Storywitch's "Book of Shadows"

Well, as promised, here’s a short summary of the reading I did during my November vacation. Turned out, it was good I brought a selection of books, because good ole storm Ida kept us inside with cold temps, heavy rain and winds for three days. But that was okay – at this point in life, I couldn’t ask for more from a vacation than my husband’s companionship, and hours of movie watching and reading time, interspersed with the occasional walk along the beach to watch the dolphins and check out ocean scenery.

As a matter of professional courtesy, I don’t talk about books that I don’t like and/or don’t feel are worth reading. So all of the following, in my opinion, ARE worthwhile reads and I was glad for the time I spent with them. This doesn’t mean I won’t point out my personal little hang-ups with them, if I have any. That’s because I know one person’s hangup is another person’s automatic buy, and so may help the author as well (laughter). I don’t summarize the books in great detail, but if you click each cover, it will take you to the page that tells you more about the story. If it’s a small press/digital, I’ve also included the publisher name.

Okay, first up was Lynn Kurland’s Dreams of Stardust. Very well written medieval timetravel romance where the hero is our contemporary protagonist, who ends up in medieval England, courting a nobleman’s daughter. This book is apparently part of an ongoing series, but you don’t have to read the others to catch up. The story and the way it was written reminded me of my junior high/high school days, when I read a lot of historical romance, including Valerie Sherwood, Kathleen Woodiwiss, etc. Lynn Kurland obviously has a gifted pen.

A word of caution though – unlike Sherwood or Woodiwiss, absolutely zero sex or sexual tension in this book. There’s romance, and a kiss or two, but the focus is on how they achieve their happily ever after against time travel and medieval obstacles, not how they sizzle with one another. While some would say the restraint is appropriate for the time period (since she’s a noble’s daughter and he’s a “nobody” from the future), I’d have expected SOME sexual tension, because  I think they had that, even back then (laughter). But nope, not in this book. So if you’re one of those readers who wants a great romance without the sex, this book is excellent for that, and the storytelling is good for anyone who enjoys a great read.

Okay, next up, In Over Her Head by Judi Fennell. This book was such fun. We have a heroine who is water-phobic, who, through a series of mishaps, ends up having to spend time under the sea with a really hot merman. The opening to this book is one of the best hooks I’ve read. I don’t know who could set it down after the first few pages. Since I’m not really a humor reader (I prefer to live on angsty, high stakes emotional conflict, etc in my reading, as well as my writing), that’s high praise.

I’d had the pleasure of sharing a forum with Judi at the Authors After Dark conference, and I wanted to try one of her books. Her undersea world building is incomparable – ten times richer than my own, and far more well integrated with the story, I have no problem admitting. Plus, her sense of humor is terrific – I laughed out loud quite a few times. As she progressed, I was pleased to see her transition from slapstick into a more fully fleshed emotional motivation for the hero, which helped me identify with him and start rooting for his success. This also deepened the impact of his relationship with our heroine. This is the first in a series of these books, so if you enjoy humorous, extremely well written paranormal mermaid romance, this is an excellent choice.

Next up, Rapture, Book 2 in the Shadowdweller series by Jacquelyn Frank. Fabulous, fantastic, wonderful. As many of you know, I loved Book I, Ecstasy, and raved about it in my newsletter. Like the last one, this book has a great story and wonderful main characters.

Our seriously formidable heroine is a slave who finds herself unwillingly  chosen for one of the greatest honors – to be handmaiden to the most powerful priest of the Shadowdweller world, Magnus. Their relationship, how they evolve together as a united fighting force in the increasingly troubled political clime of that world, is interspersed perfectly with wonderful moments of sensuality and romance between them. Have you ever read one of those paranormal books where the plot just annoys you, because what you really want to be doing is spending more time with the main characters, watching their love story unfold? Well, Jacquelyn Frank spins the right balance between plot and sensual romance in this one. I think you can also read this independently of the first book, though the underlying political intrigues do build throughout the series.

