Sparks Like Ours (Seven Shores, #3) by Melissa Brayden

Sparks Like Ours by Melissa Brayden

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*I received this book from Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley for an honest review*

A weird thing happened when I turned to this book. I was getting flashes of the most recent previous work I’d read, unexpected as I didn’t expect any real similarity. I kind of had a ‘darn’ moment there, but the fact that both books start off with a heterosexual woman and a lesbian eyeballing each other is similar-ish, but everything else was/is different. For one, in the previous book they were eyeballing each other with lust; while here, this book here, they were eyeballing each other as rivals – enemy-like, though a few degrees back from enemies. For another, I rather liked how things unfolded here more than in the previous book. In terms of how the people involved gradually came to some realizations, dealt with some internal and external issues, and eventually came together. Instead of the insta-lust of the other book I’ve not named.

This is the third book in Brayden’s California based Seven Shores series that follows four friends as they find love and happiness. Book one, ‘Eyes Like Those’, followed Isabel Chase, writer, and Taylor Andrews, producer (with Isabel being the ‘Seven Shores’ friend, though she’s newly arrived in California at the start of the book). Book two, ‘Hearts Like Hers’, finds Autumn Primm, Venice Beach coffee shop owner (‘The Cat’s Pajamas’), hooking up with a vacationing firefighter (Kate Carpenter). Kate’s the Seven Shores person in that she lives in that apartment complex, though it’s Autumn who is the Seven Shores friend (the difference being that Autumn was friends of the Seven Shores people but didn’t live there). And then we come to this book here, where the woman who intrigued me from the beginning, the one who I was curious about from the beginning, gets her story told.

Gia Malone is a young woman who has spent her life surfing. Professionally. She might have liked to go to college, maybe, but she wasn’t in the situation to do both – financially. So, immediately after high school, she entered the qualifying tour. Eventually she rose up to the top tier pro tour and a year before this book opens, she was number 7 in the world (I do not recall if ‘in the world’ is mentioned, but, since the events that occur in this story take place around the world, I assume ‘in the world’ is accurate), and by the time this book here starts, she’s number 2.

Occupying the number one slot at top of the pro surfing leader board is Elle Britton. Gia’s rival and something like but not exactly enemy. Part of Gia’s dislike of Elle is the part wherein Elle is number one; mostly, though, it seems that Gia’s dislike stems from how she views Elle’s personality. In that, Elle seems too perky to be real. A fake plastic Barbie type.

Several complicating matters turn up – a year before this story opens, a photo was released that made it look like Gia was lustfully gazing upon Elle in her swimsuit (it’s never firmly dealt with, but the impression given is that both parties know that Gia wasn’t actually doing that, it just looked that way). It’s an issue because it gets brought up every once in a while. Then there’s the part where the happily partnered up Seven Shores people begin talking about ‘sparks’ and how Gia and Elle seem to have some – a theory begun before either party seemed to actually desire the other (we are still in rivals zone; also, one of the main people talking about Gia’s love life is her fellow single Seven Shores friend Hadley, so I’m not sure why I worded things the way I did). Then a specific sponsor wants to pair the number 1 (Elle) and number 2 (Gia) in an advertisement campaign – so both would have to work together, interact a lot more than they normally do when on tour. The, how to word this, the romance angle of the book doesn’t really start, though, until another event occurs – on the same day two articles appear, one strongly indicating that Elle and Gia are bitter rivals; other strongly indicating that Elle and Gia are lovers. Elle has an odd reaction to the stories, Gia doesn’t even know those stories exist. Oh, and somewhere along the line Elle picked up a boyfriend who she likes and who likes her, and who both like spending time with each other – a boyfriend kind of adds a complication layer to a female-female romance, eh?

Wow that’s a huge paragraph, I should break that down somehow. Nah.

One of the problems with a many friends type book is trying to remember who everyone is and how they fit in. I found it easier to remember everyone without thinking too hard with Brayden’s prior series, though I mostly kept up with the character list with this series. There are just many side characters, some of whom already appeared in the story (both mains and side characters). *shrugs, moving on*

I liked the two main characters well-enough, and their eventual connection seemed well developed, but I unexpectedly kind of disliked some of the stuff I was seeing with Gia. Mostly in her thoughts and actions regarding Elle. Seeing perkiness as fake and plastic-y. But that, obviously or not, went away as the story progressed.

There are issues that pop up as the story unfolds, both foreseeable, and not. Family related, relationships related, and sports related. Everything seemed naturally occurring and not artificially created to add layers of problem issues to overcome.

Let’s see, what else is there to say – I liked the characters, main and side. The story was interesting and good. Flowed naturally.

Well, just one friend left without a partner (even if you pulled in Elle’s friend Holly it’d still be just one friend, since Holly has Dash, and is straight (though Elle started this book straight so…). Hadley the one connected somehow or another to fashion and a specific store. I’ve tended to like her in the series, so far, with my favorite scene with her being the one where she’s dressed up like a cow. Tail and all.

Rating: 4.65

May 18 2018




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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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Beautiful Game by Kate Christie

Beautiful Game by Kate Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is my sixth book by this author, and fourth soccer book (author really likes soccer).

I rather liked watching the slice of life, slow growth story that unfolded. First Camille ‘Cam’ Wallace needed to move past ‘oh my, that’s Jess! Star tennis player!’ to becoming friends with Jess, then to something more than friends. Very slow going. Years. But it was neat, despite the slowness. Fun.

This is one of those books that the story really seems quite solid, and the writing isn’t that bad either. One massive problem I had, though, that kept me from moving beyond a four star rating – the writing style is one I’ve seen before but it is also one that creates, almost automatically, a ‘distancing’ between the reader and the action occurring in the book. As in – the book was written as if the narrator is some 94 year-old woman remembering her time at college, though without including the part where some 94 year old was introduced and without including any overarching narrator voice. But it was written in an ‘I remember when my junior year started. How the grass smelled. How Holly helped me unpack – she somewhat forced me to unpack, in fact, because I had literally had boxes at the end of the last year that I had taken down from Oregon that, by the end of the year, still hadn’t been unpacked.’ That is not lifted from the book, though the situation was. No, it’s more the way the book was written that I’m trying to convey here. The story told through a heavy lens of nostalgia.

That – the distancing, plus the relatively uninformative story telling element used when conveying sports action, left me wanting, and kept me from rating this anything higher than 4 stars. There were moments that shown through, though. Touching scenes, moments, actions – one I recall specifically had me staring at the cover . . . and realizing that an opportunity had been lost (view spoiler)[Jess painted a picture for Cam. The picture shows a soccer ball on a field of green. Like the cover. But words are on the soccer ball and it is also seen as if from the angle of a tiny ant. Not like the cover. I was both touched by the scene and disappointed in the opportunity missed (the words, by the way, were just the school initials) (hide spoiler)]/

Wow, my ability to write reviews has suffered greatly. I’d say ‘two main characters’, but this is just from the point of view of Cam, and for a while there, the two main characters would have been Cam and her best friend . . . um, and I want to say ‘Holly’ but might get the name wrong. Holly, though, wasn’t the love interest, that’d be Jess the tennis star. With Cam (and Holly, and Laura, and Mel, and others) being soccer stars. The book follows Cam as she lives soccer, drinks a lot, tries to live down a particular reputation, and builds a relationship with Jess (a friendship is a type of relationship), all while attending college in a different state from which she was born (college - California; born - Oregon).

Rating: 4.00

May 9 2017



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Defensive Mindset by Wendy Temple

Defensive Mindset by Wendy Temple
Pages: 276
Publication Date: April 19 2017
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: None though 2 characters that are minor characters in this book previously appeared as main characters in 'Licit Cusp' by Weebod

Review
Rating: 4.0
Read: April 6 2017

*I received this book from the publisher, in return for a fair review.*

This is the second full length novel that I’ve read by this author. A strange sentence, I’m sure, to anyone who happened to glance at the author’s page on GoodReads before reading my review (or, you know, ever looked at it . . . or something). Listed is this book here and a short story collection with many different authors included in it. So, second full length novel that I’ve read? Well, the other one I read was a book about an undercover police officer in Scotland that got released sometime around 2009, or thereabouts, titled Innocent Catch, and released under the author byline of ‘Weebod’.

