Monday, September 28, 2009
The Adventures of Vin Fiz
***½ The Adventures of Vin Fiz by Clive Cussler. Juvenile action/adventure.
I bought this for Camden, then when he was finished reading it, I put it in my TBR pile.
The story is about twins Casey and Lacey, who live on a farm. They meet a new hired hand, Mr. Sucoh Sucop (hint: read it backwards), and discover he's invented a magic mat that will turn their toys life-sized. So they try it out with their toy plane they call "Vin Fiz" and go on some adventures.
You'd think that with the name Clive Cussler on the cover, those adventures would be exciting. But they aren't, really. It reminds me a bit of Stuart Little, in the types of adventures, and in the way that there's no overarching plot to the book--it's just a series of things that happen. Actions have no consequences, and there's very little emotional component to any of the things the kids do.
The writing, as well, is rather stilted, something that surprised me after years of loving Cussler's grown-up fiction.
Camden liked it more than I did--he read it when he was 11--but even then, he said it was "good but not great." Which doesn't surprise me. I know kids can enjoy books and movies that don't follow the rules of good storytelling (like having a coherent, logical plot), but the more they experience well-constructed stories, the less they'll enjoy the poorly-constructed ones, even if they can't explain why.
And no, I absolutely do not mean that kids should be reading classics or award-winning books--far too many of which are dull or depressing. But there are a lot of better-written books for kids that are also fun.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, Juvenile, ActionAdventure
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, books, JuvenileFiction
Hell with the Ladies
Hell with the Ladies. Contemporary romance.
This anthology is about the devil's three sons. The devil wants to retire and turn the "family business" over to one of his sons, so he gives them each a test.
- ***½ "Jack" by Kathleen O'Reilly
Jack Vassonovich is the oldest son, and his task is to get the Book of Souls away from bookstore owner Gabriella D'angelis. When he fails, it's up to... - ***½ "Nick" by Julie Kenner
Nick Velnias, the second son. Nick is a painter, and his task is to paint Delilah Burnett's portrait, and in the process take her soul. When he fails as well, it's up to... - ***½ "Marcus" by Dee Davis
The youngest son, Marcus Diablo. His task is to steal the ruby known as the Devil's Delight. But to find it, he'll have to work with old adversary/flame Celeste Abbot.
The stories were all readable and entertaining, but I'm glad I didn't read them all at once because there was a certain sameness to them. Trying to put my finger on exactly what kept me from loving them--I think I expected them to be a little darker. These are supposed to be the sons of Lucifer himself, but I didn't feel any menace from them, and I was never concerned that they'd chose reigning in hell over staying with their human loves.
Oh. I'm categorizing this as "contemporary romance" instead of "paranormal romance" because despite the presence of the devil and his sons, there really wasn't anything paranormal about it. Hmmm. Yes, they were immortal, and they were supposed to be trying to steal souls, but you never actually saw any of that.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Stroke of Midnight
Stroke of Midnight. Paranormal romance.
- **** "Winter Born" by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
I have to laugh at the negative reviews on Amazon for this first story--those who have read Kenyon's Dark Hunters series complain that it introduces were-panthers to the series; and those who haven't read the series complain that it's too much a part of the series to stand alone.
Basically, male were-panthers are bound for life when they meet their mate, but female were-panthers aren't. So when Dante meets Pandora, that's it for him, but not for her. And she's in heat, and they're at a convention where there are other possible mates around.
Adding to the problem is that the pack Pandora escaped from (something to do with her being born in winter--hence the title) is trying to recapture her.
This story was about par for my experiences with Kenyon's work--I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. - ***½ "Born of the Night" by Amanda Ashley.
This is a medieval werewolf revenge story. Lady Shanara and Lord Reyes's families are bitter enemies: Shanara's father killed Reyes's father and wears his pelt (he was a werewolf, as is his son). So Lord Reyes takes lady Shanara hostage, and to further punish his enemy, he's going to marry her.
I'm not a big fan of revenge marriage stories--seems like you'd be hurting yourself a lot more than your enemy. And I'm not a big fan of stories about paranormal creatures who bemoan their fate--in this case, they're cursed with being werewolves. I don't think it's simply because I'm used to vamps and wolves who like being what they are (Spike!), though that probably has a little to do with it. Mostly, I think it's because I'm definitely a make-the-best-of-what-you've-got kind of person.
So taking that into account, this was a nice, well-written story, just not my cup of tea. - ***** "Make it Last Forever" by L. A. Banks.
Wow. I loved this one, but a surprising number of reviewers on Amazon absolutely loathed it, most of them citing the fact that it started out in 1979. Um. Yeah. I loathe several books because the hero wears a blue shirt. It makes as much sense. What was wrong with 1979? I admit I have a soft spot for the year--it's when I graduated high school. Anyway. The story.
What surprises me is that it's part of a series, but I haven't read the series. In fact, I've only read one other story by L. A. Banks, and I didn't really like it. - ****½ "Red Moon Rising" by Lori Handeland.
The last story is about a writer, Maya, living in an isolated cabin while she's battling writer's block. She has bigger problems, though--she's being stalked by a skinwalker.
Enter Clay, a Jager-Sucher--that is, a werewolf hunter, who's there to protect her, but (of course--this is a romance, after all) their attraction to each other gets in the way.
I'm guessing this is part of a series as well, and one I think I'd like to read more of. The touches of humor in this story set it apart for me.
Categories: Books, 5stars, 4.5stars, 4stars, 3.5stars, ParanormalRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, 4 stars, 4.5 stars, 5 stars, books, ParanormalRomance
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Untamed
***½ Untamed by Nora Roberts. Contemporary romance. re-read.
This is Nora's circus book, and another very early one--from 1983. Again, it shows.
