[Bam’s Note: Ann read these books one after the other. In ONE sitting. That’s dedication. Oh, and here be spoilers. Lots of ‘em.]

Okay, first, I cannot keep the titles straight. If Bam wants to fix this she can, but otherwise, whatever. Y’all will know what I’m talking about. Oh, and I’m not worried about spoilers. I figure everyone else in the known world has read these so big deal, right? But you have been warned.

Book 1 - Hello, wildly oscillating POV. I usually can’t stand books that open in the POV of someone who’s gonna die. Or hell, someone who isn’t a protagonist. JR Ward writes well enough that it minimizes my distaste, but still, not an auspicious start. If I hadn’t been so damn determined to wade through these books, I probably would’ve put it down before page 5 and never picked it up again.

Bam told me, “Stick with it. It gets better.”

So I did.

(more…)

[Ed. Note: This is fourth from the last of Annie’s reviews. *sad face* Enjoy it!]

Grade: B-

Payback Is A Bitch
by LA Banks

This story opens with a bang. Two sexy sluts are going at it with some dude, and my first reaction, “Woohoo! Finally, a threeway that doesn’t involve two dicks.” Then I read on to discover that this dude is, in fact, the villain of the story, and I hate shit written from the villain’s point of view. It almost always come across as so evil it’s just a caricature, and doesn’t enrich the story. This scene is no exception because they’re licking drugs off each other’s body parts, and while he’s fucking these fine ladies, Douglass is thinking about how he’s getting even with his frigid wife by being such a manwhore. That’s a helluva handicap to overcome. I woulda cut that scene so fast it’d make your head spin.

Nonetheless, I read on, hoping the story would improve. Lemme set up the plot a bit for you. Sidney Coleburn-West is married to a dickhead named Douglass. He’s doing his best to catch the clap all over town, but he’s refusing to give her a divorce because he wants her money. She’s fed up with his mess and hires an enforcer named Mitchell Brickland, Brick to his friends, probably named for the giant man-tool he keeps in his BVDs. Sid is willing to pay a cool 20K to him in exchange for him getting the dirty info on Douglass so she can wash that man right out of her hair.

(more…)

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.
(more…)

Grade: A-

[Ed. Note: Is it Dean Winchester on the cover or am I just crazy?]

Authors are either getting better at gauging what I like, or I’ve just gotten a good crop of submissions in the last few weeks. At any rate, Dirty Shame rocked. I know the conventions say not to write about people in famous professions like rock stars, actors, etc, but this story worked for me. Among other gifts, Ms. March has knack for smart banter in dialogue.

Josephine (Joey) Fiorello is a short brunette in a world of tall, leggy Barbie types. She wants to make a living as an actress, but there isn’t enough “character” work to keep her from starving and she doesn’t qualify as a leading lady. Because she doesn’t fancy being homeless, she interviews for a job as a personal assistant.
(more…)