Next, Bound Odyssey. I REALLY raved about this one in my November newsletter. A fantastic BDSM menage (m/m/f). It’s a futuristic, where our planet is dying and our only hope is the chance to seek asylum on a planet that is a purely FemDomme society. The government has enlisted Mira, a professional Domme, to train an alpha tough guy to be an ambassador to that world. To help her with the training, she brings along another Dom, Roman. What’s so intriguing about the emotional interplay is that Roman is submissive to Mira, but is a Master to Jace, the emotionally closed-off guy they have to train. Mira of course is Mistress to them both. Don’t be put off by the futuristic plot. Like Rapture, the storyline is well integrated and doesn’t detract from the relationship dynamics. This is one of those books that captures you with the way the relationship builds between the three, the very real vulnerabilities and strengths that get revealed. The only problem I had was a way too abrupt ending, but I understand from Michelle there will be more about these three in an upcoming book. They won’t be the main characters, but they will be in the book, and we’ll get to see what happens to them. (Ellora’s Cave Publishing)

Boys of Summer – yeah! Yep, I like a great male/male erotic romance, and this was one. I wasn’t so sure in the beginning – I couldn’t quite grasp the characters right at first, but that was quickly resolved, and it developed into a very loving and sexy contemporary erotic romance between one man who is comfortable being gay, and one who is not, even though he loves the other to the point he has no choice but to get over it (laughter). Great flow and pacing, and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for more from Cooper Davis (Samhain Publishing).

Okay, my final two books are BDSM erotic romances. They both came with many high recommendations. I didn’t enjoy them personally as much as I wanted, but as an author, I felt they were very well written and/or had strong and involving characterization. In the BDSM world, there is a saying: “my kink is not your kink”, so sometimes one book’s view of BDSM doesn’t tickle my fancy as much as another’s. But it is important to note that, especially for those who practice D/s, there are a million different approaches, as individual as the people themselves, so my comments below reflect that, not the talent of these two authors. They’d make good erotic bookclub selections, because they both leave you thinking!

The premise for Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton is truly remarkable and heart rending – a dying Master who asks his best friend to move in with him and train to take his place for his emotionally fragile wife, for when the inevitable happens. The characters were well drawn, and the story was very realistic in dealing with the onset of a terminal disease. I also liked what we learned of Kayden and Seth’s friendship over the years as the book progressed. Like many friendships, the depth is not really fully understood until a loss like this is faced.

The only real hangups I had were two. One, it got somewhat repetitious, which again, is realistic – you go round and round over the same issues when dealing with cancer, yet it doesn’t always translate well to a story format. My other problem was that it seemed the men became/become Masters because Leah had to have it and needs it, like a medicine for her “illness”, rather than either one being natural Doms. Our heroine was very damaged, no question, needing the BDSM to cope, so her “improvement” toward the end was certainly a good thing for her personally. I’ll let you decide. A very thought provoking book (Lyrical Press).

Butterfly Unpinned was not a light read. The heroine is in a pretty extreme, hardcore, BDSM situation where she has accepted being treated as a slave in  a household of women serving one Master. Over time, through meeting our woodworking hero, there to do furniture and sculpture work for the Master, she realizes that’s not what she wants. She chooses to leave with her carpenter. Thus begins a journey of transition for her, the unpinning of the Butterfly.

I liked the Native American roots of the carpenter, and how that background figured into this story – it gave it a unique twist, for certain. Only two hangups on this one as well, and they were interestingly similar to the other book: 1) I couldn’t get a good grasp of whether the hero was truly Dominant, or just dabbling and/or willing to try for her sake, and 2) the heroine was quite obviously a committed natural submissive who’d gotten into a bad situation, but during her subsequent “healing”, it seemed her submissive qualities were minimized – the message being she could probably make do with a little “slap and tickle” domination once she was fully over her “self-destructive” phase.

Still, the writing is incredibly evocative, and once again, a very thought provoking tale. (Samhain Publishing, Bonnie Dee and Laura Bacchi)

Just a side note – Butterfly Unpinned had the most awesome cover, didn’t it? I’d love to have that as a poster!!

Hope these will give you some ideas for your own TBR list – as I noted at the beginning, all of them are time well spent!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:21 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.