Category: Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.

Dual Review: A Vengeful Affair by Carmen Falcone

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 3 1/2 Stars> 4 1/2 Stars> book reviews> Dual Review> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Latin Lover> The Rocket Lover

Format read: e-ARC provided by publisher
Release Date: 14 July 2012
Number of pages: 230 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Read an excerpt

Blurb:

Rich people get away with murder every day, but Vivian Foster intends to make billionaire Javier Rivera pay for what he did to her best friend—and how better to destroy a money-grubbing bastard than to sabotage the merger that means everything to him.

Javier Rivera would never hurt a woman much less kill one. But when he catches a gorgeous corporate spy in his office, he knows he can’t let her go—not when even a hint of scandal could ruin his career. Until the merger is signed, he’ll keep her close, even if he has to shackle her to his wrist. Literally.

But the closer Javier gets to Vivian, the more he wants her, and the more time she spends with him, the less she believes he could ever be a killer. Now Vivian and Javier have to discover the truth…and Vivian has to win the trust of her worst enemy.

Our Thoughts:

Stella: I’d like to start by saying that it seems that Entangled’s Indulgence imprint is a sure guarantee: whenever I pick one up I expect a delightful heartwarming sensual romance and A Vengeful Affair not only did not disappoint but completely won me over, I loved every minute of it!

Marlene: I’ve seen too many improbable billionaires and tycoons in the Indulgence imprint to tickle my fancy. My ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ only suspends but so far in a contemporary romance and no farther. Speaking of which, the situation in A Vengeful Affair struck me as beyond belief. I’m not sure which I found more unbelievable, that Javier didn’t call the police when he found Vivan snooping, or that Vivian actually left the country with the man she suspecting of being her best friend’s murderer, no matter how hot he was.

Stella: I had no problem believing that Javier would rather take care of the problem of Vivian snooping in his office than calling the cops and handing her to them. I mean he is curious, he wants to know what she’s up to, and as a typical successful businessman I guess he doesn’t relinquish control of any situation, mystery easily. The part I had a bit more problem accepting was how the murder of Vivian’s best friend was resolved. It felt like an afterthought and maybe it would have been better to leave out that part and find another justification for Vivian’s investigation and vendetta. But I got over that as soon as Vivian and Javier got into one of their sparring matches which kept me well entertained. 😀 Both Vivian and Javier were well developed, colourful and interesting characters and they were very well matched to each other’s temperament 😉 I LOVED their nonstop banter and their constant battle of wills was the highlight of the novel for me! 😀

Marlene: Having been crazy enough to go to Paris with Javier, I will say that once she got there, Vivian and Javier were very well matched. They are very strong characters and both equally fixed in their view of the events that led them to their initial confrontation. The fact that they are both totally wrong about each other only leads to more explosive chemistry and a bigger build-up of sexual tension. And you’re absolutely right, Stella, the constant battle of wills, and the oh-so-intelligent banter that the author uses to express it is fantastic!

Stella: I know, I kept devouring their dialogues which at turns made me chuckle or shiver (in delight)! Carmen Falcone packed more than enough heat to make the story sizzle, the chemistry between Vivian and Javier was palpable and all those delicious sexual innuendos gave me frissons of delight:

“I just thought I needed my things—”
“For the next few days, I will take care of whatever you need.”

I just loved Javier’s intensity which made even the most common scene appear sensual and steamy 😉

“She had barely finished speaking when he slammed her against a thick tree trunk and closed the gap between them. Vivian gasped.
“You are what’s wrong with me, Vivian,” he said. There was an unveiled intensity in his dark eyes. “I can’t stop wanting you.” Swiftly, Javier leaned in and kissed her hard, almost as if in punishment. She fought to breathe, raising trembling fingers to his chest. His heartbeat matched hers. He looked down at her, his eyes blazing with desire, his deep gaze a promise and a challenge. He wanted her surrender.”

Raul Julia

Marlene: Javier and Vivian had enough chemistry to scorch every room (and every stick of furniture in it) that they occupied. OMG did they ever! (I kept imagining Raul Julia as Javier, and let’s just say that worked for me). The part of the story that kept me coming back for more was the development of the relationship between Javier and Vivian. They know that they shouldn’t get involved, and they can’t manage to keep their hands off each other. It steams off the pages just how much they can’t.

Stella: Perfectly said Marlene, I loved how both of them had to struggle with their inner voice making them choose between duty and their attraction towards each other. (And though I would rather picture Monsieur Edouard B. the older business partner of Javier as Raul Julia, I also think that the cover sorely misrepresented Javier! I mean he is a Spanish young and very handsome and sexy man, not this blond teenager on the cover :-/ )

Verdict:

Stella: A Vengeful Affair was a captivating story keeping me up until I finished reading it (at 3am!). The characters were vivid, their interaction sparkling and intelligent. There might be times when you’ll ahve to suspend your disbelief but Carmen Falcone will take you on an engrossing and very entertaining journey. I loved A Vengeful Affair, and seeing how Carmen Falcone bowled me over with her debut novel I can’t wait to read more from her. Take notes readers: if you love your contemporary romances sizzling with sexy banter then Carmen Falcone is an author to watch!

I give A Vengeful Affair 4.5 stars!

Marlene: I have very mixed feelings about A Vengeful Affair. On the one hand, I found the initial set-up beyond belief. On that other hand, once the story got started, I lost total track of where I was, sitting in a crowded airport waiting for a plane for 3 hours. The terrific banter between Javier and Vivian, and the deliciously sizzling sexual tension swept me away. I would love to read a full-length novel by Falcone that doesn’t have quite such a contrived start.

I give A Vengeful Affair 3.5 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.

Dual Review: The Last Victim by Karen Robards

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 2 1/2 Stars> 3 Stars> Dual Review> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Danger Lover> The Rocket Lover
The Last Victim by Karen Robards

Format Read: e-book provided by NetGalley courtesy of Publisher for Review
Length: 336 Pages
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Thriller
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Publisher: Random House
Formats Available: Hardcover, Nook, Kindle
Purchasing Info: Publisher, Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Nook, IndieBound, Kindle

Book Blurb:

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not.

A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life—no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer’s bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie’s best friend, Holly, then left the girl’s body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.

Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.

Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer—or a sick copycat with his M.O.—is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie’s help.

