What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed* Showing 851-900 of 13,523

[Josh]

Suhi wrote: "This book is a quintessence of all I hate to see in m/m fiction. "

Which is what? This sounds very interesting.

[Andy]

Josh wrote: "I've read every book but the very last. I love them. He's such a smart, funny, talented writer -- and they mysteries are good, strong, real mysteries. "

I love the series, need to read the last two. I also enjoyed the movies.

[Josh]

I enjoyed the movies. I just have to look at them as completely separate from the books.

[Andy]

Josh wrote: "I enjoyed the movies. I just have to look at them as completely separate from the books."


Yes, they do change a lot of the story. However, I find them enjoyable and am saddened that they won't be making any more.

[Heather C]

Josh wrote: "Heather C wrote: "I haven't made it to Dark Horse and White Knight yet!

Leah, I quit reading amazon reviews over a year ago. Too much hate and fake reviews over there. Most of the books I find t..."

the books are the reviews? I guess I should just go check it out

[Mariana]

Josh wrote: "Lori K wrote: "Mariana wrote: "Marie Sexton's One More Soldier was so touching. There's no HEA, but so moving."

I decided not to go there."

Yikes. I can't take that!"

I can see why you wouldn't want to, but for me it was such a beautiful story and completely worth the read. And Amy Lane already had me crying... so why not? :)

[Heather C]

Josh wrote: "Heather C wrote: "I haven't made it to Dark Horse and White Knight yet!

Leah, I quit reading amazon reviews over a year ago. Too much hate and fake reviews over there. Most of the books I find t..."


Wow! I just read your post and I had never realized there were that many ways for authors to scam us. I did catch on to the fake reviews and author slamming over on Amazon and now I rarely participate on any of those forums.
I also think I am probably the only person in the world that doesn't read reviews. If I do read one, its only the first sentence or two. When it comes to starting new authors I usually discover them by word of mouth. For example, last week I saw 4 posts recommending for me to read Elle Parker's book. I started the 1st one not having any clue what the plot was even about, didn't read a review, blurb, or description. I do like to know ahead of time if the book will by paranormal, romance, mystery, happy, sad, funny.... So I ended up reading both books in 3 days and now have gotten one other friend to read them and 2 other friends started on them. (one of them I actually had to make a deal with and read one of her recommendations so she would read mine)

Josh, The Dickens with Love has been the only book by you where I read the description before reading the book. And I found the book when it was free on Kindle. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I read the I Spy books and discovered they were romance instead of mystery.

So my friend is making me read "I'll be Your Drill, Soldier". By Crystal Rose. All I know about it is that the "F" word is used in almost every sentence and there are some funny emails.

Good luck to me!

[Heather C]

I'm only 8% so far. Its pretty funny. I can't tell all the guys apart yet. I keep getting the names confused lol.

[Bubbles Hunty]

Mr. Josh of course I read the first cut and run. I rarely skip books in a series, unless a book isn't bubbles-safe then I will skip it.

[Ayesh]

Hmm this week I'm gonna read The Protector by N.L.Gassert :D

[Blaine]

I'm reading 'Skinflick' by Joseph Hansen at the moment, and am planning on reading 'Don't look back' by Josh Lanyon next ... or the next Joseph Hansen ...

[Emanuela ~plastic duck~]

I'm reading The Slayer's Apprentice and there are some editing issues, but the story is good, I hope it'll be like that until the end (translation: I hope I'll suffer like I've suffered for the first 30% of the book)

[Heather C]

Well, I ended up starting In a Dark Wood. Had a doctor's appointment and started reading it from the Kindle app on my BB. Its a short one so I will finish it today

[Bubbles Hunty]

Em I don't think you'll be disappointed. The poor MC in that one but it's really good.

