Review: Long Shots 1-3 by Christine d’Abo

Posted on August 23, 2013August 11, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: Contemporary erotic romance
Series: Long Shots, #1-3
Length: 244 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: September 3, 2012 (collection)
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Welcome to Pulled Long café, where the coffee is hot, and the sex is hotter! Meet your hosts:

Sadie Long has been lusting after her friend Paul for years, and when she visits him at Mavericks, the sex club where he works, she’s suddenly fantasizing about being with Paul and his sexy boss Josh—at the same time.

Paige Long can’t help but be attracted to gorgeous firefighter Carter, especially once she learns he’s a Dom. But can she trust in her own desires and submit to happiness?

Ian Long doesn’t want to be the rebound guy for a brokenhearted man—even after a little exhibitionist play with Jeff satisfies desires he didn’t even know he had…

Anthology includes Double Shot, A Shot in the Dark and Pulled Long.

My Review:

The Long Shots series of erotic romances by Christine d’Abo center around the cafe, bakery and catering business with the wonderfully punny name “Pulled Long” and the sex club across the street with the equally evocative name, “Mavericks”.

The Long siblings own Pulled Long. Sadie runs the baking and catering, Ian does the coffee, and Paige manages the business end of things. In spite of the long hours and the extremely early mornings, it’s way better than their old day jobs used to be. But the one thing that running their own business doesn’t do is leave any of them much time for a love life. Or even much of an occasional sex life. And that’s where Mavericks comes in to each of their lives.

Ahem.

Sadie’s story, Double Shot, is basically a hotter than average friends-into-lovers story with a threesome as the opening sex act. Or possibly as the handoff. That works better than it sounds. Double Shot is really a classic story, with a kinky twist. Sadie and Paul have been best friends for years, because they met when he dated her BFF. By the time it would have been okay for her to go after him, the friendship was too good to risk. Ten years later, the seemingly unrequited lust is driving her insane! Of course she has no idea he’s in the same bad way, until he hands her a major catering job at Mavericks, and the costume to go with it.

While in one sense, the climax of the story is the threesome between Sadie, Paul and Josh, the owner of Mavericks, it really is Sadie and Paul’s romance. Josh is there to make sure the two lovebirds don’t chicken out on the way to their happily ever after, not that he doesn’t enjoy himself. But it’s bittersweet for him because he’s definitely giving his best friend away to someone who will monopolize his attention. Josh is doing the right thing for the right reasons but he’s closing a chapter in his own life. (d’Abo gets back to Josh in Calling the Shots.)

Escape Rating for Double Shot: B

Oldest sister Paige Long is the one most involved with Mavericks. Or at least she used to be. A Shot in the Dark is the story of Paige taking back control of her life by finding someone with whom she can give up control in the bedroom. Paige, who is the business manager for Pulled Long, is a submissive in the BDSM scene who has been unable to let herself acknowledge that her first and last Dom was an abusive asshat who slapped her around and ignored her needs and boundaries.

So this is a story about love and trust. It’s also very steamy. But what this story does is let the reader take a walk into Paige’s lifestyle in a way that makes the BDSM aspects about the romance and not the titillation for titillation’s sake. Even if it’s not the reader’s cuppa tea, you leave the story seeing why it’s Paige’s. And cheering when the asshat gets his head handed to him by the man who turns out to be the right man (and Dom) for her.

Escape Rating for A Shot in the Dark: B

Finally, Ian’s story. He’s last because he never lets himself take any time off from the store. He works extra long hours so he really doesn’t have time for a love life. His story even has the same title as the name of their shop, Pulled Long. And his lover had to walk into the store, because Ian lives above the shop. There wasn’t anywhere else they could have met.

Ian’s fallen for a man he only knows as “Blue Eyes” for eight months. He’s a customer that Ian flirts with, talks with, but can’t manage to cajole a name out of. It’s a game they play. Jeff knows perfectly well that Ian is asking for his name, but he’s enjoying the game too. And he’s waiting for his divorce to be final before he starts dating anyone else. And that’s the problem. When Ian discovers that Jeff is finalizing his divorce, Ian breaks off their game. He’s been a straight guy’s rebound experiment before, and he does not want to go through that heartache again. Jeff knows perfectly well that he’s not straight, he’s bi, and right now, he wants to pursue a relationship with Ian because he really enjoys the friendship they’ve developed and wants to find out how far it can go. But between Ian’s long-term guilt issues, insecurity issues, and Jeff’s mistrust issues, there’s a question whether they can manage to take their relationship beyond some very hot one-night stands in risky places, or whether they’re both too screwed up to work out the best thing that’s ever happened.

