… by pimping other blogs that do good stuff.
Sarah at Rain on the Roof has put together a great list of links to free m/m goodness here.
So if you’re interested in taste-testing an author that you’ve heard everyone yammering about or you want to share with the other children, go check it out.
PS – Wave is doing something similar at her blog and you can get it right here.
Last week Nora Roberts’ Salvation in Death was released in Australia, which was about time since it seems like it’s been out everywhere else for bloody ages, and so I quickly purchased myself a copy.
I also took the opportunity (like I needed an excuse *g*) to buy The Pagan Stone; the final book in the Blood Brothers trilogy, so I had me a wonderful NR fix.
Goddamn, the lady is a fantastic author.
I could go on and on about La Nora – I have two book shelves of her work after all-, but I thought would ‘attempt’ to pick my top five of her books.
An intro to my first couple of choices – For me to read a series with the same protagonists, the books must not only be way above par in the technical areas such as writing, plot, world-building/setting, characterisation, etc, but I need to really engage and have an affinity with the main characters.
I love the In Death series. As indicated above, as soon as a new book is released I drop everything just to read it.
One of the things I like the most about the series is that the stories challenge my beliefs, especially my perception of right and wrong as well as my sense of justice.
I also think Eve Dallas; her vulnerability, her strength, her passion for justice, her tough bitch cop attitude, her compassion, her loyalty to her friends, her love and relationship with Roarke, is probably one of the most well-developed characters I’ve ever read.
My first two picks are books from this series and are ones which have really resonated with me:
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1. Origin In Death~ The concept of designer children and the likelihood someone, somewhen and somewhere is going to take advantage of this ability to create scares the crap out of me. My hope is a person like Eve will be there at that time to help the innocent.
Ok, I’m confused.
Yes, a sequel is a piece of work; generally a story in its own right, which follows on from an earlier narrative, but I’ve always understood it to mean there will only be two works in that particular series. For eg, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland is Through the Looking Glass.
My confusion comes from hearing about trilogies or larger series where the second book is referred to as the sequel.
Yes, the second story is a continuation of the first, however wouldn’t that mean the third or fourth or fifth books are also sequels? And are they sequels to the book immediately prior to them (if that’s the case for some series you would have never ending sequels of sequels) or to the original work?
It makes my head hurt, still it’s been bugging me for a while now.
The first time it really struck me was in relation to Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance series. Reading the blurb, it was obvious Eragon was the first book of a trilogy yet when the second, Eldest, was released in Australia it was marketed as ‘THE SEQUEL’.
Maybe I was the only one who had little ?s popping out around their head?? It didn’t stop me from purchasing Eldest, but I had to go back and read the blurbs thinking CP had decided to only write two books in the series rather than the proposed trilogy.
When I discovered my initial understanding was correct, I started to get really annoyed. Why market Eldest as a sequel, which, for me, implied that it was only one of two, when another book was going to be released? Was it a marketing tool used to sell more books? Or did someone at the publishers stuff up? Needless to say this was the subject of a number of rants by Kris from atop her lofty soapbox.
Since this time, I’ve noticed more and more references to a work being a sequel when it is part of a larger series. I’m beginning to wonder whether my initial understanding of what a sequel meant was wrong (hey, it’s happened… occasionally) or whether the notion of a sequel comprising two books has somehow been ‘lost’.
It’s probably no surprise then that, because of my tendency to go Ranty McRant on the matter, I’ve become a big fan of series which are referred to as duologies as well as those which avoid the word sequel and use the much simpler description of book two in the trilogy/series.
I know, I know, it’s most likely just me again…
Cat in a Christmas Tree
Feliks says, “I srsly don’t know how I got up here, but… are my eyes looking funny? I’m pretty sure I was possessed. Yep, that’s it.”
Cute… HA! I can’t even put Christmas presents under the tree because tree + presents = high levels of temptation.
Why me? *sigh*
I don’t think that I’ve ever spent as much on books as I have the past year, which is really saying something.
Yep, the master card is groaning under exchange rates and my savings account is sighing about the trip to Japan that we’ve been talking about, but do I regret it?? Nope, not one bit!
