Sunday Soup, January 3

In The Soup This Week... Thea Harrison, Alyssa Day, Kristin Higgins, Robin D. Owens, and Aaron Michael Ritchey

Soup Dish:  Happy New Year!
✽I hope everyone out there in RomLandia had a happy and safe holiday, however you choose to celebrate.  Ours was very low-key, just the four of us in my nuclear family. I think my kids are getting pretty bored with low-key though, so next year I might need to plan more.

✽There are so many lists out there! So many. I spent several hours yesterday sifting through "best of" lists, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm a little burned out on lists. I have three goals for 2016 around reading and blogging though:

1. Read twelve non-fiction titles. I am seriously so oppositional about this. I have the hardest time reading non-fiction where there are no emotions and no dialog and, idk, just everything I love about reading is missing from non-fiction. But there are topics that I am interested in and I need to train my brain a little better. I'm too young to stop learning stuff.

2. Burn down my enormous pile of physical books. Not literally. I'm going to try to make a rule for myself to read two physical books from my stash for every new book I acquire, electronically or physically. I just seriously do not have room for what I've got and it's becoming a bit of a problem. I bought Thea Harrison's Shadow's End and read it yesterday, so next up is two physical books. I've had this series for some time, and seems like the right time for it now:

Oh no! I'm missing #2! so I have to buy it, right? Right.

3. Post two real review posts per month. I'm pretty comfy in my mini-review groove with these Sunday Soup posts, and I'm glad that I've been able to talk about the books I've been reading in a way that doesn't feel like work. But I get a good sense of accomplishment from writing a real review too, even though it's a little more effort.

✽As a consolation for not posting a list of lists, here's a great article about a list.  Hmmm. I love spreadsheets; isn't it kind of weird that I don't track my reading that way?  Hmmm.

What I'm reading
December for me is 3 weeks of increasingly frantic activity and then a week of laziness. And by "lazy," I mean, I read a whole bunch.

✽I went on a small Thea Harrison binge this past week, starting with the three novellas in the Dragon Family Album, and then I really really wanted to read Liam Takes Manhattan, but it said in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that I needed to read Shadow's End first, so I ask you, what could I do? I mean, I really had no choice. So I downloaded and read Shadows' End for my New Year's Day read. It was fantastic. Harrison's paranormal highs are so high, and the lows so low. There may have been a few tissues involved in this read. I haven't gotten to Liam yet, but I'm glad I read Shadow's End first.

✽OK, in keeping with my 2:1 goal, since I bought Shadow's End, I picked up a stash book next, which was HeartMate, by Robin D. Owens.  It was OK. I'm not sure I really want to binge on the whole series though. The beginning was a little clunky, but I liked it better by the end. The worldbuilding... some of it was really interesting; I liked her treatment of the Passages (a physically demanding dreamquest sort of experience), but not being a cat lover, I found her talking cats to be not-quite-equal-parts irritating/endearing. I am probably in a minority here, so that might be the thing that other people love the most. I'll give it one more book before I decide about the series as a whole, since I have them already (I bought 4 books for about a dollar at a thrift store awhile back).

✽Before I started on Thea Harrison, I had already pre-ordered Alyssa Day's new shifter novel, Dead Eye, so it showed up for me like a Christmas present. First in a new series, it has wonderful characters, Day's trademark wisecracky irreverent humor, and plenty of paranormal action. Quick, fun read.  Looking forward to the next one, already available for pre-order. I'm going to have to get cracking on my stash books to earn this purchase.

✽I read three paranormals for the March RT edition, and I liked them all quite a lot, but looking for a change of pace, I bought Kristan Higgins If You Only Knew and loved it. Higgins is a bit of a Sure Thing for me, and this was no exception. A little different than most contemporaries, it makes a strong statement about what marriage should be, and reads quite a bit more like traditional "women's fiction" than romance for at least the first half of the book. The romance element is more unsure than usual, more like real life, and the hero is really quite remote. I connected immediately with the characters, which was good because I had to overlook the first-person present tense--a huge turnoff for me.

✽Lastly, I got an ARC from RUDC author Aaron Michael Ritchey that is well out of my usual reading but OH MY GAHD it was an incredible read. I don't want to give much away here as I'll be doing a full review on it but it's kind of like Jules Verne meets Calamity Jane meets Little House on the Prairie and whoa. I loved it a lot.

