This book was not what I expected when I picked it up. In fact, I’d even venture so far as to offer a caption.

Heat is probably the best independently published book I have read, and one of the best books I have read in a long while. It is also [...]]]> Dear Ms. Smith,

This book was not what I expected when I picked it up. In fact, I’d even venture so far as to offer a caption.

Heat is probably the best independently published book I have read, and one of the best books I have read in a long while. It is also one of the most graphic, and most disturbing books I have read in a long while. When I finished this book, I told a friend about it and she said it sounded awful. On paper, it does sound awful, but it was a truly compelling read and I could not put it down. I mainlined this book as if I were a junkie and this was my fix. I debated about reviewing it, since it is not the standard Dear Author sort of book. But the bottom line is that I want to talk about this book with other people, so here’s the review.

Warning – if you are easily triggered, this is most definitely not the book for you. Move along.

I stumbled upon this book on Amazon, but I’m not sure how. Perhaps someone mentioned it on a villainous hero thread. Someone said it was the most unique and different romance they had read in a very long time, and that was all it took for me to purchase despite the hefty cover price. This review will probably end up rather long, so fair warning.

Heat does not fall into my regular reading category. It’s about two sets of alien men. One is an escaped drug dealer and criminal who is hiding out on earth. The other is the stiff and proper interplanetary cop who is chasing him. They are both the heroes, and over the course of this very long book, they both fall in love with their respective females. This is definitely a romance. A bizarre one, but ultimately with a happy ending for both parties.

The book starts out with Kanetus, aka Kane. Kane is a Jotan interplanetary pirate who has been sentenced to life in prison for any number of crimes. He escapes and heads to earth. Earth is full of humans, and the Jotan treat them like pets, sex toys, and slaves. Sometimes all of the above. Another interesting thing about humans is that they produce a chemical called dopamine that can be harvested from their brains. From this chemical, an illegal drug called Vahst can be made. Vahst is in high demand and Kane is broke, so he has a plan. Go to earth, harvest humans to make Vahst, and return to his life of space piracy a rich man. When Kane gets to earth, his plans are quickly turned upside down. It is summer on earth, and heat makes Jotans go into heat – they must have sex on a regular basis or else they are in intense pain and become ill. Kane doesn’t have time for this, so he decides he will steal himself a human. After grabbing and raping the first woman he runs across, he is perplexed when she runs away and kills herself. So he gets another human, and this time reminds himself to be more careful.

The new human female is named Raven, and she’s an eighteen year old street prostitute who loves drugs and living wild. She’s terrified of Kane and how brutally he treats her, as any woman in her right mind would be. What Raven wants isn’t a factor in the first half of the story. She is Kane’s to use as he wishes, and gradually she begins to help him with his harvesting of other humans for the Vahst, which is just as graphic and awful as it sounds.

Tagen is the interplanetary cop who has come to earth to find Kane and bring him back to justice. He’s afflicted by the same situation as Kane – the heat of summer makes him need sex intensely, but he refuses to give in to it. Tagen accidentally kills a human with his blaster and he is horrified that he is so careless with human life. Suffering from the elements, Tagen collapses on the doorstep of Daria, a human woman who is a recluse. Daria takes him in despite his fearsome appearance and his strangeness, and she helps him recover and later assists him in his hunt for Kane.

The story is a very interesting dichotomy about two men who could not be more different, but are both influenced by their late fathers, and you layer this in beautifully. Kane remembers his dead father with fondness, for all that his father was a murderer and pirate who taught Kane to be just like him. Tagen was adopted by a man that served as his father, but he never felt affection or love, merely duty, and this influences the man he has become. It’s a very interesting nuance to a story that on the surface sounds coarse, violent, and a little weird.

Though we are given dueling storylines, the ‘romance’ between Kane and Raven is the more compelling of the two storylines. It’s interesting to note that Kane is a villain, but over the course of the story, he is not reformed from his wicked ways in the slightest. He remains a rebellious killer on the first page and the last. Nor does Raven, his love interest, change from her hedonist ways. Rather, the characters change by being together, and change in how they perceive each other. Raven begins to assist Kane with his Vahst collecting, and Kane begins to appreciate how smart and clever and cautious she is. Raven, for her part, begins to understand Kane’s cues and how he functions, and learns how to show him that she is a worthwhile partner. While their story starts out with a very Stockholm-Syndrome vibe to it, it progresses to something else, and by the end of the book, Raven is very much an equal partner to Kane, and the last scene of the book had me thrilled to my bones at how far Raven had come.

Tagen and Daria have a much sweeter, more traditional romance. Tagen is worried about hurting Daria, who has clearly been damaged in the past. In addition, Jotan women are the ones that are aggressors in the relationship, and since Daria does not make a move on him, he simply waits for her to indicate that she wants him. This takes a very, very long time since Daria has been hurt in the past. Tagen is obsessed with his police-work, and he appreciates Daria’s clever mind as she begins to help him track down Kane. In turn, Daria is attracted to Tagen, but she is afraid of letting someone into her safe, protected life and being hurt all over again. Their relationship is much slower to develop, but is a nice counterpoint to the violence of Kane and Raven’s relationship, and when they finally get together, the reader knows it is because they have come to a genuine understanding and mutual desire.

This is dubbed as ‘erotic horror’ by the author, and while I don’t think it’s really a horror novel, the erotic tag is very key. Kane rapes multiple people throughout the book, including the heroine. Raven herself is passed around and forced to service other men and sometimes other women, all upon Kane’s whim. There is lots of extreme violence and Raven is manhandled for the first section of the book to the point that I was very uncomfortable with some of the scenarios. I’m not a fan of rape in novels. Usually that is the first thing that will make a book hit the wall. Yet I kept reading this, and I found myself still hoping that Kane and Raven would have a happy ending by the end of the book. I’m not sure what that says about me.

Despite the violent storyline, there are some genuinely touching moments between each couple, and some very funny ones. The conclusions that Tagen comes to as he tries to figure out earth culture by watching TV are quite funny, as well as the scene in the sex shop.

I would be remiss without pointing out that this book is very long.  The page count is not listed on the Amazon page, but clicking over to the paper copy shows that it’s over 600 pages long, which sounds about right. Yet the book does not feel dragged out or change plots halfway through (unlike your other book, Olivia, which I bailed out on at 40%) and the story never loses its momentum. I was actually sad to see the book end and immediately looked for other reads similar to Heat, because I wanted to return to that enjoyable intensity your writing brings.

Overall, Heat was an uncomfortable read at times but a riveting one the entire story. I am struggling with the grade to give this book. The writing and intensity that I felt while reading it mark this into A+ territory, and I am stingy with my grades. I haven’t felt quite so caught up in a book in a very long time. Yet if I were taking off marks for awful things depicted in the story, I’d have to mark it right back down to an F grade, because there are a lot of reprehensible things done and committed by one of the heroes. Kane is not nice. He does not become nice. He is not reformed into a kinder, gentler Kane by the end of the story. If you are interested in villain heroes, this is definitely a book to get. If not, you should pass this one on by because you will regret every dollar you spend.

I do feel as if this sort of book was the reason I read indie books. I’m constantly hoping for that one read that will probably never be published by a mainstream publisher, yet is intense and consuming and surpasses all my skeptical misgivings. The happy ending for both couples cinched this for me, since I was worried that it could not possibly end well. And yet, you pulled it off.  I have to give this a very enthusiastic B+/A- and hope that others pick it up so they can tell me if I have lost my mind with my affection for this book.

All best,

January

PS – Your website is awful and your book covers almost as bad.

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When I reviewed The Nonesuch a few months ago during Sourcebooks’ summer Heyer sale, I mentioned in passing that I really wanted to review Sprig Muslin, but it hadn’t been digitized yet. Now it is, so as promised, here’s a review.

This book wasn’t in my Top 10 Heyer Regencies during the first decade [...]]]> Dear Readers,

When I reviewed The Nonesuch a few months ago during Sourcebooks’ summer Heyer sale, I mentioned in passing that I really wanted to review Sprig Muslin, but it hadn’t been digitized yet. Now it is, so as promised, here’s a review.

This book wasn’t in my Top 10 Heyer Regencies during the first decade or so that I read her (that would be my teens and early twenties). It was too slow and too rural, and the hero and heroine weren’t exciting enough. I was totally a These Old Shades, Devil’s Cub, and Frederica kind of girl. But as I reread it in later years, I grew to appreciate the quiet humor. I especially came to love Lady Hester, the plain spinster heroine, and it’s become one of my very favorite Heyers.

Sprig Muslin chronicles the romance of Lady Hester Theale, the aging, on-the-shelf daughter of a gaming-mad Earl, and Sir Gareth Ludlow, one of Heyer’s patented top-of-the-trees, Corinthian heroes. Having reached his mid-thirties and lost his only brother at Salamanca, Sir Gareth accepts that he has to marry and produce heirs. But since losing his beautiful and much beloved fiancée in a riding accident a decade agp, he believes he is unable to offer a wife love. He chooses Hester, an old friend, over younger and more beautiful candidates because he thinks that marriage to him will be better for her than her current life as a general dogsbody for her father and her siblings’ families. But Hester shocks everyone, not least Sir Gareth, when she turns him down:

“I can offer you a position of the first consequence. You would be at no one’s beck and call, you would be your own mistress—with a husband who, I promise you, would not make unreasonable demands of you. You may be sure that I should always attend to your wishes, and hold you in respect as well as affection. Would that not mean a happier life than the one you now lead?”

Her face was very white; she pulled her hand away, saying in a stifled voice: “No—anguish!”

This seemed so strange a thing for her to have said that he thought he could not have heard her aright. “I beg your pardon?” he said blankly.

She had moved away from him in some agitation, and said now, with her back turned to him: “I didn’t mean it— don’t heed it! I say such foolish things! Pray forgive me! I am so deeply grateful to you! Your wife will be the happiest of females, unless she is a monster, and I do hope you won’t marry a monster! If only I could find my handkerchief!”

Gareth’s proposal visit to Brancaster is complicated by his meeting with Amanda, a lovely sixteen-year-old who has run away from home in order to compel her grandfather to agree to her marriage to a serving officer who is a younger son. She refuses to tell Gareth her name or address, and he cannot leave her on her own, so he takes her with him, to the consternation of Hester’s family (but not Hester). When Amanda runs away, Gareth must postpone any attempt to persuade Hester to change her mind and go after her. In the meantime Amanda has found a younger and more credulous knight-errant, and an accident occurs when Gareth catches up to them. When they can’t think of anyone else to turn to, the panicked and guilt-stricken pair beseech Hester to come and nurse Gareth until he recovers.

Gareth can’t be moved, so the four wind up in an inn in a tiny village, isolated from their families and friends and with their whereabouts unknown. This suits Amanda perfectly, because her grandfather won’t be able to find her and thus will submit to her ultimatum. Hester has her hands full caring for Gareth, and she isn’t averse to being cut off from her usual life for a while. As Gareth recovers, he sees a different side to Hester, and his feelings of friendship deepen into something else:

Lady Hester emerged from her hiding-place, her cap now wildly askew. Sir Gareth lay back against his pillows, watching her, a question behind the brimming laughter in his eyes.

“Gareth!” said Hester, in an awed voice. “You must own that Amanda is wonderful! I should never have thought of saying I was your natural sister!”

He was shaking with laughter, his hand pressed instinctively to his hurt shoulder. “No? Nor I, my dear!”

Suddenly she began to laugh too. “Oh, dear, of all the absurd situations—! I was just thinking how W—Widmore would l—look if he knew!”

The thought was too much for her. She sat down in the Windsor chair, and laughed till she cried. Mopping her streaming eyes at last, she said: “I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in all my life. But I must say, Gareth, there is one thing about this new story of Amanda’s which I cannot like!”

“Oh, no, is there?” he said unsteadily.

“Yes,” she said, sober again. “It was not well done of Amanda to make up such a tale about your father. For he was a most excellent person, and it seems quite dreadful to be slandering him! Really, Gareth, you should have denied it!”

“I assure you, he would have delighted in the story, for he was blessed with a lively sense of humour,” Sir Gareth replied. He looked at her, a glimmer in his eyes, and a smile quivering on his lips. “Do you know, Hester, in all these years I have held you in esteem and regard, yet I never knew you until we were pitchforked into this fantastic imbroglio? Certainly Amanda is wonderful! I must be eternally grateful to her!”

There’s not a lot of plot to this story. Gareth offers for Hester and is turned down; Amanda runs away to force her grandfather to bend to her will; Gareth is injured and must be nursed back to health. Amanda’s knight-errant, Hildebrand, stays a friend because Amanda is unshakeably devoted to her Brigade-Major.

But what the novel lacks in plot it makes up for in characterizations. Amanda could have been intensely annoying, but her determination and her commitment are admirable. Hildebrand, Hester’s family, and the innkeeper and his sister are portrayed with Heyer’s usual deft touch. The book is chock full of sparkling dialogue, and it is relatively free of the cant that Heyer loved so much.

Best of all, though, is the way the romance unfolds. There is nothing external (apart from Gareth’s injury) that drives the couple together or apart. Hester is truly a plain-Jane, downtrodden spinster when we meet her, but she blossoms away from her family. Heyer shows us her wit, humor, and intelligence, all of which Hester has suppressed during years of living with her unsympathetic, uninterested, unimaginative family. In the end, she gets Gareth on her terms, not his.

Gareth is saved from being unbearably arrogant at the beginning of the novel by his innate decency; his assumption that the best Hester can do is a loveless marriage is harsh but probably true, and he genuinely believes that his ability to fall in love died with his fiancée.

By the end of the story, Heyer convinces us not only that the handsome and sought-after Gareth can fall in love with someone like Hester, but that she is the ideal person for him at this point in his life. And she does this not by turning Hester into a different woman or by demonizing his late fiancée but by revealing to us and to Gareth the wonderful woman who has been trapped under that spinster exterior.

Grade: A-

~ Sunita

Note: this book is currently $1.99 at Amazon

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With the exception of The Lion of Kent, which I enjoyed reading last year but which didn’t stick in my mind, I haven’t read your work (even though I’ve heard many good things about it). Your choice of settings and characters aren’t the type I usually seek out, but when I saw [...]]]> Dear Mr. Voinov,

With the exception of The Lion of Kent, which I enjoyed reading last year but which didn’t stick in my mind, I haven’t read your work (even though I’ve heard many good things about it). Your choice of settings and characters aren’t the type I usually seek out, but when I saw that you were publishing a series of contemporary short stories I was intrigued. I don’t generally read genre fiction with criminals as the protagonists, but something in the blurbs resonated with me, and the word-of-mouth and reviews have been stellar. So I bit the bullet and downloaded Dark Soul Vol. 1. And wow, am I glad I did.

The Dark Soul series comprises several short stories, bundled in pairs. They revolve around Stefano Marino, a “made man” (an official member of the Mafia) and Silvio Spadano, the protege, heir and assassin of a retired Mafia executive, Gianbattista Falchi. They meet for the first time in the first story, “Dark Soul,” when Mafia members from Europe and North America are summoned to the home of a powerful, dying Mafioso. Stefano is technically higher in rank but Silvio, as Falchi’s representative and favorite, is treated with greater deference. Stefano is happily married and considers himself straight, but he is immediately attracted to Silvio. When Silvio sneaks into Stefano’s room at night (we don’t find out why) and immobilizes Stefano’s bodyguard, Vince, Stefano turns the tables, ties Silvio up and humiliates him in a way that arouses them both.

The second story, “Dark Secrets,” takes place at Gianbattista Falchi’s Tuscan estate, where Stefano has come to ask Falchi for help with his business, and it explores the relationship between Silvio and his much older boss, who are clearly involved both sexually and emotionally. Stefano continues to be attracted to Silvio and it’s evident the attraction is returned, but Stefano is both resistant and puzzled: resistant because the Mafia is intolerant of homosexuality and he fears for his position and his business, and puzzled because he is genuinely in love with and sexually attracted to his wife, Donata. Through Stefano’s POV, the story gives us insight into the complex and intense nature of Silvio and Falchi’s relationship, a relationship which takes a surprising turn at the end of the story and sets up the second volume of the series.

These stories are not romances; there is no HEA or even HFN at the end of Volume 1, and the reader is left hanging plotwise. If you like cliffhangers it’s a great one, but if you don’t and you like the sound of the first volume, you should go into it prepared to download the next one when you’re done. The stories are also somewhat unusual in their construction. They follow a standard chronological narrative, but there are all kinds of unresolved story and character threads.

For example, we never find out what happens to the dying Mafia Don in the first story. The second story picks up some time after the first, but we don’t know what happens in the interim. Is Vince going to be an important character throughout the series?