Jo (short for Jovilette--why??? who knows.) Wilder (heh) is a lion trainer in a small circus. She and the rest of her circus family are afraid that Keane Prescott, the new owner of the circus, will sell it or close it down. So it's up to Jo to convince him that the circus is worth saving.
She talks him into traveling with the circus, and along the way, she falls in love with him.
Again we have the paternalistic hero, with the typical-of-80s-romances trait of being pretty darn inexplicable. He waffles back and forth in his reactions to Jo in a way that experienced readers of 80s romances will realize means that he's in love with her, but which just confuses Jo (along with any readers who are used to heroes who make at least a little bit of sense).
I suppose it's not really fair to complain about a book that simply follows the conventions of the time, but while I try to take books for what (in my perception) they were intended to be, my ratings reflect my enjoyment, and even in the 80s I didn't like that convention.
OTOH, I'm a huge fan of the small family circuses you can still find here in Europe, and once again, Nora did a wonderful job of portraying an unusual setting and job with non-intrusive thoroughness. I really enjoyed visiting behind the scenes in the circus, and that was where most of my favorite parts of the book took place. There was a particularly affecting scene with Jo's oldest lion that even brought me to tears.
Bottom line: if you've 'gotta have 'em all', or if you like circuses and don't mind 80s romances, check it out. If not, you're not missing a lot by skipping this one.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Monday, April 13, 2009
Dance of Dreams
***½ Dance of Dreams by Nora Roberts. Contemporary romance.
This is the sequel to Reflections, and I read them the same month; I just didn't get around to writing about this one until now.
As I suspected in my review of Reflections, I did like Dance of Dreams better, but only slightly.
If I remember correctly, in the previous book, Ruth Bannion was sixteen, so this takes place nine years later (although the book says five, it also says she's 25 now), and Ruth is a rising star in the world of dance.
Unless I'm missing something in my quick memory-refreshing scan through the book, Dance of Dreams is rather unusual, in that there's no real catalyst for the change in Ruth and Nickolai's relationship other than a brief comment by Lindsay (heroine of Reflections, Ruth's stepmother, and Nickolai's former partner) that Ruth doesn't seem happy.
At any rate, Dance of Dreams is the story of the development of their relationship from teacher/student to romance. They're both volatile and passionate, and it shows in the progress of their relationship.
Something else that shows is that this is one of Nora's earliest books, from 1983. And it shares some problems with other romances of that time--like the paternalistic hero, something that gets on my last nerve. At least Ruth isn't the typical heroine for that time period--she doesn't hate men.
It is a nice view into the world of professional dance, with its cutthroat competition and grueling physical challenges, and the detail is handled so masterfully that you'd swear that Nora had previously been a professional dancer. Ironic that she seems to have lost that skill.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest
***½ Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest. Comedy spoof.
Directed by: Dominic Polcino.
Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Mike Henry
Since Carl's in Switzerland, Camden and I watched this last night, along with The Blair Thumb. This must be my week for Star Wars spoofs. If it's not clear from the cover or the YouTube preview above, this is Family Guy's version of Star Wars.
It's very cute. Stewie is just right as Darth Vader, and there are some really amusing bits. My favorites were the ones where the orchestra showed up and then at the very end where they were discussing the Robot Chicken version of the Star Wars spoof. Perhaps we'll watch that one tonight just to compare and contrast.
Still, fun as it was, it was more homage than spoof. Other than occasional asides, it stuck closely to the original Star Wars story. The jokes were more added-on than poking fun at the original. I'm not complaining--it's nothing I didn't expect--just explaining why for me it was worth 3.5 stars.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, Comedy
Labels: 3.5 stars, comedy, Movies
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
***½ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. General fiction.
This was the latest selection for our neighborhood book club. Again, it served the purpose of getting me to read something I normally wouldn't read, and I had a wonderful time at the book club meeting, despite feeling just miserable (I had a sinus pressure headache from a change in the weather, a kink in my lower back, and I had bloating and indigestion from PMS--*rolling my eyes at the great timing*).
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a story, written in epistolary style, about the island of Guernsey shortly after the end of WWII. Author Juliet Ashton is at loose ends, casting about for a subject for a new novel now that her stint as a humorous wartime columnist is over. A chance letter from Dawsey Adams, who'd purchased a used book formerly belonging to Juliet, sparks a series of letters to and from Juliet and the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and results in friendships and the subject of Juliet's next book.
Through the letters, you get an interesting picture of the place and time. The technique makes for an almost surreal portrait--the reader is removed from the action both because it takes place in the past and because it's being related not directly to the reader, but to a third party. As a result, the horrors of war and the occupation feel on a par with everyday postwar life. Which was likely intentional--the war and the occupation were their everyday life for some time.
And for me, that was the most engaging part of the story--the setting and the background. The present story of the book--Juliet's love life and her relationships with her old friends back in England and her new friends in Guernsey--was more just a framework within which to tell the story of wartime Guernsey.
Perhaps this is a case of being jaded by reading so much, but I wasn't nearly as enthralled with the book as others were. It's a sweet little story--it imparts a historical lesson, and Juliet discovers a new direction for her life--but there's not much to it. Conflict, I think, is what I missed. In fact, a couple of my fellow book club members remarked that the one small bit of conflict (in the second half of the book, so I won't spoil it here) seemed to come out of nowhere, and I agree. Regardless, it didn't provide enough oomph to carry the book.
In addition, I didn't really feel there was much depth to any of the characters. Juliet was the one we knew best, and all I can really say for certain about her is that she has enough self-preservation to turn down would-be fiances who expect her to give up her identity.
