Kiss of Steel by Bec McMaster

My Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: 4.60 / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 4.01 / 5.00

Honoria Todd does her best to provide for her younger siblings, but it has not been easy since her father’s death. He was a scientist working to find a cure for the virus that transforms normal people into Blue Bloods, who gain longer life and greater strength but must regularly drink human blood. When her father was murdered, Honoria found herself a wanted woman desperately struggling to remain hidden whilst trying to earn enough money to keep her family fed. In order to find affordable housing, they are living in the Whitechapel area of London amongst the poorest and most dangerous people in the city.

Blade is a rogue Blue Blood who has broken away from The Echelon that runs the country to carve out his own small kingdom in Whitechapel. There, his word is law and everyone takes great care to avoid his notice. Unfortunately, his viral count is dangerously high and he is showing the first signs of becoming a Fade, a crazed monster that will be hunted down by the other Blue Bloods. Then he hears that a person of great interest is hiding in his rookery and he decides to find out why she is so important.

This title is billed as a both Paranormal Romance and Steampunk, leading me to believe that it might be similar to Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, which I have thoroughly enjoyed (Soulless, Changeless and Blameless). However, it lacks the highly entertaining voice of Ms Carrier’s Alexia and relied much more on standard Romance elements and explicit sex scenes. This left both myself and the book group relatively entertained but not overly impressed.

For once, the depiction of British culture was not too bad, with some interesting ideas on display. The idea that the upper class would actively seek infection with the vampire virus, in order to live longer, seems perfectly reasonable to me. They exploit their position as the ruling class by molding British society to service their need for blood. Taxes are paid in blood donations, which I thought was an interestingly novel approach to the usual problem of blood supply whilst highlighting the Blue Blood’s view of normal human’s as somewhat similar to farm animals. However, the choice to give Rebel a broad cockney accent was a particularly bad one, especially as the author attempted to render his language phonetically. I can only imagine how difficult this made his dialogue for a non-Brit attempting to read it as I struggled to understand some sections. His accent was also very variable, so that it ended up being something akin to the absolutely awful ‘mockney’ accent that Dick Van Dyke offers in Mary Poppins, which is one of the worst attempts at a British accent that I have ever heard. I found that this choice added a barrier to the character and was totally unnecessary.

The world building was one area of the book that caused some problems amongst the book group members. Many were not familiar with Steampunk as a genre and so they were a little confused by some of the elements. However, we all agreed that there was too much description and info dumping, which slowed the story and yet did not describe the world adequately to allow us to visualize it properly. This was a shame because there were many interesting ideas, but it almost seemed like the author was too ambitious in the number of unique elements that she wanted to introduce with this title. It is the first in a series, so some of the detail and ideas could have been postponed until a later volume.

Honoria herself was a fairly admirable heroine, although the insta love and her irresistible animal attraction to Blade made her seem a little to two dimensional and lacking in my eyes. Indeed their whole relationship was far too idealized and moved too quickly for me to take it seriously. I would have preferred a slower burn of sexual tension, possibly lasting through several of the books in the series, but I am aware that Romance titles have to fulfill their quota of sex scenes and stick to the expected format. However, this awareness of genre expectations does not make me any happier about the rather overabundant use of sex in this book. It is not that I dislike reading sex scenes, merely that I expect them to have some relevance to the storyline or character development. In this case they were not engaging and made me want to skip past them, which is never a good sign.

As with Honoria, Blade was a little too stereotypical for me. When it was disclosed that his appalling accent was an assumed part of his disguise as a ‘tough man’ I think I nearly dislocated my eyes by rolling them so hard. Again, I understand that Romance readers like a good rogue who turns out to be a softy at heart, but I would have liked a little more deviation from that trope. This cheapened some of the relationships with his protected underlings because I never felt that he would live up to his blood-curdling reputation. By removing that threat of real menace he was severely reduced as an unexpected hero because it carried no surprise.

On the whole, this was a book that I was happy enough to complete, because I wanted to see where it went, but I have no interest in following the characters any further. They were far too shallow and true to type to hold my interest for long.

Other Reviews

Addicted 2 Heroines

Mindful Musings

One Good Book Deserves Another

Parajunkee

Rabid Reads

Under The Covers

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My Rating: 1.0 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: 3.90 / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 3.98 / 5.00

Diana Bishop comes from a long line of witches that stretches back to Salem and beyond. However, she refuses to follow her ancestors, preferring to be a scholar instead, becoming an expert on the history of Alchemy. While studying at the Bodleian Library in Oxford she suddenly discovers an ancient alchemical manuscript with magical overtones. After looking through it and being somewhat intrigued, she decides to return it to the collection and continue with her studies but the librarian has never heard of the text and has no idea how it came to be on the shelf. When she returns to look for it, the book is missing.

