DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 1: Enlisted by Marguerite Bennett

DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 1: Enlisted by Marguerite Bennett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I had originally attempted to read this story through the individual comic issues, but gave up after the first or second issue. Reading the collection of 6 issues reminds me that I cannot judge anything off of one issue.

In theory there’s an interesting possible story here – looking at Superheroes (mainly female) back during WWII, many of whom (all?) are modeled on superheroines and supervillains operating in modern times. In practice? Eh. It isn’t really what the people behind this comic did. They just took modern heroes/villains, and shoved them back in time. Including side characters like that Amanda Weller (whatever her name is). Some of whom actually existed back then, some didn’t – some could have based on what they are and how long they might live, some couldn’t have and still be here in their modern form.

I mean, like, for example, Wonder Woman was around in WWII – both literally in real world terms (first appearance of Wonder Woman in the comics: 1941), and in story terms (depending on the origin story, Wonder Woman has been around since WWI, WWII, or relatively modern times. So having Wonder Woman, the actual one not someone modeled on the concept, operating in World War II is doable. And reading the comics that feature Wonder Woman, read like the Wonder Woman movie – except instead of WWI, stuff is happening in WWII. Oh, and, apparently, Wonder Woman is quite friendly with Mera (who later gets called Aquawoman in the comic issues).

And . . . I’ve lost the plot already. Mmphs. The idea I wanted to note was that some of these people could have been operating back in WWII, but that isn’t the point of the series, apparently. The point is to take people from ‘our’ time, and shove them back in WWII time. Like Zatanna, Harley Quinn, Supergirl, Batwoman, Maggie Sawyer, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Poison Ivy. And have them be basically themselves. Instead of having them be similar and/or parents of them. Well, there’s the ‘Joker’s Daughter’ one, but . . . I’m not really sure who she’s supposed to be.

Just like my review, actually more so than my review, the story line is confusing and disjointed. On the one hand, the story keeps being interrupted so other characters could suddenly have the focus; on the other hand when the story shifts back to a specific character, the story seems determined to be as weird as possible. Like, Batwoman is introduced as being a baseball player playing in the female league while ‘the men’ are off at war; and a vigilante . . . who wears the same costume as the baseball player; the police act as if they wish to ‘question’ Batwoman but do not know who she is as both wear masks. Except . . . . you’d think it wouldn’t be that hard for police to know where and how to contact a baseball player/team/team manager/etc. Then again, it is play acting since Batwoman actually is dating the police in the form of Maggie Sawyer (see, lesbian action! See implied lesbian sex! Etc etc). Except, that baseball story line was there and gone again in like three seconds. Then a weird spaceship like thing (okay, some kind of early helicopter, but still) lands on Batwoman’s roof. And . . . Batwoman is recruited to join the Bombshells, being led by the same woman who formed Suicide Squad in a different universe. Then . . . several other people are visited . . . and when we return, Batwoman is in Berlin, being a spy. As herself. That story line is relatively straight forward, albeit disjointed. Other story lines? Super disjointed and confusing.

Like the one where Supergirl and her twin sister (seriously, I can’t tell Kara and Kostanri (however her name is spelled) apart) join the Soviet air force. I know the Soviets are supposed to be seen as evil and stuff, but there were some good people here and there. And turning the Night Witches, the female piloted air force, into evil harlots is just wrong. Just . . . mmphs.

I’ve read stories wherein Superman landed on Soviet controlled land. This one just happens to have that, but it being Supergirl land there. But . . . the Soviets decide to see Supergirl as a traitor and evil and must die . . . instead of using her for their own objectives? I . . what?

Bah, my brain is kind of messed up, this review is messed up.

All the story-lines are super weird and confusing. Like when Harley Quinn finally turns up. She appears to be sane and working in a hospital. She talks to a patient who used to be her colleague. Then Quinn’s eyeball grows to three times normal, and she rips her clothing off, dances around singing and beating up people and flying randomly to France. WTF? Quinn’s a chaotic character, but there’s usually something more to her actions than random insanity. Though it might sometimes look like random insanity.

So – Supergirl’s story line is fucked up; Quinn’s is random insanity; Zatanna is super powerful but . . . ‘trapped’ by circumstances – her story line is fucked up more by the circumstances than anything else; haven’t mentioned it, but Wonder Woman’s story line is also fucked up (seriously, at some point she ends up in prison because the allies wanted to kill some prisoners and WW wouldn’t let them). Individually fucked up story lines, and together a disjointed mess.

On the positive side, there are both lesbian superheroes and Jewish superheroes in attendance – sometimes at the same time. Talking about Batwoman and Zatanna here.

I read this collected volume in one sitting while ‘wasting time’ before a movie. For what it is, and what I used it for, it entertained me. Story line was too annoying, though, for me to continue the series. If series continued, no clue if it did.

Oh, one last thought – getting back to my inability to tell Supergirl apart from her sister – that happens a lot in this collection. Too many of the characters look the same/similar to other characters. Like I could have sworn Harley Quinn was one of the other baseball players since one of them looked like her, but that doesn’t correspond to her storyline. Then Batwoman runs into another Harley Quinn like person but . . . again not her. And there were times I found it hard to tell Supergirl/supergirl sister and Maggie Sawyer apart. Other times I had trouble telling Zatanna and Catwoman apart. Bah, my poor eyesight? The art itself? Pfft, don’t know, probably my eyesight.

Rating: 3

April 27 2018




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Patty's Potent Potion by Robin Alexander

Patty's Potent Potion by Robin Alexander

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is my second reading of this book. My first reading of this book occurred in May 2017.

