In general, my book review policy is that I only want to spend time talking about books I like. Every once in a while, I’ll talk about books that hit me a certain way and stuck with me (even if it’s bad). And every once in a while, I’ll review a book someone’s asked me to review (but I make no promises).
2011 READING
FINISH DATE
May 20, 2011: In the Garden of Iden (Kage Baker)
Recommended read. This is a clever take on the Adam & Eve myth, and gets pretty metaphysical about it once you start picking out the story points in the myth.
May 17, 2011: Scandal (Carolyn Jewel)
May xx, 2011: Loving a Fairy Godmother (Danielle Monsch)
This was an awesome concept. It was “meh”ly executed.
May xx, 2011: Lord Lightning (Jenny Brown)
April xx, 2011: Sinful (Charlotte Featherstone)
April xx, 2011: Absolute Trouble (Michele Albert)
April xx, 2011: The Duke and the Pirate Queen (Victoria Janssen)
Love the cover, love the story, love the heroine. Also, Victoria writes smart.
April xx, 2011: The Game of Love (Madison Scott)
April xx, 2011: Bedtime Stories (Rebecca Randall)
*April xx, 2011: A Lady’s Pleasure (Jolie Cain)
DNF for anachronistic language and no sense of time period between Regency versus Victorian.
*April xx, 2011: “Captain Grey’s Lady” (Scarlett Scott)
DNF for hasty, unbelievable setup simply to get to the first sex scene immediately.
April 14, 2011: Silver (Darcy Abriel)
April 12, 2011: “The Princess and the Penis” (RJ Silver)
Recommended read. This was just too cute.
April 9, 2011: The Ice Princess (Elizabeth Hoyt)
April 6, 2011: “Frisky Business” (Inez Kelley)
April 3, 2011: “The Lemonade Stand” (JT Warren)
Recommended read.
March 25, 2011: The Portrait (Megan Chance)
Recommended read. He’s deeply bipolar. She’s co-dependent. It’s a psychiatrist’s worst nightmare. But it works and I can believe that each’s strengths can overcome the other’s weaknesses.
March 15, 2011: After Life (Simon Funk)
March 11, 2011: First Grave on the Right (Darynda Jones)
Derivative, high-concept schlock. I liked it the story, but I knew I was being fed high-concept schlock, and that’s the part of it I didn’t like.
March 11, 2011: The Silent Governess (Julie Klassen)
March 3, 2011: American Vampire (Jennifer Armintrout)
February 20, 2011: A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure (Victoria Dahl)
February 18, 2011: One Week as Lovers (Victoria Dahl)
January 11, 2011: Risking Eternity (Voirey Linger)
2010 READING (77 pieces consisting of novels, novellas, short stories, and beta manuscripts. I can’t believe I outdid 2009, considering I felt like I had no time. However, I believe reading digitally helps me cram more in.)
FINISH DATE
December 27, 2010: Bound on Earth (Angela Hallstrom)
Recommended read. This is more than a collection of vignettes on three generations of a Mormon family. It’s a poignant, melancholy look at simply being a frail human being navigating the delicate balance of living with other frail human beings.
*December 26, 2010: Across the Hall (NM Facile)
December 25, 2010: Matched (Ally Condie)
December 25, 2010: The Third Wish (KF Zuzulo)
December 24, 2010: Song of Seduction (Carry Lofty)
Recommended read. Unusual time and circumstance for historical romance and well executed.