Matthew Clairmont is a vampire geneticist who is drawn to the magical burst that accompanies Diana opening the strange book, along with many other magically sensitive individuals. It seems it has been lost for centuries and is coveted by many within the supernatural community and they begin to circle Diana and haunt her steps. Matthew becomes fascinated by Diana and a budding romance ensues.

The premise for this book sounds intriguing, especially as I have studied the history of science, so I was expecting a historical mystery wrapped up with a little paranormal romance. I look at the blurb now and the most ominous aspect of it is the mention of it being “as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.” If I had seen that remark before opening the book I might have been spared the frustration of attempting to read it, because a comparison to Twilight is never going to persuade me that I am about to immerse myself in a great literary masterpiece.

So what exactly did I not like about this book? Well, let us start with the author’s obsessive compulsion to describe, in mind-blowingly tedious detail, every possible aspect of the Bodleian Library. Yes, Ms Harkness, I get it: you have been there and you really, really, REALLY loved it, but I do not need to know what color the carpet is in every room, nor how the seats are arranged, nor what is outside which windows, etc, etc, in order to follow the story. In fact, it was highly distracting and after the fourth or fifth mass of unnecessary detail it was getting rather frustrating. It slowed up the story, filled my mind with unimportant clutter and left me wondering why your editor did not simply draw big red crosses through whole pages of it. If I want to know more about the library I can use the Internet and read the webpage.

As a Brit, I often find that foreign authors try very hard to capture the essence of the United Kingdom and its culture and some come close enough that I can read their work without the mistakes poking me in the eye every five minutes. Ms Harkness did a reasonable job of many aspects of UK culture, although she did make a somewhat unforgivable mistake regarding the iconic Sir David Attenborough that I found annoying. She presents the great naturalist, communicator and film-maker as a pioneering research scientist: a claim that I am quite sure Sir David would find highly flattering but totally laughable. I fear that I really do need to start up that web-based business offering myself as an expert in ‘How to make your portrayal of the UK not want to make Brits bang their heads on a wall’.

Next, as Ms Harkness is a professional historian of science, I was shocked at her obvious misunderstanding of many aspects of science and the way in which it progresses. She confused various specializations that are totally different and completely separate, which is unforgivable because their definitions can be found using Google. She also has a deep misunderstanding of the personalities of most scientists. Her vampires are near immortal and given to scientific pursuits, but keep changing their names to fool the human scholars. OK, so we will put aside the fact that ego is a huge part of scientific research, especially when it comes to publication and taking the credit for discoveries, but the idea that a researcher would simply skip from one line of research to another without wanting to pursue his chosen obsession to the very end of eternity is absurd. I speak as a person who is married to a research scientist and who knows plenty of others. I will not dissect her claims for Matthew’s solitary unraveling of wolf genetics because I think I have made my point.

So, you are not British or a scientist and, therefore, these problems do not have an impact upon you. Are there any other problems with this book?

Unfortunately, yes, there are. Let us examine Diana, the witch who has spent her entire life denying her ancestry and refusing to practice her skills. Would you be surprised if I told you that she is actually one of the most powerful witches in the world? No? I have to admit that I was not surprised either, because that little nugget fits in with the overall stereotype that makes up our heroine. She is an orphan, a loner, she rejects her past, she is spunky, super intelligent and can look after herself, she is also amazingly powerful. This was a depressingly obvious decision, and led to other predictable phenomena. As a witch that has sworn off using any magic, for any reason, ever . . . she changes her mind when a book she wants is on a top shelf . . . I kid you not: that is the massively significant moment at which she chooses to try using her magical abilities rather than getting a step or even dragging her chair over to the shelf. Of course, she gently pulls the correct book from the shelf and floats it down to her hand with amazing control, even though she has never practiced using her telekinesis before. Needless to say, this had my eyes rolling quite a bit.

However, the point at which I stopped reading came when we discovered that she glows in the dark / when she is asleep. There is only so much of ‘special snowflake’ syndrome that I can take in my Mary Sue before I want to vomit, and this shot past that boundary and left it in the distance. But wait, what of our gorgeous hero, Matthew the Vampire? Well, we discover that Diana glows because he breaks into her bedroom and hovers over her watching her sleep. I am aware that this is something that Edward does in Twilight, and that is creepy enough even though he looks like a teenager, but Matthew is hundreds of years old. This is creepy, stalker behavior and it gave me no hope that he will not indulge in other controlling behavior later in the story. I predicted that he would abduct her and/or make her his sex slave in no time at all, but felt no desire to find out.

