Turbulence by E.J. Noyes

Turbulence by E.J. Noyes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I seriously considered putting this book on my DNF shelf at somewhere between 70 to 87 percent ((view spoiler)[right around when Mark was comforting Isabelle and she was crying (hide spoiler)]).

I need to stop reading books that seem to have communication issues, miscommunication, and disinformation be super important plot points. I just . . . . can't stand that any longer. That's not really my problem with the book; no it's more I just stopped caring around that 70% mark. Close enough to the end, so I just finished the book.



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Skin Hunger by Eli Lang

Book received from both Netgalley and Riptide Publishing for an honest review

One of the problems of casually entering a LGBT book, specifically a book that, on the face of it, features two women, is the assumption (maybe only by me) that you are entering a romance. The book seemed to suggest this with the book description, it seemed to suggest this with the way the book opened with two women, one a drummer of a successful band, the other a dancer, meeting on a plan and having a satisfying introduction to each other. From the general causal 'it's going to be a Romance', to the description, to the way the book opened, it seemed fairly reasonable to assume that the book would then, once the plan landed (unless the book was set entirely on the plane), turn into a romance involving Ava the drummer and Cara the dancer.

The reader would be wrong to assume this . . . or would have assumed wrong . . . or however to word this shift.

If Ava had been a younger character, someone younger than 'almost thirty', this would have been a coming of age story. If Ava had been older, this would have been a mid-life crisis type story. But it's neither - Ava is sufficiently aged to not fall into the 'coming of age' category (with exceptions given for those coming to that type of life experience later in life), nor old enough to face a mid-life crisis. but still, the story that unfolds pulls similar ideas form both 'coming of age' stories and 'mid-life crisis' stories.

Ava is 'learning about herself' and 'coming into herself' through the story, while, at the same time, 'dealing with current position in life/current success and/or failure in various aspects of life (success: career; failure: love life/parent) - and dealing with facing questions on where they should go from here. So this is something of a mix 'coming of age through a mid-life crisis', or, in other words, a slice of life book. It is not, though, a capital R romance. Despite indications that the book might become one or was intended as one.

Ava is very full of herself - the entirety of the novel finds the reader trapped, and I use this purposefully, inside Ava's head as she navigates life. Dealing with the dreaded trip home to face the parents and the grandmother. Experimenting with the idea of having 'something' with Cara, though she knows she cannot because she will be there for a very short period of time, and because she's still in love with Tuck (a band-mate, someone she's apparently known for a very long time). Ava seems like a fully formed character, while others in the story seem like they are filters - are these creatures that Ava reacts against. She believes her parents are a certain way, and she reacts to them that way - whether they are or not. She does this with most of the characters in the story. Occasionally one or another character does something to break Ava out of her own head, out of her own presumations, and she suddenly is confronted with the idea that this 'other' actually is a real person (like when she is confronted by the idea that her Grandmother really loves her books, in a similar manner to how Ava loves her drum). Mostly, though, people are 'fixtures' to rail against, rant against, and/or move around. The father, for instance, never seems to come into focus in this book.

From a Romance point of view, from viewing this book as a Romance, this book fails. But I do not think this ever was supposed to be a romance. Or, at least, I hope it wasn't. I need to double check how it is being marketed. But, and this is actually my point, do not enter this book looking for a Romance.

On the other hand, as a slice of life, as a peak into someone's life as they navigate through certain 'issues', the book is quite captivating. Trapped inside one characters mind is not normally somewhere I want to find myself. But there was something there that kept pulling me back into reading the book. Heck, I read the first 43% of the book in one sitting and that's, what, something like 100 pages. That's how captivated I was - I couldn't get myself to stop and when I finally did, I'd read 100 pages.

I rate this book for what I found, not what I expected. And I suspect others, regardless of how they enter this book, will likely come to a different conclusion than I reach(ed). I was entertained, and I found the book satisfying. While I'm interested in what an actual romance between Cara and Ava might have looked like, I'm satisfied by what I foud inside on the book's pages.

One caveat, if this turns out to have intended to be seen as a Romance, I'll have to reconsider my rating. Probably downward.

Rating: 4.12

October 30 2017

The Bitch Club by KineticKid

Fanfiction link

I appear to be addicted to reading fanfiction. hmms. Weird. All those years I'd avoided it, and now...

Right, so, this is another fanfiction book using the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This one directs its attention onto Tara and Faith. And, later, to Buffy.

There's quite an interesting dynamic going on here more on that later, need to set it up. Faith is an ex-con, having spent two years in prison after killing the deputy Mayor, and is back in Sunnydale - she's actually been back for about 2 months now, but most of the 'Scoobies' don't know she's back. Faith had called Buffy to let her know, but Buffy cursed her out and told her to get lost. Faith asked the council (who she's now good with) where else she should go, and they tell her to stay there. So Faith is patrolling later in the night than Buffy normally does, and in a different part of town.

Meanhile, Tara and Willow have split up - Willow has used her magic on Tara one too many times, even after promising to stop doing so. Tara is literally afraid of Willow, and fears that she won't be able to stop Willow from forcing her to get back together with her. She, Tara, has lost so much weight that she's quite bone-y. Skin and bones.

And that's the interesting dynamic - two women with issues run into each other; one is an ex-con who doesn't think she desires to be forgiven or befriended - while at the same time not using that as an excuse to fall back down the path of evilness. The other suffers from the abuse she suffered from her father and brother, and from her ex-girlfriend - to the point she does nothing but got to school (college) and study; to the point she forgets to feed herself. And because of her break-up with Willow, Tara herself is also on the outs with the 'Scoobies'.

As part of her 'keeping away from Buffy and her gang', Faith works in a bar she just knows none of them would step foot into, a bar called 'The Bitch Club'. It's a lesbian bar that has a certain . . . BDSM vibe (which rarely gets seen in this story, but does graphic get displayed somewhere along the line; though still more hinted at than seen).

One night Faith notices a blonde woman drinking - throwing back shot after shot of whiskey. She's not the kind normally seen in the bar, but she still sits there drinking. Faith watches as a regular approaches and forces themselves onto the blonde woman. Faith 'saves her', and literally tosses the aggressive woman out of the bar. When she wanders back to see if the blonde woman is okay, the first words from the blonde woman's mouth (and yes, I do notice I keep saying 'blonde woman'), indicates that she knows Faith. Then it becomes clear to Faith why the blonde woman looked familiar - it's Tara. Before things advance any further, Tara passes out. Faith brings her back to her place and nurses her back to health.

And thus begins a long budding friendship that leads to more between Tara and Faith. Both helping the other creep back from the edge.

And then Buffy gets in on the action by popping up in the story, and interacting with an original character who had been present in the first half of the book as someone both Tara and Faith bumped into. Then that dynamic unfolded.

Then, when the book was almost over, Spike had to show up, making it appear we were going down a particular road of 'let's remember and include some of the more important characters from the show, instead of just sticking with two somewhat on the fringe players (Tara and Faith)'.

Right, so - quite enjoyable book. Includes romance and graphic depictions of a sexual nature. Though the first graphic depictions were of a more barely clothed in public kind (it was theme night at the bar that Faith worked at as a bouncer - and Tara wanted to go (well, she wanted to spend time with Faith, Faith had to work, it was theme night, Tara was reluctant, still wanted to spend time with Faith, etc. etc. Faith's naked breasts were on display, then hidden behind a belt, etc. etc., it is something of an S&M club).

I may have lost track of what I was going to write next, distracted, as I was, by images and remembrances of that particular series of scenes.

Right, so, liked the book.

Rating: 4.78

October 26 2017

The Year of the Knife by G.D. Penman

The Year of the Knife by G.D. Penman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book received from both Netgalley and Meerkat Press for an honest review

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Lesbian Fiction, Alt History.
I've read roughly 656 works that are lesbian fiction. 810 mysteries; 89 alt-histories; 667 fantasy; and 128 urban fantasy works. Why do I mention this? Because of those 656 lesbian fiction works I've read, the vast majority are contemporary romances, and when the books are fantasy (108 of those), they tend to be paranormal romances. You know how many tend to be urban fantasies? So few I have to do an off the top of my head guess . . . and come up with about five (depending on definitions of urban fantasy/paranormal fantasy), this book, two Alexis Hall books, and two Brey Willows books (actually, I also put Jae's Shape-shifter series on the urban fantasy shelf, though I'm not sure it really fits there - see, definitions are hard).

