Review - "Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)"

Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)
by Lev A. C. Rosen
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 30th October 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

My first time getting it in the butt was kind of weird. I think it's going to be weird for everyone's first time, though.

Galley provided by publisher

I had kind of mixed feelings about this book. On the whole, I liked it, but there were distinct parts of it I was less keen on. Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) is a story about Jack, a gay teen at high school, who is roped into writing a sex advice column for his friend's blog. But, in the process, someone makes it known that they have been stalking him. (P.S. the stalking storyline does get pretty damn creepy, so like. Just a warning.)

THE GOOD

- All the talk about sex positivity and safe sex. The whole premise of the book, that Jack gives sex advice, is somewhat leery for me, given the ages of the characters, but the actual advice given is (on the whole) really good, and focuses well on sex positivity and having safe sex and consent, which I really liked. As the main character is gay, there is more focus on sex in that context, though also some more general things that apply to straight couples too (less on lesbian sex, but that's kind of understandable in this case...). There were occasional things that I thought veered a little too close to some particular tumblr discourse for comfort, but, for the most part, it was really refreshing to see a YA book that's so open and frank and positive about it all (especially with gay sex because that's still seen as pretty dirty). One thing to note, while there are discussions of sex, the sex scenes in this are all fade-to-black.

- It's ownvoices, and there's huge value in books by mlm about mlm and things like sex that might otherwise be hard to find anything on. Basically, it's really important.

- In one article, Jack calls out these straight girls who are busy fetishising him, and it is truly glorious. I can think of a few books that might benefit from just reading that one chapter.

- The characters are funny and well-rounded (even though I did get irritated by them a few times), and actually it's a pretty compulsively readable book.

THE BAD (OR LESS GOOD)

- In a way, this links in with my first point in the good column. Yes, it was good having all this sex positivity, but I did feel just a bit skeevy reading about this all from a 16/17 year old. You: "Sixteen and seventeen year olds can be sexually active." Me: "Yes, but that doesn't stop me feeling fairly skeevy about it all." Maybe this is all because I'm not actually the target audience, true, but still. A point to bear in mind if you're reading this at somewhat older than sixteen.

- Also, he said he started "three years earlier", which would make him 13 or 14. Like. I'd say that's too early but. You do you, Jack. So long as it's safe and consensual.

- So, the characters are supposed to be about 16-17, but they read a whole lot older than that. I have genuinely never met a 16-17 year old who doesn't treat sex as something pretty funny, and is as mature about it as Jack was in this. It reads a little more like they're all college-aged.

- The fact that both Jack and Jenna hook up with college guys. I really don't understand why authors can't see that this is borderline creepy. They're sixteen. People in college are at least two years older than that and, eighteen year-olds hooking up with sixteen year-olds? Creepy. (Also, his mum? Weirdly okay with it?)

- While Jack's all "sex positivity!" and "not having a sex drive isn't a problem!" in his articles, he does make one comment in his narrative that I wasn't a particular fan of. It comes when he's discussing his best friend, Ben, who's "saving himself" for the right guy. And he references the fact that, in doing this, Ben is not having sex, not kissing boys, and just masturbating alone in his room. Which "must be miserable". So, he's all sex positivity, wait til the right time, in his articles, but in this? I don't know what's going on. It also never gets confronted, which was a bit sucky.

- Personal dislike: this book did use the q-slur as a blanket term, but like I say. Personal.

- When he uses femme to describe himself. As a cis gay guy.

- "The idea of having to think, 'Wait, is this okay with my boyfriend?' before kissing some cute boy I just met at a party." Jack, that's called cheating.

So, overall, I liked this book, though I definitely was not the target audience for it. But it's one of those ones that shows the importance of having ownvoices books about topics like this. It was a whole lot more engaging than yet another straight woman trying to tell me how gay boys/men feel.

Review - "You'd Be Mine"

You'd Be Mine
by Erin Hahn
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 2nd April 2019
spoilers? a few

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

CWs: alcoholism, drug overdose, graphic description of suicide, PTSD, panic attack

You'd Be Mine tells the story of two country musicians: Annie Mathers, the daughter of two famous parents who died when she was 13, and Clay Coolidge, the bad boy in country music. After Clay is arrested drunk one time too many, his label makes a bargain with him - he convinces Annie Mathers to sign to them, and tour with her, and they don't drop him. Despite their reservations, they're attracted to each other from early on, though Annie doesn't want to end up like her parents and Clay has his own problems to deal with.

