Review: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In 1810, a sister and brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. With its long snout and prominent teeth, it might be a crocodile – except that it has a huge, bulbous eye and a body with far more parts than your ordinary crock.

Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world.

Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, however, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. In danger of being an outcast in her community, she takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils.

Autograph letter concerning the discovery of plesiosaurus, from Mary Anning. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The strong bond between Mary and Elizabeth sees them through struggles with poverty, rivalry and ostracism, as well as the physical dangers of their chosen obsession. It reminds us that friendship can outlast storms and landslides, anger and jealousy.

My impressions:

I took this one with me to the sea. I expected quite a lot from this book. I had every right to do so. After all we owe our knowledge of ammonites, bivalves, plesiosaurs,  and other aquatic beasts of the era to these remarkable women, both historical figures, who hunted for and preserved fossils along England's Dorset coast. Mary Anning was  more productive of the two as it was she who found the major specimens but it does not minimize the better-off Miss Philpot's many contributions, both emotional and financial, to the process. Overall those were two female fossil hunters in the early 1800s whose contributions to paleontology couldn't have been overlooked even by an extermely paternalistic society.  

As you delve into the book you realize how ground breaking the events of the novel were. If there were creatures buried in the earth that no longer lived on land that meant that God had made a mistake or created something not completely good! Or that Genesis as they knew it didn't make sense - if God made Heaven and Earth first and the animals after, how could there be animals buried in the earth? And for an uneducated, working class girl to be right in the center of all of this discovery, in an educated man's world, was equally surprising.

However, it was a slight disappointment, this one.  As it was presented, it was perhaps a solid, well-made entertainment, about a subject most of us have never given a lot of thought to, but nothing exceptional. 

Partially I blame the narration. The first person voice is perhaps ok but two first person accounts of two different women, more than two decades apart and coming from different walks of life, should have been as different as chalk and cheese, right? Only they weren't. From time to time you are gently reminded that Mary is a daughter of a simple carpenter from a small town near the sea - mainly when she remembers to butcher one sentence out of three or says 'verteberry' instead of 'vertebrae' -but it was too little. Personally I felt that, whereas the narrative voice of Elizabeth came quite naturally to the author, that of the Mary was overshadowed by the older, more mature and better educated Miss Philpot. In fact I suppose a third person limited narration would work much better, at least in my case. It didn't help that there were too few scenes showing the incredible interaction that must have been established between those two; instead we are given a love affair between both of them and Colonel Birch, a man who first preys on their skills and exploits their infatuation in order to gather a nice collection of fossils and then does something rather out of character, (I won't spoil you here), unbearably altruistic and completely spurious, at least in my view. 

The setting "Remarkable Creatures" is in the English town of Lyme Regis in the early 19th century.  You might remember this quiet resort village from Jane Austen's "Persuasion". I was rather happy to revisit it, especially that here Ms. Chevalier managed to present both sides of that town, that of a joyful summer resort full of happy holidaymakers and of a winter hell hole where it is difficult to earn your living and suffer cold weather, rather well.

Final verdict:

I wanted to read a story about fossil hunting which triggered the tension between religion and science and challenged biased attitudes towards women. I was given a story of female friendship, rivalires and the woes and tribulations of being a spinster told through the lens of fossil hunting. It wasn't very bad but it wasn't  brilliant either. The best part of the book in my opinion was the author's historical note at the end, telling us more about the later fates of her characters- rather remarkable in a negative way, isn't it? Meh, nuff said.

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Synopsis:
Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham 17, finally confronts her past. Hannah, the closest adult she has to family, disappears. Jonah Griggs, moody stares and all, is back in town. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.


I’m a plot girl through and through, but there are certain authors that can make me sit down and read a book that’s pure character study and absolutely nothing else. Melina Marchetta is one of those authors. I love how she manipulates words. Sometimes, I still feel like crying myself to sleep over The Piper’s Son and Froi of Exiles only improved on the second reading.

On the Jellicoe Road is a different animal.

The stories of Taylor Markham, Jonah Griggs, Ben Cassidy, Narnie, Webb, Tate, Fitz, and Jude never really came together for me. Marchetta does try to fit all the puzzle pieces together in this disjointed novel, but even the best explanation falls flat when the reader doesn’t care about the characters. Of a character driven story.

See what I did there.

When I’m reading a character driven novel I need to be able to connect with the secondary characters if not with the—unreliable—narrator. Every fragmented scene was merely an anecdote that had happened to someone else, to people I don’t know or wish to meet. It was all so far, far away from me. I’m not talking about the fact that I live in Northern Europe and the author with her characters lives in Australia, I’m talking about the emotional connection that never was.

I did not care.

On a technical level I can admire what Marchetta was trying to achieve by indulging in non-linear storytelling and I wish there were more books like this—only better—to challenge readers of all ages. The problem is she’s not good enough author to pull it off. Neither was Hal Duncan, come to think of it, no matter what the award committees might think.

If the soul of a book is sacrificed at the altar of writing craft, the book fails.

On the Jellicoe Road fails.

Review: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Book info:

Genre: paranormal thriller

Target audience: adults

Form: pdf e-book

Synopsis:

The plot of this novel revolves around Charles Talent Manx, his enemy Vic (Victoria) McQueen and her family. Both Vic and Manx have the same gift – a very vivid imagination which allows them to create new worlds and move between them and reality, bending space-time continuum with the help of some special objects.  These objects include, but are not limited to, a vintage Rolls-Roys Wraith and a much humbler Tuff Burner bike. Of course it's not all. Charles can persuade anybody to do anything he wants as long as he gets them into his car. Vic can find any lost object or person she wants. Those two are soon on a collision course because individuals with unusual gifts attract each other's attention.

