Old News for Many...

I'm sure, but I went to Lisa Kleypas' website and Scandal in Spring will be out August 1. Squeeee!! I liked Daisy in the other books in this series. It seems like a lot of people were unhappy that Cam from DIW will not be the hero of this book, but I love this set-up. And I like that the heroes of Kleypas' last couple of books have been slightly different from her norm of

--a classic "Kleypas hero"--tall, dark-haired, self-made and more than a little sarcastic. Underneath his self-assured exterior, however, he is consumed with love for the heroine. .

From her website. Well, except for the sarcastic part, she likes the sarcasm. But then, so do I. Sarcasm is good. Here's the excerpt from Scandal in Spring which I have read many, many times. I heart it, I lurve it, here it is.

Question: now that Kleypas is leaving Avon, will she still be doing "Squawk Radio"? I don't know a lot about the whole politics of publishing thing, but that blog seems like a big old Avon love-fest. I would imagine that it's not officially connected to Avon though. It would be too bad, 'cause those authors all have a nice little blogging chemistry going on.

Interspecies Sex...

An article by Gena Showalter and P.C. Cast that can be found here, contains everything you need to know about writing an interspecies love scene. Gena Showalter is an author who I'm always saying I'm going to try one of her books. I started The Stone Prince, but it didn't really grab me. I was thinking of getting Awaken Me Darkly. P.C. writes a good interspecies love scene. It's one of my favorite things about her work, besides original stories and good characterization. Anyway, it's a cool article, although the idea is kinda funny. Interspecies sex scenes, heh. The things aspiring writers need to know.

The anticipation begins...

Ok, fangirly moment. I was blog hopping and I found that Angie W has already read Lover Awakened and wrote about it at her site. What she had to say was quite positive. I'm really excited for this book, but really apprehensive, like my overly inflated expectations are setting me up for disappointment. And I'm worried about the speedy redemption syndrome, where damaged characters instantly become well-adjusted members of society due to the magic nookie.
I sound really fangirly and need to get a life! But Angie's pretty blunt and honest, from other stuff I've read, so color me really excited! Only three months to go!

EBUZZ: Bone Deep by Bonnie Dee

Bone Deep at Liquid Silver Books

I found this book over at Bam's Blog. The hero is the tattooed man in a carnival sideshow. Romance with tattooed carnival freak=Devon drops everything to buy and read.

I really enjoyed this book. It is the sweetest erotic romance I have read so far. It lacked that "bamp-chicka-wow-wow" vibe that others have (even if I considered the book to have a viable love story as well). Tom was a sweet, vulnerable character and I also liked Sarah, the war widow who takes him in. Tom was such a sad character, who lived such a stunted and difficult life, it could've taken on an inappropriate and creepy vibe (a la the vibe I get from Anita Blake and Nathaniel in recent LKH titles). But the author made Tom a strong character in his own right, that it was cool. Here's Bam's review. She wrote a great review, so why do the work again :)? Definitely recommended. I'll be looking into the author's other titles as well.

Next e-book I'll be getting, I also found at It's Not Chick Porn. Bam snarked this cover recently. It wasn't so much the cover as the blurb that had me rolling. Go read it. But the author's responses made me want to read it. She chose to use the word "schtupping" on purpose, I think. Oh, and I like books with demons. And I like the idea of Jewish demons who hopefully speak Yiddish. I won't be getting the one with the clown, though. Reminds me of a disturbing episode of "Little House" I saw when I was young.

Be careful of fairies!

The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke, is the story of a violent crime that took place in rural Ireland (Co. Tipperary) in 1895. Even more, this is the fascinating story of an isolated culture losing ground in a time of political and social change. The tensions between the poor, largely illiterate rural Irish culture and more "modern", "educated" ways, are clearly at work during the crime itself, and the aftermath. I came across this title in the bibliography of a children's book, and was immediately intrigued.

You can read further details about the actual murder here. In short, Bridget Cleary, a 26 year-old married dressmaker from tiny Ballyvadlea, came down with something resembling bronchitis and "nervous excitement" in March of 1895.

During the course of nursing her, her husband Michael, became increasingly suspicious that his wife had been taken away by fairies, and replaced by a changeling. He abandoned the course of medicine prescribed by the local doctor, instead choosing to force feed her (with the help of, like, 7 other men holding her down) a mixture of herbs in new milk and holding her in front of the fire, all the while commanding her to admit that she was Bridget Cleary, "in the name of God." The final night of Bridget Cleary's life, her husband, enraged by the fact that she refused a third bit of bread, held a burning stick from the fire to her. Her clothing caught fire and she began to burn. Michael Cleary then doused her with paraffin, setting her further aflame. This story is made even more chilling by the fact that the house was pretty much filled to the brim with eyewitnesses, most of whom were members of Bridget's own family. Afterwards, Michael Cleary buried the body, all the while insisting that it was a changeling, and that his true wife would re-appear three nights later at the "fairy fort" at nearby Kylenagranagh. Not surprisingly, this was not the case, and eventually Michael Cleary and eight others were arrested for Bridget Cleary's murder, including her father, aunt and a number of cousins.

The story of the crime and resulting trial are fascinating reading, but I found Bouke's examination of the cultural, political and religious climate of the day even more interesting. This trial was a media sensation, and was used as an example of the backwardness and "savagery" of the Irish, and an argument against Home Rule. The author discusses Irish fairy folklore at length. Rather than saying that all these uneducated Irish peasants believed unequivocally in the existence of fairies, she argues that fairy legend can be read as a code which governed social mores and explained the unexplainable. Often, physical disabilities and infertility, among other things, were explained as the result of being "touched by the fairies." Those engaging in anti-social or unusual behavior, were actually changelings left by the fairies, and by engaging in certain rituals, a person could get their loved one back. Is it a surprise that some of these rituals were pretty violent? Perhaps it was a way of keeping people in line. That certainly seemed to be the case with Bridget Cleary, who was characterized as an independent young woman with a strong personality, whose trade and education differentiated her from her largely illiterate, farm laborer cousins, none of whom came to her aid during her ordeal. Why would a relatively minor illness have set her husband off so? The author suggests that he was symbolically establishing his dominance over his strong minded wife, using the language of fairies. It's all very weird and totally fascinating.

This book is classified as true crime, but if you are looking for a straightforward crime narrative, you might be disappointed by all of the social history. It can also read very academically in bits (I haven't seen phrases like "symbolic capital" or "culture of stigma and control" since college). But if you are interested in folklore, Irish history, or if like me, you are interested in seeing how belief in the supernatural has impacted different cultures over the years, I would highly recommend this book.

Checked out of the library today...

Dates from Hell by Kim Harrison et. al.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu

The Amulet by Joanna Wayne

I also requested the first three installments of the Tara Janzen "Crazy" books. I'm looking to expand my horizons a bit. What to begin with? I'm really only interested in the Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison stories in Dates from Hell. This is actually the second time I've checked out the Liu, I thought Tiger Eye was okay, but I'm not driven to read this. The Briggs could be interesting...I've been talking about dipping my toe in the category pool, and this particular Harlequin Intrigue happened to be at the library. Sounded kinda gothic-y. I used to love Gothics.

Am almost finished with The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke. This is a true crime story about a late-nineteenth century Irish murder. It's really interesting.

Decent Book and Movie

Goddess of the Sea by P.C. Cast was a pretty good read. I like her overall style. Her heroines always are well-fleshed out, and are refreshingly practical, take charge kind of people. And she doesn't shy away from the weird stuff, i.e. the beast stays a beast, and the mer-people stay mer-people, even during sex. But it's done tastefully. I wasn't quite as enamored of this book I was of Goddess of the Rose and Goddess of Spring, for two reasons.

First of all, I found the whole church keeping the women down and stripping them of their power thing a bit too heavy-handed. And there was too much of it. All the stuff with the abbott and the knight took time away from the love story. I felt that the romance in this book was much less fleshed out. In the other two books, I felt that the love story was based upon a deep friendship between the h/h, whereas this was more of a love at first sight, instant soulmates thing. And unfortunately, as a woman of a certain age, this will always be Dylan to me:Dylan and Brenda 4-eva!. I know that Dylan is a Welsh name, and most of this book took place in Medieval Wales, but it was jarring to me, especially with all of the mythological names floating around. Overall, a good read, though I'd reccommend one of the other two titles over this one.

Also saw King Kong. A little too long, I started wanting to fast forward, but good. Peter Jackson is an excellent filmmaker with a strong vision. Is it wrong that I found the relationship between King Kong and Naomi Watts to be stronger than the one with Adrien Brody, the supposed love interest?