If I'm honest, I was, at the start at least, expecting something a little different to what I got. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't quite this. I think maybe it was that the MCs hit off so early, I was kind of wanting something with a little more slowburn. Perhaps with them not really liking each other to start, but growing on one another. But instead, they were attracted fairly early on. But then, their romance isn't that large a feature in the story, insofar as it's not the only plot. Instead, it's a fairly character-driven story, about Annie's rise to fame and Clay's dealing with his grief and alcoholism.

I liked that about this book. The characters were also so intriguing and realistic that I didn't feel like I got bored of the plot, or lightness of it, although the trope of sweet, innocent girl and bad boy is a little overdone and I did get somewhat bored by that. (Especially the whole "I'm not good for you" thing, which, okay, I understand in this context, but can we talk cliches?) I also really liked that Annie's love didn't "save" Clay from his alcoholism. Instead of falling into those tired, awful tropes, Clay gets himself help and afterwards they get together for real.

What I didn't really like about their relationship, however, was this: Clay at one point humiliates Annie in front of an enormous crowd - just before he hits rock bottom - but he never apologises for it. Not even after he's all better. It's just kind of brushed under the rug and never mentioned again. And I hated it. He treats her like shit in front of a whole stadium crowd and yet it's passed over, almost excused as a result of his alcoholism (and at this point, slight paranoia). Also brushed under the rug is the fact that he effectively cheats on Annie during the tour. Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but he kisses Annie a few times and then, without talking to her, and without them obviously coming to the joint decision to stop, he hooks up with Lora. And, yes, all of this happens at the worst point of his addiction, just before he overdoses and hits rock bottom, but it's still on him. And he should still apologise to Annie. But he doesn't. After he's recovered, it all appears to be forgotten. So yeah. That kind of ruined the end for me.

Overall though, You'd Be Mine was an easy, well-written read. I just wish I'd cared a bit more about the relationship between the characters.

Review - "Zero Sum Game"

Zero Sum Game, Russell's Attic #1
by S. L. Huang
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 2nd October 2018
spoilers? some

Goodreads

I'll thank you to talk to me like the heavily armed person I am.

Galley provided by publisher

If, like me, you enjoy plenty of action (and I mean plenty) in your books, then Zero Sum Game is the book for you. From page one, it's busy and intense, and there were definitely no points where I thought there was too much of a lull. So, all in all, perfect for me and my short attention span.

You might think, therefore, that I'd rate this book a lot higher than I have. Mainly, I didn't because, for all that the plot never let up, I had a little trouble always feeling sympathetic towards some of the characters, in particular Cas and Rio. I liked Cas, but every time she blithely insisted on asserting how much she trusted Rio and couldn't work with anyone who wouldn't work with him too, I had to roll my eyes. Because Rio is described as being a mass-murdering sadist. He is a psychopath (although apparently calling him this is crossing a line for Cas. And mass murder isn't? Okay). But Cas trusting him is supposed to be enough for other people to trust him too. So yeah. I could definitely see more where Arthur and Checker were coming from with this. Additionally, the plot somewhat revolved around Rio and I just couldn't side with him and Cas enough to actually care.

Then there was the little problem of how Cas just seemed to kill everyone who got in her way. I wouldn't mind so much if they were all genuinely bad guys but they just seemed to be anyone she categorised as impeding her. There was a part in the middle, when Arthur calls her out on this, where I thought here we go, here's going to be some soul-searching and character development, but it seemed to get dropped fairly quickly.

But lack of sympathy for characters aside, I enjoyed this book. It was an action-packed ride and definitely one I'd recommend if you're looking for a quick thriller to read.

Review - "Worth the Wait"

Worth the Wait, Out in Portland #3
by Karelia Stetz-Waters
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 19th June 2018
spoilers? some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

I spent a lot of this book on the fence over how much I actually liked it. On the one hand, the characters were good, and really soft together, but on the other hand, there were a few things about them that annoyed me.

Worth the Wait is a second chance romance between Avery Crown, the one half of a presenter duo of a popular redecorating show, and Merritt Lessing, the best friend she left behind without a goodbye. They are reunited when Avery comes to Portland for a high school reunion, combined with an opportunity for her show.

One thing I really want from a romance is a slowburn, and this, in a way, was a slowburn, but it was a bit of a strange one. Firstly, around 12% through, they're having sex. Then comes about 50% where Avery wants sex but Merritt's too worried about getting hurt, but it's not really a slowburn, because they've already had sex and the tension has kind of bled out of it. So this was, while still good, a bit drab I guess?

And then there was this whole section where Merritt was considering outing Avery and ruining her life in revenge for what happened at prom 15 years ago. And Iliana, her friend, who is also a lesbian, encourages her to do this too. In the end, she decides not to, not because outing someone is shitty and you shouldn't do it ever, but because she doesn't want to hurt specifically Avery. So that was a fun part of the story. Definitely what I want from a book, to tell me that outing someone who hurt you isn't an inherently bad thing.

