Ravings of the Semi-Lucid

TBR Challenge 2009: Review: Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:22:44 GMT

This year, I decided to participate in Avid Reader's TBR Challenge 2009. I decided I wanted to post the books I read over on LJ rather than on The Good, the Bad, and the Unread, because I thought that way if I ever came down to the wire and wrote something up at 11:59 on a Wednesday, it could still count.

Anyway, this year she did things a bit differently and assigned us different reading goals. This month, we were to read a category romance. Since one of my best discoveries last year was the romance of Janice Kay Johnson, and since I had one of her books in my TBR pile, I decided she'd be a perfect place to start.

So, without further ado:

Title: Snowbound
Author: Janice Kay Johnson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Super Romance
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
Summary: When a blizzard strands Fiona MacPherson and her students in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, their only hope of survival is to seek shelter at Thunder Mountain Lodge. Their host is John Fallon, a handsome, enigmatic war veteran haunted by secrets and scars that may never heal.

John Fallon never imagined he'd be playing host to this captivating teacher and her eight teenage charges. But when his solitude is shattered by their arrival, his world shifts on its axis. He needs Fiona—but does she need him? There's only one way to find out. The ex-soldier must find the courage to reach out to the remarkable woman who has transformed his life.…

I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Johnson manages to pack a lot into such a short novel, and for the most part I believed in her characters. I'm a sucker for the kind of tortured hero who is stoic about his torture, and John is. He's suffering from serious PTSD, but I felt like he also did a good job of getting on with his life as best he could under the circumstances.

Fiona I liked well enough, but not as much as I liked John. I think I would kill to read a contemporary romance where I actually bought that the heroine was a woman in her mid-to-late twenties. Because Fiona's my age, and I'm pretty sure that I don't have any age-mates who say, "Goodness!" or "Darn!" as much as she does. Granted, she's a teacher, so some of that was understandable, but when she's thinking things like 'Darn' or 'heck', I don't know. It just seems a bit silly and needlessly prudish considering the fact that John swears quite a bit.

That's a pretty minor quibble, though, for what was essentially a very cute, emotional story. I especially liked that all the teenagers felt like real teenagers, and they created some of the more amusing scenes in the book.

Oh, and I also liked the end. It's definitely the romance requisite happily ever after, but it's handled realistically. John is still healing, and he's not miraculously cured by Fiona's magical vajayjay, so they'll still have their issues. But that's OK, because I felt they were strong enough as a couple.

Final Grade: B

February: Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale (A lot of people love this book, and it got a Desert Isle Keeper review from All About Romance
March: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (historical fiction)
April: The Wild Swans by Peg Kerr
May: When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn.
June: Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh.
July: The Skypirate by Justine Davis,
August: Bo Crusoe by Carla Kelly
September: The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe
October: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
November: An Enchanted Season anthology
December: The Magical Christmas Cat anthology

Aren't you glad you read all that?

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:21:26 GMT

Testing something. I don't know if I'll actually use it.

Dear Yuletide Author:

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:11:32 GMT

Dear Yuletide Author:

First of all, thank you so much for being my Yuletide author this year. Whatever you write me, I'm sure I'll love to pieces, and if you're anything like me, you've been alternately horrified and elated by all the possibilities you have to work with. So I hope this helps clarify things for you.

Let me apologize for the absolute lack of much useful info on my request list. This is my first Yuletide, so I really didn't know what I was doing. I still don't know what I'm doing, but the process seems like fun.

Anyway, things I like: Fluff, character studies, subtle humor, a feel for the atmosphere of the stories. All the fandoms I picked are fairly light and fluffy, and fairly whimsical, so a sense of that would be good. I also admit to being a very heroine-centric reader. All of the fandoms I picked have strong female characters. I would dearly love to see those characters explored and their strengths highlighted. I'm OK with explicit sex, provided that it does something for the story, so feel free to write it in if you feel that's where the story is going. Het, slash, femslash, it's all good. If it fits, bring it on.

Things I Dislike: Bad characterization, excessive violence, being depressed.

As to the specific fandoms, here's what I requested and I'll include more specific thoughts about each of them.

RequestFandom1: Madeleine LEngle - Austin Murry OKeefe families

RequestFandomChar1: Meg Murry OKeefe

RequestDetail1: I think something introspective rather than action-oriented would be nice, but I'm not picky.

Specifics: I play a young Meg in an Rpg. I love her as a teenager in all her beligerent, slightly high-strung glory. I'd love to see something set between the events of A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Meg/Calvin, of course, would be lovely but is not required.

RequestFandom2: Charles de Lint - Newford series

RequestFandomChar2: Jilly Coppercorn

Specifics: I just read Widdershins and so I am all about the Jilly/Geordie shippiness. Either something set post-Widdershins or some sort of pre-shippy "day in the life" kind of thing would be awesome. But, really, I love Jilly and I will read anything.

RequestFandom3: L Frank Baum - The Oz series

RequestFandomChar3: Any

RequestDetail3:
Specifics: Surprise me. I would especially love something with the actual flavor of the series. An adventure, a character study, whatever. I do prefer the original Baum books to the ones other people wrote, if that helps narrow down the characters I'd like to see. Actually, though, I think this series could lend itself to crackfic fairly easily, and so if you feel the need to just write something silly and cracky, this is the fandom to do it.

RequestFandom4: Madeleine LEngle - Austin Murry OKeefe families

RequestFandomChar4: Polly OKeefe

Specifics: I'm not picky. But what is an older Polly doing with her life? Maybe even some sort of mother/daughter conversation with Meg if you're not going to write me Meg/Calvin fluff.

I'm not sure what else to add here, so I hope this gives you enough to work with.

