An ARC of Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis. I’ll post a review closer to publication date. (Yes, I like it.)

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Red Ribbon by Lila Dubois.  New-to-me author. Liz has issues of shame over her masochist cravings creating the relationship drama and compelling emotional development arc in this 119 page story. I got to know these characters and cared what happened to them. I’ll read more books by Ms. Dubois.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

Blood and Steel by Angela Knight. Cyborgs and vamps. I liked this cyborg mercenary hero. And the heroine? Poor (vampire) baby needed someone to love her after almost 100 years of torture at the hands of her (now dead) vampire master. Dear readers, sometimes WTFery is fine entertainment. J

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Hope’s Kiss by Angela Knight. The truth is I’ve got vamp fatigue, but I like Ms. Knight’s characters and, well, her characters are vamps. In this story the villain was a one-dimensional tool to help the hero and heroine come together. I’m not going to run around recommending this unless you’re ape-shit for vamp books or, like me, you read a book because it has Angela Knight’s name on it. Also? Coming in at 58 pages this short story is, well, short.

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Forbidden Fruit by Anne Rainey. I was dinging around Red Sage’s web site, I’d never been there before, and I recognized Ms. Rainey’s name so I clicked on the book. This is a Cinderella story about a vet more comfortable in baggy clothes with her hair in a ponytail than in skirts and heels. For a while I thought the hero was a dumb-ass but I forgave him. So did the heroine.

Goodreads | Amazon |  nook | Sony | Kobo

Feeding the Vampire by Jeffe Kennedy. I follow Ms. Kennedy on Twitter, she cracks me up. I thought this was too short, coming in at only 29 pages. I was interested in the characters and whatever the heck happened to make the world go boom and then BAM! The story was all done. I wanted more.

Goodreads | Amazon |  nook | Sony | Kobo

I re-read Nalini Singh’s Kiss of Snow on Sunday. I need an infusion of Psy-Changlings every couple months. Addicted much?

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Anne Calhoun’s Fighting Fair. Damn but Ms. Calhoun creates characters that are so real. Also, in writing about married people who have Issues, she cuts through the WTFery set ups that a lot of short story/novella erotic romances have.

Goodreads | Amazon |   nook | Sony | Kobo

Wild & Steamy, an anthology that includes Meljean Brook, Jill Myles, and Carolyn Crane. I bought this because of the Iron Seas story; it was my first read of both Jill Myles and Carolyn Crane—I’ll be seeking more books from both. I’ve gotten disinterested (or maybe really, really picky) in ménage stories, and I liked this one by Ms. Myles. Ms. Crane’s world has peaked my interest and now I want to read more.

Goodreads | Amazon |  nook | Sony | Kobo

She Knows His Secret by Racy Li. I’m a sucker for superheroes so the cover of this book caught my eye. Toss in a heroine who is a brainiac scientist-medical doctor and I bought it. I was expecting shoot-‘em up superheroes vs. aliens and got an emotionally wrecked hero fighting to get his girl back after she dumps him for keeping secrets. Smart woman made him work for her. Win.

Goodreads | Amazon | nook | Sony | Kobo

While buying school supplies for my son I slipped a copy of Christina Dodd’s Secrets of Bella Terra into the shopping cart and plan to read it next.

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

What are you reading? Have you read any of these? What do you think of them?

Cheers fellow readers,

Jaclyn

Related posts:

1. August Recommended Reads
2. DA/SBTB Bestseller List Ending August 2, 2011
3. Bestselling list, week ending July 6, 2011

When I first started reading Romance, I was stunned by the genre's apparent comfort with sexual force against female characters and uncomfortable with both the contention that it's pure fantasy and therefore completely resistant to analysis and that it's pure patriarchy and therefore part of a reactionary agenda in the genre. Having worked extensively with captivity narratives and 19th century sentimental and sensational fictions, I could recognize the influence of Romance's literary ancestry, but still, why would a genre so overtly concerned with offering its heroines the True Love ideal make such liberal use of sexual violence toward women?

This piece emerges from an inquiry that I believe requires and is worthy of substantial, long-term critical attention. I am starting and ending with the assertion that not all rape is created equal in the genre, as well as the assertion that the uses of sexual force in Romance are contextualized by both the individual book and the individual reader. The villain's threat of violence against the heroine is not substantively the same as the hero's use of sexual force against the heroine, for example. While both instances may constitute fantasy on the most generalized and superficial level, potential rape by a villain is generally not a rape fantasy in the sense that the heroine's imposed sexual submission to the hero is likely to be.