So that definitely made me like Merritt less than Avery. Because if someone I was interested in had even considered outing me, I would be so pissed off. (Not to mention this was around the point where Merritt kept making Avery cry, so I just wanted to fight.) But at the other end of the spectrum, Alistair sometimes felt like he was trying to push Avery to stay in the closet because otherwise she'd lose the show. Thank god Avery had a decent friend in DX at least. (And don't even mention the mess where Venner tries to get Avery and Alistair to fake a marriage on TV to get away from the lesbian rumours. It was messy.)

Another problem I had with this was that the writing feels really choppy. It's all short sentences, with the occasional long one thrown in, and it feels disrupted. There's not really a flow to it and so it was kind of hard to read. And I don't remember the other book by this author I read being like that.

Last point: there was the following part early on in the book, after it's mentioned that Alistair is asexual.

Alistair was so good. He wasn't dreaming of his lover and the next time he'd be able to push his throbbing genitals against another person's body. He was thinking about sick children.

Because yes, apparently only asexual people are good. Everyone else is just too busy thinking about sex to bother with charity! (This reminded me overly much of some homophobic tumblr rhetoric, so I wasn't best pleased.)

Besides all that, I did actually like the book, because these parts were relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. I just didn't love it, sadly.

Review - "Off The Ice"

Off The Ice, Hat Trick #1
by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 30th October 2017
spoilers? nope

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

This has been on my "need to read urgently" shelf since just about when it got announced. I love hockey fiction, and I really like Avon Gale's hockey fiction, so I understandably had high hopes. I'm not setting this up to say I was disappointed, because I wasn't - I know what Avon Gale's writing is like, and it was just as good as most of her other books. There were just a few aspects of it that I wasn't quite expecting, namely the age gap and (how do I put this) rather rough (BDSM-lite) sex.

When I read the blurb, I expected that Tristan would be somewhere in his late 20s, early 30s, approaching retirement from the NHL and looking to have a career post-hockey. More fool me, because he was actually only 22. Me and age gaps don't generally get along, so that was obviously a pretty big NUH UH from me.

Moving on, we get to the relationship. Now, the biggest problem I have with respect to this aspect is more of a general problem with the genre (which I'm sure I've mentioned about a million times). There is just never any relationship development before BAM they're lusting after one another and then BAM they're having sex and then maybe (MAYBE) if you're lucky you get some before BAM they're in love. So my issue is that there is not nearly enough slowburn in this genre. And by slowburn I mean genuinely having to wait 80-90% of the book before anything happens. I mean pining and longing and angsting. I don't mean them jumping into bed with one another after like 30% because that just feels like it's then porn without plot (oh. Wait. Some of this shit basically is just that. But I'm getting off topic).

I mentioned the sex earlier, and I'll briefly mention it again. It involved (consensual) slapping, face and arse. And like. I just find that really uncomfortable no matter the characters participating so. That wasn't fun.

Besides all that, I did enjoy the book in the same way I've enjoyed most of Avon Gale's (and to a lesser extent because I've read less, Piper Vaughn's) stuff. And I'm definitely looking forward to the other books I assume will be in this series (my bets are on Ryu and Bellamy as the MCs) because the characters are, as usual, wonderful. If only I'd enjoyed some of the other aspects of it as much.

Review - "Strange The Dreamer"

Strange the Dreamer, Strange the Dreamer #1
by Laini Taylor
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 28th March 2017
spoilers? some pretty major ones

Goodreads

"You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable," she pleaded. "Something beautiful and full of monsters." "Beautiful and full of monsters?" "All the best stories are."

There's really only one word to describe how I felt about this book. Disappointed. Because I loved Daughter of Smoke and Bone when I read it, and this book started off like it could reach similar heights. Unfortunately, it did not.

For the first say, 40% of the book, I was in love. The writing was gorgeous, as usual, the characters mysterious and interesting enough that I was captivated, and the plot maybe going slowly, but still with enough happening that I was interested. And then the instalove happened.

In young adult lit, I find there's instalove, and then there's Instalove. The former, I can just about deal with (it's clearly there, but there's also enough of a connection between the characters that I can about forgive it). The latter is the real killer, and that's what happened here. There is quite honestly nothing between Lazlo and Sarai, and yet they meet each other in a dream and are shoved together, and within about two meetings, they're in love. And from that point on, I was just bored of the whole book. Because Sarai is also a manic pixie dream girl kind of character, and to top it off, gets killed, and then resurrected so that the evil character can control Lazlo by controlling Sarai. Because why not. It's honestly depressing that this is the main female character.