I can't wait to see what you come up with! And thanks again for whatever you end up writing!

Local folks: BPALage

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:38:06 GMT

Hey, annamatic, and anyone else local.

Anyone want to do a spontaneous BPAL meet and sniff? I've got stuff I'd like to get rid of to good homes, including a shit ton of imps that no longer have labels on them that I can no longer identify. I figured I'd offer the stuff to anyone local first, since it's been a long time since we had a mutual enabling session, plus hey, less for me to pack up and ship to other people. Also, I'm home every day but Tuesday this week so the timing is perfect. Let me know if anyone's interested!

You people are why we can't have nice things!

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:37:56 GMT

Voice Post

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:29:33 GMT

Snagged from tinyholidays:

Voice posts are fun, right? You get to hear funny accents if your friends are from far, far away. All we really want is to hear your voice, we don't care what you're saying. So here's a list of typical meme questions that would otherwise be boring, but when communicated aloud - well, it's entertaining. Answer these questions in your post, and encourage others with voice-posting abilities to do the same.

1) What's your name?
2) How old are you?
3) Where are you from? Are you living there right now?
4) Is it cold where you are?
5) What's the time?
6) What are you wearing?
7) What was the last thing you listened to?
8) What was the last thing you ate?
9) What was the last thing you watched on tv?
10) What's your favorite tv show? Why?
11) Quick! Find a book, or something with text on it! Flip to a random page and read some of it! GO!
12) What was the last movie you saw? How was it?
13) Do YOU think you have an accent? Talk about that.

Shannon's September Reads

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:12:55 GMT

I meant to post this days ago, but kept getting distracted, and figured since I'm not blogging on my actual website anymore I might as well put up my reading list for the month over here. I'll link to the reviews I've written where possible, but in case you don't want to go clicking, I'll insert random thoughts about each of these in the list.

1. Accidentally Dead - Dakota Cassidy - paranormal romance - B-
I liked this a lot. The characters talk like real people, and the humor generally works. Still, the heroine spent way too much time in the land of denial, and the transformation to woman in love was too abrupt.
2. Moon Called - Patricia Briggs - urban fantasy - B+

I really enjoyed this book. I thought Mercy Thompson was a great character, and I adored the warmth I got from this book.
3. Dark Hunger - Sara Reinke - paranormal romance/urban fantasy - C

I am so sad that she didn't get her contract renewed. This second book was problematic. A lot. But it's easily one of the darkest paranormal series I've ever read.
4. Wanderlust - Ann Aguirre - science fiction - B+
I love this series, not least because Ms. Aguirre isn't afraid to take chances on giving her protagonist serious character flaws. Jax is kind of a wreck, actually, but I love reading about her. This is one of the books I pimped this month to random unsuspecting people. It was that good.
5. The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch - Fantasy - A-

Loved this. It's no A Song of Ice and Fire, but Locke Lamora is an awesome antihero character, and the book is by turns hillarious and quite dark.
6. Taken Unaware - Summer Devon - futuristic Romance - C+

This started out really well, then the author threw in a deus ex machina and some woo-woo bonded mates crap and totally lost me. But the first half was good.
7. In the Arms of the Wind - Charlotte Boyett-Compo - romantic suspense - DNF

Ugh. I didn't even get to the cracky part of the summary that made me really want to read the book in order to answer the question, "How bad can it be?" What I read was godawful, with the world's worst hero, and a woman who embodied the words "too stupid to live" to a tee. (The summary line that got me, for those of you who are clickyphobic was, "Reader Advisory: Story includes a non-consensual male/male scene. However, while the scene is non-detailed, the post-emotional aspects are shared with the reader." Yeah, no way that could possibly be offensive *at all*, right? Well, thankfully, I never got to that part. The rest was offensive all by itself.
8. Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - fantasy - B+

I really don't know what to say about this book, other than it was hillarious. Do you even need more?
9. Crossing Swords - Kirsten Saell - fantasy romance ebook - A

OMG lurved this one. Great characters, especially the heroine, a good fantasy setting that seemed to be more thought up than a place where sex0rz can occur, plus F/F action,.
10. Never Too Old - Carol Lynne - contemporary romance ebook - F

The review is forthcoming, but essentially, it sucked. As I knew it would. Also, in case you were wondering, the hero is 56. He tells us this every five minutes. And the romantic suspense angle was so slapdash it should have been left out.
11. Mercer's Bayou - Patricia Snodgrass - horror fiction - A

Review forthcoming. Also loved this book. It's straight-up horror, and probably something that would offend people who aren't pleased with the notion of Christian characters as random bad guys, but I liked it.
12. Twice the Night - Dawn Halliday - paranormal erotic romance - C-
Review forthcoming. It was cute. And short. Other than that, it was just... meh.

Blog stuff part 2

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:05:47 GMT

OK, well, the new site is still not really ready for human consumption, but it can be found here. I finally figured I should do something with this domain I've owned for a few years which has basically sat there.

I also figured out how to post to wordpress so it's delayed and will show up when I want it to. So there will be stuff other than some of my archived LJ entries on the site at midnight.

Random update

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:54:20 GMT

I've finally decided that I really ought to put my book reviews on a wordpress blog, because I like a lot of the wordpress features that are on offer, so today I've been importing my LJ to wordpress. It's an exercise in complete tediousness, because I have to go through each entry and figure out whether it needs to be included or not.

Incidentally, I haven't done any reading at all this week. Which is horrible because the book I am reading was one I should have knocked out very quickly. However, I'm thinking that this book epitomizes a lot of the things that tend to bug me about the paranormal romance genre, so my review might just wait until I am fully switched over to Wordpress since it'll be fairly ranty.