[Minne]

Hey has anyone read to 'love and hate in advertising' - lenore black and also Katie Allen's private dicks - they are life enchancing so if you have had a bad winter as we have had in london - we need SOME SUN NOW NOW! then please read - i love elle parkers 'like doughnuts..read that about a year or so ago and its sequel like beer and... more recently - also rather fab! I have read everything Josh Lanyon has written so am waiting for the new stuff with anticipation .. best stop now as I 'am feeling a little tired and emotional' having had a really rahter nice lunch/tea with friends with loads of lapgroigh!!? spelling bemoaning the winter and lack of sun - the british can whine for ... I cant think of anything mega enough and now appear to be drunk commenting. Goodnight. Anyone read 'Murder on the Carmac' - nice!

[Emanuela ~plastic duck~]

Bubbles (Dane) wrote: "Em I don't think you'll be disappointed. The poor MC in that one but it's really good."

It was really good, but I think I left bruises on my Kindle :)

[Jordan]

If you like m/m romance and mystery with added humor, and I'm assuming most people here do (duh!) then you should check out this really awesome book:

First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery by Scott Sherman

Oddly enough, the main character is a high priced callboy turned sluth. He talks about his clients, and some of them are just hilarious. Meanwhile his good friend was murdered but no one believes him. Even the cop he once dated, and still likes, believes it was suicide. And then his mom moves in with him, thinking his father is cheating on her with a fat woman down the street... I won't say more than that, but it was a great read, in my opinion.

[Ayesh]

Anna wrote: "If you like m/m romance and mystery with added humor, and I'm assuming most people here do (duh!) then you should check out this really awesome book:

First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery by Sc..."

Wow I would love to read this one :D

[[deleted user]]

Wow, I love getting all of these rec's - definitely putting First You Fall and Skin Flick on my Wish List! Thanks everyone.

Leah

[Josh]

Bubbles (Dane) wrote: "Mr. Josh of course I read the first cut and run. I rarely skip books in a series, unless a book isn't bubbles-safe then I will skip it."

I figured, Dane, but sometimes if you belong to a reading group you ending up starting a series mid-book. So were you a big fan of the first one -- I know the book got discussed a lot. I still haven't managed to read the second yet, though I do intend to.

[[deleted user]]

Josh wrote: "Suhi wrote: "This book is a quintessence of all I hate to see in m/m fiction. "

Which is what? This sounds very interesting."

Aw.. and i just told myself I'd quit bitching about books :)

Here's the list of things which put me off in "Cut and Run" and would do the same with any other book. I can't say anything about its plot or characters' development - I dropped the book too soon to form any opinion. So it would be about the manner of writing only. I'm hiding the said list since there are many fans of C&R here and I'd rather they avoided reading my bitching.

(view spoiler)[- Madly switching POV's. It seemed to be switching every time another character (main or minor) appeared;
- Overloaded with adjectives, useless details and descriptions. Ok, this one is debatable. I do like Poppy Brite's writing style and she does use a lot of those. She just does it.. beautifully;
- Overloaded with tiresome dialogs;
- Unimaginative and derivative metaphors;
- I couldn't get rid of the feeling that the authors were too busy admiring their own writing, it kind of showed;
- I found both main characters annoying, unlikable and unnecessarily bi-sexual;
- I found their behavior unnatural and their speech "female". I want to explain this one. There IS such a thing as "male" and "female" speech. It is not a dumb stereotype. Men and women use different verbs, adjectives, pronouns and structure their phrases differently (my bf took a course in linguistics about this). Some people are more sensitive to those differences and can consciously or subconsciously tell apart "male" and "female" writing/speaking. It's just like there are people (usually women :D) who are more sensitive to body language and can read it better than others. What I'm trying to say is that it causes me a cognitive dissonance when a male character speaks in a "female" way. The more I read the more often they keep popping up in my head as women, I involuntarily replace their "male" image with "female" one. It's unnerving and makes me give up on a book.
Just for the record - I don't mind "female" narration at all, but I need my alpha-male super cop to sound "male".

