Tag Archives: lgbtq

Book Review of The Convergence Theory, by Lia Cooper

The Convergency TheoryI bought a copy of Lia Cooper‘s The Convergence Theory, book 2 of the Blood & Bone Trilogy. I reviewed book 1, The Duality Paradigm, here.

Description from Goodreads:
Walking away from your soulmate is not for the faint of heart… 

Following the Matilde Walker murder, Detective Ethan Ellison is back working misdemeanors and minor crimes, but he’s only just begun to realize how much the experience has changed his life. 

Meanwhile, Detective Patrick Clanahan would give anything to get the memory of Ethan out of his head. If he can’t have him, and every sign suggests that he can’t, he sure has hell wishes everything at the station didn’t remind him of the other man.

Review:
This was one seriously frustrating read. The problem? I sooo almost loved it. It was so close to being a really good book. But it’s horribly unbalanced, concentrating in all the wrong places and skimming over everything I would have considered important.

The two main characters, Patrick and Ethan, don’t even get together until 50+% into the book and they are miserable for that time. Then there is the mystery to be solved. It’s ok, the mystery. It’s of sideline importance at most and you can feel it as the killer comes out of nowhere and is given very little attention.

Then after spending 200+ pages apart and miserable, the reader is given two brief sex scenes and one skimpy conversation to settle the men’s misunderstandings and future as mates. It’s nowhere, NOWHERE near enough of a payoff in the romance department. In fact, it feels very much like the author when ‘ta-da!’ there’s your sex scene, everything’s all better now. Um….NO! That’s not at all romantic and I feel very, very cheated.

I did still very much enjoy the writing and I like the characters, even the random female sidekick (who of course will turn out not to be so random in the next book, if I know my fantasy tropes) was fun. Patrick holds so much potential to be a heart-melting lead. I just know I could truly adore him if given the chance. Please, Ms. Cooper, don’t’ cheat us out of it next time. So, it was ALMOST wonderful, but disappointing instead. (Oh, and just like in book one, I have no idea what the title refers to. I wonder if book three will finally explain the titling.)

Strength of the Pack

Book Review of Strength of the Pack (The Tameness of the Wolf, #1), by Kendall McKenna

Strength of the PackI grabbed a copy of Kendra McKenna‘s Strength of the Pack on a day it was running free from the publisher (which is a bit of a miracle since it’s normally $8.99).

Description from Goodreads:
A Marine werewolf and his commander bring legends to life while surviving combat deployment in Afghanistan.

Lieutenant Lucas Young doesn’t know much about shifters. When Sergeant Noah Hammond is assigned to Lucas’ platoon, the Marine Corps’ True Alpha werewolf challenges the Lieutenant’s authority and his self-control. As Lucas learns to dominate and command Noah, he struggles against a strong attraction and deepening emotional bond. During their combat deployment to Afghanistan, Lucas and Noah begin mirroring legendary partnerships. Their bond and their power grow as they survive dangerous combat and ambushes. When one of them is wounded in battle, they both must embrace the strength of their bond before they lose each other forever.

Review:
I’m disappointed. I was really looking forward to reading this book and it started off so well. For close to half of it, I was loving it. I thought both Lucas and Noah were damn sexy. I thought the sexy-scenes were hot (even if there was no actual sex). I thought the set up to go to war was interesting. I happen to have a special love of scenting in fantasy romance/erotica and there is a lot of that here. I was truly enjoying the experience.

The problem is that the book then had its second half, which pretty much just felt like the first half on repeat. It takes far, far, far too long for the relationship to progress. In the mean time, the characters keep doing the exact same things over and over and over again. The author even uses the same phrases to describe the same actions a lot of times. So, honestly, it just feels like the exact same sexy scene again and again (but still no sex until the very end).

I was annoyed by that, but I would have tolerated it. What finally snapped my patience was the fact that the two men had a psychic bond. They were literally in each-others’ heads, hearing thoughts, sharing emotions, etc. So, I find it 100% and absolutely unbelievable that Lucas could go sooooo long without realising Noah’s true feelings or that his situation was not just a professional one. It was beyond the realms of reasonable believability, therefore extremely frustrating to watch the relationship stagnate because one character hasn’t figured something out that I can’t understand how he couldn’t see. Plus, he’d practically been told more than once by more than one person. Gah!

