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Book Review of Calvin’s Head, by David Swatling

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Calvin's HeadI received a copy of David Swatling‘s novel, Calvin’s Head, from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Life in Amsterdam isn’t all windmills and tulips when you’re homeless. Jason Dekker lives in a jeep with his dog, Calvin, on the outskirts of the city. A thesis on Van Gogh brought him to the Netherlands, and the love of Dutch artist Willy Hart convinced him to stay. But Willy is gone and Dekker is on the brink of a total meltdown. On a summer morning in the park, Calvin sniffs out the victim of a grisly murder. Dekker sees the opportunity for a risky strategy that might solve their problems. Unfortunately, it puts them directly in the sights of the calculating stone-cold killer, Gadget. Their paths are destined to collide, but nothing goes according to plan when they end up together in an attic sex-dungeon. Identities shift and events careen out of control, much to the bewilderment of one ever-watchful canine. Oscar Wilde wrote that each man kills the thing he loves. He didn’t mean it literally. Or did he?

Review:
Well, this book starts off with a bang, before tapering off to a much more manageable, pleasant pace. It’s told predominantly from the POV of down-on-his-luck Dekker, but also occasionally from that of psycho, Gadget, and the unusually smart dog, Calvin. Yes, the dog has his own POV. Calvin’s contributions feel a bit scattered and pointless for a while (He is a dog after all, how cognisant would you expect his POV to be?), but it really does contribute to the story and he’s incredibly important.

I did wonder why it never seemed to even occur to Dekker to return home to the States, as opposed to remain homeless in Amsterdam. (I imagine the embassy would help.) Seems it would have simplified his situation. I suspect this was supposed to be because he had been in Amsterdam so long he considered it home. But it’s never made clear exactly how long he’s been there or even how old he is, to approximate it based on how long ago he finished the thesis that brought him there in the first place, assuming he did at some point. This lack of age was only exacerbated when he gave Gadget the moniker, The Kid, while guessing he was in his early 20s. This inability to anchor the story in time bothered me, but not enough to put me off reading it.

I also think the interspersed Valentine stories felt gratuitous. I understand why they were included and what they were meant to be providing the book, but it mostly just felt like an easy plot device to add the little bit of extra sex that the plot appeared to be missing. Meh.

While the story had a fair-handed (if anti-climactic) ending, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a happy one. I appreciate this. One of my pet peeves is books that can’t bear to let stories end in realistic languishment. Granted, Dekker is on the upswing, but he’s still uncertain where to go from where is it. It feels much more real than if he’d found his sudden happily ever after.  It’s a thriller after all, not a romance.

Final thoughts: this one had almost everything you could want…a little action, a little romance (of sorts, though I don’t think the word fits well), some feelz, an interesting setting or two, some art history, a cute dog (I’m a dog person, so this tickled me), a bad-bad man, a relatable nice-guy, good writing, etc. I’ll be looking for Mr. Swatling’s next book.

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.

Book Review of The Pack or the Panther, by Tara Lain

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The Pack or the PantherI bought a copy of the Pack or the Panther, by Tara Lain.

Description from Goodreads:
Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, he’s lived to please his family and pack—even letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analiese’s half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself. 

When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and won’t rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.

Review:
Goodness, I’ve had rotten luck lately in the book department. I’m not one of those ‘find fault with everything’ readers. I promise I’m not. But this one ticked very few boxes in my ‘likely to love it’ listing.

The writing itself is fine. It seemed pretty well-edited, and Cole is to die for. He’s an endearing mix of big, tough alpha wolf and tongue-tied, flustered cutie. Oh, and there are some cool side characters. I liked Cole’s best friend, Lindsay, though it was pretty darned convenient that he had so many connections and could do all the save-the-day type things he could. But I liked him. And it was pretty awesome that Cole’s mom is so kickass on her own. But that’s where my praise ends. 

I hated Paris. He was like some amped-up caricature of a sassy, slutty (in the fun way, if you know what I mean) bottom. He was selfish, and a lot of his issues weren’t well explained. He seemed to be damaged in some way but claimed to have had a happy life. 

Then there was the sex. OMG, the sex. It was just wrong in so many ways. It was effortless, crude, rushed, and the things they said…cringe. I’m embarrassed for them, and that’s before I factor in the howling. No, it didn’t do it for me. I didn’t find it arousing AT ALL.

Then there was the sappy, ‘everyone apologises and tells them how great they are’ ending. I mean, it’s great that Cole’s parents finally came around, but that whole scene in the new house was hard to swallow—like trying to drink straight agave. Not happening. And the twist at the very end? It made no sense. Why keep that hidden throughout the whole book? I can think of a number of times that ability would have smoothed already difficult situations.

So, on the whole, this is a failure for me. There were things I appreciated, and, again, the writing ok. But on my ‘personal preferences’ list, it didn’t score well.