This pretty much sums up my experience with "Cut and Run" and things I don't want in my m/m reading.
I'm sorry if I sound unkind or rude, I don't mean to, it's just my opinion and my personal preferences. (hide spoiler)]

[Jordan]

Sushi, I agree completely with everything you said about Cut and Run, so don't feel that bad. I tried to read it. Twice. And failed both times. I had to dump the book on some unsuspecting person. Maybe they enjoyed it. Maybe not. I'll never know, and I think I prefer it that way... except the part where I spent money on it. Oh well.

[Ayesh]

Anna wrote: "Sushi, I agree completely with everything you said about Cut and Run, so don't feel that bad. I tried to read it. Twice. And failed both times. I had to dump the book on some unsuspecting person. M..."

Whoa u hated it THIS much O_O ?? Too bad =[

[Ayesh]

I'm reading Cowboy Keeper now; Cowboys never cease to attract me :D and if the book is by Stormy Glenn then there's no going back :D
I must say I'm loving it :D

[Bubbles Hunty]

So cut and run was ok ish and the mystery (If you can call it that, Poe come on someone in the three investigative agencies had to have read some poe in high school, or is that just me?) at least kept me reading. the second one is 200 pages of them hiking in West Virgina with a bunch of character I hated (so no plot and non-likable characters).

Although Sticks and stones switched POV a lot it was smoother I think i only got confused twice by it and the first one i never knew whose POV we were in. Someone said you just have to get used to their writing style but I think with as much as I read i shouldn't have to get used to a crappy writing style to enjoy the book.

[Bubbles Hunty]

I am currently reading at about 48% into it and so far it is really good. the writing is really great. Chapter one had me crying a little but once Donte is introduced in chapter two it gets a lot happier

[Bubbles Hunty]

Bella I read recently and I am not a big fan of Cowboy books but i did love this one. I is released on Saturday I think. I wrote a review for it if you go to the book page. Anyway I loved it and if you like gay cowboys

[Andy]

Bubbles (Dane) wrote: "I am currently reading at about 48% into it and so far it is really good. the writing is really great. Chapter one had me crying a little but once Donte is introduced..."

About the hockey player and the speed skater? I disliked it. But that's me and my dislike for how the subject matter was handled. It's a pet peeve of mine. I was really looking forward to that book too.

[Heather C]

I finished I'll be your Drill, Soldier. I absolutely loved it!! I laughed and cried and laughed some more! Don't read if you take offense to the F word. There were some technical flaws and my only real complaint was switching so quickly back and forth between all the guys surnames, first names, and nick names. Too many men I kept getting confused. Some may have issues with the writing style and the pov shifts but it didn't bother me enough to rate it anything less than 5 stars. I'm just not that picky

[Ayesh]

Bubbles (Dane) wrote: "Bella I read recently and I am not a big fan of Cowboy books but i did love this one. I is released on Saturday I think. I wrote a review for it if you go to ..."

Aww thanks a lot for the suggestion Bubbles :D I love Cowboys and I didn't know about this book; so thanks a lot and I'm definitely gonna read The Heart Of Texas XD

[Blaine]

Heather C wrote: "my only real complaint was switching so quickly back and forth between all the guys surnames, first names, and nick names."

I really hate it when writers do that, just pick one and stick with it, is my rule of thumb.

It takes me back to fanfic when writers thought it was okay to write from Giles' (buffy) or Snape's (Harry Potter) pov and then use their last names ... it boggles my mind

[Jordan]

Well, it really depends on the setting as to the name used. I'm writing a novel about cops. In their cop persona they'd call each other by their last name because that's the macho thing to do. For me, that would be the extra characters outside of the romantic couple. The romantic couple, especially while in a private setting, might actually use their first names. Of course, women tend to only use first names as well, so add in a woman police officer among a group of guys, they'll use the last name, she'll use the first... that's just reality. lol, and then the romantic duo get into a fight and revert back to their last names to distance themselves... oiy vey.

