Sally Bend's Blog, page 23
May 17, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
May 16, 2024
Book Review: Good Neighbours: Janine by Miss Irene Clearmont (erotic thriller)
Author: Irene Clearmont
Publication Date: May 6, 2024
Genres: Erotica, Thriller
Protagonist Gender: Female/Male
Janine, part 1 of Good Neighbours, is a stellar example of what Irene Clearmont does so very, very well. This is a plot-driven erotic thriller peopled by well-developed characters who actually change and develop throughout the story. There’s some mystery to it, a great deal of suspense, and equal parts anticipation, arousal, and satisfaction.
The story centers around a small suburban community with some unusual ties between owners. There’s talk of turning the whole area into a gated community, so you can imagine the quality of the homes and properties involved. An amazingly (one might say suspiciously) cheap rental property brings Olivia and Greg to the community, but unbeknownst to them, they’re being manipulated from the very start. They have been chosen, and nothing that happens to them, no matter how wild or scandalous, is an accident.
Simply put, the neighbourhood has plans for them.
In a story that’s built upon female domination and cuckolding, Miss Irene carefully establishes the relationship dynamic of the couple before beginning to drive a wedge between them. For Olivia, what follows is a breathless detour into a life of hedonism and debauchery that seems like freedom compared to her marriage, while Greg finds himself led astray from his narrow-minded beliefs, tempted and blackmailed into a nightmare of submission. Their neighbours, Janine and Dirk, have the couple’s fates clearly planned out, and their maid, Molly, will prove to be instrumental in enabling the transformation.
I’m cautious about delving too deep into spoiler territory, but the relationship between the characters is beautifully layered, and likely not what you may expect. There’s a hierarchy of domination and submission here, with characters straddling dual (almost contradictory) roles. Janine’s household is an interesting one, and her talent for training and punishment is just as delicious as the erotic aspects of the story.
There was one small reveal towards the end of the story that I saw coming, but likely only because I desperately wanted it to be coming. There’s also a nice twist in the final chapter that promises another layer of mystery in the next book (tentatively scheduled for mid-June). A fabulous read that demands you become deeply invested, and which will leave you desperate to find out how it all ends.
Rating: 
My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 15, 2024
Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy (fantasy)
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. Find out more here.
My choice for this week is a coming-of-age, own-voices, epic fantasy of trans witchcraft – and it’s the launch of a trilogy!
The Sapling Cage
by Margaret Killjoy
Fantasy – Epic
320 pages, Paperback
September 24, 2024 by Feminist Press
Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, healing the sick, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond her small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy.
When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers confronting the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of the chaos, Lorel makes friends and begins learning about magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse.
In the gripping first novel in the Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy, author Margaret Killjoy spins a tale of earth magic, power struggle, and self-invention, an own-voices story of trans witchcraft.
May 14, 2024
Book Review: The Lost Tomb by Douglas Preston (non-fiction)
Author: Douglas Preston
Publication Date: December 5, 2023 by Grand Central Publishing
Genres: Nonfiction, History
Protagonist Gender: N/A
Douglas Preston is not only one of my favorite thriller authors (if you haven’t discovered Agent Pendergast, get reading ASAP!) but also the man behind The Lost City of the Monkey God, one of the most exciting real-life adventures I’ve read in recent memory. To say my expectations for The Lost Tomb were high would be an understatement, but even if it wasn’t quite what I was expecting (I’ll get to that in a moment), I still found it to be a fascinating read.
Preston could have been a total stranger and I’d still have bought this for Chapter 6, The Mystery of Oak Island, alone – but that’s where I had to reset expectations. I’d hoped this would be a new article, a walk-through of the site and the recent discoveries, but it’s actually a reprint from way back in 1988, a full 8 years before Rick and Marty Lagina got involved. It’s still a good read, but (a) it’s old news and (b) it’s more history and research than first-person observation. It does have a short afterword that updates the facts of the story, as do all the other reprints, so no matter how familiar you may be with the stories, there’s something new to explore.
With my expectations set regarding reprints and research, I flipped back to the beginning and enjoyed this from cover to cover, exploring stories I knew, was vaguely familiar with, or knew nothing about.
The Monster of Florence (the Italian serial killer) and Trial by Fury (Amanda Knox) were two of the most chilling entries, not so much for the murders themselves, but because of the media circus, social media insanity, and police corruption surrounding them. A common theme of the book is how we define (and redefine) history, and to whom it belongs, with these being stunning examples of how we do the same to current events.
Nearly half of the stories are about skeletons, their discoveries, and the mysteries surrounding them. Contained within those stories are fascinating elements of anthropology, archaeology, multiple branches of science, and even politics. It’s amazing (and sometimes unsettling) the way one advancement or discovery can cast so much doubt on existing theories, but it’s wonderful to see how the truth of the stories comes together.
The Mystery of Hell Creek was one of the more science-heavy stories, and definitely one of my favorites, looking at the theories surrounding the end of the dinosaurs. The Clovis Point Con was another interesting story, and a rare case of deliberate forgery and manipulation of the science being used to create a story. The book closes with The Lost Tomb, which is exactly the kind of story I was craving, one where Preston does get his hands dirty participating in the excavation of the Valley of the Kings, and that’s a story I’d love to see get The Lost City of the Monkey God treatment – hopefully without the near-death experiences.
