Recent Reads – A Mixed Bag of Brief Reviews

I’ve been hauling in deliveries from Amazon almost daily – like a true book addict looking for fix.  I have no defense, some authors are ‘must have’ even at hard cover prices, and many trade paperbacks would take forever to get through a book swapping site, then there’s the lure of the 4-for-3 promotion that extends to unreleased titles on pre-order.  What can I say, I’m just weak.

For the first time in awhile, I read some erotic romance.  With so many of the ebook authors moving from small press publishers to major print houses, I ended up trying 3 new to me authors at Siren.  Keep in mind, the current popularity of m/m, f/f, and BDSM books cuts way back on what I might read.  Not opposed to them and many good ones have m/m or BDSM elements, they just don’t have a lot of interest for me.  With what I did buy, the results were not encouraging.  In print, yet another anthology came up, meh!, another a cut average thanks to good wring – and there were two winners – Cipher by Moira Rogers and Jory Strong’s Inked Magic!  YEAH!!!!!   I had other winners too -  in the mystery category Boca Daze by Steven M. Forman, in the historical cozy category The Cocoa Conspiracy by Andrea Penrose, and in the noir Urban Fantasy category Aloha from Hell by Richard Kadrey.

First up are the Erotic Romance ebooks and print books:

• Title:  Cowboy Commandos Seduce Their Woman (Wyoming Warriors 3)
  
• Author: Paige Cameron
• Type:  Contemporary erotic romance
• Genre: ménage
• My Grade: C (3.0*)
  
• Rating:  NC-17
• Length and price:  Short/ Category Novel – under 60,000+ $5.99
• Where Available:  Available online at Siren
• FTC Disclosure: purchased through an online publisher bookstore

I know, the title should have been a dead give away.  I bought it anyway.  Actually, it was the pick of the litter, even though the shopworn plot has one used so many times, by so many authors, it embodied trite.  Still, the characters had some personality and  for a short novel, it managed a beginning,  middle, and end.  The sex was OK, but not really pulse racing.

Book Review: The First Rule by Robert Crais

My apologies for being missing in action.  I’ve been experiencing computer difficulties and two of my electronic babies are in the shop – one with a hard drive issue and one with a virus.  So I’m on a new, rather stripped down model, trying to carry on.  SIGH!  Please be patient while I get these issues resolved.  Thanks!

• Title: The First Rule
• Author: Robert Crais
• Type:  Action thriller mystery
• Genre:  Avenging crusader
• Sub-genre:  Joe Pike kicks ass and kills bad guys
• My Grade: B- (3.8*)
• Rating: PG-17
• Length and price: Full novel.  80,000 words for $26.95 and sold at significant discounts most places
• Where Available: Anywhere books are sold
• FTC Disclosure: Purchased from online bookstore

I’ve been a fan of Robert since he first published The Monkey’s Raincoat way back in 1987.  Long time.  Crais wasn’t one of those writers who regularly churned out a novel every 9 to 12 months.  At first, it would be 2 to 3 years between books.  It seems nearly every book he’s ever written, whether an Elvis Cole or one of his free-standing novels, gets multiple nominations for various book

BOOK REVIEW: Alexandria by Lindsey Davis

Alexandria is the 19th outing for the intrepid Marcus Didius Falco. Davis writes in the first person and Falco is our amiable and sardonic guide. The wryly witty Falco has grown assured and comfortable with himself over the years. He’s married now and the father of 2 girls with a third child on the way. His wife, Helena Justina, is the daughter of a Roman senator and he greatly respects her and her intelligence. The story of his private life with Helena – she was married when they first met and loathed each other on sight – tells so much of Roman life. I highly recommend reading all the books – just the story of Falco and Helena will make it worth your while. Now, as his personal life has become that of a settled man, a father and a husband, the mysteries have also changed. The last few have seen him and his little family traveling outside Rome to places like Delphi in Greece.

As the book opens, Falco, his little family and his restless brother-in-law Aulus are arriving in Alexandria, still the most valued center of learning in the ancient world. They intend to do some sightseeing and try and get Aulus accepted into the Museion. Rumor says Falco is also here on Vespasian’s errand, (before anyone goes running to check, the year is 77AD, about 100 years after the death of Julius Caesar) and more than one person is worried by his presence. Falco’s very real vacation plans get sidetracked when the Head Librarian of the Great Library, Theon, a dinner guest at his uncle’s house the previous night, is found dead at his desk in a locked office.

BOOK REVIEW: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo

The lurid title of this first book in Mario Acevedo’s vampire detective series made me curious enough to give it a go. It kind of reminded me of the titles of Craig Shaw Gardner’s Cineverse series. This book, though, is an off-beat black humor, paranormal, noir-mystery. Acevedo has an unusual resume – an attack helicopter pilot in the first Gulf war, an engineer in civilian life, then an IT professional, then teaching art to prisoners and finally a published author. His off the wall stories are not for everyone. Take a bit of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, some of David Boreanaz’s Angel, and a dash of Terry Pratchett’s humor and Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe and you have this rather bizarre hybrid. Tough to be neutral about it and you’ll like it or it will leave wondering, “What the hell?” And oh yes, it isn’t XXX material. Actually, I’ve read his 3 books, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, and Undead Kama Sutra, in the series and none get much beyond PG-17 to maybe NC-17.

It’s the Second Gulf War and despite the president’s, “Mission Accomplished”, Sergeant Felix Gomez and his platoon at fighting fedayeen guerrillas south of Karbala. In the nighttime mission Gomez mistakes a 12 year old girl as the enemy and kills her while the platoon takes out the rest of her family. Gomez, stricken by what has happened, wanders off, inexorably drawn to a room with a man who asks what he wants. In his guilt, Gomez says he should be held accountable. Punishment is what he is given – he is made into a vampire.

Chapter 2 finds Felix, after a medical discharge, working as a PI in Denver. A request for help and $20,000 from an old college roommate and friend, Gilbert Odin, a manager at a government installation, send Felix to Rocky Flats Closure Project – formerly a nuclear weapons facility. Gilbert has a very unusual problem. An outbreak of nymphomania among female employees. Every man’s dream, right? Maybe not. In no time at all nymphomania becomes the least of the problems.

Now, the title might lead you to think that the nymphos play a major role, but you would be wrong. An array of mythical and paranormal creatures put in an appearance. Even aliens. You know – the flying saucer crowd. Not even Gilbert is who he seems – and why does he smell like cabbage?

The story moves at a fast pace, but some of it is aided by all these ‘vampire powers’ that Felix has which gets a bit irritating at times. Acevedo also tends to hit all the notes from X-Files while he’s at it. Not a whole lot of new ground here, but a moderately fun ride. The story is no match for the far more complete, realistic or tightly plotted stories of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Felix is a likable character and his first person narration has the kind of one-liners you’d expect from Robert B. Parker or Robert Crais. It’s the plots that need some work. In my opinion, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, about the porn industry, is better and I’d call it a C+ to B-. Undead Kama Sutra gives “Sexual Healing” a whole new meaning and it’s also a C. The fourth book just released, Jailbait Zombies, will determine if Acevedo has the right stuff to grow and improve as a writer from merely OK to really good. Certainly the potential is there and this series has a lot of promise if the plots tighten up and there are fewer ‘magical’ answers and more plausible ones.

My Grade: C

Who would enjoy this book: Fans of X-Files, Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV shows. Harry Dresden fans are doomed for disappointment.  The rating for this book is NC-17