*December 23, 2010: Sister Laurel and the Atheist (Dee Dawning)
December 10, 2010: Aching for Always (Gwyn Cready)
December 2, 2010: A Masked Deception (Mary Balogh)
December 1, 2010: Kiss of the Rose (Kate Pearce)
November 26, 2010: Just One Taste (A Recipe for Love) (Louisa Edwards)
Recommended read
November 25, 2010: Fascinated (Bertrice Small, Susan Johnson, Thea Devine, Robin Schone)
November 24, 2010: Last Rites (Etienne D’Artagnan)
November 22, 2010: Lucifer’s Daughter (Eve Langlais)
November 19, 2010: The Privateer (Danielle Thorne)
November 10, 2010: “The Seduction of Evelyn Hyde” (Anne Hope)
November 9, 2010: “Song of the Swan” (Kelly Ferjutz)
November 6, 2010: “Restoration” (Victoria Blisse)
*November 5, 2010: “The Sleeping” (Stella and Audra Price)
November 4, 2010: Space Junque (LK Rigel)
Recommended read
October 21, 2010: Beta manuscript (SotN.SD)
October 17, 2010: judged 6 contest entries, 30 pages each
October 2, 2010: The Bellini Bride (Michelle Reid)
September 29, 2010: Like a Wisp of Steam (edited by Cecilia Tan & J. Blackmore)
September 21, 2010: Two in the Lion’s Den (Anastasia Maltezos)
September 19, 2010: Blameless (Gail Carriger)
September 19, 2010: Changeless (Gail Carriger)
September 8, 2010: “Lord Melchior” (Varian Krylov)
September 5, 2010: Clockwork Heart (Dru Pagliasotti)
August 30, 2010: Miss Foster’s Folly (Alice Gaines)
August 28, 2010: “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” (Nancy Madore)
August 27, 2010: “Lovely” (Kris Starr)
August 22, 2010: Love and Scandal (Donna Lea Simpson)
*August 17, 2010: Package Deal (Donna L. Bolk)
August 15, 2010: “The Last Days of a Rake” (Donna Lea Simpson)
August 2, 2010: Devil Falls (Angelle Trieste)
July 31, 2010: Coin Operated (Ginny Glass)
July 26, 2010: Sunday’s Child: The Wise Guy (Lex Valentine)
July 25, 2010: Beta manuscript (HELM.SD)
July 24, 2010: Black Silk, Judith Ivory
June 29, 2010: “Job in Williamsburg,” Ken Wohlrob
June 29, 2010: Dante’s Inferno, Evie Byrne
June 24, 2010: The Viking’s Forbidden Love-Slave, Michelle Willingham
*June 19, 2010: A Damsel Without a Dress, Rita Sawyer
June 18, 2010: “Cupid Be Mine,” Anya Delvay
June 12, 2010: Bride Ball, Brenna Lyons
June 8, 2010: Damages, Deb Kinnard
*May 31, 2010: Make Me Scream, PJ Mellor
May 30, 2010: The Sociopath Next Door
Research for Magdalene, but also helped me understand some of the people I’ve known in my life, articulated what it was about them that was “crazy-making,” as a psychologist friend of mine said.
May 29, 2010: Beta manuscript (G.AG)
May 15, 2010: Circe’s Charms, Sheri Gilmore
Don’t waste your money or your time. Awesome concept. Bad writing and bad sex. First rule of erotica: No bad sex.
May 12, 2010: On the Steamy Side (Recipe for Love)
May 11, 2010: Can’t Stand The Heat (A Recipe for Love)
Recommended reads, both Louisa Edwards’s books (above).
May 7, 2010: Beta manuscript (DE.NL)
*April 18, 2010: Altared Plans, Rebecca Cornish Talley
April 14, 2010: “Lily’s Ballad,” Lauren Johnson
A tween’s barely coherent running-away-from-home fantasy. I wouldn’t have remarked upon this, but it brought back memories of my early teens, writing stuff like this (none of which I was allowed to keep), daydreaming on paper. It was…sweet that way and I enjoyed it on that basis. But it was barely readable. Which is as it should be. Just not…for public consumption.
April 7, 2010: “Goldilocks and the Three Barons,” Nancy Madore
April 6, 2010: “The Empress’s New Clothes,” Nancy Madore
April 5, 2010: Three shorts not worth listing, totalling 30k words.
April 1, 2010: Beta manuscript (P.EJ)
March 28, 2010: “Day of the Dark,” Selah March
Recommended read
March 11, 2010: “Red Satin,” Barbara Miller
March 9, 2010: “A Very Cougar Christmas,” Lex Valentine
March 8, 2010: What I Did For Love, Susan Elizabeth Phillips
March 5, 2010: Beta manuscript (NL.tLS)
February 23, 2010: Angélique, Marquise of Angels, Anne/Serge Golon
Recommended read. See my feelings about this book here.
January 25, 2010: Soulless, Gail Carriger
January 10, 2010: The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
Recommended read. Natch. This means far more to me now than it did 15 years ago when I first read it. The last 1/3 of it reads like it could’ve been a transcript from the war in heaven. Roark as a messianic figure? Christ as the ultimate Randian egoist? Rand is rolling over in her grave right now, at what I’m thinking. Mormons—feel free to faint. I may explain later. It’d offend at least two sections of the cafeteria from which I pick and choose my philosophies.
2009 READING (70 pieces consisting of novels, novellas, short stories, and beta manuscripts)
FINISH DATE
December 30, 2009: Seducer of Her Dreams, Laura Eno
December 29, 2009: Myla by Moonlight, Inez Kelley
December 28, 2009: Beta manuscript (GG&IK.TDtM)
December 27, 2009: A Mistress by Design, Sabrina Darby (novella) PDF (direct download)
December 8, 2009: Beta manuscript (BS.C)
December 2, 2009: A Happily Ever After of Her Own, Nadia Lee (novella)
Cute, sweet, with no sex or even kissing! The end was a little rushed, but it’s an awesome twisty concept.
