dreams of pirate ships and patty hearst

::waves:: I'm home. With an upset stomach, because airports aren't conducive to eating well. Ah, well.

Vacation book count: four. Short reviews below!

1) Kushiel's Scion, by Jacqueline Carey. The last third of the book was AMAZING, luckily worth slogging through the first two-thirds. Not that it was a bad book up until then, but it just moved very, very slowly through Imriel's teenage angst. Once the whole thing moved to Lucca, it was awesome, and I was riveted. I don't know that I'll buy the second book in hardcover, but I'll read it as soon as I can get it in paperback!

2) The Sharing Knife, Vol. 1: Beguilement, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Not quite as good as her previous fantasy series, but a diverting read nonetheless. Good characters, rather fluffy, very romance novel. The world is interesting, though, and I'm a bit sad that she only intends it to be two books.

3) Sebastian, by Anne Bishop. She's a master of erotic, dramatic fantasy, but I have to say, the relationship between Sebastian and Lynnea is similar enough to the one between Daemon and Jaenelle in the Black Jewels books as to nearly be indistinguishable, just moved along faster. It's obvious that Bishop enjoys the dynamic of seductive, sex-driven male and innocent unflowered female, and she's really good at writing it, but I kind of wish she'd gone elsewhere for this series. I found myself skipping over a lot of their scenes to get to other ones, ones that featured Belladonna, or Nadia, or Teaser, or others. Good book, though, and I'm interested to see where it goes next!

4) Moonshine, by Rob Thurman. dragonsinger described this series as "the Winchester brothers go demon hunting with Jack Harkness", and that's fairly accurate for the character dynamics. Heh. I kinda want to bash Cal's head in for being stupid every once in a while, but he's a really entertaining narrator, so I can forgive him. Everything except the ending. Gah. There'd better be another book coming.

I also brought Sherrilyn Kenyon's The Dream-Hunter with me, but I couldn't bring myself to read it. I've been doing that for about three months now, which makes me think I've reached my tolerance limit for Sherrilyn's books. Really, I just want her to write Ash's book so I can see if my guess for his partner is right, and then I'm done. She writes the same book over and over again, and I've read it enough times, thanks.

First of all - happy happy happy birthday divachickie! Hope it is, as always, as fabulous as you are. :)

I read a lot of books last week. Five and a half, to be exact. (I'm currently in the middle of jhetley's Dragon's Eye.) Brief, mostly non-spoilery commentary on the five I finished ...

L.A. Banks - The Wicked: Okay, this is more like it. The last book in this series underwhelmed me, mostly because it read more like a straight romance novel that had a little supernatural content, and that's not what I'm in this for. But, this book dealt really well with the fallout from the romantic weirdness of the previous book, and came back around to the excellent supernatural adventure I love. I cried on three or four different occasions, too. Good stuff.

J.D. Robb - Innocent in Death: Probably middle of the pack in terms of quality for this series, but that still means it's more enjoyable than half to three-quarters of other books I read. The romantic conflict between Eve and Roarke was a little ridiculous, because at this point, they haven't given anyone any reason to believe one could conceivably doubt the other, but the case was interesting, and the character interactions were, as always, entertaining.

Patricia Briggs - Moon Called: A re-read, so I could remember the characters before I read ...

Patricia Briggs - Blood Bound: I like this series. The adventure is good, and Mercy is a good narrator. I worry a little bit, though, about Mercy becoming one of those women that every supernatural-type man in seven zip codes desires. Briggs is currently balancing that nicely, but it could devolve quickly into LKH territory if she's not careful. For the moment, though, I'm enjoying it - good mind candy.

Laura Anne Gilman - Bring It On: Okay, this series has officially become one of my favorites. Looks like the next one comes out in June, yay! I love Wren, I love Sergei, I love the world they live in. I love that Wren's strength is also her problem - being unnoticeable makes her an excellent thief, but sucks when she's trying to navigate politics and save her friends' asses. I love the fact that Wren and Sergei are still trying to navigate the weirdness of being business partners, friends, and lovers, and that Wren is still itchy about spending too much time together. Just, love, and a lot of it. Can't wait to read the next one!

