a woman gradually comes to embrace and accept her sexuality as a woman. There was a Robin Schoen story I read recently whose title escapes me at the moment, but it featured a woman essentially showing a man what she liked, and the man finding pleasure in bringing her sexual fulfillment. I understand that that’s Ms. Schoen’s typical formula, but it totally works for me. That’s one of the reasons I loved Samantha Kane’s first book, The Courage to Love. (Incidentally, I’m thinking I should revise my grade, because that story has stuck with me several days later, and I still find myself remembering certain scenes and bits of dialogue with a smile.) Anyway, at the beginning of the story, Kate is slowly healing from feeling a sense of powerlessness, but as she comes to embrace Jason and Tony, she eventually begins to revel in her sensuality, to accept that it’s her due, that she deserves happiness as a woman. The next books in the series look like they contain more of that, and I absolutely cannot wait to read more about these nearly broken women who come to grips with their sexuality and find acceptance and fairytale love. No, it could be argued, that happens so rarely in real life. But it’s not a bad thing to strive for.

Also, while I am on the tangent of women’s empowerment, I read yet another blog post yesterday about how there are too many kickass heroines. I really want to know where these books are, because I really don’t see them. In fact, I embrace the trend toward giving a heroine more power in the story. I like knowing why the hero needs the heroine and having it be for some other reason than that she’s so darn innocent. I love reading about women whose skills compliment those of the men they’re with, which is why Meljean Brook and Marjorie Liu both work for me. Lilith and Savi are kickass women, but they both compliment their partners well, and I like reading about that sort of equal partnership.

I even don’t think there’s inherently anything wrong with all those books featuring the virginal heroine and the alpha man who needs to possess her. Sure, some of them do have some fucked up misogynistic sexual politics going on, but for me, they’re also pretty hot. Christine Feehan, for example… I hate her books, but I have to admit that the stalker-y obsession that her Carpathian men have for their lifemates totally works as a fantasy for me. There’s a lot about the fated mates concept in general that *doesn’t* work for me, but the whole alpha man saying, “Not only am I going to have you, but you’re going to love it when I do.” works for me as a reader, and obviously it works for many others, and I don’t think that embracing such fantasies is necessarily an indication that one isn’t feminist enough.

There are some tropes that my inner feminist absolutely hates about romance. The rest iof the fated mates concept–where the couple can’t survive without the other half of their souls, for instance, drives me up a tree. So, too, does the overemphasis on sweet, virginal women being paired with bored rakes who take one look at the women in question and discover that they need such innocence in their lives. Because I’m not the most sexually experienced human being on the planet, and even before I lost my virginity, I don’t think I was ever that innocent. In fact, the only sweet, naive virginal people I know in real life are seriously repressed in other areas, and would not be fodder for romance.

I also think there are a lot of other genres that stereotypically treat women in misogynistic ways. Hard science fiction still doesn’t contain very many female characters at all. Fantasy has given us the trope of the gentle healer woman with empathic abilities. And why is it always the femme fatalle who hires the cynical hard-bitten detective in those old pulp mysteries? none of those things are exactly empowering, and yet it’s romance that takes the majority of the flack for not being feminist enough usually from people who haven’t rread the genre.

So yes. I’m a feminist pinko liberal and I read romance. I feel no shame in admitting to that, thank you very much!

I usually don’t write about RL when I blog, but I came to a realization today and figured I’d share it.

I’m an undergraduate student taking my second semester at a community college that’s 45 minutes away from where I live. I’m somewhat in the nontraditional student category, what with the fact that I turn 26 in two days, and since I’m unemployed, I take full-tkime classes.

My first college experience was something of a failure. I was eighteen, fresh out of high school, with no idea what I wanted to do and with a sudden realization that, hey, nobody could *make* me go to class. Naturally, once that point sank in, I quit going, and my GPA plummetted.

Now, of course, I’m older, and have been looking at finishing my B.A. degree as a contest between me and the system. I have a few handicaps–my blindness makes figuring out transportation to school, not to mention getting to my classes, something of a challenge. But last semester I walked away with a 3.75 GPA, and am pretty sure I could have actually gotten an A in the one class I got a B in if I’d studied just that little bit longer.