Escape Rating for Pulled Long: B+

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Review: Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe

Posted on August 22, 2013August 21, 2013 by Galen Charlton | Author : Galen Charlton | B Reviews> book reviews> Guest Review

Format read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, audiobook
Genre: Science fiction and fantasy
Length: 337 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Date Released: August 27, 2013
Purchasing Info: Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Perhaps no living author of imaginative fiction has earned the awards, accolades, respect, and literary reputation of Gene Wolfe. His prose has been called subtle and brilliant, inspiring not just lovers of fantasy and science fiction, but readers of every stripe, transcending genre and defying preconceptions.

In this volume, a select group of Wolfe’s fellow authors pay tribute to the award-winning creator of The Book of the New Sun, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Soldier of the Mist, The Wizard Knight and many others, with entirely new stories written specifically to honor the writer hailed by The Washington Post as “one of America’s finest.”

Shadows of the New Sun features contributions by Neil Gaiman, David Brin, David Drake, Nancy Kress, and many others, plus two new short stories by Gene Wolfe himself.

At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Guest review by Galen Charlton.

Fairly or not, there are not many genre writers who are (or would have been) contenders to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature. Doris Lessing, of course, has written science fiction and won the Nobel Prize — and even better, isn’t ashamed of having written genre works. Ursula K. Le Guin. Octavia Butler, were she alive. Iain Banks, ditto. Ray Bradbury, ditto. Perhaps, in time, China Miéville.

One name that often comes up in such discussions is Gene Wolfe, author of such classics as The Book of the New Sun sequence and The Wizard Knight. His use of language rewards the reader who is willing to pay careful attention (and keep a dictionary at hand!)

He’s generally acknowledged by other SF and fantasy authors as a writer’s writer, so it is appropriate that so many of them have joined together in this festschrift edited by J.E. Mooney and Bill Fawcett.

Escape Rating B: As with any collection of short stories, some are stronger than others. Many of the ones I liked best play with the boundaries between an author and the characters he or she writes. For example, “Epistoleros” by Aaron Allston is epistolary in form and set in an alternate world where the Republic of Texas remained a going concern through the 1890s, along with many of the colonial territories of North America. The twist at the end, where an author/reader turns the tables on a character, is sure to please fans of Jasper Fforde. Along parallel lines, “… And Other Stories” by Nancy Kress shows that sometimes it’s not enough to get lost in a good book, but to figure out how to escape into one.

“Ashes” by Stephen Savile is a quiet meditation on love lost and making time to travel one’s memory in the course of grief. “Tunes from Limbo, But I Digress” by Judi Rohrig is a fun tale told by an unreliable narrator — unreliable in part because the narrator isn’t entirely certain of her identity.

“A Touch of Rosemary” by Timothy Zahn and “Snowchild” by Michael Stackpole are solid fantasy tales, while “The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin” by Michael Swanwick is an example of the most excellent sort of horror story that hits the reader even harder an hour after reaching its end.

Competent but unexceptional contributions include “A Lunar Labyrinth” by Neil Gaiman, “In the Shadow of the Gate” by William C. Dietz, and “The Log” by David Brin.

Among the weaker contributions was “Tourist Trap” by Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg. Recent events may be coloring my impression of this story, but I was put off by its use of the trope of stuffing a female character into a figurative refrigerator. “Soldier of Mercy” by Marc Aramini tried a bit too hard to match the complexity of Wolfe’s writing, but ended up just leaving me feeling a bit confused.

Also included are two stories by Wolfe himself, “Frostfree” and “Sea of Memory”.

Despite some unevenness, the anthology is a worthy tribute to Wolfe: readers who like the anthology but who haven’t read Wolfe yet will be inspired to pick up one of his books, while long-time fans of his writing will enjoy other authors’ variations on his themes.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: A Captain and a Corset by Mary Wine

Posted on August 21, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Series: Steam Guardians, #2
Genre: Steampunk Romance
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Number of pages: 317 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Goodreads |Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK) | Publisher’s Website

For Sophia Stevenson, there’s no going back to the life she knew. She never asked for the powers that make her a precious commodity to the secret society of Illuminists—and their archenemies.

