Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Posted on April 9, 2010 by janicu

Jennifer Echols

I think that every single reviewer that I tend to agree with has read and liked Going Too Far. I’ve been dying to read it but since my resolution is to keep the TBR down I’ve been holding off on buying books this year. Well I finally caved (and the TBR.. it isn’t shrinking).

The Premise: Meg is a teenage rebel who is bored with her town and looks forward to leaving for college after high school. Just before spring break she gets a little drunk and along with another couple, she and her sort-of boyfriend decide to hang out on the railroad bridge. Years ago a teen couple was killed there, so when Officer John After catches Meg and her friends, they’re in trouble. As part of their community service, the teens are made to ride with the fire truck, ambulance and police all through their spring break. Meg is not thrilled to find out that she got the shift with the cops, and has to ride around with Officer After. But first impressions aren’t always the right ones, and turns out that Officer After is almost as young (and screwed up) as Meg is and together they push each other to think about what their choosing in their lives.

Excerpt of Chapter 1 of Going Too Far

My Thoughts: You know that feeling you get when you hear that a book is good and then you read reviews and it sounds *perfect* for your tastes? And then you read it and it IS just as good as you thought it would be? Well this book gave me that particular high. I stayed up till 2 am reading this book. I woke up the next day thinking about this book. I think I dreamed about this book. It was just happy-sigh-making and I’m so glad I bought it because if I had borrowed it, I would have had to go out and buy it.

OK, so WHY was this so good? Well. If you read this blog you may sometimes see me say I couldn’t fully get into a romance because there wasn’t enough of an emotional connection. This book has emotional connection. I raise this book above my head and say PLEASE LOOK AT THIS AS AN EXAMPLE OF DOING EMOTIONAL CONNECTION RIGHT! In fact, this book also has the physical connection – and because the emotional connection is there? It is awesome. This is how you do a sex scene people.

But I digress. Emotional connection. This is told from the first person viewpoint of Meg, and as the book starts, you see the first layer that Meg wants the world to see. A blue-haired girl. A rebel. She says what she thinks and does what she wants. She doesn’t make commitments and she doesn’t like her town. And Officer After – he’s a stodgy cop who is obsessed with keeping people off the bridge and following the rules. Meg at first thinks he’s a forty year old and imagines he has a wife and kids. This alone makes the two of them interesting, but what makes the story better is that slowly, Meg and John peel off the layers from each other. John finds out why Meg has blue hair, and is a rebel. Why she doesn’t make commitments. Meg finds out why John wanted to be a cop. And add to that that in the process of the two discovering the layers of the other person, they have to look at themselves. They both push each other to change. And that’s probably why this book is titled Going Too Far. They both cross lines. Things get messy, but it goes somewhere good.

I loved that there were all these clues in discovering Meg and John’s pasts that were kind of out in the open, but only if you understood what they meant do they become significant. And I loved that while John After was responsible and driven about his job, he was also a nineteen year old guy. At times he acted very mature, but then his youth would bleed out. Meg too – she acts her age, but she’s definitely different because she doesn’t really have friends. I enjoyed seeing that as she started to let John in, she learned how to let other people in.

There are so many quotable bits to this book. I have several passages I could bookmark and reread them happily forever. For example:

I sat back in my seat and watched the men inside the store. Where was John’s backup? If I sat here waiting much longer, I would panic. And I couldn’t hear John breathing. It was so quiet in the car, my ears rang.
“Are you scared?” I whispered.
“I’m well trained.”
Yes, he was well trained to enter a robbery in progress with three guns pointed at him. Or well trained to hide that he was scared.
His death-hold on the steering wheel gave him away.
“Do you want me to kiss you for luck?” I asked
His eyes cut to me for a split second, then returned to the store. He waited so long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer. He would ignore my inappropriate question.
Then he said, “Yes.”

