Category Archives: Challenges

Book Review of Long Time Gone (Hell or High Water #2), by S. E. Jakes

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Long Time GoneLast week, I reviewed Catch a Ghost, book one of the Hell or High Water series, by S. E. Jakes. This week, the powers that be at Riptide publishing granted me a copy of Long Time Gone through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
When a tornado meets a volcano, nothing is safe.

Soldier of fortune Prophet Drews always worked alone—until Tom Boudreaux became his partner. But when Tom walked away three months ago, ostensibly to keep Prophet safe, Prophet learned the true meaning of being alone. Everyone knows that Prophet, a Navy SEAL turned CIA spook turned mercenary, can look after himself. Which means he must’ve driven his lover away.

Even with half a world between them, Prophet can’t get the man out of his head. Maybe that’s why he’s in New Orleans in the middle of a hurricane, protecting Tom’s aunt. But the only looter around is Tom, bursting back into Prophet’s life. It turns out that Prophet’s been stuck in Tom’s head—and heart—too.

Their explosive reunion gets even hotter when Tom is arrested for murder. As they fight to clear his name, they delve deep into his past, finding enemies among everyone they meet. Staying alive in such a dangerous world is hard enough, but they soon discover that fighting to stay together is the most difficult thing they’ve ever done.

Review:
Well, I’ll just start with the obvious here. Tom and Prophet are hot as hell. They were in book one and they still are in book two. I have no complaint on that front, none. I mean, there is just something about two sexy, dangerous men not only stokin’ the fires, but falling hard for one another and showing their softer…cuter side.

Yes, cute is the best word I have for them. (Even if neither character would be pleased with the designation.) When they let their guards down, what results is just plain transformative magic. Suddenly they feel like fragile little boys just looking for a safe place to rest. It’s surprisingly evocative.

I also have no real complaints on their repartee. It was ceaselessly amusing, maybe a little too much at times, but not by much. I loved their back and forth banter and smart aleck comments. I also enjoyed meeting Mike and Blue (and to a lesser extent more of Mal and Cillian). I hope they all show up and play bigger roles in future books.

Where the book fell down for me was in the plot. So much focus was put on Tom and Prophet’s burgeoning relationship that the mystery felt inconsequential. The hurricane that served to get Prophet to New Orleans in the first place hardly even felt like a squall. It was all just background decorations to give Tom and Prophet a credible scenario to be having sex in. Meh.

I enjoyed the book. I’m up for more. But I’ll be reading it for the steamy bits, ’cause that is where the magic is.

Book Review of The Four Gs, by Leigh Parker

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The 4 GsAuthor, Leigh Parker sent me a PDF copy of her newest novella, The 4 Gs. It’s number 13 on my Taking Care of my Own challenge.

Description from Goodreads:
After an incident involving the Chav Triplets, a canal and the police, Dominic Barrett is forced to have 10 sessions of therapy with Jo, an San Franciscan who doesn’t quite seem to grasp the concept of listening.

Review:
This is the sort of book that’s fun to read because of its basic random craziness and sideways social critiques. You simply never know what is coming, but you can sadly relate to the ridiculous ironies once they appear…and can’t help laughing at them either.

True to Parker’s style, the writing is sarcastic and the Northern (Yorkshire) voice readily apparent. It’s always a pleasure to read and this is no exception.

I also really appreciated recognising Alex’s place of employment and one particular dinner scene from the 10 Ways series (which I love). That sort of crossover always amuses me.

Final word: well worth the 90 minutes or so it too me to read.

Review of When all the World Sleeps, by Lisa Henry and J. A. Rock

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When All the World SleepsNetgalley granted me a copy of Lisa Henry and J. A. Rock‘s novel, When all the World Sleeps.

Description from Goodreads:
Daniel Whitlock is terrified of going to sleep. And rightly so: he sleepwalks, with no awareness or memory of his actions. Including burning down Kenny Cooper’s house—with Kenny inside it—after Kenny brutally beat him for being gay. Back in the tiny town of Logan after serving his prison sentence, Daniel isolates himself in a cabin in the woods and chains himself to his bed at night.