Still, as I said, it's a sweet little story, it fits a certain niche very well. Even my book club edition came with a ribbon book mark, but I'd think this would be best in a slightly-smaller-than-usual hardcover with the ribbon book mark and no dust jacket--a book you'd tuck into a gift basket for someone who's ill. Even without a special edition, this is one book I'd definitely feel good about giving as a gift, particularly to someone who wouldn't have the time or energy to tackle heavy reading.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, GeneralFiction
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, GeneralFiction
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Secret Pilgrim
***½ The Secret Pilgrim by John le Carré. Action/adventure.
The Secret Pilgrim is more a fictional memoir or series of anecdotes than a novel. Spy Ned is retiring, and he invites his old mentor Smiley to speak to Ned's last class of novice spies--which leads to multiple anecdotes about spy work during the Cold War.
Some of the stories are short; others are more involved. They're all interesting and full of the tradecraft details that make le Carré's novels such good reads. And in one sense, the book was a success: I did very much feel that I was there, listening to two old spies reminisce.
But that was also partly what kept me from enjoying this as much as I'd expected to. I didn't feel involved at all in the stories. No sooner would I start to get involved in the drama of an anecdote than that story would be over and I'd have to start over again with a new one. Without a connecting thread to hold my interest, it became far too easy to put the book down and go do something else. As a result, it took me over a week to read what should have taken me a day. It wasn't that I had to force myself to read it--I did enjoy it while I was reading--but there was nothing to pull me in.
The best analogy I can come up with is a clip show from a sitcom. Do they still do those? While none of the anecdotes originally appeared in other novels, it felt as though they might have. They lacked the depth of actual short stories and were more like teasers to entertain readers already familiar with the characters and settings, who could then use their imaginations to fill in the rest of the story.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, books
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Demon's Delight
Demon's Delight. Contemporary paranormal romance.
- **** "Witch Way" by Maryjanice Davidson.
Rhea Goodman and Chris Mere aren't just from feuding families; they're fated to kill each other because of a curse that's affected their families for generations. Or rather Rhea is fated to kill Chris and die in the process.
Only MJD could pull this off, I swear. The story is laugh-aloud funny, and it's actually a pretty good conflict, if you suspend disbelief. Rhea is convinced she has no choice, and Chris is determined to end the curse, and of course adding falling in love to the mix, not to mention wacky relatives, just makes everything that much more complicated. - ***½ "Street Corners and Halos" by Catherine Spangler.
Rachel is a vampire hooker--which actually makes pretty good sense: she feeds on the men and then leaves them thinking they had sex. But she's depressed and feels terrible about herself. Enter Gabriel, an angel on a mission--to show her her true worth.
It's not a bad story, but it's pretty predictable, and a little sappy. Still, it was an interesting premise. - ****½ "The Demon's Angel" by Emma Holly.
This story is part of Holly's "demon" series about the Yama (called demons by humans, but they're more like aliens) in Victorian England. Khira is a Yama genetic scientist; Harry is the human abducted for her to experiment on.
Since this is Emma Holly, the story is very steamy, and as always, it's not just tacked-on sex scenes: they're integral to the plot. Khira and Harry are definitely star-crossed lovers (which is what this anthology seems to be about, rather than demons, despite the title): of different races, and completely different lives.
- *** "Angel and the Hellraiser" by Vickie Taylor.
Rosemary and Zane are the angel and the hellraiser from the title. Zane is a professional daredevil; Rosemary is an angel who takes human form. She's on a mission to collect his soul.
Rosemary's adjustment to being human is fun, and it's clever the things she's surprised by--not always what you'd expect. But this story is a bit too predictable and sappy for my taste. Similar, in fact, to "Street Corners and Halos," but not as dark.
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, 4stars, 3.5stars, 3stars, ParanormalRomance
Labels: 3 stars, 3.5 stars, 4 stars, 4.5 stars, books, ParanormalRomance
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Sisterhood
***½ The Sisterhood by Michael Palmer. Medical thriller.
I'm not really sure how this got into my TBR pile. I suspect it was the time I ordered about a dozen books from the same seller on Half.com and they sent me several extras as a bonus.
Dr. David Palmer is just starting to get his life back together. After the death of his wife and daughter, he'd become addicted to drugs and alcohol. Now he's clean and sober, but it's an uphill battle to recover his former status as a surgeon. So he's overjoyed when a well-respected surgeon asks him to cover his patients for a long weekend.
Unfortunately, one of those patients is a terminally ill woman who's in a lot of pain, but the surgeon is determined to use every medical resource available to keep her alive. He and David have words about it, and when the woman dies and the autopsy determines it was murder, David is the prime suspect.
The woman was given a fatal dose of morphine by Christine Beall, a dedicated nurse who's part of the Sisterhood--nurses who practice euthanasia out of compassion.
But playing god tends to go to one's head, and the Sisterhood is ready to frame David for the murder, and to go even further if necessary to protect itself.
Is it just me, or is a conspiracy of doctors &/or nurses killing people the plot of every medical thriller out there? It's not my genre (you can tell, because I don't have a tag for it), possibly because I worked in a hospital for 2 1/2 years, although it tended to be the genre of choice for a lot of the nurses I knew. Maybe I hadn't worked there long enough to find the idea tempting. (Not in a serious way--sheesh.) But of the few I've read, it seems like they've mostly been about nurses killing people, and starting out with euthanasia.
Okay, enough of that. I'm probably wrong, because I haven't read enough to know. But this book doesn't convince me to check out more of the genre.
The plot wasn't my main objection anyway. Mostly, I felt it was overcomplicated. Which isn't a problem if all the threads come together, but that wasn't really the case here. In addition to the main plot outlined above, there was David's relationship to a reporter; an offshoot of the Sisterhood called the Garden, which are assassins for hire; and there's a romance between David and Christine.
