Category: Uncategorized (Page 10 of 18)

Storm’s Heart by Thea Harrison, narrated by Sophie Eastlake

November 16, 2011 / Kaetrin

Why I listened to it: I loved Dragon Bound and wanted to hear the next in the series.

What it’s about: Tiago Black, a Thunderbird shapeshifter Wyr is one of Dragos’ Sentinels and his Warlord. Niniane Lorelle (who we knew as Thistle “Tricks” Periwinkle in the previous book) is the rightful heir to the Dark Fae throne. An attack on Niniane’s life brings Tiago to Chicago to help Niniane and while there, he discovers a very inconvenient and sudden attraction to the little fairy. He accompanies her as she tries to discover who is behind the attempts on her life and as she travels to Adriyel for her coronation. Even if Niniane and Tiago can sort out their own relationship, will the Dark Fae accept a Wyr sharing the throne?

What I thought: I’d read a number of reviews that suggested the second book in the series wasn’t as good as the first. I guess that meant my expectations were lower but I actually really enjoyed this one. I think the audio really works for me in this series as Sophie Eastlake is doing an excellent job of the narration. The story is quite different from Dragon Bound and I wonder if that is why other commenters were disappointed. As much as I liked Dragon Bound, I actually enjoyed the difference.

Tiago struck me as an alpha man (or, more accurately an alpha Wyr) so confident in himself that he was in no way threatened by Niniane’s position as Dark Fae Queen. His interest, once it landed on Niniane, was 100% on her care, protection, safety and success. When a strong man is in love with a powerful woman, it can be difficult to accept him being in a “subordinate” relationship. But, Tiago didn’t care AT ALL and it was obvious in the book. That meant that I had no difficulty in believing their HEA because I didn’t see that there would be any jockeying for power between them. I liked Tiago’s single-minded devotion to Niniane and the sexy way he called her “fairy” when he was aroused (whether by anger or something else!). Niniane was also a smart heroine too who realised the limitations of her size but was clever about how she could defend herself. The question regarding the Dark Fae accepting Tiago as consort to Niniane wasn’t fully answered in this book, but I expected it will be in future offerings in the series. In any event, I was happy enough to accept that for now, no final answer was necessary.

Once again, Sophie Eastlake nails the narration. She is fast becoming one of my favourites. She doesn’t have a deep hero voice, but it is easy to tell who is talking and she got Tiago’s attitude absolutely right. Overall, I did enjoy Dragon Bound better but only a little bit.

Grade: B+

Something Different by SA Reid

November 11, 2011 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I read the Sarah’s review over at Dear Author and picked it up from Amazon for the bargain price of 99c.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Tired of his life’s endless grind, family man Michael Maguire allows himself one night of deviation. Desperate for something different, he seeks a prostitute in notorious Brixton Park. But Michael, searching for a girl out of PRETTY WOMAN, instead finds blue-eyed, beautiful James Campbell. Tempted and stirred in ways he never imagined, Michael embarks on a sexual adventure with a rent boy from London’s infamous Bethnal Green. And what begins as a purely sexual exchange gradually transforms into something else, as James finds himself in desperate circumstances and Michael is moved to help. Drawn increasingly to James, Michael finds himself facing up to the iniquities in his daily life. And finally he must deal with a horror that threatens to explode Michael’s safe, conventional existence.

What worked for me: Infidelity isn’t usually something I seek out in a main character. Generally speaking, it’s not terribly attractive. Perhaps because it is told mainly from Michael’s third person POV, it was actually quite easy for me to go with it in this story. His desperation for physical connection and for “something different” to break him out of the rut his life has become is something that is painted very well in only a few words.

Michael couldn’t remember the last time he’d had sex with Frannie and there were so many rules he was no longer tempted to try. Weeknights were out, she was too tired from housework and spin class and book club and keeping up with her favorite programs on telly. Sundays were a no-go; she tended to go out with the girlfriends after church and preferred a nice long evening with the telly when she returned. That left Saturday, and then Michael had to be freshly showered, the kids had to be either asleep or out of the house and Frannie had to be in the mood. The likelihood of all these factors coming together was about as favourable as a total eclipse…

…But now he was thirty-four and more frustrated than ever. Frannie wouldn’t even let him hold her and masturbate, she found the very idea juvenile and borderline deviant.

