Review - "Death Descends On Saturn Villa"

Death Descends on Saturn Villa Gower Street Detectives #3
by M. R. C. Kasasian
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 4th June 2015
spoilers? no

Goodreads

"You are hiding something from me," I say and Sidney Grice shakes his head. "No," he tells me quietly. "I am hiding a great many things."

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this series. On the one hand, it's mysteries set in Victorian times, and I love March and Pound. On the other hand, there's Sidney bloody Grice, who is singularly the most unlikeable "good guy" character I have had the misfortune to read about.

That being said, this was definitely the best yet of the series. Although the plot was slightly convoluted at times, it held my attention better than the previous two and, with March a suspect for the case, the stakes were higher than before.

There was a big part in this that was told from Grice's point of view, which I hated, given that I hate him. It was so tedious, and because he's one of those genius detectives, pretty up himself. I just hope that's not something I have to suffer through in book 4.

Review - "Diverse Energies"

Diverse Energies
edited by Tobias S. Bucknell
rating:☆☆☆
published: 20th November 2012
spoilers? no

Goodreads

To act as though we have hope is to keep hope alive.

The problem I have with rating anthologies by various authors is that I never know how to rate the thing overall. Like, do I average the ratings? Do I give it an overall rating based on my enjoyment of it as a whole? Who knows.

In the end, I guess the three star rating is a bit of both. It's not the greatest anthology I've ever read unfortunately (although I don't think I've read any where I've loved all the stories - at least for this one the ratings never went below three stars), but it was refreshing in its diversity even if the writing wasn't always the best quality. Also, the stories were incredibly dark.

The Last Day - Ellen Oh (3 stars):

An alternate post-WWII story, that I can't remember all that much about. It was a good idea and I would have liked to have read more about the characters, but the writing was kind of lacking, and a little simplistic at times.

Freshee's Frogurt - Daniel H. Wilson (5 stars):

I am happy to admit I am entirely biased when it comes to Daniel H. Wilson. He writes the best "robots take over the world" fiction I've read ever. So obviously, I loved this story just as much, even if it was too short.

Uncertainty Principle - K. Tempest Bradford (3 stars):

Not gonna lie, I don't remember a lot of this one, so I'm having to look at other people's reviews. It was (again) a good idea, though it reminded me a lot of Time Riders with maybe less good writing.

Pattern Recognition - Ken Liu (3 stars):

This one could easily have been a full-length story, and perhaps would have worked better that way. It definitely feels a bit rushed when it was explained they found the phone and could immediately work out how to use it to contact the outside world, without having seen a phone before, and get in touch with reporters (who also believed them straightaway). For sure, could have benefited from being longer.

Gods of the Dimming Light - Greg Van Eekhout (3 stars):

This one was kind of trippy, I gotta say. I mean, valkyries and Norse Gods and a battle to reach Valhalla, all set within a dystopian city. Uh, OK?

Next Door - Rahul Kanakia (3 stars):

This was strange. And a definite downer. I mean, the two (gay) main characters at the end die. Or at least I assume they do, because they inhale some toxic gas but it's left on a bit of a question mark.

Good Girl - Malinda Lo (3 stars):

Girls!! Kissing!!! Thank you, Malinda Lo. It was cute, though the love was kind of rushed (again, short story problems), and it wasn't really clear why the government had decided to ban interracial marriage.

A Pocket Full of Dharma - Paolo Bacigalupi (4 stars):

I really liked Paolo Bacigalupi's full length book, so I might have been slightly biased towards this one. All the politics of who wanted the Dalai Lama in that USB-box-thing (don't ask, just read it) was kind of confusing but it was an interesting concept.

Blue Skies - Cindy Pon (3 stars):

It had a pretty abrupt ending, to be honest, and I didn't really get much of the guy's motivations for kidnapping the girl beyond getting the money.

What Arms to Hold - Rajan Khanna (3 stars):

Again, another one that could have benefited from being a full length novel. It had an interesting idea, but it felt rushed inevitably. I did like that it ended with the MC leaving on his own, without helping anyone else though, because that was different.

Solitude - Ursula K. LeGuin (3 stars):

In a book full of dystopia stories, this one, about aliens and sociologist aliens, is a little odd, to say the least. It was well written and intriguing, but it didn't fit the anthology as a whole. The idea of the alien society was pretty good though, even if it did read like an anthropologist's report (which I guess was the aim).

