I don’t do book reviews anymore. Oh, I still read, more than ever since I got my Kindle, but now that I’m well into my publishing journey, I just don’t feel comfortable criticising other authors. Even when books are throw-across-the-room annoying (which I don’t actually do–throw the books I mean– cuz I heart my Kindle), I just put them aside and say nothing. Life is hard enough on the midlist, and so I’ll leave the lion-feeding to someone else — I just have too much first-hand knowledge of the pointy end of the author-stick. (I’m not sure what that means either–see? writing is hard!)

But I do write book recommendations when I come across something that is really worth reading. This is where I get to The Dirty Parts of the Bible by Sam Torode (Available on Amazon US and Amazon UK in print and Kindle formats.)

It’s a surprisingly lighthearted story. OK, the title is humorous, but when I noticed it was set in The Great Depression, I wasn’t so sure. But I saw it on someone else’s blog, and their ravings about it were enough to get me to download the sample chapter. Once I read that first 30 pages or so, I was hooked.

The story follows Tobias, who has given up on religion, mostly because his Baptist-preacher-father seems so hell-bent on sucking all the joy out of life. Tobias strikes out on a quest, and along the way learns a lot about life, love, himself, and even gains a deeper understanding of his father. It’s sweet, funny, and I really had trouble putting it down.

So there ya go. A book recommendation from me. Read it!

The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan is the first in the Black Magician’s Trilogy, although trilogy is perhaps the wrong word, since after the publication of the three, Canavan published a prequel and then a subsequent standalone novel. Regardless of the time frame, The Magician’s Guild is the one readers will want to take on first.

Canavan creates a wonderful fantasy world devoid of the usual high-fantasy clichés, in other words: no farmboy of destiny. What you do have is a rich, full-bodied reading experience with deep characters and believable conflicts. There are elements of the world with which any experienced fantasy reader will be familiar: guilds, a University for magic, lords and ladies, thieves and slums, but never once did I feel I was on too-familiar ground.

The story follows Sonea, a girl from the slums with emerging magical powers in a world where only children from wealthy families are tested for ability. One day her powers emerge publicly in a way the Magicians Guild cannot ignore, and they begin to hunt her down. Aided by the  Thieves’ Guild Sonea goes on the run, while her uncontrolled magical abilities begin to put everyone she loves in danger.

Resolutions of the individual books in the series were satisfying, so readers will be happy about that, although a short epilogue at the ends of Books 1 and 2 will hint at future conflicts. I dislike books with too much of a cliff-hanger between novels, so this structure was welcome indeed.

As soon as I finished The Magician’s Guild, I was eager to move on to Books 2 and 3: The Novice and The High Lord. All three have proved to be an easy read with many unexpected twists and turns, an entertaining magical adventure with deep and believable characters.

Overall rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars

Find The Magician’s Guild on Amazon USA
Find The Magician’s Guild on Amazon UK
Find The Magician’s Guild on RatingsWorld UK

When I first saw the write-up for Me and My Ghoulfriends, a paranormal romance by Rose Pressey, I wasn’t sure what to think. “There’s always fun to be had on a ghoul’s night out. By day, Larue Donavan is a down-to-earth bookstore owner. But by night, she’s a world-renowned psychic investigator dedicated to helping lost spirits find peace. Dead people won’t leave her alone and Abraham Lincoln thinks he’s in charge of her lovelife. Larue can handle ghosts and undead presidents. It’s the living that drive her crazy. When Callahan Weiss moves to town, the handsome newcomer opens a coffee shop right next door. She’s smitten from the start, but she’s not the only one — The boutique owner across the street has her eye on Callahan too, and uses witchcraft to fight dirty. When Callahan gets hit by a love spell, Larue will need more than a little help from her ghoul-friends to save the day…”

It looked fun, sure, and original (Yay! No vampires or werewolves!) and I have to admit I thought the play on “girlfriends” in the title was funny. I guess my hesitation came because I’ve just read a lot of mediocre paranormal romance. I mean a lot. In fact, just this week I’ve put down two books that I couldn’t continue after reading the first 3 chapters.

But by the time I got half-way through Me and My Ghoulfriends, I had to force myself to slow down. It was just an easy read and the main character, Larue so engaging that if I wasn’t careful, I was going to finish the novel in one sitting. By the time the story was finished, I knew I was going to have to write a review recommending this book.

I wasn’t sure the Abe Lincoln thing would work. But overall it (and the other ghost characters in her entourage) did, and his love advice was pretty cute. I love how Pressey managed to give all the characters such individual voices and yet keep a consistent tone in the book.

If you’re looking for a light read in the paranormal vein, with ghosts, witches, coffee shops and pole dancing, give this one a try!

