Surprisingly, the sequel might be better than the original. It's as wholesome as ever, like Umbrella Academy but with well-adjusted children, and satiSurprisingly, the sequel might be better than the original. It's as wholesome as ever, like Umbrella Academy but with well-adjusted children, and satisfying in that "stabbing with kindness" is, actually, quite effective.
I will hereby say that I was wrong to just call it a "YA Queer Romance". I will modify that to say, "A GOOD YA Queer Romance."
Truly, ya'll don't sleep on this particular series. The kids are just too precious....more
Well, I wanted to like this more than I did. I love Maugham for many reasons and he has a wide scope for all his novels, but this one in particular juWell, I wanted to like this more than I did. I love Maugham for many reasons and he has a wide scope for all his novels, but this one in particular just reminded me of a 19th century soap opera with super-headstrong idiots making idiotic choices.
Sure, Maugham referred to London, itself, as the Merry-Go-Round, but I think it's more proper to call the PEOPLE within it the Merry-Go-Round. They hop on each other and hop off each other with such random glee, picking another griffin or dolphin or dragon whenever it pleases them, spilling all their drinks and cotton candy all over the ride -- and these are ADULTS, mind you, behaving so abominably, and they don't seem to care if they step on anyone. Not even kids! *gasp*
Honestly, it's like a poor-man's Edith Wharton. It's decent for what it is and it reminds me of a ton of other Manners fiction, but to me, some of the characters sucked all the enjoyment out of it....more
I needed something FAST for Valentine's day that just might hit all the right buttons for humor and horror, and since I've dabbled in CarltonAmazing.
I needed something FAST for Valentine's day that just might hit all the right buttons for humor and horror, and since I've dabbled in Carlton Mellick III a few times in the past and always got a good chuckle out of it, when I read the title of this one, I knew it was going to be all kinds of cool.
I mean, it's absurdist, surreal, wholesome, and utterly disturbing all at the same time, but that doesn't change the fact that it's amazing, too.
Let's just get the elephant out into the open, first. The title is literal. It's simultaneously cute as hell and gory. But then, the entire story is, too. Even with all the collateral damage, the side-story of bullying, the horrible consequences of all the little excitements of life, it's still WHOLESOME while being absolutely anything but. :)
And it's PERFECT for V-Day -- especially if you, my dear little reader, are a twisted little freak....more
Muahahahahaha. This is an odd one for me and no mistaking.
On the one hand, it's awfully melodramatic like so many turn of the 19th century novels wereMuahahahahaha. This is an odd one for me and no mistaking.
On the one hand, it's awfully melodramatic like so many turn of the 19th century novels were. We have our spritely, lively heroine trying to drag herself out of the London gutter, and she really doesn't seem to have a bad bone in her body -- and yet she becomes an ADULTERER. *gasp*
I honestly didn't find myself all that sympathetic with poor Liza, but I did get to a certain point in the novel where, if the roles of the sexes had been reversed, Liza would have come off quite splashingly. Indeed, the fisticuffs scene would have been fun. But it was at this point that I imagined that Maugham was having a bit of fun with us. It was his first novel, and while it fits the popular mode of the times so well, I just had this sneaky suspicion that he WAS making a point about the roles of the sexes (despite being cast as novel of class and poverty).
So, naturally, Liza suffers the grand fate of death by ADULTERY. Or is it a moral death? Anyway, so many heroines in the grand majority of popular novels up to this time tend to die by author's whim or moral platitude. Or bad drapes. Or something. And THAT was THAT.
Here's the thing:
I know this was meant to be a romantic tragedy, with Liza getting her just deserts and all, but I honestly just found it... funny. The whole thing. Like it was one gigantic tongue-in-cheek comedy.
This might be my modern sensibilities totally corrupting my sense of period literature, of course, but it didn't stop my knee-jerk reaction to laughter.
Once I stopped taking any of it seriously, I had a great time. The only thing that would have made this truly brilliant would have been a god-like narrator sweeping in at the very end to say, "Oh, well, moving on..."
