Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

Posted on March 30, 2010 by janicu

Maria V. Snyder

I got a copy of this book for review from the publisher, HarlequinTeen, through NetGalley.

The Premise: Trella is a scrub, a worker who cleans pipes and air ducts in the world of Inside. She’s a loner and has been nicknamed The Queen of the Pipes because of her habit of hiding and sleeping in them. She hates the scrubs and her job, and her only friend is Cog, one of her care mates. Cog’s a dreamer and popular with the scrubs. He believes in Gateway, a way out of Inside, and one day introduces Trella to a prophet who claims he can prove it’s existence. Broken Man, the prophet, once lived among the Uppers, the group that lives above the scrubs, and he claims he hid some disks above his sleeping quarters before he was captured by the Population Control Police (aka the Pop Cops). He asks Trella to try to get the disks but when she’s almost caught, it unleashes a series of events that changes Inside forever.

Read an excerpt of Ch 1-3 of Inside Out

My Thoughts: I *loved* Snyder’s first book Poison Study, but after that one I didn’t find myself as in love with the rest of the series and I didn’t really have high expectations of Inside Out. I was wrong. I started it late at night thinking I’d read a couple of pages and then go to bed, but before I knew it I was 60 pages in and not wanting to go to sleep. Eventually there were some lulls for me in the reading but for the most part I found the book an easy read.

I think it hits a few things that I personally like in my books:

A strong female protagonist with a great voice – I’m glad I liked the main character because it’s from her first person POV. At first Trella is a cynical loner who thinks she knows everything, but as the book continues she becomes more positive. She’s smart, she’s resourceful, and she’s also growing and learning that her preconceptions need to be questioned. I loved seeing how she changed from when we first meet her when Inside Out begins and when the book ended. I think it helps that I never disliked Trella even when she was negative. She had some bad experiences when she was young and she closed herself from others and she built a wall around herself. I couldn’t blame her for it.
Strong relationships – I liked how Cog’s personality was the complete opposite of Trella’s, but he still supported her and was a positive force in her life. I loved Cog. I think we should all have one in our lives – the friend who is open and genuinely LIKES people. I liked how he accepted Trella no matter what.
Great world building – At first I wasn’t sure what to make of Inside, but once I decided to imagine something like the City of Ember, I imagined the world as a maze of white corridors and rooms, lots of people wearing colored-coded jumpsuits and endless pipes and ducts. And it’s an integral part of the story. I already like science fiction so I warmed to the world quickly.
A little bit of romance – it’s not a big focus and the romantic interest has a small role, but it was a nice counterpart to all of Trella’s stress to have one person, Riley, a boy who is an Upper, who had her relaxing her constant guard.

When I look at some of the other blogger’s reviews of this book I was initially surprised to find negative reviews. The problem it seems is that the world building can feel too confusing and Trella can come off as unlikeable. I am more surprised that people didn’t like Trella than I am about the world building. I will agree that the dimensions of Inside plus imagining a three dimensional blueprint of it can get tedious at times. There is some awkwardness in describing Inside as a tic-tac-toe board in 3D, and then labeling each square, and I skimmed over the explanation of weeks and centiweeks, workdays of 10 hours on, and 10 hours off. I am still iffy on Trella’s age in our system.. I think it’s 17 years old. But Trella never really felt unlikeable to me. Anyway, it just illustrates how you never know what will make or break a book for people!

The ending to this book has a bit of a surprise to it, but in a good way I think. The book slowly adds up to the end, and I had my suspicions for a while but I still liked the way Snyder presented it. I felt that the book ended quite nicely and I am not sure what the author can come up with for the next book Outside In. I hope it’s something good because she set the bar high for me with Inside Out.

Overall: This went above my expectations and I really enjoyed this young adult science fiction story. I felt satisfied by the way things ended – it got a rare happy sigh from me. I recommend it highly, but I think you have to be a reader who likes imperfect protagonists and has patience for confusing world building.

Bonus – Check out the Inside Out website
(there’s a quiz to see what you’d be assigned to in Inside. I got ” INVALID: You are too confounding to place. Inside has no use for anomalies. Report directly to the Chomper.” *CRY*!?)

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews (mix of disliked and really liked)
Book Love Affair (7 out of 10)
Genre Reviews – 4 pints of blood (out of 5)
Reading with Tequila (5 shots out of 5)
Lurv a la Mode – 4 out of 5 scoops
The Last Blog in the Universe – a negative review
Tez Says – found the concept befuddling
Presenting Lenore – 5 zombie chickens (out of 5)

Book Trailer:

Tsunami Blue by Gayle Ann Williams

Posted on March 26, 2010 by janicu

Tsunami Blue

Gayle Ann Williams

OK, I’ve been looking forward to Tsunami Blue since it won Dorchester’s Shomi Writing Contest. If you follow the blog, you know I am a fan of that now defunct line, so I asked about it when I saw it was coming out from Love Spell. 🙂 This is a review of an early copy of the book sent by the Publisher.

