Currently reading
The Billionaire Who Phoned Me (Diary of a Fuckdoll Part 4)
The Pentagon's New Map
Cthulhurotica
Undead
Dhampir
Windwalker
Edge of Destiny (Guild Wars, #2)
Edge of Destiny was a good book and a decent introduction to the lore and history of Guild Wars 2. It was standard in terms of writing style for the genre, which definitely isn’t a bad thing. I really enjoyed most of the characters. I found the plot a bit choppy in terms of pacing, but it wasn’t overall distracting. I think the author handled the subject matter and the characters/lore in the best way he could.
 - J. Robert King)
Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon
Ghosts of Ascalon had some wonderful characters and interesting plotlines. It was a good primer on the lore of Guild Wars 2, and I admit I cried at parts. I did, however, feel it dragged on a bit long, though it might have been my own expectations for what the book would be. I expected the central plot to be happening in Ascalon, whereas it’s actually more about the journey – and facing more figurative Ghosts of Ascalon. Well written and engaging.
Forced Awakening (Forced, Fucked, and Bred Trilogy, #1)
Forced awakening is perfect for someone who wants to scratch a ravishment fantasy. The big bad wolf comes to play, and even though she’s screaming ‘no’, his touch and caress are enough to make her whimper for more, despite her fear, hesitation and terror. It was lovely, well written, and I enjoyed the cliffhanger ending.
Oryx and Crake
Oryx is the best character I’ve ever read. I find myself absolutely fascinated with her. Her personality, her past, it was all so murky and elusive, and yet I can’t help feeling like she was truly someone special. Someone that, if things had gone differently, could have made the world a much brighter place. Oryx and Crake is an amazing book. I recommend it to almost everyone I meet because the intensity of the plot, the realism of the world, and the expertise of the writer is astounding. Margaret Atwood has been my favourite author since I was forced to read Cat’s Eye in high school and absolutely hated it until I started writing my essay about it. The more I unraveled the book and analyzed it, the better it got. The same goes for Oryx and Crake. It’s a book that makes you think about things and opens your eyes to new ideas and thoughts, not just about the story itself, but about the world around us. I’m greedy for more and can’t wait for the third book to be released. All of the characters are so flawed and wonderful.
Hear Me: Dark Erotica (Volume 3)
Hear Me was amazing. It was just the right length for the story, and was well written and interesting. The plot line was really well done and kept me wanting for more. The main characters definitely were developed and whole. I found myself wanting to know more about their motives, their desires, their past – the sign that I’ve truly found a special book. I love a story that doesn’t tell me everything about the characters and leaves some mystery and wonder about their past, present and future, and this book definitely delivered. I enjoyed the short at the end, but I definitely feel that following Hear Me put it in a long shadow.
Comfort Food
I love dark erotica, twisted romances, and relationships that aren't right or easily understood by people on the outside.This book has all three.You pretty much can't look up dark erotica without finding Comfort Food at the top of the recommendations, and I'm so glad I took the time to read it. As soon as I started I couldn't stop, and I don't say this lightly, but it was perfect. It was more about the mental stimulation than the sex, though there was sex. It wasn't as heavily detailed or the entire focus of the relationship, however. It was far more about the process of breaking someone, of making them something new, and Kitty Thomas managed this wonderfully.The editing was fantastic, the story was engaging, and I love the characters. This novel isn't a love story. It's a story of two people finding what they need in one another even though it isn't right or moral or understandable, and I loved it.
Taming the Beast: A Novel (P.S.)
Taming the Beast is one of my favourite books. The plotline, the characters, it was all sensational and titillating and depressing at the same time. It was real, and gritty, and the cold hard truth about some people and some relationships. It didn’t seek to glamourize anything. Instead it stripped us of comfort and made us deal with the fact that people aren’t perfect, and we’re all messed up. Some are able to hide it better than others, and some are able to move past it, but the world isn’t always going to have a happily ever after. Even though I cried – bawled, really – at the ending, I still love this book. I feel like I will constantly be looking for another Taming the Beast. The plot and characters were memorable and fantastic, and I just want more.