The library is evil. Eeviill!!!!

See my mini review of Rio by Allyson James, over at Sybil's blog. Sybil is doing her part to drum up buzz for e-books. Of course, like all the ebooks I read, this one's rather kinky. I don't know what that says about me. I guess since I'm buying something so explicitly erotic, I'd better go whole hog and get my money's worth. Expanding my horizons, you know.

I've worked in libraries my whole life, starting with high school, continuing through college, graduate school and my whole working life. A number of times I've had people say stuff like, "Oh, working in a library must be nice and quiet," or "It's so quiet, it must be boring."
Well, it's not boring, and it's not quiet. Not in a school library and certainly not in the public library. I've worked in upscale suburbs and more troubled neighborhoods, and the story is the same everywhere. The library is a public building open until 9 pm most nights (with public restrooms :)), and so no matter where you are you get the kooks and the crazies. My sister sent me the following clip. Beware of the dangers in the library.

Watch out for guys in Ohio State Sweatshirts!

Now, there are amusing things about this clip, like the red sweatshirt guy and the reporter's "hardnosed journalist" attitude. But it got my back up a bit, because they seemed to insinuate that librarians were just sitting around letting this go on. I know from experience that it is extremely difficult to have someone permanently removed from a public library. Where I work, we had a crazy guy threatening the librarians and bothering patrons, and the librarians were getting in trouble for complaining! It was a long, drawn out process of gathering information and evidence and having a hearing, and the guy was only banned for year. Then he comes back and it starts again. So be aware, your library may seems nice and clean and quiet, but the librarian have little authority over who walks in and out. The reporter makes it all seem quite dire, which it's not, really it's very few people. But it is something to think about.

Confessions of a bad reader

So recently I joined the free Borders Rewards program, and, as my welcome gift, I received a 30% off coupon. So I make the journey to Borders, with the rugrats, and commence picking out my 30% off purchase. I pick up a book and put it down. Pick up a book and give it to my one year old to hold (She loves to look through my paperbacks). That's a maybe. Pick up another, put it down. Pick up another, another maybe. And so on and so forth. I must admit I'm a bad reader.

A cheap reader. A reader on a budget, yes, but an evil reader who screws over authors by not buying their books at full price from the proper outlets, but who instead combs used bookstores, the library and discount outlets like Target and BJ's in order to save a buck. Apparently, due to such practices, author sales figures are skewed and they don't make as much money as they should. I have even (gasp!) bought a book or two before its actual publishing date, another bad, apparently. Oh well.

The following is a list of books I'd like to read, but am unwilling to shell out the money for:



I want this for the Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison, but don't really like Lori Handeland or Lynsey Sands.



I'll admit, I wasn't familiar with her before the AAR brouhaha, but the Gothic-ness intrigues me. I love gothics.



The heroine's name is Passion? With all the talk of wallpaper historicals...



The first one was ok, ok enough for me to want to read this one, but spend $$???



You won't screw me again, MJD!

I've got some ILL-ing to do. Oh, and the book I finally bought? Goddess of the Sea by P.C. Cast. Heh, in light of all the dust-ups going on everywhere. I admit, she was a bit obnoxious at Smart Bitches, but I like her books. This one's shaping up to be really good, too.

Embarrassing Moments in Blogging History

or, Devon gets a clue...

So I just found out that I made my comments moderated. I know it wasn't like this originally, I have a feeling I messed this up when going to change some other things. Going in to check out the situation, I found that I had a bunch of comments that were sitting there, unpublished, waiting for my okay. Awesome, it made me feel liked...and read. Not so awesome is that I feel like a complete dork, b/c people took the time to comment on my nonsense, and I neither responded nor put them up. Hopefully, I have remedied the situation, and want to say, please comment. I love comments, even if you just want to say I'm full of shit and don't know my ass from my elbows.

Any how, I've looked over the comments, and I want to make a few shout outs. Hi to Jay, fellow Wes Alum!!! Yes, Kristie, I've read "Dreaming of You"--it's in my top 5 for sure. I was actually thinking of recommending it to Steph the romance virgin, for although I like Lord of Scoundrels better (sorry!), it's awesome, and she won't have the cover issues that she's been having. Speaking of SGM, have you read a romance yet? I'm waiting for a review...when you do, I'll put up here. Ellen S., so happy to see you reading, so sad that you couldn't find the possessed bear. Much thanks to Sybil, for letting me know the situation (I see from your comments that it wasn't the first time you tried to let me know)!! Hopefully, I'll get the hang of this blogging stuff soon.

Have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Really most sincerely dead...

Oy, I haven't been in a blogging mood. I haven't been in a reading mood. Not even a reading blogs mood. I've been feeling the old lure of past favorites like Lord of Scoundrels or As You Desire, rather than attemping something new and potentially disappointing.

But I finished something. Finally. Took me awhile, but turned out worthwhile in the end. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris is the sixth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. These books take place in a world where vampires have come out of the closet, so to speak, and society is still adjusting to their existence. Sookie Stackhouse is a barmaid in Northern Louisiana, who has always had difficulties fitting in, due to her telepathy. It makes people umcomfortable, and who wants to date a woman who knows your every thought, good and bad? At the beginning of the series, Sookie is surprised and delighted to find that she can't read vampire's minds. Over the course of the books, Sookie has become increasingly enmeshed in the supernatural world (which also includes various shapeshifters, witches and fairies), as well as attracting an ever widening circle of supernatural suitors.

A few comments first: I love the covers of these books. They have this cool folk-arty feel, and reflect the refreshingly different tone of these books: low key and homey, free of black leather and Goth trappings. There is some angst, but Sookie's the kind of girl who picks herself up and gets back in the race. A confession--I tried reading these books awhile ago, and wasn't really feeling them. So I didn't really get into them until Dead to the World. Accordingly, my comments are skewed, because I couldn't care less about Bill, Sookie's first love, and I like Eric (either in amnesiac or overbearing asshole incarnation).

So anyway, Definitely Dead. There's a whole lot going on in this book, so I'm not going to go crazy with a plot summary. Needless to say, Sookie's got a lot on her plate. There's pain caused by boyfriends past, who keep popping in and out of her life, her brother's having problems, she doesn't like the new waitress at work and Eric the Vampire Sheriff and the Vampire Queen of Louisiana are arguing over who gets Sookie as part of their entourage for the big vampire conference. Oh, and she has to go to New Orleans to settle her Cousin Hadley's estate. Hadley was turned into a vampire and was the Queen's girlfriend to boot. Now, Sookie's getting pressure from the Queen's people to go clean out her place. Quinn, the weretiger from Dead as a Doornail, shows up for a little ego-boosting and romancing, but every time they go out on a date, they get attacked by werewolves. And I'm leaving a bunch of stuff out.

Yep, a lot of stuff happens. Even so, this book started off very slowly for me. Once Sookie headed to New Orleans, things really picked up and I didn't want to put it down. We learn more about the supernatural world, and some spoileriffic secrets about Sookie and Bill Compton. There was a lot going on, and it all got wrapped up a bit neatly but satisfyingly. Harris quite ruthlessly thinned the herd of possible partners for Sookie--Out: werewolf Alcide (hopefully), werepanther Calvin Norris (I'm probably the only one, but I found him quite charming, though that whole Hotshot scene was weird. I had hopes for him as a dark horse), and SPOILER!! Vampire Bill (though they've still got a lot to work out, he's not going away). Still in the running: Shapeshifter Sam Merlotte (dark horse candidate, ain't the sexiest, but a good guy), Vampire Eric (hot, but a dickhead) and Quinn. Not really feeling Quinn. It doesn't help that I have a very clear picture in my head of Billy Zane as Quinn, and I just picture him being this melodramatic, scenery-chewing, masculine yet swishy (he is an event planner) cheeseball. Not a big fan of Billy Zane. Quinn seems too good to be true, and he keeps. calling. Sookie. "Babe." Incessantly. Yucky. There's something strange there.

I get the feeling that Harris was tying up loose ends in order to set the stage for the next act. Sookie began this series as isolated and inexperienced in a number of ways, and this is her journey of coming into her own. I'm hoping that Quinn is just going to be around for awhile to help Sookie gain some self-confidence and grow, so she can be strong and confident enough to deal with Eric down the line (fingers crossed). Though, given some of the shit that happened to her in this book, I hope he doesn't turn out to be evil. Let's give the girl a break. So although this title wasn't as strong as some of the previous ones, Definitely Dead was a good read. Another series, I'd recommend to non-supernatural lovers, or someone looking for something different. Read in order, though. Next one should be the big vampire conference, yay! I love conferences. Lots of uncomfortable Sookie/Bill, Sookie/Eric interactions should abound. I'll be there.

