Monthly Archives: June 2015

I love my local library consortium!

2 Replies
Webster Groves Library

Webster Groves Library

It’s official I love my library. Ok, I love libraries in general, it’s not necessarily that my library is all that much more impressive than most. But I love going to the library and I did so today.

Now, I occasionally write these little library posts so people know why my blog stalls for a week or so. I predominantly read & reveiw indie books, but every once in a while I get a hankerin’ for some traditional publications or to catch up on a series I started and never came around to finishing. This is what pulls me towards my library and away from the ~3,000 indie books I have at my fingertips. But I don’t always bother with reviews for these books. Honestly, if Hachette Publications puts a book out I may read it, but probably not when it’s new and probably not before it has 5,000 reviews. So, unless I have something significant to say, I just don’t bother. As a result, library trips often coincide with a temporary reduction in blog posts. So, let this serve as official warning that posts may lag.

What did I get, today? This year, one of my reading goals is to try clearing off some of the books that have been on my TBR for a long time. With this in mind, I took the time to go through my Goodreads Please-Lend-Me shelf and requested any of the books that were on it and available from my library. There weren’t that many of them, again, I read mostly indie, which my library carries few of.*

I went to the library today

But I did manage to snag John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Let Me In (which has been on my list since I joined Goodreads in 2012), Kij Johnson’s Fudoki (also Feb 2012), Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer (Feb 2013), Liz Williams’ Snake Agent (July 2014) and Ron Rash’s Serena. (The last one because I’ve joined a real-world book club—yes, wine, mojitos, appetizers, chatty well-read women, it’s great—and this is our book of the month). I also requested William Goldman’s The Princess Bride and George R. R. Martin’s Fevre Dream (so I can sample his writing without committing to the Song of Fire and Ice series). These last two however are checked out, so I’m on the waiting list.

It’s a couple thousand pages, all in and I may or may not review them all. So, again, be forewarned that there may be a week and a half or so pause in blogging on my end.

But access to free books isn’t the only reason I love my library. They have a ton of free activities for both kids and adults—classes, book signings, book discussions, movie nights, story time, lego mania, Minecraft events, concerts, etc.— there are just a ton of things happening. (Seriously, if you’ve not checked out your library, you should.)

My favorite of the moment is the summer reading challenge. Granted, I originally only signed up for this to do it with my seven-year-old, who loves books but struggles with reading. I thought if we did it together, she might feel encouraged. And she likes the idea of winning a prize for doing 500 minutes of reading over the summer, sure, but it’s me that’s really taken to the idea.

Screen Shot 2015-06-03 at 1.57.44 PM

I read roughly a book a day…yeah, that 5 book goal was done in the 1st week.

Now, I don’t care about the prizes. I don’t even know what’s on the table, or even if it’s a prize or drawing or something else. What I love is that, as an adult, I have to list the books I read to qualify. And surely, SURELY the library takes advantage of the fact that their members are telling them, in real time, what they are reading and uses this conveniently collected data to determine what sorts of books to order in the future.

And that matters to me. My library is a member of a consortium in which anyone from any of several libraries can request books from other consortium libraries. And at least 2/3 of the books I request come from one branch of that consortium (University City). The members in that community must have reading tastes more similar to mine than my local branch (or at least someone in the ordering department does).

My point is that I’ve taken to the idea of letting my local library know exactly what I’m reading in the hopes that it will encourage them to order more books in the genres I read a lot of. We have a pretty strong fiction and biography section, but other than new releases of popular series, I have a hard time finding much good Urban Fantasy. I enjoy a good PNR and am currently ga-ga over M/M & (to a lesser degree) F/F romance, but am not a fan of contemporary romances, only the last of which my library seems to carry many of. Not to suggest they have none, but I have to work pretty hard to find them. Undoubtedly, this is all the result of the fact that my community has historically, I think, had an older population.

Anyhow, at this point I’m basically just squeeing over my trip to the library. I encourage everyone to get out there and visit their own.

*Hey library people, I know funds are limited and books are chosen carefully, but might I suggest some Leigh Parker, Alexis Hall,  Maya Lassiter, Jordan Castillo Price, Michael McClung, C. Lynn Murphy, Sera Ashling, Giacomo Giammatteo, K.J. Charles, Andrea Speed, J.L. Merrow, Vaughn R. Demont, A.J. Aalto, Lindsay Buroker, Rebekah Turner, J.L. Murray,  Angela Roquet, Harper Fox or Mary Holland. These are just some of the ones I’ve read and loved in the last year or two. The list is a bit biased toward genres I read a lot of, but all worthy reads from indie authors.