Review - "Falling From The Sky"

Falling From The Sky Bear Creek #1
by Nikki Godwin
rating:☆
published: 21st February 2014
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

“And what do you want, McCoy?” Terrence asks. “Really and truly?” “For this summer to never end.”

Hold on, folks, this could be a bumpy (and sarcastic and slightly angry because I wasted 2 1/2 hours on this book) ride.

First of all, it's always a bad sign when you get kind of leery about a book within the first chapter of that book. I mean, it doesn't help that one of the first comments made about the Native American character is

He nods. "I'm Micah. Youngblood." I was expecting something cooler. Like Blackfeather. Or Wolfcry. Something more Native American than Youngblood.

At which point, I was like, do I really want to be reading this book? But I continued, and came across this gem

"I'm guessing you're Ridge," he says to me. He tosses a gym bag onto the only empty bed. I seriously thought I lucked up just having Terrence as a roommate. I should've known better. "And I'd assume you're Terrence? I've never met a white guy named Terrence," he says.

I guess it's an effective way to mark out the arsehole, and make a point that Terrence is not white (which is pretty vague, but I'm being a little harsh. It does mention later that he is black). Anyway, having welcomed the douchecanoe, I figured I might as well get a bit further before deciding whether or not to continue the book.

Next up, Douchecanoe(TM) confesses that he can't possibly live without sex for the length of time the camp runs but, given that his girlfriend is back home, he's obviously going to have to find some girl nearby who will give him what he wants. And here I was thinking that they were at some elite, invitation-only, basketball camp and so would be serious about the sport. Clearly, I was mistaken.

Also at this point, I was getting increasingly doubtful of the portrayal of the Native American characters in this book. I don't know how much research the author did, but I felt like it was kind of leaning towards playing on stereotypes. I haven't been able to find any reviews which verify that though.

Then comes this (other) gem of a quote

"Okay. You asked for it," he warns. "The thing is, I hate labels. All labels. Race, gender, sexuality, all of it. I don't see color or gender or gay, straight, bi, whatever."

Which leads me to wonder, how much of this is the (white) author putting words into their Native American character's mouth in an attempt to be 'progressive'. I would hazard a guess that it's quite a bit. But then she has the white character say that he couldn't do the same, ie that he doesn't "not see colour". And once again I'm kind of leery. What's the author playing at? Is she wanting the white dude to seem more progressive than the Native American dude? Because, if so, that's gross.

Anyway. Moving on from that, there's then this lovely quote

Micah assumes the 'guy role' and says it's just one ticket. I should totally be the guy. Micah is such a girl. Of course I can't tell him that - ever - because he hates stereotypical gay relationships where one of the guys is 'the girl of the relationship'.

Because you can't go anywhere with a relationship of any sort without imposing some lovely het values on proceedings.

By this point, Micah and Ridge are 'together'. But wait!! Ridge has a girlfriend back home (who he keeps damn mentioning, only to complain about in the same sentence. Damnit, Ridge. Just break up already. I am not here for your teenage angst bullshit). And who he's currently cheating on, making him no better than Aaron, right?

But no! It's ok, because Micah's a boy. I'm not kidding, there was this semi-justification of it

But then I remember that I'm not into guys, and I have a girlfriend, and this technically makes me a cheater. I wonder if this is like prison, how a lot of inmates are "gay for the stay" because they need some form of affection.

Putting aside the fact that he repeatedly claims he's not into guys (sidenote; you'd think he hasn't heard of bisexuality the way he's going on... Hmm....), which simultaneously cheating on his girlfriend with a guy, this 'gay for the stay' idea is gross. Get this shit away from me.

There are also huge gaps in the development of their relationship. Like, one moment, they're kissing and Ridge is leaping away and having a gay/I-have-a-girlfriend freakout and then 5 pages (and an hour or so) later he's perfectly happy letting Micah kiss him. I don't understand.

And to top it off, would you believe it, Samantha's a bitch. She has no personality, all she likes to do is shop, and she's horrible to Ridge when he (finally) breaks up with her. But it turns out she was also cheating on him! So Ridge cheating on her with Micah is obviously now doubly ok. Because logic.