Robin Alexander is the perfect example to be used for why I tend to give authors 3 to 5 books before I decide on if I like them or not – if I’ll continue to read them or not (previously I would have used Georgette Heyer). Why do I say this? Simple enough – I read three books by Alexander in 2014 and, naturally, I loved . . . . heh, no. I gave those three books an overall rating of 3.8, though that was mostly due to giving one of the three a rating of 4.5. It then took me two more years to try another book – and then I went on a longish string of 5 star reads. Did I love everything I read after that point? No, of course not. Some books I actually ended up rating worse than the initial three reads, but this is all boring and stuff so I move on. The point is that Alexander ended up being, basically, my favorite author and I almost gave up on her books before I should have. Eh, happens.

If I recorded things correctly, this is the third book I’ve reread by Alexander. And second I’ve placed on my top shelf reachable only by reread books. Alexander is the only author who has more than one work on my 6 star shelf.

Strangely enough, this book was even better than I recalled, and I spotted bits of humor here and there that I am fairly certain I hadn’t noticed the first time. There are both humorous lines, and humorous passages (as in, humorous banter; and, in context, humorous scenes). I loved everyone involved with this book, character-wise (well, I mean, ‘obviously’ I wouldn’t want anything to do with Janice, the grandmother, and she wasn’t great on her own, but the interactions added something to the book). Let’s step back and say: I loved the two main characters, Shawna and Ashton; and a good number of the side characters like Jet the daughter, and Patty the friend (actually, I believe I came to like Patty more this go-around than in the previous read).

The interaction between Shawna & Ashton as friends and lovers was great; the interaction between Patty and both Shawna & Ashton was good; the dynamic of the ex-Megan (Shawna’s ex) was quite good, and I kinda want to see a book starring Megan and Lucy (or Megan and anyone, really, but she seems to be doing well with Lucy so . . .).

Great story line. Humor, romance, sex, . . . hmms . . . humor again.

Rated: 6 stars

April 26 2018




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Wild Magic (The Veil Chronicles, #1) by May Dawney

Wild Magic by May Dawney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a quite good, even quite riveting story. Certain issue, though, as to why I ended up giving this 4.5 instead of something higher (I didn't deduct or anything, I just didn't feel like giving a higher rating): the book is more a deep dive into two people and their coming together in strange and magical circumstances . . . while mostly never leaving one apartment, and very little outside action going on. There was tension, and there was bits of 'oh no! they might find us!', but that wasn't really a huge part of the story. No, this really was a 'build a universe', and a 'character study', than an action filled fantasy book.

The book, I do not know if 'despite' works, heck a book without much action can be great so no not 'despite' - this book was good. It just left me wanting more. And there were some plot lines that weren't wrapped up. On the other hand there's, like, at least 3 more (or was it four?) books in this series coming out each month through the rest of 2018. So I don't have to wait a lot of time to find out more (on other hand, the description indicates the main characters change . . . so . . .).

Bah.

Right, so - this is a book set in Poland. Kraków to be exact (as in the second largest city in Poland). Starring a Polish woman. Who is helped by a British speaking Kenyan woman. Helped? Well, ever get one of those pounding headaches like some get? Where it builds and builds and it feels like your entire body, or at least your head, is going to explode? And, quite frankly, you don't care if that happens because the pain would, at least, be gone afterwards? Well, Noah Otieno helps Ania Zaleska with that.

Or, more accurately, helps Ania after her head/body does, in fact, explode (okay, that makes things sound wrong – Ania’s body didn’t actually explode, it was the magic in her she didn’t know she had in her that exploded).

The vast majority of the book takes place, after some moving around at the start of the book, with Noah trying to help Ania ‘control’ her ‘wild’ magic.

Reading it like that – it sound vaguely boring, eh? Well it isn’t boring. It’s quite exciting and fun. But, eh, I can’t make it sound fun and exciting in a review. Apparently.

For those that care about such things: sex does in fact occur in this book. I do not recall it being graphic. Was it? Hmm. *thinks* Nooo I don’t think it was.

I look forward to book two in this series.

Rating: 4.50

April 24 2018



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The Reaper Rescues The Genie (Nocturne Falls, #9) by Kristen Painter

The Reaper Rescues The Genie by Kristen Painter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the . . . . well, ninth book in this specific series, but something like the 2,000th work in this Nocturne Falls series (counting those books/short stories by other authors). This specific book stars two side characters I never really had a huge desire to see front and center as main characters – the ‘retired’ genie Imari Zephara, spotted once or thrice in cameos in previous books, and Lucien Dupree, aka Death. Though he is also ‘retired’ – though he’s retired due to an inability to control his powers. Specifically his ability to kill someone with his touch or not kill (it’s the part where he can’t seem to stop killing, based on one experience. Once is enough, of course, when it’s your grandmother.)

Both of the main characters, Imari & Lucien (if I didn’t make that clear, heh), have their own point of views in this book. Lucien brings in his grandmother (as his roommate slash ghost), Graysen (mostly previously seen in that side series starring Jayne Frost), and one of the waitresses at the club he owns (that super hip supernatural only place that pops up in most books in both this series and . . . well, at least one or three of the Frost mystery series). He also brings in, as side characters, cameos from the head vampire family in Nocturne Falls – except for the one who actually lives in the same building Imari lives in who, oddly enough, makes no appearance in this story despite many chances to appear (many visits to the building he lives in with his wife; need to include the vampire family to help solve a story line, etc. etc.). Through Imari we the readers get, as cameos mostly, . . . a couple of the women who have previously appeared in this series – mostly as in they are mentioned by name, seen, not heard. Though at least one does have lines, but she’s gone to because of her job, not because she’s a friend. Also included in the story because of Imari are: her parents, that guy she’s was promised to before she was born (it wasn’t even her that was promised, just ‘first female born’ – what lovely parents, eh?), plus a wish merchant and another genie.

