The Road Ahead by A.E. Radley

The Road Ahead by A.E. Radley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a quick easy read, though it falls inside my ‘novel’ length shelf … by two pages (works of 260 to 519 pages).

There are several things happening in this book – the first half is a road trip, the second half is something of a . . . recovery from that road trip.

The book opens with twenty-something Rebecca Edwards arriving, late, at an airport in Portugal. It’s the day before the day before Christmas. Or Christmas Eve Eve – the eve of Christmas Eve. It’s the 23rd of December. Rebecca is rushing to get back to her mum, but finds the airport packed with wandering confused humans. Luckily they are not muttering things about ‘brains’ and attempting to bite people, no that isn’t this type of book. No, see, ‘there’s something wrong with the computers’ and no flight can land or leave Portugal or Spain. It’s been that way for about 2 hours now.

One thing leads to another, and Rebecca arrives at a car rental desk. But they want a fortune to rent her a car. A fortune she doesn’t have. It’s the last car they have, she’s put down a 100 pounds to hold it to see if she could get money from others.

While frantically sending text messages to her poor financially impoverished friends, another woman appears and demands a car. She’s dressed like the kind of woman who has money. Loads of it. As opposed to Rebecca who looks like she . . . well, the 100 pounds appearing surprised me considering how she is described. She looks dirty and dirt poor.

That other woman, Arabella Henley has a few ice queen like traits. Don’t be fooled, she’s more of a selfish bitch (and yes, there is a difference). Arabella is moments away from handing over her credit card and getting the keys to the ‘one remaining car’ when Rebecca puts a stop to it. She mentions several things – the part where she points out that Arabella is stumbling around on a crutch and has a foot in a cast finally works. So now neither of them have the car. Rebecca doesn’t have the money, while Arabella’s injury has insurance coverage issues that keep her from the car.

Naturally . . . well, it takes a while, mostly the arrival of more desperate looking people, but they agree to drive together. From Portugal to London (well, near London, Putney and Croydon, wherever the heck that is; I know Croydon has been ‘absorbed’ into London suburbs, while Putney is an hour away from Croydon).

Its 22 hours and 46 minutes driving between Faro Airport (the airport I think they are at in Portugal) and Croydon UK (1,478 miles). 23 hours and 23 minutes between Faro Airport and Putney UK. 1,491 miles. A roadtrip that includes the countries: Portugal, Spain, France, and England.

I fluctuated in how much I liked or not liked the main characters, but in the end I tended to like them well enough. There was a good mix of humor to help matters along. I suppose if I was to point to one thing I disliked, I’d point to how often Arabella referred to Rebecca as ‘the girl’.

For those who care about such things: there was no graphic depictions of a sexual nature in this work.

Enjoyable book.

Rating: 4.88

July 4 2018




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Wildrose by Max Ellendale and R.M. Bruce

Wildrose by Max Ellendale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’ve started this review something like twelve times now.

Eve Grant works as a homicide detective in Seattle. There are investigations she is shown investigating, but the main point of the book is not to follow and/or unravel mysteries, but to watch Eve’s love life. She’s both not the kind to have relationships (more of a one-night stand type of person), and hasn’t been on a one night stand type event in months (six?). So, naturally, there’d be some changes in store for Eve in this book.

Her first potential love interest is the somewhat vaguely ice queen like Ainsley Monson, the medical examiner. I’m not actually sure if she has that reputation so much as she kind of acts that way in the book.

I’d like to say ‘various other people weave in and out as potentials’, but that’s hard to have happen, what with Eve mostly just hanging out with straight people, and in straight bars. Another potential love interest does pop up, though, through the means of visiting that gay friendly bar that shares the same name as this book
(Ciara is meet there, and a tiny bit of time is spent here otherwise, but . . . I’m not sure why this specific book is named after that bar).

An interesting dynamic breaks out that I rarely see in books like this one, though it might be obvious from what I’ve written up to this point – Eve starts dating two people at the same time (one knows the name of the other; the other knows that Eve is dating someone else, but not her name). The three woman love triangle actually, and somewhat unexpectedly, seems to flow naturally for the people involved, and the situation(s) encountered. Or, in other word, there are reasons for why things developed the way they developed, for how Eve ended up dating two people at the same time, who are aware of the situation and vaguely accepting of it.

Fire and ice. I’ve mentioned Ainsley, she’d fall on the ice side of things. On the fire side is Ciara. Using the ‘fire and ice’ as opposite extremes is a nice motif for me to use, eh? But doesn’t really apply, and was never used in the book. Ainsley has elements of being closed off emotionally, being something of an ice queen; while Ciara, with her flaming red hair, and ability to openly express her wants and desires would fall inside . . . whatever category that would imply. Fire seems to imply someone who becomes enraged easily or something like that, which is not Ciara. Or someone controlled by their emotions, again not her. I need a new motif.

You know, writing a review for this book should probably be easy. I’m not sure why it took me twelve times to get to this point, or why I’m ham-fistedly going about things as I am.

I probably should have just gone with the thought I’d had while reading the book, and seen if there was something I could have built off of it, review-wise. That thought being: ice-queens are popular in lesbian fiction, off the top of my head I can think of three fanfiction universes that use that dynamic and in turn get used for inspiration for fanfiction, and published work (Cat Grant from Supergirl; whoever the ice queen is from: Devil Wears Prada, and, in addition, the one from Once Upon a Time (that’s the one that’s called Swanqueen, right?); a fourth could be Janeway from Star Trek Voyager, though I rarely see fanfictions from that universe, and when I do, they tend to attempt to show what would have happened if Janeway hadn’t made the decision to not pursue romantic interests while in the Delta quadrant – she has more of the ‘stand-offishness’ vibe more from circumstances than actual traits (at least there were hints she wasn’t that way when she wasn’t cut off from the Alpha Quadrant)).

