Grade: C+

So here’s my second foray into manlove fiction. Previously, my only other experience with this came from author L.E. Bryce. In Here Be Dragons, T.A. Chase has written an urban fantasy wrapped around a love story.

Kael is a herpetologist hiding out from an abusive ex-lover in Ireland. In any event, he’s working slightly out of his field in a research lab for a total hottie named Hugh. Kael is a thin, gangly science geek and Hugh is just two hundred pounds of pure stud, so Kael figures Hugh would never give him a second look. Plus Kael has all kinds of emotional baggage from his former partner, Will, and he doesn’t think it would be good idea to get involved with his boss, even if Hugh wanted him. Which he doesn’t. Because who could ever love a loser like Kael?

Little does he know, Hugh pops wood anytime Kael walks into the room. Hugh is a pretty normal guy without any excess angst, although his brother is going through a messy divorce because his wife is a cheating whore. that leads me to my next point — I’m a little nonplussed by this book in some ways, however. There isn’t much in the way of healthy straight relationships found in the book. Kael’s coworker, Irene, appears to be in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend as well. Apart from Hugh, there’s a dearth of … normal people to balance out Kael’s emotional fragility. When too many supporting characters suffer from some crisis or other, it lessens some of the impact of what goes on with the protagonist. Hugh was the best part of the book, but I’m afraid he couldn’t carry it alone, and the story never captured my interest altogether.

Anyway, once you get past all that, it’s quite a sweet love story between Kael and Hugh, joined with an interesting retelling of a dragon myth. I won’t give too many details because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who might want to pick this up. If m/m erotic romance floats your boat, you’ll find Here Be Dragons scorching hot with its plentiful, well-written sex scenes.

Grade: C+

A preface — this isn’t a romance. It’s more women’s fiction or even, dare I say it, literature. Unfortunately, in the way of lit-ruh-chur, it leaves me feeling glum and wanting to eat a chocolate bar to get my seratonin levels back into the “I really, truly don’t need a Xanax prescription” zone.

Nightswimming is well written. It truly is. The prose is clean and elegant. In places, it’s even evocative. However, this is so not my thing. The plot is fine (even though it makes me want to stick both my thumbs in my eyes to see if that hurts less than reading this story). It’s written in high literary style, where you begin at the end of the story, and then construct what has come before via POV vignettes. This is accomplished with expertise and artistry.

As a Lit major, I’ve encountered enough literature to recognize it when I read it. I just never liked it. You see, literature is so often depressing. Crappy things happen to people and lessons are learned. When I’m reading, I don’t necessarily want a moral or a life lesson or to be enriched. I want to be entertained. Nightswimming is eminently readable, but far from festive.
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Grade: C

Jan has taught me to check the original copyright date when reading these. It was released in Japan as a manga in 2003, but the original novel A Daring Deception came out in 2000. It still felt a little “Holy, 80’s Secretary in Love with Her Boss Who Thinks She’s a Flirt, OH NOES, Batman!” however. This is my first manga ever and even though it’s kind of terrible —printed in flirty pink ink! — I do believe I’m going to keep reading them. They’re short, there’s pictures —yay!—and I was amused by the overly expositional dialogue. It’s hilarious! Here’s a sample: “I can’t fall in love with a girl who’s a tramp— so there can be nothing more between us”.
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Grade: C+

The magic cooch is a favorite plot contrivance in a romance novel. It doesn’t even have to be a paranormal romance. The hero could be the coldest, most arrogant sociopathic jerkweed who ever lived (oh, man… I just got a little turned on right now) and all it would take to reform him would be one passion-filled night with the heroine. The hero, who’s probably had sex with the most beautiful, most accomplished women in the world, is felled by a wide-eyed innocent girl (preferably a virgin) and thus, he is healed. Why is this plot so popular? Is it because no matter how smart or how reasonable we women are, deep inside we all harbor fantasies of being the ONE woman in the world to have the power to rehabilitate the baddest boy around? That we would succeed where all other women had failed? I recently reviewed a Harlequin Blaze by this very same author whose heroine possessed a magic vagina… that healed! And she had sisters. Remember how I said one sister has a vagina that bends men to her will and makes slavering puppies out of them? And how the youngest sister has one that makes men violently ill? Worst. Power. Ever. Sure, it’s a funny premise… three witchy sisters whose powers come from their poon. It’s good for a laugh, but could you actually get through one book without giving yourself brain damage from repeatedly slapping yourself on the forehead? Well, girls, I read them. All 3 of them. And here are the next two sisters in the series. Whoo-hoo!
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Grade: C

Dear Bam,

Stories about people who turn out to be something other than what they think they are always intrigue me. And in the Philip K. Dickian vein of writing, I love being in the dark about what is fantasy and what is reality, with small hints to both deceive and make me think more along the way. Well, either that or have a twist that you don’t see coming, and when it happens it so hard to wrap your brain around that you question your own reality. Unified Souls is that type of story, but I figured out the plotline, complete with twists, almost immediately since the author was kind enough to spell everything out. Which left 353 pages of character development, worldbuilding and backstory. I’m not saying I’m smarter than the average bear, but when you read this on the first page, well…you know where the author is going:

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