The stories have this amazing texture and density, but we only get partial views of basic aspects like plot, motivations, etc. It’s both frustrating and compelling. I had to read the first few pages several times to get my bearings, because I felt thrown in at the deep end. But I kept reading anyway, because the writing was powerful and the characters were irresistible. The writing has a hypermasculine feel to it, which seems appopriate to the hypermasculine environment; it’s not particularly spare, but it’s direct and almost in-your-face:

Spadaro studied him, head tilted. “That’s why I don’t belong to anybody,” he said quietly, but with the force and conviction of a kidney punch. “I’m not following their fucking rules.” He swept the crowd again with his expressionless black eyes, then fixed them on Stefano’s face.

Stefano’s lips tingled. It was still hard to breathe and he had no idea why. He couldn’t let this man intimidate him. Couldn’t be seen as too interested. Barracuda or not—even Gianbattista Falchi’s protetto or not—he could afford zero suspicion. He’d be dead. Fuck Spadaro for flustering him so, and fuck himself for getting flustered, but he’d never show it. “Well, give Falchi my best wishes when you return to him.”

“Will do.” Spadaro sketched an ironic salute and stepped away.

Stefano fought the urge to straighten his tie, fought harder against the urge to watch the Barracuda cut through the assembled groups of men.

He caught Vince’s gaze, and though his bodyguard relaxed a little, he still looked worried. Stefano could see why. A sicario who belonged to a “retired” consigliere, and not just any pensioner, but crafty old Gianbattista Falchi, who’d been more powerful in his own right than many bosses. That was all manner of disturbing. “Paying his respects” by being anything but respectful.

The relationship that develops between the two men is at times brutal (literally so in the first story). And yet, by the end of the second story, I was convinced that more tender feelings could flourish between them as well. Silvio thrives on the combination of pain and pleasure, and Stefano instinctively responds:

Stefano’s own balls tightened in sympathy, but God, Silvio in pain was a sight to behold. It fed the same dark arousal that claimed him when he watched the kind of porn where the actors wore not just lust on their faces, but pain or shame or both. He’d never get shame from Silvio, but the way the young killer embraced his emotions during sex—regardless of what exactly they were—was a huge turn-on. Whatever happened to Silvio, he sank into it without reservation, possibly even without self-awareness.

What would it be like to have a lover like that? Somebody he could do this to, mix the pleasure with pain. Someone who would take it all and more and never consider him a controlling freak.

Although Silvio masks his vulnerable side and his softer emotional needs, by the end of the second story they have been revealed, both to the reader and to Stefano. I very much look forward to seeing how you concurrently explore the relationships and the criminal storyline.

I want to reiterate that this series is not genre romance, nor does it conform to the usual m/m conventions. The protagonists have sex with other people in these stories. The main characters are all part of the criminal underworld, which some readers will find objectionable. So far the sex scenes are anything but vanilla (one involves non-consensual acts). I really appreciate that Stefano’s wife is not portrayed as emotionally incomplete, a shrew, or a ditz, but I can’t imagine things are going to go well for her marriage in the subsequent installments.

I should also note that the book is $3.99 for about 20,000 words (or about 60-70 pdf pages). That is not cheap, and frankly, the price kept me from picking it up a while ago. But I kept thinking about it, and for me the quality is worth the price.

With all these caveats stipulated, I definitely recommend this series. If readers are looking for excellent writing, strong characterizations, sizzling sex, and a fascinating storyline, you won’t want to miss Dark Soul Vol. 1. I’m off to download Volumes 2 and 3.

Grade: A-/B+

~ Sunita

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I don’t remember reading a book like this lately. I’m sure that there have been ones written, after all, romance has been published for decades at a clip of several hundred a month. There are no new stories, only new ways to tell them. However, Marta Russell and Theophilus Mirkwood are two [...]]]> Dear Ms. Grant:

I don’t remember reading a book like this lately. I’m sure that there have been ones written, after all, romance has been published for decades at a clip of several hundred a month. There are no new stories, only new ways to tell them. However, Marta Russell and Theophilus Mirkwood are two characters that seemed entirely new to me; characters I hadn’t met in fiction before.

This story read to me about two things: connections and opposites. Connections, particularly in this book, prevent seeing the world in black and white, seeing one person as wholly villianous or virtuous. The way in which the connections to people make us better and how, left to our own devices, our viewpoints and life experiences can be narrow and limited. The best part of an opposites attract story is this idea that the other can fill in where one is lacking, making the duo better than an individual. That is definitely true in “A Lady Awakened”.

The story is fairly simple. Martha Russell of Seaton Park is newly widowed and she is childless. While she regrets that she doesn’t have a child and that she will likely have to go and live off her brothers, she is prepared to do so. Her plans are forestalled by suggestion of her lady’s maid and the local clergy that everyone will need to wait to see if she had quickened before her husband’s death. The seed of fraud is fostered when Martha hears that the heir is a disreputable man who had taken advantage of the servants of the house many years ago and that her husband had shunned the heir prior to his death.

Martha learns that Theo Mirkwood has been sent down by his father after an escapade. She propositions Theo and offers to pay him money to father her a child. Theo is bemused but he is in need of money and impregnating his neighbor seems like a jolly way to pass the time until he is forgiven or he has enough money to return to town. Martha and Theo don’t think much of each either. Martha isn’t the merry widow that Theo would like her to be and Theo is far to reckless and irresponsible to appeal to Martha. Theo thinks quite a bit of his sexual prowess but Martha is unimpressed:

He was watching her, hands on his hips, satisfied to be the object of a lady’s scrutiny. “It’s all yours, darling, bought and paid for,” he said with what was probably a rakish smile.

What on earth did one say in reply to that? It wasn’t even accurate — she hadn’t paid him yet — but really, the less said on this subject, the better. Yesterday had been rather excruciating in that regard. Your skin is like silk. You smell like flowers. He must seduce chiefly on the strength of his good looks. He couldn’t expect to overcome any lady with poetic invention.

As the two spend each afternoon in bed, they begin to learn more about one another. Martha learns that Theo’s easy amiability makes it easier to connect with the tenants, to assist them in the manner in which Martha believes is important for the gentry to do. Theo learns from Martha that taking care of the land and tenants is more than a responsibility but a calling.

In reading the negative Amazon reviews, one of the negatives that is brought up is that Martha is engaging in a fraud. She is. She is trying to steal an inheritance from another person who is rumored to be a bad man. This is not without its troubling morality and is an issue that Martha acknowledges, even unto the end.

Another negative comment was that Martha is cold. She is. She is distant from others. She does not make friends easily and her lack of ability to make connections pushes her to further withdraw emotionally. But she is earnest in her desire to provide for those people around her. She feels their reliance keenly. Moreover, Martha recognizes the perilous position of a woman and seeks to set up a school wherein girls can gain an education, empowering them. Theo is distant as well, for all his amiabiity. His connections, while easily made, are superfluous.  Martha and Theo are subtle ends of an emotional spectrum.  Theo was undisciplined, but generous.   Martha was uptight, but thoughtful.

There is this great subplot involving Theo and a single laborer on his property. He learns that because the man has no family, when the man is older and can no longer work the tenant properly, he will be sent to a workhouse. It brings home to Theo how fortunate his birth and what kind of responsibility he holds in his hands. Theo has the ability to prevent Mr. Barrow from being sent to a workhouse. Theo’s transformation doesn’t come at the hands of Martha. She merely opens his eyes.

“The smaller families with older sons are fortunate,” he said as he and Granville moved along. “Two or more wages, and fewer people to divide them among.”

“The shape of your family makes a great difference, doesn’t it? I’m sorry the Weavers have no grown-up sons.” They were walking a path that followed a rail fence now, and from time to time the man rapped at some part of it, presumably to test the soundness of its joints.

“Mr. Barrow has no family at all? Not even nieces or nephews, I mean?”

“No.” This brought an extra gravity, he could see, to Granville’s weathered features. “He had sisters, I know, but they married long ago and settled somewhere far north.”

“No one to take an interest in caring for him, then.”

“It’s not as uncommon a case as one might like it to be. Reminds a man of the importance of marrying. Not a man of independent means, of course — you may look after yourself and then pay others to do so, if you choose.”

This sounded a dismal prospect. He must remember to think seriously of marriage, in five or ten years, and in the meantime, to ingratiate himself with his sisters’ children. “But Mr. Barrow,” he said. “There will come a time — soon, perhaps — when he can no longer earn a wage.”

“Aye, and after that, a time when he cannot keep house, and a time when he cannot care for himself.” Granville stopped, having found a place in the fence that did not make the proper reply to his knock. He rapped at it again, and then took out a pencil and a folded bit of paper to make some note.

Theo waited. “What happens to such a man at that time?” he said when the agent had finished.

He shook his head without looking up. “If a man does live to that age, and has no connections, like as not he ends in the workhouse infirmary.”

“Workhouse.” The one word was all he could manage.

Another negative is that the sex that Martha and Theo have is quite unsexy. This is also true. Martha hates sex initially. So much so that by the third coupling, Theo is having a difficult time even becoming aroused. The sex is actually a source of humor but it provides a marker for Martha and Theo’s intimacy. Initially the sex is horrible because neither have any feelings for another. As the two begin to like each other, the sex becomes better (although Martha begins to feel guilty about this) and then when the two fall in love, intercourse becomes both pleasureful and painful. Sex is almost a chore for both of them, something to get through in order to get to the good stuff which is the talking that they do after sex and the intimacy that grows between them because of the post coital discussions.  The sex in the book ranges from awkward to erotic, a range that I’ve rarely seen in one book.

I just appreciated so much watching Theo and Martha change, subtly, into better versions of themselves. How they found in each other something of value. There are so many wonderful small scenes in the book such as Theo watching Martha’s interaction with the vicar and thinking to himself that he wanted to see that look of admiration and respect on Martha’s face directed toward him. Or Martha learning how to make friends with Theo’s assistance.  The one small part of the story that I felt wasn’t as well integrated was Martha’s desire for a school for girls. I wasn’t convinced that her school would provide the empowerment that she desired and it lacked the flavor of the tenant / land management issues in the book. I also thought that the first three chapters started off a bit slow and I worried that Martha would be preachy and insufferable for the whole book (she’s not at all).

I don’t think I can really convey how amazing this book is. I hope people just give it a chance. Read the first chapter in the store. Take advantage of the “Sample” feature for ebookstores. It’s worth that small effort to see if the book captures a reader’s attention. I was captivated from the first chapter. A-

Best regards,

Jane

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You’ve done it again. While Bad Boyfriend is perhaps not as perfect (to my mind) as No Souvenirs, I much prefer it to Bad Company. The book focuses on two fascinating men and their relationship with each other and with those that surround them. There’s no intrigue, no mystery. There’s just people trying to [...]]]> Dear Ms. Mitchell.

You’ve done it again. While Bad Boyfriend is perhaps not as perfect (to my mind) as No Souvenirs, I much prefer it to Bad Company. The book focuses on two fascinating men and their relationship with each other and with those that surround them. There’s no intrigue, no mystery. There’s just people trying to live life without getting hurt too much. Eli and Quinn just jump off the page from the first time they touch and they don’t let go until their book is done.

The book opens with Quinn having sex with Peter, his boyfriend of ten years, for the first time in four months. The next day, Peter leaves him because he’s getting married to the woman he got pregnant two months prior. Not only is Quinn in Peter’s wedding to  Chrissy, who has no idea about Quinn’s history with Peter, but she asks Quinn to be the baby’s godfather. So the story really starts the night before the baptism. Quinn’s at the local gay bar with his friend:

“I’m not still in love with him if that’s what you’re saying.”

“So prove it. Put an end to this insanity with a big fuck you.”

“Like how?”

“Show up tomorrow with a drag queen on your arm and ask Peter if he thinks she makes your dick look bigger.” [This is totally one of the reasons I read your books, Ms. Mitchell, for lines like this. Beautiful.]

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“His family. They’ve always been good to me. I couldn’t—” He hadn’t worried about losing touch with Peter’s brother Dennis. They went back too far for that, had been through too much in the Academy together, but he’d thought losing Peter meant losing the rest of the Laurents too—cracking on pop culture with Peter’s sister Alyssa, war games with Peter’s dad, and worst of all, losing Peter’s mom. Claire had welcomed him, mothered him, from the first time Dennis had brought him home on their break from the Academy. Two weeks after Peter moved out, Claire had called to tell him her son’s business was his own, but as far as she was concerned, Quinn was still a member of her family. He couldn’t humiliate them in church like that. [This is the -- very believable because fully explained -- motivation for much of the story. Peter's family is more important to Quinn than Peter is by this point. They're the only family he has and they love him for who he is, whether or not Peter left him.]

But the idea of showing up with a date, a very obviously gay date, someone who Peter would have to notice, got entrenched in Quinn’s brain.

So Quinn finds Eli. Eli is friends with Nate and Kellan, the heroes of Bad Company (Bad Boyfriend stands alone but it’s a little bit richer if you’ve read Bad Company first). Eli is 22 (Quinn is 35). Eli has never not been out, he’s never been able to hide who he is:

Eli had always been out. He didn’t really know how to make it a question of what he was willing to talk about. People took one look at him and knew he was gay. Not for the first time he thought it was a lot harder to look like Quinn, stupid little ponytail and all.

So he works it instead:

Being fuckable was something Eli aspired to every second of the day.

[Not incidentally, this book is filled with "favorite lines" for me. At one point, Eli is trying to explain to Peter's very straight brother that Peter hit on him (Eli):

"[He's] A man whore. He hit on me.”

Dennis rolled his eyes.

It was Eli’s turn to fold his arms. “I’ll have you know most gay guys find me hot.”

Dennis looked like he was trying to figure out why.

Anyway…]

So Quinn approaches Eli to ask him to go to the baptism in the morning and somehow gets sidetracked into the hottest sex he’s ever had. The hottest sex Eli has ever had to. And something I haven’t read before in a m/m romance (although maybe I’m not looking hard enough):

He slid his hand down the muscle-ridged torso and landed on what he’d already felt rub on his belly. The fat length of Quinn’s dick stretched up to just under the waistband of his jeans. Eli stroked and let the inside of his wrist find the damp head pushing up past the denim.

“Ooo, Daddy,” Eli purred. “Is this all for me?”

Quinn didn’t stop smiling, but he looked like now they were both in on the joke. “Only if you’re a good boy.”

“Oh, I’m always good.”

Yes, Quinn and Eli get each other off with Daddy kink (I can’t find an explanatory link that’s not fanfic related). FWIW, Daddy kink is not in the slightest age-play or incest-play, or at least it’s not in this book. It’s an older, more dominant man with a younger, submissive man, using “Daddy” and “boy” as their sex-related nicknames. And in this book it’s completely fucking hot.

And…that’s really the book. Quinn and Eli have to find their way to each other, despite the hot sex, despite Quinn’s attachment to Peter’s family, despite Eli’s abandonment issues. Quinn has to appreciate the joy and heat Eli brings to his life, while Eli has to trust that Quinn will never let him go.

This book not only has the best one-liners; it also has some of the best, most deeply personal relationship-related lines:

Every game Eli had played, tied spread-eagle, a hand or paddle bruising his ass, a flogger stinging into his crack, nothing had ever forced surrender on him like this deep, gentle fuck from Quinn. Eli had thought he liked to give up control, take a break for awhile and let a man push sensation onto his body. This was different.

Terrifying.

Because this was what it was like to really lose control. To let Quinn inside, to let him make Eli feel so much more than the amazing sensations of bodies together.

And inside that surrender was safety. Quinn around him, voice in his ear whispering, “I’ve got you. Let me make you feel good, honey.”

But really, one of the best expressions of love I’ve ever read is when Quinn desperately tells Eli:

And even if you end up breaking my heart, I won’t mind, if I get to have you in my life for awhile.

::melt::

This review is much more about impressions than a solid narrative of my reading experience because that’s what it feels like to read it. I’ve read this book at least four times, and each time I read it I get a different, deeper impression of how Quinn and Eli fit together so perfectly, how they work perfectly, how they become better people together by becoming more themselves. It’s easy just to remember the kinky sex, but each time I reread it, the lines I go back to again and again are about the relationship, not the sex.

Problems? First, Quinn and Eli have the big scene in which they figure each other out, figure their relationship out, and then…there’s one last scene with Peter and his family. And while it was a necessary scene for finishing up the loose ends of the story, I vaguely wish the emotional climax (hur hur) finished the book instead. I see why it had to happen that way, and I usually love to see characters just being together with a full understanding of their love for each other, but Quinn had already had his “I feel nothing for Peter anymore” scene before the final two scenes, so this seemed a bit too much.

And second, Peter was just…so fucking selfish I don’t understand how Quinn managed to miss it for so long or how Peter managed not to be an asshole for long enough that Quinn stayed with him. I get that it’s stress that really brings out the worst (or best) in people, so we’re seeing him at his worse, but there needed to be some redeeming something to make me understand why Quinn stayed for so long.