Mind you, I did not know of the connection between this author and that author until I reached the very last page of this book and saw that ‘contact the author at’ and then an email address. This is the same email address for Weebod. Interesting little jolt of recognition to hit me unexpectedly. Don’t usually read something by a brand new to me author only to suddenly realize I’d read them before.

Right, so, this specific novel itself.

This novel stars two football/soccer players in Edinburgh. One is the straitlaced, ‘doesn’t like to drink’ rule follower type, who just loves – passionately loves – football, that’d be Jessie Grainger. The other is the exact opposite – Fran Doherty (so glad that the author didn’t go with a first name of Shannon there) dislikes rules, loves drinking/drugs/breaking rules, or at least that was Fran. She’s been clean and sober for 2 years now, ever since getting out of jail, but there’s a very strong draw to fall back into her addictions – because that is what she suffers – massive addictions. Oh, and to further the ‘opposites’ part – unlike Jessie, Fran plays football for the paycheck, not out of love for the game.

I know I’ve read others who have had issues with this book. Not sure yet what they were since I’ve attempted to not read any reviews before I read the book and wrote my own review, but I did happen to notice a few negative ratings. Hmm . . . since I don’t know specifically what the negatives they saw were, I can’t say whether or not I saw them too or . . well, mmphs, this is a stupid paragraph here.

Right, so. Book opens with Jessie playing in the final games of a football season, meaningless games because her team is already out of the running for the league title, though they are currently in second place. On the opposite side of the pitch, playing for the other team is Fran – and they meet constantly during the game, literally, physically. With a bunch of sliding tackles, close touches, and outright groping (yes, literally, while lined up for a penalty kick, Fran had her hands on Jessie’s breasts and basically groped her – which is apparently okay in football). Well, naturally, Jessie being such a rule follower . . . had enough of it and slapped Fran in the face, hard. Got a red card for that – will start the next season missing three matches.

Story then skips forward to the next season (which, apparently, was something like a week or 8 after the end of the last season – that’s one of my problems with this book, I really had no idea of the time scale here, it really seemed like things occurred right after each other, and, in fairness, for all I know they do. I do not know enough about football to know if it is odd for one season to start something like 3 weeks after the last one ended; only thing I do know is that they don’t play in the summer . . . apparently. Maybe they only have three weeks of summer in Scotland). Jessie is excited to start a new year, annoyed that she’s benched for three matches, but excited. The coach, Tom, keeps bouncing in and out of the room. Teammates are getting ready for training. Tom bounces in and out again. Finally he announces the new additions to the team which includes a player to help with some defensive liabilities – one Fran Doherty. Naturally Jessie’s kind of annoyed by this issue.

And so, before I recap the entire book in my review, I move on. Two Point of Views – Fran Doherty – ‘burnt-out barmaid with a past as messed up as her attitude’ (as the book description puts it – she’s not a barmaid though, she’s the person running the property for her grandfather Harry who had a stroke – hotel and bar, though she’s only operating the bar until, well – not going to spoil everything); and Jessie Grainger . . . who doesn’t have a good little description I can lift from the book description. Well, as noted, Jessie is a star footballer (played for the UK in the Olympics, and for Scotland in . . . um, book didn’t say, assume it’s something like World Cup or something), and, because female football players aren’t exactly paid massive wads of cash, she is also a ‘businesswoman’ (something to do with real estate, I believe, handling the Edinburgh office for her father’s company (which had been founded by that father’s father)).

Fran and Jessie clash. Action on and off the pitch occurs. Questions are raised and never answered, well some (like, well maybe it got answered and I missed it, but I’ve no real idea how old the people in this book are. I know the coach is something like 30, he was injured at 28, began coaching, and it’s two years later; Nikki, Fran’s godmother, ‘looks like she’s in her mid-fifties’, as one character put it – and if I followed the clues: 1) Fran’s mother had Fran when she was 18, dead at 22; 2) Nikki was friends of the mother and conceivably roughly the same age as the mother; 3) Nikki, recall, looks mid-fifties; 4) 55-18=37, Fran can be no younger than 37. Jessie? No idea. Not even anything like ‘she’s the same age as Fran; younger; older; etc.’ except for the part where she had played at the highest level at the Olympics for UK, and for something for Scotland, and my limited understanding is that youngsters don’t normally compete at that level, and that was in the past so . . . um . . still no clue to Jessie’s age).

I rather liked the characterization level given here. And I lied, I do know one of the negatives at least one person saw – Fran plain doesn’t talk . . . much at all. And I can see that. Personally I was looking at it the other way around – Jessie doesn’t shut up. She’s always babbling, can’t stand silence. Babble. Babble. Babble. Personally I’m much more like Fran communication wise (too much information and all that – it sometimes literally physically pains me to get words out). And no, I do not actually see myself as Fran. For many reasons. But I’m probably a lot more like her than Jessie, though that’s mostly due to communication since, while I have an addictive kind of personality, I always knew that so I didn’t fall into the same traps Fran did.

While reading I was thinking of some things I could mention. I thought of ‘so much angst that the puppy has drowned and the kitten is in trouble’, but that’s kind of gross. Lots of angst though. From both sides, Jessie has issues of her own though has mostly had a ‘perfect’ kind of life. Oh, another thought I had while reading – I kind of dislike many of the players on Jessie’s team, which, in its way, indicates that they had enough ‘there’ for me to dislike them.

There are certain clichés, tropes, etc., that pop up in romances (and yes, this is a romance) – one of which involves attempts to come together, remain together, splitting apart, etc. Well, this one certainly had a unique twist on a part of that dynamic.

Ah, this book. Jessie was kind of like a hyperactive kitten that occasionally had people toss water onto, every once in a while got tied up and um . . no, let’s not go this direction as it’s misleading (no bondage occurs in this book. While Fran’s off to the side like a wounded three legged pit-bull who has been through the fights and barely grunts any longer. And for some reason both, the kitten and the pit-bull, are weirdly drawn to the other. The lust is huge. The power imbalance is also noticeably massive.

Overall a satisfying and occasionally riveting look into a Scottish . . . um . . . scene/romance/sport.

Rating: 4.00

April 6 2017

Game Time by Kate Christie

Game Time
by Kate Christie
Pages: 313
Date: September 30 2016
Publisher: Second Growth Books
Series: Girls of Summer (2)

Review
Rating: 4.75
Read: October 4 to 5 2016

Important note before anyone dives into this book or this review – this book continues a story begun in Training Ground - it should not be read on its own, nor should its review be examined prior to completion of book one.

This book does not pick up directly from the end of the first book – but it is still directly linked to the first and heavily based on the first. No, instead of beginning an hour, day, week, or even a month later, this book opens ten years later.

The first book focused on two people (and their friends and family) in 2003, Jamie Maxwell, and Emma Blakeley. Book two sees these same people, but ten years later in 2013.

I am somewhat padding my beginning portion so that I do not reveal anything in the tiny snippet that will appear on other people’s feeds. Are we there yet? Maybe.

As noted, it’s ten years later. Emma and Jamie’s lives have continued – separately. Both have graduated from college. Both have pursued careers in soccer – one playing for two different US based professional women’s soccer leagues while also playing for the National team; while the other went directly from college into the pros, then drifted over to Europe to play for an English soccer team when the professional league folded. Both have had lovers, lives, changes – some in the public eye, some not.

When the book opens, Jamie has had some success with soccer, and advancing up the levels, but every time she seems on the cusp of true success, she gets injured (two times so far) – now she’s been invited to her first national team residency camp – over in California. She’s 26 (or reaches that milestone in this book), and hasn’t been ‘frozen’ in time – as in, she has a lovely English girlfriend who she lives with – and has done so for the last 18 months. Both, apparently, love the other. Though the girlfriend is a little . . . worried about this opportunity that Jamie has before her – since it will bring Jamie close to Emma again.

