Battle Scars by Meghan O'Brien

Battle Scars
by Meghan O'Brien
Pages: 230
Date: December 15 2009
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: November 21 2014

Quite good book.  I was going over my email right after I finished and noticed that I'd bought it at 12:55 pm.  Meaning that I couldn't get myself to stop reading and it was finished in less than four hours (it was 4:50 pm when I wrote this line).

There was a particular 'theme' that gets into these books for some reason. Repeatedly used.  That of a straight woman who suddenly realizes that she might actually not be as straight as she thought, at least for "you".  "Lesbian for you".  That popped up in this book. I don't particularly like that type of book, and was beginning to get a little worried, but enough back story, and story, moved it out of that realm.  Out of that theme.  (One of the annoying 'things' about that theme, beyond it popping up so much, is that these books never seem to consider the idea that anyone could be, you know, bisexual. Nooo, everyone's either 100% straight, gay, or "gay for you" (which would make them, I guess, 99% straight, and 1% gay, but because "you" are involved, they are all in on this "gay thing")).

So, two things I tend to steer clear of if I can.  That 'straight woman realizing she isn't actually straight hooking up with a lesbian woman who doesn't want to be burned by a straight woman who is just experimenting' theme.  And the one I didn't mention yet.  Sex.  I tend to mostly skim those scenes.  Mostly because it never seems believable.  So, both were there.  Yet I loved the book.  I even liked the sex scenes.

Shadows & Dreams by Alexis Hall

Shadows & Dreams
by Alexis Hall
Pages: 362
Date: June 16 2014
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Series: Kate Kane (book 2)

Review
Rating: 2.0 out of 5
Read: June 17 to June 18 2014

There was humor, a few snickers here and there, and the plot wasn't too horrible.  On the other hand I've lost any and all liking for the characters that I might have developed from the first book.

Depending on various factors, I will probably not try a third book in this series (though I almost always seem to do so when I write something like that).  Maybe I'll go back to trying to convince myself to read Glitterland.

Thief of Always by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou

Thief of Always
by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou
Pages: 301
Date: February 1 2009
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Elite Operatives (book 2)

Review
Rating: 1.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 6 to June 9 2014

I don't really like romance mixed with thrillers, spy or otherwise.  Though I do seem to have read a lot of them.  I know I gave the first book in this series a relatively high rating but this one fell into the trap, the reason I dislike romantic suspense.  Most of the time it's because of the romance. This time the problem is mostly with the suspense part.

The annoyances just kept building to the point where I finally had to just stop reading. With 5% of the book left to read. Probably less as part of that 5% was probably after the book stuff (afterword, lists of other books by publisher, etc.).

Porcelain A BDSM Story by Jericho C. Hale

Porcelain A BDSM Story
by Jericho C. Hale
Pages: 13
Published Date: April 5 2014
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0
Read: April 6 2014

After a twenty year marriage a husband finds his wife cheating on him. He decides to leave. She begs him not to leave.  For Gina (their kid).  He's angry. She's begging. He tells her that she will obey him in all matters because he doesn't trust her. If she fails, he will leave and in a few years tell their daughter why.  She agrees to obey him.

An angry little story filled with angry sex.  He's a mixture of turned on and enraged. She's a mixture of turned on and ashamed/disgusted. He fucks her a lot.  Angrily.  End story.

I found the story on Smashwords. Hadn't played on there before.  Found that I could search for BDSM stories and, coincidence, I had a BDSM challenge over on GoodReads.  This story was the first one on the BDSM list of free stories.  Newest upload.

I'm not exactly sure how, though, this fits into BDSM. There's domination and submission, but twisted. He doesn't really want to dominate her, and she doesn't really want to submit. There's rough sex, but rough sex in and of itself doesn't equal BDSM.

I don't know what to say.  Ok-ish story. Didn't arouse much in the way of interest from me. I read it more because it was there than because I thought I might like it. Writer was competent, but competent in writing about something I didn't really want to read.  The consequences of a cheating wife. Angry and betrayal. Begging and submission. Not really that interesting to me.