Anyway, off to import more entries.

Review: Thunder and Roses by Mary Jo Putney

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:42:48 GMT

Title: Thunder and Roses
Author: Mary Jo Putney
Genre: Historical romance
Grade: A-
Reason for Reading: You know, I'm not really sure why I originally got this book, except that the title is kind of cool. When I read the plot synopsis and the prologue, though, my interest was piqued.

Synopsis: Nicholas Davies, the latest earl of Aberdare, is the only one who can do anything to improve the lives of the villagers in Penreith, in Wales. Clare Morgan, a Methodist schoolteacher, knows this and seeks Nicholas's help. He strikes a devil's bargain with her--he'll aid the village if she lives with him for three months and let him claim a kiss every day, thus ruining her reputation. Furious at his audacity, Clare accepts his challenge, and gradually finds herself struggling with her growing fascination for Nicholas.

My Thoughts: A lot of Regency-set historical romances have similar plot premises. There's invariably a rogueish rake of a hero and a supposedly intelligent heroine who likes to help others and be a martyr. And there seems to be a trend in the books I've been reading where the rake has a group of friends who are all confirmed bachellors with ridiculous nicknames.

Fortunately for me, Mary Jo Putney's Fallen Angels series was one of the first with the whole rakes club thing, and a wonderful gift for storytelling and highly relatable characters makes it so that I believe in these people and can see them as something other than archetypes.

I really loved the main characters. Nicholas is a strong, forceful man, but he isn't an arrogant jerk and he is that rare breed of romance hero that has a sense of humor. He mistrusts people, because lots of bad things have happened, but I bought his emotional struggles and he wasn't really an idiot about them. Clare is also anb interesting character. I loved that she struggled with her faith, and didn't just give lip service to the whole "Oh, I really want him to kiss me, but it simply isn't right" hand-wringing that often happens in this sort of story. I really felt Clare's angst about whether or not she should let Nicholas seduce her was justified.

As for the secondary characters, well, it's obvious that Nicholas's friends are sequel-bait, but Putney did a good job of giving each of the three men his own distinct personality. I really want to see what she does with them in the rest of the series, especially with the intense, war-scarred Michael and the shrewd Lucien, who plays the dilitante well but has hidden depths.

My quibbles are fairly minor. The suspense subplot was kind of cheesy, and the villain practically wore a sign on his back reading "I am the villain! Ph34r me!" There were also a couple of moments near the end where, to bring off a climax, Clare went haring off into danger. But aside from that, I really did enjoy this book and would definitely recommend it.

Review: Miles Errant by Lois McMaster Bujold

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:23:48 GMT

Title: Miles Errant
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Science Fiction
Grade: A
Reason for Reading: I've fallen in love with the Vorkosigan series, and I think this is the last Vorkosigan omnibus there is. After that, it's all individual books.

Note: I normally like to write slightly more detailed reviews that contain less fangirl squeeing, but, really, I love this series to distraction so that's impossible.

This omnibus starts out with "Borders of Infinity", which ranks just slightly behind "Labyrinth" as my favorite Miles novella. It tells of Miles's capture in a prison camp, and how he manages to pull off a rather impressive prisoner revolt. There are some very interesting psychological issues presented here, and the setup was definitely intriguinhg.

After that we have the novel Brothers in Arms which I loved a lot. Here, Miles is once again stuck in a situation that gradually spirals out of control. This time he's on Earth, and he's dealing with the fact that his identity as Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercinaries and Lord Vorkosigan are beginning to be less connected than he'd like. This book also introduces Mark, his clone, who adds another layer of complication.

This book did a lot for the development of Miles as a character and basically I loved it. There was action, adventure and romance, all of which were dealt with well, plus Miles really has some struggles to deal with, not least of which is Mark.

I just finished reading Mirror Dance , the last novel in this collection. After the emotional high I had with Brothers in Arms I was kind of expecting a disappointing story. After all, I'd read some spoilers that indicated that Miles wasn't even going to be present for most of the book. And there were, indeed, several moments when Mark, whose story this is, lost me as a reader and I had to stop reading, convinced he couldn't possibly be redeemed after some of the crap he pulled. It's a testament to Bujold's writing ability that she made me keep reading despite myself. And anyway, aren't flawed characters something I want? So I can't very well bitch when I get them.

Describing Mirror Dance would include lots of spoilers, but I will say that this is very much Mark's story, and here Cordelia, Miles's mother, plays a more prominent role, which was very fun to watch as she is definitely, in many ways, the power behind a lot of what happens on Barrayar, a fact few of the characters seem aware of.

I also loved seeing Mark's growing into his own person. He undergoes a lot, but in the end I was satisfied that he was going to be OK and, well, not so very messed up.

A bit of warning, though-- Mirror Dance is a fairly violent book. Some horrendous things get done to our characters, and Bujold doesn't shy away from the gory aspects.

Overall, I strongly recommend this collection, though I think it's best to read some of the other Vorkosigan omnibus editions first.

Review: Dream Man by Linda Howard

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:47:30 GMT

Title: Dream Man
Author: Linda Howard
Genre: Romantic Suspence
Grade: B-
Reason for Reading: One of my Yahoo groups chose Linda Howard as our author of the month, and since I'd never read her before, I chose a book on my librarything recommendations to get started.