It’s not actually true that they, Emma and Jamie, haven’t talked in ten years, but it’s close to being true. Fate has kept them apart. When Emma was having success on the national team, Jamie hadn’t been advanced enough, yet, to be on the team at the same time; when Jamie advanced for a moment or two, Emma was off recovering from injury. And the few times they have been near each other, prior to this ‘residency camp’ (as in – something like 24 women living in the same location, with roommates, and spending time practicing, exercising, etc.), the two have been near – there was one prior camp, but that time Jamie didn’t’ live ‘on campus’ so they only saw each other, briefly, ‘on the pitch’. Now they might actually have to talk to each other.

So – Jamie is in a long established healthy relationship (though there are ‘signs’), while Emma is currently unentangled.

Its good then, that Jamie is in a relationship, eh, since she doesn’t need the distraction of what might be, what might happen from interacting with her lost love– her mission is to get on the National team – to show what she can do.

But can they interact in these close confines without combusting? Can they become friends again?

I rather enjoyed this book here – I liked seeing the characters at a different stage in their life (and yes, someone at the age of 16, and someone at the age of 26 are at different stages of their lives). And there were some rather neat things along the way. Like for example – “her little moans of contentment making Jamie lean away and Maddie drift closer” – referencing here a woman named Angie eating some pancakes. Angie and Maddie have been eyeballing each other for a little while, but, at that moment, hadn’t reached relationship status – seeing them flirting was neat. They aren’t the main characters, of course and their time on the page is brief.

On one level this book was both more and less satisfying than the prior book in the series. As human beings, both main characters seem healthier now – emotionally I mean; while at the same time the book itself feels slightly less deep than the prior book. Just a vague feeling.

I look forward to the next book in the series. Whenever that might appear.

October 5 2016

Training Ground by Kate Christie

Training Ground
by Kate Christie
Pages: 302
Date: June 17 2016
Publisher: Second Growth Books
Series: Girls of Summer (1)

Review
Rating: 5.5
Read: October 3 to 4 2016

In a way, this one kind of reminds me of another book I read recently (Five Star) – though this one here, Training Ground, is an young adult FF book, while the other is a new adult MF book (difference between having characters 16-17; vs. characters in early 20s, like maybe 20). Both though include sports as an important though not overly graphically detailed theme, include much about parents/family/expectations, and both are more slice of life books than romances (or, I should say, Romance – while both include romance, just not the capital R kind).

Jamie Maxwell and Emma Blakeley are young soccer players (or, as they sometimes say, football, or ‘real football’) who play for youth travel leagues. Jamie, who has a tendency to get called ‘Max’ at times, or, on occasion James, is a little bit short of her 16th birthday. Lives in California. Emma is around 17 and lives in Washington.

One night while both are in the same hotel after a soccer tournament has ended in California, the two bump into each other. Jamie needs some air and some time alone. But something about Emma, who she spots attempting to get ice from a machine that has no ice, gets her to ask Emma to tag along. So they do – and sit and watch the sun go down while talking about themselves and getting to know each other. I mention all of this because – but for a set of circumstances that might never have occurred – (1) both soccer players; (2) both at the same tournament; (3) both still there in the hotel when many have already returned home; and (4) both out of their rooms at the same time – they would likely never have made the connection they did, and potentially might never have meet each other. But they did meet, and they did get to know each other. They still might have just had a nice meeting if one didn’t ask and receive the other’s phone (so they could swap numbers).

From this meeting grew a deep friendship – a long range friendship (since, as might be recalled, the two live in two different states, and if I recall correctly, their dwelling units are about 800 miles apart).

Oh, I forgot to mention that this is 2003. Before skype, after internet appeared.

For a year both grew deeply into the other – with morning and nightly texts, with shared long distance viewing of overseas football (soccer) matches (as in, both recorded a game, then watched together in their separate houses, while talking on the phone).

They were friends, not lovers, not girlfriends. Though both had ‘feelings’ – one didn’t think that the feelings could be built upon because of the experiences of the other (I’m being simplistic Jaime is recovering from an incident in France that causes her to have trouble being touched and occasionally being near others. That incident makes her feel damaged and unworthy she was raped. That was her first sexual experience. And she blames herself (she had been drinking).) plus not being 100% certain of their own feelings/orientation; while the other knew nothing could grow beyond these ‘feelings’ due to the other’s straightness.

There was a lot of drama, family entanglements, missed chances, missteps – all of which seen through the eyes of naïve young women below the age of 18. I wish to say that this is one of the better young adult books that I’ve read, but I’m not sure exactly what I’d put in front of it.

I’d definitely recommend this book, bearing in mind that this is a slice of life book, not a capital R romance book (certain things ‘required’ for a capital R romance, as per ‘rules’ of the big Romance publishers – ending has to be HFN, or HEA).

As I’ve seen in at least one other review – be aware that it’d be easier on yourself if you read this book after committing yourself to the idea that it is part of a series that involves two published books and a mention of a third – all of which are deeply linked to the others. This is a series that follow two (and more) people over a longish period of time (at least 10 years – first book sees people in 2003; second book sees those same people in 2013).

October 5 2016

Five-Star by J. Santiago

Five-Star
by J. Santiago
Pages: 301
Date: September 6 2016
Publisher: ASJ LLC
Series: None

Review
Rating: 5.0
Read: September 2 to 3 2016

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

A few notes:
1) hard to write review without spoilers for . . reasons

2) be careful about expectations and categories with this book.
this is a slice of life book that includes college football, a coach, a coach's daughter, and a top tier football QB. There is some sports action, but very little on field stuff. There is more than one couple involved in this book but I would be hesitant to label this a capital R Romance (because of the 'rules' of the top Romance publishers when it comes to Romances). Though there is sex and a bit of romancing. There is also a bit of 'timing matters'; & families can be good and bad.

3) I spent a certain amount of time, while reading this book assuming that I would rate this around 4 stars, but it grew on me and I rather enjoyed it.

4) As far as I know, no LGBT person or issues occurred in this hook (though there was one joke that I do not recall completely involving a question asked in a joking manner without expectations of a yes answer - 'what, are you or Tilly gay?')

The book follows several people's point of view, though 'stars' mostly Amber Johnson and Tank Howard. Amber being an early 20-something young woman who had just recently been in a fatal car accident. Well, recent enough that she is still rehabbing from it, but the accident might have been a year ago (or 6 months, I forget if it was specifically stated). While rehabbing she also makes a few extra dollars working in a bar.

Meanwhile Tank Howard is the 'five star' of the book title. As in he is a five star football athlete. Don't ask me what that means exactly. Though I know that means he is a top-tier football talent/prospect. The book opens with Tank at a press conference, as a high school student declaring which college he will be going to. Because of fairly obvious reasons, Tank ends up at a college he did not expect when the morning began that day - a small school with an unimpressive football program, though it is division I. or 1. Or . . um, something. Tank ends up playing for a guy most people seem to call 'Franco', since that's his name (last name) Franco.

Coach Franco also has a point of view in this book, and even, somewhat shocking me since I hadn't realized what kind of book I was actually getting involved with, sexual encounters. Coach Franco has a daughter that most do not know exists (ETA: this may or may not be needed to be noted, I noticed just now while rereading my review (9/9/2016) - Coach Franco does not have a sexual relationship with his daughter. I felt the need to add that now because I realize I go from 'shockingly, Franco has sex' to immediately state 'Franco has a daughter not many know about').

There's a tradition that exists with the football team that Tank is on, a tradition stretching back 20 or so years - the team goes out for drinks before the season starts (I believe that it is after the first preseason game -though the story that gets told about the first outing - 20 yeas ago, seemed to indicate that it occurred after the first practice). I mention because that night Tank and Amber meet for the first time. With Amber literally falling at . . . well, not really at his feet though that's what he says later, and I think the description says that as well. Not important. Tank was sitting. Amber was working and then had to go back to the kitchen. Tries to get around a huge football player who was kind of blocking the way. Touches him. That guys girlfriend charges forward and grabs Amber's arm. Amber collapses and literally passes out.