The Premise: After a series of devastating waves, the world in the near future has been reduced to a series of islands. People are constantly afraid of yet another wave sweeping them away, and chaos reigns. Groups of pirates called Runners roam the seas and shores, killing and raping without consequence or conscience. Kathryn “Blue” O’Malley is Tsunami Blue, a girl who can predict the waves. She uses her radio to warn people of impeding danger, hoping that someone believes and lives are saved. She’s spent many years in hiding with her dog Max for company, until one night a man washes up on the shore. Soon afterward the Runners come, hoping to use Blue’s gift for their own benefit, and Gabriel Black, the man she saved, drags her unwillingly with him.

My Thoughts: If you are a fan of futuristics who misses the Shomi Line, this book is a welcome treat. It fulfills my expectations: a science fiction romance which is set in our world some time in the future. Gayle Ann Williams took the recent disasters in South East Asia in 2005 and created a dystopian future. The oceans have taken over and can communicate it’s intentions to Blue, teasing and taunting her about it’s next move. When Blue was young, she was in Thailand with her family and she heard the ocean tell her it was coming. Her cries for people to move to higher ground saved a lot of lives, but her family was lost and Blue was left with her ruthless uncle, a man who became a Runner and used Blue for his own power games. At the start of this book Blue’s uncle is long gone, but she remembers living as a young girl among the Runners. Think of those groups of killers that terrorize everyone else in movies – the Smokers in Waterworld, the marauders in Mad Max, or (to less of an extent), the Reavers in Serenity and in Firefly and you have a fair idea of what a Runner is.

Part of the conflict in the romance is that Gabriel Black is a Runner. Blue sees the marks on him that identify him as such and she’s horrified that she saved his life. When he takes her with him, she regrets her decision even more. But Gabriel has a mysterious personality. He’s fastidious with his boat, a very different type of person than the usual Runner. Then there’s the mystery of why he was on Blue’s island and what he wants. As the book continues you realize there’s a lot he’s not saying. There are a few revelations that are held back. I’m still not sure why Gabriel hadn’t just explained himself rather than waiting. Maybe it was to prolong the suspense about whose side he was on, but it’s fairly obvious he is the hero and thus cannot be bad (heh). It’s clear to the reader, although not to Blue, that Gabriel has been in love with her for a long time. He’s been looking for her for years and there’s a romantic notion in loving someone from afar, but it could veer into stalker territory. I think Gabriel managed not to cross over the “creepy” line.

In the meantime, Blue is the first person narrator of the book. She has a somewhat young, sarcastic voice (she swears a lot but is trying to reform), and I found her likable. She feels a great responsibility in her gift and wants to save people, especially the children, and she’s also got a tough-girl edge. She may have been saved by Gabriel on her island but she saves him too (more than once). And there’s a little bit of humor in the way she narrates things that I loved:

“Max trotted towards the door, but not before stopping to give this Gabriel a lick on the hand. He was rewarded with a lazy scratch behind the ears by those long, slender fingers. Max clearly did not understand the difference between friend or foe. Or loyal subject and traitor. And Gabriel Black, if that was truly his name, didn’t seem the least bit worried that I was twirling a 12-inch blade.”

The only problem I had with her is related to my complaint about Gabriel not being forthright earlier in the book. Trust was a conflict in the relationship but the conflict was prolonged so it made Blue sound like she “doth protest too much”. She flips back and forth between melting for Gabriel and then realizing she shouldn’t and then she contemplates his death or stealing his ship. She kept voicing her suspicions to the reader but her actions didn’t match her words.

That is probably the only quibble I have on my part because I enjoyed the rest of the romance. I thought that it had had a lot of sweet moments and that as a couple Gabriel and Blue were well matched. Gabriel had a seriousness that complimented Blue’s sarcasm and a skill in guessing what was on her mind.

So I liked Tsunami Blue. I think I got my copy on a Thursday, started reading it Friday night, and finished it Sunday morning (and this was a busy weekend with people visiting). I had a fun time imaging Blue’s world and her voice in my head.

Overall: Very good. Buy it for sure if you like futuristic romance and liked the Shomi line. It’s a fun book with a sarcastic narrator and good pacing. It makes me think of a summer action movie in words.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other links:
Guest post by Gayle Ann Williams at Galaxy Express

Book trailer:

Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil by Barbara Monajem

Posted on March 23, 2010 by janicu

Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil

Barbara Monajem

I received an ARC of this book from Dorchester Publishing. This is the first book being offered in their Publisher’s Pledge program, where they guarantee the read, or your money back.

The Premise: Ophelia Beliveau is a woman who owns a landscaping business in Bayou Gavotte, Louisiana, and she’s also a vampire. In this series, vampires are people with a rare genetic condition who need blood and sex to sustain them, but Ophelia is going without sex and hunts nutria not humans. She’s done with men because of bad experiences with people who got too crazy over her vampire allure, and when she calls the cops to scare her neighbor who trashed her garden, she’s not happy that Gideon O’Toole answers the call. Ophelia finds herself actually liking him, and tries to push him away for his own good. But Gideon isn’t easily swayed, and he actually wants to help her despite her railing at him to mind his business. As more and more things happen, like a blackmailer targeting people in the town and dead bodies showing up, it’s a good thing that Gideon is on Ophelia’s side.