January Stash Reads: 1
January Bought Reads: 1*
January Non-Fiction Reads: 0

*I'm only counting the Thea Harrison full length here. Everything else I already owned as of 12/31/2015.

Atlantis Unleashed by Alyssa Day - Review

The Facts
Title: Atlantis Unleashed
Publication Date: June 2, 2009
Author: Alyssa Day

The Gush
I really liked the first two books of this series.

But I loved this one. Luh-huh-huuhved it. Day totally hits her stride in this third full-length book of the series-- Unleashed is tight from beginning to end, from character to conflict, from the series arc to the scene-by-scene pacing.

Prior books spent a little more time on developing secondary characters and side arcs, and that didn't bother me, but there was less of it in this book, and I think it helped a lot with the focus.

Although the Warriors definitely take center stage in these books, I'm a big fan of Day's heroines. They have their own fabulous, valuable talents that make them not only a match for their Atlanteans (because what ordinary Earth girl wouldn't be a little bit intimidated by thousand-year-old warriors of Poseidon from a mythical kingdom?) but also makes them critical partners in the Quest to Save The World As We Know It. (Don't you love those plots??)

The Characters
Honestly, I like Riley, I really do. Erin too. But Keely struck a deeper chord. She seemed more real. Perhaps it's because her talent, "object reading" in Day's vernacular (or more commonly called psychometry), is a bit more familiar of a concept than say, gem singing. Or because her permanent outsider status rings bells for everyone who was ever picked last in gym class (maybe that's just me... it's not just me, is it??). But Keely is steady and lonely in a way that is very appealing.

Justice too --whoo boy. He's got a secret, one he's kept all his life upon pain of a terrible curse if he ever reveals it. Day plots this in circles -- it's totally airtight and very clever how she creates curses and ingenious loopholes that are reminiscent of my favorite mythological stories-- the Minotaur comes to mind. Man. Poor Justice. This guy has really been through the wringer. He makes an incredible cliff-hangerish sacrifice at the end of the previous book, and Day fully delivers on how awful it was (makes VC war crimes seem like a playdate) and the ripple effects on Justice's fellow warriors. Finding Keely gives him the strength to free himself, but also breaks down some protective walls he's built over the centuries - I found his dual nature absolutely fascinating, not only for this book but for the potential directions it adds to the world-- see, it's another layer. And I liked what the title implies about his other side. His character arc is just--augh, words fail. It's fab. Only better than fab.

The World
One subtlety of fantasy series - whatever subgenre they might be in - that I'm coming to appreciate is the layering of the complexity in the world building. You can firehose it all into the first book and then stay consistent, or you can gradually build up nuances with each book. Meljean Brook is a particular master at this, IMO, and Day is doing a great job too. The world of the Atlanteans is a natural fit for this method, since the talents are not particularly well-known or predictable -- they just show up, and the Atlanteans and their allies make the best use of them they can.

But Day doesn't take the easy way out with this kind of thing. It would be easy to set up obvious yin/yang match-ups where, I dunno, one person sets fires uncontrollably and the other controls water or something, making for perfect and facile pairings. Rather, Day has two unique people with unique gifts and unique wounds that are able to help each other. It's not that the gifts are a perfect puzzle-fit for the other's damage, it's that they find common ground in having been wounded, and are able to accept each other flaws and all. Not just despite the flaws, but at least in part, because of them. Because of the person that has resulted. Does that make sense?

I have one small worry that the Big Bad here is shaping up to be invincible - and I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need her to be vinced. Or minced. Vanquished. Defeated. Finished. Right? Right. I'm trusting you, Ms. Day. Don't let me down here.

I think this book perhaps more so than the last could stand on its own, but you'd have to let the bits about Riley, Erin, and Quinn sail over your head. You're really better off reading them as a whole. Don't forget the less-necessary but still fun shorts in the anthologies, either. You can find Day's reading order in my previous post.

This and That
Although the secondary characters are less involved in this book, they are not completely ignored. I quite like the new girl, Tiernan, who can detect truth from lies. Nice, eh? Although I can see how that might be hard on a relationship.... We get a just a peek at Quinn - don't want to forget what's up with her and the larger war outside of the caverns of Atlantis, and Day is clearly not going to be satisfied until we're all panting for her and Alaric's star-crossed story. The interplay between Grace and Michelle was a very nice touch -- we might see more of them, but if not, the scene was complete of itself. And I also liked the wholly unnecessary but sweet addition of Eleni.

