Her Troika: Part I by Trent Evans

Her Troika: Part I
by Trent Evans
Pages: 53
Date: May 21 2013
Publisher: Tritium Press

Review
Rating: 2 out of 5
Read: November 26 2013

The prologue suggested ponygirl stuff.   A little too detached from the action but pulled in. Then story, at least part 1, had nothing to do about that. Instead it turned into an auction story.  Interesting enough idea,  so I read.

The action seemed to detached.  'Stuff' happening in prologue,  but more hinted at than anything else.   Then the actual story started. Was interesting, quite. Action out of sight, but intriguing.   But what ever excitement that could have been had seemed leached away by a newcomer to the scene who kept making loud comments to his friend.

Bah.  I don't like Derek from this small slice, and not really like the husband character either.  Their were some intriguing characters, like the CEO and wife, but they barely had part in this slice.

Brie's First Day of Submissive Training by Red Phoenix

Brie's First Day of Submissive Training
by Red Phoenix
Pages: 37
Published Date: March 8 2012
Publisher: Author
Series: Submissive Training Center (first story)

Review
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Read: November 21 2013

I'm still hovering over whether this was a 2 star, "Ok" by GoodReads standards, or 3 star story.  Well written. Didn't notice any errors.  So that isn't a concern.  I suppose the 2 3 tilting balance is a mixture of oily creepiness about the situation, a feeling I'm not sure why I'd feel, plus a certain amount of boredom, plus an added flash of 'hmm, that part right there is somewhat interesting.'

I don't know.  A naive girl who doesn't really know herself or the world at large.  Flushing with something or other when a man looks at her bent over and she notices.  I suppose that, in and of itself, is one of my problems in general.  Being a little too naive about the whole thing for me.  Bah, I don't know.

In the end I moved it up to 3 stars based on some other recent stories I've read and rated 2 stars.

Starhawk by Jack McDevitt

Starhawk
by Jack McDevitt
Pages: 418
Published Date: November 5 2013
Publisher: Ace
Series: The Academy (Prequel)

Review
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Read: November 6 to November 19 2013

Not really sure what the point was for this prequel, especially as the author seemed to have moved on from the series a long while back (6 years since last book in the series came out). Or why he gave roughly 50% of the book to Jake's point of view. Hutch didn't seem like Hutch, other than the odd little side romances of no importance, and I had no interest in Jake's story.

Zoe, Undead by J.R. Knoll

Zoe, Undead
by J.R. Knoll
Pages: 228
Published Date: August 19 2012
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Read: November 18 2013

This may be one of the most interesting zombie books I've read.  Well written. Pulled me along from start to finish.

I only noticed one error and one cringe moment.   There's a scene when the Colonel is talking to Zoe and the Sergeant.   During the conversation, one of the paragraphs begins with something like 'the Sergeant continued'.  I looked it over a couple of times, and no, it was the Colonel who continued talking.

The cringe moment was when the Doctor said Zoe, with Asperger syndrome,  'had the mind of a child and will always have the mind of a child'.   I don't believe the doctor who said it was stated as being an expert in autism,  and Asperger itself had it's status change in 2013, so I gave/give a pass to the comment.