Sunday Soup: December 2, 2018

In The Soup This Week... Oliver Willis, Chuck Wendig, Sam Sykes, Rachel Caine, JR Ward, Ilona Andrews

Soup Dish:  personal dish; on my mind; good links
It's been a while since I dished, so I'll take a few minutes to catch you up on what's going on with me...

✽ I'm in the midst of a temporary health challenge that has me off work for several months. I have lots of time for reading and reviewing, though the illness comes with some challenges to energy and focus. So far I think I can say the blog is coming out a little bit ahead on the equation. 

✽ If you've been reading here for awhile, you might recall that I've been trying to get myself to read a bit more (some? any?) non-fiction, and it's been quite the uphill road. I've figured out the solution: audiobooks. Generally I do not like listening to talk radio, or talking-head TV. I never thought I'd like audiobooks, but it turns out that a good narrator is able to bring non-fiction to life in a way that my inner reader-voice cannot. I don't really want to dilute my brand here on the blog so when I choose to review those, I'm putting them over on Goodreads.

✽ So I mentioned before, I had been reviewing for the last few years for RT Book Reviews.  With their closing,   I'm selectively choosing a few books off of Netgalley and other sources for review, but my self-discipline has never been great.  I am forcing myself to review everything I have open there before picking new ones.  So you're going to occasionally see reviews for older releases, but hey, why not.

✽I wrote this bit (slightly updated) almost a year ago and never posted, but the links are worth checking out if you haven't seen them: Twitter is evolving. There have been threadrolls and Storifications and so on before but I've never seen anything quite like what Oliver Willis has done, and it is insanely good (the whole project is available as a novella on Amazon - I recommend it, assuming your politics align). However, before Willis launched this masterpiece, we had Yo Can You Help Me Out from Sam Sykes and Chuck Wendig, which I 100% adore. I was not the only one, so there have been a few more of these epic dialogs unfold, like the Lovecraftian Hey How's It Going; a hellish goat pyramid scheme in "Yo Hey You Busy."


What I'm reading
I just can't get enough Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance lately. Having some trouble getting into historical or contemporary-- bring on the werewolves, vampires, witches and magic! 

✽Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series. I've had a number of these paperbacks around for a couple years now and I decided to get serious. I binged the first 5 books but got a little stuck on the 6th. Probably just needed a wee break. I'm enjoying them and hoping to write up a series review when I finish them.

✽Jeffe Kennedy's Dasnaria Chronicles. The third in the trilogy, Warrior of the World, is due out in early January. Look for a rave review from me as we get closer, but I've enjoyed the whole trilogy (oh hey, looks like the first in the trilogy, Prisoner of the Crown, is on sale for $0.99 -- do yourself a favor and snap it up), as well as the latest in the Uncharted Realms series, Arrows of the Heart.

✽I went back to my PNR roots and grabbed the most recent Black Dagger Brotherhood book, The Thief (when I noticed the price had come down). I liked it, but I felt a little let down with Sola's character. I liked her so much in the early parts of their arc but she didn't quite hit the high notes for me overall. The Jane and V arc worked fine for me, though I'm finding these original-brothers'-marriages-in-crises arcs to be getting a little stale/repetitive.

✽Last but definitely not least, I grabbed the latest Hidden Legacy (Ilona Andrews) book, a novella titled Diamond Fire, about Nevada's younger sister Catalina. Predictably, I loved it a lot and it inspired a re-read of the whole preceding trilogy. These are so, so good.


That's it for this week. Happy reading!

ps -- apologies for the wonky font situation. My HTML is befuckered and I have run out of patience trying to deal with it.  Sigh.