Captain Bion Donkova would give anything to possess the powers that have fallen in Sophia’s lap. If only the beautiful, infuriating woman could stay out of trouble, he wouldn’t have to keep coming to her rescue…

Bion and Sophia have friction to spare—and nothing fuels a forbidden passion better than danger…

My Thoughts:

I liked A Captain and a Corset a whole lot better than the first book in the series, A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious (reviewed at Reading Reality). Admittedly, that’s a damn low bar to get over.

The characters in Captain were way more interesting than in Curious. Whatever we might think of all the Victorian rules regarding female behavior, having the heroine be a woman who believed in those rules and had been jerked out of her place against her will made Sophia Stevenson more interesting, especially since one of the rules of the Illuminist society she had perforce become part of at the end of Curious was that she couldn’t contact her father for a year! Unlike the heroine of Curious, Sophia’s father was a genuinely nice man, and a widower who both loved and depended on Sophia. She missed him and felt terrible that he had to think she was dead. Topping off this horrible situation, he lived across the bloody street!!!!

Sophia does obey the rules laid out for her. She may not like or agree with them, but she does participate in what she’s supposed to do (unlike the heroine of Curious). Sophia gets kidnapped by the bad guys from her very own room while under guard.

Again, we do learn more about the evil dudes. The Helikeians are basically Slytherins, if you’ll pardon the Harry Potter cross-over reference. They believe that only the pure-blooded should be in charge. Everyone else should be ground under their aristocratic boot heels. And they despise the Illuminists because the Illuminists have this terribly egalitarian streak and accept anyone of talent. Of course, that same egalitarian streak is what makes Victorian society in general reject the Illuminists.

Then we have our hero, Bion Donkova. He’s a bit of an enigma, but in a good way. Seemingly the tall, dark and dangerous type, but he’s kind of a lone wolf. What makes him interesting is that we see that he’s raised himself up through the Illuminist ranks by talent and willpower. He definitely started with nothing and has never forgotten it.

He and Sophia strike sparks from each other from the minute they meet in A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious, and the dynamic between them is one that is guaranteed to cause friction. Sophia accidentally received the talent that Bion has waited all of his life for. She absorbed the power of an exploding crystal rootball and has become an airship navigator. Her old life is over, but she can’t go back, her eyes have permanently changed. She may not appreciate what’s happened to her but she’s stuck.

And Bion Donkova has made himself her trainer. Sophia can’t tell whether he’s so hard on her because that’s how much he resents her, or whether he’s just always that mean.

Then she gets kidnapped by sky pirates, and Sophia discovers that Bion didn’t prepare her nearly well enough. But when he gets himself shanghaied in order to rescue her, she realizes what all those sparks between them really meant. And she doesn’t resist any more.

The best thing is that in this story, they rescue each other. Unfortunately it takes them a couple of tries to get it right!

Verdict: If you enjoy steampunk, A Captain and A Corset is much more fun than A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious, and I don’t think you need to read that one first. I kind of hope you don’t.

Sophia and Bion were better rounded characters than the hero and heroine in the first book. In this story, they kept making assumptions about each other, and were constantly surprised by how wrong they both were. They grew towards each other, especially as Sophia let go of her Victorian restrictions.

Bion assumes that because Sophia is a “lady” that she can’t take care of herself. Sophia assumes that because Bion is cold to her that he doesn’t like her, and that he doesn’t have any manners at all. They learn a LOT about each other when they are forced to rely only on each other. And that’s when the romance in this steampunk romance really builds up a head of steam!

4-Stars

I give A Captain and A Corset by Mary Wine 4 crystal stars!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious by Mary Wine

Posted on August 21, 2013August 18, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | book reviews> C Reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback
Genre: Steampunk romance
Series: Steam Guardians, #1
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Date Released: August 1, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Hated and feared by the upper classes, the Illuminists guard their secrets with their lives. Janette Aston’s insatiable quest for answers brings her to their locked golden doors, where she encounters the most formidable man she’s ever met.

Darius Lawley’s job is to eliminate would–be infiltrators, but even he may be no match for Janette’s cunning and charm…

My Review:

This story had potential. It really, really did. But it never quite lived up to its title.

