Tag Archives: romance

Dragon Blue

Book Review of Dragon Blue: A Lie That’s True (The Dragonlords of Xandakar #1), by Macy Babineaux

I picked up a copy of Dragon Blue, by Macy Babineaux at Amazon. It was free and still was at the time of posting.

Description from Goodreads:
Miranda Betts works as a waitress in a roadside diner in Oklahoma. Her life will change when a mysterious female customer leaves an ornate necklace in lieu of paying her check. Later, alone in her trailer, she tries on the necklace and is transported to a strange land full of people who can shift into other creatures, including fearsome dragons. And everyone thinks she’s someone she’s not. 

Corban Everfrost leads the clan of blue dragons and rules the Icelands after the mysterious disappearance of his father. While investigating the appearance of strange interlopers from another world, his sister informs him that he is to be wed to the daughter of the Wildfire clan who has been in exile on Earth since she was an infant. Corban wants nothing to do with a new bride or the Wildfires. But when he sees the dark, fiery woman brought to his world via a magic necklace, she stirs something within him. 

At first, Miranda thinks Corban is a jerk. He thinks she’s an outcast from a clan he despises. But soon they will learn each other’s secrets, and as they learn to love each other their relationship may be the key to saving all of Xandakar from dark forces from another world. 

Review:
WARNING: This review has spoilers and swearing.

OK, look, I knew when I picked this book up that it wasn’t going to be grand literature. I knew I was in for a little pulpy, erotic fiction/romance. But I just can’t with this shit. I JUST CAN’T.

The romance…how to say this….fuck it, it isn’t. This is in no way a romance. The writing isn’t bad. The editing wasn’t abysmal. The pacing is rushed, but in this sort of book it often is. Just like the fact that the plot is so paper thin I could see through it is not unusual. All of that I was willing to accept as par for the course.

But that this is some author’s idea of romance…Fuck you. No it isn’t. (And there’s no where near enough sex to make it erotica either.) Here’s the spoiler: she pointlessly shows up naked (because of course she does, women always seem to have to be put in an embarrassing and uncertain sexual position for no conceivable reason), he insults her and walks away. He then calls his sex slave (the book calls her consort, but she doesn’t seem to have the option of saying no when he calls her for sex and she appears to live in a sheer dress with no characteristics but sex, so I’m going with sex slave) and makes sure she sucks him off with her ass in the air toward the door, such that he smugly comes just as Miranda enters the room to ensure she knows her place and that she isn’t needed or wanted. (Said sex slave is then just dismissed with his cum still dripping off her lips, no consideration for any desire she might or might not have.) He and Miranda exchange a few insults and then she too is dismissed. The next afternoon she approaches him and flirts for some unfathomable reason. Why would she do that? He kisses her and shoves his finger in her vagina and suddenly THEY ARE IN LOVE. People that is literally their entire ‘romance.’ And I’m using literally appropriately here, not hyperbolically. There is not a single pleasant word between them. There is no concession on his part that he’s been an ass and should apologize to her. There is no point at which either opinion of the other has reason to change. NOTHING.

That’s not romance, that’s abuse dresses up as romance. So, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off for trying to pass it off as love. I thought there was nothing worse than insta-love, but I was wrong. Love that’s presented as having ‘grown’ between two people when it very obviously has been planted in such barren ash and hasn’t, is in fact worse. Who knew? Fuck it, again, I just can’t with that shit. I’m all ragey.

Then there is the rest of the book, what little there is. Every obstacle is overcome with a deus ex machina solution. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Miranda makes allies of her enemies with nothing more than a hug and easy coincidental solutions present themselves left and right. Bah!

I did appreciate the lesbian (or bi) side character and the heroine’s apparent bisexual leanings, even if it’s obvious she’s never going to pursue them. Having them there and legitimized was nice. I also appreciated that Miranda was given her own sexual agency and not made out to be a slut for having sex for pleasure. (Though this was compromised a little by her calling the sex slave a slut. Guess she can’t give others the same courtesy she receives.)

The only thing I found interesting was the epilogue setting up book two. But I won’t be reading it because I can just imagine all the ways the author could find to ruin it.

