Flight into Fantasy

Hi, Internets,

I know, I know. I haven’t been blogging for a while, and now I’m going to post a book review like I expect you to just be OK with my flakiness and forgive me. What can I say? Flakiness is part of my charm.

Anyway, lately I have been absorbed in what I lovingly refer to as werewolf pr0n. (And won’t that make for some fun search results?) I plan to talk about two of my werewolf pr0n reads in this post, and if you come back later, you could win a fabulous prize, which should, in itself, be insentive for you to put up with my blather.

Anyway, the Red Rock Pass series by Moira Rogers is far more than just werewolf pr0n. And I’m not just saying that because I think Bree and Donna are the bee’s knees. There is plenty of smut to be found in the books, but there’s also political intrigue, werewolf politics, and witty banter, and if you don’t like any of those things, then I really don’t know why you’re here.

I had read the first book in the series a couple of years ago, and so when I went to catch up on the series I’d found that I’d forgotten a lot. And this isn’t good, since the second book picks the action right up.

Sanctuary Lost is the second book in the series. Brynn Adler and her sister Abby have been living in Red Rock Pass for a few weeks now. Red Rock Pass is basically a safe place for newly turned werewolves, because their pack alphas aren’t overbearing, power-hungry jerks. But that’s not quite enough for Brynn. She hates that the events of the first book have made her afraid, and she hates that her humanity leaves her vulnerable. She is also inexorably drawn to Joe, one of the stronger members of the pack, and the feelings are mutual. Brynn wants Joe to help her through the transition into becoming a werewolf, but Joe’s been down that road, and it wasn’t very pretty. Plus, if that weren’t enough, the werewolves who were after Brynn and Abby in the first book are back. And soon the pack is dealing with another complication in the form of Sasha, an apprentice witch whose mentor was savagely attacked and killed and who now seeks sanctuary in Red Rock.

A lot is going on in this book, and if you wait a year and a half like I did in between reading the first and second book, it will take some getting used to. I eventually pieced together who everyone was, and found myself devouring the book in a matter of hours. The werewolf politics were absolutely gripping stuff, and I liked the addition of witches into the mix.

That being said, the romance was kind of weak. It’s not that Brynn and Joe were bad characters, because they’re not. And they did have chemistry, and I wasn’t unsatisfied by the way they got together. But there wasn’t really anything unique or fresh about them as a couple. Having read the book a few weeks ago, I’m hard pressed to remember any particular scenes between the two of them that stood out.

That being said, one of the things I did enjoy was Brynn’s relationship with her sister. It is complicated. Brynn is kind of a rebel, and Abby has always been there to mother her. Brynn chafes at this, but her love for her sister is very obvious. In short, it was a very realistic sister dynamic. As someone who is close to my own sister, I love reading about other close sister bonds.

One last thing. I also appreciated that long-lasting romance doesn’t make couples invulnerable. There was a heartbreaking scene featuring Abby and Keith from the first book that surprised me, because I hadn’t been expecting any further complications in their relationship.

While I enjoyed Sanctuary :Lost , I loved Sanctuary’s Price. And I can express my love in two words: beta hero.

You see, Internets, I am that rare breed of romance reader that would rather read about vulnerable men than men who always kick ass with no difficulty. And Dylan Gennaro is that man. He came from the evil pack that’s been bothering Brynn and Abby, and now in Red Rock he’s something of a local hero, having had a shining moment of badassery at the end of Sanctuary Lost. This is a first for him. In his old pack, he was pretty much beaten into submission, having to always hide his wolfish instincts, so he’s got a lot of scars.

Sasha, the witch we met in the previous book, also has scars. She’s been thrust into this world without her mentor, and the wolves need her magic. When the pack alphas ask Sasha and Dylan to work together to study some pack lore, they find themselves fighting their attraction. Then, a wolf pack in Maine finds itself in trouble, and there are vampires causing havoc, so it’s road trip time, during which time Sasha and Dylan must evaluate their feelings and make some difficult choices.

Right. So I’ve talked about Dylan, and he really made this book for me. And while I did not love Sasha, I did like her a lot. I liked that they were both two very wounded people who needed each other to recover from their various emotional scars. That kept the power balance in the romance on an even keel, which made me believe in the romance arc.

There’s a lot going on, plot-wise. Again, I don’t think this is a standalone book, and yet again, Rogers doesn’t insult the reader’s intelligence. We’re expected to keep up with the twists and turns and the nonstop action. And some of that action makes certain events feel a bit rushed. But I didn’t mind. These books are quick reads, and the fourth book, Sanctuary Unbound, comes out tomorrow, so I won’t have to wait a year to catch up with the Red Rock crew.

A note to my blind readers: Samhain Publishing offers romance ebooks of all genres that are DRM-free and reasonably priced. If werewolf politics are not your thing, explore the site. You will find something there you like, if you’re into romance at all!

