Author Archives: sadie

Between Ghosts

Book Review of Between Ghosts, by Garrett Leigh

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Between GhostsI received a copy of Garrett Leigh‘s Between Ghosts from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
In 2003, journalist Connor Regan marched through London to add his voice to a million others, decrying the imminent invasion of Iraq. Eight months later, his brother, James, was killed in action in Mosul.

Three years on, Connor finds himself bound for Iraq to embed with an elite SAS team. He sets his boots on the ground looking for closure and solace—anything to ease the pain of his brother’s death. Instead he finds Sergeant Nathan Thompson.

Nat Thompson is a veteran commander, hardened by years of combat and haunted by the loss of his best friend. Being lumbered with a civilian is a hassle Nat doesn’t need, and he vows to do nothing more than keep the hapless hack from harm’s way.

But Connor proves far from hapless, and too compelling to ignore for long. He walks straight through the steel wall Nat’s built around his heart, and when their mission puts him in mortal danger, Nat must lay old ghosts to rest and fight to the death for the only man he’s ever truly loved. 

Review:
I was disappointed with this one. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it but it never really grabbed me. My primary issue was that I never felt the chemistry between Conner and Nat. The romance was basically just insta-lust and while the reader was told many times how meaningful their encounters were, it all felt hollow since it was built on nothing.

My secondary issues was that the war was little more than a setting, not truly part of the plot, as far as I was concerned. Sure, Leigh had some interesting things to say against the violence of war and the meaninglessness of the West’s war in the Middle East (all of which I actually agree with) and the setting was vivid and well drafted, but the vast majority of the book was the two men mooning over each-other in a war torn Iraqi setting, rather than anything really incorporating that environment. Which meant, in the end, when something happened that actually did throw Conner against the people of Iraq, it felt as if the book had taken a departure from the previous 80% or so of the book. This is a romance story before a war story, for sure.

I don’t want to sound negative, because I did like the book even if it’s not making a favorites list. I thought the characters were well drawn. I especially appreciated the easy way that Nat’s bi-sexuality is handled and simply Leigh’s willingness to have a bi character. As I said, the setting was well described. I agreed with it’s politics. There was some humor in it. All good things.

It’s just that books that are predominantly based on ‘this person fills some mysterious missing void in another for no observable reason, therefore every little interaction is described as sooooo important, sooooo meaningful, soooo earth shatteringly better than anything else’ always annoy me a little. And there is a certain writing style that goes along with this that is like sandpaper on my skin.

Into the Dark

Book Review of Into the Dark (Alexis Carew #1), by J.A. Sutherland

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Into the DarkI picked up a copy of Into the Dark, by J. A. Sutherland, when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
At fifteen, Alexis Carew has to face an age old problem – she’s a girl, and only a boy can inherit the family’s vast holdings. Her options are few. She must marry and watch a stranger run the lands, or become a penniless tenant and see the lands she so dearly loves sold off. Yet there may be another option, one that involves becoming a midshipman on a shorthanded spaceship with no other women.

Review:
I was more impressed than not with this book. But it is very much the story of a girl joins the Navy. That is notably not a story about a girl who joins the navy and has an adventure. Maybe that will come in future books, but this one is largely dedicated to what led to her joining, meeting and charming the crew, learning her way around a ship, coming to terms with command, etc. And all of that was interesting in its own way. It’s obviously well thought out (even if I did think ships with sails in space an odd choice).

But I think this book suffers for being a little too congenial. With the exception of one uncouth individual, who Alexis even managed to charm eventually, you’d think she’d gone space with a ship full of her favorite uncles and cousins. Everyone is unaccountably pleasant and accepting of her. Further, she is pleasant, polite and poised at all times. She accomplishes everything with ease, succeeds at every task set before her, is overly generous, and basically just a little too capable for a new recruit. This is only exasperated by the fact that I couldn’t credit her skill, wit and comportment to a fifteen-year-old. She reads as much older.

Having said all that, I did quite enjoy the read. I’d be more than happy to pick up another of Sutherland’s works.

Book Review of Lord of the White Hell, by Ginn Hale

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I went to library and checked out Lord of the White Hell 1 & 2, by Ginn Hale.

Lord of the White Hell 1Description from Goodreads:
Kiram Kir-Zaki may be considered a mechanist prodigy among his own people, but when he becomes the first Haldiim ever admitted to the prestigious Sagrada Academy, he is thrown into a world where power, superstition and swordplay outweigh even the most scholarly of achievements.

But when the intimidation from his Cadeleonian classmates turns bloody, Kiram unexpectedly finds himself befriended by Javier Tornesal, the leader of a group of cardsharps, duelists and lotharios who call themselves Hellions. 
However Javier is a dangerous friend to have. Wielder of the White Hell and sole heir of a dukedom, he is surrounded by rumors of forbidden seductions, murder and damnation. His enemies are many and any one of his secrets could not only end his life but Kiram’s as well.

Review:
What can I say, I liked it but I didn’t love it? The things I liked I liked a lot though. I liked the characters. I thought they were well rounded and engaging, even the side characters. Nestor and Fedeles struck me particularly. I liked Kiram’s tendency to speak his mind and Javier’s attempt to respect that, while still flirting. I liked the world and the setting. I liked the writing. It’s fairly simplistic, but the dialogue flowed well.

The things I didn’t like are a little less about the broad strokes though. I disliked the slow pace of the plot. If I’m honest, this is probably more a case of expecting more than the book ever intended to deliver in this department. It is largely a story about boys in a boarding school, with a little time dedicated to a larger conspiracy and I was looking forward to a bit more of a sweeping adventure. I disliked how the book ended. I understand what Hale did with the brothel scene, not only forcing Karim to acknowledge the reality of loving a man in such a repressive culture, but also the understanding of the other characters’ limited window to express affection. But I disliked it. I disliked that there are no women in the book, a couple mothers and whores are referenced but there are no female characters. I also thought the editing of the second half of the book started to falter.

I have book two and I’ll be reading it. But the series has lost a little of the luster it held when I was first starting out. Hopefully I can regain it.

Lord of the White Hell 2Description from Goodreads:

Kiram fought his family and Cadeleonian bigots to remain in the Sagrada Academy to prove himself as a mechanist and to dispel the deadly shadow curse that threatens to destroy his upperclassman, Javier Tornesal.

But when his efforts provoke retaliation, Kiram’s family and home are endangered. Both Kiram and Javier risk everything in a desperate gambit to combat the curse.

But they never imagined their battle would come so soon, or that it would be led by the one person they trust most of all.

Review:
I enjoyed this second book more than I did the first. In it I felt Javier and Kiram’s personalities came through more strongly and there was the action I was looking for in book one. I especially appreciated the way Javier is written as the sort of can-do-anything hero commonly seen in M/M but we’re also given his vulnerable, desperate side.

I was a little disappointed that the villain was so obvious. The foreshadowing for that particular twist started about 2/3 of the way through the last book. (I’m just hoping the reader was supposed to know, even if the characters didn’t.) And his defeat seemed a bit abrupt. I only have two other complaints. There are a few convenient saves in the plot, people who just happen to be in the right place to discover just the right thing to save the day. Also, Javier never fully acknowledged why Kiram pulled away from him in book one (the Brothel scene) even after he came to understand adari in Kiram’s culture and showed his own jealousies.

For the most part I ended this book quite happy. I’ll be looking for more of Hale’s writing.