What we have is the rather ordinary story of a Victorian young lady who chafes at the restrictions laid upon her by society’s expectations and her ridiculously authoritarian father. I say ridiculous because he expects her to be the obedient fluffhead that society demands while he never noticed that her mother snuck tutors in behind his back and gave her a real education.

Of course she does something outlandish, and of course his reaction is over-the-top and melodramatic. It’s the equivalent of tying the heroine to the railroad. He believes her quest for knowledge demonstrates “hysteria” and has her committed to a doctor’s care.

This was a very real problem, but in the case of this story, it’s how the villains are introduced. And are they ever “bwahaha” and extra sinister.

The steampunk aspects of the story are in the science. Our heroine turns out to be a “pure spirit” (more on that later) who can hear the singing of “Deep Earth Crystals”. A fact she discovers by walking into a meeting of the Illuminists, the good guys investigating the steam sciences.

Of course, no Victorian “lady” should be having anything to do with science in general or the Illuminists in particular, which starts Janette Aston on the road to ruin. At least according to her father.

It certainly puts her squarely in the sights of the evil forces that have been working against her family for generations.

And it gains her a guardian Illuminist in the person of Darius Lawley, a man who of course can’t resist her, even though he should.

Escape Rating C-: I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Without the steampunk trappings the story has been done before. Innocent girl gains too much knowledge, decides to take a walk on the wild side, and is saved by brave man with dark past who discovers he has a heart after all.

Janette is a little too naive. We don’t see her transformation. She’s still just a vessel, even at the end. And did her talent have to be “pure spirit”? Was it really necessary to hang a lampshade on the importance of her virginity?

All the villains seemed evil or venal for the sake of evil. Or stupidity in the case of Janette’s father. We don’t have any idea why they oppose the Illuminists beyond the need for an opposition. Even Voldemort had a motive!

What made Lawley so duty-bound? There are plenty of people like him, but why was he? There was definitely an episode in his past with a society woman, but we don’t get to read about it.

The gaps in this story left this reader too curious for satisfaction. However, the second book in the series, A Captain and A Corset, turned out to be surprisingly better. See my review at Book Lovers Inc. for details.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick

Posted on August 20, 2013August 11, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: hardcover borrowed from the Library
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, large print paperback, mass market paperback, audiobook
Genre: Paranormal romance, Historical romance
Series: Ladies of Lantern Street, #1
Length: 347 pages
Publisher: Jove Books
Date Released: April 24, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Evangeline Ames has rented a country cottage far from the London streets where she was recently attacked. Fascinated by the paranormal energy of nearby Crystal Gardens, she finds pleasure in sneaking past the wall to explore the grounds. And when her life is threatened again, she instinctively goes to the gardens for safety.

Lucas Sebastian has never been one to ignore a lady in danger, even if she is trespassing on his property. Quickly disposing of her would-be assassin, he insists they keep the matter private. There are rumors enough already, about treasure buried under his garden and occult botanical experiments performed by his uncle—who died of mysterious causes. With Evangeline’s skill for detection, and Lucas’s sense of the criminal mind, they soon discover that they have a common enemy. And as the energy emanating from Crystal Gardens intensifies, they realize that to survive they must unearth what has been buried for too long.

As I read Crystal Gardens, I kept thinking that there would be a point where this Ladies of Lantern Street series would somehow connect with Quick’s (also known as Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle) Arcane Society/Harmony series.

All the elements are definitely present for this book to flow directly into the Arcane Society. And that’s not a bad thing!

Evangeline Ames is an independent woman in the Victorian Era, a time when women had very few options open to them if they wished to remain independent. Evie appears to be a ladies’ companion, someone who lives with unmarried rich females and serves as a chaperone. However, it’s all a disguise. Her true position is as an inquiry agent for the female-owned firm of Flint & Marsh, and her last investigation ended badly. She discovered that the gentleman pursuing Lady Rutherford’s granddaughter was the fortune hunter that her grandmother suspected, but that revelation came at a price.

Said fortune hunter died in mysterious circumstances. And someone from the London criminal underworld has pursued Evie to the countryside with the intent of murdering her.

Instead, Evie uses her paranormal abilities to save herself and thwart her would-be murderer, with the assistance of her country neighbor. And that’s where the fun begins.