One last point, Micah is actually kind of manipulative. He puts Ridge in these coupley situations when he knows Ridge isn't entirely comfortable all the time with them, without checking whether Ridge wants to be in those situations and just lets him deal with it. It doesn't feel like particularly healthy relationship behaviour to me.

Actual last point: Terrence was easily the best character in this book, even if he did seem to be there just to have the role of relationship guru.

Review - "Fierce & Fabulous"

Fierce & Fabulous Sassy Boyz #1
by Elizabeth Varlet
rating:☆
published: 27th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Where do I start with this trainwreck of a book? Firstly, it's probably worrying that the series is called Sassy Boyz (with a Z). That doesn't bode well. Secondly, the title, Fierce & Fabulous. I'm going to hazard a guess that we're going for all the stereotypes of gay men here.

And, lo and behold, we did.

The book opened up with a straight man in a gay bar. And this straight man was pretty homophobic. Not a promising start to say the least. Then the dancers (who I assume are the sassy boyz or whatever) come out and start dancing, and they are so effeminate that he thinks they are women and subsequently gets turned on. Wonderful. (Not to mention the fact that he's also misogynistic... It just gets better and better.)

Anyway, he gets a lapdance from one of them etc, etc and then obviously can't stop thinking about this (effeminate, camp) gay man who is causing him to question his sexuality. Skip ahead a bit, and this guy's having to go back to the club to pick up a purse for his sister, and he walks in on their practice. At which point he rather randomly ends up kissing the one who'd given him a lapdance.

I actually can't remember a lot of the plot after this, but for the fact that they start going out and the lapdance guy has low self esteem and starts pushing the not-so-straight guy away, there's angst, they end up together. I wanted to slap someone a few times. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary, really.

The writing however was terrible. Take these quotes, for example:

Their mouths fused together in a carnal liplock that could probably make the devil blush, it was so fucking vulgar.

He'd never imagined balls could be so delicious.

And then there's that hinky little thing that all M/M romance authors seem to do, is have someone say they don't like labels. In this case it was along the lines of we're all humans so why bother with labels? Great. Then later, there was the lovely comment along the lines of I can't possibly be bi, because I only like one man. Needless to say, that didn't endear this book to me any.

Review - "Hot Head"

Hot Head Head #1
by Damon Suede
rating:☆☆
published: 15th June 2011
spoilers? a bit

Goodreads

Where to start.

Firstly, this book was basically a game of spot the stereotype. It opens up in a bar, where a stereotyped Latino is itching for a fight, and yelling homophobic slurs, while his stereotyped Latina girlfriend is holding him back (or hiding behind him, I didn't quite get that). Exactly what you want to start with, isn't it?

I continued reading anyway, because why not, and got to this lovely quote:

Here, Tommy liked getting half-raped on his knees.

I'll just leave that there...

Also then there's a description of eyes like gypsies, which, disregarding the WTF-ness of it for a brief moment, doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

There were a multitude of... interesting, to say the least, descriptions of cocks in this book. It got referred to as,

- a spike

- a medium rare steak (multiple times)

- an apple (I don't get this one at all)

- a battering ram (lovely)

- a tusk

- (my personal favourite) a piglet with a wet nose (this was actually said by one of the characters too)

Moving on to the sex itself, it's never a good sign when a) I'm wanting to skim read the scenes more than usual and b) I burst into laughter more than I would normally. Both of these things happened in this one. Lemme give you a rundown,

- Dante at one point was chewing Griff's arsehole. Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have thought that's a) particularly possible and b) that much of a turn-on (I mean, it sounds kind of painful). Each to their own I guess.

- Suddenly, Dante impaled himself on the stout invader. Sounds bloody painful if you ask me.

- ...roaring and nailing Dante to the sofa. O-k-a-y.

- You're so fucking responsive. Like a big horse. Because everyone wants to be compared to a horse by their significant other, really.

- ...hung like an ox. See above, but with an ox instead.

Another major gripe I had was this part,

"I could bang women, but I don't wanna." " Which makes us gay, Dante."

Actually, it doesn't. But y'know, let's just stick to the "traditional" narrative of heterosexual/homosexual and erase all other sexualities, why don't we.