Melting the ice queen’s heart, especially since she tends to be shown as much older than the other individual involved in the romance, has never really been my thing to enjoy. I prefer the more nurturing, emotionally stable . . etc. etc. There’s probably a term for that type of character, eludes me (not 'mothering' type, that's going too far in a different direction, I'm not looking 'mother and little girl' stories either, more equal partners type stories). I’m referring here to what I like to read, not real life situations (*shrugs*, I can't really say I'm not into that in real life since my longest term relationship, roughly 7 to 8 years, was with someone with a vaguely ice queen vibe, though I only really noticed after the fact when watching her interact with others who were not me).

Nope, that thought experiment to create a review didn’t work. Ah well.

I liked what I saw unfold in this book. For the most part I liked the sole point of view character, Eve, and her best friend Ang. I liked the personality shown with Ciara, though we, the reader, didn’t really get to dig deep into her character. We learn a little bit more about Ainsley, but, due to her character, there are walls around her that weren’t breached.

Hmm. I now fall into an odd problem. Since I wrote, then discarded a dozen reviews, I’m not sure what all I actually have and haven’t written. Since I feel like I’ve written everything now, but probably have discarded most. Pfft, having to reread my own review… mmphs.

Right. There are two things left I wanted to mention. Or, at least, two things I thought of mentioning.

Nah, I just deleted the paragraph(s) I wrote that rambled about this being the sixth book I’ve read by one of the two authors listed on this book’s cover, and I’ll just move to the next topic.

There’s graphic sex in this book. I, somewhat unexpectedly, liked it more than I figured I would.

Some quotes:

"Nice sunglasses," . . .
"Shut up."
"I thought you weren't drunk."
"Wasn't drunk. Totally no drunkness occurred."
"Uh huh. So you normally wear sunglasses in the rain?"
"I do. Don't judge me."
"Idiot."

"Hey, don't discount the awesomeness that is my firearm. It's saved your life a time or two."
"Yeah, but what happens when you're disarmed? You scream 'I beat terrorists!' while waving your arms in the air?" I laughed at him. "That'll work."

"Prude." Now I laughed at her. "I was kidding. I'm thirty-six years old. I have no gaydar. I'm broken."

If I was any less of a person, I'd deny the deflated feeling inside when I heard the dreaded heterosexuality pour from her lips. My inclinations were, no doubt, wrong.

"Thanks for the drink."
"Anytime." I smiled, half-heartedly at the sexy woman who I would now only get to ogle at until I shriveled up and died.

"Worst lesbian ever. Most U-Haul. You Fed Ex."
I laughed hard at the unusual statement. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"U-Haul, love 'em and married by the third date. Fed Ex, love 'em and ship 'em out next day air."

"Are you aware that we're both in our mid-thirties and behaving like bi-curious teenagers?"

"I've also never kissed two women at the same time." I looked at her. "Wait, that sounded odd."

"I don't care if we eat in the middle of the road, as long as we get to spend time together," I told her because that's how I felt.

I lost my fingers in her hair but she pulled back suddenly.
"Did I give you a boner?" She grined down at me, biting her bottom lip in the way that made me want to bit it for her.
"I think you might've." I reached under my shirt and tugged my sidearm free, shoving it into my purse a few inches away.

"Dating," I said. "We're dating. Poorly, at the moment."
She laughed, genuinely. So much so that her eyes lit up with it. "Very."
"Just relax a little, okay?"
"You too then. Sometimes you look about ready to regurgitate a meal."
"Ainsley!" I laughed, swatting her arm without thinking. "That's gross. You say weird shit."

Nothing brought me more joy than spending this time with Angelina. She was my best friend, my sister, my person, and no matter what, that wouldn't ever change. I was lucky to have her, to call her my family.

ETA: by the way - if the relationship had ended up the way I thought it might, I'd probably have rated this book way differently. Like, a lot.

Rating: 5.0

June 21 2018



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Taking Flight by Siera Maley

Taking Flight by Siera Maley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




There are some authors who I, once I actually find them, gobble everything by them up as quickly as possible (or, at least, whatever I can get my hands on). Then there are authors who have written books I’ve liked and who, for reasons that aren’t really clear to me, I take a lot of time getting around to reading other stuff by them. Sierra Maley falls into the second category – I’ve now read all but one of their six books, but it took me three years to read these five books.

Part of my slowness in reading these books is the nature of the books – all but one are contemporary romance young adult books, and that other one also involved youngish adults, though it was one of those high fantasy books. I’ve read a ton of young adult books – more than the 78 on my shelves (view spoiler)[(I have a tendency to go back and move my reading records and reviews, if any, to omnibus editions, as in, I’ve read a ton of Rick Riordan young adult books, but he doesn’t show up high on my authors read list because I moved my record of reading from individual books to omnibus editions). (hide spoiler)] Still, I seem to always be kind of reluctant to dive into young adult books, especially if they are romances. This is everything this author, Sierra Maley I mean, writes.

But enough of that.

Three months before the start of this book, Lauren Lennox’s mother died in a car accident. She, the mother, was somewhere around 42. Lauren, at the time, was 17. Before that tragic death, Lauren had two parents, but not the normal type of life experience that one would get from having two parents. Pops (not sure if his name was ever given) is an alcoholic and basically disappeared into the bottle long long ago – other than someone to stumble across as he is passed out drunk, Lauren doesn’t really have a relationship with her father. Her mother, on the other hand, disappeared from her life for another reason – she was an A-list movie actress and was constantly working. So Lauren has spent basically the last 10 years of her life with limited (any?) rules, and low level parenting and support (the mother became an A list star 10 years ago, though she’d been a child actress at some point, so she was always working, just not at the same level).

For the last three months, since her mother’s death, Lauren has basically spent her time in her bed. This is how she ended up in court for failure to attend school. This is not her first time getting into trouble for attendance. The Judge set her up with a program in a small town in Georgia. A quite religious town, with a Baptist family. Lauren, by the way, has been openly lesbian since she was . . . what, 14? Something like 14.

