Bad Cover

Seriously. If you can look at this and NOT make Hulk sex jokes, you are a better woman than I. Love her. HATE the cover.

Dumb is.....

Not including a link to your own blog on your own blog! Check out Obiter Dictum, which will turn 5 (!!!) this year.

I started Unpaged so I wouldn't clog the other one up with stuff about books. Then, I promptly abandoned it. But, maybe now I'll be more diligent about updating my life over there.

Love is in the air!

Everywhere you look around! Big news in romance publishing, and really all genre publishing. Sales are up up up!

A brief cameo by me towards the end of the article. Come one, come all. Pick up a book!

Review: Be With Me

Be With Me by Maya Banks

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I guess this would be more of a 3.5. (Hey GoodReads, why can't I give half stars?!)



Basically, my problem with this book all stems from the fact that I don't believe the underlying premise that there can be HEA with three men and one woman. I'm sure it's me, but I don't think I'd like to share. I have a problem suspending my disbelief long enough to think that the three guys would all be happy sharing one lady they all loved.



So, if you don't buy in to the book on the most fundamental level, how can it get three stars? Well, because I loved all the characters. Towards the middle, Reggie started to get on my nerves, but I have a notorious problem with heroine(s). I either love them or hate them. Overall, she was a win for me. I liked her attitude and her determination. I like how she had to give in and became part of a group instead of just an individual. I loved how she stood up to her parents. I liked her relationship with her partner and her boss. She was great. The boys were equally fantastic. I thought Banks did a really good job giving each one their own space for development. And that is partly why the rest of the book didn't work for me. It felt like they were all cheated out of the HEA that each deserved. I preferred her with Hutch, and I thought Cam and Sawyer (God, I loved Sawyer) deserved their own books. Even though they were all three dimensionally developed, I wanted to know MORE about them. I don't know, I just didn't feel like they were done. Did I mention how much I loved Sawyer?



The creepy stalker plot was enough to move the story along, but I could have used more there as well. I never really felt like it was an imminent threat. It was, of course, but I was too busy trying to figure out how the relationships were going to work to care about anything else. I think if it would have been just a story about her and Hutch, then it would have fallen into place easier for me. I did like the revelation of the stalker, and I wanted to feel badly for that person (and I think I was supposed to) but by that time, I didn't care about any of that anymore. I was invested somewhere else, and just wanted it to be over so we could get back home to see THAT resolution.



So, I liked the book. I did. I'm looking forward to reading more books by Maya Banks, but I wish two of the guys would have gotten more love.


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Review: Long Lost

Long Lost by Harlan Coben

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Right before I started this book (on audio) I read a less than stellar review from a newspaper critic. I'm a big fan of Coben and of Myron Bolitan (well, of Win mostly, but you know...) and I was sure that I would love the book regardless of whatever problems it might have. When I finished, though, I thought the critic had been a little bit harsh in her assessment.



First of all, I thought the story was good. The ending was a little bit creeptastic, but I'm sure that was entirely on purpose. If I had to criticize the plot at all, it would be that it is so easy to design a plot around muslim extremists now that it doesn't even register with me anymore. It's like making walls cream or eggshell in a room. You don't even notice them. There are just some things that don't leave an impression anymore because they are so overdone both in real life and in entertainment. You want to be impressive or memorable, make Danish extremists. Finnish extremists. Wow, that is something new. Buddist extremists and I may never forget it. Muslim extremists? I've seen that season of 24 at least 2 years in a row. The story was good, there was a twist that I'm still thinking about, but until that happened, it was mostly a forgettable plot line.



But the characters were spot on. Everyone you expect to see in a Bolitar novel was present and accounted for. The one thing about a longstanding series is that there are some things you see over and over again. Almost all the usual jokes were there (MB Sportsreps, etc.) And because they were almost all there, I could tell which one was missing (El-Al....like the airline.) I understand that not everyone has read all the books in the series (and why not?) and that you have make them accessible to newcomers to the series. I'm just saying, when you've read them all it can be a little.....repetitive.



But even after all of that, this book delivers everything I expected and even some creeptastic chills that I didn't expect. I could read about Win all day and this one will definitely get a re-read.



A word about the audio: Every character seemed to be right on the money except Esperanza. It just wasn't right. Everything else was perfect, and she wasn't there enough to put you off the audio if you are inclined in that direction. But, it did bother me enough that I had to mention it.


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Review: JLA: Exterminators

Justice League of America - JLA: Exterminators by Christopher Golden

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wasn't sure how this would translate to audio format but I shouldn't have been worried. It was absolutely amazing. The voices were right on and some, like whoever did Batman, were flawless. GA's tagline is "like a movie in your mind" and this really did flow more like a movie than a dramatization of a story, even though there was narration and not all dialogue.



The story was good, although you really have to pay attention in the beginning to understand what is going on. With an ensemble cast of characters, someone is bound to get shorted in the development area. If there was anyone here who got shorted, it might have been Wonder Woman. There was a little bit of characterization there, but certainly not as much as the boys. I enjoyed her parts, though. Aquaman came off as kind of a jerk. Batman too, although my love affair with him goes way back. I was always more Marvel than DC, so I'm less familiar with characters that didn't make their way past the pages of comics into other media. Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Steel, etc. I liked getting to know more about them but I couldn't tell you if they were done well or not because my experience with them is so limited to begin with.



Sometimes, as much as I have come to like audiobooks, listening to one person read to me is just not that interesting. This is a nice change of pace, and I really didn't see a downside to it at all. If you like action, this is probably something you're going to enjoy.


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