I know that I’ve complained about book pimpage and my total lack of willpower; all of which is true and I’ve no doubt that I will often complain about the little blog review enablers, who are sitting on my shoulder with their sparkly red glasses, waving bookmarks with tri-tassels and whispering to me about how much I will enjoy this one, but again do I regret it?? Heck no!
I’ve always been a book addict, however I don’t think I’ve had so much fun as I’ve had in the last couple of months reading reviews and interviews with authors, sharing impressions, and discovering some truly great new books and writers.
Finding this whole new world (it’s that song again-it haunts me) has been fabulous and has added to my enjoyment of reading. Even more than that I think it has reminded me of or perhaps refreshed my interest in reading.
So, your indulgence while I list a few of the books I’ve not been able to resist and links to the blogs where I discovered them. I’m not going to review them myself because better people than me have already been there done that, hence the links (yes, I am a total slack shit *g*).
Anyway, here they are:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (YA fantasy/horror) – The ladies at The Book Smugglers (how glad am I that I discovered this blog! Ana and Thea are pretty damn awesome) did a joint review of the latest from Gaiman. Simply, the man is close to genius at his craft.
Crimson Spell Vols. 1 & 2 by Ayano Yamane (yaoi manga) – Sarah reviewed this at her blog, Rain on the Roof. My first yaoi manga – very cool.
Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale (m/m paranormal fantasy) – I can’t recall where I first read about this, but it was Luisa Prieto talking about her fave Halloween stories that prompted me to make the purchase. It wasn’t until after I’d finished it that I read Wave’s review and completely agreed. The world-building, the characters, etc, are all fantastic and I especially liked that there were stories from the POVs of both the main characters. Only problem… I want more!
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (YA fantasy) – This was recommended by Stephanie Meyer on 17/9 on her website. I’ve already talked about it before here so only want to reiterate that it is one of my best reads for 2008. Thea gave me the link to a discussion she and Christine of The Happily Ever After had about it. If you are interested, I suggest going to this and finding out more. It’s worth it.
I told you I was only going to list a few, because, quite frankly, it’s a little embarassing to talk about more of the books I’ve been (willingly) led by the nose guard of my glasses to.
And if, in turn, I’ve pimped to you…
… my work here is done. Enjoy!
I admit that it took me until about 4pm yesterday before I got the courage to put up the Christmas tree.
I know, I know, I’m a total wuss. (My Dad told me yesterday that my kittens behaviour was a reflection of my poor parenting skills… needless to say that I said something about lack of role models and told him where to stick his so-called skills! Love you, Daddy. Mwahh!)
I was pleasantly surprised. There was some chewing that stopped after they realised the fake tree tasted like shite, there was some batting at the branches because hey, it was fun to watch the whole tree shake, but there was no climbing – thank fuck!
So this morning I decided I was willing to sacrifice some of the spare baubles and chains I had, which wouldn’t break if they did happen to ‘accidentally’ fall off the tree.
It was only a matter of seconds before the fun started…
“Tap, bat, pat, tap.”
Boris says “Nom, nom, nom, nom.”
I’m not even going to talk about present wrapping incident.
They’re feral with a total lack of Christmas-like behaviour. I am so ashamed. *sigh*
I love Christmas. I am the kind of gal who can’t wait to put up her Christmas tree and all of her decorations on the 1st of December. (I would put them up during November, but I have a family ban imposed upon me with presents on the line.)
Anyway this year I am absolutely terrified to put up my tree. The reason for this being the two, nearly six month old holy terrors who rule my life.
There is no doubt in my mind that this will happen:
and then there will be this: 
I kid you not. Did you read what they did to me after I spent the day away from them?!
Today is the day though.
Today, I will be putting up my tree (minus ornaments and prob’ly minus tree lights depending on whether they chew through the power cord like they did the one for my e-reader, the little buggers *mutter, mutter*).
But I am determined. After all, it’s my house, I am bigger than them, and it’s Christmas, dammit! Right? right????
I am so fucked. *sigh*
So I was perusing the shelves for ideas for Christmas pressies for the trillions of honorary nieces and nephews that I, as is traditional for any single woman in her 30s, have managed to accumulate and what did I see that I just had to share with the entire world…
… it’s Sandy and Rizzo Barbies!
