For Money or Love by Heather Blackmore

For Money or Love
by Heather Blackmore
Pages: 312
Date: September 13 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.50 out of 5.0
Read: August 30 to 31 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

I wish to start off with two things before anything else: 1) this is one of those books I might have flirted with the idea of skipping writing a review but for the Netgalley connection; 2) my education and work experiences are both an advantage and disadvantage in regards to this book – an advantage in the reading, a disadvantage in the reviewing.

Advantage – I have a B.B.A., an undergraduate degree – bachelor of business administration (with both much finance/marketing/economics learning, and business buzz words); plus my work experience has consisted entirely with dealing with financial matters, from a legal perspective. (I also have a graduate degree, but that doesn’t matter). Nothing I read flew over my head or confused me. Though I admit that I had to read a specific part of the epilogue twice to understand what was being said.

Disadvantage – I cannot really say how hard or easy the wording is; how much ‘jargon’ gets in there – though, right I’ll get to that. So I’m at something of a disadvantage on the review side of things since I cannot actually say if something is or isn’t annoyingly difficult to understand.

Referencing back to my ‘flirted with the idea of skipping writing a review’ – I’m going to go back to the framework I sometimes use, but haven’t in a while.

People of Importance
Point of Views
There are two point of views offered up in this book – Jessica Spaulding, marketing director at Magnate (an investment firm), and TJ Blake, MBA student and intern at Magnate.

Jessica ‘Jess’ Spaulding
Marketing director at Magnate. Though she ‘pretends’ to be an air-head at work, and only goes into work something like 11 hours a week. If that. The air head thing has to do with a run-in with her parents, specifically with Lilith, the step-mother. Apparently Jessica showed great intellectual promise while in school, which Lilith didn’t like, so she told Jessica to play dumb. So Jessica did. Because she didn’t want to make waves. A reoccurring theme (like a later demand she stop seeing Dillon). So, even though she is super intelligent, very good with math, and a great marketing director (apparently ten times better than everyone else on earth), she pretends to be an air-head.

I have no idea of Jess’s age. It might have been given, but if so I overlooked it. Sexual Orientation: Straight. Until TJ came into the picture. Other than TJ, Jess only gets sexually aroused by men.

TJ ‘Teej’ Blake
TJ is a 27 year old M.B.A. student who, by the grace of a program (specifically the Derrick Spaulding program), has the ability to get an MBA with the cost of a few years working in a non-profit organization. She is sent as an intern to Magnate to develop a case study – to find out how and why Magnate constantly remains at the top of investment firms (including during periods of economic downturn). She is super protective of her sister Kara. Is both anti-wealth and anti-… doing something other than getting the best education possible.

She has a massive problem accepting gifts, offers of rides, lunches in nice restaurants, etc. Because money is evil. Super super evil. Money is the devil and must be eliminated! Okay, not that extreme, but she has a chip on her shoulder regarding money and people with money directly related to her own life history (father did stupid things with money and was apparently ‘gotten rid of’ by mafia ). At the same time . . . there is a kind of vibe, which is probably wrong, that she looks down on those without an education – which comes into direct conflict with her sister since the sister wants to go into auto-repair (actually finding old rusted out blocks of metal, and restoring them, then selling them), while the sister is forcing her to apply herself to her education and then ‘go to a good college’ (because ‘she made a promise’ ETA - TJ made the promise - to the father; Kara made no promises).

Kara Blake
TJ’s sister, was . . . 9? When their mother died. Blames herself. Is currently 16 and under the supervision of TJ. Grunts at her sister. Is super into playing video games, repairing cars (and joyriding in cars, not necessarily the same cars she repairs), and less interested in school than her sister wants her to be.

Dillon
Jessica’s childhood lover and current best friend. Owns an auto body shop. With lots of rare and expensive old cars sitting around on display.

Family of Jessica
Lilith is Jessica’s shrew of a step-mother – very controlling, always gets her way while her husband just sits there as she berates and dominates his children; one of those children, though, is Lilith’s – Gary is the COO of Magnate (which normally means ‘Chief Operating Officer’, not sure if that was actually stated in the book – a COO, and this depends somewhat on the arrangements made in the company, ‘is the senior manager responsible for managing the company’s day-to-day operations and reporting to the chief executive officer (CEO)’) – he is kind of dimwitted (okay, not really certain if he is or isn’t, but he is described in a way to make the reader question his intelligence, since Jess was forced to hide her intelligence because Lilith didn’t want Gary to be sad ; Derrick is founder and CEO of Magnate, husband of Lilith, father of Jessica and Brooke; Brooke is . . . . um. I think she is the head of sales at Magnate.

Muriel Manchester
Super rich lesbian CEO of something or other that the Magnate people have been courting for a long time to invest in the Magnate fund. To have Magnate handle Muriel’s finances.

Plot
TJ goes to work at Magnate, an investment firm, as part of her M.B.A. program. She gets assigned to be supervised by a woman by the name of Jessica Spaulding, daughter of the CEO and founder of the company.

Conflict rears its head early. Both because Jessica is the marketing director, and TJ isn’t there to do a marketing study; and in the part wherein Jessica doesn’t really want to supervise anyone, and gives TJ busy work.

They butt heads. Also a certain amount of lust is in the air involving the two. Some form of relationship develops.

Meanwhile Kara shows her displeasure with life by stealing cars, ‘borrowing them’, and then getting beaten up. Naturally TJ is quite unhappy by these events.

TJ’s work study isn’t really going anywhere, re: she isn’t doing a marketing study, and so demands more access. To which she is given. And can’t make heads or tails of what she is shown. She can’t understand how Magnate is able to do what it does. Evilness is afoot.

Buzz words
Something of a joke among, well late-night comedians, people in the industry, people in general – people who fall back onto buzz words are not really saying anything/are attempting to sound intelligent/are kind of moronic in nature. There is both a certain amount of ‘right’ in that, and ‘wrong’.

Any industry will end up with words that get used. Sometimes the words can mean the opposite in the industry than in ‘normal’ life. Sometimes they can sound stupid to an outsider. But the words are just short hand to get things done. Also, at the same time, they also can clue someone in that the person they are talking with is a moron. Depends on context. And the number of buzz words used in the same sentence. And the number of times ‘utilize’ is used.

Like, in the book TJ starts spouting some ‘buzz words’ near the beginning. She’s an MBA student. It’s kind of expected that she would be awash with funny new words and that she would spout them out.

Later Jessica explains how she would handle some marketing issues. She spouts out a bunch of gibberish buzz words. Reading that section twice let me know she actually did say something. It just sounded like a moron who didn’t know what they should say and so started spouting out buzz words.

And by buzz words I mean something like: ‘We need to utilize the deliverables to enable maximum ROI’ (we need to use our products (apples, computers, dog leashes; reports; people (yes, I’ve seen the word used for people)) in a way that creates the largest amount of money in return for our investment in the products (ROI – return on investment); or, like as is seen in the book ‘I see all these basic activity metrics floating around – clicks, followers downloads. Those are fine indicators, but you need effectiveness metrics and revenue-focused calculations. There are market-performance tracking tools that you could and should be using.’ (Jessica was asked to present some ideas on how to improve marketing. So she used a bunch of buzz words. Which actually mean something. But . . . are kind of low level ‘ideas’ to improve marketing. She basically said that, currently, the company tracks ‘clicks, followers, downloads’ (as in, the number of times someone ‘clicks’ on something (a link, an advertisement, etc., online) – etc. While tracking that is good, the company is missing out on adding another layer of ‘metrics’ (literally a method of measuring something or the results obtained from something – the ‘statistics’ and the like; like a website receives 1200 ‘hits’ or visitors, 2 actually click on an advertisement on the webpage. The advertisement is 0.00167% effective in getting someone to click on it) – that tracks effectiveness metrics (something that actually tracks the effective percentage like above) and revenue-focused calculations (the percentage of the people who click on an advertisement actually buy something, versus the cost of the advertisement itself; like the advertisement costs $10 per view; 1200 people visited the website; depending on the contract, that could mean that the advertisement cost $12,000; 2 people ‘clicked’ on the advertisement (if the cost of the ad is tied to clicks then the ad cost $20 instead of $12,000); and 1 bought something – that something cost $0.33 to make; the person paid $5 for it (so – $4.67 ‘mark-up’, or $4.67 revenue before all other expenses) meaning that the company paid either $12,000 or $20 to generate $4.67 of revenue; which would equal a loss of $11,995.33 or $15.33 for their efforts). So, what Jessica is saying is that, currently, the total number of clicks, followers, downloads are being tracked, but only that – the rest, how many viewers it took to get a click (effectiveness metrics), to get a follower, to get a download is not currently being tracked.

So basically Jessica is offering up as her brilliant ‘marketing plan’ installing basic metrics. Or – boiled down - they are spending money without knowing what the result of spending that money is. And the profit, or loss, generated. Jessica recommended putting something in to track that. She’s brilliant. (it’s been about 20 years since I actually had to think in marketing terms, yeah I got a BBA – with a concentration in Marketing - so I’m sure I’m somehow wrong with my interpretation of what occurred).