Right. So.

Imari is a ‘retired’ genie. Retired with little air quotes because she’s lying, but let’s not get into that, m’kay? Imari visits . . . crap, this is where me getting around forgetting the nightclubs name bites me on the ass. Um, Illusions? Illumanti? Illinois? Whatever it’s called, Imari visits the place with her friends. But this is seen from Lucien’s point of view, as he is hidden away, all creepy like, in a sheltered VIP area. He watches her. He finds her gorgeous. He notices her turning up her nose at . . . wait, no . . .okay, however it came about, he learned she wanted tea, but they didn’t serve tea, so he went all the way home (which is below the night club, not miles away), gets tea for her and sends it over. She wanders over to thank him, despite the part where he’s hiding, and no one is allowed back there. They meet cute.

Imari leaves. Is attacked by a human. Apparently is super super incapable of doing anything but stand there all sacredly like – genies sure are unpowerful, eh? A guy in a dark robe appears, flashes everyone (what, his skull head), and acts all scary. Wish merchant flees.

Lucien, now sad because he knows Imari will not want anything to do with him now that he flashed her, is whimpering at home. Technically, since he whimpers 24/7, I’m not sure how anyone will be able to tell he has a reason to whimper now. Graysen asks a favor of him – apparently not only is Imari not horrified by being flashed, but she wants Lucien to guard her bottle . . . reasons reasons reasons…..

So, Imari is a genie – there’s a wish merchant chasing her (merchant wants to capture her and force her to give out wishes, and/or sell her (or the wishes). Lucien protects her. They get to know each other. Ghost grandmother bakes a lot. The end.

If I recall correctly, and I could double check by scrolling up but I’m lazy, I believe I started off by noting that I had not really thought I’d wish to read a book starring these two characters. Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed this book. And look forward to more books in this multiple series universe of Nocturne Falls.

Rating: 4.45

April 24 2018



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Psych: The Call of the Mild by William Rabkin

Psych: The Call of the Mild by William Rabkin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Rereading books can be fun, for many reasons. Especially if you liked the book in the first or previous readings, and do not have instant recall of the entire book when you start a new rereading. On the other hand, I believe my lack of remembrance, for the most part lack of remembrance of the story-line here, is due less to the great number of years and books between first reading and this rereading, and more because the book itself is kind of . . . to put it bluntly . . . boring.

On the other hand – I believe I enjoyed the sub-plot involving Psych’s father and the ‘foot cop’ more this time than I did in the previous reading. On the other hand, I think I enjoyed the Gus and Shawn story, plot line, more in the first go around. A good deal of, maybe all of the humor that I know I noticed before (since I spotted a few times when I had previously laughed), just didn’t hit me as humorous this time. At least in regard to Shawn and Gus’s story.

Decent enough book. Seemed like an Episode of Psych. Just not an exciting episode of Psych.

Rating: 3

April 24 2018



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Playing in Shadow by Lesley Davis

Playing in Shadow by Lesley Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I do not remember now what caused me the double desire to read this book and . . . reluctance to start this book. I messed up, I did, though. I should have read this a lot closer to the end of the previous book in the series. Not because the previous book was incomplete or anything. No, both books are self-contained entities. No, I mention what I mention because this really is a book following two couples, not a book wherein the couple from the first book just make cameos or are important side characters. No, a lot of the story follows the couple from the first book (Trent and Juliet), and it is almost, but not quite, as if Bryce and Scarlet are the side couple in this story instead of the budding romance couple.

Right, so. This book follows the further adventures of Trent and Juliet about . . . if I recall correctly, 2 years after the end of the previous book. Plus the coming together of Bryce and Scarlet. A bank executive tired of her career in the first book (will at the start of the first book at least), Juliet now works in landscaping for Tweedy Contractors – and is ‘heavily pregnant’. Trent still works at the gaming story she was at in the previous book. Monica and her boyfriend Elton continue to be involved and continue to be important side characters. And I mention them before the other main point of view characters to round out the characters from the previous book.

Monica and Juliet were roommates in the first book. Now it’s Monica and Scarlet Tweedy who are roommates. And as the last name indicates, Scarlet is connected to Tweedy Contractors – as both the daughter of the owner, and worker at the company (though she’d just recently moved back home from Chicago working in a completely different field (which she continues on the weekends) involving being a painter and photographer – for Tweedy Contractors she works as a house painter (there’s a different skill set between a house painter and an artist painter – though one of the paintings at the Whitney that I liked the most involved an artist ‘making a statement’ about abstract art by following his house painting skills to slap some lines on an unprimed canvas and . . . well, basically I’m saying there’s different skill sets involved). Two important things to know about Scarlet (well beyond being short-ish, pale, and having flaming red hair): 1) her father wants her to take over the company – she has no desire for that; 2) she develops a fascination towards a coworker – the only other woman who works for the company (that’s not right, there’s at least one more, um, the only other woman who goes to job sites?) but that wasn’t what I was going to mention – no, I was going to mention that is that Scarlet is bold and not afraid to take the steps needed to get what she wants. This helps here because the other main character, the coworker, is Bryce Donovan. Who is a fragile fragile woman.