Alt history? As noted, I've read 89 works in that genre. How many of them were Lesbian fiction? Two. This book here, and one by Gail Carriger (the character who is in a lesbian romance in 'Romancing the Inventor' does turn up in other Carriger books, but as a background character ). And I'd actually forgotten to put that other one on the alt history shelf.

The point of all of this rambling is just that this book, from my own experience, is something of an odd ball genre wise. Though, admittedly, just because I've read 656 lesbian fiction works doesn't mean I've read them all (of course), so, for all I know, alt-history and urban fantasy might be huge in lesbian fiction.

Setting: New Amsterdam (for the most part, though brief 'pop-ins' elsewhere, like Nashville).
Not sure why it's 'New Amsterdam', since the city is in British control, and it got renamed in 'our' time line to New York in 1664 when the British got control of the place.

story: Isobella 'Sully' Sullivan (and don't call her by her first name or she'll act all shocked you actually know it) is an Irish immigrant to 21st century New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam, in turn, is in the American Colonies, and a part of the British Empire. Sully is a Senior Agent with the IBI (think FBI, but with magic users, and agents dressing in whatever they want to dress in - so don't think FBI, since FBI agents out of a suit would probably be instantly fired) - the IBI being the Imperial Bureau of Investigation. Wait, I think Sully's title is Superior Agent? Well, whatever it is, Sully is a high level agent for the IBI.

Sully has been given a case to investigate suspicious deaths - deaths where it appears someone has taken over people, and had those people commit brutal and fatal crimes. The book then proceeds to tell an interesting story. Until about 75% to 85% (or was it 91%?) when the last part of the book became an information dump.

As alternate history, it's not clear what the 'pivot point' would be (since that's important in alternate history stories - pinpointing when a timeline diverged from our own), and there are certain odd things tossed in there that do not really make sense - see New Amsterdam's name (or, you know, above where I mentioned that New Amsterdam instantly became New York when taken over by the British in 1664). Sure, there's that information dump at the end of the book that 'helps' pinpoint the 'pivot point' but things were already different at that point in time.

As a mystery . . . well, if you are reading the book because you like mysteries, and only for that reason, you might not specifically like this book. There is a mystery, and it is interesting, and Sully does investigate it but . . . things kind of unravel in non-mystery book like ways.

As a fantasy it is good. As an urban fantasy, ditto. As a romance . . . well, there is a romance, but there's a reason I haven't even mentioned it yet - it's an urban fantasy type romance - as in, the main character vaguely feels some attraction to one of the characters in the story, they are something of a couple, and . . . stuff, but there's no real romance between the two - it's just there as a sub-plot (there were hints that a real capital R romance might break out, but no, this is just a romance sub-plot, not a Romance book).

Despite what some of what I've written might suggest, I did rather enjoy this book, and if not for the information dump at the end, I'd probably have rated this a high 4.5 or so stars. Instead I rate it a solid . . . hmm . . . 3.88 stars.

Rating: 3.88

October 26 2017



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Je me souviens by zulu

Fanfiction link.

Je me souviens by zulu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a fanfiction for the show based on, I believe I saw, an episode in season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whenever it was that Faith ended up falling into a coma, this story takes place 8 months later (that 'Faith in a coma' story line is very popular, I've found, in Buffy fanfiction). The story is from the point of view of Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane (though I don't think 'Lehane' was ever used in this book, instead she was called 'Faith Wilkins' (not sure if that means that the Mayor, Mayor Wilkins that is, 'adopted her' or if it's just a 'thing' they did in the story)).

Well, as noted, it is 8 months after Faith fell into that coma after being attacked, stabbed by Buffy, and falling to her . . . non-death. She's awake now, though she has amnesia. She doesn't recognize herself, nor this 'Wilkins' person, who is her contact person (Guardian might have been used), nor this 'Rupert Giles', who is her emergency contact. She's bored with resting on a bed, so she cleans herself up in a shower, and slips out of her room to watch some television. But but . . she was in a coma for 8 months! Well, she's also a slayer, and they heal quite fast. A lot faster than medical personal think is possible, but that's not really important. Just the part where she's not in her room when Giles and the Scooby squad turn up (Scooby squad being Buffy and her friends).

Faith giggles to herself as she hears the strangers talking about some missing woman. The words they use, the anger, hate, fear. That is until she overhears one of them calling the older man 'Giles' and she realizes they might just be talking about her. So she wanders over, they immediately start yelling at her, she's confused because, as noted, she has no memory. One thing leads to another, and Faith ends up going home to Joyce Summers home.

Meanwhile: Story involves both multiple LGBT couples, and two hetero couplings - Buffy's with Riley, and Xander is with Anya. (Meanwhile Willow is with Tara, though she is just now being introduced to the gang, and . . . Buffy's with Faith, eventually; there's also some vague comment about some Giles/Spike thing going on, but I'm not sure if I misread the one liner or not - that never comes up again and Spike is not in this story, so it basically doesn't matter).

This was a rather interesting and entertaining short novel. With much humor, some fluff, some angst, and much sex. Graphic sex. Good enjoyable story.

Rating: 4.56

October 24 2017



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Can’t Go It Alone by jcause

Link to the fanfiction.


Can’t Go It Alone by jcause

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A solid interesting story that follows two point of views: Kara Danvers/Supergirl & Maggie Sawyer. And there is, in fact, a romance in this fanfiction of Supergirl - but it does not involve Kara and Maggie. The romance involves Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer.

My internet keeps cutting in and out so I flee before I lose what little I've already written.

Rating: 4.31

October 23 2017



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Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler

Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Starting off in a way I haven't in a while - I've read 6 of this author's 11 full length novels, and 7 of the 14 works (which includes at least 3 short stories). ETA: hmms, it's been almost exactly a year since I last read a book by this author.

There's already a good review, one that lead me to buy and read this book (plus some others I need to read now), so I'll just toss a few pros and cons into this box here.

Pros:
-
characters
(I rather liked the two mains, Elise and Corey; and, for the most part, liked the family/friends/trainers - Nate, Paolo, Holly, Nikki)
-
characterization

-
communication
- there were several occasions wherein a 'misscommunication' might have occurred, but the two leads actually talked to each other and 'defused' the tension ((view spoiler)[specifically thinking about that 'revelation' of the coupling in the news, the player angle the news played (Corey being a massive player and was actively 'spoiling' Elise's innocence) - and Elise started to go out of control over it, Corey did as well, but they talked instead of doing something stupid (hide spoiler)])
-
Romance

-
Sports action/description/etc.


Cons:
-
Communication issues
- it is a rather common trope to use, probably because it occurs in real life relatively commonly, maybe not always in the nature seen in books, but some form of it; after seeming to handle the issue well in this book, it popped up again to derail things - though here it probably was both handled better than I might have expected (well, other than the part where it moved from misinformation to disinformation; moved from not talking/not opening self up to another; to actively conveying wrong information), and directly played upon the personalities of the characters, and had a natural negative/positive impact on the story-line (I suppose this would make this some kind of middle thing, between con-pro).
-
characterization
- one specific issue - Paolo is Argentinean. The horrors. Heh, no, that's not the issue. The issue is that his ability to speak coherent English seemed to fluctuate in this book, and at times he seemed to be edging towards caricature-zone.

Rating: 5+

October 23 2017



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The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is one of those I kind of wanted to read on first glancing at it. Well, that'd imply gazing upon the cover, though I think I first say the book in a review or something. No matter. Wanted to read it when I first noticed it. Which is strange for me since it stars a young woman in high school. I do not recall her exact age now, but I would not be surprised to find out she was/is 16.

