Category Archives: Fiction

Review: Erik Therme – Mortom

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Mortom
Erik Therme
Andy Crowl has been left an inheritance. Rather than putting him ahead however, he’s stuck with his crazy cousin’s ideas of fun – a treasure hunt for an unknown treasure with higher stakes than he knows.
Andy and his puzzle solving skills were a delight to behold. The background story from him, in dribs and drabs was good. I could have seen more of that, but the story was plot driven. His sister Kate on the other hand, I just couldn’t love, and hated her against the strong male protagonist.
I’ve never lived in such a tiny town, and I wonder whether I’m missing something in the dynamics between the characters. Ah well. The secondary characters were sketched in to a point where I couldn’t understand their motivations, but I could understand Andy’s interactions with them.
The suspense of this novel worked well. At first you don’t know what you’re really playing for, then it suddenly hits you. All the little things you thought were unimportant suddenly come to the fore. The trail of clues was incredibly detailed and frustrating! I only wished I could have had more information about the outside clues so that I could feel superior if I worked out the clues first.

I really wasn’t satisfied with the ending. Andy hadn’t really done anything wrong, yet it seemed like he’d be stuck forever in Mortom for his stupid sister…

A decent read, and had me unable to put it down from around the middle. Recommended for those who like mysteries, but want something a bit outside the norm.

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Review: Sienna Wilder – The Arab Marilyn Monroe

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The Arab Marilyn Monroe
Sienna Wilder

18+ Review: Erotic Novel Review

Olivia doesn’t know that she’s a lesbian. She figured that she was just abnormal, and not interested in sex. Little does she know that the new lady friend she’s about to meet has a lot to offer her over her last partner.
Much as I wanted to love this novel, I simply couldn’t. The sex scenes were hot enough, but I wanted something more from the characters. Peter was a pushover, Fairuz was one-dimensional and Olivia had no idea what was happening to her. Or actually, she did, but she wasn’t willing to admit it.
It felt too short. The author said to me (when she requested this review), that this was being published separately from the main novel about these characters because she didn’t want to mix genres. One sexy hot sex scene, and it was over! I wanted more, if there could be more. For a week of being shacked up together, there could have been a little more on offer.
I’m not sure I can recommend this novel for audiences that are comfortable reading erotica on the internet. As a printed book of homosexual encounters, I think it is relatively unique, and a valuable addition to your bookshelf if you tend to reread this kind of thing. However, for me at least, I like variety in my diet! There are plenty of online resources that cover this kind of thing. I admire the author her audacity in bringing this out, and hope that she can expand it into a saga like Christian Grey’s (except a lot more realistic and accessible).
My current quest in this area is to find sexual fiction that doesn’t sound completely improbable or completely over-worded. Also, some crude language doesn’t do it for me at all. ‘Creamed her jeans’? Cringe. Not interested. Again, there was potential there.
I wished more had been made of the religious and political ideas behind this. It’s appropriate that this is set in Paris! And the language of the body is much more powerful than the spoken word. Both women use this to their advantage.
I think the last pure erotica novel I read and reviewed were the ‘Romantic Tales‘ episodes, of which I read three excerpts before giving up. That was 2 years ago now (amazing of itself) and I thought I was ready to give the genre another try. Shades of Grey is in the genre, although the author does have a go at giving a bit more storyline. Most erotica novels fail in that they don’t provide me with enough story – this one isn’t an exception.

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Review: M Anjelais – Breaking Butterflies

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Breaking Butterflies
M Anjelais
Sphinx has looked up to Cadence all her life, even as he alternatively praised and condemned her. Unexpectedly, he is dying. How could something so beautiful die? How could it work out like that?
Although this novel was told from the perspective of Sphinx, it wasn’t really about her. It was only what she could say about Cadence and for Cadence. This raw talent, formed because he can’t feel anything.
The insight shown by Sphinx into the disturbing life lead by this family away from home is at times surprising. Her flashes of brilliance when she looks at the paintings in the end, nothing short of astounding. Also the thing about having an art Gallery use Cadence’s work – and how it can only occur after everything has happened.

The imagery, symbolism and continuity of the eggs that Sphinx feels seems to be something that the author has taped on, in order to read forwards and backwards in time, linking across the generations. For me though, all that was needed was the strength of feeling between the two teenagers. The emotion felt by Sphinx is almost palpable, as is Cadence’s hostility.