Top Student by Miranda Baker

Top Student
by Miranda Baker
Pages: 40
Published Date: February 25 2014
Published by: Samhain Publishing
Series: Come Again (book 3.5)

Review:
Rating: 4.65 out of 5
Read: April 5 to April 6 2014

This story gave me brief pause, a brief moment of frustration.  A moment when I thought it was going to be like all the others vaguely similar set-ups.  A dominant strong woman who ends up being taught to be a submissive.  But that didn't happen.  And a little light somewhat went off in my head, as the saying goes.  A lot of BDSM stories frustrate and annoy me because of that dynamic.  Plus the simple fact that there are so few dominate women out here in the BDSM fiction world. Who actually work are Mistresses.  I've seen a few, but they are almost always side characters.

Hmm. Exit to Eden had one, a Mistress who was more of a switch than a dominant. The Office Trilogy by N.T. Morley had a side character who was allowed, at times, to be dominate (and another who the reader was teased with the idea she was, but most of her scenes were off-stage). Yvonne: A Courtesan's Compulsion had a rather interesting female dominate, and probably one of the main reasons I gave that one as much as 3 stars. But she very much was a side character.  Only a brief moment on stage. I initially overrated Being the Submissive - Lesbian BDSM Erotica for the mere fact that it was the first time one of the main characters was a female Mistress with a female submissive. Point of view of the submissive, though. Morley's Library series flirted with the idea of a dominant female character, but mostly just teased the reader with her.

So, long and short of all these words is the simple little matter that I might again have overrated because of a female dominate with a female submissive, though I don't think so. Finally, I found a story from the point of view of a female dominate.  And it made me happy, it did.  I suspected that this was the reason BDSM works kept frustrating me.  Nice to know my suspicions were correct. Too bad there really isn't a F/f genre in published form.

Though, now that I think about after using that 'F/f', there are stories in the past I've read in that genre. I didn't think of them while going through what I'd read since those had been free stories strewn among hidden pockets of the internet.

Meaty Balls by Vincent Daniels

Meaty Balls
by Vincent Daniels
Pages: 291
Published Date: November 8 2012
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 4.60 out of 5 stars
Read: April 4 2014

A funny collection of essays. Probably would have been 5 star worthy with fewer scenes of vomiting, and if the obsession with poo was dialed back. 

Was more than vaguely amusing. Had some moments of laughing and giggling.

Partners by Gerri Hill

Partners
by Gerri Hill
Pages: 201
Date: December 2 2008
Publisher: Bella Books
Series: Hunter (book 3)

Review:
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Read: March 18 2014

I was going to include a review when I finished the book but it seems I wasn't in a good position to do so.  And now it has been somewhat too long ago that I read the book.

Overall it was an interesting series. I rather loved the first book in the series. I was half ok with and half annoyed that the second book, In the Name of the Father, in that the series moved off the two main characters from Hunter's Way. The second book in the series fell from the 5 stars 'Hunter's Way' achieved to 4 stars less to the switch in character focus, and more on a somewhat lessor mystery, and not much in the way of a romance plot.  Casey O'Connor, the focus of 'Partners' was an interesting character in 'In the Name of The Father', but became somewhat less so in 'Partners'.

My main problem with this book can be boiled down to an accidental glance at one line of a review that I noticed before I read Partners.  Don't recall exact wording, but it was something like 'Hunter's Way, again'.  Straight woman with a boyfriend (fiance in this book), partnered up with a lesbian. Straight woman realizes, oh, shesh, it's actually women who turn me on (or, at least, one specific woman).  Lesbian woman has issues that have to be broken through for events to unfold in a certain direction. Again.

Ah, and another problem.  Every woman who is a police officer is depicted as a lesbian or a confused straight woman who is actually a lesbian.  There are apparently no straight heterosexual female police officers. That kind of bugs me.  Probably wouldn't if that story line didn't keep repeating.

So, didn't care for the romance part of the book. How about the mystery part?  I found it a little too contrived and uninteresting. A let down from the prior works in the series.