Just from those short passages, I can feel Michael’s frustration and despair and I can also see he’s tried. He’s tried to compromise and bend to Frannie’s sex rules but it’s just not working for him. I didn’t feel that the book ever called upon me to endorse his actions in going outside the marriage – I don’t recall that Michael himself made excuses for the behaviour or tried to justify it. And, by the end of the story, the truth had come out and he didn’t make any effort to blame others for his actions or tell anything other than the truth. As much as Michael is initially dishonest (with his wife) he is nevertheless very honest with himself and that was one of the things which made him attractive to read about.

Michael finds a connection with James which is initially all about the physical and becomes something more over time. He’s able to be himself. And, it is apparent that Frannie was trying to get him to be someone else. I had quite a deal of sympathy for Michael as I always think that home should be a safe place to fall, and not a place you have to pretend.

This bit might be spoilery so I’ve tried to be clever with the font colour so readers can decide whether they want to know. (Apologies if my ‘tech skills’ fail here). Michael has a painful history of sexual abuse by his stepmother which reveals itself in some shocking violence. I say shocking because I did kind of recoil when I read it. At the same time, I totally understood it and felt the fat cow totally deserved it and worse (and don’t even get me started on his dad!). Violence against women is not my thing, but this was an unusual situation and I couldn’t feel much sympathy for her in the circumstances. But, it was violent and it was against a female so it kind of made me mentally “jump”. It was sudden and yet it was totally within Michael’s character, both for himself and as a father protecting his son.

Sarah at DA thought the story was somewhat “fable” like and there is that kind of feel to the story. It does seem a little unreal that a heretofore straight man can take up with a rent boy (or former rent boy as he later is) and there be little to no fall out from it. Still, it wasn’t all sparkly roses and butterflies and I appreciated that not everyone was happy with Michael and James together. I think, because it is mainly from Michael’s POV, that what is in the story is what is important to Michael and general bigotry really isn’t. Of course, I could be totally making that up, but that’s how it felt to me.

James doesn’t just fall into a relationship with Michael and think he’s a meal ticket. While Michael could have quite easily been taken advantage of (at least for a while – Michael is too smart for this to have gone on long), James didn’t go there. James chooses to be with Michael and I liked that the author addressed this in the story. James had a choice and he chooses Michael.

This book sucked me in right from the start. I loved the style and the voice; I liked Michael and James and I also liked the word synchrony at the beginning and end of the story. I especially enjoyed Ms. Reid’s ability to paint complicated and sometimes poignant word pictures with only a few phrases.

What didn’t: I was a titch worried about the Michael’s relationship with James being paternalistic and to a certain extent, that wasn’t sufficiently addressed in the book for my absolute comfort. The financial disparity was addressed and it made sense but the issue of equality could have used a little more exposition. When I was reading the book, it didn’t bother me overmuch but after I finished and gave it more thought, I wondered what James felt he was giving Michael in the relationship sufficient for him to feel equal. Perhaps it is just that there wasn’t a lot of James’ POV. The epilogue takes place four years after the main story, so it is clear that something is keeping them together but I did wonder a bit if James would feel the burden of being “kept”. Michael comes across as a lot older than 34 for much of the book. I think it’s supposed to be that way – he’s old and tired and in a rut so he reads like a 45+ having a mid life crisis. But as the story progresses, he regains some youth – he loosens up in his dress and language and his fears about what others may think of him. So, by the end of the book, while there was clearly a huge gap in age and experiences (on both sides), it wasn’t quite as broad as at the start.