There was also some stifling possessiveness, which at least was reciprocated this time. But it's still so boring. Like Dante didn't even like other men looking at Griff because he was "his". Chill, mate.

Finally, there's this really weird photoshoot scene at the end, like I don't even know what's going on at that point. Aren't they supposed to be firefighters, not nude models?

It also involves this lovely metaphor,

And so it went. Beth spent the last day like a happy spider, up on ladders, on her back under him, curled around light stands. It was as though she had spent two days learning his ingredients, and now she could cook with his entire huge, creamy body.

Basically, I quit.

Review - "Dark Serpent"

Dark Serpent Hugh Corbett #18
by Paul Doherty
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 25th August 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

If there's any author I trust to write a historical mystery, it's Paul Doherty. Like the other Hugh Corbett books I've read, this was a well-built, intriguing mystery, that had me gripped from the start to the finish.

Unlike the previous books, this one pits Hugh Corbett against a more powerful foe, the King of France. A French privateer vessel, ostensibly funded by a French duke, but in fact under the command of the King himself, preys on English merchantships attempting to cross over the Channel, knowing when the ships are due to sail before the fact. Simultaneously, the Templar Knights, who have been denounced and their order dissolved by King Philip, with the backing of the Pope, finding shelter in a leper colony are being murdered one by one by an unknown assassin. All this points to the French King, but there's little that can be done without evidence. Enter Hugh Corbett, returned to the position of Keeper of the Secret Seal and charged by King Edward II to figure out what is going on.

For a good half of the book, Corbett and Ranulf are in the dark as to the sinister goings-on plotted by the French king and his henchmen. Despite this, Doherty is well able to hold the reader's attention, by upping the ante at each turn. Corbett's point of view is interspersed with vignettes from his enemies, so the reader can see the plot against England evolving, serving to ratchet up the tension.

Once past the halfway mark, everything kicks into gear, and from that point on things seem to happen at a rapid pace quickly coming to a head when the killer is unmasked.

If there is one problem I had with the book, it was that it ended quite abruptly. It seemed almost like the story hadn't been wrapped up. One moment, it's the middle of the denouement, and Corbett is explaining to his audience the when, where, why, and how of the plot, the next, there's a blank page and the book is done.

The writing also felt a little stilted early on in the book, but that was when the stage was being set, and there is little that can be done about that with historical fiction, I guess.

Review - "Death Ship"

Death Ship DI Peter Shaw & DS George Valentine #7
by Jim Kelly
rating:☆☆☆
published: 1st December 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Death Ship is the first Jim Kelly book that I've read, and it's a well-constructed, compelling mystery story. On occasion it felt a little slow, and overdone on the description, and once or twice it veered into purple prose territory, but on the whole it was well-written and held my attention easily.

The book is very detailed, and it's clear the author has done copious research, but sometimes it felt over-detailed, more like an information dump than a story. Those parts were few enough and far enough between that the story didn't drag overly. That being said, I'm not entirely sure that those chapters about the dogfish in the wreckage of the boat were entirely necessary, and I did mostly skim read them.

I had another couple of irritations with the book. For one, they didn't seem to do all that much police work. They interviewed several people, and in doing that seemed able to piece together all that had happened, but there seemed scarcely any work like investigating crime scenes or watching autopsies. But then again, I suppose in the context of the mystery, there was little opportunity for that.

There was also the part where a child aged somewhere between 7 and 10 (I'm not entirely sure), gives a measurement in feet. I know this is being somewhat picky, but I know at that age I wouldn't have been able to give an estimated distance in feet. Maybe metres, but not feet. No one even teaches feet, or feet-to-metres conversion, any more.

Then there was a point where Shaw says something to Jan about her "old man's manor" which immediately makes me think he's referring to her father. But then he goes on to say "he's the father of your children". At which point it occurred to me that he was talking about her ex (?) husband. I would have said "old man" refers to your father, not your husband, but I guess it could sometimes be used in that context.

Overall, this was a solid mystery story, with all loose ends being tied up, villains getting their comeuppance (looking at you Tana French) and with a generally satisfactory ending. Basically all I need.

Review - "As I Descended"

As I Descended
by Robin Talley
rating:☆☆
published: 6th September 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's actually a good book, and well-written, and I liked most of the characters. On the other hand, I might describe it as an exercise in how not to write an LGBT Shakespeare adaptation (if I'm being particularly harsh).