Synopsis: Had she finally met the man she longed for...or was she dreaming?
Marlie Keen was trying to lead a quiet, ordinary life. She thought the
knowing
-- the clairvoyance that allowed her to witness crimes as they happened -- had been
destroyed in the nightmare of her past. Then one night it returned with a vengeance,
and she desperately needed to find someone to make it stop.
Detective Dane Hollister of the Orlando police department had never met anyone like
Marlie. He had doubts about her clairvoyance, but there was no doubt how much he
desired her. Her soft, sweet scent set his blood afire, and he wanted to wrap her
in his arms and chase the sadness from her eyes. To Marlie, Dane was all heat and
hard muscle, and he made her body come alive as it never had before. But not even
she could foresee where their passion would lead: a hungry quest for the elusive,
dreamy ecstasies of love...and a dangerous journey into the twisted mind of a madman
who would threaten their happiness and their lives....
-
My Thoughts: I really liked this book. It manages to score some points with me by being a romantic suspense novel that doesn't feature the world's most retarded heroine. In fact, both characters were well-drawn, and I thought Dane was hot, except for the times where he acted like the romance novel hero that he is. There were also some fun secondary characters, too.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether it was the book or just me, but I never felt fully engaged in the story. The characterization should have worked for me, but didn't entirely, and I set the book down several times and wasn't in any great hurry to resume reading.

That being said, romantic suspense is not my genre, so it was nice to read a book this pleasant so I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and give it a slightly higher grade.

Review Sword of Ice edited by Mercedes Lackey

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:30:22 GMT

Title: Sword of Ice
Author: Mercedes Lackey, various
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: C
Reason for Reading: This was 1 on my librarything suggester, and an anthology was pretty much perfect for me during these last few weeks, since I could stop to read a short story when I needed a break.

A couple of years ago, I decided I needed to go on a rereading bender, revisiting the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey. I didn't make it through the series because shiny things distracted me, but I've always had a soft spot for the Valdemar books, since they were perfect for my dreamy teenage self, all full of romance and adventure and empathic animals and life bonds. Unfortunately, time has made me jaded and the gloss has worn off of Valdemar. But it's still very much a place I would like to visit, so I thought reading a collection of Valdemar short stories would be fun.

Since these stories are significantly shorter than, say, the offerings in a romance anthology, I'll keep my summaries to a minimum.

Also, there'll be spoilers for the rest of the Valdemar books interspersed, so you might not want to read this if you're sensitive about that.

"Sunlancer" by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey opens up the anthology on a compelling note as Clarrin-Mull, one of Karse's sunlancers, listens to some uncomfortable questions. Karse, you may remember, is the nation Valdemar is perpetually at war with, and their priests are corrupt. Clarren emds up doing what he can to end that corruption.

"The Demon's Den" by Tanya Huff tells of a herald who goes into an old, badly constructed mine in order to rescue a mountain cat he hasn't managed to kill. He gets trapped, and must rely on a bitter, blind, crippled mining engineer to pull him out. I liked this one a lot, and particularly thought that Ari, the crippled woman, was handled well. I like that Tanya Huff writes flawed characters, and this definitely inspires me to read more of her books.

"Ironrose" by Larry Dixon and Mel. White takes us to the Hawkbrothers and their Hertasi servants. It's a cute little story about matchmaking servants and two awkward shy people who are desperately in love with each other. Personally, I found the elements of cute a bit more than I could take, and the Hertasi meddling just irritated me.

Josefa Sherman's "The Babysitter", on the other hand, was just lovely. It tells of a grieving merchant who leaves the city to travel around the northern wilderness. After a storm, he spots a dead gryphon and then discovers her child is still alive. Unable to let the baby die, he does the best he can to tend it, and in the meantime begins to heal. As I mentioned, this story worked well for me. Leryn, the merchant, is full of angst, and I felt his pain and was cheering him on as he came to bond with the baby gryphon. Josefa Sherman, who writes historical fantasy, is now on my authors to look out for list.

Richard Lee Byers brings us a fantasy/mystery in "Salamander", which features a fencing instructor-cum-private detective trying to figure out who is setting off magical fires in Rethwellen. This one is good enough that I'd probably read something else by Byers, but I have to confess that the slightly gritty noir setting doesn't mix well with Valdemar, though the notion is interesting.

"A Child's Adventures" by Janni Lee Simner tells of an old woman who is inexplicably chosen by a companion. I liked that yet again we get a mature woman, not an adolescent girl, and I like that it's very clear that the companion made the right choice in choosing her. But I thought the story went on just a shade too long.

"Blood Ties" by Stephaney Shaver is a mess. I could have read a much better story on the Internet. We have a boy, somewhere between Lavan and Vanyel with a bit of Tallia thrown in for good measure, and his family, which is full of dark secrets. There was a lot of angst, and none of it rang especially true, and the writing style grated on my nerves.

Lawrence Schimmel's "Another Successful Experiment" brings things right back to where they ought to be, firmly in the realm of fun. This is a story about a herald trainee who invents Valdemar-style hockey. It was cute, though the cameo of several of Mercedes Lackey's actual characters distracted slightly. Though, on reflection and several days later, it's definitely one of the stories I remember clearly.

"Choices" by Michelle West features a barmaid who has--get ready for a huge shock--wanted to be a herald. She finally gets to have a bit of an adventure and accepts that, sadly, no companion is forthcoming. Kelsey, our aforementioned barmaid, is not a shining example of a well-drawn character. I found her to be a huge Mary Sue, and the only thing that really saved this story for me was that there were a few genuinely funny lines. Still, it's easily skippable.

"A Song for Valdemar" by Kristin Schwingel is the author's first published story, and it shows. There's a lot of telling instead of showing, and yet again the premise feels pretty fanfic-y. It's about a young healer who wants more than anything to be a bard, and is all about how one should embrace one's talents rather than pining over what one doesn't have and it's all done in a very heavy-handed style that made me roll my eyes and wish, once more, for some free fanfiction from off the Internets.