I now forgot what I was attempting to say.

Um – book solid. Characters grew. Plot – there. Some people evil. Was nice that, for a brief moment, the rich mother wasn’t the spineless one – like many Lesfic’s I read make her; and that the rich father seemed ‘nice’ unlike the majority of rich fathers in Lesfic’s – until, you know, he wasn’t. Romance occurred as well as sex. Was graphic. When sex occurred I was distracted by events and cannot say if ‘good’ or not – sex wise. Beginning to end I liked Jess more than anyone else. TJ annoyed me at times. oh, and I do not know how you get ‘TJ’ from ‘Cordelia’ – TJ’s actual real name

I would give this book a rating of exactly 3 and a half stars.

August 31 2016

The Flaw in Logic by S.Y. Thompson

The Flaw in Logic
by S.Y. Thompson
Pages: 279
Date: August 15 2016
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing
Series:

Review
Rating: 3.5
Read: August 29 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Sapphire Books Publishing in return for a fair review.*

I do not exactly understand the cover. Right, sorry, shouldn’t lead off with that.*

Imagine, if you will, a Conan the Barbarian type, but in a science fiction setting. Now make Conan female. That is not exactly accurate, but it is both the vibe of the book and of the book cover. (I would have gone with Xena in space, but it really did have more of a Conan vibe than Xena; maybe because there were more princesses in Conan’s stories – something). Okay, I do not know the Conan story well enough to continue this idea, so let’s move on before I embarrass myself.

There’s a criminal who has fled from the Amalgam space and landed on a ‘primitive’ planet – one where everyone but the rulers are ignorant of both the nature of the universe, and their own origins (as in: 1) there are other planets out there that have life on them, human life; 2) they are not native to the planet (though that one I’m less sure about as it comes up during the book that there are ‘stories’ and ‘legends’ about the ‘bad air’ and how lots died and stuff, so they might actually know they are not natives).

That criminal has landed on that planet with stolen materials from the Amalgam (I’m not actually 100% sure what the ‘Amalgam’ actually is, I think it is the name of the alliance of planets, though I could be wrong, I know it isn’t the name of a planet). A group of bounty hunters are sent out to track down this bad guy and recover him. Two things of note of this specific individual before moving on to the hunters – 1) the guy was a colonel in the military (and therefore, presumably, has some military know-how); 2) is related, brother, to a ‘Senator’).

The bounty hunters are lead by Commander R’cey Hawke (pronounced ‘Hawk’ like the bird; heh, no, I meant pronounced ‘R.C.’ like the cola (the R’cey part), though I kept reading it, for whatever reason, as ‘Racy’). There’s a bunch of young hot, strong, gifted, etc. etc., under Hawke’s command, but none of them matter beyond being people to grieve over – since they all die within moments of being introduced to the story. All but Hawke. So – imagine, if you will, a ship broken into tiny pieces on a ‘primitive’ world with 4 dead bodies, and one severally damaged one reclining near them. We shall leave Hawke here for now.

The other main point of view/impetus to the story is a young woman named Princess Thalia Dumont (I’m reminded of people whose parents name them things like ‘Major’, or ‘Sergeant’, then things get confusing if they actually go into the military, and end up having conversations like ‘Private Major! Clean your shoes!’ – wait, Princess isn’t a name but a title. I’m being vaguely weird in this review. No idea why).

Let’s start that part again.

The other main point of view is a young woman named Thalia Dumont, a princess of a specific kingdom on the planet (there are several, presumably). We first meet Thalia as she sneaks out of her room/castle and visits with an assassin, for she plans to assassinate her father, King Lotar. Great way to meet someone, eh? Heh. Well, apparently Lotar is this super evil guy who is acting like a tyrant, destroying the people under heavy taxes, death and imprisonment.

One thing leads to another and this assassin, instead of killing the king, puts him into a deep deadly coma. Now Princess Thalia must rush out on a quest to find someone to help save the king (who, now it turns out, had actually been operating under the influence of someone else, and hadn’t actually been naturally evil. Just forced evil). I’m being indirect here as I wished to set some things up before I got to the fantasy part of the science fantasy tag. For the ‘evil’ influence is a literal evil spell/curse placed upon the king. And the quest for ‘someone to help’ is for a ‘powerful sorcerer who can try to help lift the curse’. For, you see, the people of this planet can do that. Magic. And stuff.

So, Thalia heads off on her quest with four soldiers and told that if she went a specific direction she might run into someone who could help. In a ‘if you don’t do this and get their help, your task will be a failure’ kind of ‘go that direction’ type of helpful hint.

And so they do – Thalia and her four companions. Head in a specific direction. Where-upon they find . . . demons. Well, recall if you will that most of the people on the planet are unaware of the true nature of the universe and the part wherein there are other humans out there on other planets. Doesn’t help that R’cey is wearing a power suit that morphs and hides her appearance.

One thing leads to another and Thalia’s quest party expands by one, with the addition of R’cey. And then the really long trek continues and unfolds.

The book is only 279 pages but it feels longer. Stuff happens. Then more stuff. Then when I think everything is ready to be wrapped up even more stuff happens. I know why the ending had to be the way it was – because of the nature of the situation the author put everyone into (‘primitive’ planet, only leaders know truth, hard for an off-worlder and a princess to have a relationship under these circumstances; roadblocks to a happy situation put in place; something needed to be done to ‘remove’ these roadblocks without completely undermining the whole point of having this be a ‘primitive’ planet’ with a ‘high-tech bounty hunter’ running around on it; in that sense the ending worked; in another I kind of felt like I was in the ending of fantasy films like Lord of the Rings, which had, like, an hour of extra filming that were just ‘climaxes’ over and over again – but not really).

I feel like making some reference to another book I read this year with ‘magic’ in a science fiction setting that involved lesbians and power suits, and a quest and stuff (well, running around in swampy/jungle-y areas), but can’t think of a way to make that comment. So I won’t. I’m referring here to Paladins of the Storm

Right, okay then. Interesting enough book. A little long feeling. A book I’d say would be something around a 3.48 to 3.63 star book. Not sure I’d specifically wish to read another book in this specific story universe, but I’ll definitely read another book by this author. I’m even currently eyeing one.

* - I'm probably just over thinking things and/or not noticing the correct things.

August 30 2016

Courting the Countess by Jenny Frame

Courting the Countess
by Jenny Frame
Pages: 240
Date: September 13 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 28 to 29 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

The characters, to me personally, felt quite alive to me. At least Harry, Annie and, to a certain lesser extent Riley. At least they did up to about 87%. I had the thought, at that point that the book was shaping up to be a good decent 4.3 star book. At which point my connection to the characters seemed to have lessened, the ending was kind of rushed, and there seemed to be an added layer of angst/conflict for the sake of angst/conflict. But still, despite that thought there at the end, the book was still quite enjoyable.

The book stars one Henrietta ‘Harry’ Knight, who has just become Countess of Axedale (in, apparently, Kent England), though also Dr. Knight. She prefers Dr. Knight. She’s the head of her department, presumably related to Archeology, at Cambridge University - - something she ‘made’ on her own – as in getting the degrees, doing the digs, being respected for her merits – as opposed to being Countess, which she got because someone died (that someone being her father – a real asshole of a man). She’s a player and hates when things are out of her control.

Also in a starring role is one Annie Brannigan, mother of Riley Brannigan, and newly hired housekeeper for the house in Axedale that belongs to the Countess of Axedale. She’s bound and determined to give her daughter a better life than any she ever had, and does so by doing a good job in good neighborhoods – though that also involves moving a lot – uprooting her daughter seemingly yearly, right when she had settled down and made one or two friends. Kind of makes someone give up on attempting to make friends.

Harry and Annie’s initial meeting go poorly – Harry wants nothing to do with the Brannigans now that she realizes that her housekeeper came with family. But Harry’s attempts to get rid of the family fail when the agency that sent the Brannigans point out that it will take 6 to 8 weeks for a new housekeeper to appear.

Harry has rough edges that Annie works on attempting to smooth. Meanwhile Riley, having a deep interest in books, history, and the Romans, bounces around the lands having fun and exploring. Even finding some Roman ruins. And yes, I mention that part because some of the sections are from Riley’s point of view. Rare though those sections might be.

Two things I should mention before I end – 1) I know some mentioned how Frame, the author, appears to follow a certain pattern (or something like that) – well, I haven’t read her before so if that is the case, I was not adversely impacted by that issue; 2) Harry is described as being super bitchy and really unlikable – something I knew going in so I was prepared to meet such a character.

In the end, I’d probably rate this book somewhere around 4.25 stars.

Oh wait – the one thing I knew I was going to include in this review I forgot to include. One of the good things a book can do is to create a desire in the reader to continue reading, too long for the ability to get back to the book in those moments between readings. Well, that feeling was there with this book. I wanted to read it. While reading it, and in between reading sessions. So – that’s good.