It took me a while to get properly into this book. I read the first chapter, then had the sudden (late) revelation that everyone in Macbeth dies, and for a book full of LGBT main characters, that isn't what I want to be reading about. At which point, I took a two week hiatus from reading it.

When I finally picked it back up, it was less because I wanted to read it and more that I couldn't bear knowing it still needed finishing. And it was all going well up until the 60% mark, when Brandon died and so did my motivation. Because I did know that someone was going to have to die, and the likelihood was that it would be an LGBT character, but I hadn't quite clocked that this one was the Banquo of the cast. And he was my favourite of the main characters.

This time there wasn't a two week pause, but I was pretty reluctant to pick it back up again. I think I skim read some of the scenes near the end in a desperate attempt to finish the book.

I'm not against characters dying, and I know that going into this that was to be wholly expected. And the characters didn't just die for shock value - they died because that was what Shakespeare wrote and the adaptation had to be mostly true to the play. What I didn't like was that 3 of the 4 LGBT characters in this book died. And one of them was the disabled character. Which seems pretty bad thinking from the author, in my opinion. I know their deaths aren't quite the same as authors who bury their gays, but it would have been so easy for, say the Banquo character, to go into a coma instead of dying. Or make them not gay. Or have the disabled character be the one who survives. I understand that's kind of hard if you're aiming to write a lesbian version of Macbeth, but I would so much rather have some bullshit deus ex machina reason for them living than read a book where three quarters of the LGBT characters die. And to top it off (aka the reason this pisses me off as much as it does), the straight character goes into a coma and wakes up. Thanks for that.

There were a couple of other bits I was leery about. When we first meet Mateo, and he's musing on Maria and Lily's relationship, he comments that both those girls seemed way too uptight to like pussy. Thanks mate. Then there's also the part where Maria, hearing Mateo has won a prize ahead of her, thinks something about him winning it because he's gay or whatever, conveniently seeming to forget that she has a girlfriend. But I suppose that's part of her deterioration towards the end.

Before both she and said girlfriend die.

At least Mateo got a happy ending, right?

Review - "How To Keep A Boy From Kissing You"

How To Keep A Boy From Kissing You
by Tara Eglington
rating:☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 25th October 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

This book is almost the perfect realisation of one of my favourite tropes: rivals to lovers. I say almost, because there were a few things that I didn't like so much about this book, but overall it was pretty good.

At the beginning, this book didn't immediately grab me. I spent a few days only having read a couple of pages, but once I got past the setting-the-scene bit, I got hooked.

Firstly, it was a bit... different (?) to be reading about characters who are popular within their school. Normally, these kinds of books have their main characters be outside of the popular kids so they can comment (often nastily) on how shallow those popular kids are. So this was a nice change. Even if it didn't stop the (obligatory) you're not like other girls comment.

Sometimes Aurora did irritate me. There were points where I felt like she was overreacting (like the various times she thought Hayden was out to get her, when it easily could have been nothing) and other times, things like her insistence on waiting on the perfect "Prince" had me rolling my eyes, but overall she was a great character.

A couple of other things were a little odd too. The whole saga with Miss DeForest, and the NAD, and her picking on Aurora and basically turning her dad against her. It was kind of strange, to say the least. Especially her interpretive dance lessons...

Another annoying thing was when Jelena believed Alex over Aurora. Like, cool. Just believe the guy who's been flirting with every girl while you're around even though he's apparently your boyfriend over one of your best friends. And she convinced Lindsay to turn against her too. Frankly, if I were Aurora, I'd have ditched her after that, because knowing that she's fully capable of believing the worst of you with no proof? Yikes.

Anyway, it was a cute read and pretty funny, and I really enjoyed it, though I'm not sure if I'll read book two. I think this works best as a standalone.

Review - "The Deviants"

The Deviants
by C. J. Skuse
rating:☆
published: 22nd September 2016
spoilers? YES

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

This book was so good. I know, I know, it's pretty strange to open the review with that, given that I've rated it 1 star, but the writing and the characters were great, and I ended up crying at the end. What made me dislike it was the plot.