The early part of the book shows Lauren with her one good friend, Caitlyn, dealing with the issue of being shipped off (shortly, like in three days) to Georgia. Her plan, which she sets up with her friend before leaving, is to be a disagreeable sort with her program family, and once she turned 18, the friend would pick her up and they’d drive off, freeing her early. Money? Her trust fund has millions in it. Not that she can touch any at the moment.

The second part of the book (and no the book is not cut evenly in half) involve Lauren interacting with the small Georgian town, the Baptist family she lives with, and the small high school she attends.

There’s a lot about the description of Lauren, who and what she presents herself as, which would likely be annoying for me to read. But there’s more to her than this description, and she’s actually pretty fun to follow along.

There are many things I liked about this book, beyond Lauren: there’s quite good characterization, a good story-line, great side-characters, etc. etc. I like how this book mentions a young adult who is attending high school . . . and actually shows stuff in the school.

After that was lunch, only the lunch periods were beyond confusing, and I wound up sitting alone at a table for two lunch periods instead of one. Then it turned out neither of those lunch periods were the one I was supposed to have attended

Many seem to like to just skip that part. I liked how there is/was a romance in the book and it wasn’t a ‘love at first sight’ type of thing, nor was it without complications (I’m trying to figure out how to mention some of this without spoilers - (view spoiler)[like, I liked how Lauren attempted to date the only openly lesbian person in the school, Maddie, and kind of fucked it up

“Should’ve known. How on earth can you talk shit about guys like Trevor, being the way you are? How is what you’re doing here any better than what he’s done? You let me think you wanted to get to know me; that you actually liked me. Here I was, actually catching feelings for a girl I was spending time with, and meanwhile you just wanted to sleep with me."

; and . . . .well, other stuff (hide spoiler)].

The characters felt real. The story felt real. Quite good book.

I was literally huddled under a tree in the middle of nowhere during an increasingly heavy downpour, soaking wet, in order to watch a recently-pseudo-dumped blonde girl dance around and drink rain. Caitlyn would die of laughter if she could see me now.

Watching Cammie interact with Nate and Fiona was like watching a baby bird take a nosedive out of its nest.

- Lauren, being Lauren, had looked for some non-threatening looking people to sit with at lunch, so became friends with Nate and Fiona. They were initially quite confused, though, as to why Lauren would want to sit with them. Lauren, I've never mentioned, is white. Nat and Fiona are black. Lauren hadn't thought it would be strange to sit with them, but . . . while the small town wasn't necessarily racist, it was still a small town in Georgia, one that was about 99.9% white. Cammie, here in the quote, is Cameron Marshall, the young woman who Lauren lives with in the Marshall home. Cammie isn't specifically racist but never thought of sitting with Nate & Fiona. Until that particular part of the book.

“Don’t make fun of my boobs,” I hissed. She just giggled and pulled me down for another kiss.

Rating: 4.88

June 17 2018



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Love on the Red Rocks by Lisa Moreau

Love on the Red Rocks by Lisa Moreau

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is both the first book I’ve read by this author, and the author’s first work published (which isn’t always something that happens with me and authors). The author has published two books and one short story (in a short story collection) since this book appeared.

I’d been intrigued by this book since it appeared, but I just never pulled the trigger on purchasing the book. And I still haven’t – at some point this year (last month? This month?) Bold Strokes Books started putting some of their books into the Kindle Unlimited program – which is how I read this book. The book wasn’t free to me, since KU isn’t a free program, but it’s near enough if you read enough books a month (heck, read two full length works that normally cost about $9.99, and it’s like you read one for free and one at full price, and I read a heck of a lot more books than 2 a month – though how many a month are KU depends on the month).

This book stares one Malley . . . oh, darn; the book description doesn’t have last names. Mmphs. Well, the book stares Malley as solo point of view character. She’s 30 (though I’m going more by remembering that she hiked a certain trail 15 years before the start of the story, and she was 15 at the time), and works a ‘steady, stable, and dependable job’ in some form of sales analyst position. She keeps dreaming about opening a bakery, but it’s risky. That’s what her love interest always says, at least. Opening a bakery being risky (‘businesses are closing all the time’).

That’s right, this book opens, well after the prologue, with the lead character having a love interest – and a plan to announce her love to this individual before a certain event occurs (the end of a lesbian retreat vacation).

Let’s back up as that’s vaguely confusing: There’s a prologue involving the lead character, Malley, hiking a particular trail with her dad. She has a moving experience visiting ‘the woman’ (I forget the exact title of the rock formation). 15 years later she returns to Sedona Arizona on a ‘lesbian retreat’, mentioned to her by her next door neighbor Jessie.

So Malley heads to Sedona with a plan – spend time with Lizzie, who she’s spent a year waiting to detach herself from her girlfriend (I want to say Heather?), and this is her chance. Except things start going wrong immediately – while heading towards the resort, Malley and Lizzie – driving together, crash. Not as important as it might seem, no the important part is a motorcyclist stops to offer assistance – the already mentioned Jessie. A problem for several reasons, well three specific reasons: 1) Lizzie makes comments about being interested in Jessie; 2) Malley thought Jessie, who she tries to avoid at all costs, despite being next door neighbors, wasn’t going to attend the retreat; 3) Malley always thought Jesse was gorgeous, and wouldn’t have been all over her if not for her profession (police officer), and she’s distracted on her mission to pursue Lizzie by her own random thoughts about Jessie.

Then, once the two crashed women traveling together finally reach the retreat, they learn that the retreat has a ‘random draw’ pairing random lesbians together to room together. For . . . reasons of experience and stuff.

Malley’s plans are unraveling. Then she learns, horrors, she’s going to be rooming with Jessie.
The book was a lot more interesting than I expected, and, while Malley is a hard character to like in the beginning, the reader both learns why Malley is the way she is – in certain aspects – and watches as Malley grows as a person (which includes her being bitchy (mostly mentally) about other lesbians at the retreat, only to later grow to realize what she was doing).