Wanted, A Gentleman

Book Review of Wanted, A Gentleman, by K.J. Charles

I received a copy of K. J. Charles‘ novel, Wanted, A Gentleman from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:

By the good offices of Riptide Publishing
KJ Charles’s new Entertainment

WANTED, A GENTLEMAN
Or, Virtue Over-Rated

the grand romance of

Mr. Martin St. Vincent . . . a Merchant with a Mission, also a Problem
Mr. Theodore Swann . . . a humble Scribbler and Advertiser for Love

Act the First:

the offices of the Matrimonial Advertiser, London
where Lonely Hearts may seek one another for the cost of a shilling

Act the Second:

a Pursuit to Gretna Green (or thereabouts)

featuring

a speedy Carriage
sundry rustic Inns
a private Bed-chamber

***

In the course of which are presented

Romance, Revenge, and Redemption
Deceptions, Discoveries, and Desires

the particulars of which are too numerous to impart

Review:

K. J. Charles is one of those authors I know I can depend on for a stellar read and Wanted, A Gentleman did not disappoint. However, I also have to admit that I didn’t love it as much as past Charles book. The whole thing just felt a little more one-dimensional than past books. Some of this is no doubt because the plot is rushed, by which I mean the characters are in a rush in the plot. But some of it is just that it is a mush straighter, less elaborate plot-line than other Charles’ books I’ve read. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it didn’t light me up quite so much.

Having said that, I did think Martin and Theo were marvelous characters. They felt very real to me. I liked the complicated emotional quandary Martin was stuck in and, of course, the sex was hot. The book wasn’t a home run for me, but not a foul ball either.

Dance With Me

Book Review of Dance With Me (Dancing #1), by Heidi Cullinan

I bought a copy of Dance With Me, by Heidi Cullinan.

Description from Goodreads:
Ed Maurer has bounced back, more or less, from the neck injury that permanently benched his semipro football career. He hates his soul-killing office job, but he loves volunteering at a local community center. The only fly in his ointment is the dance instructor, Laurie Parker, who can’t seem to stay out of his way. 

Laurie was once one of the most celebrated ballet dancers in the world, but now he volunteers at Halcyon Center to avoid his society mother’s machinations. It would be a perfect escape, except for the oaf of a football player cutting him glares from across the room. 

When Laurie has a ballroom dancing emergency and Ed stands in as his partner, their perceptions of each other turn upside down. Dancing leads to friendship, being friends leads to becoming lovers, but most important of all, their partnership shows them how to heal the pain of their pasts. Because with every turn across the floor, Ed and Laurie realize the only escape from their personal demons is to keep dancing—together.

Review:
I found this to be enjoyable, but a fairly standard M/M romance novel. It was trope heavy and some of the characterization cliched. Of course, I like a lot of M/M tropes, that’s part of why I read it. But I also like a book to go beyond them too and I’m not sure how much Dance With Me managed that.

I liked Laurie, Ed, and their stereotypically unexpected pairing. (Though it’s that same real-life stereotypical lack of expectation that makes it so very expected in an M/M romance book.) I liked Oliver and Christopher as side characters (really just Oliver, as Christopher is fairly characterless, but they’re presented as a pair). However, I really felt that Laurie’s wealthy, dismissive, pushy parents and Ed’s working-class , accepting, emotive, loving family was painfully cliched. I liked that they got their happy ending, but the proposal felt like a pat, expected conclusion.

Really, I could go on like this. Cullinan providing something nice in the book, but then having to note its common, overuse in MM romance. It made the whole book feel a bit formulaic, no matter that I enjoyed it.

Lastly, I have to address the hot tub scene, as many other reviewers have. I too thought it felt out of place, not because I’m a prude, but because Laurie expressed several times that he wasn’t into public displays of sex and, even in the scene itself, he’s scared and nervous. Yes, I see that Cullinan was trying to use this to show Laurie accepting himself as a gay man and his sexuality. However, it didn’t fit him as a character, gay or otherwise. It felt like a poorly done bit of kink thrown in there at the end for no reason but spice.

Like every book I’ve read by Cullinan, the writing and editing were fine and I’ll almost assuredly read another one.