What else? Some commenters around the place have mentioned that all the female characters in the book were all out and out villains or stupid. I tend to be a bit dense when it comes to noticing things like that but I have a slightly different take on that. James is dyslexic and his teacher is a female and is portrayed as demanding (in a good way) and supportive and encouraging. She doesn’t have a huge part in the book, but then, neither does the “villain” (for want of a better term). As for Frannie, she is seen in a more sympathetic light in the epilogue and it gave me the perspective that sometimes people can seem mean and unkind because they are unhappy themselves and, given different circumstances, are not that way at all. Michael comes to the realisation that he wasn’t good for Frannie either and that she was never going to be happy with him. I felt the characterisations made sense. If Frannie had’ve been very sympathetic, I would have questioned why Michael was looking elsewhere and the story wouldn’t have worked for me.

This is a self published book and while it wasn’t totally typo free, it was certainly no worse than many traditionally published books I’ve read. I hope to read much more m/m from this author whatever publishing arrangements she makes.

I’ve a feeling that I have failed to express how much I enjoyed this book. I’m sorry for that, because it was a great read and one I’m sure I will revisit (which is a rarity for me).

Grade: A-/B+

Unveiled by Courtney Milan

November 8, 2011 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Having enjoyed Unclaimed so much, I went out and bought Unveiled to see what happened in the first book of the series.

What it’s about: (blurb from Goodreads) Ash Turner has waited a lifetime to seek revenge on the man who ruined his family—and now the time for justice has arrived. At Parford Manor, he intends to take his place as the rightful heir to the dukedom and settle an old score with the current duke once and for all. But instead he finds himself drawn to a tempting beauty who has the power to undo all his dreams of vengeance….

Lady Margaret knows she should despise the man who’s stolen her fortune and her father’s legacy—the man she’s been ordered to spy on in the guise of a nurse. Yet the more she learns about the new duke, the less she can resist his smoldering appeal. Soon Margaret and Ash find themselves torn between old loyalties—and the tantalizing promise of passion….

What worked for me: My notes say “unexpected”, “different”, “surprising”, “romantic”, “unusual”, “excellent”. And mostly, this was about Ash. Just when were were about to head into predictable romance territory, Ash would turn it on it’s head. I loved that about this book. Ash is not your usual would-be Duke and he doesn’t react the way one expects. I don’t want to give away spoilers so I can’t go into too much detail, but pretty much, when almost every other romance hero would go tack right, Ash jibs left. I very much liked how he saw something important and special in Margaret and that he fell in love with her thinking she was a “commoner” and worked for her living. I very much liked his reactions to just about everything in the story. I liked that he wanted her to shine.

Miss Lowell, you magnificent creature. I want you to paint your own canvas. I want you to unveil yourself.

I was sad for Ash about the distance he felt with his brothers and I liked that Margaret championed his cause. He was someone who was everyone else’s champion it seemed, but not many people seemed to realise he occasionally needed some of that treatment himself.
Margaret herself doesn’t always act predictably either and I also liked her very much too. I remember reading along and thinking “oh no! don’t do that!” and then, she didn’t and I sighed with relief. I’m not usually a fan of plots based on lies or misunderstandings but Ms. Milan can pull it off because she her characters are smart and unpredictable.
As much as the blurb sets the book up as being about revenge, I didn’t really feel that was Ash’s main motivation at all. There was a little bit of that sure, but mostly he wanted to secure his brothers’ futures and he absolutely believed (and he was right) that he’d be a better Duke than the heretofore heir. Ash has mountains of self belief, but the thing is, he’s mostly right. It’s not actually arrogance if you’re correct! 🙂 I think Ms. Milan can do something really rare – make a genuinely good man an interesting hero without him being boring, or doormat material. It is so uncommon and it sucks me right in.
I also appreciated that the old Duke was a miserable old sod and (*mildly spoilery*) he stayed that way. There was no miraculous recantation of previous wrongs. He was just a pig. I liked how Margaret dealt with him; how she chose her own behaviour towards him for her own reasons and not because of any reaction to his cruelty.

