Category Archives: Challenges

Book Review of Robin T. Popp’s Too Close to the Sun

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Too Close to the Sun

I picked Robin T. Popp‘s romantic space opera, Too Close to the Sun up off of the KDP free list. At the time of posting it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Hunted and on the run, galactic smuggler Angel Torrence stole a ship to escape capture, not realizing until too late that the ship’s computer, not she, was in control. With its disembodied voice, arrogant, bossy and sounding very male, it blared out of the Icarus’ control panel, not to thank her for rescuing him and his ship from the terrorist attack, but to instruct her to set a course for the most perilous planet in the known universe. 

On the riskiest mission of his career, Colonel Nicoli Romanof had allowed his life essence and his physical form to be separated. And the Harvesters had taken the bait; his body. Now he needed the cocky pilot who’d stolen his vessel to help him retrieve his person and destroy the deadly race of aliens. Then he discovered the young pilot was a woman and he kissed his chances of success goodbye. 

When Nicoli refused her assistance because of her gender, Angel would have moved heaven and earth to prove she was up to the task. But she never expected the colonel’s physique to be so magnificent or his heart to be so courageous. When a passion she couldn’t deny flared between them, she wondered if they’d found love or flown…Too close to the sun

Review (with slight spoilers):
This book was all right. It had some things I really liked and some that I literally scoffed at. On the plus side, Angel was independent and fearless. She was a heroine in her own right. There were some really funny little side comments in the book that made me laugh. Nicoli was a sexy, honor-bound male who was more than willing to put his life on the line to do the right thing and protect those he cared about. You have to appreciate that. The book also presented an interesting take on what it means to be ‘free.’ Thus, the title of both the book and Nicoli’s ship is clever.

On the negative side, this is a case of insta-love to the extreme, initially based on NOTHING more than appearances. I mean NOTHING. In both cases, they (Nicoli and Angel) fell irrevocably in lust with the body of the other when it wasn’t even inhabited by their consciousness or life essence and without knowing it was the other person. So literally just their naked body. But the reader is led to believe that true love could bloom from this very quickly. I found that a little hard to swallow.

While Angel is a strong-willed heroine who rescued Nicoli as often as he rescued her, she never had to rescue him because he had simply put himself in pointless danger or done something stupid. Example: lose her way in the dark (in her own home world), step in a crevice, and twist her ankle. Really!? That move alone almost negates enough respectable heroineness to put her in bimbo territory. Lastly, everyone has a happy ending. I know, that should be a good thing right? But how realistic is it? Examples: The antagonist has been working toward his carefully laid plan for a very, very long time, and then he suddenly lets it all fall apart for no apparent reason. He suddenly can’t keep his cool and does irrational things in public, giving himself away. Why, or rather why now? Then after Angel and Nicoli defeat this bad guy (or rather are present when he defeats himself) a benevolent leader takes over. But there is no mention of what happened to the previous leader, who wasn’t the big bad. I can’t imagine he just suddenly decided to peacefully pass the reigns to another….mysterious happy ending. Plus, everyone pairs off perfectly. It’s all just a little too clean for me.

The writing was fine, and the book ended with a teaser of the next one, Dark Side of the Sun. It looked interesting enough to be worth reading. So, all-in-all an alright read.

Book Review of Helen Harper’s Blood Destiny series (Bloodfire, Bloodmagic & Bloodrage)

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I initially grabbed the first of  Helen Harper‘s Blood Destiny series, Bloodfire, off of the KDP free list. I then bought the sequels, Bloodmagic and Bloodrage.

The series follow a woman named Mack who, despite being ostensibly human, has been raised amongst a pack of shape-shifters. She has a fiery temper, penchant for finding trouble, and a sexy were-panther on her tail. Of course there is more to the story than that, but you can check out the Amazon or Goodread links for a breakdown of each book. 

Review of Bloodfire:
I generally really enjoyed this book. Mack is a fun character. She has a forceful personality and an equally strong backbone. I liked seeing her stand up for herself and those that she cared about. She did seem a little too willing to sacrifice herself for them though. I also appreciated that she had accepted herself for who she was, even if there were still lingering regrets that she couldn’t be like everyone else. I must admit that, though her complete lack of verbal filter was fun at times, it did border on suicidal. There is a distinct difference between speaking your mind and not being ABLE to control yourself and what you say. The first is a sign of one’s strength of character, the second a character flaw. There were times I thought it unrealistic that she got away with so blatantly breaching protocol and the chain of command. At the top of that chain of command was Corrigan and he was a sleek, sexy joy. Though I was disappointed at how little progress was made in their ‘relationship.’ In fact, seeing where it would go is the primary reason I picked up and read the second one.

The bare bones of it is that I enjoyed this jaunt through the world of English shifters. I know it might not be true, but it feels like most shifter stories are set in the US and it was nice to find myself in Cornwall for a change. Well worth the read.