December 1, 2009: The Birthday Present, Alison Richardson (novella)
December 1, 2009: An Impolite Seduction, Alison Richardson (novella)
These three novellas by Alison Richardson, The Countess’s Client (1), An Impolite Seduction (2), and The Birthday Present (3) are to be read back-to-back, and are an excellent example of erotica. Recommended reads. All in all, I was very impressed, except for the lack of proofreading in the third one. Obviously somebody got tired. The mistakes (egregious ones) all happened in the last third of the third novella. Also? They were working toward a happily-ever-after and it was lovely and believable.
December 1, 2009: “Saturday’s Child: Storm Saturday Night” (short story), Summer Alan
Porn. Not my cuppa. This is an example of how a decent beginning suckers you into thinking there’s more to it than, you know, fucking. Also? You don’t tack on that somebody’s catching feelings and therefore is a happily-ever-after or even a happily-for-now. Also? You don’t call an 18k longish short story a novella for $4.50. I’m kinda pissed.
November 28, 2009: The Envelope Incident, Emelia Elmwood (novella)
And as soon as I said that, I’m halfway through The Envelope Incident and start to yawn. Time to switch to something else.
November 27, 2009: Mirror, Mirror, Amanda McIntyre (novella)
Gah.
I find myself reading erotica to sort of clean my mind’s palate. I’ve been doing a lot of nonstop heavy thinking for a while now. Erotica doesn’t demand anything from me and doesn’t give much back, either. For me, this is the equivalent of vegging out in front of the TV. Mind you, I can still discern GOOD erotica from BAD erotica, just like I can discern GOOD TV from BAD TV.
November 26, 2009: Beauty and the Beast, Nancy Madore (novella)
November 25, 2009: The Countess’s Client, Alison Richardson (novella)
November 22, 2009: In Too Deep, Portia DaCosta
An erotic romance from Black Lace shouldn’t be this sweet and funny, but it was, and I got caught up more in the sweet and funny than the hawt. Very cute.
November 16, 2009: Behind the Red Door, Jackie Barbosa
Like On These Silken Sheets, this is an interwoven series of novellas (three instead of four), and I really really really like this format, but probably only because these two are the only ones I’ve read so far, and they’ve been been well done. These aren’t so short as to leave no room for character development, as novellas tend to do, and I was invested in all the characters’ outcomes, particularly the last set. Unlike On These Silken Sheets, this is tagged “erotic romance,” which is fine, but I don’t see any difference in heat level between this and regular historical romance, except this one has all the naughty words in abundance, just like On These Silken Sheets.
October 28, 2009: Beauty Tempts the Beast, Leslie Dicken
This had a neat concept. Between that and the writing, it was compelling enough to keep me reading, but it took me several days, where usually I devour. It needed heavy editing for logic and continuity. Also? The sex felt artificially placed and I think it could have been a better book with little or no sex at all. Definitely needed a rewrite, but it was worth spending time on a rewrite or two.
October 13, 2009: The Diligence de Lyon, Anna Austen Leigh
This, on the other hand (see below), is good erotica. The romance is nonexistent, so why it’s labeled as erotic romance, I don’t know. If you like straight erotica, this is a good one.
October 3, 2009: On These Silken Sheets, Sabrina Darby
So, barring the fact that Sabrina’s my kinda sorta crit partner/beta reader (and she became that after she read and reviewed The Proviso when I didn’t know her from Eve), this is a recommended read. It’s good erotic romance, heavy on the romance yet still hawt. It’s billed as erotica. It is not.
September 27, 2009: The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
September 27, 2009: “Cupid, Be Mine,” Anya Delvay
On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
September 5, 2009: One Evening in London, Rae Lori
September 3, 2009: “Love Can Be Murder,” Sierra Wolfe
August 30, 2009: Beta manuscript (SD.LoR)
August 28, 2009: Pleasure Unbound, Larissa Ione
August 25, 2009: Seabird of Sanematsu, Kei Swanson
Recommended read. Rich, historical, with Asian hero and white heroine. It’s very sweet. Heavy on medieval Japanese politics. It’s the beginning of a series, so I’ll tell you right now it ends in a cliffhanger. The heroine is appropriately immature (she’s, you know, 15 or something), yet sometimes inappropriately mature, but I let it pass because of the time period and the assumption that you had to be a lot more mature a lot faster.
August 24, 2009: Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
*August 19, 2009: Tribute, Nora Roberts
August 16, 2009: Where Serpents Sleep, C.S. Harris
August 16, 2009: Like a Thief in the Night, Bettie Sharpe
Man, Bettie comes up with the most off-the-wall shit that I love. Recommended read.