This is a neat book about a young woman in high school named Eugenie Lo. She's abnormally tall (well, she's tall, taller than all but the tallest boys), has kind of a fiery personality, and is good at volleyball. Though she admits, herself that her volleyball abilities come from being so really tall, as opposed to natural skill. Unless 'tallness' is a skill (insert here someone pointing out 'the appearance of height' or something like that for 'skill of tallness', as in, appearing taller/larger than actually are - doesn't apply here, she's just that tall).

The book is called 'Genie Lo', while I just called the young woman Eugenie Lo. Yeah, I'm not sure even her mother calls her Eugenie - Genie puts it that, for some unknown reason, a whole lot of American Chinese suddenly decided, at the same time, to give their daughters the name 'Eugenie'. Genie notes that she became friends with another Eugenie, and she took the Eu part (and gets called Yunnie), while Genie took the Genie part (there was a third they were going to give some other part, some weird thing like Ergie, but they decided they didn't like her).

Besides being tall, being able to use her height for sports (which isn't actually a given, some tall people suck at sports), and of Chinese descent, Genie is also super busy studying and doing even more studying. Under hobby would be 'studying'.

Well, I'm kind of leading into this wrong on several levels. For, you see, the book opens with Genie watching a young man be beaten by a gang. Genie attempts to help by screaming at them, throwing her backpack at them, then running away. She had been on the way to school - she ended up there and spent the morning talking to the police. At some point after that, during the same school day, Genie's in one classroom or another, during class, when a new student is introduced. He called himself Quentin. And, going by how often his shortness is mentioned, is about 4 foot 3 inches tall (if that). Though he has a rock hard body, and movie-star looks. The women in the class room instantly begin making noises indicating they find him attractive. He gives a good showing of himself until he takes things one step too far after spotting Genie. Quentin leapt onto the desks, walked along on top of them until he reached Genie. Whereupon he leans towards her and whispers, loud enough for everyone to hear 'Mine'.

And fade to next scene. Whereupon there's some words indicating that Genie had reacted to Quentin's antics by attempting to remove his eyeballs from his head. See, I said she was fiery. One day I'll learn how to spell that word.

Right, so, I included all of that above, the opening scene stuff, well the school stuff, to note that the book started strong. I was having fun. Up until aggressive super handsome dude whispered that 'mine' stuff. Whereupon I wondered if I'd be able to continue the book. But I did. And loved it, mostly.

Right, so. There actually is a legitimate reason for that 'mine' stuff. And I wouldn’t have believed it myself, that the author would come up with something to work there, until I saw what was occurring, what unfolded. And it worked, it did. I’m being purposely vague, for . . . reasons.

The story that unfolds uses Chinese myths and folklores, unfolded upon American Chinse people. Well, except Quentin, who claims to be from China (there’s a reason I worded it that way, but don’t read too much into that).

I’m being overly wary of spoiler-revealing, and I’ve told less than what could be seen in the book description on Goodreads. Meh, those who want to be slightly more spoiled than this can go and read.

There’s a somewhat odd mix of grim reality (even though she studies super hard, has the highest grade-point average possible, Genie still might not get into the best schools, because there’s a ton of girls just like her in the Silicon Valley to the point that being the best isn’t good enough); with fantasy (demons, gods, goddesses, monkeys, etc.).

Well, it’s a quite good story. Not much more I can say than that. *nods* Oh, right – there’s mention of a sequel. I’ll read it when it appears.

Rating: 4.63

October 20 2017



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Campaign Trail (By Design, #9) by J.A. Armstrong

Campaign Trail by J.A. Armstrong

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There was a lot of talking. Pages and pages of talking. Circular talking, around the issue, to others than the person they should be talking to. And repetitively being told they should talk. And them saying they know, and literally trembling in fear to talk to the other.

Oh, and a bunch of angst, and feelings of guilt, and stuff. Pearl had a good response to all this nonsense (there needs to be more Pearl).

"The only thing you've got to be guilty about is how often you feel guilty."

"In other words, knock it off."

"Not in other words. Knock it off."

- around 38% into the book.

Course even the good parts gets repeated, because that's the way these stories go. Again Pearl's the voice of reason -

"I'm telling you to stop blaming yourself for what happens to everyone else. That's what you would tell every one of us. And, stop thinking you know what's best for all of us too."

- 40% into the book.

And words of wisdom, randomly tossed out, by those who need to use it themselves in their own lives, but apparently don't, they pass it on instead:

"I still think you should talk to Mom."
...
"She wouldn't want you to keep it inside."

- Michelle to Jameson, both of whom would rather talk to others about their 'things' than with the person they should be talking to (Mel in Shell's case, Candy in JD's case). - 41% into the book.

And sometimes they tell it to themselves. But do they listen to themselves? Do they?

Talk to her, JD. Just talk to her.

What were the earthshaking things both need to tell others? And were they the only ones with 'secrets' they needed to unload? No they were not the only ones with secrets. And don't worry, if you miss the issue the first time, it'll be repeated several more times, 8?, throughout the book. Like how JD has holes in her from having missed seeing the kids grow up - how she hadn't been there; also, that people should not read into that emotion, because she really doesn't actually want to have a baby, she just doesn't like how she missed out on Candy's kids growing up. Or how Shell got used to the concept that she'd be the one to carry the baby in her partnership with Mel; but now Mel's going to be the one; and how she wants to not upset Mel; but never thought she'd want to carry a baby herself, but now she kind of wants to feel the baby moving inside of herself (don't worry, later she gets sad because she got used to the idea of Mel carrying the baby, and starts to pre-miss how she could have placed her hand on Mel and felt the baby kicking. But, eh, Mel's a very emotional person. Like a cactus. Cacti are very emotional plants).

Right, so, this book is about talking. With occasional breaks for politics. And serial killers. And children. And evil assholes. And stuff.

Rating: 3.00

October 18 2017



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Winter Fae (Northern Wolves #3) by Debra Dunbar

Winter Fae by Debra Dunbar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is one of those where I'm not certain if I want to rate it 3.5 something or 3.75 something, so I rate it 3.5 for now.

I liked Dunbar's Imp series, really loved that Imp. These side stories fluctuate in my response to them. I think there's just the one I DNF'd (previous story in this specific off-shoot series, though there's one I speed read through (1st in this off-shoot series). While, at the same time, my favorite book I've read by this author, if I recall correctly, is the stand-alone off-shoot from the Imp series that, in turn, lead to the Northern Wolves series. That specific book is why I keep reading more stories in this specific series. I had an issue with the first one because it was just an extension of a secondary coupling in 'Northern Lights' - a coupling that could just as easily have been wrapped up in that book instead of becoming an off-shoot short story. Second story, bah, I can't specifically recall now why I wasn't able to complete it, though there's vague recollection that I despised both main characters. Which leads us to this story here - the Winter Fae one.

Oddly enough, one of the other reasons that I went down this Northern Wolves series was because I had seen a description of Winter Fae and rather wanted to read it. And figured it'd be better to read the others first. Didn't really help, on one level, because I kinda dislike the main male character in this book (a guy who kept whimping, mentally, about how much of a gamer loser he is; and who kept pinching himself, literally, because this 'gorgeous woman' wanted anything to do with him - that personality got old fast, though wasn't specifically on display in previous stories, but he himself was there and not specifically very likable). I liked the female fae, though, so that's good.

If not for the second story in this series, that Rogue one, I'd say that I appear to like the author's female lead stories more than her male lead ones. Since that Rogue one was female lead. But the Imp series is mostly from the Imp's point of view, and . . . well, um, drat my brain is leaking out of my head for some reason so I move on.

Right - story - the male wolf, the pilot previously seen in the series and whose name may or may not be something like 'Dustin', leads off this specific story. While in the process of delivering people around Alaska, he spots what appears to be an overturned truck with an injured person nearby. Naturally, therefore, he lands his seaplane on the snow nearby and hops out to help. And, naturally, he gets shot for his troubles. Normally, being a werewolf, being shot is annoying, not deadly. Except these are those magic bullets seen throughout this series, and there's a good chance the fellas going to die.

