Monthly Archives: August 2014

Book Review of Rorschach Blots, by RoughDraftHero

My procurement of RoughDraftHero‘s book is a little muddled. I originally downloaded a copy from AllRomance.com, but found it wouldn’t resize correctly on my kindle. (Which totally could be me, somehow.) So I ended up downloading another copy from Smashword. It’s available for free on AllRomance, name your own price on Smashwords and $0.99 on Amazon. Anyhow…

Blessedly brief description from Goodreads:
Sev won’t analyze why he wants to spank his teacher.

Review:
I was wary starting this. I’ll just admit it, I’m always a little suspicious of any author who chooses not to write under a name, even a pseudonym. So, RoughDraftHero had me quirking an eyebrow. It’s ridiculous, but true.

This book also was not anything like I expected. I went in anticipating a little slap and tickle, some rough, dirty spanking and smutty talk, combined with a dash of psuedo-pedo titillation (high-school student). I couldn’t have predicted a character as heartfelt and earnest (if a little unstable) as Sev.

Plus, I generally avoid teenaged main characters. I’m in my mid-thirties. I just no longer relate to a lot of the common agnsty, sex-is-such-a-massive-big-deal issues common in teenage-centered plots. In fact, I generally find them really off-putting. It also became apparent early on that the text could do with a little more editing.

My point is that there are plenty of reasons I shouldn’t have liked this book. So, when I say that I did, it should be understood that what I mean is that I did, despite all those reasons I shouldn’t—all those strikes against it. And I did. I really, really did.

I 100% adored Sev and his obsessive floundering. As Caleb says at one point, how could you hate someone who tries so hard? I could just stop right there, I liked Sev so much. He was just so darned cute. I just want to scoop him up and nibble on him in a slightly inappropriate, but also somewhat motherish fashion.

I also liked Caleb. He’s as flustered and lost as Sev, just in a different way. I found his attempt to do the right thing by his student believable and his particular kink hot (even if the sex is never very explicit).

In fact, the lack of sex, oddly, is part of what made the whole thing so endearing. Sev doesn’t make the connection between what he’s feeling and sexual arousal until 60% into the book. This means that a lot of obvious opportunities to insert gratuitous sex or masterbation scenes are judiciously skipped over on the author’s part, allowing the reader to focus less on the lascivious and more on the intrepid relationship.

I did think that the ending came a bit abruptly and the tacked-on epilogue felt a little forced. But I am more than pleased with and surprised by this book. Kinda wishing I could read it again.

Book Review of Café Insomniac, by Mark Capell

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Author, Mark Capell sent me a copy of his novel, Café Insomniac.

Description from Amazon:
“The trick is not to fear the shadows but to embrace them… Night-time has become a good friend,” says Justin.

But for how long?

Twenty-five-year-old insomniac Justin Brooks opens an all-night café for something to do, to fill the long nights. But soon after opening, one of his customers is found murdered in a side street.

What Justin doesn’t know is that his insomnia is connected to the murder.

Even before the murder, inexplicable things were starting to happen in Justin’s life. But after it, life becomes very strange indeed…

…..His eyes stream when it rains outside….. Another café appears, out of the fog, out of nowhere….. Footsteps follow him everywhere….. The dead person talks to him, though it’s not a ghost….. And a magician waits for him, perched on a high wire, high up in the night sky…..

Strange things indeed. But these strange things can’t possibly have anything to do with the murder.

Can they?

Nobody who visits Café Insomniac can ever look at the world in the same way again.

“I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t — and which is most dangerous.”

Review:
In some ways this is a really interesting novel. It’s certainly well written. Mr. Capell sure knows how to string a sentence together for the most emotional impact. It’s also well edited. And since you spend a decent amount of time in Justin’s head (befuddled as it may be) you get a feel for him. There is a lot of such praise I could give the book.

Unfortunately, I also thought it dragged. Now, some of this is, I’m sure, purposeful on the author’s part. Justin’s sleep deprived mind moves at the speed of molasses. The slow pace of the novel echoes this, creating a certain appropriate atmosphere. But it also made the book feel much longer than it actually is. (And at 360+ pages, it’s already pretty long.)

What’s more, despite all Justin’s hallucinatory, confused ideas creating unexpected twists to the plot, the whole thing was disappointingly predictable in the end. If felt very much like the author wimped out a little bit and veered back onto safer ground before his conclusion.

I was also left with a few questions, though most of it did wrap up nicely. For example (and I’m trying valiantly to not include a spoiler here), was he ever really beat up? One would presume so since he really did know his sister’s problem, which infers he really did go to the hospital. If he was really beat up, who did it if XXX was a hallucination? Or what caused the injury to his hand at the end, if the events of the previous night weren’t real? Essentially, the book isn’t always careful to ensure that the effects of things explained away are also explained.

For the most part, however, it’s an interesting and enjoyable read. Well worth picking up if the blurb sounds interesting to you.

Book Review of The Pack or the Panther, by Tara Lain

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I bought a copy of the Pack or the Panther, by Tara Lain.

Description from Goodreads:
Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, he’s lived to please his family and pack—even letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analiese’s half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself.

When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and won’t rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.

Review:
Goodness, I’ve had rotten luck lately in the book department. I’m not one of those ‘find fault with everything’ readers. I promise I’m not. But this one ticked very few boxes in my ‘likely to love it’ listing.

The writing itself is fine. It seemed pretty well-edited, and Cole is to die for. He’s an endearing mix of big, tough alpha wolf and tongue-tied, flustered cutie. Oh, and there are some cool side characters. I liked Cole’s best friend, Lindsay, though it was pretty darned convenient that he had so many connections and could do all the save-the-day type things he could. But I liked him. And it was pretty awesome that Cole’s mom is so kickass on her own. But that’s where my praise ends.

I hated Paris. He was like some amped-up caricature of a sassy, slutty (in the fun way, if you know what I mean) bottom. He was selfish, and a lot of his issues weren’t well explained. He seemed to be damaged in some way but claimed to have had a happy life.

Then there was the sex. OMG, the sex. It was just wrong in so many ways. It was effortless, crude, rushed, and the things they said…cringe. I’m embarrassed for them, and that’s before I factor in the howling. No, it didn’t do it for me. I didn’t find it arousing AT ALL.

Then there was the sappy, ‘everyone apologises and tells them how great they are’ ending. I mean, it’s great that Cole’s parents finally came around, but that whole scene in the new house was hard to swallow—like trying to drink straight agave. Not happening. And the twist at the very end? It made no sense. Why keep that hidden throughout the whole book? I can think of a number of times that ability would have smoothed already difficult situations.

So, on the whole, this is a failure for me. There were things I appreciated, and, again, the writing ok. But on my ‘personal preferences’ list, it didn’t score well.