Like the rest of Logan, local cop Joe Belman doesn’t believe Daniel’s absurd defense. But when Bel saves Daniel from a retaliatory fire, he discovers that Daniel might not be what everyone thinks: killer, liar, tweaker, freak. Bel agrees to control Daniel at night—for the sake of the other townsfolk. Daniel’s fascinating, but Bel’s not going there.

Yet as he’s drawn further into Daniel’s dark world, Bel finds that he likes being in charge. And submitting to Bel gives Daniel the only peace he’s ever known. But Daniel’s demons won’t leave him alone, and he’ll need Bel’s help to slay them once and for all—assuming Bel is willing to risk everything to stand by him.

Review:
I’m torn on how to review this book, because the bottom line is that I didn’t particularly enjoy it. There were a lot of things that simply rubbed me the wrong way, and I’ll be outlining some of those below. But I also have to concede that it’s relatively well written. I especially liked the dialogue and Daniel/Bel’s use of small town grammar (even more so, Daniel’s tendency to try and correct himself). The problem is that most of the actual story left me cold, but those who don’t share my tastes and distastes might enjoy it.

To start with, I thought it was unidimensional. Yes, Daniel had a horrible condition; yes, something horrible happened to him; yes, he did something he’s deeply ashamed of in response; yes, he’s terrified he’ll do something similar again. I get all that, but there is NOTHING to him but his condition and its aftermath. The man has no thoughts outside of it. He’s so focused on how to control it, or have it controlled that he completely infantilizes himself. He reduces himself to little more than a weak, snivelling child and I found him incredibly off putting as a result, not to mention lacking in other aspects of basic humanity.

I almost liked Bel. Honestly, I think I would have liked him if he had been 30 instead of 23. What’s his age have to do with anything, you ask. Well, the man was just far too introspective and had far too much chutzpah for a mere 23 year old. I really liked that Bel was able to consider himself and his actions and had the strength of will to stand up for himself and Bel. I even appreciated that, when the current erotica crazy is to glorify BDSM in a way that essentially trivialises unhealthy, abusive relationships (not to suggest that BDSM is synonymous with abuse, just that what a lot of books present as BDSM is), Bel broke the trend and didn’t want any part of it. I did like these aspects of Bel’s character, but he was too young to have grown into that man yet. Especially considering he’s a relatively uneducated, rural police officer who’s stated to have rarely left his small corner of the world.

I was also confused about the timeframe of events. I’ll admit I might of missed something (but if it’s obfuscated enough for me to miss it, it’s still a problem), but Daniel is 4 years older than Bel. Bel was still working his high school job when the fire happened, suggesting he had to be 18 or younger making Daniel early twenties at the time. During the time of the current events of the book, Bel is 23 and Daniel 27. But at some point Daniel is supposed to have left Logan for university (one would presume a 4 year degree) and had a several year long relationship with someone, spent 8 months in jail and served most of his parole time. The years don’t seem to add up.

The closest I can figure, the fire had to happen at least during if not before Daniel left for college. Which leaves me wondering how he was functional enough to live in a dorm and graduate; even with the whole ‘safeguards’ he utilised. There’s no indication that the college boyfriend or roommate were dealing with Daniel’s nightmares, so he either was holding it together better or the beating/fire hadn’t happened yet. Because he isn’t functional enough for that at the time of the story’s events, leaving me wondering what changed.

Lastly, while I’d never be so naïve as to suggest that heartbreaking bigotry doesn’t still exist in small town America, Logan’s small mindedness seemed especially exaggerated. Am I really supposed to believe that NOONE in the WHOLE town, even Daniel’s own family, was willing to stand up to Kenny and his cohorts or speak out and do the right thing or be progressive enough to simply accept homosexuality—even all those men hanging out in the Greenduck? No one? Everyone seemed just a little too willing to condemn Daniel for being gay and forgive all their murderous good ol’ boys.

All in all, probably a fine text but I found it too much hard work to enjoy. I don’t like snivelling MCs. I didn’t enjoy any of Daniel’s masochistic tendencies and certainly not those of the first few chapters. And I didn’t understand Bel’s determination to stand by Daniel anyway. Not a real winner for me, I’m afraid.