What else to say . . . good story, good romance. Sex occurred, I do not recall how graphically (don’t read too much into that lack of remembrance; I pay attention sometimes, I don’t sometimes, and when I pay attention does not always correspond to how well written things are or aren’t).

Rating: 4.60 (I originally marked this book 5 stars on GoodReads, putting it on my 4.75 star shelf, but have moved it down to 4.50 shelf and 4 stars on GoodReads. I might adjust again later, but this is probably where the book should rest).

June 11 2018




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To Serve the Divine by Sophie Lack

To Serve the Divine by Sophie Lack

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There's an episode of 'Sliders', and here I go referencing a show from longish ago, that involved the 'main characters 'sliding' from their world to another. That world included both modern stuff, like guns, glass, skyscrapers, and active users of magic, I believe they were either Druid in origin or Celtic (I'm sure there are some similiarities and differences between the two). I mention this for a very specific reason - this short story opens with a woman wearing armor like a knight (at least it seemed described that way without using the word 'knight') who was falling to her death, through a glass window, in a sky-scrapper. When she landed she was surprised to find that her magic didn't work - that she couldn't 'feel' the magic actually.

I wasn't sure I'd write anything about this story, but that 'Sliders' episode sprang to mind and I found I had to write something. It's a vaguely odd feeling to read something involving magic users and modern stuff, yet I'm not really sure why I would feel that way. I mean, Urban Fantasy is magic being used in modern times (for the most part), but there's a different vibe to it - even the ones that use actual Druids who've been alive since Druids were an actual thing, seem slightly different from the feel here. Mostly because there's an alternate history aspect missing from Urban Fantasy (for the most part) - most urban fantasy take the world as it is today, and mixes in things, people and creatures, who are hidden from modern non-magic users minds (until forced to face this magic). Which is different from a society where magic is openly used in front of non-magic users, and accepted as the natural away of life. That tends to appear either in a vaguely historical fiction/fantasy setting (see: stories of Merlin), or Science Fiction/Science Fantasy setting (see: Star Wars, you know, those Jedi wizards operating in a science fiction world), rarely, though, in a world contemporary to our own (I mean, magic being openly acknowledged), - it could, of course, just mix in that those magicians, and fortune tellers, and mediums and the like operating in 'our' world have 'real magic', then you have the start of open/hidden magic users in modern setting without going into an alternate reality world where the Druids made it to modern times, and decided to build skyscrapers and the like (like having cameras).

What I'm expressing might be instantly obvious or horribly confusing. I know what I mean, but probably can't express it. So I move on.

Of Note: there are massive editing issues in this work. Words misused (using one spelling of a word, when a different spelling was meant), accidentally inserting words that were not needed, etc. Like an extra 'the'. Just one of those things to note. I ignored as much as I could, the issue. Though a person getting to their feet multiple times annoys me, heh. Eh, near the end of the book, Jasper, the lead character (other than the Goddess, who also has a POV), 'sighed and got to her feet', then 'smiled and got to her feet', never having actually left her feet. Maybe she has more feet to get onto? She'd need at least four to use 'feet' twice.

Rating: 3.44

June 11 2018



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Colorblind by Siera Maley

Colorblind by Siera Maley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is about a young woman of 17 who has the ability to know when people will die. Not a date and time, not how they will die, but just the age. Which sits on each person’s forehead like a tattoo. The only way she can get away from knowing is to not look at a person’s forehead, but it is quite hard for her to not look. Even though it pains her each time. Even if the information she sees is something like ‘84’, stamped on a young mother with two roughly six year old children with her (both of whom have death ages between 51 and .. . I forget now, 80 something?); or spotting a young woman roughly her own age with the death age stamped on her of ‘16’. Painful, grey world she lives in (colorblind, the title, comes, I believe, from the fact that she, and the other person she knows who has this ‘special gift’ see the world mostly without color – grey, bleak, filled with death).

That ‘16’, by the way, is stamped on a young woman who the main character, Harper, runs across. She has a great first meeting with Chloe – well other than the part wherein she almost ran her over with her car. And, oddly, she doesn’t look at Chloe’s forehead until the very end of their first encounter, when the woman turns away from her and Harper catches what she thinks is ‘16’. She calls out to get confirmation (to get the woman to turn to her again) and, yes, 16. She’s meet this great young bubbly happy woman . . . who is shortly going to die.

Heavy, eh?

Weirdly, the only time I stopped reading was when I had to pause for a moment to put food into the microwave. But that was my only pause. I devoured this book. It is very readable. It made me laugh, it made me teary-eyed. Great great book.

Rating: 5.5

May 29 2018



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Jen's Humiliating Airport Adventure by Maria X.

Jen's Humiliating Airport Adventure by Maria X.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A woman in between the third and fourth year of college is heading home after the semester ended. She's apparently not traveled much and isn't too capable of handling security check-points. When something causes the scanning amchine to beep, the 'fat loser' (her words) came over asking if she had in metal. She, oddly, flips out and starts throwing around words like fuck ('I'm not wearing any fucking metal!').

Her attitude continues to not help things, the TSA agent(s) (later another one turns up), continues to try to handle the situation, until he decides to take advantage. After one of them places a hand on her shoulder, the young woman physically assaults them and ends up handcuffed. Lead away for more interrogation.

Apparently she forgot she had something metal stuck into her nipple. Easily forgotten, right? I say that because she mentioned her great body toned from swimming like 5 times, mentioned her hard nipples poking into her tight dress (after being forced to remove her bra) several times, but not once did she mention the metal piercing. Until, oops, there it is.

Right so - several words wrong, etc. etc. (like agin for again; waste for waist). Odd actions in this story. Like the male agents strip searching the female. The female constantly kicking the agents (in the stomach, in the groin) that kept making things worse. People acting shocked and calling her a slut for being shaved. In this day and age? Seriously? mmphs.

And then she spit on him. Bah. A TSTL character is supposed to be in an urban fantasy, or the like, not here (to stupid to live).

Story disturbed me.

