don't be dull, be fannish

#37 "Perfect Day" by Josh Lanyon

♥ ♥ ♥

Sweet little story but rather predictable if you are familiar with Josh Lanyon's writing. He can do better.

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#38 "The Pirate King" by R.A. Salvatore

♥ ♥

Basically, the bad guys win at everything, the good guys lose everything and a bunch of them dies, too. If this is your cuppa, good for you. I hated it. It felt like an exercise in futility, a train-wreck in slo-mo. Call me naive but I want my heroes to prevail and win despite all the odds stacked up against them. I don't want to feel drained, depressed and even irked or annoyed once I finish a book.

And that's exactly how I felt when I finished this one. I kept asking myself, why didn't Maimun go to Deudermont, why didn't he tell him that the high captains were behind the chaos in the streets once he found out just how twisted their plan was? Maimun's tears were really pretty - and really useless at the end. Why didn't Drizzt open his frickin' mouth to tell them that it was rothé meat and Dark Realms mushrooms? That meant that drows were involved! That might have given a pause even to a man as pig-headed as Deudermont!

Frustrated, angry, dissatisfied, discontent. That's how I felt when I finished this story. I give it 2 stars only because I liked Drizzt and Regis traveling through the Tyria together.

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#39 "Ouran High School Host Club #1" by Bisco Hatori

♥ ♥ ♥

A funny commentary on the crazy parts of the otaku culture. A bit too crazy for my liking - in that regard it reminded of Gravitation - but since I already watched the anime and I'm aware of what's to come - more or less - I know it's worth sticking around.

"Amor En Retrogrado (Bill Turner #1)" by A.M. Riley

Rating: ♦ ♦

I didn't like it. Period. I give it props for a well-researched setting but that's it. The characters were unlikable, downright hateful people and that completely spoiled any joy I could've taken from reading this book. JD was a self-hating, passive-aggressive drunk. Robert was a possessive, obsessive, jealous bully. Bill was a closeted gay whose internalized homophobia made him treat other gays and especially his lover like shit. Christopher allowed Bill to treat him like a doormat. And Kate was always making an issue of her race and gender yet she kept throwing around homophobic remarks, calling gay people 'fagots' etc. Ugh. I actually felt vaguely dirty, like I wanted to scrub myself clean, when I finished it. I won't be reading any more books in this series, that's for sure.

"Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares" by James Lovegrove

Rating: ♦ ♦

Hm, the idea was good, very steam-punk-ish - especially the steam-powered suits at the end, the battle - but a) the book seemed way too long and b) I didn't really like the man hiding behind the Baron Cauchemar moniker, his story didn't really move me because his very own stupidity led to the downfall and death of innocent people. So, overall, I was rather disappointed.

What I did like a lot was the very beginning, Watson thinking of his wife, Mary, who was recuperating from yet another failed pregnancy that hit her really hard, his need to hide the reason behind her failing health from Holmes, the explosion at the railway station, Watson helping the wounded... that was really great and I wish the whole book was like that, deeply emotional and close to the heart. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

"The Delta Anomaly (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2010 series) #1)" by Rick Barba

Rating: ♣ ♣ ♣

I loved reading an official Star Trek tie-in book set during the characters' academy days. And I also loved the description of the cadets' life at the academy, their rivalry, fun and pranks - "Schiller!" - the tests Kirk had to pass... That part was awesome.

The alien entity that was the antagonist in this book was interesting too, a very unusual being. But after a while, I started losing myself in all the tests they conducted and in all the results they came to, but especially in Uhura's translating methods. Most of the time, I had no idea what she was talking about. So, that was a downer.

One thing I was ambivalent about was Kirk's relationship with Hannah. She felt too much like a Mary-Sue, I guess? The way he kept talking about her being the sole inspiration for his future research methods and so on... That just rang false to me. I mean, it was great that she made him think outside the box, but his infatuation with her was way too sudden.

Overall, a good book with some hiccups that needed smoothing out.

"Angelic (Innocence #1)" by Gem Frost

Rating: ♣ ♣

Freebie. I really liked the author's language, the short story read very well, and that's not as common as one might think in gay romances. But the story itself, it read more like the fantasy of a teenage girl, swooning over the perfect boy in her class. Gabriel was so beautiful, so pure, so perfect... that I expected some sort of a twist, that he had been sent to Dom's company to ferret out his secrets, anything to shatter his breathtaking flawlessness. But that didn't happen, and so the story just felt too... purple.

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"Christmas With My Grinch" by Blmorticia

Rating: ♣

Freebie. And thank the gods above for that. From weird writing - "point about" or "cradled him closer" - to downright unlikable characters, this story made me actually angry. Why are these two, Nathan and Bryant, actually together? Nathan can't but whine about everything, even the things Bryant loves most. On the other hand, Bryant doesn't respect Nathan's wishes or his opinions. Do they actually listen to each other or do they just boink?

"Something Sweet" by Megan Derr

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Freebie! And a really sweet one, a New Year story set in a candy store. A very short thing yet so full of wonderful emotions. Lovely. This is exactly the kind of story that Megan Derr does best.

"When I Say When" by Tia Fielding

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠

Free short story. And quite a nice one too with tastefully done sex scenes and a bit of humor too. This author definitely has potential.

"Chosen (White Wolf #1)" by K. Matthew

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠

Free read and the first story in a longer series. Also, a PWP. And... I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Why? Because it plays heavily with dub-con/non-con and the Stockholm Syndrome. It's about a pack whose Alpha dominates his subordinates sexually. And not just that - the pack kidnaps young men and mentally, physically and sexually bends and breaks them to force them to join the pack. The pack itself doesn't see anything wrong with that. And I'm not sure if the author presents it as "no, it's not okay but the pack doesn't see it that way" or "yes, it's okay." And that really confuses me.

Well, in any case, it's something I have never encountered in a book before. And for that reason alone, I find it quite fascinating, to be honest. It definitely made me want to read more.

The Looper team made their screenplay available for free on tumblr: link. Haven't read it yet but I'm interesting to see what changes they made between this finale version of the script and the movie.

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And if you are a fan of the Arthurian legends and of gay stories too, Smashwords' offering the first part in Sarah Luddington's series "The Knights of Camelot", a book called "Lancelot and the Wolf", for free: link. This is a real book, not a short story. In this series, Arthur and Lancelot are lovers. Haven't read it yet, but I have it downloaded for later!

"My King’s Seraglio" by Ann T. Ryan

4 stars out of 5

This was the first "official" - as in published - mpreg story I've ever read and I enjoyed it very, very much. I was glad that the author didn't get stuck in heaps and piles of unnecessary detail and even though I would've preferred more world-building - what with the story taking place in a fantasy setting - it flowed nicely and I found all the characters more than likable.