Posts filed under ‘Just Finished Reading (Review)’
Just finished reading…Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery
Chasing Perfect (Fools Gold series, book 1) by Susan Mallery
|
I was really disappointed in this, my first Susan Mallery book. It sounded like just what I was in the mood for: a light, contemporary romance about life in a small California town, in the vein of Jill Shalvis’ Wilder Adventure series.
Unfortunately, even though it felt like all of the elements were there, the complete package never did it for me. A lot of that was due to the heroine, Charity. She was so resistant to Josh’s public reputation and desire to race again due to her own personal insecurities, that she came across as selfish. In the very end, she understands that his need to race has absolutely nothing to do with her, but it was a little too little, a little too late.
I liked Josh’s character more, but the repetition over and over about how god-like Josh was: so handsome, so lusted after by every woman in town, so envied by the (few) men around him, and how extremely thunderstruck Charity was by him, it made it hard to believe in them as a couple.
******SPOLIER AHEAD (highlight area to read)******
When Charity tells him she’s pregnant, Josh walks out on her. He doesn’t call her for days trying to “work things out”. It felt really out of character for him to not even try to let her know why he left town.
And, when they do come back together, his actions–and her reactions–are never believably resolved. (At least to my satisfaction.)
******END SPOILER*******
In the end, I never really bought their HEA. Charity’s insecurities made the climactic scene seem more like a “happy for now”, and it never really felt like she actually trusted in him or in their relationship.
It might have worked for me more if I had seen more of them as a couple after their declarations: how they settle into their new lives with Josh’s career decisions and how Charity comes to terms with his fame.
The main reason I gave it the 2.5 stars at Goodreads (and not lower) was because I liked Josh, and I also liked the town of Fools Gold. I’m not sure yet if I’ll read book 2, but I might. I’m hoping that my failure to like the story more was due to Charity, who will not be the heroine in book 2.
- Susan Mallery’s site
This review cross-posted on Goodreads.
My Goodreads rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews at Goodreads.
I received this book from the
publisher for review purposes.
OK, so now I have some questions for you: Have you read Susan Mallery’s books? What do you think about them? I’d still like to read more by her, but think I might need a recommendation. Got any?
Just finished reading…My Immortal Assassin by Carolyn Jewel
This book was given to me by the author.
This review cross-posted on Goodreads.
My Goodreads rating: 4 of 5 stars
View all my reviews at Goodreads.
My Immortal Assassin
(My series, book 3) by Carolyn Jewel
|
I’ve been a big fan of Carolyn Jewel’s books since reading, Scandal (see review), one of my Top 5 historical romances. Since then, her My series has become one of my Top 5 paranormal romances. It’s been a long wait for Durian’s story (the previous My Forbidden Desire was released May 2009), and I was really happy when the author offered to send an early copy of My Immortal Assassin to me.
One of the things I really enjoy about this series is the originality of the world. The demons (known as the kin, among themselves) are engaged in a struggle with the magekind. Dark mages use enslaved demons to provide power and as coerced minions. Witches, too, often get caught in the crossfire, becoming pawns for the dark mages.
Over the course of the previous 2 books of the series, the leader of the kin, Nicodemus, has brokered a tenuous détente between the mages and demon kin (aka fiends). It’s amidst this precarious cease in overt hostilities, that the assassin Durian encounters Gray, a witch whose life was torn apart by a dark mage.
Gray has been indelibly changed, transformed into something “other” as a result of the mage’s failed power grab attempt, and now she is determined to exact revenge upon him. Durian is sworn to uphold the peace agreement, but is drawn to Gray, and promises to help her learn how to control her new powers, if she will bind herself to him.
This is a lot more set up to a book review than I usually do (I usually prefer to use the book description to do it), but the series story arc, and as a result, the book’s plot is a very complex one. There’s a lot of “meat” to the story, and that’s one of the reasons I really love this series. My one regret about My Immortal Assassin is that I didn’t re-read the previous 2 books to refresh my memory of the series details. (Something I like to do with some series.) I’d really recommend reading this series in order, if you haven’t already read the first 2 books.
One of the things that made My Immortal Assassin a stand out in the series for me is the relationship between Gray and Durian. More than any other book in the series, there is a give and take to their relationship that is really refreshing. While Grey has “submitted” (not in a D/s way, but in a magical way) by binding herself to him, rather than being subservient to him, she is pledged to protect him, and becomes his bodyguard. As Gray increasingly comes into her power, she assumes a more protective role toward Durian that male heroes more typically take on. I really liked this shift in traditional power dynamics.