As the book opens, Bryce is being examined by a doctor. Bryce wants to get back to work as soon as possible. The doctor agrees, but only limited duty. Bryce works as a . . . um, I forget the words used, she prepares walls to be painted. Bryce is still in pain, but she needs to get away from her empty apartment. And her bed. Where she doesn’t spend much time anyway – not for reasons some might leap to expect, but because she can’t sleep. Every time she does she’s back in the car – the one she was in – the one where everyone but her died in.

Right, so, Trent and Juliet continue their happy lives, awaiting the birth of Newt, while Scarlet and Bryce work through issues to get to couple hood.

There is also a ton of sex.

Rating: … I didn’t realize until I came to write this review, but I apparently rated this book higher than the previous book. Who-would-have-thought, eh? 4.45

ETA: odd, took 4 days to write review for first book in series; and took 4 days to write review for this book here.

April 18 2018



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Never After by Jove Belle

Never After by Jove Belle

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This is not a full story, short or otherwise. It's barely a full scene. There's no way to review without spoilers, so I use certain tags.

(view spoiler)[A naive young woman is seduced by her father's fiancee, who is older, but only barely older than the young woman. The young woman visits the other the night before the wedding. The other looks at her with contempt and says something cutting like 'why are you here', the other begins to depart, but the other calls her back. The young woman talks of running away - she has great skill with the sword and other defensive stuff, while the older woman is a great and powerful witch; other woman looks at her with more contempt and mocks her. Young woman rides away on a horse. Older woman watches from window. The end.

No, seriously, that's the entirety of the story. Older woman seduces younger woman, tosses her aside, marries younger woman's father. As, you know, happens.

Does it really change anything to add that the younger woman goes by 'Snow White' and the older is the witch who poisoned her with an apple in some other story, but here, instead, seduces her? No, not really - not really adds/changes anything. Young woman could have been named Tiffany for all it would have mattered, instead she got 'Snow'. Despite what some think - Tiffany? Named after the department store? The name has been around for a rather long time - since ancient Greece, though there it was Theophania. (hide spoiler)]

April 12 2018



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Glass Empires (Star Trek: Mirror Universe, #1) by Mike Sussman, Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, David Mack, Greg Cox

Glass Empires by Mike Sussman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a collection of two short stories and one novel length work packaged together and set in the Star Trek Mirror Universe (as in, the one seen in various episodes throughout the various Star Trek series in which characters would pop over to an alternate universe, meet a version of themselves, and be shocked, shocked!, at what they found - finding a Terran Empire instead of a Federation).

Mirror Universe stories tend to go four ways:
1) Federation personnel end up in Mirror universe, and react to it, are shocked by it, return to Federation space (more the television episodes);
2) Mirror universe people (who never leave the Mirror universe), after encountering Federation people or learning of Federation people, react to the concept of the Federation and attempt to take what learned and apply it to themselves; this goes one of two ways: 1) they attempt to redirect their own universe to try to lead it to Federation like situation; 2) use the knowledge gained to better themselves, and take over stuff (more the short stories/books);
3) rarer - Mirror universe people end up in Federation space and react. Rare as most of the time the Mirror universe people seem to die almost instantly when they end up in Federation space, weird, eh? So this one involves Mirror universe people reacting and living in Federation space. As noted, rare. (as seen in one television series);
4) ultra rare - Mirror universe people living their lives . . . . with no contact what-so-ever with Federation space or any other alternate reality. I've only seen this one in one fanfiction.

Well, this specific book, as noted, contains three stories. All by different authors and/or author teams. One story really is not a sequel of the prior story, but whatever occurred in that prior story provides changes the next story has to live with (as in, first story shows an individual taking over the Terran Empire; next story has descendants of that empress).

The first story in the book is an Star Trek Enterprise Mirror Universe story. Before the start of the story, the I.S.S. Enterprise encountered the U.S.S. Defiant - a ship from the future, an alternate future. Federation people are never seen in the story, though Federation technology is - since the Enterprise crew takes over the much more advanced Defiant ship (empty, again pre-story, by the Defiant crew going insane and killing each other). One of the Enterprise crew, Hoshi, kills, takes over ship, flies to Earth, takes over Empire. The end. There's much more to it than that, but . . ..

I gave that first story a rating of 3.8-something. 3.83.

Second story is an Star Trek The Original Series Mirror Universe story. It builds upon prior story, but also builds on an episode on the original series. Another pre-story issue. No Federation people seen in the story, though several of the Federation Enterprise crew, pre-story, were encountered by Mirror Universe Enterprise crew members. From a mind meld MU Spock did on FU McCoy, Spock leans the truth of Federation Universe. Uses knowledge to go about taking over ship/empire/leading/redirecting/etc.etc.

I gave this book length work a rating of something like . . . I don't remember. Ah, there. 4.03.

Third Mirror Universe story is set in Star Trek TNG time period. Again builds on prior stories, though this time there is no pre-story Federation Unvierse encounter by TNG people. Stars Picard as an archaeologist working for a Cardassian (there's reasons). He's wandering the universe in a tiny little ship called 'Stargazer. Somewhere along the line, the 'Resistance', decides that the best course of action would be to search out and contact the Borg. Things do not go well for this plan. Story kind of ends abruptly.

I hadn't rated this story before coming here to write something. Hmm. I rate it . . . 3.73.

So:
Age of Empires by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore (story by Mike Sussman): 3.83
The Sowrrows of Empire by David Mack: 4.03
The Worst of Both Worlds by Greg Cox: 3.73
----- 3.86333

April 12 2018



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Floral Designs by Andi Marquette

Floral Designs by Andi Marquette

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A lovely little story set during and around Valentine's day. The lead main character (and only point of view character) is content to be by herself - nein, she prefers doing things that others just don't understand, that really does like doing certain things sans companion. She's not asexual or aromantic, though, and has had relationships in the past.