Except the wolf, or the man transformed into wolf, drags self to a hidden sanctuary area. The woman who built the place finds the wolf and attempts to heal. Binding both of them together. Later she comes to realize that the wolf/dog (she's not sure what the creature is specifically) was not in fact a canine (or not only that) but also some kind of human. Since she found said man, naked, where she'd left the dog in her dwelling.

I interject to note: good grief that guy thought about his erection a lot (he, naturally, had an erection when the woman found him there).

So - werewolf meet a new creature to this series; though the reason why I wanted to read this book - the woman is a fae. And, as has been stressed, an elf and a fae are not the same thing in this series world. Fae are in there own little place, Aerie, and are largely not encountered by others.

Despite kind of disliking the main male in this story, the story was entertaining to read and passed the time well.

Rating: 3.5something

October 16 2017



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Leger's Ghost by Lacey Dearie

It's Halloween time in Leger's part of Scotland. Leger's a happy, content, cat enjoying his time back in the families original home, enjoying the oddly quiet/peaceful moments of no crime. Until spotting a black cat in a shop window (and not his own reflection) jars him back to his own reality. For it is cold, it's Halloween time, people get extra freaked out about black cats around that time of year, and, before he can come himself down, he overhears two men discussing crimes to be committed.

I'd say that this is a fun, entertaining, fluffy-ish, humorous short story, except for the part where death does unfortunately appear in this story. But over-looking such things as, you know, death, the story was quite fun. And humorous.

Here I'd insert a quote, but I always seem to do so only to return and find that what I quoted, while still humorous to me, is much less so out of context. Bah, I include an example, hopefully it isn't too far from context to see the humor of the interactions between the cats Leger and Isabella.

‘I’m faking my own death.’

She continued to study him for a moment and then said, ‘The smell is a step too far.’

*rereads* Yep, better in context. drat. heh.

Well, I flee my inability to convey humor and depart with - this was an entertaining addition to the series.

Rating: 4.8

October 16 2017

What the Earl Needs Now by Michelle Willingham

What the Earl Needs Now by Michelle Willingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book received from both Netgalley and Kindle Press for an honest review

This is the second book I've read by this author, though the first I saw in my wanderings. Spotted it on Netgalley in a 'Read Now' section. Investigated GoodReads to see what people thought of the book, didn't get far as I spotted that this was the second in a series; wandered over to first book, spotted it was a Kindle Unlimited book - investigated it, tried sample, sample turned into acquiring the KU book and reading it, which finally leads back to this book which I got while still needing to read roughly 30% of the prior book. Whereupon the prior book suddenly hit a slight issue that I termed 'icky' in my review. But completed that book, liked it, turned immediately to . . . a different book, but now back to this book here.

I started my review for the first book in this series by noting how the cover did not have the relatively common trope of having a shirtless man on the cover. And commenting on the fact that 1) the first meeting between the two main characters actually had the main male character shirtless; 2) that same guy kept losing his shirt in the book.

Which brings us to this book here. And I spot . . . a man losing his shirt on the book cover. Now this specific man is one who, it seems, would be less likely to be careless about his shirt. No, not because he is . . fastidious, but because he was tortured and physically abused while in captivity in India. Vague idea a guy like that wouldn't like to parade around shirtless. Careless about appearance, sure. Also he has super long hair and a beard in the book. At least in the opening section. I assume the cover does not represent the beginning of the book, or the male character would be huddled, have Fabio long hair, and a scruffy beard. And look super dirty, weak, and vaguely insane.

Right.

Series: This is the second book in a series, should the first be read before the second? Well, the characters that populate the first book, talking mostly about the background characters, reappear in book two. (view spoiler)[Insane mother Thornton; Lily Thornton (who is now the main character of her own book); Rose Thornton (who wasn't a background character in first book, but is now a background character in book two); Grandma Thornton (who isn't actually called Thornton, but, instead, Mildred Lady Wolcroft). James Thornton, current Earl of Penford, and Matthew Larkspur (Earl of Arnsbury), were both mentioned in the first book, but only very briefly seen (I believe James might have only made an appearance). Lady Arnsbury, or whatever Matthew's mother name might be, was in the first and second book. (hide spoiler)]And so - background characters in both books are same; setting is same (with the addition of Arnsbury property); different main characters. Though the secret relationship between Lily and Matthew was mentioned in book one - and shown in book two. So, back to that question, can you read book two without reading book one? I strongly advise reading book one before book two, especially if the reader ever desires reading book one. A specific scene that occurs in some detail in this book directly connected to the 'end-game' of book one.

Characters of the main: Two points of view, Matthew Larkspur (Earl of Arnsbury), and Lily Thornton (who is something around the age of 20 in this book . . . if I did the math right, and read the flashbacks right). Matthew is, I believe, 35 (based on a comment that he is 10 years older than James, and James was 23 before he went on his trip to India). Matthew, as noted, is an Earl. Lily is the daughter of an Earl; and while Matthew is away in India, Lily's father dies, and James becomes the Earl of Penford (and therefore Lily is also the sister of an Earl).

Story: For several years now, Lily's family have been attempting to marry her off to a rich fella who is the same age as Lily, and of a higher rank. But Lily first held them off by getting into a situation with Matthew, then held them off by the fact that the father died and people were in mourning. But people are out of mourning now, and while Matthew has returned, he is also considered to be insane. So, once again, the family is attempting to marry Lily off to someone she doesn't want to marry (partially this involves the family noting how Matthew is no longer acceptable so some other dude will have to do). Matthew, meanwhile, is attempting to 'get over' his experience of being brutally tortured and abused in India, while, at the same time, attempting to remember his relationship with Lily (which mostly starts off with him remembering her naked, and some vague sense that she is James sister). James, by the way, also has some romantic entanglements shown/revealed/discussed in the book though as a somewhat minor side story.

The book had some really neat animal related scenes - humorous and/or sweet, involving cats and dogs. Also, Lily, wishing to keep herself occupied, begins learning animal medicine with the encouragement of Matthew. Which is neat to see.

The romance is great, the characters are great, the conflict points . . . are occasionally bordering on over the top, but don't actually go over. All the way around a rather good book. Better than the first book in the series. Fun entertaining book.

Rating: 4.55

October 13 2017







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Supergirl In Training by wtfoctagon

Imagine, if you will, being an individual living your life. Going about your day. Certain things are set, certain others are up in the air. One of the 'set' things is the part where you will never have a child - for person (a) that's because they are physically incapable of having a child; for person (b) that's because they have had very rotten luck when it comes to family connections and they just know they’d royally screw up any kid that came within fifty miles of them (that ‘fifty miles’ thing is something I lifted from the story itself). So that’s you, for one reason or another you know that you will never have a child.

Now imagine meeting someone who bears a strong resemblance to yourself and who calls you mom.

That’s what happened at the start of this book. Lena was having a normal day, and then a normal night – driving home from work. At either a stop light or stop sign (I forget now which), Lena is startled by someone pounding on their passenger window. This is Lena Luther, so, of course, she . . . waited for more information before reacting (okay, she’d probably have stomped on the gas pedal, but meh).

Well Lena lowered the window a little bit instead of hitting the gas pedal. The woman on the other side of the window screamed something that sounds remarkably like ‘Mom! Hurry up! Let me in, Grandmother is after me!’ (the idea that Lena’s mother is after the woman on the other side of the window is conveyed, I forget if Grandmother or some other term was used). Naturally Lena . . . doesn’t open the door. Then she spots a black van hurrying towards her, the same van that had been involved in an earlier kidnapping – her own kidnapping. So, she open the door, the woman straps in, and off Lena shoots – now pounding on the gas pedal.

One thing leads to another, and it comes out that Lena does in fact have a daughter she never realized she had . . . 5 years in the future (though the woman herself is from 22 years in the future, that’s right, she’s 17). And in the brighter lights of her apartment, the young woman does look remarkably like Lena – with some mannerisms that reminds Lena of someone else.