Browse the first 33 pages of this book here

My Thoughts: I am having a hard time explaining how I feel about this book in my head. Maybe the word is “surprising”. I look at the cover and it doesn’t really give a good indication of what’s inside. Hints of the Southern setting and the vampires are suggested by the magnolia flower and the drop of blood, but it but I don’t think it conveys the quirkiness of the story. There’s a small town humor that does remind me of Sookie Stackhouse, so I understand the comparison. There’s nosy neighbors, people freely giving their opinion about other people’s sex lives, gossips, and peeping toms. But then there’s the bizarre as well: the fetish clubs and a local rock star and tourists that come to Bayou Gavotte to experience “vampires”. Since vampires need blood and sex, they often run the fetish clubs to help them feed, and an Underground led by head club owner Lep makes sure that people keep things legal, while the cops take care of the rest of the town. It seems to be a matter of opinion whether vampires really exist – some people think it’s just a myth, others are certain.

The idea of this town teeters on the edge of being over-the-top, but the main characters anchor it down, especially Gideon, who is a refreshingly levelheaded hero, even when Ophelia gives him every reason to lose it. Gideon is one of those people who doesn’t believe in vampires, despite his reactions to Ophelia because of her vampire allure. Ophelia is a very interesting character. Quite vulnerable and yet combative at the same time. She is not nice to Gideon when they first meet and I had a hard time understanding why she was so rude until more of her past is revealed and her reasons for staying away from men made more sense. Ophelia is also scared because Gideon doesn’t know what she is, and she’s sure he will be disgusted if he doesn’t go crazy over her. Luckily for her, Gideon has the patience of Job when it comes to Ophelia and he keeps trying to help even when she continues to distrust him.

Usually if a book puts a lot of emphasis on the physical and on sex, the romance doesn’t work very well for me. This book has some explicit scenes and sometimes I felt like everyone was a little too preoccupied with sex, but the personal connection was there for me as well. Ophelia and Gideon go through murders and investigations, arguing with each other the whole time, and slowly getting to know each other before anything happens. They both come into the relationship wanting to do a better job than their parents did, and we learn what their baggage is as the book progresses. They are also both subject to the same forthright interference from everyone else: Ophelia really should just have sex with Gideon, Gideon dates a lot of bimbos, Gideon is good in bed, Gideon better treat Ophelia right. I had to take it as part of the small town humor.

I thought that there was a cozy mystery feel to this book. Not that Gideon is an amateur sleuth (he conducts his investigations professionally,) but because of the small town combined with the series of crimes – vandalism and blackmail that escalate into murder. The mystery was a strong part of the book and the killer keeps Gideon and Ophelia on their toes with one thing after another so I didn’t really guess who it was or what they were up to for a while. There’s a lot going on, but it felt organic and unforced.

There’s a large cast of side colorful characters who that also added to the story such as Gideon’s sister Art, who is being blackmailed but is too embarrassed to tell her brother, Ophelia’s theatrical sister Violet who owns a club, Zelda, Ophelia’s niece, who acts a lot older than her age, Constantine, the scary rock star who people think killed his wife, and Ophelia’s odd neighbors. There were a few “WHAT did they just say/do?!” moments and I just floated along. I think I was charmed by the town and it’s oddball characters and when they did zany things I chalked it up to “I guess that’s Bayou Gavotte”.

One big niggle: Despite waiting before the relationship becomes physical, the hero and heroine really lose their heads when they do, and they managed to hit a couple of my pet peeves. I won’t spoil it for people by saying what bugged me, but let’s just say I wish the characters acted less impetuously there.

Also: I googled for other reviews and it’s interesting how many people got the title of the book wrong, probably because of another book’s title. It’s Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil, not Sunrise in THE Garden of Love & Evil. 🙂 I was calling it that too until I realized my mistake!

Overall: A well-written paranormal romance with a cozy mystery feel. I liked this better than I thought I would and would recommend it if you like these two genres, with the caveat that you need to keep an open mind about the town. I found a small town with vampire fetish clubs a bit bizarre, and sometimes I thought people acted inappropriately but the strong story telling and relationship negated those problems for me.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews/links:
Patricia’s Vampire Notes
Guest Blog by Barbara Monajem at Patricia’s Vampire Notes
(I didn’t see any more in my social circle. Please let me know if you reviewed this and I will link you!)

Something About You by Julie James

Posted on March 15, 2010 by janicu

Something About You (Berkley Sensation)

Julie James

I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while because Julie James is now on my autobuy list. I won an ARC of this book through sheer luck in logging onto twitter just was @DearAuthor was giving away some copies. See.. twitter isn’t just a time suck.

The Premise: Cameron Lynde is an Assistant U.S. Attorney who decided to give herself a little break by staying overnight at the Peninsula Hotel in San Francisco while she waited for her hardwood floors to be sealed. Unfortunately she has a very bad night when her neighbors in room 1308 engage in a loud sex marathon until 3am. Noises cease for about half an hour and then loud banging and squealing start up again and she calls the front desk. Things get worse when hotel security finds a dead woman in the room and Cameron is the only person to have caught a glimpse of the murderer through her peephole. After that the FBI arrives and Cameron discovers that Jack Pallas is in charge- and he blames her for being disciplined and shipped off to Nebraska three years ago.

