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Sleeves

Book Review of Sleeves, by Chanse Lowell

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Sleeves

Sleeves, by Chanse Lowell came from the Amazon free list. (At the time of posting it was still free.)

A friend of mine said to me recently that he was beginning to think that bulging biceps are to women what lush breasts are to men. Hmm, maybe. But for me it’s a well-muscled back. Keeping that in mind, you can probably imagine that this cover appealed to me. I hardly even read the description if I’m honest, just grabbed the pretty picture and went with it.

Description from Goodreads:
Kel isn’t at all the animal locked in a cage that he appears to be. Secrets keep him there, hidden from those who hunt him. But what does a man do when he needs physical contact to survive, but can’t stand the burning pain that comes with another’s touch? He’s found a way to get a small fraction of his needs met at the nightclub, Sleeves. What happens when he lets in an unknown woman with a healing hand? Casey can see past the vulgar mouth to the affection-starved man hiding inside. When she does, all hell breaks loose, and the past finds him. Will he be able to avoid the agency, or will they add Casey to their twisted experiments? She entered the cage with him, and now it seems there’s no way out.

 Review:
A previous review referred to this book as a ‘Hot Mess.’ And while Hot Mess isn’t a phrase that I’ve ever found myself tempted to use, I find it describes this book aptly. It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad book, it’s not, it’s just all over the place and full of holes the reader has to overlook to enjoy the story. They are overlookable, but it would be a little ridiculous to pretend they aren’t there.

To start with and probably most importantly, it’s never said but I’m gonna have to assume that Casey has some sort of preternatural power of super-empathy, because nothing in the book makes any sense otherwise. If she doesn’t then she just fell in love with a man who, in their single 30 minute interaction, forced her to jack him off in front of a crowd while calling her a slut, bitch, whore, cunt, and probably more I’ve forgotten. She in turn told him he was a beautiful, sweet man. (WTF!?) So unless she can magically see through his shit, to his kernel of true-self she is either really, really stupid or masochistic.

What’s more, her main strength seems to be in her ability to accept any verbal abuse thrown at her with aplomb and willingly offer up, “anything you need, baby.” Now, I get that this is supposed to show how much she loves Kel and maybe how brave she is. But what it mostly says to me is that she must be one of those women who is so desperate for a man that she will do, become and take anything without complaint. It makes me wonder if she really has any sense of self herself. And while we kind of find out what warped Kel (and I say kind of because it’s not a complete explanation) we don’t really find out what whacked Casey out. Which suggests that we’re not supposed to see her behaviour as inappropriate. (WTF!?) We do get a little of her sob story, but I couldn’t see how it would result in her willingness to accept Kel’s shit (and it is shit) so openly.

I did really like her ability to banter though. She didn’t have Kel’s foul language, but she had no problem slinging a one-shot back at him on occasion. This verbal sparring between the two of them was by far the best part of the book. And it’s good.

Kel in turn swung wildly from angst, clingy teenager to angry, dangerous alpha man with a tenuous grasp on sanity and back again, over and over. Now I’ll give you that when he was in his charming, boyish charm phase he was about as cute as they come. In these moments I really loved him. I even kinda liked his weird clingy, needy side. It was creepy as hell, but still kinda cute. Unfortunately his angry instability was truly scary and his inability to go two sentences without calling Casey some foul name often curled my toes…and not in a good way.

The thing is though, even though his language was deplorable and Casey didn’t deserve to be called all the names she did, it generally just boiled down to a whole heck of a lot of dirty talk. Because the actual sex was pretty clean. It never actually crossed into abusive, as his verbal description would suggest. Plus, even as he was playing Mr. Dominance he never failed to worship Casey and be honest about how much he needed/wanted her, which made it quite obvious that all of the mastery he held in their sexual relation was given to him by her. I found this dynamic damned sexy. 

This book is in desperate need of a little world building. It’s set in 2023, so I accept that there should have been some social evolution and scientific advancements. But the reader isn’t ever told what these might be. Everyone did seem to accept the whole ‘a secret organisation experimented on me and is currently hunting me’ with awe-inspiring ease. Not a single person raised an eyebrow at the fact that Kel had some strange sensory issue going on and apparently displayed regular feats of strength on stage, not to mention some truly horrific social skills. 

I also have to wonder if another thing that isn’t said, but must be true, is that people are…I don’t know, educated in their sleep or something. I mean Kel was apparently kept in a cage with a filthy, blood stained mattress and little else. So if his basic hygiene wasn’t worth taking into consideration I can’t imagine his education was either. But somehow he was a genius–able to create mysterious genetic cures and micro technologies. How did he learn these skills?

I think the best way to describe this book is what happily ever after would look like if two damaged nymphomaniacs found each-other. The actual sic-fi aspect of the story is a…well, a Hot Mess. It’s never explained what the secret organisation was actually trying to accomplish with Kel, for example, or what the mysterious ‘serum’ does to a person, or how the cure reverses it, or why Kel needs touch, or what will happen if he goes without it, or why it hurts, or why he treats women so badly. But the sex is a lot of fun, and for all their many faults, Kel and Casey are too. 