On top of all that, the plot twist, that Lazlo is the son of a god, is one that you can see coming a goddamn mile off. It wasn't even a surprise. And not just because of the (slightly shoddily employed) foreshadowing. Genuinely because of the fact that there was not going to be another outcome to the story. I mean, boy who doesn't know his own origins, but feels a visceral pull towards a mysterious city that no outsiders have visited for over 200 years? Um. Can we get more obvious?

Perhaps what disappointed me most though, was the sheer amount of potential there was for a hate-to-love relationship between Lazlo and Thyon. And if we're going to go with instalove between Sarai and someone else, why couldn't it have been Calixte, a confirmed wlw? (I say confirmed, but in true Laini Taylor fashion, we get a 2 second glimpse of her relationship with another woman and then she doesn't appear further in the story.) And yet, what we end up with, is yet another heterosexual instalove tale. But I honestly don't know what else I expected. I mean, after all, we all know LGBT characters are hardly ever central to mainstream YA authors' plots unless it's to kill them.

Review - "Permanent Ink"

Permanent Ink, Art & Soul #1
by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 7th August 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

You know those books which you liked, but you don't really have any clear-cut opinions on them? This is one of those for me. It was good, and I enjoyed it, but it's not one that's got me really hyped, or has me really angry. It's just. Good. I don't know how else to put it.

One great thing I did note was that there's no relationship based angst going on (the bane of my existence when it comes to new adult lit). I had three predictions for what the inevitable angst would be based on: "I'm your employer", "I'm 17 years older than you", or "I'm your dad's best friend". While these topics did come up, the true source of the angst was, in fact, none of these - which I am grateful for, because they're all overdone - and not only that, they didn't just sit and let misunderstandings fester. They talked them through like adults, and solved their problems that way. That happens in so few new adult books, and it was great to see.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of these characters (especially Blue *cough cough* book 2 maybe?), even though the daddy kink is... uh... definitely not my thing.

Review - "Heat Wave"

Heat Wave Seasons of Love #3
by Elyse Springer
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 31st July 2017
spoilers? a few

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

It's hard to find good mlm NA lit. It's harder still to find good wlw NA lit. This book is definitely in the category of good wlw NA lit, while never actually managing to be amazing.

Despite that, I did have some issues with the book. For one, there's very little actual relationship development. They start off as friends with benefits (or rather, exes of the same guy and then they become friends with benefits) and then they're having sex. And then supposedly they're in love. One problem I often have with NA lit, is that there seems to be an insistence on including a scene where the main characters say they love each other. A lot of the time, that appears forced, like in this case, and honestly I'd prefer if they maybe just decided to date or something. That feels more realistic almost. There are some cases where an "I love you" works, but this is not one of them.

I get that this is a friends with benefits to lovers scenario, too, but the speed with which they start to hook up (they get together for the first time a tenth of the way through, after what's supposed to be 2-3 weeks - timeskip included) felt a bit rushed. There could definitely have been more of a slowburn going on there.

Another problem I found was actually with Sara (the narrator) herself. Some of the things she complains about seem a little childish, and she's supposedly touching 30. There's a part early on where Nate, her ex-roommate who's since moved in with his boyfriend, was supposed to help her move out of her place but forgot and his boyfriend booked them a holiday. And Sara just has a more extreme reaction than that really warrants, in my opinion. He genuinely just forgets a prior engagement, it's not that big a deal, but she refers to it as "screwing her over" especially when "he was one of the main reasons she had to move" like. Just take a deep breath and move on. These things happen. And as for being one of the main reasons, so he met someone and moved in with them. Get over yourself. This happened pretty early on in the book, so you can imagine I was not Sara's biggest fan for most of the rest of it.

Not that I was Laura's biggest fan either, to be perfectly honest. She actually treats Sara pretty badly. There's this one scene, when they're still friends with benefits, where she spends the whole time with Sara pointing out hot girls. But when Sara points out some hot guys (they're both bisexual), she grows cold and blanks her. When they have sex after that, she essentially kicks her out of her flat, and subsequently doesn't contact her for a bit. And she doesn't apologise for that move. I wouldn't have minded so much if she'd admitted she overreacted, and messed up. But no. Not only that, she later blanks Sara completely again after not telling her that she's going to move away. Sara hears it from Laura's boss (after a messy moment which makes Laura think Sara and Tony are hooking up and ventures way too close to the cheating bisexual stereotype for my liking). Again, it's not something Laura apologises for.

I liked the attempt this book made to be at least sexually diverse, but at times it did feel a little like the characters were being shown off as diverse rather than just existing. There was a scene where Sara was talking to Jer, her kickboxing trainer, about how she's finding out new things about her body having had sex with Laura for the first time, and Jer, to reveal that he's trans, lifts his shirt to show her his top surgery scars to say he knows "exactly what it's like to redefine yourself". It just felt a bit of a crude way for him to come out, honestly.