Amazon Print Edition
Amazon Kindle Edition
Fictionwise Multiformat

Having read the first book in this series by Michael Connelly, I really wanted to like The Black Ice . But 5 chapters in and I’m looking for any excuse to find something else to do rather than finish the second book featuring LAPD detective Harry Bosch.

I think what’s getting me is the cliché of cop who knows the right thing to do, but the brass upstairs just won’t let him do his job. You’ve probably seen this faux obstacle in just about every cop TV series and film ever produced. According to the cops I know, it just doesn’t work like this. Even if it did, we’ve seen it over and over… ugh.

You’d think authors would be able to come up with enough conflict in a crime story, which by its nature is full of violence and conflict. Why throw in a weasely boss character to trip up the detective, especially since it so often rings hollow, making each crime story sound like every other crime story.

I’m all for conflict, but I just don’t want to read about the same conflict over and over.

I’m not giving up on Michael Connelly, but I think I might go easy on myself and not finish this particular series.

There are primarily two types of books I read: gory crime books and sci-fi/fantasy. I like my crime books full of forensic details and smart cops. The crazier the psychopath murderer, the better. So, yeah, Criminal Minds is my favourite TV show by far.

I just finished reading Chemistry In Death by Simon Beckett. It’s about a forensic pathologist who loses his wife and daughter and out of dismay, quits his career and moves to a small town near Norfolk to become the village GP. This book is first in a series about the same protagonist.

Goriness

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Rating: ★★★★½ 

So if you like crime novels that scare the bejeebers out of you, this one is a good one.

I read this book over the weekend: Would-be Witch by Kimberly Frost

I’m trying to think how to describe the experience. I want to get this right, because I want you to read this book, and then we can gush like fan-girls together. This book made me forget that I am a writer, and for a few hours I felt that old pleasure of just being a reader. (You writers will probably know what I mean by that!)

The book starts with our would-be witch, Tammy-Jo, getting fired from her job as a baker. It was delightful. I was rooting for her from that moment, and she pretty much had my unflagging support because of that scene. And this was before the magic and witching really started.

There were robberies, a family ghost who gets “stolen”, rival witches, hungry werewolves, a camp vampire, and lots of other strangely believable supernatural goings-on.

In some ways I don’t want to tell you about the book, because I want you to experience the joy of reading it for yourself.  The other problem with this review is that I seem to be completely incapable of giving a balanced viewpoint. I seriously can’t find fault with it.

There is a romantic element to the story, but it doesn’t dominate the plot even though this book is billed as a paranormal romance.  I do hope, however, that future books (please tell me there are going to be more Tammy-Jo books) will expand on the love-triangle that was building in this one. So once again, the author did a brilliant job of leaving me both satisfied and wanting more at the same time.

A truly delightful read.

Would-be Witch at Amazon US (Available now)
Would-be Witch at Borders UK (From April 2009)
Would-be Witch from BooksOnBoard International (Available Now)

Got sex and romance on the brain? So does Cassandra Devon. She also has hard-boiled private eyes, dashing pirates, jet-setting super spies and other sexy rogues entertaining her in her surprisingly explicit subconscious. All these erotic daydreams make it hard to stay focused on Cassandra’s current dilemma: namely, rebuffing the advances of Connor, a wild Irish rascal who wants to play the starring role in her fantasies. Cassandra is only interested in getting together with Raphael, the tall, dark and handsome man of her dreams. May the best romance hero win!

When I first opened the book (Well, figuratively. I was reading an ebook.) my first impression was “Oh no! This is awful!” I pressed on, unable to tear my eyes away from the cliché-riddled text. I had planned to review the book, but how could I do it if I couldn’t come up with something positive to say?  My problem was solved when our protagonist, Cassandra, closed her romance novel. Yes, I was reading an excerpt of a fictional “bodice ripper”, Passion’s Tropic Fury.

I know.  Colour me slow.  I should have gotten that from the title “Ripping the Bodice”, and the fact that the text was in italics.

The book is peppered with dreams and daydreams in which our romance-loving protagonist perpetually indulges.  Each one more silly than the last, and they get downright funny when Cassandra’s “real life” begins to intrude upon her fantasies. The story is one of personal growth and the conflict between fantasy and reality, and is cleverly written with wit.

The non-excerpt/fantasy portions of the book have a charming voice and I zipped through this book, quickly turning from one page to the next.  I liked Cassandra’s mouthiness, her temper and the fact that she was so wonderfully clumsy and awkward.

The excerpt/fantasy passages were actually quite engaging and sweet, but a touch overlong.  I tended to skim them because I knew that, at least in the beginning, they weren’t directly tied to the action of the story, but only Cassandra’s state of mind.