The ladies of Lantern Street are both Mrs. Flint and Mrs. Marsh, as well as the the women they employ as inquiry agents. One of the requirements for positions with the firm is paranormal talent. Evie has the ability to raise or suppress someone else’s paranormal and physical energy currents. She can soothe a fever, she can keep a heart beating, or she can push someone into unconsciousness. She can go too far.

The other ladies, whom we meet in the later books, have other talents.

Evie was drawn to the town of Little Digby because it has a garden famous for its paranormal energies. The owner of the garden, and the estate it belongs to, is Lucas Sebastian. Sebastian is a hunter talent. He’s come to back to Little Digby to discover why his uncle’s experimental garden has, in effect, gone rogue.

What he discovers is Evie Ames trespassing in his garden in order to escape her would-be killer. Sebastian is more than willing to let the garden have the assassin. For dinner. But now that his hunter talent is focused on protecting Evie, he’ll do anything to keep her safe. But he can’t let her go.

Escape Rating B+: Crystal Gardens reminded me just how much fun Amanda Quick’s historical paranormal romances can be. This was absolutely a pleasure to read.
The story does set up the Ladies of Lantern Street trilogy. We meet all three of the “Ladies” as well as get the background on Flint & Marsh. I’ve read that this connects with the Arcane Society, but not officially. It does seem like the same world.

I enjoyed the give and take between Evie and Lucas in this story. One of the things that makes Quick’s Arcane historicals work for me is that she gives a reasonable explanation for why her female characters are so anachronistically independent. Evie always stands up to Lucas, to the point of eventually managing his relationship with his stepmother and half-siblings, but her independence makes sense in light of her background.

Lucas reveals himself over the course of the story. It’s not so much a redemption arc as a peeling back layers of secrets, but it allows him to show that he has changed and is capable of more.

The paranormal elements add sparkle, even if there are sometimes literal thorns!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Losing Control by Nina Croft

Posted on August 19, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 1 Star> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Series: Babysitting a Billionaire, #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: Aug. 12, 2013
Number of pages: 250 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Brazen
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Publisher’s Website

Four years after escaping her abusive ex-husband, Kim finally believes she’s in control of her life and her emotions and she’s determined to never risk either again with a man. She has a great home, a job as a security specialist which she loves, and Jake for a best friend. But things are a tad lonely in the sex department, so she decides to embark on a no-strings-affair with one of her hot co-workers. And who better to help her remember how to lure a man than her best friend?

Jake has wanted Kim from the moment he first saw her, but four years ago, she was too young and too damaged. So he kept her close and he kept her safe, offering her a job in his security company and the training to feel safe again, and he bided his time. But now, after the long wait, if she imagines he’s going to stand by while she seduces some other guy… Never going to happen

My Thoughts:

I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. Nina Croft’s Blood Hunter series is awesome science fiction romance. I mean totally awesome, she made vampires and werewolves in space completely work.

But Losing Control is a contemporary, and it didn’t just make my willing suspension of disbelief meter go flying out the window, it’s making me put ranty pants on for this review.

Because the story is about a woman who was nearly suicidal while married to an abusive, control freak man and who has spent the last four years pulling herself together. It is, and it should be, a long and scary journey.

Kim works for a security company because she needed to feel more secure about her own damn self. She’s taken all the self-defense courses, she wants to be an agent. She needed to grab control of her own life.

Four years after the end of her marriage, she’s finally starting to feel like sex might be worth trying again. But none of the guys she works with are interested in her. And her husband was only interested in belittling her and hurting her. She’s starting the think that she’s the problem.

No, the problem is that her best friend, her boss Jake, has told all the guys at the job that she’s off limits. He’s saving her for himself. And since he owns the company, and they all like their paychecks, the guys all paid attention to what the boss said.

Kim has no clue. Of course, she had no clue that her ex was gay, either. At least she had the excuse of being 18 for that. But still. Oh, did I mention that her apartment is subsidized by her job? Meaning her protective boss? The one who won’t let her out into the field as an agent because he can’t stand the thought of her being in danger, not that she isn’t qualified.

Kim’s spent the last four years putting herself in charge of her life, getting new friends, taking new risks. But Jake has been making sure she’s safe, checking up on her friends, not necessarily trusting all of her decisions.