August 29 2016

Just my Luck by Andrea Bramhall

Just my Luck
by Andrea Bramhall
Pages: Unknown
Date: September 2016
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.33 out of 5.0
Read: August 24 2016

*I received this book from Ylva Publishing for an honest review*

I was in kind of a battle with this book. The opening almost caused me to run screaming int eh opposite direction, what with the way everyone was talking directly to the reader, and stuff. But I'd loved everything I'd read by this author, and I'd wanted to read this book for a while so . . . I reluctantly continued.

Over time either the things that annoyed me lessened (well, specifically the things from the opening section), or I just got used to it, as the book continued/progressed. There were other things that annoyed me here and there, but there were also some super funny moments of joy.

For the most part I liked the main characters (the two with POV's - the office worker (Logistics officer, or whatever her title was) - Genna, and the sex worker (heh, I make a funny) Abi (she made a few extra bit of money by being a phone sex operator)), and the important side characters (like Genna's mother, and Rosie - Abi's daughter). Never particularly liked Claire, Genna's BFF. And never liked Ruth (Genna's ex-girlfriend), though I wasn't supposed to like her.

The story was interesting enough, the the back and forth depressing thoughts the two had were tiring. I wanted things to progress already, get past this stage of 'I love her but she doesn't love me' that both were hiding in - mentally. Then they got past that stage. And . . . I kinda got bored. Then relatively rapidly frustrated by the conflict points that developed. Bah, that's me. I'm sure others wouldn't feel the same way.

Well, long and short, my head hurts now from all the antics of the book, and I'm happy to have completed it. I'd probably give this book a rating somewhere around . . . hmms . . . 3.3 to 3.33487. Which is something of a come down from the prior two books I'd read by this author - both very solid 5 star works (and probably slightly higher than 5 stars). On the other hand, there's a slight chance I'd now moved this author to a set of higher standards to meet. So maybe my rating might have been higher otherwise. Then again, I did start off by noting that if not for having loved this authors works in the past, I am not sure I'd have continued after that opening section. And so . . ..

August 24 2016

Good Enough to Eat by Alison Grey, and Jae

Good Enough to Eat
by Alison Grey, and Jae
Pages: 190
Date: January 31 2015
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: The Vampire Diet Series (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 23 2016

*I received this book from Ylva Publishing for an honest review*

This is the story of Robin, a writer, and Alana, a divorce lawyer, who meet at an alcoholic’s anonymous meeting in a church basement (I mention the church part for a reason, to be mentioned later). Both are fighting addictions, though Alana has been sober for two years now, while Robin is at the beginning of her fight against her issue.

There is something of an instant connect between the two – at least once they actually are thrust together by the leader of the AA group – since Brian, that leader, has offered up Alana to be Robin’s sponsor.

As many fighting addictions, Robin has a strong believe that her story is different, that the others wouldn’t really understand, and isn’t really sure that they can help. There are many truths that need to be faced, and shared, and dealt with, but it will be hard to meet head on some of these truths, and especially share them with others. For, as is obvious in many ways – from the cover and from the book description, Robin is a vampire. Fighting an addiction to blood – which is somewhat like a human fighting their addiction to oxygen. But still – after nearly killing someone on New Years, Robin doesn’t want this addiction any longer.

But how can she share and reveal all she needs to do with her sponsor? A human? How can they understand? Meanwhile her ‘best friend’ Meaghan, and her parents, definitely do not understand this compulsion to not hunt and drink.

I suppose, now that I’ve mentioned parents, that I should turn to something I had thought of mentioning, which includes my earlier mention of a church basement. These vampires (called something like Girah though I cannot check now as my kindle is currently dead) are not like those people have heard about before. They do not sparkle in the sun. They do not burst into flames either. They can quite easily see themselves in mirrors, have been around long before Christianity (and therefore have nothing to fear by symbols of the church, or churches themselves), and can and do eat ‘human food’ – though they cannot get the nutrients they need from that source, no they need human blood. Even animal blood wouldn’t be enough – they need human. Oh, and they apparently have parents, though that specific issue was not elaborated upon beyond ‘these are my father and mother – they are kind of assholish’.

So, with this background, how can Robin succeed? Well, as I mentioned, there seems to be this somewhat odd instant connect between both Robin and Alana. They both develop these desires and feelings for the other (though fighting addictions through taking lovers is neither the normal nor approved method of AA practices). Plus Alana isn’t exactly what she seems on the surface. This is known more or less from the beginning, that Alana is ‘different’ than the normal human. What she is exactly isn’t revealed immediately, but that she had been something and gave it up to be human is known from near the beginning.

I rather enjoyed this book, and really liked both Robin and Alana. Both had their POV sections, and there was a little repetition that occurred – both having similar thoughts right after each other, but these thoughts were natural and understandable.

Quite fun book. The sequel appears to be 18% the length of the first book. And it appears to involve a dentist appointment, based on a brief look at the book cover and description. But no need to worry about the length or direction of the sequel, this book here, the ‘Good Enough to Eat’ one, is a complete entity of its own.

One last note regarding my placing this on the age-difference shelf. Robin is 68, though doesn't look it, while Alana - again while not looking it, is 450

August 23 2016

Heart Trouble by Jae

Heart Trouble
by Jae
Pages: 312
Date: September 21 2016
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: None though related to Jae's Hollywood series.

Review
Rating: 5.5 out of 5.0
Read: August 23 2016

*I received this book from Ylva Publishing for an honest review*

This was/is a great book - from beginning to end. I laughed, I cried (mostly from laughing), and had great pleasure from reading this book.

This is one of those books that is hard to write a review for. Almost everything I could think to write seems spoiler-y; the plot, the romance, the family dynamic; everything.

Laleh Samadi comes from a large Persian American family (her parents came over from Iran; I'm not actually sure if Laleh was born here or there). She, Laleh, works as a waitress at her aunt's restaurant, and is quite straight. Though she has some lesbian friends - like two couples from other Jae books (mostly Jill, though her girlfriend Crash, and friends Grace and . . . whatever Grace's girlfriend's name also make appearances (Lauren?); Jill's role was actually larger than I kind of expected, she actually was a friend of Laleh's instead of some cameo like drop in - like say Grace who, as far as I recall, appeared twice - once at a movie opening, and once at a party - her biggest scene involved being kissed and blushing). Jill, as some may or may not recall, is the woman from Jae's Hollywood series with MS - and the one who played the doctor in the 'Shaken to the Core' film (pulling in, indirectly, another book and another of Jae's series).

Lelah meets the other lead in this story in an interesting way - by collapsing in an emergency room and being saved from death by one Dr. Hope Finlay. In a normal course of events, Hope and Lelah would never have meet again after Lelah left the ER area (conceivably they might have bumped into each other when Lelah moved into the other parts of the hospital, but that happened only once before). Neither were likely to run into each other normally - Lelah is/was straight and while she didn't exactly live in a Persian enclave, Hope kind of did - not live in a Persian enclave, but live in a work one - Hope being the kind of woman who lived more to work long hours in an emergency room - the kind whose only friend is a fellow doctor, and her condo looks like a showroom because she's almost never there.

So yes, they never otherwise would have run into each other at all. But they did - because Lelah had a heart issue, and ended up in the ER. They never would have moved beyond doctor patient, though, without an extra little bit of out-of-this-world weirdness. For, while attempting to jump start Lelah's heart (technically it was 'running', it just was 'stuck in the wrong gear' that would have lead to death), some of those paddle thingies were used. Defibrillators. And by a fluke of fate the charge ended up connecting doctor and patient - as in something cause the patient's arm to jerk up and slam into the doctor. A rookie mistake, as Hope mentioned several times.

Even then their fates were on a path to shaking themselves off never to see the other again but for that out of this world thingie I referenced earlier. Normally getting some extra volts of electricity run through your body doesn't do anything more than create some tingling that might last a short while. Doesn't normally do what happened in this book - create a link - a real link, between Hope and Lelah. The kind wherein Hope suddenly had a taste for Persian food and accidentally ends at Lelah's restaurant (though that could have happened anyway - not to the same degree, but in the sense that the good doctor might have had 'Persian' in their mind, from saving a Persian American, and might have had Persian pop up in their mind one day when thinking of what to eat for food). The link, though, was much stronger than that and dived into fantasy land.

I'm no expert on Persians, so I cannot say anything other than that I liked what was shown in this book. Was it realistic? Real? No idea. But it was a nice variation on characters. The interactions of the two who link up felt quite real - both becoming solid fully formed characters in this book.

This is one of those fluffy sweet humorous fun, erotic breaks from reality type of books. One specific aspect was somewhat expected and somewhat saddened me when it came to pass, though what unfolded after this unexplained vague event occurred was quite good and fun and probably for the best. I kind of liked, bah I can't say without going into spoiler land. The kind where I do not even wish to use spoiler tags to state.