Link to excerpt of Something about you

My Thoughts: Julie James’ style of writing has a lot of focus on dialog. It feels like I am reading something that I can picture in my minds eye as a romantic comedy on the big screen, with a lot of banter and cute situations. I had a good couple of chuckles over some of the talks among the men (cops and FBI agents) discussing Cameron’s “Meet-Cute” with Max, her date, or telling Jack that he “glowers”. I think after reading three of her books I trust this author to deliver a contemporary romance of a certain level of writing and she doesn’t disappoint in giving me something that I know I’ll enjoy.

As in her last two books, Practice Makes Perfect and Just the Sexiest Man Alive, the heroines are lawyers and the author writes about the profession with authority. Jack’s job as an FBI agent seems realistic as well although I feel like the author took some liberties with it because I had to suspend my disbelief a couple of times in the book (especially when their relationship became more heated and no one admonished Jack for his behavior). I think the liberties were taken to push the couple closer, and it wasn’t something I thought that jeopardized Cameron’s safety, so I was able to accept it that way.

I think it’s a matter of taste whether you’d prefer this over the more relationship conflicted earlier books. I think I prefer less sexiness in my stories, and this book feels a lot more “sexy” than the other two. There’s more focus on each other’s bodies and in the sexual tension between Jack and Cameron than on the conflict keeping the two apart romantically like in the last two books. I felt like the conflict was lower here because the couple were more concerned about the killer who may be coming for Cameron.

The suspense is a big part of the story. We know early on who the killer is and what his motivations are. Cameron and Jack both do smart things in handling the situation – Cameron listening to the FBI and doing what they tell her, Jack covering all bases in protecting his witness and investigating leads. Despite this, the killer is pretty smart too, and he did some things I found unexpected that made the story more exciting to read. I was particularly impressed by the big finale.

Overall: This is a sexier book with more suspense in it than the last two, and these are things I don’t necessarily prefer in my contemporary romance, but it has the Julie James level of quality and overall I enjoyed it although it’s not my favorite one.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
Bookbinge – 4.75 out of 5
Babbling about Books and More! – B
The Book Smugglers – 7 (Very Good)
Angieville – positive review:”You can count on a good time with a Julie James book and that’s what I love about them. ”
Dear Author – A-
Tempting Persephone – “There wasn’t really anything I didn’t enjoy about this book.”
Read, React, Review – positive review
Christina Reads – postive review

Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep

Posted on March 13, 2010 by janicu

Spider’s Bite: An Elemental Assassin Book

Jennifer Estep

I liked the fun series set in Bigtime about superheroes by Jennifer Estep, so when I found out she had an urban fantasy series in the works, it went on my wishlist. I won a copy of this book over at vampirewire.

The Premise: Gin Blanco is an assassin who works at a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit during the day. She relies on her knives and tools for her job, but in case she needs it she’s also a Stone Elemental – someone with power over rocks and Earth with a small amount of Ice Elemental power as well. One day, Gin is hired to kill an embezzler, but is surprised during the job by a double cross by the client. Within moments, Gin is wanted by the police and everyone around her is in danger. To clean things up Gin makes a surprising move: she teams up with a straight-laced cop, Donovan Caine.

My Thoughts: Reading Spider’s Bite right after The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay really highlighted how expectations of a character’s morals and whether they live up to them is part of what affects my reading experience. Although I didn’t always agree with what Gin did, I expected her to be ruthless, and it wasn’t as much a problem for me when she was. I understood her rules, and although she was not above doing something I find questionable, she was consistent with what my expectations were: a killer who doesn’t pretend to be one of the good guys. The interest is in knowing up front that Gin walks a fine line, and I’m not sure whether or not she will go over. Somehow, I root for her despite her profession.

Because of the female assassin, this book reminds me of Kelley Armstrong’s Nadia Stafford series, which is a series I LOVE and am patiently waiting to continue. Of course this book is really different, but the smart, capable heroine is similar. I feel like this series, which has three books out this year (Web of Lies comes out in May and Venom comes out in September), fills some of the void I feel over Nadia Stafford, and I recommend this series for people who like that one.

What I really like about this book is how the hero, Donovan Caine, an honest detective with ideals, has to work with with an assassin in this story! He’s the one trying to make sure that Gin doesn’t do things that go over the line, and he has a moral dilemma – he likes and is attracted to her while he thinks that she’s a cold-blooded killer. His his physical attraction to someone who may have murdered his partner and all the mixed up feelings of guilt and anger involved with that make their relationship kind of delicious. I’d love to see how things develop in the next two books. One thing I’d say though – Gin isn’t subtle about her appreciation of the detective. Her thoughts are clear to the reader and I think that romance readers would be unfazed but readers who don’t like anything explicit could be turned off.