Then when she decides that she’s finally interested in getting intimate with someone, he drops the bombshell that he’s been waiting for her all along, and there’s no way he’ll let anyone else into her life. Yes, he makes it sound more romantic than that, but he does control her life.

He’s been her best friend for four years, he’s her boss and his company subsidizes her rent. The first half of the book, was a lot of him ignoring or riding roughshod over all of her attempts to set any ground rules for their new relationship. He always knew better than any objections she might have.

Kim had a LOT of damage that prevented her from having a healthy relationship with someone. She did need to get over it. Her mother died when she was young, her father was cold and distant. She married an abuser because she was easy prey for someone who pretended to love her. (I didn’t hear any mention of therapy, and did she ever need it!)

None of that gets cured by a quick f*ck, no matter how long the guy has loved her, particularly when there’s no protection involved. And yes, that comes back to haunt in the too easy happy ever after.

The fact that she continued to let him walk all over her boundaries made me decide that she still had way too many doormat tendencies left in her.

And after all the come-here/go-away games the two of them play, we get a very fast, tie-up the loose ends happy ending where Kim decides that because Jake lets her tie him up in bed that he isn’t as big a control freak as she thought so marrying him will be okay after all.

Besides she goes to punch her ex’s lights out and she has a lovely reconciliation with her daddy who says that he loves her and no, her mommy didn’t kill herself so everything is sunshine and lollipops. And she’s pregnant.

Verdict: There are people who are going to love this book. I’m just not one of them. My rant-o-meter wouldn’t come down after the first 150 pages where Jake repeatedly blows past Kim’s boundaries and ignores everything she says. He is controlling her, and he has been controlling her. That he’s been nice about it doesn’t matter.

For this story to have had a chance at working, Kim needed to be truly on her own and discover if she could make it without training wheels. She should have been wondering how much of her recovery was really her own doing. Or at least she would have if she had been as kick-ass as the book’s description made her out to be.

Instead she turned out to be a damsel in distress wearing a heroine’s costume, waiting for her Prince to sweep her off her feet and get her knocked up.

I give Losing Control by Nina Croft 1 disappointed star.

Guest Post by Author Traci L Slatton on Why I Write Science Fiction + Giveaway

Posted on August 19, 2013August 18, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | blog tours> Book Giveaway> ebook giveaway> Giveaways> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Traci L. Slatton, who recently published the sweetly surprising and terrific SF romance The Love of My (Other) Life (review here). She’s here to talk about…

Why I Write Science Fiction
By Traci L. Slatton

When I was 6 years old, I fell in love with reading. It happened fast, like most experiences of true love. It was a thunderbolt, in fact. I went from reading “See Spot Run” to reading ‘big books,’ that is, chapter books for older kids, in a few weeks.

The dazzling thing about reading was that it allowed my imagination to play. I started with the usual kid’s books but picked up a copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, and I was hooked. I read everything Burroughs wrote, all his Mars and Venus and Pellucidar books. I loved them. I devoured them. I consumed them utterly.

From Burroughs, I branched out into other science fiction. Every new novel was a whole new set of imaginal possibilities. New worlds, new wonders, came to life within me—possibilities I had never before conceived of took root and grew in my soul.

My first published novel was a historical novel, but even Immortal had elements of sci fi in it. (I won’t give those away….) After Immortal, I turned to a dystopian series, the After series, a dark and romantic story set after a global apocalypse.

The After series is tense and dark, and I wanted to write something lighter, with serious elements, that still allowed my imagination to play—and that invited readers to play with me. Ultimately, as an author, that’s my goal: to engage readers playfully and heartfully; to give readers a sense of wonder and discovery; to open up minds to new options and hitherto unconsidered possibilities.

I had this flash of an idea: what if a man showed up in my life, and he stalked me and claimed that we were married in an alternate universe, and I thought he was a crazy homeless dude, but he turned out to be the love of my life, but I couldn’t be with him because he belongs to another world? Excuse the run-on sentence, but the initial reverie the love that was the genesis for The Love of My (Other) Life was just like that, a big cram-up of ideas about love and loss and laughter and choice.

So the main character Tessa Barnum encounters this man, Brian Tennyson, who stalks her and tells her that they’re married in a parallel universe. And through him, she discovers the person she might have been, except for choices she made here that altered her path. The heart being what it is, an eternal force in all universes, it leads her back to Brian….