OT: Original Ideas for making $$

As I mentioned before, I'm a fan of the show "Ghost Hunters", and as I was folding laundry this rainy Monday morning, I decided to look at the website for the show, which I had never looked at before. On the message board I read the funniest thing that I've seen in a long time. Take a look at the forum thread "possessed bear on ebay." And apparently bidding is at over $800. I have to admit that although I don't believe in demonic possession, the idea of it scares the shit out of me. I am still unable to sit through "The Exorcist." For the life of me, I can't understand why someone would want to buy a "possessed" item. I wanted to go to Ebay to get a look at the toy, but the guy warns not to have the picture around kids or animals, and since I've got both running around...better safe than sorry. Now who's the bigger tool, me or the guy who's going to make 800+ on this? And, if you've got time look at the "haunted box" thread, mostly for the poster who tells the story of his possessed underwear and Nike Sneaker.

If that isn't scary enough for a Monday morning, I'll leave you with this:

Dead and Loving It and Three Little Secrets

Happy Mother's Day to everybody out there, be they grandmothers, mothers, aunts or if you just have a child in your life who you love!

I finally finished Dead and Loving It by MaryJanice Davidson. Not awful, but...meh. In a word, light.

Light in tone, light on plot, light on characterization, light in any kind of substance. I get the feeling that MJD is a one-trick pony and its getting old fast. For example, her heroines were all pretty much the same, barring physical description--loud-(and foul-) mouthed, sarcastic and prickly, in order to hide inner pain, insecurity and low self-esteem. It was kind of grating after awhile. Nitpick: I'm not a fan of the phonetic spelling of dialogue, most often used with the poor Scotsman (i.e., "I dinna wan' tae gi'w'ye", or something). Likewise the "day-um"s, "bay-be"s and "Gawd"s bug. I don't care if it's more expressive. That's just me though. I was also left rather unmoved by the sex scenes, which surprised me, as three of these stories had previously been published by Ellora's Cave. Everything just seemed so rushed and, well, light.

The book kicked off with Santa Claws, which was essentially PWP (porn without plot). Meh. Monster Love was slightly more substantive and interesting, featuring lonely vampire Richard and angry werewolf, Janet. I was unthrilled that their first sexual encounter had a forced feel to it, but I liked that MJD made the point that vampires and werewolves are different than humans, perhaps monstrous, but remaing true to their natures as she presents them. There's No Such Thing As a Werewolf was my personal favorite, featuring a blind werewolf and (I'll leave it a spoiler). I was looking forward to A Fiend in Need a lot. This is the story of George the fiend (that is, a feral vampire) from the "Undead and..." books and Antonia, the psychic werewolf from Derik's Bane. I went straight to it, and read it again, just to make sure. Disappointing. Too much Betsy, Sinclair and the rest of supporting cast. Even with their love scene, I felt like I had missed something, like some relationship development happened, that I missed in favor of Betsy bridesmaid dress buying banter. It was too quick, too light. But I did like that George wasn't turned miraculously normal by love, but remained weird and monosyllabic. I'll look forward to seeing them in Undead and Unpopular (which I'll check out of the library), but again, meh. In short, if you like MJD, check it out of the library, and take the suggestions made on Amazon and read it slowly, so as not to get annoyed by the sameness.

Quickie review of Three Little Secrets by Liz Carlyle: another solid read. Though not my favorite of hers, I still polished it off in a night. It hinged on the good old Big Misunderstanding, which was annoying at first, true. But it made sense in light of her characterization of the hero and heroine, and was also less annoying because they both pretty aware that they may have acted, and be continuing to act, stupid. I really like Liz Carlyle, see my Two Little Lies review. My favorite so far is The Devil You Know. She has a great ability to make romance cliches (Big Misunderstanding, Secret Babies, Forced Marriages) interesting, understandable and a good story.

Two Perverts in Love

Warning: the following book contains intense subject matter, from psychological issues to childhood abuse to dirty, filthy sex scenes.

May 3 saw the release of Joey W. Hill's Mirror of My Soul, the sequel to Ice Queen (see my review here). I snapped it right up. There has been a lot of discussion on the different blogs that I look at about e-books, so I may as well put in my two cents here. As a mostly stay-at-home mom, I don't have a lot of money for "me" things. I probably buy one or two paperbacks a month. The rest of my reading comes from libraries. My track record with e-books has been so spotty, that I really hesitate to spend the money. Some have been truly cringeworthy, some had hot(!) love scenes, but otherwise iffy writing, and a couple were quite enjoyable. The vast majority I would not give a second read, so to spend 6.99-7.99 (yes! that's how much this book was!)for something that's going to sit on my laptop...I balk at spending that much on a paperback if it's not an auto-buy author. So, yes, I read e-books occasionally, but I keep it limited to authors I've really enjoyed in the past, or the infrequent decription/excerpt that I find irresistible. I'll discuss them when I do, and I hope others do as well, because that might help me find some new titles and authors.



But Joey W. Hill is definitely worth a look. She deals with BDSM subject matter, which may be unpalatable to some, but her treatment of the psychological issues involved as well as the characters (who seem to be actual indivduals rather than cardboard cutouts), renders it fascinating and sexy to me. She is the romantica author that I have found to be most successful in creating a real relationship and romance between two characters who have lives outside of the bedroom, along with intense sex scenes. Mirror of my Soul was a moving, intense and rather sad read, which picked up the story of Marguerite and Tyler right where Ice Queen left off. I don't think I've ever read a romance where it actually did seem possible (to the heroine, to other characters and to the reader) that the heroine might be unable to maintain a relationship. As hinted in the previous book, Marguerite has a difficult past, which was handled tastefully. It was very interesting, the way Marguerite tightly structured her life, including her dominatrix activities, in order to live a productive life while keeping people at arm's length. She's got major demons to overcome, and there is no quick fix in this book. In addition, she and Tyler have to figure out how to work out their 'kinks'.

But Tyler and Marguerite get their happy ending though, and I shed a tear, I'll admit it. I was happy for them. While I enjoyed reading the rest of their journey, I did have some issues. I don't know if the re-appearance of the evil father was necessary, although I called it early on. There was already enough stuff going on ! Also, Ms. Hill appears to be into a lot of stuff that's new-agey or spiritual (Wicca, angels, meditation, yoga etc.) I've seen mentions in other books, but it made me roll my eyes a bit in this one. She threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Ultimately, this was a heavy, but satisfying reading experience. So heavy, in fact, that I don't think I'll be revisiting it anytime soon, but it was unusual, interesting and well written. If one is curious about Joey W. Hill's work, or experimenting with BDSM romantica, I'd try Natural Law first.

One Dead Pervert

Ugh, life is not being blogging friendly. Although I've had no time to write, I have gotten some reading in. This past week I read Captives of the Night by Loretta Chase. I was very excited for this book because the hero, the Comte D'Esmond, made a brief but memorable appearance in Lord of Scoundrels and was the villain Ismal, in The Lion's Daughter. As I have mentioned (ad nauseum), I loved reformed bad guys, so I was quite interested in his journey from Albanian asshole to French nobleman and hero. At the heart of CON is a murder mystery--who killed Francis Beaumont, the blackmailer and debauchee who made appearances in Lord of Scoundrels and The Last Hellion. One interesting part of this book was looking back on the other two titles and realizing how certain events in those books were part of the larger story here.

So anyway, our hero Esmond, who carries out various and shady deeds for the government, had previously foiled Beaumont's blackmailing scheme. At that time, he met Beaumont's artist wife Leila, and was quite fascinated by her. Leila pretty much avoids her odious husband and instead consumes herself with work. Things get bad when she finds Francis dead after they have a loud quarrel (heard by the servants, of course). The resulting inquest brings the super hot and unsettling Esmond back into her life. Together they will figure out who killed the loathesome Francis. And perhaps fall in love and live happily ever after, if they can get past Esmond's many secrets.