This is the one case Charlie shouldn’t go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie—whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts—a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts.

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.

Excerpt

Our Thoughts:

Marlene: This was…different. And not always in a good way. It’s like there were three competing tropes going on. The “I See Dead People” psychic trope, the ghost-romance, the ultimate bad-boy romance, and the catching serial killers angle. Okay, make that four tropes.  There are more, but that’s enough to start with.

Lea: I have to agree with Marlene regarding this read being different. As Marlene indicates, there are a number of themes in play up to and including Dr. Charlotte “Charlie” Stone’s romantic life….or lack thereof. This is a third person narrative told from Charlie’s perspective and I will say I had a good understanding of what was happening with all the characters at any given time. A word of caution, there is a prologue in this book that opens with a grisly murder scene and shows readers the trauma and horror that Charlie witnessed. There are more than one such scene in the story so it is best to caution that The Last Victim is not for the faint of heart.

Marlene: While the idea that Charlie took her teenage trauma and used it to forge a career as a criminal pathologist makes fictional sense, the idea that the FBI would scoop her up and put her back in harm’s way with the Boardwalk Killer again didn’t. She was the only surviving witness, and serial killers supposedly don’t like to leave loose ends.  In spite of her expertise, protective custody would have made way more sense than exposure.

Lea: I didn’t have a problem with the FBI approaching Charlie to assist with the investigation given her background and expertise, however there were aspects of the team’s management of her safety that did bother me. And, in the same vein, Charlie is a brilliant woman who is intimately aware of the inherent dangers posed by a sociopathic serial killer, she has made these monsters her life’s study for goodness sake. Further, this is a woman who has lived like a nomad her entire life, moving from one destination to the next depending where her research takes her. Charlie knows the fact she has never settled anywhere is because she has looked over her shoulder since experiencing that horrible trauma as a teen. There is this prevailing, “he’s out there somewhere and could get you at any time” feeling that would cause a lesser person to become a committed agoraphobic but Charlie has channeled her fear in a positive direction, which is good. I did feel sorry for her though, she has no close girlfriends, her life has been devoid of passion, her one goal is to use her expertise to help devise some type of early serial killer detection system. Granted, she reticently steps into the devils sight when the FBI comes to call, but still… I did empathize with her need to do whatever she could to try and save another young girl’s life if at all possible. I didn’t dislike this heroine, but at times I couldn’t help but ask: What the hell is she doing?

Marlene: Lea, you’re right. I empathized with Charlie’s desire to help, but the management of her safety was lacking, to say the least. There were other ways the FBI could have consulted with Charlie without putting her in front of the press, even inadvertently. The case was so high-profile, the press were going to find out eventually, after all. Speaking of the FBI, Agent Bartoli accepts Charlie’s psychic gifts way too easily. On the other hand, Agent Kaminsky is skeptical of Charlie, even as a psychiatrist, to the point of being rude and dismissive. Police departments routinely use psychiatrists or psychologists to profile serial killers, so Kaminsky’s hostility went over-the-top to the point of unbelievability. The agent couldn’t have gotten as far as she had within the Bureau if she “played” that badly with professionals who would regularly be utilized by her team.

Lea: Bartoli’s awareness and acceptance of Charlie’s psychic abilities didn’t bother me. As for Agent Kaminsky? Yes, she did get on my last nerve at times and I agree with Marlene–her attitude toward Dr. Charlie Stone was unprofessional and degrading. I did enjoy it when Charlie starts giving Kaminsky back some of her own, and Charlie’s come-backs are great, she is a psychiatrist after all. I also couldn’t buy into Kaminsky’s personal issues with, and feelings for, fellow team member Agent Buzz Crane. I don’t personally know any FBI Special Agents, but given what I’ve previously read, these individuals are no nonsense and brooding relationships resulting in sarcasm toward fellow team members would be strictly verboten.

Marlene: And then there’s Garland. OMG my eyes started rolling and didn’t stop. He may have been killer gorgeous, but he was also in prison as a convicted serial killer who preyed specifically on women. Charlie was righteously afraid of him when he was alive, but she falls in love with him once he’s dead and his ghost is “attached” to her? The fact that he’s now a ghost and can’t harm her is supposed to make her forget the rest of his character? Or are the hints that he drops that maybe he wasn’t guilty intended to make the reader believe he isn’t as bad as he’s painted? He lied to get his victims into his clutches. He could be, most likely is, lying to Charlie. She should know better.

And ghost-sex by astral projection? Give me a break. Please!

Lea: Michael Garland is certainly intriguing and as the plot progressed I couldn’t help but feel the author had much more to reveal to readers about this guy–particularly given what happens during the conclusion of the story. As for Charlie’s sexual relationship with Garland, yeah, “weird, sister, weird”. O_o I felt the astral projection was a contrived device to get the two of them in the sack.

Then there was Charlie’s possible, maybe, perhaps, not sure, that was a meh/nice kiss, relationship with Bartoli? THAT I found eye-rollingly painful.

Marlene: All I can say is, poor Bartoli. But you’re right, Lea. I can see that the author is planning to reveal more about Garland, but Charlie doesn’t know that yet! And even if Garland turns out not to be a villain, or at least not a serial killer, he’s still dead. Which should carry its own red-flag warning in the romance department. Except for that astral projection thing. OMG that one still makes my head hurt!

Verdict:

Marlene: In spite of everything, I couldn’t turn my reader off. Possibly in the way of watching a train wreck, but just the same, I had to find out how this thing ended. The serial killer does get found, and it both is, and isn’t, a copycat. But a love triangle between a criminal psychiatrist, a dead murderer’s ghost, and a live FBI agent has nowhere to go but heartache. And Charlie should know better about Garland. (For a more satisfying ghost romance, I liked Stacey Kennedy’s Supernaturally Kissed much better (my review here) although the BLI reviewers thought differently. At least the hero is a good guy from the beginning!)

Lea: There were aspects of The Last Victim that I really liked, parts that dragged and finally there was the “OMG this is ridiculous”. However, despite the negatives it was compulsively readable, I had to know how Karen Robards was going to solve the case and kept turning the pages to discover what was going to happen next regarding what can only be described as a vicious, heinous killing spree. There are surprising plot twists. This book is the first in a series, I’m still pondering whether I’ll read the next one. Call me a masochist but I can’t help but want to read the next book to find out more about Michael Garland. LOL

Marlene gives The Last Victim 2.5 Stars

Lea gives The Last Victim a very tepid 3 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.