Tank and Amber then proceed to circle each other. Amber is reluctant because Tank is a football player, and she's had some bad luck with them. Tank's reluctant because Amber is bitchy - though that also intrigues him to a certain extent - since he can and does have any other woman he wants.

It should be noted that there is also a 'Molly', a compliance officer at the school. Mentioned for various reasons but also because she and Franco also have a 'circling each other' thing going on. Plus, one of the oddest things I've seen occurs with Molly - immediately after seeing his daughter being carried off, presumably for sex, Franco goes and has sex himself. Apparently for the first time in 2 are more years. That . . . kind of felt vaguely icky to me. hehe. 'I see my daughter is getting some; I'll go have some myself!' hehe - no that isn't actually either his thoughts, nor his thought process. But yeah, Franco and Molly also circle each other in this book.

There are other couples and/or groupie hook-ups, but none of the others have POV people, so I not mention them more than that they exist.

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed it. Somewhat unexpectedly enjoyed it. At a 5 star level. I reiterate that you, reader, need to be careful of categories with this book. Because it isn't really a Romance book, though it has romance in it. I think one of the other reviews hints at or mentions what I'm indirectly getting at - there are certain 'expected' things that occur in Romances - this is not a capital R Romance under those 'rules'

September 3 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

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

Vellmar the Blade by Fletcher DeLancey

Vellmar the Blade
by Fletcher DeLancey
Pages: 139
Date: August 3 2016
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: Chronicles of Alsea (5th in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 1 2016

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

For better or worse I need to start off with a little unfortunate bit of warning. Though it is one that may or may not already be known. While this specific story is the fifth 'thing' released in this series, which includes the short story Projection, it is actually the sixth 'thing' in the series (including short story), or 5th in series order (not including short story). Meaning that there will be a book published later which slots in, chronologically, before this story here.

There’s a blog post, I believe, that mentions what’s going on – that this was done and ready so it got released. Now I do not know how much of the actual fourth book is getting revealed here, maybe nothing much, but I do keep coming across references to things I have no clue about, so there might be more than ‘nothing much’. So if you can wait until book four is released before reading this here, and care about reading things ‘in order’, then that’d probably be best. Otherwise, this is/was a great story (and, again, ‘nothing much’ might have actually been revealed here – well, beyond the stuff one part of the story was giving away, but I’ll mention that next).

So, after that series paragraph section, I move to the structure of this story. There is a bit of ‘Princess Bride’ story telling gimmick going on here, and I specifically mean the part where an older man is telling a story to a kid (two here), nothing more than that. The story alternates – two kids are in bed with a ‘bed time story’ being told to them by their father (grandfather in Princess Bride). The story? Vellmar the Blade.

I’m not specifically sure how far in the future this story is being told, but the way the kids and the father act, their part of the story is far in the future of the events of both Vellmar, and the rest. Their specific part of the story consists of kids mumbling stuff, one or the other talking about how they want warrior like stories, bickering with each other, and the father saying stuff. It was an okay little gimmick, though I could have lived without it. To a certain extent, while it did take me out of the story too much for my own enjoyment/pleasure, it did have an interesting little tidbit of them discussing something that had occurred long ago in a manner subtlety different that what actually had occurred.

The other part of the story is Vellmar’s. And she’s preparing for, then competing in a world games (the kids section called it Global Games or something like that, though I’ve a vague feeling that Vellmar’s people called it something subtlety different).

Vellmar’s section was exciting, thrilling, and, strangely enough, caused a few misty moments on my part. There was a bit of action – sports action, a bit of family interaction, and a tidbit here or there of a tiny bit of romantic stuff (don’t go in looking for that though). Some action with some cats, which, I really enjoyed for maybe obvious reasons (maybe not so obvious reasons).

If only for the romance part, I’d suggest putting this off until the other book appears (though, for all I know, that aspect won’t even get a mention in that book). For all that I love the story, I have to say such. Though I did love it, and if a reader doesn’t mind reading things out of order, I do recommend it, tentatively (it has to be tentatively, since I haven’t read that fourth book yet either).

August 1 2016

Speed Demons by Gun Brooke

Speed Demons
by Gun Brooke
Pages: 264
Date: November 1 2012
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: July 27 2016

My fifth book I've read by this author. Giving this book 4 stars brings my average rating for books read Brooke to 3.5. A far fall from the first book I'd read, or the rating I gave it, 5.5. The 3.5, though, is actually an increase over my previous overall rating of 3.3 for the combined average of the four books read before this one.

I've recently been testing some of those authors I'd somewhat pushed to the side along the way for one reason or another, and found some good things, which is how I ended up reading this book here.

So, what can I saw about this one . . . hmms. Evie is a race car driver on the NASCAR circuit. Blythe is a photojournalist who is doing a photo book about Evie. This is where the book starts. Blythe watches through her camera, then her eyes as Evie races around on a race track in a Dodge Viper. Screaming. Clouds of smoke, flames, crashing explosions – two of Evie’s fellow race car drivers have crashed, and Evie’s right behind them . . . following her pit bosses instructions, going low, until she rams into the side of one of the crashing cars and is herself engulfed in flames. Blythe, who happened to have her camera pointing the right way, keeps pushing the button to take pictures, until she can’t any longer and rushes toward the crash.

The book opens as above. It’s now a year later and the very shy 43 year old Blythe has worked herself up to approach Evie about a proposal – continuation of that book they had been working on, with Blythe following Evie as she attempts her comeback from the tragic accident which had claimed two lives. A certain amount of tension and mistrust occurs, but an agreement is reached. They will continue with the project. This will include some rather close living quarters . . . because that’s just what you do in a situation like this, apparently.

So, while Evangeline ‘Evie’ Marshall is working on her comeback, Blythe Pierce is basically living in her pocket (I’d make a short joke, since Blythe is tiny, but she might gut me – she’s kind of fierce). Certain ‘feelings’ develop.

Meanwhile there are other characters and issues occurring in this book. Family: Evie’s dick of a father and, to a lesser extent (appearance in the book wise), grandfather make several rude snide undermining appearances (Brooke sure doesn’t like father characters); Blythe’s family itself also plays its own little role – well, largely the role being so abusive that roughly 25 years ago, Blythe had to run away. So that’s happening.

Nice enough book. Those looking for detailed long stretches of car racing should look elsewhere. I kind of knew that going in so that did not have an impact on my rating (good or bad). I think I’d rate this somewhere around 3.70 if I still rated using decimals; otherwise this book gets marked as being 4 stars.

July 27 2016

Stay by Mia Archer

Stay
by Mia Archer
Pages: 289
Date: July 15 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: July 18 to 19 2016

This book here is the fifth book that I have read with Mia Archer’s name on it.

This is a book with some youngish main characters. I assume that they are right around the age of 18, though a specific age (I don’t think) is not actually mentioned.

Sarah and Alyssa have spent most of their lives competing and training to be competitive swimmers. They’ve gotten up at the crack of ‘too early’ to go swimming; practice sometimes twice a day; one also lifts weight to add whatever that might add to being able to pull herself through the water with stronger arms (I think that is Sarah).

Both young women are super competitive and super good. They are about a half second or a second off of each other’s times – which would be great if they didn’t compete in the same division – as only one from their section/division can go to ‘state’ (ever since Glee, I kind of giggle when people talk super serious about ‘sectionals’ and ‘state’ and the like; they could be models/singers/football players, but still, that little giggle comes up).

The book opens on the big old qualifying event for the State level races. Sarah thinks it is her year. Alyssa thinks she will win. Everyone, apparently, believes that the person that will win will either be Sarah or Alyssa.

Sarah’s parents are old school liberal and quit easy going. Alyssa’s mother is a massive over controlling bitch. Her father is kind of okay, though. This becomes important for ‘reasons’.

The book synopsis on GoodReads kind of gives things away in terms of who won at sections, but I’ll live off mentioning that.

One or the other won. The other took it hard and cried. The one that won comforted her (all this is, in its way, spoiler, but it is also the foundation of the relationship that develops from here on out).