This has a different tone than a lot of Chase's book. It's darker--Beaumont was a real sleaze, and a lot of people hate him passionately. It was a pretty good mystery actually. Most mystery subplots in Romances are pretty weak, and that's cool, b/c that's not what I'm reading the book for. If I wanted a mystery, I'd read one. But in this case, the mystery almost seemed to overpower the romance. Compounding that, Esmond was a very enigmatic character, even after he came clean about his past. In any case, I didn't find this book as involving or memorable as many of Chase's others. But it was still worth a read, particularly if you've read some of the other titles I mentioned. There was entertaining dialogue, good love scenes and it moved quickly.

Random Thoughts...

I found this blog over at the Good, the Bad and the Unread, one of my favorite spots to visit for info. I haven't read a Harlequin or Silhouette since I graduated from high school and stopped stealing my mom's, but Jamie Sobrato is so funny, I may have to check out one of her books. Actually, I may make that my summer project exploring the world of Blazes and Harlequin Presents and whatnot.

I was thinking about the Kelley Armstrong books, and what makes them stand out to me, and I have to mention the relationship of Elena and Clay. So often, I visit these boards and loops where readers are positively swooning over having a big, scary paranormal Alpha male of her own. When I read these books lots of times I get to thinking about what its going to be like for them after the HEA. Armstrong explores this often amusingly in her books. Yes, Clay is totally gorgeous (and a great character), and totally in love with and focused on Elena, and you know what? He drives her nuts half the time. He is overpoweringly possessive, and hates her to spend time with anyone else. She loves him, but seeing them navigate their relationship, even when they are secondary characters in some of the other books, is funny and kind of sad. It's food for thought, and an interesting counterpoint to some of these overly romanticized vamps and whatnot. I mean, think about some of the relationships being set up in these books. Paradise or one-way ticket to unhealthy co-dependence? Think of those obsessive Carpathians, for example. Perhaps I'm being terribly unromantic and overthinking.

It's bad when a title...

makes you think of a goddamn Evanescence song. And it goes through your head, and through your head and through your head...At least I think it's Evanescence, I can't keep up with the crap the kids are listening to these days. Give me some real hard stuff and Goth stuff please. The singer reminds me of my old best friend, though. Anyway, I hopped on over to Kelley Armstrong's website after reading Broken (yes, I was eventually going to get to a point), and apparently, she doesn't really know why she gave this book this title. Heh, I don't really either. You can guess a lot of things, but they're all kinda reaches. Didn't dim my enjoyment of the book at all though. Btw, here is Kelley Armstrong's website. It's one of the best author sites, in my opinion--she keeps it up to date, and has lots of online extras for her fans, including novellas and short stories. Oh, and as I was blog hopping this morning, I found a little interview with her. Oh, and read her books, they're really good. Onto the review.

Kelley Armstrong's books are mysteries with romantic elements set in a contemporary world, where supernatural beings co-exist with humans. I would put her in a category with Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison and Laurell K. Hamilton, although they all have different tones, voices, worlds, and quality levels (but I will refrain from LKH dissing today). Kelley Armstrong is my favorite of these authors and I feel that her particular strength is in her characterization. I often have a difficulty with contemporaries in that I feel the characters speak or act in completely unrealistic. But her characters feel realistic to me (heh, considering that they're werewolves, witches, and half-demons), and also in tune with what they're supposed to be (i.e the werewolves are unapologetically violent and not particularly loyal to anyone outside of the pack). And they are always intriguing, fast reads.

Broken returns to the world of the werewolves and narrator Elena Michaels. Fifteen years after Clay first bit her, things are going pretty well. So well, that she's gotten pregnant. Of course, as the only known female werewolf, and pregnant by another werewolf to boot, there are a lot of unknowns in this pregnancy, making Elena a bit anxious. But things really get complicated when Xavier Reese (from Stolen, a shady half-demon contacts her to call in a favor. He wants her to steal Jack the Ripper's "From Hell" letter. It goes pretty easily, and then, pretty much literally, all hell breaks loose.

This was another solid book from Armstrong. I did figure out the mystery pretty quick, and got a bit annoyed when the characters didn't, but no matter. It moved along and was sufficiently exciting, and I was more interested in seeing what was going to happen with Elena's pregnancy, anyway. It was like a reunion with old friends: Elena, Nick and Antonio and my favorites, Clay and Jeremy. I just love that crazy Clay and the mysterious Jeremy. I did miss Paige and Lucas, and would've preferred their presence to Jaime's. Apparently Jaime, the flaky celebrity necromancer, is going to be the narrator of the next book, so we'll see how that goes. I just hope she doesn't get together with Jeremy. That pairing doesn't work for me at all.

If you haven't read anything by Kelley Armstrong, give her a try. She's a great writer and really stands out from the pack. Just an interesting note: when I read Bitten and Stolen, they had rather arty, literary hardcovers, rather than the paperbacks' more genre-y, supernatural babes covers. I guess they changed direction in the marketing, but it's signficant because they are hard to categorize. But go read them.

Did they have hair gel in 1820-something?

Picked this up at Borders today also. The tiny cover on Amazon didn't do it justice. I especially loved the stubble. C'mon, now! Poor Loretta Chase can't catch a break in the artist department. I suppose the guy's good looking, but I don't like this hairdo on contemporary guys.

Happy Surprise!

Hurrah, hurrah! I had totally forgotten that Broken by Kelley Armstrong is out. Whee, the return of Elena and Clay! A trip to Borders post-mommy and me is warranted. If you haven't read anything by Kelley Armstrong and you like paranormals. I wouldn't characterize her as romance, nor horror...its like a contemporary paranormal fantasy with romantic elements. I love her characterization of the werewolves. When I first read Bitten, I wasn't really into romance and I was like, this is my perfect book! Why is no one else out writing like this? And don't tell me Laurell K., please! Anyway, over time her world has expanded to include lots of different characters, who I enjoy (got a soft spot for Lucas), but of course, my ultimate fondness is with the prickly Elena, the hot and sociopathic Clay, and the enigmatic Jeremy. Yay!

So I've been feeling really nostalgic lately for the strangest things. Anybody remember a little cinematic gem called Teen Witch? With the fabulous songs, "In Like Boys," "I Want to be the Most Popular Girl, "and the "rap off", "Top That?"

I'm also highly unhappy that Veronica Mars was pre-empted yet again for New Jersey Nets basketball. What! Of, course, since I'm a spoiler whore, I could not help but to go to TelevisionWithoutPity to find out what happened. I missed heartbreaking, Veronica/Logan angst!!! Dammit, I've been watching all season, and they've barely thrown us a bone with them, and now Channel 9 won't show it!! I've got to see it, because it sounds right now like it was up there with the last episode of My So-Called Life, and Brian Krakow on his bicycle. Moment of silence for Brian Krakow.

Covers Galore (This One's for Steph)

So my good friend Steph recently began reading my blog. My wit and wisdom inspired her to go out and get her very first romance novel. I suggested Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, as a good one to start with. I warned her, as a newbie, that the cover was pretty bad.

Cover in question:



So she emails me that she chickened out because of the cover. The world of romance covers is a strange and varied one. I, for one, will take an English manor house over a shirtless clinch any day. But I have discovered in my reading, that a lot of people do like characters on the cover b/c it helps them to envision the hero and heroine. They often do the opposite for me, ruining my vision of them.

It seems that authors have little control over their covers. It's the luck of the draw. Which is a shame, because although I try to preach "don't judge a book by it's cover" when recommending books to kids, I too, will not read a book based upon its cover. So I thought I'd help Steph get past her distaste for clinchy covers by showing her how bad they can be. Luckily, some hardworking bloggers have already done the work of posting some true howlers. Have fun Steph, and make sure no one's looking over your shoulder. Without further ado, get ready to cry laughing, and want to wash your eyes out with bleach:

Smart Bitches Cover Snark--so much awful goodness.

Some dude named Longmire does romance novels--The titles are obviously changed, but it's hysterical, and actually shows a wide range of cover archetypes.

Bam is hilarious, and she definitely writes better back cover blurbs than the real ones. Interesting job, by the way. How does one become a novel blurb writer?

So it could always be worse. Perhaps invest in some of the book covers that my mom had, as if we didn't know what was under them. I may invest myself, as I can be a cover phobe. I've come a long way, but old prejudices still persist for me. Ah well.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Moan...