I distracted myself for a bit this week by noticing that three of these four series have very similar heroes - Carlos, Roarke, and Sergei are all similar men, businessmen by trade, known for being smart and controlled, a thin veneer of society covering something more primal. In fact, I think you can probably connect the Patricia Briggs series here, too - my favorite of Mercy's potential suitors is Adam, who follows the same sort of archetype. Does that say something about what I'm attracted to? Perhaps. ;)

Heading to the mall today, mostly to just get out of the house and distract myself a bit. Otherwise, I think I'd sit here and stare at the same three entries on my friends list all day.

Two books read this week ...

1) Glass Houses, by Rachel Caine. A young adult novel, but a pretty dark and complex one. Lots and lots of the nonstop action and spiraling danger that I've come to think of as Rachel's signature - the heroines of her books never catch any breaks, never get a chance to breathe! Definitely makes reading them an active event, and you don't stop turning the pages until there are no more to turn ... and then you curse because there are no more to turn. :) This is probably a young adult novel simply because of the age of the heroine - 16 - because it's no less complex, story-wise, than the Weather Warden series. Highly enjoyable, as always ... can't wait for the next one in the series!

2) Working With the Devil, by Lilith Saintcrow. I'm not sure what I expected when I started this book. Several people I know had read it before me, and all had made comments on how, while they enjoyed the book, the main character frustrated them in some way or another. So, I read it with a little trepidation ... but, man, I think I loved the whole thing. The heroine is tough, but really flawed; her flaws worked for me because they remained consistant through the whole story. This was another page-turner, an action-adventure where the action never stopped. I liked the world it took place in - I don't know if it's supposed to be an alternate universe, futuristic, or both, but I was impressed with her ability to paint the picture without stopping for an info-dump. I was confused by some things at first, but they played out in a logical manner, until I was completely immersed in the entire universe by the end. Another book that ended on a cliffhanger - I'm just glad the second book is already available! :)

So, if you're in the mood for a little paranormal action-adventure, I highly recommend either book!

I finally read Valley of Silence tonight - it will tell you something that I've had it in my purse since Tuesday, but didn't feel compelled to start it until we got home. Normally, any Nora Roberts book is devoured within hours of purchase.

Actually, this one was the strongest of the trilogy - Moira and Cian were, as I suspected, the most compelling pairing in the trilogy. They had the most conflict; not much of it was in this book, true, but the setup in the previous two books made this one resonate more. Overall, the trilogy ended predictably, but the final battle scene was satisfying. A lot of times, a pure battle scene will make me skim pages until it's over - this one, I read every word of.

In the end, though, I consider this trilogy one of Nora's very rare missteps. The worldbuilding necessary for this kind of story isn't her strength - her strength is, and always will be, the characters. Details, nuances, relationships, conflicts; that's where she shines. Her attempt to create an entire fantasy mythology and communicate it to readers shoved her greatest strength onto the backburner. I couldn't lose myself in the romances - she didn't have enough time to make me love them like real people - and I couldn't lose myself in the world, because she kept having to break off immersion into the setting to deal with the romances. She tried to do too much, and the whole thing fell flat.

Anyway. I spent the whole night reading, and not writing. Whoops. The group will be getting my submission WAY late.

So, I made a pledge on our way home from work - "god," I said, "I have GOT to be productive tonight."

Right. That's working out.

What I did do tonight, though, was finally finish reading Laura Anne Gilman's Staying Dead. It took me a while to pick it up, for a petty reason - the font they printed the book in annoys the crap out of me! I'm a traditionalist, I guess, when it comes to typesetting. Anything other than the usual makes it look unprofessional to me, somehow. So, I let this book sit on the shelf for a couple of months.