This book was painful and raw to read. It reminded me a little of Looking for JJ, in that the topic tacked wasn’t comfortable or typical for a teen read. It made me uncomfortable for the rest of the day while I tried to process what I felt. I empathised with Cadence even as I hated him – just as Sphinx does.
I wasn’t that convinced by Sphinx’s conversations with her parents. Why were they ok with this? How could they still see him as a threat? He’s weak, dying. Surely Sphinx should have been better organized.
I’d love to see a sequel. How will Sphinx grow up? What is her purpose? How will she move past this? What will happen to Leigh? Will she move back to the US to be with her best friend? Are all the plans spoiled?
Although you felt sure that things would turn out ok, or as ok as they could be with someone dying, there was an edge that the author captured. You know something terrible could happen, might happen, will happen, but you can’t look away. Instead you keep desperately reading, hoping that something might save the day.
The statistic that 1 in 25 people is a psychopath is a disturbing one. Hell, that means that out of the people I work with, I must be the psychopath! Isn’t it the saying that if you’re looking for the drunkest person at the party, it’s you?
I received a copy from Scholastic. Slowly, they and I seem to be finding novels that I really enjoy reading and reviewing. This one was right up my alley.

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Review: Nicole Pouchet – Layla’s Gale

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Layla’s Gale
Nicole Pouchet
Layla has just landed what is almost a leading role in a paying job! But those erotic dreams she’s been having for months could be getting in the way of her responses to the director…
Layla seems like a bit of a wuss. For someone who knows how to act, she’s surprisingly see-though. She thinks she’s well put together, but her ex- seems like a real deadhead, and yet it took her a long time to get out of it. Is she just not very bright? She has to be, to remember scripts perhaps. I don’t know how to make it as an actress, but someone with more experience in the industry could perhaps reflect on the likelihood of this scenario.
This is a romance, yet at the same time, I felt like it was reaching, and not quite touching, to be something more. The myths throughout it could have been given more significance, even if the main players in the novel don’t believe in them. I wanted more substance, more linking to ‘history’.
The sex scenes in this did not ring true for me. You can only read about a ‘throbbing member’ a couple of times before it gets old. Other sex scenes have left me feeling like I’m being left out, these ones make me grateful I’m not in the novel. I usually expect more sex in a romance novel though, and I was glad there wasn’t too much.
I could have put down this book at any time in the first half, but started enjoying it more in the second half.  The forward motion that needed to be set in from the beginning only happened in the end. It was inevitable, as you could hear the story from both Layla and Sebastian’s perspectives, that they would end up both happy in their own ways.
I appreciated that the author took empaths and put them in situations where their emotive abilities would be useful and harmful at the same time. It’s strangely appropriate that they work in a theatre – where projecting emotions is normal.
The mystery with this novel held well to my scrutiny. I wasn’t able to guess with certainty who the ‘bad guys’ were, and I remained surprised at the ending.
I don’t know how I feel about reading the next novel in the series.  I don’t see how the 4 elementals coming together is essential to the world. Wouldn’t it be simpler if it just didn’t happen? The final scenes in this novel didn’t clear this up for me much either. Ah well, can’t have everything.
I received this novel from the author in exchange for a fair review. All opinions are my own.

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Review: Cassandra Clare – City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)

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City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)
Cassandra Clare
Clary is normal, as far as she knows. She’s a typical 15 year old, albeit one who goes out to exciting bars like Pandemonium. Once there, she witnesses things that she had never seen before – and she can’t work out who are the bad guys, as her mother is taken away and her best friend is suddenly smitten with someone else.
I liked Clary. She was spunky, but still believable when she showed fear at other times. The typical teenage contrariness was there too, and she didn’t seem able to follow orders. Pretty hormonal and emotional at times too. Flawed, and so accessible. Not sure how young males are going to go with a novel like this one, but Clary’s good.
The ending was unbelievable. I couldn’t see it coming, even though I’m sure the hints were there. It’s weird about the attraction though. I hated how it left Jace exposed and uncomfortable though – I didn’t mind his sarcastic humour, and I hated to think how he had been treated.
This novel seems to set up that the Clave is a bad thing. Sure, it thinks it is promoting peace, but it seems like it’s doomed. They can’t even keep things safe, like the Mortal Cup! I guess, Hodge did make a mess of things, but at the same time…
When you’re reading, take nothing for granted. The people you think are enemies, the people you think are entirely trustworthy? They aren’t. People lie. The author has crafted something really masterful that reads well, and doesn’t allow the reader to get bored.
This seems to have become a cult novel. And possibly a film? Anyway, I didn’t have any preconceived notions going in to this anyway, never having read any reviews. I listened to this as an audio book, the only audio book I could find at the time. The reader was great, although sometimes I thought her male voices were a bit stupid. The breathy tones she used for Clary actually sat well with me. Sometimes Clary did seem a bit stupid.
Just as you think the novel must be ending (but you still have 6 CDs to listen to), another thing bounces out of the plot and demands to be read. I was lucky I had it in the car to read, or I never would have been able to put it down.