Elisabeth Waters next brings us "The School up the Hill" which is about yet another young person with extraordinary abilities who has been crapped on by life and is finally given an opportunity to make something of herself, this time by becoming a mage. This is one of the better offerings in this regard, since the author did a good job of showing the results of our protagonist, Leesa's dreadful life. It is, however, still largely forgetable.

"Chance" by Mark Shepherd takes us away from the theme of young deserving children getting what they most want in the world. Unfortunately for it, the story suffers from the fact that I *know* for a fact that I could find a better retelling on the Internet. It tells of Jonne, a guardsman that Vanyel took as a lover somewhere between the events of Magic's Pawn and Magic's Promise. I found the portrayal of Jonne's sexuality a bit simplistic, if not just this side of offensive, so I really couldn't enjoy the story very much. Jonne mentions having slept with a married man, and he makes out with Vanyel after Van's been horribly injured, and I was just disappointed that none of the actual nuances of the relationship were dealt with, nor was the fact that Jonne's past sexual history isn't exactly indicative of the kind of morality I believe in. And he's the protagonist and in no other way portrayed as an antihero.

The epinymous story in this collection, "Sword of Ice" by Mercedes Lackey and John Yezeguielian takes us to another moment in Valdemar history, this time to Vanyel's aunt Savil's first meeting with the Tayledras. I don't really have any comment except to say that this story contains one of the most awkward pickup lines I've ever had occasion to read.

John Heffers next gives us "In the Forest of Sorrows", a rousing action-packed story about a young boy's encounter with Vanyel in the, well, forest of sorrows. The story was interesting enough, but I found it a tad wordy, and the final climactic battle had me confused.

Ben Ohlander brings us "Kandis' Own", which is a story of a battle between Karse and Hardorn and details the beginning of Solaris's rise to power. Unlike some of the other authors, Ohlander's story is polished, but subjectively it didn't really work for me, since I don't tend to enjoy tales of battle.

I really liked Mickey Zucker Reichert's "A Herald's Honor", which starts out with our two heralds discovering they're lifebonded. Problem is, one of them has promised to remain faithful to someone else. They have to solve a dispute about who is the mother of a baby. The tension between the two characters was subtly drawn, and the resolution was satisfying. I think I vastly prefer the stories about heralds on circuit in this anthology to the ones about angsty uberspecial young people.

The penultimate story is "A Song for No One's Mourning" by Gary A. Braunbeck. It's really hard to describe the plot of this story clearly, except to say it's a story about the redemptive power of friendship and pure, unconditional love. The writing style is lovely and lyrical, the imagery evocative, and Braunbeck succeeds in drawing some sympathetic characters.

Phillip M. Austin and mercedes Lackey close out the collection with "The Blue Heart" which is a cute little sentimental story of a herald and a very special little girl and, once more, of the power of love. It ended things on a positive note, though I don't think it was my favorite.

Overall, the anthology was good. There were some clunkers, and some really excellent stories--the Josepha Sherman, Laurence Schimmel and Mickey Zucker Reichert offerings being my favorites. I guess I'd recommend this to fans of Valdemar, but I'm not sure a newbie would get much out of the collection. Then again, I also think you can read better Valdemar fanfic on the Internet without having to leave your house or spend money in doing so.

Review: Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:45:18 GMT

Title: Daughter of the Blood
Author: Anne Bishop
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: Someone on a Yahoo group I'm on wanted a reading buddy for this one so I figured that, given that this is yet another fantasy series I haven't read, I might as well.

Synopsis: Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life
in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival
of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself.
But she is still young, still open to influence-and corruption. Whoever controls
the Queen controls the darkness. Three men-sworn enemies-know this. And they know
the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins
a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are
hate and love-and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...
My Thoughts: I think that, if there had been a few different stylistic choices made, this book would have been a keeper for me. As it is, I like it well enough that I'll probably continue the series, but there were definitely some issues that I had.

What works for me is that the setting is appropriately grand and epic--a complex world that has obviously been created with diligence and thoughtfulness. And I like political intrigue, of which there was a lot. And I even liked the depths shown by our PoV characters. And there was something in the storytelling that was compelling and kept me reading even when I realized afterwords that I was reading the bastard love child of Laurell K. Hamilton, Christine Feehan and George R. R. Martin.

The setting is very dark, which was an aspect I liked, overall. The people in power are essentially terrified that they're not strong enough to hold it, so they abuse those weaker than themselves. And I have to admit that the concept of a Ring of Obedience brings a smirk to my face.

Unfortunately, though I did enjoy this book, there were flaws. First of all, though our three male protagonists were nicely fleshed out, the female character who is the center of all the drama never quite worked for me. She really is, essentially, a Mary Sue, looked upon by people who generally adore her. That kept me pretty distant from hjer, and so I pretty much failed to see what was so compelling about her.

As for the other secondary characters, most of the women seem to be either evil or brainless, and the men either bow before the awesomeness that is Jaenelle, queen Sue of the Universe or they rape little girls for fun. (No, I'm really not exagerating about that.)

That also being said, I found the struggle of Jaenelle's eventual love interest over his feelings for her a bit squicky, especially at the end, given that Jaenelle is twelve.

So would I recommend it? Maybe. I think I'd have loved it had I not read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which is a lot darker and actually contains a whole cast of multifaceted characters. But it's a nice enough read if you simply want to be taken to a fascinating, original world.

Link whoring and initial Anne Bishop thoughts

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:57:20 GMT

Sadly, they let me out of my cage, and I have a post over at Sybil's blog as part of their duodecimal holidays, where they asked a bunch of readers and bloggers to come up with various top twelve lists.

Here is mine.