Then there was the whole Dominant of the True Alpha thing. For the first half I understood it (even if I had to force myself to overlook the obvious contraction of it). Lucas was shown to be…well, dominating of Noah. But by the second half he had fizzled out to the average mm romance ‘bottom’ and any domination that might have been happening was not by him. So, it lost all significance for me. Let’s just call a mate a mate and stop trying to dress it up as new and unusual.

The writing was fine. The editing was passable. I noticed a few mishaps, but not enough to bother me. All in all, an OK read that felt far worse than it was because I had such high hopes, but also really was not as good as it could have been, for fairly obvious and easily fixable reasons.

Book Review of A Case of Possession & Flight of Magpies, by K. J. Charles

I borrowed copies of K. J. Charles’ A Case of Possession and Flight of Magpies (Magpies, #2 & 3). Thanks, T. I read and reviewed Book One of the series, The Magpie Lord, here.

18074870Description from Goodreads:
Lord Crane has never had a lover quite as elusive as Stephen Day. True, Stephen’s job as justiciar requires secrecy, but the magician’s disappearing act bothers Crane more than it should. When a blackmailer threatens to expose their illicit relationship, Crane knows a smart man would hop the first ship bound for China. But something unexpectedly stops him. His heart.

Stephen has problems of his own. As he investigates a plague of giant rats sweeping London, his sudden increase in power, boosted by his blood-and-sex bond with Crane, is rousing suspicion that he’s turned warlock. With all eyes watching him, the threat of exposure grows. Stephen could lose his friends, his job and his liberty over his relationship with Crane. He’s not sure if he can take that risk much longer. And Crane isn’t sure if he can ask him to.

The rats are closing in, and something has to give… 

Review: 
Not quite as marvellous as the first book but still quite enjoyable. I still like Crane and Day. I still adore Merrick. Yep, he’s by far my favourite of the lot. The new additions were nice too—other justicars, Leo, the men at the club.

The mystery itself was only ok, however. My complaints are very similar to book one’s. The villains seemed to come out of nowhere and there were bits of the story unexplained.

Despite those niggles I can’t wait to read the next book. Charles’ writing always grabs me. I love her dialogue and the subtle humour that often slips in.

21529170Description from Goodreads:
With the justiciary understaffed, a series of horrifying occult murders to be investigated, and a young student who is flying—literally—off the rails, magical law enforcer Stephen Day is under increasing stress. And his relationship with his aristocratic lover, Lord Crane, is beginning to feel the strain.

Crane chafes at the restrictions of England’s laws, and there’s a worrying development in the blood-and-sex bond he shares with Stephen. A development that makes a sensible man question if they should be together at all.

When a thief strikes at the heart of Crane’s home, a devastating loss brings his closest relationships into bitter conflict—especially his relationship with Stephen. And as old enemies, new enemies, and unexpected enemies paint the lovers into a corner, the pressure threatens to tear them apart.

Review:
The series is on an upswing. Again, the book is well written, with snappy dialogue and characters you can really feel. I simply adore Crane and Merrick’s relationship, build on decades of earned trust and shared hardship. Crane and Day are also hot together.

I did find myself squirming a bit with the domination/submission play of Crane and Day. I don’t normally have a problem with this, quite like is at times. Here however, being that Crane is, in fact, a Lord and Day a mere commoner and they bring those particular elements into the play, it felt too close to the way aristocrats, like Crane’s brother for example, take advantage of their position to abuse those of lower social classes. That’s probably a personal niggle, but it really squinked me out, possibly because it’s more strongly displayed here than in previous books.

On the other side of things, I’m not usually a huge fan of hearts and flowers and earnest declarations of love, but I did enjoy seeing Crane put it all on the verbal line for Day. It’s squee worthy (and yes that is a reference to this whole hoo-ha*). Despite not being a general fan of historical novels, I honestly can’t wait to continue this series.

*There has been a ‘storm in a teacup’ about disclosed or undisclosed friendships between readers and reviewers in my corner of the internet recently. And since I’ve commented on a couple of these threads I’ll make my disclosure here. It is a coincidence that I happened to be reading a book by K. J. Charles book at the same time that this (comments) exploded around reviewers of one of her other books.
I started this series before the kerfuffle got rolling. Since then, I have followed Charles on Twitter and was happily followed back. We have not however exchanged a single word, about reviews (which she’s clear on her blog that she doesn’t read) or anything else. I think she’s shown respectable restraint in staying out of the fray, even as others tried to pull her in, accused her of manipulation and suggested that she should be accountable and responsible for the actions of readers of her work.