What didn’t: The ending was just slightly predictable which was a tiny bit disappointing after having been so refreshingly different a story up til then. However, it’s not as if I could come up with a better ending and how else could it satisfy? I am clearly being too picky here! 🙂

What else? I’m actually glad I read this one second. As much as I enjoyed Unclaimed, I enjoyed this one even better and I don’t think anything was lost in reading the books out of order. I’m going to have to pick up Ms. Milan’s earlier books now too and I’m even more looking forward to Smite’s book now.

Grade: A-

Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong

November 4, 2011 / Kaetrin

*spoilers ahoy*

Why I read it: I picked this one up because I thought the storyline sounded interesting and I like trying new authors. I thought I would like it. I didn’t.

I got about 1/3 the way through it before I gave up. I didn’t enjoy the writing and I didn’t think the characters were well drawn. I didn’t like the world building. I thought it was a good idea but it didn’t deliver.

What it’s about: The basic set up is that new Angel Serena is given the assignment of protecting a bad boy Hollywood actor, Nick Ramirez. She trails him to Devil’s Paradise, a club run by Archdemon Julian Ascher.

What worked for me: I thought the premise was interesting and the cover is pretty but I did not enjoy the execution. Maybe it got better after I stopped reading though.

What didn’t: We’re told that Julian is the baddest of the bad demons; he enjoys corrupting human souls and has no remorse for any of his actions. Next thing, Serena’s pricking his “conscience”. (“It pricked at his conscience for a moment – kissing an angel was surely some kind of sin”) Hur?

Serena on the other hand, is seriously lacking in the kick-ass department. Much to my surprise, she was immediately attracted to the Archdemon at their first meeting. I would have much preferred a slow build of attraction given the diversity of their characters but, because he’s hot, she’s horny. I found it a bit hard to believe.

Also, her angel supervisor, Arielle, has totally set her up and has given her no support for her secret task, so I felt she was unlikeable too.

But, what really got to me was on p65. Julian materialises in Serena’s house while she is sleeping. They barely know each other but she’s piqued his interest.

“Awake, she’d never have let him touch her like this. But now, as she slept, he took liberties that would have made her shriek with fury during waking hours. He got into bed with her, sliding under the covers with a carefully practiced stealth…”

then he feels her up til she wakes and he dematerialises.
This is NOT hero material for me. Dude, that’s sexual assualt = NOT SEXY. It is apparent from the bit I quoted, that he knew she DID NOT WANT but did it anyway. No thank you.

I did read on a little from there but I found nothing in Julian’s character that I was interested in reading about further. He did not come across to me as a sexy misunderstood demon or as someone who could be redeemed. He then decides to force Serena to choose between her soul or her brother’s and blackmails her into staying with him. At that point I stopped reading.

What else? Maybe Ms. Chong is able to pull of the redemption of Julian but I couldn’t bring myself to care. To me, he’d already crossed into irretrievable territory and I had to put the book down.

I can see from other reviews on Goodreads that I am a bit of an outlier though, but this book was definitely not for me. YMMV.

Grade: DNF

October Reads

November 1, 2011 / Kaetrin

on Paper/eBook

Real Men Will by Victoria Dahl – B/B+ – see full review here.

Liar Bird by Lisa Walker – C This is an Australian book which is being released in January 2012 (HarperCollins Australia auto approved me on NetGalley – I am loved!). I’ve reviewed it for ARRA and it will be in the December newsletter for members. I’ll post the review here after the newsletter comes out. It’s kind of chick-lit with romantic elements, in that the romance is not the main/sole focus of the story. As I’m not much of a chick-lit reader, I suspect this affected my grade.

Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins – B-/B – see full review here.

Unclaimed by Courtney Milan – B+ – see full review here.

