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Review of Sweetwater, by Lisa Henry

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SweetwaterI received a copy of Lisa Henry‘s Sweetwater from Netgally.

Description from Goodreads:
Wyoming Territory, 1870.

Elijah Carter is afflicted. Most of the townsfolk of South Pass City treat him as a simpleton because he’s deaf, but that’s not his only problem. Something in Elijah runs contrary to nature and to God. Something that Elijah desperately tries to keep hidden.

Harlan Crane, owner of the Empire saloon, knows Elijah for what he is—and for all the ungodly things he wants. But Crane isn’t the only one. Grady Mullins desires Elijah too, but unlike Crane, he refuses to push the kid.

When violence shatters Elijah’s world, he is caught between two very different men and two devastating urges: revenge, and despair. In a boomtown teetering on the edge of a bust, Elijah must face what it means to be a man in control of his own destiny, and choose a course that might end his life . . . or truly begin it for the very first time.

Review:
This is the third of Lisa Henry’s books I’ve read this year and I find that I love her writing, but was starting to despair that perhaps we just didn’t share tastes in stories. Fair enough, everyone’s preferences differ. But this book changed my mind. I really enjoyed it. It’s gritty, but still provides the reader a glimpse at a possible HEA (without ever tripping over into sickeningly sweetness, which I have no stomach for).

Yes, some parts of it—ok, the whole first half—were really uncomfortable to read. Even as I understood what drew Elijah back to Harlan, I hated seeing him go. Hated seeing him endure and, not only kick himself, but elicit others to do it for him. I hated it, felt indignant on his behalf. I understood it, but I hated it.

Actually, now that I think on it, that was my relationship with a lot of this story. I understood things, even as I didn’t like them. That can’t be easy for an author to balance. For example, I disliked that a lot of the times Elijah really did come across as the simpleton we’re told again and again that he isn’t. But I also understood that what Elijah was, wasn’t simple, but emotionally isolated and inexperienced. It’s not the same thing.  And it physically hurt my heart to watch him grieve, but I understood the need for it.

Then there was Grady, oh Grady. He was marvellous. Yes, his is a bit of an insta-love, but it’s explained well enough to feel believable. This is mostly because, though he was instantly attracted, he took no immediate action toward Elijah. I really enjoyed seeing him ‘gentle’ the skittish boy.

One final thing I’d like to mention is Henry’s writing. I’m not sure how to explain that it strikes just the right tone for the story told. It feels a little removed from itself, if that makes sense, and occasionally is clipped bare of extraneous prose. It feels right for a story told predominantly from the vantage of a partially deaf character, who can never quite be part of polite conversation, and therefor society.

I’m calling this a raging success and can’t wait to get my hands on some more of Lisa Henry’s work.

Book Review of Rorschach Blots, by RoughDraftHero

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Rorschach BlotsMy procurement of RoughDraftHero‘s book is a little muddled. I originally downloaded a copy from AllRomance.com, but found it wouldn’t resize correctly on my kindle. (Which totally could be me, somehow.) So I ended up downloading another copy from Smashword. It’s available for free on AllRomance, name your own price on Smashwords and $0.99 on Amazon. Anyhow…

Blessedly brief description from Goodreads:
Sev won’t analyze why he wants to spank his teacher.

Review:
I was wary starting this. I’ll just admit it, I’m always a little suspicious of any author who chooses not to write under a name, even a pseudonym. So, RoughDraftHero had me quirking an eyebrow. It’s ridiculous, but true. 

This book also was not anything like I expected. I went in anticipating a little slap and tickle, some rough, dirty spanking and smutty talk, combined with a dash of psuedo-pedo titillation (high-school student). I couldn’t have predicted a character as heartfelt and earnest (if a little unstable) as Sev. 

Plus, I generally avoid teenaged main characters. I’m in my mid-thirties. I just no longer relate to a lot of the common agnsty, sex-is-such-a-massive-big-deal issues common in teenage-centered plots. In fact, I generally find them really off-putting. It also became apparent early on that the text could do with a little more editing.

My point is that there are plenty of reasons I shouldn’t have liked this book. So, when I say that I did, it should be understood that what I mean is that I did, despite all those reasons I shouldn’t—all those strikes against it. And I did. I really, really did. 

I 100% adored Sev and his obsessive floundering. As Caleb says at one point, how could you hate someone who tries so hard? I could just stop right there, I liked Sev so much. He was just so darned cute. I just want to scoop him up and nibble on him in a slightly inappropriate, but also somewhat motherish fashion. 

I also liked Caleb. He’s as flustered and lost as Sev, just in a different way. I found his attempt to do the right thing by his student believable and his particular kink hot (even if the sex is never very explicit).

In fact, the lack of sex, oddly, is part of what made the whole thing so endearing. Sev doesn’t make the connection between what he’s feeling and sexual arousal until 60% into the book. This means that a lot of obvious opportunities to insert gratuitous sex or masterbation scenes are judiciously skipped over on the author’s part, allowing the reader to focus less on the lascivious and more on the intrepid relationship. 

I did think that the ending came a bit abruptly and the tacked-on epilogue felt a little forced. But I am more than pleased with and surprised by this book. Kinda wishing I could read it again.

Café Insomniac

Book Review of Café Insomniac, by Mark Capell

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Cafe InsomniacAuthor, Mark Capell sent me a copy of his novel, Café Insomniac.

Description from Amazon:
“The trick is not to fear the shadows but to embrace them… Night-time has become a good friend,” says Justin.

But for how long?

Twenty-five-year-old insomniac Justin Brooks opens an all-night café for something to do, to fill the long nights. But soon after opening, one of his customers is found murdered in a side street.

What Justin doesn’t know is that his insomnia is connected to the murder.

Even before the murder, inexplicable things were starting to happen in Justin’s life. But after it, life becomes very strange indeed…

…..His eyes stream when it rains outside….. Another café appears, out of the fog, out of nowhere….. Footsteps follow him everywhere….. The dead person talks to him, though it’s not a ghost….. And a magician waits for him, perched on a high wire, high up in the night sky…..

Strange things indeed. But these strange things can’t possibly have anything to do with the murder. 

Can they?

Nobody who visits Café Insomniac can ever look at the world in the same way again.

“I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t — and which is most dangerous.”

Review:
In some ways this is a really interesting novel. It’s certainly well written. Mr. Capell sure knows how to string a sentence together for the most emotional impact. It’s also well edited. And since you spend a decent amount of time in Justin’s head (befuddled as it may be) you get a feel for him. There is a lot of such praise I could give the book.

Unfortunately, I also thought it dragged. Now, some of this is, I’m sure, purposeful on the author’s part. Justin’s sleep deprived mind moves at the speed of molasses. The slow pace of the novel echoes this, creating a certain appropriate atmosphere. But it also made the book feel much longer than it actually is. (And at 360+ pages, it’s already pretty long.)

What’s more, despite all Justin’s hallucinatory, confused ideas creating unexpected twists to the plot, the whole thing was disappointingly predictable in the end. If felt very much like the author wimped out a little bit and veered back onto safer ground before his conclusion.

I was also left with a few questions, though most of it did wrap up nicely. For example (and I’m trying valiantly to not include a spoiler here), was he ever really beat up? One would presume so since he really did know his sister’s problem, which infers he really did go to the hospital. If he was really beat up, who did it if XXX was a hallucination? Or what caused the injury to his hand at the end, if the events of the previous night weren’t real? Essentially, the book isn’t always careful to ensure that the effects of things explained away are also explained.

For the most part, however, it’s an interesting and enjoyable read. Well worth picking up if the blurb sounds interesting to you.