About Marlene:

Marlene is a librarian, ebook advocate, science fiction fan, and RPG fan who lives in the Atlanta suburbs. She and her husband are owned by four cats, just ask them. She’s a geek and a nerd and proud of it. She’s also an avid reader of everything, including the back of the cereal box, and has been blogging since April 2011 at Reading Reality and is a reviewer at Library Journal as well as active on Goodreads. She is also the publisher of Ebook Review Central.

Bookish Rant: The Buying and Selling of Book Reviews

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Bookish Rant or Raves> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

I wish I had a dollar for every person who sent me a link to the New York Times article about paying for book reviews. You know the one, “The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy” from August 25. There’s a slight irony in the NYT publishing it, since no one really knows exactly how they compile their bestseller list, but I digress.

The things that keep circling in my mind about the whole “paying for reviews” thing go like this:
1.       It feels like there are more books out there than ever
2.       It is definitely harder to get people’s attention for anything than it used to be
3.       Most people pick the next book they are going to read because they’ve already read that author (96% based on the Goodreads May Newsletter) so how does a newbie author get on readers’ radar?
4.       Book Blogging is a labor of love, getting the blog to pay for itself (hosting fees, giveaways, etc.) is difficult enough, and blogging takes a lot of time and energy

Two things happen. (Okay, a lot more things happen, I’m only going to deal with two).

One of those things is the one that the New York Times article highlighted. Maybe low-lighted is a better word. Todd Rutherford made a tidy living for a while selling rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads to authors. Not just authors whose names no one ever heard of, either. It turns out that part of John Locke’s self-publishing success is owed to purchased reviews.

Although the Times made a big deal about “exposing” this pay-for-play company, it’s a)out of business and b)not the only game in town.

Two companies, Blue Ink Review and Kirkus Book Reviews both offer a paid review service for independent/self-published authors. The difference is both cost much more (approx $400) and they each send the book to one reviewer who provides one review. Neither guarantees a good review. What they both offer is that if the author doesn’t like the review, the author has the option to not have it published. How often that happens, who knows?  Also, they don’t blanket Amazon and Goodreads with multiple five star reviews.

(As a librarian, I will say that Kirkus has a lot of history behind them. They’ve been in the reviewing business for a long, long time. Since 1933. I used to get their reviews when they went into a three-ring binder, which dates me as much as it does them. Their reviews were always long and thorough. What selling their services in this way does to their street cred in the long run remains to be seen. Their newsletter is available free online and for anyone interested in books it’s definitely worth a read.)

And then there were the ChicklitGirls, who are also out of business. After all, if Kirkus Book Reviews can charge $400+ for a book review, why shouldn’t a book blog charge a much more reasonable fee, oh say $95 for a book review? Just like Kirkus (well, sort of) they did disclose in their reviewing policy that there was a fee for a review. Unlike the more reputable publication they cited as their excuse, the “Girls” threatened to sue an author who complained about their practices. For a full report, take a look at the terrific summary over at Dear Author.

But isn’t what happened over at ChicklitGirls (minus the lawsuit threat, that was just bad behavior) part and parcel of the same thing?  They saw a way to make money, same as the New York Times article exposed (no pun intended) by charging authors for reviewing their books. And they tried to make money off what is otherwise a very labor-intensive what, hobby, addiction, drug-of-choice for most of us? Yes, I’m talking about book blogging. Which doesn’t otherwise pay.

We often get the books we review for free. But not always. Some of us buy them. Some people borrow them from the library. Often it’s a mix. Many blogs have affiliate links from Amazon and/or Barnes & Noble and/or The Book Depository. If we’re lucky we take in enough to pay the hosting fees for our sites and the cost of any giveaways. We probably all spend way more time than we ever imagined. Book blogging should probably be the dictionary definition of a labor of love. We love sharing what we read, so we blog.

But what happens when you get paid for reviewing a book? If you blog and you sign up for a tour, you might have faced a piece of this dilemma. You’re part of the advertising for the book, even though you’re not getting paid. You hate the book. You know the author doesn’t want a bad review as part of the tour. What do you do when it happens?

If you’ve been paid to review the book, then what? You really are part of the advertising. Your review is an ad. Ads are supposed to be positive.  So, if a review is paid for, is it a review, or is it an ad?

And when you read one, how do you know?

Dual Review: Timeless Desire by Gwyn Cready

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 3 Stars> 4 Stars> book reviews> Dual Review> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Latin Lover> The Rocket Lover

Format read: eARC provided by publisher
Release Date: 18 July 2012
Number of pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Astor and Blue
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Astor and Blue

Blurb:

Two years after losing her husband, overworked librarian Panna Kennedy battles to distract herself from crushing Grief, even as she battles to deal with yet another library budget cut. During a routine search within the library’s lower levels, Panna opens an obscure, pad-locked door and finds herself transported to the magnificent, book-filled quarters of a handsome, eighteenth-century Englishman.

She soon recognizes the man as Colonel John Bridgewater, the historic English war hero whose larger-than-life statue loomed over her desk.However, the life of the dashing Bridgewater is not at all what she imagined. He’s under house arrest for betraying England, and now looks upon her a beautiful and unexpected half-dressed visitor as a possible spy.

Despite bad first impressions (on both sides), Bridgewater nonetheless warms to Panna, and pulls her into his escape while both their hearts pull the other headlong into their soul-stirring secrets.Very quickly Panna is thrown into a whirlwind of high-stakes intrigue that sweeps her from Hadrian’s Wall to a forbidding stone castle in Scotland. And somewhere in the outland, Panna must decide if her loyalties lie with her dead husband, or with the man whose life now depends on her.

Our Thoughts: 

Stella: I am a big fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series and have been on the lookout of similar time travel/historical romances, so when I heard of Timeless Desire I was excited to read it. I think the biggest disservice but also what gets people’s attention is that it is marketed as “an Outlander love story”, and the comparison arises, and unfortunately it’s not in Timeless Desire’s favour.

Marlene: I am also a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, so when I saw the subtitle of Timeless Desire, I jumped on it, and for the same reasons you did, Stella. I wondered if it was anything like Gabaldon’s classic. It’s not. The closest one could say is Outlander-lite, in size, scope and depth.