Thinking about it a day after I finished the book, my 2 might be a little too harsh.  A initial reaction to the repeat from the first book in the series, a reaction to the diminishment of my favorite character in the series, Samantha Kennedy, to almost no show in the second book, to more lines in the third book but still not really 'there'. And a reaction to that implication that all female police officers are actually lesbians, even if they do not immediately realize that they are. It might, just might, actually be a three star book. I'll have to think more about it.

Women's Barracks by Tereska Torrès

Women's Barracks
by Tereska Torrès
Pages: 256
Date: May 1 2005 (originally published 1950)
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY (originally published by Fawcett Gold Medal)

Review:
3.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 3 to March 6 2014

This was a difficult book to read.  And not because of writing style or writing ability. Nor because it was among the first lesbian books put out.  A "based on true events" one at that.

No, the problem was both the distanced nature of the narration, and the subject matter.  As in, the book was narrated from the point of view of the writer.  Who was both a character in the book, and someone who knew what ultimately happened to everyone.  As a character, she was off to the edge, mostly, reporting on the actions of the others.  And the subject matter problem?  Well . . . one of the early attacks on homosexual activity involves trying to link it to pedophiles.  And that, pedophiles, plays a rather large role in the book. Much more so than lesbianism.

War erupts.  Many French women escape to England, but wish to help, so they join the army, or whatever the military organization was called.   A woman of 34, one of the French woman exiles, uses her advanced experience and alluring nature to attract a 16 old girl into her bed.  And molests her.  The girl doesn't particularly like it but kept repeating to herself "I adore her."  Two other bits of evidence later emerges.  Claude, the woman of 34, in the past, had also done the same thing with a young boy.  And Claude's attraction to Ursula (the 16 year old)  abruptly ends when she realizes that Ursula is no longer a little girl but is now a woman.

Hmm. I was writing this off of notes I had made. Later I call Claude the 40 year old pedophile.  Ok, so the older woman is somewhere between 34 and 40.

As I said at the beginning, a difficult book for me to read, mostly read because of its place in the history of lesbian books.  I should probably note, I suppose, that the author/narrator was not a lesbian herself.  Which may have clouded her judgement of the activities she was witnessing.   There were lesbians in the book, and the narrator had a more narrow-minded view of them, despite those lesbians actually involving adult women in adult relationships.

Parties in Congress by Colette Moody

Parties in Congress
by Colette Moody
Pages: 264
Published Date: February 15 2011
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Review:
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Read: February 26 2014

This is much closer to a 4.5 star book than a 5.  Mostly because, while I was pulled along in the beginning by a desire to continue reading,  I was also wincing at some of the words actions and characters.

Quite a funny little book, mixed in with the wincing.   The mere idea of a gay Republican in 2014 just seems incomprehensible.   Course, book is from 2011 or 2010, but still.  People have been joking about the Log Cabin Republicans since the '80s.

On the other hand,  I have personally voted for (and campaigned for) Republicans,  Independents and Democrats.   Though I haven't voted for a Republican this century. So I guess it isn't that incomprehensible.

The Shoal of Time by J.M. Redmann

The Shoal of Time
by J.M. Redmann
Pages: 284
Published Date: December 15 2013
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Micky Knight (8th book)

Review:
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Read: February 25 2014

My main reason for rating this 3 instead of anything higher was the funny little odd ball fact that I knew what was happening before it happened. Well, at least knew who the good guys were. Knew which were the bad. Watching someone I had grown to like through seven books make a fool of themselves in the eighth isn't fun.

Golden Mane by S.J.B. Gilmour

Golden Mane
by S.J.B. Gilmour
Pages: 369
Date: May 25 2011
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0 stars
Read: January 28 to February 1 2014

Didn't really keep my interest for the first 7% of the book.  To the point I wandered off and tried some other things before returning.  Part of the problem probably involves the main character being only 11.  I think the last time I read a character that young was when I read Suzanne Collins Gregor the Overlander.  Just a little too young for me.

Moving past the age of the main character . . .; overall was pretty solid character and plot. Certain fight scenes were well written, certain other fight scenes, I think the author lost track of who was fighting and what was going on.