A small item of note - Keely's talisman. I really loved the role it played here. The fish is an obvious connection to the Atlanteans, but I wondered if it might also be a reference to Justice's duality. Yes, I *am* a Pisces, why do you ask?

Oooooo, Sparkly!
Who doesn't love a story about fabulous jewels? I am totally girly enough to appreciate a fantasy world where at least part of the magic hinges on fabled stones, and I have loved the questing story since my first book of fairy tales. A few series featuring magical sparklies that come to mind are Melanie Rawn's Sunrunners series, Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series (of course) and even Gabaldon's Outlander series is shaping up to take certain powers from precious stones (note, links will take you to the first book in the respective series.) I know there are others -- help me out in comments!

Shifter – Anthology Review

Maybe it’s just been on my mind lately, the question of consent, seduction, romance. Of being carried away, even if it’s irrational, even if it’s a bit – or more than a bit – dangerous, even if it’s inconvenient. But there was a common thread in this collection revolving around choice and will that seemed to really jump out at me.

*In Angela Knight’s Mad Dog Love, a space opera about a politically oppressed princess and an enslaved werewolf, technology has given each person a nanosystem of molecule-sized robots flowing in their bloodstreams, that help fight disease, bolster strength, and house libraries of information. But when hacked or controlled externally, they can turn a person’s body into a puppet at the mercy of the programmer. In this particular story, it was more of an external plot device than something used in the romance, but you can see how easily it could take that turn.

*In Lora Leigh’s “A Jaguar’s Kiss,” the biologically engineered Breed subrace is characterized by, among other things, a heightened mating imperative. When a Breed recognizes his mate, his body begins producing high levels of a particular hormone which can be transmitted via fluids, ie, a kiss. The hormone, to put it bluntly, makes both parties unbearably horny for each other and unable to tolerate the touch of another. In this novella, the heroine, Natalie, receives this hormone completely unknowing of its implications.

*Virginia Kantra’s “Sea Crossing” tells of a young 19th-century schoolteacher, fallen from grace, who is leaving England for indentured servitude in Canada. A community of selkies, elemental sea creatures, arrange matters to bring Emma to their island to teach their adolescent population, teenagers on the brink of their first Change:

”You were needed.” His eyes pleaded with her for understanding. “And you’ve been happy here. Emma—“

“But I didn’t have a choice! Those poor people who lost everything on the ship didn’t have a choice! I may be human and mortal and insignificant, but I know we deserve a choice.” He was looking at her as if she were the monster, as if she were a strange, rare beast who might suddenly sprout fur and flippers and swim away.

“A choice,” he repeated.

Her chest felt tight. She stuck out her chin. “Yes.”

He nodded slowly. “Very well. I will speak to my lord. Tomorrow, after you have said good-bye to the children, I will take you wherever you want to go.”

Emma’s mouth dropped open. Her chest caved in.

Fantastic.

What I liked about these stories though, is that regardless of the circumstances that brought the h/h together and their feelings around whatever deliberate manipulation or deception happened, in each of the four stories, the resolution required each character to choose to stay, to make the commitment, to explicitly decide that they wanted the other.

Some did it better than others. This anthology popped my Lora Leigh Breed cherry, so to speak, though I’ve heard an awful lot about them. Frankly, I wasn’t that impressed.

(Saban says…) “I’ve burned for you through the days and the nights. I’ve ached for your touch, and even that you would not give me. I flirted, I teased. I did everything those fucking books said a man should do, and nothing worked.”

Natalie stared back at him, confused, uncertain. “And you thought throwing me into this would?” she finally asked bitterly. “That forcing my compliance was the only step left? You forced this on me, Saban. How is it any different than rape?”

How was it different? His lips opened, fury pounded in his head that she would think such a thing, that she could ever believe that he would force such a choice from—

Saban felt it then, the knowledge, the certainty, from her point of view, that it was exactly what he had done. He had given in to his own frustration, his anger at her defiance, his hunger, and he had unleashed it on her in a way that she could never fight, one that she could never escape.”