Book Review of Full Blooded (Jessica McClain, #1), by Amanda Carlson

Leave a reply

Full BloodedI bought an ecopy of Full Blooded, by Amanda Carlson.

Description from Goodreads:
Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared.

After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.

But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can’t control her like he can the rest of his wolves.

When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there’s no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.

Review:
I thought this was ok. There were things I liked, like Jessica’s insistence on independence and the way Rourke went all desperate and weak-kneed at toward the end, not to mention needing rescue. But while I found the latter half of this amusing and would read more of the series, I wasn’t overly impressed.

One of my number one dialogue pet peeves is when characters say each-other’s name all the time. Think on it; if you’re having a conversation with someone, especially if it’s just the two of you alone, how often do you say their name? Maybe once, in the beginning to get their attention, if even then. In this book these characters used a direct address or name in almost every interaction, sometimes multiple times in the same brief conversation. It drove me absolutely crazy. It just feels so very unnatural.

There is non-stop action in this book and, while action is good, it prevents boredom, there is no downtime in this book and I think it needed some. The characters needed a breather here or there, so that the reader could take a moment to digest. You’re never given any time for big reveals to settle before the book whizzes off to something else, denying the moment any gravitas.

It’s also a cliffhanger. True, it’s not a precipitous as some of them I’ve encountered and I don’t mind some open threads to carry over into a next book, but nothing really wraps up in the story, which annoys me in general, but is especially annoying when the ebook is $8.99 (a new paperback is only $5.20). Seems a little expensive for just part of a story, and that’s honestly all this is.

Light a Candle

Book Review: Light a Candle (Club Velvet Ice #4), by V. J. Summers

Leave a reply

Light a CandleI received a copy of Light a candle, by V. J. Summers from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Will broke Dusty’s heart their senior year. One unexpected moment of passion between them, and Will freaked out. Not only wasn’t he gay, but he wasn’t kinky either—or so he insisted to Dusty. Their long friendship ended, and Dusty was left with only bittersweet memories of their last movie night together.

Ten years later, out as gay and a Dom, Will auditions for membership at Club Deviant, only to find that he’s been assigned an all-too-familiar submissive. His scene with Dustin feels like fate, and he’s determined to get back what they once had—and more.

Dustin had buried the pain of rejection deep, but playing with Will conjures all his memories of that one electric moment they shared and the friendship it destroyed. He’s built walls around his heart high enough to keep out the Trojan Army, but together, he and Will may find the courage to move beyond their past and face their future together.

Review:
OK, to start with, until I sat down to write this review I didn’t realize this was a fourth book in a series. I would never have picked it up if I had. I generally avoid latter books in a series, even if they are stand alone. But it’s read now and, who knows, maybe I would have liked it better if I’d read the previous three books. Maybe not, because I don’t know that my complaints resulted from anything related to the series itself.

Now, I don’t want to infer that I didn’t like the book, just that I had complaints. First, the characters are paper thin. Seriously, with the exception of the flashbacks, over the several weeks of the book, we don’t get a single scene outside the club. So, the book is wholly focused on Will’s pursuit of Dusty and Dusty’s avoidance of giving in. Meh.

Second, I didn’t think what happened between the two as teenagers deserved all that much angst. It just wasn’t that big a deal. They certainly never had a relationship, so claiming Dusty’s heart was broken seems a little extreme. We’re told they’d been friends for years, but we’re given one scene in which Dusty awkwardly invites WIll over to his house, as if they’re just becoming friends. I didn’t buy it.

Third, I get that wax play was supposed to be a big part of this, thus the title. But almost every single sex scene was a wax play scene. For an elite BDSM club they seem to have a very limited repertoire. The thing is, even if I found it super sexy, I’d have been bored with it. But really I thought it was pretty bland, especially Will and Dusty’s big climax scene. Meh.

I hated the Dom-talk. Why do all Doms in these sorts of books have to talk in stiff, complete sentence, call every one ‘boy’ (which just squinks me out, like something that should be uttered only in Deliverance) and never use contractions. Meh.

So, in conclusion, while this was an ok book and some people might be thrilled with it, I remained only mildly interested throughout.