The relationships in this series feel real life, maybe because I thought Gin felt like a three-dimensional character. The people in Gin’s life felt like family – her handler Fletcher and his son Finnegan, and the twin dwarf sisters Jo-Jo and Sophia have a long back story that is hinted at but you feel like they’ve had years together to build their relationships.

Another thing I liked was the idea of the Elementals and how they are a normal part of society (along with giants, vampires and dwarfs). There are different shades and kinds of Elemental power: Ice, Stone, Air and Fire, and Elementals veer to certain jobs because of it just like any other talent. It’s also common for people to have their own personal rune to reflect this talent.There’s a promising introduction to Fire Elemental and Big Bad, Mab Monroe, who sounds like she owns the town and may be someone Gin will eventually confront in the next couple of books. Mab and Gin’s past looks to be part of a larger story arc I”d like to read.

Note: for fans of Estep’s Bigtime series – the Elemental Assassin series has a very different voice and a darker tone, but I noticed a nod to Estep’s previous series in the form of a mention of Fiona Fine. It tickled me. 🙂

Overall: The more I think about it the more I like this book. I recommend this urban fantasy for people who like a smart, practical kind of heroine with a hard edge. If you liked Kelley Armstrong’s Nadia Stafford, I think you will like Gin Blanco. I plan to buy the rest of these books.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
Fantasy Dreamer’s Rambings – 5 out of 5
Smexy Books – 5 out of 5
A Buckeye Girl Reads – found the first half slower than the last but positive review
Literary Escapism – positive review

The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Posted on March 7, 2010 by janicu

The Better Part of Darkness

Kelly Gay

mardelwanda was kind enough to forward on her copy of The Better Part of Darkness after I’d commented on wanting to try out the book in her review.

The Premise: In this urban fantasy series, the existence of races from other worlds became known when scientists discovered two parallel planes of existence called Elysia and Charbydon. The beings in them have immigrated to Earth and were named goblins, ghouls, imps, sirens, nymphs, jinn, and fae, because those were the closest words people had to describe them. Charlie Madigan works for Atlanta’s Integration Task Force (the ITF) with her siren partner, Hank, to take down any off world offenders. When Charlie and Hank find Amanda Mott, Charlie’s daughter’s babysitter and friend in a coma-like state, they begin to investigate an off-world drug called ash which is believed to be responsible. Complications arise when the investigation unearths problems that personally involve Charlie and threaten those she loves.

My Thoughts: This is one of those urban fantasies where the heroine has a dark side. Think Dante Valentine in the series by Lilith Saintcrow. The story is in the first person POV and her personality colors the story.

There’s a healthy dose of angst in Charlie’s life. She is a divorced mother whose husband did a really bad thing to get the divorce. She lost a twin brother in a violent way when she was a teen. And she died eight months ago. The circumstances to that death are known, but her resurrection is shrouded in mystery. Charlie has nightmares and notices that she’s different than she used to be. Charlie has good reasons to be angry, but her anger can take over, and that’s where the darkness comes into the story.

To balance some of the angst and anger, Charlie has people who support her like family (her sister Bryn, and parents who are traveling), and friends ( such as her partner Hank). She’s a mom to a tween, Emma. She also meets Aaron, a powerful mage, and Rex, a demon spirit. Yet, while she has so much to protect, Charlie is a heroine who rushes headlong into trouble without a moments thought. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one thinking this: her sister and Hank and everyone else lecture her to be more cautious and to not try to solve everything on her own without letting other people in. I was glad that Charlie finally started listening to them and let them help her when things got worse, but it takes her a least half the book to get there which can give you a bad first impression of her as a main character.

I think that Charlie’s seeing reason helped me a lot with her character but I still had a problem with her. I think my issue was that I still don’t like some of her actions. It began with her impulsive running-into-danger, but I also thought she did things that were wrong and I didn’t believe in her justifications. Despite being someone who is supposed to uphold the law, she uses violence often to get what she wants. I think I expect more when a character is identified as law enforcement, rather than say, an assassin. I can accept killing in self defense for a cop, but killing a random guard in cold blood and they didn’t put up a fight? Torture and humiliation for information? Maybe being a mother trumped being a cop and that was justification. I’m not sure. It made it hard for me to enjoy the story while being uncomfortable with the heroine.

It’s too bad I couldn’t warm to Charlie in the book because I did enjoy the writing and the secondary characters a lot. The side characters all had distinct personalities and depth. I think I was particularly fond of Rex and his sarcastic comments. The world building felt unique and interesting. Justina Robson did something similar in Keeping It Real with the worlds from different dimensions meeting, but The Better Part of Darkness still put a unique spin on the idea. And the plot and pacing felt like it had the right amount of action versus downtime.

A note on the romance. I’d read in another blog that there was a love square in this book. There are quite a few men that Charlie found attractive – many are supernaturally gorgeous, but I didn’t really see anyone as a possible love interest for her. There are hints at first but I don’t think anything pans out. I am not sure where the other blogger was seeing the love square, because I certainly didn’t see it. There may be something in a later book, but in this one it felt like an urban fantasy without a real romantic element.