Further, the rape fantasy, as a romanticized erotic interlude between the hero and heroine, will function as romantically successful, empowering, or liberating to the extent that the heroine and/or the reader responds to the incident and interprets/values its consequences within the context of the relationship and the story itself. For me, the key element in valuing these rape fantasies (sometimes referred to as forced seductions) is the extent to which the reader consents on behalf of the heroine, not only to the hero's forceful taking, but also to the happy romantic ending that the couple share. Whether these incidents of sexual force are politically liberating or limiting in regard to female sexuality and patriarchal dominance is a distinct if related question, and one to which I will posit the answer as both.

Authors like Mary Jo Putney and Jayne Ann Krentz have argued that "the male protagonist of a romance is often both hero and villain, and the heroine's task and triumph is to civilize him, to turn him from a marauder into a worthy mate," a protector ("Welcome to the Dark Side," from Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, 1992). Sara Davis explains the compulsive popularity of Romances by pointing out that, "wherever they turn in the popular culture, girls and women are reaffirmed in the idea that romance is the dominant and most crucial quest in their lives" ("Values and the Romance: Journeys of the Reader"), echoing Cathy Davidson's analysis of 18th and 19th century women's writing and reading patterns – namely that whether and whom to marry have been among the most important choices a woman makes in her life, and our romantic anxieties, hopes, fears, and ideals are projected and mirrored back to us ubiquitously throughout our lives (Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America, 1986). That women often read and talk about what they're reading communally becomes significant as a means of engaging these issues critically.

Traditional literary criticism of Romance, however, has not been particularly kind to the genre nor considerate of the idea that sexual violence has uses beyond mere escapism or sexual oppression. Similarly, clinical investigation of rape fantasies has not yielded many definitive conclusions. Nancy Friday has remained loyal to the idea that fantasies requiring submission relate back to our early stages of development in which we were powerless, contrasted with an overabundance of responsibility as adults that results in "a chance to relieve ourselves of all responsibility for the delicious, forbidden sex we crave" (Beyond My Control: Forbidden Fantasies in an Uncensored Age, 2009). The notion that these fantasies are taboo, that they exist at a nexus of desire, shame, and even guilt, is reflected in Stacy May Fowles insight that "[p]aradoxically, sexual submission and rape fantasy can only be acceptable in a culture that doesn't condone them… Many fantasies are taboo for precisely that reason – it's close to impossible to step beyond the notion that a man interested in domination is akin to a rapist or that if a woman submits, she is a helpless victim of rape culture" ("The Fantasy of Acceptable "Non-Consent': Why the Female Sexual Submissive Scares Us (and Why She Shouldn't)," from Yes means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape, eds. Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti, 2008). At the very least, the issue is emotionally fraught and intellectually polarizing.

Connected to this notion of taboo is the paradigm of "rape culture," where cultural representations of rape are extensive and women are held to a double standard of the innate temptress who must conform to particular benchmarks of chastity (i.e. modest dress and demeanor) to be deemed worthy of defense against sexual violation. (Jill Filipovic, "Offensive Feminism: The Conservative Gender Norms That Perpetuate Rape Culture, and How Feminists Can Fight Back," from Yes means Yes!). As Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti note, "So often it seems as if the discourse is focused solely on the "no means no' model – which, while of course useful, stops short of truly envisioning how suppressing female sexual agency is a key element of rape culture. . . . [W]omen are rarely taught how to say yes to sex," they argue, in part because the male subject stubbornly remains the central point of reference and power in regard to female sexuality. Consent is figured relative to the dominant male subject, not as an independent value that is self-affirming to female subjectivity and sexuality.

Even some Romance critics and readers have accepted this phallocentric model. Nina Philadelphoff-Puren insists that in Romance "a woman's capacity to make or refuse romantic agreements is contingent upon the way her actions are read by the master-reader of the story: the romance hero" ("Contextualising Consent: the Problem of Rape and Romance," 2005). Here, it is not the author or reader outside the book, most often a woman, who is the "master," but the male protagonist within the story who controls, even "legitimates" the heroine's choices/decisions.

Given the fact that recent research indicates upwards of 62% of women have had rape fantasies ("The Nature of Women's Rape Fantasies: An Analysis of Prevalence, Frequency, and Contents," Jenny Bivona and Joseph Critelli, 2009), it is depressing, to say the least, to think that we are simply acting out patriarchy's domination over our psychological and physical selves. The three "key elements" of the rape fantasy have been identified as "force, sex, and nonconsent" ("Women's Erotic Rape Fantasies: An Evaluation of Theory and Research," Joseph W. Critelli and Jenny M. Bivona, 2008). There is an ongoing debate in Romance-reading communities over whether a rape fantasy is the same thing as a "forced seduction," but for the purposes of this analysis I am collapsing any potential differences because the very label of "forced seduction" echoes at least two, and perhaps all three of the clinical elements of the rape fantasy.