Stella: I agree Marlene. When I saw that Timeless Desire was “an Outlander love story” I was expecting an epic love story just like Claire’s and Jamie’s, but Panna and Jamie’s (yes, the hero is Jamie as well) romance lacked the depth and heart-squeezing intensity Outlander delivered. It was fluff. No problem with that if it is not compared with its namesake predecessor. I found both Panna and Jamie’s character lacking depth and development, they remained sketched, neither really went through any character evolution, and their love was lukewarm. Nice but nothing sizzling or memorable. And speaking of the main characters, Panna is a librarian just like you Marlene, what was your take on her, was she really an authentic one?

Marlene: First, there are two names in romance that probably authors just shouldn’t get near with a barge-pole. Any barge-pole. It’s probably going to take two or three generations before it’s safe to name a romantic hero Roarke, especially if he’s Irish. And never name a Scotsman Jamie, especially not if his wife is a time-traveler. Just don’t go there. Jamie Frasier is going to stand very tall for a very long time.

Stella: Couldn’t agree more. It’s really an author-suicide, or at the least crazy brave…

Marlene: However, Panna sounded and talked like a librarian. I read her inner dialogue about her work, and she sounded like “one of us”. The budget problems and service issues and the balancing act she had to do were very real. And I have library stories to match hers. I’ve even worked in a Carnegie library, and I worked in a town that had an old Carnegie donation story almost as strange as the one she told.

Stella: That part then must have been fun for you 😀 Regarding the plot I found that there was too much happening: the historical plotline combined with their romance and all the secondary characters and their happenings, Jamie’s parentage story, the rebellion, etc. was too much for the 380 pages (no wonder Diana Gabaldon needs 1000 or so for everything she wants to pack in one novel). I found the story fractured as the narrative jumped around, each chapter bringing a change of scenery as we witnessed different characters and their POVs.

Marlene: There was a LOT happening, but I only felt like I was following three characters; Jamie, Panna or Adderly. What was hard to follow was the shift to to the Scots side of the border. That entire storyline wasn’t resolved until the very end.

Stella: Besides Panna, Jamie and Adderly there was Clare and Undine that I can also remember. Would have preferred to stick to just the hero/heroine’s POV. As to the writing, while it flew smoothly, I had a problem with the ton of quotes. Although at first I found it an entertaining quirk, soon I found the many quotes peppered in the story were too much and made me lose interest.

Marlene: Panna’s self-talk did come out as a bunch of quotations, but it didn’t really bother me. There were times when I felt like she was talking to herself as a way of keeping herself sane, or because there wasn’t anyone else who could understand her frame of reference. (Or maybe I talk to myself in my head a lot, too. Mmm, that’s an odd thought. I’ll have to think about that one some more…)

Stella: I didn’t mind her inner monologues or even out loud pep talks, those were just a part of her characterization, what I meant was that her monologues were often full of quotations from poems or famous plays: Pope, Shakespeare, etc. Maybe I noticed that because I tend to note down quotes from books I like and it really popped out to me how many she referenced. And if I already mentioned the quotes I found too much, let me tell you about my other complaints about the plot. I felt that the attempted rape scene felt forced and even improbable, as I wouldn’t imagine guards in a castle attempting to rape the wife of their employer’s grandson.

Marlene: If you mean the scene I’m thinking of, by that time his grandfather was out of power, and the English and Scots didn’t think of each other as the same people. The family ties don’t seem to have been too strong. I think the real problem, as you point out Stella, is that the scene was just plain unnecessary. It doesn’t seem to serve any particular purpose in the story.

Stella: Exactly Marlene. The guards are working for the grandfather, who as their employer gave them an order to bring him his grandson and wife and besides this family tie, there was also the time restraint: the guards only had a couple of minutes to take them upstairs. I just felt that this scene was forced into the story to draw another parallel to the attempted rape scene in Outlander. And I wasn’t too happy with the resolution of most of the plotlines, I especially found the way Jamie’s parentage was neatly tied up way too convenient and rose-y…

Marlene: I had an entirely different issue with this resolution–I’ve read it before. There’s another very long saga of historical fiction about the Scots border country, The Lymond Chronicles, written by Dorothy Dunnett. One of the major plot points concerns the hero’s parentage, and is resolved (after 6 very long books) in extremely similar fashion to Jamie’s. In the Lymond Chronicles, that resolution has a LOT more emotional weight than it did in Timeless Desire, but it takes an enormous amount of reading to get there. But if you love historical fiction, Lymond is definitely worth the investment (sorry, no time-travel). Start with The Game of Kings.

Stella: Thanks Marlene, I’ll take note. There were plenty of similarities/references to the original Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: both heroes are called Jamie, a secondary character is named “Clare” as clear reference to Gabaldon’s heroine who is “Claire”, the forced marriage for political reasons, the attempted rape scene, the strained relationship between Jamie and his family/kinsmen, his forced oath, etc. and though these could have been like a tongue in cheek humour for the Gabaldon fans, I find it rather disappointing that Gwyn Cready didn’t go on a completely untravelled road but instead chose to follow exactly in Outlander’s footsteps. Any others that jumped out at you Marlene? And how did you feel about them?

Marlene: I also saw the similarities to Gabaldon’s Outlander, and whenever they came up, I could generally predict that Cready would take the opposite tack from Gabaldon. There was a sense that she wanted to explore some of “the road not taken”, but not go too far down the path. Undine the witch is good instead of evil like Geillis Duncan. No virgins on the wedding night (hallelujah!). Panna is a widow, and is not leaving a husband behind. Jamie comes forward in time instead of Panna going back. At least Cready did not use the standing stones as her time-travel device (Double hallelujah on this one)

Stella: Hm.. I still found too many similarities to the “original” one.

Verdict:

Stella: I expected an epic love story and instead got fluff. The characters remained flat and two dimensional, and though the story was nice it remained rather lukewarm and forgettable. Timeless Desire though marketed as “an Outlander romance” is a very different kind of story: even though the premise sounds similar, Timeless Desire is a lighter and less layered story. If I hadn’t read Outlander first I might have enjoyed Timeless Desire more, but as it is I found it a light and average romance.

I give Timeless Desire 3 stars.