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Review: Ellen Wittlinger – Hard Love

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Hard Love
Ellen Wittlinger

John has protected himself by withdrawing, since his parents divorced. Marisol is protected behind her self-identity as a lesbian and a racial minority. They’re both pretty friendless, but John chooses to reach out, and Marisol responds in her own way.

I thought this novel had potential. I’ve loved other novels by Ellen Wittlinger, and I expected to love this one. I’m not sure I did though, and let me tell you why.
The ideas behind letting John explore his sexuality are nice. We’re pitting someone who has no idea whether he is attracted to anyone against someone who knows they are a lesbian. Combine with with some things that say that they aren’t really listening to each other, and you get trouble. Equally, even though he turns out to be hetero, he could have equally been asexual or something else on the continuum, and I would have been happy. Possibly happier. With a lesbian main character, you’re going to get less conservative people reading the novel, so why not go for it?
I hated Marisol sometimes. She seemed to me like an untouchable, distant, dictator. I particularly hated her at the end. It’s one thing to be from a small town, and not experience your sexuality, and another to have sex with the first Lesbians you meet, and head off with them into the dark!
I understood John only too well. After being injured by his parents’ divorce, he felt as if his whole world was shattering, and the only way he knew to cope was to not talk about anyway, not let anything out. His mother won’t touch him, which I find very symbolic. He tries not to feel anything about himself.
The zines that brought Marisol and John together made me feel like I was out of touch with young people. I can’t even imagine people doing that here. Where do they get the money from to print these things? It seems like an outdated blogging technique to me. I want to feel touched by the pages of zines that were interspersed throughout the rest of the text, but I just couldn’t get into it.
When I compare this novel to Eleanor and Park, it comes up lacking in terms of convincing, likeable, relatable characters. So much potential, and yet not as much as it promises.
I own the companion novel to this one. I’m not sure that I want to read it right now. Maybe in a couple of months, when the disappointment of this one has worn off.

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Review: Karelia Stetz-Waters – Forgive me if I’ve told you this before

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Forgive me if I’ve told you this before
Karelia Stetz-Waters

Triinu attends a boring old highschool, with what you would consider typical bullies and mean principals. But it’s more than that – Triinu is gay, and in an exceedingly conservative town, that means that pretty much everyone can get away with targeting her.

The beginning of this novel filled me with a little apprehension. I didn’t love the opening paragraphs, and didn’t immediately connect with the protagonist. A few pages in though, and I was hooked, not wanting to step away from my desk. I loved that Triinu developed as a character, entirely intertwined through the novel. There were no moments of uncertainty, where I wondered how the text had gotten to this point. This is marketed as a coming-of-age story, and I have to say it is.

The painful self-discovery of Triinu might seem unrealistic to other people, who realised they were gay early. But Triinu doesn’t have that option – she hardly knows what being gay means! She needs to find who she is (which she does, in a round about fashion that I recognised), and then come to terms with it.

It was interesting that the colleges she applied for were out of state. I understood why, but at the same time, it’s the total opposite of what people in Australia do. The demographics of these are interesting – and the fear of rejection that Triinu feels is going to be familiar with other readers.

I am not familiar with Oregon, USA, where this is set. I know nothing of the culture, or its history. It doesn’t matter very much though, because the personal issues Triinu undergoes happen every day around the world. Additionally, the author has set her novel and also filled the reader in on the details they need to know of the (real) world.

I made a very rare exception to my print-novel only rule for reviewing, and I’m glad I did. This little beauty is well worth reading, and is humbling, believable and touching all at the same time. If my review doesn’t convince you to go read it, go read it anyway. It won’t be a waste of your time.

