I went on a bit of a reading binge this week, so I have some reactions (because, now that my food critic job is over, I’m going to need to get opinionated about something!) So, my recent reads with short critiques, in the order that I liked them and with my new Five Semicolon (best punctuation mark ever!) Rating System:
I was incredibly lucky to get an ARC of this explosive opening to a dynamite new series! I literally couldn’t put this book down. I read the whole thing in a two hour plane trip and two hours in bed that night. The characters were fascinating and multi-faceted, the action was non-stop, the plot was intricate and the settings were lush and detailed. A Tampa girl myself, I felt almost like I was at home when I read Leto’s descriptions. I hear this is going to be a series and all I can think is — when is the next one coming out?Dirty Little Secrets gets Four Semicolons and a Comma from me.
This is the first book I’ve ever bought from Liquid Silver Books and if this is an example of the quality to be found there, I’m definitely heading back for more! I loved this book. I loved the romance the way I liked the romance in Secretary — nothing I’d be into, but boy am I glad they lived happily ever after! Anderson actually made the threesome thing romantic, through a tender, incredibly heartfelt story of two noble cops who are the victims of an unfortunate experiement in peacekeeping — their psyches are permanently fused, but they need the addition of a willing owman to make the joining permanent and fully operational. The reason it works is becuase these guys aren’t sexually deviant; they’re your basic blue color detectives just looking for a nice girl, but one that doesn’t mind taking them both on. Tall order. To add to that problem, she needs to have a special brain chemistry that is compatible with their malfunctioning Tandem Chips. Now, before you rush out and buy this book, I will point out that it’s incredibly explicit and depicts sex acts (aside from the obvious) that actually were a bit much for me. But once again, the well-plotted story and quick-paced writing glossed over the rough spots for me. Anderson is a very creative storyteller, and has an eye for detail that make me think she’s got a big future in SF. Very, very well done. Four Semicolons
I haven’t been keeping up on my Blaze releases in the past few months, and I’ve picked up a few to get into what’s being publishied in the line *now*. Despite the slow start (no pun intended), I was with Alexander with her sweet, rather tender story of a mature, hippie baker and her Peter-Pan syndrome lover. Tucker, the “hero” (and believe me, I use that word extremely loosely) seemed to get along fine. He wasn’t the type of guy I’d fall for (or even recommend to Rory) but the heroine was pretty with it (love me some plus-sized woman secure enough to be a nude model!) and if she liked him, who was I to question her love life? However, Alexander lost me early in the third act, where Tucker and Rory are in bed, and when Tuck’s nosy brothers come into his trashed bachelor pad basement apartment, he freaks out like he’s an eleven year old who’s been caught with his hands down his pants, freaks out, and kicks her out of his apartment window, clutching her clothes in a bundle A 32 year old man. Supposedly, this schlub redeems himself by dressing up in Armani and Prada, but you can’t turn this piglet’s ear into a silk purse. First act: Three Semicolons, Second act: Four Semicolons, Third Act: One Semicolon, for an unfortunate average of Two and Two-Thirds Semicolons (would that be two semicolons and a raised period?)
(In passing, this book had “sisters” named Rory (for Aurora) and Mikki (for Michaela) much like the twins in Leto’s recent Blaze series. What’s up with that? Are there a Rory/Aurora/Mikki/Michaela crew in daily soaps or something? Is that why they’re appearing in Blazes in droves?)
I’m admittedly more of a Pixar Princess than a Dreamworks Diva, but this movie is from the man who brought my childhood imagination Tron so I thought I’d give it a whirl. And whirl it did. Though visually stunning, I don’t know if I should be paying $9.75 to watch computer animated “marble madness” or “domino” games. The visual tricks got a little old after a while when it became obvious that there was no decent story to back the bells and whistles up. A perfectly motivated chase scene morphed into a false doubles ice-skate spoof of robots sliding on ballbearings, and the climax was put on hold so they could do a ten second homage to britney-freaking- Spears. Brad Bird, where are you when I need you? I’ll take your Iron Giant any day.
Some questions I have: Where did the rest of the “outmoded” army go during the battle? Why did the Bigweld hole himself up to play dominoes? Why did the evil guy’s dad just hang out there? How many movies to I have to watch where Amanda Bynes (or her digital equivalent) dances (badly) to James Brown? I used to like computer animated movies becuase the cost of making them meant that the script had to be perfect and strong before people would put in the time to drawing things. Apparently, that’s out the window. I should have known that “the people who brought me Ice Age” didn’t have anything I really wanted.Two Semicolons and a Comma.
Another of the new Blazes by a relatively new Blaze writer, but one who is apparently making a big splash in the line. Now, I very much enjoyed the premise of this story — a well-motivated deception! An interesting twist on amnesia! However, a lackluster heroine and a really meh hero sunk a large portion of the book for me. Redeemed, somewhat by a spunky secondary heroine/best friend and her sexy, redheaded (note to the PTB over there at Blaze, more of these men, please!) doctor secondary hero/best friend were an absolute joy to read. I’d read another of Hunter’s books, if only in hope that she writes more Travises and Pennys, and fewer Mirandas and Colins. Meanwhile, because the split in the book was about 80/20, and I’d grade it 1.5/4 I’m forced to leave it with and average of Two Semicolons.
