Archive for the 'C- Reviews' Category
Dear Readers,
 Back in July of 2008, I reviewed Tangle XY, an anthology of short speculative m/m stories. Earlier this year, Blind Eye Books, the publisher of Tangle XY, came out with Tangle Girls, an f/f anthology. As with Tangle XY, some (not all) of the stories are multicultural, and many have fairy tale or science fiction elements, but in this anthology the commonality all the stories share is the focus on girls who love other girls. Here are my reviews of the six stories:
“Raccoon Skin” by J.D. EveryHope
In “Raccoon Skin,” Sophia, a college student, arrives at her parents’ home on a pre-dawn morning. After seeing that her parents’ trash can that has been upended by a raccoon, Sophia goes outside to put it back up, and while there, she sees crows attacking a golden eagle. The eagle falls to the snowy ground, and Sophia chases the crows away. Just as she is debating whether to take the eagle inside, the bird shifts shape and turns into a human girl — and not just any girl, but Sophia’s girlfriend, Caterina.
Caterina and Sophia met …
Dear Authors and Readers.
 If you will excuse a personal history, you will see its relevance to my review. I enlisted in the Army National Guard after 9/11. I became a US citizen and commissioned (became an officer) in 2003. I accepted a medical retirement in May of this year, at the rank of Captain, after 7 ½ years of service. I never went overseas, but I served in the Katrina response in Louisiana. I was a soldier and damn proud to be so.
But I am also bisexual (with some extra kinks outside the Kinsey continuum). This is the first time I’ve been able to admit this in public (well, I came out on Twitter on National Coming Out Day) since figuring it out because of the US military’s destructive Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. My sexuality in no way affected my service. All outward appearances show a happily married, monogamous, heterosexual soldier, which is mostly what I am. But every now and then the issue came up and I had to bite my tongue. I could have been kicked out of the service if anyone had dug too deep, for a reason …
Dear Ms. Mallery:
 Having finished the entire Titan sisters series, I find myself in virtually the same place after the fourth book as after the first: I loved so much of the interaction among the women but found the basic suspense premise substantially problematic. Witty dialogue buoyed each book, while unconvincing characterizations torpedoed my ability to make the ultimate buy-in for each book. This last book, Hot on Her Heels, repeats the pattern faithfully, with Dana (an honorary Titan sister and oldest sister Lexi’s best friend for years) a witty, prickly, sassily amusing heroine and Titan half-brother Garth, her inevitable if not expectedly suited hero. With this book, we get the resolution to the power struggle between patriarch Jed Titan and his vengeful son Garth, as well as the Titan sisters’ campaign to bring Garth back from the dark side (i.e. war with the family). Can love redeem either or both of these difficult men?
First a bit of backstory. Unbenkownst to Jed Titan’s three daughters, before he married the first of his wives (Lexi’s mother), he got a local girl pregnant and ended up treating her very badly. When she did not …
Dear Ms. Roux.
 I opened this file when I got it because it wasn’t paranormal (no world building…I’m so sick of world building) and because you wrote it and I adore your Caught Running with Madeleine Urban. That said…meh. So many holes, such annoying characters, unbelievable timeline, so much potential angst wasted, wasted I tell you!