Overall: There’s a lot that I liked about this book, but unfortunately I never warmed to the main character, which brought down my overall enjoyment. I would read the second book if I hear that Charlie does some learning from her mistakes.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
mardelwanda – positive review
Tez says – positive review
Scooper Speaks – “I enjoyed this story more than I thought I would.”
Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings – 5 out of 5 stars

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

Posted on March 4, 2010 by janicu

A Local Habitation: An October Daye Novel

Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire may be my new favorite writer from last year. I have been anticipating A Local Habitation ever since I put down the first book in the series, Rosemary and Rue (which I reviewed here:

When I won a copy of the book at Book Love Affair (awesome blog), I was ecstatic. I read this book RIGHT after I received it.

The Premise: October (Toby) Daye is a Daoine Sidhe changeling. Her mother is well known for her ability to “ride the blood” and garner memories from it. Toby has a diluted ability which she uses in her PI practice, and in her investigations as a Knight under the Sylvester Torquill, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills. At the start of this book, she’s asked to check in on the county of Tamed Lightening by Sylvester. His niece, the current ruler has stopped calling him for five weeks and he wants to know that she is OK. Sylvester sends Toby along with a foster at his court, Quentin, so that Quentin can learn something. It looks to be a simple mission, but once they get there, Toby and Quentin find it’s anything but. People are dying one by one under mysterious circumstances.

My Thoughts: I am so easily sucked in by the writing of this book. I’ve seen comparisons to Patricia Briggs, Ann Aguirre, and Ilona Andrews and I would agree that if you like those authors you will probably like Seanan McGuire too. It has only been two books but I’m already on giddy auto-buy mode. I didn’t think Rosemary and Rue was perfect, but the world building was amazing, and I’ve been anticipating what would happen next for Toby. There are a lot of hints about unfinished business in her life in the first book which have me hooked to this series already.

Like a lot of urban fantasies, the books are narrated in first person by Toby. Her character is interesting in that she has some power – the ability to read blood and to do small magics that most fae can do, but she’s a lot weaker than the purebloods and there’s a high price for even simple tasks, often in the form of a killer headache from overexertion. So Toby straddles the line between human weakness and fae power, and this along with small reminders that she isn’t considered to be in the same league as purebloods are, makes her a sympathetic character.

Although Toby isn’t one to really dwell on her differences, she is aware of them, and we are aware as readers by how banged up Toby gets in her investigations, that she’s not without weakness. I like how her bit of humanity along with her Daoine Sidhe blood makes her more able to deal with death than the regular fae, who don’t die of old age. She spent some time in the Summerlands so she knows a lot about fae culture and thinking, and we don’t have a heroine who needs things explained to her. She explains things to us as the story moves along, and she’s only ignorant about things most fae don’t know about or who the murderer is. Otherwise she is a heroine who is respected for her experience, which is something I can appreciate.

In A Local Habitation, there’s a new cast of characters from the county of Tamed Lightening and we’re introduced to some new kinds of fae. As in the first book, I enjoyed learning through Toby about these new fae and what their abilities are, particularly the Bannick and the Dryad. We’re also treated to reappearances from the first book from Sylvester and Quentin, and from Tybalt and Connor. The reappearance of Quentin and Toby’s taking him under her wing reminds me of how I thought she had a soft spot for young people in Rosemary and Rue. And there is of course Sylvester, the Duke of Torquill who Toby never thinks is anything but the perfect ruler. I wonder if he will stay untarnished for the rest of this series. In my mind Toby is a bit of an unreliable narrator, and she doesn’t see things that the reader may notice. Anyway, I’m speculating out loud about where things may go, which is what this series makes you do (and I love that).

There’s not really any romance in this book. There were hints of possible interest in Rosemary and Rue from both Tybalt and Conner (Toby is more aware of Connor than Tybalt because of their past history) which continue in this book, as well as from a new character. I am really fond of Tybalt, and although there is a promising early scene in A Local Habitation, there’s very little interaction between them which made the situation hard to read into. On the other hand I thought Toby was getting herself into messy waters with Connor in this book, which you could have seen happening a mile away after Rosemary and Rue. The guy is married to an unhinged woman who hates Toby. You can’t expect anything good to come out of that.

In Rosemary and Rue, I thought the second part wasn’t as strong as the first, but in A Local Habitation I didn’t have this problem, so I liked this book more. If I were to look for problems, I’d say the mystery may be the weakest part. There’s a small pool of suspects and throughout the story, the pool dwindles as more characters become victims. There are some hints which point at someone who Toby kept discounting, so I had my suspect who turned out to be the murderer. On the other hand, I didn’t guess the whole thing, especially why the murders were taking place, and I don’t think most people would guess the Why, although they may have the Who.

Overall: I liked this one better than the first book. I love the heroine and the pacing of the story seems just right, although I wish there was a tad more romance (I hope there is in future releases). I highly recommend this series if you like Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs or Ann Aguirre. The author writes complete installments but threads each book with hints as to the ongoing drama of Toby’s life,and anticipating what could happen next is delicious. This is actually a series that I hope won’t end at three books.

The third book An Artificial Night comes out this September (I’m glad there isn’t a long wait).