Unfortunately, the Garden's murders never really go anywhere (though this might be the subject of a sequel--there is a cliffhanger at the end); the relationship with the reporter fizzles without real closure; and the romance between David and Christine feels forced. There are also secondary characters who are underutilized--for example, David's mobster friend and the police detective in charge of the case; and an overabundance of names that are referred to as if they'd been a larger part of the story than they had been. All of which makes me wonder if The Sisterhood had been the victim of a hatchet editing job.
On the positive side, it was suspenseful, and David was a sympathetic protagonist. He really got everything thrown at him, poor guy.
I hate to say this, since it took me three days to read this 342-page book, but I think I'd have enjoyed it more if it had been longer.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, Mystery
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, mystery
Friday, November 07, 2008
Dual Image
***½ Dual Image by Nora Roberts. Contemporary romance. Re-read.
I re-read this on Monday, and already I'm having a little trouble remembering it.
A very early book of Nora's, and it shows.
Ariel's a soap opera actress and Booth is a screenwriter. He's written a to-be-made-for-TV movie about his life with his horrible ex-wife who's also an actress. For some reason, Booth is also in charge of casting, and he's holding up production until he finds the right actress for the lead, who turns out to be Ariel.
He doesn't trust actresses, because of his ex-wife, and he hurts Ariel's feelings a couple of times when he does or says something expressing that.
Ariel is an incurable optimist, a GREAT actress, very open and honest, and she always thinks the best of everyone and has compassion for them even when they're trying to hurt her.
Except she unaccountably hides her custody battle for her orphaned nephew with her deceased brother's in-laws. She says it's to avoid publicity, but it's not like Booth would be telling anyone.
Everything got tied up a little too easily and neatly in the end--probably Silhouette's fault--either length restrictions or actual editing. It just seemed... I don't know... unfinished somehow. Maybe there were too many things going on for the length.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
***½ The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. General fiction.
Whew. I finally finished this. If you read my weekend update, you'll know that this was the first book for our neighborhood book club, and I hadn't finished it by the time we met on Wednesday. I needed a break from it, so I read No Escape when it arrived in the mail on Friday, then went back to this.
Edgar Sawtelle is a mute 14-year-old boy (for the bulk of the story, anyway--it begins before his birth). He lives with his parents on a farm where they breed and train Sawtelle dogs. The dogs are chosen for temperament rather than appearance or other physical traits, following Edgar's father and grandfather's theories of creating the next evolution of dogs.
The story picks up when Edgar's uncle Claude arrives, and his father gives him a job on the farm and a place to live. There's tension between them, and eventually, Edgar's father dies mysteriously. One thing leads to another, and then Edgar is on the run with three dogs.
Much of the book is descriptions of dog training and Edgar's efforts to communicate. Once Edgar's father dies, that expands to include a suspense element. It's very atmospheric, and for a while, I'd really sink into the writing, which has an ominous, dream-like feel to it. I'd have to put it down periodically, though, because it got to be too much--kind of like eating marzipan, it's rich but you can't make a meal of it.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle did make a good book club book, because there was a lot there to discuss--a lot of imagery, foreshadowing, and metaphor. And there were the parallels to Hamlet, which felt forced at the end, but were still good discussion fodder. It will probably thrill English Lit professors for years.
For recreational reading, though, I wouldn't have chosen it, and not just because it has a sad ending (oh, come on--that's not a spoiler: the professional reviews all cite Hamlet, and if that's not enough, it's an Oprah book. Oprah doesn't pick books with happy endings.).
One thing we did discuss at the book club that really pinpointed my so-so reaction was that none of us ever cried or even got a lump in our throats while reading even the saddest scenes. That, I think, was the result of the remote, dreamlike writing style. The reader is removed from the characters, so even though you can think "oh, that's sad," you don't really feel it. Obviously, it's not just me--none of the 10 other women in the book club felt it either, and we all have vastly different reading styles.
And then there were the threads that were either dropped or contradicted, mostly, it seemed, in order to squeeze in those Hamlet parallels. There were a lot of details that got carried through the book and made sense later on, but there were just as many that just fell flat. Chief among them, I thought, was the attempt to breed dogs you could train to make choices. For the amount of time spent on it during the book, it should have played a much more important part in the ending.
Speaking of the ending--the fourth-to-last chapter should have been the end of the book. It really should have. It made an excellent ending. Instead, the book dragged on for three more chapters, trying to wring as much bleakness out of the subject as possible, I suppose. Or a writing style choice, thinking that we had to know what happened after the end. It's okay to leave a few things unsaid. And as a matter of fact, except for one major development which could have fit easily into that fourth-to-last chapter, nothing was really solved in those last chapters. They were just reminding the readers that we'll have to figure out for ourselves what happens to certain characters. We could have figured that out without the reminders.
As for specific details--Claude had obviously been in prison (it's alluded to when he first arrives), yet sheriff Glen trusts him implicitly, without question? Granted, Claude can be very charming when he wants to be, but that didn't make a lot of sense to me. And what was the point of Henry? We didn't need to know his entire life story, but I was left with the feeling that I wanted either more or less of him in the book. The little girl who had a curious insight about Edgar's muteness--I'd have expected to see a little more of her, or for her insight to have some import. And Ida Paine, the old lady with "the sight"--she was definitely not utilized as much as she could have been.
I suppose I'm glad I read it. It does have some beautiful language, and the dreamlike quality of the writing was nice to sink into occasionally. I wouldn't read it again, nor would I seek out anything else by this author--though since it took him ten years to write this book, I suspect that's not going to be an issue.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, GeneralFiction
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, GeneralFiction
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Alluring Tales
Alluring Tales. Erotic romance.
- *** "Lover's Locket" by Cathryn Fox.
