Book Review: Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn

• Title: Pursuit of Honor
• Author: Vince Flynn
• Type: Action Thriller
• Genre: Mitch Rapp CIA Op series; betrayal and death
• Sub-genre: Terrorists and assassins
• My Grade: D+ (2.5*)
• Rating: PG-13
• Length and price:  Plus novel – 100,000+ words
• Where Available: Available as a hardcover everywhere; paperback release Aug 2010
• FTC Disclosure: Book purchased from online bookseller

Vince Flynn burst onto the action/thriller scene with a terrific book about revenge called Term Limits.   He introduced Mitch Rapp, an undercover op and assassin for the CIA in second book, one of my personal favorites, Transfer of Power.  His books have increasingly become a kind of a protracted editorial and justification for his personal political beliefs and Pursuit of Honor reads more like an editorial than an action/thriller.  That part wouldn’t be so bad, but he makes two fatal errors – the first is, Mitch Rapp is never wrong, the second more grievous error is forgetting his readers want AN ACTION/THRILLER STORY!  There was a time when Vince was an automatic buy for me, then after 9/11, with each subsequent book, there was less and less of interest and more and more about the power struggles in Washington, DC.  I stopped buying him until I could either get his books as remainders – or from a book swapping site.

Somebody Hit the Snooz Alarm

I feel like I’ve been swimming in a sea of mediocre books lately.  It isn’t limited to genre either.  There are a slew of mysteries due for release in January – hardcover, of course – that I’m lusting for, but right now I’m just depressed over my inability to find an excellent read.  Over on PBS (Paperpack Swap) they mentioned a big book sale at Bookcloseouts.com.  Oh wow, did I go nuts.  No, the books I wanted the most weren’t there – big surprise – but a lot of others were.  I went crazy twice.  Once doing mystery/thrillers and whatever paranormal books on my wish list that I could find.  Then I went back and ran amok in the fantasy section – or wizards and nonsense as my brother dubbed it years ago.  Raymond Fiest, Robert Jordan and many others.  Soon, over 30 new hardcovers cost $2-3 dollars each will add to my alarming pile of to-be-read books.

Book Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

• Title: The Girl Who Played With Fire
• Author: Stieg Larsson
• Type: Mystery
• Genre: Complex multi-character story; investigative journalist
• Sub-genre: Social commentary on sex trade, social injustice and corrupt political systems
• My Grade: B- (3.8*)
• Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
• Length and price: Plus novel; over 100,000 words
• Where Available: any bookstore
• FTC Disclosure: ARC acquired from an online book swapping site

In September I reviewed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and commented on the how the book was used as platform for social commentary on various facets of corruption within Sweden’s social systems.  In The Girl Who Played With Fire it is a combination of morally corrupt people and fundamentally flawed systems that created the tragedy that forever changed Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo.  As with Dragoon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire seems less a true mystery than a kind of vehicle for the author to explore his take on the failure of the various social and protective services in Sweden through greed, corruption and indifference.

Short Book Review: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception by Nancy Martin

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Pickings have been lean for me on the usual erotic romance ebook sites, so I have a review of a mystery due to be released in 2010.  I did read a couple of erotic romance and I’ll have those reviews up in a few days.  In the meantime, enjoy the weekend designed for over indulgence in food, shopping and football!

• Title: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception
• Author: Nancy Martin
• Type:  Mystery
• Genre: Amateur sleuth
• Sub-genre: Ethically challenged heroine
• My Grade: B- (3.8*)
• Rating: PG-13
• Length and price: Full novel; to be released Mar 2010 in Hardcover – discount price $16-$17
• Where Available: All book stores in March 2010
• FTC Disclosure: ARC acquired through an online book swapping site

Nancy Martin has gained a following for her Blackbird Sisters mysteries set in the upper echelon of Philadelphia’s society’s eccentric denizens with a touch of murder, mayhem and organized crime.  In Our Lady Of Immaculate Deception, Ms Martin starts a new series featuring a lower middle class single mother, architectural salvage business owner, and sometime band singer, Roxy Abruzzo, grand niece of the local mafia don in Pittsburgh.  Roxy might not always be entirely ethical, but she refuses to work for her Uncle Carmine.  Roxy mixes with the upper classes when she takes various pieces from their ruined houses, including Pittsburgh’s local billionaires, the Hyde family.  Julius Hyde calls her to salvage what’s left of the mansion that his infuriated soon to be ex-wife torched.

Short Review – Cowboy Cravings by Morgan Ashbury (Ménage)

• Title: Cowboy Cravings
• Author: Morgan Ashbury
• Type: Contemporary erotic romance
• Genre: Western; ménage;
• Sub-genre: Wounded dove from NYC finds cowboy love
• My Grade: B- (3.7*)
• Rating: NC-17 to x
• Length & price: 52,000 words – Short novel for $5.99
• Where Available: ebook available at Siren
• FTC Disclosure: ebook bought from publisher’s website

Here’s the thing with this m/f/m ménage, its sold as a Siren Ménage book and listed as ’sextreme’, but it doesn’t read like their usual ’sextreme’  book, which undoubtedly will disappoint some.  I thought Cowboy Cravings was well above average for character development, believability, plot, and overall writing quality for a contemporary ménage story, especially one from Siren, where sex scenes usually overwhelms the slight plots.  Others will find the book too mild for the ’sextreme’ rating that Siren gave it and be disappointed.