But overall, I adore, once again, how you let the reader work things out for ourselves. You don’t force-feed us the characters’ motivations; you don’t even spoon-feed us. You let us figure it out as the characters do. And that helps me know, viscerally, that these characters are utterly made for each other.

Grade: A-

Best regards,
-Sarah

P.S. OMG, that cover’s brilliant. Those two men are perfect for Eli and his attitude and for Quinn and his smile.

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I’ve been intrigued by your writing for a while. Your tagline is “Kink, love, and a happy ending. Do you Dare?” which I think is incredibly cute. Honestly, though, I’ve been put off by your publishers (Total-e-Bound and Resplendence Publishing…who?) and by the fact that your series are quite so long (TWELVE [...]]]> Dear Ms. Dare.

I’ve been intrigued by your writing for a while. Your tagline is “Kink, love, and a happy ending. Do you Dare?” which I think is incredibly cute. Honestly, though, I’ve been put off by your publishers (Total-e-Bound and Resplendence Publishing…who?) and by the fact that your series are quite so long (TWELVE stories?!). But I bit the bullet, bought all TWELVE of your G-A-Y series, and I’m going to review ALL of them here.

I chose the G-A-Y series because they’re all m/m, they’re all kink (as all your books are), and they “revolve around various problems gay men might encounter. The stories can all stand alone, and can all be read in any order,” although I’m reading them in order. And the series is complete, so I won’t be missing any. $36 initially seemed steep for 12 stories, but, God, these are SO good, it’s almost worth it.

TL;DR overall impressions for those who can’t be bothered:

• The editing sucks. Doubled words, missed words, and homonyms, worse in some stories than in others. So I was right to be leery of your publisher. And the prices are a bit ridiculous: $2.96 each for 15,000 words each. It just seems…a bit much.
• However! The stories are AMAZING. Oh my ghods, lots of angst; perfect emotional arcs for the short novella size of the stories; amazing distinct, individual characters; hot hot sex.
• The stories are all D/s. You’ve got very little pain play in the stories (except one) and occasional sneers about “sadists” which set up my hackles. But the D/s is fun and very well done and it’s SO fucking refreshing to have stories in which the fact that the characters are D/s isn’t where the angst and trauma is located.
• I’ve read more of your stories than this series (all m/m, though — none of your m/f yet) , and unreservedly recommend every one I’ve read. You’re a very consistent author with strong writing, strong individual characters, great conflict that gets solved satisfyingly every single time, and really great sex.

1. Gaydar
Mathias has incredibly bad luck with men. Either his gaydar is completely messed up, or he’s got really good asshole-dar. He makes an assignation to meet someone in the men’s room of a bar, only to be met there instead — and thoroughly kissed — by the bartender, who has been watching him and lusting after him for months. None of Matt’s experiences have ever been more than fumblings in the dark or an hour in a hotel room, so he’s completely unprepared not only to be with someone who is out, proud, happy, and looking for a longterm relationship, but is also a dominant. He’s very confused and very turned on:

The moment Flynn closed the door, Matt dropped to his knees and reached for the other man’s fly. Flynn easily caught both his wrists in his grip before he even felt denim under his finger tips.

“Don’t do that,” Matt protested.

“Do you remember what your safe word is?” Flynn checked.

Matt nodded. “Yes, but I find it a hell of a lot easier to think when you don’t do that, so if you’re going to start confusing me again, I’d much prefer it if you didn’t hold on to me like that.”

Flynn smiled. “It only distracts you because you like it, don’t you? Being held like this, belonging to another man.”

Matt looked at his wrists, somewhat scared by just how much he loved the feel of Flynn’s hands wrapped tight around his skin. Trying to push that aside, he cleared his throat. “I’d also like to suck you off. I’m good at that. I know what I’m doing with that.”

“I’m sure you do.” He made no move to release Matt’s wrists and let him get on with it.

Matt looked down. “I don’t know what you want from me,” he whispered, surprised by his own honesty. Without knowing what it was Flynn wanted, he had no idea how to keep Flynn wanting anything at all from him and that was even scarier than the lust that shot through his veins every time Flynn’s hands took hold of him.

I liked this story. Told entirely from the perspective of Matt, he’s funny and sweet and sad — partly it’s his unrealized submissive nature that steers him wrong in the first place — and it’s great to see him get his happy ending. Flynn was…pretty much a cipher, but he liked, respected, and wanted Matt and that showed. The only thing that was annoying was Flynn talked about himself in the third person: “It’s not a test. Just show your master how much you like sucking his cock and everything will be fine.” I loved the collaring scene in this story, how it shows that Matt has the courage to go after what he wants. And the sex is hot.

Grade: B+

2. Gay Like You
Tristan’s mother is trying to set him up with someone, anyone. She invites Cory to dinner, someone Tristan knew in high school but who hasn’t been around for years. Cory hasn’t been around because his family threw him out when he was 15. It’s implied, although never stated outright, that he hustled to make do. Certainly he doesn’t know how to interact with Tristan at all without bringing sex into the equation. Tristan shows him that he likes Cory without the sex, but it takes some intense work to get Cory to believe him:

Tristan turned the smaller man around in his grip. “If we have sex like this, you’ll disappear and I’ll never see you again.”

He had no doubt about that. Something about Cody screamed his need to belong to a man who didn’t screw him at the first opportunity. Even if Cody didn’t know it was what he needed, Tristan knew he had to prove that he knew Cody was more than a convenient screw.

“You think I’ll stick around to be turned down again?” Cody snapped. “Thanks, but humiliation isn’t one of my kinks.”

As a result of the waiting, the sex is put off and put off and is intensely emotional when it happens. I LOVED this story. I loved the angst. I loved Cody’s emotional barrier. I loved Tristan’s solution. It’s told from the alternating perspective of both men. And the sex was SO hot. I can’t think of anything wrong with it besides the fact that it was too short. Hits all MY buttons.

Grade: A-

3. Gay Till Graduation
Baxter, who is gay, has lusted after his best friend for years. Spencer, who is bi, is swearing off women, because they might get pregnant and thereby prevent successful college graduation, as it does for a mutual acquaintance, six months before graduation. He’s also intrigued and, we get the impression, pissed that Baxter’s been seen subbing at a kink club. Spencer’s “gay till graduation” vow quickly includes “Baxter’s master till graduation.” Three months later, they’re doing well together, but there are cracks at the edges because Baxter’s convinced Spence is going to dump him as soon as they graduate. Seeing his stress, six weeks later, Spencer’s trying to convince Baxter that everything will be better after graduation, which hurts Baxter terribly, because he thinks Spencer wants to get rid of him.

It’s all one Big Misunderstanding, but for all that, it’s well done and believable. And the fight they have is so well done. Authors can write good sex, good barriers, good resolution, but still fuck up fights. This fight was great and natural and fun. And the make-up sex is, naturally, awesome.

Grade: B+

4. Gay For Pay

This is NOT a Gay For You story, like I thought it would be. Ben Smith is a security consultant and has been charged with finding the missing son of one of his clients. He finds Nate Lockwood for auction as “Gay for Pay” in a ridiculous BDSM club. He buys Nate (hope he can expense that!) and gets him out of the club. He then works out that Nate has promised his father never to say that he’s gay (we find out that it’s because his father is worried that Nate, with his submissive nature, won’t be able to hold his own in business when the gold diggers come out after he comes out — it’s complicated…).

I thought the plot was a little too far-fetched, but Ben’s gentle, dominant guidance of Nate’s first sexual (and first BDSM encounter) was sweet and hot. The story wraps up all the emotional ends very nicely, but there’s one thing at the end that’s odd. Ben gets Nate to sign two documents and then uses the fact that Nate signed without reading them as an object lesson in the fact that Ben’s not a gold digger and doesn’t want any of Nate’s money. But we never find out what the documents are. And that’s just strange.

Grade: B-

5. Gay Divorcee

This one was a little odd. Jones is raving about the possibilities of gay marriage equality at a BDSM club and pisses of Grayson, an older Dom who, it is revealed after he makes a fool of himself ranting about how gay marriage should be banned, married his submissive as soon as he was able to but then found his submissive fucking another man and had to get divorced. So he’s bitter. But not bitter enough to refuse Jones’ offer of spending Christmas together. They hit it off while they each try to figure out what Christmas means to them, but have too much vodka-spiked punch. In their drunkenness, Grayson collars Jones using his submissive’s old collar and when he realizes in the sober light of morning what he’s done, he vows to take things much slower.

What I like about Dare’s work is how she’s got 24 men in these stories, and even though 12 of them are dominant and 12 of them are submissive, they’re all still very distinct from each other, as is the sex and even the D/s interaction between the men. This one is about two men who are really comfortable with themselves and their sexualities finding out what they like about each other and how they can negotiate each other’s baggage and still have a successful relationship, very little angst involved. Gentle, sweet, and hot.

Grade: B

6. Gay Since Today

Tyler Harris and James Ford are at university. Tyler’s had a crush, both romantic and kinky, on James Ford, even though James is straight. Except Tyler’s friend comes to tell him that James is in the gay bar across the street. Tyler rushes there and meets James, who’s just come out (“Gay Since Today”). Tyler takes him back to his place and introduces him not only to gay sex, but also to kinky sex — and he’s right: James is a fabulous dominant. But after their first encounter, it looks like James was pulling off an elaborate April Fool’s joke, rather than really coming out. The Medium-Sized Misunderstanding is dealt with quickly and the boys get back together.

I love reading about an experienced submissive and a virgin-dominant coming into his own. It’s so seldom done because the balance of being “tutored” by the submissive and still exercising dominance is pretty difficult to do. But Dare does a pretty good job. The misunderstanding in the middle was…annoying more than anything else and it seemed that the heroes went through the same realizations in the second half as they did in the first half.

But at the end, there’s a HUGE error about the day on which everything happened. First encounter is March 31, second is April 1, but at the end of the novel, they’re saying it was April 1, and then April 2. Pulled me right out of the story and pissed me off right royally.

Grade: C

7. Gay Pride

Jayden shows up drunk and wearing only a gay pride flag on Crenshaw’s doorstep. Crenshaw is a gay and leather rights activist. Jayden is a reporter who nominally wants to interview him, but really just wants to introduce himself to Crenshaw and hopefully start a relationship. Crenshaw refuses Jayden’s drunk advances that night but allows Jayden to sleep on his couch and in the morning they start to explore their attraction. Crenshaw introduces Jayden to some pretty heavy bondage and Jayden loves it. There’s a hiccup when Jayden announces that he’s a reporter and Crenshaw takes it the wrong way, but Jayden sticks up for himself and gets Crenshaw to admit that he’s wrong in his assumptions.

Over all cute, but not a standout story. I like that Jayden stands up for himself, but the opening scene where he’s naked and drunk and Crenshaw turns him down (rightly so) is a little wince-inducing. But the sex is hot because so unusual

Grade: B

8. Gay Man Seeks Same

Craig McKinley has a huge crush on his coworker Donovan but feels that Donovan’s way out of his league, experience-wise, and anyway, he just wants to find one guy to love and grow old with and he knows One-Night-Stand Donovan doesn’t that. So he goes onto an online dating site and tries to find someone else like him. His first date turns out to be…with Donovan, who is finally ready to admit his interest — his long-term interest. But Craig is convinced that Donovan wants with him what he’s had with all his other lovers. Refusing to consider any alternatives, he figures this is a chance for him to have one night with Donovan before he moves on.

Donovan doesn’t make clear until the very end that he’s interested in anything other than a one night stand, so the reader is taken in as much as Craig is, especially since Craig is the only point-of-view character. Donovan is dominant, of course, so Craig gets to explore bondage with his friend. Confronted with Donovan’s bedroom of kinky delights, Craig feels overwhelmed. Donovan asks him:

“Do you know what my favourite thing is—what I like to play with more than anything in the world?”

Craig shook his head.

“A submissive. Without a man to tie up, the rest is all pointless. It’s the man who goes in the bondage that’s important—everything else is just window dressing.”

I love that answer. :)

Grade: B-

9. Gay Friendly

Ellis is 18 and goes with his cousin to a “gay friendly” hotel, where he finds himself fending off unwanted advances from all the other guests. Thompson helps him out by granting him a collar of protection and then letting Ellis sleep in his room when Ellis’s cousin’s friends get too “friendly” in their room. Over the next week, Ellis and Thompson slowly start exploring each other.

The age difference here was a bit squicky: Thompson is over 30, Ellis is 18. But Dare doesn’t leave this undiscussed. Thompson insists that Ellis ask for everything, that it be obvious to all concerned that Ellis wants everything that happens to him. And it goes deeper than that:

Part of him couldn’t help but believe that Ellis would be far better off with a vanilla boy his own age. Except he’d seen how panicked Ellis became when he was with a man who wasn’t old enough to know how to take his time and appreciate someone who was so new to everything. And he’d seen the way Ellis had soaked up every touch of dominance that had been offered to him.

Bowing his head, Thompson brushed another gentle kiss against the younger man’s lips and forced himself to face the true facts of the matter. He had no intention of telling Ellis he would be better off with another kind of man because the thought of another man laying a hand on him made him want to throttle the guy. He tightened his grip around Ellis’ wrists at the very idea. Ellis whimpered his approval and rose onto his tip toes in the hopes of gaining a deeper kiss.

Because the age difference isn’t ignored, and because Thompson is such a mature character, perfectly aware of how far and how fast he’s falling and how to deal with Ellis, I totally trusted that these two would make it, despite the age difference.

Grade: B

10. Gay Best Friend

And here we have the Gay For You story I was expecting earlier and the opposite type of sub from the previous story. Carlton, who is straight, is best friends with Bryce, who is gay. At the pub one day, Carlton is sort of goaded into kissing Bryce (the other guys they’re with made a bet behind their backs, but Carlton noticed, kissed Bryce, and took the ante for the bet and split it with Bryce). This precipitates Carlton getting trashed, finding out that Bryce is not only gay, but kinky, not only kinky, but a very pushy, brash submissive, and then trying out his Gay-For-You feelings out on Bryce when utterly smashed. Bryce pours him into a cab, but the next time they get together, they explore things a bit more.

This is another story with an inexperienced dominant and an experience submissive. But this submissive is very dominant in his everyday interactions with everyone:

As fantastic a friend as he was, Carlton was more than a little aware that Bryce had the potential to be a complete bastard when you caught him in the wrong mood, and he sure as hell wasn’t the kind of guy to make things easy for a friend who suddenly found himself out of his depth.

No, Carlton couldn’t help but smile a fraction at the idea of him babying someone through anything. Bryce was very much the ‘learn how to swim fast or get back into the shallow end where you belong’ kind of guy.

I love how we get into Donovan’s head, even though the whole story’s from Carlton’s perspective:

The look of easy relaxation Carlton had seen in his friend’s expression earlier in the night deepened with every moment that passed, as if Bryce had focused in on that one task and, if only for a little while, that let him forget about the rest of the world.

I also love that this story has the dominant choosing to bottom for sex, to make a point to his submissive about how “Gay For You” he really is:

When Carlton opened his eyes, Bryce was staring up at him. It was only then that he really realised just how closely every single move he made, his every reaction was being studied. And Bryce would remember it all. He had no doubt about that. Bryce would always know, and he’d always know that his gay best friend knew just how much pleasure shone in his eyes when he rode him for the first time.

Loved this story all around.

Grade: A

11. Gayday! Gayday!

Okay, first thing: Rip and Slade? Really? Scraping the bottom of the name barrel there. >.<

Right. So, Rip is a submissive who has a habit of getting himself in over his head at clubs. At which point he calls Slade, his dominant but straight — or so Rip thinks — friend to come save him. And Slade’s happy to oblige, giving them a great scene each time he does, with no strings attached. Except both Rip and Slade increasingly want strings. Finally, Rip gets himself into a really bad situation…and gets himself out of it again, meaning, he thinks, that his need for Slade’s “white knight” routine is exposed for the ruse it has been for a long time. Then things get really interesting.

I love the twist at the end where Rip thinks he’s messed everything up by NOT needing saving. But I found it incredibly frustrating that he remains utterly blind to the fact that Slade is very very bisexual. Even at the end, Rip thinks:

he had never allowed himself to fall so far into his fantasies that he’d forgotten he was playing with a straight man who was occasionally willing to indulge in a little guy-on-guy kink when given the right motivation.

This is quite so frustrating, because it’s made very clear in their very first scene that Slade comfortably identifies as bi.

That aside, this is a great story. It’s one of the very few that has some pain play in the D/s when Slade punishes Rip.

Grade: B+

12. Gayish

After reading eleven really strong, interesting, sexy stories, it was very disappointing to read the last one of the group. It seemed very scattered and confused and the characters seemed a little off.

