Thought for the Day

How do I put this nicely? Sometimes I wonder how some readers can add 2 + 2 and not come up with 4? I'm reading a book and really enjoying it - probably more on that later. But as I often do, when reading a book by an author where I don't have many of her backlist, I'll do a bit of investigating to see what else she has. I was on Amazon last night (while at my sisters since I had no hydro but that too is another story) checking out this particular author's books when I came across this interesting dichotomy.


Check out the book on the left. What kind of book do you think this might be?

Check out the title of the book. What kind of book do you think this might be?

Check out the product description.

Her sexy letters are his only lifeline in his dangerous world…

Successful computer software engineer Eve Carmichael melts under yet another hotter than hot letter written by Reserve army soldier Sean O’Callahan. Yet Eve can’t take the thought of his life in danger overseas, and she resolves to get a sex life—and a life period. That means forgetting Sean before anything bad can happen to him. To celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday, Eve plans a trip to Male Call, a male review club. Still, she worries about Sean. She hasn’t received a letter from him in too many weeks. And oh, how she longs for those flirtatious, hot letters.

Sean finds Eve’s letters to be the only lifeline in his increasingly chaotic world. As their feelings grow hot and heavy, he can’t wait to return home and kindle that pure firepower.

When Eve receives a letter from Sean saying he’s been wounded, her fears are realized. But fate and a little mischievous planning by her friends will serve up the greatest surprise of all.

Warning: Contains explicit sex, some graphic language, and mild violence.

What kind of book do you think this might be?

I'm thinking it will be a book with - and I quote "explicit sex, some graphic language, and mild violence." Now check out what some 'reviewers' wrote about the book:

"One star because you can't give none and anyway it was free. Was expecting short romance, got bad porn. Didn't bother to finish it, but I'm sure I'm not missing anything."

(first example of someone who tried to do a simple 2 + 2 and came up with 17 or something.) Here's another case of a 2 + 2 = 7

"I have gotten some good books for free for my Kindle so I decided it would be good to try Male Call. I am sad to say I am very disappointed. It is extremely smutty and the use of fowl language is horrible. I believe the author didn't spend enough time on creating a history for the characters and you are just thrown into what feels like the middle of a book. This book is so short, I read it on my lunch hour start to finish (after skipping about what felt like 20 pages of smut) Not good... But I guess if you like smut, this would be a good read"

And one more where I think 2 + 2 = 33 or something.

"pure and complete trash. I dont mean that in a good way. Even for free this book is a bad value."

What were these readers expecting???? It couldn't be more clear. This is a book that has sex scenes and some swearing . It's going to have a high level of steam. The cover tells you that. The title tells you that. The product description tells you that. So how clueless can these "reviewers" be? 2 + 2 = 4. It's that simple. I get that some readers can be offended when there is some or a lot of sex in a book. That is their preference and their right to read that kind. Heck, when I first started reading romance again, I only read kisses only books and didn't want to read anything stronger. And with that in mind, at the time I wouldn't have bought the book with all the warnings and then been shocked when there was heat.

Get a clue you "reviewers" who are shocked when a book has a naked chest, a provocative description and a racy title. I find you annoying. And yes, in case your wondering, the book I'm reading is by Denise Agnew. I'm loving it and I've loved the previous two books I've read of hers. And yes, I bought Male Call as well as another book by her. And yes, I am expecting it to be steamy.

And yep, I've had a few days which have helped give me a case of the crankies

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

I have been on such an Urban/ Paranormal Fantasy kick lately. The two out of the three I have reviewed here were very enjoyable, while the third one was a major dud. I may have some rotten fruit thrown at my head when you find out which one was given the label of being a DNF! *muwahahaa*

Dead To Me by Anton Strout
I had met Anton when Christine and I went to Comic Con a few months ago and when he wrote me saying that he was doing a talk at Borders last Saturday and invited me to come hear him speak, I was very interested. I had a very enjoyable experience hearing him speak about the publishing industry, (he also works for Penguin) his writing process and how he came up with the ideas for his first published book.

Dead To Me is the first book in a series about Simon Canderous, a twenty-four year old psychometrist, living in New York City and working for the secret Department of Extraordinary Affairs. What’s a psychometrist you ask? Psychometry is the ability to touch an object that someone owns and find out things about them, such as memories or a certain time in their lives when they owned the object. Poor Simon hates having this ability because anything he touches with his bare hands, will allow him to know a person’s deepest and darkest secrets. It also makes dating quite an uncomfortable thing for him.