 Vic is aided from time to time by Margaret Leigh, a stuttering librarian who loves Scrabbles to no end and understands the gift like nobody else; Manx’s current henchman is a mentally retarded man with a criminal record called Bing. Both strive to protect what they love the best. In the case of Charles Manx it is a place called Christmasland and its inhabitants, the children he’d abducted, allegedly to protect them against their families and the ugly world around. In the case of Vic it’s her son, Wayne, and her partner, Louis.  The war between them will be long and bloody, especially after kidnapping  Wayne.  Still you must pay for every gift and Vic cannot fathom how steep price will be demanded of her.

My impressions:

My first general remark: any decent writer having so many good plot ideas would write a series – three books at least, perhaps even four or six if the first two got off financially. Joe Hill wrote one long, great novel and gained my admiration.

My second general remark: in this book I found one of the best baddies I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet in the literature. I loved to hate Charles Talent Manx, a man who would love to have Christmas every single day, all year round. He was three-dimensional and hideous and fascinating at the same time. He was a psychological vampire and it suited me to no end and his car…well, I love vintage cars so it worked exceedingly well, reminding me a bit about Christine by Stephen King. Still Rolls Royce Wraith was better. It was a real beast.

Vic McQueen was also a lovely heroine – a kick-ass girl who had her own demons and vulnerabilities which sometimes made her stronger and sometimes made her like a soft putty in the hands of her opponent. It also took her quite a long time to figure out how her gift worked and what it entailed. Here Manx had a clear advantage over her because he was way older and experienced.

Vic  and Lou’s romance…once again it worked and I couldn’t believe how well it worked for me. It was very moving, real and just fantastic. No, they didn’t marry because Vic didn’t believe in marriage (and small wonder, taking into account her family history) but the bond between them was stronger than the bond between many fictional married couples. Especially that both of them were hardly flawless – Lou was seriously overweight and adult Vic was both drug and alcohol addict.

Now the fictional world of magic and space-time tricks. Shorter Way Bridge (Vic’s way around) was good but Christmasland (Manx’s special kingdom of sorts) was mesmerizing – really one of the more original and scariest places I’ve ever visited while reading horrors/thrillers. It was very cleverly constructed, being similar to some places from my nightmare – allegedly harmless but with that atmosphere that sends chills down your spine and makes your hair curl. In fact I think such a place would be a dream come true to any thriller director – it can sell any movie in no time, especially during Christmas, to such weirdoes like me.

Final verdict: 

If you like thrillers, go read it. If you don't like thrillers, go read it.Yes, it was an awesome book, confident and at times ruthless, moving along at a determined pace, never looking back. I loved it.

Somebody Killed His Editor by Josh Lanyon (Holmes & Moriarity #1)

Synopsis:
Thanks to an elderly spinster sleuth and her ingenious cat, Christopher Holmes has enjoyed a celebrated career as a bestselling mystery writer. Until now. Sales are down and his new editor is allergic to geriatric gumshoes.

On the advice of his agent, he reinvents his fortyish, frumpy, recently dumped self into the sleek, sexy image of a literary lion, and heads for a Northern California writers conference to try and resurrect his career. A career nearly as dead as the body he stumbles over in the woods.

In a weirdly déjà vu replay of one of his own novels, he finds himself stranded in an isolated lodge full of frightened women—and not a lawman in sight. Except for J.X. Moriarity, former cop and bestselling novelist. The man with whom he shared a one-night stand—okay, maybe three—long ago. The man who wants to arrest him for murder.

A ruthless, stalking killer, or a hot, handsome ex-lover. Which poses the greater danger? It’s elementary, my dear Holmes! 


Christopher Holmes is a writer who writes mysteries a la Agatha Christie’s Ms Marple. Or he used to, apparently they’re not selling anymore. This is why he’s taking a break from his reclusion and going on a trip to a writers’ conference hoping to reinvent himself just enough to sell another book. Well, no. The reinvention is his editor’s idea, who along with everyone else in the hotel becomes a suspect the moment Christopher stumbles on a dead body. Also, there’s a storm.

It isn’t much of a mystery but Lanyon successfully kept me distracted with gossip and Christopher’s reheated love affair with another mystery writer J.X. Moriarity. Yes, you read that right and no, that’s not a typo. Lanyon isn’t paying homage just to Christie but to Conan Doyle as well.

Somebody Killed His Editor is written in Lanyon’s usual style, in first person voice, and is full of witty remarks and the kind of gaslighting an unreliable narrator causes. There is an attempt to sketch a few of the secondary characters in more detail but not quite enough for proper characterisation. The object of Christopher’s desires is left aloof and only mirrored in his reactions to J.X. I’m guessing the rest of the specifics are delivered in the sequel.

Other than that, there’s very little to say about the book. I enjoyed reading it but it wasn’t anything special. Still, I wouldn’t call it a meh-book either.

Review: Threat of Darkness (Witches Knot 06) by Lauren Dane

Synopsis (from Goodreads): 

This book is a spinoff of the Witches Knot series, but can be read alone. 
 Mei is a Warrior for the Balance. She stands between good and evil. So when her boss tells her she's got to head to Tir na nOg to help the Fae she is most displeased. Mei's mother Aine, the queen of the Fae, betrayed and exiled her millennia ago. Or so she's been led to believe. But Aine was misled by her own sister, and suddenly everything Mei has thought was true for thousands of years falls down around her ears as she looks up to see the face of her husband. Her first husband, a man she'd thought was dead. Jayce MacTavish is surprised to find that his wife, thought millennia dead, is alive, but his joy is tempered by the realization that she's got another mate. Mei, Card and Jayce must find a way to be together as three while a threat from the Dark Fae and a new enemy darkens the horizon. 

"Publisher Note: This book contains brief scenes of male/male sexual enjoyment."

My note: just one kiss *snort*. Definitely not worth the publicity it received.