Review of Bloodmagic:
Bloodmagic picks up roughly six months after the conclusion of Bloodfire and finds Mack in a whole new environment, facing all new challenges, but many of the same faces. She’s still dancing around Corrigan and trying her absolute hardest to protect her friends and family from him. It’s touching. She does make some new friends, however, and I liked all of them. Mrs. Alcoon is just sweet as can be, if a little eccentric and Solus’ ceaseless arrogance is amusing. As in the first book I thought Mack’s ability to walk into situations in which she was enormously out manned and succeed was a little hard to swallow. I mean in the Bloodfire she took on a Demi-god and here a citadel full of mages! Maybe Solus isn’t the one I should be calling arrogant.

Since the primary reason I decided to continue the series (not the only one, it is just a fun series) is to see what happens between Mack and Corrigan I was completely disappointed at the end of the book. I don’t want to give anything away, but yeah, disappointed in the end. I also noted a few more editorial mishaps and consistency breaches than in the first. For example, Mack refers to a knee buckling kiss at one point that I have no memory of happening. I even went back to reread the passage in question and couldn’t find it. I liked it enough to buy the third though.

Review of Bloodrage:
I’ve officially decided that this is one of those series that might never end. There will always be one more adventure for Mack. I’m a little peeved about that, starting to feel a little strung along. Be that as it may, I enjoyed the book. Perhaps not as much as the first two. Focusing as this one does on Mack’s experience in the school it has a bit more of a Harry Potter feel to it and the series seems to have lost a little of it’s earlier focus. Mack is still a smart mouthed hot head. Corrigan is still a sexy shifter. Alex is still funny and Solus is…well, still Solus. Of all the new characters I like Thomas the best, though I don’t think he grovels anywhere near enough for his initial misdeed and his personality takes about a 180 from his first meeting with Mack to his subsequent meetings. There’s a fairly big reveal in this storyline, but it still ends completely open for the next book, Blood Politics (which is apparently due out later this year). I enjoy the experience of reading the Blood Destiny books, but with no conclusion in sight I don’t know that I’ll be running out for more.

Claimed

Book Review of C.C. Coats’ Claimed

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Claimed

I grabbed C.C. Coats’ novel, Claimed, off of the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Earth is over populated. Leo’Nya Zesiro is one of the pilots charged with finding and cataloging new “housing options”. Life is lovely, at least until her vessel is attacked and she finds herself stranded on a newly discovered, un-cataloged planet. On a planet where males out number females 1-7.

Erol knows from the beginning that Leo’Nya is the female he’s been waiting for… now he has to keep her from leaving until she realizes it. Leo finds the beauty and peace she’s always longed for, but there are hidden dangers on Nur. The men might do all the cooking, but they also tend to steal you, that is if they can kill your current owner. If she can stay alive, she might just make it home in one piece. At least if she can manage not to fall in love with the caveman who’s trying to keeper her.

Review:
The plot line of this book could have easily travelled into dangerous and distasteful gang bang territory. I’ll say upfront that it doesn’t. It doesn’t even spend all that much time in the realm of the unpleasant. Yes, Leo’Nya Zesiro finds herself claimed, or kidnapped, more than once. Yes, not all of those kidnappers are nice people…aliens…whatever. And yes, even the kindhearted, noble men are incredibly chauvinistic. It’s a cultural thing. But the primary thrust of the book is about one man’s incredible love (OK, and lust) for one woman and the lengths he would go to in order to gain her love in return (OK, even if that means forcing it in return). It’s sweet, really…and steamy. There is lots of steamy.

Leo is a strong-willed heroine, without going overboard into suicidally obstinate. I’ve seen a lot of such women in the PNR genre, women who simply protest too much instead of seeing to their own self-preservation. I liked this about Leo. I also liked that she was willing to acknowledge her own torn emotions. Erol was simply wonderful. He did seem utterly unable to consider that as an off-worlder Leo wouldn’t know of, let alone instantly acquiesce, to his way of doing things. But even as he failed to explain her situation to her he also gave his absolute all to honestly protect and please her. Who can’t appreciate that? I also liked the way his species ‘phased’ into utter badass predators. It was kinda like taking the whole alpha things one step further. Though predominantly side characters I loved Avi and her crew, as well as Erol’s brothers to a lesser extent.

I know that a 2nd book, Bound, is due out later this year and that’s a good thing. Rather than being focused solely on Leo and Erol’s blooming romance this book also included quite a bit of planetary politics and minor characters whose presence seemed to serve no purpose to the current story. My guess is that they are important to a bigger storyline yet to come. It’s a little dissatisfying to finish a book and not know how some of the thread tie off in the end, so I’m glad to know there is more to come. All in all I was pleased. The text could do with another pass with the editorial brush, but as I enjoyed the book I was willing to overlook the errors.