Simon used to work as a petty thief and is now on the side of good even though his underpaying job can hardly pay the bills. Plus, he comes in contact with all types of creatures. This includes ghosts who will turn part of your hair white if you tangle with them, thus being welcomed into the “White Stripes” group. Simon calls them the Hair Club For Men. His older partner, Connor, is part of this elite group of hair men because of his latest ghostly investigation. Simon and Connor take up a case after Simon spills his coffee through a ghost named Irene. And since they can’t just have her floating around scaring people, they decide to find out who killed her. From there, Simon falls into all types of scrapes from being chased by killer bookshelves and evil cultists. He has to make sure he keeps his job and not touch anything that could possibly drain him to the point of passing out.

Since I am so use to reading about the female protagonist’s point of view, it was nice for a change to read about the male’s POV. Dead To Me is very quirky and Simon is such a funny and loveable guy. I wanted to give Simon a big hug because he is such a fish out of water, barely making ends meet while trying to stay alive as the things that go bump in the night try to do him in. This is a straight up Urban Fantasy with many pop culture references (Simon has a leather duster that reminds him of the one worn by Angel in the old TV series Angel) and I found myself chuckling a few times. There is this one scene where Conner and Simon go looking for a man on the run and as they enter an office looking for him, they announce they are D.E.A. One of the characters responds:

“But, we’re environmentally friendly! We recycle. We don’t dump any contaminants.”

There are some subtle moments with a possible romance to come and since Anton has been contracted for three more books in this series, I would love to see what else he has in store for Simon.

3 out of 5 stars.

Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole
Since the titles in Kresley Cole's Immortal After Dark Series have become so confusing, I have nicknamed this one, Cade: The One With the Likable Horns. Alas, his horns were not licked during the story but this is another worthy addition to Cole’s paranormal series that should not be missed.

Caedon Woede is a rage demon who is trying to help his brother, Rydstrom retrieve his magical crown so he can take back his kingdom he lost. Cadeon will do anything to get his brother’s crown back even if it means sacrificing his one true mate, Holly. Cade has been watching or rather peeping on her ever since they met. He can never have her because she is human after all and if he tries to mate with her, she wouldn’t be able to survive. So, Cade has a constant case of blue balls.

One night Holly is attacked and about to be raped so she can conceive the spawn of evil, but Cade comes to her rescue in time. Holly finds out she is part Valkyrie and the vessel to carry the spawn that can either become a product of good or evil and help change the world. This has only come out now because Holly has been repressed. She holds back all types of sexual urges and likes everything to be in perfect harmony. Cade and Holly go on the road and she thinks Cade is trying to protect her and find someone who can change her back into human, while Cade needs to deliver her to the one person who can help him get Rydstrom’s crown and thus the key to the kingdom.

If you like road romances, Dark Desires is the perfect read for you. I had so much fun over the bantering and bickering back and forth between Cade and Holly. Talk about total opposites! Cade is a porn loving slob while Holly has OCD and the thought of sex gets her very scared because she feels if she loses it in the heat of the moment, she will hurt the man she is with because of her Valkyrie strength. I know some had issues with Holly and her being so repressed and stiff but what I enjoyed the most is how Holly was able to break free of her self imposed bonds and become more empowered within herself. Cade helped her realize who she is and held her hand so to speak. Plus, they way Cade helps her release her pent up feelings is oh, so good.

These two were a riot to read even though I wanted to bop Cade over the head at one point because of a certain situation he places Holly in, but again, Cade has to sacrifice a part of himself for his brother. In my eyes that made him a worthy hero.

3 ½ stars out of 5

Damien by Jacquelyn Frank
Sorry, this was the one book that was a major DNF for me. I have tried repeatedly to enjoy the world of the Nightwalkers and every time, I scratch my head and go “huh?” Perhaps I am missing something but every one of Frank’s books are so long winded and go on and on without any major action. I also think part of my problem is the long paragraphs that don’t really make sense and the sex is pretty ho hum.

Damien is the prince of all vampires and his story involves Syreena, sister and princess to the queen of the Lycanthropes. There is a magical sort of library that has all the secrets and history of the Nightwalkers which includes all creatures such as Vampires, Lycanthropes and Demons. Syreena is there to guard this library and Damian goes to read some books. Out pops an evil demon skank who attacks Syreena and Damien rescues her. All this rescuing makes them both horny for each other and they figure out they are each other’s mates even though it is not possible for a Vampire and Lycanthrope to be together. But for some reason it worked for Syreena’s sister and her consort who is an important Demon. Damien and Syreena think a lot while trying to deny each other. Plus there are some rogue vampires around intent on causing mayhem along with the demon skank who won’t go away and realize she has no chance in wining.

It is really hard to explain in so many words that Damien doesn’t really have much going on. Yes, there are some fight scenes and a love story, but this was so slow moving and blah, that I really didn’t care if Damien and Syreena would go off and have a few Vampthropes… or would that be Lycanpires?

1 ½ stars out of 5

Katiebabs (KB)