Zoe Archer "Rebel"

I really needed to get that ham off the top of my page. And I finished my semester finally on Tuesday! What a relief. I'll let you know when I get my self dug out from underneath the laundry I haven't done in a month.

Since it's that holiday buying time of year I was in Borders with a coupon and well, I did get one or two presents but I couldn't resist celebrating finishing my finals with a new thick book. I couldn't find the first one in the series so I picked up Rebel by Zoe Archer, book three in the Blades of the Rose series. It falls into the romance/fantasy/vaguely steampunky type genres. Although for fantasy fans, it's pretty heavy on romance. There is a quest, and there is action but the action is at a bit of a distance for the most part and the "how do we outsmart them" parts aren't particularly smart. The book really has to stand on the romance aspect.

So, I liked the characters, I liked their relationship and how they arch through their issues. The sex is a bit on the raunchy side, which is fine with me, but in the end, the quest requires this book to go about 80 pages longer than it should have. For the most part the action is good, not great, but good enough to support the character focus. The characters are fun and the tension is good. Just a bit too long.

I will definitely pick up another book in this series, I liked the world she created and the writing was good.

Romance/Fantasy/Paranormal 2010: 4 out of 5 experienced mountain women.

Happy Hanukkah

I just could not resist. Way to go large retailer who shall remain nameless except that they were owned by a guy named Sam and they love to greet people. :)

Awesome.
Happy Hanukkah Friends.

Tracy Anne Warren "Wicked Delights of a Bridal Bed"

Lady Mallory's fiance is killed in battle in Spain. Adam, the Earl of Gresham has loved her forever but as a penniless lord didn't feel he could court her. And when he finally made some money, she got engaged, curses. But now, he's got money, she's lost her fiance and life is good. Well, aside from the fact that Mallory is in deep morning for this nice guy she truly loved.

Actually this book started well, the description of Mallory's grief that is leading her into actual depression, and Adam's gentle attempts to bring her out of it, worked for me. But then Adam's character began to parallel classic abuser patterns in ways that made me more and more uncomfortable. He's not an alpha that struggles to temper his dominance tendencies because he loves her so much, he's a charming manipulator who reveals his dominant needs more and more as he gets more and more control over her life.

The clincher for me was, she likes it. Mostly. Yuck.

I try not to let my feminist sensibilities get in the way of my enjoyment of fantasy literature but this one saw the line and just jumped head first over it. It's not badly written and the sex is fine, but I just can't like a book where I hate the hero and have no respect for the heroine.

Historical Romance 2010: 1 out of 5 dictates from a distant duke. (Okay Earl)

Olivia Gates "To Tame A Sheikh"

I will admit I am not a habitual Harlequin Desire reader and I have a bias against the shorter romance novel formats. But really, this book was terrible. It wasn't badly written if one isn't too picky about repetitive descriptions. But the reliance on all the hackneyed romance conventions, the magical sex that conveys all the protagonists never need to say to each other, the powerful sheikh and the "I've just been waiting for you to make my life meaningful" female character. These two don't have any relationship issues or personal issues to create a character arch. The heroine just needed to get the hero into bed to make him realize what he was missing.

I liked the cultural window dressing (literally mostly about clothes) but the only interesting character in the book was the brother who hates everyone because his first wife screwed him over. He was stereotypical but at least something was going on there other than unbelievable happiness, wealth and beauty. Geese.

Back to school.

Contempory Romance 2010: 1 of 5 fake jewels of state.

Spoiler Warning: Gonna Talk Politics

I generally try to avoid taboo subjects like religion and politics and just stick to threesomes and throbbing members but this just makes me so sad. Here is the Wiscpolitics blog announcement:

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, has called Republican Ron Johnson of Oshkosh to concede the race.

"The people of Wisconsin have spoken and I respect their decision," Feingold told a boisterous crowd. "I wished him well as our senator, and I also offered my help and the help of my staff in any transition." Feingold told the supporters gathered at his Middleton party, "Being your senator has been the greatest honor of my life. I've enjoyed working with you and feel we did many good things together and I thank Wisconsin for this great privilege I have received." Feingold said.
"So to all of you in the words of, who else, Bob Dylan, 'But my heart is not weary, it's light and free, I've got nothing but affection for those who have sailed with me.'"
"I hope and I intend to continue to work with all of you in the future as much as possible, so it's on to the next life, it's on to the next battle, it's on to 2012, and it is on to our next adventure. Forward!"

-- By Greg Bump

Love you, Russ.