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
Book Love Affair – “Seanan McGuire takes the best parts of mystery, the best parts of urban fantasy, mixes them up, and mixes everything up.”
The Book Pushers – positive review, 4 out of 5 stars
Lurv a la Mode – 4.5 out of 5
bookblather – Her enthusiastic review represents how I feel about this series. And I think Quentin is a favorite character of hers..

Rebels and Lovers by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on February 28, 2010 by janicu

Rebels and Lovers

Linnea Sinclair

Linnea Sinclair was kind enough to send me an eARC of her newest book in the Dock Five Universe, Rebels and Lovers.

The Dock Five Universe series so far:
1. Gabriel’s Ghost (reviewed here: , with addendum here:)
2. Shades of Dark (reviewed here:)
3. Hope’s Folly (reviewed here:)
4. Rebels and Lovers

******* Warning: VERY MILD SPOILER about Philip Guthrie FOR THE FIRST TWO BOOKS (although I think this book can be read without reading them) ******

The Premise: In Hope’s Folly, the focus was on Admiral Philip Guthrie, a commander of rebel forces of the Alliance. Now the focus on one of his brothers: Devin. Devin Guthrie is the youngest Guthrie brother, and the quiet, numbers crunching, computer guru. He’s had a crush on Makaiden Griggs for years, but she was married and in his family’s employ as a captain of one of their many private ships. And in the aftermath of his brother’s defection from the Empire, Devin is being pushed to marry someone the family approves of. When Devin’s nephew Trip, heir to the Guthrie empire goes missing, Devin takes action to find him and in the process Devin and Makaiden cross paths once more.

My Thoughts: This is a book that stands enough on it’s own that I think you will be OK reading it without reading the first three books. Past characters make very small cameos or are talked about while they are off-screen, but aren’t the vital to the story. I think that Sinclair does enough explaining in the first few chapters that a reader will have the basics – that the Guthries are a wealthy family with lots of holdings and with a second son who has rebelled against the current regime. Although that does color Devin’s current situation, the focus is squarely on Devin and his problems, and since he’s a character who hasn’t really shown up till now, you don’t need to have read past books.

The book is action packed as Makaiden, Devin, and Barthol, a long time Guthrie employee with an Imp-Sec background protect Trip and try to discover who is behind the security breaches on the Guthrie properties and the murder of Trip’s bodyguard. The world building in this book is what I expect from Sinclair now – it’s seamless. She makes it look easy and believable. The action too is well paced. It’s a game of chase as Devin and friends stay ahead of whoever is following them, while trying to learn as much as possible why the bad guys are so interested in Trip. I had my guess who was behind their problems but I was perplexed as to why until the end. The surprising accomplice was also something I suspected but I saw in the review I’m linking below that it was unexpected to others.

In Rebels and Lovers we get a closer view of the Guthrie family than we ever had before. Details about the family dynamics and holdings come to light. I didn’t know that the patriarch, J.M. had such power over his children, or what roles each of his sons had in the family company. It was interesting to find out what Guthries had similar traits and how they got along with each other.

Since I have a soft spot for geeks, I liked Devin’s character. He’s not comfortable in social situations, but he’s good at his job as a senior analyst at his firm. His geekiness does not mean he’s weak or incapable. The only big problem he has is knowing how to tell Makaiden that she means something to him.

Devin thinks that Makaiden is married and in love with her husband Kiler. When Kiler was fired from the Guthrie employ, she left with him. Meanwhile Makaiden believes that her low beginnings would repel Devin an the rest of his family. This is where all the romantic conflict stems. I understood Devin’s point of view, but I got a little tired of Makaiden being so easy to jump to conclusions before talking to Devin about her fears. I’m not sure if this is very healthy. She often spends time assuming how Devin will feel and acts based on these assumptions. I was expecting the two of them to resolve this issue by the time the book ended so I was surprised they never really do. Maybe their talk happened off the page, or suddenly became a non issue after they survive near death in the climax. The ending threw me a little because it felt rushed after the rest of the book. It was a summarized version of things tidily and quickly wrapped up and I wanted more than what I got.

This book comes out March 23

Overall: It felt like classic Linnea Sinclair so it was what I expected and wanted to read. A straightforward science fiction romance, with the emphasis on a relationship amid action packed space opera. No frills added. Despite wishing the ending wasn’t so abrupt, I enjoyed this one.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Cover comment: Whoever did the cover for this book did try to get models that looked like the characters. Devin has glasses and Makaiden has short blond hair. Not too bad..

Other reviews:
Jace Scribbles (conversational review) – 4 to 4.5 out of 5 (I found myself agreeing more than disagreeing with this review)

Book trailer:

War of the Soulites by Natasha Bennett

Posted on February 24, 2010 by janicu

War of the Soulites

The author offered me an ecopy of this novella length story (about 176 pages in my ereader) to review last month.