Consumed, by JR Ward - Review

Title: Consumed

Series: Firefighters (book 1)
Author: J. R. Ward
Publisher: Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)
Release Date: October 9, 2018
Reviewing: e-ARC via NetGalley
Reason for reading: With JR Ward, hope springs eternal

The Short Answer: 
Consumed brings in the best of the Black Dagger Boys in a contemporary, non-paranormal context. Danny reads a little bit like a less-damaged Butch, and the boys in the firehouse are deftly set up for the next JR Ward Dude Group. The characters are diverse and down-to-earth; more blue-collar and less blue-blood; struggling with the real-life baggage that tends to get in the way of a healthy relationship. The suspense plot keeps it from being too angsty and Ward's hallmark storytelling is on point.

The Blurb

Anne Ashburn is a woman consumed...

By her bitter family legacy, by her scorched career as a firefighter, by her obsession with department bad-boy Danny McGuire, and by a new case that pits her against a fiery killer.

Strong-willed Anne was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse fire changes her life forever, Anne must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self.

Shattered and demoralized, Anne finds her new career as an arson investigator a pale substitute for the adrenaline-fueled life she left behind. She doesn't believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again--until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze.

Danny McGuire is a premiere fireman, best in the county, but in the midst of a personal meltdown. Danny is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her.

From the creator of the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood, get ready for a new band of brothers. And a firestorm. 

The Longer Answer 
Ward doesn't pull any punches in this book. Bad stuff happens to her characters, and miracles don't save them.  There's a brutal edge to the plotting that feels true to the style she has developed with her various paranormal books. (I confess I did not finish Bourbon trilogy, so there may be echoes there as well, but I can't comment.)

One of the threads that I really enjoyed is that as a firefighter, Anne is the only woman in her precinct, and as much as she wants to be treated as one of the guys, she gets a certain "little sister" treatment. While her work is respected and she isn't coddled, it's more about her place in the social constellation of her team. I thought Ward did a great job of threading that needle.  Anne's status changes after the "risky decision" mentioned in the blurb, and the way she adjusts is one of my favorite things about the book.

Danny... well, Danny. Readers who are allergic to the physically uber-alpha should know by now to give anything by J. R. Ward a pass, and Danny is no exception.  He's physically tough, ridiculously stubborn, carries a bunch of family baggage, and loves with his whole heart or not at all. And by "not at all," I mean "turns it into a stream of self-loathing." Usually I feel like Ward's books are all about the hero with the heroines hovering in "accessory" territory, but it's reversed in Consumed. Danny is a worthy foil and gets a decent hero's arc, but Anne is for sure the star.

I've noticed a definite trend in Ward's book about characters seeking therapy for their issues and I think that's a great thing. Love cannot conquer all, and the rise of the angsty hero also created this trope where the expectation of the Happily Ever After kind of included some magical love-heals-all-wounds subtext.  I'm glad to see explicit inroads on that subtext. Love doesn't mean finding the perfect person, and love can be healing for sure, but finding a partner does not equate to fixing a person, and that's a message that deserves repeating.

I think this author is incapable of writing a book without multiple arcs, and in my opinion, it's very well done in this book, though there is plenty of disagreement across the reviews on that point. There's a mystery, a complicated romance, family baggage galore, an ensemble cast being introduced, and they all get a decently tidy wrap-up in this book. I look forward to getting to know the rest of the cast and their stories.

Around the Web
Book Binge didn't like it all, and makes a fair point about some questionable decisions on Anne's part (this is why I don't read other reviews before I do mine, heh)
The Reading Café - Two for the price of one reviews! Generally positive
Romance Reader liked it too.
Random Book Muses - short and sweet

GIVEAWAY and Review for Phoenix Unbound, by Grace Draven

Title: Phoenix Unbound

Series: The Fallen Empire (1)

Author: Grace Draven

Publisher: Ace (Penguin)

Release Date: September 25,2018

Reviewing: eARC

Reason for reading: I'm on a fantasy romance binge right now, and I really enjoyed Draven's holiday novella last year, part of a limited edition collection entitled "Amid The Winter Snow."