August 24 2016

Turncoat by Ryan O'Sullivan, Plaid Klaus

Turncoat
by Ryan O'Sullivan, Plaid Klaus
Pages: 164
Date: September 6 2016
Publisher: T Pub
Series: Turncoat
URL: http://turncoatcomic.com/comic/cover/

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 22 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

Turncoat is a graphic novel about an assassin who goes around killing lower tier superheros to 'keep the superhero population down'. Though he wants to score bigger prey.

He is old, smokes, and balding with a bad comb-over. He is not like Deadshot and . . um . . Deathstrike? Whatever the heck the assassins are called in DC Comics and Marvel - I never particularly liked or cared about them so I can't exactly recall their names (though Deadshot was one of the ones in Suicide Squad: The Movie, right?).

Like in the movie (maybe like in the comics? No idea, haven't read his comics), this assassin wears a mask when he goes for the kill. His first kill is Bug-Boy - and it's bloody and graphic. So you know this isn't a kiddies comic. It also isn't exactly funny.

The illustrations are good. For the most part. The assassin's dog does't really look like a dog. But meh. Had to look several times before I could tell that white blob was supposed to be a dog. Well, the first time I saw the dog at least.

This isn't the first Superhero parody I've read, I've read several though the only two that come immediately to mind are 'SideKick' and 'The Boys'. The second one kind of was extended long past it's expiration date and fizzed out. I'm not sure I actually read all of Sidekick or not, though it seemed to be getting better there near the end.

Second target is 'Freedom Fighter'. And MC dude fails in his mission. Because he arrived too late.

And then the ex-wife appeared. Sharon. Of course MC dude looks like an out of shape old bald dude while the ex-wife looks like a 'super-hot babe' type. mmphs. Also she has no blade discipline. I think she just cut her own leg off just now (well, not really, but the illustration kind of looks that way . . . a little). Huh. She just broke her ankle after doing a superhero/villian type leap - you know, injured herself like you would expect if you happened to see someone attempt to do a superhero move who isn't a superhero. That was kind of unexpected. And not exactly funny. Maybe I was mistaken about this having humor in it.

Oh right sorry. The story line. Right, so, assassin dude gets small fry to kill to keep the superhero population down, but then the biggest of the big, the Liberty Brigade, gets a target pinned to them. And so . . . that happened.

This is really kind of lame. And the main character is super annoying. bah.

Okay, I finally snorted in a vaguely laughing kind of way. Yes! Snorted! When a reporter asks a super loaded question of Black Prince.

Hmm. 'Sadly' the book pulled itself out of its nosedive before the end.

August 22 2016

Lands End by Jackie D.

Lands End
by Jackie D.
Pages: 224
Date: September 13 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 20 to 21 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

Seven years ago the Michaels family had a nine year old daughter, a great successful restaurant, Lands End, on the tip of a peninsula in San Francisco, and a daughter in college (around the age of 20). The college aged daughter, Lena, was two years into her collegiate plans – get a Social Services degree, then Masters in that, then help the less fortunate. That all changed in something like a split second, which does happen, even if it sounds like a cliché.

One night, on the 23rd of October, someone came by that Lands End restaurant and shot three people – Papa, Mama, and daughter (Laura) Michaels. Papa and Mama died, Laura did not. Everyone’s life was pushed onto a new trajectory – Lena came home from college took over management of the restaurant – more importantly, took over the hard task of being sister-mother to Laura.

The book opens seven years later – Laura is 16 and rebellious. She gets herself into unfortunate circumstances, like being near a much older man with two other underage girls. That much older man comes with a certain insurance against bad publicity, for he is a star football player for the San Francisco Miners and they have a contract with a publicity company to try to help in situations like this one here.

This leads me to one Amy Kline. The description is slightly misleading for this book. Amy Kline is not in fact a public relations hotshot for the San Francisco Miners football team, at least not the way I initially read that when I was looking over books. For Kline works for a public relations firm which has a contract with the Miners team. And does not directly work for the Miners. The only importance of noting that is twofold – Kline has other clients, and the football team angle plays a much smaller role than I had assumed going into the book (to a certain extent, the team plays a very tiny role, though the specific player plays a larger role in his impact on the story line).

Amy and Lena come into contact when, as previously mentioned, Laura got caught with that Miners football player in a compromising situation. The two other underage girl’s families were easily bought off. The third stormed into Kline’s office and demanded that the Miner never contact Laura again. Amy attempts to ‘pay off’ Lena for her troubles, but that just backfires and makes Amy look bad in Lena’s eyes. She doesn’t want money; she wants the older man away from her sister.

Amy is somewhat off her game for one specific reason – she’s oddly taken with the looks of this Lena person. Makes her less capable of communication than a public relations hotshot should be. A somewhat reoccurring theme in this story.

Amy and Lena circle each other throughout the story. Lena is less than taken with the idea of having anything to do with Amy – because of Amy’s job; while Amy is somewhat confused – for she hasn’t wanted to be serious about anyone for a good long while and she wants something serious with Lena (since her heart was ripped apart in college – since then she has had a long string of play partners who she has told, prior to engagement, that sex is all that could occur).

The story takes place in San Francisco (and a few other areas longish drives away), and during then after the ‘holidays’ period. Beginning right before Christmas, and includes New Years Eve parties. Before leaping forward a month or more (then more month(s)).

It includes as side characters: Chloe the lawyer (straight, best friend of Lena), Ben the 18 year old (Chloe’s brother; only cameo role), Chloe’s mother and father (who appear briefly so that Lena can visit them for the holidays), Sarah the super assistant (Amy’s assistant), Matt the detective boyfriend (Sarah’s boyfriend), Brittany the photographer/journalist (Amy’s fuck buddy who also does a story on the unsolved murder case involving the Michaels family), Evie 'it's Evelyn now' (the ex-girlfriend), surprise guests (who I cannot mention because of spoiler reasons), and a bunch of other random people (like a football player and his wife).

A good solid book. With conflict, resolution, sex, and . . . um . . . stuff. A slice of life/romance book (I originally put that as ‘lesbian romance’ but the heterosexual romances that occur are also important-ish).

The book was neither awe-inspiring, nor horrible. Hence my calling it a good solid book. I’d rate it somewhere around 4.2 stars.

August 22 2016

Masked Feelings by Levia Ortega, Susanne M. Swolinski (Translator)

Masked Feelings
by Levia Ortega, Susanne M. Swolinski (Translator)
Pages: 34
Date: August 7 2016 (first published October 25 2014)
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0
Read: August 21 2016

A feeling of accomplishment bursts through me as I realize that, in just under a minute, I've already completed 26% of this story. Okay, I joke poorly. Yes, this is a short story.

Opens with a woman named Manuela Wagner screaming at a poor cringing airline agent after Manuela has been informed that her flight has been overbooked and she will not be leaving that night. Manuela, more or less instantly, realizes that she's being bitchy and weakly stops screaming.

Immediately my dislike for this woman develops and grows. Story opening with thoughts of how horrible her week was - being forced to spend it with her asshle boss. Taking it out on a poor working stiff (the airline agent). Then my level of dislike increases as I see her thoughts, about how her best friend moved to a different city, and how she selfishly wished the friend hadn't moved so that she could be there for Manuela to unload onto about her shitty job. The friend she misses and hasn't seen in months. And the friend she wasn't going to see even though she was in the same city but for the fact the plane would be leaving without her.

There's a disconnect here - really missing the friend, in the same city, haven't seen each other in a long time . . . and wasn't going to this trip either but for fate. Confusing.

I'm reading too much into this issue. I shall now shake myself and restart with calmer thoughts. Well, not restart, continue.

*reads . . . reads* As would be expected from the description given - a halloween party occurs and Manuela is talked into going to it. Dressed as a 'sexy pirate'.

Heh. And now we get a bit of possible sexual harassment. I kind of suspected we were going this direction (well not the sexul harassment vibe).


How exactly does a mask cause you to not recognize someone? It's like the joke with superheros. Clark Kent removes his glasses and . . . where'd he go! When did Superman appear! I mean . . . really. The person that you have spent a large amount of time in close quarters and you do not recognize them? It was a nice touch, though, the part where the masked stranger never used their voice. And Manuela is deeply fatigued and tired (though if you are going to use that argument then you are moving even closer into troubling waters of - incabable of giving consent, kinda) -

Manuela had no time to say anything; Cassandra pulled her closer and pushed her tongue into her mouth. Manuela pulled back and looked skeptically at her boss. (Kindle Locations 292-293).

The hated boss tricked her underling and got her back to her employees room. Then lunged at her after saying that she wanted Manu 'even if it's just for tonight' and doesn't wait for a response. The same woman who has been super bitchy for a really long time. The same woman who has made the other's life a living hell. And by not givng her time, I mean she put her tongue into Manu's mouth before Manu could respond.

But of course, it is all made 'right' because Manuela also needed release. pfft.