One such relationship is now just a friendship. And that friend seems bound and determined to get her friend someone to love, and/or, at the very least, play with. Romantically and/or sexually. Debbie, the friend, remains Marissa's friend, the main character, despite this inability to stop trying to find said 'someone to play with'. The woman Debbie has picked to thrust at Marissa this time, for . . . was it months? is a 'too cute for her own good butch woman', Marissa's words (to herself), and too much of a 'flavor of the month' type (again, Marissa's impression/words to herself).

Things might have rested there, with Marissa having her friend occasionally thrusting people, or more specifically Gabriela at Marissa, with Marissa reacting with disdain and shudders. But then Gabriela, seemingly outside Debbie's influences ('seemingly?', well yes - she does something on her own, but I can't say with certainty that Debbie might not have provided a nudge one way or another), begins to interact with Marissa. Which, actually, initially reinforces some of Marissa's negative attitude towards Gabriela, though also begins to break down Marissa's wall.

Marissa is a florist. It's Valentine Season. And Gabriela has asked Marissa's help with putting together a special flower arrangement for a particular woman - who is not actually Gabriela's current girlfriend, but instead current potential.

Lovely little story, quite enjoyable.

Rating: 4.89

April 7 2018



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Devil's Bargain by Andi Marquette

Devil's Bargain by Andi Marquette

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A somewhat odd story about a young woman named Sarah who has undertaken a quest to recover the family gold. And who enlists the help of those she never should have been near - for relatively obvious reasons, since they do what was expected, double-cross her and 'kill' her. That's actually the start of the story - Sarah being stabbed 'to death'.

A short story set in an unnamed period of time, though it is 'obviously' the Age of Sails, so . . . 1700s?, and includes pirates, and the like. It also involves fantasy creatures. Meet, also, at the beginning - when the nearly dead Sarah is confronted by yet another pirate-y looking person, albeit a female one this time. Who offers Sarah a deal - a 'Devil's Bargain'.

Where-upon . . . well, the story is too short to tell too much more. It is an interesting historical/pirate/vampire story. There is a tinge of romance, but it is not a romance story. Certain things hint at lesbianism, but I'm not certain I can even really call it lesbian fiction. For various reasons.

I enjoyed the story, at least.

Rating: 3.89

April 7 2018



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Come to the Rocks by Christin Haws

*I received this book from NineStar Press and Netgalley for an honest review*

I recently read and reviewed a book, and my review was fixated on the abusive relationship on display in the book. That specific relationship type, abusive, wasn’t in the book description, and I could see how a reader could read the book and not see the same signs I saw. Instead of seeing and reading a love story, like the book called itself, I saw and read something else.


Similar thing happened here. Though here the short story description plainly admits to including an abusive relationship story line. And yet, like before, I became fixated on something not listed in the description or book genres. No, not the love story part, that was there in the description, no the potential unreliable narrator story line.

I’m not really sure how to react to this story, and/or how I am supposed to react to this story. There were some massive hints that I was reading a story that included both an abusive relationship (main POV character with the stalker ex-boyfriend) and a budding love story (main POV character with the mermaid). On the other hand there were hints, less massive, that I was reading an unreliable narrator story. Like the part wherein the narrator stated several times that their mental process was broken (not in those words), and they weren’t always 100% sure of what was going on around them. Like how Linnea found it more unbelievable that Mren, the mermaid, found Lin attractive, than the part where Mren was a mermaid; or the part wherein Mren tells Lin a story that is directly on point – a solution to Lin’s problems, before Mren learned what Lin’s problems actually were; or the part wherein Linnea was 100% convinced her stalker ex-boyfriend was inside her house – to the point she got up, went to her car, and drove to his house and was only reassured that he wasn’t inside because she saw his distinctive truck in his own driveway (though ‘reassured’ puts it strongly); or the part wherein Linnea had become numb to the idea that it was a question of when, not if, her ex-boyfriend Mikey would kill her and her story would appear on the news (which is one of the reasons she kept calling the police on ‘the stuff’ that was going on – so there would be a paper trail on him).

Bah, I’m going too long down that particular path. Point is: I’m not sure if I should read this as a story of Linnea, the main character and only point of view; her abusive stalker ex-boyfriend; or read this as a story about Linnea, her stalker ex-boyfriend, and her ingenious solution to the problem – and the mermaid was just a figment of her imagination (there are even hints, beyond the ‘found it more unbelievable that the mermaid was interested in her, than that she was spending time with a mermaid’ that the main character wasn’t even certain the mermaid was real).

Alas – there is no big reveal indicating one or the other plot-line is the ‘real’ one. And since I’m seeing the ‘unreliable narrator’ hints without a ‘big reveal’, and note of such in book description, I assume I should not read that specific plot-line into the story. Or something like that.

On the other hand – I’m not sure it matters. I’ve had to think long and hard on what I actually read, which genre I was actually in, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter. At least in the sense that I’d end up at the same rating for either: love story with background stalker/ex-boyfriend; or unreliable narrator murder mystery. The same high rating.

It’s strange how I find myself where I find myself. To think I was going to do my normal ‘this is the first story I’ve read by this author’; ‘I became interested in reading this story because I had just recently started watching a television series called ‘Siren’ that involves a mermaid, though a different type of mermaid than appears in this story here’. But, alas, my review went off on a weird ‘other’ direction.