Vic the lawyer loves Owen the sheriff and part-time bailiff. Owen uses Vic as a fuck buddy and has done so for five years, which is tearing Vic apart. Or at least, so I’m told. Shane the judge is Vic’s best friend and convinces Vic, on 12 hours’ notice, to go on a month’s vacation. Apparently, public prosecutors in North Carolina don’t have to clear their schedule to go on a MONTH’S LONG vacation. I think I need to go to law school. As we learn…eventually…Shane loves Vic and has done so for…yes, you guessed it, five years. But as the entire story is told from Vic’s not-quite-first-person perspective, Shane’s emotions pretty much get lost and ignored in Vic’s angst and general cluelessness. Which is a shame. Vic, of course, comes to realize the relationship potential in …
Dear Authors:
 I opened THIS anthology because I liked Sindustry I. But this volume is so obviously all the leftover stories from the Sindustry I anthology that didn’t quite make it into the first volume. And most of these stories should NOT have been included. This anthology had very few redeeming stories and some that make me want to puke, which kinda dampens any enthusiasm I might have for the whole. Mostly it’s filled with stories with awful, weak, boring, TSTL characters who couldn’t characterize their way out of a paper bag, and their ridiculously over-protective and unrealistic saviors. I have never really understood what m/m readers are complaining about when they say that that one of the characters doesn’t have to be the woman, but I do now. In this volume, one half of the relationship was invariably the damsel in distress who needed saving, the other the knight in shining armor who knew just how to take care of things, pretty lady…uh, I mean lad. Yech.
As in Sindustry I, the premise is that these are all stories about people in the sex industry, either strippers, prostitutes, or porn actors. This volume does a …
Dear Ms. Marsh,
 I’m trying to branch out in my Harlequin reading experiences so I decided to try your book in the “Romance” line. With no mention of secretaries, babies or royalty I decided to give it a go.
Recent widow Tamara Rayne is looking towards reentering the profession she gave up when she married a celebrity chef. With that in mind, she’s honing her food critic skills at the restaurant once co-owned by her husband Richard and his friend, entrepreneur Ethan Brooks. Even before Richard’s sudden death, Ethan had barely paid any attention to her so Tamara is amazed when Ethan begins to flirt with her.
Ethan had good reason to avoid Tamara since he didn’t think he could control his attraction to her and remain on good terms with Richard. But now that Tamara is available and seems to be getting over her grief at Richard’s death, Ethan decides to pounce. And what more romantic place to pursue her than on a luxurious trip across Tamara’s mother’s homeland of India. But has Ethan read Tamara correctly and is Tamara ready for another relationship just when she’s beginning to stand on her own two feet again?
This book …
Dear Ms. Shalvis:
 I like the blurb for this book. A search and rescue member of the National Guard having served umpteen tours of duty is finally home. He can barely think of what he should do tomorrow. All he wants is to rest, relax and recoup. But even that is a challenge because his family is pressuring him to settle down, the government wants him back, and Jason Mauer can’t catch his breath long enough to process even one demand. The situation isn’t helped when a terrible storm sweeps through his small beach town of Santa Rey, California, and Jason’s skills are marshaled to help an old flame.
Lizzy Mann is a nurse whose sister seems to have gotten herself in a pickle. Her sister is 9 months pregnant in an area of Santa Rey that needs to be evacuated. Lizzy needs to get to the evacuation site and get her sister out there. Lizzy’s sister is congenitally irresponsible and thus cannot be trusted to remove her pregnant self even in these dire circumstances.
Lizzy and Jason have a small past which appears to be the basis of the romance, told in small …
 Naughty Nights in the Millionaire’s Mansion by Robyn Grady. Â This book violated the number one HP principle. It was boring. Â By chapter five (which is about the half way point in an HP), I noted that there was amost no conflict and that the biggest issue thus far was the heroine being coy about whether she was going to spend another sexually fantastic night with the hero. (um, yes, why not?). Â The plot is that pet store owner with a big heart delivers some dogs to a rich man’s home. Rich man takes one look a dog lover and gets excited. Â Pet store owner is in need of money. Rich man has it but has complications in getting it into the hands of pet store owner. (This part of the story was clumsy in that rich man is head of a bank and facilitates a loan bypassing appropriate loan guidelines which could lead to trouble for him. Why not just give her a personal loan?) Â The conflict contrived by pet store owner at the end was a bit of a headdesker. Â She doesn’t want to be a distraction in his life so they can’t …
Dear Ms. Lamb:
 I wanted to read this book because a) I love sports books and b) so few of the sports books ever feature female athletes. The sports/athletic aspect of the book was the best part. The rest of it? Didn’t work so well.
<—What is going on with that chick’s breasts?