Overall, actually, the book was kind of boring (I say, even as I rate it 3 stars). There wasn't really any plot besides the romance and it drifted a bit at times. Not to mention the part where it's made clear that Sara is ""not like other girls"". Thanks.

Review - "Heels Over Head"

Heels Over Head
by Elyse Springer
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 29th May 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

This book was full of tropes that I love. There's the hate-to-love (or at least partial hate-to-love) trope, and the found family trope. And it's very cute to top it all off.

Heels Over Head is about Jeremy, a professional diver, and Brandon, who is all raw talent and no discipline. Brandon is hand-selected by the head of US diving (which is a little unrealistic given he's had zero training, but I'll let it slide) to join Jeremy under the coaching of Andrey. From the start, Jeremy hates Brandon because he is not as fully committed to the sport as Jeremy is. Brandon, on the other hand, just wants Jeremy to loosen up a bit. The rest of the story proceeds as you might expect, following the classic romance formula.

If there's one gripe I have with a lot of sports romances like this, it's that one of the main characters seems to always have to be incredibly deep in the closet, and also show some pretty intense internalised homophobia. This isn't a particular problem I have with this book - it's the genre in general - but this book does use that trope and it was a bit frustrating (I don't mean to say that's not ever the case, but it seems like the genre doesn't ever consider that maybe it could take the radical step of not having it).

Besides that, it was overall a good, solid, well-written book, and I'll likely end up reading a lot more by this author.

Review - "Future Leaders of Nowhere"

Future Leaders of Nowhere
by Emily O'Beirne
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 15th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

This book was so cute. Unfortunately, it often felt to me like there's not much more to it than that. Instead of having the camp with its political games as the central plot, and the romance the side plot, it has it the other way round, which leaves the side plot not so fully fleshed out as it could have been, and the romance is not quite strong enough to carry the book on its own.

The writing at times felt a little too much like purple prose, meaning I had points where I just kind of rolled my eyes and prayed for the story to move along already. I mean, you get things like "Because she is. Finn earths", which makes no sense. What is "to earth" even supposed to mean? That she's down to earth? Or that she's solid? Who knows.

Then there was a lot from both girls going on about how wonderful/amazing/brilliant the other was, and okay I get they're smitten but I don't need pages going on about it. It also seemed that neither would be able to admit to a fault in the other, which doesn't make for all that interesting characters, on the whole.

There were a couple of great moments later in the book, the first where Finn was like to Craig "you know bisexuality is a thing" after he points out she's been with a guy before. And the second was when Amira called Amy out for criticising her using her sexuality to get guys' doing what she wanted, and also vaguely slutshaming her. It was so wonderful. And there are so many good girl friendships going on in this book. I loved it.

Review - "Ninefox Gambit"

Ninefox Gambit, The Machineries of Empire #1
by Yoon Ha Lee
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 6th April 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

tw for implied rape in a flashback scene, implied suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts

Around 270 pages into this book, having skimread a few I'll admit, I was fully prepared to rate this book 2 stars. Up until then, it had been not all that interesting, bordering on tedious, with the only real bright spot being Jedao and Cheris' interactions, and the fact that Cheris is a wlw.

The book is essentially an extended battle scene, full of pages of tactical considerations. Some of these tactics are related to battle formations, which are computed using complex mathematical calculations, and the fact that every time one was used, Yoon Ha Lee went into a lot of detail about them, the book was slowed down immeasurably. Added to the fact that you just get dropped into this world with zero explanation of how it works, and that it's actually a very complex world for a sci-fi book, I found it hard to get into.

It took me a good while to understand that this Empire was underpinned by a specific, mathematically-derived calendar, and that any deviations from this calendar (presumably made by computing something new) were heretical. On top of that, there are six factions, each charged with a different aspect of life - much like Divergent. For example, the Kel - the faction Cheris belongs to - are the foot soldiers (and pretty much cannon fodder). In the past, the seventh faction, the Liozh, had turned heretic and so were destroyed. All this would have been helpful to know from the start, but I can understand why the author might not want to add a whole section explaining the world - it often makes the beginning clunky and unrealistic.

So, as I said, this book was heading towards a two star review from me, when the last 40 pages happened.

This is one of those books that sets you up so you think you know everything for about 90% of the book and then in the last 10% is like ha lol played you. Those last 40 pages alone were enough for me to boost the rating by one star (I was tempted to rate it 4 stars actually because they even made me look back in fondness on the 270 preceding pages of tediousness) and to want to read the next book. I think that if I now went back and reread this book, I would enjoy it a lot more.