So now we’re at this semester, and it’s a lot harder than last semester, and I can feel myself getting determined. Some of my professors I know will be a breeze–I can pass an English Composition class in my sleep, and aside from some reading, my Global Women’s Studies class is going to be a lot of fun and fairly easy. Then there’s my World Religion class, which requires some outside field work, but I think I can find something to observe that I’ll enjoy.

And then we come to the bane of my semester, my International Relations class. I read the syllabus. I looked at the requirements for the term paper. A small part of me died inside. And then I made a decision: I’m going to hate this class with a passion I usually reserve for, say, Indian romances featuring fated mates who discover they have secret babies… And so therefore, I am going to get an A if it kills me. It might very well kill me, come to that, but political science interests me not at all, and I would be happy to never take another poli-sci class again.

So there’s my academic challenge to myself… Ace International Relations… We’ll see if I do, or if I am forced to look back here in May and cry because the class has beaten me and made me its bitch.

Here we go. Another Thursday, another Booking through Thursday entry.

How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try?

This really depends on who’s doing the reviewing and whether their tastes mesh with mine. For example, if Rosario or Lisabea give me a book rec, I am more likely to pick it up because they generally seem to look for the same sorts of things in their book reading that I do. Neither of them have let me down yet, and so I tend to give more credence to what they say than, say, some random reviewer on amazon.com. That being said, I have a book on my TBR pile which I added to the list of books I should read at some point soon because Holly over at Book Binge hated it. I don’t think Holly has bad taste in reading material, just to make that clear because I know she’s been reading. It’s just that she thought the hero of that particular book was too foppish, as I recall, and the book was set in Georgian England and she just didn’t find powdered wigs all that sexy, whereas I was intrigued, because I was tired of reading run of the mill Regencies at the time, and I got the impression the hero might be a bit less of a beefcake type than I’d been reading lately, which is all to the good. I still haven’t read the book, incidentally, which I think was called Prince of Swords by Anne Stuart, so it really could be epically bad. But I probably wouldn’t even have considered it were it not for Holly’s thoughts on it.

I also have to admit to a secret desire to try and read books that other people pretty much universally claim are bad. Cassie Edwards? I want to read her at least once, just to say I have read her. Ditto for John Norman, whose Gor books sound astoundingly awful and misogynistic, but also kind of cracky. Also ditto for Jean Aule, and I even have Clan of the Cave Bear on my ebook reader.

Thank goodness for WordPress and its ability to make posts go out at preordained times, because in real life,today I am going to be a busy girl. But since this seems to be menage week over in these parts, I wanted to get out another book review.

Title: As the Lady Wishes
Authors: December quinn and Anna J. Evans
Genre: Paranormal erotic romance
Grade: B-
Reason for Reading: I really love December’s blog, and I decided I really ought to read one of her books.

Synopsis: After escaping an abusive marriage, Lila Hayes never dreamed she’d fall into bed
with a tall, dark and domineering man like Arthur. He’s a stranger, he’s cocky as
hell, and…he seems to have emerged from the painting on her wall. From the second
she feels his touch, Lila knows she’s found the lover of her wildest fantasies.
Arthur of Sefyll is an ancient Druid, a man cursed for thousands of years to grant
the wishes of those who summon him from his enchanted rest. He’s had enough of serving
mortal whims, until he spends a night satisfying Lila’s every carnal fantasy and
losing his heart in the process.
But soon, the new lovers’ happiness is threatened by a monster from Lila’s past and
a horror from beyond the grave.
Now Arthur and Lila must convince sexy Sheriff Sam Walker to succumb to his desire
for them both and help them form a mystical threesome. Wishes are no longer enough
to keep Lila safe. Only the love of two special men can save her life — or maybe
just as importantly, mend her heart.

Summary: Lila Hayes has finally stopped running. After she left her abusive ex, she anticipates living a quiet life in Berlin, Missouri, a place where no one knows her and it’s OK that she eats French fries for dinner and ice cream for dessert. Then she accidentally summons Arthur of Sefyll, an ancient druid, from a portrait on her wall. The two form a connection, but it’s not nearly enough when enemies out of Lila’s past come after her. Only by connecting with Sam Walker, the town sheriff, can the three of them hope to defeat the evil terrorizing Lila.

My Thoughts: After having read this book right on the heels of the Samantha Kane story, I have to say that I find the dynamic of two men both in love with the same woman but unable to resist each other pretty sexy. This book features that dynamic, which is again why the relationship works for me.