The Woman
I can't say I enjoyed this book. I went into it knowing little more than the cover blurb, so it likely just wasn't my style of book. I tried to review it in detail so that you can decide for yourself if it might be more to your liking. I found the character development to be all but invisible in the first two thirds of the book. It wasn't until later that I felt anything other than befuddlement of the main character. I felt it was so lacking that I truthfully didn't understand anything about his actions until the climax - and not in a good way. It made it feel like the MC was just a plot device rather than a true character, because his actions seemed so disjointed from his thoughts and, even, how others perceived him.Because of this, I was completely disconnected from the story because I was too busy wondering if there was a point to it or if it was just going to be little more than the literary equivalent of torture porn.I think the story could have had a lot more impact if they had focussed on developing the characters more at the beginning rather than leaving it all to the end. I also found the writing style - present tense, constantly shifting between characters view points - to further jilt me from being really able to connect with the story.There is, however, a story. A story that I think would have been very interesting if not for the poor development techniques. If the tenses and the constantly shifting view points had been better developed, I think it could have really been something special.Because of how poorly it was handled, however, I didn't find the plot or the characters to be realistic or interesting, and only barely finished.
Some Girls: My Life in a Harem
I love reading memoirs from sex workers, but I admit that I was disappointed with this book. It had trouble holding my attention, which is very rare for me.Truthfully, it wasn't the topic matter that disappointed me, and I could even have looked over the bits I found boring such as the endless gossiping and listing of things she bought, but it just held no emotion. I'm not entirely sure when she penned the book, as the events take place in 1991 and this book was published in 2010, but it lacked a lot of emotion. It couldn't draw me in because it felt like it was a second hand retelling of what happened. This contrasted with the fact that there was a bunch of meaningless facts about her past that sought to show us what type of life she led but instead just fell flat.I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't feel connected to the author.
The Fluted Girl
I really loved the world that this short is set in. I'm absolutely fascinated to learn more about the speculative fiction portions.Unfortunately, I found the writing so flowery in describing the titular character that I had trouble picturing her - and because of that I found that it was hard to really lose myself in it. I kept having to reevaluate how the main character looked and how much was literal and how much was figurative.I think it was beautiful, though, and I wish I had enjoyed it more. It really is a fascinating concept and world and I'll be trying out more from this author to see if something else fits for me.
Tangled Webs (Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows, Book 2)
I admit, I like Forgotten Realms novels more for the characters than I do the action, and because of this I always feel a little bogged down in the second books. It’s not a fault of the author, it’s just that by the second book you know the characters and it’s much more about advancing the plot, especially in a trilogy. Because of this, I found the first part of the novel a bit long for my personal tastes – which means it will be ideal for people who enjoy action and plot oriented storylines. The second part of it, however, when more developed between Fyodar and Liriel, I was absolutely absorbed. I love their relationship and how it’s developed. Elaine Cunningham has a real knack for interpersonal relationships, and I feel she may be a bit limited by the expectation of action and fighting in D&D novels. She’s a woman I’d love to do a fantasy romance. I think she’d do an amazing job of it.
Daughter of the Drow (Forgotten Realms: Starlight and Shadows, Book 1)
I read this book after War of the Spider Queen and The Lady Penitent series at the encouragement of my partner. I felt very distanced from the Drow in most of the War of the Spider Queen books and felt that, in part, it was because of the lack of female perspective on the matriarchy.In short, I greatly enjoyed this book. That isn't to say that I didn't feel there was flaws, but that I felt the good far outweighed the bad. It brought up interesting, new conundrums that weren't touched on heavily in previous books, and introduced new lore and ideas previously unexplored.The character of Liriel was especially interesting. I know that other reviews have said something akin to 'but the drow are EVIL!' and that's not necessarily true. They are pragmatic, and they are required to be cold and calculating, and their Goddess is evil, however no group is homogeneous. I've loved Ellistrae's followers in both the War of the Spider Queen and The Lady Penitent series, and found them to be interesting and, having followed those two other books, I see no reason to fault this book for the followers of Ellistrae.Daughter of the Drow was well written, introduced interesting new characters, as well as fleshing out already established characters, and had me fascinated from start to end. I found the hypocrisy of Vhaerun's followers to be especially subtle and well handled.This was a book that could have easily fallen flat, but Elaine Cunningham managed it with enough grace and subtly to reignite my passion for the Drow. I would highly recommend this book to any who enjoyed The Lady Penitent series, in particular.