On top of this, no one in this entire universe is straight. Cheris has only ever had female lovers, Jedao has had both male and female lovers, and they're also explicitly attracted characters of the same gender. A lot of the time it feels like authors don't necessarily write that part of the LGBT character, but Yoon Ha Lee does (Cheris more than Jedao in this book, but only because it's more like her POV - Jedao gets his turn in the short story prequels). In addition, in the short story Extracurricular Activities, there's a character who uses they/them pronouns.

In the end, this was a good book. I just wish I had enjoyed it right from the start.

Review - "An Extraordinary Union"

An Extraordinary Union
by Alyssa Cole
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 28th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

You know those books where you just don't have a clear-cut opinion on them, you're kind of apathetic about them? This was one of those for me.

I loved the idea of this book, and the execution of it was good, but I just had a sort of disconnect between liking the idea and liking the main characters and their relationship. That's not to say I disliked them, but I didn't really get invested in them, and so I found it harder to like the book.

On top of that, the story seemed to drag a little. If it had dragged, but the characters had engaged me, I don't think I would have had a problem, but the combination of the two meant I was just a bit bored. Up until the end when everything started happening.

Also, the development of the relationship between the two main characters was kind of lacking. We know that Malcolm is drawn to Elle, but it seems very like a relationship based on him lusting after her - with the focus on her looks - rather than anything more concrete. In addition, he doesn't seem to know quite when to back off at times. She tells him multiple times that they can't be together, and he tells her she can trust being around him without him wanting her, but he stays around her and maybe sometimes seems to push the idea of them on her. Not in a way that felt hugely uncomfortable, thankfully, but it did feel like he wasn't respecting that maybe she knew better than he did on that topic.

Overall the book was good, but I just didn't engage with it as much as I might have.

Review - "Take The Key And Lock Her Up"

Take the Key and Lock Her Up, Embassy Row #3
by Ally Carter
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 26th January 2017
spoilers? nope

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

If I'm honest, I'm a little underwhelmed by this one. I had high hopes, because it's Ally Carter and she always writes good last books, but this one just didn't quite have me as hooked as the others.

It felt like the plot was a little all over the place, much like Grace appeared to be (how she didn't get jetlagged absolutely defeats me). One moment, they're in America, then Paris, then Russia, and all of this happens in the span of a few pages each time. It exhausted me just reading about it.

Perhaps the main problem was that, in this one, unlike the previous books, I found myself having trouble suspending disbelief. I mean, after the second one, I knew Grace was a lost princess, but I didn't have to deal with that beyond the reveal at the end. This one, it got brought up every few pages, and that, combined with the fact this is all taking place in a made-up country, just got to me eventually. I know, I know, it's funny I can suspend disbelief enough for a spy school (and the various, slightly far-fetched shenanigans going on there) and a group of teens committing heists, and yet I get stuck here. Maybe it's just that there were some plot points in this one (like the whole thing with Alexei's mum in that hospital) that really needed some serious disbelief-suspending.

And the whole thing with the prince? It kind of, for a bit at least, looked like it could be heading for a love triangle, which, no thanks. But it thankfully didn't. And I guess you could argue it was necessary in a way, but it also didn't seem that necessary, especially when it came to the fact that it put pressure on Alexei and Grace's relationship. Didn't need that thanks.

I mean, I did overall like the book. I was just somewhat disappointed by it.

Review - "Georgia Peaches And Other Forbidden Fruit"

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit
by Jaye Robin Brown
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 30th August 2016
spoilers? a little

Goodreads

So I finished this, then I went and did some other stuff and while doing that other stuff, I realised I have some Thoughts about this book. Hence this mini-review.

1) It's way too long a contemporary book for me. Given that most contemporaries follow the same pattern - meet someone, fall in love, angst it out, make up - 430 pages drags it out for too long. Especially when the first 300 or so pages have not much going on. But maybe that's just me and my short attention span.

2) All the lesbians introduced besides the love interest and the best friend hate the main character. For no apparent reason. And they also turn out to be bitches/bad influences/manipulative/abusive. Holly's jealous because Jo is Dana's best friend, I'm not even sure why Deidre hates Jo (besides the fact that she [Deidre] is framed as manipulative and borderline abusive).

3) Deidre is an absolute bitch. And I just don't get why this has to be the case. Is it just to show that Jo is the person Mary Carlson should really be with? Deidre is nothing more than a bitch, too. Like, all Jo's friends describe her as is manipulative and good at twisting words. She's so 2D and she then goes and outs Jo. I just don't see the point of her at all.