My impressions:

I started to read this novel while on holiday by the sea. I was feeling rather optimistic at the time - you see, it enjoys a pretty high rating average on Goodreads, 4 stars out of 5, nothing less. Why - my mind boggles. It was horrid. It was stupid. It was a fantasy book without one inch of imagination or, well, fantasy. The fact that your characters are fairies, demons, trolls and werewolves DOESN'T mean anything without the proper world build and here there was no such a thing. Still I was the first Goodreads user who actually has given it one star. There must be something wrong: with the universe, with me, with the books and the publishing industry, with the world at large. Horribly, terribly wrong. How cannot people notice? HOW?

It is a relatively short novel - just 133 pages. One third of it consists of sex scenes. Boring, repetitive and schematic sex scenes I must add. Any and every conflict is resolved by either sex or deus-ex-machina magic performed by some gods - Freia and Carl Donovan are among them. Carl Donovan a.k.a. the Donovan is really a strange choice of name for a divine entity but whatever - if you compare it to the fact that all characters of this beauty take the expression "too stupid to live" to quite an insanely low level one inappropriate name is really a minor glitch.

Ponder over this: Mei was imprisoned and tortured by some BDSM demonic afficionados for a millenium. Yes, a millenium of torture and rapes, you read it right. Nobody even thought of looking for her because everybody believed she had been killed in a battle. Why? Her aunt said so. Nobody found the remnants of Mei's body, nobody saw anything but all those great fairies, Mei's mother and her very loving husband, Jaice, among them, assumed that if Eire (the aunt) says Mei is dead then Mei is dead, end of the story. Irrefutable logic, right? 

Then Mei is freed from her prison by Card the half were half demon, soon to be her hubby number two;  after a period of recovery she returns home and she is said that Jaice is dead, her mom doesn't want to see her anymore, she is disinherited and basically she can go and jump to the lake, thank you very much for the visit, don't bother to show your face the second time. Yes, you guessed right: once again her lovely aunt was the source of those completely false revelations. Actually she sent one of Mei's mother flunkies to do the dirty job. What Mei, a clever warrior and a fairy princess several millenia old, does? She believes in every word of that flunkey - without even thinking of contacting anybody else. If you are said by a third party your beloved husband is dead and your mum hates your guts you should ALWAYS believe it straightaway, right? Even without any proof presented? *headdesk*

Then the novel went from bad to worse. Yes, I mean the baddies, whose characterization was non-existent. You see, they are bad because a) they are DARK fae (got it? DARK!!!) and b) they hate humans. Oh well, sometimes I am not so fond of humans either and I dress in black - I bet I am bad too, right? 

Not that the goodies were better, believe me, they were not. Both male interests of the main heroine  could be described very simply as a red-headed, long-braided Scot with great physique (Jaice) and a half-werewolf half-demon with yellow eyes and great physique (Card). Here you go - now you know everything there is to know about them. I bet plenty of male catwalk models show more of their personality during an average photo session than those two. Their main role is to satisfy Mei in bed (or anywhere else if the mood strikes) and generally take care of her.  If you are now wondering I rush to add the crucial bit of info: both do it at the same time. Mostly. In order to spoil you even further: they are her two husbands and they are fond of each other as well. How come? Magic! Nothing else is needed in a successful relationship, right? (btw thanks Tasha/heidenkind for that little beauty below!)

If only magic extended also to the plot, the dialogues and the overall writing quality...unfortunately the plot was HIGHLY predictable, I bet my dog would guess any major turn and twist without any problem, the dialogues were wooden infodumps full of cliches and maudlin love and/or independence declarations (independence so you knew Mei is kick-ass), some sentences were clearly grammatically incorrect and after reaching the half point I decided I really don't need to torture myself any longer so I dumped it. Still I amused myself with  checking the finale grande. Yes, I guessed EVERYTHING right.  What joy ;(

Final verdict:

So not for me that I can hardly contain myself, limiting the amount of expletives to zero. If you want to know how a fantasy erotica novel looks when gone completely awry, read this one but don't blame me afterwards - you have been warned.

Love Has No Boundaries: Short Stories & Short Reviews Part 3

These short stories were written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.


Deep in the Count by Madison Parker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This came as close to perfection as I've seen a short story get in a long while. The plot and characterisations where there as were some of the details. I would've liked a bit more description, which I don't say often.


You Get Full Credit For Being Alive by Cari Z.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

You wouldn't think that a retired assassin falling in love would make for a good story, would you? Of course it would and thank heavens I'm not alone in thinking that. I enjoyed reading the beginning of this novella even with the gruesome details, but as the story progressed other little details started gnawing at my enjoyment.

I didn't think the tools and skills of the assassin's trade—namely wiretapping—were believable. Neither did I enjoy the bits of French dialogue that read like something I'd get from Google translate. Clunky at best—and I only know the basics of the language. And then there was the ending, which I can see being pleasing others was far from satisfactory for my taste. Such a shame.

The Brat Whisperer by J.A. Rock

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Somewhere between two and three stars. It's not a bad story at all, a character study of sorts with a dose of healthy BDSM. There's spanking and discipline, but those aren't really my thing and neither was there anything to elevate this above all the others. I'm tempted to round down due to that ending but I won't.

Dirty Boys by Kyle Adams

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

That was fun. Ridiculous but fun in a sweet, plotless, sex-addled-mind kind of way.




The Field of Someone Else's Dreams by Amelia C. Gormley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That was really good. A story about a college student and an injured baseball player drifting, trying to decide what he wants or even dares to expect from the uncertain future. There's a secret boyfriend and there are difficult parents. Read it.

Howards End by E. M. Forster

Synopsis:
The disregard of a dying woman's bequest, a girl's attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage of an idealist and a materialist — all intersect at an estate called Howards End. The fate of this country home symbolizes the future of England in an exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends during the post-Victorian era.