Manuela grinned wickedly when she raised her head. “Is that an official work order?"

(Kindle Location 309) - and I'm pulled from the story again. Sure. Joke about sexual harassment. bah.

hehehe - yeah, let's not add an extra layer of icky vibes; though to be fair it's the normal kind of banter I see in stories like this. It's just the part where one is the boss and the other is the underling that adds to the icky vibes - when Manuela pleaded with Cassandra (the boss) not to do something, the boss just grinned and did it anyway and . . I giggled because of how the ickiness just continues. I might be overly sensitive.

On the other hand I have read and liked stories that involved bosses and underlyings in sexual situations. This one kind of stacked the deck, though, to add waves of creepy feelings. Bitchy boss - for months (though it is explained away for why bitchy). Forcing themselves onto their underling (with the side note that that underling had just dragged them back to their room for sex; counter that with they didn't realize they were dragging their boss back; then boss lunged and plunged their tongue down the others throat without giving the other a chance to breath; then jokes about sexual harassment, then pleading that is ignored . . . etc.).

And then we learn . . . why the boss was bitchy. But that still doesn't . . bah. Just adds more to the unrealness of the story. Which I'll just pretend isn't there because this is all set in a different culture from my own that I don't know.

And now I feel cheated. We go from 'how will we ever be able to be together considering the circumstances' to 'one year later' And the badness is gone. Pushed aside. With no explanation. Um, what?

I do not know how to rate this story.

August 21 2016

The Ballerina by Nicolette Dane

The Ballerina
by Nicolette Dane
Pages: 126
Date: March 22 2016
Publisher: Dane Publishing
Series: None

Review
Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 20 2016

I should probably not have attempted this one. I picked up a longish time ago because it was free, looked vaguely interesting (if my memory of way back when is correct), and is lesbian fiction. Then took a really long time before I tried this or any of the other free books I'd picked up by this author. I still should not have probably attempted this one (at least first).

Then again, that's one of the troubles of adding something long ago, having a vague feel of the story then, then turning seemingly years later (months?) to what's on the Kindle to read next, spotting something, not really recalling what it was, then diving in. So I didn't know this was a teacher-student story (or having the vibe of that, without actually including teachers/students). I do not really 'do' those type of stories, or I mean, they never really seem to work for me.

And this one everything that I dislike about the concept, though I need to immediately note something. I keep calling this teacher student, because one of the women is a lot older and works as something like a teacher/though more correctly as a dance choreographer (assistant); while the other is like a student, but in reality is a semi-junior (there are people lower down the scale) member of a dance company. So this is even worse in my mind, since I also have trouble with what the book actually is, in addition to the heavy teacher-student vibe that doesn't normally come up in employee-employer stories.

I found this icky. Creepy. Disturbing. The older woman is and has been lusting after the younger one for months, maybe six (I do not wish to open the book again to see how long). There is something like a 10 year age difference - more actually, since the older is somewhere north of 30 (at or just before the age of 30, the older woman in the story was pulled aside and told that she could remain as a dancer, but never advancing, or move over to the production side; and it has been some unknown bit of time after that, so 30+), and the younger is exactly 20 (because her age is explicitly stated as 20).

The older uses terminology in her lust that is super creepy. Seeing her in her mind, then later treating her in person as a small doll like figure; edging towards 'child-like figure' but I do not think it actually got that creepy/icky. Then the older woman started an affair with the younger with thoughts in her own mind, and words spoken by both parties that wobble on the edge of sexual harassment. Since the older woman has the power to greatly impact the younger woman's career.

So we have the super creepy icky older woman lusting after another woman who they somewhat see as child-like (both in how she sees the other, and the 'cute-sey' way of the younger woman acting naive (emphasis on acting) and super innocent-like); while at the same time massive vibes of sexual harassment vibrate the story (both have either words or thoughts indicating that the older has power over the younger in work; and that there might be advantages/disadvantages of conducting an affair - the older even has the younger lie about where the younger is when she is with the older woman when she talks to her coworkers/fellow dancers).

'Granted' - there are issues indicating that the younger might be desirous of 'getting with' the older woman; though more in terms of how it might advance her career. Ickiness from the other side of the equation. heh.

I've rated this 2 instead of anything less than 2, like I might have otherwise done with a story like this, because the author does seem to have a way with words, and with conveying 'things'. And the story did seep into me (ickily).

I will probably go ahead and read at least one more story by the author, I just need to make certain that it is in a genre/theme/etc. that I do not find icky.

August 20 2016

Batgirl, Vol. 2: Family Business by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, Babs Tarr (Illustrations)

Batgirl, Vol. 2: Family Business
by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, Babs Tarr (Illustrations)
Pages: 168
Date: February 17 2016
Publisher: DC Comics
Series: Batgirl (Fourth series, Volume 7 in series; 2 in newish reboot)

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 13 to 20 2016


The Batman Universe has gone all weird on me (though I knew that since this is the second 'Volume' since the change). Batman is dead or gone (I'm not sure if I ever knew). Batgirl's father is the new Batman in an ultra power suit. Batgirl herself is a hipster, and surrounded by a bunch of people I do not recognize (other than Nightwing - who is supposed to be dead (though I've read the series where it came out why he is pretending to be dead - he is working as a spy); despite being 'dead', he sure pops up a lot - and is super icky creepy around Batgirl, interrupting her date, being all clingy, trying to kiss her - then the ending made it look like he was about to kidnap her, though book ended before we find that out; Batwing (though he is operating as Lucius Fox - opening his own company, retiring Batwing); and Papa Gordon (though he is acting as Batman instead of police commisioner).

Plus there was a lesbian wedding. Considering everything, I should have been all over that, right? Lesbian wedding in comicville? But . . . I've no clue who these people are - other than one or the other are supposedly friends of Barbara Gordon (though neither know that she's also Batgirl) - and I believe one is an ex-roommate).

The wedding involving two women (or just a wedding in general) should matter more to me. But I'm too disconnected to the people in this series and I kind of had a meh feeling. Meh, two people getting married - Dick Grayson is interrupting it and acting like a dick; oh they married now (the two lesbians) and . . . fade to Batgirl in bed sleeping. Meh.

Several 'mysteries'/'crimes' are investigated by Batgirl. The one that sticks in my mind is the one involving a tiger wandering around killing and eating people. And I've a vague idea that Batgirl wandered over to Gotham Academy for a spell or too for whatever reason. Meh.

If it hasn't come across yet - the whole thing was kind of meh to me. I doubt I'll continue this series. Then again, I know they just had yet another reboot (DC Comics) so if I did continue, I might find yet another new version of Batgirl. Not actually sure - haven't been paying attention.

August 21 2016

Trial by Fury by K.G. MacGregor

Trial by Fury
by K.G. MacGregor
Pages: 240
Date: June 20 2016
Publisher: Bella Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 18 to 19 2016

This is one of the better MacGregor's I've read in a while. A good mix of legal stuff and romance stuff (though not necessarily balanced).

A woman in drag (dressed up in a suit and hat intending to look like a man, or at the very least, not like herself) shows up at a law office – specifically at the law office of a famous lawyer known for fighting for the rights of women. Fighting for women in divorces, fighting on behalf of women in unequal pay cases, etc.

Well, that woman in drag has a case of her own, though not for herself, or on her own behalf. No, it’s for a student (for you see, she is actually a professor at a local private university, a woman by the name of Dr. Celia Perone). A dead student.

On the night that Harwood University’s men’s basketball team won the national basketball championship, a young woman slashed her wrists. And died. Three or more members of that team had drugged her unconscious then raped her. Then, piling on, released a video of their actions. Well, it was released to a select group; so it was more vague taunts of others, plus outright expressions of disbelief – she was a drama student; the others claimed she was just being dramatic. The campus health clinic helped in a small way, with a rape kit. The campus police seemed vaguely interested.

Then . . . things changed for her. Her ‘friends’, as mentioned, said she was lying, being dramatic, or had been asking for ‘it’. Not all, but enough of them. The police did not proceed with an investigation. The college? Literally told her that they would suspend her, and/or sue her, and/or other vicious things if she continued being a nuisance about the issue. She was a woman with very little support, family/college (no rape crisis center on that campus)/police/’friends’. Except for one male friend who she leaned on, and one college professor – that previously mentioned Dr. Celia Perone. Watching her rapists celebrating, smiling, and giggling on national television . . . she could not go on.

Theodora Constantine, of Greek heritage (I mention for no known reason), takes the case. Very complicated case – especially as it is very difficult to find ‘footing’ or standing for a lawsuit.

While that case is proceeding, along with others, a romance between Theo (as she is actually called in the book) and Celia also progressed. A mix of slow burn and instantaneous ‘stuff’ (took a while for both agreed to date, then they proceeded to fuck on their first date , etc.).

I liked both main characters. There were moments near the end when Celia was annoying me, but otherwise I liked both main characters. The story line was strong (if depressing – I’ve a desire now to say something like – ‘I’m going to boycott college sports!’ but I do not pay attention to college sports . . .).

