Comments on: REVIEW: Hunting Love Novellas by Dana Marie Bell, Marie Harte, JB MacDonald

By: All About Samhain « Jorrie Spencer

All About Samhain « Jorrie Spencer — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:51:59 +0000

[...] Rachel’s Totem by Marie Harte C+ [...]

By: Kimber An

Kimber An — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:21:45 +0000

I think the cover art for Rachel’s Totem is so cool, by the way.
;)

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:19:10 +0000

No Miss Kitty, I’m not talking about sprinkling a Spanish word here or there. That’s probably as bad. I’m talking about the fact like you said – there is a rhyme and melody to any language that when translated still has a certain sound to it.

I.e., I felt like if the characters were going to speak in Spanish but it would be translated as English for the reader, then it should have maintained the rhythm and sentence structure of the Spanish language. I felt that in the Joanna Bourne book. Annique was French and the narrative of her character had a distinct feel to it.

By: MissKitty

MissKitty — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:08:22 +0000

I guess I feel like if an author is going to use another language as the mode of communication, the translated English should be in the rhythm and using the idioms of that other language.

Erm… what?
This is interesting to me, since I write in English, but in fact have German as first language.
I know that there are a distinct rhyme and melody to any language and I know my writing has a certain “German” way of using words.
But this is more accidentally, a side effect of being German.

Please tell me you´re not talking about sprinkling a Spanish word here
and there for the sake of authenticism.

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:04:37 +0000

Thanks for the update Angie. I didn’t see the other two books on the Samhain site (I was looking for the similar covers) but admittedly only did a cursory search.

By: Ciar Cullen

Ciar Cullen — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:53:38 +0000

I read Tiger by the Tail and loved it. Just sayin.

By: Angela James

Angela James — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:18:54 +0000

Thanks for the reviews, Jane. I hope you don't mind if I note that there are six total. In addition to Claiming Their Mate, you also didn't review Tiger by the Tail by Kaye Chambers and Even for Me by Taryn Blackthorne, the urban fantasy novellas.

By: Kimber An

Kimber An — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:16:08 +0000

I’ve never read these and, honestly, they don’t sound like my cup of tea. I’m not into shapeshifters. However, in regards to worldbuilding and TREASURE HUNTING, the jaguar-god thing is an indigeonous myth – Aztec, I believe. Therefore, shouldn’t the protagonists be speaking in an indigeonous language with reference to the myth? Not Spanish. I can understand why the woman would speak Spanish, but I would also expect her to be very familiar with local mythology and language too. She wouldn’t be too smart to venture into a South American rain forest without knowing what she was getting into. I wouldn’t expect the jaguar-man to know any Spanish. If I was into shapeshifters, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief if the worldbuilding isn’t grounded. Again, I haven’t read it, so maybe it is and it just didn’t come out in the review.