Friday, May 26, 2017

The World of Cherry by Kay Brandt

3 Stars

World of Cherry - Book 1

Not much thinking here! *LOL* It's erotica. Explicit f/f erotica and there's a bit of a plot and a bit of characters to be found.

It is what it is and that's okay.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

4.5 Stars

River of Teeth - Book 1

I first heard about River of Teeth through one of the reading blogs I follow and I bought the novella for the simple reason that the blurb got me.  Especially this part:

Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

Feral hippos and hippo wranglers??  What?  Talk about an original idea!  I was sold.  I pre-ordered the book right away - a couple of months ago - and I hardly ever pre-order books.

It was not a wrong decision - I loved it!  The characters were original and interesting and bound together in interesting ways.  They kept me wanting to read page after page, fascinated and dying to see what they were going to get up to.  And the hippos... the HIPPOS!  I loved all of them. 

The world-building in this tale is intriguing even if it's a bit ... out of whack as per the author's note at the beginning of the book.  Who cares... IT WORKS!  And the story itself is a rollicking, fun, banter-filled adventure.  

And back to the characters.  They are a really diverse bunch.  Race, colour, creed, sexuality... hell, it's all diverse and not made a big deal of really which works just fine for me.  I like when the diversity is just a given in a story and not a plot point.  My only real problem was ... well, mechanical?  There is a character who is ... gender non-conforming?  I think that's the label.  Anyway, the character uses the 'they' pronoun.  Which is totally fine, but I've discovered that at the age of 60 and having 55 years of reading under my belt, when I read the words 'they' or 'them' or 'their' ... my brain looks for/understands multiple people and a couple if times I had to go back and see if the character was alone or had someone tagged along in the scene.  I suppose with more of these types of characters my brain will get used to it, but it was something that impacted me as I read. BTW, I adored the character in question!  :)  

My only real complaint is that it was too damned short!  I wanted a novel, not a novella.  Yes, it ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, but not one that made me want to send the ereader for a sail across the room.  Still, the characters were so good, the alternate reality so interesting that I wanted a lot more of it.  :)

Oh, and look at that lovely cover!  

The second book in the duology just went up for preorder today.  It's called Taste of Marrow.  And yes, I have pre-ordered it.  

Monday, May 22, 2017

The Wrong Woman by Cass Lennox

1 Star

Toronto Connections #4

I am totally the wrong person for this book. I read it as a Riptide Advance Read and didn't realise that it was SO New Adult. I was hoping for a good lesbian romance but that's not what I felt I got.

I did not like either of the main characters, I thought they were totally self-absorbed, arrogant, and completely clued out about how to go about having any kind of relationship. And the inner dialogue. It was constant. CONSTANT. And irritating. I wish I had a dollar for every time one or the other thought "UGH". I could have a good shop for books, let me tell you.

I don't know, if I hadn't been reading it for Riptide, I would have DNFed it by the end of the 3rd chapter.

But that being said... I'm fairly sure the fault lies mainly with me and not the book itself. Maybe the young people out there will like it? I really hope they're not all like the ones in the book - even the secondary and tertiary characters. I honestly didn't find anything romancey about it (I still don't know why the MCs are together other than that they're hot) at all and as for the mystery at the centre of the plot, well, it was more an afterthought than anything else, it seemed to me. Sadly.

This just re-affirmed that New Adult romances are not for me one little bit.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

4 Stars

Tales of the Ketty Jay - Book 1

Have you been missing Firefly and Captain Mal and his crew?  If so, give Retribution Falls a try!  Mind you, Captain Frey is somewhat grungier and somewhat less um... scrupulous and savoury.  :)

So we have pirates, we have air ships - rust buckets and sleek cruisers and huge frigates, we have pirate towns, we have manors, we have out of the way religious abbeys, we have cutlasses and guns and daemons and golems and so many diverse and wonderful things!

The crew of the Ketty Jay is the very definition of motley, down to Slag, the ship's feline.  All of them have something in their past that has made them outcasts of some sort or another and throughout the book, we get to learn their stories one by one.  In between the space battles, heists, and breakouts they all get fleshed out and we come to appreciate both the good things about them and the flaws.

Retribution Falls is a rollicking steampunky adventure peopled with cool and interesting characters, a social system in upheaval and enough magic to make it fun.  :)  It reads like watching a TV show - like Firefly! - and I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the next of the Ketty Jay tales.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Seduction for Beginners by Jae

Seduction for Beginners is a short story that I read last night when I couldn't decided what book I wanted to read next.  I haven't included it in my lists as a book read, because honestly. at less than 15,000 words, it's not really a book in my mind.

Anyway, this was a really cute, sexy story about the first time a couple gets intimate, all the way.  And it was truly the best of the lesbian romance stuff I've read lately.  There was really no angst, there was no dead previous partner, no deathly diseases, no crazed exes, no heart-broken character.  Annie, half of the couple, is only recently come out (there was a book that preceded this story, but I've not read it.) and her partner, Drew is the more knowledgeable one.  Drew is letting Annie be the guide in the physical aspects of this relationship, taking things at the speed she's comfortable with.  And now, Annie has decided that it's time to go all the way, as we used to say back in the day.  :)

It was cute, it was sexy, it was fun and I really liked the author's voice.  Now, if only her books were a reasonable price or would go on sale, I'd read more of her!  :)

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

4 Stars

Powder Mage - Book 1

I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would and I don't know why I held off reading it for so long.

Promise of Blood is a military fantasy filled with political intrigue and not a little magic.  It has everything I like in it, an engaging plot that's full of believable twists and turns, characters that are flawed but have redeeming qualities and have logical reasons for doing what they do, and a world that's familiar yet different.  As I read, I found myself laughing in some places, tearing up a time or two, sitting on the edge of my seat anxiously and even cheering a time or two.  And for a change, most of the characters are over the age of 25!

McClellan's world-building is nifty.  It took me a bit to catch on to what everything meant, to be a Marked, a Privilege, Knacked and how gunpowder and munitions fit into things, but once I decided to just let it flow and not worry about things, it all became easier.

I think much of that is that McClellan is just a good storyteller.  He kept my attention and the pages turning with great anticipation.  This was one of those books that I was anxious to finish but damned reluctant to reach the end.

I hope the second book in the series goes on sale soon so I can add it to the TBR.  I need to know more about what happens to all my new friends but I can't afford the $13 it'll cost me for ebook right now.  But it's most certainly on the list... HIGH on the list!

Oh, and look at that cover!  I'd hang that on my wall, it's that cool!