This book did not pull me in like Maurice and A Passage to India did, but the allegories won me over. Eventually.

Rather than being a novel about characters and their individual fates, Howards End is like a mirror made of fractured pieces that show the truth about society in small details and in the lack of a full picture.

“The poor cannot always reach those whom they want to love, and they can hardly ever escape from those whom they love no longer. We rich can.”

If this is what you take away from it, you’ve not read the same book I did. No, my experience is closer to these two quotes:

“The poor are poor, and one’s sorry for them, but there it is.”

and

“There are just rich and poor, as there always have been and always will be.”

Aside from the monetary aspects, it’s always sad to read about a woman who sacrifices so much of herself for companionship and deludes herself to being in love. Yet, maybe the true tragedy lies not in the characters and their fate, but in the people who criticise Margaret for her choice and fail to see that women of today still marry their Mr Wilcoxes. Maybe the the most poignant of it is that they never ask why.

A Passage to India by E. M. Forster

Synopsis:
It is India in the year 1924 or thereabouts. After a mysterious incident during a visit to the Marabar Caves, Dr Aziz is accused of assaulting Adele Quested, a young Englishwoman. As he’s brought to trial the fragile structure of Anglo-Indian relations collapses and the racism inherent to colonialism is exposed—a theme which still has powerful, dangerous realities today.


This is a biased review: I am too blinded by the beautiful language and awestruck by the reach of the story and its implications.

Dr Aziz is quite far from a likeable character. He is thoughtless, he has a high opinion of himself and definite opinions of others. He also copes with the English authority by the means of humour. He laughs at them and lets them laugh at him. Dr Aziz meets Mrs Moore in a mosque when he scolds her about keeping her shoes on. When it becomes clear that she’s not wearing any footwear, apologies are made and an honest dialogue begins. That discussion comes to an end when Dr Aziz has escorted Mrs Moore back to the Club into which Indians aren’t allowed.

Through Mrs Moore Dr Aziz meets Ms Quested—a newcomer to India like Mrs Moore—and ends up escorting them both to the Marabar Caves. It is at the caves where something happens.

Like so often in real life, even today, it’s never made perfectly clear what exactly happens at the caves. All that is known is that Ms Quested fled from the scene quite upset and that Dr Aziz is to blame. Or maybe not. He claims he’s innocent and Ms Quested isn’t quite sure herself what happened, but she’s the victim and beyond reproach. She’s a naïve young woman but more importantly she’s an Englishwoman and he’s an Indian.

Watching the events unfold was like watching a documentary from the year 2013. I’m serious, nothing’s changed in ninety years. When a white woman is attacked the dark man is to blame. He’s guilty until proven innocent and maybe not even then. The courts may let him go but that’s a failure on their part not evidence of his blamelessness.

It’s still true today that while individuals may bridge that gap between the races and become friends, society as a group almost never does. Old prejudices die hard.

While the legacy of colonialism is quite foreign to me, I could still identify with Adele Quested because she’s a woman. She’s someone who wants to see the best in people and ends up making a horrible mistake. She’s also the one whose word weighs least when it comes to the crime she’s the victim of. As soon as she’s uttered one accusatory word, the men take over. The Englishmen. They’ve arrested, put Dr Aziz on trial, and judged him before the first hit of the gavel. Dr Aziz is guilty and thus every Indian is. The English are better. Even the women but who listens to the women? Certainly not Dr Aziz who is furious to be accused by someone so ugly.

Contradictions. This book is full of contradictions, but so are people. I just wish we’d learned to know better by now.

Review: White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland

Synopsis (from Goodreads – short and sweet):

Lights, cameras... zombies!

When a zombie movie starts filming in town, things get crazy, and white trash zombie Angel Crawford suspects it’s not just the plot of the movie that’s rotten. With zombies both real and fake roaming the streets, it’s up to Angel to fit all the pieces — and body parts — together to save herself, her town, and quite possibly the human race. Business as usual, right? Oh, and there will be blood. I mean flood.

My impressions:

As you might remember I've read the first two books and really enjoyed them (my reviews of the previous parts can be found here and here).  Of course it's generally just mind-candy but, hey, I have absolutely nothing against that from time to time as long as it doesn’t feature  too-stupid-to-live characters doing too-stupid-to-endure things. Well, unfortunately I have to admit my enjoyment stopped while reading the third part. Why? I think I expected more from the premise, something, well, apocalytpic, I guess. After finishing that one, though, I got the feeling that the third installment describing the adventures of Angel Crawford, didn’t really go anywhere and nothing important really happened – a perfect example of a weaker ‘filler’ in the middle of a series. We have a bad guy that we never really identify, working on a zombie project we don't completely understand, and a climactic final scene that doesn't seem that dire and climatic after all is said and done.

Small wonder: the cool zombie stuff is already out there. If you, like me, read the previous installments you know that completely sentient, intelligent, long-living, regenerating-after-a-snack-or-two zombies have already been established and described thoroughly. The second book had an evil corporation as the bad guy which was fine; however, we're not really sure who the bad guy in this book is and whether he/she is related to that evil corporation at all. Also, there was pretty much zero humor in this book, which constituted a big chunk of the enjoyment I had with the first two.

Another part of the problem was that I found the pacing at the beginning really slow, and there were some aspects of the plot I could only call cliched and boring. The movie filming, surprise, surprise, didn’t help a lot although I thought at the beginning it was simply a great idea. Well, it proves that great ideas not necessarily translate into great plot devices.

I admit it, Angel is growing as a person and getting her life together - she doesn’t take as much crap as she used to take from anyone and she gets to do some heroic stuff. Still I had that feeling she became a bit tame in the process, I do wonder why. Perhaps Ms. Rowland is just trying to have a zombie Sookie Stackhouse. Angel's relationship with her dad was the most interesting aspect of the book. I was a little frustrated at her coddling her dad and being the parent in their little dysfunctional family of two but I guess it was realistic since her dad was portrayed as such a loser. Also, I thought it was sweet that he never turned his back on her, not even when he found out she was a zombie. I'm not sure I would have liked the book as much if it hadn't been for their relationship.