Caira has always been fascinated by the portrait of Zarek that's been in her family for generations. Then an old gypsy woman gives her the Lover's Locket--if she recites its incantation, her true love will be revealed... and she'll also wake the Keeper of Darkness, and unless she can defeat him, she'll die.
Of course Caira recites the incantation (people in stories always do, no matter what the warnings), Zarek comes to life, and they have a lot of sex. Turns out, Caira is the reincarnation of Zarek's love.
I'm thinking this story could have done with an extra 50 pages or so, because as it is, Caira goes directly from fantasizing about a picture to a marathon sex session to ****spoiler, but only if you've never read any stories before **** being willing to die for him **** with no pauses in between. It's kind of the epitome of good sex = twoo wuv.
I wasn't all that impressed with the sex scene, though it was certainly long. I wanted some more emotion in there, not just detailed slot A/tab B descriptions. It gets boring.
And because I wasn't really invested in the story, the dialogue started getting to me. Things like "Zarek, let me love you as I've longed to do." From a modern woman? And by the time I got to "Wiggle your backside for me, Caira" it gave me a serious case of the giggles. But like I said, it wouldn't have bothered me if I'd been more into the story in the first place. - ****½ "Kili's Ice Man" by Delilah Devlin.
Kili has long had a thing for gladiator "Ice Man" Gunnar Thorsson. So when she has to give a marketing presentation to the gladiator executives and the "Ice Man" is there, she's beyond nervous. So her friend Willa convinces her to do a quick virtual reality vacation before the presentation to calm down.
Unfortunately, Gunnar overheard her conversation with Willa, where she describes him as just what she wants: not too bright, but with a great body. So he bribes the tech to put him in the same VR vacation with her--and if she wants a caveman, he'll give her a caveman.
Except it worked all too well, and he can't even communicate with more than a few grunts.
I absolutely loved this story. I was initially irritated with Kili--I can't at all relate to the idea of preferring pretty and dumb. If he's got a brain, he can be a troll for all I care. (of course, that's coming from the smug position of not having to choose!) But she surprised me. It's the best kind of romance story, where the hero and the heroine are exactly what the other wants and needs, although they don't quite know it yet.
In addition, it had science fiction elements and a healthy dose of humor. Gunnar's frustration with being a caveman was too funny. I'll be looking for more stories by Delilah Devlin. - **** "The Hottest One-Night Stand" by Lisa Renee Jones.
Assistant D. A. Jessica Montgomery is a divorced workaholic. She sees a man in a bar and is instantly attracted to him, but he leaves before she can work up the courage to approach him.
Then her car breaks down, it's stormy, and the only motel in the small town is full. She's intending to spend the night in her car, when the same man comes up to her car and invites her to share his motel room. Where, of course, they have hot sex--it's a romantic erotica anthology, after all.
Up until this point, I was a little dubious about the story. I'm not wild about stories about people doing dumb things and then getting lucky and things working out okay. But then there was an amazing, excellent twist that I'm not going to tell you about, but it was very cool.
And the ending was just perfect--**** general spoiler **** a decision to give a relationship a try. I wouldn't have bought a marriage proposal at this point, or a declaration of forever love. ****
One little quibble that cost this story a half star--I thought the "Latin lover" thing was a wee bit overdone. Particularly since that just consisted of reminding us that he was Hispanic and him calling her "mi hermosa" over and over again. - ***½ "Out of the Shadows" by Myla Jackson.
Vampire-killing cop TJ Evans had a great one-night stand with next-door neighbor Cassidy Jones and thought it was the start of a relationship, but she's been avoiding him ever since. Now a category 5 hurricane is on its way, and he finds out the truth when he tries to make sure Cassidy is evacuating: she's become a vampire.
This could be a classic romance between mortal enemies tale--and we do see a lot of Cassidy's anguished emotions, but TJ goes from "the only good vampire is a dead vampire" to "so you're a vampire--no biggie" in the blink of an eye.
Basically, this is another story that could have used a few more pages. If TJ's emotions had been more fleshed out, if he'd had a harder time accepting that the woman he thought he could fall in love with was a creature he was dedicated to hunting and killing, this would have been an excellent story. - ***** "Tempting Grace" by Sasha White.
Minister's son Lukas Martin has been asking Grace Walters out, but she keeps turning him down. Grace is an ex-stripper who wasn't unlike the troubled teens she works with now. And she's older than he is. If she didn't think so highly of Lukas, she'd probably accept his invitations, but as it is, she doesn't think she's good enough for him.
Then Grace suddenly gives in, on the condition that it's for one night only--she doesn't explain why, but the reader knows it's because she lost one of her kids.
Sasha White was why I bought this anthology, and I wasn't disappointed. The story between Lukas and Grace is rich with emotion and sensuality.
It's mostly Grace's story, as she has the emotional journey of learning that she's more than her past and becoming able to accept love. But Lukas isn't given short shrift, either. He's come to know and love Grace through working with her, and his doubts and frustrations at her repeated refusals are so vivid they brought tears to my eyes.
While reading this, I realized that most times when I've read this sort of plot--a heroine who thinks she's not good enough for the hero--the hero knows she thinks this and basically ends up behaving like a cross between a psychologist and a teacher, doing and saying things for her own good, teaching her to trust herself. Lukas didn't do that. Lukas was more real than that. He reacted the way a real-life hero would, with frustration and persistence. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. It puts the hero and heroine back on an equal footing, even though the heroine has some issues she needs to work through. - *** "A Familiar Kind of Magic" by Sylvia Day.
Familiar Victoria St. John has turned feral after the death of her master, and it's up to Hunter Max Westin to either tame her or kill her.
From what I can surmise, Familiars need a master. They can shapeshift, and they act as foci for their masters' magic.
And of course (see above, re: erotic romance anthology) the taming takes the form of sex.