Kylie McKay was a tennis star at the cusp of breaking out. She had just won the Australian Open when, during a downtime at her home, she was attacked and her knee was bashed in by a baseball bat. Her career in tatters, Kylie runs off to UCLA to get her degree and heal. Ten years later, she returns home to open up a tennis/health club center. During construction, a baseball bat is found that Kylie believes is the one that damaged her knee. 10 years! In the dirt! and she can identify it! Maybe this is true but it strained my credulity. I mean, I would like to know what magic marker the assailant used that the words KILLER would have remained on the bat after being buried for ten years. I can’t keep the …
Dear Ms. Kinnard,
 Despite absolutely loving the title of your book, I finished it with a sense of disappointment. And a feeling that if this is what contemporary Christianity is supposed to be, I want no part of it.
Matt Greenlee, Senior Pastor of New Hope Church, has a secret life. For years, he’s been writing a successful SF series under the pen name of Morgan Grimaldi. Now he’s just gotten the bombshell news that his trusty editor is in Nepal “finding himself” and Cairn Publishing is assigning him a new, and untried, editor.
AJ Mercer hopes to whip through the editing of the newest Jake Starborn novel. The series might be a best seller, but she has plenty of ideas to tighten this book up. Imagine her shock when she discovers the author is a minister. And that they’re slowly falling for each other. But there’s a snake in this garden which might just end not only their blossoming romance but Matt’s calling as a man of God.
First off, I wanted more about the Starborn books. After an opening in which Matt is working on finishing the latest one, we get almost zip. There are a …
Dear Ms. Vincent,
 While it’s true that your Faythe Saunders werecat books don’t work well for me, I’ve been watching the soon-to-be-launched Harlequin Teen imprint with interest. It’s no secret that YA novels have been experiencing a sort of renaissance in recent years. The genre is large, diverse and continually growing, so I was interested in seeing what titles the largest romance publisher would bring us. The imprint doesn’t launch until August with your novel, My Soul to Take, serving as one of the lead titles (and Gena Showalter’s Intertwined to follow in September), but Harlequin gave us a sneak peek with your prequel novella.
It’s just another day at the mall for Kaylee Cavanaugh, who’s gone there with her best friend. Well, maybe not just another day. After all, they’re working on a plan to get revenge on Kaylee’s ex-boyfriend who unceremoniously dumped her and then proceeded to ask another girl to the dance without missing a beat. Unfortunately, things don’t go according to plan. Kaylee has always suffered from panic attacks and as so often happens in this sorts of stories, one overcomes her in the middle of …
Dear Ms. Mallery,
 That I endeavored to read Lip Service is probably a surprise to anyone who read my Twitter entries about the first book in the Titan sisters series (Under Her Skin), since that book hit quite a few of my hot buttons. But a good experience with the Buchanan series and active curiosity about the suspense subplot in Under Her Skin got me to give the second book a try. And I must say that I liked Lip Service quite a bit better than Under Her Skin, in large part because I found the characters of Skye and Mitch more believable and relatable, and their relationship more interesting than Lexi and Cruz’s. Lip Service still wasn’t a real winner for me, but it did offer promise for the remaining two books in the series (sister Izzy and good friend Dana’s stories).
Mitch Cassidy has been gone for almost nine years, and he is not returning home a whole man – at least not according to his definition of the word. Instead, he is returning embittered and incomplete, having lost part of his leg in Afghanistan and most of his faith in life all along …
Dear Ms. Burkhart:
 As a college professor, I had to overcome very many squicks and ethics twitches when reading about a professor who not only starts a sexual relationship with a current student but ends up spanking her over his desk as a “Final Exam.” I also don’t do well with male dominant/female submissive stories, but I liked your writing enough on your prequel posts on your blog that I decided to persevere. I’m glad I did, because I appreciated how well you depicted the BDSM. It’s just a shame that your heroine annoyed me, that you added a quirky paranormal element, and that the narrative progress better resembled a bumpy road than an arc.
