Orbiting Bodies by Diana Jean

Orbiting Bodies by Diana Jean

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I received an ARC of this book from Less Than Three Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well this is a somewhat strange position I find myself in. In 2016 I read and loved a book by this author. In 2018 I reread that book and loved it again. I’ve now read two more works – both of which I read today. Didn’t love the short story, but it was a good enough way to pass the time. This brings us to this novel here – which I somewhat unexpectedly find that I also loved.

Unexpectedly? Well . . . there’s like 80 (no, there’s just 4) point of view main characters in this book. All of them young adult college students. It is somewhat harder for me to love a multiple cast point of view book. Not impossible, just harder. Plus – I had been eyeballing this book for a while now, and kept not getting it because of the sample – Caleb, the star of the beginning chapter, seems a pain to be around – a super hyper super-selfish extrovert type who has great trouble sitting still for longer than three minutes, and brings unrelated books to tutor sessions in case he gets bored. He seemed . . . annoying when I first glimpsed him in the sample. Then he made me laugh a few times in that sample, so I got the book.

So that’s Caleb – super hyper short slim dude who is an extreme extrovert, wants to be friends with everyone, and is quite pushy in getting people to do his thing – oh and he can be quite . . . dramatic. He is also 18 and a college freshman and the roommate of another main point of view character, Andrew.

Andrew, also a freshman, is also probably 18, though the one and only time his age was given, it was 15 – but that was also an unexpected flashback.

That happens a lot in this book, by the way, flashbacks. Also – merged . . . um sessions. There were times when a character, in the present, would be doing something and have thoughts of the past – detailed thoughts. There were also times when a flashback would occur – and then there would be italicized text – thoughts from the present. That was . . . different.

But I was on Andrew and got distracted.
Andrew, when he first appeared, was dressed all depressing like and .. . well, I forget the exact words Caleb used. Emo? Goth punk? Something in that range. Andrew’s life is art, and that’s why he’s at college – to get an art degree and do art. He is also, unlike Caleb, gay. And a little bit (or more) lusting after Caleb, who reminds him, personality wise, of his great lust-person of high school years (Daniel, the name was Daniel, right?). Andrew kind of became the fifth well in this book, even though there were only four points of view. But, eh, whatever.

As I mentioned, Caleb is quite pushy and gets his way a lot. I mention this because, the first day Caleb and Andrew move in on campus – Caleb drags Andrew to a club mixer thingie. Which I mention less to mention Caleb being pushy, but so I could mention that that is where the two meet Jun. Sitting at one of the club tables (Astronomy).

Jun, unlike freshman Caleb and Andrew, is a junior – studying for a bio-chem degree (degrees?, I forget if that was described as ‘bio chem pre med degree’, or bio chem degree and pre med degree or . . something). Jun is the third point of view character in the book. He is very studious to the point he rarely does anything else. When he was 7 his family moved from Japan to the USA, which I mention because the transition was such that he lost the ability to make friends, or something like that, and so went a different direction – taking on a persona of hiding, and being studious and not pursing friendships and social interactions.

Jun is roommates with the final point of view character, Piper. Who pulls in Lizzy, though Lizzy, oddly, doesn’t get a point of view in this book. Lizzy and Pipper are seniors and girlfriends. Jun was a last minute addition to their apartment, as they figured that having another person in the application would increase their chances of getting the apartment. Piper is into Computer Science, while Lizzy is into dance. Piper’s the one who pulls in the family (though Caleb’s mother is mentioned and very briefly seen in the opening chapter) – for the mother, Piper’s that is, keeps opening stating things like how Piper’s going through a phase and stuff, by dating women (though . . . eh, let’s not give everything away).

There’s a slight disconnect between me and the characters involved. Possibly due to there being so many to follow, possibly for other reasons. That doesn’t mean I didn’t feel them at times – like, again unexpectedly, there were moments when Piper and Lizzy’s story-line made me vaguely teary eyed.

Right.

So, young adult book. Many characters. Three men, two women. Mix of LGBT characters. Multiple LGBT couples in the same book. Mix of MM and FF in same book. Lastly: the only thing graphic was kissing.

Enjoyable book.

Rating: 4.78

June 25 2018




View all my reviews

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




View all my reviews

Chasing Stars by Alex K. Thorne

Chasing Stars by Alex K. Thorne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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

This is one of those books that is tricky for me – in that I found it both intriguing and vaguely hard to get into in the beginning, and yet, despite that ‘hard to get into’, I read 62% of the book in basically one go – and only stopped because I slumped over asleep. I mean, it was 3 am at that point.

So – this book is the third in Ylva’s stand-alone Superhero books. For various reasons I have not yet read the other two books so cannot make any comment beyond what I just stated.

I do not mean to have a series of short paragraphs but . . . I do. One of the reasons I was first lured to this book was because I happened to notice that the author was from South Africa and I’d, as far as I know, had never read a lesbian fiction book from there, set there, or otherwise connected to there. This book, though, is set in California. One of the main characters is an alien to the country, though. Alien as in literally from outer space. Well, no, that might imply something one way or another. An alien from another planet who arrived to Earth in a spaceship that had crash landed on Earth roughly . . . . 17 years prior to the start of this book. I know it was 17 years prior because the lead and solo point of view was ten when the ship crashed and is 27 now.

Ava Eisenberg has two jobs – she works as the personal assistant to a high-flying Hollywood elite actress, Gwen Knight, and she also works as Swiftwing, superhero. Like, say, Supergirl, Ava’s personality changes when she has the mask on or off. Confident, in control, powerful with mask on. Not confident, stuttering, occasionally clumsy without mask on (okay, she wobbled once in her shoes, I’m not actually sure if clumsy works here or not). And like Supergirl, Ava’s boss knows both Ava and Swiftwing – separately (referring here to the Cat Grant/Supergirl dynamic, not whoever Supergirl’s boss is at the moment on the tv show).

That boss, as noted, is Gwen Knight. Highly successful, bitchy, ice-queen like Hollywood actress of 44. Who has a young adopted son named Luke. Which is important to the story line since it’s the reason certain things unfolded. Like, say, the part where Gwen’s ex-husband has now, after years not doing so, is fighting for full custody of Luke. Because he’s, the ex-husband Alfonso, is in a stable relationship, while Gwen is not. Which is how Ava and Gwen ended up in a fake relationship to show stability or whatever it was they were trying to show.
This was a rather neat, much more interesting, deeper, more exciting book than I had expected (or thought it would be after the opening parts). And has a lot more characters of importance and story-lines than I’ve mentioned – I can’t mention everything here.

Oh, and yes, there’s a tiny bit of graphic sex embedded in the book. At least one scene (if I recall correctly, just one scene – if that kind of thing matters to review readers).

And, since I haven’t expressly mentioned it before now, there is in fact a bunch of superhero stuff that occurs in this book. Actual flying around, doing superhero type stuff.

Rating: 4.78

February 28 2018




View all my reviews

Sunstone, Vol. 4 by Stjepan Šejić

Sunstone, Vol. 4 by Stjepan Šejić

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's been more than 2 years since I last looked in on Sunstone. Since I read the previous volume. Reading my review for that volume, the third in the series, I remind myself that this volume here, the fourth, isn't the first volume I read for the first time in graphic novel form. But before I go down confusing lane, I'll just be blunter than norm: I read the first two volumes of this series as thy were created and posted on Devientart. Had access to more, but didn't read volume three until it popped up as a graphic novel. That one, volume 3, and volume 4 (this volume), were 'new reads' for me. Though I'd only read this one this morning - for the first time.

