Sally Bend's Blog, page 4

Weekend Freebies – Gender Play & Power Play

Well, if it’s another weekend, then it must be time to bend our hearts and minds around preparing for the week ahead, and how better to do that than with some Weekend Freebies!

Every weekend I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might interest visitors to the ruins. 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!

The Dominion and the Sugilite: Episodes 21-22 by B.J. Frazier (erotica)

Title: The Dominion and the Sugilite
Episode 21 | Episode 22
Author: B.J. Frazier
Publication Date: Ma3 17 to May 22, 2025
Genres: Erotica | Sci-fi
Protagonist Gender: Various

If you’re new to The Dominion and the Sugilite, it’s a serialized erotic science-fantasy soap opera by B.J. Frazier, set on a female-ruled planet where the power exchange is the foundation of a fantasy-themed society fueled by the magic of gems known as sugilite.

As always, I will do my best to avoid spoilers, but there’s only so much I can not say when we’re deep into the 2nd season.

We ended last season with a lot of things having come to a head, forcing various confrontations, but there are even bigger conflicts waiting to explode. As we enter Episode 21, the tension between Geo and Aurora is thicker than ever before, forcing both to act very much out of character – to one another and the Dominion at large. It’s an unhealthy situation, and its consequences are beginning to slip into politics. On the positive side, we do see Gemma overstep and get slapped down, but she’s also given something of an olive branch that is sure to cause conflict down the road.

Speaking of tension (and correction), we are privy to a difficult scene back at Quarry’s, following the resolution of the Gaius situation, and the species prejudice exposed reminds us why Aurora’s interspecies event is so important.

As has been promised with the launch of season 2, we have come around to another Attis Day celebration, and while it initially seems a little more of a colder, more sterile depiction, that’s largely because we’re experiencing it as observers, not through the eyes of last year’s winner. We are introduced to Jade in the process, a most curious contestant with remarkable talents, and I dearly hope we see more of her. Naqqi, our visitor from the Naturalists, gets thrown into the deep end of the cultural exchange, witnessing the competition, and his embarrassment is quite delightful.

Moving on to Episode 22, conflict is once again the name of the game. We’re invited to witness a most awkward meal between Aurora, Geo, and Naqqi, one that’s full of misunderstandings, shock, and embarrassment, and it becomes increasingly difficult to guess Geo’s true motives. This leads to more tension between him and Aurora later, and if you read the scene carefully – it really comes down to one sentence while he’s on the cross – there’s something markedly wrong with their power exchange. Later, it feels as if we might get some answers, if not a resolution, but yet another heart-to-heart is interrupted.

Oh, Miss Frazier, you are such a cruel tease!

Continuing on the theme of conflict, we get a sad peek into Bay’s betrayal of Ichiniko, but he twice corrects his co-conspirator’s pronouns for the beautiful futa, so maybe there’s hope . . . although it’s very clear he’s up to no good. Dvita is certain of that as well, and after a tense conversation with her partner, she takes Ichiniko in hand for a penetrating punishment that has yummy consequences!

And to close out on that theme, we sit amongst the audience and watch as both Gemma and Gaius bring conflicting cases between the Arbiters, and even though we really only get through half of the arguments in this episode, there’s more than enough outbursts, outrage, and other shenanigans to keep your fingers glued to the page.

As we slide deeper into this second season, it’s clear that (a) things change, and (b) perhaps the Dominion was never quite as perfect as we wanted to believe. There’s pettiness, selfishness, and disgusting behavior to be found beneath the older generation of utopian power exchange, but there’s also happiness, selflessness, and a growing responsibility to be found in the younger generation that I suspect will become more important as the story continues.

Rating:   

My sincere thanks to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Falling (Short) in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain: Book Review

Title: Falling in a Sea of Stars
Author: Kristen Britain
Publication Date: September 30, 2025
Genres: Epic Fantasy
Representation: N/A

As a long-time fan of the Green Rider series, it pains me to say this, but Falling in a Sea of Stars was . . . not very good. It had moments I enjoyed, and aspects I felt were well done, but overall . . . it was just lacking.