Further, in both a personal rape fantasy and a forced seduction scene in a Romance novel, two levels of consent remain operable – that of the character playing out the role and the reader or fantasizer who lends a sort of meta-consent to the encounter. While the reader may or may not participate in such a direct way as someone actively creating a rape fantasy within their own imagination, she participates by giving or withholding consent to the rape scenarios and the overall success of the romantic pairing, which sometimes hinges on the acceptability of the forced sex.

This second level of consent (and enjoyment) muddies the question of whether other types of sexual violence in a book are rape fantasies, per se, but for the moment I am distinguishing between, say, a villainous character who attempts to rape the heroine in the absence of any desire or romantic possibility between them, and the hero's use of sexual force or coercion against the heroine. On the level of the narrative, these representations of force (and usually the villain's force is stopped by the hero, often at the very last minute) may both be forwarding the romantic bond between hero and heroine, but there is often a clear indication that it is only the hero who has a legitimate claim on the heroine's body, distinguishing the classic erotic rape fantasy from the aversive rape fantasy scenario that is not generally (or clinically) associated with erotic arousal ("Guided Imagery of Rape: Fantasy, Reality, and the Willing Victim Myth," Bond and Mosher, 1986).

The classic rape fantasy in Romance is that which many people still associate with the misnomer "bodice ripping." Take Christina Dodd's 1997 A Well-Pleasured Lady, in which Sebastian takes Mary's virginity against a wall, despite her repeated protests, which include hammering him over the head with a silver domed cover and boxing his ears. Despite her pleas of "Please. . . Don't. Don't do this. You hurt me more than I can possibly express," Sebastian insists that he is not hurting Mary, even declaring her tears to be "worth more than [her] maidenhead," as "gold to [him]." He tells her that he cares not what she feels, just that she reveals those feelings to him. Despite Mary's resistance, however, we are given numerous cues that we should not necessarily object on her behalf. Extensive descriptions of Mary's sexual arousal, erotic and emotional intimacy between them that has developed through the first part of the novel, and the reality that what Mary fears is not physical pain or force, but that Sebastian "forced her to feel too much." Her pleasure frightens her, echoing the idea that a woman like Mary must have the choice taken away from her, to be perfectly powerless, for her to be able to experience pleasure fully and recognize her own growing love for Sebastian.

Another common trope is the hero who cannot control his attraction to the heroine. This character is often larger than life, notorious for his sexual conquests and far beyond the heroine's expectations for a husband or sexual partner. In Sarah Craven's 2009 The Innocent's Surrender, hero Alex has been led to believe that heroine Natasha is sexually experienced and forward, making her coerced offer of marriage in exchange for cooperation on a business deal (her foster brothers basically sell her to business rival Alex) an excuse to take her harshly and against her "passive resistance." In a hasty apology he acknowledges "I hurt you, Natasha mou, but by the time I realized the truth, it was too late, and I regret that…My only excuse is that I wanted you very badly." Unbeknownst to the reader and the heroine, Alex saw Natasha several years ago at a party and decided then and there that she was the woman for him: "I was yours since that first night, Natasha, and you have always been mine. My woman, my wife, and the only love of my heart. Now, and for all time." Like Sebastian, Alex's sexual force is a byproduct of a deep emotional attraction to the heroine that he cannot control and must literally force on her, coercing her accept him sexually as a means of engaging her emotional loyalty and love.

Anna Campbell's Claiming the Courtesan, published in 2007, offers another version of this dynamic, when Justin, the dark, brooding, borderline over the edge hero, vows revenge on the courtesan who disappears at the very moment that Justin decides he will propose to her. Verity, of course, became a courtesan out of financial necessity, and her dream has been to live quietly and virtuously away from society and her alter ego Soroya. When he captures her and disregards Verity's admonition that "[a]nything you take, you take as a thief," he is determined that he will get her back any way he can, even if he has to use sexual force to remind her of their sexual bond.

Although it is often argued that Romance rape fantasies seek the comprehensive submission of the heroine to the hero's will and sexual appeal, that is not what Justin insists he wants from Verity; instead his "claim" on her is for an integrated woman, part Soroya and part Verity: "Soroya is you. Soroya's innate sensuality and sense of adventure are also yours. Verity is sweet and virtuous and Soroya is a woman who goes after what she wants without regret or fear. Those two women unite in you. Until you recognize that, you're no use to me or yourself." It is a perfectly ironic scenario: the hero forces himself on the heroine, violates her bodily privacy and autonomy, in order to catalyze her acceptance of her own powerful and passionate nature.