Overall: A fantastic, perfectly written love story. I loved it – easily in my top five favorite books this year if not the favorite. The emotional connection in this one was one of the best I’ve read. Ever.

I’m so glad I don’t have to wait long for her next book, Forget You (it comes out in July)
I think if you like Sarah Dessen (exception: Angie), or Megan McCafferty, you will also like this author.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
The Book Smugglers – 9 (Damn near perfection)
Angieville – positive review
Lurv a la Mode – 5 Insanely Huge and Indulgent scoops
Book Crazy – 5 out of 5 stars
Giraffedays – 4 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Reads – Excellent
The Hiding Spot (and extra here) -20 out of 10 stars
Pop Culture Junkie – 5 stars
See Michelle Read – positive review
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm – 5 stars
Katiebabs – B+

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:

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

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:

Dark Nest by Leanna Renee Hieber

Posted on February 5, 2010 by janicu

Dark Nest by Leanna Renee Hieber

I liked The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Persephone Parker – it was very Gothic and different. So when I found out on The Galaxy Express that Leanna Renee Hieber had also written a futuristic fantasy novella, and it won the 2009 Prism award, I said – “holy crap, I want to read that”. Earlier this year the author contacted me and offered me a copy to review so I jumped on the chance.

The Premise: This is the blurb: “Chief Counsel Ariadne Corinth has just found out her long-time lover, the powerfully gifted Chief Counsel Kristov Haydn, has died. Newly evolved psychically gifted humans have been sent by the Homeworld on a space mission aboard two distinct “Nests”. Relationships between the Light Nest and the Dark Nest have faltered and Ariadne is sure there’s something insidious behind it. In a matter of hours, Ariadne must find out what really happened to Kristov, unite her people to discover vast new powers the Homeworld denied them, or else submit to genocide.”

Read an excerpt of Dark Nest

My Thoughts: The setting with two ‘nests’ in space, both full of people who are Psychically Augmented, one light – who believe in order and suppression of emotion, one dark and more dramatic, intrigued me.
In terms of setting, there were several details about the ships I enjoyed. I think the Light Nest made me think of the Enterprise with it’s clean lines and bright spaces, but I loved the first introduction to the Dark Nest: “A vast, stylized, silver-blue steel Notre Dame now floated through space, giving a new and literal meaning to “flying” buttresses.” I’m not sure why they looked like this, but it ‘s lovely to imagine.

The story hints that the nests were not so divided as they are now, that outside forces deliberately put a wedge between the sister spaceships. When the story begins, the difference in the nests have become so pronounced that there is hardly any interaction between the two at all. All the Nesters went to the same school and have past history, but the visits that used to happen between the two ships, have ceased except for Couriers who send messages back and forth for business purposes. There are low rumblings about the slow separation between ships that have been working together (searching for worlds that can support human life), but few question it. Nor do many question the intrusive watches on everyone -the monitoring of emotions and the information sent back to Earth.

Dark Nest won the Prism award, and I can’t find anything but glowing reviews of it online, but I had one problem with the story, and that was that by the time this story is told, I feel like I have to catch up to where the characters already are, and so things seem to happen too quickly and the ending came too soon. When Ariadne’s ex, Kristov, dies, at the beginning of the book, Ariadne is surprised to hear he was murdered, possibly through the order of the Homeworld because of his rebellious views. Much has already happened by the time that Kristov Hadyn dies, and the reader learns through Ariadne how far things have gone. The romance mostly happens off the page as well. Ariadne has a back story with the person she ends up with, and a flashback to their past is what we get in terms of romance. When they meet again, there is low conflict between them. I think Ariadne feels more stress in thinking of seeing him again than with actually seeing him. His personality is such a draw to her that all he does is give her his special look and they’re together again.. The conflict in this story instead lies with the two types of Nesters and their Homeworld (What exactly is the Homeworld’s plan for the Nesters? Is it true that they used brainwashing and lies to divide the two ships?) but that too seemed quickly resolved: the rebels have a plan. I thought the writing and the setting were well done, but if I could wish for something, it would be more in terms of not learning things after they were already established like the romance, the plans for the rebellion, and the insidious workings of the Homeworld; I’d rather read about them as they happened.

