I’m a bit of a self-loathing historical romance reader. Some (Flowers From the Storm, The Grand Sophy, Outlander, Lord of Scoundrels) are really great but the vast majority can best be described as disappointing. In fact if you use Mrs. Julien’s infamous tally (and really, why wouldn’t you) as a guidepost, a meager 10 out of 75 historical romance novels read in 2014 warrant her coveted recommendation. Many of the characters and plotlines are relatively homogeneous because there are only so many variants of “wealthy […]
Oh Kresley, Why Can’t I Quit You?
Kresley Cole is known primarily for her super sexual, often glaringly misogynistic, yet embarrassingly addictive Immortals After Dark series full of sexy brooding vampires, Valkyrie, demons, etc. She then moved on to 50 Shades of Rough Sex with the Game Maker series. Now she’s encroaching into YA Twihard territory with the first book in the Arcana Chronicles. Regardless of your opinion of Kresley Cole you have to admire her ability to accurately identify profitable niche markets where her brand of sexual wish-fulfillment will sell. Most […]
A Summer of Exceptional Fantasy – 5 Must Reads
I consider myself more of a Cannonball “book idea getter” and “occasional commenter” than a “book reviewer” but this summer was stuffed with so many excellent fantasy books that I had to make an exception. Words of Radiance Brandon Sanderson (first of his name) came out with book two of The Stormlight Archive this summer. If it’s not clear, you should definitely start with book #1 (The Way of Kings), not because you couldn’t comfortably jump in with book #2, but because you would be […]
If You Ever Found Russian Mob Guys Hot This Book Will End That For You
While I’m not traditionally drawn to erotica, I’ve found Kresley Cole’s earlier books fun sexytime adventures. Initially stumbled into her with the MacCarrick brothers trilogy which hold up as saucy historical romances featuring strong men with a healthy Irish brogue. Her Immortals After Dark series of paranormal romance has recently gone off the rails, but the first few were enjoyable. Then I got this damnable kindle which makes buying books so easy. Only $1.99? Well sure. So it’s entirely technology’s fault that without reading a […]