At a basic level, the myriad variations on these scenarios act as a relationship catalyst for the two protagonists. Whether the hero seeks revenge on the heroine for some imagined wrong, whether he seeks to bond her to him emotionally, whether he seeks her emotional submission, the ultimate happiness of the couple is never in question. Which, of course, is the basis for critique of this plot device as idealizing the sexual and social submission of women to men. That the heroine falls in love with the man who forces himself on her sexually violates the "rape" aspect of the rape fantasy, romanticizing sexual violence in a way that perpetuates the rape culture and female desire as passive and dependent (and research demonstrates that fantasies of sexual domination among men — but not women — are linked to real life sexual aggression ("Power, Desire, and Pleasure in Sexual Fantasies," Eileen L. Zurbriggen and Megan R. Yost, 2004).

Sharon Stockton has argued extensively and persuasively that the rape motif in 20th century literature functions to reaffirm the "mastery" of masculinity as an affirmative subjectivity (as opposed to the feminine as object, or in Lacanian terms, as lack). But the project fails, she argues, because "it is the "sadist'" himself who is in the position of the object-instrument. . . . Agency resides outside the duo of violator and victim, and the rapist himself subject to an external gaze and preexistent script" (The Economics of Fantasy: Rape in Twentieth-Century Literature2006,). In the case of the Romance rapist, that external gaze is that of the reader, most often the female reader, and it is ultimately her judgment to which the hero must submit. Whatever choice the heroine may have in regard to the hero (and as I said initially, this is a book by book analysis), the reader has the ultimate choice to accept or reject the hero's actions and the heroine's response.

Now if we accept the model of the female reader as passively accepting patriarchal standards of female submissiveness, the argument would flow in much the same direction as it does for critics like Radway. If, however, we posit the reader as active and engaged, as having the capacity to evaluate the repercussions of what she is reading, the dynamic shifts. It shifts more if we make the critical distinction between Romance heroine and Romance reader – namely that for the reader the rape scenario is a rape fantasy in which she may or may not choose to participate. The right to consent, to say yes instead of no, is ultimately hers. I should point out, as well, that in historical Romance, where these rape scenarios seem most common, the hero and heroine's relationship often represents a substantial social subversion (marriage for love as opposed to arranged unions, for example), giving the heroine much more freedom and authority than she might otherwise secure based on her economic or social standing.

Women are very aware of the unsafety of our physical selves – our persistent vulnerability to violence and violation. In Romance, though, sexual force more often than not rehabilitates the hero for respectful, loving, monogamy. The reader has the choice to vicariously experience that subversion of real life rape, to participate in the fantasy of the hero's ultimate suitability by consenting to what the heroine does not. Of course that also means that the reader can choose not to give her consent, to find the violation unacceptable, but in either case, the choice is hers. And it is a choice she is not afforded in real life rape or even in the context of the fictional narrative (in the position of the heroine).

One of the reasons this idea of reader consent appeals to me is that it preserves the ambiguity of the text itself while allowing the reader to solve the dilemma for herself through her own personal agency. Note that I am not suggesting that the reader is subjecting another woman, in the form of the heroine, to rape. Rather, I am proposing the idea that the sexual rape fantasy and the emotional fantasy of a sound, emotionally safe romantic relationship, can be subversive and empowering for the consenting reader.

If the key to sexually and politically liberating women from patriarchal double standards is teaching women to say yes when she means yes, then perhaps these Romance rapes can offer more than what the novel itself promises (which often conforms to a socially traditional domestic model). And even if some Romance novels participate in a regressive sexual agenda, the reader's critical engagement as the agent of consent (or withholder of consent) to a rape fantasy introduces yet another level of potential subversion and a potential shift from the perverse ideal of female sexuality as passive and reactive to that of affirmation and sexual satisfaction without shame.

Related posts:

1. The Reader and Consent
2. Read Enough Romances and Rape Is No Longer Rape
3. A Reader in the Middle

Author Talk features nudity and PC and Kristin Cast.

Roxanne St. Claire is at the Borders True Romance blog talking about her latest book (a recommended read by Robin) and giving away three free copies of Hunt Her Down.

Huffington Post writes about the efforts of DirecTV to put cable stations TNT and TBS online. More and more consumers want to have access to television shows on demand via the internet. Sounds familiar. One of the reasons I’ve advocated so heavily for ebooks is that the competition for a book is not another book but other forms of media. If books are the only media that isn’t easily accessible on demand, it will lose out to movies, tvs, music and gaming.

Our September recommended read list is available now for 20% off the list price at Books on Board. Go forth and buy.

Author Shannon Stacey (of the Devlin Group among other books) has a blog post up about ratings for romance books. I believe in an industry instituted rating system because I believe that if the industry doesn’t respond, then a rating system will be forced on it by retailers. For example, Apple has a parental control system and requires all the applications to have a rating for obscenity, profanity, and the like. I don’t think Apple should be rating books or Barnes and Noble or Borders or anyone. It’s better, safer, for the industry to take this step. Stacey is concerned about the ghettoization of books based on ratings. This is a valid concern but I believe that ratings are coming regardless.