Angel’s Blood by Nalini Singh – B I had listened to the first 2 books in this series on audio (narrated by Justine Eyre) but when I started Archangel’s Consort, I realise I had forgotten quite a bit of the story and so I decided to read the print books which I had on my (massive and intimidating) TBR. I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit, even though I knew what was coming. For those who don’t know, Elena is a Guild Hunter and because of her natural gifts, can scent out vampires. Raphael, Archangel of New York hires Elena for a special and top secret hunt. And they fall in love. Pretty much. It’s all in the journey of course. I wondered idly when I was reading how I’d managed to understand so much on first listen when there was a lot that was hinted (in terms of Elena’s childhood trauma) and not specified. Her story is spread out over the three (so far at least) books which feature her and Raphael. It’s actually quite well done. I certainly don’t remember being unable to follow the story when I first listened to it.

Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh – B As is obvious by the cover, Elena has been Made into an angel by Raphael’s ambrosia kiss. This book is mainly set in the Refuge, a place exclusively for angels. Lijuan is up to no good and someone is killing people in the Refuge. Raphael and Elena’s relationship is really quite new – something I appreciated much better reading these books back to back and so it made sense there was still some settling to do in their relationship. I didn’t love how it ended – I prefer all bad guys to be destroyed/jailed etc as appropriate and I don’t think that happened here.

Archangel’s Consort by Nalini Singh- B-/C+ I remember reading reviews shortly after the release of this book that indicated displeasure at the continued toing and froing between Raphael and Elena. As I said above, reading them back to back, it made more sense to me because they haven’t actually been together that long and Raphael is an immortal being who’s been around for over a thousand years. His values and mores are not Elenas and there’s a lot of adjustment necessary. Where this book fell flat to me was in the conflict with the bad guys. It seems Caliane (Raphael’s mother) is awakening and Lijuan is still causing problems. (*spoiler alert*) That both of them are alive and well at the end of the book was a source of frustration to me. I kind of felt that the author was stringing me a long a bit. I want the bad guys identified and dealt permanently rather than coming back again and again to cause trouble (even though I concede it is not entirely clear whether Caliane is actually a ‘bad guy’) – it feels like they just get away with things and that makes the story a lot less satisfying to me.

Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh – A- My full review will be appearing at the ARRA blog. I’ll post a link when it’s up. For now, I’ll just say that this book is my favourite of the series so far (and – hooray! – the bad guys in this book are actually dealt with in a final manner).

Show Me by Jaci Burton – C Sexy short about a woman who secretly likes to watch and be watched and the man who makes her fantasy reality. There is not much character development and I can’t say I connected that well with either of the main characters, but it was certainly hot.

Ready and Willing by Cara McKenna – B+ see my review here.

Fatal Heat by Lisa Marie Rice – C This is a short story wihch is typical Lisa Marie Rice – alpha hero who takes one look at the heroine and that’s it, he’s toast. Hot sex and then heroine gets in trouble and is rescued by hero. Then they live happily ever after, the end. It had a very promising start but it got ridiculous for me when the hero took the DOG on the rescue mission. Also, sadly, there was only one sex scene. I feel robbed. 😛

Unveiled by Courtney Milan – A Full review to come.

A Lily Among Thorns by Rose Lerner – C I don’t know why this book wasn’t more successful for me. It had an unusual hero and heroine (a tailor and former courtesan/innkeeper); it was well enough written and had some amusing moments (“does the Regent used French holes?”), but for some reason, I found this story completely put-downable. Looking at my Goodreads, I can see that it took me 7 days to read this. Normally a book this length would take me about 2 days. What this tells me is that I found other things to do rather than pick this book up. While I was actually reading, I enjoyed it well enough, but I was in no rush to keep reading. For the life of me, I can’t articulate why. For some reason I didn’t connect sufficiently with the characters and/or the story and so this one ended up being kind of “meh” for me. I suspect I’m an outlier though, so don’t take my word for it! 🙂 I feel bad that I can’t explain why this one didn’t grab me.

on Audio

Portrait in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B+. This book has some of my favourite scenes – Roarke melting down, Eve worried he doesn’t love her anymore, make up smex. The crime part took a bit of a backseat to me and I felt it didn’t hold up as well on a re-read/listen as other crime plots, but the Eve/Roarke aspects make this one a winner for me.