Admittedly, the professor/student relationship fail was five years prior to the story. After the “final exam,” the heroine Rae is freaked out (ya think?) and runs away from Conn, the hero, who is racked by guilt because of his perceive failure–not that he started the relationship at all, but that he took her too far too fast. In the meantime, Rae marries and divorces another guy. Although they seem to live in the same town, Conn can’t find her …
Dear Ms. Hardy,
 I have a complicated relationship to Harlequin Presents books. On the one hand I find the melodrama seemingly intrinsic to the line viscerally appealing, but on the other hand there has to be enough authenticity in the characters and the story to make me suspend my disbelief enough to let the melodrama work its magic. Surrender to the Playboy Sheikh seems to aim for authenticity above melodrama, and ironically, it did not work for me on either count, despite the fact that I found the characters to be perfectly likable and their happy ending clearly deserved.
After being badly burned by her now ex-husband, Elizabeth “Lily†Finch vows to be all about business, and as a result, her catering company, Amazing Tastes, is doing very well. No-nonsense Lily seems to be satisfied and focused enough until she catches a glimpse of a tall, dark, and handsome man at one of her client’s parties, a man who seems similarly, inexplicably drawn to her.
Karim al-Hassan knows that social networking is part of his job as heir to the throne of Harrat Salma, but he finds it rather tiring. A vulcanologist by training, Karim has managed …
Dear Ms. Evans:
 On the positive side, this is one NAL Heat that I actually finished. Most of the other books in this line seem to be about wife/partner swapping (O_o) and that is not really my thing. Skin Deep had a great premise. A tattoo artist and star of a reality tv show about his Miami based tattoo business cannot seem to move on from his illfated high school romance with Nicky. Jackson Bledsoe decides that if he can just remake the angel tattoo she wears that matches his, he’ll finally be able to wipe her from his heart. Jack believes that there is some mystical connection between the tattoos he inked when he was 19 and she was 18.
Jack hatches a plan to kidnap Nicky, spirit her up to his mountain hideaway and redo her tattoo with or without her permission. Not being tattooed, I can only assume that marking someone without their permission is a huge taboo and an emotionally damaging one as well.
Both Nicky and Jack have become known for their distinctive angel tattoos. Nicky, before she was married, was a well known fetish model and the …
Dear Ms. Palmer
I admit that I read this because I had heard, early on, that this book had similarities to the JR Ward brotherhood series. I can’t help but think that pre publicity buzz was intentional. Ward’s Brotherhood series is hot, hot, hot, and anything that sounds like/looks like The Black Dagger Brotherhood is going to get some attention.
It wasn’t the similarities to the Ward series (and there are a few) that made the story drag for me, it was actually the lack of emulation. Â Ward series excels, in part, because it is completely over the top. If you are going to have silly names and a somewhat silly storyline, you really have to bring it as an author. Instead, first installment of the Feral Warrior series came in with an emo sigh instead of a roar.
The Feral Warrior series is based on a band of shapeshifters who protect a Radiant, a woman through whom the power of nature is funneled (this imagery tends to remind me of the Angel of Death in the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie). The Radiant ascends and then through living and sexual energy derived through congress …
Dear Ms. Harte:
 I was interested in this story because it featured a shapeshifter of an unusual kind: birds of prey. Cullen Whitefeather is a part of the Ac-taw, the name for those who shape shift. Cullen’s other form is that of a golden eagle. Cullen and his family live in Cougar Falls, an area that is protected by a mystical totem which allows only those who are Ac-taw to find the place.
Cullen has visited the local diner nearly every morning to have coffee and waffles and to ogle Sarah Duncan, the waitress, for whom he has unrequited feelings. After Sarah is attacked by a jealous gaggle of raptors, Cullen takes her wounded body home with him where they await Ac-taw justice.