Author Christina Dodd (of the Storm of Visions/Storm of Shadows) mocks the concept of writing the book of your heart.

Is your heart commercial? Does it team with interesting characters, fast pacing, and memorable dialogue? Because if it doesn’t, there’s a good chance you can’t sell The Book Of Your Heart. Do you want to write a book no one will ever read? Because every writer I’ve ever met who has suffered through the anguish, the anxiety, the pure put-you-butt-in-the-chair-for-hours-and-days-and-months-on-end agony, wants to publish that book.

MobileTechReview has a great review of the new Sony Touch Edition (the 6″ screen without the 3G connectivity). The contrast is still not as good as the Sony PRS 505 but the refresh is very quick and the note taking is responsive.

The Touch Edition’s features are excellent and should be captivating enough to tempt Sony Reader 500 and 505 owners to upgrade. Even some Kindle folks might consider defecting given Sony’s more open format support (PDF, ePUB, TXT and RTF are native), easy touch screen UI and advanced note-taking features.

For readers in the UK, WH Smith is engaging in a price battle to attract consumers. It is selling the Sony Readers for  £20- £30 less than Waterstones, in addition to selling all of its ebooks at 25% off. Depending the on the exchange rate, shopping at WH Smith may make sense even for US Readers.

MJ Rose argues that publishers have to pay authors differently now that more of the publicity expenses are being born by the author. I’m not sure if Rose is arguing for a higher royalty or a higher advance. Given that publishers are absorbing losses not born by the author, I’m not convinced of her argument. If Rose wants a greater co publishing relationship then authors will need to share in the risk whether it is taking a reduced advanced in favor of the higher royalty (the digital publishing model) or taking a greater role in absorbing losses (such as taking royalty off the net versus retail).

Tor editor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, talks about the future of SFF books and Tor’s plans to move forward into the digital market. Right now, it appears that Tor is playing the wait and see game:

PNH: We’ve been acquiring e-text rights as part of the default contract since the mid-90s. In mid-90s we needed to be sensible and we revised the contract to include electronic text. Now we have that as a clause. We won’t buy a book without e-book rights.
…

All the way from [Tor parent company Holtzbrinck in] Stutgart down to us, the conglomerate runs on the assumption that there will be changes in the next two decades and we don’t know what they are. We’re not locking ourselves into a platform. We don’t want to let one player become choke point; we don’t want to be a hapless manufacturer in the thrall of Walmart or something.

Related posts:

1. Midday Publishing Link RoundUp
2. Tuesday Night Link RoundUp
3. Link Roundup: BN thinks Pub Domain Books Are Subject to Copyright & Other Nonsense

Wendy, the SuperLibrarian, wonders if bloggers can actually make a book. Wendy says that publicists can’t expect this of a reader and reader bloggers shouldn’t play into that mentality (hear, hear).

My response to this was that if Avon was waiting for the day when a blogger was going to be solely responsible for “making” a book, they’d be waiting a long time. Listen, I’m a librarian. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that there are two ways to “make” a book. 1) The publisher’s PR department puts in a lot of long hours and 2) Oprah picks it for her book club.

…

The minute reader bloggers begin losing sight of what their purpose is, and why they got into the game to begin with, is when they start feeding a corporate machine. Most of us started blogging for one reason, and one reason only. We wanted to connect with other readers who loved the romance genre as much as we do.

Even Jeff Bezos thinks that there are things on sale at Amazon that aren’t worth buying. Gawker takes a look at Jeff’s Amazon reviews and uncovers a one star review.

Sorry if this seems harsh, but I just don’t want anyone to buy it unknowingly.

Publishing is notorious for its lack of market research. Bowker’s is trying to fill in this gap by offering it’s first Consumer Focused Research Report for the Book Industry. The report costs $1,000 but the press release in the previous link includes some data points:

– 57% of book buyers are women yet women purchase 65% of the books sold
in the U.S.
– Mystery books are the most popular genre for book club sales, with 17%
of all purchases of mystery books coming directly from book clubs
– Generation X consumers buy more books online than any other
demographic group, with 30% of them buying their books through the Internet
– 21% of book buyers said they became aware of a book through some sort
of online promotion or ad
– Women made the majority of the purchases in the paperback, hardcover
and audio-book segments, but men accounted for 55% of e-book purchases

Book Depository has opened its US store front online at http://bookdepository.com/. Book Depository has free shipping (no need for Amazon Prime membership) and the prices are very competitive.