I've never been a fan of reading Science Fiction. That is not to say that I don't like Science Fiction at all. I've actually enjoyed quite a few Sci-Fi movies and tv series (I miss Farscape!), and we watch the Sci-Fi Channel all the time (which isn't exclusively Sci-Fi...do you watch Ghost-Hunters? We want to move to RI and join up!)But for some reason, in reading it, I seem to get thrown off by the space jargon (frell, frak, krek...just say fuck, for fuck's sake), and the science-y stuff seems cheesy or boring. So I was a bit surprised at myself for picking up The Ultimatum by Susan Kearney at the library, but I was intrigued by the back cover blurb.
The Ultimatum has the most,uh, original set-up I've seen in a long time. Dr. Alara Calladar is a brilliant physiologist who specializes in the study of the females of the Endekian race that she belongs to. Due to their genetic programming, Endekian females of childbearing years go through these cycles (the 'Boktai'), where they are absolutely crazed with lust and will have sex with any willing male. It seems that their cells will degenerate and they will DIE if they don't get some "male essence" to regenerate them. Not only that, but the more they do it with a particular guy, their cells become attuned to him (or something), and they become dependent on his man juice to keep them alive. Seriously, doesn't this sound like a porno set-up? Total male fantasy. Apparently, Endekian males are all short and rotund, and they don't treat the ladies well because they know that they'll be getting some no matter how they act, since getting boinked is so necessary to keeping the females alive. But fear not, because this is not a porno, but a romance novel (i.e. female fantasy?), so our heroine will be spared an unhappy marriage to a Ron Jeremy look-alike by the arrival of a hot guy from space. Xander is a Rystani warrior, an enemy race, and he wants Alara to come with him to try and cure some virus or something. But, of course Alara is at the mercy of the Boktai, and they are in outer space...Cue Bamp-chicka-wow-wow porny music...

So I'm not going to write a review, because after much effort, I'm giving up. I only read about 125 pages in a week. A lot of it's my Sci-Fi prejudice. For example, it's not a penis, but a tavis. Tavis Smiley is a fellow with a PBS talk show, at least in the New York metro area. I just can't deal. I really wanted to like this, because of the wonderfully porn-worthy set-up, but I was bored out of my skull. But perhaps it will be some other reader's cup of tea. I couldn't let it go by without mention. Plus, I went to BJ's for a birthday cake this morning and picked up Dead and Loving It by Maryjanice Davidson, although I swore to the heavens I would ILL this after shelling out for two hardcovers and a trade paperback last year, all shitty. She's got a great a genuinely humorous, and snarky voice that really stands out. She's just getting extremely light on substance. But hey, it was 35% off. So yeah space rangers, you're getting tossed aside for obnoxious werewolves and vampires.

Sword in the Sheath

Okay, totally cheap. And rather lame. Which is kind of appropriate, because today I'll be discussing Sword of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor. I was very psyched for this book. Being a total medieval and Camelot wonk I loved the premise, in which there is a shadow Camelot, presided over by Morgen LeFay, Arthur's half-sister, who has been given lots of different interpretations over the years. Here she's full-on evil, but we don't know if Arthur's the father of her son Mordred (I'm guessing no, too dark). She's surrounded by dragons, gargoyles, and dark and tormented possible future anti-heroes. Avalon is presided over by the female Merlin, and she is surrounded by the not-so-dark, but still tormented former Knights of the Round Table. Everyone's immortal and can time travel, so that they can make all sorts of 'witty' and 'sarcastic' comments inappropriate to the time period. First up at bat: Kerrigan, the Pendragon, or ruler, of this "dark" Camelot.
So I didn't hate this book. I did put it down a lot, which I usually don't do with Sherrilyn Kenyon (who is MacGregor). It was not nearly as compulsively readable as many of her books. The problem for me was the hero and the heroine. Kerrigan, the king and wielder of Caliburn (sort of a dark counterpart to Excalibur), is supposed to be the baddest of the bad, demonic in fact. Instead he is pure Kenyon: he had a rough childhood, nobody's ever been kind to him. He's not so bad, he just needs a good woman to listen to him, empathize, and downright pity him, and he will dissolve into a puddle of luurrrrve. Seriously, some smiles from an innocent virgin and Kerrigan's grinchy heart grows three sizes. Bleh. That brings me to Cindy Lou Who, er, Seren, the apprentice weaver, who I actively hated as I have not hated a heroine in a long time. Oy vey, the self-righteousness, the innocence, the purity, the torture. She firmly believes in the good in people, and is constantly chastizing Kerrigan for not being nicer, even when he's saving her sorry ass. She's just so good, I kept expecting her to chime out, "God bless us, every one" A la Tiny Tim. At one point she's like, oh, I love the good part of Kerrigan, oh no I love all of him. Yeah right, you know she'd constantly be lecturing him and trying to change him. Ooh, she bugged with her platitudes.

Seren the super annoying has been chosen to be the mother of the next Merlin (not a specific person here, rather a title for a wise and powerful magician). Both Merlin and Morgen want her, for her child will shift the balance of power between the two realms. However Kerrigan kidnaps her out from under Gawain and Agravain (good guys from Avalon), and things progress much as you would expect from there. I wanted this to be darker, and it was a bit by the numbers--Kerrigan was classic DH, as was Morgen (Artemis). There was the usual humor, sometimes funny, sometimes clunky. But it was really Seren and her "might does not make right" schtick that killed it for me. I'll keep reading (though perhaps from the library), because with a better h/h this could be good. I'm left with the impression that MacGregor/Kenyon really enjoyed writing this, she knows her Arthurian lore, I just wish she would push her boundaries a bit, stray from what has become rote. Darker and more tormented please. Or not. More something, though. Please.

One more thing, t hen I'll shut up

So I've been following Eloisa James' "spoiler trail" on her website. The things she mentions as clues are things I did notice, but rather than reading them as signs that Imogen was realizing who Gabe really was, I just saw them as signs of Imogen's confusion over her feelings for the two men. Even the whole Silchester thing (see her April 13 note),where Imogen realized it was Rafe prior to their first lovemaking, I was like "yeah, okay, whatever you say." I think Ms. James was too subtle for my simpleminded ass. I will re-read this book at some point, but for now I'll quit my bitching, and just accept the fact that it didn't work for me.

So I got two wisdom teeth taken out Tuesday morning. Yeow, I'm so glad I didn't get all four. I swelled up so much, I'm just starting to feel better this evening. Well, except for the sinus infection and my period. Somebody put me out of my misery now.

Over at Smart Bitches, they're talking about inaccurate historical names. My name gets bashed several times, but since I'm not a regency-era male, I won't take offense. The only hero named Devon I can think of was in The Windflower, which most squee over, but I don't remember it at all. I read it in high school, and I probably didn't like it 'cuz a dude had my name.

Much Ado about Taming of the Duke...

I guess I wasn't the only reader who had some issues with this book. Over on her website, Eloisa James is leaving a spoiler trail, mapping Imogen's discovery of Rafe's masquerade. She is also planning to write an additional chapter to cover this. Also, over on the Avon Author's Board she has answered a lot of reader's questions (I have not read the whole thread yet myself).

I don't get much sleep these days. My daughter doesn't sleep at night. I'm trying to get her to sleep, resulting in even less sleep for me than before. So maybe, in my sleep-deprived haze, I was overly harsh on TOD. But...so far, I'm not convinced that Imogen knew, and I'm not convinced that she was in love with Rafe. Falling in love? Yes. Confused and conflicted about her emotions? Definitely. I guess I'll have to keep reading, in order to understand when Imogen fell and who she fell for. Even "the little a-ha moments" pointed out so far, seem murky. I kinda think that James is doing a lot of telling w/o so much showing, but I'll follow the threads and spoiler trail and whatnot and try to re-read the book before she posts the new chapter to see if I feel differently. I'm kinda sadly obsessed with this, but again I really wanted to like this book better.

Test Post

I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to try and figure out this expandable post thing if it's the last thing I do. I know I'm a wordy mofo, and it's too much text for people to scroll through. Let's see...

Loretta Chase is worthy of fangirly adoration...

Finished Lord Perfect yesterday. I loved it. Loretta Chase has such a great, witty, unforced style. Her books are always fun. And her characters are always memorable. They also seem true to the time, rather than 21st century people set down into the 1820's. And I adore her sense of humor. I love how her characters always fall madly in love at first sight, although they are never quite aware of it. Instead, they are disconcerted by the fact that they're becoming undone. By the time Chase's heroes and heroines get together however, it is always clear that it is an attraction of the mind and spirit as well as the body. That truly makes her stand out. Oh well, my brain's not functioning well enough to write a real review, but Lord Perfect is defintely worth a read. If someone were to ask me for a rec for a great historical romance writer, she's the first one I'd think of.

Fangirls scare me!