The one who lost the race goes out of their way to drive many miles to the State level event. To act as a supporter for the other. Recall something that can’t be recalled since I haven’t mentioned it yet – both were rivals of each other. A certain amount of ‘hate’ might have even been bubbling. Which is where I’m uncertain if I should call this ‘fell for rival’ or ‘fell for friend’. Since they were rivals, but no part of the time they were rivals (on a ‘we hate each other’ level) occurs in this book. And they went from rivals to friends, then to that ‘falling for’ part. *shrugs*

Unknown to either, both have full ride scholarships to the same college, so while one or the other (or both, I forget now) might have some worries about whether this event, or that, might be the last time they see the other, they soon realize that they will have a good chance to see each other for a good longish while. Barring unforeseen complications that could have access/communication/scholarship complications.

So, fairly quickly, the book turns to these high schoolers moving from high school to the summer between graduation and college – which they spend at college, because athletes report early for training.

There’s kind of love-hate thing that occurs in waves. I’d say almost immediately, but then love doesn’t come immediately. Hate does though. But not what someone might be thinking – no, I’m referring to the hate between Tiffany and Sarah. Mostly from Tiffany to Sarah. I’m being deliberately something . . um . . not vague, because I’m using names, well like vague. Tiffany is Alyssa’s mother.

From almost the beginning of the book a certain complication is shown, foreshadowed (well, two, the first being that the mother is a bitch and that isn’t going to go away). That being some mysterious ‘waves of dizziness/light headness’ experienced by Alyssa. By the half way point the dreaded ‘word’ gets used to explain things, but as the synopsis itself doesn’t go beyond saying ‘terrible sickness’ I’ll refrain from explaining in detail the specific ‘terrible sickness’. Cancer/leukemia

Right, so, this is a coming of age/coming out/young adult/major life alternating illness book with a heavy dose of family drama book. Involving two athletes (swimmers) just starting off on the road of life.

For one reason or another books like this, and I mean simply and specifically, those that involves students, never really seem to draw up in my mind memories of the time when I was a student. There is no inherent reason why the high school years in this book would cause any memories to pop up – since that part seems to be over in a flash, and only shows something like a week or three of it – plus it was heavily focused on, to the exclusion of everything else, on swimming. The college part though did, oddly enough, pull up some memories of college. That’s the sum total of my point of mentioning this factoid – books like this do not normally engage my memories, while this one did.

It should be noted, for those coming along behind me, that this book ends at the 80% mark.

July 19 2016

From Third to Home by Chris Paynter

From Third to Home
by Chris Paynter
Pages: 277
Date: April 3 2016
Publisher: Companion Publications
Series: Playing for First (3rd in series)

Review
Rating: 5.5 out of 5.0
Read: June 8 2016

My third book by this author. And my favorite of the three I’ve read by Paynter. Though all three are part of the same series that builds on itself, so people coming along behind me are directed to read from the beginning – from the first book.

Unless I'm mistaken, and I could very well be, I see a pattern in this series. First book had 1 point of view, Lisa Collins. Second one had two points of views - Lisa Collins and Amy Perry. Third one has three points of views. Lisa Collins, Amy Perry, and Kat Benson.

Book one focused on Lisa Collins and her personal and professional life and her connection to Amy Perry. Professionally, Collins, in that first book, followed Perry as she moved from a player on a professional female baseball team, to the MLB winter league, to minor league ball, and then a brief appearance in the majors. Personally, Collins, very quickly in that first book, developed a friendship and romantic relationship with Perry. By the second book (actually, during the first), the friendship part remained, but only the friendship part. By the third, the friendship part, which was somewhat shaky in the second, was on firm ground, and any lingering romantic feelings are gone.

Book two focused more on Amy Perry and her time in the majors. Well, the book opened with her still in the minors, but very quickly she made it up to the majors in the second or third month of the season. Collins, though, remained one of the points of view in the book, and some of the focus remained on her professional and relationship life.

Book three, this book here, keeps the focus on Perry and Collins, but adds in an unexpected third party. Perry’s former coach contacts Collins and suggests she stops by and watches one of her players. That player being one ‘Kat Benson’. Like in the first book when Perry was watched by others, Benson is introduced to readers by having people watch her. Unlike the first book, Benson’s own thoughts suddenly, seemingly of their own accord, break through and let others in on her thoughts.

Benson could very well have ended up being an afterthought. Someone whose story is just tacked on, but she has a deeper story, and deeper impact on the book than I had expected.

Benson pulls in another character who wasn’t previously in the series, one Stephanie McGrady – Stacey’s sister. Kat and Stephanie circle each other in this book, and I quite like both of them and their budding relationship.

Family plays a large role in this book. Collins and her long lost father. Perry & McGrady attempting to deepen their own family by having a baby together, and Benson and her strained relationship with her alcoholic mother.

Baseball remains the underlying theme, and structure to which the various subplots anchor upon. And the baseball action, at times, was even somewhat thrilling to observe.

As I mentioned in my review for the previous book in this series, written moments ago, I liked the third book best of all. The books, if I were to give them a number rating, probably hovered around 4.7 for the first book, 4.8 for second, and something at or above 5 for the third.

June 9 2016

Two for the Show by Chris Paynter

Two for the Show
by Chris Paynter
Pages: 214
Date: September 15 2014 (Orig. April 2011)
Publisher: Companion Publications
Series: Playing for First (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 7 to 8 2016

My second book by this author.

Unless I'm mistaken, and I could very well be, I see a pattern in this series. First book had 1 point of view, Lisa Collins. Second one, this book here, had two point of views - Lisa Collins and Amy Perry. Third one has three point of views. Lisa Collins, Amy Perry, and Kat Benson.

This is a rather enjoyable series, but this being the second and not the third in the series, I should focus on it and not on the whole series.

Book one focused on Lisa Collins and her personal and professional life and her connection to Amy Perry. Professionally, Collins, in that first book, followed Perry as she moved from a player on a professional female baseball team, to the MLB winter league, to minor league ball, and then a brief appearance in the majors. Personally, Collins, very quickly in that first book, developed a friendship and romantic relationship with Perry. By the second book (actually, during the first), the friendship part remained, but only the friendship art.

Book two focused more on Amy Perry and her time in the majors. Well, the book opened with her still in the minors, but very quickly she made it up to the majors in the second or third month of the season. Collins, though, remained one of the points of view in the book, and some of the focus remained on her professional and relationship life.

In the second book, having Perry’s point of view helped in one specific point (though initially I was vaguely disappointed that we suddenly had her view). The end of the first book had a ‘rushed’ meet and become a couple deal involving Perry and another woman. That other woman had been in the book previously, but barely at a level of being a background character. She, and now that she actually matters I’ll use her name – Stacey came into her own, became a deeper character once someone with a point of view actually cared about her on a friend and romantic level. But then, that’s somewhat of a pattern itself – Frankie seemed barely there until Collins affections switched to her. Then she rounded out into a fuller character.

These writing reviews long after I read a book are difficult. Heh. I’m not really saying much here, eh?

There were two main couples in this book. Frankie Dunkin (51, bar owner) & Lisa Collins (36, sports reporter); Amy Perry (28, baseball player) & Stacey McCrady (?, bartender/bar worker). Both couples, against the background of a baseball season, goes through the ups and downs of medical and family issues.

I enjoyed all three books in the series. In terms of ratings, I’d reverse them. As in, I liked the third best of all, then second (this book here), then the first. Which, does not really mean anything since all three are at or around 5 star books.

June 9 2016

Playing for First by Chris Paynter

Playing for First
by Chris Paynter
Pages: 210
Date: September 15 2014 (Orig. June 1 2009)
Publisher: Companion Publications
Series: Playing for First (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 7 2016

This is the first book I've read by this author.

The book follows several characters, but from the point of view of one (unless I got confused, I know the next book follows the point of view of two people, Amy Perry and Lisa Collins; I believe the first one, and this is what I get for waiting until after I read two books before writing anything, is only from Lisa Collins point of view).

