Currently reading
Lords of the Left-Hand Path: Forbidden Practices and Spiritual Heresies
Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles, #2)
The Derby Girl (Getting Physical, #2)
This book that I highly anticipated the release of. Romantic literature is not only something I enjoy, but I think is a great venue to explore different types of inter-personal relationships and the fact that so few "alternative" lifestyles and sexualities get the spotlight in this genre is a travesty.In Heart of Aces each story features an asexual character within a romantic context, which is an ingenious way of showing the spectrum of sexual aspects of asexuality which is often misunderstood to have none.
Given that the theme of this book is one of a highly unknown and misunderstood sexuality, I thought that most of the book would be hard to approach as simply stories of romance, but that isn't the fact at all. The stories within this book are, at their core, classic romantic tales of longing/union, hurt/comfort, and love conquering all.
I recommend this book to those who finally want accurate depictions of asexuality and to those who simply love great love stories.
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I wanted to read this book because of the side character, Wilhelmina, but the leading lady grated on my nerves so badly I couldn't finish.Katie it is ashamed of her mother unabashedly taking many lovers when she was alive and it is used to illustrate how low class Katie feels her past is; maybe this is made better by character development I didn't get to, but the fact we have to learn about it through this pseudo-schizophrenia where Katie's mother's talks for her vagina falls just short of unintentionally funny.
Either do literal talking vaginas or don't do them at all.
But the worst part is the author's failed attempt to make Katie clever and witty. Telling a guy he has a small dick is not funny and is so overplayed. Stop doing it.
I fucking mean it. No one make this joke anymore.
Quick tip to aspiring authors who think they can write funny characters, if people tell you that you have a dark sense of humor it isn't true; if your sense of humor was truly dark you would be the only one left laughing because everyone else would be dead.
And stop making those fucking small dick jokes.
Discombobulated and otherworldly, this book sits very firmly within the genre of bizarro; meaning if you don't know what you're getting into there is no preparing you but if you are already a connoisseur there will be nothing to surprising you.Funny, sexual, and crude this is the perfect beach read for those who drive to the beach only to prefer being locked in the car.
It was good and I enjoyed it, but it suffers heavily from lack of living up to its potential. If I had read this as a manuscript my feedback would have been good but my notes from what would make a great may be with out of reach from the author's writing style.Every aspect of the book had a clear and fine tone but if the author had Spinal Tapped that shit up to 11 they could become a powerhouse in the romance genre.
There were a few things in this book that I found problematic, but the subject matter is very intense and those who can relate to it are bound to have wide and varying experiences and so what I find problematic others might find inspiring or romantic; that's why I'm deciding not to be too nitpicky in my review.Another reason I won't be nitpicky is that overall the book is fantastic. It's a short novel, bordering on novella, but it's so intense and the characters so engaging that it seems much larger than it really is. I had to put the book down very often as the subject matter is heavy and it is presented quite frankly, But between readings the book stayed with me. It's not one I'll soon forget.
Renée Reeves has a great talent for engaging characters, addictive romance, and exceptional erotica; I hope to see more of her work soon, and perhaps an ongoing series.
A Hero in the Making (Harlequin Super Romance Series #1752)
So, this is about a crippled man falling in love with a small Aryan child who together wheelchair race into lands where there love is legal.No, but actually it's a Hallmark type of romance where a woman has recently lost her husband and their young son now believes they will become a family of vampires so she decides to truck them off to the middle of nowhere to rehabilitate him at the ranch for disabled people and horses.
Spoiler alert: there were no vampires.
The way Wilder dealt with horrific, violent, multiple rapings was at the least disrespectful to those with sexual abuse in their past. I was too disgusted to finish.
The cover of the book looks like one of the guys from the Jersey shore is attacking cripple people in elevators.Fortunately (or unfortunately) that is not at all what this book is about.
This novella is a mashup of to love story clichés: the jock and the and rich boy poor boy. As someone who reads fanfic, I have read my fair share of these types of stories and so I expected very little but Drew Hunt wrote it in such a way that within a few pages I lost all my reservations.