College campuses are little fiefdoms of evilness.

August 19 2016

Sweat: Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust by Erzabet Bishop, Laila Blake, Harper Bliss, Cheyenne Blue, Lucy Felthouse

Sweat: Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust
by Erzabet Bishop, Laila Blake, Harper Bliss, Cheyenne Blue, Lucy Felthouse
Pages: 53
Date: September 3 2015
Publisher: Ladylit
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.788
Read: August 18 to 19 2016

Marathon Woman by Cheyenne Blue

This is one of those stories I probably needed to read in exactly the right moment. Luckily, for me, that occurred. I'd probably rate this around 3.75 to 3.85 stars. Which could very well be overrating.

The story is very brief - about a very skinny (athletically skinny) dark skinned marathon runner - the kind of skinny that causes a woman to have almost zero fat, the kind of skinny that causes a woman to have almost nothing but nipples on their chest; and the actual point of view of the story - a woman who describes herself as the opposite of her lover. She's quite pale, fat, and not exactly athletically minded (and she has really large breasts, you know, because that's important).

The fat one (I do not remember their names) is very self-conscious about their looks and wonders why the athlete sticks with her. This story gives a good brief look into why an ultra-competitive woman might prefer to be with a woman who is not the least bit athletic, but is supportive, understanding, and, in the only eyes that matter (her own, and - depending on 'things', those of the larger woman) sees their lover as quite attractive. And feels lucky to have such a woman instead of another athlete-ultra competitive type, like another couple have - two ultra-competitive runners.

As I said, brief story.

August 18 2016

Making An Impression by Lucy Felthouse
Story opens with a woman, Joely, sitting next to a pool with an ereader. Another woman enters. Joely gazes upon this new woman, who is apparently super hot, through her sunglasses. Other woman sits on opposite of pool.

'Joely really wanted to know what the brunette smelled like.' - hmms. Okay?

heh. The women keep getting referred to by their hair color. The blonde. The brunette. mmphs. heh.

Now I know why Joely decided to do a stunt to get attention instead of strike up a conversation. Neither has any ability to talk smoothly.

Don't particularly like Mia. Nothing really wrong with Joely other than being clueless and an inadequate conversationalist.

And . . . wait, the story is over? A woman sits by a pool, spots another, makes some effort to show herself of, the other notices, they get drinks, they go up to that other woman's room. Get busy. Story over. Well. Kind for boring. Which part was the 'sweat' supposed to come into the scene? Sitting in the hot sun? That's kind of sweaty. They took the elevator instead of the stairs, so no sweat there. The sex? It was over too quickly for either to sweat. So I guess the sweat is from the sun in this story.

Overall - 1.5 rating. Or maybe 2. 1.75?

August 19 2016

On an Ocean of Skin by Laila Blake

Okay, story opens with a woman in a yoga studio. She may or may not be fat. And feels self-doubt and guilt for 'subjecting beautiful people to her presence.' She's there because she got 'something' related to the studio on her birthday. A voucher - 'Yoga for woman in larger bodies' (so she actually does inhabit a larger body, and it's not just her self-image making her feel fat).

hehehe. What a gift to get from your mother. I can just imagine the scene (well a scene, I don't know the relationship involved) - daughter - 'ooh, a card *opens, stares, sees 'Yoga for woman in larger bodies' thinks to self *my mother thinks I'm fat, thanks mom*

Interesting. Large bodied depressed woman, goes to yoga studio, meets - happy round woman as instructor.

Hmms. This be a really nice story. Quite . . . nice. A couple of word choices here and there jarred and pulled me from the story, unfortunately, otherwise I might call this one something close to 5 stars. As it is . . . . I'll call it 4.79 stars. *nods*

August 19 2016

Derby Girls by Erzabet Bishop

A roller derby story. Star of this one has been side-lined for months (6) due to a broken leg and busted collar bone that cost her team . . . um something, 'the win' (for a game? for the championship, what?) and cost her her girlfriend.

She didn't mind, the 'cost her her girlfriend' part, as she, the star of the story, had her eye on Roxie. And she wasn't going to do anything until she got rid of the girlfriend. Plus six months. heh.

Interesting story. I liked it. Hmms. 4.4 rating.

Match Point by Harper Bliss

Okay, this one will involve tennis apparently. Let us see what we get . . .

A woman has formerly been the champion at a club. Until a new woman appeared. Who distracted her greatly. The star of the story, whose name I do not recall, has discovered why she kept ending up breaking off engagements. It would appear that she's actually into women. Specifically one named Ruby - that new woman to the club.

They play tennis then they play with each other.

Hmms. Interesting enough. The sex was a little wordy. hmms. 4.2? Something like that.

Overall
Okay then.

Marathon Woman by Cheyenne Blue - 3.8
Making An Impression by Lucy Felthouse - 1.75
On an Ocean of Skin by Laila Blake - 4.79
Derby Girls by Erzabet Bishop - 4.4
Match Point by Harper Bliss - 4.2

Overall rating of 3.788

August 19 2016

Warriors of the Heart by BadSquirrel

Warriors of the Heart
by BadSquirrel
Pages: 173
Date: December 2012
Publisher: Self
Series: None
URL: http://xenafiction.net/scrolls/badsquirrel_warriors_of_the_heart.html

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 17 2016

It is funny in it's way. One of the reasons I decided to try this book was because it involved an undercover police officer. More directly, because it involved said police officer operating undercover as a stripper.

And nearly the first scene, or around there, involved a lap dance by said undercover officer given to a woman. Who promptly orgasmed. One of those 'quickest to orgasm' type moments, eh?

Who knew, from that background, what I'd actually find when I continued reading? The two main characters, Rachel and Stevie, are probably my two favorite characters I've come across. There's family turmoil, religious turmoil, crime, passion, thrills and chills.

This might be the best family/religious/LGBT-related book I've read.

While reading I was thinking several thoughts, one of which is - why am I able to read this book for free? Other than a few mentions here or there of green eyes, I noticed nothing that would put either woman as being stamped from the mold of the two main women from Xena. Maybe Stevie and Rachel are modeled on some other couple?

There was one moment wherein I think the author or someone got confused (maybe it is I who got confused), but there is one moment when it appeared that Rachel, for one brief scene, had her name switch from Rachel to Teresa, to Rachel again. Other than that specific issue, this was a lot more polished than I'd have expected (granted I'm not talking about the formatting, that was annoying how scenes/etc, meshed together; while other scenes kept getting interupted by large blocks of text informing everyone the name of the book and the page number). Right, think I lost my focus there, I had meant to just note that I did not see anything specifically that would have kept this book from being published for pay.

Not sure which would have lead me to it quicker, free, published for pay, or published for free. *shrugs* No matter. I rather enjoyed the book.

August 17 2016

The Muse by Suzie Carr

The Muse
by Suzie Carr
Pages: 254
Date: November 21 2012
Publisher: Sunny Bee Books, LLC
Series: None

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 17 2016

I love this book. Mind you I did just read it more or less straight through and it is 3 am now. So my brain is not working at full capacity at moment.

This is much more the story of one woman rather than a couple. But a lovely little coupling did occur in this book.

In Your Words by R.J. Samuel

In Your Words
by R.J. Samuel
Pages: 30
Date: February 6 2013
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.70 out of 5.0
Read: August 17 2016

This is a lite and fluffy short story. No, that doesn't work. Fluffy? How does that even factor in? Okay, I try again.

This is a very short and relatively light-weight story about an author at, I assume, some kind of convention. Thin, maybe I should use thin instead of light-weight. hmms.

While sitting in some area where people can sit (this is really lacking in certain things, like how this came about; I spent about five minutes rereading the beginning section to see if the writer person was sitting down in a plane/train/coffee shop, just where she was (I thought maybe plane/train because of mention of travel, though initially the wording seemed to indicate she was done at the moment with traveling; then other things mentioned lead me back to wondering if actually on train/plane). Instead of rereading, I should have just continued. Because is actually as I described above - oh, I didn't describe yet. She's sitting in some 'sitting area' set aside for people to sit in. Very detailed I am. I think there's some writing convention going on, because there is mention of the writer, and others, sitting near books waiting to sign them (the indication that other authors are there moved it out of thinking this be a book store).

Wow I'm wordy.

A writer rests upon a soft chair. She glances over and spots another woman. Holding and reading a book. She, the writer, notices two things - her own picture (as the author) on the book, and that the reader might have some questions (based on facial expressions). The writer is seriously checking out the look of this reader. Then realizes that the reader has paused their reading and is now looking at them.

Not a bad set up. Kind of thin story overall. I had actually come in here to lower the rating to 3 stars and put it on my 3.5 star shelf, but the story, despite it's thinness, is lingering in my mind, so I'll leave it on the 4 star shelf for now.