Chaos in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B-. The most recent novella in the series, it follows on from New York to Dallas and contains spoilers for that book, so I recommend reading/listening in order. Novellas are enjoyable to listen to but they are mainly about the crime and not the relationship between Eve and Roarke and Eve and her friends. For that reason, I usually rate the novels higher. I’ve done a review of this one for AAR and will post a link here when it’s up.

Imitation in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B. I just realised that the cover is a bit of a spoiler for the book. O-o. Another enjoyable instalment in the series. Peabody makes detective!

Big Jack by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B-. This is the story which makes up the second half of Remember When. There are continuity errors in this from the previous book which threw me a bit (Somerset was still on leave in this book, but he’d returned by the end of Imitation in Death). Much more noticeable when there’s a back to back listen/read.

Divided in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B– (*spoiler alert*) This is the book where Eve finds out Homeland Security knew about what was happening to her as a child and for most of the book thereafter, Roarke and Eve are at odds because Roarke wants to take them out and Eve wants him to leave them alone because she can’t stomach him committing murder. I must say, as much as I enjoyed the story, when I read it the first time and when I listen to it now, I still felt there was a disconnect about Eve’s attitude. Roarke had already committed murder on a number of occasions (and he was fairly elaborate too) (re Somerset’s daughter Marlena’s death) so while I could understand on one level that Eve didn’t want Roarke to commit murder FOR HER because she couldn’t live with it if he was a murderer, she being a cop and all, it highlighted to me that she was living with him and he HAD committed murder, her being a cop and all. I still can’t quite reconcile it, like a piece of information that’s just off to the left or something, so I just shrug and go with it. Otherwise, the usual enjoyable listen.

Visions in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B This one was more successful for me. It struck me that for once, Roarke didn’t have a lot to do with the investigation, only popping in for bits and pieces and a little at the end, which considering his heavy involvement in the previous book was a refreshing change. Some fun stuff with Peabody and McNab, Louise and Charles, Mavis and Leonardo (the part where Mavis asked Eve and Roarke to be the back up birth coaches was hilarious) and some drama for someone close toward the end. I think I must have been pretty worried when I first read the book. I even had (a tiny bit of) sympathy for the villain here. Very good.

Ready & Willing by Cara McKenna

October 27, 2011 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Cara McKenna writes very non-traditional romance – in fact, I gather it is only a gamble as to whether you’ll get a (hopeful or actual) HFN. For that reason, I’ve been fairly careful about which books of her’s I read because I’m really in it for the HFN/HEA. I’ve only read Willing Victim of hers before which ended on a hopeful note (her alter ego Meg Maguire writes romance with the requisite HEA). Plus, I picked this up for 60% off at Fictionwise recently, so really there was no risk!

What it’s about: Wow, what an interesting short story. It’s told in first person from Abby’s POV. She’s a single lady who has decided to have a child and isn’t interested in a sperm bank. She wants to conceive the “natural” way but without a relationship messing with things. So, she advertises in the Boston Globe and interviews potential candidates who (after medical tests including sperm motility) agree to have sex with her (for a fee) and then sign away any parental rights if she falls pregnant.

What worked for me: She chooses 2 men – Noah and Rob – she doesn’t necessarily want to know the identity of the father. It doesn’t sound all that sexy does it? But, it is. I really liked the way Ms. McKenna juxtaposed the encounters with Rob and with Noah to illustrate the different emotional relationships (for want of a better phrase) each “couple” had. With only a few words, she somehow painted very clear pictures of all three characters. I liked Noah quite a bit and appreciated that while he was accommodating and he was not wimpy. Even Rob wasn’t entirely one dimensional.

What didn’t: There was one particular sex scene which I found a little improbable on a number of levels but it was pretty darn hot.

What else: As a whole, I found the story strangely romantic (considering the plot) with a hopeful and appropriate (if somewhat simplistic) ending. Sexy and unusual and well worth my time. If you’re after something short, different and hot, look no further.

Grade: B+