Christina Dodd tweeted a link to a post about writing that she called “the best article about writing [she had] ever seen”. The blogger writes that authors are not vessels:

The most pernicious thing about this myth is it implies the author does not own what he or she creates. The muse did it. The author just took dictation. Authorial intent is all but dead in critical circles anyway. This effacing of the authorial self is bizarre and laughable on its face–of course the author did it. They planned it all out. Miss Eat, Pray, Love planned it all out, however she wants to talk about her vessel-ness. An author is not empty, they are not driven by embodied characters to write things they would not otherwise write. These are metaphors for brain processes–but talking about them as literal realities makes us all look a little flighty and a little crazy. And indirectly leads to the awesome I’m-an-artist-and-I-can-drink-all-day-and-fuck-whoever-I-like-because-I’m-an-artist-and-I-need-to-court-my-muse. Vomit.

Pimp My Novel was a link tweeted by Carolyn Jewel. Pimp My Novel is a blog run by a marketer at a major publisher. The blogger provides some fascinating insight into the business of selling books. This blog is so interesting that I added to my blogroll.

Related posts:

1. Midweek Links of Interest
2. Thursday News Links: More Digital
3. Daily Links Round Up: Authors Losing Their Shit & FREE Kindle Books

You are a very polished and talented writer and this entry into the Darkness Chosen series is as fast paced and readable as the others. Adrik Wilder left his family at age 17, became one of the most feared mercenaries in the world, leading a tribe of outlaws, all vying to be badder and meaner than the next. He’s settled in around the borders of Tibet and Nepal where he, as Warlord, pulls off daring raids that makes him and his dysfunctional band of bad men rich.

Karen Sonnet is the developer of adventure hotel chains. Think HGTV extreme homes only multi family dwellings. Homes in the most remote, hard to get to regions that cater to providing the thrill of a lifetime. Karen finds hers project, a new hotel on Mount Anaya set in the Himalayas, suffering the worst of luck. It’s almost like the mountain is cursed like the locals suggest. But Karen is determined to stay. She never fails. She can’t. She has to live up to the impossible expectations of her father, Jackson Sonnet, who has never given her one shred of approval. Every night, though, a secret lover comes to her and takes her body to heights unknown.

When Karen finds out her secret lover is some mercenary, she tries to flee him, but he captures her, subdues her, ties her to the bed for weeks and has his wicked way until a fight amongst mercenaries forces Adrik to let her flee. He promises to find her again.

As I said in the introduction, this is smoothly written, the pace is good, and the pages almost turn themselves, but I had some real issues with the parts of the story that were written and shown to the reader and the parts that were told to the reader.

It takes 13 chapters to set up the story. While it was 13 chapters of interesting backstory, it was backstory nonetheless. We get to see a lot of sex, blowing up, and fighting but the real emotional development, particularly for Adrik takes place completely off screen. The truth is that all the best parts, I felt, were summarized and spoon fed to me in a two paragraph flashback fashion. Adrik came to us readers as an animal and then came to us reformed. But we never got to see, bear witness to, the transformative process.

I thought that for all the build up of Karen being strong and capable, she was shown to be nothing against Adrik. He’s always, ALWAYS, in control. Yes, she can fight, build hotels, and be physically strong, but she wasn’t emotionally strong. Adrik easily manipulated her. His magical groin wand had the ultimate power over her so that even though she knew that he was a dangerous mercenary and potentially life threatening, the potency of his body was too much for her to turn away from.

I also found the dialogue of Adrik to tend toward floridity which wasn’t in keeping with his minute internal monologues. I actually never got a feel for Adrik at all. Was he the strong silent type or was he super emotional given to flowery speeches? I saw both and neither seemed very consistent. I think he was whatever the story needed him to be at the time to move the plot along or provide an emotional punch.

There was a plot point that I thought was kind of glossed over and that was Adrik’s post mercenary money making venture in which he develops an Alternate Reality computer game in one year. I doubt even a genius programmer could come up with this in a year. Ask anyone who waited years for the release of say, Riven or the next entry of Tomb Raider. (No mocking of my choice of video games).

There’s no question that you are a great storyteller. I just longed for more emotional depth. I saw it toward the end when Adrik was broken, when that part of the story was told, I was really moved and it actually worked to make me disappointed I hadn’t gotten more of that part of the story. C+

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Scent of Darkness by Christina Dodd
2. REVIEW: Touch of Darkness by Christina Dodd
3. REVIEW: Thigh High by Christina Dodd

Despite the promise of eccentric aunts and zany robberies, I decided to try this contemporary novel. The conflict between sensible Nessa Dahl and undercover bank investigator Jeremiah MacNaught sounded intriguing, especially with the implied show down once the truth was revealed. And at first, things worked great but then slowly the eccentricities took over and ended up dimming my view of the whole book.