About Traci L. Slatton

Traci L. Slatton was born into a Navy family. She grew up in Great Lakes, IL; Norfolk, VA; Olathe, KS; Millington, TN; and Groton, CT. Traci now lives in Manhattan with her husband sculptor Sabin Howard, three daughters, stepdaughter, and two labs, all of whom are wonderfully opinionated creatures.Traci has published dozens of poems, short stories, and articles in magazines and literary journals. She greatly enjoyed researching Edgar Cayce, quantum physics, and Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic fields for Piercing Time & Space. For the historical novel Immortal, she inquired deeply into the art and life of the Italian Renaissance, a period when thinkers like Pico della Mirandola, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marsilio Ficino were engaged in questioning the nature and relationship of science, art, and the soul. Immortal was a bestseller in Italy, Russia, and Brazil and was also translated into French, Greek, Spanish, and Polish.To learn more about Traci, visit her website and blog or follow her on Twitter and Goodreads.

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Traci is giving away ebook copies of The Love of My (Other) Life to two lucky winners! To enter, use the Rafflecopter:

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Review: The Love of My (Other) Life by Traci L. Slatton

Posted on August 19, 2013August 18, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Science fiction romance
Length: 236 pages
Publisher: Parvati Press
Date Released: January 29, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

What worlds would you move to be with your soulmate?

Painter Tessa Barnum is struggling. Her husband left, she’s broke, about to be evicted and has made some serious missteps in her career.

When scruffy Brian Tennyson explodes into her life, claiming to be from an alternate universe, Tessa thinks he’s a crazy vagabond – albeit one with mysterious and undeniable appeal.

Then he informs her that in his world, they’re married.

Tessa’s universe is turned upside down as the truth of love and loss, victory and humiliation, and second chances comes back to her. She has to choose love over logic to reach that state of anticipation where miracles unfold.

The secret to her own life was always in her heart.

My Review:

Somewhere in the multi-verse, Schrödinger’s Cat is alive. And so is Dr. Brian Tennyson’s wife.

Tessa Barnum simply went down what Terry Pratchett calls the “other leg of the trousers of time” and didn’t become his wife. She also didn’t die of cancer. Brian spends much too much of his time, his money, and his genius inventing a machine that can solve all the quantum theory paradoxes involved in traveling from one parallel universe to another. Just a visit. So he can say “goodbye”.

The Tessa Barnum in our universe is a hot mess on her best days. And there haven’t been too many of those recently. Three years worth of recently, in fact. She’s a painter. Or she would be, if she hadn’t dropped out of the art world in the middle of a scandal. She’s also divorced from a man she clearly didn’t love, but can’t seem to move past.

And she’s been avoiding the real world so steadfastly that she hasn’t kept up the payments on her New York City co-op. She’s facing eviction.

Brian, the other world Brian, drops into her life at her lowest ebb. He brings with him an intensity that has been missing from her life since she chose to follow the soul-sucker who would become her husband to Columbia instead of going to Yale. The Yale where she would have met Brian.

Brian also brings hints of the woman she might have been. The open and carefree spirit that his Tessa was. The woman who chose a concert cello career instead of painting, and it turns out forging, art. The woman who took care of herself more instead of burying herself in other people. She catches a bit of that other Tessa’s joie de vivre. And remembers that it was part of how she used to be, even as she continues to reject that Brian is who he says he is.

Until Brian drags her to a physics lecture, given by her universe’s version of Brian Tennyson. And she gets a glimmer that she might be able to have part of the life she catches in Brian’s eyes. Even as he lets her go.

Escape Rating B+: This is a classic case of not judging a book by its cover. The cover does not represent the story at all. There are a couple of sweet, hot, romantically charged sex scenes, but the cover implies something else.

The story is about the incredible power of love to move, not just mountains, but actual universes, and that it is absolutely never too late for a second chance. Not even if you have to employ quantum mechanics to kick your own self in the teeth.

The many universes interpretation is a known concept in physics, it is the one which includes poor Schrödinger’s Cat. That part is not a joke. The uses it is put to in fiction, especially science fiction, are legion and vastly entertaining. The Doctor Who episode Turn Left and the Star Trek Next Gen episode Yesterday’s Enterprise are both excellent uses of this device.