Rating: 2.89

September 10 2017



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The Rules of Love by Cara Malone

The Rules of Love by Cara Malone

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There are a million and one (or maybe eight) things I thought of mentioning in a review for this book. I think I'll just stick to a few words.

Two young women of 23 attend graduate school at Granville. Both going for masters in library science with the other also going for masters in user . . . um . . something. I'm not sure where Granville is supposed to be though within roughly 5-6 hour driving of Chicago. Conceivable Granville University (GSU) is a stand in for Denison University (which is located in Granville Ohio, which is roughly 6 hours driving distance from Chicago). GSU, though, seems to correspond to Georgia State University, and I know this isn't Georgia State. So, conceivably, the action is taking place in Ohio.

One of the women had been dating their high school sweetheart for the past six of so years, but the girlfriend, Meagan, broke them apart when they graduated college - didn't want to do the long distance thing. Ruby, the woman I've been referring to indirectly, is normally a bubbly chatty type who just loves social situations and making friends. And she turns to that, with her plastic smile on her face, to distract herself from her heart-break.

Meanwhile there's this kind of 'opposite Ruby' type - where Ruby is bubbly, femme, dress wearing socialite, Max is her opposite in most ways. Strong jaw, mannish clothing, bow-tie, short hair, blunt sharp talk. Doesn’t ‘do’ small talk. Or crowds. Or bars, parties, etc. Course, part of that ‘doesn’t’ do’ is the part wherein she isn’t really sure how. For she falls somewhere within the label of Asperger syndrome.

Both women find the other quite attractive, on first glance. Shortly thereafter both kind of dislike the other, with Ruby even telling her mother that she’s developed an arch-enemy. Max falls less into ‘dislike’ but for noticing how Ruby is acting to her. Which is worrying to her for Ruby is the first person who seems worth the effort to figure out what this ‘dating’ and ‘love’ thing might mean.

Then they are forced to work on a project together through a class. And so they have to interact.

They move less from hate to love, than from hate to hate fucking – quite frankly I kind of despised Ruby throughout the book and had no sympathy for her. She used Max as a distraction, to distract her from her broken heart. Ruby keeps thinking that the fucking will be a one-time thing, but she keeps finding herself in Max’s room. Max thinks they have some kind of relationship going on (stupid of her, eh?).

Then, as kind of expected, the ex-girlfriend reared her ugly head up to blink alluringly towards Ruby. So naturally . . ..
The events of the book kept me from rating this less than I did but I wish to again note that I rather disliked the character Ruby put on display.

sex: lots. And graphic.

Rating: 3.66

June 23 2017




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The Girl with the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir

The Girl with the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I hadn't really expected to but I agree with the few reviews I glanced at before starting this here book. The parts with the cat are the best.

Part of the problem is the part where everything, including the parts apparently in the point of view of the two humans, had a kind of 'cat haze' to everything. A distancing. And something else that I cannot, at the moment, pinpoint. Part of it has to do with how immature, reckless, and downright dimwitted both of the humans were - at times the cat seemed smarter, and you know he wasn't a genius due to certain hints dropped here and there. So we have three relatively dim-witted people bumping around the story.

The story? Two years before the start of this story, in human years (I believe Max called it 14 in cat years), David was murdered. And who exactly is this 'David'? Why, David is Max's human - who brought him into a relationship with Melody when David married (well, supposedly, dated, courted, whatever, then married) Melody. Well, as noted, David's dead and Max and Melody have been bouncing around since then. Melody working as a librarian (and constantly seen out and about in her 'costumes' that she wears as a children's librarian), while Max . . . does cat things. Max, though, is tired of seeing Melody drunkenly wander home with some disgusting man clinging to her, so Max decides to make things right.

So he goes out hunting for the perfect mate. Has a list, see, and he's going to search for who fits. Which leads him into the company of a homeless man ('Hey! Melody has a home!'), but let's not tell the whole story.

Alright story all told. Certain unexpectedly distancing between me and it though, the story. And there was a lot more violence, bloodshed and suspense than I had expected or signed up for when I decided to read about a cat trying to find a mate for his human.

Rating: 3.63

June 20 2017



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Angel in the Whirlwind series by Christopher G. Nuttall

The Oncoming Storm by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Solid science fiction/military fiction/space opera about a young officer who unexpectedly finds themselves as the captain of a space-ship (unexpectedly as in, she hasn't been captain before, and the level of spaceship is several levels higher than her first command should be).

I acknowledge noticing certain 'issues' similar between this first book in a series and the first book in the Honorverse series and note that there are also major differences.



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Falcone Strike by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Falcone Strike was a good continuation of the series and yes you need to read the prior book before reading this one since the series follows the unfolding war between two star empires (well, one’s a ‘Commonwealth’ (with a King), and the other is a Theocracy (with a First Speaker (not actually sure if that’s the head or not)).

And, like in the previous book, I could make comparisons and differences between this book/series and the Weber Honor Harrington series, but they are more vaguely general similarities. Like aliens don’t seem to matter (until the reader is informed otherwise – in Honor’s universe), earth doesn’t matter in the fight (doesn’t exist any longer in this series, and while it exists in Honorverse, it isn’t ‘in’ on the fight), female starship captain who finds themselves in command of a spaceship in a ‘precarious’ situation (system leader for her side is a joke, defensives are poor, the planet is in open revolt, there’s a star nation/empire that ‘might try something’ but, as of yet, aren’t in open warfare . . . until they are). Etc. etc. The ‘natives’ of the ‘main’ Commonwealth systems even ‘look younger’ than they might otherwise because of medical science (just as in Honorverse), while the ‘new allies’ look their age (again, like in both series). But there are no intelligent cats, basically everyone on the ‘other side’ are evil (as opposed to Honorverse where it was more of a conflict between systems, and while one had some ‘bad things’ going for it, the people in general were ‘fighting the good fight’, unlike here where the ‘other side’ is filled with misogynistic assholes); the lead female is in the aristocracy instead of (attempted? I forget now) raped by it; and . . . uh . . . other differences.