Ben Langford, out and proud, is at a gay pride rally in the rain. He sees across the road, standing in the rain, the deli counter guy he’s been lusting after for months. The guy’s either waiting for a bus, or trying to get up the courage to go to the rally. Langford takes him home, dries him off, takes him back out to the rally to introduce him to people, then takes him back home and fucks him. And I understood why he did that, but it dragged the story out and didn’t seem to add much to character development. And Tayton was just a wet blanket. I wanted him to grow a spine and he never really did.

Grade: C-

Overall, except for the last story, I loved these stories. They all did a great job at showing the very beginnings of twelve different relationships between twelve different couples. Each of the characters were distinct, as were all the relationships, all the D/s pairings. This series utterly hooked me on your writing. Which is great, because you seem to do a lot of it.

Amazon | BN | All Romance

Steampunk is that subgenre I want to love, that I think has so much potential. Unfortunately, we have a rocky relationship. I’ve attempted to read too many novels in which the steampunk trappings are superficial — put a pair of goggles on someone, mention an airship, and have someone drink some tea seem [...]]]> Dear Authors,

Steampunk is that subgenre I want to love, that I think has so much potential. Unfortunately, we have a rocky relationship. I’ve attempted to read too many novels in which the steampunk trappings are superficial — put a pair of goggles on someone, mention an airship, and have someone drink some tea seem to be all that’s required. It can be disappointing.

This anthology, however, spans the gamut of what steampunk can offer. From the South Pacific or ancient Rome, it takes us to places beyond the traditional Victorian England setting. Some stories take place in the modern day; others in the far-flung future on an outpost-like planet. In total, Steampunk! collects twelve stories and two short comics. For the purposes of this review, I’ll only be covering the included short stories simply because my review copy mangled the comic formatting so badly I could barely follow what was going on.

“Some Fortunate Future Day” by Cassandra Clare
The opening story is surprisingly creepy. The protagonist is a teenage girl who’s been living alone for some time. Her father went off to war, and she has no idea if he’s ever coming back. The only thing keeping her company in that big, empty house are the automatons her father made for her. That is, they did until the day an injured soldier comes crawling out of the forest and into her garden.

I thought this story did a great job showing how the innocent can transform into something menacing. It starts off on a normal, if melancholy, note but as it progresses, the tone becomes increasingly ominous. Things that seem harmless transform into the creepy and macabre. In the end, the protagonist — for all her faults — is a pitiful person, left alone and caught in a self-destructive cycle. B

“The Last Ride of the Glory Girls” by Libba Bray
My favorite story of the entire anthology, “Last Ride” takes place on an outpost planet, proving that even a sci-fi western can embody the heart and soul of steampunk. This tale is about a young woman who left her religious fundamentalist home and sought her fortune as a gifted tinkerer of technology. First, as a watchmaker’s apprentice, then as part of a investigative task force, she later goes undercover with a gang of female outlaws who rob trains courtesy of a gun that can stop time.

This short story reminded me of why I love Libba Bray’s writing and makes me want to give Beauty Queens another try. The strong voice of the narrator combined with the female outlaws and a heroine with a strong technological bent, it features so many of my favorite elements. I also loved how it interwove the present-day plot with the past events that drove the heroine to her present circumstances. A-

“Clockwore Fagin” by Cory Doctorow
I’ve heard a lot about Doctorow’s work so I read this story with interest. It tackles the disabled orphan trope of many a Victorian story, portraying children who’ve sustained injuries (lost limbs, lost extremities) from working on various forms of steampunk technology and are sent to an orphanage under the care and guidance of an abusive monster. The main story gets going, however, when a new orphan arrives and faces their caretaker head on.

I won’t say that this isn’t an interesting story nor will I say this isn’t a well-written story. It’s both of these things. But for all that, it left me feeling ambivalent. B-

“Hand in Glove” by Ysabeau S. Wilce
What’s a steampunk anthology without a mad scientist story? This story features a female detective who struggles not against sexism but against skepticism over her style of investigation — one that utilizes forensics (e.g. fingerprints and evidence) over beating confessions out of suspects (who, past a certain point, would admit to anything to make the pain stop). Her rival, the golden boy of the precinct, has just caught the perpetrator of a series of brutal stranglings. Our heroine, however, thinks he’s gotten the wrong guy because none of the evidence supports it but no one will believe her. Despite this, she won’t stop her own investigation because she refuses to let an innocent man hang.

This story was entertaining and over the top. It treaded just barely on this side of ludicrous and made it work all the more because of it. Overall, I thought it was a good story but the ending left me unsatisfied because it lacked that comeuppance of the golden boy rival for mocking the heroine. I admit I prefer that in my stories, realistic or not. B

“The Ghost of Cwnlech Manor” by Delia Sherman
This is the gothic offering of the anthology, complete with absent-minded heir of an established family, a young local woman who becomes the housekeeper, and a ghost who knows the location of the family treasure. Again, another well-written story but not particularly exciting. While I liked that the story didn’t walk the well-trodden “housekeeper falls for heir” storyline, I wish there’d been a little more life to the narrative. As far as I’m concerned, the best part of the story was the ghost. Poor thing. I’d be annoyed too if the person I’d been trying to reveal the location of the family treasure to completely explained away my existence and wouldn’t acknowledge it because he was a man of science. C

“Gethsemane” by Elizabeth Knox
Chronicling what happens to the denizens of a South Pacific town before a volcanic eruption, this is one of those stories where I knew it was referencing something while reading it. Unfortunately, not knowing the what it was actually referencing, I suspect a lot of the context went right over my head. I never connected with any of the characters nor cared what happened to any of them. Perhaps if I’d been familiar with the reference/event beforehand, my initial experience would have been different. As it is, my reaction can only be described as “meh.”C-

“The Summer People” by Kelly Link
In addition to being what I consider a characteristic Kelly Link story, this is also one that pushes what steampunk can be. More magic realism than outright genre SFF, it’s about a girl whose female ancestors have taken care of the local faeries for generations. The steampunk comes in with the faerie inventions that they bestow on their caretakers and people they like.

I liked “The Summer People” more for the ideas and concepts it introduces than for the feelings it left me. In the end, it’s about escaping the burdens parents leave their children and while that’s something I can understand, I also don’t like that often times in stories it means finding someone else to take your place. Sure, I’d like to think the replacement would be more willing and happy to do so, but there’s a part of me that dislikes a character for doing so. C+

“Peace in Our Time” by Garth Nix
I have a feeling this story is one that only Garth Nix fans would enjoy. While I thought the technology portrayed in the story was great, an example of how versatile steampunk can be, I thought it was depressing and there were parts of it I could not understand. I think it might have been better as a longer story. D

“Nowhere Fast” by Christopher Rowe
In a future where technology has broken down and the U.S. is divided into sectors, a group of teenagers meet a guy with a car. And I use the term “car” very loosely. But given the state of technology, this is a big deal that causes a ruckus among the local people and law enforcement. When I finished this story, I felt like it was an extended set-up that finished just as the main narrative was about to start. Disappointing. C-

“Steam Girl” by Dylan Horrocks
Similar to Kelly Link’s story in which it’s set in the modern day, “Steam Punk” tells the story of a high school outcast who befriends the new girl, another outcast who tells the awesome adventures about a young woman named “Steam Girl.” What I liked best about this story is that it can be read two ways. It can be about a girl telling stories about an alter-ego that lives an amazing, adventurous life to make her real life in high school bearable. At the same time, though, I think the story plants enough hints to make you doubt that and wonder if she is in fact telling the truth and is really from an alternate universe where she used to be Steam Girl. The second option is more outlandish, I’ll give you that, but wouldn’t it be nice to imagine that was true? B

“Everything Amiable and Obliging” by Holly Black
The fantasy of manners offering of the anthology, Black’s story tells the tale of a young woman who’s been recently orphaned and taken in by her aunt. But unlike other stories where the relatives hate her or treat her badly, this aunt actually wants her to marry her son. Now our heroine would like nothing more than this as well. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem aware of her existence which is a change from their childhood. Things get further complicated when her aunt’s other child, a daughter, falls in love with one of the house robots. Awkward.

This is my second favorite story of the anthology and one I wish could have been longer. Not because it needed to be longer but because I wanted to see more of Amelia and Valerian. That said, I felt horribly sorry for the robot who’s become the object of the sister’s affections. I suspect that fate is not a good one for him. Robot or not, it can’t be a good thing to be wanted solely because you’re incapable of saying no! B+

“The Oracle Engine” by M.T. Anderson
I suspect the final story of the anthology is one that is simply not for me. A reader-story mismatch, if you will. It puts a steampunk spin on ancient Rome, which I like, and portrays a revenge tale, which I normally like even more, but I admit I found it boring. It’s written in a semi-historical voice (it’s meant to be a translation), but it just didn’t work for me. C

While I’m not sure this anthology is worth the price of hardcover, I liked that it contained a variety of stories set in different places and time periods as well as spanned many different genres. When I think of an anthology, this is the sort of variety I expect. I also like that there was good representation of women and minorities. And once again, I do think “Last Ride of the Glory Girls” is not a story to be missed and the anthology is worth checking out for that story alone.

My regards,
Jia

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When I first ran across this book on Amazon, I couldn’t wait for it to be released. While I have a spotty track record with Young Adult books, the concept was very intriguing for me – a supervolcano eruption that turns the world into chaos. As I read, I couldn’t help but [...]]]> Dear Mr. Mullin,

When I first ran across this book on Amazon, I couldn’t wait for it to be released. While I have a spotty track record with Young Adult books, the concept was very intriguing for me – a supervolcano eruption that turns the world into chaos. As I read, I couldn’t help but compare this novel to the Susan Beth Pfeffer books and I’m pleased to say it held up very well and provided a much needed dose of variety in the dystopian/post-apocalyptic glutted shelves of Young Adult.

Ashfall is the story of Alex, a typical sixteen year old boy.  When his family wants to go away to Illinois for the weekend to visit family, Alex prefers to stay home and spend the weekend by himself. His parents are nervous to leave him, but he’s old enough. They never expected that the supervolcano below Yellowstone would erupt, sending the world into chaos. Alex’s house is hit by a boulder flying through the air and it collapses. No one knows what is going on. He’s rescued by the neighbors just as soon as the next phase of the eruption starts – an endless stream of ear-shattering explosions and ash falling through the sky. A few days later, he is on the run and decides to set off on foot to find his parents in Illinois, even if it means crossing a hundred miles in the aftermath of the volcano.

This book is hard to summarize because so very much happens through the story. We see Alex go from a spoiled, self-centered sixteen year old boy into a thoughtful, resilient young man capable of surviving the worst the apocalypse has to throw at him. When the story starts, the narrative is almost childish in its shallowness and occasional petulant moments, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like the story or Alex. But we see Alex change over time. He starts to realize that with the world in chaos, the old rules don’t apply, and he adapts. Alex becomes more likable the tougher his world gets.

Along the journey, he meets Darla. I loved Darla. She’s a farm girl who doesn’t have time for Alex’s nonsense. She’s tough and hard and by far the most competent character in the book. Slowly, Darla grows to respect Alex and eventually they turn to each other for comfort and even love. I appreciated that their ‘romance’ did not begin instantly and that Darla was smart and resilient on her own without being useless. Too often I feel that female characters are delegated to auxiliary roles in order to show how amazing the male main character is, but I felt that was not the case in Ashfall. Darla is stronger than Alex, more competent, and yet she needs him just as badly as he needs her.

The world in this book was very stark and brutal. I have heard this story compared to The Road for teens, and while I don’t know if I would go that far, I compared it to Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It  or The Dead and The Gone in that we experience the characters struggling to survive as the world changes around them. Characters are murdered. People starve. There are few places for Alex and Darla to find a safe haven at. No one is spared from the ash, and then the early winter that sets on. There are thugs and cannibals everywhere, trying to scrape out a living. There is brutality and starvation and winter and fighting for food, but there is also a note of hope and Alex and Darla cling to each other. I liked that we got to experience what Alex and Darla were going through as the apocalypse unfolded. I feel as if too often authors prefer to show the post-apocalyptic angle and have the apocalypse happen after the fact. That was not the case here; the characters are thrown head-first into the apocalypse and experience every stage as it happens.

This book has a few flaws: I found it tough to warm up to Alex for the first fifty pages or so. Also, toward the last 70% of the book, there was a plot turn that I was not surprised to see, and I felt it slowed down the story a bit. But that did not mar my overall enjoyment and I enthusiastically recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a good,  dark, grim apocalypse story with a hint of romance, or those looking for more boy books to fill up their libraries. There is a sequel that comes out next year and I am looking forward to it.  A-

All best,

January

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I was a bit apprehensive about this book. I guess after reading The Iron Duke, I was sure that this book would be a let down. Archimedes Fox was charming but could I buy him as a male lead? Would he be strong enough for a character like Yasmeen? In order to make Fox [...]]]> Dear Ms. Brook:

I was a bit apprehensive about this book. I guess after reading The Iron Duke, I was sure that this book would be a let down. Archimedes Fox was charming but could I buy him as a male lead? Would he be strong enough for a character like Yasmeen? In order to make Fox appealing, would you have to defang Yasmeen (because that would be even worse)? All of these doubts kind of hovered around the periphery of my subconscious as I began to read. Those quickly dissipated as I found myself lost within this rich, textured world that is the Iron Seas.

The Iron Seas series is an alternate reality set in the Victorian period.  Much of the world is under the control of the Horde.  The Horde released nanobots in sugar which infected the people who ate sugared items.  Once the nanobots were inside a person, that person was subject to the power of radio towers controlled by the Horde.  These nanobots create a sort of super human allowing humans to heal faster, live longer.  However, they also allowed the Horde to suppress their emotion or drive them into frenzies. In England, the radio towers were destroyed by the Iron Duke and the country is still reeling from the revolution and the aftermath.

Yasmeen is an airship captain who fought with the Iron Duke.  Archimedes Fox is an adventurer, kind of a treasure hunter who finds rare items and sells them for money.  Yasmeen and Archimedes met in the Iron Duke when Archimedes needed transport.  In a fever and not thinking right, Archimedes challenged Yasmeen’s control over her ship and she sent him over the side of the ship into zombies below.  She believes that he has died. Yasmeen isn’t sure whether she’s glad that he hasn’t expired when Archimedes shows up again.

Yasmeen and Fox end up on a journey together to look for Da Vinci’s clockwork army. The man who has hired them to undertake this task understands that it might be a fruitless mission but even if they shouldn’t find the ultimate prize, surely there will be artifacts to be picked up along the way that will make the expedition worthwhile.

Fox tells Yasmeen up front that he is going to fall in love with her. Yasmeen just kind of smirks at his declaration. Fox loves taking risks, the more dangerous the better. Nothing can be more dangerous than being in love with Lady Corsair. What we learn is that Fox was once under the control of a tower for a short time. He was sick and to save him, he was given a blood transfusion from a bugger (a person infected with nanobots). The tower deadened Fox’s feelings and he hated that. Once out of reach of the tower, Fox embraces feelings of all kinds, particularly the extreme ones.  He’s a perfect foil for Yasmeen who is all about control.

Yasmeen’s attachments are few. She has bonds with her crew but she’s been betrayed by men in her past, particularly because the men she has enjoyed have always wanted to exert their control, particularly over her in ways that diminished her in front of her crew which would diminish her reputation and jeopardize her ability to command her ship.  Over the course of the book, you begin to see them both be more balanced. Fox understanding that his pursuit of love as a game is more dangerous than being chase by zombies. Yasmeen recognizing that bonds and tethers don’t always hold you down, but can lift you up and strengthen you.

This story is full of adventure. It’s got great lines. (At one point, Fox bursts in just as Yasmeen is finishing off a bad guy and says “Goddammit. Can’t I save you just once?” or when they are crawling in the dark ““I think God is angry with me,” Archimedes grumbled in French. “My face is all but buried in your delectable ass, and I can’t see to enjoy a moment of it.”)

This is a more charming and funnier and less agnsty read than The Iron Duke but the world building is just as rich, the characters incredibly vibrant, and the love story just as amazing.  I do think of the book as an adventure first and a love story second but I think it is because of Yasmeen’s fear of love.  It takes her a while to acknowledge her feelings for Archimedes which isn’t the norm in romance these days and thus Yasmeen might come off a bit cold.

In answering the questions I had at the beginning, Yasmeen is not defanged but Archimedes is her match.  Not because he can save her.  He probably could but Yasmeen doesn’t need saving in a physical sense but she did need someone like Fox to make her realize the extent of her connections to the people around her and that life could be richer savoring those connections instead of cutting them off.  Yasmeen and Fox could have both lived perfectly acceptable lives  without each other but together, they were happier and that’s a romance story I really appreciate.   A-

Best regards,

Jane

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After my review of Dangerous Neighbors last year, I became quite a fan of yours.  Quite a fan indeed.  It’s rare that I find a literary YA author that I connect with on a writing level, but your writing sits alongside the likes of Catherine Ryan Hyde and others for me.  You [...]]]> Dear Ms. Kephart,

After my review of Dangerous Neighbors last year, I became quite a fan of yours.  Quite a fan indeed.  It’s rare that I find a literary YA author that I connect with on a writing level, but your writing sits alongside the likes of Catherine Ryan Hyde and others for me.  You have a poetic way with words that I will follow anywhere, and You Are My Only is really a take-off from what I’ve read from you previously.