Stalker ex-boyfriend/abusive relationship: This is the story of a woman named Linnea. She’s chubby (self-aware comment on herself), and bisexual. She entered into a ‘not serious’ relationship with a guy named Mikey. When he started acting ‘weird’, and/or like he wanted more out of the relationship, she dumped him. He, in turn, could not accept that and the two of them have now spent more time in this ex-boyfriend/abusive/stalker situation than they did in their actual relationship. She has a restraining order on him. He ignores it. Does stuff that causes her to call the police. Adds to the paper trail, but he hadn’t, by the start of this story, done anything that would allow the police to actually do anything. The stalker/abusive asshole situation builds exponentially in this story.

Love Story: There’s one specific spot Linnea finds peace, comfort, safety. Everywhere else she finds herself in fear. Afraid that Mikey will show up there. ‘Her place’ is a specific spot on the coastline. A very rocky place next to a, normally, angry ocean. Very slippery and wet rocky place, with an ocean that would be super pleased to reach out, grab whoever is stupid enough to be on the rocks, and bash the person to death against the rocks. But Linnea can read the ocean. And knows when it is safe enough to be there.

During one of her times resting in her spot, she spots a glimmer on the water too quick to know if she actually saw something or not. Then it’s there longer – she’s spotted something. Then . . . there’s the face of a beautiful woman looking up at her, who Linnea later learns is Mren.

And that is the love story on display – the story of the budding romance between Linnea – human, and Mren – mermaid.

Unreliable Narrator: There are hints that I might have spotted incorrectly. If spotted correctly, this is something of a psychological horror – with a woman breaking (and she admits to herself that she is breaking – in the story line) to the point where she begins to have delusions/illusions, and ends up committing ‘the perfect murder’.

That, at least, is what I thought while reading the story. I’d not have even admitted seeing that in my review, though, if I hadn’t read the section after the story, about the author. I repeat, before I mention what I saw, that I thought of this unreliable narrator/psychological horror before reading that ‘about the author’ section. I did not get the idea from the fact that the author notes that they normally write horror stories, with occasional jumps into other stuff. *shrugs* It’s possible that what I saw was what I was supposed to see. It’s possible what I saw snuck in via an author who normally writes horror. It’s also possible that I, myself, am just insane and nothing I spotted was there.

(hehe – as I write this I keep remembering things that reinforce the ‘unreliable narrator’ thingie. My review could probably end up longer than the short story itself if I continued to note down these sudden remembrances – so I won’t – though I know I’m going to forget them as time passes (like the narrator noting how ‘magically modest’ the mermaid was – in that her hair, or the ocean itself, always covered her breasts – except for one very specific moment).

Rating: 4.77

April 6 2018

Halloween Pony by I. Binder

I'm in the vaguely confused situation wherein I am fairly certain I wrote a review (strong sense I attempted to spell the game the two main characters played, but had to double check the spelling), but do not see one here now, plus, I do not actually recall rating this story this highly.  5+ stars? Seriously? Shesh.

A man and a woman play a game.  She's drunk. He's . . .it's not stated.  They've been dating for a while. She's a teenager.  He's creepily older than her. Like, 30+ year old dating a 18 year older creepy.  I do not recall which game in particular they play, nor if she ever had success against him playing the game. But she's feeling recklessly overconfident, so agrees to a bet.  He'll give her enough money to go to college if she wins; she'll wear a costume he picks out for her for a Halloween party (I forgot to include: 'he's filthy rich, she's cleanly poor (what, we doing opposites, yes? What's the opposite of filthy rich?  Well, she doesn't have money, 'k?)'; is instant red flag if one side of a wager is some massively generous reward, and other side is something 'minor').

Woman, as expected, loses.  All of this mentioned in passing, I don't think it was actually mentioned in detail though.  Woman doesn't mind, really - she's going to be able to go to a Halloween party, which should be great, and all she has to do is wear whatever he picks out. How bad can it be?

Day of party occurs. She arrives early to get into the costume; she has no clue what he chose for her.  She's the kind to be, apparently, constantly aroused.  He keeps her on the peak of arousal as he provides her with the costume, and she puts it on.  Talking her into doing certain things she might otherwise not do but for being so aroused. Like put on the costume sans undergarments (has the costume been used before? Has it at least been cleaned? Bare skin against rented costume? nooooo).  She might be quite aroused, but she's still aware enough of her surroundings to notice that her nipples and breasts are kind of very visible in this costume.  He makes some off hand comment about how he'll take care of things.  She, being really horny, continues to put on costume.  Assumes she'll put it on, they'll fuck, she'll then get him to add things - like . . . um, well, better cover for her breasts. I forget what all else.

While still on the peak of arousal, he binds up her arms, restrains her, and shoves a gag like thingie into her mouth.  Then proceeds to lead her outside. She's, understandably, freaking out by this point.

Whereupon he leashes her to some post like thing outdoors. Then leaves. Vehicle arrives. She's horrified/embarrased/incredibly pissed off.  People exit the vehicle. It's a horse . . . um . . . use my words . . . horse trailer thingie. The type of thing you transport horses in.  The people from the vehicle, the front part at least, proceed to remove three women dressed like the main female character of the story.  I failed to mention how she's dressed, yes? hmms. Right, so, she's been dressed up like a ponygirl (I also forgot to mention that he did actually tell her how he was going to dress her, I'd forgotten - so, forget what I said before about her not knowing -> she'd no clue what he meant, and was vaguely interested how she'd be dressed like a pony. Especially as there's just one of her, and most pony costumes she knew of previously involved someone wearing a horse head, and someone else wearing horse rear; that's not the kind of pony she's dressed up like).