There's a personal reason why I stopped reading the series, and no it isn't the part where I originally thought the author was female only to be shocked to find that the author was a man (though that did happen - the having thought woman, finding out man); no it's the personal connection with my own life. Ironic, considering what happens in this volume and in volume 5 - the story that ends this volume and is picked up in volume 5 (which I'm reading even as I write this review here for volume 4. That personal connection is the part wherein, out of everything I've ever read, all those romances, and non-romances, the characters I most identified were the ones in this series here - for reasons. Specifically, I'll have to note otherwise this paragraph doesn't serve it's purpose, the two main people in the story-line - Ally and Lisa. They corresponded in weird ways to myself and someone else in my life. Who poofed on me. Which is the whole point of this paragraph - I'd seen this series with strings connecting it to my own life, but the connection was broken by that person 'poofing' on me, so . . . it was hard to get back to read more parts of this specific story here.

I rather assumed, based on the above and other stuff, that I'd probably end up rating this something nearish 4 (if that) stars. Because, hey, part of my enjoyment of the series was the part where it seemed oddly connected to my own life . . . and that was gone now, so..... But no, the humor wore down my walls, the plot and stuff broke the wall around my . . . um . . . something, emotions? And I rather enjoyed the story.

Bah, I'm not really saying anything about the book. Stuff happened, miscommunications occurred, flashbacks upon flashbacks occurred (the whole series is Lisa telling the reader the story from some point in the future - and occasionally things will/would appear out of chronological order, because the present for narrator Lisa isn't the present for story Lisa; plus there were many occasions when stuff was told that didn't actually happen, or, I should say, happened in stories, but the reader only learned that after the fact. I've lost this paragraph and this review.

Rating: 4.80

December 4 2017



View all my reviews

The Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale

The Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Received this ARC from Netgalley and Riptide Publishing for an honest review

I've wanted to read this book since I first saw it - June 13 2017 - listed as 'upcoming' (or whatever it is Riptide calls their books that'll appear sometime in the future). The book looked super interesting. Course, I think I saw the second book first, which was something of a letdown - more because I noticed it looked interesting, then noticed that the lead character in that one was a man; then noticed this one had two women as main characters (and yes, both have their point of views on display). Riptide seems to like series that include multiple layers of the LGBT spectrum, but that's neither here nor there, let's get back to this specific book.

Right, were was I? Oh, yeah. I've wanted to read this book for four months now. But, there's a certain worry that develops, of course, when you are in that situation. Both in wanting to read a book, and in noticing that the book is in one of those mixed gender series (heh, that sounds weird, I meant FF books with MM books, with occasional MF mixed in with one or the other or both being transgender; plus, to ruin that use of 'both' that started this sentence, I kind of have a hate/love relationship with books related to music).

So - to recap this brilliant part of the review: 1) wanted to read this book long time; 2) some worry based on that and other things.

The book: Victoria “Vix” Vincent is about . . . oh, 25 or 26 years of age (she was a high school senior when the other main character, Sawyer Bell, was a freshman in high school, which, in most USA high schools, would make them 3 to 4 years apart in age (some high schools merge junior high and high school into one school, so there'd be a 5 to 6 year gap between the lowest level and top, but I don't think that's the case here). Gah. Let's try this again.

Vix Vincent is a 25/26 year old professional musician with a band named after herself. She's had this band for years now, about 8 at least (maybe ten, there was a comment that she's been performing since she was 16, though I don't think that literally meant the band is that old). The band has gotten a certain reputation, but it is nowhere near the top. Or even, really, the middle. But they are slowly inching up. Playing larger venues. Headlining . . . sometimes - sometimes performing as the opening band. All of this is important because the band is just about to go on the road again, in about 2 weeks. Basically for the summer. But their fiddle player went and got himself married and then got himself a baby to look after and is, therefore, taking time away from the band (maybe/probably permanently). So - they need a new fiddle player. Which is where the book opens, with Vix and her bandmates watching poor performer after poor performer play one after the other. And getting super depressed. Then another one appears, wearing a sundress and looking, maybe, 16 (actually, not sure how young she looked, but they did ask if she was old enough to be there).

That next up auditioning for the band is/was Sawyer Bell. Fiddler/Violinist. She looks real young (I'm probably overdoing that part), and when she talks - it's in a light barely heard whisper. The band kind of groans, but wave her on to perform. Which she does. She plays something classical. With authority. Blows away the band members with how good she plays. They try to trip her up by throwing out some band names and asking her to play something less classical, more rock; and she does. Masterfully. She, Sawyer, then mentions that she's a student at Juilliard, in between Junior and Senior years at college. One thing leads to another, and the 21 year old is a member of the band for the summer. Oh, and for those reading along, she also has her point of view presented.

There's one flashback in this book, occurs roughly about where we are information wise (near the beginning of the book; actually, that '7 years earlier' might have occurred twice in rapid succession - seeming as if one flashback). The flashback takes us back 7 years when both Sawyer and Vix were in high school. And show us readers that Vix and Sawyer had actually meet before, once, back in high school.

There's much humor, travel adventures, and 'getting to know you' explorations of a romantic nature. Oh, and sex, graphic in nature. And quite fun for me personally to read - since there was so much humor mixed in to those scenes. I like humor; I like the mix of humor and sex. Fun times.

Right, so - book is outstanding from beginning until the ever present need for conflict rears its ugly head and erupts in conflict. Um, poorly worded. Well, no matter. Conflict point was reached. Things got rough, this is a romance book though, not a tragedy, so . . ..

Great, super readable, enjoyable book. 99.9% of the time I really liked the two main characters, Vix and Sawyer (not 100% sure I particularly liked the others who popped up - like there's just something dislikable about Jeff (bandmate), and about Sawyer's parents (mostly the father and the jokes he was cracking during an emotional moment).

Rating: 4.88

September 20 2017




View all my reviews

Loneliness Ebbs Deep by Adrian J. Smith and Rachael Orman

Loneliness Ebbs Deep by Adrian J. Smith




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

I really have no idea how to rate this short story. I'm not just saying that, tis true - no clue how to rate this weird wacky story. I picked it up because this is one of the few times I've actually spotted an author I've read before on Netgalley (as in, I'd read the author previously to seeing anything by them on NetGalley and I rarely see authors on there who I have read before). And, a plus, it was lesbian fiction by this author who I'd only ever read MF fiction by. Both erotica (this story here and the book I'd read).

Slight problem encountered initially. Forget about the squid part (just briefly forget). The main character? Acted super naive and I felt very uncomfortable. Like I was witnessing someone around 11 to 13 finding that their body . . . felt certain things if touched in certain ways. Why? Because that's literally how the character acted. Like a little girl who had never touched herself before and had never even thought of doing anything remotely like that - before this story here. Sure, somewhere along the way the reader learns that the character is '19 cycles', but what the bloody hell does that mean? I think I'm supposed to take that to mean 19 years but . . . I'm not sure I can - I mean, it seems vaguely more likely to mean months (but but, she can't be 19 months! - let me remind people that there is a weresquid in this story as well, stuff).

Truth be told - the only way I was able to get through this story without gagging when each new wacky thing turned up was to think of this weird situation like an episode of Stargate I'd seen once. There the team arrived and found a thriving civilization that lived in a village. But they stuck to that village and were forbidden to go beyond it's borders (like here in this story - the girl, along with the others, were forbidden to go beyond the borders of the village; I realize that there are other stories that have 'forbidden borders', but I've mostly not seen them so . . . ). This thriving society, on the television show episode, were quite promiscious and happy. Kind of dim-witted but meh. Then at a certain moment (I forget if a bell rang, or if the sun just moved into a certain position) and everyone fell over asleep (everyone including Jack O'Neill, the only SG-1 person who ate food). Well, turns out that everyone there only lived a year and aged rapidly. So I saw this story here in that light, had to. I'd have run screaming in the other direction otherwise. This way I can take '19 cycles' to mean roughly 19 human years (even if maybe she really did mean 19 months).

Right, so. Young woman, naked, is drawn to explore the border area. Especially towards a 'forbidden zone' which happens to have a lake. While there she clears out an area near the lake and begins to masturbate, like, you know, you do when you wander into a forbidden zone. Then a woman appears and . . . stuff.