You know the ones I'm talking about. Those posters at the author loops and message boards, as well as more general boards and even Amazon, who obsess over and dissect the minutiae of their chosen authors' creations, and who dismiss even then slightest criticism of said author and her works. Their rebuttals to such criticisms usually include such in-depth thoughts as, "You just don't get it!", "So-and-so is a goddess and I will read every piece of crap she has ever and will ever write!," or "If you don't get it, we don't want youto read so-and so's book anyway." Yeah,hmmm, whatever. As a complete spoiler whore, I lurk around author websites and loops, desperate for hints or excerpts, and I find these types by turns amusing, annoying, and sometimes creepy. Sometimes I love a book, despite the fact that I know that there are (sometimes glaring) flaws. Something about it will just draw me in and make me ignore the flaws. While I may disagree with another's opinion, I can still respect it and often find truth in it. If I like the book, someone else isn't going to change my mind about it. Whatever, if a person's going to put a product out there, they should be able to handle some criticism. It just weirds me out that these fans are so impassioned that they need to respond to everything with they typwritten equivalent of sticking their tongue out. If you don't have anything halfway intelligent to say, don't say anything at all. I've even seen posts where these so-called fans actually post links to negative reviews etc., just so they can reassure the author and the community that this person's an idiot and they're full of crap. Wha? You love this author so much that you'll bring negative info that she might otherwise miss to her attention?

Also, they just seem to be just a little toooo into it. I love paranormals and part of the fun is getting into the world building, and seeing characters develop over time. But for me the fun is seeing what the author does with the character(s) etc. and if I'd do the same if I was her or whatever. I wouldn't go so far as to say that people have completely lost their grip on reality, but I think that some of them are thinking about these characters waaay too much. While I can get fangirly (see my continued devotion to SK while sooooo many things bug me about the DH books), I can recognize that books are books, and sometimes mediocre ones at that. Really though, some of these posters freak me out. I think they might stab someone who doesn't recognize their genius of their object of devotion.

I also worry that some of these authors might get caught up in the slavish adoration of their fangirls. I kinda think that this is what happened to LKH. If a vocal group is telling you that your shit don't stink, well hell, you should keep churning out shit for them. The rest of us misguided fools just don't get it. I'm going to go there and say, that after the stuff that I've read over the past year, Sherrilyn Kenyon is in grave danger of succumbing to this. People adore her no matter how meh it is. Or else she's just overextended and has got to start saying no to her agent.

Is this primarily a paranormal phenomenon? Do the authors of historicals or contemporaries have such rabid and defensive fans? 'Cuz all the examples I'm thinking of are paranormal authors. It's interesting...

Taming of the Duke (spoilers ahead)

I first ran across Eloisa James when I read a novella by her in "The One That Got Away." I liked it. Then I found out that she was an English prof at Fordham University, which a number of family member attend/have attended. So as some kind of show of solidarity, I continued to seek her work out. I like her, with qualifications, so it was interesting to see, as I got into the whole romance thing, that she inspires such mixed and strong feelings. I admire the fact that she is trying to do something different. She plays with structure, supporting large than usual casts of characters and multiple subplots. She also writes more human characters: they can be weak and selfish, even annoying. Her heroes are strong, but beta, and her heroines can have very strong personalities as well. It seems to be for these reasons that a lot of readers dislike her work. I actually like these elements. She's got a nice writing style as well. My beef with James is that in the process of challenging herself and readers, she seems to lose sight of the primary challenge of a romance: to create a clear, engaging, believable love story between two characters.

I was really looking forward to The Taming of the Duke. I put aside Lord Perfect for it.
I had enjoyed the two previous books in the "Sisters" series, and I had enjoyed Rafe Jourdain, the Duke of Holbrook's appearances in them. He looked to be an unusual hero, a drunk with a gut, but there was definitely some kind of tension or feeling between him and Imogen, and I was excited to see what James would do with it. Similarly, I didn't particularly care for Lady Imogen Maitland, she was often petulant and immature, but there were glimmers of something likable and I wanted to see how the author would make these two over and give them an HEA. In TTOTD, Imogen returns to the home of her guardian, Rafe, just as he's getting to know his illegitimate half-brother, a Cambridge professor named Gabriel Spenser. For reasons I'm not going to bother getting into, the two are going to mount a theatrical production at Holbrook Court. Rafe drives Imogen crazy as usual, but she is intrigued by his brother, who looks a lot like him, but has a sober dignity that Rafe lacks. Although, he is unmarriageable due to his birth, Gabriel is the perfect candidate for the affair that Imogen is desperate to have (yeah, she's still a bit annoying). But just who is it that Imogen is meeting in the shadows, bearing a fake mustache?


SPOILER


Wait for it...

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!! I really wanted to like this story. The weakness can be summed up quite easily--not enough Rafe and Imogen. There was too much Imogen and 'Gabriel' and too much of the real Gabriel's romance (Although I enjoyed the character and the love story, it needed its own forum 'cuz it took away from the story at hand). Furthermore, it really bugged me that Rafe continued his charade thoughout the book. It made him seem stupid at best, downright creepy at worst. I couldn't believe that he wouldn't think that Imogen wouldn't hand him his balls when she found out that he had sex with her while pretending to be someone else. If they had had sex, he had come clean, had the inevitable blow up, and continued from there, I would've liked it much better. As it was, Imogen was in love with a made up person for reasons based on lust. Although I definitely believe that there were strong sparks between the two, and feeling (which makes it all the more disappointing), I just didn't believe in their (especially Imogen's) declarations of love at the end. We just didn't get enough of their love story. They weren't there yet, y'know? I'm really curious to see if the element of dishonesty bothered anyone else.

Ah well, I'll still look forward to Josie's story. I wonder if she'll hook her up with Mayne. I suppose it's realistic, but James' habit of heroes that are much older than the heroine yucks me out a bit. Very Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Especially since the heroes comment on the heroine's youth. It's like they know they're stealing them from the cradle.

ETA after reading reviews on Amazon: I just want to state that there was not a glimmering of evidence that Imogen had realized Rafe's charade until the denouement. As written, I really don't believe she made that discovery until his proposal. Just one line to acknowledge it. Again, disappointing.

Sticks and Stones may break my bones...

But whips and chains excite me!

Okay, so I've always been a bit of a prude. I was a bit of a late/bloomer with the whole boy/dating thing, and I used to be a bit uptight when it came to sexual matters. Six years of marriage and two kids later, I am much less prudish, but I was still quite attracted/repelled by the whole Ellora's Cave/romantica phenomenon. The first time I got up the nerve to order something, I felt like the fat man behind the "Adults Only" curtain at the local used bookstore (What's back there? Used porno mags? GROSS!!). I even used a VISA gift card I had so that it wouldn't show up on a credit card statement. But since I was being naughty, I figured that I may as well be really naughty, so I got one of those menage opuses by Lora Leigh, one where brothers share their women. Oy. Anyhow, now I'll freely admit that I quite like romantica, especially of the pervy BDSM variety. And apparently, I'm not the only one, as it is the top-selling genre at Ellora's Cave.

So why would any liberal, feminist, hater of "forced seductions," captive stories and sheikhs enjoy reading about women (primarily) getting tied up and having all kinds of kinky things done to them? Yeah, it's weird to me too. In a way, these BDSM scenarios are merely a more extreme version of the alpha males, and aforementioned forced seductions etc. that still exist in today's romances. Heck you even find the word "dominance" and the idea of being dominated in more mainstream romances (although it's usually without a flogger). This being fiction for women, usually the author goes to great lengths to emphasize that it is the woman's choice, and furthermore that she feels free or actually empowered by participating in such scenarios. Whether or not this is convincing depends on the skill of the author.

I have little knowledge of the reality of BDSM. All my knowledge comes from reading romantica, which I see as a form of literature for women's fantasies. So I don't know whether the authors I've read are getting it right, or cleaning it up so that women like me actually find it romantic and sexy. But different authors present the lifestyle differently, and sometimes it's hot and sometimes it super-squicky. The best author I've read is Joey W. Hill, of all the romantica I've read. I just read Ice Queen, which was a sequel to the also excellent Natural Law (one of only two I've read with a Male sub!). Hill's books are peopled with adults with jobs, interests and lives, who just happen to be involved in this particular lifestyle. Since they are already practiced in the lifestyle, it lacks the ick factor of some of the books I've read where the guy seduces the girl, then proceeds to sort of coerce her into things. Hill also focuses on the psychological and emotional aspects for both the dominant and the submissive, the give and take for both. The sex scenes may be extreme, but it is always clear what both parties are getting out of it,and how it is bringing them closer. So often, we see a lot of what the sub feels and the dominant comes off as a creep who gets off on humiliating the heroine and pushing her into embarrassing situations. Then we are told that he cares about her and he does it b/c that's what she wants. Don't buy it, squicked out. Hill avoids that whole humiliation bit, i.e. calling the person "slut" or "whore", and as I pointed out the sex scenes take place privately or in a club that the characters belong to and are familiar with.