Nice, huh? I mean, I guess it’s OK if he was REALLY REALLY hot for her, then it’s different, right? Even this revelation is qualified: “from her point of view.” Now, I realize this hormone thing is fictional, but given that premise, it was rape from ANY point of view. Maybe worse than rape, because there is no out, no escape, no support group, no 12-step program. The fact that Saban gets it holds out some promise, but then it all gets wiped away because Natalie realizes that actually? She was asking for it, so it was her fault:

(Natalie says…) “It’s not the same as rape.”

Saban clenched his teeth and fought the need to fist his hands.

“You decided this for what reason?” He lowered the grill lid and watched it, as though in watching it he could make it heat and burn away the shame inside him.

“Because I already suspected the truth of it,” she finally said. “I knew it existed and I pushed anyway because you were frustrating the hell out of me.”

Oh, OK. Since she was attracted to him, it isn’t really rape. Got it. Yuck.

I picked up this particular anthology for the Alyssa Day story, and liked it well enough. Not as complex or dark as the full length novels, but good characters, and I’m just OCD enough to need to read it because it’s part of the overall series arc.

I also liked the selkie story quite a lot; I don’t think I’m going to be able to resist picking up Sea Witch after the little teaser at the end.

The big surprise for me was the Angela Knight story. Futuristic, techy sci-fi space opera is probably my least favorite sub-genre, with or without romance; however, I’m a total sucker for compelling characters and Knight drew me in instantly. Within 20 pages, she establishes two unique main characters with compelling motivations; the ruthless depths of the primary villain, and an irresistible storyline where we’re already wondering who can be trusted and who has betrayed whom. Fabulous! And hey, how often do we get a good zero-gravity sex scene? I had my doubts about some of the technical details, but what the hell, it was good clean dirty fun anyway.

Warriors of Atlantis, by Alyssa Day, Series Review

I’m really enjoying this series. It’s a work in progress, so it’s yet another one of those series where I need to write down the date of the next publication and dial back my impatience. Not until June. Arggh. Happily though, books 6 and 7 are out within a couple of months of that, so this time next year I should be gorged and sated on Day’s gorgeous defenders of civilization as we know it.

I hinted earlier that there was a comparison to be made with the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Another cadre of warriors, yadda yadda. When I say that they compare favorably, one of the things I mean is that this is not a copycat series. At stake is THE FUTURE OF MANKIND. Compared to the BDB, where it’s the fate of this small, mostly unknown population of vampires, and you’d think that the Poseidon adventures would feel darker and heavier, but no. I’m not sure why, but for me at least, the BDB books are still more immersive and resonant.

I’d say Day’s style is closer to Kresley Cole’s with the plethora of different magics and the mythological mash-up. Roman gods, vampires, were-creatures, witches, empaths, and who knows what else on the horizon, share Day’s universe. I never really lose sight of the notion that this is a work of fiction, so the scary stuff doesn’t haunt me the way it does with the BDB.

Now, this is not to say that Day’s books are inferior to Ward’s – they’re just different. They’re quicker, less dense reads. The warriors are less entangled in each others’ lives. The books so far have little or no set up for the follow-ons, so in that respect they are more stand-alone – we just get little hints as to some of the warriors’ individual burdens without going into too much foreshadowing. I’m also really adoring Day’s heroine’s; they are enormously powerful in their own right and thus worthy partners to the hunky heroes.

I also love authors that can lace their characters with a right touch of humor. In Day’s case, the humor isn’t as constant of a factor, like you might find with Jennifer Crusie or Loretta Chase, or even Kresley Cole, but little touches are deftly applied at perfect moments:

From Shifter’s Lady, a male human/jaguar, internal narrative:

Control.

Pleasant dinner.

No pouncing on the Atlantean.

Marie glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at him, and he stumbled, his inherent feline grace deserting him. Screw that. There was definitely going to be pouncing.

And from Atlantis Awakening-- paraphrased, because my books are temporarily misplaced (children!—grrrr!)-- there is a scene where Erin (the heroine) meets Quinn and Jack. When Ven (the hero) and Jack start a macho conversation about Erin’s mated status, she knocks them both on their asses with a little burst of power. Their response (and Quinn’s: “I think I’m going to like you!”) are really entertaining.