I know! How friggin cool is that!
I don’t know how but I apparently missed 2008 being the 30th anniversary of the Grease film, which is why this special collection has been released. (There is a Frenchy Barbie too!)
Besides the fact that I now feel hell-old and embarrassed, which I was trying to avoid doing to myself this week, because I squee-ed in Target, it also brought back some great memories of sleep overs with friends, sighing at how romantic we all thought Danny was, and dancing around the living room singing into hairbrushes.
I think if I was to watch it again that I would still know all the words to the songs, not to mention most of the dialogue. 🙂
Anyway, sad though it may be, I think that for the first time in my life I’ll be asking Santa for a Barbie for Christmas.
… does there seem to be a lot of m/f/m and m/m/f coming out at the moment??
I think that Ellora’s Cave had 3 books out last week and at least 2 the week before that, and Loose Id also had 3 last week.
Of course it could be purely coincidental that these books, which have been in the pipeline, are all coming out at the same time. Perhaps the market for this genre has increased to the extent that the demand is there??
I’m not sure. All I know is, from my perspective, it seems like the two bi guys meet/want a girl is being thrashed and it’s kinda off-putting.
There are a couple of authors who achieve great things with this genre – Jet Mykles is one who immediately springs to mind – but the last few weeks/month it feels like everyone is jumping on this particular band wagon.
As I said, maybe it’s just me…
Let me start by saying that I tend to avoid book series like the plague, especially when they feature the same protagonists.
Anyway, rather than rant as is my wont (I’m sure that I’ll do that in another blog), when a series does catch my eye it is generally because the genre and content looks interesting, the characters seem like ones I will have an affinity with, and – the main one – that I enjoy the work of the particular author.
I have been perusing with an eye to purchase an m/m series for a while now and finally caved after reading and enjoying the shorts and excerpts posted by the author on the Fiction with Friction blog. (Nope, no willpower whatsoever!) I read the first book, wasn’t quite sure that I really wanted to read any more of the series, but decided to try the second book.
I love way the stories are written as well as where they seem to be heading and really like the characters especially the main protagonist; however, the aspect of the books making me ‘stuck’ is his love interest and the other lead. He just seriously pisses me off!
At the moment I’m really struggling to read the second book because I think the guy is such a selfish little prick and I just want to reach in, slap him and tell him to get over himself because he’s not the centre of the universe!
I’m talking about Ally Blue’s Sam (*sigh*) and Bo (*slap*) from the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series. (I know that I’m only reading book 2, but I just love the cover of book 3. I seem to have a thing for pretty kisses at the moment.)
I think that the last time I was so annoyed with a character was Jake (*grumble grumble*) in Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English (*another sigh*) Mysteries.
I was in two minds about Adrien and Jake (appearing to) get together at the end of Death of a Pirate King. On the one hand it was HEA-ish, but on the other I wanted Adrien to dump Jake’s arse, find another love of his life, and then lord it over Jake and his selfish, abusive and denial-to-the-point-of-compromising-himself-and-nearly-getting-Adrien-killed ways.
I’ve said before that I know a book has really worked for me by the extent to which I’ve engaged with the story and the characters and that this is how I personally judge whether or not a book is ‘good’. Given my reaction, there is no denying I’ve definitely become involved in the stories of Sam and Bo and of Adrien and Jake.
So I guess it’s just a matter of continuing to put the book down when Bo acts like a wanker, rather than throw my e-reader at the wall and write abusive emails to Ally strongly suggesting that Sam gets given another guy.
Both of which would be really bad; not to mention expensive, since I know from reading the blurbs on the books that come later in the BCPI series – it’s associated with the compulsive-reader-of-endings thing I have – that the two work out the challenges in their lives and end up together.
I’m trying to avoid as much embarrassment as possible this week.
 | Kayla on tasting ‘a note in the… |
 | Marcus Roche on maybe it’s me, but… |
 | ouaqquwcgk on my confession |
 | dkmhwgijnw on random awesomeness |
 | Kris on maybe it’s me, but… |
Kris + Books = Good. *Sometimes*. 