Overall: I liked the writing and I liked the setting, but I wish there was more. This is a novella so by it’s very definition it’s short, but I think I still wanted to experience events as they unfolded, rather than feeling like I was getting the wrap up of a longer and meatier story.

Buy: Amazon (paperback) | Powells (paperback) | B&N (ebook)

Links:
Interview at Kwana Writes
Interview at Gossamer Obsessions
Interview at the Book Butterfly
Interview at Galaxy Express

Can’t Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards

Posted on January 31, 2010 by janicu

Can’t Stand The Heat (A Recipe for Love)

Louisa Edwards

The Premise: It all starts the opening night of Adam Temple’s restaurant, Market. In a room full of press, foodies, and society people, Délicieux food critic Miranda Wake, tipsy on the alcohol in ready supply and impatient to be served, interrupts Adam’s opening speech with quick judgments about the food. He responds rashly and a challenge is thrown down: “You wouldn’t last ten minutes in my kitchen.” To Adam’s horror, Miranda accepts (with visions of a book deal dancing in her head).

Read an excerpt of Can’t Stand the Heat

My Thoughts: From a food lover’s point of view, this book is a lot of fun. The author really puts you there in a busy kitchen in New York City. Her writing has an exciting flavor – it feels very modern to me, maybe because it doesn’t try to make things more refined than they are. The kitchen is full of characters, people who are rough and loud, but very close knit and fit into the restaurant life. Details about the stations, the pecking order, the bustle, and the cooking seem well researched but presented in an exciting package. The food is a large part of the courtship: Adam shows Miranda how to make poached eggs and waffles with bacon, and despite his initial misgivings, Miranda’s unfiltered appreciation for Adam’s food wins him over.

I really liked Adam. He has passion for Market and he’s alive when he’s there – the center of the hurricane of activity, he seems really happy with his life: his new restaurant, a well-tuned crew, doing what he loves. Adam’s intensity of focus as the head chef is heady stuff to Miranda, who likes her job, but sees it as a job, not as a passion. Miranda’s ambitions are a result of her responsibility in raising her younger brother, while Adam loves making food for itself. Despite Miranda quickly annoying Adam with her plans to “expose” his restaurant with a book and interviewing everyone with that goal in mind, Adam doesn’t stay mad very long. He doesn’t dwell on Miranda’s mistakes, and focuses his energies on noticing how pretty and smart he finds her. It was surprising how quickly he was willing to forget that he was angry with her, but his quickly dissolving temper and zest for life is a consistent part of his character so I let it go. This is a good thing in this relationship, because Miranda is constantly doing things I considered low. She has her reasons, but they were tenuous, and I found myself on the edge of disliking her throughout the book because of her willingness to exploit others. On the other hand, I felt for Miranda because of her older sister protectiveness of her younger brother, and I liked her persistence in the face of adversity. Unfortunately, this didn’t really excuse how Miranda kept messing up just when I’d gotten over the last thing she had done. The conflict between the hero and heroine never lasts long, mostly due to Adam’s easygoing nature, but it propels the story along to it’s movie-style ending.

There are a lot of strong supporting characters in this book. The people in Adam’s kitchen were drawn very well, and there is hint of sequel bait with Devon Sparks, a TV personality whose restaurant Adam once worked in (confirmed with an excerpt for the next installment of Recipe for Love series). In particular Adam’s maître d’, Grant, his best friend (and sous chef) Frankie, and Miranda’s college-aged brother Jess. There is a side romance between Jess and Frankie that affects the main one. Their romance is one of opposites attracting – the shy young college student and the brash, punk-rocking, Cockney cook – it works, although at times I found it over-romanticized.