Because of the nature of yellow sun/red sun/crushing stuff reasons, it is physically impossible for Kara to have a child ‘in the system’ (solar system). And yet, there she is. Lori L. Danvers – her daughter.

And so, over the course of . . . drat, the book description doesn’t have word count. Mmphs. Right, so over the course of roughly 70,000+ words, the reasons for what/how/why come out – unfold. Family time is spent. People are fought. Internal battles occur. Kara continues to be abused by Manhole (or however the author put that, actually it think it might have been closer to Manhell – Mon-El). Attempts to get away from him, gets abused more, etc. etc. You know, stuff happens.

This was a quite interesting and mostly fluffy story. Quite entertaining way to pass the time.

Rating: 3.75

October 13 2017

Good Earls Don't Lie (Earls Next Door, #1) by Michelle Willingham

Good Earls Don't Lie by Michelle Willingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


You know how romance covers tend to show people in some kind of wardrobe malfunction? You know, with a man with a ripped shirt; or just shirtless. You know what the cover here shows? A covered up man. There's a hint that he has a wide open shirt, but since he's turned, it is harder to tell that he's not actually all covered up. Why am I going on and on about this issue? Two reasons: 1) I don't always know what to write in reviews and, more importantly, 2) the two main characters meet with the male main character shirtless. In a garden. Looking like he was posing for some kind of romance book cover (while also looking scruffy, so it'd be a princess type who was flirting with the groom (do they have those?)). Also, that specific man just kept losing his shirt throughout the book. I mean, it’s like he’s the Kirk of Historical Romance (Captain Kirk, who was always losing his shirt on Star Trek).

Iain Donovan (and here I finally realize it's Iain and not Ian, mmphs) has come to England to find a wife. He's one of thousands of Irishmen who've wandered over to England for one reason or another. It's the time of 'No Irish Need Apply' signs in shop windows though, so times are tough for the Irish in England. Ireland? Well, millions are dying in Ireland (actually, I believe it is a total of 1 million died, between 1845-1852; you know how much food was exported from Ireland in 1847? A massive amount, 4,000 vessels carried food from Ireland to English ports that year; the same year 400,000 Irish died of starvation. It wasn't actually a lack of food, Ireland had food, but it was not owned by the Irish (for the most part), and unlike in a similar famine that occurred in 1782, the Irish ports were not closed to keep the food in Ireland "The start of two years of crop failure, during which time distress was successfully relieved by local and central intervention including an embargo on exporting food." The difference? Why did 1 million people starve in a land of food? 1801, Act of Union, Ireland came under the full control of the Westminster Parliament (control? Thought it was a union; 40% of the pop was Irish, but only 105 members of Parliament were, out of 658 (16%)). Iain, though, isn’t like the thousands of other starving refuges, no, while he’s shirtless, dirty, and looks like a charming beggar (and possibly a pirate with his stubble covered chin and too long hair), he is in fact an Earl.

At least that’s how he wakes up to start the book. Yes, thinking about the dying in Ireland, and shirtless. Apparently, according to the time, he’s basically naked, despite still wearing trousers. Well, he’s apparently been robbed. Clothing, money, and, most importantly, introduction letter and signet ring. He has no way to prove who he is. Luckily for him, the place he is going, the place he was invited to go to in England, includes a woman who knows what he looks like. And so he sets out on a journey on foot. Luckily for him, he was almost to the estate he was heading to so it isn’t a long journey on foot.

He arrives to find a woman in a garden. She’s resting, then wiggling. Eventually she notices the ‘naked’ man near her. She continues to wiggle while also attempting to reach for a rake to rake him with. They meet, they talk, and he mentions he is an Earl. She doesn’t believe him. He mentions he was invited. She still doesn’t believe him. He mentions that there should be a woman there who could confirm his identity, the woman having invited him. The woman in the garden, Rose Thornton informs the man that her Grandmother isn’t there, but is currently in Bath. She wants him to leave; he’s not exactly in a good position to leave; she relents and tells him to go to the servant’s entrance and the person there will give him some food and clothing. Then he should leave.

He goes to the door. Her servant carries her to the house. I stop with the summary of the events of the story.

Of importance:
Iain Donovan is also Earl of Ashton (which is in Ireland). He’s in England attempting to find a wife to help him feed his tenants (no, he is not going to kill her and feed her to his people; he hopes she has money). He has no training to be an Earl because his brother was supposed to be (and was before his death), and his mother hid him from outside society (she had her reasons).
Rose Thornton – there’s a reason I mentioned the wiggling; Rose was attempting to stand. She, you see, suffered an illness six months before the start of this book after eating bad potatoes. She lost the ability to move initially, but has slowly regained everything but the ability to walk. Though she keeps trying. Her legs, you see, have gone weak. She’s not just some woman in a garden, though, she’s also the daughter of an Earl – the Earl of . . . um . . . well, her brother is an Earl. Of something. He’s in India, though, along with his friend (who might also be an Earl; there’s a lot of Earl’s in this book). Properly she should be referred to as ‘Lady Rose Thornton’. Her grandmother invited the Irish Earl, but isn’t present. Her mother is present, though, and knew the Earl’s mother. And, as is later noted, the Earl looks a lot like his mother. The mother never meet Iain, though, and is . . . well . . insane. Also present is Lily Thornton, sister.

Grandmother and mother Thornton (I don’t actually recall the grandmother’s name, nor if it is ‘Thornton’), desire to help get Rose and Lily married off. Rose, though, has two issues with that: 1) she was just about to be proposed to before she became ill – so she’s assuming that man will still want her; 2) after she can walk – she’s holding off heading back to London for the season until she can walk again, though it has been six months without that ability. Lily, though, also has an issue with that; 1) she believes herself promised to some guy named Matthew Larkspur – that same guy who had gone off to India with James Thornton; 2) (view spoiler)[she secretly married him, before a . . . um, priest?, some guy in robes, but it isn’t ‘real’ or ‘official’ because they didn’t actually have a marriage license (accommodating robed guy, eh?) (hide spoiler)].

So – the story that unfolds consists of Iain helping Rose walk, while constantly touching her inappropriately, kissing her, and basically doing everything icky. Coming close to just ripping her clothing off and humping her, though barely restraining himself from raping her.

Quite good and interesting story . . . up to around 71% or so (61%?) when the ickiness got super icky. Icky? Well, reaching up a woman’s dress and fingering her in the tea room is kinda icky, in my opinion. Especially as she hadn’t asked, nor given permission for such action to occur. Though she also didn’t stop him (sarcastic: so obviously it’s her fault since she didn’t stop him).
Right, so. Sex occurred. Complications occurred (they ‘want’ each other but Rose is . . . assuming she’s almost promised to another; Iain needs someone with money and while Rose might have money . . . she might not – see insane mother; Rose initially couldn’t do anything with the handsome pirate looking dude because she wasn’t sure he wasn’t lying about being an Earl; then she learned he was telling truth; but maybe he isn’t; but maybe he is; that is he isn’t he story line isn’t as prominent as I’m making it out to be).

Side note: wanted to read a historical romance set during the restoration period, which I’ve learned is a much ‘looser’ period in English history, instead read a book set roughly 164 years later - directly during the repressed Victorian age. Mmphs. Heh.

Side note 2: Darn. I wanted to make some comment about how this was the first Irish guy with a title I've read. I've read Scottish, English, and Welsh previously. Though the Welsh one was a prince from before the place was ruled by England.

Rating: 3.77

October 12 2017



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Cheerleaders From Planet X by Lyssa Chiavari

Cheerleaders From Planet X by Lyssa Chiavari

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Weird messed up book.
...

This is the first book I've read by this author. And I went into the book the wrong way. See, I'd seen a quote from the book and I found it quite humorous, add in the book title and I assumed that this book would be another lesbian science fiction humor book (you know, to add to the other two (or so) I've read). but this isn't a humor book, and the quote isn't actually funny when read in context. mmphs. So I read this wrong.

