Mmmmm

2:00 am 18 November 2012

Gah! Why do I do this to myself? Again! Again I've started reading fantastic online fic that is a work-in-progress. Even though patience is not a thing I have in spades. I started reading kind of blindly, blown away by the high rating and then I realized it wasn't finished yet and I honestly cried a little bit. But then I got over myself and read everything that was available until 2am in the morning before I had to get up at 6am to work a 24 hour shift. That was not a smart idea, let me tell you. But I don't regret it.

This story is brilliant. It's about a too-honorable bodyguard and a supremely oversexed teenager, doused in huge amounts of sexual tension and set against a backdrop of improbable wealth. So, it's not exactly gritty reality, but it's so delicious that I was perfectly able to suspend my disbelief with no ill effects. The next update is meant to be today, so let me get back to refreshing the page every 15 seconds for the rest of the weekend.

18/11/12 - Final chapter today! Okay, so in retrospect that was a massively long story, but it never stopped being awesome. Loved Ryder and Luca, loved the drama, and the hotness. Especially loved that Cordelia Kingsbridge is the most regular updater on all of the internet. Excellent story.

2:00 am 17 November 2012

The Hun and The General - Tristram La Roche

I wanted to read this book out of sheer curiosity. Attila the Hun in M/M erotic romance? Attila the Hun? Seriously? Seriously ? Did not see that one coming. And I'll admit, I was a little bit skeptical. From what I know about Attila the Hun (and I'll admit it isn't a huge amount) I couldn't picture him as a sex symbol. But then I found the Gerard Butler version:

Butler

and I was like "Okay, I'll buy it!". And apart from being awfully improbable, it's not the worst thing I've read this week.

2:00 am 17 November 2012

So, this story is entertaining and all, even though it is very, very trite. This is something that I might be able to overlook. However, this is how many times I rolled my eyes: 58. This a 131-page book, so that equals one eye-roll per 2.26 pages. It is my opinion that one eye-roll per 12 pages is the maximum number of eye-rolls that should be allowed in any book. This book has therefore failed to adhere to established writing etiquette (and by established I mean shit that I literally just made up) and must therefore be considered a dud.

2:00 am 16 November 2012

Made me smile so hard my cheeks hurt. Full marks for adorableness.

2:00 am 16 November 2012

Right, where's the next one? *Looks around frantically.*

2:00 am 16 November 2012

Wow, this is actually really good. I don't know why I kept expecting it to suck at first; I think it might be because the art work is not hugely sophisticated, but the story and the characters are fantastic. It's paranormal action/adventure and it's so well written that it totally blows some of the other, prettier webcomics out of the water. The art gets better with each chapter, and it's quite lovely when in it's in colour. The first few chapters are a drag, but once I made it past those, I got totally invested in it. No idea how regular the updates are, though.

2:00 am 10 November 2012

How to Repair a Mechanical Heart - J.C. Lillis

HOLY FUCKING BATMAN IN SPACE IN A WASHING BASKET POWERED BY SQUEE, THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME. I'm writing this at 03h22 after having started reading about 4 hours ago. I kept wanting to put it down and go to sleep. At one point around 01h30 I actually took off my glasses, put out the light and tried, but I just couldn't do it. I tossed and turned and then thought, 'fuck it' and finished it. Other people have written far more coherent reviews than I, so go read those. But suffice it to say that this book was hugely entertaining and compelling and JUST GO READ IT, OKAY?

2:00 am 9 November 2012

The first few chapters of this book were genius. It had the potential to hit one of my larger guilty pleasure buttons: big, ruthless sociopath with an interesting job description and the scrappy younger guy he acquires in suspicious circumstances; then the kinky, tumultuous relationship they develop (okay, I think I just described the plot of the vastly superior [b:Stockholm Syndrome|9788080|Stockholm Syndrome (Stockholm Syndrome, #1)|Richard Rider|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291018502s/9788080.jpg|14678106] and this book can only suffer in the comparison). Anyway, at that point I was prepared to love it, but then Angel happened. From his stupid name to his stupid hair to his infantilism, I hated him. I was actually intrigued by Kael, he had massive potential as a BAMF, but the character of Angel was just horrific. First of all, the daddy stuff was just ick (but okay, I knew this going in and I was prepared to overlook it) but Angel, who is 18, spoke and acted like an 8-year-old. If I met him in real life I would seriously consider having him evaluated for developmental delay. He actually says the words "stop treating me like a kid", and it was all I could do to not hurl my kindle across the room with a shout of "then stop acting like a fucking child!". The daddy, daddy, daddy in every sentence eventually became infuriating and this book degenerated into awful sticky sap pretty quickly. I'm giving it 2 stars, and not 1 because Kael was awesome and I really enjoyed the diary entries about his past. I reckon I'll read on, maybe Angel will die in freak accident and then I can actually enjoy the series.