And, despite this reversal, Durian is as bad-ass as ever, struggling with his increasingly protective feeling towards Gray, while relishing her growing abilities and her desire to protect him. He sees her protection of him and it affects him in a way that it new to the usually cold and detached assassin. Gray’s and Durian’s chemistry is great, and they both feed so much from this dynamic.
I really enjoyed the direction the larger story arc took as well, and where the series will go in the next book, My Dangerous Pleasure (to be released June 2011). The introduction of the mage Leonidas is showing a more complex image of the mages, and should complicate the storyline nicely.
Also, I’m chomping at the bit for Kynan’s story and Iskander’s story, as well as hoping for more about Gray’s sister, Emily.
My Immortal Assassin will be released January 3, 2011.
View all my reviews at Goodreads >>
Just finished reading . . . Bayou Moon
Bayou Moon (The Edge series, book 2) by Ilona Andrews
|
When I realized that William, who appeared in book 1, On the Edge, would be Bayou Moon’s hero, I was a little concerned. In OtE, he came across as a bit smarmy, trying a little too hard to deliver the cheesy pick up lines to the heroine, Rose. Of course, he lost out to Declan for Rose’s affections, and we find him opening Bayou Moon sitting in his trailer playing with action figures. Huh?
Yeah.
And, in the end, I enjoyed Bayou Moon a lot. Cerise was an awesome heroine. She was strong, but relateable. And, in the trademark Ilona Andrews’ style, the secondary characters were quirky and entertaining. The story line and events were about the darkest I’ve read by IA, in either of her series. Yet, the sometimes gruesome events fit the fantastical world of the Edge. So, in a nutshell the book mostly rocked.
Though, I did have one quibble. Toward the end of the book, there were some lack of communication issues between Cerise and William that made me a little frustrated. It felt a little artificial, injecting an unnecessary conflict that didn’t feel consistent with their characters, or their relationship.
Now that I’ve got all that out of the way, let me get back to William, because I think that he is now my favorite hero of 2010.
Really, he is one of those heroes I kept thinking about both when I had to put the book down for pesky real life stuff like work and chores, and after I finished the book. He just stuck with me.
I think what really got to me was how he had all the elements that make a great hero.
Alpha shifter who can kick ass and take names? Check.
Tragic past that he’s dealing with? Check.
An admiration for strong heroines who can kick ass and take names? Check.
And, the clincher that really got me was his vulnerability. William had this need in him (but, not a needy need, if you know what I mean) to belong. To belong to Cerise, and for her to belong to him. To belong to a pack, which Cerise’s family, in all their dysfunction, filled the bill perfectly. To claim and be claimed. It was so true to who he was, where he came from, and his past experiences. And, (miracle of miracles for alpha heroes) he was self-aware enough to realize this and accept it about himself.
I found myself wanting these things for him so much, and that is why he resonnated with me so strongly. And, even in his vulnerability, there was a strength. The strength of a survivor. He endured so much, and yet still was able to open himself to Cerise.
Awesome quote:
“What if I run?”
He leaned forward. “That would be a mistake, because I would chase you.”
Oh dear Gods.
His voice was wistful & tinted with an odd longing, as if he were already running through the dark woods in his mind. The tiny hairs on the back of Cerise’s neck rose. Whatever she did, she couldn’t run, because he would love to chase her & she wasn’t quite sure what would happen at the end of that chase. By the way he looked, he wasn’t quite sure either, but he was pretty sure he would enjoy it.
Great stuff.
I received this book from the
publisher for review purposes.
Just finished reading . . . An Artificial Night
An Artificial Night (October Daye series, book 3) by Seanan McGuire
This audiobook was given to me by Brilliance Audio for review purposes.
Audiobook read by Mary Robinette Kowal.
HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?
Everyone in the Bay Area knows about Blind Michael, the unseen, dangerous figure whose Hunt sweeps the Berkeley hills on full moon nights. He’s a familiar hazard of life in the Kingdom of the Mists, and most people don’t waste time worrying about him. October “Toby” Daye certainly doesn’t. She has better things to worry about, like paying the electrical bill on time. So it’s understandable that she’d be upset when Blind Michael suddenly starts taking an interest in people that matter to her, like the youngest children of Mitch and Stacy Brown.
