Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 37

Book Review: Dragon Bound

If I had to sum up this book in a single word, it would be….unconvincing.

Look, on the surface this book has a lot of terrific things going for it. Shape-shifting seems to be a popular romantic tool these days, and I confess that I like the idea. It’s sort of that strip-away-the-veneer-of-civilization thing. Alphba male. Dominant. Predator. Mate. Yeah, it’s sexy.

In this book, the shape-shifting male is a DRAGON! Talk about king of the beasts. I was so excited and hopeful when I started reading this book. Immortal dragon with coveted hoard…woman steals from him…dragon ROARS loudly enough to shake the city…woman runs…dragon catches her…

What could go wrong?

First of all, the dragon was a total wuss. I didn’t believe for the tiniest fraction of a second that Pia was in danger. And worse…I didn’t buy into his immortality. He was too civilized. Too much a modern man. He didn’t seem particularly dragonlike in human form, and then when he switched to a dragon form, he didn’t seem very dragonlike either. He seemed more like a pet. A very large pet. Even when he ripped some attackers apart, I didn’t feel it. Maybe that’s because we were in Pia’s point of view at the time, and she averted her eyes, so it was, essentially, a missed opportunity to truly convince me of his…anything…danger, predator instincts….

In short, he lacked all those things that make a shape shifter cool to read about in romance.

Moving on…Pia was the typical sassy heroine. She insults the uber-powerful dominant male who, of course, likes it because she “isn’t boring.” I disagreed. I thought she was kind of boring. Or at least, she said all the same things I’ve seen romance heroines say for so long that I couldn’t buy into her as a real person. She had a complicated past, learning from her mother how to hide who she really was, but I didn’t feel like that past shaped her nearly as much as urban fantasy genre expectations did.

The world building was also a problem. Then again, I’ve spotted this particular error in world building before, and it still seems to fly so maybe it’s just me. The thing is, according to the book magic became a known force in the world in the Elizabethan era. The kingdoms of magical creatures — elves, fae, wyr, etc. have been “out” for centuries. So WHY OH WHY is everything basically the same in 20?? except for the presence of these creatures? Are you seriously telling me that all this magic, and all these powerful creatures controlling everything, didn’t make SOME difference around about the onset of the industrial age? Or maybe during the tech boom? Or with ANYTHING AT ALL? It’s so completely unbelievable…New York is the same down to the Empire State Building. Cars are the same. Warring magical factions are going on about clean energy and nuclear power. They apparently invest in these mundane technologies, but their magic hasn’t changed them in any way. The same actors play on screen and in television. Ziploc is still a brand name.

I don’t buy it. When you make a FUNDAMENTAL change to our known timeline, FUNDAMENTAL things have to be different today.

I think this is why I prefer urban fantasy in which the magic has been outed more recently. Or magical realism in which the magic is hidden. (There is a fine line sometimes.) It just makes more sense to me. It’s more convincing.

But wait, there’s more! The plot wasn’t that engaging. The romance didn’t do anything for me because there wasn’t anything keeping these two apart. (That’s the problem when you find your “mate”. Come on, is it really going to end any other way?) I didn’t feel any romantic tension at all. The suspense plot, meanwhile, lacked depth or substance and ultimately didn’t seem that difficult to overcome.

Finally, the heroine kept her identity a secret from both the hero and the reader, though we were in her point of view. This is something I’ve harped on before, although honestly it didn’t bug me quite as much in this book as in others…maybe because I simply wasn’t engaged enough? Her true identity was a surprise to me, and it explained a lot, although as always, I wonder if having had a better understanding of her from the start would have made her a more convincing character.

I feel like a humbug on this book…so many others have really enjoyed it…but I can’t recommend it for all the reasons I mentioned above.

Rating: 2/5

Title: Dragon Bound

Author: Thea Harrison

ISBN: 0425241505

Published May 3, 2011

Book Review: The Darkest Hour

Ethan believes his wife is dead. She died in a plane crash one year ago, and he buried her. Except now, a year later, someone sends him evidence that she’s not as dead as he though and is, in fact, being held captive in some South American hell hole.

Ethan and his brothers, mercenaries by trade, launch a rescue mission to get her home. But things aren’t easy for Rachel, who has been mistreated and drugged (heroine or cocaine). She can’t remember much of her life, and she suffers from severe withdrawal.

Here’s what I loved about this story: Rachel. She was a strong woman made weak by circumstance, struggling to come back to life. She isn’t okay after her ordeal, and in fact, still isn’t really okay at the end of this book. (Kudos!)

Ultimately, though, I rated it three stars because I found myself glad I had read the next three books in the series before I read this one. It wasn’t intentional — my library just didn’t have this title until this week and I was very much looking forward to it. But I read books 2, 3, and 4 (in that order) first, and thought they were all a bit stronger on the suspense.