Dangerous Neighbors is a dramatic historical novel, and House of Dance is a lighter contemporary work with shades of drama.  You Are My Only is a departure from these previous reads of yours, but I have to say it’s a fitting one that should impress many readers looking for a unique experience.

Sophie has been homeschooled since she was very young.  Her mother hasn’t let her go to a public school or go out of the house for long stretches of time.  She hasn’t visited relatives the way other kids have instead she visits houses.    That’s what Sophie and her mother do.  They move so often that it’s all Sophie is familiar with.

This life for Sophie isn’t normal and on some level, Sophie knows it.  She knows that her mother’s overprotective nature isn’t healthy.  She knows that the life she lives inside the various houses they move into isn’t typical.  Her mother may help her learn about the importance of complicated history and sciences, but she can’t help her daughter learn about the outside world.

As dangerous as it has been made to be, Sophie has to take the plunge.  She leaves the confines of the blanketed world her mother has created.  Something so simple leads to a momentous change in Sophie’s life: a friendship with her next-door neighbor, Joey, and his aunts.

Fourteen years before Sophie came into the world, Emmy Rane was married and a mother just coming into her twenties.  Her marriage wasn’t the best, but she got through it with the love of her baby.  Her child.  Her only.

It was no surprise that Emmy lost the threads of her sanity when her baby was stolen away from her.  Emmy falls apart.  What’s left of her joy and her thoughts is as mangled and smokey as the train tracks that seem to attract her in her search for her baby.  Her husband Peter is disappointed her.  A mysterious man named Arlen attempts to pick up the parts of herself that are too broken to touch.

When Emmy is later sent away due to psychiatric reasons, she has to save herself and retain the hope that, one day, Baby will be found again.

The story that you spin is so unique in its construction.  From the beginning, the reader is allowed to witness the lives of two individuals who share a deep connection that is broken through impossible circumstances.  There is no mystery to what this connection entails, but instead to what it brings out in the characters as they live their lives.  You Are My Only is not the usual story of a separated parent and child.  It is something much, much more.

The dual perspectives of the two main characters are the first aspect of the novel that really call for attention.  Despite the fact that your distinct literary style shows quite clearly in both view-points, there is a definitive difference between the main characters and their first person voices.  Sophie’s voice is more sensible and grounded, where-as Emmy’s voice is up in the air and flitting from subject to subject.  The way they play off of each other is intriguing, especially when the essential roles of the characters are reversed from the physical ones.

Making Sophie act like the mother trying to find herself while having her physically be the daughter is why she’s so appealing.  There’s something about her that screams discovery.  The way she slowly defies her mother by simply gaining friendship is also a refreshing change of pace in characterization, and Sophie’s character makes a lot of strong connections that create a great web for the story.

Joey, Sophie’s friend, is equally charming and exuberant as a character.  Together the characters make a strong team.  A hint of romance winds throughout the text, but the strength of their relationship is based in their common friendship which is reinforced throughout the book.  Joey himself is very adventurous and propels Sophie to become more open and risk taking herself. Coupled with his aunts, he provides a creative escape for Sophie into a more warm and welcoming home than she’s ever seen.

The simple beauty of the safety of Joey’s family and how it changes and challenges Sophie is the core of her story.  In living with her mother, Sophie is subject to a life of seclusion.  The ability to open herself up to a life that isn’t cold and leeching is one that readers will cheer at the sight of.  As she gains the courage to analyze the skeletons in her mother’s closet, Sophie becomes a character that the reader wants to succeed.

Joey’s “aunts” are other major highlights of the work.  One thing that I appreciate about Miss Cloris and Miss Helen is the subtle relationship.  They are pictured as two loving aunts who are absolutely darling.  They take in the orphaned Joey and treat him like family and provide him – and soon, Sophie – with an excellent environment.  Their relationship is more than what their title implies, and you portray that beautifully.

Emmy is a more complicated character to work with in narration, and her viewpoint doesn’t work on the same level that Sophie’s does.  I appreciated the overall effect of the narration and how it connected with Sophie’s on a subtly thematic level.    The relationship between Autumn and Emmy is what brings a real light to the overall narration.  Autumn is such a boisterous character that’s wrapped in her own mystery, and she allows Emmy to open up in way that is similar to how Joey allowed Sophie to open up.

As much as I loved this connection, I did feel that Emmy’s narration was the weaker of the two.  At times her wavering sanity is hard to connect to, and the overall story is much more grounded in the magic of reality instead of the complicated musings of Emmy’s brain.  It’s also hard to tell if the treatments Emmy receives are truly accurate enough because of the way her narration takes place.  Sophie is a straightforward narrator that suggests honesty, but Emmy is a tougher nut to crack that is almost too elusive at times.

The use of first person present as the narration tense is also risky.  You do that frequently in your novels, but as a reader it can go very badly if the voice or styling of the narration doesn’t hold up well.  Your prose and its flow works very well for this tense, and you make it so easy to escape into it.  There were many moments that I would find myself diving into the simple joys of the description of the novel.

“We’re Joey’s aunts,” Miss Cloris says.  “But that doesn’t mean we’re sisters.  here.  Let me show you something.”  She pushes back from the table and walks across the room.  She pulls a picture from the wall, a pencil drawing, brings it to me, sits down again.

“That you?” I ask.

“It was.”

“With eyes like that?  That hair?”

“Time washes over, changes the look of things.  But that’s not the point I was making.  My point was, Miss Helen drew this.  Miss Helen is an artist.  Was when I met her and always has been.  I fell for her Wonderland dioramas.”

I nod, confused, and Miss Cloris’s face gets far away – the look in her eyes, the smile not for me.  “You ever been to Wonderland?” she asks me now.

“No, ma’am,” I say.

“Don’t deny yourself, you hear me?”

You Are My Only is a book that could so easily fall into others of its ilk.  It has the makings of a high-end drama that promises teenage angst and romance, but it instead goes the less trodden path.  You use sparse prose, rich characterization, and a simple plot to share a simple connection between two people that may or may not come to fruition.  You end on a note that leaves so much left to be said, yet completes the story in such a timely way.  Minor complaints are just that – minor.  There is a reason I’m a big supporter of your work, and this is why.  My final grade is a solid A-

All the best,

John

I read your book back in August and loved it, but it’s taken me a while to get back to it for review. Reading it a second time, I still loved it and it surprised me anew with its complexity and how much I loved the characters.

The story is told from Vince’s [...]]]> Dear Ms. Turner.

I read your book back in August and loved it, but it’s taken me a while to get back to it for review. Reading it a second time, I still loved it and it surprised me anew with its complexity and how much I loved the characters.

The story is told from Vince’s first person perspective. And he’s just wonderful. He’s in LA as an aspiring actor and interviews for two roles in one day: the “straight” man on a horrible sitcom, and a character in a high-concept sci-fi show with a multicultural ensemble cast. He auditions with Alex for the sci-fi show, things click on the stage and personally, but they’re both convinced they won’t get the roles. They have an out-of-character-for-both-of-them one night stand after the audition and are shocked weeks later when they find themselves working together. The problem is that Alex is deeply in the closet professionally and personally and Vince isn’t. And Vince doesn’t do one night stands (much). So despite their mutual attraction and Vince’s huge crush on Alex, they don’t get together and don’t get together. And don’t get together. And they channel all their tension and frustration into their characters who are really close “friends” that Vince and Alex play with a strong gay subtext. These characters don’t get together and don’t get together as well.

Vince and Alex finally get together a quarter of the way through the book. This is NOT an erotic romance, by the way. It’s certainly a m/m romance, but it’s not erotic at all. Most of the sex scenes are fade to black and close the door and come back after it’s all over. Which is actually rather frustrating, considering the sexual tension that Vince and Alex (and their characters, James and Matt) create and sustain for so long.

Once they’re together, the tension comes from their differences about being in or out of the closet. Vince goes back into the closet for Alex — much to the very vocal disgust of his friends and family — but it’s a constant tension in their actual relationship, as we see when Vince invites Alex to go home to Chicago with him for Christmas. Alex agrees, then freaks out in the airport when they’re recognized by another actor. He eventually makes it to Chicago and Vince forgives him, but the tension is real and Vince just doesn’t GET why Alex insists on the closet so strongly, while at the same time Vince wants to push the gay subtext in the show to text because he believes its Important.

One of the joys of this book for me, especially reading it the second time, was really seeing how Vince came to understand Alex’s viewpoint on the closet. Alex has a horrific coming out story that just gets more and more damaging every time he tries to come out. Whenever he tries, it’s been awful for him, and as Vince stays with him (and the story takes place over more than a year), Vince comes to understand and even agree with Alex’s perspective, against his own political and personal beliefs. Readers shouldn’t worry, though, because Alex comes to understand Vince’s perspective as well and they get their HEA when Alex blows the doors off his closet in about as public a way as possible.

The closet issue also means, maybe counter-intuitively, that this book is incredibly complex emotionally. The heroes get together, break up, get back together, break up, and then finally get back together again, completely remade. And this isn’t the “I love you, I hate you, I love you” of bodice rippers and Harlequin Presents. This is deep commitment to the relationship that’s torn apart by two personalities that need very different things, who are then unable to stay apart because they need each other more, who are then torn apart again by different choices and issues, who finally find their way back to each other in ways that will sustain the relationship.

I also really REALLY love the writing. I loved Vince because he’s so open and honest. I loved Alex because he’s so confused and scared. And the writing itself is sparse and perfect:

We cleaned up the mess we’d made of the apartment and then showered — together — kissing and touching and cleaning each other. Once we were out, he tied his towel around his waist and went back out into the living area, turning on the stereo system low and turning out most of the lights. I stood in the living room, naked, and watched him, wondering if he wanted me to leave.

When he saw me, he went still, becoming nothing but a shadow in the dimness of the night lights and streetlights and the blue glow of the stereo control screen. He finally moved — to set down the remote — and walked towards me. I didn’t let myself back away or hide myself. If he wanted to regret this, if he wanted to be horrified by it, that was his problem, not mine. Better I know now than have to wonder.

He stopped just inches away, his eyes on mine, his expression motionless.

I didn’t say anything.

Then he unknotted his towel and let it drop to the floor, and he slid his hands up my arms to my shoulders, slowly curling around as he went, savoring the caress. My whole body shuddered and he whispered, “Stay tonight?”

“Definitely,” I said. Forever, I thought.

He pushed his fingers deep into my hair and touched his forehead to mine, softly and more intimately than a kiss. I could feel his breath on my face as he said, “Good. That’s good.”

He led the way up to his loft bedroom. Up here, the bedside lamp was on. The covers were folded back, showing inviting white sheets. Alex had speakers up here, so the low-key music purred in the background. Candles, unlit, stood on the nightstand.

He stopped by the nightstand and turned, watching me take in the room, his expression tight and unhappy. “It’s too much, right?”

“No,” I said. “No, it’s…” Ridiculously, amazingly, shockingly romantic. For once, though, I was literally lost for words. Even as I screamed for joy inside, my heart broke at how afraid he was, and how uncertain. What he must have been thinking about, worrying about.

He took it the wrong way. “Sorry, I know it’s — I don’t know what I was thinking — I mean, I haven’t ever — You’re a guy, I’m a guy, it’s stupid — ”

He was picking up the candles as if to stash them away when I reached him and caught his hands, pushing them down until the candles were back where they’d started and he’d let go of them. Now I had his attention again.

“Alex,” I said, “Stop. Take a deep breath.”

He did, and I felt him relax. I kissed him, first with just my lips, lightly and quickly across the seam of his mouth, then deeper, exploring him, taking my time, not letting him pull away or hasten things. I kept kissing him until I could feel him understanding it and relaxing into it, savoring the languid sensuality.

I didn’t know how to explain it to him, all of that crap about gender stereotypes, and expectations, and romance. I didn’t know how to tell him how thrilled I was without sounding pacifying or patronizing.

For possibly the first time in my life, I realized that the best thing to say may be nothing at all.

I lit the candles and turned off the lamp before I joined him in his bed.

My one quibble is that after watching these men through so much, the ending was very abrupt. I wanted to see them enjoy being back together, even for just a little epilogue. The final image is beautiful, sure, but there’s been so much angst and heartache and time apart, so much finality to their split, and so much careful dealing throughout the rest of the book with fallout of decisions, that I wished for a glimpse of them beyond that night just to make sure they were doing okay.

As I said back in August, I couldn’t figure out if this was fanfic with the serial numbers filed off — I *never* watch TV, so I’m really bad about figuring this stuff out. You assured us it wasn’t. And honestly, I really think it’s TOO self-conscious about the slash angle to be fanfic. Vince follows the slashfic about their characters online. The characters go to conventions and meet fans who show them explicit slashpics. Vince convinces the show’s creator to make the subtext between James and Matt overt, which precipitates changes on the show because of how it affects Alex in real life. Even if it is fanfic without serial numbers, its very self-consciousness makes it fascinating to me. And the writing is amazing enough that the story was real to me, no matter its origins.

I really loved this book both times I read it and I honestly can’t recommend it enough.

Grade: A-

Best regards,
-Sarah

P.S. God, I hate hate hate the cover for this book. Yuck. Title’s not great, either.

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I’ve heard your name mentioned whenever readers talk about their favorite m/m mysteries and paranormals. You’ve even been the subject of an If You Like column here at Dear Author. But although I’ve read your first two sets of Petit Morts stories, I never read any of your own series or standalone [...]]]> Dear Ms. Price,

I’ve heard your name mentioned whenever readers talk about their favorite m/m mysteries and paranormals. You’ve even been the subject of an If You Like column here at Dear Author. But although I’ve read your first two sets of Petit Morts stories, I never read any of your own series or standalone novels and novellas. This past summer I was looking for more m/m mysteries with romance, and I went to your website, where you generously offer half of Among the Living as a free read. It took me about 5 minutes’ reading before I bought and downloaded the whole book, kicking myself all the while for taking so long to discover it.

Among the Living is the first novel in the PsyCop series, which is set in present-day Chicago with one important twist. The Chicago Police department has a Paranormal Investigation Unit, in which detectives with a range of psychic abilities are paired with non-psychic partners (called NPs in polite conversation and Stiffs the rest of the time). You clearly know your Chicago setting, and by the end of the second chapter I knew I was in a familiar place with an expert guide.

Victor Bayne, our narrator, is a 5th-level medium;, yes, he sees dead people. Lots of them. This makes him very good at solving cases, since he can frequently talk to the murdered victims, but it also means he sees ghosts everywhere. He takes Auracel, an anti-psyactive, when he wants relief, and he lives in a spartan, all-white apartment to reduce the sensory overload when he’s at home. Vic is not exactly in the closet, but he’s not out and proud at work.

Vic is tall, dark-haired and blue-eyed, so he’s apparently good-looking, but he’s also klutzy and seriously fashion-impaired:

I finished the wrap before I got home and spent an extra minute trying to get mayo off my sportcoat. I gave up when it became obvious that all I’d accomplished was embedding rolled-up fragments of cheap paper napkin all over myself. I realized that I’d dropped my other coat off at the dry cleaner’s about four months prior. And I wondered if they would give the thing to me without the pickup slip, or if they’d given it away to Goodwill by now.

Vic is one of the most engaging narrators I’ve encountered in fiction. With first person POV, a reader either takes to the narrator or gets tired of him; I can listen to Vic talk all day. He’s smart, funny, and honest about himself to the point of self-deprecation. When he falls for a fellow officer (and Stiff), the gorgeous and accomplished Jacob Marks, he can’t quite believe it’s mutual:

He slid his hot mouth from me and then flipped me around, one strong hand keeping me from tripping over the wad of clothing at my feet. “That’s right,” he said, caressing the side of my cock with his cheek. “I want to look up into your face while you come.”

And then my awkwardness increased exponentially as I realized Jacob Marks was gonna stare at me while my cock sank into his throat. He was gorgeous–simply beautiful. The most handsome man I’d ever been with, that I ever even dreamed I’d be with. And yet it was easier to spread myself wide open and half naked on that damn window than it was to look into his eyes.

Vic and Jacob are tasked to work together on a serial killer case in which the murderer kills gay men after sex and leaves their bodies in set-pieces of shattered glass. Jacob’s partner, Carolyn is a level-2 PsyCop who can tell if people are lying, which makes her a valuable detective but often awkward as a coworker or friend. Vic’s longtime Stiff has just retired, and his new partner is a young woman who has passed the test that differentiates psychics and non-psychics. The mystery storyline skillfully integrates the mundane aspects of police work with the twists that arise when psychics are involved. Vic’s harrowing training to become a PsyCop turns out to be instrumental to his ability to determine who the killer was. I was thoroughly immersed in both the mystery plot and the larger world.