Rating:
May 13, 2024
Book Review: The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields (fantasy romance)
Author: Sydney J. Shields
Publication Date: May 14, 2024 by Redhook
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Protagonist Gender: Female
At its heart, The Honey Witch is a story of personal choice, true love, and the wonder of the natural world. On the surface, it’s a cozy fantasy, full of bees and flowers and the sweetness of honey, but there’s a heaviness looming over it, not just a curse, but a threat of fire and ash. Sydney J. Shields’ debut is as magical as the story itself, a wonderfully written book that drew me in from the first page and kept me hooked throughout. I knew there was a twist/reveal coming, and I had my ideas about what it might be, but I was pleasantly surprised by how it all played out.
The romance here is very slow burn, but that’s to be expected in a story where the heroine has been cursed to never find love. Shields does a marvelous job of contrasting the physical aspects of love with the emotional, and if you pay attention to what hurts (and why), the twist/reveal is so much more satisfying. Marigold is a fabulous heroine, a young woman who has so much to learn, so much room to grow, but she’s immediately endearing and eminently likable. Lottie was a lot harder to warm up to, initially coming across as cold and abrasive, and then stubborn and difficult, but her strength eventually won my heart.
The magic system of honey and ash, light and dark, sweet and foul, was beautifully designed and developed. I love fantasy with magic and wonder, and that’s what I felt here – a genuine sense of wonder and whimsy. It’s a beautiful aspect of a beautiful book, and the balance between plot, setting, and characters was just about perfect. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Innisfree as much as Marigold and Lottie, and I was as worried for the Landvættir as I was for them.
If I were to have one (selfish) complaint, it would be that The Honey Witch ended too soon. The climax was well-done and entirely valid, resolving all the key elements of the story, but I guess I wanted more of the happiness that follows.
Rating: 1/2
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 10, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
May 3, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
May 1, 2024
Book Review: My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen (gothic)
Author: Johanna van Veen
Publication Date: May 14, 2024 by Poisoned Pen Press
Genres: Gothic Horror
Protagonist Gender: Female
My Darling Dreadful Thing was a slow, subtle, suspenseful, sapphic read that embodies everything that’s excellent (and exasperating) about period gothic romances. Johanna van Veen is to be commended for capturing the spirit (no pun intended) of the genre while also imbuing it with (slightly) more overt LGBTQIA representation.
There’s so much about this book that’s wonderful – the orchestration of the seances, the presence of supernatural companions, the tragedy of families, the pain of forbidden love, the framing device of the hospital interview, and the casual disgust of things like grave-robbing. The funny thing is that I was drawn more to the relationship between Roos and Ruth, her spiritual companion, than Agnes, her mortal savior, friend, and would-be lover. The writing was lovely, and the story was absolutely dripping with atmosphere, making it feel like a perfect story for a cold, windy, rainy autumn afternoon.
Where the exasperating aspect comes in is with the epistolary aspect of the novel, which spoils too of the suspense, even as it works to create a heightened sense of drama. It almost works at cross-purposes with the story, making us wonder about exactly what happened, but gives us enough information that nothing really comes as a surprise.
Rating: 1/2
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 29, 2024
Book Review: Blood on the Tide by Katee Robert (romance)
Author: Katee Robert
Publication Date: May 14, 2024 by Berkley
Genres: Romantasy
Protagonist Gender: Female
Oh my, wow, and whoa – Blood on the Tide was so much more than I was expecting and, to be fair, I went into my first Katee Robert read with high hopes. Not only was this a wonderful romance, chock full of sexual tension, but it’s also a fabulous fantasy, complete with magic, monsters, politics, intrigue, and rebellion.
Lizzie was such a fun, bad-ass character, full of snark and attitude – an anti-heroine of the sharpest, bloodiest caliber. She’s powerful, single-minded, and fiercely protective, not immoral but an immortal woman with her own distinct sense of morality. Despite her age and her powers, she has her vulnerabilities, not the least of which is her fear of water – a definite challenge when you’re sailing with pirates. Maeve is the kind of character who would likely be relegated to the supporting cast in another story, a sweet young selkie who initially seems too innocent for the rebellion in which she’s enmeshed, but proves herself to be far more clever and worldly than she first appears.
The tension between the two smolders on every page, even as they’re denying their feelings and pissing each other off. It’s a convenient clash of quests that forces them into close proximity, with one chasing a family treasure and the other a personal one, and an orgasmic act of feeding that opens the first mutual crack in their independence.
There’s a darkness to the fantasy here, a story of colonization and rebellion, but there’s also a strong sense of joyous hope. There’s never any doubt that Lizzie and Maeve will see it through to the end, but what I loved most was that even though all the high stakes of epic fantasy are here, it’s the personal stakes of love and romance that fuel the story. Maeve remains determined to do the right thing for her people (and her world), and Lizzie . . . well, she may not believe in the cause, but she believes in her selkie, and that’s enough.
Rating:
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 26, 2024
Freebie Friday – Putting the TG in TGIF!
Well, if it’s Friday, then it must be time to bend our way into the weekend with Freebie Friday!
Every Friday I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might be of interest to similarly bent readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.
Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.
Enjoy!