1) The opening

The book starts with Max and Ella (Ella being the narrator, and Max her boyfriend) on a date, late at night, in a garden centre. Which, fair enough, is explained, and is probably romantic in the context of their relationship. Max is keen to have sex (in the garden centre...) with Ella, and Ella's like, OK, let's do it. Only Max doesn't have any condoms. And do they stop? No. No, they don't. Not until Ella panics and then they do, but the fact that Max, who has clearly been wanting sex, so you'd think would be prepared, has no condoms does not faze them.

And then, when they're getting dressed again, a packet of something falls out his pocket, and she picks it up like what's this, and he says it's condoms. So. He apparently had condoms but claimed not to? (Turns out it's weed because that's so much better. And besides, how can you mistake a packet of weed for anything but that, even if you're only holding it for a few seconds?)

2) The constant theme of someone (unqualified) telling someone else "x is OK"

First it's Pete, the running coach, telling Ella that she doesn't owe Max sex. Like, no offence, but it would be so much better if another girl/woman told Ella that? (Thankfully, Fallon does later on.) And then it's Ella (a straight girl) telling Zane that it's OK to be gay. Thanks for that.

Later, Ella also says she needs to stay because Zane is still hurting and he needs help. Kind of presumptuous of a straight person to think that she is the one qualified to help Zane in this situation. Especially when she was a large part of the reason for him hurting in the first place...

3) Incest

Because Ella doesn't want to have sex, Max, instead of sticking with her, trying to figure things out, being patient, etc etc, goes and has sex with his cousin. His cousin. I have nothing more to say.

4) Girl hating

This is like my biggest bugbear ever. Ella hates on Shelby, Max's cousin, because she finds out he's having sex with her. Why not hate on Max? In fact, she doesn't even blame Max for it. Shelby must have been seducing him, is her take on it, and partly she blames herself for not having sex with Max and thus forcing him to seek it out somewhere else. Can this gross idea stop?

Then she decides to get revenge on Shelby for that. Again, why not Max? He was as involved in it as Shelby, but no. The revenge must be on Shelby.

(As a side note, Shelby at the end during the trial was amazing, and it was nice to have Ella calling her brave, but she only did so once she knew the truth?)

5) Max's jealousy of Pete

This was never fully explained. Was it because Ella spends so much time with Pete? Because she's training with him? Was it because of the weed? (FYI, you can't get away with blaming everything on the weed, especially if it's pointed out that Max has never liked Pete.)

Then there's the part where Max, thinking Pete was the one to abuse Ella and his sister Jess, kidnaps Pete and tries to kill him. I don't know what to say.

(Also, there's a part where Ella kisses Pete. Was that necessary?)

6) The bully is gay

And guess what? He hates himself and is so ashamed of being gay that he bullies everyone and regularly beats up the one (living) person who knows. And because of this, Ella and co decide to get revenge on him, and torment him so badly that he ends up trying to kill himself!! Ella even comments that they broke him!! And she's proud of it!! Such great representation, thanks so much.

Not to mention the part where he has sex with a girl in an attempt to prove that he's not gay, and gets her pregnant. Boy, we have every trope in the book here.

At least he's happy and gets a boyfriend (who we don't see) at the end.

7) The big secret that is revealed...

...is that Ella was r*ped and abused by Max's dad. As was Max's sister Jess, and so she killed herself. Ella even had a miscarriage because let's put all the tropes in why don't we? Honestly, I'm really tired of the big reveal in books being that the MC was abused.

And she dies. Because abuse victims can't live happily ever after, oh no. In fact, they can't ever be happy again (Ella even mentions that she hasn't been happy since the r*pe). I would have given this book one whole more star if Ella had survived. Even if she'd been in a coma after the standoff with Max's dad.

Instead, the big plot twist is that she's narrating the book as a ghost, and the body that's found on the beach in the first chapter is hers.

Great.

8) The writing

The last point I'm going to make, is that sometimes the writing sounded a bit off. There were a few sentences that were a bit strange (skin soft as catmint, I feel dangerous), and then there was the fact that they use asshole instead of arsehole when they're supposed to be in England. And at one point, Max says what the cocking hell. I have never in my life heard someone say that. You can't say that!! It's like when James Rollins tried to turn an adjective sodding into a noun sodder. You just can't.

Anyway. It was a good book, but it just had so many issues for me I ended up not liking it.