Tis a neat concept, variation on the fantasy world. This book I would truly have no problem calling Science Fantasy.  Fantasy creatures in science fiction world.  Teleporting around like in Star Trek or Stargate, though using using magic to do so.  And the various creatures, dragons, gnomes, trolls, full-blood were-creatures, etc., are actually living off on their own planets. Aliens, if you will, as opposed to deep dark hidden creatures of the night.

This is one of those where the lack of half stars actually helps the book rating. As I probably would have rated this closer to 3 and a half stars. Or, 3.8 or so.  Maybe 3.70.  High enough, anyway, to rate it 4 stars when 1/2 stars are not available. (2016 ETA: this paragraph here makes more sense over on GoodReads)

Asking For It: Erotic Tales of Female Submission for Couples

Asking For It: Erotic Tales of Female Submission for Couples
by Isabelle Ross, Marie Sudac, Erin Sanders, Skye Black, Heather Peltier, Sarah Sands, Amy Boyd, Elizabeth Colvin , Erica Dumas, N.T. Morley
Pages: 124
Date: October 10 2012
Publisher: Deception Press

Review
Rating: Overall rating of 2.0 out of 5 stars
Read: January 22 2014

Writing on phone so this will be slightly difficult.

10 stories.  10 authors. Plus N.T. Morley who is only editor this time.

Read 1 story in a different collection of stories. I believe I gave it 4 stars. Plus I'd read the first story previously as it is contained in its entirety in the sample. So not 100% sure about my ratings or feelings for those two but believe both were 4 star stories.  Then tonight I read another three roughly four star efforts.

Which leaves the other five. One by an author I had previously given a five star rating.  All five are nothing like I expected. I expected submissive women. I got five doormats and five ... ok, one story I just disliked. So 4 doormats and 4 sick abusive basterds.  Those five stories get zero stars.

Five stories rated 4 stars. Five rated zero stars. Gives overall rating of 2.  I was thinking I could say that this could be used to show difference between BDSM and abuse, but it doesn't really work out that way.  It's possible there was just one abusive bastard and I read the rest wrong.  Probably because there was so much rape play going on. And it is not always easy to tell the difference between rape play and rape until after the fact. I don't like either.

I obviously got confused about what the stories would be about.   I might have known a month or ago when I got the sample, read it and liked it but then didn't buy until today.  So the book might be perfect for select narrow target market.  They may even be up front about it. I can't check description while writing review on phone.   Whatever that target audience is, I don't fall into it.

Infected by James Schannep

Infected
by James Schannep
Pages: 352
Date: December 11 2013
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 19 2014

An interesting concept.  An adult choose your own adventure story. With Zombies.  Unfortunately it was both a little bland an a little annoying.  It's annoying reading paragraphs wherein I am told what I am doing. Or at least you the reader. 'Distracted by her naked breasts, a zombie eats you.' (Not something that actually occurred;  no it was 'overcome by how good strawberries taste you eat a ton. Red juice slides down your face looking like blood. You start moaning.  A sound. You turn. Mouth drops open.  You are shot.')  Mmphs.

It was not outright stated but there is strong indication that the 'you' character is male.

ETA: Oh, and I did survive.  I also died about three or four times.

Hurricane Dan by Bret Williams

Hurricane Dan
by Bret Williams
Pages 199 pages
Date: September 15 2013
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0
Read: January 17 2014

While reading I was thinking of what I'd say in a review.  I was thinking of noting that it was a solid little book, roughly 4 star work that didn't reach 5 star territory because I didn't really like the main character.   That was up to about 60% of the book read. Where upon the book almost fell apart.    Ah well.  Despite certain issues, mostly due to the action that started after they made it to the safe zone, including the sudden unexpected sex (and certain issues involving swords), it was still able to pull me along.  

If we could give 1/2 stars, I would quickly and with easy conscious give the book a rating of 3 1/2. Since I can't,  and because I was able to like despite main character,  I give it a rating of 4 stars. (2016 eta - hmms. I have it as 3.0 on GoodReads. The weirdness you see years after the fact.)