I liked the characters well enough. My inner feminist probably would have preferred for Lila to be a bit less prone to cowering, but at least she wasn’t too stupid to live, and I love the idea of a woman deciding that, goddammit, she is going to eat french fries and ice cream for dinner if she wants to.

Arthur is pretty much your typical tortured hero. Being trapped in a painting will do that to a guy, I suppose, and he was surprisingly not the angst pot he could have been. I liked the additional dynamic that nobody in town could actually see him except for Lila, which made for some great awkward bits.

I adore Sam. Despite his being a cop, he’s a nice beta hero, and I like that he is the one who has to be the most comfortable with the relationship he and Arthur and Lila are building.

The other thing that worked for me were the villains. There were a few moustache-twirling moments when I couldn’t entirely take them seriously, but they were nicely creepy, which is a refreshing change, since, love most of the authors I’ve been reading as much as I do, I haven’t run across a really good villain in a while.

In rfact, I really just love the whole idea of horror and romance as a nice counterpoint to one another. It’s very appealing, and I would love to see more books written in this vein.

Naturally, there were quibbles. I had to put my ebook reader down at one point to go on with my non-reading activities and ended up forgetting Lila’s name, never a good sign. I also thought that a lot of things got glossed over that maybe shouldn’t have. I’d have liked to see more scenes between the three characters, quiet moments where we could be shown, rather than told, why these people loved each other.

My other quibble is relatively minor, but enough to take this book down to a B-. There were a couple of anal sex scenes in which the lube was very much not mentioned at all. All I have to say there is OMG, ouch!

Overall, this was a pleasant read. It’s sexy, and there are some really creepy bad guys, and the characters, while not the most memorable ever, are at least not made out of cardboard.

Title: The Courage to Love
Author: Samantha Kane
Genre: historical erotic romance
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: Three of my favorite bloggers have squeed endlessly about this series, and after I read Teddy Pig’s excellent review of menage a trois in romantic erotica, I was compelled to actually move Samantha Kane farther up on my TBR list.
Synopsis: Kate Collier is still recovering from a vicious rape and trying to make a success
of her dress shop when Jason Randal and Anthony Richards return to London from the
Continent, intent on winning her. She’s known them for years, ever since they served
with her late husband in the Peninsula against Napoleon. She’d been in love with
them for almost that long. To discover they feel the same is a shock, but Kate isn’t
ready to turn her life back over to a man, or men.
Jason and Tony prove hard to resist, however, especially when their close friendship
blossoms into desire for each other as they make Kate’s body burn with passion. The
combination of their insatiable desire for her and their journey into a sexual relationship
with one another is irresistible to Kate.
A nightmare from her past tries to keep them apart, but the three long for a life
together in spite of society’s censure, and they will not be denied.

My Thoughts: Well, I haven’t quite been converted to fangirl status yet, but I did like this a lot. In fact, this book holds the dubious distinction of being the best menage story I have ever read. Take that however you want, since I’ve maybe read three other menage stories, and this was leagues and leagues above the others I’ve tried.

What I liked best about this book were the characters. I felt that all three of them were drawn with skill, and each was a real three-demensional person, not just the physical embodiment of the sexual characteristics that were needed to make the scene work.

Kate has had one hell of a tough road. She was forced to become the mistress of one man after another after her husband’s death, until she is brutally raped by the last protector she had… and, like, half the rest of the ton. (Yes, I said the ton. Ms. Kane has sold me on her warped, gay-friendly version of Regency England!) Anyway, after that experience, Kate is trying to heal her battered self-confidence and reclaim her femininity. She is reluctant to pursue what Jason and Tony have in mind for her, because she doesn’t want to get herself hurt again. As a heroine, she worked for me, because I could understand and sympathize with her motivations, but sometimes even for me she sometimes had a tendency to be overly shrill.

Jason is the passionate member of their little triad. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he is alpha to the core. He is, however, not an asshole, and is in fact a great big teddy bear. I came to adore this man, and I totally saw why Tony and Kate would, too, because I would so very much not kick him out for eating crackers in bed. I also loved that he is a dominant, yet is as much surprised by that fact as everyone else is.