One thing leads to another - and I interject two things: the woman is deeply annoyed/angry/etc. about everything going on; deeply aroused - and the exposed woman is attached to a two ponygirl cart.  And proceeds to be forced to transport people longish distance from gate up to house. While being whipped.

Other stuff happens. Like a roommate appearing, and complications, and stuff. And people talking about her right in front of her, without actually talking to her. Etc.etc.

How the bloody hell did I end up rating this 5+ stars?  eh, meh, pfft.

This is one of those niche type stories that is not for everyone. On many levels. Immature people below a certain age should not read this. Mature people of any age should probably not read this. People looking for graphic depictions of sex . . . should look elsewhere.  People looking for an almost fetish-like devotion to descriptions of binding/deeply detailed and extensively detailed descriptions of leather and buckles, and bits, and bindings/etc. should look elsewhere.  I'm not exactly sure whose left in the possible reading audience, but them, they should read this. *nods*  (I have left a lot, I figured I didn't need to continue down a list, I'd never finish, infinite list - 'those who like cat stories shouldn't look here' (well, the roommate is wearing a cat costume, but . . . ); 'those who like horror should not . . . ' (well, there's a tinge of psychological horror but . . . ) etc. etc.).

Rating: WTF I rated it before.

April 4 2018

Spanking New by Clifford Henderson

This is the second time I’ve read this book. It’s an odd ball kind of book, and as I noted in the start of my previous review – somewhat impossible to pin down genre-wise. Previous review is probably good enough ‘what this book is about’, so I just ramble here, yes? No? Well, I’ll think of something.

Bare bones: the main character is someone who is quite knowledgeable about certain things, not so knowledgeable about other things. They are a spirit like entity – pre-birth. And that’s their mission in this book – find parents, be born. Once born, they’ll lose their memories – a barrier would be passed and they’ll enter the ‘land of forgetting’ (or however that was worded). The book follows the spirit entity on this journey.

I liked the humor on display in this book (though a lot of it is ‘in context’ vaguely humorous, not out of context humorous). Like when the entity (later named Spanky by parents unsure of what name to pick, so I use Spanky from now on) spots potential father for first time and has certain thoughts:

Surely I’m not going to take just any dad, one who would lie to a best friend, a soldier about to risk his life for his country. Then again, I really like his hair.

Hmm. I only have one other highlighted bit of humor and it is even less easy to see the humor in it out of context so I move on.

I really like the characters on display here. Most of them would not normally be my type of character I’d want to spend time with, but, in this book, they work quite well. From the somewhat ditzy, flighty ‘mom’ character with her fixation/obsession on one of her male friends and her ability to ‘forget’ that he’s gay; to the ‘dad’ character who still lives at home, works in a car shop, and has a music degree; to the borderline-but-not-stereotype gay best friend; to the ‘refusing to accept the fact that she’s a lesbian’ other best friend; to the gang of friends the ‘mom’ type was friends with; to the incredibly socially awkward, nervous sister, who is quite selfish and stubborn, but shows hints of many great traits hidden beneath; to . . . well, many more great characters who, on a surface glance, fall into a category of ‘nooo’, but aren’t what they seem.

It’d be neat to see the ‘next’ part. As in, this book shows an individual ‘pre-birth’, to humanization, to birth. Then ends. It’d be neat to see what happened next in their life. And no, they didn’t end up getting ‘Spanky’ as a name – well, I didn’t see a birth certificate or anything, but the parents did agree, eventually, on the name Lucy. (note to self: the action in this book takes place in 2007. The next book by this author, not yet published, involves a Lucy character - but includes action from 1989, so, different Lucy)

Great book.

Rating: 5+

April 4 2018

The Princess Deception by Nell Stark

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

This book is about a con artist and an abusive relationship (and no, I’m not talking about Maria and Sebastian).  Part of that is seen by the reader immediately. Part takes longer to come into focus, though it does by at least the 39% mark (more the potential, not the confirmation of an abusive relationship).

A con artist, by the way, who became violently enraged when her con was detected and broadcast to the world. The other party involved, the one who didn’t broadcast the information to the world, but was perceived to have done so – and even if the con artist (she thought to herself) believed this other party, this other woman’s words, that they didn’t tell the world about the con – she still . . . . lied about . . . the con artists identity (this is also part of the abusive relationship – getting enraged at the other party for your own actions.  Getting enraged that the other woman didn’t immediately, and I mean immediately, tell the other woman her suspicions concerning the long-con Viola was running).

A long con?  The book doesn’t seem to indicate some kind of criminal caper is going to be involved. No, it implies something like a retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night would occur.   Sure, the book is titled ‘Princess Deception’, so the reader knows going in that the princess is a lying deceiving type, but I’m wording things too harshly, yes?  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.

Twelfth Night is about a young woman named Viola who shipwrecks on an island and, to protect herself (history isn’t exactly kind to random wandering single unprotected women), she pretends to be a man named Cesario.  There’s a weird love . . . mess that occurs. With Viola (as Cesario) falling in love with Duke Orsino; but Orsino is in love with Countess Olivia; and Olivia herself falls for Viola . . . as Cesario.   Confusion galore.

Princess Deception?  Well, it isn’t an exact retelling, of course.  With one story set long long ago, and the other set . . . roughly around now.  Viola and Sebastian are the twins of Deception and Viola plays Sebastian.  There’s even a Duke for Viola to fall for, here a Missy ‘I don’t like my first name’ Duke (former soccer star).  I suppose it would be pushing things to have the other ‘love interest’ in the story, Sebastian’s girlfriend I mean, be named Olivia – instead she’s named Maria in Deception (though one of Olivia’s servants in the play is named Maria; hmm, and Olivia’s uncle is named Toby – and Toby has a big-ish role in the Deception book).