This just caught my eye because these two doofuses always say exactly what is on their minds. Loudly. Forcefully. With full heart.
It's funny aSO CUTE!
This just caught my eye because these two doofuses always say exactly what is on their minds. Loudly. Forcefully. With full heart.
It's funny as hell. They're stupid as hell but they're so cute together. It's always fight, fight, fight. But not really. The only way they know how to talk to each other is SUPER direct, often absurdly obvious, and it sounds like they're calling each other out for a duel... when it's lunch, or ice cream. It's so funny. And wholesome, too....more
Well now, this isn't your average romance novel. Indeed, it's more a women's study novel, focusing on sexism, cultural crappiness, and the supremacy oWell now, this isn't your average romance novel. Indeed, it's more a women's study novel, focusing on sexism, cultural crappiness, and the supremacy of the intellectual drive.
I wholeheartedly approve. I've always believed that no one should be left behind if they have the talent and drive. Indeed, I went through a ton of absolute rage against the asshole men in this book and wanted to destroy them. This kind of heavy-handed crappiness has always made me nuts. Fortunately, Clive isn't a bad sort and that kind of beauty isn't forgotten. Not all men are complete assholes here.
As for the rest, I loved the chemistry angle, the cooking angle, and the take-no-prisoners intellectual honesty no matter what kind of firestorm it created in cultural norms. Indeed, that was my favorite part.
Good book. Really hard to stomach when it came to the no-help, no-care bits when it all came crashing down, but I appreciated the results. ...more
You know, I specifically read this because of Legends and Lattes, for the hope that I'd fall for the comfort, the warmth, the utterly delightful idea You know, I specifically read this because of Legends and Lattes, for the hope that I'd fall for the comfort, the warmth, the utterly delightful idea that something can be built that can last.
Sure, it's a fantasy, but that's just an element to amuse. A little necromancy, a splash of blood, but that's nothing.
The good stuff is BOOKS. Books and bonedust and teasing companionship and MAKING FRIENDS.
God. This book was just as good as the other.
Should we want ALL that Travis Baldree has to offer? Yes. I think we should ALL want an unlimited amount of feel-good fantasy X 2 thrillers as we can possibly support.
I got roped into this Rom-Com buddy-read because I'm a real soft touch. Or I'm gullible. Or I just don't know what to do when women get all weepy.
So I got roped into this Rom-Com buddy-read because I'm a real soft touch. Or I'm gullible. Or I just don't know what to do when women get all weepy.
So here I am, reading a Rom-Com featuring all the oldest misadventures, featuring the very, very believable "Sis and her brand new husband get food poisoning and can't go on their all-expenses paid honeymoon and now I, her twin sister, must take her place alongside my arch-enemy, my sister's husband's brother" - plot.
Fortunately -- the read is funny and horny and snide and eventually delightful. It was exactly what I predicted it to be. Not one thing less, not one thing more.
Oh, and we can get the expected dose of girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back, with all the expected variations of the boy doing all the heavy lifting, so -- normal. It's fast food. You know what to expect. :)...more
So. My hot take on this is pretty simple. I have limited patience for a lot of self-hate and love/hate and non-communication anti-romances.
I CAN handSo. My hot take on this is pretty simple. I have limited patience for a lot of self-hate and love/hate and non-communication anti-romances.
I CAN handle it for a relatively long time, normally, and can handle it even longer if the novel remains full of other goodies that keep it hopping, but if the majority just a bunch of weak-brooding territory, I start to lose patience. The Omega werewolf storyline was also rather depressing and overall, the whole novel remained depressing until the end. Or rather, it is still depressive at the end and I never shipped the two lovebirds.
To make it worse, the whole novel felt overlong to me. I may not have minded anything at all if it came to a relatively satisfactory end earlier than it had, but it was NOT as heartwarming and satisfactory as the first Green Creek book.
Did it accomplish what it set out to accomplish?