Tony is the diplomat, the calm and reasonable one, the one who is the master at manipulating people. And yet, even he comes to realize things about himself, namely that he’s not nearly so straight as he thought he was, and also he’s a submissive at heart.

The secondary characters are also drawn well. I wasn’t really expecting that, since in most of the erotic romance I’ve read, secondary characters are merely filler. But I loved watching Kate’s relationship with her niece, Veronica, who I understand will be a recurring character. I even thought there was a rather deft bit of characterization done on Jason’s snooty mother. Any of these people could have just been random stock characters, but they weren’t.

There really isn’t much of a plot to this book, which is fine. It was very character-driven, and every time I had a question about why the characters behaved a certain way, Ms. Kane answered it. There is a threat to the couple’s happiness, but it was pretty minimal and dealt with quickly.

I do have some quibbles, though. First of all, the writing style felt a tad clunky at times, and the characters spend a lot of time emoting rather than actually just, y’know, talking. I also thought the sequel-baiting wasn’t very well done. Most of the characters we are going to see in future books have neon signs over their heads reading, “I am sequel bait! Buy my book next!”
Also, there is one scene in which Veronica, Kate’s niece, ends up getting fingered by a random friend of Jason and Tony’s. It’s obvious that these two are going to become a couple later, because after their little encounter, they start bickering. Anyway, I mention the scene because Veronica’s not quite seventeen, and the scene might make some uncomfortable.

In conclusion, I did enjoy this book. It was nice visiting Ms. Kane’s version of Regency England, and I will definitely be back at some point for the sequels. Recommended, in spite of its flaws, which hopefully will disappear as Kane’s writing improves.

Well… damn!

Turns out my favorite author I’ve never actually read, December Quinn has a new release on Wednesday. I should be good and not buy it, because I am trying to work on being a model of frugality and thriftiness, but I want!

I know. I asked for funny book recs yesterday and then went on to read something nobody mentioned. Oh, well. I’m still very glad I read this.

Title: The Givenchy Code
Author: Julie Kenner
Genre: Romantic suspense
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: I’ve actually wanted to try Julie Kenner fora while, because her books looked like fun, and I needed a buffer book before I tackled the next Meljean Brook book. This one seemed short, funny and a quick read, so I went with it.

Synopsis: Everyone has weaknesses. Graduate-student Melanie “Mel” Prescott’s happen to be haute
couture shoes and complex codes, and who knew one would be the key to staying alive.
When Mel first received a coded message from the tall, dark, and scary stranger,
she thought one of her friends was kidding her, especially after she decoded the
message, which read, “Play or die.” But Mel quickly discovers the message is no joke
and that she has somehow become involved in a real-life version of the Internet game
of Play.Survive.Win. Now Mel is going to need all of her code-cracking skills, and
the help of sexy Matthew Stryker, if she wants to stay one step ahead of an assassin
who won’t stop playing until Mel is dead. A fabulously fun heroine with a math-geek’s
mind and a passion for fashion outwits and outplays a ruthless killer in the latest
ingenious literary creation from Kenner, whose sharp sense of wit is the perfect
accessory for this chic blend of chick lit and thriller.
John Charles
My Thoughts: I really liked this book. Most chick lit doesn’t appeal to me, because I am very much not a girlie girl. I wear worn-out tennis shoes, of which I only have two pairs, I only go clothes shopping under duress, and I wouldn’t know a designer label if it smacked me over the head, so the premise of most chick lit baffles me, because I wouldn’t know how to relate to the types of women who frequent these books in real life if my life depended on it. So I was grateful when I found that I liked Mel. She’s a fun heroine, and though she did do one thing I thought she shouldn’t have so we could have had the last climactic action scene, I mostly liked her. She was funny and self-effacing and a bit snarky, but she didn’t try too hard to be any of those things.

Also, I loved Striker. Loved him in a way that I am tempted to channel my inner Holly, and wax rhapsodic about the many and varied reasons he worked as a hero for me. He was tough, he was confident, and I detected a vulnerability when it came to Mel that I just adored. Plus, we get enough hints into his past that I understood his tortured soul. Plus, it really helped that while Mel thinks he’s hot, she doesn’t spend large sections of the book squeeing over his hotness. Which was, I must admit, a refreshing change from some books I’ve read.