Right so, as said, series continued. Kat Falcone, the lead, is back in Commonwealth space forced to do stuff she despises, like go to society parties. The idea being that she’s a war hero and therefore will help ‘rally the people’ to the cause. She isn’t exactly suited to the task, though, and almost gets herself tossed out of the military because of unwise words.

Instead of being tossed out, like several wanted to do to her, Falcone is instead placed at the head of another fleet (she keeps being put at the heads of fleets while constantly just getting ‘temporary’ promotions to fit the role instead of actual promotions). This fleet includes one modern warship (the one she captained in the prior book), and an assortment of crap (old broken down ships that, some of them, literally can no longer fly – and are therefore cannibalized to get the other old ships somewhat closer to being able to fly and fight). Her fleet started off with 30 ‘crap’ ships, and the task force leaves with, roughly, 15 plus Lightning, the modern warship. Their mission – take this fleet of crap that could probably be stopped by a kid with a water gun, and go behind enemy lines. Invade enemy space. And . . . do stuff. Disrupt stuff.

Good interesting read. The ‘bad side’ continue being misogynistic assholes, while Falcone continues needing hugs and f**king her boyfriend – head of the marines on her ship (not graphically described, the f**king).

Rating: 4.33

June 13 2017




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Cursed Command by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not sure if I should rate this 3.5 or 3.75.

This book showed a new dynamic - one of the point of views from prior books, William McElney, has moved to a command of their own spaceship - away from Kat Falcone. And one of the crew members on McElney's new command, Ucanny (the unluckiest ship in the navy), also has a point of view. And like prior books, there's several POV's given over to the other side of the conflict.

Other than being able to come up with 'brilliant' plans in the heat of the moment, I find myself kind of disliking Falcone and somewhat questioning her abilities. She's whinny, bratty, seemingly incapable of properly acting in certain social situations (basically everything in the civilian world), and shows an inability to keep from making snap prejudicial snap judgements. Rightly or wrongly those judgements might be. On-duty she does stuff that could get her in front of a court-martial (going by herself into dangerous situations; she's a captain of a starship, not wonder woman for fuck sake), off-duty she does stuff that could get her court-martialed - and can/could/somewhat does cause 'issues' on her ship (her constant need to be fucking the head of the marines on her ship). People have needs but for fuck sake . . . do you have any self-control? I mean, Kat's constantly slut-shaming her sister and calling her an air-head and Kat does the things she does? pfft.

Yeah, I didn't like this book as much as I would have liked. And the constant mention of just how young she looks and naive; coupled with the comments about her looking older now . . . (while, I guess, still being naive), got old in the first book. By now? Shesh, we get it already.

Right.

Rating: 3.62

June 15 2017



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Desperate Fire by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is difficult to write anything about this book without being spoiler-y. What with it being, as the book description says ‘the fourth and final book in . . . series’ ((view spoiler)[though it is lying; as the end of the book confirms. This isn’t the final book in the series. It is the final book in the story arc. Though I assume the series name will change for the ‘new’ series, so . . . not lying. (hide spoiler)])

Writing seemed good. I sometimes lost track of what the spaceships were doing, but for the most part seemed adequate. Somewhat better, overall, story than the one that occurred in the previous book in the series. One thing that I ‘saw’, an ‘event’ that I knew was going to happen occurred as expected – there was a little too heavy handed foreshadowing there (though a different event came out of the blue for me, though it was foreshadowed . . . three words before it occurred) – it’s a war book, what happens in a war book? But I’ll put behind spoiler tag that (view spoiler)[two significant characters died in this book. One I ‘knew’ was likely to die since his introduction to the series, though didn’t think any specific book would be ‘the one’ until this book here. When a specific event occurred (view spoiler)[marriage proposal (hide spoiler)] that made me nod and think, yep, this book he dies. The other significant character who died in this book might have ‘triggered’ in me more foreshadowing if I had paid closer attention to the part where this was the first time his point of view was given . . . though maybe not (hide spoiler)]).

Sex occurred again. Still mostly described in a ‘and they had sex’ way and less in a graphic way, though there were a few borderline scenes there.

I mean, really, what can I say? I keep thinking of things, but I can’t even hint at the plot, even the beginning plot, because – spoiler (less for this book here, since it builds from the prior books, but for the series as a whole). Um. The people from the prior books continue to advance in their military careers, the war continues. Misogyny and religious fanaticism continues. Including a bit of terrorism.

Oh – one thing I can think of that I think I can say without being spoiler-y. There’s a vague feeling of ‘long ago there was an expansion of the human race – out to the stars. The UN tried to control everything. Things fell apart. The ‘Break-away’ wars occurred, though the main ‘good guys’ star system, was not involved in the ‘Break-away’ wars because of its good solid foundation. Somewhere before, during, or shortly after these break-away wars, the Commonwealth was formed (oh, and during the wars Earth was made uninhabitable). Long . . . long ago. When the current king of Commonwealth’s father was king. So not that really long ago. Really.’ That’s the part I get confused about. How there’s this vague feeling of ‘here’s the history – this stuff happened way in the past.’ Oh, actually, I meant in the prior generation.’ Is it long long ago, or super recent past? No matter. All this stuff occurred before this book here and didn’t really impact the series.

Um. Right. So. Boring review.

Rating: 4.0

June 19 2017




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The Noble of Sperath by Siera Maley

The Noble of Sperath by Siera Maley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is the second one that I’ve read by this author. I had liked the first I’d read, had eyeballed some of the author’s other books but hadn’t tried another until just now.

The first book I’d read by the author was a cute young adult book set in a high school. A contemporary high school. This book here, The Noble of Sperath, is a fantasy set on a medieval like non-earth.

The book opens with the main character hearing people talking near her. She’s concerned because she doesn’t know who they are – or, for that matter, where she is. They continue talking. The main character continues to pretend to be asleep. Eventually one of the two voices leaves and the other stays nearby. Gradually this main character re-develops the ability to move. Which she does, slowly, carefully, until she stands near the strange man who apparently has captured her and put her in his (maybe his?) bed, and sets out to attack him.