Books which feature lead characters with whom everyone is seemingly in love usually irritate the crap out of me. It just seems so Mary Sue-ish. Nessa could have annoyed me if you hadn’t have immediately paired her with Mac who doesn’t fall for her as she’s used to. Or at least he doesn’t let her know what his feelings are for her. He added the necessary tonic to balance out the setup that everyone in NO loves the Dahl women. And then the bank vault scene…my, oh my. That was hawt. Amazing that they didn’t melt the steel door. One question though. Don’t most banks have cameras in their vaults? Even eccentric NO banks that are in old, converted homes?

I loved watching Mac fall hopelessly under Nessa’s spell. He’s so determined that she’s involved in the annual Mardi Gras robberies at various branches of the bank of which he’s the CEO and that he, unlike the other investigator he sent to NO, won’t fall for her no matter how much she turns him inside out. So of course he immediately has to start fighting the attraction he gets zinged with.

I also feel that you set up a realistic conflict between the man for whom truth and taking responsibility are everything and the woman who owes so much to others. I loved it when Nessa finally let loose on Mac for lying to her yet also adored his stilted proposal to the first woman he’s ever loved.

The aunts are charming during their famous Mardi Gras party and I fell into their spell as quickly as did Mac. The food, the fun, the dancing, the setting of their slightly frayed Historic Register House was delicious. I could smell the flowers and hear the music and laughter of the hundreds of guests. But then things tipped over and they became “characters.” The nationwide, heck even the citywide, aspect of the denoument was just too much.

And as for the identities of the bank robbers. Well, since I’m headed towards spoiler territory I’ll bring out the cloak of darkness. Robbing banks, no matter if you try and paint it with a Robin Hood wash, is wrong. I agree with Mac. It doesn’t matter about the amount of money taken, or how cute the costumes, or how noble the cause, or anything else come to think of it. Doing that is wrong. Doing that caused fear for the bank employees involved, caused untold extra work for the NOPD, didn’t have the effect on the bank employee the robbers wanted to punish and could have gotten people killed. And the robbers never once displayed remorse for any of this. Eventually their identities were going to come out and how on earth did they think that no one would believe that Nessa wasn’t involved or didn’t have some prior knowledge of their crimes? And what ever happened with the fact that Mac has the mortgage on the aunts’ house bought? It was never mentioned again.

My guess is that the eccentricities of the aunts and of their boarders were supposed to leaven the seriousness of Mac’s character and background and of Nessa’s repressed outer self. But somehow it didn’t work for Mac and only halfway for Nessa. Mac still seems to be a much more controlling man than he should though he is making strides at lessening his iron grip on life. While Nessa, oh Nessa, does loosen her girdle in regard to her relationship with Mac though she still can’t quite break loose of the inner banker.

I see this is part of an ongoing series and I liked enough of this book to want to see what’s in store for Gabriel. I hope the crowds are back for Mardi Gras in NO and that the city is on its way to recovering some of what it lost during Katrina. For those of us who’ve never been, “Thigh High” helps to show us what we’re missing. B-

~Jayne

ebook or mmp

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1. REVIEW: Scent of Darkness by Christina Dodd
2. REVIEW: Touch of Darkness by Christina Dodd
3. So apparently Christina Dodd i…

I reviewed the first in the series, Scent of Darkness, and enjoyed the updated play on the boss/secretary theme. Touch of Darkness uses another standard romance trope turned on its side (as opposed to turned on its head). Touch is an adventure romance between former lovers who must trust each other to reach the end safely. The twist is that it is Tasya, the heroine, who leaves the hero.

I think that which book will be a reader’s favorite will depend largely upon their emotional response to the main characters. I liked Anna and Jasha in Scent over Rurik and Tasya in Touch but Touch is just as well written. It’s the work of a professional writer who knows exactly what makes an appealing story. Tightly plotted, fast paced, with well developed characters, the book hits all the right tones.

Rurik Wilder is a member of the cursed Varinski clan. His ancestor sold his soul to the devil in exchange for power, wealth, and a supernatural gift of shapeshifting. Rurik’s father, Konstantine, fell in love with a gypsy woman and stole her to America where they have lived, hidden from the Varinskis. A prophecy is rendered that the loves of the sons of Konstantine will bring a blessed icon to the family and break the curse. Rurik’s oldest brother, Jasha, had brought home a woman, Anna, and with her came an icon, the first of the needed four. Rurik knows who his love is but she rejected him after one very passionate night together.

While taking a vacation from his archeological dig in the Orkney Islands off northern Scotland, Rurik sees on television a break through find at his dig and he hastens back to Scotland. Rurik believes that one of the icons is there. If his love won’t bring it to him, he is determined to bring it home himself in order to save his family.

Unbeknownst to Rurik, his love, Tasya Hunnicutt is seeking the icon as well. Tasya and Rurik both have secrets from each other but their secrets eventually intersect bringing whatever relationship and feelings that they have for each other to a head. In essence, will the search for the icon, the need for the icon, for vengeance for their families, mean more than their budding love?