August 18 2016

The Devil's Orchard by Ali Vali

The Devil's Orchard
by Ali Vali
Pages: 264
Date: June 18 2013
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Cain Casey (5th in series)

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 15 to 16 2016

It's interesting in its way how I am mostly unable to write reviews for this series, and I do not plan to do more than mention a few things this time either.

I was tempted to rate this 2.5 stars, but one specific series of events/scene should not lead me to doing so. But there was enough there, positive/negative, for me to land on 3 stars for this specific book. Despite all plot strings that get wrapped up in this book. I did not like the reactions of Cain Casey and Emma to certain revelations. I realize this is hidden behind a spoiler tag but I will not be clearer.

ETA: Okay, I will be slightly more clear. I'm referring specifically to the Fiona situation.

August 16 2016

The Purloined Poodle by Kevin Hearne

The Purloined Poodle
by Kevin Hearne
Pages: 112
Date: September 30 2016
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Series: 2 series - The Iron Druid Chronicles (8.5) & Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 13 to 15 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Subterranean Press in return for a fair review.*

The mystery of the dog napped champion doggies, and detective work of Oberon, a rather large Irish wolfhound. Oh, and that Druid guy, Atticus O’Sullivan, also helps out on the case.

Atticus and Oberon were visiting a dog park in Eugene Oregon one day, so that Oberon could visit with other dogs, when they happened to bump into a mystery. Told to them by a guy named Ernest. Apparently someone has been going around kidnapping/dognapping champion show dogs. And the police aren’t that interested in investigating, because dogs. When Oberon hears of the situation, missing dogs and indifference of the police, he is drawn into investigating the case himself, and helping those dogs.

And so that is what he does. Magically teleporting around the various states of the USA in which the dogs went missing and/or were reported to have been seen, and along the way picked up a small friend named Starbuck (a Boston terrier), and some sirloin steaks.

The short story was a neat little mystery from the point of view of a dog. Quite fun. The story is listed on Goodreads as both falling into the Iron Druid Chronicles at the 8.5 slot, and also the first in the Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries series. There’s a good chance I’ll read another of these if another one pops up – the Oberon series ones.

For those who care about such things – there are ‘spoilers’ in the book relating to the Iron Druid series. Well, in that it includes information from/about that series that might not be known to someone who hasn’t read those books yet.

August 15 2016

Counterbalance by Aidan Wayne

Counterbalance
by Aidan Wayne
Pages: 79
Date: September 12 2016
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.55 out of 5.0
Read: August 12 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Riptide Publishing in return for a fair review.*

After reading Aidan Wayne’s Loud and Clear, I was quite excited to see a new story pop up. I was quite eager to read it and was happy when my request was granted to read. I had to hold off, though, since I read fast, this is a short story, and I got the story a lot more than 30 days before publication. But the time had come . . .

So, John, a Texan, works as the guy who works out how to set up the rigging/matting/etc. for the Cirque Brilliance show (he is head rigger). Heh, that’s actually the first time that I noticed that it, was Cirque Brilliance. I just saw Cirque and assumed it was Cirque du Soleil.

Bao, John’s interest, is a new performer with the show. He’s quite talented, has been training since he was a kid, and is from China. Bao, though, unlike Wayne’s first story, does not have his thoughts and feelings expressed through his own point of view, but instead interpreted by John.

This brings me back to John. John, you see, expects nothing can happen with Bao, because John is horribly scarred and can’t believe anyone would see past the scarring to actually want anything to do with him. He is quite taken with the idea. That no one could possibly want him, well, other than those who have a freak fetish. That’s a really annoying reoccurring theme in the story. ‘Bao hugged me; Boa is just a happy kind of guy, and the Chinese are very huggy types of people, it doesn’t mean he likes me; Bao brought me lunch . . .it doesn’t mean . . ; Bao has pulled my pants down and is sucking on my penis. That doesn’t mean anything, he is Chinese, and it’s what they do.’ Okay, all but the last one happened in the story. John is/was scarred mentally and physically, both from the incident where he got the injuries, and from his experiences with others through his life when he attempted to get close to him. So there’s a solid backing for his reactions. It just got frustrating to see it over and over again. To the point that I’m sure that Bao could have done that last thing I mentioned and John would still likely have reacted the same way – disbelieving (except for the part wherein John would have stopped him, but whatever).

Other than believing that his English isn’t the best, there doesn’t seem to be anything ‘wrong’ with Bao. There probably is something, if we could get into his head. But we aren’t in there so, the evidence says: he’s an excitable kitten with no issues or problems other than a vague feeling that his English isn’t the best.

I mention this because we really are on unequal footing here – the reader and the participants. Because all we have are what John sees and feels. It’s hard to know, from this angle, what exactly Bao sees in him. You can only have a guy berate himself, internally, before you just accept that he’s an ugly freak and anyone who is interested is interested because they have a fetish. And no, that isn’t how I came to see Bao; no I came to conclusion that I had no idea why he was interested in John.

I’m missing half the story here. Bao’s half. That frustrates me. Especially since I really really loved the first story I had read by Wayne.

This story is interesting enough, don’t get me wrong. I just wanted to spend more time with the excitable kitten, and less with the super depressing self-loathing John.

I have a feeling that I might have ended up feeling the same way, if ‘Loud and Clear’ had been from, say, Caleb’s point of view only. Instead it was from both Caleb and Jaxon. And while neither was an excitable kitten, Jaxon seemed like a great guy to know, smoothing out any issues I might have had with Caleb (which I only really recall him being something of a stuffed shirt; but this vague recollection is probably wrong).

Caleb and Jaxon had flaws, and positives. John is a self-loathing scarred and scared man, while Bao is an excitable happy kitten – a perfect specimen of manhood (yeah, I can see why John kept asking himself why Bao would be interested in him).

Well. Hmms. Let me see. I believe I would rate this story somewhere around 3.65 to 3.885. As for GoodReads sakes, that would equate to a rating of 4 stars, since we do not have half stars on Goodreads. I reserve the right to switch the rating to 3 stars and keeping the story on my 3.5 shelf.

August 12 2016

One Night In Venice: A Lesbian Erotic Romance Story by Bella Donnis

One Night In Venice: A Lesbian Erotic Romance Story
by Bella Donnis
Pages: 32
Date: December 10 2013
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 12 2016

This was kind of weird and gross. Gross: the several references to smell . . . Because the main character hadn't showered and then proceeds to head out into Venice with the couple she went to Venice with still unclean; then there was the bit where the MC was pinning over some man who dumped her via text; then same MC leering, smirking, and staring down at her female acquaintance's breasts/cleavage (she's been near the other woman 3 times in the past but they are not friends). The fat gross man, Kevin, who Isobel is 'supposed' to be spending a romantic vacation with is a horrible human like person.

On the other hand, despite the nature of the book and the events of the book, I kinda like the small slight feel of Venice, and, mostly, the characterization of the main character (who, apparently, looks like Taylor Swift). Which is how I end up giving a story I call weird and gross 3 stars. Though I am aware that I might be over rating it. This might be closer to a 2 star work.

I'll think about it - rating. I mean, this is one of those rare-ish times I actually went looking for eroticism and I mostly noticed how smelly, wet, and gross everyone was.

Oh - and this is not a 'lesbian erotic romance' story (as the title declares above). There are no lesbians here. The main is one of those 'I'm only lesbian for you' types, but otherwise prefers men; other is harder to define since we are not in her head, but she is, at the very least, bisexual. So, no lesbians here.

August 12 2016

Innocent Catch by Weebod

Innocent Catch
by Weebod
Pages: 316
Date: 2009
Publisher: Self
Series: None
Fanfiction: Xena uber
URL: http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/weebod_innocentcatch1.html

Review
Rating: 4.8 out of 5.0
Read: August 10 to 11 2016

Two things I was to mention immediately:

1) I do not understand why this hasn't been published - put out there for sale. a) It appears to be a well polished work, - though I am not always the best at spotting 'need for editing'; b) other than a little too many times the two main characters getting referred to by hair color or job title, there's nothing much that makes this appear to be 'unpublishable fanfiction'. It is true that one of the leads is a tall dark haired woman, and the other is a shorter blond haired woman, but they seemed very much their own characters - not reflections of any other characters out there.

2) I rather loved this book. I may have laughed once or twice. Got misty eyed once or twice. Damn good book - romance-wise and police wise (I'd say 'mystery wise' though I know some people might have certain issues - the only one I'll mention, feel free to mention, would be the part where the undercover agent fell for one of their 'targets' (more targets to get information rather than targets for arrest)).

Oh, and since I mentioned it in my status updates:
3) There is graphic sex in this book. Involving both men and women (one man and one woman together), and women and women (one woman and one woman; though there was another coupling that I forget if it got graphic or not). There may have been one or two of these graphic scenes involving women that I liked. I shall not speak more on this topic.

4) I'd rate this, if I could, something around 4.8... 4.80 stars (hesitated there if I wanted to give more than 4.8).