Okay, like I said, I was already feeling vaguely icky about the super naive young woman dyanmic. Now we have literal 'monster sex' scenes and I'm back to 'how the fuck do I rate this story'? No, seriously, monster sex. Mind, it was, at first, completely different than I had expected ((view spoiler)[I did know that there was a weresquid involved in this story, and I did know - from a review I think,
that some of the action resembled 'tentacle sex' - not exactly something I wished to read but whatever. What I didn't expect was for the first bit of squid/human sex to involve the human .
. . pleasuring the squid. I mean . . . eww. (hide spoiler)]).

Short story. Not much to it. Kind of depressing, actually, when I thought about it. Here we have a curious exploring type young woman and . . . (view spoiler)[she spends the next 500 'cycles' swimming around a lake as a squid. Instead of, you know, continuing with her curious nature, there's no real advancement here. Just 'playing with myself is fun'. to 'playing with myself with another is fun'. To 'playing with a squid is fun . . . playing with another squid while a squid is fun . . . it's kind of lonely now . . . oh! someone has finally come to the lake! I'll watch them masturbate!' What a life, eh? Entirely obsessed with masturbation. And basically nothing else. And oh, right, this was no where close to being anything like a Romance story, and the whole super naive young woman who might be way too young angle plus all that squid stuff, took the sex out of the erotic column. Just . . . words. Others are better at wording what I mean correctly. Sadly. Bluntly: I do not find children or their actions erotic, nor do I find sex with squids, or between squids to be erotic. Even if sex is involved. (hide spoiler)]

Rating: .... no rating.

April 15 2017



View all my reviews

Benched by Blythe Rippon

Benched by Blythe Rippon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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

The book I read last year, and was published three years ago, Barring Complications, has a squeal - that sequel being this book here. It was one of those books that I felt might be suited for a sequel, but that one could never happen. And yet, here we are - sequel.

Why did I think a sequel could never happen? Because the author had written themselves into something of a trap - published roughly 7 to 8 months before the real life USA Supreme Court came to its own conclusions about a specific legal matter. The same legal matter, marriage equality (to be simplistic) one 'determined' by the fictional USA Supreme Court in 'Barring Complications' - but the court in the book and in real life came to different conclusions. The one in the book (view spoiler)[came to a decision that was partially for marriage equality (I've forgotten now exactly what, but it was a limited decision in the book, a huge one, but not as broad as the real life Supreme Court decision) (hide spoiler)]. Why would this result put the author into an awkward position? Because any sequel would have to 'get around' the fact that the decisions reached were different - and that the book was now in some kind of alternative universe.

So, what did the author do? Well, simple and unspoilery - the author had a separate Supreme Court case occur in between the prior book and this book that brought the book world and the real world back into alignment legally. And so, out of that 'trap'. And so a sequel can and did occur.

So, what is this specific book about? There were several cases of importance, two of which play prominent roles in this book (the others are there but background). Both, oddly enough, cases in which Genevieve Fornier played a leading role. One case is an older one that has now reached the USA Supreme Court, and the other one still at the district court level. But, and to pull back to what this paragraph is supposed to be about, the book is also about two strong women attempting to be a couple in a relatively public setting and in which their careers can and do ‘rub against’ each other in potentially ethically problematic ways. Plus, Victoria is still kind of stiff, and Genevieve feels kind of stifled.

The district court case involves a young prisoner in a Michigan prison who is transgender. And Genevieve and her organization, HER, is fighting the good fight as plaintiffs against the state – fighting for the state to pay for the transition surgery. Meanwhile the USA Supreme Court case involves family; specifically . . .. I do not have a simple way to word it. Though a simple phrase was used in the book. Mmphs. Can’t recall what that phrase was now. Right, so – the supreme court case involved the rights of parents to be parents of their own children, specifically when the parents are of the same gender; the issue in the case involved a couple from California who moved to Louisiana – and lost one court cases and won the other (lost the court case in California to have the non-biological mother be added as the ‘second parent’ of the children because, forgot exact wording now, but ‘redundant’ since they are already married; while the other case was won in Louisiana (Louisiana was not recognizing California’s birth certificates (which list both mothers), and was not recognizing the non-biological mother as a parent of the children). Even though they won in Louisiana it is still an issue - because the case kept getting appealed and now finds itself appealed up to the USA Supreme Court.

Right, so that’s mostly what’s going on legally in this book. Transgender issues and parental rights for LGBT couples. On the personal front, and yes a huge amount of time is spent in that realm – as mentioned two women struggle in this book to accept being a couple together in the public eye. One a Supreme Court justice, the other a lawyer who has and potentially will again in the future argue court cases in front of said justice (and the complications that might ensue because of that).

Well, as said, one of the two court cases has reached the Supreme Court, and both involved Genevieve as the lead attorney, so the professional and legal worlds collided into each other in this book. Bad things resulted.

This was a rather interesting book that was quite entertaining and mostly a pleasure to read. Though I had certain ‘issues’ with both of the lead women (and yes, I should have mentioned that – two point of views, one for Genevieve, one for Supreme Court Justice Victoria Willoughby). As in, at times I didn’t like either of their actions or reactions.

Crap. I just looked at the book description. I haven’t really written anything that wasn’t already there. Um, oops. Oh, right, that was the simple phrase I could have used earlier – ‘same-sex parental rights’.

Into this mix comes a gorgeous, of course, woman who is the new head of one of the three organizations in which HER both competes with and cooperates with in LGBTQIA matters. Penelope. Former professor, US Diplomat to France, lawyer, LGBT rights lawyer. And I mention her because one of the two lead women in this book end up lusting after her, and so something of a limited love triangle develops. Developed right around the same time I was thinking, while reading the book, that I didn’t really like Victoria and Genevieve as a couple.

Truth be told, there’s a solid argument that could be made that corresponds to what one of the two lead woman think or said at some point in the book – they both loved the idea of them as a couple more than loved the other (to which the other came back with a solid argument refuting that idea). I mention, though, because there really did seem to be a lot more chemistry between Penelope and Genevieve than anything Genevieve and Victoria ever shared (which seemed to be more of a strained love-hate relationship built on betrayal (which isn’t exactly a spoiler, since I’m referring to something that happened way before even the first book in this series occurred, when one dumped the other in law school because they didn’t want to admit, to the public, that they were a lesbian because of the idea that’d have negative ramifications possible future work)).

Long and short, despite anything I do or do not say here, this was an enjoyable read. Sometimes relying more heavily on legal issues, sometimes political, sometimes relationship to push the book along. Rarely do both the professional and the personal dynamics work in concert to advance the course of the book, though.

Oh, something I should maybe have started off my review with (I can move it there now, but, meh) - can I read this book as a stand-alone? - hmm, possibly? I would not recommend it though. Same lead couple in both books. With this book’s action starting roughly a year or 2 after the end of the last book. Things of importance were strongly touched on in this book that are explained/mentioned in the prior book, but not deeply elaborated upon in this book.

I would recommend this series, starting with ‘Barring Complications’.

Rating: 4.25

April 11 2017



View all my reviews

Licit Cusp by Weebod

Licit Cusp by Weebod

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is my third book that I’ve read by this author. Not tremendously important but . . ..

This book stars Shona MacLeod, 18 year old from a small island off the coast of Scotland. The book opens with her starting her college education at a university in Edinburgh Scotland. Oh, and it’s 1986. Her father, a very angry dickish kind of asshole, forces her to stay at a specific house while in Edinburgh, one with a strict landlady type – and the other guests are like her, young students from far islands and the like. Being a dick, the father continues his long-distance control of his daughter by ‘giving her’ a tiny little bit of money each week (through the landlady person) for her lunches and stuff. Barely enough for that, though. A crappy way to spend college, so Shona begins to rebel almost immediately by getting a job – more so she can save up to buy a walkman than because she wants to rebel, but still.