This book is novella-length, but it is so well paced, and the characters are so interesting, that I didn’t notice the shorter word count. I definitely wanted more when it ended, but that was because I was engaged by the characters. I wanted to see where Vic and Jacob went after this installment’s HFN. I wanted to know what happened next to their respective partners. And I definitely wanted to read more set in almost-but-not-quite Chicago.

Much of my pleasure with the novella stems from Victor’s voice, but that voice is a reflection of your overall writing style. It’s deceptively straightforward and lacking in frills, but it rewards careful reading. Some passages that are so understated that they almost feel like throwaways, but they add immeasurably to the story and to the reading experience. The romantic storyline is developed through Vic’s matter-of-fact perspective, so although I realize and believe in Jacob’s attraction before Vic does, the depth of their mutual attachment kind of sneaks up on me. And as a consequence, the utterly romantic last paragraph gets to me much as it does to Vic.

Grade: A-

Ahoy readers: bonus materials! In addition to the novella- and novel-length installments of PsyCop, Ms. Price has written several short stories in the PsyCop world. Two of these are available for free at her website and elsewhere and bookend Among the Living. Thaw is a very short and sweet amuse-bouche that takes place after Among the Living and is set in Chicago at Christmastime. Inside Out is a prequel with an unusual genesis and is written from Jacob’s POV. Both are well worth reading.

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1) SeaGrace 2) Eilis Flynn 3) Julie L. 4) Robyn B. 5) Amy K 6) Maggie 7) Elizabeth56 8) DarcyO 9) Maili 10) Lindsey

Please send me your snail mail address at sunita at dear author dot com.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you Sourcebooks!

Dear [...]]]> UPDATED: The winners of the giveaway are:

1) SeaGrace
2) Eilis Flynn
3) Julie L.
4) Robyn B.
5) Amy K
6) Maggie
7) Elizabeth56
8) DarcyO
9) Maili
10) Lindsey

Please send me your snail mail address at sunita at dear author dot com.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you Sourcebooks!

Dear Ms. Kearsley,

Your novel, The Winter Sea, blew me away last year. It was one of my Best of 2010 books, and I’ve recommended it not only to everyone I know, but to total strangers as well. When I was offered the chance to review your new novel, of course I jumped at it. But while that decision was easy, it was a little more difficult to decide just how to approach it as a reader and reviewer. A book that completely hits every mark for me is a rare and precious experience, but it also means that it takes extra effort to keep those memories from overshadowing the next read.

The Rose Garden is very much a Kearsley novel. Your voice is unmistakable, and there are aspects of structure and style that are similar to The Winter Sea. But it is also quite different in some ways. It would be wrong to categorize it as a genre romance novel, even though there is a very satisfying romance at the core of it and several smaller romantic sub-plots. It feels like a cross between a romance, a journey story (although not exactly women’s fiction), and a straight fiction novel with a strong sense of place and a wide variety of characters.

Eva, our narrator, journeys to Cornwall after the death of her movie-star sister, Katrina, in order to scatter Katrina’s ashes, grieve, and then decide what she wants to do with her life. Although their family had lived in several different countries, their summers in Cornwall held a special significance for both sisters. A successful public relations executive, Eva had settled in Los Angeles to be near to and work with Katrina. Now she is alone, and when the Halletts invite her to stay at Trelowarth while she considers the future, she accepts. She is drawn in to their world: Mark, the son and proprietor of Trelowarth Roses; Susan, his younger sister whose plans to help Trelowarth achieve a sounder financial footing make Mark uncomfortable; and Claire, their artist stepmother who provides a loving home and a link to the past.

As Eva settles in and picks up the threads of her old life, she suddenly finds herself briefly thrown back in time to Trelowarth in an earlier and more dangerous era (which readers of The Winter Sea will recognize, albeit from a different angle). At first she thinks she’s hallucinating from stress, grief, and exhaustion. But the episodes continue, and soon Eva meets the 18th-century inhabitants of the house: Daniel Butler, a sea captain, and his Irish friend and collaborator, Fergal. Daniel, Fergal, and Daniel’s charming and erratic brother Jack are enmeshed in Jacobite plotting against the Crown, as well as more run of the mill smuggling, and as Eva involuntarily goes back and forth in time her risk of being captured as a confederate of the two grows. But so does her attraction to Daniel and her friendship with Fergal, and even though she knows a great deal about what might happen to them, as well as tantalizing details about their individual futures, she falls in love with Daniel, and she is increasingly drawn to life in that period. But how can she stay in the early 18th century, and what will happen to the Eva of the 21st century and the people around her if she succeeds in going back permanently?

I am not a fan of time-travel novels as a rule, but I’m happily making an exception for your books. I really appreciate the way you deal with the small and not-so-small details, like Eva’s clothing. When Eva goes backward and forward in time, she arrives wearing time-inappropriate attire. This is manageable in the present, but the stock of clothing available to her in 1715 is much smaller. Not only do you pay attention to the dangers and ramifications of this problem, but you use it to show how Eva and Daniel’s relationship progresses, and it leads to a lovely moment in the story. When Eva is finally wearing clothing that is intended for her alone, it means something.

Equally insightful and appealing to me is how you portray gender issues. While time-travel romances tend to focus on the differences for women across the centuries, here Eva and Daniel discuss the constraints and opportunities for both men and women. Eva is frustrated by the limitations she faces in the early 1700s, but Daniel reminds her that although he has more freedom to make decisions and take public action, he too is constrained in ways that Eva realizes are different that those men face in the present:

‘I assure you, Eva, I do have a high regard for liberty.’

‘I know you do.’

‘And whatever custom may decree in public, in my family every woman has been free to speak her mind.’

‘Behind closed doors.’

He smiled and said, ‘I’ve found that there are many things more safely done behind closed doors than in the public view, by men as well as women.’ Then, more serious, ‘Do you think I am free to say exactly what I please, and when? In truth you’d be mistaken. If I stated my opinion of the current state of politics, I’d soon be clapped in irons for treason.’

He was right, I knew. ‘But even if you can’t state your opinions, you can act on them.’

‘Not openly. No, you and I are both confined to showing but one part of us in public, and another to our friends. As for the whole of us … well, that must be reserved for those few people we are fortunate enough to love and trust.’

The 18th century is so exciting, both for Eva and for the reader, that the contemporary story pales somewhat by comparison. The potential secondary and tertiary romances are enjoyable but not particularly gripping, but the Hallett family is well drawn and their individual and collective stories are engaging.

As always, the setting is beautifully depicted. I could smell the sea of Cornwall and feel the walks up The Hill, and the historical background is terrific. There is a strong sense of context without any dreaded infodumps, and the reader is immersed in the period without feeling like she’s attending a lecture.

The most difficult aspect of time-travel romance is finding a way to have an HEA that seems to make sense and that doesn’t cause too much sadness for those who are left behind. You come up with an ingenious and surprising solution to this problem, but one that is sufficiently complicated that I had to go back and read it again. So readers, be warned: when the book nears the end and the suspense is killing you, make sure to slow down while you read. I can’t explain without massive spoilers, and I’m not sure I entirely buy it, but hey, it’s a time-travel, so I can live with that. Readers can rest assured that Eva and Daniel have a satisfying HEA, and a couple of the secondary threads wrap up with happy surprises.

This novel is an example of how a story can be utterly, completely romantic in tone without having explicit sex or even many romantic interludes between the hero and heroine. It is worth keeping in mind that it does not follow the conventions of a genre romance. A key focus of the story is on Eva’s journey from a grieving sister to a woman who looks forward to her future with the man she loves (however unusually she’s reached that point), and her friendships with Fergal, Claire, and the rest of the Halletts are critical parts of that journey. The first part of the novel is accordingly quite sad, although I didn’t find it depressing. As Eva recuperates at Trelowarth and becomes involved in the Hallett’s lives, and then even more entwined in the lives of Daniel, Fergal, and Jack, the sadness recedes (although it never goes away completely, and how can it?).

The first line of this story is devastating, but the last line is filled with happiness. They make powerful bookends to a memorable novel.

Grade: A-

~ Sunita

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 Jaclyn says:

When I opened to page one of Isle of Night I was expecting a historical romance set in Scotland—presumably on the Isle of Night. The ARC I had didn’t have a cover image and because I have enjoyed your books in the past I did not seek information about the [...]]]> Dear Ms. Wolff,

 Jaclyn says:

When I opened to page one of Isle of Night I was expecting a historical romance set in Scotland—presumably on the Isle of Night. The ARC I had didn’t have a cover image and because I have enjoyed your books in the past I did not seek information about the story before starting to read. My assumption was half right: most of the story takes place on the Isle of Night.

Isle of Night begins with seventeen-year-old Annelise leaving her abusive dad’s dingy Florida apartment to register for college. The specter of her father, who uses his fists to communicate, sows the seeds of suffocating menace that permeates the pages of this story. Unable to register for college and left with no money and nowhere to go, Annelise accepts the offer of a mysterious young man to drive her to the coast. But in turns out he didn’t mean the coast of Florida, and what follows is a coming of age story set in a school that trains girls to become agents for vampires—Watchers—who travel the world doing their masters’ work, whether it means gathering information or assassinating enemies. The experience of reading this book is visceral. As I read page after page my body was tense, my heart rate picked up as Annelise faced danger, I was scared for her and simultaneously wanted her to win and to escape, but mostly I wanted her to survive.

John says:

Unlike Jaclyn, I knew from the beginning what this story was about.  I was expecting an unusual setting for YA (Scotland – not the boarding school itself, which is a common trope in YA books) and something with a little more spice than the regular vampire novel.  The blurbs and marketing have been promising this as a combination of The Hunger Games and other big YA titles.  Many of the comparisons could have set this book to fail before it even began, but I was soon sucked into Wolff’s world the same way you were.

What makes me feel like this book works from the beginning is that it’s appealing to a lot of different fronts without feeling like a pretender.  I never once questioned WHY Wolff wrote this book – which I often due with these adult-turned-YA authors that come out with hyped books – and that in and of itself is something that I am impressed by.  She strikes a tone that feels completely natural, and she manages to make everything feel suspenseful and gripping.  Even the romance.  It’s a paranormal novel that really has a lot of grit to it.

Jaclyn says:

I agree with John about the tone and level of grit in this book. The most compelling novels create rich atmospheres that allow me to drop out of the real world and immerse myself in the events of the story. Wolff does this by appealing to all of the reader’s senses. Almost all romances offer detailed visual descriptions and appeal to a reader’s emotions, describing how things look and what the characters feel; with Isle of Night, sound, taste, and scent are deftly woven into the story, and in particular sound plays an important role in Annelise’s life and maintaining the tension throughout the story.

Annelise smuggles two things into the boarding school, a photo of her mother and her iPod, deciding that her need for the solace of music and a tangible connection to her beloved mom is greater than the potential for punishment if she is caught with the forbidden items.

During the early weeks of her training these two items become a source of life support, a moment of escape from the stress of the intense Watcher training and Annelise’s way out of the school without leaving the campus. But because they are forbidden, they also become a point of stress for the reader—will she get caught? What will happen if the items are discovered? And they are eventually discovered.

My only complaint in this whole story is the iPod: whenever Annelise listened to her iPod I found myself wondering how she managed to charge it—which drew me out of the story for a brief moment.

John says:

I think Jaclyn makes a really important comment above, so I’m going to reiterate it:

 ”Almost all romances offer detailed visual descriptions…”

The comparison is very adequate on a multitude of levels.  What is so appealing about Wolff’s style is that she has all of the description and atmosphere detailing of a romance novel—which would make sense, considering she’s penned several historical romances—while still keeping the pacing and focus of a YA work.

What Jaclyn describes about Annelise is precisely why I enjoyed her character.  I haven’t read The Hunger Games, so I can’t say how she’ll compare to Katniss fans, but I felt like Wolff knew how to make a strong female character that wasn’t perfect.  The iPod and the picture are both obvious weaknesses that get exploited throughout earlier parts of the book, and I felt Wolff really understood that her character couldn’t be this perfect person.  Annelise’s weakness is such a highlight to the story, and it’s really rewarding to see her grow into someone who can be utterly ruthless.

I think that the characterization extended well into the side characters, too.  Annelise’s love interest admittedly made me swoon.  Even her friends caught my attention.  Wolff has really thought about what her world entails, and I think it’s most obvious when you consider the side characters.  She has an island in Scotland where the elite train to be vampires—which is already a step from the YA norm—and she places all of these really interesting and diverse people on it.  There are characters from around the world in this story, and they don’t feel tacked on at all.  It gives such a good idea of just how sweeping her world is.

Jaclyn says:

John makes a good point—the secondary characters enrich this story. At the same they also play into the menace—Annelise is learning a dangerous lesson about whom she can and cannot trust. Each new person she met at the school left me wondering if they would betray her, though she manages to make some genuine friends.

In the last quarter of the story violence ratchets up as all the first year trainees, including Annelise, take part in a competition for the Directorate’s Award. The girls fight in one-on-one combat. There are a few rules to the fighting, but they are not intended to keep everyone safe and the girls are often fighting for their lives. In the last match Annelise faces off against her archenemy in an epic battle. When it’s over the true threat to Annelise is revealed.

After finishing Isle of Night I sat for a moment and realized I had read it straight through. Then I immediately headed online to find out when the next book in the series will be published. Isle of Night earns a well deserved A.

John says:

Like Jaclyn, this book completely sucked me in.  I didn’t read it in one sitting, but if I had the time I easily would have.  Minor quips like the iPod easily brushed past my reading, and I think Wolff sets herself up for what promises to be a strong YA series.  A-

Cheers,

Jaclyn & John

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Dear Ms. Hale, Your Rifter series has been a revelation to me [...]]]> [Spoiler alert: I think I've managed to avoid direct spoilers for these two installments, but it's almost impossible to talk substantively about the series without referring to events that occur after the first installment, The Shattered Gates. Proceed at your own risk.]

Dear Ms. Hale,
Your Rifter series has been a revelation to me this year. It is one of the most compelling things I’ve read in recent memory, and I find the installment aspect fascinating. I look forward to each month’s release, but I almost never read it when I receive it. I circle the new installment like a dog with a new and obviously delicious bone: I read the summary at the beginning, then I put it aside; then I read the first few pages, then I stop and put it down; and then, finally, I clear a couple of hours and sit down and read the whole thing in one sitting. Slowly. And then I try to find people to converse with about it. The Rifter sucks me in, it makes me think, and it regularly surprises me.

It is also immensely frustrating to review, because between the incompleteness of the monthly installment and the spoiler problem, the gap between what I want to say and what I can say feels almost insurmountable. How do I convey my enthusiasm without spoiling the series for other readers? In our earlier joint review Janine was vigilant at maintaining the balance, but here I have to find a way to do it on my own.

First, a very brief overview of these two installments. They are set in the same time period, and the main characters are closer to the Kyle and John we met in The Shattered Gates. Both men have experienced a great deal, but the time jumps that occur regularly throughout the series have put them together here. John is firmly entrenched in his role as a divinity, while Kahlil is still somethign of an outsider, to Basawar and especially to the Fai’daum. Kahlil and John have arrived at this point in time through different journeys, but they recognize each other, and Kahlil wants to stay with and serve John/Jath’ibaye. This choice settles him into Fai’daum society, where he is viewed with some suspicion at first, but he finds several roles which help to integrate him into the community.

Meanwhile, Jath’ibaye is managing the complexities of being a leader and divine being in Basawar even as he continues to feel mortal thoughts and emotions. These emotions have far greater power in Basawar than they did in his homeland, and controlling and channeling them takes enormous energy. In addition, John/Jath’ibaye has a fuller understanding of events that have occurred in the past than Kahlil does, which means that while on some levels they are able to meet as near-equals, on others Jath’ibaye is burdened with both power and knowledge. For his part, Kahlil has to deal with his imperfect and shifting memories:

“I try not to think about the past too much.” Kahlil shrugged. “You’d be surprised by how little you have to know about yourself to just get through the day.”

“Sounds like hell,” Jath’ibaye replied.

“When I first arrived it was, but lately …” Kahlil sighed. “I don’t know. Either I’m getting used to it or my memories are beginning to settle out.”

“Settle out?” Jath’ibaye asked.

“I can think about the past a little more easily. There are still two histories, but instead of just crashing into each other, it’s more like …” Kahlil tried to think of a way to describe the interplay of the two sets of memories in his mind.

“You know when you look out this window,” Kahlil said at last, “there’s the view outside but there’s also your reflection in the glass. You can watch everything going on outside, but the reflection is always there. And every now and then you notice it, and the entire view outside goes out of focus. But if you shift your focus, the view comes back. That’s kind of how it is for me.”