Yes. Probably. But Gordo was definitely a better side-character than a main character. I didn't really connect with this at all despite getting an inside-track to a magician to werewolves. Alas....more
Missing my old Dexter vibes, I've been loving both the books and the tv series for years. It's really a no-brainer. Love and obsession goes bad... theMissing my old Dexter vibes, I've been loving both the books and the tv series for years. It's really a no-brainer. Love and obsession goes bad... the only thing that we have to look forward to is how the bystanders and the primaries kick it.
It's a great formula. But that's just it: formula. Fortunately, this one is a snide little jab at other writers and, beautifully, at all us GoodReaders. I thought that was pretty delightful. Us vapid babies babbling about baloney because we obviously can't recognize the good meat when we see it.
Right? Right.
I'm not saying this was a particularly bad book, but it felt a little bit circlejerkbookish even to me, and I'm also a writer.
Even so, I did have a few laughs, so not all is lost....more
Yes, it's romance. Of course, that should be obvious in the title. Even so, it's CUTE. I mean, itCute, snarky, city-malaise meets fresh meat romance.
Yes, it's romance. Of course, that should be obvious in the title. Even so, it's CUTE. I mean, it's not every day a girl becomes a vampire and sucks a poor unsuspecting boy into her survival machinations.
On the one hand, I think it's rather cynical of her, but he's a clueless nerd and RATHER accepting of the circumstances. Young men are like that. They'll put up with anything as long as they get some.
*SIGH*
Fortunately, it works out pretty well for everyone involved, sans the dead bodies winding up all over the place.
This is me rolling my eyes so hard that they pop out, go through the ceiling, and fly about 200 yards to get stuck in a tree nearby.
Honestly.
I don't rThis is me rolling my eyes so hard that they pop out, go through the ceiling, and fly about 200 yards to get stuck in a tree nearby.
Honestly.
I don't really know what I expected. Sure, a hot and steamy romance I was bullied into reading for Valentine's day? Sure. I'm up for a laugh. But if I was subjected to a double handful cliche archetypes that would be sprung fully-formed -- in perfect derivative glory -- from some sodden sex-drenched pile of text nominally called a novel, I would be half-tempted to laugh and write it off as a Tingle masterpiece.
But no. This was just a straight-laced fearful gradeschool teacher watching a detective and getting into a hammy mystery that would have been solved at the very beginning if they weren't both so damn horny.
Don't get me wrong. I've been known to count the multitudes of cliches throughout this plethora of books, but seriously, they USUALLY they tend to get subverted in some small way or they do something to surprise me in the plot.
This did neither. Indeed, it followed the archetype of a smutty romance so perfectly that it should be taught in school as an example of the immense purity of porn. Strong dangerous guy shows girl how to love the danger x 10. And ouch. I just lost my eyeballs again.
Please don't get me wrong. If you want something so simple and archetypal for your romance, then look no further. This is pretty much the template.
I thought it would be a lark to jump on this romantic Time Travel SF collection with all the most talked about names in the SF field today, at least, I thought it would be a lark to jump on this romantic Time Travel SF collection with all the most talked about names in the SF field today, at least, those names bandied about among certain circles, and so I tried.
I really did try. I recognize all the names, I am a really big fan of a handful of them, too. Seanan and Ford and Valente are always pretty great.
I started from the beginning and I suddenly came to the conclusion, after the first 4, then 5, that this wasn't just a time travel romance collection, but it is predominately a M/M or F/F romance collection with just a hint of timey-wimey.
I started wondering if there would be any kind of, you know, actual representation of all types in this.
I mean, I'm straight, I've always supported people being allowed to be what they want to be, but if I see only the goods of any one type, I have to assume I'm not allowed in the club. Of course, it's not just this collection. I think I've read something like 20-30 romances, be it short or novel, in the last two years -- and there was only one -- yes, one -- romance that was between a male and a female.