Let me also add that I find it rather annoying that everyone important in Angel's life is male — her dad, Marcus, Philip, Nick, Derrell, Brian, Nikas, Pietro. The novel passes the Bechdel test but just barely so. Angel needs some female friends or role models… Heather was a nice addition but there were too few scenes with both chicks together. Well, the series is hardly finished so there is some hope, right? Still even the cover I liked less this time...

Final verdict:

I don't know how many books Rowland is on contract for, but I'd like to think by now we'd get some clue as to why Angel is so special and where Pietro's guys are getting all these brains. No such luck. I admit it made me start questioning the whole series. White Trash Zombie Apocalypse wasn't a bad book, not really, but overall it left me disappointed.

If you liked the first two books, go ahead and read this one as well, but be warned: it leaves so many unanswered questions on the table that it didn't really make me want to read the next one.

Love Has No Boundaries: Short Stories & Short Reviews Part 2

These short stories were written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

The Touch Of Hope by Brandon Shire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's a really good story about two homeless teens, but the sex scenes almost ruined it for me.



Friends or Lovers? by Sara York

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

"I want to feel that again. I've never felt that before. You were amazing. Like totally and completely over-the-top amazing.

Yeah. Not so much. This is a little pwp without either of the p's. It's simply without. Someone might disagree but I've blocked out the pathetic attempt at the porn from my mind.


Breathing Snow by Dev Bentham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this one. The author focused on the behind the scenes stuff and relationship development rather on the publicity side, which I would have liked to have seen more of. Snark is one way to my heart and there was a distinct lack of snark here. As for their competitors: Oh how I miss the days when we Finns didn't suck at keeping the doping secret ;) Nah. We've always been terrible at that.

Treasure by Kim Fielding

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm rounding up to four stars. This is where the sickly weak bookworm gets his own story. Best of all, he doesn't he already lives in a fantastical world, which gives this gay version of Tristan & Isolde like meet cute it's own flavour.

I liked it, I really liked it but there were just one too many convenient lessons in Kit's past as well as packing accidents. The vocabulary was off, which I could have ignored had it been revealed that Kit was lying about certain things. And then there was the fact that the author was obviously a keen student in the school of euphemisms. *shudders*

Brandon's Laughter by Ellen Holiday

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked this one but then again I do have a huge soft spot for anything angsty and borderline melodramatic. One of my pet peeves is the presence of lyrics in prose: I don't mind a line or two but a whole song no matter how original is too much. Some stories can overcome that crippling flaw but this one had a tad too sappy reunion and ridiculous ending for my taste.

Movie Review: The Invisible War by Kirby Dick

The Invisible War is a 2012 documentary film written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering and Tanner King Barklow about sexual assault in the United States military. It premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards. I am not surprised - it fully deserves far more than just that.

My impressions

The movie features interviews with veterans (mainly female but also male) from multiple branches of the United States Armed Forces who recount the events surrounding their assaults. Their stories show many common, depressingly recurring themes:  the lack of recourse to an impartial justice system, reprisals against the victims instead of against perpetrators, the absence of adequate emotional and physical care for survivors, and something which I found perhaps the most sickening of all,  the unhindered advancement of perpetrators' careers, and the forced expulsion of survivors from service. In short they show how low the US Army really values their best and brightest soldiers.

In the film's most prominent narrative, Coast Guard veteran Seaman Kori Cioca struggles to earn benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for the many medical difficulties that have resulted from her very brutal rape perpetrated by one of her colleagues. Although she has a husband and a little daughter, Kori cannot function normally and she needs urgently several costly operations but nobody wants to hear about her problems, let alone finance the treatment. She shows that the doctors keep prescribing her the same set of pills which, combined, might have led to her premature death - fortunately she's learned not to take them together. With the help of attorney Susan L. Burke, Cioca, along with other survivors featured in the film, brings a civil suit against the Department of Defense alleging a failure to adequately address sexual assault within the military. Their suit is, surprise, surprise, unsuccessful. They don't give up but you can say it is going to be one long struggle, lined with barbed wire and concertina of neglect, lies, procrastination and humiliations.

If you're a young person thinking of enlisting in the U.S. military, you might want to give this some thought: a recent court decision held that rape was actualy among "occupational hazards" of the job. I bet they haven't included that one in any recruitment materials, have they? Department of Defense official figures indicate 22,800 rapes occurred last year in the Armed Services. Most of the victims were women, but perhaps 10 percent were men. Everybody agrees it is just a tip of the iceberg because most of assaults, like 80%, aren't reported - for obvious reasons. If victims are told that they might be accused of adultery, public intoxication and slander in turn, then publicly punished shamed and demoted, you should be hardly surprised they do think twice before filing a complaint.

Why rape is so disgustingly popular among military? Why is it so difficult to get any amount of justice? The military is a macho, adrenaline-fueled culture which in turn draws attention of power-crazy, abusive sociopaths. It doesn't mean every single one of military men and/or women is a rapist; it rather means that a violent rapist might be particularly inclined to join the ranks of military because he/she might perceive it as an opportunity for having mostly nonpunishable 'fun' and a fresh batch of victims in a form of recruits.

The Army lay great emphasis on authority and teamwork. You follow the leader - no questions asked. You go along with the program - no matter at what cost. You never mention anything negative or criminal because it might lower the morale and cast a shadow on your own career prospects. What's more, your complaint not only puts your commanding officer in a bad light, but also may involve him; the film says "25 percent of women didn't report an incident — because their commander was their rapist." Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Until a few months ago, there was no way to go above your commander to report a rape. Defense Dept. Secretary Leon Panetta saw this film, and two days later, issued an order changing that practice. But the over-all problem remains. Rape is twice as common in the military as in civilian life, and "an estimated 15 percent of recruits attempted or committed rape before entering service." In other words if you need a rapist in your life, join the Army - any branch will do - and sooner or later you're bound to meet one.