Overall: I loved the writing style and the way New York restaurant life was represented, and I liked the vivacious hero, but the heroine walked a really fine line for me. Despite this flaw, I would gladly read the next one in this series.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
Smexy books – 8 out of 10
Monkey Bear reviews – C
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books – B-
Racy Romance Reviews – “Overall, I really enjoyed Can’t Stand the Heat.”

Links:
Louisa Edwards on the trueromance blog

The Hidden Worlds by Kristin Landon

Posted on January 25, 2010 by janicu

The Hidden Worlds

Kristin Landon

This is a book that keeps popping up as a recommendation on Amazon, based on what I seem to search for there. I finally bought it after a long time with it languishing in my wishlist.

The Premise: Linnea Kiaho is a young woman who lives in a fishing village in the world of Santandru, where people are rough and poor, believe deeply in their religion, and elk out livings in a hostile environment. When the village’s fishing boat is destroyed Linnea is an unmarried woman trying to keep her sister and her sister’s kids together. No one is hiring in the nearby town and in desperation for money, Linnea uses a family secret passed down from her mother to try to get money from the Pilot Masters. The Pilot Masters are the leaders of the system of planets – the only people with the genetic ability to pilot ships between worlds. Their offer is that of work for Linnea as a servant on Nexus, which Linnea accepts despite the shunning she receives from everyone (Nexus is considered decadent and sinful). Linnea hopes that she can convince the Pilot Masters to renew their trade contract with Santandru, which is the only means that her people can continue to survive. There Linnea is indentured under the Pilot Iain sen Paolo, who is embroiled in his own troubles and doesn’t want her. Unfortunately, the secret Linnea holds entangles their lives and puts targets on them both. This is the first book in a completed trilogy.

Excerpt of Chapter 1

My Thoughts: I loved how this book started. The contrast between technology and the lives of the poor fishing village was striking. I was sucked into the setting of a poor planet that depends on trade with other worlds so that they can get parts for their fishing ships, and the problems when “the brain” of the ship stops functioning. Despite the presence of high technology, these people are too poor to really afford it. Not everyone knows how to read, women are expected to marry young, and Linnea is considered strange for not being unmarried (she’s nineteen). I also liked the idea of Nexus, the home world of the Pilot Masters as seen through the eyes of this backwater planet. It’s rich and decadent, but Nexus doesn’t have the same beliefs or culture that they do, so it is Evil, even though no one that Linnea knows on Santandru has ever been there.

When Linnea finally gets to Nexus, it is a huge change. The people are mostly men, because only men can be pilots, and they only want boy babies. Woman are only allowed there when they have a contract, and births are very strictly regulated. Only people of the Line, who have been vetted by the Council, are allowed to have children. In the meantime, the men are very open about relationships with other men, and casual sex is the norm. In their eyes, Linnea is an ignorant country girl. It was interesting to see the culture clash.

I really enjoyed the book up to when Linnea meets Iain and gets adjusted to his home. Until that point I was reading this book non-stop, and then I had to put it down to go to sleep for work the next day. The next time I picked up the book, the focus had changed and I found myself less engrossed. Rather than centering on Linnea and Iain and they’re getting to know each other, the book begins to focus on other problems – Iain’s political rivals, his uncle and his cousin, and on Iain’s father. Linnea suddenly becomes a tool in their power struggle and Iain’s relationships with the other men becomes more important in the story, and the stubborn woman becomes a submissive servant. By the time we get back to focusing on Linnea, it is further along in the story. Despite the danger for Iain and Linnea, the things Iain’s father refuses to hide from him, and the sadistic manipulations of Iain’s cousin, I was disconnected from the story on Nexus.

The romance in this book was understated. The relationship grows because they only have each other to turn to, and it’s not an easy path for either of them. There are a few things for them to overcome, like abuse and their different backgrounds, but the basis for the relationship is put down in this book. I think it will be interesting to see where it goes in the rest of the trilogy.