In the meantime, for everyone, stay tuned. You could win a copy of Sanctuary Unbound if you come back in a few hours. And you know you want some free books.

Whenever I tell people they shouldn’t paint romance novels with the same brush, I inevitably end up recommending Marjorie M Liu. I’ve been a huge fan of her Dirk and Steele series of paranormal romantic thrillers since I first read them a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I’m not caught up with the series. I tend to hoarde books from my favorite authors, which is why it’s taken me this long to read Eye of Heaven, the fifth book in the Dirk and Steele series.

The premise: The members of Dirk and Steele are all people with special abilities. Blue Perreneau, an electrokenetic, is no exception. He’s been tracking Santoso, a human flesh peddler, but is injured before he can affect a capture. After he recovers, he is summoned to the bedside of his dying father, who wants Blue to recover the half-brother he didn’t know about. If Blue, who has always had an adversarial relationship with his father, to put it mildly, doesn’t do this, then his father will make sure that Dirk and Steele’s dealings are compromised. So Blue tracks his brother to Las Vegas, where he’s working for a small circus. Blue joins the circus as an electrician, and almost immediately meets Iris McGillis, a leopard shapeshifter. But it’s not all glitz and glamor, as there are people who very badly want to use Blue and Iris for their own ends.

What I appreciate about Ms. Liu’s writing is that there’s always stuff happening. I’m never bored when I read her books, and this one was no exception. There’s a lot going on in this book, and I found the mystery and thriller elements quite riveting for the most part. I honestly didn’t know how Ms. Liu was going to resolve the plot threads she put into place, and there were a few twists I really enjoyed. For the most part, everything is resolved satisfactorily, although not every thread worked for me. There was, for example, an element of tension having to do with a couple from a previous book that I thought would make for some interesting moral quandries, but that plot thread was literally solved with a deus ex machina. And there were a few times where I rolled my eyes as yet another set of goons attempted to kidnap Iris. It seemed like she was either about to be kidnapped, in danger of being kidnapped, kidnapped, or recovering from being kidnapped throughout the book.

The romance element also works well for me. It’s not very explicit–at least compared to other books I’ve read–but I bought the chemistry between Iris and Blue. It didn’t even bother me that they declared their love within a few days of knowing each other, because those were some action-packed days, what with all the kidnapping going on.

I haven’t talked much about the characters. Iris is awesome. Being a leopard shape-shifter, she has an affinity for the big cats she performs with. But, aside from the cats, all she’s known in life is her mother, who disappeared two years ago with little explanation. That combination of toughness and vulnerability always works for me, and this time was no exception. I also appreciated that, while Iris does get kidnapped an awful lot, she never brings it on herself by doing something mind-numbingly stupid.

Blue is also great. He’s not my favorite Dirk and Steele hero–that title goes to the very bookish gargoyle hero of The Wild Road , but Blue is interesting in his own right. I liked reading about his struggles to come to terms with his relationship with his father. By the end of the book, he understands the man a little better, though he’s still got a few issues. And the relationship between Blue and his brother, Daniel, works very well and comes about quite naturally.

The secondary characters are also, for the most part, very interesting. I found Iris’s mother fascinating for reasons that would involve spoilers, and even Blue’s father isn’t a complete villain. Daniel also has a lot to deal with, and I hope we’re not done seeing the last of him. Former Dirk and Steele heroes also make brief appearances–not enough to disrupt the flow of the story but their presence definitely provides something to the plot.

If you’re interested in this series, each book stands perfectly well on its own. They don’t need to be read in order, though, series purist that I am, I always feel that books are better enjoyed if you read them in order.

This isn’t my favorite entry into the series. But it’s great for those who like thrills in addition to their romances. The leads are likeable, there’s a lot of action, and the world-building is excellent. I rate this one a strong B.

Other Opinions

• All About Romance

I haven’t been listing my book reading of late so I have a lot to post.
Book 32: Needful Things by Stephen King. Well-written, though not one of his better books.

Book 33: Dance upon the Air by Nora Roberts. Light and fluffy romance, kind of weak for the first book in a trilogy.

Book 34: Heaven and Earth by Nora Roberts. By far the best book in the trilogy with a wonderfully compelling hero and heroine.

Book 35: Face the Fire by Nora Roberts. Not nearly as good as the other two, because the heroine really shouldn’t have gotten her own book, given that she’d been set up as the wise mentor type.

Book 36: The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer. Classic Regency romance. Extremely engaging.

Book 37: Ritual of Proof by Dara Joy. The sex scenes were hot, and some of the social issues she brings up in this futuristic romance were interesting, but overall somewhat disappointing.

Book 38: A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. Still wonderful. A Song of Ice and Fire is the best fantasy series out right now, in my opinion.

Book 39: Magic’s pawn by Mercedes Lackey. A reread. Very delightful, and my favorite book in that trilogy. One of the few books out there not published by small independent publishing companies with a gay lead character.