What made The Love of My (Other) Life especially good was that there was no deus ex machina that allowed the other Brian to stay, or allowed him to take Tessa back to his parallel world. He kept complaining that she was doing things differently from his Tessa, and she had to beat it into his head that she wasn’t his Tessa. Her choices had been different and had made her a different person. The other Tessa had things to teach her, but they were different people. The Tessa of this world changed for the better, but she did not become the other Tessa.

Brian got closure. He doesn’t get to have the doppelgänger of his dreams, and he doesn’t get a do-over with his Tessa. He gets to say “goodbye” and make his peace. Giving the Brian of this world a chance at the same happiness he had experienced with this Tessa was a nice gift, but he went back to deal with his grief.

So don’t judge this book by its cover. Make yourself a gift of this lovely and sweetly goofy second-chance romance.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 8-18-13

Posted on August 18, 2013August 18, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> Lovestruck Giveaway Hop> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This will be my 1,000th published post. I’m stunned and amazed. When I started this blog back in April 2011 I had no idea that it would keep going this long, or that it would be so much fun. Or so much fun work.

I’m also grateful that the word count isn’t nearly as easy a statistic to find!

But thank you all for coming along on the journey, and reading any or all of those 1,000 posts. You’re awesome.

Meanwhile, here’s what’s happening…

Current Giveaways:

Lovestruck Giveaway Hop: $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card – ends 8/20 – just 2 more days to enter!
$50 Amazon Giftcard or 2 $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Cards Tourwide Giveaway from Elise Sax – ends 8/31

Winner Announcements:

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Bella Andre (paperback) won by Carolyn V.
Mist by Susan Krinard (paperback) won by Bre M.

Blog Recap:

A- Review: The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
B Review: Baring it All by Megan Frampton
Lovestruck Giveaway Hop
B Review: Matchpoint by Elise Sax
Guest Post by Author Elise Sax on Dreaming Up a Crazy Bunch of Characters + Giveaway
B Review: Storm Force by Susannah Sandlin
Stacking the Shelves (55)

Coming Next Week:

The Love of My (Other) Life by Traci L. Slatton (blog tour review, guest post and giveaway)
Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick (review)
A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious by Mary Wine (review)
Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe edited by J.E. Mooney and Bill Fawcett (guest review)
Long Shots 1-3 by Christine d’Abo (review)

Stacking the Shelves (55)

Posted on August 17, 2013August 17, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

This was not one of my more restrained weeks. Not. The Carina September list popped up on NetGalley and pretty much everything on the list spoke to me. Not really, but maybe half the list. Along with half my holds at the library coming in.

Maybe when we’re on vacation I’ll make a dent in the TBR pile? But no, we’re going to WorldCon. That will mean MORE BOOKS! Fantastic!

For Review:
All is Fair (Split Worlds #3) by Emma Newman
Breaking Protocol by Michelle Witvliet
Christmas at the Beach by Wendy Wax
Corroded (St. Croix Chronicles #3) by Karina Cooper
Declan’s Cross (Sharpe & Donovan #3) by Carla Neggers
Fairies in My Fireplace (Monster Haven #3) by R.L. Naquin
Hard As It Gets (Hard Ink #1) by Laura Kaye
Heavy Metal Heart by Nico Rosso
Ice Red (Once Upon a Red World #1) by Jael Wye
If You Were Mine (Sullivans #5) by Bella Andre
Kissing Under the Mistletoe (Sullivans #10) by Bella Andre
Louder Than Love by Jessica Topper
The Secret Lives of Married Women by Elissa Wald
Take Me Home for Christmas (Whiskey Creek #5) by Brenda Novak
The Volatile Amazon (Alliance of the Amazons #4) by Sandy James

Purchased:
Rock Point (Sharpe & Donovan #0.5) by Carla Neggers (free)

Borrowed from the Library:
Entwined with You (Crossfire #3) by Sylvia Day
Heron’s Cove (Sharpe & Donovan #2) by Carla Neggers
Saint’s Gate (Sharpe & Donovan #1) by Carla Neggers
The Thousand Names (Shadow Campaigns #1) by Django Wexler

Did any books in particular “speak” to you this week?

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Why I Write Science Fiction By Traci L. Slatton

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Coming Next Week:

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Why I Write Science Fiction
By Traci L. Slatton

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