I wasn’t sure that I would buy the romance at the end of the book, because all told the action takes place over a period of days, and most of the time Mel and Striker are running all over creation. But it did work for me, mostly because the characters are both aware of the circumstances that make theirs an odd relationship and react normally.

The plot was also a lot of fun. I could tell that Ms. Kenner knew New York well, and I was engaged, trying in my own former English major-y way to solve the codes, too. The fact that Ms. Kenner kept me as a reader stumped says a lot for the fact that she really has written some smart protagonists, because I always figure if I can solve the mystery before the protagonists do, it’s not a very good mystery.

My quibbles are personal, but they were enough to bring this book out of A territory. I really dislike the use of a mixture of first and third person. It always leaves me feeling the story’s a bit disjointed, and that feeling didn’t go away in this book’s case.

I also have to say, I found the name Matthew Striker just a tad cheesy, and the villain, not to mention the mysterious originator of the game were even worse. Striker I gradually forgave his cheesiness, given that I came to adore him, but the villains had some eye-rolling moments for me.

Overall, this was very much an enjoyable book, and definitely recommended.

I feel like I’m the world’s biggest wanker, but I’m going to whine about this anyway. Despite the fact that I have books out the wazoo that I need to read, I have no idea what to start next. This always happens to me after I finish a great book, and then the next book I read gets penalized in my head for not being the last book I read.

So obviously this means the next book I read should be something that isn’t a paranormal romance, because that way I will be less likely to penalize the author for not being Meljean Brook.

Also, there’s the fact that Friday at 4:30, I received some rather upsetting news about the status of my financial aid this semester. Naturally, of course, I can’t do anything about it until Monday, so I’m trying to avoid stewing and worrying and making the problem out to be way more than it actually is. So I need a distraction. I think I really want to read something funny, so if anyone has any recs for books that made you giggle uncontrolably, please to be leaving them in the comments.

Title: Demon Angel
Author: Meljean Brook
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Grade: A-
Reason for reading: Originally, I just thought the premise looked like fun. Then I decided to make January Meljean Brook Appreciation Month around these parts, which required the supreme sacrifice of reading Ms. Brook’s backlist, starting with this one.

Synopsis: For two thousand years, Lilith wrought vengeance upon the evil and the damned, gathering
souls for her father’s armies Below and proving her fealty to her Underworld liege.
Bound by a bargain with the devil and forbidden to feel pleasure, she draws upon
her dark powers and serpentine grace to lead men into temptation. That is, until
she faces her greatest temptation—Heaven’s own Sir Hugh Castleford…
Once a knight and now a Guardian, Hugh spent centuries battling demons—and the cursed,
blood-drinking nosferatu. His purpose has always been to thwart the demon Lilith,
even as he battles his treacherous hunger for her. But when a deadly alliance unleashes
a threat to both humans and Guardians in modern-day San Francisco, angel and demon
must fight together against unholy evil—and against a desire that has been too long
denied…
Who will be the first to succumb?

My Thoughts: I really, really loved this book. Ms. Brook writes an intelligent and meaty romance with two extremely compelling characters. No staples from central casting, our Hugh and Lilith are fully realized characters with some large obstacles to surmount.

First of all, as I’ve said on countless occasions and will continue to say, I need for a romance to have a compelling heroine. If the hero’s hot, that’s great, but since I’m not crazy about reading about walking wish fulfillment fantasies, I need the heroine to have substance. Lilith completely does. In fact, she’s a wonderfully refreshing change from the sweet little flowers of gentle innocence and purity that seem all too prevalent in romancelandia. Lilith is wicked, unashamedly so. She does grow and realize she is capable of kindness, but in the end she is essentially still Lilith. She is not subsumed by Hugh’s will, and in actuality she remained the more compelling of the two throughout.

I did like Hugh quite a lot. I liked his goodness, and I liked that he faces quite a bit of self-doubt. Some authors would have made him a total prig, but Brook makes him extremely likeable. And Lilith and Hugh together? OMG, hot hot hot!
There was a fair bit of sequel-baiting, but I found both Colin and Savi to be well-drawn secondary characters as well, and it was a refreshing change not to have a sudden influx of buff guardian men each of whom had more angsty pasts than the last. It was also a lot of fun to watch the banter between Hugh, Lilith and Colin, and to feel that there really was a connection between all of these people. And while I’m squeeing about secondary characters, Sir Pup, Lilith’s hellhound, might possibly be the best sentient animal companion type character I’ve read in a long time, and that takes a lot, since I hate that trope in books not written for teenage girls.