... which, in retrospect, I shouldn't have done, because this one is good. Well, well played on the characters and the relationship between them. Wren is an engaging heroine - smart and tough, but far from perfect, with a really snappy voice both in dialogue and thought. And Sergei? Is HOT. The polished-businessman and rough-and-tumble-girl thing has been played before, obviously, but this is a great spin on it. They aren't even romantically involved in this book, not really, but the connection between them sizzles. There's something about the relationship, both romantic and professional, that reminds me a bit of Nikita and Michael, only a little more functional ... he's her handler and protector, even when she doesn't need it, and they dance around these tangles of espionage with only their wits and trust in each other to assure them a safe exit. Add in all the supernatural touches - Gilman's magical world feels archetypal, but at the same time different than everything else that's being produced by the urban fantasy world right now - and you've got a book I'll recommend highly to anyone who reads the genre. I don't have any business buying anything else before payday, but I may have to take a detour to B&N tomorrow to buy the sequel anyway.

So, I've read Staying Dead, and watched Without A Trace, and ... that's about it for the night. Productive, yes?

So, like I mentioned in the last entry, I blew my B&N gift cards on a bunch of romance novels that I've never read - many of them historicals, which is usually not my genre - because I was curious about those hyped over on the Smart Bitches site. Came away with seven books, and read the first one between breakfast and the salon. Lisa Kleypas - Dreaming of You; apparently, I'm one for one so far, because I really enjoyed this one! It hit most of my kinks for historical romances - the bookish but spirited heroine, the shameful rogue hero, a romantic connection that didn't suffer through too many twists and turns and misunderstandings. That last is a hard balance for me, in any romance novel - you have to have enough sources of tension to make it interesting, but I'm also not interested in a book that keeps the pair at odds with each other until the last possible second, because I enjoy the resolution of the tension far too much. If I have any complaint about this book, it's that the villainess was so one-dimensional as to be a cardboard cutout, but the rest of the book was so excellent that I can't spare her much thought at all. Mostly, it was a fast-paced, sexy book, and I'd recommend it!

I'm off to start another book, as the television won't offer me anything better than college football and an episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen that features fake Egyptian guards and a snake. I'll pass.

Just finished reading Adios to My Old Life, by Caridad Ferrer - this is a book in MTV's relatively new-ish fiction line, which I hadn't ventured into yet. The story follows a 17-year-old girl as she competes in a fictional Latin American version of American Idol. It's a very fast read, a fairly short book, very fast paced. I enjoyed it - it reads very much like a VH1 or ABC Family movie, with the impossibly good heroine (both in talent and personality) overcoming nerves and politics and her very own wicked witch in order to become everyone's sweetheart. Not the deepest plot on the plane, that's for sure, but that's okay. If what you're looking for is a fun look at the performance reality show culture and a cute drama to pay attention to for a while, it's a good read.

I'm sure there was something I should have done tonight aside from read, but damned if I can remember what it was. Oh, well.

I finally finished my reread of all the L.A. Banks books, and read the latest one, The Forsaken. Not really impressed. See, I picked these books up out of the sci-fi/fantasy section. I look for them either there or in the African-American Lit section. Not once have I seen them shelved in romance or chick-lit, so I'm not looking for a "girl gets mad at boyfriend for screwing around, makes a rash wish, suddenly gets a too-good-to-be-true prospect, and hijinks ensue" plot from these - but, that's what I got. Yeah, yeah, they weren't romantic comedy hijinks - not when you involve Homeland Security, biblical figures, and a looming Armageddon - but, still. These characters have far too much serious shit to be doing to waste an entire book dancing around romantic misunderstandings. Less sexual angst, more saving the world, please.

Anyway, now I'm rereading Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy. Which indeed promotes every fantasy cliche that people are currently posting about, vowing to never do again, but you know what? Any author who wants to can adopt every single cliche they want if they can make me believe it, and Bishop does. I'm rereading these because it's been several years, and there are new books out there that I haven't read! I want to remember everything before picking up the new stuff.

I'm rereading everything right now because, at the moment, I find myself feeling bored when I look at the new books on the bookshelf. Nothing's striking me - except maybe the new Nora Roberts, but I don't have the cash to buy a hardcover. I'm going to need reading material for next week's trip, though, so I'm gonna have to go searching things out. Any recommendations from the peanut gallery? You know what I like. Tell me what I should be reading!