By a bit of fate, Shona ended up in a bar one night – and ended up getting a job in this specific location. She doesn’t look it, but she is 18, which is legal drinking age in Scotland in 1986. She gets the job from Toni Martin, the person who manages the place (I forget now if Toni is 24 or 26).

Another ‘almost immediately’ occurs when Shona begins feeling odd things about Toni. Over a longish period of time the two grow close, Shona comes to realize what these feelings mean, and her relationship with her family morphs. Starting off with her decision to break away and become more independent (which is helped by the fact that the money for the university is actually hers – a grant check/thingie gets sent to her, she just turned it over to her father for this semester/year, but will keep it for next – that’s the plan at least).

This really is a book about family, and coming to understand oneself. Shona coming to understand herself, and her lesbianness. And her relationship with her father, mother, two sisters, and brother (more with her parents and one of her sisters, though the other siblings play their small part as well).

This really is a neat look at bits of Scotland I hadn’t been able to see before. An overall all-around great book. Naturally I’m now regretting waiting 2 or 3 days before writing a review. The book is still lodged in my mind – I recall the young woman going off to college, riding the ferry, feeling constrained in the dorm, getting that bar job, the changing nature of her relationship with Toni and her family, but . . . I do not really know what all to put in this review. Without being spoiler-y ((view spoiler)[like I could mention that one of her sisters ends up wandering over from the island to join Shona, for important reasons (view spoiler)[pregnancy (hide spoiler)] or mention . . . when Toni got beaten up . . or the stuff about how Toni’s drunk father once groped Shona . . . or how Toni's brother is in jail (though at some point would father a child with an 18 year old woman who would in turn die at the age of 22, leaving the youngster to be raised by the grandparents who, for whatever reason, do not appear to be in this book, though Fran – that offspring, and the grandfather appear in the book that follows this one - Defensive Mindset. But all of that is kind of spoiler-y (hide spoiler)]).

Good solid book. I’ll leave with one last thought: Toni Martin and, to a lesser extent Shona McLeod and Eddie, turn up in a later book (Defensive Mindset.)

Edinburgh:
(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

Edinburgh University:
(view spoiler)[[image error] (hide spoiler)]

Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland
(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]


Rating: 4.48

April 11 2017



View all my reviews

Book url: http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/weebod_licitcusp1.html

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

Falling Hard by Jae

Falling Hard by Jae
Pages: Unknown
Date: April 5 2017
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: 6th in the extended Hollywood/LA series or Stand-alone (it is being released as a stand-alone)

Review
Rating: 3.44
Read: April 5 2017

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

As I tend to do with Jae books, I’ll spend a moment or two talking about links – how this book links up with others.

First up – the easiest link is with Heart Trouble since Jordan of this book is the same Jordan in that book – a best friend to one of the main characters in that book, Hope. Both Hope and Laleh, the stars of Heart Trouble, appear in this book here. In the normal course of events this book would likely be called ‘book 2’ in whatever you would call this series – except . . .. This is one of the few times I’d recommend reading books out of order – or, at the very least, just noting that you do not need to read any other book before you read this one. Because of two reasons. Heart Trouble is in a somewhat different genre than this book here, Falling Hard – because of a fantasy element that is a large theme in that book. And because it is linked to yet another series – the Hollywood series, of which there are three books and 1 short story – Laleh from both this book and Heart Trouble makes a very brief appearance in one of the books in the Hollywood series. By no means do you need to read that series, and then Heart Trouble, before reading this book.

Second up – well, I’ve already touched on it – this book is, in its way, linked to the Hollywood series by way of Laleh. A very minor side character in that series. To a large extent, if not for the Hollywood people popping up in Heart Trouble, I’d just put it down to an interesting item of little importance. But they do make a large impact on Heart Trouble. At least Jill does. Jill, who appears in all but the first book – and is the ex-girlfriend of Amanda – one of the main characters from that book, is best friends of Laleh – and several other Hollywood series people also wander through the pages. So, in a sense, Heart Trouble could theoretically be considered book 4 in the Hollywood series (but for the fantasy element and lack of a main character actress), and ‘Falling Hard’ could be seen as book 5 (except for that lack of main character actress, or – for that matter, any connection to the Hollywood series but for Laleh’s brief appearance in this book).

Third up – not touched on is the part where one of the main characters in this book, Emma (and Molly, of course, being Emma’s daughter) just moved to California from Portland. And one of Jae’s other series is a Portland series – one that has both 2 official books, one short story, and one unofficial book (main characters from the series make an appearance in Under a Falling Star). I kept examining each name as it appeared – each one that might be connected to that Portland series, but since I’ve only read the first book in the series (and Under a Falling Star) I can’t say that I recognized any name, nor can I say that that means that no connection exists since the connection might be to one of the works I’ve not read.

So – that was a lot of words to say – ‘this book is related to other books by this same author, but there is no inherent need to read any other book before reading this book here.’

So, what is this specific book about?

Dr. Jordan Williams, 34 (if I recall that correctly), is a surgeon and lives in a duplex. Recently her next door neighbor, the one who lived in the other half of the duplex, moved out. One day Jordan drove home only to find that her driveway was blocked by a moving van – someone had finally moved in. That someone would turn out to be Emma Larson, mother of Molly Larson (actually, since there is a comment that Molly ‘went back to her maiden name’, I’m not certain that Molly’s last name is in fact Larson) 5 year old. But Jordan didn’t know that immediately. All she knew was a super hot woman in shorts and with really long gorgeous legs was moving stuff from the moving van to the house. Jordan, and another neighbor named Barbara, introduce themselves to Emma – and Jordan’s personality shines through immediately (and the reason why I’m mentioning all of this). How? Jordan’s first words to Emma are flirtatious and indicating romantic interest. For, you see, in addition to being a young doctor, Jordan is also a massive player – the kind who, with few exceptions, does not get into relationships and rarely entangles herself with any other human – romantically. The exceptions would probably boil down to just one person, romantically, and that’d be Simone, a long distance friend with benefits. The non-romantic relationships would include family (sisters and the like, one appears in the book via phone call), work (Hope, from ‘Heart Trouble’), and neighbors (70+ year old Barbara).

Emma Larson, as the book description indicates, is ‘Jordan’s polar opposite’. That’s right, the 43 year old is an albino to the doctor’s ebony skin. Heh, no. Emma is 32, if I recall correctly, and while there is a brief mention about being pale, she is not an albino (when Jordan and Emma first meet, Jordan ‘assumes’ that Emma can’t be a native because of the fact that she isn’t tanned from the California sun). By the way, I forgot to mention that – Jordan does in fact have dark skin, though I do not recall if a specific word was used when describing her (like, say, her caramel skin, or coffee skin, or mocha or . . . ; Simone is also dark skinned; the assumption is that both are black/African American; though that really is an assumption – I do not know if Simone is American). Hmm. Jordan stuff in Emma paragraph. Mmphs. Physically, all that I recall about Emma is that she has blonde hair, gorgeous legs, and is, in some way, Caucasian. I might be making an assumption there about ‘pale’ and blonde hair equaling Caucasian. Emma works as a VA – a virtual assistant, has a 5 going on 6 year old daughter named Molly, and had been married to a surgeon named Chloe. Oh, and while Emma and Molly just moved down to California from Portland, Emma’s actually a native of South Pasadena (which, it would appear, is a neighbor to Pasadena, since a date occurs in a restaurant in the next town over – Pasadena). Ooh! South Pasadena ‘is a city in Los Angeles County’ – and I’d been calling the extended Hollywood series ‘Los Angeles series’, so this still works. Huh, a five star hotel costs only $272? Cheap place. Hmm, Pasadena is a city of 139,731 people, I shouldn’t call it a town. And South Pasadena, looking at a map, is directly south of Pasadena and has a pop of only 26,000 or something around there. Wow, my Emma paragraph really got away from me.