Book Review of A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1), by Deborah Harkness

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A Discovery of WitchesI picked up a secondhand copy of Deborah Harkness‘ A Discovery of Witches somewhere. It’s been hanging out on my bookshelf for a while now and finally got a little attention from me.

Description from Goodreads:
Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Review:
Um…I can’t say I’m sorry to have read it, but I also can’t say I enjoyed it all that much either. I know this one was really popular, so I was probably just a poor match for the book. But I didn’t care for it.

There were a lot of things included that did nothing to move the story along. For example, the main characters rowed, ran, did yoga, rode horses, played chess, billiards and scrabble, ate elaborate dinners, had tea/coffee and tasted expensive wines. On their own none of these would be problematic. But each was described in minute detail, often more than once. So all together it really slowed the plot down.

There was a lot of talking about things, but very little doing. Seriously, the characters discussed everything, told each-other every little secret of their species and confided their secrets with ease. But they actually did very little…unless you count the jaunty horse rides and agonisingly well thought out dinners. Then in the end they established some elaborate plan that never materialised. Nope, it’s apparently the next book. Um, yeah, how unsatisfying is that? Other than the bad guys, no one seemed to actually have any volition of their own. They responded to immediate threats and then settled right back into the humdrum again.

I also wasn’t particularly fond of Diana or Matthew. Diana was supposed to be this strong-willed, self-aware, successful woman. But she just flailed around hopelessly, fainted regularly, took orders and, starting about halfway through the book, seemed to be put to bed about a hundred times. Sometimes it felt like she never even made it out of bed before being manhandled back into it ‘for her own good’. This left her feeling very child-like to me.

Similarly, Matthew was supposed to be the big alpha dog vampire but he just seemed shy and awkward around Diane, got beat up more when he attempted to protect her and did yoga. There’s nothing wrong with yoga of course, but it does kind of run counter to the big bad vampire persona he was supposed to have. All-in-all did didn’t come across as the man he was described as being.

Lastly, the romance seemed to come out of nowhere. It wasn’t quite insta-love, but it wasn’t far off. Even worse, once it settled in Diane and Matthew were saccharine sweet. Their dedication to one another was admirable, but I can only take so many heartfelt declarations of adoration and I generally like to know what such passion is based on. The whole latter 1/3 of the book just seemed to be one impassioned ‘I love you’ after another. The words might change for varieties sake, but the intent never did.

I did enjoy the underlying themes of acceptance and self-actualisation. I thought the writing itself was fine and some of the side characters (Marcus and Hamish especially) were fun. I’m not claiming it isn’t a good book. I just didn’t enjoy it personally.

Book Review: Dark Lover & Lover Unleashed, by J.R. Ward

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This is a bit of an awkward catch-up post. I reviewed J.R. Ward’s  Dark Lover over on Goodreads but never posted it here. I, then, didn’t bother reviewing the rest of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series until I reached a later book where I felt I had something in particular to say. That was Lover Unleashed. So, I’m gathering the two posts here after the fact.

black dagger brotherhood covers

About Dark Lover:

The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago.

But when his most trusted fighter is killed — orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate — Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world.

Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger one that threatens to consume them both…

Review:

Dark Lover is PNR, as it should be. The romance smolders, but the sex doesn’t cross into pornographic or blot out the plot with its frequency. There is enough to keep you titillated but not enough to make you lose interest if you are the type who likes a little more story.

I have to admit hulking, leather-clad alpha males aren’t my ideal idea of sexy, but they work here. These men are rough around the edges but have just enough vulnerabilities (not that they would acknowledge them) to make the reader feel for them, along with the female lead, Beth. The book does have some of the more annoying PNR qualities, instant unexplained attraction, the leader who has been so respected that he falls in love with the first woman to speak bluntly to him, etc. But these are genre norms, not true complaints about the book.

I have the second in the series sitting on my bedside table and can’t wait to start it. Ward is a definite go-to for PNR fans everywhere.

About Lover Unleashed:

Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, seductive cloth as her brother. Imprisoned for eons by their mother, the Scribe Virgin, she finally frees herself – only to face a devastating injury.

Manuel Manello, M.D., is drafted by the Brotherhood to save her as only he can – but when the human surgeon and the vampire warrior meet, their two worlds collide in the face of their undeniable passion. With so much working against them, can love prove stronger than the birthright and the biology that separates them?

Review:

I told myself that I wasn’t going to write a review of every single Black Dagger Brother novel. ‘Cause, honestly, that would basically boil down to I liked this one more or less than the previous ones. The writing is essentially the same, as are the plots or each, just focusing on another Brother. But I feel compelled to post a small rant about this one. It was such a prime opportunity….completely lost.

Here, in Payne, we had the possibility of a female with the strength, character, and pedigree to join the Brotherhood. Sure, Xhex fights alongside the men, but she is primarily the Shellran of a Brother. That’s her role. Payne was painted as a true warrior, and I was really hoping for a little bit of strong-willed female ass-kicking. What did we get? She may be on the cover, but Manny is the main character. The book is about him, and Payne’s involvement is only in relation to him. She is incidental.

While I always enjoy Ward’s writing (I have made it to the 9th book, after all), I’ve liked some of the BDB books more than others. This one disappointed me in general and more because I had such high hopes for a good female character.