Well, that and I kept expecting things to line up to what that quote seemed to be suggesting. Or, in other words, I expected some kind of alien invasion that would be need to be fought against (possibly by superheroes), and that the aliens would be in cheerleader costumes (reminding of an arc on that 3rd Rock from the Sun show, where aliens arrived in the form of supermodels). But . . . that was also wrong.

This is one of those 'things are not what they seem' type books, but I hadn't expected that things like 'genre' would be part of that 'not what they seem'. Oh, right, that's why I started this paragraph that way - because this is one of those 'things are not what they seem', I'm not sure how to describe this book.

hmms.

A 19 year old college student is home on break from college. For a week or so - or that's how long the break was scheduled for. While on that break, occurring before the start of this book, several family members got married; and the main character's house is now overrun by relatives. Vast majority of whom have some connection to the Philippines. Including the main character. Whose name happens to be 'Laura Clark', so I can stop saying 'the main character'. Right, so, Laura Clark has a mixed background, which includes, among other things, Filipino blood and some blond haired white dude's blood. Which, of course, is important.

Right, so, college break. While sitting on a bench (I think), Laura watches a cheerleader rocket by on a skateboard and do some awesome moves. On the city street. And by 'rocket', think 'like there were mini-jets under the skateboard'. Shortly thereafter, while taking a train back to college, Laura sees that same cheerleader on the roof of a train. Coming towards her own train.

Awesome opening. I looked forward to more story involving Laura and the hot strawberry pony-tail cheerleader from Planet X. ..................... with a side of humor .......... Pony tail was not, in fact, the love interest in the story. Sooo....

I know I'm going against everyone else who has read and rated this book (for the most part), but I did find it a good way to pass the time (well, that gives wrong impression, no, I meant the others loved the book, for the most part, while I just found it a good way to pass the time). Just wasn't what I had expected. And had kinda less action than I expected (along with less humor). Based on some things I'd read, I hadn't expected much in the romance department, just something resembling something, just not a major thread. Which worked out well for me.

(view spoiler)[The cheerleaders were not aliens from Planet X (hide spoiler)]. Though that's kind of one of those things you learn earlish in the book. (view spoiler)[genetic modifications do not make 'alien from another planet'. (hide spoiler)] That uncle sure was a dick.

(view spoiler)[super hate the parents and what they did to their child. In theory I can see some 'trying to help' initially in what they did, but to not say anything at all when she started to get involved in things she needed knowledge about? Beyond 'don't have anything to do with those people' - Okay dad! You're the best! Fuckwad idiot moronic fucking dipshit parents (hide spoiler)]. Not that the other relatives, that had lines and scenes, weren't also somewhat stupid-headish. I suppose that other uncle, Tonio, who marginally helped her was an okay dude.

I should have left this review at what I'd originally wrote. Those few words. Indicating . . . stuff.

Rating: 3 something.

October 11 2017



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A Matter of Loyalty (A Very English Mystery #3) by Anselm Audley, Elizabeth Edmondson

A Matter of Loyalty by Anselm Audley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book received from both Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an honest review

I do not recall why I initially tried the first book in this series. I hadn’t read the author before. I’m not 100% certain now if I even know if the book would be a romance, or a spy book, or a mystery, or possibly all three. I do recall that I liked that book and liked the sequel. So we come to this third book in the series.

It’s not a spoiler to note that the author never intended this to be a three book series, but then that author also didn’t intend to die in between book two and three without even a first draft written. Nor is it a spoiler to note that the author who took over the third book, after his mother’s death, has no intention of continuing the series beyond this one additional book. But there are reasons for that – he had worked on the previous two books, and worked on this book before his mother’s death. He may or may not know where the series was intended to go, but only had the outline for this book. So, to the best of his ability, he completed the book for his mother.

This was a difficult book to enter. There seemed to be an amazingly large number of people bouncing around in it, several plot lines that didn’t seem necessarily interesting . . . etc. etc. But then, somewhere along the line, something ‘clicked’ in me and everything became quite interesting. Good solid plot, interesting spy mystery, and the separate plots, that I thought were more of an A/B/C etc. story on a television show (which do not have to intersect), actually turned out to have more connections than I had expected. It was still a large cast, though, and I still occasionally misplaced who exactly specific people were. There’s one specific section, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit, wherein someone was talked to, talked with, was a large part of the scene and . . . I still haven’t a clue who that individual is/was/could be. I believe his name was Richard.

Right, so, what can I say about the book? It is an historical fiction set in a smallish village in England during the 1950s, and involves a mix of people – high class, mid-class, low-class; a mix of story lines (some mystery, some family-issues related, some spy related). The stories, for the most part, focus on those people, if you’ve followed the series up to now, already meet – those people who live in that old castle in that fictional small village in England called Selchester.

There’s Hugo and Georgia (or was that Georgina? Pfft, I forget now) Hawksworth who are brother and sister, though of vastly different ages (Hugo’s more like 30 something while Georgia is more like 12) and one, Hugo, is the guardian of the other, Georgia, because of the impact of World War II (father’s ship sank; mother was killed in the same bombing in London that trapped Georgia under debris). Hugo is and had been a spy – is/had been because he had been an active field agent until he was shot, and now works as an investigator. Georgia is a kid going to school. Both of those roles come up and are followed in this book.

Also present in the book is a Special Branch investigator, Jarret, who has come to the area to investigate a believed Soviet spy (which quickly becomes a murder investigation), though he isn’t one of the characters who has a point of view. Soo . . . there’s Gus and Polly, the Americans who are now the Earl, and whatever you call the daughter of an Earl, in Selchester. And Freya, she has a point of view, she’s a ‘bodice-ripper’ author, though tells everyone she’s currently writing a history of her family (she’s related to the Selchester Earl, the previous one, though since Gus is the son of that previous one, also related, somehow, to the present Earl). And, um, Vivian, who is putting on a play, and Saul, who is opening a gallery, and Emerson, who is a friend of Saul’s and had been ‘in the Service’ with Hugo, and Sonia, who is Freya’s cousin (and Sonia is the daughter of the previous Earl, though only step-sister to present Earl; different mothers), and . . and . . . well, I did say there were a ton of characters. I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’ve not even tracked down and reported on everyone who has a point of view in the book. Though everyone I’ve mentioned, so far, has previously appeared in the series. Oh, I’ll also note that Uncle Leo, the priest, also turns up (Hugo and Georgia’s uncle), and that Hugo’s girlfriend, Valerie, also makes several appearances.

Despite the massive crowd of characters, and the difficulty ‘getting into’ the book, this was a rather enjoyable book. Quite curious where the story might have gone from here, though, the readers will never know (unless some previously unknown notebook of notes is found, or something like that, though that seems quite unlikely (for reasons – mostly for the reason that the author, Anselm Audley, had noted that they didn’t have enough information to continue the series beyond this book)). This is/was a good book in terms of a spy novel, a mystery, and a historical fiction novel.

If I was to attempt to note things I found ‘negative’, I’d only really come up with three things: there really are way too many characters to follow, who have their own point of views present (and the afterword notes that some of the intended characters were cut); I never really understood the point of Valerie, and she always seemed to be held up as a negative . . . though I never could see why – because she preferred the city? Because . . . um . . . *shrugs*, though I always felt that way about the character, not just in this book; something about how the book was difficult to ‘get into’ though, other than bluntly stating that, I’m not sure how to word things.

So, good solid book. Enjoyable. Glad I was able to read it. And no it wasn’t a capital R romance.

Rating: 4.33

October 10 2017




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Set the Stage by Karis Walsh

Set the Stage by Karis Walsh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Received this ARC from Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for an honest review

I cannot claim that this is a book that I’ve been waiting a long time to read, as I’ve occasionally mentioned for other books, but it is one I knew about and had on my to-read list. And I’m quite happy the book popped up when it did and I was able to read it.

This is the story of Emilie Danvers (hmm, Danvers, wonder if she’s related to Kara and Alex), and Arden Philips. Specifically the story of how the two first meet, and had a slow burn romance against the backdrop of an acting festival. Both have their chance to be the point of view, and both get their chance to be known by the reader.