Emma’s best friends are still in Portland and are friends of both her and her ex-wife, so she’s mostly been ignoring them. She does, on occasion, speak with a ‘Lori’ though. She’s also become friendly with two neighbors – Barbara and Jordan.

Recall how I mentioned that part about Jordan immediately flirting with Emma when they meet for the first time? Well, her ‘gaydar’ was pinging Emma as being a lesbian. But then little while later, the next day or later, Jordan’s progress home is again interrupted by having her drive-way blocked. This time by a five year old girl drawing on it. They meet, and stuff. I’m mentioning it more because we have an aspect that I’ve seen pop up in lesbian fiction that I didn’t expect to see pop up here – Jordan immediately moves Emma into the straight column. Because . . . daughter. It was a very brief kind of thing, Emma immediately calls Jordan on it – noting that lesbians can in fact have children. But still . . . to immediately go from ‘*internal thoughts/ping ping ping* that woman is lesbian lesbian lesbian lesbian . . . wait wait . . . child child straight that woman is straight straight *ping ping ping*’ is very confusing to me. But, meh.

So - the book. Jordan and Emma become insta-friends. Hang out together all the time. Sorry, I should have worded that as ‘Jordan, Emma, and Molly’ become insta-friends. Somewhere along the way, Jordan is looking around for Molly in the backyard, and is confused. Doesn’t see her. Then realizes that Molly is way up in the backyard tree. An important point, of course, but I don’t want to reveal everything – just the part where, during the saving of girl and stuffed animal, Jordan fell and broke her arm. And then had to spend even more time hanging around the duplex – wearing a cast. Emma immediately begins helping Jordan do things that Jordan now has trouble doing (like removing clothing). But the two remain friends, and only friends.

There’s kind of an insta-lust going on in this situation, though, for the two keep finding themselves near each other, lingering, hugging, near-kissing. But – Emma doesn’t want anything to do, romantically, with a player (nor, for that matter, a surgeon), while Jordan . . . well, she doesn’t do relationships.

So . . . time passes. People visit (like friend with benefits Simone; and ex-Chloe). Birthday’s come and go. Babysitting by Jordan occurs. Story unfolds. I’m being purposely vague.

For the most part the characters, at least Emma, Jordan, and Molly, are well developed. For a while there I thought Barbara’s character would get some meat, but alas, no. And Hope and Laleh have character, in my mind, more because I already knew them from Hearts Trouble. Most of the side characters are just people passing through – names on the page.

Unfortunately, exaggerating this, this is something like the 3000th time I’ve read a ‘player meets up with a ‘relationships only’ type, walls are beaten upon, conquered, people change’ that I’ve read. Several of which involved single mothers. None, including this book, of these stories have the single mother be the player, maybe for obvious reasons, though occasionally the single mother character would be against . . well, everything – relationships, flings, etc. For her kid. Celibate. And that’s the wall that has to be broken down. There are elements that drift in and out of this book that indicate that Emma was supposed to be that type of single mother, though they are thin elements. Overwhelmed more by ‘eww, player, not for me’, and less by ‘eww, relationships/sex – not for me’.

This is one of those books that, if it had been a television episode, would be called a ‘bottle episode’. Mostly tied to the duplex, with occasional excursions elsewhere – including to the hospital that appeared in Hearts Trouble. I might be thinking of a different term. That or it’s a feeling I probably should not be having for the book – since there were those excursions elsewhere, and there were these other characters. It’s just that so much of the story seems to take place at the duplex or at the hospital that it just feels ‘constrained’ (which is vaguely weird, I know, since one of the things Jordan likes to do to blow off steam, to think, to relax, is to just drive around).

I’ve been attempting to not actually reach this point in my review. The part where I mention that, while I kind of liked the characters, in theory, I was also . . . kind of bored. It’s one of those unfortunate things – I expect a certain ‘spark’ in a Jae book and . . . there wasn’t anything super special about this one. This is unfortunate since there were avenues for some of that to occur. Like, one of the neat things about the previous book in this series (if you want to pretend there’s a series here), Heart Trouble, is the part wherein one of the main characters is/was Persian and part of her culture got intermixed in that book's plotline. The fact that Jordan is black does come up, though rarely. And in a way that would have occurred for anyone who isn’t lily white (like one scene has Jordan take Molly to get ice cream, one of the workers there assume Jordan is Molly’s nanny based entirely on Jordan’s skin color; Jordan could have been Latina and the same reaction could have occurred, or she could even have been white with that reaction – if she had been Eastern European, Russian, etc). There was a point made that, once they got to know each other, they – Jordan and Emma – realized that they had a lot of things in common (things liked, books, etc.). So there was no ‘cultural differences’ to inject into the book. Or something like that.

Right, so. Decent book. I would not necessarily recommend or not recommend.

Rating: 3.44*

* I deduct 0.06 stars for all that kissing. Kissing is icky. Hehe. Okay, I probably would have rated this book the same regardless.

re: 'setting-los-angeles' shelving - South Pasadena is in Los Angeles county.

April 5 2017

Jane's World: 5-7 by Paige Braddock

Jane's World: 5-7 by Paige Braddock
Pages: 149 + 160 + 152 = 461
Date: May 23 2006, October 17 2006, July 3 2007
Publisher: Girl Twirl Comics
Series: Jane's World (5th through 7th in series)

Review
Rating: 3.50 + 3.50 + 3.75= 10.75/3= 3.5833
Read: April 4 2017

Picking up where volume 4 ended (Jill, Chele's on-again off-again girlfriend, had reunited with Chele, but then 'everything' fell apart when it turned out that Jill has let Chele's mother know where she now lives). Volume 5 picks up with Jill finding Chele's mother, Virginia, in her room -which is also where volume 4 ended.

Before Virginia can get too far in her seduction of her daughter's girlfriend, the mother's wife, Ted, breaks into the room and starts beating up Jill. Despite being a trained operative (spy/police/other), Jill is quite unable to properly defend herself. Virginia and Ted then leave and Jill lies around all injured and stuff.

Meanwhile . . . stuff happens. heh. I read three volumes in a row while ill. I've a fairly good recollection of what happened in what I read, but not which specific tidbit went with each specific volume.

Let's see - also in this specific volume - former girlfriend Talia drags Jane to a furries convention; then her newspaper job sends Jane to a monster truck show (wherein she runs into another person from her past - Bobbie, who happens to mention that she is not actually single, she's married to a guy named Ted).

Chele may or may not confront her mother in this volume (or it's in the next volume).

Good solid story. Not as humorous as some in the past, nor as weird and wacky as Jane comics can get - like later volumes I read (one literally has Jane become a bunny, not like this volume where Jane wore a dog furry suit, but become an actual bunny, albeit one that wears clothing and is a biped).

Rating: 3.50

April 5 2017

--
As I noted in my review for volume 5, I was ill when I read this and I read three volumes back to back (not actually all in a row since there was a nap here or there), so some of the information that got lodged in my brain might correspond to a different volume than this one.

Let's see - in this one Jane's mother visits. Jane believes that the mother still doesn't know Jane is a lesbian and so tries to get Skye, her current girlfriend, to stop trying to 'ruin' things - while also 'using' her roommate Ethan as a stand-in boyfriend. Apparently Jane has been using Ethan for this purpose for eons now.

Meanwhile, Dorothy and Jane sleep together (yes, while Jane is still dating Skye), and Dorothy is attempting to figure out what this means. And if they can actually have a relationship. Skye, in the meantime, is attempting to 'reform' Jane so that she stops eating junk food (in this or the next volume, Dorothy and Skye show up and won't leave before the other, so Jane bails - while Jane is out of sight, Skye throws away all of Jane's junk food (which basically means all of Jane's food since she doesn't really eat much but for junk food)).