Go forth and enjoy.
In other news, I am a little under halfway through Anne Bishop's Daughter of the Blood. I would absolutely love this book if I'd sat and read it cover to cover without stopping for a break. Sadly, a little perspective makes the book's flaws pretty clear, like that our protagonist hasn't once gotten her own PoV, or how her eventual love interest was borrowed from romance novel central casting. And seriously, what is it with dark fantasy and incest? Someone tell me there is a book classified as dark fantasy that managed to completely leave out creepy women who want to have sex with their brothers/sons/nephews.

Review: Alien Taste by Wen Spencer

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:42:10 GMT

Title: Alien Taste
Author: Wen Spencer
Genre: science fiction?
Grade: A-
Reason for reading: If memory serves, I decided to try these because my reading twin recommended them.

Synopsis: Ukiah Oregon isn’t your average man. He’s not even your average human….
Ukiah Oregon is quickly becoming one of the greatest trackers in the country. Some
call it luck
—
those closest to him call it instinct. Abandoned as a child, he was found running
with a wolf pack. Now, in his job as a private investigator, he puts his nose to
the ground to track down missing persons and fugitives from the law.
A heightened sense of smell and taste
—plus a photographic memory—
make him an invaluable asset to his partner. But when Ukiah kills a crazed young
woman in self defense, he draws the attention of the FBI’s most wanted: a violent
and elusive gang known as the Pack.
And it won’t be long before Ukiah discovers just how much he has in common with the
Pack: a bond of brotherhood, blood…and destiny.

My Thoughts: Wow. This book was exactly what I needed. Everything is just about perfect, from the very well-drawn characters to the setting (which I don't normally pay attention to but which I was impressed with) and the themes explored.

First the characters. I loved Ukiah Oregon. In fact, he may have to supplant Miles Vorkosigan as the fictional character I would run off to live in sin with if he were real. He's a sweet, noble guy who loves deeply and purely and with all that he is. And you know that being raised by a lesbian couple has made him into the kind of man any woman would want to be with.

The secondary characters are also very well drawn. I was especially intrigued by Max Bennet, Ukiah's mentor and partner. I loved watching them interact. Max has also had a ton of crap heaped on him, but thanks to Ukiah, he is slowly beginning to heal. And we know this because we are shown, not told, which is one of the book's other strengths.

I mentioned the setting was well-done. The book is set in Pitsburgh, and it's very clear that Spencer knows about Pitsburgh. In fact, it's sort of amusing that the setting stuck out to me at all, because I kept being reminded of a Mage: the Ascension game I used to play in, which was run by a native of Pitsburgh who mentioned several of the same settings Spencer used in the book, which was cool and added more pleasant associations to my reading.

As for the plot, you'll notice the question mark under the book's genre. I really don't know how to classify this book. It's got a very definite urban fantasy feel for about the first two-thirds, reminding me of a somewhat grittier Charles de Lint (which is, natch, a good thing), but then it takes a left hand turn and goes wandering off into science fiction land.

The sci-fi elements of the plot were definitely not my favorites. They seemed straight out of a cheap B movie, and even though they made sense for the story, some of them seemed beyond preposterous and I had to roll my eyes.

I'm also not sure how well the romance worked for me. I can't decide if I thought it was rushed or if it made sense that Ukiah would fall for the person he falls for so quickly because he just seems to love people so intensely anyway. I think I'm leaning toward the latter, because it is one of the sweetest romances I've read in a while, but I'm not normally a fan of the characters meeting and professing their love mere days later.

Overall, despite its flaws, this was a great book which I highly recommend. I definitely intend to read the sequel as soon as possible.

This or that: Black Jewels or Night Runners

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:37:42 GMT

For some reason, I have always conflated the Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop with the Nightrunners trilogy by Lyn Fluelling. Both series have been recommended to me, and I need a new series to follow like I need a hole in my head.

So I offer it up as a question to the masses:

Black jewels or Night Runners? Why?

Review: If His Kiss is Wicked by Jo Goodman

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 02:32:42 GMT

Title: If his Kiss is Wicked
Author: Jo Goodman
Genre: historical romance
Grade: DNF
Reason for Reading: Everyone ever on the romance blogosphere loved this book, so I figured I would, too. Oh, there was that nagging voice that reminded me that Rosario, my reading twin hadn't liked it, but I ignored that voice.

Synopsis: Shy by nature, Emma Hathaway usually leaves the drama to her rebellious cousin, Marisol.
But when Emma agrees to meet with her cousin's secret lover to end the affair, she
is pulled into a dangerous game. Now Emma is convinced her involvement in the scandal
has put her life in jeopardy. The trouble is none of Emma's confidantes believe anyone
is trying to harm her. As whispers of madness begin, Emma turns to the only person
who might be able to help...The very handsome, barely respectable Restell Gardner
has gained a reputation for helping people out of compromising positions. Never one
to turn away a lady in need, Restell agrees to help solve the intrigue. Sensing there
is more to the green-eyed beauty than meets the eye, Restell feels himself falling
for Emma. But he resists succumbing to his passion...at least until he learns the
truth about the danger that is haunting her. For if he gives in to temptation too
soon, he could lose Emma forever...

My Thoughts: I should have liked this a lot more than I did. In fact, it's so very frustrating because I know that there were things here I should have loved. Like the dialogue, which reads very authentically to me. And the characters, like the very tortured heroine and the Regency-era PI. But there was something missing from what little I got through, and at one point I even fell asleep on the bus as I attempted to read. I think I might try it again, but clearly I am not quite ready to get back into reading historical romances yet.

