K.M. Frontain's Blog, page 8
June 8, 2013
Widdershins, book review
This author is fast becoming one of my favourites. Widdershins: I almost can’t encompass how much this story has everything that makes me happy to read a book. Romance, beautiful and complicated men, supernatural horrors, sorcery, a steep learning curve for oblivious characters who are forced to wake up right now or die. The scenery: it’s grim and snowy and cold and set in an alternate early America, in a city born from the whaling trade. You get that harsh flavour of hard work, now and in the past, mixed with industry and ruthlessness and authority and arrogance. Tuck in the all but smothering attitude of learned men in a museum, and you feel edifices will crush your emotions to a grey pulp. And then you get the redeeming characters who remind you why we make friends, have lovers, entertain hopes. The bright parts are so bright, you are warmed when the characters feel that warmth.
Loved the narrative. Very beautiful balance between feelings, scene and action. I’m on the second book in the series now. If not for distractions in the house, I’d probably read it in hours like the first. But I’ll do my best in any case, no doubt.
June 7, 2013
My tweets
June 6, 2013
The Wrong Side of Right, book review
This is a very visceral read, often poetic and very moving. This story very bravely enters the territory of self-abuse after victimization, the self-abuse taking the form of seeking more victimization (as opposed to consensual BDSM with safe words).
I did get lost a few times wondering where the protagonist was physically, because steps between his being in one place and another were absent, which made me back track to see if I missed something. That sort of thing pulled me from the story more than once.
Also found myself misdirected by pronouns many times. The dedication of third person pronouns to the use of Tony only was very strict for most of the story, which at one point distracted me enough that I made substitutions of he for I, him for my, and got a perfect translation into first person.
I had a hard time suspending disbelief near the end. Why didn’t either Tony or his love interest think of security cameras? They’re dealing with criminals, have a suspicion of who is the criminal and they don’t quietly set up security cameras? That wasn’t very smart at all and doesn’t seem likely in a story about people in our modern technological North America. A sting without security cameras? A sting where the love interest abandons his partner because he has work elsewhere? No. Doesn’t work for me.
Other than that, I enjoyed this story. I found myself wishing I had Aidan’s perspective too. Tank was an unapologetically brutal and fascinating character, and the sheer, unabated depth of hurt you wade through with Tony is riveting. I very much wanted to get to the redemption at the end.
June 4, 2013
My tweets
May 20, 2013
Hainted (book review, glbtq paranormal)
Very nice story. This is a glbtq romance adventure with paranormal elements, all of it combined to make an entertaining story. Lots of effective background on different culture versions of folk/tribal exorcism, which set the mood nicely. 4½ stars if I had the option, and since I don’t, five stars. The few things that bothered me had nothing to do with plot or characterization, just some name vs pronoun awkwardness when in character head space. This story had great balance between adventure and romance, pensiveness and action.
The blurb for this book, btw, is excellent. You’ll get a better idea what it’s about just by reading that.
May 11, 2013
April 21, 2013
69k and progressing on The Sun God (modern romance novel)
Still progressing with this story. I’m at scene 23 now, just wrapped up a minor resolution between characters, working now toward a few other minor resolutions before the dangerous in-the-background character at last shows up.
Here are some updated versions of the cover art. I may have skipped a day of showing these, but it’s coming along really nice.
Ephraim’s hair is now shaggier. The foliage in the long view is getting very detailed. Soon there will be lilies of the valley poking through the greenery.
Tressa says it’s maybe at the half way point now.
For those of you living in the U.K., Bound in Stone: Volume One is now free on Amazon.
I’ve been contemplating grief in men.
Our culture has suppressed weeping in men, but I often find it unnatural when they don’t. I have in Ephraim a young man who was rejected and disowned as a teenager, then living on the street to survive for a short time. He’s also from a sheltered life style, a farm boy of a very strict community. Then I added to him a strong leaning toward masochism mixed with an equally strong survival sense and appreciation of nature. I worked the story to show that, despite having enslaved himself to a truly despicable employer, he has untapped strengths. But before that, he has to work through anxiety attacks and tears. And there is where the contemplation of grief in men came about.
I’m not sure I succeeded with Ephraim with regards to supporting his weeping fits. Did I make it clear enough that he has hit rock bottom at the beginning of this story? That he is close to apathetically agreeing to truly heinous acts perpetrated on his body if he isn’t saved by a better master? He has some pretty drastic mood swings in seconds, and he knows it.
This was easier for me in my Soulstone Chronicles series. I didn’t have to stick to some cultural ideal of male stoicism if Kehfrey cried. Mind, it took a lot to get him to that point, but he still cried. Someone usually paid for it later, though. He’s like that.
Ephraim, on the other hand, is much more fragile. And there’s my worry. Is he real enough to be believable when he cries? Because he’s in our world, not a fantasy universe of my creation. He’s supposed to be a person who could be living and real in modern Canada. Of course he’s not, but I hope he comes off that way.
