Ravings of the Semi-Lucid

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.…
( My thoughts )

Final Grade: B

( And while I'm at it, the rest of my TBR challenge choices )

Aren't you glad you read all that?

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.

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.

Title: Coming in Last
Author: Shiloh Walker
Genre: Contemporary erotic romance
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: From her comments on the blogs I read, I think Shiloh is full of awesome and win. But the couple of short stories I've read by her left me cold so I thought I'd try a longer work.

Synopsis: Jamie McAdams expected it to be an open and shut case of embezzlement. The finger
seemed to be pointed right at Andi Morrow, the quiet young lady who ran the daycare
center at his godfather's plant. Of course, she didn't exactly have access to the
cash, but she did live seriously outside her means.
Andi smelled like vanilla, tasted like sex, and moved like sin. It only took a few
days for Jamie to realize he was hooked, and she was being framed. But maybe he should
have told her that, before they used her as bait to catch the real embezzler.
Jamie always gets his man, even if it means coming in last with the woman he's fallen
in love with.


My Thoughts: Man, I gotta say, I loved this synopsis. No breathless purple prose, a sexy enough description, and what's more, it's accurate. Which is good, because if I can copy and paste something good, I'd much rather do that.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book. Andi and Jamie are nice, likeable people with real issues. And y'all know how I feel about strong heroines. Andi was wonderful here. She'd had a rough life, but she wasn't a walking neurosis, and her trust issues felt genuine.

Jamie also struck me as a real guy that one might find outside a romance novel. He was fun, witty, and pursued Andi relentlessly without swerving into "me Tarzan. You Jane" territory.

The plot? Well, it's light. You pretty much know who the villain is early on, and it's not very hard to guess what's going to happen. But I wasn't bored, since Ms. Walker did such a great job with her characters. I was rooting for them, and wanted everything to be all right.

Oh, also, I have to say that it was refreshing to see that there were consequences for Andi to her being investigated. There were real repercussions to the work that Jamie was doing, and the resultant chaos in Andi's career was left open-ended. Which is nice, because in this case I think had Ms. Wlker tied that little plot thread up with a bow I'd have been less impressed.

If I have any quibbles, it's that the villain is of the cardboard, moustache-twirling, "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" brand. Which made the suspenceful climax, well, just a bit less so since I couldn't take him seriously.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I will be reading more full-length stories by Ms. Walker. Because sometimes you need literary popcorn--something light, but filling and oh so good.

Title: Fabulous Beast
Author: Stephanie James aka Jayne Ann Krentz
Genre: Contemporary romance
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: Rosario liked it, and the plot appealed to me.

Synopsis: When Tabitha Graham rescues Dev Coulter from an alley on a Caribbian island after he's been attacked, she finds herself drawn to the gentle, unassuming man she thinks him to be. Unfortunately, once she learns Dev's secret, she finds her slowly blossomming love being tested.

My Thoughts: This was cute. It's pretty obvious that Krentz's writing style has evolved between 1984 (when this book was published) and now. For one thing, in Sweet Starfire I didn't notice the way Krentz constantly used adverbs, and it was pretty jarring here. And her character development has certainly improved by leaps and bounds.

I liked both our leads well enough for what they were, heroes in a 1980's category romance novel. Tabby's a bit too much of an earth mother type for my taste, and she had a few moments of being a complete dingbat. I mean, seriously. I thought she should have picked up on the fact that Dev was hardly who he was pretending to be a lot sooner than she did.

Dev was... well, he was a romance hero. There were moments when I thought I understood him, but mostly I couldn't get over my annoyance with him for constantly thinking of Tabby as his tabby cat. The metaphors flew around thick and fast in his head, and I just couldn't picture any human being, even from the 80's, saying some of the crap that came out of his mouth.

That being said, for what it was, a cute story about two people learning to trust each other and figuring out who they really were, this was pleasant. B for this one.

Title: Elvenblood
Author: Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: I loved the first book in this series to distraction.

Synopsis: The powerful magic of ruthless Elvenlord masters has for centuries rules the world.
Even Shana, the legendary Elvenbane prophesied to deliver the oppressed into freedom,
is helpless before such power. She and her ragtag band of outcasts, half-blood wizards,
escaped human slaves, and free-thinking dragons have gained only a token victory
against the mighty lords.
Only the long-forgotten Iron People, a band of human nomads, have escaped the tyranny
of the reigning wizards. How have they survived through the centuries?
As the winds of change sweep the world, and as tensions seething beneath the surface
of Elven society threaten to break into open revolt. Shana meets the ancient tribe.
Could an age-old secret free Shana and her people...or will its discovery call down
their doom.

