This book wasn't for me. I'm near the target demo. I'm in sight of the target demo. This author was one of the authors of "Him" and "Us," two of my very favorite romance novels. I can tell why this novel was great for what it is. It just wasn't for me.
So: Claire is jilted at the altar by her cartoonishly uptight husband, who proceeds to go on the honeymoon without her. His brother Dylan, whom Claire has never liked, takes her home with him for a few days so she can get a break from all the sympathy. Dylan, who is a SEAL, is shockingly hot; so his his "roommate," Aidan, who is in Navy intelligence. Claire, who is also stunningly gorgeous -- even without makeup!! -- realizes the two guys are actually together, but they tell her they bring home women all the time, because they're bi and can't live without pussy. (They say so.)
Guess what happens?
You know what happens.
If what you want is a lot of very explicit sex scenes, including m/m, threesomes, dirty talk, and a lot of the word "sexy juices" then this book is for you. There isn't a ton of plot; Claire isn't sure she's a threesome kind of girl, but it turns out she is. Her parents disapprove. Her cartoonishly evil ex tries to ruin things. Love triumphs.
For me, there wasn't enough character (all three of them are mostly described as "sexy"; we know Aidan has secret sadness but he immediately tells Claire what it is; Dylan turns out not to be a bad guy after all) and there was no angst or pining, two things I require in romance. I'm a lot more interested in the build up to the fucking than the actual fucking itself. I want complicated feelings and misery. (Misery is pretty key for me.) This is a straightforward story about threesomes and the beautiful, sexy people who have them. So close, but not quite what I wanted.
But if you haven't read Him or Us by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen, for god's sake go do it. M/M hockey romance that is flat-out amazing.
Grade: C
#68 in 2016
Friday, August 19, 2016
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
The Invasion of the Tearling, Erika Johansen
The second book in a trilogy can be hard to pull off, but I loved this book. It added to what we knew from book one, it advanced the plot, it was full of great exciting moments. And it ends on a cliffhanger, which I figured it would, but.... Now I have to wait a couple of months for the last book to find out if the series sticks the landing. (I really hope it does.)
In case you forgot: the Tear is a fantasy land, and Kelsey is its queen, raised in seclusion so she couldn't be murdered by her mother's enemies. In book 1 Kelsey comes back to her kingdom, realizes how messed up things are, and tries to make it right -- which kicks off a war with a much more powerful country on the border. We also know that Kelsey and other characters read books from our world, reference the Bible and Shakespeare, and came to the Tear on something called "the Crossing," in boats, a few centuries earlier. All the technology and history from before that is more or less lost, though.
In this book Kelsey has to figure out what to do about the invading army. She has magic, and she has the potential to use it to destroy her enemies, but just like Luke Skywalker could have told her, once you go down the dark path forever will it control your destiny. Kelsey can't save her people without doing some potentially terrible things. And meanwhile, she's having visions of the life of a woman before the Crossing, back in Manhattan, dealing with a dystopian slight-future where a terrible US president has seized power and is using censorship to make life terrible, especially for women. But maybe there is hope for a better world...
This story gets dark (if you have trouble with sexual assault or self-harm I wouldn't recommend it) but I loved the story Kelsey finds herself watching, and I loved Kelsey's story, too. I really liked how it expanded what we know about the Crossing, and the Tear, and I liked Kelsey's arc here. I also like Pen, and the Fetch, and the Mace. So many good characters! So much going on!
And who the heck is Kelsey's dad, you guys. Seriously, I need to know.
Grade: A
#67 in 2016
In case you forgot: the Tear is a fantasy land, and Kelsey is its queen, raised in seclusion so she couldn't be murdered by her mother's enemies. In book 1 Kelsey comes back to her kingdom, realizes how messed up things are, and tries to make it right -- which kicks off a war with a much more powerful country on the border. We also know that Kelsey and other characters read books from our world, reference the Bible and Shakespeare, and came to the Tear on something called "the Crossing," in boats, a few centuries earlier. All the technology and history from before that is more or less lost, though.
In this book Kelsey has to figure out what to do about the invading army. She has magic, and she has the potential to use it to destroy her enemies, but just like Luke Skywalker could have told her, once you go down the dark path forever will it control your destiny. Kelsey can't save her people without doing some potentially terrible things. And meanwhile, she's having visions of the life of a woman before the Crossing, back in Manhattan, dealing with a dystopian slight-future where a terrible US president has seized power and is using censorship to make life terrible, especially for women. But maybe there is hope for a better world...
This story gets dark (if you have trouble with sexual assault or self-harm I wouldn't recommend it) but I loved the story Kelsey finds herself watching, and I loved Kelsey's story, too. I really liked how it expanded what we know about the Crossing, and the Tear, and I liked Kelsey's arc here. I also like Pen, and the Fetch, and the Mace. So many good characters! So much going on!
And who the heck is Kelsey's dad, you guys. Seriously, I need to know.
Grade: A
#67 in 2016
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, Ben Macintyre
Then I took like, 2 weeks off from reading because I'm on vacation and it's the Olympics, whoops. Also, in my defense, this book is non-fiction, and it took me a while to get going with it.
But once I did, my god. someone recommended this to me as vacation reading and I strongly agree. If you like thrillers or spy movies you should take this book to a beach and read the whole thing in a couple of days, under an umbrella with a drink in hand. It's the true-life story of the Russia mole inside MI6 in the UK during WWII and the early Cold War, the man who was simultaneously reporting everything to the Kremlin and running the anti-Soviet counterspy division. The number of ways he was almost turned in, the way he totally duped people, the close calls -- all of these things would seem insane if this were a movie, but they all really happened.
Halfway through the book MI5 begin to suspect him, but that is only halfway through the book! Things continue to escalate in ways that should be outlandish, and are totally real. You will find yourself turning to whomever is sitting closest to you and shouting, "AND THEN, YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS PART, AND THEN--"
If I had a criticism, I would have liked to have the parts about James Angleton and the CIA more fleshed out, but otherwise, this was a literal page turner. ...except I read it on a kindle, so I guess it was a literal virtual page turner.
Grade: A
#66 in 2016
But once I did, my god. someone recommended this to me as vacation reading and I strongly agree. If you like thrillers or spy movies you should take this book to a beach and read the whole thing in a couple of days, under an umbrella with a drink in hand. It's the true-life story of the Russia mole inside MI6 in the UK during WWII and the early Cold War, the man who was simultaneously reporting everything to the Kremlin and running the anti-Soviet counterspy division. The number of ways he was almost turned in, the way he totally duped people, the close calls -- all of these things would seem insane if this were a movie, but they all really happened.
Halfway through the book MI5 begin to suspect him, but that is only halfway through the book! Things continue to escalate in ways that should be outlandish, and are totally real. You will find yourself turning to whomever is sitting closest to you and shouting, "AND THEN, YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS PART, AND THEN--"
If I had a criticism, I would have liked to have the parts about James Angleton and the CIA more fleshed out, but otherwise, this was a literal page turner. ...except I read it on a kindle, so I guess it was a literal virtual page turner.
Grade: A
#66 in 2016
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