Let's see let's see. Jill 'has an assignment' that takes her into snowy territory and does or doesn't sleep with another woman while she may or may not still be 'dating' Chele (it's all a blur in my mind; like, who the fuck gave Jill this assignment? Last I heard, Jill and Chele had been thinking about starting their own agency but hadn't yet - though both quit wherever they did work - so, again, who the fuck gave Jill this assignment? I'm completely confused).

I think this is also the volume when the aliens return Dixie to earth and she promptly restarts a relationship with Ethan (this or the prior volume . . . I think). Why did the aliens return her? Because, apparently, Dixie is so girly that she was messing up the space-ship - just like she had done with Jane's place - which included the aliens suddenly finding themselves wearing floral print outfits. Because . . . um . . Dixie is very femme? Something.

Despite the cover illustration - Jane and Chele do not, in fact, hook up again in this volume, nor, unless I missed it, do they ride around on her motorcycle. Or maybe they did. This was a confusing volume.

Rating: 3.50

April 5 2017

--
At either the start of this volume or the end of the last volume, Jill is kidnapped and the kidnappers (who have been seen in the Jane's World comics before, they are the Nevada Mullet Liberation Army (or something like that)) have informed Chele that she can have Jill back for $2 million.

Oh - the description for this volume just reminded me - Jill looks remarkably like the woman Virginia, Chele's mother, loved way back when. Believing . . . um . . that Virginia would stop trying to hump Jill if Rachel was back in Virginia's life, Chele and Jill begin a hunt to track down this woman (I believe this hunt actually started in the last volume, but maybe it started in this one).

Meanwhile Ted is attempting to get someone to mess up Bobbie's truck so he . . I mean she can make money off Bobbie losing. Ted has no redeeming qualities.

Meanwhile, Jane helps Rick on his annual 'drive into the desert in drag' event by driving an RV.

Eventually, somewhere along the way (and yes I do recall how and why it happened (heh, no, 'Vortex' wtf? I don't know why)) Jane turns into a bunny and Jill turns into a fox.

Despite people becoming their totem animals, and a lot of other wild stuff occurring, this was a lot more coherent volume than the previous one.

Rating: 3.75

April 5 2017

Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger

A story about a really young woman of only 29 who is in the poor class in England way back in the 1800s. Really young? Well, the love interest, Genevieve Lefoux, of this woman, Imogene Hale, did keep repeating words that correspond to 'too young' or the like. To the point that I was beginning to feel icky and believe that I was somehow reading a pedophile book or something. TOO YOUNG TOO YOUNG!.

Remember how I noted that the woman was 29? And it's the 1800s? Now normally an unmarried woman of 29 would be considered 'too old' in this time period, but Genevieve is an ancient woman of something like 900 (I mean, this is a vampire book). Wait, no? That's not her age? She's actually 38? And there's only a 9 year age difference? And it isn't as if it was a woman of 18 'playing with' a girl of 9? But instead a woman of 38 using the 'too young' excuse to stay away from a woman of 29? Yes. By the way - precision, scientists are known for that. Quite important to them. Genevieve is a scientist. Vaguely disappointed that she would use 'too young' when the perfectly appropriate and acceptable 'too inexperienced' could have worked just as well without an icky feeling developing.

And I mention that 'poor class' part because 'class' is super important in the story, both in terms of how Imogene is of the servant/working class and because everyone around, for the most part, sees her and treats her as such (including herself). As in, at least in her own mind - 'not good enough' for someone like Genevieve.

Right, so. A woman grew up in a small country village knowing that there was something different about her. When her friends flirted with men, she didn't. When they married, she didn't. She didn't want anything to do with men. No, she saw herself as perverted because she wanted to 'do stuff' with other women. Which is how she ended up employed by the vampires - because they were basically the only source of employment for a woman like her; because they were considered 'perverted' themselves; and because Imogene didn't want to marry a man.

So Imogene went off and acquired a parlourmaid job with the local vampire hive. Whereupon she was alternatively ignored by the vampires, or abused by them. Also abusing her was the 'first footman' who liked pinching her, tripping her, and acting like a two year old near her. Not exactly what Imogene thought/expected she would find, but she is helping her family get food on the table.

There is one bit of brightness, though - one of the people living and working on the hive grounds is a scientist doing experiments. Wearing men's clothing and stuff. That'd be Genevieve. Imogene is quite aroused by this woman, but Genevieve seems reluctant to 'corrupt' her. Though she keeps doing something like a push-pull. Showing signs of want/need for Imogene, then pushing her away.

I was quite happy and eager to read this story when I saw it appear. I bought it immediately when it was first published. Then didn't read it. For there were other things to read. I'd read this author before - devoured her Parasol Protectorate series, but hadn't read her in seemingly forever.

I wanted to set myself up perfectly before I dove into this FF book. So I read that series Genevieve was in as a 9 year old (or however old she was), though she was a side character and not in all of the books (referring here to Finishing School). Then began a reread of that Parasol series. But only made it through 1 of the books in that series before I decided to just skip all that and dive into this book here.

I think I set myself up for failure. If I'd just wandered across this book, gazed it, briefly thought about whether to read or not read, and then read - my experience would likely have been different. But I kind of accidentally built up this massive wall of expectations. Which would have been hard to meet. And the book didn't meet my high expectations. Heck, even the cameos from the stars of the other books, well more from Parasol, were more annoying than a welcome blast from the past. More because they didn't really seem to be acting like themselves. Though that might be because I was actually seeing them from the outside in, for the first time, instead of from inside of them.

I'm not really sure what rating I should give this work. There were certain things I liked, and certain things I disliked - some of those 'disliked' things made me feel icky and vaguely ill. Tis life.

Rating: .... 3.15

April 2 2017

Under a Falling Star by Jae

Under a Falling Star by Jae

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


When I first read this book back in November of 2014, I ended up giving it a rating of 5 stars (well, more accurately, a rating of 4.75, but that still means 5 stars were clicked on). After rereading 4 other Jae books this week, and rating all of them higher than I did for their first read, I had a strong suspicion that this one would be as well – rated higher than first read. I was right that my rating changed. But I now wish to rate this somewhere closer to 2.

Before I get into the book or why I thought it being closer to a 2 star work this time, I take a brief break for the only thing I actually wrote in my status updates while reading this book for the second time: When I decided to reread this book, an obvious stand-alone, I did not expect to find that it too was connected to other books. I was both right and wrong – right that it is not connected to that Los Angeles series (Hollywood Series), but wrong since it is connected to the Portland series (that two book cop series). One of the main characters in this book, Austen, is best friends with Dawn – and through her friends with Aidan. Aidan and Dawn are the main characters in the Portland series (though I suspect someone else is the main in the second book in the series, but other than a third name in the book description, a Kade something or other, I didn’t see a specific couple mentioned as the mains in that book; maybe Jae broke her usual practice and actually had more than one book starring the same characters – don’t know, have only read the first book in that Portland series).

Right, so, the book.

The book opens with two main characters – Austen Brooks and Danielle ‘Dee’ Saunders. Austen is just starting work at a new job, as an administrative assistant (or, as some sometimes say in the book ‘just a secretary’), while Dee is number two in the toy company. The COO – chief operating officer.

Before Austen ever meet Dee, she learned – or I should say heard gossip indicating that Dee is basically the worst human who ever existed and is nicknamed ‘Attila’. For some unknown reason, Austen actually uses that nickname to Dee’s face. Didn’t really seem ‘normal’ or ‘in character’ for Austen to do that – she’s strong willed and stubborn, but didn’t get presented as being a gossipy bitch. So her random use of the nickname was odd. As luck would have it, good or bad luck, Austen didn’t actually know that she was using that nickname directly to Dee because she didn’t know ‘the injured woman’s’ name when she used the phrase.