The plot takes a while to get going as the first part of the book is essentially a ginormous prologue to get things set up for the second half of the book. But by the time the action officially starts in the second half of the book, it does not relent. I kept reading, compelled to see what would happen to Hugh and Lilith and how their situation would be resolved. It is also one of the few books I’ve read recently that might stand up to a second reading. I’m pretty sure I missed some subtleties of the plot and characterization that I would catch in further readings.

The dialogue is also crisp and feels authentic to the characters, and again, I loved that Lilith occasionally swore like a sailor, because real women do occasionally feel the need to say fuck.

But, sadly, I did have quibbles. Mostly, they were quibbles that are reader specific. I was able to put the book down and walk away from it several times, and I thought the plot took too long to really engage me. And there was a trope used here that I really have come to dislike in urban fantasy and paranormal romance, that being that all the humans seem to react to the knowledge that there are guardians, demons, vampires and nosferatu with way more aplomb than I thought was appropriate. Nobody is startled, there’s not really much of a “WTF!” reaction, and people just accept everything with a shrug and move on. Of course, that sort of thing is not exclusive to Ms. Brook, but it still bothers me.

Overall, though this book didn’t have me in raptures, the fact that I loved the characters and the universe Ms. Brook has created means I would recommend it highly.

I needed a break and I wanted pr0n, so I decided I would finish this book since it’s been languishing half finished in the bowels of my TBR for a long time.

Title: Christina’s Tapestry
Author: N. J. Walters
Genre: Fantasy erotic romance
Grade: C-
Reason for Reading: When I first got into ebooks, I subscribed to Ellora’s Cave’s chat loop. N. J. Walters was a frequent poster, and I’m sure she posted an excerpt, and I was intrigued enough to decide I wanted to try her out.
Synopsis taken from the Elloras Cave website: Christina Beaumont impulsively buys an expensive tapestry that she sees in a shop
window, having no idea how that one action will change her life. The magical tapestry
not only transports her to Javara, a world that resembles medieval Earth, but also
into the arms of two massive warriors who both want to claim her.
Jarek and Marc, Brothers of the House of Garen, are elated to discover the tapestry
has delivered Christina to them. Women are scarce in their world, so the men of a
family must compete for the right to be her husband. But before she can choose, Christina
first has to experience the lovemaking of both brothers, separately and together.
Jarek and Marc use all their considerable sexual skills to pleasure her in ways she’s
never imagined.
But the tapestry also offers another choice. Christina could return to her own world.
Jarek and Marc join forces to convince Christina to stay with them even as they fight
a rival family for the right to keep her as their very own.

My Thoughts: This is not the worst menage story I have ever read. No, that honor goes to something written by Rachel Bo, which was about some guy reuniting with his two former lovers after finding out that his son was happily experiencing the menage lifestyle thanks to having had a book of his own. Anyway, I started this book shortly after I finished that one, and was not favorably impressed enough to continue, and have basically put off reading menage books since then, although Lisabea has convinced me to give Samantha Kane a chance. Anyway, my main issue with the idea of menage stories is that I don’t always buy the character dynamics and, having actually known polyamorous people in RL and done a fair bit of research on the topic, it’s the sort of thing about which I probably unreasonably expect some realism.
Realism, sadly, is not something that occurs with any real frequency in this book. The characters are out of central casting, from Christina, who practically wears a neon sign shouting, “I am a placeholder for you, the reader!” to her suitors, Jarek and Marc. Jarek is the big, tough bad boy, while Marc is the charming rogue, although Marc’s charm wore off when at one point he thinks something like, “Jarek might have had her mouth and pussy first, but he would be the first to take her ass.” (It was this point which pretty much made me abandon the book for months until I came back to it tonight.

The writing is equally wooden throughout, and it actually got to be something I noticed after a while. There was also a fair bit of showing and not telling, such that I couldn’t follow the thought processes that allowed Christina to decide which man she was choosing. I also found the sequel-baiting far more noticeable here than I prefer, given that the story is fairly short. And the menage thing wasn’t really resolved to my satisfaction either. A solution was broached, but it wasn’t one that I personally would have been comfortable with, and so I can’t imagine any character being OK with it.