2:00 am 7 November 2012

Raven and the Wolf (Eyrder Saga, #1) - Mari Evers

Okay, that was awesome. But a very, very specific kind of awesome. It's basically every M/M fantasy ever written, you know: plucky virgin aids a sexy prince, uncovers hidden talents within himself, is swept up into life at court, sexual tension ensues, then sex ensues, magic, battle, bad guys, resolution, the end. Seriously, I could name about a dozen books just off the top of my head with that exact storyline, but you know what? I freaking loved it. I love those tropes, would read them endlessly, and the only deciding factor for me in whether such a book is good or bad is the quality of the writing. And Ms Evers is a very good writer. I enjoyed the characters and the setting and the sexual tension. And even though there is shapeshifting, which is something I tend to avoid, it's not typical shifter-genre nonsense. Everyone in the society we read about has the ability to shift to a specific animal form, so there're no packs and ridiculous pack politics. It's just a part of the scenery, not instrumental to the plot. My minus-one-star-niggle is that the magical theory is bit weak, and the political machinations seem a bit pointless. That said, I see that this is listed as part 1, and I would definitely read any forthcoming parts.

2:00 am 5 November 2012

I'm having one of those weeks where I just really need a hug. I really, really needed to read something with no angst, no bitterness, no unnecessary violence; something that's sweet without making me roll my eyes too much and funny enough to keep me entertained. This was it. My literary hug. In a huge way. It was exactly what I needed right now. There's no melodrama, no mystery and very little conflict. It's about (and narrated by) Howie, who, can I just say, is goddamn hilarious. I don't know whether my threshold for funny has been lowered or what, but I laughed my black little heart out. He is the king of side-splitting spastic monologues (and the banter, oh god, the banter!). He's this very ordinary guy, with these very ordinary post-adolescent insecurities. The story revolves around his relationships with the various people in his life. With his attraction to his (male) boss taking a starring role. But, see, this isn't like M/M romance; it's more a coming of age comedy. There's nothing explicit about it, it's just unbelievably sweet and awesome. There's no plot to speak of, and I couldn't have cared less. Plus, I liked every single person in this book. Seriously, ALL OF THEM. That is so rare. That an author can come up with such a diverse cast of lovable characters, all of them unique and every one of them someone I would totally hang out with, is a freaking miracle. I'm not sure if it's just the mood I'm in, but this book was heartfelt and wonderful. So screw all you guys who end up not liking it. It is freaking golden.

2:00 am 4 November 2012

Four (Or Five) Reasons for Kidnapping Tony Stark (In Which Tony Stark Builds Himself Some Friends (But His Family Was Assigned by Nick Fury), #3) - scifigrl47

Awesomesauce! Four stars, plus one extra for the banter.

2:00 am 31 October 2012

Four stars for the first half, two for the second. I'm not sure if I'm suffering from M/M fatigue or what, but as good as the writing was and as lovely and complex as the characters were, I just could not get into this book. Also, I felt like I was being roasted to death by the warm fuzzies by the end, not a good way to go, hey.

2:00 am 29 October 2012

In a word, this book is facetious. That's not necessarily a bad thing; I think this book was meant to be glib and funny. I even laughed out loud a couple of times. But at the same time, I found it weirdly pretentious. It's a kind of comedy of errors, with a hapless hero getting up to all sorts of comedic mischief and it might have made for a very entertaining light read. My major problem with this book is that it's set in the 21st century, but written in the style of something decidedly more 1900s. What young American guy uses a phrase like "There's a good chap"? I just didn't buy it. Weasel, our protagonist, describes himself as wearing jeans, a t-shirt and pair of Nikes, but I kept picturing him in like, a waistcoat and brogues, completely against my will. I felt like I might have really enjoyed this book if it was set in the 20th century English countryside, it would have been far less affected.

2:00 am 26 October 2012

I started reading this book ages ago, but then I found I couldn't actually take it and I stopped and sort of forgot about it. I picked it up again today, thinking that it can't have been as awful as I remembered. Oh boy. It was worse. This book is a study in disgust. I feel like Delany went and canvassed a bunch of people and asked them what the most revolting sex-related thing was that they could think of. He then wrote a book about it. He has absolutely gone out of his way to be crude and offensive. There is nothing redeeming about his book. Not one single thing. Maybe it was a kind of tolerance test? That's the only way I can logic how this book got published. Thing is, I have no idea whether I've passed or failed by not being able to finish it.

2:00 am 26 October 2012

Hey, at least no-one was pregnant in this one.

2:00 am 24 October 2012

I was charmed, probably against my better judgement. And I would have given it four stars but for the ghost of a six-year-old American girl using the word "shall".

Mmmmm

Blog

Shelf

Timeline

Reading Challenge 2025

Currently reading

Recently added