OK then, without further ado, allow me to present the next installment in my spreadsheet series:

Item	Warriors of Poseidon	Black Dagger Brotherhood
Premise	Elite band of warriors tasked with protecting humans from vampires and shapeshifters	Elite band of warriors tasked with protecting their own race from specific enemies of the race.
Sponsoring Deity	Poseidon, duh	The Scribe Virgin
The Big Bad	Anubisa, daughter of Chaos, goddess of death, immortal, evil, vampirish. Has a particular vendetta against the royal family of Atlantis. Super creepy.	The Omega, apparently a sibling of some sort to the Scribe Virgin. Unredeemedly evil, he uses humans in his war against vampires by excising the individual's heart, soul, and blood, and replacing it with some essence of himself. This seems to be a singularly unpleasant process, details of which are thankfully left largely to the reader's imagination
Mating Stuff	Beginning with Conlan, the warriors begin finding their soul-mates, the only person in the world with whom a soul-meld is possible. The soul-meld enables one partner to read every significant event in the other's life. The soul meld has been the stuff of legends until now.	Bonded mates very nearly cannot survive the death of the mate, and males are fiercely territorial. No indication that the individuals are pre-ordained, or that only one mating is possible, but the males typically recognize their mate on some level instantly. Can be married without being bonded.
What do they eat?	Normal stuff.	Require the blood of an opposite-sex vampire (not human) for sustenance and strength. Will die without it, but may survive on human or animal blood for a time. Also regular food, and for the warriors, enormous quantities of it.
Special Powers	Can manipulate water, ice, etc. Can travel at high speed in mist form (with limited ability to carry stuff). Some can manipulate other elements, such as wind. Atlanteans are forbidden to call Fire. Some individuals have additional magic, mostly exhibited as sort of lightning bolts lobbed at the enemy.	Can dematerialize from one place to another. In short hops, this kind of looks like flying. Super-rapid healing. Can manipulate human minds, wipe memories, etc. Strongest vampires can also probe other vampires' minds. Vishous has additional powers as a result of his maternal line.
Kryptonite	Not really, but if sufficiently shielded from water sources, cannot use their power.	Sunlight & salt water. Cannot dematerialize through steel.
What about the women?	Riley, Quinn and Erin, in different ways, have extremely rare and impressive powers that have not been seen by Atlanteans in 2000 years. Their appearance now seems to signal a prophecy involving rising again, IKYWIM.*	Meh.**
Does anyone go off to die alone in a cave?	So far, so good, but it ain't over yet	Yes.

*No, Betsy, the answer is NOT "The South."


**OK, the "meh" isn't really fair, but really, the heroines are nothing special in the BDB. I like that Day's are more equal in powers and partnership.


That's it. Go read 'em. Good, clean fun.

Series Reading Order:
1. Atlantis Rising
2. Wild Thing (anthology/short: Wild Hearts in Atlantis -- re-issue in mass market (ie, cheaper) format in Jan 2009)
3. Atlantis Awakening
4. Shifter (anthology/short: Shifter's Lady)
5. Atlantis Unleashed (due June 2009)
6. Atlantis Unmasked (due July 2009)
7. Atlantis Redeemed (due fall 2009)

_____________

Tease

I just finished Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day and OMG, I loooooooved it. I can compare the hero cadre to the Black Dagger Brotherhood... favorably. In fact, I think... I might.... yes, yes-- I feel a spreadsheet coming on.

BUT WAIT. The benevolent Amazon fairies left Book #2, Atlantis Awakening, on my doorstep yesterday. Now I have to read that one first.

See, I've been reading a lot but have fallen behind on my reviews. Hopefully you should see at least two of these per week. To wit: also coming up on Alpha Heroes, in no particular order:


*King of Sky and Sword, CL Wilson - DONE
*Mistress of Pleasure, Delilah Marvelle - DONE
*One Bite With A Stranger, Christine Warren - DONE
*The Trouble with Paradise, Jill Shalvis
*His Captive Lady, Anne Gracie
*The Claiming of the Courtesan, Anna Campbell - DONE
*Beyond Seduction, Emma Holly - DONE
*The "Sweet" trilogy, Susan Mallery
*The Leopard Prince, Elizabeth Hoyt
*Signed Julia Quinn giveaway

Annnnnnnnd, she said mysteriously, a month-long event in December for which I'm going to request a little help from my friends. Stay tuned.