A note on the cover: I like the cover – the colors and the couple suggest that it’s a science fiction romance, but the guns are misleading and my idea of Linnea and Iain from reading the book is really different from the cover models.

Overall: A promising new science fiction romance series. Very good world building and writing. I liked this book, but found the second half less strong than the first. It sets things up for an interesting series which I plan to continue reading.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Reviews and links:
Patricia’s Vampire Notes
Calico_reaction’s review – she liked this one

Kristin Landon Interview at Galaxy Express
Heather Massey guest blogs at SF Signal
Catch a Rising Star: Kristin Landon (at Galaxy Express)

Silent In the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Posted on January 9, 2010 by janicu

Silent in the Grave

Deanna Raybourn

This book has been on my radar for a while now. It was on a lot of best of 2008 lists and had positive reviews from bloggers who have tastes similiar to mine, and then Angie of Angieville has been pimping it left, right, and center. When I noticed that the ebook was offered for free (FREE!!) at everyone’s reading I downloaded it immediately. The direct link to the downloads by the way are here — epub, mobipocket.

The Premise: This is the first book in a series set in the Victorian era. The story starts with a party hosted by Lady Julia Grey and her husband Edward, which goes south when Edward collapses on the floor. When Edward dies, it’s not really a shock because of his known family history of heart problems, but Julia’s vision of the world is turned askew by Mr. Nicolas Brisbane, who informs her that he was hired by her husband to investigate threats he was receiving. Mr. Brisbane also tells Julia that Edward was probably murdered. I also have to point out the cracking first line, which every other reviewer has commented on. It just draws you in – read it here in the excerpt.

My Thoughts: This is set in the Victorian era, but it has a modern edge. The story is told from the first person viewpoint of Julia, who comes from an open minded and eccentric family – the Marches. Julia starts off as a bit of a disappointment to her colorful family – all she wants to be is normal, but after her husband’s death, she takes stock of her life and begins to come out of her shell. This is one book where there’s marked growth and change in the main character. The author takes a few liberties with Julia’s character because of her freewheeling family, but it worked for me.

I also liked that around Julia’s investigations, we see a lot of day-to-day interactions between Julia and her staff and between Julia and her family. We catch glimpses into how a household was run in those times, and the ‘rules’ that the nobility abides by, and it’s all very normal and familiar to these characters but for me, it was excellent world building and lovely to read.

I’m not sure you should read this so much for the mystery than for the characters. There are several well rounded side characters such as Julia’s servants (her butler and ladies maid in particular), and members of her family (especially her sister Portia), and then there’s Julia and Nicolas Brisbane. While this has romantic elements and great sexual tension between Julia and Mr. Brisbane, the romance is not at the forefront of the book, and this is one of those series where the relationship evolves slowly over the course of several books. Julia is funny for her nosiness about Brisbane and her adventures in amateur sleuthing. Brisbane, while he is a dark and broody type, has great interactions with Julia, especially when she surprises him. A couple of times, I was laughing out loud at the things Julia did, and Brisbane’s agog response. I was reading this while on vacation and I was in the living room just laughing like a fool while my mother-in-law stared at me like I was crazy.

As for the mystery itself – there are only so many people who it could be, there are not that many characters to choose from, so an early guess is likely to be right, but why they did it and how was more mysterious and ultimately more surprising to me than who did it. There’s also the side mystery of Brisbane himself, which are hinted at when Julia visits him – a strange sudden illness when he’s a healthy man, and his odd interactions with Julia’s laundress.

Overall: I loved this one. It hit me in all the right places and I went on my best of 2009 list. I even made my mom read it (her report – almost done but she peeked at the ending! – tsk. But she asked if I had book 2, muhahaha).