Lisa Collins is a writer for both a local Indianapolis newspaper, and for Minorleague.com. When she comes across an interesting story involving a major league baseball team taking a close look at a baseball player, Collins goes to investigate. When that team invites that player to winter league with a good possibility of then having that player join a minor league team in their system, Collins comes up with a proposal for her MinorLeague.com bosses involving Collins following along and reporting on the games as they occur.

I was attempting to be somewhat subtle there, though I'm sure anyone reading this review already knows two things - whom that baseball player probably is, and the part wherein that baseball player happens to be a woman. So, yeah, it appears that a Major League team, the Cincinnati Reds to be exact, is interested in testing the concept of allowing a woman play for them.

Following Amy Perry, that female baseball player, through the eyes of Lisa Collins, sportswriter, as Perry moves along on the possible path to breaking into the major leagues is quite fun and interesting. But the book is more than just a sports book. There's also a bit of romance in there. And, for those who care about such things, graphic displays of a sexual nature.

Several thoughts I had while wandering along in my reading:
The dating of a writer with her subject, had a vaguely 'icky' feeling; the dating occurred a lot quicker in the story line than I expected (I do not recall now if it was 'Hey Collins, this is Perry; Collins to Perry - 'let's date'; Perry to Collins - 'sure'; but it was close enough to that to make things weird; since Collins had already committed to a really long lengthy project that would force her to be away from her home for a longish period of time to report on Perry's progress. What if their relationship imploded? What if it didn't? What if it got awkward to interview your lover? Not an issue? Well . . . apparently not an issue for Collins).

I was set to be annoyed about the 'lesbian character who needs to remain in the closet, while at the same time attempts to have a relationship'; and yet I was more annoyed with the other party in that relationship. Since Perry's 'public outing' of her lesbian nature could quite easily destroy her chances of fulfilling her life-long dream of breaking into the major leagues. Or, at the very least, be an extra little layer that a team might not want to tackle at the same time as tackling everything else.

I’d insert something here about how Jackie Robinson was neither the best Negro League baseball player playing at the time Robinson was scouted, nor the only Negro League baseball player scouted. This book here kind of had a vague vibe that made it seem as if Amy Perry was the only possibility available for a major league team; while at the same time including the part where Perry played for a professional baseball team. A female team. Which, obviously enough, meant that there were other female baseball players out there. Of course, Perry was the one that people, and scouts, thought should have already had a chance to play for a major league team, or in a major league system, but for the fact she was female. While not having that thought about other female players. Still, it was never a certainty that any woman would get the nod, nor that, if one did, that Perry would be that player. Point being, that adding an extra layer of ‘issue’ might have knocked Perry out of the running. The book makes note that there’s just been one professional athlete who came out as being gay or lesbian while still playing, and that it isn’t exactly a profession open to the concept (there have been others since the book’s publication – many of whom possibly cut short their career by being open).

Hmm. Interesting. The team Perry gets sent to was the Chattanooga Lookouts. On April 2, 1931, 17 year old Jackie Mitchell, while playing for the Lookouts, struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The baseball commissioner promptly voided her contract.

Hmmx2. On June 24 2015 the first female player was added to major League Baseball’s international registration list. That being Melissa Mayeux, a 16 year old French short-stop. http://nymag.com/betamale/2016/05/women-could-be-in-the-majors-sooner-than-you-think.html

Right, got distracted. And to think all I was going to note was that I was more annoyed with Collins reactions to Perry needing to remain in the closet than with Perry needing to remain in the closet.

But that’s something of a misdirection/red-herring. Those who notice my shelves might notice certain issues that seem odd. Like, say, the ‘fell-for-friend’ one. Perry and Collins were not friends before they started dating. Course the ‘love-triangle’ one kind of gives the game away in and of itself. Yes, this is a book that involves more than one coupling. Involving one person tangled up in the same coupling. Weirdly, or not, some of the same shelvings work for both couplings, including the age-difference one. And, for that matter, the butch-butch one.

Collins goes from a relationship involving someone 8 years younger than them, to a relationship with someone 15 years older than them. When she moves from 27 year old Amy Perry to 50 year old Frankie Dunkin, a long time friend of Collins.

In terms of relationships/romance: things bordered on the edge of things that annoy me, that I dislike (like, say cheating); but things kept just on the side of the border wherein things remained enjoyable without becoming unbearable.

In terms of sports: that was handled quite well. Following the trajectory of Perry playing for a female baseball team against a minor league male team, to going to winter ball, to going to a minor league team; etc. Enjoyable experience.

Overall: Obviously enough I liked the book so much that I immediately acquired and read the next book in the series. A good solid effort by the author. Quite good for a baseball book.

June 8 2016

The Setup Man by T.T. Monday

The Setup Man
by T.T. Monday
Pages: 272
Date: December 2 2014
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Series: Johnny Adcock (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Read: May 22 to 23 2016

This is my first book by this author that I have read, and the first book in a series.

This book probably would have never crossed my path if I hadn't done something I hadn't done in probably years (though I used to love to do this activity) - visit an actual bookstore. The second book in the series was sitting there in the 'new stuff' part of the Mystery section and it looked neat and stuff. Looked it over, went to see if they had the prior book - looked that over and . . . here I am, two days later, book read.

I've read a number of books involving sports and mystery. And athletes who solve crimes on the side. The only ones that I ever really seem to like are the ones where there's something extra, like when there is also historical fiction, like in Troy Soos Mickey Rawlings series. Especially as, in the Rawlings series and other historical fiction, the ball players make peanuts, so side jobs are not hobbies, but necessary.

Here? The story is set in modern contemporary times, and the main character makes a million five. He has a kid and an ex, but the ex made a ton of money off her second husband so she’s neither dying for support, nor begging for it. So for him to work as a private detective, on the side, is entirely because he’s bored and wants something to fill the time. No, literally, he says that at some point.

This man here, the main character, is all-around a joke. A guy who set out to try to get a job as a bull-pen pitcher so that he could work 10 minutes a day for millions of dollars. And as a detective he is something . . . well, I already said joke, but yes, that. During the course of reading this book, I happened to catch a film, ‘The Nice Guys’, about a ‘punisher’ (a guy who gets paid to go around giving out messages, and/or beating people up) and a ‘private detective’ working a case in the 1970s. Johnny Adcock, the main character in the book, reminds me a lot of the guy in the film, the detective one, but not in a good way. At one point in the film, the guy’s daughter notes that he is the worst detective ever. He’s lazy, drinks too much, and can’t detect which end of a paper bag has the opening in it. Then he shows a few flashes of brilliance. Well, Adcock is somewhat similar. Bouncing around like a moron, with a couple of bursts of brilliance.

And it is not lost on me that this almost over the hill bullpen pitcher had been talking about what he planned to do in retirement, early-ish in the book. Take over some hotels, make them private, put in some ‘special staff’ (aka, hookers), and allow access to only professional athletes. Then the story that unfolds, the mystery, is basically something similar (just without hotels). And Adcock seems not at all self-aware of that fact. But hey, I get it, people can joke around about what they might or might not do, joking about opening up a string of brothels for athletes is a little odd, but not necessarily something to be used as a gauge of character. No, it’s what happens at the end of the book (and in small snippets during the book), that lets people in on the truth – Adcock is a hypocrite, a criminal, and an all-around bad guy. Even if he can pretend to himself that he was doing it for a good reason. Adcock blackmails some people to help set up a college fund

There is a very strong chance, about 75 to 95 percent chance, that this will be it for me. That I will not tackle the sequel, ‘Double Switch’, even if it was the book that initially got me interested in the series.

While, in the end, I’m able to give the book a good solid 3 star rating, I do not recommend this book to anyone.

May 23 2016

Faster Harder by Colleen Masters

Faster Harder (Take Me... #1)
by Colleen Masters
Pages: 308
Date: December 13 2013
Publisher: Hearts Collective
Series: Take Me... (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0
Read: April 15 2016

This is one of those unfortunate times when a book gets read and finished when I'm not in a position to do anything about the fact that I'd read and finished it. So there's this delay that gets built in - both in terms of getting my thoughts together for a review, and in terms of other works have been examined/read since the completion of this book here. So, let me see what I can put together here.

