Thursday Thirteen, Edition 12

When Memes Collide

A couple of weeks ago, the Weekly Geek challenge included trying a review in someone else’s style. At the time, I skipped it, but what with the hoopla of the Santa Olivia giveaway and busy-ness at work and summer ramping up, I’ve been giving some thought to Chris’s mini-reviews at Stumbling Over Chaos (sample). I really enjoy them and since I’ve managed to accumulate quite a backlog, I thought I’d give the mini-review format a shot. Try to forgive me if this post becomes unreasonably long – brevity isn’t exactly my strong suit.





13 Books I Meant to Review But Didn’t

1. Fools Rush In, by Kristan Higgins. Better than I thought it would be. The premise is super-silly: nerdy girl returns to the hometown with the medical degree and sets out to win the heart of the boy she’s had a crush on for 15 years. Hijinks ensue of the triangular kind. Higgins is a genuinely funny writer, but the interactions between the characters had unexpected depth. I’ll definitely be looking for more of her backlist.

2. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. Starts similarly, then takes a completely different direction. The best thing about this story is after the happily ever after—the couple’s adjustment to marriage is not a given, and the Black Moment is unusual and fresh. Of course, you wouldn’t expect less from Julia Quinn.

3. Call of the Highland Moon, by Kendra Leigh Castle. A paranormal of the shifter variety – I had read the second book first, and I still liked this one very much despite the plot being thus spoilered. I love the characters, especially Carly’s hidden strength and Gabriel’s hidden vulnerabilities.

4. You're So Vein, by Christine Warren. We met Ava in a previous book. I didn’t like her then and I don’t really like her now. She started with a disadvantage with me though; maybe others wouldn’t feel the same.

5. Under Fire, by Jo Davis. I don’t really get the bad rap this book is getting around the blogosphere. Sure, there’s some implausibility in the plot, but I read a lot of werewolves and vampires, remember? I’m OK with implausible. I thought Zack was just adorably romantic, and loved that he was willing to wear his heart on his sleeve. Admittedly, I'm hoping that not ALL of the Firefighters of Station Five are going to have their very own personal psycho stalker.

6. Angels' Blood, by Nalini Singh. Overrated. The balance of power between Elena and her Archangel didn’t work for me, nor did the tease on the backstory. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still getting line for Branded by Fire, but I’m not loving the Angels.

7. Blue-Eyed Devil, by Lisa Kleypas. I’m a Kleypas fan. And a contemp fan. And I liked this book a lot. I kind of don’t get the collective swooning going on about it, but it’s absolutely a top-notch romance. Maybe it’s because I don’t get the Texas love. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just not particularly my thing, y'all.

8. The Iron Hunt, by Marjorie Liu. Mixed bag. At times overwritten and overwrought, but eventually settled down into a good pace and a good story and now I can’t wait for Darkness Calls, due out in July.

9. Scandal , by Carolyn Jewel. Quiet, dark. A bit slow in places, but intense. Rare. Liked it very much.

10. Tempt the Devil, by Anna Campbell. Campbell’s signature dark story, with characters who push the envelope of likeability. I liked it, though perhaps not quite as much as Claiming the Courtesan.

11. Confessions of a Little Black Gown, by Elizabeth Boyle. I wanted to like this one more than I did. One of the nice things about historical romance is the sense that some things are constant, no matter the era, and what woman can’t relate to the perfect little black dress, and the possibilities it might enable? And I liked the idea that Tally could sense the true nature of the hero, even hidden in his bumbling disguise. It reminded me a little of the cross-dressing trope when the hero is discomfited to find himself attracted to what is apparently a young man. All in all though, CoaLBG didn’t quite live up to its potential for me; it seemed like the characters spent too much time chasing their tails. Also: there’s a scene where they’re making love in the grass… the hero removes her hairpins and “the soft plunk as they landed in the grass sounded like the tumblers of a lock clicking open, freeing her.” All I could think was, “Really? What the HELL kind of grass is THAT?"

12. To the Brink, by Cindy Gerard. Third in a series, but stands alone just fine (and I know, because I haven’t read the others yet.) Fast-paced, straightforward, great characters. The flashbacks worked—and I’m picky about those. Gerard does a nice job of portraying how a modern soldier and master at dealing with human devils, might manage the trickier emotional ones.

13. Just the Sexiest Man Alive, by Julie James. This one was a close call for me. I ended up liking it OK, but the arrogant-movie-star-hero skirted really, really close to the “just too much of an asshole” line. The fabulous dialogue makes up for a lot of character sin, though.

Total Romance Vagabond Cliche Score: approximately 800. Seriously, the ladyback and cut off heads are out of control.

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The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns, by Elizabeth Leiknes - Review

What It's About

The premise of the book is that Lucy sort of accidently sells her soul to the devil in exchange for her sister's life. She writes a note addressed "To Whom It May Concern," promising that if her sister Ellen wakes up from a coma, Lucy will be "forever in your debt." Though the note is posted to a pretend mailbox, it is answered: "Dear Lucy: It's a deal."