Book Review: When He Was Bad by Shelly Laurenston and Cynthia Eden

• Title: When He Was Bad
• Author: Shelly Laurenston and Cynthia Eden
• Type: Paranormal shifter anthology
• Genre: Pack and Pride series short novel + long novella with vamp and shifter
• Sub-genre: humorous and suspense
• My Grade: B+ (4.2*)
• Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
• Where Available: Wherever books are sold
• FTC Disclosure: book purchased at online bookstore

Well, When He Was Bad my re-read book this month.  I just couldn’t seem to get interested in anything lately, so I grabbed this off my keeper shelf and enjoyed it again.  No, it isn’t my favorite, but I actually enjoyed it more on this read through than I did the first time since I had started Ms Eden’s Hotter After Midnight and become reacquainted with Nils van Holtz, alpha of the van Holtz wolves,  in Ms Laurenston’s The Main Squeeze.  Van Holtz first showed up first in Go Fetch! with his wife Irene Conridge.  The first story in When He Was Bad goes back in time to when Van and Irene first got together in the early 1980’s.

Book Review: Dragon Storm by Bianca D’Arc

• Title: Dragon Storm
• Author: Bianca D’Arc
• Type: Alternate world paranormal romance
• Genre: Erotic ménage romance; shifter; series
• Sub-genre: Dragon Knights series
• My Grade: C+ (3.2*)
• Rating: xx
• Length: about 80,000 words – full novel length for $4.95 introductory to be $5.50
• Where Available: ebook available at Samhain; not available in print at this time
• FTC Disclosure: purchased ebook on publisher website

Bianca D’Arc is a favorite writer of mine and when she’s on, she’s excellent, when she isn’t, it’s often average with glimmers of her potential coming through.  Unfortunately, Dragon Storm falls into that second group.  I don’t know if it’s the pressure to write too many books a year or not, but this fluctuation in the depth of character and complexity of story is very noticeable.  The same wide variations can be seen in her Blood Brothers vampire series.  In her Dragon Knights series, it stays mostly above average, but here we go back to shallow, poorly developed characters whose sole purpose seems to be to introduce another set of lead characters.  If you haven’t read her previous Dragon Knights books, you might find some of this confusing.

Book Reviews: Two Menage Romances

Well, I haven’t been much tempted by the recent books at Siren, or elsewhere, but this week I found 2 I thought might be worth it.  All I can say is, MEH!

• Title: Claiming Their Dream Weaver
• Author: Cooper McKenzie
• Type: Erotic contemporary romance
• Genre: Ménage with a paranormal edge
• Sub-genre: Fated mates
• My Grade: C- (2.6*)
• Rating: xxx
• Length: Novella at 26,000 words for $4.50
• Where Available: as an ebook at Siren publishing (link for convenience only)
• FTC Disclosure: purchased ebook on line

Claiming Their Dream Weaver is rather short novella that’s long on sex and short on substance, but there is a modest storyline to hold it together.  Suz Bowen Black has an unusual heritage, she’s a Dream Weaver, something she never understood or  fully believed, But her great-grandmother Ruth is dying and she’s been called back to New Bern, North Carolina.  Suz left New Bern behind years ago, pregnant and married.  Divorced from an abusive husband who beat her till she lost their child, she went through wild period searching for an orgasm, but never found one.

Short Review: Tempt Not the Cat by J. C. Wilder

• Title: Tempt Not the Cat
• Author: J. C. Wilder
• Type: Paranormal romance
• Genre: Cat shifter and wounded dove battle evil vampire
• Sub-genre: Isolated cabin and two adults trapped by the weather
• My Grade: C+ to B- (3.5*)
• Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
• Length: Short novel about about 65,000 words for $5.50
• Where Available: ebook available at Samhain (for convenience only)
• FTC Disclosure: ebook purchased on publisher website

This paranormal romance is part of a series that was published by Ellora’s Cave and is still available there, but you don’t need to read the earlier books to enjoy this one.  I say that from experience because I didn’t read the EC books yet, but I likely will.  Before starting the review, I’d like to just take a moment and point out the ‘value for the money’ difference between Tempt Not the Cat and Night Moves.  Ignoring the respective quality of the writing and plot, let’s just focus on the size of the story.  Night Moves rang in at a super lightweight 34, 000 word estimate (novella sold as a ’short novel’) while Tempt Not the Cat comes in at a light heavy weight 65,000 word estimate (short novel).  That’s nearly twice the bang for the buck – not to mention all the ancillary costs associated with editing and proofing a longer work.  So for $0.30 more, you get a book that’s twice the length and twice the hours of entertainment.  In ebooks, especially as so many in these categories rarely even go to print, this is about the only comparison you can make.

Short Review: Night Moves by V. J. Devereaux

• Title: Night Moves
• Author: V. J. Devereaux
• Type: Erotic romance
• Genre: Vampire in the city
• Sub-genre: Boink-fest ménage
• My Grade: D+ (2.4*)
• Rating: XX
• Length: novella about 34,000 words sold as a short novel for $5.20
• Where Available: ebook available at Ellora’s Cave
• FTC Disclosure: ebook purchased on publisher’s website

This well written, but mostly pointless, boink-fest is set in New Orleans and features a police lieutenant who has a strong sex drive and has turned to internet dating to find a suitable man.  Rapheala Carteret, or Rafi, likes what she sees when she walks into the classy bar to meet her ‘date’, Michael Niculescu.  Expensive champagne and a walk around the area and Michael invites her back to his place.  She’s so drawn to him, she agrees.  His ‘place’ is a mansion and there to greet her is his cousin Nicholas.  When she realizes what’s going on, she’s secretly thrilled by the possibility of having her ménage fantasy fulfilled.  Then Michael tells her they’re vampires.  Rafi has been around the city long enough to know there really are vampires and werewolves, but there are far more poseurs than the real thing.  When asked to ‘prove it’ both allow their fangs to drop.  Instead of frightening her, she’s drawn even more to them.  Let the sexfest begin.