If I had to choose the most disturbing moment I would be really spoilt for choices; still I guess my award would go to that silly military sex abuse prevention campaign which was supposed to make all the difference. One of its slogans reads: 'ask her when she is sober'. I found it highly offensive, especially after getting to know all those sad, horrible stories of rape. So, accroding to the military PR specialists, basically only women soldiers get drunk, right? And, after all, it IS a bit of their fault because they tend to overuse alcohol and then some men, poor things, simply cannot restrain themselves...but still, mind you, they will always ask you first, like fine gentlemen they are...what a pile of stinking, macho bullshit.

Finally the most moving and absolutely heartrending parts were about the aftermath of rape. Every victim, and we speak here about incredibly strong women and men, both physically and mentally, cried when talking about their experience. Some said it was actually more humiliating than the rape itself. Their tears were more telling than any statistics or facts provided.

Final verdict:

An absolute must-see for any young woman who dreams about a military career in the US or anywhere else - watch it before it is too late, do your research and ask the right questions during the recruitment process. Also a strong documentary which tries to explain why  rape culture is alive and kicking and why, even if you are a high-profile professional, male or female, you cannot demand any respect or decency from your military superiors and coworkers. The film's implication, quite starkly, is that a strong military doesn't favor crybabies, that a certain degree of rape is simply unavoidable — and inevitably, that some women may have been asking for it. Begging for it in fact. One hearing noted that the victim was dressed provocatively in a short skirt- the said skirt being the part of her official uniform. How very indecent of her. Catch 22 anyone? The US Army is waiting.

Dead Sexy Dragon (Dragon Heat #1) by Lolita Lopez

Synopsis:
The last thing dragon shifter Stig Wyvern needs is his dead friend’s kid sister showing up on his doorstep. He’s just minutes away from entering a mating phase. Sharing his isolated house with the young woman he’s desperately lusted after for quite some time is a recipe for disaster.

But Cora Cardenas has nowhere else to go. She’s in deep trouble with some really nasty people and Stig is the only one who can protect her. That he’s deliciously sexy and makes her tingle with the simplest of smiles is just a bonus.

Cora quickly realizes Stig is hiding something from her. To make matters worse, she’s plagued with breathtakingly naughty dreams starring a shadowed lover who bears a startling resemblance to her host. And just what the hell is going on down in the basement at night?

Stig needs to get Cora out of his house but his inner beast has other ideas. He’s found his mate and she’s not going anywhere...



Cora is on the run from a bad situation and the only place she can think to hide in is with her dead brother’s marine friend. How is she to know that said friend, Stig (sans the helmet), is about to go into a heat and be turned into a dragon against his will? Of course the two of them sharing a bathroom leads to sexy times, and because this is a novella it happens very quickly.


I’m sorry to say this didn’t work for me. Truly sorry, because my usual gripes are absent. There’s quite a bit world building with a long and complex history that promises to be expanded in the sequels. The main characters are pretty well sketched with dreams and fears of their own even if I had trouble believing an immortal being that keen on joining a war after another. Due to the length of it, the story is rushed but it remains logical and believable within its world’s rules.

No, this time it was the erotica part of the book that failed me. More accurately, the erotica vocabulary:

< highlight for spoiler>
core,
cum,
cunt,
folds,
mound,
pussy,
(honeyed) sex,
tummy
</spoiler>

…yeah, no. Because I couldn’t lean on the insta-lust crutch, I didn’t buy the insta-love angle either. I simply couldn’t enjoy roadrunner fast the romance. Too much of a stretch even for my active imagination.

It’s too bad, because had the smut adjectives and nouns been less repulsive to me, I’d have wanted to read more about the world Lopez has created.



I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Review: The Conspiracy (Theft and Sorcery 02) by Erica Dakin

Synopsis:

Vaysita (Sita), a half-elf orphan, has been palace-bred and trained all her life. Adopted by Queen of Arlis she was made the companion and bodyguard of her son, prince Tio, a very handsome jerk. Soon some extra-curricular subjects were added to Sita's normal daily schedule: lock-picking, burglary,  close combat, dagger throwing and such – not exactly skills expected from a high-born courtier who calls the Queen her Aunt Tima.

One night Sita is sent by her shadowy tutor to rob her own castle’s treasury. During the test she meets a real burglar Kailev (Kai) – a handsome young thief, far more skilled than her and  with magical abilities as well. His simple, straightforward compliments, so different than the oblique wooing of mercenary court elves and half-elves of noble birth, make Sita blush too easily. Kai is clearly smitten with the pretty burglar girl but doesn’t promise himself a lot – she is evidently a refined lady and he lives on the streets. Still soon enough Sita will need his help in a very important mission and he won’t be able to say ‘no’. How long will the calf love last? Is it really just a case of calf love?

What I liked:

I am very glad to say the second part of Theft and Sorcery was far better than the first book. The author limited the amount of romance (in the previous installment there were two couples of identical twins in love; in this one we get just Sita and Kai) on behalf of world building and her choice paid off. From my point of view the novel was far more interesting than the first one.

The romance itself was also quite well executed – although Kai was instantly in love with Sita it took him plenty of time and effort to understand properly not only his beloved and her feelings but also himself. I really enjoyed how these two had to adjust  each other’s ideas of relationship to the reality they had to face. I didn’t expect much and I was very positively surprised – take it from a regular romance-basher! The fact that Sita had to overcome her previous infatuation with Tio Prince Charming added to the romantic story arc a much-welcomed reality factor and was more than enough to justify the first person narration. Overall well-done!