Of course, that was only a regular romance without any SF or Fantasy in it, so if I redo this list with ONLY SF or F romances... then that's... zero. No F or SF romances with the "extra" m/f romance at all.
Is this the only trend now? I'm well read and yet this is just about all that's published now.
I wound up giving up on this collection because it kinda fails as a personally representative romance on Valentine's day. I wasn't even that impressed with the stories I did read.
I only kinda liked First Aid and Remember Satellites and The Lichens and then I kinda lost all interest after the next few. I did search to find the Valente, though, and it was nicely abstract and weird and it made me think.
I skipped the rest. I felt like I was wasting time. I wasn't looking for something to push me outside of my comfort zones on Valentine's Day. I just wanted something that hit a little closer to home, even if it was all timey-wimey.
Good luck to everyone else out there, though!...more
So. Let me get my personal elephant out of the room. I was pissed throughout this book because I thought this was going to be a rom-com featuring two So. Let me get my personal elephant out of the room. I was pissed throughout this book because I thought this was going to be a rom-com featuring two lovers of books who wind up loving each other. I wanted to read tons of easter eggs and nods to the greats (Heathcliff doesn't count) and just roll around in nerdy goodness while getting that sexytime on.
So what happened with that elephant?
*I WAS BAIT-AND-SWITCHED*
There was hardly any bookish goodness. An Agent and an Editor fussing over a fictional Author hardly counts. And it felt like pure fantasy in how prosperous, happy, healthy, and wise they were. But that's not really a complaint I need to be making. That's a sore point with ANY rom-com. They're all fantasies. No. My main complaint was in this not being nearly nerdy enough.
Other than that, it DID live up to all the good standards of being a rom-com and it was sweet and had all the tried and true plot points and I enjoyed it for what it was intended to be. A romance. Just a romance. In that regard, it was perfectly good and standard.
Not that glowing? Well, I'm still pissed about the bait-and-switch. ; ;
I really only wanted to read this because it used to be well-beloved and the author wrote one hell of a great rip-roaring SF/Horror, Invasion of the BI really only wanted to read this because it used to be well-beloved and the author wrote one hell of a great rip-roaring SF/Horror, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
As a romance, it was slow, very mild, somewhat contrived, and beleaguered by a ham-fisted 1880's villain.
As an SF, it spent a lot of time setting up the psychology of time travel in a way that I found quite appealing, almost as if historians and proper mindsets are necessary to inject oneself into a new time. I liked that part. As for the actual science... we can ignore that.
As a historical novel, it spends almost all of its time on average, everyday things.
For the time this came out, I'm sure it was very charming and an extremely mild, armchair romance with a little adventure, a little social commentary, and a little culture shock.
As for a veteran time traveler, I guess I got rather bored.
If you don't like your novels spicy, but firmly middle-class and middle-of-the-road, then you might like this just fine.
Well now. I’m very glad to have read this all the way through to the end. The main plot, the buildup, and the reveal were nothing to sneeze at and in Well now. I’m very glad to have read this all the way through to the end. The main plot, the buildup, and the reveal were nothing to sneeze at and in the end, it really was all about love. The love you give, the love you receive.
And from the basic premise, we’re totally NOT expecting that. Or at least, we’re supposed to believe that.
In the end, it’s very wholesome and positive.
Maybe utterly unbelievable, but definitely a wonderful romantic fantasy. I just wish a few of the unresolved plot threads got wrapped up. And then, maybe it WAS better this way. The two mains were pretty good to each other. :)...more
The one thing I was most worried about has not come to pass. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this was… wholesome. A little school crush and trThe one thing I was most worried about has not come to pass. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this was… wholesome. A little school crush and true encouragement. Nice....more
Things get a bit more interesting for me since I’ve a thing for writers and getting over fears. This one deals with both, but it’s getting sweet becauThings get a bit more interesting for me since I’ve a thing for writers and getting over fears. This one deals with both, but it’s getting sweet because our hero is just trying to genuinely help her through her nervousness. Aww....more
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