Marlene: I expected fluff, so I wasn’t surprised when I got it. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander is 688 pages, and you need the first three books to complete the initial saga, so Outlander plus Dragonfly in Amber plus Voyager equals 2320 pages, I just checked. Timeless Desire is very, very lite, and very, very fluffy. But I found it a lot of fun for what it was.

And as a librarian, I loved the shout out to libraries as places where you really can travel in time and space. Admittedly, you normally do it through the pages of books using your imagination, and not by walking through a door into a rip in time. But what the heck. I adored the concept. I always wanted the TARDIS to stop in my library. Still do.

I got caught up in Panna’s story. I give Timeless Desire 4 stars.

 ps. Marlene has already reviewed Timeless Desire at her blog but we couldn’t resist the idea of having a duelling chat here, so if you’d like to check out more of Marlene’s thoughts click here.

***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.
 
You have the chance now to enter a giveaway hosted by Gwyn Cready and win a pair of shoes or gift cards!
 
Giveaway is open to US residents only and ends on 14 September 2012.

 ENTER HERE.

Bookish Rant: Apple, Amazon, Anti-Trust and the DOJ

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Bookish Rant or Raves> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

I was at Dragon*Con over Labor Day weekend. For those either not in the U.S., or who aren’t familiar with Science Fiction Fandom, two explanations are in order. Labor Day weekend is the first weekend in September.

Dragon*Con is a huge regional science fiction convention in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. When I say huge, I mean attendance that numbers well over 30,000. Downtown Atlanta looks like it’s been overrun by aliens.

30,000 plus people talk about a LOT of stuff. Some of it frivolous, but a lot of it book-related. I listened to/met/shook hands with some of my favorite authors.

On Sunday morning, among about a dozen other panels, two lawyers and an author tackled the seriously bookish topic of the “Apple eBooks Lawsuit”. The room was packed to the rafters.

If you are looking for a basic but excellent primer on the entire price fixing lawsuit that the U.S. Department of Justice filed against Apple and five of the big six publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Penguin), you can’t do better than this excellent summary at Dear Author. Jane Little is a lawyer and she has not only summarized the original case beautifully, but she’s continued to cover the whole farrago as it’s kept on morphing.

Back to the panel at Dragon*Con. The lawyer who discussed the case was an anti-trust specialist, and she went into the case by talking about U.S. anti-trust law. Her take on the whole thing was pretty clear. The law is that competitors in a particular market, in this case Hachette, HarperCollins, etc., and Apple, cannot legally get together and talk about prices, whether they actually set prices or not. But in this case they did set prices, making the whole thing worse for them from a legal standpoint.

There is no provision in the law for a “greater good” being served. Also, as romance author Courtney Milan so eloquently wrote in her blog recently, there is no exemption from anti-trust law for being a special snowflake. Just read her post titled Your Unspecial Anti-Trust Snowflake. It’s a nutshell takedown of all the objections by all the defendants in one easy-to-read gulp.

But what fascinated me was the perspective of the author on the panel, who shall remain nameless (yes, I do remember who it was). Her contention was that Amazon needs to be stopped, now, for the things they will do, later, when they achieve even greater power in the market.

Amazon has a tremendous amount of power in the ebook and also the book marketplace. Because they are successful. Jeff Bezos didn’t listen when everyone laughed at him a number of years ago. When everyone said that people wouldn’t buy books (and other stuff) online. When everyone said that people wouldn’t read ebooks. We all know now how both those predictions turned out. But Amazon could have failed. Amazon has reaped the rewards of betting on what was absolutely not a sure thing.

Now Amazon has a giant share of print book distribution, and a dominant share of ebook distribution. Recent statistics show that we’ve reached the tipping point on ebooks. Ebooks are now THE dominant sales format for adult fiction; bigger than hardcover, bigger than paperback. Amazon is also a publisher.

The argument was that the publishers all behaved so badly, even illegally, in order to prevent Amazon from doing something even more terrible with all that power.

Of course, what the publishers did with that power in the short run was break Amazon’s stranglehold on ebook prices, and the immediate effect was that ebook prices rose.  Consumers did not benefit from those higher prices.

What stuck with me was that the arguments to do something about Amazon now were based on something they might do in the future.

We don’t know what they might do in the future. Amazon is a very powerful company right now. (So, for that matter, is Apple!) But asking the government, any government, to punish a company, or an individual, for what they might do is always a bad precedent.

Amazon might do good things. They might do bad things. They might get fat, dumb and happy. Microsoft used to be feared for how big and near-monopolistic they were, and look where they are now. New disruptive technologies will come along, and Amazon might be too happy with their status quo to jump on the new bandwagon (which is a lot of what is going on with the big six publishers right now).

But laws punish acts, not thoughts. What we do, not what others believe we might do. Let’s not even think of going there. Oh wait, somebody already did. His name was George Orwell, and his book about the Thought Police is so famous that Apple used it in one of their most famous commercials. That’s right. 1984.

Ironic that, wouldn’t you say?

Dual Review: Seducing Cinderella

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 1/2 Stars> 4 Stars> book reviews> Dual Review> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Latin Lover> The Rocket Lover

Format read: ebook
Release Date: 20 July 2012
Series: Book #1 in the Fighting for Love series
Number of pages: 177 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing (Brazen)
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Read an excerpt

Blurb:

Mixed martial arts fighter Reid Andrews’s chance to reclaim his title as light heavyweight champ is shattered when he’s injured only months before the rematch. To make sure he’s healed in time, his trainer sends him to recuperate under a professional’s care—Reid’s best friend’s little sister, all grown up.

Disorganized and bookish Lucie Miller needs some professional help of her own. She’d do anything to catch the eye of a doctor she’s crushed on for years, so when Reid offers seduction lessons in exchange for 24/7 conditioning for the biggest fight of his career, Lucie jumps at the chance.

Soon Reid finds him himself in the fight of his life…winning Lucie’s heart before she gives it to someone else.

Our Thoughts:

Marlene: The “lessons in seduction” trope is one of my secret favorites, I love seeing it done right. It’s hard to do in contemporary stories without making one of the characters very young, but Maxwell really managed to pull it off with adults. This was terrific.

Stella: Oh I agree Marlene, there is just something delicious in how the hero awakens the heroine to her sensual side and makes her discover a whole new world 😉

Marlene: The use of the “Cinderella” motif was playful and fun, but if we’re talking about fairy tales, this is much more of an “Ugly Duckling” story.