Injured woman? Well, backing up – the marketing department have been given the task of decorating the lobby Christmas tree, Austen took on the task because none of the weak assholes in her department would do it. Austen came up with the idea of putting up silver stars which had personal statements on them from everyone in the company – statements about what that individual wished for. I’m mentioning all of this so I can then mention that, with a great deal of reluctance, Dee hung up a star on the tree. Then promptly, because she’s a know-it-all bitch, started redoing the decorations, which caused the top star to fall and slam into her forehead. By weird and unlikely coincidence, Austen was right there and rushed over to help. This included a visit to an emergency room, and Dee’s home to ‘watch over her’. At no time did Dee give her full name and position within the company to Austen.

So. Austen has the back-story of: two years before the start of this book a relationship she had been in, with a ‘Brenda’, imploded when it came out that Austen was actually ‘the other woman’ and that Brenda had been cheating on her partner with Austen. Not something Austen knew. Years before that, when Austen was 16 her mother died. This is another ‘warping life’ situation (another in addition to that situation with Brenda). I’d say exactly what I mean but . . . spoilers and stuff.

Dee is not an ice queen. An ice queen is cold and emotionally distant – someone who might be bitchy, but in a stern, distant, cold way. No, Dee is way too emotional to be an ice queen (an ice queen might be a bundle of emotion, boiling, rioting emotion - but suppressed, not allowed to be seen by others - Dee has no problem having her emotions seen by others)). She has some of the same characteristics that go along with being one – being thought negatively by those around her, having few or no friends, etc. etc. But Dee is way to fiery and shout-y to be a closed off ice queen. She’s the kind to take out her frustrations on innocent fragile office equipment – she goes through computer mice like she was a hungry snake (and no, she doesn’t eat the mice); she screams loudly at basically everyone around her. She’s a bitch and everyone hates her.

Holy fuck that’s a messed up: a) family (Dee’s); b) company. The company is filled with nasty horrible trolls who can’t seem to actually do work – instead they seem to always be wandering the halls bickering and saying the nasty-est gossip about everyone else in the building they can think of. Horrible horrible company. Probably the worst company to work for in Portland, nah, in the USA.

Dee’s family? Filled with leaches, alpha male assholes, and the like who treat Dee like underperforming dirt, and ‘a girl’ – and obviously ‘girls don’t’ have a head for business’.

Quite frankly this book pissed me off from beginning to end (wow, who would have guess that from what I’ve written so far, eh? Heh). First Austen gets way out of proportionally angry with Dee when the lie of omission occurred (when Dee didn’t immediately scream her name and business title at Austen when they first meet; Dee did try telling Austen during the evening and morning of that ‘emergency event situation’, but Austen kept stopping her from being able to do so; though Dee didn’t try too hard to tell Austen – and did go out of her way to try to keep others from saying her last name in her and Austen’s presence). Second – what the fuck? Dee is described as having a massive and impressive educational background (good college, graduated summa cum laude etc etc.), and she broke away from the family business (as in her father’s, and 3 of her four brothers) to . . . . work for her uncle. WTF? If she was actually willing to break away that far, why the fuck would she work for the uncle? No one in her family respects, or treats her as anything other than an object to acquire a man – and the man would go work in the business while presumably Dee would be somewhere in the background, barefoot and pregnant. Dee’s family is the scum of the earth. Chauvinistic, misogynistic assholes. Why the fuck did Dee go to work for the uncle? It wasn’t like it was her only option – for fuck sake, she got given this background of being super good and having this impressive education so . . . why? WHY? WTF? It isn’t like this is some surprise that they think and act this way – Dee has always known this about her family.

And that ‘good brother’? To a certain extent, he is actually even worse than the others. Because he was ‘nicer’ than the others, he . . . um wasn’t an obvious asshole. But! Even if he might have wished to do so he never backed up his sister, no, instead, he joined in on the screaming, shouting, dickish comments and actions. And – fuck him. Fuck him with a rusty screwdriver. Forcing your assistant to pick up something you fucking forgot on your desk, and drive hours out of her way – when she’s supposed to be on vacation? Fuck you you fucking asshole. The good brother. Fuck that.

One last point – (view spoiler)[why the fuck would Dee use her uncle’s cabin for vacation? She’s loaded with cash after working a top job for 14 years. WTF? It’s like she wanted to be caught – especially as she made sure that no one had any way of contacting her except to drop by the cabin – and she’s always being fucking contacted 24/7 she should have, and probably did know that someone would turn up and find her in a compromising situation. WTF!?!? (hide spoiler)]

My blood is boiling. Fucking people in this book. Fuck them all. I’ve never gotten around to reading the other book in that Portland series (or the short story that occurs after the second book), and now believe I never want to. Since two of the people in that series pop up in this one. Mind you, they were the lone sane people in this book, but they ‘allowed’ themselves to be associated with this book so . . .. bah, I’m being stupid but I can’t bring myself to read the rest of the Portland series now.

Rating: 2.4

March 31 2017



View all my reviews

Heart Trouble by Jae

Heart Trouble by Jae

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Second time I’ve read this book, fourth Jae book read this week, and, I’ve now learned, fourth (not counting short stories) in that Hollywood series.

I assume that there are two reasons why this book is not currently listed as the fourth in that series: 1) neither of the mains are actresses (unlike at least one main in each of the proceeding books in the series), though there are actress side characters; 2) there is a fantasy element to the story not present in the Hollywood Series books.

So, why do I see this as being the fourth book in that Hollywood series? Simple enough – same location; same people/characters appear in this book and in the prior books; while no main is an actress , attending movie premieres is still an element in the book.

Laleh Samadi is a waitress who appeared in book three of the Hollywood series and stars in this book here. Her best friends appear to consist of the women from the prior books – Jill being the closest friend of the bunch – this is the third book in the series wherein Jill played an important role, leaving the first book as the only one not to include her. Grace, Crash, and Lauren also make appearances – though Grace again is just there (first book she was mentioned a few times as being super gorgeous; second book she starred as main character; third she’s again mentioned a few times – there but just barely having a role larger than one that could have been filled by a cardboard cutout of her; and then in this book here she’s ‘caught’ kissing Lauren at a party and . . . well, Jill says that Laleh should talk to Grace about a specific issue but that talk either never occurred or wasn’t covered by this book, so she’s even less here in this book than in previous; I assume that it is Lauren being kissed, I’m not sure if her name was even used in this book – she has no role other than being someone to be kissed by someone famous and lesbian; Crash has a larger role, but barely. No, of the side characters who have previous starred in their own books, only Jill ‘shines’.

Laleh has heart issues to start off the book and ends up in the ER. While the book description says ‘emergency room physician’, the book itself made a big point of using the phrase ‘emergency department’. So maybe I should not put down ‘ends up in the ER’ but . . . ends up in the . . um . . hospital? Well, whatever. She has issues with her heart, her mother drives her to the hospital, Laleh collapses, basically dies, but is revived by a doctor there. One named Dr. Hope Finlay.

Hope is a workaholic – her life, for the most part, revolves around her job as an emergency physician at a hospital. And she’s basically closed off to others – though she does somehow manage to have one friend named Jordan (a surgeon). For those who like this series and liked Jordan, you will be happy, I’m sure, to know that Jordan also stars in her own book – though it hasn’t been released yet (Falling Hard).

Hope and Laleh connect up in this book because Hope, while attempting to save Laleh’s life, shocked her with one of those thingies that shocks people. And accidentally had herself shocked at the same time – by having Laleh’s arm jerk forward and slam into Hope’s chest. Well, that’s a connection, but I meant that they connect up because Hope doesn’t believe in anything but what she can see, feel, taste – in rational logical thought. When she keeps having these unexplainable events take place after being shocked, she has to get to the root cause, she has to find that rational logical reason hidden among the vaguely supernatural illusion. Which lead her to talk with Laleh – very very tentatively. To see if she also is having weird after-effects (like suddenly knowing Farsi, despite never having attempted to learn it; odd food cravings; etc).