Although nominally a paranormal story, the worldbuilding is not really the critical element here and accordingly, is sketchily-realized, and frankly doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it too much. Basically, Lucy leads Bad People to their doom. They tend to show up at her house and are hospitably led to a portal to hell. Sometimes they get appetizers first. The CSI-type details are left to the Big Guy to manage. Presumably, the actual physical deaths take place some other way and Lucy's house is more metaphorical. Not so bad, right? I mean, they're clearly already evil. But there are also innocents, or at least Not-Bad People who occasionally fall through the portal in morally ambiguous collateral damage. Lucy's reaction is mild regret and "oh well," which doesn't entirely fit the good-girl-in-a-bad-situation profile that we are initially presented with.

Lucy herself is a great, layered character -- smart, funny & sexy but not doing so great on the love-life front (one of the downsides of the job). And who among us can't relate to the job from hell?

The thing about this book is, while on the surface it's a farcical romp with a sweet but predictable happily-ever-after, just underneath is a layer of ambiguity that occasionally pulls you up short and makes you go-- WAITAMINNIT! and question what you thought you knew about this poor innocent character, seeding doubt and suspicion in the reader's mind.

And isn't that a perfectly perfect thing for the devil to do? In a meta sort of way?

What Exactly Is It?

I rather suspect that Lucy isn't selling all that well.*

This is a book that doesn't really fit into genre descriptions very well. At 167 pages, published in a hardback format with a shiny, eye-catching dust-cover, it seems the publisher was going for mainstream fiction. It doesn't work as mass market romance or horror, in my opinion. I'm not really sure what the parameters are for chick-lit; it seems to me that other than the length it would probably fit best there.

It kind of begs the question: what is the right length for a book?

I'm sure that a purist would say, "there is no one right length."

As a reader though, with a limited budget for books, I tend to want a little more bang for my buck, particularly when I'm up in double-digit bucks. And I think this could have easily been a longer book. If I were Leiknes' agent -- or good friend-- I think I would have advised her to either look for a novella partner or two, or to flesh it out into a 350-page book.

I really do think this book also worked just the way it is, and if it were a romance proper, it could've fit nicely into a category format.

So where's the market for shorter fiction that isn't romance? Is it out there?

The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is a quick, funny read with more going on than you might think. I recommend.

*Update: I just found out that this book is not released yet (due out next week), so I need to retract my thought about sales. I still rather question the format/positioning, but leaving that aside, it's definitely a fun little book. Leiknes is an author to watch.

Winner #5

WINNER #5 in the Santa Olivia Giveaway is..........

VENUS VAUGHN!

Venus, please send me your snail mail addy at nicola327 at hotmail dot com, and congratulations!!

Thanks for playing everyone, and a VERY BIG thank you to Hachette books for providing the books AND the shipping!

Ooops

I totally forgot to pick a winner today, and my names file is at work. I'll do it tomorrow by noon, I promise!!

Sorry about that!

Winner Number 4

Winner number 4 in the Santa Olivia Giveaway is:

LadyVampire2U !!!!!

Please email me your mailing address at nicola327 at hotmail dot com

It's Not Too Late

I have one more copy to give away tomorrow - you can still enter by commenting or following the little mini-challenges over the past week:

The Basic Scoop
Feed Me Feedback
Do a BlogHop
Rate A Cliche

Hope you're having fun, I know I have been!

Contest will close at midnight tonight, Pacific time, and I'll post the winner around noon.

And if you didn't win a copy, Santa Olivia is on the stands by now, and if you like near-future speculative fiction, I absolutely recommend you pick up a copy.


Winner Round Up:

#4: LadyVampire2U
#3: Leslie
#2: Caffee
#1: Mishel

Congrats to all!

Third Winner - And More Entry Chances!

The Third Winner of the Santa Olivia Giveaway is:

LESLIE!!

Yay, Leslie! Shoot me your mailing address at nicola327 at hotmail dot com!

(and Mishel? still haven't heard from you....)

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So, last night I was hanging with Erin, who's a friend, a fellow blogger, and one of my first "followers," who told me that one of her favorite features here is the Romance Vagabond Cliche Score . I haven't done one in a while, but you can find a couple at these reviews:

Sealed with a Promise
Seduction of an Unknown Lady

Which leads me to.... the next way to get extra chances in the drawing for the last two copies of Santa Olivia:

• Follow the link above to the Romance Vagabonds Challenge.
• Choose a favorite book from your recently-read pile.
• Score it according to the RVC scorecard.
• For one extra entry, either write a post on your own blog or add a comment here with your book's score. Be sure to let us know what book it is!
• GET A SECOND extra entry if you find a book that scores more than 6!

Second Time Around

WINNER #2 IN THE Santa Olivia GIVEAWAY:

CAFFEY!!

Caffey, please email me your mailing address at nicola327 at hotmail dot com.


MORE CHANCES TO WIN

Let's try this again....

Last September I hosted a blog hopping challenge. Give it a go, write your post with a link to Alpha Heroes, and link here in comments. Note: the post suggests using the BBAW directory as a starting place - for this challenge, why not start with the blog of an Alpha Heroes Follower or recent commenter? Any starting place will do, as long as you find new-to-you blogs and leave comments! 10 hop-stops can be a bit much so -- 5 stops for one extra entry, 10 stops gets you two. Have fun hopping!

Come back tomorrow for the next winner to be announced!






WINNER ROUND-UP:

#2: Caffey
#1: Mishel