Stella: This is really funny Marlene, as I was reading Seducing Cinderella I kept making notes asking myself why the story was titled Cinderella and not Seducing My Fair Lady, as it was more of a Pygmalion, Ugly Duckling story with how Reid made Lucie the invisible sweats and glasses wearing girl transform into a sexy va-va-voom vixen.

Marlene: The reasons why Lucie needed a transformation were reasonable. She’d been hurt and was hiding in her shapeless clothes and shyness.

Stella: Hm.. interesting I didn’t see it that way, I just thought she was more of a tomboy and was more comfortable in her practical clothes. Since she had a really sexy best friend I found it a bit puzzling how come her temptress of BF didn’t give her tips on how to dress in a more advantageous way and highlight her features with some light makeup.

Marlene: Lucie was definitely a tomboy, but her selfish oaf of an ex- seriously did a number on her. Hiding behind her competence after that experience made sense to me. YMMV. What made Reid the right man for her was that he was interested in her before he transformed her, he was interested while he transformed her, and he was interested after. That idiot doctor only saw the wrapping and not the package.

Stella: Oh don’t even get me started on the doctor, he was such a slimebag I get creeped out just thinking about him. It was quite one big turn off regarding Lucie, I couldn’t understand how she could be such a horrible judge of character that she was blind to what a hypocritical and shallow, egotistical jerk her big crush was. Ugh.. Reid on the other hand was great. Maybe a bit too knowledgeable in some feminine ways but definitely warm-hearted generous, tender and caring towards Lucie and still so virile and strong mmm *dreamy eyes*

Marlene: One of the things that makes this story work is that neither the hero nor the heroine are perfect. Another way of looking at it, continuing the fairy tale themes, would be if Lucie is the Ugly Duckling that Reid helps to turn into a beautiful swan, or if Lucie is Cinderella and Reid is her fairy godfather, then Lucie is also ultimately Beauty to Reid’s Beast, the one woman who sees him as more than just a fighter. They redeem each other, but not until after Reid treats Lucie fairly beastly. There is one pretty big misunderstandammit.

Stella: Oh that Beauty and the Beast parallel you drew is spot on Marlene! Although at times I found that Reid’s knowledge about feminine tricks regarding make up and sexy clothes was a bit too much, I definitely loved how Lucie saw the person behind the fighter and how she supported and loved the man behind the title.

Marlene: We don’t see much of the side characters, but what we do see of Lucie’s friends shows that she does have a good support group. I love her friend Vanessa; she watches NCIS!

Stella: I also loved Vanessa, she was fun, and the gay guy friends were also a riot! Hope to see them again in the next books!

Verdict:

Marlene: I read Seducing Cinderella a few weeks ago in order to write the interview questions, but when it came time to write this review, I got totally sucked in and re-read the book. I only intended to skim it, but I got lost in the story again. It’s not just that the writing was good, but I felt for, or maybe that’s fell for, the characters all over again.

I am seduced into giving Seducing Cinderella 4 ½ stars.

Stella: I agree that Seducing Cinderella was an enchanting and captivating story, I remember that I devoured it in no time and enjoyed every minute of it. Reid was a considerate and delicious hero and Lucie was a very relatable heroine with her insecurities, and when these two got together the air sizzled! A wonderful hot read for summer nights and I’m looking forward to reading the next books in the series!

I give Seducing Cinderella 4 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.
 

The Devil You Know by Victoria Vane

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 4 1/2 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook provided by the author
Number of Pages: 127 pages
Release Date: July 27, 2012
Publisher: Breathless Press
Series: The Devil DeVere #3
Genre: Historical romance
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info:  Goodreads | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Book Blurb:

When dealing with the devil it’s easy to be burned… especially when passion ignites the flames.
Who can find a virtuous woman… Beautiful, respectable, and dutiful, Lady Diana Palmerston-Wriothesley has long resigned herself to her decade-long loveless and childless marriage to a feckless husband…until his gambling pushes them to the brink of financial ruin.
Sometimes the devil is in disguise…as a gentleman… Viscount Ludovic, “The Devil DeVere”, is a man accustomed to taking what he wants according to his whim and heedless of the cost…until he encounters a woman who won’t be had at any price.
When dealing with the devil, it’s easy to be burned… When Diana discovers a secret that shatters the carefully built façade concealing her private pain, she seeks aid and comfort from the most unlikely place…the devil’s arms. But will a single night of heavenly passion damn them both forever?

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

By this point in TheDevil DeVere series, we really do know this particular devil, Ludovic DeVere. Or at least we think we do. In the first two books of the series, A Wild Night’s Bride and The Virgin Huntress, we’ve seen DeVere as he is now. (Check out the BLI reviews of Bride and Huntress for more details on DeVere’s exploits.) The Devil You Know is the story of what came before all that.

In the first two books of the series, it’s obvious there is a ton of history between Ludo and Lady Diana, and that it didn’t end well. Or rather that it didn’t end at all. They have unfinished business, and one heck of a lot of unresolved sexual tension. Just about enough of it to invent the internal combustion engine a century or so early.

It is a tad disconcerting when this story opens, and one of the characters in the first scene is someone we know is dead in A Wild Night’s Bride. It doesn’t matter, because this isn’t Ned Chambers’ story.

This is finally, at last, the one story that has been looming over everything. What the hell happened between Ludo and Diana that sent him haring out of England and sinking into unprecedented depths of debauchery and caused Diana to rusticate in the country as if she would never return to Society?

Once upon a time, Caroline Capheaton decided it was better to marry an old duke than a young viscount-to-be. She assumed that by the time the old duke died, the viscount-to-be would actually BE the viscount, and that he would still be hers. And in the meantime, she could play with him all she wanted. Ludo DeVere was tired of her by the time she was available, and besides, he’d already tasted everything she had to offer. He just hadn’t found anyone to take her place when Diana entered his life.

And that was his biggest mistake.

Once upon a time, Diana had married Reginald Wriothesly, a man of her father’s choosing. After a few years, she was more than aware that it had been the worst thing she could have done. Reggie gambled to excess. He drank to excess. And he seemed to have no use whatsoever for a wife except for the dowry she had brought him. A dowry which Reggie had entirely gambled away–along with everything else. They were ruined.

The first man to look at Diana with appreciation (and what appreciation it was!) was Ludovic DeVere. A man Diana knew to be a complete and utter rake of the worst kind.