If it comes to the world building I really, truly adored the Tizar household of Nayev and his family! Far better than Rivendell and Elrond’s home, I am telling you – not high fantasy of course but who needs high fantasy when you are having fun?

The cover art is simple but I like it. At least you don't have to look at another plastic naked, headless torso.

What I didn’t like:

Once again the whole plot sometimes made me nonplussed to say the least because the mission of prince Tio and Sita was close to suicide.  The longer I thought about it the less pleasant epithets I had for the Elven Queen and her outlandish ideas of spying on those ugly, plotting elven lords. Let's face it, she endangered two important people close to her just to get some proof which could have been bought with gold and favours – what a prodigality! Of course you might argue that if not for the mission Kai and Sita would never got to know each other so well.

Final verdict:

I like a series which gets better and better; I am pleased to say this is one of them. Light read perfect for the summer with elves, half-elves, magic, theft and a lot of steamy romance – if you don’t have anything against the genre I recommend it and no, you don’t have to start with the first part in order to get your bearings.

Broken Homes (Peter Grant #4) by Ben Aaronovitch

Synopsis:
Ben Aaronovitch has stormed the bestseller list with his superb London crime series. A unique blend of police procedural, loving detail about the greatest character of all, London, and a dash of the supernatural.

In the new novel DC Peter Grant must head south of the river to the alien environs of Elephant and Castle. There's a murderer abroad and, as always when Grant's department are reluctantly called in by CID there is more than a whiff of the supernatural in the darkness.

Full of warmth, sly humour and a rich cornucopia of things you never knew about London, Aaronovitch's series has swiftly added Grant's magical London to Rebus' Edinburgh and Morse's Oxford as a destination of choice for those who love their crime with something a little extra.


What the hell did I just read? Where’s the rest of it? I need the rest of it NOW!

On a more rational note, this is another better novel of the Peter Grant series. As ever, the strength of the writing and story lies on Peter’s narration and sarcastic voice, so if that hasn’t won you over by now, don’t expect the scattered plot threads to dazzle you. If you’re invested in the long plot, however, sit back and enjoy the ride.

The story is of the slow sort and reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes in a way that doesn’t make a good mystery novel. Not in the puristic sense. Too much is hidden for the readers to piece together the puzzle for themselves and they have to wait for the genius to guide them through the intuitive steps of logical deduction.

Broken Homes also suffers from the middle book syndrome but because this is the fourth in the series let’s call it the set up syndrome. Everything, and I do mean everything is set up for bigger things to come and even the explosions at the end aren’t enough to release the underlying tension. It feels like things are going to get a lot worse before they get better and Peter needs to improve on his policing as well as his magic lessons. And fast.

When’s the next book coming out again?

Movie review: Red by Robert Schwentke

Release date: 2010

Starring: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren

Synopsis:

Frank Moses is a retired CIA agent. He lives alone in a comfortable, pristine house, takes his pills every morning, exercises in the basement and waits for the pension check to arrive. As soon as he gets it, he tears it down in order to have a pretext to phone and talk with his social security phone crush, a woman called Sara. It is his only pastime and he has never seen Sara in real life. Yes, he is so romantically awkward, lonely and bored. Fortunately lovely Sara, although much younger than Frank, seems almost as bored with her life as him – she reads Harlequins (“Love’s Wild Secret” is her latest choice - horrible but so enticing), she goes on dates, one more botched than the other, she dreams of travelling and exotic countries.

One night, though, Frank’s boredom is over. A special forces squad is sent to murder him. Who and why – you can only guess and our hero is hardly surprised. After so many years in CIA you are bound to know some dangerous secrets, right? In fact it seems he has been preparing himself for such a possibility all that time; mind you he knows every trick in the special operations books and then some. Not only he neutralizes his opponents very efficiently but also he manages to escape more or less unscathed, grabbing a bag full of documents, cash and everything a man on the run might need in order to survive for several weeks. Still Frank will be anything but alone. He goes to Sara in Kansas City and takes her away for their first date – literally kidnapping her. Then he pays visits to all his old pals who might be also targeted. They form a nice little squad on their own. Who will prevail, young CIA agents or their retired counterparts?

My impressions:

It's a comic book adaptation starring actors who are mostly over the age of 50 or 60. And it's paced like a movie for older audiences, too. Technically I shouldn’t have liked it but I did. This film might be not a killer thrill ride but I admit I haven’t seen a better spy comedy for a long time. It tells you that you are never too old for a mayhem (read: fun and fireworks) in your life and the allure of firing an honest-to-god RPG outweighs the prospects of peaceful retirement and tending to your garden – a refreshingly original premise.

Bruce Willis did surprise me – I hardly remember his other roles but this one was fun! A retired agent role suited him perfectly and there was one simply precious scene when he and his beloved Sara were reading the same romance novel (but, of course, for different reasons!).

Overall all the actors seemed to have a lot of fun while shooting this one and it translated into a piece of effortless entertainment even though, from time to time, you must put your brain on hold, preferably with some relaxing music in the background. Not every plot twist makes sense, not everything is easily believable but who cares when Helen Mirren is killing a bunch of baddies with a big machine gun positioned on a tripod, wearing a scrumptious evening dress with make-up and an impeccable hairdo to match? Or John Malkovitch, in full obsessed-weirdo-camouflage outfit, helps her swapping glossy stilettos for sturdy outdoor boots? You would have to be dead in order not to smile!

Final verdict:

A perfect light comedy for an easy evening – good humour afterwards guaranteed. You can even watch it with the whole family, most probably nobody will get bored

Love Has No Boundaries: Short Stories & Short Reviews Part 1

These short stories were written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

The Tail of a Dog by Summer Devon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cute. Told from the dog's point of view, and shows how two kind-hearted men find themselves through an unfortunate event. My favourite parts were where Javier was confiding in the dog, because people do talk to their pets and tell them things they wouldn't dream of saying to another human being.