I had a real love/hate relationship with this story. On the one hand, it was probably the most steamy story of the anthology. The sex scenes were hot and inventive, but they were also extremely sensual with lots of sensory details. There was also a very strong emotional and plot component to the sex scenes, as Familiars are by nature submissives, and Victoria's been fighting that part of her nature. I suspect if I'd been... heh... familiar with Familiars, with this world, I'd have absolutely loved this story.
But I was squicked almost beyond bearing by the childlike way Victoria was portrayed, and the nearly-parental feelings Max seemed to have for her. It's probably an eye-of-the-beholder thing, but every time they weren't having sex and he was tending her like a child, I got squicked all over again, and I just couldn't get over that. - **** "Quick Silver" by Vivi Anna.
Sangria Silver is a freelance conveyer, delivering packages that are probably mostly illegal, given the rates she charges--but she can't be certain, because she has a rule to never look inside a package.
That rule gets accidentally broken when a car accident opens the shiny metal case, revealing sex worker Vance Verona. Sangria had known this assignment was bad news from the beginning--her contact knew far too much about her, and was offering far too much money. And when Vance mentions that it's the First Lady behind it, Sangria realizes she's as good as dead.
I really, really loved the premise for this story, and the near-future setting. But once again, I wished it were longer. So much more about Sangria's job and the future world could have been explored. In fact, I'd love to see this as a movie. It's got such a fun plot that you could even tone the sex scenes down to an R-rating and still have a cool movie.
It also suffers from the problem you find in a lot of romantic suspense books and movies: the bad guys are after them, but the hero and heroine find time to grab some nookie anyway.
Also, the ending was a little abrupt.
Really, though, a very fun story. Futuristic action-adventure. I've just spent way too much time trying to cast the movie in my head--I suck at the casting game, by the way, because I didn't come up with a couple I liked. If you have any ideas, leave them in the comments.
Categories: Books, 5stars, 4.5stars, 4stars, 3.5stars, 3stars, EroticRomance
Labels: 3 stars, 3.5 stars, 4 stars, 4.5 stars, 5 stars, books, EroticRomance
Friday, October 10, 2008
Tanner's Scheme
***½ Tanner's Scheme by Lora Leigh. Contemporary paranormal romance.
First, I just have to say a word or two about the reviews calling the heroine of this book promiscuous: get a freaking grip. Five lovers by the time a woman is 30 isn't by any stretch of the imagination promiscuous. I'm having a hard time getting over that. It's readers like that who push the whole virgin heroine thing by making authors and publishers think that's what we all want. Okay, I'm not going to hijack my review with a rant. I'll post the rant on Monday for Smart Bitches Day.
Anyway. Tanner's Scheme is the third Breed book by Lora Leigh. I haven't read them in order, and maybe it would have helped if I had--though I wasn't at all confused even though I'd only read two Breed novellas before ("The Breed Next Door" in Hot Spell (#16) and "In a Wolf's Embrace" in Beyond the Dark)
Scheme Tallant (I had a hard time getting over that name, by the way) is the daughter of General Cyrus Tallant, a man responsible for innumerable atrocities against the Breeds. She's long suspected that her father had killed her mother, but the last straw was when he forcibly aborted the child she conceived with the assassin her father had paid to sleep with her. Since then, she's been working undercover for the Breeds.
Bengal tiger Breed Tanner Reynolds has been watching Scheme for years, ostensibly because she's her father's daughter and highly placed in his organization, but also because he can't stay away.
Everything comes together (or falls apart, depending on where you're standing) when Scheme discovers her father's plan to kidnap the only naturally born child of Breeds. Knowing that her father will realize she has the information and her cover will be blown, she contacts Jonas, the Breed security chief, and asks for asylum, then attends a party she knows he'll be attending.
Only Jonas doesn't show up. And when Scheme goes back to her hotel room (she knows better than to return to her own home), Tanner is there. And then her father's favorite assassin and her one-time lover shows up to kill her. Tanner saves her life, then kidnaps her and keeps her prisoner in his underground lair (heh).
It's a nice conflict--neither can trust the other. Tanner believes Scheme's cover--after all, her signature is on a lot of kill orders--but he still can't help being attracted to her. And Scheme knows there's a spy in the Breed organization, and Tanner fits the profile. More, she's afraid that her instinct to trust him is just her libido speaking. Exacerbating matters--Tanner is more drawn to Scheme than he's ever been to any other woman, but he knows she can't be his Mate, because he hasn't felt any of the symptoms of mating heat. So he assumes she must be his twin brother Cabal's Mate. Which doesn't stop him from having sex with her--after all, he and Cabal have shared women before.
Then there were the scenes describing what Scheme went through at her father's hands. They were chilling, to say the least, and made her father a great villain. He was actually pretty well drawn--I believed he thought he did love his daughter, even as he tortured her, and planned to kill her.
There's also nice suspense in trying to figure out who the Breed traitor is, and some emotionally wrenching scenes involving Cabal.
And there are a lot of steamy scenes. A lot of them. And some of them are pretty darn steamy. But there are a lot of them. So many that I just started skimming after a while, because they all started to seem the same. I'm not a prude, but two-thirds of the sex scenes could have been cut with no loss to the story whatsoever. I'd have kept just three--the ones that were most important to the story line: the first one, the one where Tanner ****spoiler**** finally realized she's his Mate****, and the one that a few readers complained about: ****spoiler**** the one with Cabal ****. That would have made each sex scene stand out, instead of just turning them all into background noise, and would have raised my rating a half star.
One other thing I didn't care for was the fact that Tanner had been watching Scheme for so long. Not just keeping an eye on her, but watching her via hidden cameras--watching her have sex with other men, watching her masturbate, etc. That's not sexy; that's creepy. But being a firm believer in redemption, I could have gotten over that... except that Scheme didn't mind at all. Wha??