These two installments fuse the more standard plot developments of a Fantasy novel with the romance between Kyle/Kahlil and John/Jath’ibaye. But they also foreground the parallel individual experiences and challenges each faces as a being who is something more than mortal. We first met them when Jath’ibaye was John Toffler, graduate student, and Kahlil was Kyle, milkman and other-worldly being. Now the roles are reversed, as John is a god and Kyle may no longer be a Kahlil. Yet each retains aspects of those lives and their memories, and each negotiates the contradictions inherent in his transformation.

As a result of fully becoming the Rifter on Basawar, Jath’ibaye has enormous power and responsibility, and he doesn’t fight this role; sometimes he seems resigned at best, while at others he appears to embrace it. Kahlil feels more mortal and even wearied by the constant need to reconcile his imperfect memories of the past with the difficulties of of his present existence, but he still has crucial and rare abilities.

In both cases, the portrayal of the tension between strength and privilege on the one hand and the sorrow for what is lost on the other is one of the more nuanced depictions I can remember reading in a Fantasy series. They aren’t heavy-handed in any way, but they enrich my understanding of the characters, and they add a poignancy and depth to the romance. This is particularly impressive because the romance is an important component of the series but it necessarily shares a lot of page time with the complex plot.

By the end of Enemies and Shadows, the suspense has been ratcheted way up and the reader is left teetering on a very scary cliffhanger. Newly introduced characters have become critical players, long-established characters’ arcs have taken new directions, and the gentle passages between Kahlil and Jath’ibaye have given way to violent and traumatic events that make an optimistic ending seem further and further away. And since there are only three installments left to go, you don’t have many pages in which to bring it about. Somehow, though, I think you’ll pull it off.

Grade: A-

~ Sunita

 Buy the serial at Blind Eye Books.

The Seventh Veil (The Etsey Series, #1), by Heidi Cullinan

I began this back in the spring and had [...]]]> I read a bunch of novellas and short-ish stories this week, as well as returning to a novel I’d laid aside for a while. Mostly m/m with one m/f, and a number of new-to-me authors.

The Seventh Veil (The Etsey Series, #1), by Heidi Cullinan

I began this back in the spring and had a difficult time getting into it. Then I restarted it and suddenly it clicked. This is a big, ambitious, densely plotted and written novel, and very unlike the other Cullinan novels I’ve read. It features m/m and m/f relationships, it’s Fantasy, and it demands the reader’s full concentration. I was having a difficult time reading it at the same time that I was reading Hale’s Rifter serial. But #2 in the series, Temple Boy, is releasing next week, and I really wanted to have this finished before the second book came out. I picked it up again and I’m enjoying it. It’s not an easy read, but it’s a rewarding one. The setting is a fantasy land that draws on 18th or 19th-century England. The characters include a witch, a goddess, two brothers, a wicked alchemist, and an equerry from another land. There are cross-cutting relationships from past and present, regular magic, sex magic, violence, and hot sex. Review to come.

Let’s Misbehave, by Rae Summers

This short story/novella is a debut that received an enthusiastic review from one of my go-to reviewers, and it garnered a number of 4- and 5-star reviews on Goodreads.  I was intrigued by the premise: it’s set in late 1920s London and features a free-spirited heroine and a buttoned-up hero. I loved the setting and thought it was well done. Unfortunately, I found the overall reading experience marred by the author’s tendency to tell me about the characters (and the characters’ tendencies to tell me about their feelings) rather than showing me through behavior and natural-sounding dialogue. Since the characters are archetypes rather than fully-fleshed-out human beings, the telling became overwhelming. The heroine felt like a legitimate free spirit, the hero really was a decent guy but hemmed in by convention, but they just didn’t come alive for me. And the revelation at the end about one of the characters restrospectively undercut the power of the conflict in a major way. But I’m in the minority on this one, so you may enjoy it more. Warning: the hero is engaged to someone else for most of the story, and she’s quite sympathetic. I’d rather read a story about her, to be honest. Grade: C

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Vindaloo and the T-Bird, by Sarah Black

This is one of a slew of books I picked up in last week’s Fictionwise coupon sale. I’ve heard good things about Black for years and the title caught my eye. I was a bit apprehensive that the (South Asian-American) character would be named Vindaloo, but no worries, Black knows what she’s doing. Vin is a mechanic and Race is an eye surgeon. They broke up months before the story begins but are brought back together when Race falls in love with a vintage Thunderbird coupe and asks Vin to help him restore it. Through the course of this short story we find out that Race is much better at surgery than relationships and that Vin is a smart mechanic and no pushover. Both characters are sympathetic and deftly portrayed, and the supporting characters come to life despite their brief on-page time. Vin’s grandmother in particular is a hoot. Black manages to capture the essence of a loving, interfering Indian female relative without getting mired in stereotypes; believe me, I know this lady! The story is full of lovely, small details, from the main characters’ shared love for T-Birds, to why Vin isn’t short for Vindaloo, to Race’s earnest and overly systematic study of the roots of rock ‘n roll. And it’s set in Boise! Grade: B+

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Primal Red, by Nicole Kimberling

I’ve been meaning to try one of Kimberling’s Bellingham mysteries and Fictionwise made it easy. This is the first of three in a series featuring journalist Peter Fontaine and artist Nick Olson. When artist-professor Shelley Vine is murdered in her studio, suspicion falls on the other artists in the loft building they shared. Peter and Nick are attracted to each other but their budding relationship is hindered by Peter’s investigation for The Bellinghamster weekly, aka the Hamster. Peter’s research dredges up Nick’s past and Nick’s status as prime suspect endangers his carefully rebuilt art career. Meanwhile, Peter’s other story lead on the Russian Pierogi-Tea-Café/Bordello puts his own health and well-being in jeopardy. The novella is smoothly written and light on the angst and gore, and it features witty dialogue and eccentric supporting characters. Peter is self-deprecating without being annoying, and while Nick is gorgeous and taciturn, he reveals himself to be more multi-dimensional than Peter’s besotted POV initially suggests. Grade: B

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If It Ain’t Love, by Tamara Allen

I’ve saved the best for last. Allen slipped a free story onto the internet with little fanfare, but eventually even I noticed. I downloaded and opened the file to read away some of my disappointment with Let’s Misbehave, and I didn’t look up until I was done. This is a short story, but it has more depth and richness than many full-length novels. The setting is Depression-era Manhattan. Whit is a gifted journalist at the New York Times who is having trouble writing his highly-regarded feature articles. He lost his apartment and is barely hanging on, borrowing from his editor, sleeping in Bowery “hotels” and trying not to notice how hungry he is. Peter doesn’t have a job either, but he has a huge empty townhouse, a well-stocked refrigerator, and a closet full of expensive suits. Peter comes to the Bowery looking for companionship and Whit goes home with him. Their begin a tentative relationship without asking or offering much in the way of information to each other, and when they inevitably discover each other’s backgrounds, it jeopardizes the tiny bit of happiness they’ve begun to build together. There’s a hopeful HEA, or at least an HFN, but Allen doesn’t shirk from portraying the misery of that era. It’s the Depression, and she takes that seriously. But the story is full of small and not-so-small acts of generosity and grace, and it reminds us that even in the midst of degradation, human beings are able to draw on reserves of dignity and compassion. There were a couple of plot points that didn’t quite work for me, but the writing is beautiful and overall this is a terrific read. Easily one of the best stories I’ve read all year. And did I say it’s free? Go forth and download! Grade: A-

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Archangel’s Blade opens with a flashback in the vampire Dmitri’s POV, one that takes us back to Dmitri’s human life. In the flashback, dark, ruthless Dmitri is revealed to have once, a thousand years ago, been a loving and tender hearted man devoted to his two children and to his wife.

Smiling [...]]]> Dear Ms. Singh,

Archangel’s Blade opens with a flashback in the vampire Dmitri’s POV, one that takes us back to Dmitri’s human life. In the flashback, dark, ruthless Dmitri is revealed to have once, a thousand years ago, been a loving and tender hearted man devoted to his two children and to his wife.

Smiling at his son’s joy, he looked up and saw her in the doorway. His wife. With their new daughter in her arms. His heart twisted into a knot that was almost painful.

Sometimes, he thought he should be ashamed to love his wife and children so much, until the days when he went away to the markets were a rare anguish…but he could not bring himself to believe it.

This picture of domestic bliss is almost shocking in contrast with the Dmitri we know from the three previous Guild Hunter books. As the Archangel Raphael’s second-in-command, Dmitri could not be more loyal – and ruthlessly cold. He is said to love no one, and to like his pleasure twined with pain.

Though she has never met Dmitri, Guild Hunter and ancient languages expert Honor St. Nicholas is well aware of his reputation. She has spent years observing him on television and from afar due to an inexplicable obsession, but the thought of a close encounter with him or any other vampire now terrifies her.

Ten months ago Honor was kidnapped by vampires and raped and tortured for eight weeks. While two of her attackers were killed during her rescue and two more captured alive, no information about the rest of her tormentors has been uncovered. Honor has been hiding in one of the Guild Academy buildings since the assault, so when Sara, the Guild director, calls her and informs her that she is needed to consult with Dmitri on a case, Honor feels shattered.

Nevertheless, she manages to scrape enough strength to pull herself together and meet with Dmitri at The Tower where he oversees Raphael’s empire. The encounter is anything but soothing – Dmitri presents Honor with a young vampire’s severed head whose tattoo he wants her to decipher.

Moreover, Dmitri is attracted to Honor, though she is far from his usual type. When he puts his hands on the back of her neck and she slices his face in instinctive self-defense, he promises her private, intimate retribution at his hands. But things begin to change when Dmitri learns what Honor suffered, and vows to bring all the remaining perpetrators to justice.

As he takes Honor along on his excursions to find her attackers and to mete out punishment to them, a bond develops between Honor, who slowly gains confidence and begins to trust this one vampire, and Dmitri, who persistently denies that he can have a lasting or meaningful relationship with any woman – but finds it difficult to deny Honor whatever she needs.

Archangel’s Blade is a melding of more than one genre, with elements of mystery, thriller, horror, urban fantasy and romance. From these disparate genres you craft a nearly seamless, powerful, riveting novel. I found myself wholly absorbed in Dmitri and Honor’s story as I watched both characters transform – Honor into a courageous survivor, Dmitri into a more human, tender, loving badass than he’d been before.

Archangel’s Blade reminded me of a bit of Time Without End by Linda Lael Miller, a book I remember loving back in the 1990s, and one that had a very similar premise. I thought Time Without End was pretty dark but Archangel’s Blade makes it look like a sweet and gentle story.

I appreciated that it was acknowledged multiple times how thin is the line that separates Dmitri from the villains he takes down. There’s a cruel streak in him at times (especially in the beginning of this book), and in the earlier books, I hated the way he forced his seductive scent on Elena.

One of the reasons I was able to love Dmitri despite this is that the vampire Dmitri was contrasted with the human he had once been, sweet, caring and loyal above all to his beloved wife and children. You do a great job of showing what a lovely person that human Dmitri had been, how much he had lost, and showing also, that some remnants of that man were still in Dmitri.

Honor is also haunted, not just by the events of her recent past and her foster home upbringing, but also by an inexplicable sense of loss she has always lived with. I felt that past and present weren’t quite as well-integrated in her as they had been in Dmitri’s character. Surprisingly, it was easier to see the human Dmitri in him than it was to see the woman she’d once been in Honor.

But despite this, Dmitri and Honor’s journey gripped my guts and my heart. Seeing these two lost souls find love and acceptance with one another wasn’t just compelling, but also deeply moving.

Each time I read one of your books, I’m of two minds about the prose style. On the one hand, it feels a little choppy and repetitive at times, but on the other hand it’s also vivid, powerful and distinctive, and when I enjoy a book this much, it is difficult to complain.

A bigger problem for me, especially with this series, is the violence. This book is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Still, although the violence disturbed me, it also worked better for me than it has in the previous Guild Hunter books. I was quickly plunged into the dark places Dmitri and Honor inhabited and from there, followed their struggle toward a ray of light.

It was brave of you to tackle this much darkness and emotional baggage in one book. I was so touched when, at the end of the book, Honor and Dmitri fully understood and embraced the love they had found in each other, and yet, they had both lived through so much heartbreak and pain that the book left me a bit melancholy despite the happy ending.

Nonetheless, for its intense emotional quality and its romantic and redemptive feel, this is my favorite installment of the Guild Hunter series so far. B+/A-.

~Janine

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I’ve heard of the “Little Lady” books but no, shame on me, I’ve never read them. But when a friend of mine told me about “Swept Off Her Feet” and that she’d really liked it, the blurb got me interested in it. After she assured me that there’s no faux [...]]]> Dear Ms. Browne,

I’ve heard of the “Little Lady” books but no, shame on me, I’ve never read them. But when a friend of mine told me about “Swept Off Her Feet” and that she’d really liked it, the blurb got me interested in it. After she assured me that there’s no faux brogue dialog I was in. I’ll go ahead and say that if I’d read this back in March when it was first released, it would have been a recommend read from me. As it is, it’s probably going to be on my best reads of 2011 list.

Evie Nicholson loves her work as a buyer for an antiques dealer in London. But as she’s more interested in and, as the blurb says, “spins fanciful attachments to” the personal history of the little items, what she comes back from auctions with doesn’t always meet her boss’s approval. But her sister’s invitation to a ball held in a Scottish castle might be Evie’s road to redemption.

Kettlesheer Castle is the site of an annual ball held on Valentine’s Day and Alice’s boyfriend Fraser is the boyhood chum of the current McAndrews heir, Robert. Alice has finagled an invite for Evie to go and assess certain family pieces for possible sale as the upkeep on the drafty old place is enough to bankrupt small nations. Past McAndrews were the types who never threw *anything* away, so antiques dealers have long salivated at the thought of what might be tucked away in the Castle. Evie’s boss is hopeful of some spectacular finds and sends her up to Scotland with strict instructions on what to look for. Evie, being Evie, is more drawn to the personal stuff though she can’t seem to get tough businessman Robert interested in his family’s past or the romantic daydreams Evie spins about the place.

With the ball fast approaching, family and friends – including one calculating young woman who’s angling to become the next mistress of Kettlesheer – are in a frenzy of preparation even as Evie is down on her knees checking dovetailing. Will she find the spectacular pieces needed to save the family finances? Can she get Robert to view his heritage as more than a draining, lifelong anchor around his neck? And what will the two of them do about the feelings obviously simmering between them and waiting to boil over during the magical candlelit gala?

I see this book as a sort of evolution of the standard Chick Lit book. Evie has a tatty job but it’s one she really loves. It’s pretty obvious from early days who the hero will be and Robert is front and center through most of the book. Evie and Robert don’t initially hit it off as Evie has a semi-crush on Fraser – who is clueless about it and devoted to Alice the entire book – but these two don’t snipe at each other either. Robert is aware of the soundtracks Evie plays in her head as she swoons around Kettlesheer and imagines herself in Jane Austen settings there but though he shakes his head and doesn’t understand or share her romance with the place, he never mocks her – just gently teases her at times.

Robert may be a tough businessman but he’s also a bit of a romantic – at least for Evie. He’s practical to her daydreaming but they “fit.” The scene where he shows up before the ball with some of his great grandmother’s fancy gewgaws for Evie to wear, then sits back and enjoys watching her get excited over them shows me that he does know what she likes and that he wants to please her. Points to him for wanting to make his woman happy. Even if they hadn’t shared a kiss yet. When that “plane going down” kiss did happen, I sighed.

Most everyone in the book is good hearted, though not in a Sally Sunshine way, and even the calculating young woman is treated kindly and isn’t a total beeyotch just for the plot. The story is also brimming with humor and I literally laughed out loud more times than I remember. The teaching-Evie-to-reel scenes were fantastic though I winced when I read how true to life they were. Since I have two left feet as well, I can sympathize with her bewilderment during the Eightsome Reel and would probably end up on my ass after a twirling as well. Though after watching a full fledged 51st Division Reel on youtube, I think I’d be itching to get out and try it myself. The Hamilton House sounds like flirty fun too.

This is a happy book. A fun and funny book that put a smile on my face. I think Robert and Evie will be a good team together with each complimenting and bringing out the best in each other. The humor comes from the situations in the story and not from Evie being made to pratfall for laughs. The characters seem fairly realistic and not exaggerated merely for the plot. And it’s an excellent sign when I finish a book and immediately want to go back and reread my favorite bits. Think I could get an invite to the Kettlesheer Ball next year? A-

~Jayne

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As part of our Georgette Heyer week here, I’ve decided to do lightning reviews of Heyer’s very early series. This series includes Heyer’s first runaway bestseller, the first Regency Romance evah, one of the most well-researched books about Waterloo evah, iconic heroes and the cross-dressing heroines who shoot them (well, not quite), duels, [...]]]> Dear Readers.