The one problem I had was not at all with the writing.  As I said, the author’s voice was engaging and enjoyable to read.  My real issue was the stereotype of romance readers needing to be freed from their delusions.  At the same time, however, Cassandra had moments of being witty and delightful.  That being said: the concept that what women really need to do is throw aside their romance novels and live real lives is an odd choice of message for a romance novel!  One character in the book, a romance novelist herself, is also apologetic about her profession in many ways, talking about how she’s criticised by her family and friends.  I wish someone would tell these characters to quit being ashamed.  I wanted desperately for Cassandra to tell everyone to shut the fuck up.  Smart women read smut and romance, and I didn’t like people telling Cassandra (and her even coming around to agree) that somehow she’d been brainwashed into stupidity by her reading choices.

That rant aside (and it’s a thought many romance readers and writers share, no doubt), I think the reason this bothered me was really that I liked Cassandra.  She was a fun and funny character, and I related to her.  I think that’s why it annoyed me when people were unkind, demanding of or demeaning to her.

Lavey has a good play with the romance stereotypes and some of the fictional excerpts/fantasies had me laughing out loud.  A few of those stereotypes bled over into the rest of the book (i.e. Irish = sexy and therefore perfect for any lusty heroine) but overall I found myself smiling as I read much of the book, and enjoying the eventual outcome.

Ripping the Bodice is available from Ravenous Romance
Suitable only for readers who are 18+.

A fame-seeking, jealous photographer gets trapped in a haunted amusement park.  It isn’t ghosts she runs into though, but rather something more bizarre: living, but zombie-like people trapped in time (they come from different times, but they don’t age).  They’re compelled by a dark and evil force to play out a strange tableau of sexual frenzy.

Our heroine meets one man that doesn’t seem to be under the spell, but like her, he’s trapped, and has been since the 1920′s.  Together they try to find a way out and solve the mystery of what’s powering the amusement park, which comes to life every night at midnight.

Now, I said the main character was fame-seeking and jealous.  Well, yes, she’s flawed, but I still found myself liking her, probably because of her flaws more than in spite of them.  Another point for our author Morgan James for not giving us stereotypes.

The thing I liked most about this book was the pure originality of the plot, but also the voices and flow of it had something I don’t run into that often.

My one and only gripe about the book is really that I felt the ending came on too fast.  I wanted the climax to last a little longer and I wanted to know a little more about what happened next.  I don’t want to spoil the ending, because it surprised me a little, but I would like to have had access to about 4 more hours of the heroine’s life.

There is a lot of mediocre erotica out there, and Haunted Seduction really rises above the rest.  It’s well crafted and intelligent, and I look forward to reading more of Morgan James.

Haunted Seduction is available from Ravenous Romance
Suitable only for readers who are 18+.

Out of these, I’d say only a handful, a bare dozen perhaps, could really be described as “good reads”.  The rest were perhaps entertaining, but nothing I’d rush back to find out if the author had anything else I could add to my read list.  A few were downright dreadful.

Having read so many erotica novels, and many many sexy short stories, some downloaded, some sent to me by aspiring authors, and some free online, I think I’ve gotten a tad immune to the turn-on factor of words.  At least I thought I had.  Then I found Appetite for Passion by Jesse Blair Kensington.

The real shocker of this story is that it wasn’t the sex scenes that turned me on.  Kensington took two characters, gave them talents, flaws, attitudes and beliefs and set them in motion.  I didn’t always like the characters (as in want to have them over for a cup of coffee… I loved them in the literary sense), but I always believed them.  Not as common as one might think.  Too often heroines are always spunky and their love interest moody (with a huge penis and rippling muscles… or vice versa).

The engrossing story takes place all over the world, following an author and a chef who are collaborating on a cookbook.  Both take many varied lovers through the course of the story, but still wonder about true love and struggle with their feelings.  Yes.  You read that right.  In an erotica novel, characters face an inner struggle.  How refreshing for them to face conflicts more believable than who to screw next.

This novel is full of spicy sex with an amazing and delicious variety.  Kensington does not shy away from the desires of her characters, but embraces them in a way that does something interesting.  Of all the erotica books I’ve read, this is one that doesn’t seem “dirty”.  I do love a good dirty book, but I’m fascinated with how she celebrates sexuality without it ever seeming tired or tawdry. I felt compelled, as a writer, to go back and read several times to try to figure out how she did it. Beautiful.

If I had one criticism to make of this novel it’s that toward the end of the book, one of the characters faces an attack.  I won’t spoil it by telling what happens, but I felt this should have been dealt with more directly by the author, and resolved for the reader.  Instead we were left wondering what ever happened to the perpetrator.  The incident was brushed aside in favour of resolving the romance of the story, but it niggled at me.

However, the one thing that stands out to me about this book is that although there is sex in every chapter, the story would stand alone without the sex.  Not only does it stand, it does it a little dance too.  I felt the pull of the character’s thoughts and the complexity of their situation and would recommend that anyone (over 18) definitely read this book. If you love romance with spice, not to mention sexy food, then you will love this novel.

Appetite For Passion is available from Ravenous Romance