August 11, 2009: Butterfly Unpinned, Bonnie Dee & Laura Bacchi
This was really disturbing in a lot of ways and really sweet in a lot of other ways. It was well written. It was heartbreaking. Not sure I buy the (what felt like) rapid emotional healing. Explicit depiction of Master/slave relationship and not for the faint of heart. So, it’s a recommended read if you want to go there.
July 25, 2009: “Behind the Mask,” Tawny Taylor
July 20, 2009: “Friends With Benefits,” Cat Johnson
July 18, 2009: The Actor and the Housewife, Shannon Hale
REVIEWED 1 * REVIEWED 2 * REVIEWED 3
July 17, 2009: Waking the Witch, Lisa Whitefern
July 17, 2009: “Maneki Neko,” Bruce Sterling
July 17, 2009: Anybody but Justin, Shelli Stevens
July 15, 2009: Big Bad Wolf, Linda Jones
Very cute, sweet, believable. Loved the setting: 1900s Maine and New York City. Recommended read.
July 10, 2009: “Bleep,” Alessia Brio
July 4, 2009: The Ugly Princess, Elizabeth K. Burton
June 30, 2009: “Changing Thumbelina,” Emily Ryan-Davis
*June 29, 2009: Torn by God, Zoe Murdock
June 29, 2009: Beta manuscript (GG.CO)
June 28, 2009: Beta manuscript (IK.Wmk)
June 28, 2009: Beta manuscript (SE.F)
As of June 28, 2009, I lost track of what I read when. There are a couple of titles missing. I’m not copping to because they were so bad, and I don’t mean in a naughty way. Here’s a list of what I’ve read since my last entry in February:
Beast
This moved me in so many ways so deeply I can’t possibly review it. Recommended read.
“Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss,” Bronwyn Scott
Ripping the Bodice, Inara Lavey
This was one of the infamous Ravenous Romance novels. It was cute. It was not stellar, but it was solid. I laughed, and cried. It had some deliberate camp going that made the emotional parts a little more bittersweet. It was self-aware and I really liked it.
“Shipwrecked and Seduced,” Amanda McCabe
*The Priestess’ Lover, Jesse Blair Kensington
I didn’t finish this, so I’m not sure if I should put it on the list. I gave it a good third, but it never made any sense.
“Unmasking of Lady Loveless,” Nicola Cornick
Utter Cupidity, Toni L. Meilleur
“Eternity, Part One,” Lauren Farley
This is a very very short story that’s the beginning of a serial. It seems to have been written by a teenage girl, which is okay, but it seems to have been written by a teenage girl. Not reading any more of the serial. And I don’t remember where I got it anyway.
*Fated, Lauren Dane
Another one I didn’t finish. I got drawn in by the cover art and blurb even though I don’t read much paranormal and even less shapeshifter/werebeast romance. It never made any sense.
“Conrad’s First Girl,” Varian Krylov
This was more of a morality tale of why NOT to pick up dudes. It was well written and it was erotic (from an adult woman’s perspective), but . . . in the end, what I got from it was, “I’m giving this to my daughter to read during The Sex Talk to scare the hell out of her.”
Price of Passion, Susan Napier
Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner (re-read)
Feb 8, 2009: Snowbound
Feb 5, 2009: Speed Dating
Feb 4, 2009: The Bride’s Baby
Jan 24, 2009: “101 Degrees Fahrenheit,” Eva Gale
Jan 24, 2009: “Hysteria,” Eva Gale
I would read this woman’s to-do list. Somehow she would make it transcendent.
Jan 24, 2009: Beta manuscript 1 (EG.S)
Jan 24, 2009: Ghost of a Chance, Carolan Ivey
Jan 22, 2009: Beaudry’s Ghost, Carolan Ivey
Jan 18, 2009: Healer’s Touch, Kirsten Saell
*Jan 4, 2009: The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover,Victoria Janssen
Jan 3, 2009: Fools Rush In, Kristan Higgins
2008 REVIEWS
Dec 28, 2008: Waiting for Spring by RJ Keller
Dec 6, 2008: “Kept” by Zoe Winters
Dec 4, 2008: The Truth About Roxy by Jenny Gilliam
Oct 27, 2008: Do the Math by Philip B. Persinger
Aug 27, 2008: Married to a Rock Star by Tami Parrington
July 16, 2008: Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander by Ann Herendeen
July 12, 2008: Always Listen to the Ravings of a Madwoman by JulieAnn Henneman
June 23, 2008: “Ember” by Bettie Sharpe
June 8, 2008: Angel Falling Softly by Eugene Woodbury
*DNF