But yeah, I agree, that can get pretty complicated. I've read a few books where that happened and was pretty confused. Heck, it would confuse me as a writer, if I had a lot of characters switching names like that. I tend to keep it to a minimum and use only a select few characters, usually the romantic duo and no one else. So only those two would be called by two names. That keeps things much easier, it's like giving a character a nickname if you want to think about it that way.

Oh yeah, and I do like cowboy stories too, so I'll have to check that one out!

[Heather C]

Well the is set in the army do you have first and last names plus the nicknames. It was 3rd person mostly from once characters point but in the beginning he would switch back in forth how he referred to his drill sgts. It was confusing. But I still had to give it 5 stars because I enjoyed it so much

[Blaine]

Heather and Anna.

Ah, I think I have my wires crossed. My pet peeve is not so much how people call others in fiction. I completely understand officers not calling each other by their first names while on duty. (though in those situations it's still pick one and stick with it, and don't call someone by their last name in one sentence and by their title in the next, it's confusing and takes me out of the story)

What I have a problem with is stories from a character's pov (like Snape or Giles), using their last names and titles to depict their actions:
Giles turned around and looked at Buffy.
Or worse, still from their own pov:
The watcher picked up the large tomb.

Giles doesn't think of himself as Giles or the watcher. His name is Rupert and he thinks of himself as Rupert. Just as well as Snape won refer to himself as Snape but as Severus.
And yes, I'm aware I'm using fanfic as an example, but I recently read a book in the m/m genre that featured the same thing.
The first name of one of the pov characters was named only once, in the first scene from his pov, after that, it's: Last name said this, title did that, other title went there ... On one page he has three different names, but never his first ...
That really puts me off.

[Heather C]

Anita, I agree. I understand the difference in setting will affect which name is used.

Here is an example: sgt Smith told him to jump. But then John walked over and stood by the wall. ( John and Smith being the one and only John Smith)

[Jordan]

Anita, Ah! Yes, I see what you mean, and that's even more annoying! And oh so wrong!

Yeah, now that I think about it, I've read that a lot in fanfic. I guess it's not something I've thought too much about, but not something I usually do. I don't call anyone by their last names, but their title occasionally I do.

Another one I've heard a lot of is "the younger man" or "the older man". Which, if you don't know the characters, leads you to believe there's at least 5 years age differents, maybe even 10. But sometimes it's as little as three.

Ah well. Just another one of those things, I guess.

[Audra Rickman]

First time commentor, but I need some answers to satiate my curiosity.

Something that was mentioned a little earlier was shape shifting characters that take the form of domestic animals, ie cats. I will freely admit, I have never read a shape shifting novel and I am not making judgements either way. My problem comes from the fact that I'm a veterinarian. I'm fascinated. Do these "cats" ever come under attack by feral rescue groups? Are they living in the city? Are they living in homes-because tomcat urine is rank. Is that part of the drama? I could never read those because I would constantly wonder if I was cutting away the manhood of someone's true love. Weird. Also, except for their big jowls, tomcats are not particularly attractive - skinny, rough coats, dirty. They become much more handsome after they are neutered. Yeah, I can't read those.

[Heather C]

Anna and Anita,

This novels had the older man, the young man, taller, biggere, etc. Its the 1st time I've every seen that

[Bubbles Hunty]

I am about to take on

I was drawn in with the gay vampire cowboys, now that i have it and see it is 8 whole pages i am not sure when i will work it in my schedule but i'll manage

[Mary]

Truthfully, I've been trying to start on Mavison's The Way You Say, buuuut I happen to be a huge fan of fanfiction and I'm thoroughly hooked on a fic titled Those Campbell Boys. It's a crossover between Supernatural and Criminal Minds-both shows I enjoy...so yeah, I have put it aside for now. :)

[Heather C]

I'm about 20% into The Darkling Thrush

[Bubbles Hunty]

Heather how is that going?