There’s a reason why I use ‘main character’ and ‘she’ instead of using the character’s name. And no, it isn’t like normal wherein I just forgot her name. No, it is because ‘she’ has forgotten her name. For she has amnesia. She occasionally gets flashes from her past life (I should be careful using words like that in a fantasy – I just mean her pre-amnesia life), but otherwise doesn’t remember anything from that life. The two men who ‘found’ her also don’t know this character’s backstory either, though they know ‘who’ she is (complicated, eh? They don’t know her, but know her – more later). And here I used character instead of woman, young woman, or child because no one seems to know how old she might be. Though there is a belief that she is probably ‘older than she looks’. Which is ‘young woman’ age, but no specific age was given – until it was mentioned that she looked roughly around the same age as a princess (the princess) of Sperath, who just turned 18. So she could conceivably, she here still being the unnamed main character, be between the age of 13 to 23.

So how do the two men ‘know’ and ‘not know’ this main character? They know what she is, actually, just not who she was. For she is, now, the Seer. The person who will visit all 12 of the kingdoms that make up the Empire of Eveinia, choose 12 potential heirs, head off to another spot and ‘divinely’ choose the next Emperor.

Oh, and naturally everyone can’t just keep referring to her as nameless or something like that, so the main character chooses her own name. She decides to call herself after the most famous thief named Talia, so she calls herself Lia.

Lia is trained and then sets off on her quest with the younger of the two men who working with her (I’d get more exact with names but my digital book reader is dead). Her first stop – the kingdom of Sperath and specifically the same castle the princess lives in.

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to try yet another young adult book set in fantasy land, at least not right when I did try a sample but . . . shesh. I got sucked right in. Before I knew it I’d read something like 8% of the book. Which doesn’t really sound like a lot, but I had intended to just look at a few pages to see if I was going to get the book or not. I am rather glad that I did try this book.

Ah, my status update makes clear to me why I didn’t rate this book higher – initially, while I was easily pulled into the story and devoured the story, I didn’t actually specifically like the main characters (not as in not like the characterization, but not like the characters). That changed, but that was my first impression.

Two things to note: this has been called a young adult story, but it isn’t exactly clear how old the main character actually is, and everyone else involved are adults (well, the princess is 18 but she isn’t considered an young adult in this world, but an adult with responsibilities, like marrying and stuff (stuff including taking over the family business shortly after marriage – as in taking the throne of Sperath). And the second thing – romance stuff.

The first book I read by this author involved a straight girl and a . . . well, she might have been straight or bisexual, it wasn’t from her point of view so not sure – two possibly straight girls being assumed to be a couple, and so they run with it (for reasons) – lots of stuff about sexual orientation and stuff in that book). Here? Well the author seems to be playing with it – flirting with who her characters are and what their wants and needs are – the Princess has two rumors floating around her, and she doesn’t immediately refute either (one casts her as being ‘improperly’ attached to a man; the other has her ‘improperly flirteous (and possible more)’ with women. And the main character? Lia came off more like an asexual than anything else, possibly leaning towards being . . . I don’t know what the term is (like, I read a book involving an asexual biromantic, but am not sure what word to use for lesbianromantic).

Basically I’m saying that I’m not sure I’d call this young adult, nor lesbian fiction. This specific book here. Though there is a lesbian in the book.

I look forward to more books in this series. Eagerly.

Rating: 4.47

June 6 2017




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Sin in the City of Angels: A Noir Choose Your Own Erotic Story by Callista J. Hawkes

Sin in the City of Angels: A Noir Choose Your Own Erotic Story by Callista J. Hawkes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As might be expected for a erotic noir private eye book set in the 1940s, the 'you' of the story is: a) a private detective; b) male.

Stop me if you've heard this before: A 'classy broad' walks a private dicks office. He's half-way to drunk. She's disdainful of her surroundings, richly dressed, and flashing more skin than you'd expect. She bluntly states that she believes her husband is plotting to murder her. The dick is skeptical, but is willing to hear her out (she does look rich, and he is a seedy private eye).

Classic opening, eye? Well, that's how the story opens. The opening can then go one of two ways (and I'm not talking about a choose your adventure book, I mean this type of plot): detective hired to find evidence of the husband trying to murder the wife; detective hired to act as a body guard; or the third way - detective either hired or lured into 'taking out' the husband before he can 'get' the wife (less often a private eye story line, the third, than a 'random stranger' or 'boyfriend/neighbor-on-the-side' story line). Nothing new yet, nor any decisions to be made.

heh. First decision is 'Take the case or turn the case down'. Sooo . . I know! I'll turn the case down! *clicks* She begs. I'm offered a choice again. I'm mean! I turn her down again! And . . . . 'The End', of course. hehe. Shesh, and this is the first decision point? Obviously 'turn it down' leads to 'the end'.

*goes back to begging, 'takes the case' then snorts at what "I" say when I take it*

"I'm a sucker for a nice pair of legs."

Strangely the comment doesn't lead to the woman to hurriedly strip off her dress and leap across the desk. So, it's going to be harder work, eh?

Hmm. So "my" first name is "Sam". Gee, where'd I hear a private dick with the first name of Sam before? Or, for that matter, a private eye with the last name of "Marlowe". So . . . I'm Sam Marlowe, eh? Sam 'Philip' Marlowe 'Spade'.

(one of my confusions, going in, is why this is set in the 1940s instead of the 1930s or 1920s. Shouldn't a 'real man' like this Marlowe dude be in the army? (or other military branch), there is a war on afterall)

Ah, my second decision point (well, after restarting) - fuck my assistant or tell her to do what I asked and go investigate the public records. Naturally I . . ..

hmm, admittedly having the 'classy broad' return 'during the act' and having to push th assistant beneath your desk and then finding her continue her actions while the client talked is both cliche and interesting.