The Short Answer

If you love a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers road romance, with mayyyybe a couple who will bring down an empire to be together, this is the fantasy romance you've been waiting for. Wanna read it for yourself? Penguin is offering a massive fantasy romance giveaway ! The only way to join is to click through. I've read every single book on this list and they are amazing! if you're not hooked on fantasy romance, you will be before you're done with that list. It's worth noting that the other five titles I would call more urban fantasy. Draven's contribution is a little different, being more in the tradition of swords-and-sorcery. Good luck! (and if you win, please come back and tell me!)

The Blurb

Every year, each village is required to send a young woman to the Empire's capital--her fate to be burned alive for the entertainment of the masses. For the last five years, one small village's tithe has been the same woman. Gilene's sacrifice protects all the other young women of her village, and her secret to staying alive lies with the magic only she possesses.

But this year is different.

Azarion, the Empire's most famous gladiator, has somehow seen through her illusion--and is set on blackmailing Gilene into using her abilities to help him escape his life of slavery. Unknown to Gilene, he also wants to reclaim the birthright of his clan.

To protect her family and village, she will abandon everything to return to the Empire--and burn once more.

The Long Answer

To be perfectly honest, I tried an earlier Draven title and wasn't into it. Radiance involved an interspecies political marriage and I just can't. However, as I mentioned above, this author combined forces with a few of my favorites last December for a holiday anthology and I loved it a lot. Combined with some buzz on this title, I was keen to get my hands on it.

And I'm so glad I did! All the sweep and grandeur of your favorite epic fantasy, and none of the misogyny, although I'll add a trigger warning for rape. (It happens, but it is not a key part of the plot and is not described graphically.)

This hero surprised me a little. Tortured and abused for ten years in an arena strongly resembling gladiatorial Rome, he escapes with a mission, with ruthlessness, and yet also with empathy and tenderness, while Gilene is locked down under a tougher shell. Arguably, she has had an easier time, surviving an annual ritual that leaves her scarred, sick, and battered. But in between, she has a family, a home, a community, and work creating dyes (is it wrong that I want to hear more about this? I'm kind of a low-key textiles nerd). The difference is, she has no future that she can imagine, other than continuing this annual hell until she is too scarred and worn out to continue. She never expects to marry, or to bear children, and her role makes her othered in the community, with few friends. She has no hope.

What pulled me in was the gradual way that Azarion showed her a possible future. With a community that would respect and honor her gift, rather than one that would literally use her up with it. But she is the only one who can survive the annual tithe... so if she leaves her village behind for love, she is condemning her neighbors and family to death. Some reviewers have found the pacing slow, with the love between Azarion and Gilene taking a good part of the book to develop. To me, that gave some credibility to the enemies-to-lovers arc, and I enjoyed the worldbuilding so much that I didn't find pacing a problem.

There are a couple of really pivotal scenes that the author did an outstanding job on. One was a battle to the death involving feats of horsemanship, swords, and an eventual beheading. The other was a scene of intense magical power, and I won't say more to avoid spoilering, but my reaction to it was WOW!! Not every author can pull off those sorts of climaxes. I was never thrown out of the story and never lost my suspension of disbelief for a second.

Gilene and Azarion's happily ever after was hard-fought and well-earned. This book appears to be the first in a new series, but I have no insights on whether future books will feature the same couple or different ones. I have some hopes: I hope to read Halani's story, and perhaps Tamura's. Halani, a woman of uncanny healing skills, travels with a merchant's caravan reminiscent of the Romany, led by an uncle of dubious morality and including her mother, who has some sort of mental or neurological delays. Tamura is the hard-riding, hard-fighting sister of Azarion, in love with the headman's wife. None of the male secondary characters jumped out at me, but I am really, really crossing my fingers for Halani. There's also a super-creepy haunted village, a wounded but surviving super-villain, and some mysterious hints about dragon blood. There's DEFINITELY a setup for future books here, and I can't wait.

Around the Web
SuperStarDrifter
Shelf Rated
Book Twin Reviews
Books of My Heart

Darkest Heart, by Juliette Cross - Review

Title:  Darkest Heart

Series:  Dominion 

Author:  Juliette Cross

Publisher:  Entangled: Amara

Release Date:  August 20, 2018

Reviewing:  eARC

Reason for reading:  Big love for Juliette Cross' writing in general, and this world in particular. And also, OMG will you just LOOK at that cover??!!