This book had some believability issues, particularly towards the end. When certain people learn of Rachel’s continued existence, they try to kill her for what she knows (or knew, since her memory is wonky). The assassination attempts were PITIFUL! I simply do not believe that these men couldn’t manage to kill her, given the circumstances presented in this book. There was also a nit-picky story-telling issue that nonetheless jumped out at me and, IMO, should have jumped out at a content editor — late in the book Rachel suddenly knows self defense, because her brothers in law taught her. She should have remembered this sooner, so that the tool was in place when she needed it, rather than having it drop out of the heavens in the middle of a desperate situation.

As for the romance, at first I was really into it. Ethan had filed for divorce just before she flew off to South America on her “mission of mercy.” He regretted it shortly thereafter, but then she died — or so he thought. She doesn’t remember any of this at first. I’m not sure why, but somewhere around 2/3 of the way through this book, I began to get really impatient with her still not knowing. Then, when she does remember, and we finally get the whole story, I felt a bit let down. I often feel this way in reunion stories, which is why I tend to avoid them.

Also, I didn’t care for the sex scenes. I was bored with the first and skipped the second entirely. It wasn’t the scenes themselves — which reminded me strongly of all of Banks’s other sex scenes — but the lead-in. Given what Rachel had been through, and all the healing she was undergoing, and Ethan’s feelings of insecurity over what she didn’t remember, I didn’t think either one of them was READY to have sex yet. In fact, I don’t think this book needed sex at all. It felt forced, inserted more because the author was writing for a specific audience that expected it rather than because it developed organically out of the characters and situation.

I will say, though, that finally reading this book made Rusty’s situation make a LOT more sense. I really didn’t get her until now.

Overall, I do recommend this book, but mostly because I recommend the series.

Rating: 3/5

Title: The Darkest Hour

Author: Maya Banks

ISBN: 0425227944

Published September 7, 2010

Writing Blind

I’ve got a new guest post up at The Story Factory Reading Zone about writing and being blind. Enjoy!

Book Review: The Star Witch

And here it is….the final volume in the Fyne Sister’s trilogy…

Despite my reservations throughout reading this series, it ended fairly well. This was the best book of the series, and this was the best romance of the three. It helped, too, that this book finally closes all those threads that were left dangling throughout.

In the end, I have to say that I was more compelled by the Emperor Sebastian and Leann than by the Fyne sisters and the curse keeping them from love. The emperor and his concubine-turned-empress were damaged, and more fully developed than any of the primary characters.

As far as Isadora and Lucan, I felt they fell in love a little too quickly, and based on very little, but on the other hand, I did buy into the issues keeping them apart. It made for some decent romantic tension.

The conclusion was satisfying, both for the characters and for the world. It didn’t happen as easily as I feared it would, either — although the emperor’s choices played a big part in that. (Which is one more reason I was more compelled by his subplot than any of the three main plots in this series.)

I gave this book 3 stars, just like its prequels, but this one was a higher 3, nearing 4. I didn’t round up because as I look at the series overall, I think 3 is an accurate representation of how I felt. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad, and if you’re in the mood for fantasy romance, you may like this. The three books together won’t take long to read.

Rating 3/5

Title: The Star Witch

Author: Linda Winstead Jones

ISBN: 0425201287

Published January 2006

Book Review: Justice

First thing’s first: This book is a sequel, but not to a book that called for a sequel. It’s the sequel to a book I basically liked, and has managed to ruin any fond memories I might have harbored. Jessica and Mark had a nice little adventure in Pursuit after Jessica survived a car crash that killed the first lady of the US. They ran away from some bad guys, nearly got killed a few times, had some steamy sex, and got together at the end. It wasn’t brilliant, but I enjoyed it.

Then I Picked up this book, not even realizing that it was a sequel, just noting that I hadn’t read a book by Robards in a while and that I was in the mood for her usual formula — brainless suspense that is fast-paced, easy to read, and very predictably good without being very good or great. Well, I suppose there had to be one that really blew it. After all, she wrote one that surprised me in the other direction (Vanished).

So yeah. Jessica and Mark apparently broke up after their HEA in book one. That really threw me for a loop right there. I mean, WHAT? He was apparently kissing her boss so she broke up with him. (Good decision!) He has some vague internal thoughts about how he was probably subconsciously trying to sabotage the relationship because…blah blah blah blah blah. I really didn’t care to see these two get back together again. Which isn’t to say that I wanted them to stay broken up, just that I didn’t care. And it’s kind of like, so what if they get back together again? You ruined the HEA once, what’s to say you won’t do it again?