As noted – Viola pretended to be a man in 12th Night (Cesario, though I’d originally misremembered and thought she played Sebastian).  And in Princess Deception Viola plays Sebastian, or pretends to be him in certain circumstances.  She’s doing this long con in Deception because Sebastian has a drug problem and Viola believes the best thing to do is to pretend to be Sebastian so that people wouldn’t hound him, and therefore allow him to recover in peace and quiet. 

They can’t all just go ‘into hiding’, or the like, because Sebastian had been the front person for the effort to land . . . um, the World Cup? Something like that, to Belgium and the Netherlands (a joint bid), and the month long celebration of this bid was just about to kick off when Sebastian landed in the hospital.  So – Viola gets a haircut, gets some masculine looking clothing, clothing that looks like Sebastian’s, cut to her own proportions, puts on a breast binder, and struts around as Sebastian.  She just doesn’t wear his clothing because they aren’t actually the same height/shape.

Duke, the other main point of view character in this story, starts off the book deeply depressed about her place in life.  For, you see, she had been a high rising, hard charging, and popular, wealthy soccer/football player.  Until an injury ended her career.  Through a teammate’s brother, she landed a job as a journalist (apparently, no one wanted to hire her on her own merits). Duke has been tasked with writing a story or stories, about the FIFA World Cup bid process.

Due to the fact that Duke had, in fact, once been famous, she’s recognized when she attends a particular event. Recognized by a young Princess.  Of the Netherlands.  Who invites Duke to get close, then watch a soccer match up in the VIP area.  Before that, though, Duke had seen a speech given by Prince Sebastian – a welcoming to the festivities type speech. And Duke immediately knew, knew, that Sebastian was actually . . . . Princess Viola.  Despite never having meet either, and the fact that her entire knowledge of Viola comes from some research conducted, while distracted, on the train up to the soccer match (research study needed for many reasons, including the part wherein she never before paid attention to royal types).   Part of the ‘oh my god that’s Viola!’ is from phrases, and moves Sebastian does/says while giving the speech. Which I’d normally leave for the reader to find, but I need to say that so I can say – part of the OMG is the part where Sebastian has to be Viola because . . . of certain feminine aspects detected by Duke (I mean, seriously? In this day and age we are going to play the ‘men are men, which means super macho manly men, while women are feminine, and effeminate men either don’t exist or are actually women in disguise’ game? Seriously?, pfft).

Right, so, Viola-as-Sebastian and Duke interact.  Duke doing things like interviewing Viola, Viola doing things like flirting outrageously and trying really hard to kiss Duke.  Despite, you know, that not really being Sebastian’s style.

Life continues. The month long celebration continues. Duke continues studying the situation and building a story about the matches/bid; plus another story about Viola-as-Sebastian.  Viola continues doing the long-con, and continues flirting hard with Duke.  And playing power games (‘close your eyes, do you trust me? Close your eyes and let me slip you a drink . . .’).

One thing leads to another, and as you would expect, the truth comes out.  As I said in the beginning of this review - this is a book about an abusive relationship.  Because, really, it is. Viola plays power trips and does abusive-like moves throughout the book.  Including the part where she becomes enraged by her lies being seen by Duke – turning it around and calling it Duke’s lies (somehow).   Did I mention yet that Viola, as Sebastian, kept trying to kiss and seduce Duke? Yes? Well, it’s important to keep mentioning. Then, even though Duke is looking horrible – lost weight, bags under her eyes, Viola keeps up the abuse by hate fucking her – sure, she demands consent first, but still – hate fucking her – and continuing to play power control games during this hate fucking.

Viola is one of those ‘I’m doing the right thing! I’m helping my brother! All that you mention is just . . . what had to be done for the greater good!’ types.  The ‘I’m a good girl’ type who gets enraged at others for doing much less …. Um . . . fuckery to her.  I’m not wording this right. Ironically Viola is probably making things harder for Sebastian, even though she’s ‘trying to help him’, but, meh.  She’s ‘doing the right thing, even if that means lying and deceiving the world’ then getting angry at anyone who calls her on her deceit and lies. Viola is a horrible human being.

Duke?  Eh – oddly, I had to stop reading the book originally because of Duke.  Part of it was because of her hyper-conscious about gender roles (aka – the person calling ‘himself’ Sebastian has to be Viola because . . . of the feminine traits Duke sees).  Part is because of the ‘journalists and photographers, who I despise, were horrible when I was a famous athlete’; ‘I need a job, I despise journalists, I’ll do that’ vibe.  Oh – and later it turns out she didn’t really need a job, despite the vague ‘must find work, must keep working, must . . . do my best!’ vibe.  Because of reasons.  Like the various sponsorships she was able to retain through not revealing that she was a lesbian. So, initially, I disliked the book because I disliked the Duke character. Then the nastiness that is Viola became revealed, and so that’s two main POV character to dislike.  Oops, there are only two in the book.

Weird.  First 39% of the book, I was thinking that this was the best of the Princess books.  But . . . alas . . ..

As an aside, and I’m sure it doesn’t matter in any real way, but, of the roughly 15 plays I’ve read by Shakespeare, Twelfth Night is nowhere near the top of the list of favorite plays.  No, it’s one of those that I didn’t really like when I read it decades ago.  I didn’t enter this book expecting to dislike the book because of that, though. Nor did I enter expecting to like it because it’s a retelling of a Shakespeare play.  So, just an aside of no importance.

Rating: 2.67

April 3 2018