Bottom line: if you're reading the series, there's no reason to skip this one. It certainly didn't convince me to look for more of her books, but if I run across one, I'll give the series another shot.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ParanormalRomance
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, ParanormalRomance
Saturday, October 04, 2008
The Incredible Hulk
***½ The Incredible Hulk
. Science fiction, action/adventure.Directed by: Louis Leterrier.
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Lou Ferrigno
We saw this at the Embassy theater during our month in San Antonio this summer. It was one of the first movies we saw in the States, and we nearly missed it. It wasn't out on the AAFES circuit yet, but in San Antonio, it was already down to one matinee a day by the time we got there. Lucky we caught it, because by the time we got back here, it was gone from AAFES, too, and we'd have had to wait for the DVD. And movies like this you really want to see on the big screen.
It's impossible not to compare The Incredible Hulk with Hulk, and this one comes out so much better. In particular, the special effects were vastly improved. The big green guy looks realistic, and, most importantly for me, moves believably. It sounds trivial, but older CGI movement is seriously irritating and distracting for me. It creeps me out. I'm guessing everyone has different levels where the creepiness kicks in. For me, it's the weird movement, especially when limbs bend at the wrong place. There's an ad at the AAFES theaters reminding patrons not to put their feet on the backs of seats (gives you an idea about AAFES, doesn't it?), and the CGI legs shrink and bend, and it never fails to give me shivers.
Anyway. It was important to me, and this film delivered.
I have a love-hate reaction to Bruce Banner's (Edward Norton) all-out search for a cure. On the one hand, it's understandable, especially since the first time he hulked out, he injured his girlfriend (Liv Tyler). On the other hand, I have very little patience with characters with supernatural abilities who hate what they are and try to deny it and/or avoid dealing with it while they search for a cure. It's not just The Hulk. I have the same impatience with vampires and werewolves who live in denial as well.
I much prefer supernatural characters who try to work with and learn to control the monster rather than letting the monster control them. Though, as I said, Bruce Banner did have a reason for his feelings, and that was convincingly portrayed.
Speaking of the portrayal, I really liked Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Though Eric Bana did look more like Bill Bixby. And speaking of the original series, how cool was it to have Lou Ferrigno there? Yes, I know, he was in the 2003 movie, too.
Fun movie, even though The Hulk isn't my favorite superhero. And I'm getting very excited about the connections between these movies.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure, ScienceFiction
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, Movies, ScienceFiction
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
***½ The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Fantasy, action/adventure.
Directed by: Rob Cohen.
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford
We saw this at the Embassy theater during our month in San Antonio this summer. I was really looking forward to this movie, because I loved the first two. Funny to remember now that I was hesitant to go see the first one, because I'd assumed it was a creature movie.... which it just occurred to me that I don't know how to define. I love movies like Underworld, but movies like The Thing (either 1951 or 1982, it doesn't matter) either make me laugh and roll my eyes, or just bore me. I think it's like the difference between horror movies and suspense movies: if there are creatures in my movie, I want them to be thinking, reasoning creatures, and to have understandable motivations.
Anyway. Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello) O'Connell have retired from the adventure business and are leading comfortable (read: boring) lives in London. When a friend asks them to do him a favor and return an artifact to China, they make half-hearted protests while all but happy-dancing on their way to pack for the trip.
There they find that their son Alex (Luke Ford) is following in their footsteps and has brought the mummy of Han, the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) to Shanghai. Where, of course, he inadvertently resurrects it.
The three of them have to stop the mummy, with the help of Evelyn's brother Jonathan (John Hannah) and Lin (Isabella Leong), the daughter of Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh), the sorceress who originally cursed Han.
Lots of action, special effects, and computer graphics, all of which you'd expect.
The biggest problem was with the casting: Maria Bello instead of Rachel Weisz turned Evelyn into a bland, 2-dimensional character. She was no longer the quirky, clumsy, brainy character I loved so much in the first two movies. Rachel Weisz's Evelyn wasn't just the generic love interest to Brendan Fraser's Rick--she was equally as important to the whole feel of the movies. Maria Bello's Evelyn, on the other hand, is just the generic love interest. She could have been played by any anonymous actress. And that change took a good portion of the heart out of the movie.
It also suffered from me-too-itis. A sequel to a stalled franchise (like Rambo, Rocky Balboa, Live Free or Die Hard, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...), and a movie set in China to cash in on Olympics fever (like Kung Fu Panda and The Forbidden Kingdom). We can only be thankful it didn't also succumb to the temptation to follow the trend of being darker than its predecessors. Oh, and the terra cotta army was a lot like the golden army in Hellboy II. I know these things go in streaks in Hollywood, but it makes it impossible to keep from comparing.
And, like in Babylon A. D., Jet Li's and Michelle Yeoh's physical talents were sadly underutilized, or maybe just under-emphasized. Which, by the way, is not quite the same as the complaint some martial arts fans had about War, in which Jet Li starred, but did very little martial arts. In this movie, the camera work made the action hard to follow. It seems to me that if you want to use the quick camera cuts and blurry action to depict the chaos of a fight scene, then you really don't need actors capable of complexly choreographed fights, and conversely, if you're going to use them, let us see it. It's like spending a bundle on a fabulous location, then shooting only in the dark.
That said, I didn't really feel that the plot was as weak as some other reviewers complained. Other than missing the character of Evelyn (not to beat a dead horse, but rather than eviscerate her character, why not just have her be dead--or for some reason unavailable, if they're hoping to get Weisz back for a 4th movie?) and the attendant plot threads, this plot didn't seem any less plausible than the other two movies. Nor did the special effects seem more or less effective.