There are a handful of plots to this book, any of which could have been worthy subplots in a more significant story, but instead of filling out that larger narrative, they’re left to stand alone, connected by a story that feels like padding. We get something of a resolution to the kidnapping of Laren Mapstone (except it’s interrupted and largely abandoned); we follow through on a pair of lingering consequences of Grandmother’s evil (one of which feels odd, the other of which is resolved too easily); and we witness a gathering of forces by Mornhavon the Black (the best part of the first half of the book, but a disappointing twist in the second).

As for Karigan, her story is so scattered that it’s hard to latch onto any one thread and become engaged. She’s a battle-scarred veteran trying to overcome the horrors of the Second Empire; she’s a love-struck young girl caught between desire and duty; she’s a struggling merchant fighting to keep her clan afloat in her father’s absence; she’s the avatar of a god, caught in a cycle of death and rebirth; she’s the target of a hidden, intangible enemy with games to play; and she spends most of the book either inside dreams or outside reality, never grounded long enough to really matter.

In many ways, this feels like Wheel of Time disease, where Sanderson took the outline for Jordan’s final book and stretched it into an unnecessarily padded trilogy. When originally announced, this was supposed to be the end of Karigan’s story arc, but Kristen Britain later chose to split it into 2 books due to its length, leaving us with the set-up book here and leaving the climax ahead of us. I can’t help but feel she had to do a lot of stretching and padding to turn one too-lengthy book into two lengthy books, and it does Falling in a Sea of Stars no favors. Had she given us a trio of focused novellas, akin to The Dream Gatherer and Spirit of the Wood, I think she could have accomplished the same goal with greater emphasis, but that’s just me.

At the end of the day, this is still a Green Rider book, and that makes it worth reading, but like Firebrand, it’s a transitional novel where I expected more.

Rating:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

A few new purchases this week, starting with not a book, but a book-themed T-shirt:

On that theme, I also picked up a copy of King & Straub’s The Talisman for a reread, prompted by King’s reveal that he’s almost finished writing the 3rd book! I also picked up a copy of the first Hell’s Gate book by Weber and Evans for no other reason than season 3 of Strange New Worlds has me in a sci-fi mood,

For Review

Just the one book for review this week – episode 24 of The Dominion and the Sugilite by B.J. Frazier.

Currently Reading

That Star Trek influence I mentioned? Yeah, it’s had an impact on my currently reading pile as well. I’m still reading Falling in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain, the latest Green Rider book, and should have it finished this week; but The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton has been temporarily shelved in favor of Out of the Dark by David Weber – an alien invasion tale that, oddly enough, got shifted from TBR to Now Reading because of a reviewing mentioning (I kid you not) vampires.

Weekend Freebies – Gender Play & Power Play

Well, if it’s another weekend, then it must be time to bend our hearts and minds around preparing for the week ahead, and how better to do that than with some Weekend Freebies!

Every weekend I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might interest visitors to the ruins. 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!

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

No new purchases (again) this week. What the heck is wrong with me? LOL

For Review

A pair of new review titles landed in the ruins this week. First up was a paperback ARC of The Isle in the Silver by Tasha Suri, a heart-shattering standalone romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore, and a love that spans the centuries. Also landing this week was a digital ARC of A Grave Duet: Collected Halloween Horror by Melisa Peterson Lewis, Kasey Fallon, and Rissa Miller, a chilling collection of horror-infused novelettes crafted for mature readers who crave the macabre.

Currently Reading

This week I’m still focused on two books, my paperback porch read – The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton – and my take-it-everywhere ebook read – Falling in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain.