I don't know, I intended this to be a review of Ice Queen, and has turned more into a treatise on my view of BDSM romantica. I really enjoyed Tyler and Marguerite's story, although the ending was a bit disturbing, then abrupt. But there's going to be a sequel, soon I hope! Marguerite is a truly troubled person and we need a sequel where she works out some some of her issues, so I can be convinced that she won't stab Tyler in his sleep one night. If you are thinking of trying out BDSM romantica, give Joey W. Hill a try. Bound to Trust by Jaci Burton is another good one. Now different strokes for different folks, and perhaps it's more realistic, but if you are uncomfortable with a heroine being humiliated in various ways, including public situations with strangers, avoid Claire Thompson. I have a high squick level, and I was bugged out. I'm very careful with buying this stuff these days. I don't want to spend six bucks to horrify myself.

Also: Not one of the local Barnes & Noble's have Taming of the Duke yet. WTF? I bought Lord Perfect and Sword of Darkness intsead, to make up for the disappointment.

This n' That

Blogging 101

Added some new links to the sidebar thingy. Laziness has kept me from doing it before this. Even added some more of those group author blogs. Although there can be something kind of...corporate...about them, i.e. the constant shilling of books from their publisher, they have a lot of neat stuff too. Little by little I'll get this looking the way I want it to.

Chicken Little

Is it weird that I take such a perverse kind of glee that Kevin Covais, formerly of American Idol, is from my neighborhood? As a devout non-watcher of AI, I usually take little notice of what's going on with it, but all these signs started popping up all over--the high school, the parks, the local stores, messages painted on the back windshields of cars, "Vote for my friend Kevin!" There have even been notices tucked into my front door, a la a chinese food menu, urging me to vote for a local boy makes good. Once I saw a picture of him ("He makes Clay Aiken look manly!," thought I) I had to watch. Except I kept forgetting to. So instead I went to Television Without Pity. For some reason it is so exciting to me that the dorky guy who so many people regard with awe, shock and horror is from my neighborhood. That's so much cooler than, say, a really talented person. Oh well, he's been sent back to Island Trees HS now. And I never got to see him shake his thing to "Part-time Lover." Seriously though, going on AI takes balls, and he slogged on through even though he had to know that he was out of his depth. I hope that his classmates don't give him shit, and I'll squeeeee if I see him at the pizza parlor (which as of Friday had a pizza named after him).

RITAtm Nominations

The Rita Finalists are up at the Romance Writers of America site. Hmmmm....Not familiar with a lot of these, which isn't really a surprise, I'm no expert, and I spent a lot of last year glomming, rather than checking out new stuff. Totally unfamiliar with several of the paranormal noms. Who is Pamela Labud? She also got a first timer nod. Let's go see...Spirited Away... got eh reviews, which means nothing. I'm not really into ghost lovers, though.

Next time: Devon makes yet another foray into pervy romantica.

Bad title, Good Book

Recently, I read The Charmer and The Romantic by Madeline Hunter. There were some things I liked about both books, and other things that left me cold. But when I saw that Lady of Sin would be about Nathaniel Knightridge and Charlotte, the youngest sister of the Duclairc family, I was psyched because I enjoyed their appearances in The Romantic quite a bit. And I enjoyed Lady of Sin quite a lot, though I don't like the title. It's too...hooker-esque, and kinda dumb, though I know it's because this book follows Lord of Sin, which I skipped because I was sick of rakes.

I think that Hunter's strength is in creating characters with a strong self of self, who, while they might go against the grain, still fit into the time and place. In particular, her heroines contain a maturity and self-awareness that distinguish them from a lot of Regency/Early Victorian fare. Like Sophia and Pen in the other titles, Charlotte (Baroness Mardenford/Lady M.) engages in an affair, knowing that there may be disastrous consequences, simply because the desire to is strong enough. There's little fluttering or blaming the hero, and if self-recrimination takes place afterward, it's for good reason. But unlike Sophia and Pen, Charlotte is not annoying. She is unapologetically clever and opinionated, without being grating, and she doesn't go haring off, making stupid decisions, just because she can. I think it's because she is portrayed as a very empathetic person. She is a good match and foil for lawyer Nathaniel, the fifth son of an Earl, who is himself a very strong, opinionated, arrogant, yet empathetic guy. And I like stories where sparring partners realize that their dislike is masking other emotions entirely. One imagines that such relationships probably don't end so well in real life, but it makes for good reading.

As LOS opens, Charlotte goes to see Nathaniel on the day a man he unsuccessfully defended is to be executed. They've alway disliked each other, but they end up smooching, and Charlotte is painfully aware that this is not their first intimacy. At an orgy (Naughty!) held by the notorious Earl of Lyndale (hero of Lord of Sin), the masked Charlotte and Nathaniel hit it off and got it on. Nathaniel doesn't recognize her and Charlotte would like to keep it that way. However, as a series of events keeps throwing them into proximity, they realize that that not only is desire between them still there, but also is quite strong, and seems to involve the mind and heart as well as the body. I liked that they resolved the issue of their one night stand quickly, and it didn't turn into some stupid big misunderstanding. They are brought together by a mystery surrounding Charlotte's late husband and her brother in law, and while I didn't find the plot particularly suspenseful or compelling, I didn't care. A good romance is a character driven story of two individuals coming together, and if I'm drawn to the hero/heroine's love story, the plot is incidental to that. I liked Nathaniel and Charlotte and I really enjoyed seeing their vigorous dislike turn to love. The love scenes were good and there were lots of them (although perhaps the word "vulva" was overused). If you like strong, mature characters with lots of passion, this is a good bet. I'll be reading Hunter's future books, and I want to try her Medievals. They are very well-reviewed and I've got to get over my Medieval dislike (but that's another post).

That is all. Everyone's asleep and I'm off to drink my McSorley's. Erin Go Bragh!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What an exciting week! My husband's on furlough (that's temporary unemployment to those not in the know), I'm about to kill him, I have to get my wisdom teeth out, I bought Lady of Sin by Madeline Hunter, and Her Master and Commander by Karen Hawkins. From the library, I got Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu and The Ultimatum by Susan Kearney (not my usual bag, but I'm attempting to push my boundaries). Plus, first new Veronica Mars in six weeks! That's enough to make up for the loss of Project Runway. (BTW, Chloe? Really? I liked the girl and all but...really? Huh. At least it was a surprise).

First off, Veronica Mars. Love the continuity as usual, but please with the chick from Laguna Beach. She needs a punch in the teeth so she doesn't grin through every freaking line!!! Hate Hannah, the new mini-Veronica, but loved the homage to My So-Called Life's hallway hand-holding scene. (Which still makes me sigh 12 years later. And yes, my college roommate bought the Buffalo Tom CD afterwards. And we made mixes). I will watch the rest of the season if only to see if Logan and Hannah have the following exchange:
Hannah: Why are you like this?
Logan: Like What?
Hannah: Like how you are.
Remember it? Remember? Does "the N" still have MSCL re-runs on? But anyway, where's the Goot? The Goot's behind the bus crash, for sure. As much as I love to see a boy from Massapequa do good, the Goot's a bit evil. And he needs to lay off the plastic surgery. Or the makeup. Or is it a combo that's got him looking so freaky?

Before I get my surgery (which for some reason I'm more nervous about than giving birth, it's the whole sharp implements in my mouth, near my eyes and my brain, thing), I still got me some books to get. Although I imagine the recovery won't be that long, I'm still going to have assistance with the kids for a day or two. Whee! Reading time! Im' looking forward to buying Taming of the Duke,Sword of DarknessLord Perfect and Three Little Secrets. Sword of Darkness got a bad review here, which was disheartening. Over at Smart Bitches, they're bitching about the fact that the cover blurb is by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Kinley MacGregor), which was mentioned by the AAR reviewer as well. From reading SK's novels, interviews with her and having seen her in person, I do think it's a joke. I also think it's a dorky one. Then again, I often find the humor in SK's novels to be a bit dorky. Oh well, I've been increasingly disappointed with her work, but I'll get this for sure, because I do love the premise.