First off - I'm not actually sure what I'd rate this book. I'd initially put it down on the 3 star level - more so I could mark it read (I was away from my computer, and my phone was giving me issues); though I had the thought that I'd probably rate the book somewhere around 3.5 to 4.2. Realizing that, now, I move it up to the 4 star level.

The book involves Siena Lazio and Forumla 1 racing. And I admit that I read the book largely because I wanted to read another book that involved car racing. They seem oddly hard to find. Oh, and the book was free, so that helped. I mean being offered on Amazon for $0.00, not meaning that it was free to me and only me.

Siena Lazio is an Italian-American woman of roughly 25 years of age who works for her family's car racing team - Team Ferrelli. Technically not actually her family's car team, just they have had a long history with the team, and Siena's pop owns a majority stake. The Lazio family, and Team Ferrelli are, in the book's world, highly regarded in the sport of auto-racing. Siena's pop is majority owner of the team, and an hands on manager; her brother is the lead driver for the team (and the brother is her twin). Siena works public relations for the team, though she is being constantly undermined by her father - who seems to only be able to see her as his daughter; and, is constantly being 'watched' - 'guarded'. Both in terms of what she does reflects on the team, and in terms of 'she's a female family member, therefore, 'obviously' she needs to be watched'. The brother, on the other hand, while required to be the top, and be constantly working on being ready to race, isn't as controlled off the track - in terms of - he is allowed to be a ladies man.

So, the book opens with the start of a new F1 season. The team, and the race, is in Barcelona. Siena feels the need to 'unwind', so she goes to a night club. Followed along by her 'watcher', the son of the team ... manager? I forget what post Gus fills (that's the father, not the son). The son and Siena grew up together, and Siena believes that the son (this would be easier if I'd done the review immediately after I'd read the book - I can't recall the son's name) lusts after her; but she can't see him as anything other than a brother-type.

So - they are in a night club in Barcelona. Siena wants to be herself; that son guy keeps being an uptight ass. Eventually Siena gets that son guy to leave and soon bumps into a man named Harrison. She doesn't say who she is in terms of auto-racing; and he doesn't say who he is. Though both acknowledge that they are somehow involved in F1. They flirt, they dance, they end up in the bathroom together; some fondling begins but they get tossed out before they can get anywhere.

Harrison, which will be eventually learned, is a guy by the name of Harrison Davies. 'Secret weapon' for Team McClain. Which is right in the book's description. heh. He's a driver and will give Enzo some competition for champion of F1 (Enzo being Siena's brother).

There's a 'Romeo & Juliet' vibe going on in this book - in terms of Davis being a member of Team McClain, and Siena being a member of Team Ferrelli.

There are some scenes on the track, though most everything that involves the auto-races are from Siena's perspective watching. This is the first book in a series; maybe additional books shift the POV to someone actually behind the wheel? I might find out some day.

Oh, and the book felt quite complete and then there had to be a cliffhanger ending tacked on at the end. Mind you, that was, to a certain extent, foreshadowed, but still.

April 18 2016

Worth the Risk by Karis Walsh

Worth the Risk
by Karis Walsh
Pages: 264
Date: April 1 2012
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: March 16 to 17 2016
This is my fifth book that I have read by this author.

Firstly – I’m surprised at myself that it took me a good long while before I caught on to the title. Well, maybe not surprised, since I wasn’t really paying attention to the title. ‘Worth the Risk’ – I was seeing it, when I briefly rarely thought of the issue, as ‘is the proposal by the person who wishes to pay a million plus dollars for a horsie worth the risk?’ And yes, there is a connection between the two – the proposal and the book title. But then there’s also the other type of risk. The one I might have caught on to quicker, or at least caught the connection to the title, if I had been paying more attention – ‘is this person worth the risk to break through the barriers that I have put up around myself?’ – and before you ask, that question goes to both characters.

At a relatively young age, Jamie Callahan was caught making out with another female by her parents. Neither of whom approved of the activity. And let Jamie know. The step-father, though, took the ‘punishment’ rather far. Then the mother abandoned them. And, eventually, at the age of 15 Jamie broke away with her younger sister to attempt to both protect her sister, and attempt to do something approaching a better life. She put herself through college, got a job, one that she was/is highly successful at. Though she’s something of a large shark in a tiny pond because she’s staying in the Portland area instead of attempting to make it big in one of the larger financial sectors of the nation (like, say, New York and possibly Chicago). To a large extent she’s stayed a large shark because she has a kid to raise who has ‘special needs’ (which is both true and misleading, depending on how someone interrupts my use of that phrase). Let’s be clear – her niece is in a wheel-chair; Jamie is raising her because the mother is dead; Jamie, somewhat, blames herself for both the need for the wheel-chair, and the death of the child’s mother; having to grow up fast, she’s not emotionally equipped to show love – neither to her sister, who she raised since she was 15 (and the sister was . . . 10?), nor to her niece. So, she has work that distracts her and many one night stands. She doesn’t think she’s equipped for more than that. But, is it worth the risk to have more than just sex? More than just a one night stand? With Kate Brown?

Kate Brown’s parents raised her to always be striving to go as high as she can socially. To be a social climber. They left their homes in Kentucky, and put on airs of being more than they were so that Kate could push higher (by the way, the mother doesn’t like the name ‘Kate’ as she thinks it’s too . . . mundane? Something). And Kate has fallen into the trap that she wants to both protect her parents (reputation? Something else?), and advance herself. So, when the opportunity came to reach higher than she currently resides in the horse jumping world, she jumps at it. The opportunity involves a horse, a million dollar horse, which will allow Kate to reach the heights of the field, maybe even an Olympic medal (the maybe even part might need to be stricken from the sentence). Kate works hard to get the financial backing to get the horse. She has a proposal in at Davison and Burke, and Jamie Callahan has been assigned by D&B to investigate the proposal. The ‘is it worth the risk’ for Kate is two-fold – is it worth the risk to break away from her parents desires and strive for her own (i.e., she found happiness in her own situation – a barn, (a) good horse(s), teaching students (some of whom require special teaching methods, like those who are autistic, or use wheelchairs, or have M.S.)), and/or is it worth the risk to see if there’s more that could develop between her and Jamie Callahan?

The conflict, stress, turmoil involved, found within the story seems, at a first read glance (which is good enough for me, I rarely do more than one read) to be largely in keeping with the characters and story-line. And yes, there is conflict, there is drama, angst, and ‘issues’ that come up. Barriers that have to be breached. Issues that have to be tackled. Emotional growth that needs to occur.

I think I just wrote a teaser instead of a review. Hmms. Mmphs.

Well, I rather enjoyed the time spent with the horses, the time spent between Kate and Jamie, even when both were trying to be professional; the time they spent when they weren’t trying to be professional; the various competitions; the growth shown by Jamie in various areas. The sex.

March 17 2016

Lucky Loser by Yolanda Wallace

Lucky Loser
by Yolanda Wallace
Pages: 288
Date: November 1 2011
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: N/A

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

My second book that I have read by Yolanda Wallace. I was both somewhat nervous about trying another book by this author, and excited to do so. Both feelings developed for the same reason – the first book I had read by Wallace had been one that I had read recently and had felt to be a rather solid 5 star book. And so, we turn to ‘Lucky Loser’, or, this book here.

[Inserted after the fact: I lost this review rather early on, so, I’ll note up here – I loved this book. A lot.]

It’s somewhat unfortunate that I ended up somewhat ill right around the time I had read this and roughly 5 other books (well, that’s awkward – I was ill-ish from about Friday of last week until, say, this morning). Unfortunate in that I could read, but doing things like writing reviews was a tougher thing to tackle. Though I still did, mostly. But for three books. And the first of those is from before this ill time. So . . . this is boring. Let’s get to the book.