Diana wants DeVere’s backing to race her horse. Her one piece of property that somehow her husband does not own. Winning this particular race will give her enough money to establish herself separately from her husband. She hopes.

DeVere just wants Diana. She intrigues him. But, it’s a more than good enough horse to make the bet worthwhile too. And their little conspiracy means they have to keep meeting together — giving DeVere more opportunities for seduction.

But Diana is not the only one seduced. There turns out to be more involved in this game than just sex, even for so infamous a rake as the Devil DeVere.

Unfortunately for DeVere, just as he sees a chance at happiness, he’s forgotten that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Verdict: If you’ve been following this series as I have, get this book, and then immediately get Devil’s Match and settle in for a nice long reading binge. Trust me, you won’t want to stop reading at the end of The Devil You Know. The cliff the story hangs off of at that point is nail-biting for DeVere and Diana, even though it is the point where the other two books come in.

The Devil You Know is one of the cases where the misunderstanding between the hero and heroine is intentional and it works. DeVere is not trustworthy, particularly not at this point in his life. He is pretty much every bad thing that Diana thinks he is except financially insolvent (DeVere is the epitome of that old cliché about lucky at cards and unlucky in love).

The tragedy in The Devil You Know is that DeVere is starting to redeem himself, and he has to bring it all tumbling down in order to save Diana. Because he feels something he can’t even identify beyond possessiveness.

 

I gladly give The Devil You Know 4 1/2 quite delicious 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: Of Thieves and Elves:A Supernovella by A.P. Stephens

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 2 1/2 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook provided by the author
Number of Pages: 252 pages
Release Date: April 8, 2012
Publisher: Fanda Books
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Formats Available: Hardcover, ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK) | Goodreads | Author’s Website 

Book Blurb:

A monumental tragedy has befallen the Clan of Ionor, an ancient brotherhood of elven warriors. Concerned when their Master does not reach his secretive business in a distant kingdom, the Elders learn that Tryn, their beloved leader, has been captured by a cutthroat gang of bandits known as the Steel Claw. Yet this is not the darkest of their tidings. The relic under the clan’s safekeeping, a weapon of terrible power that was forged by the gods themselves, is also missing. The Ionor dispatch Eonen, a headstrong Elder, and a young and talented apprentice, Tride, to rescue the Master and the relic by infiltrating the bandits’ stronghold-the formidable Fortress of Toppledom. As the two determined elves hasten into the unknown beyond their borders to restore balance and honor to their clan, they encounter the true darkness behind the matter-the very origin of the world’s evil. Allegiances will be twisted. The fates of many will be set into motion. And the destiny of one will be realized.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

I had to check the definition of a novella. It’s the librarian in me. Because this is a fantasy, the definition that the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America use should suffice. SFWA defines a novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000 words. At 252 pages, believe me, Of Thieves and Elves is a novel. A pretty decent one, but a novel.

About that novel…if there is one basic plot (as opposed to 7 or 10) that plot is “Who am I?” Of Thieves and Elves is a “Who am I?” story. It’s the hero’s journey. In this case, the hero just happens to be an elf.

Tride is a young man, well, young elf, and he’s a bit different from everyone else in his clan. That’s what makes it his story. Tride is an orphan, a foundling. He’s also visibly different, but nothing drastic. He’s just dark when everyone else is fair. He’s also always a bit disheveled, because he’s always being shoved, kicked or beaten by his fellow students, and never draws attention to it. No one cares.

Except Eonen. His family fostered Tride. And when Eonen needs a young warrior to assist him on a secret mission, it is Tride whom he unhesitatingly chooses as his companion. But it’s a secret mission, and Tride is too young to keep informed. Elders always know best. Yeah, right.

Even in buddy stories there are misunderstandammits.  When the buddies are warriors, those misunderstandings usually get people killed.

When the story is the hero’s journey, the person who gets killed is always the mentor. Eonen follows in a long and storied tradition.

So what do we have in Of Thieves and Elves? A quest, a stolen relic, a missing high council member, a daring rescue attempt, and, of course, it all goes horribly wrong or there wouldn’t be a story. They run into betrayal, terrible magic, and a fortress full of evil bandits.

The story is generally good fun in the classic high fantasy tradition. The bandits are really evil, and their leader is so crazy he’s stupid with crazy. In the process of rescuing the people that the bandits have enslaved, Tride starts becoming the hero he was meant to be.

There’s a definite sense that this is going to be a trilogy. The story certainly didn’t wrap up at the end. And it left way more questions than answers about Tride’s origins and the motives of the big, bad evil dude. The reader should want answers.

But I took some time to think. This is a buddy story. Eonen teaches his apprentice Tride the things he’ll need to know to become a hero, even if that’s not what Tride thinks is going to happen. Big brother and little brother. Looking back, I realized that there are not just no women with agency anywhere in this story, but there are no women except the downtrodden slaves that Tride rescues and the victims that the bandits are raping.

The Learners that Tride trains with in the Elvish stronghold are all male. The Elder Council that Eonen is part of are all male. We see no females with any authority anywhere. There were no female bandit captains. While I don’t actually want to see a woman portrayed as that evil, some female would have had big enough brass ones.

Tolkien could get away with this, and he’s no longer around to argue with. Besides, even Celeborn answered to Galadriel. In contemporary-written fantasy, if a society has no females of agency, there needs to be a reason. Or they need to be dwarves, where both genders have beards and outsiders aren’t meant to know.

I give Of Thieves and Elves 2.5 stars for telling a pretty good story but shooting a whole quarrel of arrows through the Bechdel Test.

***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: The Marrying Kind by Ken O’Neill

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

Format Read: ebook from the author
Number of Pages: 264 pages
Release Date: May 30, 2012
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Formats Available: Mass Market Paperback, ebooks
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)  | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website | Goodreads | 

Book Blurb:

Wedding planner Adam More has an epiphany: He has devoted all his life’s energy to creating events that he and his partner Steven are forbidden by federal law for having for themselves. So Adam decides to make a change. Organizing a boycott of the wedding industry, Steven and Adam call on gay organists, hairdressers, cater-waiters, priests, and hairdressers everywhere to get out of the business and to stop going to weddings, too. In this screwball, romantic comedy both the movement they’ve begun and their relationship are put in jeopardy when Steven’s brother proposes to Adam’s sister and they must decide whether they’re attending or sending regrets.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

When I picked up The Marrying Kind, I was aware that it was a story on two levels. There’s the novel, the fiction about Steven and Adam and their boycott of the wedding industry and what it does to their relationship and everyone who touches their lives, and who their lives touch.