Gee, I'm feeling kinda loopy today, and I've haven't even had my celebratory St. Patty's McSorley's. I'll have 'em while I do my review of Lady of Sin later.

It's the girl in the red truck, Charlie Brown

My son is very into the Peanuts. Both our local library and the library that I work at have an extensive collection of old Snoopy cartoons so we regularly check them out. The other day, the H-Bomb chose this one:



I had a bad feeling about it (look at that cover), but he insisted, so anyway...as a mom, one is often forced to watch shows that one might not otherwise, but this was one of the strangest. My son keeps watching it over and over again, and I have no idea what would make this appealing to small children. There is no Snoopy or Charlie Brown, instead it focuses on Snoopy's seedy-looking brother,Spike, who lives out in the California desert. It is mostly live action, and revolves around his friendship with the very perky Jenny, who is torn between her love for her home, and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is one of those white bread, blonde and handsome, yet somehow creepy types the 80's did so well. He wants to go to LA to be a musician or something. This is pretty much it--Jenny's relationship issues and a long roller skating sequence. Seriously, Jenny and the boyfriend spend a lot of time talking about their relationship and whether to go to the "city" or not. And she yammers with her bitter waitress friend. Boyfriend is also disturbingly jealous of the friggin' cartoon dog. It's so weird. I don't even think an older kid would enjoy it. So I looked it up on IMDB (shut up, I don't need to get a life), and I found out two fascinating facts: Jenny is played by Jill Schulz, daughter of Charles Schulz, and the roller skating rink in the movie belonged to Charles Schulz. I did further investigation into the career of Jill Schulz (shut up, I don't need to get a life), and she had few credits that all revolved around roller skating. So she must be some kind of...roller skating person. I could tell you she ain't no actress. I wonder if the other two actors were Schulz family members, or employees of the roller rink or something. The whole movie was to showcase the woman's roller skating talent. I can't decide if I like the randomness of it or it was just super-bad. Anyway, we just took it out yesterday, but I think we'll have to return it sooner than later, b/c I can't take too much more.

Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward (Spoilers Ahead)

J.R. Ward's Website

Lover Eternal@Amazon

The pleasure of reading a good paranormal romance is in being transported into a fascinating, different world. It may be a little dark and scary, it should be damn sexy, but it is always fun. I think paranormals are appealing to people because they are a true escape from the everyday, mundane world. Also appealing to readers and writers alike, I think that within the framework of the paranormal, writers are able to push the envelope a little bit, explore issues of love and sexuality in a manner that still feels "safe" to many. However, paranormals are often marred by stock characters, stale plots, and worlds without internal logic and inconsistencies. As a devoted reader of paranormals, I have an almost boundless ability to suspend disbelief and ignore the things that I don't like and focus on the things that I do. But more and more, I am unable to do so because I am hung up on the stuff I don't like.

Lover Eternal is not one of those books. It is an example of a great paranormal romance. I am declaring myself J.R. Ward's bitch right here, right now. She rocks. I loved this book. I loved Dark Lover, but I loved this one even more. I put some links at the beginning of this post which lead to summaries, excerpts and other reviews, because I want to get right to what makes the book awesome (in my not-so-humble opinion).

*Increasing Depth into the World--In this book, we learn more about the vampire race and their world, while remaining consistent with DL. No annoying rule changing. While not necessarily groundbreaking (but nice and simple), I find her vampires very interesting, particularly their strict social hierarchy and their almost animalistic nature. I look forward to learning more about the aristocracy and the whole concept of blood slavery in the next book, Lover Awakened.

*Character Development--A romance should be a character-driven story. It is the story of two people falling in love. Honestly, to me the plot is almost incidental. If I can't buy the characters, I can't buy the romance and I don't like the book. In DL, I was impressed by how Ward created a number of distinct characters. In LE, we gain greater insight into the characters, through a number of different p.o.v.'s, and they are even more intriguing than before. In addition, Rhage and Mary were great characters. Rhage, while a larger than life character, did not overshadow Mary, who was no Mary Sue. In fact, she was kind of a pain in the ass at times (but I could understand why). While there was the standard insta-lust, their emotional and physical connection deepened over time in a very satisfying way. This was a very emotional story (gotta love how Rhage fell like a ton of bricks and didn't seem to mind at all. Refreshing.)

*Multiple points of view--This is connected to character development and world building. I felt that the different points of view really added a lot, providing a lot of insight. I think that it makes the readers more invested in the characters also, so that you're looking forward to all of the books. This is definitely a series book, and a lot of time was spent setting up the next book. I wonder if that would bother some readers, but I was psyched b/c of lots o'Zsadist. Which leads me to...

*No fear--These characters have problems, and big ones, and Ward doesn't shy away from their portrayal. More importantly, she doesn't take the easy way out. With the exception of, perhaps, Mary's miracle cure and immortality. That didn't bother me actually, b/c she left Mary infertile. It may seem stupid, but it was better that everything wasn't perfect at the end. And miracle babies are annoying. Similarly, I liked that Rhage was left with the beast at the end. Things weren't perfect, but they loved and accepted each other enough to see it through. Some things happened that would definitely be unacceptable in most romances (i.e. Rhage having sex with another woman, THEN HAVING SEX WITH MARY!!! SAME NIGHT!!). Within the context of the novel, it didn't bother me in the least, and I actually thought that it was one of the most emotional scenes in the book. More of Z's background was given and it is indeed horrific. I'm very curious for the third book, b/c what we're being shown of his character...things could be very interesting indeed. Awesome and disturbing to some, I'm sure. I hope that Ward doesn't wuss out and give us the tortured hero has sex with beautiful nurturing woman and becomes shiny, happy, well-adjusted (maybe just a bit cranky) guy. I have high hopes though, b/c this book was quite different than DL, so I think she'll continue to take risks.

*Writing style--Ward writes in a very crisp, intelligent style that contrasts with a the extravagant, cliche ridden style of a lot of paranormals. Her prose is pretty much simple and straightforward.

Fangirl much? There were some things that bothered me. The slang and pop culture references came thisclose to being too much. I thought that they suited the characters (it's not like they were listening to Mariah Carey or something), but I got a little distracted by it at times. It was very close to crossing the border into annoying. Also, the conflict with the lessers is a bit weak. I can't help but feel that that vampires could kick their asses and call it a day quite easily. The lessers seem like a bunch of tools. Eh, with so much good stuff, I was able to ignore this easily and I admit, I kinda skimmed a lot of the lesser parts, until the end of course, when it got more interesting.

Oy vey, I'm exhausted. I'm going to go start re-reading now.

Ahh...need a cigarette

Devil in Winter was so good. So good!! I didn't want to put it down, which hasn't happened in a long time. I'm sure after the afterglow wears off, I might find some criticism, but for now, no. It was a delicious and satisfying read, and I just felt so happy afterwards. Yes, I'm crazy.

I just loved Sebastian and Evie so much. Sebastian was awesome, a real rake, not a cheesy, half-assed one. He was really funny, too. Kleypas has had some amusing moments in her books, but I've never laughed so many times during one. My personal favorite comment was when he said that he was going to embark on a spree of orgiastic debauchery that would only end when someone got arrested (paraphrase). I was browsing around Mrs. Giggles last week, and I loved this rant. I think that it suits Sebastian quite well, and in general should be used by authors as a reference when creating "good" bad boys, instead of obnoxious assholes. Liked Evie a lot too. Sure, she was another shy, sweet innocent virgin, but she had a will of steel. I just really bought that these were two damaged souls who saw something in each other and could love and accept each other for who they are. Well done, Lisa Kleypas. I just hope the other authors I'm looking forward to bring their a-game as well.

When is Scandal in Spring out? After reading the excerpt at the end of DiW, and the excerpt on the author's site. I'm psyched for this one. It seems like she might be going a in an unusual direction with the hero. I've always liked Daisy, too. Well, off to re-read. Yeah, I am.

I got it, I got it

Okay, I've got a bunch o'crap to do, but all I want to do is read. By the way, the lovely cover is marred by a ridiculous stepback--frizzy red hair on the heroine, the hero shirtless, yet wearing a cape. Wha? Oh well at least the front's nice.

To be investigated some other time: Are any of these any good?









More on Through a Crimson Veil: it was all right, just a bit meh. Neither the h/h nor the love story was particularly memorable. I did enjoy the demon race though, after after looking at the Crimson City Blog, I am sufficiently intrigued to read the next one.