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Review: Rainbow Rowell – Eleanor & Park

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Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor and Park have a interesting start. He thinks she’s nuts, she doesn’t think anything at all. Both of them have issues, problems, that neither can talk about. Perhaps together they can make a difference in each other’s lives.

There’s never really an explanation for Eleanor’s clothing choices. Is it something she does to annoy her step-father? I could not believe Eleanor’s mother. Why on earth would she put up with a guy like that? Where was the income even coming from? I know that domestic violence is something that is tangible and real, but also that there are safe-guards put in place, and that help is available.

The sub-plots, and actual development of the other characters other than Eleanor and Park, were just as compelling as the others. It’s a coming of age story, but also a genuine love story. I recognise the heady honeymoon period of a new relationship, where neither partner can get enough of the other.This novel has breathtaking action that will leave you longing for more about the future. But the ending! Noooooo. I hated it. I wanted something more to come of it. Poor Park! At the same time I could exactly understand Eleanor’s point-of-view, and yet still hated it.

Other people have pulled holes in this novel because of the setting. I honestly don’t know enough about US history to know whether things are historically correct. Anyway, I don’t think I’d care. The characters are what make the book for me, not the setting.

I’ve read a series of amazing novels lately, but I think this one comes out on top. It’s got a lot of important issues, and characters that actually learn and grow. I want to get my hands on her other novels as soon as possible!

I bought this novel after having received Fangirl from a publisher. Well worth it, and would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in teen fiction.

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Review: Stephanie Meyer – The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

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The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Stephanie Meyer
Bree is a new-born vampire. She has been created with a purpose. But she doesn’t know what that purpose is. A venture out into the sunlight with Diago means new potentials.
Considering that I pretty much completely loathed Twilight, you might wonder why I bothered to read this tacked on bit of story about a seriously minor character. Well, it was what my library had to offer at the time in the range of talking books.

One of my main problems with the Twilight Saga was that Edward and Bella were such one-dimensional characters. Their love story was set from the beginning, and neither of them could think past “I love you” “I want to protect you” “I love you”.

Meyer seems obsessed with sappy love stories, and vampires feeling connections with each other. Bree falls for Diego, Diego falls for Bree, each dies, everyone is sad. Not.

Bree shows a bit more interest in life outside. You know she is doomed from the beginning, otherwise it wouldn’t be a ‘short’ second life. I didn’t remember her at all from Eclipse though, until I got to the climax of this novel. Then ta-da! I remembered her. I also connected with her.

I wished that the background information included in this novel (such as the sparkling skin and Victoria’s violent ways) had been present in Twilight to provide a bit more substance. Somehow, this novella seems like it’s more interesting.

What I liked was that the abilities of Freaky Fred and the others. I wanted more of that! Less newborn, stupid, revenging vampires, and more smart ones. From the way The Twilight Saga was written, I expected more of the vampires to be smart and skilled. All of the Cullen family are skilled.

What can I say about a short story/novella. I always find it difficult to get into them. At least with this one, I had borrowed it as a talking book from the library. It took little effort from me to listen to it. The reader was ok, great with Bree’s voice, not so good with the male characters. There is no way I would have read it for myself – I have other things to get on with reading!

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Review: Nina LaCour – The Disenchantments

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The Disenchantments
Nina LaCour

Colby is about to set off on a tour. Not as a band member though, just a devoted servant to his best friend who’s the singer in the band. He’s going to travel Europe, develop his drawing, and he thought he would have someone with him. What went wrong?

They meet various people along the way, and each one seems like they have a story, a background, something important to add. Even as at the same time you want to fit them into stereotypes, you just can’t. We don’t see much character development in my opinion for the 3 girls. Bev seems just as mean, and although we hear about the major events in their lives, and how they affected their person in the past, we don’t see that development in the future/present.

Sometimes it seems like the novel is just dragging along. Which is frustrating! I don’t remember having this problem with Hold Still. Ah well. Perhaps this one was just not as familiar in content to that amazing novel.

I loved the story behind the tattoo, and the weird world of coincidences. I did want Colby to become a graffiti artist, but hey, not everything can happen at once you know? A lot of the time I felt really angry with Bev. And I still felt angry even after her weak explanations. She should have just said something! Then Colby wouldn’t have been the one who suffered.

The cover of this novel is very much the way I would have imagined the girls. Except Bev. Colby is supposed to be able to see her neck to sketch it! The ending is just the way I would have hoped. Yay! Colby! Independence! Not having regrets! An excellent 4 star read.

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