If i remember right I really liked that one but the first couple chapters were mostly world building which sometimes i struggle with

[Heather C]

You are right. Its been mostly world building and I was really tired and falling asleep. Now I'm up and getting ready for bed so hopefully I can read a bit more before I pass out.

I was reading slowly in the beginning and paying attention to names so I wouldn't regret it later (not remembering character names is a huge bad habit of mine). I think it will pick up now. Especially now that I'm awake

[Bubbles Hunty]

Ok yeah me too world building I tend to skim through now cause it can be boring, for me. The story is good though once you get going

[Ayesh]

Bubbles (Dane) wrote: "I am about to take on

I was drawn in with the gay vampire cowboys, now that i have it and see it is 8 whole pages i am not sure when i will work it in my schedu..."

8 page?? LOL ; I hate too short stories =[

[Jordan]

Audra, That's a good question. And it sounds like a shape shifter cat coming under attack by a rescue group would make for some really good humor!

I'm currently writing, or at least, trying to work on, a novel that includes shape shifters. Though in my novel, everyone knows they exist and they are considered second class or, for the most part, slaves. Yeah, they're collared, so you know you're dealing with a shifter, and an owner can choose whether he wants his slave to appear as an animal or a human. The collar keeps them in one form or the other. That's the basics anyway.

Although I do have a freed wolf, who goes where he wants. Maybe the sympathetic-to-shifters cop will try to take him down not realizing he is a shifter, trying to keep the small town safe from a wild animal. Hmmm... that could be interesting.

As for where they live, at least in my novel (can't speak for others since I haven't read that many, and it's been awhile) most of them that we know in the novel are living on a ranch where they are learning to be free, how to read and write and such. They have bedrooms in the house, but some prefer to stay outside in their animal forms. It depends on the character and what they're comfortable doing. Some like to keep watch at night, make sure the badguys don't get in.

I just found a book at the library called The Beastly Bride, which is an anthology of shifter stories from around the world. I mean, these stories are as old as time, practically. I haven't read it yet as it's been checked out already, but I do intend to, so I can have some history to work with. They are the stuff of myths and legends. I can't wait to read it!

[Jordan]

Heather, OUCH! That's awful. Wow, waaaaayyy too many descriptions there. Oiy vey, it's making my head spin! lol.

[Ayesh]

Anna wrote: "Audra, That's a good question. And it sounds like a shape shifter cat coming under attack by a rescue group would make for some really good humor!

I'm currently writing, or at least, trying to ..."

Wow Anna all the best :D
I love well-written wolf shifter stories so much :D
But cat,duck,frog,snake,slime[?] they never do for me =[

[Audra Rickman]

Anna,
Thank you. That scenario would make more sense. Feral cats out on a farm where no one is likely to interfere and their rodent/snake killing prowress would be a plus. In addition, rural farmers/settlers are less likely to have their pets spayed/neutered, thus keeping the love alive. I will continue to neuter/spay with a clear conscience.

[Jordan]

Audra, Glad I could help. spaying/neutering is actually not something I've ever thought much about, but in my fantasy world I guess it's not needed as someone's keeping a tight watch on them if they're not free. lol, I do have a cheetah on the ranch. I doubt anyone would try to harm it in any way possible. Ouch! lol.

Bella, I'm trying to keep an open mind and a lot of the shifters will be exotic animals and a few plants too. I'm thinking of the usefulness of ivy to curl unsuspecting around a villain's legs and tangle him up until he can't move. But nothing's set in stone yet.

Slime? Nope. I couldn't do that. Not unless I was doing a gross humor movie, I think. For me, it really comes down to what animals might be useful for the story as to what I have. My prized main character has bullet proof feathered wings, so he can protect his lover, but is otherwise human. The wolf was only a recent addition this week. I don't know why I never thought to have one, since wolves tend to make up most shifter stories it seems. Ah well. We'll just have to see where it all goes.