And so – closed off hiding from life Hope, and bubbly happy Laleh, straight Laleh, end up linked by some kind of ‘magical’ link. They both like and freak out about the connection. Hope because she cannot stand being forced to be so open with someone outside herself; Laleh because she’s feeling things she isn’t certain are her own feelings, or someone else’s.

This is a reread. I knew how this story would go – and because I knew, I was kind of grumbling to myself at times when I hadn’t been before. Because, again, I know how the story unfolds – I knew how the story ended. There are ‘reasons’ why the two women would never have hooked up, become a couple, if they lived their lives without odd little bits of fantasy popping up – what with Hope being closed off and not really dating; Laleh being, as far as she knew, straight – though not really being all that excited by any men she’s meet. So ‘something’ had to force them together. So fantasy did. But! Something had to . . . well, now I can’t say for spoiler reasons. (view spoiler)[I was annoyed that the ‘link’ had to be destroyed when I read the book the first time; was grumbling while reading the book that I knew the link would be killed – seeing them together, seeing them loving that link, that close-ness, then seeing it severed again. Yeah, I know ‘why’ the link had to be severed, but . . . seriously – ‘Laleh had to know if the feelings she felt were actually her own so the link severed;’ but! It could just as easy turned out to be ‘wiggling and rolling around in a fit of pleasure, Laleh and Hope gazed upon each other . . . then both squeaked, eyes widening in shock – they couldn’t feel the other! After allowing themselves to actually have sex for the first time together the link was severed! They were being punished! Obviously this means that they should not be together and so both part and never see the other ever again. Because I’ve turned this into Lesbian Pulp instead of Lesbian Romance.’

The action that occurred after the link was severed was ‘too easy’. They relied heavily on it – heck, it’s the reason they were able to ‘be together’. To cut through some of the bullshit that gets thrown up as barriers in other books. But . . . to go from that to ‘awkward car ride . . . oh! We need to actually use words now! I know!’. Simple. Easy.

And . . . how the bloody hell did they explain Hope’s sudden lack of understanding in terms of Farsi? That’s kind of . . . a huge thing to suddenly lose the ability to speak a language without any explanation. (hide spoiler)]

Right. Whatever. Another book that edged close to top marks – the first time I read it and now. But failed to read that high rating plateau because of how the book ended. *shrugs* meh, happens.

Rating: 5+

March 30 2017




View all my reviews

Just Physical by Jae

Just Physical by Jae

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My third reread of this week of a Jae book (well, 3rd reread of this week, just so happens to be by same author and in same series).

I read this book the first time in 2015, again some distance away from prior book in series, though just a few months between books as opposed to the year between books one and two. That's the first time I read the series. This time I read the books back to back this week over the course of three days.

Prior two books in this series kept knocking on my six star shelf, especially since books can't get there unless they are rereads. And they are quite good books. Both were just slightly less than top level, best of the best, reads though. Both rereads were slightly more satisfying experiences than first reads, though.

This time? This book I mean? I originally gave this book a rating of 5 stars. And this time give it a rating of 4.75. It's been 2 years so it isn't that I reread the book too close to original read. No, it was just certain aspects that detracted from my enjoyment.

Book 2 in the series had the main characters thrust together and 'in trouble', or helping to get out of trouble, because of Jill. Because Grace had been willing to help her friend who had/has multiple sclerosis - and had been caught in photographic form looking like she was having an affair, a lesbian affair at that. So Jill isn't some side character who is barely seen, heck, she once was the girlfriend of Amanda, the star of the first book in the series but was too far in the closet for the relationship to last and so it collapsed. So . . . okay, 1) the reader doesn't know about the Amanda connection until it came up in book 2 and 2) Jill doesn't appear in book one. So my mild attempt to raise the importance of Jill collapsed before I could make the claim. Right, no matter. Though will include a specific sentence I was going to mention - 'Jill isn't some barely there, seen a few times, side character in book 2; unlike Grace (star of book 2) in this book here, or Laleh in this book’. Laleh, who the heck is that, you might be thinking. Well, Laleh was briefly in this book and more talked about than seen . . briefly talked about. She is a waitress at a Persian restaurant that Crash and Jill went to in this book here, and is of importance because she later starred in a book of her own (in which most, maybe all for the main starring characters in this ‘Hollywood series’ make an appearance – 2016’s Heart Trouble).

I had a point I was attempting to make, probably lost the point somewhere along the line – namely that Jill has a biggish role in the series – bigger, in some ways, than other main characters who make something like cameos but are more ‘barely there’. Like I already mentioned Grace appears in this book here – she actually has more ‘scenes’ than I recalled, though she’s mostly there not talking much, as opposed to playing an important role. A stand in, if you will, for someone Jill is willing to turn to for help instead of turning to Crash. Lauren plays a bigger role than Grace in this book, but really felt like something of a ‘see, here’s another character from the past! It’s like a reunion of sorts!’. Though that’s kind unfair – I mean, the movie Jill is co-staring in, and that Crash is stuntwoman on was written by Lauren.

Right, enough of that.

Jill has MS – the book opens at some point prior to book 2 of the series, I believe a year before, where Jill learns about her illness. Then pops forward 2 years (or possibly 18 months) for the remainder of the book (or 1 year after the end of book 2). Jill is still having trouble getting work as an actress, but that’s more mentioned here and there since she’s actively working on a film for the most of the book. A film titled Shaken to the Core (if not known yet, a lot of Jae’s works are connected in one way or another, like the Hollywood series is connected to both ‘Shaken to the Core’, and ‘Heart Trouble’; while ‘Shaken to the Core’ is connected to yet another series, ‘Backwards to Oregon’ through a side character, the same one Jill plays in the movie, who is a descendent of the people in that Oregon series.)

Jill plays Dr. Lucy Sharpe in a film about the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. A film written by Lauren. Since she has MS, the directors (main director, and the 2nd unit director who does the action and stunt stuff) want(ed) someone else to do most of the action/physical scenes. Things as ‘little’ as stumbling over a bedpan – which is the first stunt that the stuntwoman had to perform in the book and in the film.

Crash plays the other main character in this book, and the stuntwoman who is confused by doing such a ‘simple stunt’ and assumes that Jill is a ‘Hollywood Diva’ or sleeping with someone of importance (oddly, she never thought that Jill was sleeping with, say, Lauren who does have some (limited) power – no, once Crash gazed upon Jill, she knew Jill was a lesbian and therefore . . . . *shrugs*). Unfortunately for Crash, she makes her view public. Unfortunate because that ‘Hollywood Diva’ was standing right behind her. So Crash and Jill meet badly.

Somewhere along the way, though, Crash and Jill start some kind of relationship. The kind wherein they aren’t really dating, but are, and there’s lots and lots of sex (and I mean a lot. I’d forgotten that this book seemed to be so full of sex). But not really dating . . . because Jill doesn’t do that.

I had one real problem with the book – that push pull dynamic between Jill and Crash got old fast. Crash would try to have a relationship with Jill. Crash would get as close as she could – Jill would – seemingly at the same time, push and pull Crash; then push harder – pushing Crash away. Because . . .. Now there’s a reason for Jill’s actions – (view spoiler)[she’s both a lesbian with sexual needs (so, after 2 years of keeping away from sex, she ‘finally’ breaks down and has some) and someone with trust issues (so it can just be sex because she doesn’t trust anyone would stick around because of the MS). (hide spoiler)] Push push push, push some more, then bounce back to square one. This is a weird mix of ‘long road to love’ and ‘insta-love’ – for the simple reason that you need a certain amount of love, on Crash’s part, to keep pushing against the stubborn mule-like Jill.

Bah. I keep struggling to write this. Probably because I’m starving. So I’ll just leave it as is.

I liked the book, even with its flaws.

Rating: 4.75

March 29 2017




View all my reviews