There were still funny moments (though fewer, since the Rick/Evelyn humorous interactions were gone), and the shift to Alex continued to remind me of the Amelia Peabody books--this time when they shifted to Ramses.
The ending is left open for a 4th movie, but unless one of my men really wants to see it, I think I'll wait for the DVD on Netflix, or just skip it altogether.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure, Fantasy
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, fantasy, Movies
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
***½ Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Science fiction, action/adventure.
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro.
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, Seth MacFarlane
We saw this at the Embassy theater during our month in San Antonio this summer.
The basic premise is that Prince Nuada of the elves (Luke Goss) is putting together the three pieces of the crown that controls the invincible Golden Army, and when/if he does, he's going to destroy humankind. It's up to Hellboy (Ron Perlman) to stop him.
My biggest problem with the movie--one I just could not get over--is that Prince Nuada had a point, and a very good reason for wanting to strike back at humans. Centuries (millennia?) ago, the humans and elves had made a treaty, leaving the forests to the elves. And humans hadn't just broken the treaty, they'd smashed it. Not that the destruction of all humankind is the answer, but the elves were the wronged party, and to declare all-out war on Nuada without even an attempt at restitution.... Somebody burns down your house, you're angry and go after them, so they and all their pals kill you? That's justice? It struck me as a very current-U.S.-administration attitude: anyone who disagrees with us must be killed, regardless of their reasons. Frankly, it made me heartsick.
The beginning of the movie, with Hellboy as a child being told the tale of the Golden Army, dragged. It was a clever way to get the audience the information, but it's also not a good idea to bore your audience for the first 15 minutes of the film.
I couldn't really believe the romantic relationships: Hellboy and Liz (Selma Blair) were like the couples in old sitcoms who did nothing but argue with each other. And Abe (Doug Jones) and Princess Nuala (Anna Watson) fall in sacrifice-yourself-for-each-other true love at first glance. But it's a comic book movie, so I didn't really expect that much realism there.
Speaking of Abe, what happened to the breathing apparatus that was so incredibly important at the beginning of the movie?
There was, however, a lot to like about Hellboy II. Visually, it's fabulous. Bright, vivid colors, lots of details, lots of visual stimulation. It's really a gorgeous movie to look at, particularly the scenes in the Troll Market, which were reminiscent of the Mos Eisley Cantina, but brighter.
Speaking of which, the variety of creatures was also very cool. I particularly liked the tooth fairies, evil little flying things that eat calcium. Chief among them, though, was Hellboy's new... er... ally, maybe: Dr. Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane). Dr. Krauss was mist, or energy, inside a steampunk suit. I was initially unsure about him, but he turned out to have some cool abilities, and was one of my favorite parts of the movie. I wish he'd had more screen time. Perhaps if/when they make a third...
I haven't even mentioned the emotional plot, which stems around secrecy and acceptance. Fire-girl Liz is especially affected by feeling like a freak, probably because when she's not exhibiting her powers, she looks like an ordinary human. Their boss at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Agent Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor), is becoming increasingly incensed at Hellboy's disregard for the Bureau's edict of secrecy. And part of fish-boy Abe's love affair with Princess Nuala was a desire to be accepted. Good stuff, and nicely done--if only it hadn't been overshadowed by such an unjust action plot.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure, ScienceFiction
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, Movies, ScienceFiction
Monday, September 15, 2008
Wanted
***½ Wanted. Action/adventure.
Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie
I saw this with Carl weekend before last at the theater on post. I didn't know anything about it--hadn't seen any previews, didn't know who was in it. Carl had seen the previews, and said it sounded like something I'd like. Nice thing about the theater on post: it's just a 10-15 minute walk from the house.
The story, in case you're as clueless as I was: Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a bit of a loser--works in a cubicle for a nasty boss; his girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend... is it any wonder he has to refill his anxiety medication?
Which is what he's doing when a woman (Angelina Jolie) approaches him, tells him his father died yesterday rather than shortly after Wesley's birth, that his father was a great assassin and that he, Wesley, has the same physical attributes (some sort of hyper-adrenalin thing--it's why Wesley thinks he needs anxiety medication), and The Fraternity, the society of assassins, needs him to catch the rogue assassin who killed his father.
It's obviously based on a comic book series, like a lot of recent movies. I haven't read or even seen the books, but it was evident from the set-up. The superhero aspect, the special baths that heal severe wounds in minutes (hours? it wasn't real clear), the assassins getting their orders from a loom, in the form of irregularities in a piece of weaving, and of course shooting bullets in a curve--all indicators that the original form of the story was a comic book. Now that I've said it, I'm not sure why that is, but it screamed "comic" to me. Over-the-top-ish-ness, maybe.
I wasn't at all familiar with James McAvoy, and the beginning of the movie felt like, say, Clerks--a less-than-slick comedy about disaffected 20-somethings. Once the shooting started, it changed completely. So I was a little disoriented. Possibly if I'd seen the previews and known what to expect, that wouldn't have happened.
The stunts are really the stars of this movie. The car stunts are some of the most memorable, and you've probably seen them in the trailer: flipping the car and shooting someone through the sun roof; scooping Wesley up while the car's spinning... Lots of cool stunts. And the way Bekmambetov depicted the various characters shooting curving bullets was very clever. Not an easy concept to translate from graphic novel form to live action film, but it worked.
There was some exploration of Wesley's confusion at being abruptly tossed from one life into another, but I'd have liked more--and perhaps a little less of the "training" that consisted of various assassins beating the tar out of him. Not that I'm squeamish (though I always have to close my eyes at knife scenes, regardless of the movie), but I got the point. It went on a little long.
The big twist was telegraphed a little too much, and I figured it out well ahead of time. And the ending could have been explained a little better.
But all in all, it was entertaining, and worth watching.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, Movies