I did appreciate the attention given to the bird of prey habitat and behavior. You took careful effort to show how Cullen and Sarah were different types of shapeshifters. The battle scenes between the birds of prey was also unique and very well done. The mannerisms of the animals were also well incorporated throughout the book. Cullen’s mother calls …
Dear Ms. Jordan:
 Oh, how I wanted to like this book. You are one of my favorite HP authors but I’ll be the first to admit that when you miss, it’s spectacular.
At the funeral of his youngest half brother, Falcon Leopardi learns of a terrible act perpetrated on a young woman. His deceased brother took it upon himself to drug a shy girl who refused his advances, raped her, impregnated her, and then refused to support the child once it was born.
Falcon immediately sets off to find the mother and the child to bring honor back to the Leopardi name. It is not easy to find Annie (whose last name apparently was so unimportant that I wonder if it was included. I could not find it for the review). Annie had taken her baby and ran away, fearing that her stepbrother would bring some harm upon Ollie. Falcon did find them and gave Annie a choice. Stay in London and live hand to mouth or come to Sicily and allow your child to be given every opportunity. Annie realizes there is no choice and goes to Sicily with …
Dear Ms. Hailstock,
 I have been looking forward to sharp tongued Samara finding love with persistent Joshua for months now – well, ever since Samara’s sister Cinnamon’s book. But, alas, I’m afraid it didn’t live up to my hopes for it.
Samara is marriage shy. Actually not just shy but phobic. You’ve given her some concrete reasons in that so many of her family and friends are on their second and third attempts. That plus the national marriage statistics make the effort looked doomed to failure and filled with heartache. So, Samara decides to play it smart and enjoy dating but with no intention of ever tying the knot.
Joshua knows quickly that Samara is The One for him. He’s one of the divorce statistics and the fact that he was married when he first began pursuing her, though separated and already having filed for divorce, turns Samara off. Okay, that’s understandable. Then their attempts at dating get screwed the next few times he asks her out. With his job, again, I can see it. His ex does sound like a piece of work.
But he persists and keeps after Samara in a way that is unique and …
Dear Ms. Warren:
 It’s been a while since I’ve read a book of yours. I know I read your debut books that were released back to back but for some reason, I fell off the bandwagon. I was curious about what your move to Avon would produce and so picked up and read In His Kiss.
Cade Byron, the younger brother of the Duke of Clyborne, has returned from Portugal. Haunted by the war, he wants nothing more than to hole up on his inherited estate and be alone.
…Cade mused, knowing he’d forced his brother out—out of his house, out of his life. Just as he wanted.
And I do, he assured himself. I want solitude. Solitude and peace.
Taking up the bottle again, he refilled his glass, the last drops of whiskey draining out in a slow drip-drip-drip. Setting the bottle aside, he lifted the glass to his lips.
Meg Amberley, all of nineteen years and orphaned, is on her way to live with her elderly aunt in Scotland when she and her maid get stranded in the snow near Cade’s estate. She literally forces herself on him, not quite ready …
Dear Ms. St. Crow,
 I’m familiar the urban fantasy novels you write under the similar name, Lilith Saintcrow. I enjoyed your Dante Valentine series but wasn’t as keen on your next venture, the Jill Kismet books. But I’m always on the hunt for new young adult novels to read so when I heard you had written one, I decided to give it a try.
Dru Anderson is used to not sticking around in one place for too long. Her father hunts monsters: vampires, werewolves, and other things that go bump in the night. But despite the fact that Dru has the sixth sense — a preternatural ability to know when something bad’s about to go down — her father never brings her along on his actual hunts. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that her grandmother died, she might not even be tagging along with him at all. As you can imagine, none of this pleases Dru, who wants nothing more than to help her father hunt the nasty things that prowl the night.
Then one night her dad doesn’t come home after a hunt. Dru tries to hold out hope but …
Dear Ms. Feisty:
Even though I got this book for review, I decided to go ahead and purchase an ecopy as that is my preferred mode of reading and I hadn’t read it pre-release. I haven’t seen Warner/Grand Central put out much of any erotic romances so I was curious to see what this story would be like. Suffice to say that I was pretty much expectation free, or so I thought.