The book opens with Emilie finishing a shift at a fast food restaurant. She’s greasy, and smells like fries. She’s made a few bad choices with her life to get to this point, but this is her last shift. Before she gives her two week notice. So there’ll be two more weeks of shifts. She’s moving on, getting a second chance at her first career choice – acting. She’s signed a contract to act in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival – a multi-month festival (many months, I forget now how many). There are many reasons for how she came about making some of the mistakes she made, but one of her solutions for not allowing herself to fall into that place again, is to focus on her acting – excluding all possible romantic entanglements from her life.

Meanwhile we have Arden Philips. Arden has spent her life in Ashland, both a small town near where Emilie has been working fast food, and the town that happens to hold the Oregon festival previously mentioned. She’s spent her life following her grandfather around a specific park, watching as he worked, learning, and helping. Grandfather’s gone now, but his impact on the park remains. As does his granddaughter – now working there after getting a college degree in landscaping. She has a tendency to fall into relationships almost exclusively (maybe exclusively) with actresses who she knows will be in the town for only a brief period of time. She’s gotten used to people leaving her life. Not how she planned her life, but she’s used to it now (something ‘forced’ upon her when her own parents left her with her grandparents in Ashland to pursue their own careers when Arden was something like 4 years old).

Arden and Emilie meet for the first time when Arden ‘stumbles’ across Emilie standing in the park practicing one of her acting roles (part of the acting job consists of acting in multiple plays at the same time). They both like what they see in the other, but Emilie stresses, immediately, that all they could be is friends. So that’s what they become, friends. Though both have these feelings and stuff.

I’m not certain about either main character’s actual age, though evidence seemed to suggest that both are somewhere around mid-to-late twenties. Probably closer to late twenties.

I quite enjoyed the story. And really want to go live in Ashland myself. Though I’ve no clue what I’d do there, job-wise. Sounds like a lovely place, though. Town and park.

Rating: 5.00

Expected Publication Date: November 1 (publisher website), 14 (everywhere) 2017

October 6 2017



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You Gave Me the Word, I Finally Heard by LeighKelly

Title: You Gave Me the Word, I Finally Heard
Author: LeighKelly

Fanfiction: Glee (alternate universe)
Link: Archive of Our Own

Review:
There are three ways I could begin this review:

1) This is the kind of book where I wouldn’t be surprised to be one of the few people to give the book 5 stars for reasons related to how the book is set up/structured . . .
2) To start with: this book falls within the fandom of Glee, though an alternate universe version in which Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez meet in their late 20s (Britt – 29; Santana – 26). And: Santana is a radio personality while Brittany is a successful children’s artist (illustrates children’s books) & is deaf.
3) Then there’s the way the review actually starts –

This book needs to come with a warning: Warning: drink plenty of fluids while attempting to read this book as fluid loss, directly from your eyeballs, may occur.

This is not a book I would have expected to read but for one very specific reason: I put ‘deaf’ (or was it ‘deaf character’?) into the search box over on AO3 and came up with several book length works. Two of which I ‘captured’, this being one of them. It is unlikely I would have otherwise attempted this book for several reasons: fandom (wasn’t sure I had a huge desire to read a Glee fanfiction); but mostly because of the writing style – more on that later.

Fandom – Unlike, say, Killjoys, The 100, and other television series that pop up when I search for possible things to read on AO3 (Archive of Our Own), I actually have watched episodes of Glee. I have some kind of . . . issue with music based shows, so I always kind of ‘snuck’ peaks in on the series, though. I sneaked peaks at episodes throughout the first 3 or so seasons before dropping it from my vague fringe orbit of things to maybe pay attention to (and thus stopping one season short of Supergirl’s appearance on the show – or, I should say, I suppose, Melissa Benoist). I mention so I can note that unlike these other fanfictions I’ve read or could read, I actually did have some vague understanding – pre-understanding I suppose, of both Brittany Pearce and Santana Lopez.

I have to immediately dive into the main reason why I believe this would be a tough sell/read for many readers – writing style. Hmm, ‘writing style’ might not be the correct way to enter this topic. Bah, no matter. This book is, I believe, the only book I've read that uses the ‘second person point of view’ that wasn’t a choose-your-own-adventure book. Despite the use of you, the reader has no control over this story. Other than reading or not reading. There are two points of view – both use you during their own sections (though not when that person is in the other persons sections, as in, you’d have Brittany’s sections be like: ‘You gazed down at Santana . . .’ instead of the super complicated ‘You gazed down at you . . .’ because that’d just be weird and difficult to read).

This is a 132,472 word book. I thought from the near beginning that this might be better as a short story – not because of the information coming in, not because of the plot, not because of the story, but specifically because of reading alternating ‘you’ sections is tough over the long haul. Yet I did it. And, barring a few moments here or there, I loved every second of it. Well that’s odd – now I have tears in my eyes just thinking about the book. Not sure that’s happened before.

Right so, story: Brittany and Santana meet in their late twenties in something like a split second random event type way. The way in which neither might have known the other except for this random split second event occurring. Brittany, you see, accidentally slammed into Santana while both were out walking on the Philadelphia city streets. Coffee splashing all over Santana’s expensive coat. Anyone who has seen Glee probably could predict how Santana would react to this type of situation. And she did begin to react that way – angry, belligerent, etc. Until something about Brittany made her slow and stop. It might have been the deaf thing, it might have been the attractiveness of Brittany, it might even have been the cute dog, but something stopped her angry words.

The two then begin a slow burn type of relationship that occurs over many years. With the book ending something like six years after the start of the book (I think it was six years), during which time, a romance occurred, family issues occurred (both positive and negative), holidays, travel, life occurred. Then the nice introduction of another character near the end.

A good solid book. And bloody hell, I’ve tears in my eyes and it’s hard to see now. Ah, blinking. That helped.

Rating: 5+

October 5 2017

Coffee on Wednesdays by dare121

Title: Coffee on Wednesdays
Author dare121

Fanfiction: Gotham City Sires (comics), Smallville (TV), Supergirl (TV; Alt universe)
Link: Archive of Our Own

Review:
I do not believe I can stress enough how incredibly long this book is. Super super long. So so long. So many thousands upon thousands of words. But, enough of that.

Supergirl gets 'shipped' with a bunch of different people in fanfictions - I've read a few, not read a few others. Specifically limiting myself to Supergirl + some other woman relationships (since I haven't paid attention to see if there are any with her and any men), we have: SuperCat (Kara + Cat Grant); SuperCorp (Kara + Lena Luther - Lena runs L-Corp, I assume that's where the Corp part comes form); SuperLocke (Kara + Emily Locke from Powerless - included because I've read said ship; oh, and that's not an 'official' ship-name, but seemed to fit, so I used it); and here we have . . . no idea what ship name to use. In other fanfictions some version of cest gets used. Like, maybe calling this Supercest. That's shockingly popular, by the way, having a bunch of incest stories floating around. But that doesn't actually work here since, not only is Alex and Kara not blood relatives, they weren't raised as sisters in this story (this is what happens when I insert a paragraph before what I'd already written, mmphs - yeah, Kara, as I mention again later, raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, not the Danvers). So, two completely unrelated people, who only first meet as adults, get into a relationship together, one named Kara Kent, other named Alex Danvers. The natural ship name would probably, following the theme above, be something like SuperDanvers, or the like, but that still implies incest, which isn't occurring here. Probably something that incorporates Kent into the name should probably be used for the ship name. *shrugs*

This story here is a Supergirl story based on the television show; though, technically, and this is something I found out only after starting, this is more of a Gotham City Sirens comic fanfiction, mixed with a Smallville tv show fanfiction, with layers of the first season of Supergirl (TV). And even for the Supergirl part, this just takes some of the ideas, and sets the story in some other world/universe. For example, story includes Kara as Supergirl, but she was raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent, the same people who raised Superman (in every story I know about except the one where he landed in Russia and presumably was raised by Russians - referring here to 'Red Son' story). And, while Kara still works with Win in this story, Win is in the background and almost never speaks (more on that later . . . if I remember*); and while she works for Cat Grant, Cat Grant does not run a media company, but a string of coffee shops.

