Author Archives: sadie

Book Review of The Untold Tale, by J. M. Frey

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The Untold TaleI received a copy of The Untold Tale, by J. M. Frey from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Forsyth Turn is not a hero. Lordling of Turn Hall and Lysse Chipping, yes. Spymaster for the king, certainly. But hero? That’s his older brother’s job, and Kintyre Turn is nothing if not legendary. However, when a raid on the kingdom’s worst criminal results in the rescue of a bafflingly blunt woman, oddly named and even more oddly mannered, Forsyth finds his quaint, sedentary life is turned on its head. 

Dragged reluctantly into a quest he never expected, and fighting villains that even his brother has never managed to best, Forsyth is forced to confront his own self-shame and the demons that come with always being second-best. And, more than that, when he finally realizes where Lucy came from and why she’s here, he’ll be forced to question not only his place in the world, but the very meaning of his own existence. 

The Untold Tale gives agency to the unlikeliest of heroes: the silenced, the marginalized, and the overlooked. It asks what it really means to be a fan when the worlds you love don’t resemble the world you live in, celebrates the power of the written word, challenges tropes, and shows us what happens when someone stands up and refuses to remain a secondary character in their own life.

Review:
I did a lot of flip-flopping while reading this book. I thought it started out well and then I figured out the schtick (twist) and groaned. It’s cheesy, it is, but I got used to it I accepted it and enjoyed the book for a bit. Then, Pip started in on her lectures and I groaned again. I HATE didacticism in my fiction. Hate it, even when I agree with what is being preached. I mean, I love this quote, it verbalizes something I’ve long wanted words for (and it largely sums up the novel),

I spent my whole goddam academic career championing female character agency, fighting against lazy writing that falls back on epic fantasy gender stereotypes and utilizes rape as a back story excuse, against the half-assed conflation of strong female characters with violent female characters, screaming myself horse about visible minorities in fiction and the normalization of queerness, and what does the world I love best go and fucking do the goddamn millisecond I get here? Slaps me in the face and ties me down!

but the book frequently stepped over the line into lectures and I started to twitch a bit. They are no fun and I read fiction for fun.

I adored Forsyth and his fussiness, but thought his internal dialogue got repetitive and old. I hated K & B and then they suddenly showed up all lovely and contrite and I was supposed to forgive and like them; a swift transition I wasn’t quite able to make.

I appreciated the critique of rape of female characters, even the subtextual suggestion that it is frequently presented as consensual, but there was far too much sex. It was gratuitous to the point or plot, serving no further purpose. I liked that Pip had emotions and anger, but it disappeared too quickly. I like that it was him who gave up his life, when it’s usually the female, but disliked everything from that point forward. The book goes on for ever.

I went back and forwards between loving this book and disliking this book again and again. I 100% applaud the author’s intent (which I saw as a feminist critique or subversion if epic fantasy), but I don’t know that I necessarily enjoyed the journey.

More bloody novelettes

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MORE BLOODY NOVELETTES

Some might know that I’m trying to clear the short stories, novelettes and novellas less than 100 pages off my To-Be-Read shelves. I started with the shortest and am working my way up to the longest (99 pages). Below are those between 60 & 69 pages in length.

He Ain’t Lion,  by Celia Kyle: This is basically porn with plot. I mean, 80-85% of it is sex and that’s not even an exaggeration. And it’s chocked full of horrid porny dialogue. I very rarely give more than two stars to this sort of erotica. I dislike the language generally used to describe sex and get then cheesed out. But I appreciate that Maya was given quite a lot of agency, Alex wasn’t just an alpha A-hole and there was quite a lot of genuine humor in it. So, I’ll give it a 2.5 and round up to three.

Like a Fox, by Celia Kyle: Basically just one long sex scene. Better than a lot of erotica, but it is what it is.

Playing with Shadows, by Sasha L. Miller: It felt a little shallow, but not under-developed. Had a pleasantly creepy vibe and was well-written. Had very little romance that I honestly thought was surplus to requirements.

Wicked, by Diana Bocco: Erotic fluff; two people meet, instant attraction, excuse to have lots of sex. Eh. It is what is is, but it’s nothing special.