August 11 2016

Split City Waltz by Ada Redmond

Split City Waltz
by Ada Redmond
Pages: unknown
Date: September 21 2016
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Series: None

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 8 to 9 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Less than Three Press in return for a fair review.*

This story here, my first one that I have read by this author, is a quite neat look at a futuristic London. It is a story involving three characters, the main one being the private investigator Allyn Morgan, a hacker who lives in the undercity (Terminal), and Allyn's former girlfriend (Danny (I'm fairly certain that I recall her name correctly)).

Danny stops by Allyn's place to ask for a favor - she wants some help investigating one of her coworkers for possible theft, so she hopes that Allyn can go to the undercity (the area of London where the old underground railway system existed before it was closed for the new above ground advanced solar powered tramway (well, I think it's solar powered, I just recall it being advanced and using clean energy)) and drop off something that will help someone she has hired down there to figure out if this theft is actually occurring.

Allyn, somewhat reluctantly, agrees. She's to drop off an item with a hacker named 'Terminal'.

This was a quite neat (I think I said that already) story all the way around, seeing an a future possible version of London, seeing a mystery unfold, interacting with Terminal, Allyn, and the like. Fun.

I hope that there are more stories set in this universe so that we could see more of Allyn and Terminal interacting.

August 9 2016

Station of Shards by Aimee Villarine

Station of Shards
by Aimee Villarine
Pages: unknown
Date: September 28 2016
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Series: None

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 7 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Less than Three Press in return for a fair review.*

This is the first story I’ve read by this author.

When I saw the description, well part of it, I knew I wanted to read this story. I mean, private eye in space! Okay, I’ve read that before, but it still is a genre I both like and also somewhat rarely see. I’ve read children’s books just to be able to read a series in that mixed genre (okay, they were young adult novels, I think; actually, I do not know what they were since none of the characters were young adult – I’m referring to a Timothy Zahn series, and there the guy was more of a spy than a PI).

Considering the cover, I kind of expected a Sam Spade type on a space station working cases. Instead I got a guy who didn’t exactly vibrate noir vibes (there’s a private eye in shadows on the cover, in the background there is a science fiction-y scene – hence my belief I’d get noir in space).

A lot of time passes in this story. Too much time. And a lot of it with nothing really is happening (traveling mostly). And when action finally arrived, Kelley, the space PI, was asked for help more because he was being asked by his friend. It was less a case than a favor to see what the strange noise in the dark was (specifically to see why people were acting strange down in a lower level of the space station). And Kelley didn’t investigate so much as stumble along following, then running away.

Despite saying the above, it was an interesting enough story, and I do see that there’s an interesting universe here. I see myself reading something more in this universe. Hopefully if such a thing occurs, more stories, something more of a mystery and or case to solve would be nice. Something to show that there might be some reason to believe that this guy has something going on within his brain. At the moment he kind of gives off a vaguely dim vibe.

August 8 2016

MVP by C.E. Gray

MVP
by C.E. Gray
Pages: 160
Date: 2001
Publisher: The Athenaeum
Series: None
Fanfiction: Xena
URL: http://xenafiction.net/scrolls/ce_gray_mvp1.html

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 4 to 7 2016

Cody Madison is a six foot tall baseball player (with long black hair and blue eyes) on a 'fairly new MLB baseball team' named the San Diego Warriors. Cody is the only female on the team.

The first team these Warriors face is the Saint Louis Cardinals. And I only know two of those (well, I stress the I part) - a MLB team, and a former NFL team (they are now the Arizona Cardinals). Though the part wherein we are suddenly inside the pitchers head and he's thinking back to the fact that the last time he faced a woman at the plate, she bady sprained his hand. Considering that thought that was revealed in that scene, there are more than just Cody out there as female players, though only one on the Warriors team.

The book was put out there into the universe sometime around 2001. There's a moment when Mark McGwire Jr. appeared - whereupon the lead character noted that his father had retired years ago in 2007. So, this is set in some unknown year when 2007 is years ago and women play, supposedly, in the MLB. Ah. It's 2017.

I expect, considering everything, that the other main in this story will be the 'small blond woman with green eyes' who Cody spots sitting at 'her table' at her favorite bar & grill with a small 5 year old named Jeffrey. - That would be 25 year old Jennie Donavon and her son Jeffrey Donavon. Who, at their first meeting, didn't recognize Cody as Cody (though had heard stories about this 'Cody' person).

So - this one will involve family issues. What with Jeannie having a son, and Cody having a brother who calls begging for money (though he had disowned her 12 years ago right after their father had died). Oh, though it will not involve, directly, Cody's parents, because both are dead. Though Jeannie's two parents are alive, and, apparently, the mother keeps trying to set up Jeannie with dates with men.

heh. That's one of the problems of writing a book in 2001 and setting it in 2017. Jeannie's apparently not out as a lesbian with her family because 'that'd go over like a lead balloon'. 2017 and still worrying about the reactions of parents, and of your own son. mmphs. heh. (and yeah, in real life everything isn't pretty ponies and chocolate candies, people still have deep issues, I'm not attempting to over look that, just noting that apparently women breaking the barrier of the MLB is seen by the book as being more realistic than an out lesbian mother).

Jeannie, to round things out, works in a day care. While Cody is a rich athlete baseball player.

Actually, to 'round things out', I should probably mention Garret, since he helped Cody when Cody's parents up and died, and owns a bar & grill that COdy likes hanging out it - oh, and they are close and stuff. So . . he's an important side character. So I should mention him.

So, as expected, there's Romance. And the two leads, Cody and Jeannie, seemed to like each other immediately.

--
Updated (8/7/16):
You can tell that this started life as Xena fanfiction by the numerous times that the two lead characters are referred to by physical characteristics. 'The blonde one' (or more likely 'the young blonde'), and the 'tall one' (or 'dark haired one'), plus numerous mentions of eye color. Vaguely annoying but that's life.

This is one of those books that had two people (well three since one had a kid) come together relatively smoothly and get along quite well. Then . . . ANGST! DRAMA! SPLIT! WHY AM I IN ALL CAPS?

Well, the 'point of conflict' is different than I've seen before. Which is saying something since this book is from 2001. The conflict, which I cannot elaborate on too much because of spoiler concerns, involves a forced separation by outside forces. It is true that I've read several (many? I forget now) that had some kind of 'forced separation' but those books were set long after that point when a 'second chance' can/could occur. Not here. Here the forced separation occurred mid stream, as it were. As in, we are not meeting people 15 years after the split, we meet people before they were ever together, then with them together, then with them split. Story is not told through a bunch of flashbacks.

--
This is/was a rather good book. It kind of sneaked up on me - everything was going a certain way and suddenly everything felt deeper, more important. Well, I do not really know what I'm talking about or rambling about. It be 3 am. Me talk funny now. Was good book.

August 7 2016

Repose by Genevieve Kurtiz

Repose
by Genevieve Kurtiz
Pages: 43
Date: January 28 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: Repose

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 6 2016


My first story by this author.

Hmms. What to think. Opens with a young woman on a trolley riding along mostly by herself (there's the driver and some 'drunken street bum'), so she plays with herself. And I do not mean with cards, kindle, or yo-yo. No, something more physical.

Claire liked to be touched - and she was certainly touching herself now.

- Genevieve Kurtiz. REPOSE (Kindle Location 51).

I kind of hope that this story is meant to be taken as pure fantasy. What with the way the main character, Claire, seems to 1) put herself in dangerous situations (rubbing herself agaisnt bums; walking down dark alleys in bad neighborhoods by herself - see below); 2) cause accidents (the trolley driver mentioned above caught on to what she was doing; she noticed his notice, and made things easier for his viewing; whereupon he promptly drove the trolley into a car trying to cross the tracks.

Claire burst through the heavy front doors to the school which were actually at the side of the shambling old warehouse, down a dimly lit alley, flanked by a tall chain link fence and an overflowing dumpster crowned with a half-burnt mattress.

Genevieve Kurtiz. REPOSE (Kindle Locations 99-101). - Claire wandering dangerous areas barely dressed and smelling of sex.

*shakes self*

Okay, so, this is a quite short story involving a woman who likes being seen, touched, etc. Likes, as the opening noted above, to be seen while she's on the bus, though, more specifically, she likes being watched while she's naked in extreme poses. No, not on street corners - on a stage with people around, drawing. She's a life model. A nude art model. She gets off on it. Literally.

Something I didn't realize until the 67% mark, though, is that this is actually part one of a full length seralized novel. I knew then because 'part 1' ended right there at 67%. Now, mind, I knew this was a part 1. I just thought it was a series of short stories. Not a series of bits from a longer work. No matter, I really enjoyed the free taste I was given. There was even a bit of unexpected 'lesbianism' (well, while she's on stage a blonde dressed all in black touches her in intimate places - of course there's no indication that the woman actually is interested in women, and no indication that Claire's into women - more than liking to be touched, and that woman had hands. That touched. Hence the little '' around lesbianism).

August 6 2016