Ruby Scott is a 37 year old event planner whose sex life is perceived to be something its not. She used to have a relationship with a semi famous Bay photographer whose speciality is erotic photography. Ruby was one of his subjects and his personal collection includes works featuring Ruby tightly bound. Her sexual relationship with her former boyfriend was actually quite “vanilla†to use the description of Ruby. When her friend, Meg, begins to press her for details, Ruby confesses she hasn’t experienced much but that she’ll go with Meg to pursue the knowledge of kink.
This confession or invitation is made, inadvertently, in front of up and coming musician Mark St. Crow who just so happens to …
Dear Ms. Aiken,
 When I heard you were expanding beyond the pack books written as Shelly Laurenston to this Dragon Kin series, I was really looking forward to these new books. Not only do I have a soft spot for dragons, but I still love the tough, independent heroines for which you are known. And in that sense, Dragon Actually (comprised of two related stories) does not disappoint: Annwyl and Rhiannon, the two heroines, are at the top of the female alpha scale. But in terms of the overall world-building, character, and relationship development, the book read to me like more of a draft than as finished, polished work.
In Dragon Actually, Annwyl the Bloody (aka Annwyl of Garbhán Isle, Annwyl of the Dark Plains) prepares to faces off against her eeevil brother, Lorcan, the Butcher of Garbhán Isle. The story opens in the midst of a battle scene in which Annwyl is struck through with a sword, convincing her that she will die before she has a chance to take her brother’s head. Her impressive bravery right to the end is impressive, however, especially to the enormous black dragon who inhabits the land on …
The Rake’s Intimate Encounter by Ann Lethbridge
I’m still not sure I completely understand the set-up of this novella. I realize it’s a prologue, so to speak, for Lethbridge’s historical series for Harlequin but even so I felt like I was dumped midway into a story without any map to point me in the right direction.
Anthony Darby has accompanied his friends (the characters of the forthcoming novels, if I’m guessing correctly) to an exclusive club where the ladies of the ton can live out their greatest fantasies. I know I’m probably the least knowledgeable about historicals of any of the Dear Author bloggers, but something about that rings false. Please correct me if I’m wrong. It might have helped to get more background into the club’s existence and its owner, but I can only assume that’ll be explored in one of the forthcoming books.
At any rate, Tony is skeptical about the whole thing and doesn’t intend to indulge himself despite his friends’ encouragement. That is, until he meets Margaret, the widow of a Russian count. Their attraction is instantaneous and they waste no time acting upon it. What makes their rapid capitulation interesting is that …
Dear Ms. Napier:
 It is a good thing that I am already a fan of your books and a reader acclimated to the excesses of the Harlequin Presents line, else Accidental Mistress would have been a definite wallbanger for me. Jane has said elsewhere that the success of any HP book lies in the heroine to hero, doormat to asshole ratio, and I agree. However, I will add another component, namely the purple prose to authentic emotion ratio. Because in this book, even though the doormat to asshole ratio was not so terrible, the purple prose – like a bruise across the pages of the book, sometimes – actually hurt to read.
Emily Quest has inherited her grandfather’s restoration business, and her talent for reconstructing rare antique porcelain is exceptional. The child of international missionaries, Emily did not have much of a stable home life until she went to live with her grandparents as a pre-teen, taking on the role of her grandfather’s assistant after the death of her grandmother when Emily was sixteen. Now, with her grandfather dead, Emily is experiencing quite a bit of hardship: her home, car, and studio were burned to …
|
|
Loading ...
Open Threads at Dear Author. Want to know what new releases are out this month and what readers are excited about reading? Check out the threads below. 
We don’t like to censor comments nor do we endorse the comments of any poster. We do reserve the right to moderate comments but most of the time will not, believing, as Justice Brandeis did, that the greater good is in “more speech, not enforced silence.â€