The story flashes back and forth between the young love story of two young men and the future coincidental meeting in a broken elevator, and as you read on you learn why the future Mason is terrified of his first love and is in a wheelchair.
Not wanting to give away any spoilers I can't say more than that, so all and this review by admitting I was completely surprised by the quality of this novella and the fact that it brought tears to my eyes.
I hadn't read the first three books in the series, the only reason I read this one is because I'm a huge fan of Nalini Singh. I expected to skim through it and have to overlook many references to the first three, but this book works so well as a stand-alone novel that I hadn't known any better I would not have realized it was a larger series. The beginning of the book reads a lot like a fairytale and by the end makes a smooth transition into a classic fantasy novel; but don't worry, there's lots of great sex scenes. Both the leading man and the leading lady had so many characteristics of archetypal fairytale and fantasy characterization as well. Instead of simply the inexperience heroine, both the leading man and lady had led a sheltered and abusive lives, leaving them both immature and un–tried; it is difficult to pull off a believable romance within these limitations, but Nalini Singh wrote it flawlessly, as she always does.
I've said this before but I really do wish that Nalini Singh could rewrite every book ever published; her talent could save even Where the Red Fern Grows.
The only complaint I have about this book is that in the end the ugly and disfigured heroine magically becomes beautiful. As ugly characters are one of my fetishes I was disappointed with this, but have read enough books to know to expect it all along. In this particular case it seemed wholly unnecessary seeing as how the leading man was unconcerned with her uncharacteristic beauty, and by the end it seemed she had accepted herself. Ruining a perfectly good ugly heroine would usually have me scoring the book poorly, but I can't do that to Nalini Singh, she's just that damn good.
SPOILER REVIEW!!!The leading lady, Scarlet, is a daughter of Gods so she is a ka-jillion-billion years old and has spent that whole time locked up in Tartarus being beat and raped, never knowing any form of freedom.
Her one bright moment was falling in unrequited love with a man, Gideon, who delivered prisoners and suddenly Gideon approaches her, falling in love with her, marrying her in secret and impregnating her with a son. Gideon suddenly disappears and their child is taken from her and murdered in front of her. At the same time she is possessed by the demon nightmares and has to spend most of each day asleep in people's nightmares, forces to participate or she suffers.
Eventually she escapes to Earth for a few hundred years, freedom hindered by her nightmare demon, mourning her son, and searching for her husband. When she finally finds Gideon he rejects knowing her and locks her back up.
She then finds that the Goddess of Memory had messed with her mind and Gideon had never noticed her, much less married her, and her son never existed but the pain doesn't lessen because that had been her reality for in-numerous years.
Scarlet is the most tortured heroine I've read about in a long time and there is no possible ending to give her that would make her's a truly happy ending so I am just sad...
Cabbage Holiday
The leading lady is named Madame Fifine Faquet, so, like, obviously shes a drag queen. This is never said but back in the day they couldn't come out and say this shit...like how the song Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I got love in my tummy is about oral sex.
The essays in this book are written by loving, imperfect, frank parents of disabled children writing on specific aspects.If you are looking for a how-to, this isn't it.
If you are looking for a serious look at those who have disabled kids, this isn't it.
The book seems good but sort of useless unless you are just looking for a light read on disability culture.
I just read a blog about a man who, upon learning his 2 year old had a terminal illness, contemplated murdering the child and in an ironic twist discovered his wife was thinking the same thing.
Put that essay in this book.
And what is with the offensive title? What was rejected?
"My kid is too retarded for us to eat in public"?
"I gave birth to a freak but since it's taboo to give your child to a circus, we had to keep it"?
I only bought this for the Patricia Briggs story; I love Moira and Tom and wanted to read their origin story...........why couldn't the whole book be about them?
Vomiting blood and romance? Ms. Langley, you did it again.Also, cheers, it's the first gay marriage of convenience I've read.
