Category Archives: Challenges

The Quest for Juice

Book Review of The Quest for Juice (Paranoia #1), by Jonathan-David Jackson

The Quest for JuiceAuthor, Jonathan-David Jackson sent me an e-copy of his novel The Quest for Juice. I also notice that, at the time of posting, at least, it is free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Oscar has always lived a life of quiet paranoia, but now everything is changing. Suddenly, the bus is frequently late, his housekey won’t fit in the lock, and someone has taken his juice, which was the one thing holding his life together. He strikes back against the people behind it all, but when he strikes too hard an innocent man ends up dead, and Oscar ends up in jail, diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and facing life in a mental institution. On his journey to mental health and the truth, he has to make hard decisions about medication, trusting his own mind, dating a nurse, and whether that hedgehog can actually talk.

Review:
The Quest for Juice could best be described as quirky, in a somewhat dark sort of way. It is unquestionably a fun read, with lots of twists, turns and uncertainty about what is real and imagined. The writing is very readable and it’s fairly well edited. I think I noticed one or two mistakes, hardly anything in the grand scheme of things.

I did find the end notes distracting, though most of them were quite funny. So, it kind of balanced out. By the end, things started to get just a little ridiculous, at least one character is just abandoned along the way (though, maybe he’ll show up in the sequel) and I don’t think the whole thing quite wrapped up in the end. Don’t get me wrong. It ended appropriately (no cliffhanger), but the question of ‘why Oscar,’ or Hope for that matter, wasn’t wholly addressed. Again, maybe in the sequel.

As a side note: for some reason, even though it’s stated that it’s set in the USA, I found myself thinking it was set in England more than once. It just feels British in some ill-defined sort of way, maybe it’s English-like humour. All in all, a satisfying read, even if not a favourite.

Light of Kaska

Book Review of Light of Kaska, by Michelle O’Leary

Light of KaskaDespite its horrible cover, I downloaded a copy of Michelle O’Leary‘s Light of Kaska from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
Escaped convict Chase Stryker is on the run from the Collectors, an agency that tracks down criminals and brings them to justice. Hiding on a drowsy farming planet seems ideal, but murder and mayhem follow him wherever he goes—in an ironic twist of fate, he’s blamed for a murder he didn’t commit and sentenced to death by flame without a trial. Rescue comes in the form of Sukeza bet Marish, an unlikely champion whose unassuming, fearful exterior inspires his contempt. But there’s more to his little rescuer than meets the eye, starting with the fact that she’s not part of the farming community and the secret they’d kill to protect. His reluctant fascination begins when he discovers that she smells like sunshine, tastes like nectar, and can offer him everything he never knew he needed.

Review:
Very middle of the road read, for me. It has good points and bad. On the good side are some interesting side characters, a sexy alpha hero, a HEA, older main characters (40ish maybe), and some really cute scenes when Chase basically freaks out over finding himself the recipient of kindness. The writing was also fine and the editing wasn’t too mistake laden.

On the bad side was some major repetition. Apparently, Sukeza is small and Chase is big. This fact is reiterated about a bagazillion times. Apparently, little bitty Sukeza can’t imagine a big, dangerous, predator-type man would be interested in her and big, dangerous Chase can’t imagine a skittish slip of a woman would look twice at him. Again, we’re told this about a million times.

The romantic plot line is stretched far beyond reasonable limits based on nothing more than misunderstandings, jumped to conclusions and refusal to communicate. This is frustrating and unpleasant. Plus, all the sex scenes were about as effective as a snapped rubber-band, as Chase pulled away, away, away and then gave in and pounced back, again and again.

Sukeza’s character is inconsistent. Roughly halfway through the book she has a personality 180. The author tries to explain it away by saying it’s because she’s come home, but it doesn’t work. The her at the end is irreconcilable with her at the beginning.

The book is too long. The first half of the book feels very disconnected from the storyline of the second half of the book and there is a large lagging bit in the middle, where Chase and Sukeza aren’t even together. It’s essentially useless to the rest of the book. Though, to be fair, Harle and Chase’s bromance is BY FAR my favorite part of the book.