Plus, the mystery/suspense was weak. It took forever for anyone to even realize anyone was dead, which seemed a little weird to me given all the clues popping up. In fact, there wasn’t really a clear, focused goal here. Someone did try to kill Jessica again, but I can’t honestly say the story was about that as it didn’t stop her from going to work.

And while I’m busily trashing the book, can I just say that there was a very random, very useless, very lame ghost that appeared in the book. You know…write a paranormal…don’t write a paranormal…but don’t suddenly have a ghost appear in the second book of a series that has not demonstrated any propensity for that kind of thing at all. Kind of gave me whiplash wondering what that ghost was doing there. Oh, and the answer is nothing at all. The ghost wasn’t even particularly good scenery.

Let’s see, what else…Oh yeah. I don’t like Jessica anymore. She’s a defense lawyer on the fast track who is more into her career than anything else. At the very beginning of the story, she is defending a rapist she feels is probably guilty. And I realize that there are people out there that do that, and that it’s a critical part of our justice system, but I guess I don’t have the “lawful good” outlook on morality such a job requires. If a guy’s a rapist, he’s scum, and so is anyone who defends him, especially if they know or even strongly suspect that he’s guilty.

In addition to not liking the kind of person who can do this, I found her a bit inconsistent. On the one hand, she’s all for getting the promotions and making it big, but on the other hand, she’s investigating things that are, at the least, likely to get her fired. Her concern over Tiffany, the rape victim, just didn’t jibe with the rest of what was going on here. I could see her trying to figure out what happened to Allison, her predecessor, but Tiffany? Didn’t buy it.

Oh, and I didn’t buy the ending. I won’t spoil it, even though I don’t think you should read this, because if I really haven’t given you enough reasons to stay away from this book….

I really hope there won’t be another sequel. I definitely won’t read it. I would rather reread Twilight. And if you know me, you know that’s saying something!

 

Rating: 1/5

 

Title: Justice

Author: Karen Robards

ISBN: 1441843078

Published July 19, 2011

Book Review: Werewolf in the North Woods

I first got into Vicki Lewis Thompson through her nerd romances, and much of what I loved about those books continued here. She’s got a fun, sassy, and somewhat sexy writing style that is fun to read.

In this story, Abby is in the Portland area trying to help her grandfather find proof that he really did see big foot, so he’ll leave and move to Arizona with the rest of the family. He’s stubborn, though, and digs in his heals when a professor by the name of Roark comes in and debunks his “evidence.” Turns out, Roark’s a hypocrite — he’s a werewolf who knows perfectly well there’s a bigfoot mated pair in the woods. In fact, he’s there to help relocate them so crazies will stop coming too close to the woods where a werewolf pack likes to roam.

The one problem I had with this book (and the prequel) is that I didn’t really care for these wolves. They just don’t seem real to me, or very wolflike. Or scary. Or much of anything really. As much as they go on about secrecy, they don’t seem willing to do much to ensure their secret. And the idea that they can’t reproduce until they perform a mating ritual — which is, literally, doing it doggie style — is absurd. Maybe it was meant to be. That would fall in line with Thompson’s style, but as a fantasy lover, it may be I take my world building a bit too seriously. At any rate, it kept me from loving the story, although I liked it well enough.

Rating: 3/5

Title: Werewolf in the North Woods

Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

ISBN: 0451234987

Published October 4, 2011

Book Review: The Moon WItch

The Fyne sisters continue to try to battle the curse preventing them from finding lasting love in this second volume in the series, The Moon Witch. This one involves a shape-shifter who kidnaps the middle Fyne sister, Juliette, in the tradition of his people. They know who their true mate is, and are led to them, then they kidnap them and bring them home.

In the first book, I reported feeling engaged early on, but losing patience as time wore on. I felt the same way in this book. At first, I was intrigued by Juliette’s visions, and her part-wolf captor. But the tension didn’t hold. I knew the cures wouldn’t break at the end of this book, because there was still another Fyne witch’s story to tell, but that was only part of the problem. It was all too easy for me…their coming together. I never for one second doubted it. And I realize that thanks to the HEA structure, I never *really* doubt it, but in this case there was more, or maybe less, depending upon how you look at it.

When it comes to fantasy, the whole “meant to be together” thing sounds good in theory, but is a PITA to pull off for real. I’m struggling to remember if I’ve ever seen it done well, and nothing is coming to mind. (Doesn’t mean I won’t think of something later.) The trouble is, once you’ve got some magical connection binding two people, the story’s basically over. Okay, nothing more to see here. Let’s move on. The magical binding, as I’ve just decided to call it, undermines “that which keeps them apart.” The only thing keeping these two people apart was that they weren’t together yet.

There was one aspect that could have worked well, but didn’t. Ryn started having second thoughts when he learned about Juliete’s true destiny. (Won’t give details for the sake of spoilers.) Actually, it probably should have worked, but I had a feeling that it was going to end up being sort of hand waved away. Something in the way both this book and the previous book were written led me to that conclusion long before discovering that indeed, his fears ended up being ridiculously simple to overcome and the whole potential complication amounted to nothing.