Review: Star King by Susan Grant

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:22:52 GMT

Title: Star King
Author: Susan Grant
Genre: science fiction romance
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: It was a pick from librarything, which typically suggests books I will either like or hate with a passion.

Synopsis from Amazon: Air Force Lieutenant Jasmine Boswell was flying her fighter jet over Saudi's no-fly
zone when the missile coming out of nowhere hits her plane. She bails out of her
disabled jet, but lands on an alien-looking desert with spaceships flying overhead.
She also encounters an injured Romlijhian B'Kah, whose starfighter crashed killing
his brother. Only his vision of the angel Jas saves his life.
Two decades later (in earth time), Jas has divorced her spouse, has two young adult
children, and struggles with a mid-life crisis. Due to Rom's injuries and his failure
to save his people on that fatal day, years ago, he no longer leads. Instead he is
a minor smuggler, estranged from his own family. Rom and his people make first contact
with earthlings. Will Rom and Jas find each other to follow up on that dream and
if they do will each take the necessary steps to embrace their love?
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this and will definitely be reading the other books set in this universe. Susan Grant manages to convey a depth of feeling in her writing, and her books contain an element of humor that really works for me. It's also obvious that Grant knows what she's talking about regarding being in the Air Force. I'm not sure if she actually was, though I think I read that this is, in fact, true.

The characters here are for the most part good. I liked that Jasmine is a little older than your average romance heroine, and for the most part she acts like it. Her experiences as a soldier come in handy, and I was glad that she was given the chance to shine in this way.

Rom, too, was a great hero. At least, I thought he was pretty sexy in a Han Solo sort of way. I liked that the anger he felt at his assumption that Jas had betrayed him lasts for only a short while and he soon becomes fascinated with the woman that she is, not the one his mind has made him out to be.

As for the secondary characters, they were less impressive, though my favorite by far is Rom's bodyguard, a great big hulking berserker named, of all things, Muffin.

I also really liked that the sequel baiting wasn't terribly obvious. There aren't really any characters who show up in the book screaming, "Look, look, I'm hot and tortured. My book is next! Buy it now!"
Also, I liked the definite empowering of women message that was rather subtly drawn in the book. If it weren't 1:00 in the morning, I might want to analyze it in more detail, but suffice to say it was nice to see that Rom worshipped and adored Jas, and she in turn got to reclaim her sexuality, which is a theme I love.

Now for the bad. First, as I mentioned in my last post, sometimes the characters did veer a bit into wish fulfillment territory. When Jas thinks that it's incredible that Rom loves her stretch marks, my eyes rolled. No doubt in 20 years I will totally swoon over that scene myself, but I'm too young to appreciate it now.

Also, the villain? Well, TV tropes would call him a knight templar. At one point, he even gives out an evil laugh. (Note that tvtropes.org is a huge time suck, so I highly encourage you go go exploring.)

There were also some problems with pacing. The beginning was lovely, the middle drrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggged, and the end finally picked up speed. I would have liked for some of those issues to have been ironed out a bit better.

Overall, this was fun. It's not rocket science (heh heh, rocket science? In a sci-fi romance? Aren't I clever?) but it is a lot of fun. Recommended if you can look over the pacing and the villain.

A light at the end of the tunnel

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:22:07 GMT

Ahhh, today was my last full day of official classes. I just have a test tomorrow and then finals next week, after which I can commence with my plans (now on hold) to take over the world. (Or at the very least to finish my Winterholyday shopping.)

I am also reading Susan Grant's The Star King. I need to see if Mom has read it, because I am thinking she would love it. The book was starting out hopping along somewhere in the A- to B+ range, but I think I'm going to have to dock points because I think a romance should have fully realized characters, not my mom's wish fulfillment fantasies, and unfortunately, the characters in this book have started going off in that direction.

However, we shall see by the time I'm done. And I might finish the book tomorrow, after I write a two-page paper on "An Inconvenient Truth", which I am hoping to finish downloading sometime tonight.

Also tomorrow = grocery day. I seriously have not had a chance to restock my section of the cabinets in a long-ass time, what with being worried about finishing school projects. But a two-page paper over a movie is small potatoes compared to the monstrosity I cranked out yesterday.

Winterholyday sreevay

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:09:27 GMT

The girls over at Book Binge have a meme going on. It's a contest to win an ebookwise, but what with the whole blindness thang, that won't do me any good. That being said, I do lurve me some sreevays, so here we go.

1. What is your favorite Christmas romance to re-read each year?
Since I haven't been reading romance that long, I don't have a favorite Christmas romance. I do have several anthologies of Christmas-related romances which I will get to one of these days. That said, I do listen to David Sedaris read The Santaland Diaries every year. In fact, there's a whole episode of David Sedaris Christmas stories that This American Life on public radio has produced. I think I like Sedaris's Christmas stuff because I'm left with the feeling that no matter what else happens, I'm not nearly as messed up as his characters are.

2. What is your favorite Christmas movie/show?
Actually, it's "A Christmas Story". I think I've seen it every year, and it still never stops being funny.
3. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
Hmmm I don't know that I have one. Although I do love gingerbread.
4. When do you start Christmas shopping?
Um, I haven't. Probably I will after finals.
5. Do you re-gift?
Yes, my family has a White Elephant party every year, so absolutely.
6. What is your favorite Christmas song?
I like the obscure carols like "The Coventry Carol". I also really love Peter, Paul and mary's version of A-Soalin', and want to learn to sing "Ave Maria" in my best operatic soprano. (That's a joke, y'all. I can carry a tune, but nobody needs to hear me go all opera on people. It'll hurt. Trust me.)
7. When do you get your Christmas tree?
My roommate already got ours and it's decorated. I think she got it right after Thanksgiving.
8. Wrapping presents: Love it or hate it?
Hate it. I make someone else edo it.
9. Who is the hardest person to buy for?
Heh, it's probably me. At least, so says my mom. But actually, my dad and brother are really hard to shop for. I get my dad cologne every year, and I always feel like that's the lamest gift ever, even though it's what he claims he wants.
10. Christmas tree: Real or artificial?
Ours is artificial, but I prefer real ones. Of course I also prefer not being the one to water them and drag them into the house, so really I shouldn't talk.__________________________

Excursive Elocutions

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:53:14 GMT

After finishing the term paper from hell (which is due tomorrow) I have spent my time playing over at Free Rice. I love the word game, and I have gotten up to level 43. Thanks to my reading of some bad erotic romance novels, I was able to ascertain that tumescent means swollen.