Not sure it matters but: client is 26; assistant is early-ish twenties. Sam Spade, I mean Philip . . . Sam Marlowe is ... older.

'put to use the undercover training you'd learned working for the OSS during the war.' Oh, post war then. I saw '1940s' and got the wrong impression then.

Hmm, after making my private dick be mean and refuse the case, I'm now making him super horny. And kinda a bad detective. hehe. But but . . . women! (I was going to say attractive women, but the next one up Sam makes a point of noting is 'plain').

Super super horny. Ooh! See! I'm gathering clues as I . . . act super horny. I got clues I did! *humps woman, notices stuff* I not bad detective!

"So big."
"I bet you say that to all the guys."
Slap. Caress of dick's dick.

Wait, no, the only part from the book is "So big." Then 'Magnificient".

Of all the sex acts in all the book, the one with the client is kind of . . . boring, frankly. *boredly reads; sees has to make decision about what sex act to perform next. Pulls out gun. Removes all but one bullet. Spins gun. Remembers don't have that gun. or a gun. Flips coin and presses "slip inside her" (too bad 'drink whiskey and get the fuck out of there already' isn't an option).

Dames. Compliement your big magnificient dick and make you use it. mmphs.

And . . . wha? See, problem with choose your own adventure stories - the parts don't always align right. Ah well. I mean, yeah, I'm about to 'slip into her', but . . . the wording implies something else had occurred prior. Which didn't occur. Because I went a different path. Having me direct the sex action certainly is a spin on 'you choose' book.

Most books seem to be:
A) you stab the man in the butt;
B) you shot him in the head;
C) you drink your flask.

results:
A) He was a vampire. You're dead now.
B) Good job! How'd you know he was a zombie?
C) Instead of your anticipated whiskey, you drink pure undiluted holy water. The man attempts to bite you. Explodes.

Instead, here in this book, I get:
A) tell her to put it in her mouth;
B) bend her over.

And then:
A) sixty-nine her or
B) stick it in her.

hmms. There seems to be more description about the man, the 'you' , than the women. All this talk about big magnificient thick dicks. Bulging and stuff. Less about the mousy plain women. Odd, that.

Oh god, stop that already. I get it already. You are stroking the man's ego by talking about how super huge his dick is. "You're so much bigger than my husband. I've felt so full!" - gah. I get it already. Stop with all the massive cock talk already. I fear I've overused the word 'already".

Okay, now the book is just fucking with me. NOw my decision is to come in her or, OR, come on her breasts. I'm so aroused, so exited, this book, ooh ooh. gah. I think I'm going to fall asleep.

I have a suspicion this might be more exciting for a man to read. Well, maybe depending on the paths chosen. Then again, even so, it is still a man who is 'you' so . . . ..

Shesh, private dick-me is such a smirking smug prick. gah.

Yes . . . of course the woman enjoyed you erupting onto her breasts. I fear that deciding to make my detective horny . . . I've rapidly grown tired of him. I should have continued the 'must solve case' trejectory I had initially gone down. pfft. When the bloody hell is this particular scene going to be over so I can redirect things back to the mystery?

Oh for fuck sake - yes, after fucking the man's wife, why don't you drop her off at her house gate? Nothing at all strange or odd about some strange man dropping off the wife like that. None. NONE!

heh. I can tell it's after midnight. I've gone batty.

---
Well, first man visited in this book. Wonder if there's some way I can turn it erotic, eh? heh. Then there'd be no one I'd be sexually interested in! Yay!

Hmm. Well, that . . .. hmm.

--
Good grief. I think the book just had me have my *counts* 12th whiskey. shesh.
---

And now, without me able to make any decisions one way or another (shesh, before I was directing the sex, now I can't go anywhere but here, watching . . . I feel slimy and ill - yeah, now "I'm" a slimy fake talent agent about to take advantage of a woman. eek).

Gah. Why did I have a choice for every bloody woman before now? Now that I've finally grown weary of all this horny detective stuff, I can't dodge a woman. When I finally get choices again, it's how to fuck her. shesh. And the choices! FUck her feet, fuck her ass, or have her stroke you while licking your ass. I'm . . I'm fuck me, why am I reading this again? That's right, got tired of dying every choice I made in that zombie book. So . . . let's read a noir erotica! I probably won't die there! Except from all the gross sex (well, and yes, gross. I have no choice here I"m comfortable with. NO FEET SEX! . . . NO RIMMING! . . . . NO ANAL PLAY . . and I'm left with . . . no fucking thing. oh, if I turned the page I could have avoided all this. Though still sex, though it's 'traditional'). Yay?

hehehe - so, 'traditional' I hope you aren't too straight laced to enjoy a blowjob? Sister, you know nothing, nothing! Why, what I've done today . . .. But no, fuck that, no blowjob from you! I don't know where your mouth has been! So . . I'll . . um . . slip it inside you. *Nods*.

Bloody hell. Now "I" am all about how big my dick is. shesh. for fuck sake.

At least I get to read the response, is good response. *nods*

"Uh huh, you've ruined me for al other men," she replied dryly.

And quickly, that mood, leaves.

Ah, the choices I'm given. The Choices! Now it's back to 'come inside' or 'come on breasts'. That's it. 'Run screaming in other direction' isn't even in the cards. pfft.

------
I'm getting tired of all the 'choices' that consist of nothing but a 'continue' button to click. shesh.
---------
For a guy who spent time parachuting around Europe during the war, 'you' sure have a lot of height/vertigo issues.
----------
Well, first mistake I've noticed. For some reason the author acidentally used 'Vandergraaf as Valentina D'Abruzzo's last name at 23% into the story. *shrugs*
-----------
Bloody hell, this became a romance in the end. heh.

---
This was actually rather entertaining. Well written but for that one mistaken name.

Rating: 3.75

May 31 2017


ETA: I did notice how the book seemed to develop - the mystery answer but chose not to comment on it (view spoiler)[of course it's because of 'evil' lesbians. pfft (hide spoiler)]



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