So, in the end I’m calling this ok, but not great, with the caveat that the beginning is better than the end.

Best scene in the book: when a chained up, intimidating Chase is forced to ask Suzeka, with complete incredulity, “Are you petting me?”

Ashkewheteasu

Book Review of Ashkewheteasu (The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo #1), by Rose Anderson

Ashkewheteasu (The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo #1) by Rose AndersonI downloaded a copy of Rose Anderson‘s Ashkewheteasu from the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:
What does an immortal Native American shaman do when the grave he’s sworn to watch over for all eternity disappears under urban development?

His purpose of guarding his wife’s burial mound is gone, Ashkewheteasu seeks to end his immortal existence. In his despair, Ash assumes the form of a wolf and steps in front of a moving car and into the life of Dr. Olivia “Livie” Rosalini. The veterinarian saves the animal’s life, and in the process saves the man within. Livie has no idea the wolfish dog she’s taken into her home and grows to love is a magical being seeking to win her heart as a man.

While Ash is learning a new world filled with new love, friendship, and happiness, an old menace makes plans to steal it all away; just as he had 3000 years before.

Review:
This book and I just generally didn’t get along. There is, I’ve found, a certain subset of romances, especially common in the SP/Indie realm in which all characters except for the villain are Mary Sues and Gary Stues, every single one of them. They tend to speak in full, contractionless sentences and use each other’s names/titles too often to feel natural. It reads as if they should all be talking in gentle falsettos, as if to a child. They have intense and often anchorless emotions that they or the narrator openly declare and they tend to hug a lot.

I’m serious here. Think about how often you’ve encountered this same combination in books. The thing is, I hate this subset of romances. I’m not sure if this is something authors purposefully do or if it’s a failure to produce something more believable. It’s gotten to the point that I evaluate all hugs in a book to see if they are part of this pattern. Not all are, obviously, but they sure are in this book.

Everyone except for Eli is gentle and caring and accepting of one another. The dialogue is stiff, though to be fair the author explains some of this away with Ash’s age. Ash and Livie’s emotions are instant and intense. Ash proclaims his love immediately and, despite knowing each-other only a collection of hours, Livie accepts and returns it…and everyone hugs a lot. So, based on this alone, I probably wasn’t going to like this book much.

But there is also just weirdness. I am in no way turned on, titillated or attracted to scarlet dog or wolf cock. I’m just saying. But this phrase was used at least four times, which infers that there were at least four incidences in which a wolf (thought to be a large dog) got his (always scarlet for some reason) cock out, in this book. At least one of which was while actually engaged in pre-coitus with a woman. I’m just gonna have to go with EWWWW on that one. Not fun!

But there is also the problem of encountering a “cock” at all. The whole book is a Mary Sue, so encountering crude language like, ‘cock’ or ’empty his ball’ feels out of place in context. It’s as if the author sat down with an eight year old and told him/her about a man getting his cock out to stroke off. It’s just all around wrong. It doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the book.

I also had a hard time accepting that Ash had lived 3,000 years and never encountered humanity beyond brief observations. Yes, seeing him discover instant fire (a lighter), learn how to button a shirt, what a phone or TV is and such was cute, but ultimately unrealistic (and repetitive). What exactly was he supposed to have been doing for 3,000 years in the midst of an urban setting if he never ventured far enough from his cave to meet people?

I wasn’t a fan of this book. I should have known better than to read a book I can’t even pronounce the title of, but I couldn’t pass up that first line in the synopsis. It really is great.

If I were going to star-rate it I would have given it a full 3/5 stars up until the end. I appreciated the Native American knowledge that went into writing it. I didn’t even dislike the characters, just how they were presented. But the fact that it ended without the big, climactic showdown that it had been building toward from the beginning sank it for me. It’s not quite a cliffhanger, though there is obviously meant to be another book, it just doesn’t feel wrapped up and well-ended.