The Short Answer
If angels and demons are your thing, and if you love finding the flame of romance in the midst of the gritty, apocalyptic ruins of civilization as we know it, then this is the book (series) for you.

If you know Cross, you'll be ready for her trademark immersive worldbuilding, red-hot love scenes, and tortured hero; and if you don't know her, then you should. Because see above. If it's not clear, I loved this book: I rate it 4.5 stars, Top Pick!

The Blurb

Anya—a stoic, blue-winged angelic warrior—was bitten by a demon prince in battle, and now she has precious little time to find a cure for his deadly venom. But the only archangel with the power to stop the dark poison from corrupting her body and soul is missing. She’ll have to trust her guide, the outcast high demon Dommiel, who is as handsome as he is dangerous if she has any hope.

An outcast of his own kind, high demon Dommiel stays under cover while the war between angels and demons rages on. When the only person who ever showed him kindness asks for his help, he has no choice but to try to save the angel. Venturing back into the dens he has avoided for so long, Anya makes him want and feel things he never thought possible.

But Dommiel knows there is no way an angel can ever love a demon…

The Characters
The redemption arc doesn't get much more canonical than a fallen angel turning his back on demonkind in an epic battle of good and evil, and finding love in the process. In fact, Dommiel is never revealed to be that awful; although his internal narrative tells us that he thinks he has been as corrupt and depraved as the bad guys, his actions tell us otherwise. He has a code of honor that he lives by, even though he doesn't seem to know it himself. However, being kicked out of heaven is enough to give a fallen angel a bit of a complex, I guess, and then that pesky honor gets him in trouble with the demons, to the point where he doesn't really have an easy identity.

For Anya's part, seeking out the archangel Uriel provides the engine and adventure for the story, while Dommiel engages with purported reluctance... but goes far beyond his initial obligation.

I recently met a personal goal and read (well, listened to) a whole non-fiction book about how to read for layers of meaning in literature.  The very first chapter is about the quest story, and the takeaway is that the real quest is pretty much never the stated reason for the quest... in this case, finding Uriel matters, but not in the way Anya thinks it will. (I hope that's not too spoilery!)  Anya is fierce and sweet; she saves Dommiel as surely as he does her, but I have to admit that for me, Dommiel stole the show.

The World
While Darkest Heart is a continuation of the world from The Vessel trilogy and bridged by The Deepest Well, it stands alone just fine, as long as you are OK with not having a lot of context for the supernatural war that forms the backdrop of the book. The Dominion books (Deepest Well, Darkest Heart) are set in modern times, though there is a timelessness to the setting. Most modern conveniences are destroyed, and the usual focuses of post-apocalyptic fiction like establishing a food supply line and dealing with the breakdown of infrastructure are downplayed in favor of the supernatural battle raging between the two angelic factions. Plus, many of the characters in the series, including both Anya and Dommiel, are centuries or even millennia old. No one expects these characters to speak middle English or archaic Sumerian, or whatever would be historically accurate for a biblically-originated character, but Cross does a good job of eliminating obvious contemporary slang and colloquialisms , and using a gently formal diction for these characters, which adds to the feeling that the story could be taking place any time in the last few centuries.

Favorite Quote

Never before had I thought to have someone care for me like this. To crave me on a primitive, savage level. Never before had I thought to return those raw emotions. The fact that it was Dommiel, a demon, who'd cracked through my independent resolve and showed me that my perfect black-and-white world didn't exist somehow seemed poetic. He showed me that even the darkest heart yearns for the light.

Hard not to zoom in on that, given that it's the likely inspiration for the title.

Around the Blogosphere
Here's what other reviewers are saying!
Edgy Reviews
Books of my Heart
Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Feeling Fictional
Suey Library (wow, this blogger's style really made me smile -- she is all in!)