So I leave you tonight with this benison: Before you criticise someone iniquitously, it is always best to reconoiter a mile in that person's brogues.

Review: Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:07:22 GMT

First of all, before I get to the review, I'd just like to point out that I am rocking the ebooks now that I have my own personal handheld ebook reader. This little gadget is seriously of the awesome and puts my commuting CD to shame.

Anyway, now that I've squeed enough about my new toy, let's go on with the review.

Title: Tiger Eye
Author: Marjorie Liu
Genre: Paranormal romance/urban fantasy
Grade: B+
Reason for Reading: Ms. Liu comes very highly recommended by some people I trust, including my mom. (Of course, I think Mom has bad taste in books most of the time, but we'll pretend my memory is selective in this instance.)
Synopsis: When a young psychic acquires a riddle box in Beijing, she learns she can free the
shapeshifter imprisoned inside, and that he is the beginning of an adventure--and
a love--of a lifetime.

Summary: Dela is in Beijing having a bit of a vacation when she meets an old woman in the dirt market who sells her a box. Intrigued, Dela buys it, and upon opening the box she summons Hari, a strong, proud warrior who has been living under a curse for the past few centuries. It soon becomes obvious to Dela and Hari that lots of people want her dead, and will stop at nothing to destroy her and the box.

My Thoughts: I should have loved this book, and I definitely think that other people will, too. If I'd had time to read it in one sitting, it would have probably been an automatic keeper.

As always with me, I love strong heroines, and Dela is definitely that. She is both fierce and tender, and I definitely understood why Hari would be attracted to her. I love that she is tempted to use her power over Hari, but never succumbs, and I love that she refuses to simply become his little woman.

Hari was interesting, too. He's understandably bitter about having to hang out in a box doing whatever people tell him to do, and he thinks Dela will be like all the others. But when he sees that she finds the idea of keeping him as a slave horrifying, he slowly warms up to her. There is a bit of instant lust going on between the two of them, but I liked that Liu let them become friends first. And I even wasn't bothered by the fact that they were thinking "Mate. Mate. Mine." after knowing each other only a week, because that week was definitely action-packed.

Speaking of the action, this book is flawless with integrating the romance with the fantasy. Liu doesn't info dump, her sequel baits serve the plot, and the world she creates is compelling. It's obvious she's thought about this place she's chosen for her characters a great deal.

I think some readers might consider the romance aspect of the book not as well-thought-out as the fantasy aspect. There was pretty much no conflict between Dela and Hari after the halfway point of the book, but since the rest of the plot was engrossing, I actually didn't care, and it worked for me.

All in all, I liked this book a lot and will definitely continue the series. I wish I could say that I loved it, but there was that certain je ne sais quois missing that would make it an A grade. Still, it's a strong B+ and so highly recommended.

Weekend

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:49:04 GMT

Well, I'm back from my weekend with the Quaker Lesbians and their minions. As always, it was fun, and even though they will never see this, they are the world's most awesome people and I love them like a hippie loves patchouli.

What was not nearly so awesome was my reading this week. I suspect that I need to find something vaguely comfort-read-y, because I know I should love Tiger Eye by Marjorie Liu. Unfortunately, I'm just not getting engaged with the book, which is a shame because, like I said, I ought to love it. I'll keep plugging away at it tomorrow, but if I'm not finished with it then, I may abandon it and cheat on it with some other book. Especially since I'll be getting a new toy as soon as I get to the post office, which means I'll have my very own ebook reader, which further means that shiny objects will have an easier time distracting me.

Woo-friggin'-hoo!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:15:22 GMT

A rough draft for paper 1 out of 5, which is due Monday, has been completed. Hallelujah, praise the lord! I even completed this assignment after attending a combination Mary Kay and Passion party, hosted by my sister. (Incidentally, the Mary Kay woman was excessively perky, and I really wanted to inflict unnecessary violence upon her, just to see if we could tone down the perkiness. I wonder if they train you at Mary Kay consulting school to be demonically cheerful, or if that lady was just special? Anyway, I bought tinted moisturizer, because I don't wear makeup and I figured that I might look less ridiculous if I wore that on my face every day.

As for the Passion Party? Why, yes, yes, I did buy something there. Then I went to, of all places, Amazon when I got home and bought something else of an extremely naughty nature, simply because I could, and after having slaved away at this stupid paper for the last while, I freaking deserve it.

What I like about my writing ability is that apparently I'm good at being verbose, so I can fill up two pages of a single-spaced MS word document with no problem and then, through the magic of reformatting, I suddenly have a four-page paper. Whether that paper is coherent I have no idea, and at this point, I really, truly do not care. I'm just glad I'm done with it.

This weekend I'm hanging out with the quaker Lesbians and some of their minions. Apparently there's a lot going on, and I'm not all that clear as to exactly what will happen, but I'm definitely looking forward to having fun and not stressing out about school for the duration.