Buy (this book was just reissued in trade PB): Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
Angieville – A very positive review
The Thrillionth Page – “lovely”
Miss Picky’s column — 3 out of 5
Aneca’s World – 3.5 out of 5
Rosario’s Reading Journal – gave it a B-
Reading Adventures – “highly recommended”
The Book Smugglers – Thea gave it an 8, leaning towards 9
Tempting Persephone – positive review

Links:
Silent Pretties — Angie points out the gorgeous UK covers for the Julia Grey mysteries. I want them too!
Silent in the Grave website

Dancer of the Sixth by Michelle Shirey Crean

Posted on January 8, 2010 by janicu

Dancer of the Sixth by Michelle Shirey Crean

In 2006 I forwarded myself a message board posting about science fiction/fantasy books with strong relationships, and then I promptly forgot about it. A month ago I was searching for something in my email and this old list showed up. There where a few books I’d already read and loved on there (Wen Spencer’s Tinker, Shards of Honor by Lois Mcmaster Bujold, Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair) so I spent some time eying the list and Dancer of the Sixth caught my eye. The cover with a pilot and her flighter jet interested me. After some googling it and finding positive reviews (and 15 5-star reviews on Amazon), I decided to order a used copy of the out of print book.

The Premise: Dancer is a member of the Sixth service, which is a secret arm of military intelligence who have no connections to their past lives – they’re dead as far as everyone else knows, and they run missions to ensure the safety of the galaxy. Dancer was presumed killed during the Lioth massacre by the Karranganthians, a violent race who were routed but still wait to catch their enemies unaware. One day during a patrol Dancer is surprised by a Gypsy flyer that lost control and had to make an emergency landing. And stepping out of the flyer is a disoriented exact replica of Dancer. A replica who uses the name Dancer had in her old life. The solution to this mystery is for Dancer to take her twin’s place in the Fourth Service Squadron (a aerial maneuver team which performs for the public).

My Thoughts: This is told in the third person with Dancer as the clear focus. It covers what Dancer and the sixth services’ response is to the twin, which is for Dancer to take her place and find out what’s going on, but that particular part of the book isn’t that long. What takes up much of it is a long flashback which covers how Dancer got into the Sixth Service in the first place — when she was found almost dead after the Lioth Massacre. We learn that Dancer barely made it and her healing took a long time. The writer takes the opportunity during her convalescence to for Dancer to recount her past (there are lost loves who Dancer cannot stop grieving over). Then, once Dancer is well enough to move out of her medical confinement, we learn as she does about the Auryx, the dark haired people with minor telepathic ability who the Sixth Service is composed of. One of those men is the Commander, Michael, who is Dancer’s immediate supervisor and her unvoiced crush.

Dancer is one of those irrepressible heroines who won’t stop fighting even when her back is against the wall and all is lost. In some ways she’s a bit of a Mary Sue. She’s a pretty redhead ace pilot with an upbeat character and a dark past that is gradually revealed. She charms everyone with her charisma, and everyone is a little bit in love with her. Meanwhile she cannot seem to stop her interest in every man she meets in the story. The eying of someone’s fine figure or Dancer’s talk of being in love got a little trying, and it was often inappropriate (the suggestion of a sexual relationship with someone under the Sixth Service suspicion, the familiar touching of her supervisor). She’s supposed to have not taken a lover since she joined the Sixth service, but you wouldn’t know it by her casualness in discussing relationships. As the reader, I think we’re to hope that Dancer had moved on from her past and that she’d focus on the man who was in her present, but it is confusing how strong her feelings are for Makellen Darke, the Auryx man who sat with her through her recovery, and then disappeared as if he never was. The competition is smoothed over by the twist ending, but the many loves crowding Dancer’s life not to mention Michael’s position as her superior, makes the romance not as strong as I think it could have been.

The writing was good, especially the parts about flying, but I found it odd at times. Maybe it was the use of the word “child” by Michael and the Auryx for everyone else non-Auryx, maybe it was the inappropriateness I covered already. Maybe it was the old-fashioned aspect to the writing – a formal tone that overlaid everything. It was something I got used to but it sometimes made the book drag, and I found myself unable to read it without breaks.