My Thoughts: This was a hard book to grade. Because while there was a lot here that I liked, what I didn't like I really, really didn't like.

What works here are the recurring characters. I come back to serieses like this because I want to read about characters I've come to love. And I have definitely come to love Shana and Keman and Mero. I also liked the additional characters we meet here, particularly Sheyrena, an elven lady whose brother, Lorryn, has been a hidden half-blood. It is in fact Sheyrena that grows a lot over the course of the story from an idealistic, childish little girl to a strong, capable woman.

The Iron People were also an interesting addition. There was enough here that I would have liked to learn more about their culture.

I also really liked seeing a glimpse of elven society we didn't get much of in the last books. It's fairly clear that elven women are just as oppressed, and in some ways further oppressed, as the slaves. And I liked that small, women's magic was just as important as the flashy stuff used by elven men, and it's in this way that Sheyrena comes into her own.

Now for what I didn't much like.

First, the villains. All of them--and there was a new villain popping up around every tree in this book--are of the moustache-twirling, "Bwahaha! I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" variety. Everyone who isn't all that thrilled with Shana is villified, and I would have preferred some genuine motivation other than what we got.
The other thing that didn't work for me in a huge way will be so shocking, and also tread into spoiler territory, that I am putting it behind the cut.

( Cut for the rest of the spoilers )

There is a third book in this series, Elvenborn about an elvenlord. I haven't decided whether I want to read it or not. It would take an exceptional character at this point for me to find anything remotely sympathetic about the elvenlords, and apparently Shana and friends don't appear at all. I might read it because I'm a series completist that way, but after this book, there has to be an extremely compelling story involved, and I'm not sure this particular fantasy world really has a lot more to be mined.

So would I recommend Elvenblood ? Sure. It's not nearly as good as the first book, but it's not a bad read, if you don't mind a few cliches, and can overlook the ridiculously stupid romantic elements.

Title: Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
Author: Al Franken
Genre: Political humor
Grade: B

Summary: This is a seriously dated bit of social satire. Franken pokes fun at the Republican party and the key figures of same that were around in the 1990's.

The Good: I never know quite what to say about the nonfiction I read. I enjoyed this a lot, and there were some laugh out loud moments. If I'd been politically savvy at the age of fourteen, I might have enjoyed this more when it came out.

The Bad: I don't quite know if Franken's style of humor works for me. Sometimes I think he is a bit too egotistical, which I don't really care for. I'd probably read another of his books, but maybe it's just that political satire isn't really my thing.

Title: The Warrior's Gift
Author: Bonnie Dee

Summary: In Katya's world, villagers sacrifice their daughters as sex slaves for a sect of
warriors who keep their lands safe from invasion. When Katya herself is chosen as
a "bride", although she's always questioned the arrangement, she submits for the
sake of her family. She has no idea what to expect from the warriors, and not much
more idea when it comes to sex.
Blessedly, her Warrior, Turan, turns out to be a sweet, gentle giant of a man, despite
being raised in ignorance of anything but fighting and killing. He knows as little
about sex as Katya herself, but his primal passions burn hot.
Together they learn the pleasures of the flesh...and incite a revolution that changes
their world forever.

The Good: There's a lot to recommend it about this ebook. Dee does a wonderful job with introducing our characters and the society in which they live. Katya is the rare character in romancelandia, a feisty female character who is, you know, endearingly feisty and not too stupid to live. And, oh, Turan. I have a huge soft spot for the gentle giant archetypes, and Turan is a refreshingly nice guy with a wonderfully naive view of the world. And also, I do love it when we get a virgin hero in one of these books.

The Bad: The premise requires a bit of suspension of disbelief. I had a hard time accepting the fact that everyone lived under the strict control of the Guardians, who are basically the ones who train the warriors. Apparently, nobody's thought to revolt before Katya showed up, which I found a little strange. I also thought the ending wrapped things up a little too neatly and simplistically, which is too bad because the setting could have been a lot of fun if explored in greater depth.

