Flight into Fantasy

You wouldn’t think that Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet and V C Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic would be two tastes that would taste great together, would you?

Well, you would be wrong.

This was my favorite offering from this year’s Yuletide. It becomes even more awesome when you consider that the fic was written for me by one of my BFF’s!

P.S. In other random news, I’ve decided that my best of 2009 list is not getting written. Just go out and read Tender Morsels , which I didn’t ever manage to review, and you’ll have read my favorite book of 2009. (Sadly, no one wrote Tender Morsels fic for Yuletide. Next year, however…)

Well, tomorrow, it’s finally here. The 24-hour Readathon is tomorrow, and I am stoked.

Unfortunately, I have plans for a large part of the day, and I can’t pull an all-nighter because I have essays to write for school, but I am going to read as much as I can and cheer everyone else on.

Not sure how I’m going to update you all on my progress. I guess we’ll see how I’m feeling about blogging in general. I do know I’ll be tweeting a lot, so feel free to follow my updates if you don’t already. Also, be sure to check out the #readathon hash tag to see what other participants have to say.

It’s going to be an awesome time, and I can’t wait to participate.

The only book I know for sure I’m going to read is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, because I’m a little over halfway through and I think I can knock it out. As for other books, I have no idea. It will be a surprise!

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

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

The blurb:

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

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

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

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

And everything Casey has ever known is turned upside down.

You can even read an excerpt here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KU BEAT MEMPHIS IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NCAA GAME!

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

I’ll be posting a review later today of Ann Aguirre’s awesome debut print novel, Grimspace. Did I mention that this book is awesome? Because it is awesome. And it’s exactly the sort of book I’ve been wanting to read for a while–something that would keep me interested and hooked even when I put it down in favor of other things. And I think I’m the only reviewer yet who’s had a chance to read the book that’s read much sci-fi, and I’ve got to say that both as a romance reader and a science fiction reader, I am not disappointed in either of the book’s featured genres.

Anyway, later this month, around the book’s actual release, I’ll be posting an interview with Ann, and we’ll be giving away two copies of the book. One will be a signed copy that Ann has generously offered up. The other will be the copy that I would have bought from Amazon if I’d, you know, been able to read a print book purchased from Amazon in the first place.

I’ve been considering posting reviews of music that most people haven’t heard of here on the blog as well. Unfortunately, I don’t even know how I would write such a review, because I know even less about music than I do about books, so if I decide y’all need my thoughts on music, I’ll have to make something up really quick.

But anyway, today I was listening to Mountain Stage on the XM Public Radio station and they had a segment on with Susan Werner who is a singer/songwriter I should clearly be listening to more often. Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s her latest CD, but she’s got a fairly recent album called The Gospel Truth It is described as the first ever agnostic gospel album, and I really loved the selections that she played on the show. In fact, I decided right away that I need to own this CD like right now, which goes to show you that I am not just an obsessive fangirl over books.

Sorry… I’m not spreading the man love today.

I saw that Marg nominated me for a You Make My Day award. If I were smart, I would paste a graphic illustrating this in my blog, but I’m not, so no graphics.

Anyway, I’m supposed to nominate ten people, too, right? So here goes.

• Lisabea is number one, because she made me feel welcome when I switched from LJ and started blogging over here, and I love that when she’s enthusiastic, she *really* gets into what she’s talking about.

• Teddy Pig introduces me to books I’d never read ordinarily, and though we don’t always agree, it’s nice to have a champion for the rights of blind ebook readers out there in romancelandia.
• Melissa, who is one of my best friends and a girl who’s always got my back. Er, not that she’ll ever see this, but she rocks hardcore.
• Holly, who is getting married which is way cool. I’d love to get to know her better, because she seems like an awesome chick.
• A. and K. because I love their animal stories, and I’m probably totally butchering that URL, but they’re still awesome, and plus they know my parents.
• Rosario, my reading twin, because we agree so much.
• Sybil, even though I owe her a review
• Tumperkin, who writes some lovely thoughtful posts in a style that I very much enjoy reading.
• Bev QB, because I like her blog, and even though we disagree in principle about what we like, her reviews are just a lot of fun to read.
• Dakota, who I thought would want to tar and feather me for her B- review, but she didn’t.
• Meredith, because I like her book reviews and she needs to post more regularly.

Wow, spreading the love has made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Too bad my next post is one where I get my hate on for a book.

Tomorrow, I will be posting my first ever author interview, as well as my first ever contest.

“But Shannon,” you may be asking yourself. “Who’s the guest author and what’s the contest?”

Well, I’m so glad you asked, because the guest author is none other than the lovely and talented Dakota Cassidy, whose first novel with Berkeley Sensation, The Accidental Werewolf comes out today. In addition to my posting an interview with Dakota in which I ask all the hard-hitting questions (at least all the hard-hitting questions that occurred to me at 1 A.M. last Saturday night), I’ll be holding a contest and giving away a copy of the book to one lucky commenter.

Incidentally, here’s the synopsis of the book, just to give you something to chew on, and I’ll be posting a review later tonight.