4) The whole thing with her dad saying 'you gotta pretend to be straight' is iffy. I mean, if she herself had decided that, as a self preservation sort of thing, I would understand, but it's not. It's her straight dad telling her she has to act straight, because he, as a preacher, and with a homophobic mother-in-law, doesn't want any shit. B Y E.

Anyway, I think that's all. It was a cute book despite all this.

Review - "The Blazing Star"

The Blazing Star, Nemesis #1
by Imani Josey
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 6th December 2016
spoilers? yup

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

If I'm honest, this book dragged a bit too much for me. It took a good two thirds of the whole thing to actually get to the part where there was any action, and I need to be hooked on pretty much the first page to fully like a book. So as it was I was a little disappointed.

Basically the slowness of the plot was the biggest issue I had with this book. It was also a pretty complex plot and I got lost on that a couple of times, which is also not going to help with my enjoyment.

Then there was the fact that Portia seemed to have more chemistry with Selene and Tuya than any of the male characters. But of course Tuya is then killed off to clear the way for Portia and Seti. The instalove with Seti is pretty stifling too. I know that loads more time passes in the book than appears, but even knowing that doesn't help that it seems they meet and he's immediately suggesting marriage. It's like their relationship hasn't developed at the same rate that time has passed, meaning it seems all the more like instalove.

There was also when the author kept referring to Selene as "the freshman" when she could easily have used her name. Or a pronoun. Because referring to someone by a noun, once they have a name, makes for awkward writing. Or at least it does for me.

Review - "Dreadnought"

Dreadnought, Nemesis #1
by April Daniels
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 24th January 2017
spoilers? little ones

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Before I actually review this book, I gotta say I did actually like it, despite what my review may say. The characters were great, if kind of black and white in their good/badness despite the greycapes who were clearly an attempt at having some morally ambiguous characters thrown in there (spoiler alert: they aren't all that morally ambiguous). The world was interesting, even though the world building was poor to non-existent. Overall, it's good.

The biggest problem I had was with the worldbuilding. From early on, it's pretty clear the author hasn't put all that much thought into things like "hypertech". There's the whole nobody really knows what makes hypertech possible comment, which, I can't believe. If there have been superheroes, and presumably hypertech, around since World War 2, I find it hard to believe that there's been no advance whatsoever on what makes this hypertech possible. I mean, just consider the advancements physics in general made in approximately the same timespan. And if this is supposed to be a futuristic society (which I assume it is, based on some of the made up physics that comes up - yes, it's a bugbear), then they should have some idea of what's behind it.

So there's that, and then there's the aforementioned made up physics. I feel like I should point out at this stage that I have a serious problem with books which bullshit their physics (see Claudia Gray's Firebird trilogy). Because if you're going to create something that isn't physics as it is now, then you could at least make it believable. And to do that, you have to not half-arse the physics you're basing it on. I mean, at one point Doc Impossible tries to fix something with a voltmeter. A freaking voltmeter. All that can do is measure the potential difference in a circuit.

Then there's the point where a plane engine sucks in a goose. First off, what kind of mutant goose flies at the same altitude as a passenger jet/civil aircraft. If it was a mechanical aircraft of some sort, which flies a lot lower, I could believe it (Wikipedia does have a page on "bird strikes" after all). But a passenger jet? And it causes the engine to blow up. That's got to be a freak incident, because the majority of bird strikes don't actually cause any damage to anything besides the bird itself. If the engine had simply failed, that would have made more sense.

The worst part of all this make-believe physics was when someone asks Danny and Calamity to get him some non-Newtonian fluid. Now, a simple Google search will tell you what a non-Newtonian fluid is. It, surprise surprise, is a fluid which does not behave like a Newtonian fluid. (It's something to do with the relationship between shear rate and shear stress, and viscosity. Newtonian fluids show a linear relationship, while non-Newtonian fluids don't.) And Google will also helpfully tell you some non-Newtonian fluids which are common around the house, like toothpaste... and custard... and ketchup... So forgive me if I roll my eyes at this part. This "non-Newtonian fluid" they have to get hold of in order for this guy to help them, is apparently coveted enough that they have to steal it. Just no.

Then then then, there's the point where Doc Impossible describes the tower's reactor as a supercritical light water fission reactor. Which, at first, sounds like loads of words just thrown together. But supercritical water reactors and light water reactors do exist. In fact, a supercritical water reactor is just a type of light water reactor. And, currently, and presumably also in this world because it hasn't been said otherwise, fission is the only viable source of nuclear energy. So why throw all these words together when half of them are redundant? All I'm getting is that the author wants it to seem like they know what they're talking about when they actually don't.

Finally, there's the quantum instabilities triggered by observer effects. All observer effects are is the changes that will be seen in the phenomenon observed depending on how the observer is viewing it. Nothing more. Nothing that could cause any "quantum instabilities". Get your shoddy physics out of here.

