August reads

[jmc_bks]

1.  Butterfly Tattoo by Deidre Knight.  Ebook, contemporary.   The book got a LOT of attention earlier this year.  Being contrarian, I waited for a while before getting a copy.  The hook (in terms of romance) was that a gay-for-you guy is going back to women after 12 year gay relationship. And struggling with his grief over the loss of his partner and his daughter's grief.  BT struck me as being sort of women's fictiony in a lot of ways. Even with POV of heroine, never really got her or cared.  Found the little girl and dead ex to be the most interesting characters.  B-/C+

2.  Blue Fire by Z.A. Maxfield.  Ebook, m/m.  I think this was a contemporary, but I've already forgotten the jist of the story. 

3.  Double Play by Jill Shalvis.  Contemporary, sports romance.  B.  Liked the pacing and plotting, not thrilled with the baseball inaccuracies, as I mentioned already.  Also periodically irritated by use of adjective rather than adverb, etc. Larger issue of privacy and "right to know" reappeared here. Ambivalent about Holly's behavior, but that's a reflection of my disgust and ambivalence toward MSM generally right now.

4.  Bending the Rules by Susan Andersen.  Contemporary.  DNF.  To borrow an acronym from KristieJ, INYIM -- it's not you, it's me.  I may swing back around to this book eventually.

5.  Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie.  Contemporary fairy tale, re-read.  Min and Charm Boy are a comfort read for me.

6.  The Art of Dying by Josh Lanyon.  Ebook, m/m, mystery/suspense.  B-. 

7.  Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath.  Mystery.  Discussed here.  B+.

8.  False Colors by Alex Beecroft.  Historical, m/m.  A-/B+.  Loved this book once I finally settled down and read it.  Sailing, adventure, and tortured lovers, what's not to love?

9.  Greywalker by Kat Richardson.  Urban fantasy.  B-/C+.  Reminds me superficially of Phadre Weldon's Wraith, tho' Greywalkers are slightly different. Bought at HPB, read on flight from Houston to Baltimore. Not bad, sort of average urban fantasy; would borrow other books from library, not in a rush to continue series.

10.  Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. B+.  Didn't love this book as much as I expected, haven't been able to figure out why.  Beginning felt episodic; early scene with vampires seemed...pointless.  Must re-read.

11.  Shoulda Been A Cowboy by Lorelei James.  Contemporary, ebook.  B.  My favorite James ebook so far, I think.  Liked the relative absence of the McKay clan with all the "c" names.

12.  Homecoming by Patricia Briggs.  Graphic novel, urban fantasy.  B-/C+.  Liked the origins story, but the art work did not appeal.  Hypersexualized (typical for GN), but didn't suit the character as drawn in the novels. Didn't match the descriptions/images already established in my head.  (INYIM)

13.  One Way Street by Laney Cairo.  Contemporary, ebook, m/m.  Just read this yesterday, and am still pondering my reaction to it.  It was suggested after I posted at Readers Gab asking about sports romances.  This one is set in Australia, and one of the protagonists plays football. Frankly, the romance was a bit lacking; more of the story was about the player's struggle to get off prescription and OTC medication and get well, rather than the relationship.  His partner seemed like his caretaker rather than lover, despite the love scenes.  Wonder if I would feel the same way about this book if I hadn't been wowwed earlier this year by Sean Kennedy's Tigers and Devils.  B/B-.

Comments

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

1. Aww, you didn't like Bending the Rules :-(
2. I re-read Bet Me in August too!
3. I'm rating Hunting Ground 5/5, but I too wondered why the POV of the vampires was given. Any information gathered in those scenes was also available from Anna's POV, so why bother? Especially since, in the end, the lead vamp's death happened off-screen.
4. I haven't touched any of the graphic novels based on books I've read -- I just don't like the Dabel Brothers artwork.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I only read the first couple of chapters of Bending the Rules. Probably will get back to it and finish, but I wasn't in the mood for it, so I moved on.

Re: Hunting Ground, really enjoyed it, but the beginning felt a little disjointed to me. That may have been a function of the ebook tho, which does not always mark transitions that are conveyed by formatting only.

Graphic novels are hit or miss for me, also based on the art.

[nm-eviled.livejournal.com]

So glad Shoulda Been a Cowboy worked for you. I know you were worried about the heroine.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was worried about elements of BDSM, and the near constant female submissive in erotic romance. Was glad to read that wasn't what was going on with SBaC. Liked both the hero and heroine.

Double Play

[lindaseton.livejournal.com]

I tried to read DOUBLE PLAY but kept getting pulled out of the story by the baseball inaccuracies. You say in your other post to ignore and get beyond it. Is there any tricks to doing that?

Also, why should I have to work so hard overlooking the inaccuracies when the author should have gotten her facts right in the first place?

Re: Double Play

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I don't think that readers have to get beyond it, actually, and if I said that then I need to go back and edit my post. Inaccuracies are a valid reason to put a book down. I wanted to get beyond it for Double Play because I'd heard great things about the book. In the end, I was only semi-successful.