May 23 2012
Dear Ms. Friesner, I’ve never read any of your books but I’ve certainly heard of you. How could I not? Not only do you have a substantial backlist, you’ve had a long career. Recently, it seems like you’ve turned your attention towards YA retellings of mythological princesses. In this novel, you focus on Himiko, the [...]
May 14 2012
Dear Remittance Girl, Your novella, Gaijin, caught me by surprise. A friend recommended it to me on Twitter and then loaned it to me through my Kindle. I had heard about it and investigated purchasing it once before, but shied away from making an actual purchase. Somehow, I wasn’t expecting as much thoughtfulness as I [...]
Apr 18 2012
“When the Cleveland Chiefs baseball team signs Kentaro Ikuta as their new star pitcher, they are faced with a man unable to speak English and a media frenzy clamoring for his words. Management turns to the renown linguistics department of Case Western Reserve University for help. Doctoral candidate Claire Ferris is chosen to act as [...]
Oct 14 2011
A lot of my time the past week or so has been taken up with washing machine repairs and acclimating my new kittens to their new home. Guess which has been more fun. But I have gotten a little reading and movie watching squeezed in now and then. Flawless by Carrie Lofty – A book [...]
Sep 9 2011
Space Slugs by Frances Pauli – What starts well doesn’t necessarily end well. There are tons of plot threads that are tossed in then left and the world building needs help. See posted review. Unnatural Fire by Fidelis Morgan – I picked this one up and enjoyed it though I didn’t love it like a [...]
Aug 24 2011
My entries for this feature might end up being sporadic as I often don’t know what I’m going to read next until I eye my TBR print stacks or flip through my menu screens on my ereader. I’m just as spontaneous in my movie watching, too. And once I start a book, the odds are [...]
May 13 2010
Story & Art: Fumi Yoshinaga Publisher: Viz Signature Rating: M for mature Retail: $12.99 Length: 3/5+ volumes Dear readers, A few months ago I reviewed the first volume in this historical josei series by Fumi Yoshinaga. In it, we were introduced to an alternate history of Tokugawa era Japan where the majority of the male [...]
May 6 2010
Dear Ms. O’Neill, A short story set in historical Japan featuring warriors sounded interesting. Make that very interesting since there’s no paranormal element. I can do without a lot of paranormal. So I downloaded it and fired it up. The weight of the past could tear them apart- In his first mission as a shinobi, [...]
Mar 19 2010
Train Man (Densha Otoko) 2005 Genre: Romantic comedy Grade: B+ One of the first manga reviews that Jan did for us was about this story. But since I’m not a manga devote, I’m afraid I didn’t recall it until after I had already decided to try this movie via Netflix. While I’m still not a [...]
Jan 21 2010
Story & Art: Fumi Yoshinaga Publisher: Viz Signature Rating: M for mature Retail: $12.99 Length: 2/5+ volumes Dear readers, A few months ago, I read the first volume in this wonderful series by Fumi Yoshinaga. The premise is deceptively simple: What would happen if a plague wiped out the majority of the male population in [...]
Nov 10 2009
Dear Ms. Sheridan, When Tina submitted a list of new books to Dear Author for possible review, “Falling Through Glass” grabbed my attention. Hmmm, time travel to 19th century Japan in the waning days of samurai warriors. Can’t get much more different than that. Since I’m feeling lazy this morning. I’m just going to steal [...]
Oct 15 2009
Dear Ms. Sheridan. Thank you for sending me your story when I was moaning on Twitter one night about wanting to read a BDSM romance. I hope you don’t regret it. When I agreed to read the book, I had no idea it was #2 of the Beautiful C*cksucker series. I had no idea that [...]
Sep 8 2009
Story & Art: Fumi Yoshinaga Publisher: Viz Signature Rating: M for mature Retail: $12.99 Length: 1/4+ volumes I first heard of ÅŒoku about a year ago from a friend. The premise, she said, was that due to a disease that targets only men, the power hierarchy in Japan was genderflipped. Women filled roles that had, [...]
Jan 21 2009
Dear Ms. Leigh: Someone emailed me and said that there was an actual Asian woman on the cover of a Harlequin series book. Of course, I figuratively ran over to the eHarlequin store and bought the book. It could have been a secret baby, amnesia, virgin widow story and I would have bought it. This [...]
Jun 14 2008
Dear Ms. Stuart, I was one of many readers impressed with the first novel in your "Ice" series, Black Ice. I sometimes have problems with the power differential between your heroes and heroines, and though Black Ice was no different in that respect, the hero and heroine were nonetheless compelling, as was their relationship. The [...]
Recent Comments