gianthogweed

Res Amatoria

Cranky Romance & Grumpy Erotica

Shaking the Sugar Tree  - Nick Wilgus

Shaking the Sugar Tree - Nick Wilgus 

Some parts are good, others are not. Fact is, anyone who finds this an amusing book has a fucked up sense of humor.

 

KEEP CALM AND NO MORE DRAMA

A Case of Possession - K.J. Charles Light - Nathan Burgoine

Paranormal stories if you want.

They are not without flaws: Light is probably a bit repetitive and A Case of Possession -from the point of view of the story- is lukewarm when compared with The Magpie Lord. But I really enjoyed reading them, and I want more of of their characters.

The Theory of Attraction - Delphine Dryden The Seduction Hypothesis - Delphine Dryden The Principle of Desire (Science of Temptation, #3) - Delphine Dryden

 The Science of Temptation Series

 

The Theory of Attraction: 4 stars (ex) fav

The Seduction Hypothesis: 2 stars

The Principle of Desire: 1 star

 

SPOILER ALERT!
Training Season - Leta Blake

Training Season - Leta Blake

Training Season is divided into 4 parts, if I remember correctly. The second part is so dragged, that half would still have been dragged. The vast love, blossomed almost immediately between the protagonists, makes the drama unjustified (long distance relationships, anyone?) And the lack of new elements, to keep it alive, makes everything boring and futile. 

Jonathan's Hope - Hans M. Hirschi

Jonathan's Hope - Hans M. Hirschi

 

DNF

The plot is not for me and this is subjective, but the book is really written in a half-assed way. One of the worst this year.

 

 

SPOILER ALERT!
The Fall - Kate Sherwood

The Fall - Kate Sherwood

 

This book is really nice. I loved the characters, like in Dark Horse, at the end  I was sad to have to let them go. I enjoyed the dialogues, which are fun and cute but also real. What I did not appreciated are the usual "home-delivered" children. And since here the issue is double and the expedient was already tapped by this author, it has weighed heavily on my final rating. 

 

Tangled - Emma Chase

Tangled - Emma Chase

DNF

After a hundred pages I don't give a damn about the characters. Drew is a funny guy, but he babbles like a little girl. 

Hot Mess - Rowan McAllister

Hot Mess - Rowan McAllister

 

The things that I hate reading the most all put together in one book. Nice.

Unrestrained - Joey W. Hill

Unrestrained - Joey W. Hill

 

Thank goodness! I really believed that the sinusoid of ups and downs in this relationship would go on forever.


Generally, I like the combination "alpha male X independent woman", but here Dale is full of attitudes and Athena is a character with the brain broken by the pain. It is not for me because Dale's posturings are not offset by real flaws (which makes him a fake character), while Athena's strength and independence are perceived only thanks to her wealth and because the claim is repeated continuously by the author (this makes her a failed character).

I understand that it's a matter of taste (and usually, in my erotica, I prefer Tops to Doms and bottoms to subs), but, dammit, a BDSM book that is not a heavy and sticky session of psychoanalysis is as impossible to find as a unicorn, nowadays. 

Chrome does not love booklikes, mh?

The Backup Boyfriend - River Jaymes

The Backup Boyfriend (The Boyfriend Chronicles) - River Jaymes

 

Dear guys you do not make a shred of sense. No, wait, in second grade ... perhaps. A special mention goes to Noah that is pleasant as a cat attached to the MCs' testicles. 

 

ETA

The book starts off great, but then, throughout it, I had two unpleasant feeling about Dylan. 1) He seems out of character. Strange for an original, I know, but the author says/describes stuff and Dylan does/says the opposite. 2) He does not know what to be: the "rough around the edges" dude, the super busy mechanic, the naughty boy, the guy full of complexes. One trait makes a character dull and flat, but a thousand little-examined aspects make the story superficial.


And then there's Noah, he could have been a good character (between him and Tyler the author could have sold me two other books easily), but nope, nope nope... he has no reason to exist (a bit like Alec, but with less nastiness by my), and if he must, he just has to do it away from me.

 

SPOILER ALERT!
Bone Rider - J. Fally

Bone Rider - J. Fally

 

Great reading. The characters, all of them, are great, the dialogues are smart and hilarious. Maybe the POWs are a little confused, but who cares, the plot is original, super vibrant and exciting as few others in this genre. Wonderful indeed!


But ..

 

I picked up an m-m, *science fiction* book.

At first I was so pissed off that I had to put the book down for a few days to convince myself that I had taken an action book, instead (one of those where you turn off your brain and just enjoy the explosions). And only then I was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the reading.

 

Shit, an interstellar spaceship enters the Earth's orbit first, and then is on a collision course with our planet: even my grandfather with his binoculars would have been able to spot her a long time before the impact. When she would fall in Texas, there would have been 7bn eyes fixed there with popcorn, welcome signs or rifles. And even if the whole human race had been busy looking elsewhere, the seismographs would have recorded the event... even on the other side of the world (but perhaps the author believes that, out of the great America, we live in caves fascinated by fire).


But I continued to read and it was time for the autopsy. Okay, so far, the science in this science fiction was shitty, but I have faith, dear author, amaze me. Procedure, mhm... procedure again. Ugh, I want science, the thing that explains... hole, red alert, end. 

What the fuck? No effort of imagination to give a minimal explanation of how the intelligent armour works. And so the badass Dr. Butler manages to make a report to the general only because the author told her to say those things.
Coup de grace :

" I Believe That, for all intents and purposes, you can Consider the host Already Dead , sir..."

Of course, a badass scientist who babbles BS without the full facts. Here, I flipped the fuck out and took a break.
A book can't be classified as science fiction only because it contains the words alien, spaceship and AI. No, scratch that. It can. But it will be a shitty sci-fi work.


So, great job, dear author, but next time stick to action, huh?

 

With or Without Him - Barbara Elsborg

With or Without Him - Barbara Elsborg

 

... and the end gives the coup de grace to a book that was over the top in itself. There are some nice parts, the characters (good in themselves) alternate wtf moments with TSTL moments, the plot would be lively and enjoyable if it were not for the TSTL moments and the monotonous sex scenes. I like the fact that the author has given a real characterization for each character, even the secondary ones, she failed/exaggerated in the use of their flaws.

Unveiled - Courtney Milan

Unveiled (Hqn) - Courtney Milan

 

DNF

70 pages and all the characters are getting on my fucking nerves... All except the old Duke, who is a nasty SOB, but alas he is not the protagonist.
 

 

River Rising - Brittan Kunsman

River Rising - Brittan Kunsman

 

This is the perfect book. That's right, it's the book that all aspiring writers should definitely read to have a nice and comprehensive picture of "how to write an awful book". We have...
Poor writing full of errors. Repetitive, not credible and even less original plot. Extended family artificial like a ski slope in Dubai. Stereotyped characters that seem to play their part. Super villains characterized with the same depth of the boogeyman with which adults threaten children. 

 

Enlightening indeed. 

Turbulence - Lyn Gala

Turbulence - Lyn Gala

 

"Sci-fi Lyn Gala" doesn't convince me. The plot has big holes and it drags in several points. When I have to do with an alien race and a war I want something tighter. The characters, that for me are usually the strength of this author, are interesting, but here they repeat themselves often, and their speaking only through banter, in the long run, makes me tired and annoyed.