There is one book left in this series. I hope that when the curse is finally overcome, it will truly satisfy.

Rating: 3/5

Title: The Moon Witch

Author: Linda Winstead Jones

ISBN: 0425201295

Published May 3rd 2005

Fated Love

Fated love really is a thrilling idea, isn’t it? One man. One woman. Destined to be together because of….(whatever). There’s an intensity there, not to mention the cozy feeling of a secure happily ever after. I played with the idea myself, when I was as young as 14 or 15, dreaming up an alien race in which a matched pair were born at the exact same time, and finding one’s true love was mostly a matter of finding the right birth records.

As an adult romance reader, however, I find the concept rarely works for me. There’s no tension when you know, from the word go, that two people are destined to be together and the only thing keeping them apart is that they haven’t gotten together yet.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…romance requires tension. Well done, there is a perfect balance of conflicting forces — that which brings them together vs. that which keeps them apart. The stronger the forces are on each side of the equation, the better the story! Yes, ultimately we know that they are going to live happily ever after. Those of us who love romance are okay with that, and are more interested in HOW the two characters manage to overcome their challenges to reach that eventual HEA. The best romance writers can make us temporarily forget that the HEA is coming, because the conflicts keeping the two characters apart are so poignant and so real!

Fated love breaks the dynamic. It brings the certain HEA into clear focus and usually gives us little reason to fear the two won’t get together. This is a big problem in the paranormal sub-genre in both overt (literal) and subtle ways. Subtly speaking, you have the psychics who form some kind of instantaneous mental connection in chapter one and then spend the rest of the book hooking up. Jayne Ann Krentz is particularly guilty of this (although she has a strong enough suspense element that I still read her stuff).

Having said all of that, I don’t want to discourage writers who want to use fated love in their stories. There must be a way to make it work, in the right author’s hands. What I wanted to do here was point out the dangers, so you can find a way around them. Dig deep for that conflict, and make us fear that your fated lovers may not end up together, and you’ll have a real winner that combines a magical fantasy with edge-of-the-seat tension.

Book Review: The Sun WItch

The Fyne sisters have a problem. A generations-old curse keeps them from finding lasting love — either their loves will die before the age of 30, or leave them. Knowing this, Sophie sets out to take a stranger as a lover so she can have a child without the risk of love. A year later, though, Kane finds her again.

I enjoyed the beginning of this story. The setup was wonderful, and the issues real. Partway through, however, I began to struggle. The trouble was a combination of world and character building…let me try to explain.

Kane, I got. His motives were simple enough — rebel soldier fighting against an emperor who destroyed his family. He also longs for a family of his own, since he no longer has one.

Sophie, on the other hand, I didn’t get. The entirety of her being was defined by this curse. I think the story really lost me when she starts being able to use her magic in ways she wasn’t able to use it before — like there was some kind of block she is now learning to overcome. Then, suddenly, she was just *powerful* in a very nebulous sense of the word. She became a goddess, and the end felt very much like a deus ex machina. She didn’t triumph. Kane didn’t triumph. She was suddenly given control over phenomenal cosmic powers and then all was right.

Well, mostly. This is a trilogy, and not everything is resolved at the end of this book. There are two more Fyne sisters to deal with, so the curse can’t be lifted until the end.

I think a lot of what I wanted here was just a much clearer definition of the magic, and how Sophia came to improve so much. As it is, I felt ambivalent enough about this story that I almost didn’t pick up book 2. (I did, and that review will come soon.)

Rating 3/5

Title: The Sun Witch

Author: Linda Winstead Jones

ISBN: 0425199401

Published December 2004

Tipes for Writers: Third Party Heroes

The main character(s) of your story should at least try to solve their own problems. It’s okay if they get help, but if they simply languish in endless misery until some third party hero comes along to save the day, then my question is: Why isn’t the third party hero the main character?

You probably know this, but I’m going to go way out on a line by suggesting that the rule still applies if you are writing in the *romance* genre. This is where I see the most difficulty following this rule, even in published fiction. The hero and heroine simply cannot be together because of this and that, but fear not, fate will step in and intervene! Queue matchmaker. (But not the sound, please. )

In the best romance, one or both of the main characters are striving for happiness. They may honestly believe they are happier apart, or that the other is better without him/her. But they’re trying. Giving in to misery, accepting things the way they are, even for noble or religious ideals (ie I can’t possibly get a divorce), makes the character pitiable, not sympathetic. (Note: This is why I almost always avoid Historical Romance in which the hero or heroine is already married to someone who has to go — fate has no choice but to step in and make a widow(er).)