Category Archives: books/book review

Book Review: Twenty-One Arrow Salute, by Kasia Bacon

I purchased a paperback copy of Kasia Bacon‘s Twenty-one Arrow Salute some time ago. I’m not sure why it’s sat unattended for so long.

Verhan Tŭrryés of Black Mountain is a handful.

Freshly enlisted in the Highland Regiment, he does all he can to steer clear of responsibility and commitment. Just not his cup of mead, that. Loose of tongue and even looser of morals, he rarely misses an opportunity to get into trouble—and into the other archers’ knickers, too.

In a unit composed almost entirely of Dark Elves, Hernan Seinnés, with his green eyes and auburn hair, is an outsider. When Verhan, up the creek again, is blackmailed into helping Hernan, he never expects to fall for him. But during the long hours spent training Hernan for the Honour Guard, feelings strike the Highlander right in the heart—and with the force of an arrow.

Unversed in relationships, Verhan finally plucks up enough courage to tell Hernan how he feels, only to drive the Asirhwӱnian away instead. If Verhan can swallow his pride, he might get one last chance to show Hernan what he means to him—and maybe this time he can hit the mark.

I had this marked as READ in my Calibre file, but hadn’t written a review for it. Which left me in an uncertain space. Had I read it? Yes…no…maybe. In the end, I decided to either read it or re-read it. And I’m glad I did. I so love Bacon’s use of feels, sarcasm, and characterization. But so many of her works are too short for me. (Just a personal preference kind of thing.) This is a bit longer, but still full of all the character, feeling, and wit I adore in her shorter works. (In fact, it’s longer, so it has more even.) I’m so happy to have read it…for the first time or not.

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What I Think about Twenty-One Arrow Salute by Kasia Bacon

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Book Review: Frosting Her Christmas Cookies, by Alina Jacobs

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Alina Jacob‘s Frosting Her Christmas Cookies was featured on Sadie’s Spotlight last November. I was given a copy of the book as part of the promotional material. However, I didn’t do any holiday reading last year. So, I didn’t get around to it until this year’s Christmas Reading Challenge.

Dear Santa, I do not want a Frost brother for Christmas.

In fact I do not want anything for Christmas—no annoying Christmas carols, no holiday family drama, and no last-minute presents.

And I certainly don’t want to be a bachelorette in The Great Christmas Bake-Off. Yes in the spirit of holiday commercialism, the bake-off is also a date-off and Jonathan Frost is the prize.

I should be hiding away with wine and snacks while waiting for Christmas to end. Instead I’m wearing a reindeer mascot costume and pretending I’m oh-so-excited to meet New York City’s most eligible billionaire bachelor!!! Just look at those blue eyes and six-foot-five tall frame!!! Don’t you want to take him home for the holidays?!?!!

Barf.

Unlike the other bachelorettes, I refused to debase myself and stroke some billionaire’s ego.

Instead, I threw a candy-cane dildo at his stupidly handsome face.

Then I laughed when he yelled at me.

Of course Jonathan couldn’t take the hint. He came around offering to put a little frosting on my Christmas cookies.

I attempted to shank him with a spatula.

He got offended and said that as a judge on The Great Christmas Bake-Off, he was just trying to help.

Sure…

Not that I’m looking for holiday romance.

Christmas is already a stressful time of the year without adding a billionaire in the mix.

Between dodging bake-off sabotaging cousins, applying for a long-shot prestigious museum internship, and trying to survive being broke in Manhattan, I’m up to my black lipstick in my own special nightmare before Christmas.

And it’s making me wound tighter than a nutcracker.

So when Jonathan offers to put some frosting on my cookies—and a few other ornament shaped parts—his washboard abs and sexy smirk start to seem like the perfect stress relief.

Especially when he offers himself all wrapped up in a bow.

So no, dear Santa, I do not want Jonathan Frost, but I won’t say no to his Christmas package!

I am starkly divided on how I feel about this book. On one hand, I really enjoyed it. I read a good bit of it with a stupid smile on my face and laughed so often that my husband was finally like, “What?” The writing is sharp and witty, and the editing is clean.

On the other hand, I thought it got too ridiculous at the end and was far too long. I started skimming past all the cooking descriptions and eventually even the sex scenes, just to move everything along. Plus, there is quite a lot of repetition. Most chapters start with yet another reiteration of either Morticia or Jonathan’s quandary. I promise I hadn’t forgotten since the last chapter.

Plus, I just couldn’t quite overlook the irony of Jacobs writing a strong Fuck the Patriarchy, Feminism Rawr female character into a story in which she wins the coveted Mrs. position with her traditionally feminine skills and at the expense and narrative degradation of the other female contestants. So, the Morticia may be all Feminism Rawr, but the book sure isn’t (because of the representation of women, not the baking). I have to wonder if Jacobs was leaning into that irony or painfully unaware of it.

Mostly, however, I enjoyed it, even if I wish it had been a hundred pages shorter.