Falling Away by Lisa Henry

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was written in third limited, so that's one good thing about it. It also had that good meh-like thing going on until it promptly fell flat on its face with that ending. I liked Dark Space, but this made me doubt whether I want to read The Island or not.


Smoky Glimpses by Nicole Forcine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Left me slightly weak in the knees. It's told in third person limited but Kaden's voice is clear and personal. Also it's a paranormal that left me wanting more of the story and the world.



Last First Kiss by Piper Vaughn

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It wasn't bad but neither was it anything especially good either. An angsty short story that touched subjects far too big for its ~10k word count. Especially because a third of it was dedicated to the sex. Friends to lovers trope.


#First Impressions #Second Chances by Heidi Belleau

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another friends to lovers story. It started out really well, then took a dip with the reveal, and only partially recovered. Cute but skimpy on the reality details.

Review: The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike 01) by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling)

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow, the brother of his childhood friend, walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

What I liked:

I did like the fact that the book was published under an alias. If you remember my review of The Casual Vacancy you know I have been an ardent proponent of such a solution. And surprise, surprise: before that secret became known to all and sundry allegedly at least one editor rejected the novel. Let's face it: it is a good story but hardly brilliant. Still kudos to the author for taking the risk of an impartial assessment! I do hope it will lead to better novels in the future!

I admit I liked the Cuckoo's Calling far better than the first 'adult' JKR's book. The plot was more interesting, the main character and his secretary sidekick - more likeable. Small wonder: this book is full of birds: we got a cuckoo, a cormoran, a robin and a Leda who, as far as I remember my Greek myths, was intimately involved with a certain swan...

Fortunately JKR does like to torture her characters - poor Cormoran not only has just one leg and is virtually penniless, forced to sleep in his office, but also has been ditched by his fiancee, a very beautiful and rich girl called Charlotte he apparently still loves. What's more, he is rather overweight and plain, in bad physical condition, practically friendless, constantly harrassed by people who only want to know more about his relationship with the famous rock star father. I admired the man's stamina and patience - if I were him I would be completely miserable, snapping at everybody right left and centre.

The mysterious death of a fashion model, Lula Landry, wasn't done badly - perhaps not exactly an original premise, definitely reminding me of some Agatha Christie's books, but overall executed nicely as far as I am concerned. The narrative voice of Rowling was, in my opinion, the best feature of this one. JKR knows how to write, although she sometimes uses a bit too bombastic vocabulary to suit a simple whodunnit.

What I didn't like:

Let me start with an unimportant tidbit. One name: Lechsinka. It was supposed to be a name of a lovely Polish cleaning lady, a girl with bad English but a great bottom and a thorough approach to her job. One problem: that name doesn't exist and/or is not used in real life - take it from another girl born and raised in Poland. One would think that there are so many Polish people, cleaners or otherwise, living and working on the British Isles it would be relatively easy to come with a real name, Slavic-flavoured and all. I wonder why JKR decided to invent one instead. Boredom? Laziness? Some obscure Google problems? Or maybe the authoress thought that nobody would care ? After all an immigrant cleaner and a secondary character to boot is not important, right? Well, wrong. A good author, in my view, always tries to dot their i's and cross their t's. In a great novel there are no unimportant characters or spurious names. What's worse, Lechsinka apparently doesn't know the English word 'detecive' - Cormoran has to explain to her that he is a kind of cop. I found the scene simply ludicrous because that particular word is very similar to its Polish counterpart (detektyw) so easily recognizable. Honestly, is research such an onerous task, Mrs. Rowling?

My second complain: there were too many elements which purpose I simply didn't understand. For example these Latin quotes (and additionally it did bother me that I couldn't find any mention of the author of the English translations - did JKR translate them herself? If so, why it wasn't stated anywhere?). At a stretch you could somehow join them with some story arcs but they were, in my humble opinion, too philosophical and aloof to fit the novel. I might be just mean now but after a while I admit I started to suspect that the author included them because she wanted to appear more sophisiticated and educated than your ordinary crime story writer. A completely uncharitable thought, I know.

Then the title. It was a bit too vague, too metaphorical to reflect well the content or provide a clear message of any kind. Ok, I admit it, after a while it kind of made sense (and no, not because the book features a Swiss cuckoo clock ;p ) but, at the same time, it felt spurious, too overthought perhaps. I personally could think of several more fitting titles (e.g.Of cuckoos and cormorans) and I am not the only one. One of funnier suggestions I've found (under the review published by the Guardian): The golden goose's calling. Simply brilliant!

Finally something that really disturbed my reading and made me bored more than once: walking and talking. In other words the pacing of the novel was too stolid for my taste. I grant it, perhaps the real investigations done by real detectives are mundane drudgeries like this one, consisting mainly of interviewing the witnesses, family and friends, connecting the facts, guessing and double guessing who lies, who tells the truth and why but in a novel it should be limited to the bare minimum. Nothing kills the interest in the crime itself more swiftly than an endless walking and talking. Nothing is more pathetic than a situation when a crime mystery reader, reaching page 320 out of 388, shouts : hooray, finally something happens!

Let me add a word or two about the cover - it is HIDEOUS and STUPID, perhaps a good choice for a chick lit novel but completely WRONG for a crime fiction book. I would never take this one into my hand just because of the cover appeal because there is NONE.

Final verdict:

A moderately good crime story. For a rookie writer it could have been a nice debut (if it was published at all, that is); for somebody of JKR's fame and renown my expectations were definitely higher. Better luck next time, Mr. Strike. I suppose I might be inclined to give you a second chance but let me call a spade a spade: I am a bit disappointed so it will be your last one.

BTW go and read a fabulous review of this book by Tasha/Heidenkind.