It’s another review!

Bam,

If you’re going to faint, make sure to set up the video camera so I can watch it later on YouTube. Ready for this? I’m actually reviewing another book, and in a semi-timely fashion. I’m sure you’re wondering how this could be possible, so I’ll tell you a dirty little secret: we’re slower than dial-up at work. While that’s not a good thing for me professionally, it certainly helps my romance-review hobby.

I admit to being a Kresley Cole fangrrrl. Her Immortals After Dark series is one I’ve been hooked on since the story of Myst and Nikolai appeared in Playing Hard to Get. The Lore, which is populated by nearly every mythical creature imaginable, is one of those universes I’d love to visit in my nonexistent free time.

With that said, you can guess that I liked the book. I managed to blow through Dark Needs at Night’s Edge in two days - record time for me lately - and immediately picked up Dark Desires After Dusk. Ms. Cole has a talent that I require in series authors: she writes about the same world, but her characters are definitely not carbon copies of each other with “wash, rinse and repeat” storylines. She manages to make her heroines strong and spunky with the right touch of vulnerability (thereby avoiding the Mary Sue death-spiral) and her heroes deliciously alpha, but self aware and fearful that they just might not be good enough. LOVE IT!

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Bam,

I know you’ve been buried up to your eyeballs in WIP, school and such. I’ve decided to lend a helping hand and review a few things ’cause I’ve got so much time on my hands. NOT! However, I try to read a bit every day and have finished the odd book now and again. The reviews might not be the most timely things, but at least I’m reading and reviewing. Right?

First up is Bonnie Dee’s The Countess Takes a Lover, a tried and true formula of the experienced, jaded lord tutoring the the novice (and awkward) into a sexual and social awakening, with a twist: worldly female decides to tutor bookish man on sensual and not-so-sensual arts. While I loved the idea of TCTaL, some of the pacing dragged a bit…but I want to give you the who/what/where before I get into that:

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Bam,

Someone recently asked me if I was enjoying maternity leave. I’m supposed to enjoy sleepless nights and the inability to nap when the baby naps (that’s what they tell you to do so that you don’t completely lose your mind) since I have twins that need my attention during the day as well? Before you call Child Protection Services on me, note that I adore my little Handsome Pants. And the girls are…warming up to him. Thank goodness! But I didn’t write you just to lament that my time off isn’t being spent blissfully sleeping and catching up on television. Know what I do during the 3 a.m. feeding? Read! Yep, HP rests on my left forearm, which is the hand that holds the book, while the right holds the bottle. I need some more books. I also need time to write reviews of said books. With that in mind, I read Nalini Singh’s Mine to Possess.

For those of you who haven’t read Slave to Sensation (or any of the other books in the Psy/Changeling series), please note that while Nalini does a commendable job of briefly tying in previous plots and characters without completely retelling, this series builds on itself. The Psy/Changeling world is a complex place, with extremely well fleshed-out personalities and significant plot lines that tie in from the prior novels. If you haven’t read the previous books in the series, you are missing out on great writing, great romance, great fantasy and great world-building, which make each pass in the Psy/Changeling world more interesting and exciting. Nalini has an ability to write (at current count) four books that do not repeat each other in terms of plot, tension or characterization. For that alone, I think it’s worth reading each of these books.

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Grade: A-

Bam,

I know you weren’t all that interested in reading Wicked Deeds because it didn’t focus on the Valkyries. Well, dumb decision on your part. It may not focus on those crazy women we’ve come to know and (in some cases) love, but it does continue to focus on the Lore and the folks that make up the creatures of the Lore. And while I know you’re generally wary of series (except for a certain group of vampires that love to have extraneous H’s in everything they say, do and name) [Whord to your muthah. -Bam], Kresley Cole continues to impress with her Immortals After Dark series. I know you weren’t totally cahrayzee about A Hunger Like No Other due to Emma’s lack of spine and general annoying personality. While we didn’t review No Rest For The Wicked, I will briefly say that I was much happier with Kaderin as a heroine, but thought that Sebastian wasn’t nearly as strong as I had hoped.

Well, Wicked Deeds finally seems to get the mix right in all respects. The heroine is actually strong without being feisty, spunky or a Mary Sue and the hero, while being a total alpha, isn’t foolish enough to believe he can’t ever be wrong about something (or many things for that matter). And Ms. Cole continues to write buildup and actual sex with terrific heat.

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Grade: A

Bam,

Let’s face it: I’m going to be perpetually late with reviews. Authors may want to kill me (or be thanking their lucky stars if I didn’t like the book) and I know you would love to light my hair on fire and put it out with a hammer, but I gotta be honest: I seem to be jammed up with life, work and whatnot. My love of romance hasn’t diminished (hey, I read four books this week…all romance in some form or another), but my ability to write a quality review has been seriously restricted by constraints on my time. Hopefully things will calm down soon, because I love books and want to spread that love. Wow…how ‘60s Haight-Ashbury of me. Truth be told, I’m not like that at all, but you knew that already.

You know I adore the Psy-Changeling world that Nalini has created. She keeps it rich and complex without turning each book into a simple repeat of the prior one; however (you knew this was coming), I’m concerned that those who haven’t read the two previous books will be stepping in over their heads by simply picking up Caressed By Ice, the third book in the series. I hate to admit this but it’s hard for me to say whether that would be the case, especially since I think each of the stories has not only evolved from the prior ones, but Nalini’s writing has gotten stronger with each book. My advice would be to read both Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat before getting into Caressed by Ice. You’ll be happy to know that the first two books will definitely not disappoint (I think you gave Slave to Sensation an A- and I know I gave Visions of Heat and A-) and will make the reading of CBI that much more enjoyable.
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