The Bridge, by Kay Bratt: Very sweet story. The writing was fairly straight forward, bordering on simple and there were a few jarring POV slips, but mostly it was a sweet (if cloying) tale.

Dark Soul Vol. 1, by Aleksandr Voinov: Hot damn, that was a scorcher! I put this off thinking it would be off-puttingly violent/erotic (if you know what I mean), which often feels artificial and gratuitous to me, but I think it tread that edge well. I love how intrigued but confused Stefano is and appreciated his love of his wife. I usually don’t like wives in m/m because I don’t like to see them get cheated on, but this one didn’t raise my heckles (not yet at least). I preferred the first episode to the second and would be well up for reading more. Voinov’s voice is marvelous.

Twice in a Lifetime, by Jennifer Jakes: OK but it wasn’t a real winner for me. I don’t think the logistics of the plot really hung together. I understood the author’s intent, but it wasn’t quite accomplished. Plus, the whole thing seemed like an extreme response to a minor problem.

Delicate, by C.K. Farrell: There were things I appreciated–the over forty, voluptuous sex vixen, the preference for pubes over prepubescent baldness, and such–but I thought the story self-indulgent in its word choice (coincidentally one of the same criticisms the writer in the story receives) and I never really found anything to like in the story itself.

Alabaster Nights, by Elle J. Rossi: Standard vampire meets his mate, insta-love ensues PNR. Not bad, but nothing special. Plus, it’s a prequel to a series so it ends before the actual story really gets going.

Flight Risk, by L.A. Witt: A pleasant enough stand-alone novelette, but I felt like it was all blown out of proportion. The two were talking and acting like they had to make forever decisions after one night together. I also thought it got a bit repetitive toward the end.

Cops, Cakes, and Coffee, by Sara York: OMG, so bad! Rushed, insta-love, insta-relationsip, painfully saccharin and artificially, cloyingly sweet. No development. No build-up. No character development. Even for a novelette it’s no good. I literally made so many gagging noises while reading it that my partner asked if I was ok.

Shepherd, Slave, and Vow, by Lyn Gala: Really quite enjoyable and well written. It did go from enemies to lovers awfully fast and from lovers to life-mates even faster, but a fun read.

the gentleman next door

Book Review of The Gentlemen Next Door series, by Cecilia Gray

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I’m still working to clear all the novelettes from my To Be Read shelf, but this week I’ve opted for something a little different. Instead of focusing of those books within a certain page length range (I’m up to 60-69), I’m going to clear a whole novelette series away.

With that in mind I present you with Cecilia Gray‘s The Gentleman Next Door Series. I Picked these up from Amazon when they were free.

the gentleman next door

The Gentlemen Next Door, because sometimes a lady in need of love need look no further than next door.

A Delightful Arrangement (The Gentlemen Next Door, #1): I am not a huge regency romance fan and that should probably be taken into account, but I found this cute. Yes, Fran annoyed me by being so unaware of her own feelings and eventually in the requisite “I don’t know what this feeling in my body is” sex scene. (I basically just dislike that sort of sex scene in general.) And yes, even though I liked Philip, the whole story hinged on his not telling her how he feels, which is a little too close to the ‘misunderstand’ trope for my liking. You always knew exactly where this story was going and how it’d get there, but, if you like the sort of thing, it’s a cute read.

An Illicit Engagement (The Gentlemen Next Door, #2): I believe I liked this one more than the first. I think it and the characters weren’t quite as developed, but I preferred them and this story. This is also a clean read, no sex.

A Dangerous Expectation (The Gentlemen Next Door, #3): This was another cute addition to the series, but it had a bit too drastic a change of personality in the MC to bring about the happy ending. Clean read, writing was good, could do with a bit more editing.

 A Flirtatious Rendezvous (The Gentlemen Next Door, #4): This was my least favorite of the series. I didn’t at all feel the history the two MCs were supposed to have and his change of heart came out of nowhere, giving him no time to redeem himself in my eyes for being a jerk.Writing was fine and it’s another clean read.