Tasked to find the missing children, and with the stakes growing higher by the minute, Toby has few choices and fewer allies to help her through the dangers yet to come. With the Luidaeg’s help and a candle to light her way home, there’s a chance that she’ll come through this latest danger…but the sudden appearance of her Fetch doesn’t give Toby all that much in the way of hope…
I always worry when I’m about to read (and review) a book that I’m really looking forward to. I’m afraid that my expectations are unrealistically high, and that the book is doomed before I even crack the spine (or turn on the ipod, as the case may be).
But, as with book 2 (A Local Habitation, reviewed here), An Artificial Night not only lived up the the high expectations, but took the series in ever more interesting and complex directions.
The above description describes the plot well, but for as much as I enjoyed the originality of the plot and the action kept me turning the pages, it was Toby’s character development that I found most absorbing.
AAN touched on two themes with regard to Toby. The first one was that of childhood. When Toby is commissioned to rescue the missing children from Blind Michael, she doesn’t realize how greatly she will have to get in touch with her own “childhood”, and her feelings about her own daughter from whom she is alienated. It was great to see a child-Toby still retain her intrinsic “Toby-ness”: brave, outspoken, and just a little bit irreverent.
In a lot of ways, her journeys through Blind Michael’s land reveals more about her than previous books. The second theme in AAN (and in the series in general) is that of the meaning of heroism. (And not necessarily the “heroism” of a typical uf kick-ass heroine, where the emphasis tends to be on the “kick-ass” part, but on the more classical definition of “hero”.) Toby spends much of the book denying that she is a hero. Yet, she embraces the ideals of a true hero—honor, loyalty, and the importance of keeping one’s word—and I love how through the course of the book she comes to accept what those around her keep telling her: that she is a true hero. When she finally did accept it, I really felt like cheering for her, and couldn’t help but think about what a long road she’s been on since escaping her enchantment as a goldfish in book 1.
Tybalt, the King of the Caith Sidhe, continues to drop in on Toby, and steal every scene he’s in. I love his dry sense of humor, and he always seems to get the best lines. I hope that the burbling chemistry between him and Toby that remains (at this point) mostly under the surface, will become more in the near future.
Mary Robinette Kowal did another wonderful job on the narration of this audiobook. She really has a way of imbuing each character’s voice with their distinctive personalities, and making it a fun listen.
I’m still hoping for an appearance of Toby’s estranged daughter, but at least in AAN, I gained a great deal of insight into Toby’s character that will (hopefully) lay the ground work for her daughter’s inclusion in a future book in the series. I was glad to see on Seanan McGurire’s livejournal that she has 2 more Toby books (The Brightest Fell and Ashes of Honor) in the works (among some other really interesting looking projects). I can’t wait to see what Toby will do next.
- Seanan McGuire’s site.
- Audio excerpt (mp3 download) at Audio Bookstand (Brilliance Audio).
Just finished reading . . . Long Hard Ride by Lorelei James
This review cross-posted from Goodreads.
My Goodreads rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews at Goodreads >>
This book received by the author as part of a
prize package in the DABWAHA Tournament.
Long Hard Ride by Lorelei James
|
I’ve been hearing about this series for ages, and am so glad I finally read Long Hard Ride. Highly erotic and highly romantic, Channing’s search for direction and a place to belong was just as absorbing as her “wild week” on the rodeo circuit with Colby, Trevor, and Edgard was.
It quickly becomes clear that while the book’s premise of a menage is where things start, the actual romance is between Colby and Channing. I loved seeing the both of them struggle with the complications that their week-long agreement brings to their budding romance. Also, the baggage from their families expectations and their individual journeys give wonderful depth to the story.
Sometimes secondary characters’ romances/struggles distract from the intensity and pacing of the main couple’s romance, and feel like sequel-baiting. Yet, that wasn’t the case with Long Hard Ride. Trevor and Edgard’s story, and Gemma and Cash’s story really filled out the book well. The secondary characters also gave Colby and, especially, Channing, a family on the road that was more in tune with them than their real families were. I really look forward to seeing more of them in future books.
By the time I got to Colby and Channing’s HEA, I had a lump in my throat, and closed the book with a very well satisfied sigh.
Can’t wait to read the next in the Rough Riders series.
- Lorelei James site
- More about the Rough Riders series
- Excerpt for Long Hard Ride
People are going to talk…