Weekend Freebies – Gender Exploration & Expression

Well, if it’s another weekend, then it must be time to bend our hearts and minds around preparing for the week ahead, and how better to do that than with some Weekend Freebies!

Every weekend I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might interest visitors to the ruins. 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!

A Disappointing End in Human Rites by Juno Dawson

Title: Human Rites
Author: Juno Dawson
Publication Date: July 1, 2025 by Penguin Books
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Female

I’ve taken some time to think about this, the eagerly-awaited conclusion to Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, and I’m sad to say my first impressions have not improved. The first two books of this series were so good, so well-written, with such amazing character development, that I was dying to see how Juno Dawson would resolve the impending supernatural apocalypse.

Unfortunately, Human Rites is a pale comparison to the first two books. The characters feel off, wasted in some cases, and the themes of women fighting against the patriarchy and transphobia that I found so meaningful just kind of fade out with neither validation nor conclusion. The story jumps around, abandoning established plot threads while introducing new ones as if Dawson was winging it, and all of the clever, sophisticated development that marked the first two-thirds of the series is replaced by lazy deus ex machina.

SPOILERS

I’m going to come right out and say it. Time travel. Yeah, time travel. The laziest, most hackneyed “I backed myself into a corner I can’t get out of” excuse for plot development around. Not only does it ruin the story, it introduces a wealth of plot holes.

For a while, it seemed as if the theme of this final book would be one of sacrifice, which was okay, I could get behind that, but even that is wasted and undermined by characters who just seem to give up. What could have been sacrifice becomes, instead, surrender. It’s frustrating at best and infuriating at most, and even then, what could have been a heroic moment for Theo is sullied by taking her choices from her.

Human Rites could have been so much more. Were it a standalone novel, it might have read better, but as the finale to a trilogy I loved, it’s just disappointing.

Rating:

Wowed by Blood and Embers by Jordan Michelle

Title: Blood and Embers
Author: Jordan Michelle
Publication Date: May 1, 2025
Genres: Magic Romance
Representation: Lesbian

Wow, what a read! I went into Blood and Embers with some pretty significant expectations, having been pitched an enemies-to-lovers lesbian romantasy with a (nb)butch/femme relationship, and for the first few chapters it seemed like that was exactly what we were getting.

And then it got weirder and wilder, darker and deeper. Jordan Michelle invests the story with its own mythology, one that goes far beyond the usual supernatural-themed entries in the genre, all while doubling down on the romance, weaving in some steamy erotica, and building a compelling story around it.

I’m hesitant to say too much about the plot, because I think it’s best unraveled and discovered naturally, but the way Michelle layers in each new development is fantastic. I was stopped in my tracks more than a few times, genuinely surprised by where the story went next, and each time the new layer paid off.

As for the relationship between the magical (and wealthy) Ellis Avalon and the reluctant detective Lilith Covington, it’s full of all the tension, drama, suspense, excitement, sorrow, and joy that a reader could hope for. It’s not just enemies-to-lovers, it’s enemies-to-mortal-foes-to-enemies-to-lovers. Their relationship shifts along with the reveal of each new layer, which means we get plenty of time to get to know them and become invested in what’s developing between them.

Blood and Embers is fast-paced, fun, and fantastic in the truest sense of the word. Well worth the read.

Rating: 1/2

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

No new purchases this week.

For Review

No new arrivals this week, but I did submit a pair of requests for Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper (13 coming-of-rage stories where the monsters are real) & Neptune’s Fortune by Julian Sancton ( the true story of one man’s obsessive quest to find a legendary Spanish galleon with over $1 billion in gold and silver), so hopefully something to report next week.

Currently Reading

I finished 3 books last week, so yah for me, but I am woefully behind in getting them reviewed (soon I promise!). This week I’m focusing on two books, my paperback porch read – The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton – and my take-it-everywhere ebook read – Falling in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain. I feel a tad guilty about skipping over some ARCs with release dates coming up soon, but the call of the Green Rider was too strong to ignore.