From Gotham City Sirens we get Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Harley Quinn, and Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy living and working together - and appearing in this story as well. For they are friends with Barbara Gordon. Oh, I'm sorry, I meant 'Alex Danvers'. Alex, you see, is from Gotham, and her father is the police commissioner. And while she didn't become Batgirl, she did go into the police (as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon wanted to do, but was kept from doing by her father). While there is mention of an actual Barbara Gordon in this story, in passing, Alex really does seem to have Gordon's backstory, while still having the Supergirl (TV) personality of Alex Danvers.

From Smallville we get: the main enemy in this storyline (and possibly Clark Kent/Superman + Lois Lane might also be Smallville's versions, not sure). The main enemy is . . . I forget now exact words, but something like 'Hero Menace'. It's an organization that believes that heroes are a menace and should be stopped from existing. Apparently that was a thing on Smallville, though I didn't see enough of that show to have seen them. If you've seen X-Men, you might have come across the idea before.

Right, so Kara Kent works, as her day job, in a coffee shop. The first 20 pages, or thereabouts, of this story take place entirely in that coffee shop. Though eventually we get out of there, and eventually Supergirl is also seen. Though it takes a really long time for the first physical appearance of Supergirl (she's mentioned a bunch of times before she is ever seen). And I'm not trying to separate out Supergirl into a separate character, no that's Kara Kent's night job. At the coffee shop, working beside her, is Kara Kent's best friend - Lucy Lane (sister of Lois Lane). Also there is Cat Grant, as boss, and Winn, as coworker-maker of food. Oh, and to somewhat round things out on this end - James, presumably the same James from Supergirl (TV), is Lucy's somewhat estranged husband. Kara is one of the point of views.

Another point of view is Alex Danvers. Alex, along with everything else I already noted, is a police detective who has moved from Gotham to National City (an important thing to note that Gotham is on the USA east coast and National City is on USA west coast, since people from Gotham kept popping up in this story) after 'the incident' forced her to flee Gotham and her former life (The incident is lifted directly from something that had already occurred in the comics; there's even a comment that 'this incident is one that is just like what had happened to Barbara Gordon'; also, based on how Alex kept reacting, the incident really didn't match up to her feelings of self-hatred and need to keep away from superpowered people). Because of that 'incident', Alex no longer desires to work with, near, or around superpowered people, though she isn't anti-supers. Unlike her new boss (Max Lord, new police chief) and his terrorist friends (hero menace).

Alex and Kara bump into each other at Kara's place of work. They have a lovely slow burn fluffy relationship starting when some ill-timed, inappropriate stuff occurs in Kara's line of sight that causes waves of angst and heartbreak. Based on how Alex is friends with the Gotham Sirens, and they are very touchy-feely.

Interesting story. Mostly enjoyable. To a large degree, the only part that I could have lived without - seriously - is the whole issue involving James and Lucy; and the yelling at Lucy done by her sister Lois. Though mostly the James, while still married to Lucy, 'falls for' both Lois and Clark Kent. And they are quite inappropriate about the whole thing and stuff.

ETA: * - and I did forget. mmphs. Right, so - the very important point I had meant to mention is relatively simple. There are several important men in this story: Hank Henshaw - Alex Danvers police partner; Winn - food maker; James - husband of Lucy Lane; Superman/Clark Kent; Max Lord - chief of police; random henchmen and higher ups on criminal side; the police therapist etc. There are a bunch of important women in this story, two of which have POVs (Alex Danvers; Kara Kent): Kara Kent; Alex Danvers; Lucy Lane; Lois Lane; mother Danvers (Elisa Danvers?); Selina Kyle (Catwoman); Harley Quinn; Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy); Cat Grant. One important agender person (Officer Vasquez). And the point? 99.999999% of the men have very little to do in this story - very little in the form of lines/scenes/etc. Hank Henshaw is the one exception - he has both an important role in the story, and an important amount of 'screen time'. The rest? Mentioned. Rarely scene - one example: Max Lord is the much despised boss. How do we the readers know? Alex talks about him as being the much despised boss to others. There are scenes wherein Alex is called back to his office, scenes where he has a smug smirking look on his face but . . . he's an evil critter who is more 'there' than 'there'. His scenes consist of Alex going into his office, then leaving being pissed off/shocked/etc. He rarely says anything - in the book. 99% of the other men face similar 'lost scenes' issues. Like - Win is constantly in the cafe at the same time Kara and Lucy work there, he is mentioned, they occasionally walk past him and . . he almost never opens his mouth, he almost has zero impact at all on the story - one counter to mentioning him -> he is in the back area making food so . . . less chance for him to talk; well there's also the Asian man who works up front with Kara and Lucy and I believe he never opens his mouth in this book. That's what I mean when I mention that there's something odd going on with the men in this book. The women? Well, Cat Grant has some important scenes, but mostly a background character. Similarly Lois Lane. And yet - both have roughly the same 'importance' to the story as someone like Clark Kent and Max Lord and yet most of the men's scenes are mentioned/told about later, while Lane and Grant's scenes are shown to the reader. Not sure what the weird thing that is going on in this story. I mean, this is an almost 1000 page book - most of the women have significant 'page time', while all men but for Hank are background characters who are almost silent.

Rating: 3.70

October 2 2017

The One With The End by interabang

Title: The One With The End
Author: interabang

Fanfiction: Friends (TV)
Link: Archive of Our Own

Review:
I've never really understood why, but I rather do like reading books that involve zombies. And I, for the most part, liked the television series Friends. Never thought I'd read a fanfiction story about the show, though. But then, I never thought I'd see one that featured a zombie outbreak occurring around them and them attempting to survive.

This story is set at some point after the end of the series. With flashbacks bouncing around from 'present', 2002, 2004, and 2006. Interesting story. Weird zombies. Odd mix of humor and horror.

Readable story.

Rating: 3.43

October 2 2017

Love Songs of John Philip Sousa by Jae

Title: Love Songs of John Philip Sousa
Author: Jae

Fanfiction: Gilmore Girls
Link: Archive of Our Own

Review:
I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. No, wait, I mean, I kinda did since I loved another short story by this author (Jae from NJ, not Jae from Germany; well, actually I appear to love both authors but, bah), but I meant that I started this one and found it tougher to get into right away. Potentially that's because I had the sound of tv on in the background, maybe the story is just tough to get into *shrugs*.

Right, so, this story is set in the Gilmore Girls universe, but doesn't star either Rory or Lorelai. Instead it stars, from POV perspective, Lane Kim. I was curious, since Lane Kim seemed to be on the show throughout and was already friends with Rory when it started, if there was s story involving the two of them. Instead I found a story involving Lane and Paris. Somehow I can't seem to get away from stories involving Paris. heh. And yeah, she acted the same way in this story as in the prior one I read including her in it.

From the knowledge, limited but slowly expanding, I have about the show, I have some knowledge now of Paris. Lane has popped on and off, but I don't know her well enough to know if this version had any connection to the one on the show. Like, this one was all about being forced to go to a Christian college - that hasn't come up so far, strict mother, yes, Christian college? Can't say I noticed Christian stuff regarding Lane.

Right, so, quick story - Lane had stopped by Rory's house to slip a note under her door. She's confronted by Paris who threatened to mace her. One thing leads to another, and Lane allows access to the Gilmore house.

Much humor, like the other story I read by this specific author. Not as much as prior, but there. Good, interesting, neat story. Borderline erotic even. Borderline, not actual. I mean, when someone brushes at your hair gently, then slides their thumb against your skin, then kisses you? Well, borderline erotic. *nods*

Right. Quick short story. Enjoyable. Less so than previous story read ... I need a new way to reference whatever it is I'm referencing. mmphs.

Rating: 4.50

October 2 2017