Then there’s the other side. The one concerning the cause of marriage equality that this story was written to promote and support–hopefully without being preachy about it. The movement is simply titled “No Presence and No Presents” and it’s explained at the author’s website.

But I’m reviewing a book. And it’s a good one.

The Marrying Kind tells a terrific story. It’s a love story all right, not just about romantic love but also the love of family. There’s also the joy of finding, and following, your best self, your true path.

Because that’s what happens when Adam has his epiphany and decides he’s not going to take it anymore. He’s going to stop pouring his heart and soul into planning weddings that, as a gay couple, he and Steven are not legally allowed to have.

(The Marrying Kind is set in 2007, before New York State legalized same-sex marriage)

Instead of continuing to torture himself, he starts a movement. And becomes a hero in the gay community. He also nearly runs his business into the ground.

But where this story really shines is its focus on all of the inter-personal relationships that are affected, and often screwed up, by the movement and the new-found fame it’s brought to Adam and Steven.

Because they’re not the only couple in their families. Steven’s brother Peter is planning to marry Adam’s sister Amanda. Which would normally be the happiest time in their lives. But Adam is sticking to his guns, and won’t plan his sister’s wedding. He’s not even planning to go. Steven is caught between his family, his lover and an incredibly important principle he believes in wholeheartedly.

But that’s not all there is to this story. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny. While I wouldn’t want Steven’s mother for a mother-in-law, she makes for terrific comic relief. And then there are all the not-quite-over-the-top wedding stories. Never too many, but just enough.

Verdict: There’s just enough of everything in The Marrying Kind. Just enough silly wedding stories. Just enough family melodrama. Absolutely the right amount of rocky-relationship turns into HEA. And just the right amount of message peeking through.

I give The Marrying Kind 4 stars.

Reviewer’s note: U.S. states that permit same-sex marriage are only able to grant limited  rights and protections under the law. Quoting from Wikipedia, “According to the [U.S.] federal government’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2004, more than 1,138 rights and protections are conferred to U.S. citizens upon marriage by the federal government; areas affected include Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration law.” Making those 1,138 rights and protections available to everyone, whether they want to marry a person of the same sex or the opposite sex, is the point of Marriage Equality. 

***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: I Own the Dawn by M.L. Buchman

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

Format Read:ebook from NetGalley
Number of Pages:416 pages
Release Date:August 1, 2012
Publisher:Sourcebooks Casablanca
Series: The Night Stalkers #2
Genre: Military Romantic Suspense
Formats Available: ebook, Mass Market Paperback
Purchasing Info:Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)  | Author’s Website | Soucebooks 

Book Blurb:

Kee Smith battled through a difficult childhood to work her way up the ranks of the U.S. Army. When she finally makes it into the elite Night Stalkers, she feels thrilled, honored, and vindicated…until she finds out she’s been assigned to the “girlie-chopper” piloted by the only other woman in the regiment.
Kee is determined to show Lt. Archie Stevenson, one of the male co-pilots, that she is just as tough as the guys. Throughout their special mission, Archie doesn’t know whether to make love to her or plant her face-first into the dirt. But he’ll do whatever it takes to break through that shield Kee wears around her heart.

.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

M.L. Buchman’s military romance series is about the four soldiers who crew one particular chopper in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), famously known as The Night Stalkers. SOAR exists; they operate out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, just as the unit does in Mr. Buchman’s first two books, The Night is Mine, and I Own the Dawn.

What SOAR doesn’t have, at least according to the documents I can find, is female pilots like Emily Beale (heroine of  The Night is Mine), or female soldiers like Kee Smith in I Own the Dawn. To which I say, “Damn!”. I want that to be possible.

The fact that the romances in both books violate the military anti-fraternization regulations to hell and back is a whole other matter. But the romance is so damn good in both cases, I don’t care.

What I enjoy about both stories is that these military women are the equal of their men in every single way, including as soldiers.

“Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality”. Sometimes the old clichés are the best ones.

But in the case of Kee Smith, it’s not her qualities as a soldier that are ever in doubt, it’s whether her background on the very, very wrong side of the tracks that has her doubting herself, and whether she’s good enough for a Boston blueblood like Archibald Jeffrey Stevenson III. The fact that he’s a Lieutenant and she’s a Sergeant is just a matter of Army regulations.

That her mother was a whore and that Kee murdered the gang-banger who shot her best friend in a drive-by shooting, that might be a problem for any real relationship. His people go way back. Her people are the Army. Up ’til now, that’s been fine.

But Archie is not what his world would have made him. Not after following seven years in Emily Beale’s turbulent wake through the Army. Whatever he would have been, now he’s addicted to the danger that SOAR represents. That Kee represents.

Kee’s never let anyone close. Not since her only friend was killed. But when their unit finds a little girl in the Hindu Kush, one lonely survivor of her family, walking across Afghanistan alone, Kee sees herself in the girl, and Dilya finds, not just a protector, but an avenging angel.

Dilya saw the man who murdered her parents. And Kee, the unit’s sniper, promises Dilya that she will kill him for her, if she ever finds him. Little do they know just how many rocks they’ll have to turn over to find the bastard, and how many political plots they’ll uncover along the way.

Archie watches over the girl, Dilya, and finds his way into Kee Smith’s heart–even though she wasn’t planning on letting anyone in–not the girl and certainly not the man.

Verdict: If you love military romance, you’ll love this series. When I read the first book in the series, The Night is Mine (reviewed at Reading Reality), I was up until after 3 am trying to finish (it’s a 400 page book!) I Own the Dawn is a terrific follow-up, and I’m overjoyed that Buchman is planning to write about the rest of the crew! Kee Smith is both tough and tender, and her gradual opening up to Dilya as well as Archie is marvelous. In most military romances, the soldier in the story is the man, and it’s refreshing to have Kee be both all-soldier and all-woman at the same time.

When Kee rescues Archie it’s the icing on a very delicious cake. I so love my tropes reversed.

I salute I Own the Dawn with 4 stars.

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