The Premise: Captain Renolds Osiris is a first time captain after 15 years at a desk job, his second in command, Marcus Collingway, was a resistance fighter responsible for the deaths of thousands, his security chief Telsia is another cold-blooded killer, and the rest of his crew is mostly inexperienced. To top all that off, their ship, the Vigilant may be newly overhauled, but it has a gruesome past. It’s the site where the previous crew went mad and killed each other. Only one survivor made it. And that’s just the beginning because on their maiden voyage, barely a day in space, they’re attacked by an alien race called the Soulites.

Excerpt of War of the Soulites

My Thoughts: The author has created a cast of gray characters – they aren’t always doing the right things, people don’t like each other, they believe things about one another that may be untrue, but somehow they have to learn to work together. There is no one main character that is the focus. The third person narration shifts between members the Vigilante crew, particularly the senior crew. The story draws you in by making you curious about the characters and their individual mysterious pasts, and about what they are fighting. As the story goes on, it’s revealed that some people know more than they say they do, and discoveries are slowly revealed like layers of an onion. What are the Soulites? Why did they attack Earth? How much did NAVA, the ruling organization of Earth, know about them? One answer seems to bring about five more questions.

There’s a very high paced plot to this story as the crew is knocked from one disaster to another in rapid succession. I like a high paced story, but in War of the Soulites, this is where I had a problem. Disaster seems to be the only thing that moves the plot forward. There is almost no downtime and the narration jumps from scene to scene, cutting away at the very height of the action to another scene. After a while I started to get mentally exhausted by all the cliffhangers, and I found myself needing breaks. It was difficult not to get disconnected from the story not only because of the jumping around but because it became hard to believe that so many disasters could befall this group.

The story ends in a good place but without a resolution to the problem with the Soulites, which leaves things open for the second book in the trilogy.

Overall: Despite the horrible cover, the story isn’t bad. It has an interesting plot and characters. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep up with the forced continuous action, which brought down the story’s overall appeal.

Buy here

Links:
War of the Soulites book trailer.

Wild Hunt by Margaret Ronald

Posted on February 20, 2010 by janicu

Wild Hunt

Margaret Ronald

I read the first book in this series, Spiral Hunt, last year, and I liked the story enough to get Wild Hunt when it came out this year.

My review of book 1: Spiral Hunt:

The Premise: This is an urban fantasy series set in Boston, where the protagonist is Genevieve (Evie) Scelan, a bike messenger who also has a side business finding things for people with her highly advanced sense of smell. A sense of smell that is a genetic gift from a famous ancestor, which is the reason for her nickname – Hound. In this installment of the series, Evie is called in for a special last request for a customer, and finds out about a foul family artifact and an ill-fated expedition to Boston. Another customer asks her to find out about some objects that their ancestor stole. As Evie tries to do her job, she discovers more connections between the two jobs, and strange goings on in the city, like a call to Hunt which Evie can’t help responding to.

Browse inside Wild Hunt here

My Thoughts: The main character in this series is a working class girl with a little bit of power and a lot of responsibility. She knows some things about magic but it’s what she’s learned on the street, and it’s not very much. She has a small group of friends, who make reappearances from the first book – Rena the cop, her friend Sarah, and Nate, a graduate student raising his younger sister. You need to read this book after reading the first book in the series, otherwise you will probably be very confused about what’s going on. I had some trouble remembering things myself, which made me wish I had the first book to flip through, but I remembered the ending at least which is referenced a lot in Wild Hunt.

In this book there isn’t really a clear objective for the protagonist other than to try to do a job or two and to do the right thing. We follow Evie in her day-to-day work, and like Evie, we know something is going on, but we don’t have an idea of the big picture until three quarters of the book is done. This is a urban fantasy where the heroine does a lot of catching up: she isn’t really investigating anything in particular, just doing a couple of jobs for customers and stumbling onto odd things, but eventually discovers connections. Despite being considered one of the big guys in Boston after her role in the last dust-up, Evie is fairly unschooled in magic. The other characters expect her to know more than she does, and then berate her when she shows her ignorance. This was an irritating thing for me – I’m not sure where people expect Evie to have gained this knowledge, and I’m not fond of this device. Fortunately for Evie, her tenacity counts for something, and she comes out stronger than before. It’s done without fanfare and a lot of work, but I think that through no plan of hers, Evie gets more knowledge and power each time she has one of her adventures.

One of the things I enjoy about this series is that the author integrates myths I hadn’t heard of before. There’s the Celtic mythology of the first book, and in this second one there’s mythology and magical lore from other places which combine well with what Evie has learned thus far.

Another thing I liked was the romantic relationship in this series. The love interest is a nice guy, and his relationship with Evie feels like real life. It reminded me a little of the relationship in the Kitty books by Carrie Vaughn. In fact, I would recommend this series for people who like Kitty Norville. There is interest in both sides but both people are too shy to admit it, and it’s sweet when they finally get together as we hope (thankfully the author doesn’t torture us)!

Overall: I enjoyed this one more for the characters than what Evie gets involved in. It has a more character driven feel despite the fast-paced plot, and the author left me curious as what would happen to Evie next. Not in a cliffhanger way, but I’m definitely interested in finding out more.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews/links:
Calico Reaction – Worth the Cash

The Big Idea @ John Scalzi’s blog: Margaret Ronald – the author tells us about Boston as a setting