There were moments that did work for me. Christina, despite not being the world’s most memorable character, at least doesn’t spout off pop culture references every five seconds. She also does the right amount of WTF-ing at the situation into which she’s been thrust. The sex scenes were also pretty tittilating, although after a bit I thought they got a tad repetitive.

Overall, though, I don’t think the fantasy fulfillment aspect of this story quite makes up for stilted writing and poorly drawn characters. I have been told there are better menage books out there, and I think it would probably be better to find one of them.

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Booking Through Thursday.

1. How did you come across your favorite author(s)? Recommended by a friend? Stumbled
across at a bookstore? A book given to you as a gift?

Mostly, I stumble upon my favorite authors by accident or through recommendations of some type or other. I discovered Lois McMaster Bujold after everybody and their sister exclaimed over the fact that, as someone who loves science fiction, I had not read any of her work. And I believe that I checked out George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” books from the library on a whim. But these days, my favorite new discoveries have come from review sites. I would like to think I’d have picked up a Meljean Brook or a Nalini Singh book without review blogs, but it would have taken me a while.

2. Was it love at first sight? Or did the love affair evolve over a long acquaintance?

That depends on the author. Honestly, both Lois McMaster Bujold and George R. R. Martin started out slow for me, so I gradually had to work up to loving their books. Charles de Lint wrote some books I absolutely adored, but some of his later work leaves me a bit cold–it’s all the switching back and forth between first and third person POV that gets me. And I haven’t read enough from the handful of romance authors I adore to list them as favorites yet.

Ugh. School starts back up in about a week, including my Global Women’s Studies class. Given that feminism and romance novel reading tend to result in kerfuffles of ginormous proportion, we’ll see how long it takes for the phrase “perpetuating patriarchal misogyny” to come up in conversation.

In other news, I do believe that Lilith of Demon Angel by Meljean Brook might be one of my favorite romance heroines of all time. Ever. I have a serious girl crush on this chick. I love her unashamed wickedness and her complete badassery.I do not want this book to be over, though I’m determined to finish it before the week is out so I can say I’ve been productive instead of, well, the complete lazy slob I, in fact, am.

Oh, and in Cassie Edwards: Plaigiarizer or simply misunderstood news, the situation has made Fandom Wank. I personally liked their summary of things, although that could just be because pointing and laughing at trainwrecks amuses the hell out of me. However, my favorite F_W comment is this one, in which rowleyorama suggests some further self-plaigiarizing Ms. Edwards could do. (Quoted here for the link-impaired, safe in the knowledge that I’ve sited my sources.)

“I am having a divine vision of her 2008 novel Savage Wank:
“His penis, majestic, was a long, narrow structure, fashionable and appearing to
be sixty feet or more in length and about twenty feet wide. The balls were beautifully
rounded and the sack gracefully arched. The snow-white thighs were decorate with
striking totemic designs in brilliant harmonious colors. Slow spirals of splooge
rose from one of the four and landed on an Indian guard standing by the door.”

Disclaimer: Yes, plaigiarism is important. No, I don’t think it’s especially funny. But some of the reactions to the situation are pretty laughable.

I have no content for you today, because I lack motivation to do much more than contemplate the idea that I should do something productive. I meant to immerse myself in Meljean Brook’s Demon Angel which will require lengthy squeeful posts later, but mostly I’ve been blogsurfing.

• Just a reminder, today is Man love Monday The link contains awesome book recs and hot men for people who ppreciate some eye candy.

• In more serious news, the Smart Bitches have uncovered some serious cutting and pasting done by romance author Cassie Edwards. You can find links to the original posts from the summary at Dear Author. I’d link to the posts themselves from here, but the SBTB site has been kind of wonky for me today. I feel awful for the people whose works Ms. Edwards copied and pasted from, but I have to admit that what I really love about these posts every time they come up is that everyone has his or her unique way to spell the word “plaigiarism.”
• One of my favorite author bloggers, December Quinn has a thought-provoking post about sex in American culture. I mostly agree with her, although a lack of sleep makes it difficult for me to formulate a more cogent response.
• Last but not least, completely off-topic, my mom sent me a link to a blog written by her neighbor. I’ve been reading the archives, and I just want to say that I wish I could be half as funny and passionate as Amy is.