As part of our Georgette Heyer week here, I’ve decided to do lightning reviews of Heyer’s very early series. This series includes Heyer’s first runaway bestseller, the first Regency Romance evah, one of the most well-researched books about Waterloo evah, iconic heroes and the cross-dressing heroines who shoot them (well, not quite), duels, highwaymen, and Beau Brummel.

The series “starts” (sort of) with The Black Moth, which I’ve already reviewed here at Dear Author. This is Heyer’s first book, written when she was 19 (and doesn’t that make me feel like a slacker?). It’s set in 1751 so is a Georgian, NOT a Regency romance. It’s notable, in my opinion, mainly for the hero of the secondary romance, but also for the villain, Tracy Belmanoir, Duke of Andover. To the heroine (and, one assumes, to his author), he’s repellent and yet utterly compelling:

It was not what he said that alarmed her, but it was the way in which he said it, and the vague something in the purring, faintly sinister voice that she could not quite define, that made her heart beat unpleasantly fast, and the blood rush to her temples.

Repulsion or attraction?

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Well, four books (one each set in the 17th, 18th, and 15th centuries, and a suppressed contemporary) and five years later, in 1926, Heyer publishes These Old Shades, her first best-selling novel. She takes most of the characters from The Black Moth, gives them different names, and uses The Black Moth as the back story for These Old Shades, the hero of which is Tracy Belmanoir, now Justin Alistair, Duke of Avon. He’s nicknamed “Satanus” and lives up to it. The novel is still Georgian set, and one of the joys of the books is to read Heyer’s enraptured-historian’s descriptions of Avon’s elaborate outfits. Avon buys a fleeing boy off the boy’s brother in the slums of Paris. He does it for his own nefarious purposes — purposes he carries through with utter ruthlessness at the end of the novel. He makes the boy his page, but of course, his page is much more than he seems…

The novel is problematic: class is innate for Heyer. The blood of aristocrats will always tell, as will the blood of peasants, no matter their education or upbringing. But Avon is the ultimate in the depraved hero reluctantly saved by love and the climax of the novel in which all Avon’s machinations come together and he tells the story of Leonie’s background is riveting reading, not least because he’s wearing a gold suit.

But when I read this book at 13, the two line conversation –

“You do not love me?” she said, like a child.

“Too — well to marry you,” he said

– just about killed me. That little hitch in the middle…SO romantic.

Grade: B

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Six books (three contemporaries, an 18thC, a 16thC, and an 11thC set book) and six years later, Heyer publishes Devil’s Cub (1932), the story of Avon and Leonie’s son, Dominic, the Marquis of Vidal. He’s 25, wild, and utterly entitled. The book starts with him shooting to death a highwayman and leaving the body in the road. Although he hasn’t had time to become as totally depraved as his father, when he has to flee England after a duel (he leaves because of his father’s displeasure, not because he broke the law), he tries to take with him his latest light o’ love, the middle-class (not demi-monde) Sophy Challoner. Sophy, however, has a determined and entirely respectable sister Mary who refuses to allow her sister to lose her virtue to Vidal. So she swaps herself for Sophy, assuming Vidal would let her go after he discovers the switch. He does not, however, and drags her aboard his yacht, where she defends her honor by shooting him. The rest of the novel is a wild romp through France (as was These Old Shades), with Vidal determined to marry Mary because he’s destroyed her reputation and Mary equally determined not to be married to the man she loves for the wrong reasons.

Devil’s Cub has to be one of my favorite Heyers, because I adore Mary and her relationship with Vidal. When Vidal first insists on marrying Mary, she finds herself daydreaming:

She was so shocked to realise that for a few breathless moments she had forgotten Sophia in a brief vision of herself wedded to his lordship. ‘So that’s the truth, is it?’ said Miss Challoner severely to herself. ‘You are in love with him, and you’ve known it for weeks.’

But it was not a notorious Marquis with whom she had fallen in love; it was with the wild, sulky, unmanageable boy that she saw behind the rake. ‘I could manage him,’ she sighed. ‘Oh, but I could!’

There are no words for how much I love those lines. Stripping away the mask of the dissipated rake and making him a “wild, sulky, unmanageable boy” who needs managing is just…brilliant, in my opinion. And Vidal’s realization that he needs managing, while talking to his cousin, is perfect:

‘You were not very kind to Mary, apparently.’

‘Kind!’ ejaculated Vidal. ‘No, I was not – kind.’

Juliana ate another morsel of capon. ‘You seem to me to have behaved as though you hated her,’ she remarked.

He said nothing. Juliana peeped at him again. ‘You’re very anxious to get her in your power again, Vidal. But I don’t quite know why you should be, for you meant to marry her only because you had ruined her, and so were obliged to, didn’t you?’

She thought that he was not going to answer, but suddenly he raised his eyes from the contemplation of the dregs of his wine. ‘Because I am obliged to?’ he said. ‘I mean to marry Mary Challoner because I’m devilish sure I can’t live without her.’

The duel that enterprising Mary breaks up, the extended-family conversations we’re privy to, and the conversation between Mary and the unknown gentleman who saves her from herself in France are all absolutely priceless. But this is one book in which Heyer, most uncharacteristically, does not shy away from depicting full on romance at the end, and I adore it for that more than anything else.

Grade: A-

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Five books (four contemporary mysteries and one final Georgian historical) later, Heyer FINALLY publishes Regency Buck, the first Regency romance. I’ve reviewed this one as well. It’s not directly connected to the previous books until the next book, however. Really, everything I need to say about this book, I said in my other review, so I’ll wait here till you’re done…

Finally, An Infamous Army (1937), tells the story of Charles Audley, the brother of the hero of Regency Buck, and Lady Barbara Childe, granddaughter of Dominic and Mary from Devil’s Cub. The timeline between TOS, DC, and IA don’t quite work out, but it’s good enough. Dominic and Mary, now the Duke and Duchess of Avon, have a cameo in the book, but this book is most famous for the brilliantly researched and amazingly accurate description of the Battle of Waterloo that takes up almost its entire second half. The book is so accurate and so readable that for many years it was used as a set book at Sandhurt, the Royal Military Academy. I will admit, however, that I read it once as a teenager and never again, so I don’t actually have much I can say about it, except: the married brother of the heroine of Regency Buck is embroiled in a flirtation with the heroine of An Infamous Army. Pretty much the only thing I remember of this book besides Bab’s painted toenails and dampened skirts, is Harriet, Peregrine’s wife, lamenting that although they survived Perry’s infatuation, she’ll never fully look up to Perry anymore as her hero, that she sees his faults now in ways that she never had before. And as accurate and realistic as that might be, I found it very melancholy. I don’t feel I can really grade this book. But it needed discussing as part of the series.

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As much as we might adore her, Heyer is not an unproblematic author, as we see. But I don’t think anyone can deny the impact she had on the romance genre as we know it today. This series of five books is a mini-catalogue of Heyer’s career in historical romance. She finally settled down into writing Regencies almost exclusively in the 1940s, but these five books show how she got there, not only through her dedication to research, but also in her ability to create amazingly appealing characters.

Sunita: I’ve heard so many good things about Ginn Hale’s [...]]]> UPDATE: The winner of our giveaway of a full subscription to The Rifter is Stephanie M. Lorée. Congratulations, Stephanie, and thanks to Nicole Kimberling at Blind Eye Books for providing it to Dear Author. And thanks also to all the commenters for their great reading suggestions!

Sunita: I’ve heard so many good things about Ginn Hale’s work, and I have Wicked Gentlemen in my TBR on the strength of Janine’s review here at DA. But my TBReviewed stack is bigger than the time I can allot to it, and I haven’t been reading much SFF these days. Nevertheless, when I read that Ms. Hale was releasing a serial novel in monthly installments, I was intrigued. One installment as a trial run didn’t seem like a huge investment of time or money, so I downloaded The Shattered Gates and read it at one sitting. Bad move. I was totally hooked.

Janine: My introduction to Ginn Hale was the marvelous Wicked Gentlemen, and I also enjoyed her novella, Feral Machines, in the Tangle XY anthology. I had difficulty getting into Lord of the White Hell, Book 1, however, and didn’t read far in it. So when Sunita suggested we review The Rifter together, I wasn’t sure what my response to the serial would be. Happily, the installments I’ve read so far have been even better than I had hoped.

I should state upfront that unlike you, Sunita, I’ve only read the first three installments, but that’s been due to lack of time rather than lack of interest. At a hundred pages or more per installment, The Rifter makes for a big but rewarding commitment.

Sunita: Now that the series is half over and Installment #6, Broken Fortress, is about to be released, it seems like a good time to talk about the series to date, without giving too much away.

Janine: It’s going to be tricky to avoid spoilers because of the serial format, but we’ll try to do so without revealing too many.

Sunita: When John Toffler, an ecology grad student, opens a letter he knows is intended for his odd but attractive roommate Kyle, he discovers a mysterious key. John’s ensuing actions catapult him and his two close friends, Laurie and Bill, into Kyle’s world of Basawar. Unable to return, their first priority becomes survival. None of them realizes that John is a Rifter, a potential destroyer of worlds. But Kyle is keenly aware of it and after he pieces together what has happened, he tries to follow John.

The first installment is split between establishing the four’s relationships and their actions after John uses the key. There are multiple dyads: John and Kyle, Laurie and Bill, John and Laurie, and to a lesser extent John and Bill. The succeeding installments continue Laurie, John, and Bill’s efforts to survive in Basawar while finding a way to get home. That distance can only be traversed by a Kahlil, a single member of the powerful Payshmura priestly order, and their desire to return to home enmeshes John and his friends in ongoing political and social intrigues.

Janine: This part of the story is quite dark and suspenseful; on Basawar people with John and Laurie’s abilities are often brutally persecuted, so the three friends have to be very careful.

Sunita: While John, Laurie and Bill struggle to survive, Kyle/Kahlil returns to Basawar only to find that much has changed. The parallel stories of John’s and Kyle’s experiences, and their separate and overlapping interactions with other residents of Basawar, structure the next four installments.

Janine: I love the way the narrative moves back and forth not just between John and Kyle’s third person POVs, but also between different storylines and timelines when we switch POV. More on that later.

Sunita: The worldbuilding in The Rifter is amazing. It is complex, intricate, and highly imaginative, but I never felt as if I was being force-fed information. To some extent this is because when we are in John’s storyline we are learning along with him. But even so, the interweaving of the characters, plot, and setting is as well done as I’ve seen in either the romance or the SFF genre.

Janine: I’ve read a few SFF classics that impressed me even more in this regard, but not many. There is a wealth of detail in Ms. Hale’s worldbuilding, and the writing is also quite good. Here’s an excerpt from a scene that comes relatively early in The Shattered Gates, installment #1, before John, Bill and Laurie cross over to Basawar. Kyle/Kahlil is at a diner with them, having recently been in a battle, and these are his thoughts right after he has ordered eggs and toast:

The waitress nodded. He felt a certain satisfaction in having finally mastered the ritual interrogation of ordering a breakfast in this world.

Ten years ago, the baffling barrage of choices had been more than he could contemplate or prioritize. White, wheat, rye, sourdough, over hard, over easy, scrambled, boiled or poached—he knew all the options now. And he was experienced enough to know that he liked his eggs cooked hard, even though he loved the way the words “sunny-side-up” sounded.

Kahlil realized his thoughts were drifting. He was exhausted and hurt, and he should have slept the entire day away, but he had wanted to see John. He had needed to see John smile and laugh and be kind.

In his own world, Kahlil saw such ugly things. He had done such hateful things. But here, it was different. This world was immersed in perfumes and abundance. Here, it was easy to be generous. There was so very much that giving could be painless. Goodness could seem inherent to all life. Here, even a being like John, a Rifter, a destroyer of worlds, could be a thoughtful, quiet graduate student.

We can see the interweaving of setting, character and plot at work here. The contrast between our own world and Basawar in Kyle/Kahlil’s thoughts lets us know Basawar is a place of privation, hardship and danger. The setting of the diner with its comfort food sharpens our awareness of Kyle’s battle fatigue. Kyle’s romantic feelings for John are intertwined with his weariness and evident in his need to see John smile and laugh.

Even the structure of the sentences in paragraphs three and four convey Kyle’s tiredness, through the repetition of “he had wanted to see John” and “He had needed to see John,” “such ugly things” and “such hateful things,” “here, it was different” and “Here, it was easy.” The rhythm here reminds me of feet struggling to sustain a march. The thoughts repeat because they are muddled with exhaustion.

The clincher comes in the final line of the fourth paragraph, where we learn that gentle, seemingly harmless John is “a Rifter, a destroyer of worlds.” This is the engine of the book, the reason for Kyle’s presence in John’s orbit, and the source of a great deal of tension and suspense. Because not only can we not imagine how someone as sweet as John could become a destroyer, we now also know something tremendous about John of which John himself is blissfully unaware, but we don’t know when and how he will find out.

Sunita: I love that scene! It establishes the camaraderie between the four characters and underscores that while their lives aren’t trouble-free, they are nothing like what they will face on Basawar. The latter is a violent society in which power is wielded ruthlessly, not only by the rich and strong but also by those who command magical powers. I appreciated that magic was never used for easy plot twists or clever effect, and the development of magical powers was painful, time-consuming and dangerous for the practitioners.

Janine: Agreed. I have to admit that the author’s earlier works didn’t prepare me for the hardship, ruthlessness and danger the main characters encounter in The Rifter. It’s definitely darker than Wicked Gentlemen or Feral Machines.

Sunita: All the characters, from the non-magical humans up through the most powerfully gifted priests, have admirable traits but also weaknesses. The Payshmura are at once sincerely pious and utterly worldly. Every character, with the possible exception of Bill, is a fully realized person (and I wouldn’t be surprised if that criticism is shown to be wrong in later installments). Every major actor changes and deepens over the course of the series, and yet I never felt I was seeing the puppeteer’s strings.

Janine: Yes, and from what I’ve read so far John seems to have an incredible arc ahead of him. I’m both excited for and half-dreading that. It will be very interesting to see where the author goes with Kyle, too.

Sunita: The character arcs and the relationships are especially affected by the way time and distance work in these worlds. We know that John and Kyle/Kahlil are both attracted to and somehow bound to each other. And we know that there will be an HEA. But their storylines separate in the first installment, and the reader is never entirely sure how they will be brought back together. Each has to go on with his life in the absence of the other. And the way that passage between worlds can affect time means that when they do meet again, they may well be at different points in their lives.

Janine: Yes! The narrative moves both forward and back in time, and I love the way Ms. Hale gets at these characters from different points in their lives and in Basawar’s history, as well as different cultural perspectives. It allows her to explore and reveal both characters and setting from unexpected angles, and the twists in the plot come seemingly from nowhere, yet we then get to see how we got from point A to point B, knowing things the characters do not know.

Sunita:  For a book that can be categorized as part of the gay romance genre, there is very little explicit sex. John and Kyle, and possibly other characters, are definitely gay, but the depictions of romantic relationships are as much emotional as physical for much of the book. It is not a typical romance in that the relationship does not comprise the dominant focus of the story. But it is integral to it, and the romantic relationships that develop are particularly poignant, in part because of the contexts in which they take place.

Janine: Absolutely. In the three installments I’ve finished so far, Kyle and John are apart for the vast majority of the time. But when they encounter each other again it’s both pivotal and exciting, and in the meantime, they each have other romantic connections that moved me deeply. As in Wicked Gentlemen, the world Ginn Hale has built does not look kindly on same-sex relationships, and some of the characters face other prejudices too. That made me root for the characters to find happiness.

Sunita: The Rifter is an unusually immersive experience for me as a reader, and I’m only halfway through the story. There is a lively and fun group of readers over at Goodreads who are discussing each installment as it is released. I was able to avoid spoilers by paying attention to comment dates, and it’s fascinating to see their views on what has happened and what might come next.

Janine: I’ll have to check out the Goodreads group. I agree that The Rifter is worth reading. One of my niggles is that it took me a while to get used to the Middle Eastern-influenced flavor of Basawar (since I once lived in the Middle East, it was distracting to me). I also think I would probably have enjoyed The Rifter even more had I read the installments as they were being released, a month apart, rather than three back to back. The story was almost too intense for me as it was. Nonetheless I agree with you that it’s impressively good. I know The Rifter will seem on the expensive side to some, but all ten installments, when added up, clock in at over a thousand pages, so it provides a lot of high quality entertainment.

What grade would you give the first half of The Rifter, Sunita? Taken together the three installments I’ve read are an A- for me.

Sunita: I agree, it’s an A- for me as well. I can’t wait to read the second half of the series.

This story is sold as a subscription. Here is the subscription page and a goodreads link for installment no. 1.