My verdict: I do recommend this book. It's a quick read, with a couple of likeable characters. If it weren't for the things about the story's actual premise, it'd be an A book for sure. As it is, I'm still giving it a B.
ETA: I have no idea why my HTML foo sucks.

Title: The Lost King of Oz
Author: Ruth Plumly Thompson
Summary: This story tells the tale of the King of Oz, who was deposed when the Wizard of Oz took over as ruler, and of the witch Mombi, who we first meet in The Land of Oz.

The Good: This is an entertaining story, full of rollicking adventure. It's a quick, fun read and I enjoyed it a lot. Especially the sections with Scraps the Patchwork Girl in them. In this book, Scraps definitely plays the part of the queen's fool, and does it well.

The Bad: Well, this is definitely Oz fanfic, even if it was authorized by the original author. I don't remember if I've read one of the books Thompson wrote before. If I have, it would have been when I was a kid and wasn't distracted by stylistic differences. It's hard to pinpoint what didn't work for me except to say that I never felt condescended to when I read Baum's books, and Thompson definitely condescends a bit to her audience.

Grade: Since this was definitely an entertaining read, despite my problems with it (which amount to "this isn't L. Frank Baum") I'm going to give it a B.

I am currently in the middle of--let's count them--five books, so last night I decided, hey, why not, I wanted to read something short that I could finish in a few minutes that was unrelated to anything else.

The first thing I tried was Understood by Maya Banks
( There are non-worksafe quotes behind the cut )

The other book I actually finished (mostly because it was incredibly short) was Wizard's Moon by Michele Bardsley.

( Again with the possibly not worksafe content )

Summary: Jack goes to Toy City to seek his fortune, and encounters a stuffed bear named Eddie, several characters from nursery rhymes, and a plot to destroy Toy City forever.

The Good: Whatever else you can say about this book, it's certainly unique. I didn't really know what it was about when I started reading, and so was thrown for a loop in the first chapter. Every time I began to expect where the plot was going, it would go someplace entirely different. It was also quite funny in places, although the bits that made me laugh tended to occur when Rankin didn't go for the obvious jokes.

The Bad: Most of what I didn't like was purely subjective, and would probably work for other readers. The constant plot whiplashings made for a better story, but they gave me a headache. And I'm not sure Rankin's humor entirely works forme.

Conclusion: This is a very entertaining read, and I would certainly check out other stuff by Rankin. B for this one.

Lovescape an anthology by Anne Avery, Phoebe Conn, Sandra Hill,and Dara Joy.

This is a collection of four romance stories, and for the most part I liked them.

"A Dance on the Edge" by Anne Avery was my favorite, because it dealt with a couple's developing relationship through a series of emails back and forth. Both have secrets that bring them a lot of pain, and I thought Avery dealt with the issues present in online relationships wonderfully.

"Toss the Bouquet" by Phoebe Conn was my least favorite story. Regan is a florist whose fiance has canceled his vacation with her at the last minute. Arriving at the beach house where she is to spend the week, she accidentally runs into Marco Tomasi, an Italian bicycle racer. Sparks fly, and Regan has the most wonderful week of her life. Unfortunately, Regan's a shrewish, braindead heroine archetype, and Marco was just too good to be true and I honestly didn't see the chemistry at all.

"Heart Cravings" by Sandra Hill is the longest story in the book. Nick DiCello is finally being served a divorce from his wife, Paula. Determined to win her back, he goes out of his way to fulfill a number of sexual fantasies he suspects she has, thanks to the advice of a fortune teller. This story is hillariously funny in places, and it becomes obvious that Nick and Paula's problem isn't their sex life, it's their lack of communication with each other.

"My One" by Dara Joy is a reworking of the tale of Tristan and Isolda. Trystan is an interstellar patroller. Lois Ed has just been dumped by her predictably jerky boyfriend who cleaned out her bank account. She sends out a call to the cosmos for help, and Trystan answers. Given the shortness of this story, there wasn't time for me to get really annoyed with either Trystan or Lois. In fact, Trystan is, in typical Dara Joy fashion, an utter dreamboat.

Next up, I'm making my way through Christine Feehan's Dark Prince . Even though I am assured it's not at all my thing, which it isn't. Oh, well... At least there will be snark.

Edited for grades: This is the gold standard by which I judge all romance anthologies, since it was my first. Given that I liked three out of the four stories, we'll give this a B.