In addition to the world building problems, there was the issue with the superheroes I had. For one, they are basically direct ripoffs of Marvel and DC superheroes some of them. I mean, I get there's a finite number of superpowers and combinations of superpowers but you could try to be more creative. There's a character who has the exact same backstory as Eli Bradley (Patriot) for crying out loud. Right down to the hereditariness of the power. It's also clear that Dreadnought is a Superman-substitute and Valkyrja is basically Thor (she's a mythical goddess and talks very similarly to him, though she doesn't have a hammer). There's a mention of a hero called Darkfist early on too, and he's basically the Batman/Iron Man character.

There's also a part where a guy walks into the bar Danny and Calamity are staking out, and Calamity immediately knows he's the guy who can lead them to the bad guy. By looking at him. But at that point, I gave up questioning it, because it was 70% through and very little was happening.

Review - "The Firebird's Tale"

The Firebird's Tale
by Anya Ow
rating:☆☆☆
published: 6th December 2016
spoilers? a few

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

The Firebird's Tale tells the story of a prince who has to marry whomsoever can make him smile. Unfortunately, the person who manages this is not only a thief, but not even human at all, and this is particularly problematic in a land where humans have all but eradicated magic.

The story mixes elements of Russian folklore with other Germanic fairytales, which I wouldn't say worked all too well. On the one hand, you have Koschei the Deathless making an appearance, then the next page there's Snow White (not literally making appearances, though). It's a little dissonant at times. Not to mention it appears to be set in some sort of alternative Russia, because it borders a country they call "the Orient", which seems to encompass the whole of Asia. Again, a problem.

If I'm honest, I was expecting this one to be more of a slow burn than it was. That's not to say I didn't like the direction it went, but I did feel that maybe in the context of the story, it was perhaps more necessary. Within about 40 pages Aleksei (the prince) and Nazar (the firebird) were kissing. But at this point, they didn't even seem to like each other. So you're then stuck with a strange relationship, where they don't really like one another but they're married and apparently that means they have to have a sexual relationship. All this somewhat obscures the way that they could possibly be gaining feelings for each other. Which was a disappointment.

In addition to this, the story didn't really pick up until about two thirds of the way through. Sure, it was easy reading up until that point but nothing really happened. Then when something does happen, you'd think that it'd drive some sort of division between Aleksei and Nazar (it is that Nazar is keeping secrets, and pretty important ones at that, from Aleksei) but Aleksei isn't even angry. Which is not really in keeping with his character in the rest of the book. He seems to spend the book switching back and forth between being this ice-prince kind of character, who gets annoyed at Nazar quite often, and someone friendlier. What I think would have worked better would have been to see him start of as the former and slowly become the latter.

But despite all that, I did enjoy the story to an extent. It left it on a bit of a cliffhanger too, so I'm hoping there's another book just to see how everything pans out.

Review - "Something In Between"

Something In Between
by Melissa de la Cruz
rating:☆☆☆
published: 6th October 2016
spoilers? a bit

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

For me, this book suffered simply because I wasn't in the mood for it when I first started reading it. I'd come off the back of two really good murder mysteries and so that's what I wanted to read. And then I hit a reading slump which did not help this book's case. I thought maybe if I made myself read this book, it'd work some magic and get rid of the reluctance I felt about reading it. That was not the case.

My major issue, and probably the reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to, was that I didn't like the writing style. On occasion, it felt stilted and the speech sometimes felt a little unrealistic - there were a couple of points where a character felt like a mouthpiece for an information dump, but that I understand given the topic of the book, and its likely audience. It was the parts where it wasn't an info dump, where the speech appeared a bit contrived, though thankfully these numbered not that many.

Another problem I found was that the romance between Royce and Jasmine was just a little on the wrong side of instalove for my liking. They meet once, exchange numbers straightaway (if someone came up to you and said you're pretty, can I have your number - or something along those lines - would you say yes?), text for a bit, and the next time they meet they're kissing. That being said, they were cute, so I can mostly forgive the instalove. But then there was also the seemingly constant "get together followed by break up and Jasmine hurting Royce followed by a get together then they break up again and the cycle repeats" going on. (I exaggerate, it only happened twice.) And also the "knowing she's the One" thing. Hmm.

The book dragged a little too much for me to fully like it - the only part where I wasn't counting the pages go by was about 70 pages from the end where all of a sudden I got into it - which was frustrating. There were parts of it I would rate 3 or 4 stars, but these interspersed parts where it was too slow for me and I would rate it 2 or maybe even 1 stars. That being said, I would still rec it, because it's an important book and story.

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 - "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.