This book opened in such a way that I almost beat it with a stick and ran screaming away from it. Or, in other words, it opened with the lead character (well, there are two points of view, but Sinjin Smythe’s portion seemed vaguely larger) being unable to keep from being wrapped around another woman’s finger. A nasty bitchy woman who loved to undermine her and was doing Sinjin a very bad turn – both career wise and relationship wise. I really didn’t want to read a book wherein the two somehow overcame the obstacles to find that they were each other’s true loves. That would have been really annoying and sickening. But, before I set the book on fire and never looked at it again, I reconfirmed something I thought I had seen in the books description. The name of the two women in the opening part did not match the name of the women in the book description that were supposed to be the main characters. And so . . . I put the lighter fluid away and actually gave the book a chance. Since the book was supposed to be about Sinjin Smythe and Laure Fortescue, not Sinjin Smythe and . . . um, whatever and however you spell Victoriaovich’s name (Viktoriya Vasilyeva).

A funny thing happened along the way. Despite the lowish rating this book enjoys, both in terms of overall rating, and in terms of just the average rating of those who are on my list of friends, I found myself rather drawn into this book and story.

To a limited extent, I think I know why there are certain books I like while others kind of dislike (or not love), books I kind of dislike (or not love) while others like/love them, and while there is this third category wherein everyone, including me, love the book.
That was an awkward sentence.

I’ll put what I originally wrote behind spoiler tags, not because it spoils anything in this specific book here, but because I do not yet have the ability to convey my specific thought I desired to convey, and probably won’t find that ability any time soon. I’m probably, in a way, reading into things a little. Though it is based on this book, and most other books I’d read recently (including that ‘Course of Action’ book – which will be the stand in for the second category of books (those that I vaguely dislike while others love). ‘Give Me A reason’ stands in as a representative of the third category (books everyone seems to love/or at least like). This book here, as in ‘Lucky Loser’, is the representative of the first kind of book (those that I love and others don’t – I mean, it did have a 3.55 rating before I read and rated it).

To a limited extent it boils down to emphasis. The main thread/theme of the book. For example, ‘Course of Action’ is a book about an actress and a rich woman with many businesses (for the sake of simplicity, I’ll call her the executive producer, since she is also that – of the film the actress wants to act in). There are ‘other stuff’ going on in the book, but the book is mostly a ‘relationship’ book – seen through the lens of having both internal and external pressure being brought to bear onto the relationship. The most important thing, basically is what I’m driving at, is the relationship. That and plenty and lots of sex. The ‘other story’ type stuff was there, just not as important. Personally I was looking for more of the ‘other stuff’ – including the stuff about the movie. Therefore I was vaguely disappointed. Of course I’m probably reading into what others liked and disliked the book. On the other hand – ‘Give Me A Reason’ had as one of the main themes this ‘relationship’ thing, but that was neither the main nor only theme. The book was a mixture of themes (relationships, family, PTSD, teaching, crime, sex, etc.). Hmms. I think I’m wasting mine and everyone else’s time. I could probably have written this review twenty years ago, but my brain doesn’t function any longer. Or something. Well, I supposed I’ll finish up since finishing up involves the book this review was supposed to be about anyway – the emphasis, the main point, of this book, ‘Lucky Loser’, is not the relationship, but . . . um . . . I don’t think it’s specifically ‘overcoming yourself’ but saying ‘sports’ seems limiting. Yeah, I’d probably be better just eliminating the last two paragraphs. Instead I’ll just put it behind spoiler tags.

The long and short of all that I hid behind the spoiler tag above is that this specific book has less of an emphasis on relationships, and more on an elusive ‘something else’. I won’t attempt to define this ‘something else’, though I suspect it has something to do with ‘sports’. I did have a thought while reading this book – using a sports theme can add tension to a relationship, the good and bad kind of tension, and potentially side step some of the somewhat overused clichés used in ‘other’ books (though there was an awkward moment there between the two). While at the same time side stepping one of the hurdles that a different type of romance book uses to add tension – external threats like big evil men/the environment/etc. Side stepping ‘knowing’ what’s going to happen. Like, say, reading a James Bond book – there’s lots and lots of danger, but it’s a James Bond book – the reader ‘know’s that whatever tension and danger exists, Bond will still triumph (in actuality, he doesn’t always, but I’m trying to make a point here, so let’s pretend ‘not dying’ is good enough). As opposed to a sports book. You can have a great riveting; uplifting sports book . . . and not know the ending. Know that, of course, x is going to do y. Sure, Rocky eventually won, but not in the first movie. Basically is what I mean.

Shesh, I keep adding these ‘extra’ little side things. I should have just done one of my reviews where I have ‘character’, ‘romance’, ‘plot’, etc. sections. Instead of me bouncing around like crazy.

The book opens with Sinjin Smythe watching as her girlfriend of the time (and that might not be the correct word to use – the girlfriend one) wins the US Open. Doesn’t help matters that Sinjin had been her opponent in the champion match, but those things happen. An important thing, though, is what happens afterwards – Sinjin and Viktoriya ending up in bed together that night. After Viktoriya basically saying that doubles tennis doesn’t matter (or words to that effect) – which is important because Sinjin is in the champion match for that one as well . . . tomorrow. But Viktoriya wants to celebrate her own singles championship right then and there – or at least that night. No matter that this will make Sinjin tired. And stuff. Because . . .even more than ‘doubles doesn’t matter’ is that Sinjin’s feelings don’t matter, what matters is what makes Viktoriya happy. Yeah, see, this is why I wanted to set this book on fire. Gah, I thought, No way I wanted to read something like this here. Luckily I had noticed something – the book moves from here to three years in the future. And is not about the bitchy Viktoriya and the easily lead (at least by Viktoriya) Sinjin.

Three years later Sinjin is attempting to recover from a mid-season knee treatment procedure. And is attempting to qualify for Wimbledon. I should probably note, now, that Sinjin is British (mother is from Nigeria, I believe, and I don’t know where father is from). This is important. Because Wimbledon, if you the reader of this review don’t know, is in England. And they haven’t had an English winner in a ton of years (I forget now how many is mentioned in the book, 34?). Of course they don’t really expect Sinjin to be the one to do it – at least not any more. She’s fallen so far down the standings she isn’t really on them any more (ranked in triple digits). And has to go through qualifying matches to get into the tournament. To which she loses. See, this is like Rocky! Okay, so this book was about 22 pages in length and is about how Sinjin failed to . . what’s this? Oh, someone pulled out, and so Sinjin is that ‘Lucky Loser’ that’s on the front of the book. A lucky loser because she lost her last qualifying match but was had done well enough that when someone pulled out; she was at the top of the list of those waiting for someone to pull out.

Also involved at this tournament is Viktoriya, but she’s both important and not important. Or, in other words, she isn’t the other point of view of the book. No, Sinjin has her point of view, as does Laure Fortescue, of France. Laure had had her own little burden to carry – in the similar manner had the weight of Wimbledon on her back (English – 34 years), Laure had the French title weighing her down. But she begins the Wimbledon portion of the book without that specific weight. She’s interested in winning Wimbledon, though, again.

The book proceeds following both women as the move through the tournament – both on and off the court. Helping each other get ready, and helping giving tips about competitors. (A point is made that the women’s side is more helpful and stuff, with exceptions (like Viktoriya) than the men’s side of tennis).

Well, I really messed up this review so I’ll just flee with a few closing thoughts. I, unexpectedly, loved the book and seriously considered some way to convey that fact more than just having it on a 5.5 shelf. I’m still seriously considering putting this even higher than that, even though there is nothing higher among my shelves, as of yet. Ah, this switch over to only being able to convey my rating in full stars (or artificial half stars). Long ago were the days when I could rate something 4.433 and be able to tell it apart from a book I rated 4.421. Basically, I mean, this book would have used to have been a solid 5 star book. But because I have to include everything I’d have rated 4.65 up to 5.0 in the past as 5 stars, I have to add stuff to show that a specific book is ‘more than’/’better than’ etc. *Shrugs* Just feels weird to have a book that I want to rate 4.65 stars up at the 5 star level; even worse if I put it down at the 4 star level (ah, where art thou, ½ stars?). 4.65 star books resting uneasily next to 5.00 star books on the 5.0 star shelf. Mmphs.

February 25 2016