When Marty Andrews gets bitten by a mangy mutt while walking her teacup poodle, her blond hair darkens, the hair on her legs starts growing at an alarming rate, and her mood swings put her dream job as a sales rep for Bobbie-Sue Cosmetics in serious jeopardy. Then a drool-worthy man shows up at her door claiming that he accidentally bit Marty. And since he’s a werewolf, she is now, too. Thinking Keegan Flaherty is clearly insane, Marty refuses to believe a word until a kidnapping makes her realize there’s more at stake than just her highlights. And she must put her out-of-control life in the hands of the man who makes her blood run wild in more ways than one…

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!

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’m still futzing around with importing stuff, but I wanted to make sure I at least got in a bit of new content, so here, have my top ten favorite male and female characters I’ve met this year.

ETA: Duh. It might help if I listed the books from which these characters came. What, you couldn’t read my mind? How silly of you!
Top Five Female Characters

• 1. Eve Dallas from the In Death series by J. D. Robb – Loved her, flaws and all. She is strong and kicks ass, and yet, she is still very much a vulnerable woman.

• 2. Elli Quinn from the Miles Vorkosigan books – She keeps growing on me the longer I read the Vorkosigan books. She’s funny and snarky, and can shoot off a grenade launcher when she needs to. What’s not to love?
• 3. Phoebe Somerville from Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s It Had to Be You – I was a little bit anxious about being able to relate to someone who regularly carries around a miniature poodle, but I loved Phoebe’s vulnerability, and I loved that she just wanted to make people happy, including herself, and she really didn’t know how to do that.
• 4. Dela Rheese from Marjorie Liu’s Tiger Eye – Spunky, again kick-ass, and someone who very definitely had relationships aside from the hero.
• 5. Sascha Duncan from Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation – She considered herself an aberration, someone who felt emotions even though she wasn’t supposed to. She could have been a cold, evil bitch who was hard to deal with, but she wasn’t.

Top Five Male Characters

Depending on how much I need to procrastinate, there may be more of my top picks of the past year posted later, but for now, I’ll start out and simply list my favorite books overall.

I had a really good reading year, and discovered a lot of new authors, largely thanks to following romance reader blogs, and in so doing I discovered a lot of excellent books. But here are my top ten, in no particular order.

• 1. Naked in Death by J. D. Robb – I’d put off this series for a couple of years, because the number of books written about Eve Dallas is still fairly staggering. But I’m glad I finally took the opportunity to start the series. Eve and Roarke are great characters with great chemistry, and I love the futuristic world Robb has conujured for them.

• 2. Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh – This one was definitely brought to my attention because of the blogs I read. Singh’s alternate universe is one of the most creative I’ve read in a while, and she brings together two very likeable people who deserve happiness.
• 3. The Elvenbane by Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton – This is wonderful epic fantasy. The sequel was a serious disappointment, but the first book delivered a rivveting story with characters I came to love.
• 4. Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold – This is my favorite Miles Vorkosigan book so far. I just adore him, and I love watching him extricate himself from his various adventures. Plus, I admit that a large part of why this is my favorite in the Vorkosigan saga is because of Elli Quinn, who kicks so much ass in this book.
• 5. Pirate’s Price by Darlene Marshall. I chose to read this book back in March, and I don’t think I posted a full-fledged review, but it’s the sort of book that I can still remember even months later, and it features a heroine I absolutely adore.
• 6. Tiger Eye by Marjorie Liu – This is paranormal romance that works equally well as urban fantasy. What I liked about this book was the fact that the hero and heroine are seen evolving in the way they relate to each other, starting out wary and then growing to fall in love. I also really liked the fact that Dela doesn’t suffer from what I call the April O’Neil syndrome. We see her interactions with the sequel-baits in a way that feels as if these people really do have connections with each other. She isn’t coddled or protected, she fights when she needs to, but she also allows herself some vulnerability.
• 7. Wild at Heart by Patricia Gaffney – Another book that worked very well for me, set in a time period that isn’t explored very often, 1890’s Chicago. Sydney and Michael were three-demensional characters and we got to watch their attraction build, and overall theres was a very sweet love story.
• 8. It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips – I really was skeptical about reading anything by SEP. The plot summaries make her books seem really wacky, and I am really not a fan of wacky. What I got instead was a sweet romance with funny moments about two people who both needed to find that special person in the other.
• 9. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas – This was a very sweet story about two very different people who realize they need each other. Derek Craven isn’t one of the gentry, and it was nice to read about some of the lower-class members of London society. And though I am distinctly in the minority from what I’ve read, I really loved Sarah, probably more than Derek.
• 10. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase – This book nearly didn’t make the cut. I remember thinking the book was pretty OK when I read it, but not the OMGBESTROMANCEEVAH! Then I spent some months reading vastly inferior books. Jess and Dain are well-suited. Their chemistry is excellent, I love their banter back and forth, and I loved watching Dain grow up over the course of the story. It was wonderful to see a heroine be who wasn’t a complete nitwit, and I wish there were more heroines represented in the stuff I read like Jessica Trent.