I liked the development of the worldbuilding and I appreciated the skill it took to craft a completely new way of presenting the mythology that had been detailed in the previous book. In the old, good days, all the Varinskis shifted into high predators: wolves, bears, hawks. Now, because the Wilders are beginning to break the curse, the Varinskis are falling apart. There is intense infighting and weak leadership. The shapeshifters are starting to turn into lower predators like snakes. As any cornered predator, the Varinskis are more dangerous than ever.

While this book is technically proficient, I think that it tugs on the heartstrings in an obvious and not terribly believable manner toward the end. It’s romance, after all. I guess that is one of the pitfalls of genre expectations. I also felt that the suspense and the world building overshadowed the romance a bit. Still, I would never have guessed you would have made such a good paranormal romance writer. Bring on book 3. I can’t wait to see what well loved trope is reimagined. B

Best regards,

Jane

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Scent of Darkness by Christina Dodd
2. So apparently Christina Dodd i…
3. REVIEW: Freedom’s Touch (Legacy of the Celtic Brooch Book 2) by Sarita Leone

When I first heard that you were doing a paranormal series, I was a bit skeptical. Not every author has made the transition from contemporary or historical to paranormal well. I also will admit that I haven’t read you in years (2003 to be exact) because I was quite perturbed at your handling of the adoption issue in the Lost Texas Hearts series. I began the book with not a little cynicism.

Ann Smith is in love with her boss, Jasca Wilder. One day she’s given the opportunity to drop off some important paperwork at Jascha’s vacation home. Before going up, she gives herself a pep talk and a makeover and is determined to make a play for Jascha. She’s done with being shy and non assertive. Ann’s plans are quickly derailed when she sees Jascha morphing from a wolf to a man. Like any SMART woman would do, Ann flees. She forgets that this is a man she loves and just freaks out. She throws her stiletto at him, drawing blood, runs out of the house, hops into her car and speeds away. The problem is that there is a storm howling outside and her ability to navigate the moutainous twists and turns is impaired by her fear and the weather. The car eventually slides to a precarious halt on a side of a cliff. Ann knows that she has to run to escape this madman and she does, first by running in a stream in hopes of disorienting him and then just flat out running. But she can’t escape him. He is simply too strong, too fast.

Jascha is turned on by the chase – the animal in him is aroused. Jascha’s beast lies just under the surface and his actions toward Ann are very animalistic. I really liked this because so many werewolf stories featuring a caring, gentle type of shapeshifter. So when he catches her, all of Ann’s feelings rise up – her fear, her desire…

At one point, Ann describes herself as confused and horny. Jascha is a man she’s crushed on for four years. To be the object of the his attention is both gratifying and frustrating. Gratifying because it sates the lust she felt, but frustrating because she knows its all about satisfying Jascha’s base desires and fulfilling the legend rather than love. It’s her acknowledgment that this is a physical relationship that works for me:

Worse, she wasn’t running away now. She slid the icon into the robe’s pocket. She was going up to the master bedroom to soak in the hot tub.
Then she was going to snuggle in Jasha’s bed.
And for that, she believed she would eventually go to hell.
So she might as well make this a night to celebrate.

Jascha’s ability to shapeshift come from his ancestor’s deal with the devil. In return for obedience to the devil, Jascha’s ancestor received the power to shape shift. Until one man, Jascha’s father, fell in love with a woman and began to break the cycle of destruction. Based on an old prophecy, if the Jascha’s sons can return a priceless icon to the fold, the curse will be broken.

What made this work so well for me is that Ann smart and practical and appears self aware. Her reason for being a virgin were completely normal for Ann has a secret too. Ann knows that Jascha wants her only because of the legend and Jascha knows he must bind Ann to him because of the legend but the lust turns to something more, something deeper, and I believed that Jascha wholly loved Ann at the end of the story for herself rather than her contribution to the legend. The more that Ann got to know Jascha outside the office, the less she idolized him, the more she stood up to him.

This book did not lag for a second even though the plot was quite simple. There were no secondary love interests and the subject of the sequels did not appear too often or gratuitously. Exposition was kept to a minimum and the entire focus was on Ann and Jascha. I should also mention that this was a very hot read for you and I just don’t recall you writing such steamy passages in the past.

The weaknesses would be in continuity. I.e., when Ann was going up to Jascha’s mountain retreat, she was intending to say that she got caught in the weather and couldn’t return, but she has a suitcase and enters his house and unpacks the suitcase before presenting the papers to Jascha. Another point was when Jascha mentions that Ann has all the codes to his vault and secret hidey holes yet he is supposed to be keeping the family secrets super secret. But those were minor blips and I enjoyed the story quite a bit. B

Best regards,

Jane

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