There are some interesting ideas here and it’s a good first book, and it’s too bad there doesn’t seem to be any more books by Crean. It does feel that this could have been the start to a series because the end leaves us with the implication that that is not all to be expected from the Karranganthians. However, the relationship and the story of this book does have a conclusion, although there may be some reading between the lines you have to do.

Overall: Not a bad book (I liked the ideas and the world building), and although it’s slow at times, it was an nice read for a science fiction fan. The relationships are a big part of the story, yet I think romance could have been better. I would have read the second book if there was one.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other Reviews:
Romantic sf – a mix of opinions there
pick locker – “I’m veering between recommending the book, to not recommending it.” (I found this blogger because of their review for this book!)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Posted on December 25, 2009 by janicu

Graceling

Kristin Cashore

This is the copy of Graceling I bought on my trip to Boston and finished on the plane ride to AZ this week. My review of Fire, Cashore’s other book in this world, is here: livejournal | wordpress

The Premise: Graceling is the story of Katsa, who is a graceling — someone who has two different colored eyes and preternatural ability in a certain skill. Katsa’s grace is that of killing, and since this was discovered, she’s been nothing but her uncle the king’s enforcer; threatening and killing as he sees fit. As Katsa grows up she dislikes herself and her role in the kingdom more and more. Things begin to come to a head when Katsa meets Po, a prince from another kingdom who is a Graceling too.

My Thoughts: I read Fire before Graceling. Graceling was published before Fire, but chronologically Fire happens before Graceling. I think you can read these books in either order, but I felt that I was a little more spoiled from reading Fire first than I may have been the other way around. I was less surprised about the villain of Graceling than I think I would have been if I’d read them in the other order.

I really LOVED Fire, I found myself just contentedly reading it and not wanting to move or do anything else, but I had a different reaction to Graceling. Graceling was an excellent fantasy with a sweet romance, but it didn’t enthrall me in the same way that Fire did. I found Graceling a slower read and I put it down more, especially in the first third of the book. I think I connected to Katsa a little less than I did Fire. She grew as the book progressed, and she learned to accept her Grace and believe that she wasn’t really a monster, but she was less emotionally available and had problems with opening herself up to people, and maybe that was why I couldn’t connect as well. Or maybe the reason is that I read Fire first so I love that most? It’s hard to tell what makes me love one book more than another sometimes..

I think a few people have already commented on Katsa’s unwillingness to get married. I could understand the idea in general, but when Katsa kept trying to explain it she alienated me more. I don’t think I really needed to read that she felt that getting married was too similar to being owned by someone, the way she was with King Randa. After a while, her constant fearful explanations about it made me think she was just a chicken rather than someone who had a life philosophy and just didn’t want to get married. Why was it brought up so much?! Ug, it started to irk me.

On the other hand, I really liked Po, Katsa’s love interest. He was a lovely secondary character, especially in the way he responded to Katsa and her moods. Cashore really writes some great guys in her stories! Po has a way of accepting Katsa for exactly who she was that was refreshing. I also loved Bitterblue, who is one of the most levelheaded young ladies I’ve read of in a while. I’m glad to know she has her own book which is coming out sometime next year (word is we also can catch up with Po and Katsa in it too).

Final note: There are sexual situations in this book, but it was written in a very vague way; nothing explicit.

Overall: I liked Fire better, but it’s another good young adult fantasy by this author. Brave heroines, understanding heroes and deep friendships make this series a recommended read. Cashore goes onto my autobuy author list.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other Reviews:
Book girl of Mur-y-Castell – “it was ok”
Book Love Affair – 9 out of 10
Lurv a la Mode – 4 scoops (out of 5)
Jawas Read , Too – Positive with some quibbles. I agreed with this review
Calico reaction – Worth the Cash