The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright

The Pyramid Waltz
by Barbara Ann Wright
Pages: 264
Published date: September 17 2012
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Review:
5.5 out of 5.0 stars
Read: January 16 2014

It didn't end exactly the way I'd want it to, and the first couple paragraphs,  while solid, didn't really pull me in.  Otherwise,  probably one of the best books I've read.  Good solid action, solid world building,  and one of the best displays of two strong independent people coming together in love and as equal partners.  Neither submissive,  neither dominant.  Maybe something of that will/or did turn up in a later book, though I like the way it is at the moment.

Those looking for graphic descriptions of sex will be disappointed.  This one had more of the 1950s movie feel for those intimate scenes. Which I actually liked.

RIZEN by Kirk Anderson

RIZEN
by Kirk Anderson
Pages: 44
Date: November 27 2012
Publisher: Galleon Publishing

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 11 2014

My heart is still racing.  Shesh.

Ok, to start with, this is a short story collection, 4 stories by the same author in the same story universe.  None of the characters reoccur.  Also, it is in reverse chronological order. Which I noticed in an introduction before the stories.  Which I am glad I noticed, because I decided to read them in chronological order.  I have to say, if I had read them in the order the author had presented them, I probably would have rated the book roughly the book average rating on GoodReads of 3 something stars. Instead, by reading it in chronological order, the tension mounted from today's world, into the zombie apocalypse world.  I've no idea why the author thought the book should be read the other way around.

I recommend two things: 1) read in chronological order (the free ebook I got has a link to each of the four stories in the front of the book); 2) read the first chronological story (which is placed at the end of the book). The book is free.  It won't take too long to read that short story, and if you aren't captured, then you didn't really lose much. Except a few moments of your time.

Prophecy of the Female Warrior by K.A. Young

Prophecy of the Female Warrior
by K.A. Young
Pages: 160 pages
Date: May 23 2013
Publisher: Author
Series: Nephilim Warrior (First book)

Review
Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars
Read: January 9 2014

A melodramtic soap opera from beginning to end. A three star effort through much of it, but it pulled close enough to four stars by the end to rate it such.

I suppose I would recommend it to those who like soap opera paranormal romances. As to whether or not I will continue reading the series, I do not, at the moment, know. A little too soap operay for me and I'm not really sure I want to learn more about this world.

Darkness Embraced by Winter Pennington

Darkness Embraced
by Winter Pennington
Pages: 248
Publish Date: May 17 2011
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Review:
Rating: 3.0 Stars out of 5.0
Read; December 31 2013 to January 8 2014

The idea of the Dracule (however that is spelled) was interesting.  Actually the most interesting part of the book. Silky, furry critters. Might be interesting to read more about them.

Overall,  the book just had way too much sex in it for me personally.  Interesting enough story/read or I wouldn't have finished or given up to 3 stars, but still. It's one of the reasons that other series I read by Pennington kept getting lower and lower ratings (5 stars, 4, 3). Each book I read by Pennington seems to have even more sex in it and/or obsession with.

At this rate, the next book or the one after will open during sex, will involve people walking around while humping each other (maybe just telepathically), will have fight scenes during sexual activity,  then the book will climax with a ...well, explosive climax.

Riding with the Cop by J.S. Scott

Riding with the Cop
by J.S. Scott
Pages: 32
Date: April 8 2012
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 0.5 stars out of 5.0
Read: January 5 2014

"Oh my! He liked me so much he raped me! I'm so happy and excited now!" (not an actual quote; actual quote was: "Jake liked her? He had wanted her badly enough to blackmail her? She should have been angry...but she really wasn't.")

Rape play, dominance and submission, pet-play, etc. is one thing.  Rape? Actual rape? Is rape.

Hot young woman.  Hot muscle-man.  Man with tons of strength and in a heightened position of power.  Woman in vulnerable position.  He rapes her.  I do not find that to be what I would normally think of as "erotic sex".  But a story of rape and betrayal. She respected him.  Looked up to him. Expected him to do what was right.  She was worried when he disappeared. She followed him to see if he needed help.  He grabbed her, blackmailed her, and raped her.

"Oh hell...who was she trying to fool? She just had the most mind-blowing sex of her life and she wanted this man." (actual quote after the rape).

This is a very disturbing story on many levels.  A man in power. A vulnerable woman.  She liked it.  So obviously rape is ok, right? Because she liked it this time? Fucking story sickens me.