As well as these major problems, I would also add that this huge tome could have used a thorough editing. The Bodleian was not the only subject of pages of unnecessary detail and I calculate that almost one fifth of the book could have been deleted to improve the readability and plot flow. I realize that many people liked this book an awful lot: I just cannot work out why.

Other Reviews:

A Fantastical Librarian

Books Without Any Pictures

Bookworm Blues

Fantasy Literature

Janicu’s Spec-fic Romantic

New, Borrowed, Used

Pedantic Phooka

Rabid Reads

The Oaken Bookcase

The Ranting Dragon

The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

My Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: 4.40 / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 3.97 / 5.00

Emily Benedict is seventeen when her mother, Dulcie, dies and her whole world is turned upside down. She discovers that her grandfather is still very much alive and that he is very happy to give her a home because Dulcie has kept him out of her life ever since she left town as a teenager. Arriving at Grandpa Vance’s house in Mullaby, North Carolina, Emily is shocked to find that he is the archetypal gentle giant, living a quiet and reclusive life in the town that his daughter rocked with a shocking scandal before she left. As Emily uncovers the details of her mother’s early life she is ostracized by many in the town who believe that she will be just as mean and unpleasant as Dulcie. However, it seems that not all the town’s inhabitants are hostile. Win, the son of a strange local family, is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and then strange lights start to appear outside her bedroom window.

Julia Winterson is a gifted baker who was forced to return to Mullaby by the death of her father. She left the town many years ago after being bullied mercilessly by Dulcie, but she is willing to befriend Emily who is a very different person from her mother as a teenager. Unfortunately, Julia’s father was not a great businessman and ran up huge debts whilst trying to keep his barbeque joint afloat. Now Julia has almost reached the point where she can sell up and go back to her old life, but then her old flame, Sawyer, is showing interest and she just might want to stick around a little longer.

First, I have to say that I find it very difficult to review Ms Allen’s books now because her debut title, Garden Spells, is one of my all time favorite books and the primary reason why I started this blog. This means that I tend to expect the same genius in each of her subsequent titles, which is probably not fair and leads me to sound unnecessarily harsh in my criticisms of them. All I can say is that once you have read a masterpiece it is difficult not to be disappointed if the author does not repeat that level of writing in their later works . . . you have been warned!

As with all her previous titles, we have a series of relationships that are or were dysfunctional in the past and that have consequences in the present. We also have a cast of beautifully drawn, sympathetic characters who make us empathize with them as they struggle with the rigors of daily life. There is also a smattering of the lightly magical realism that we have come to expect, along with an earthy emphasis upon food items and cooking as a magical gift that can affect emotions. We have the expected ‘strange’ families, with their special abilities and the wonderful recreation of the comforting aura of the gentile South. However, there is an unfortunate lack of focus that detracts from the setting and made me wish that the story were structured slightly differently.

Our lead characters, Emily and Julia, are both endearing and carry us along on their journeys, but that is one of my major complaints about this book. The fact that there are two leads means that our time and attention is divided between them and neither becomes the primary focus. This leads to two love interests, two backgrounds that need to be explored and understood and two sets of problems to overcome. I really wish that Ms Allen had chosen only one as the main focus of the story and kept the other in the role of strong support. Indeed, at first I thought that Emily would be the main protagonist, with Julia as an interesting mother figure, who would help to provide emotional support and excellent baked goods during the revelations about Dulcie’s life. I think that this would have made more sense and allowed us to concentrate mush more on the complex, fascinating and confusing person that was Dulcie, who has to be one of the most interesting non-present characters I have ever read.

Indeed, Dulcie is almost given more of a character arc than the living members of the cast, which is not in itself a problem, but which points out one other flaw in the plotting. A concentration on Emily and her journey of discovery would have given us more room to see how she coped and changed as her world view was destroyed and then rebuilt by her increasing knowledge of her mother’s past. I cannot imagine how terrifying it would be to suddenly become an orphan and then find out that so much of what you had taken for ‘truth’ was actually a form of deception. To suddenly discover that your wonderful, philanthropic, loving mother had been a terrible person who did unspeakable things when she was a teenager. To uncover all the sadness and regret that filled the grandfather who had been kept from you throughout your childhood so that your mother could ignore what she had been in the past. There was so much to follow in this journey that I almost feel cheated that we could not see it all.

As always, it is the little details and wonderful character work that carried me past my disappointment in the plotting. Grandpa Vance was an especially wonderful character to read because he himself was so subtle and understated. As a genuine freak of nature he is always painfully aware of his difference from everyone else, and, unlike Dulcie, he could never simply move away to somewhere new and reinvent himself. His gentleness and the tenderness with which her treats his new-found granddaughter were very touching, so the final revelations were all the more moving because I felt so much empathy for this lovely man.

I felt that most of the magic incorporated into the story was nicely handled. The wallpaper in Emily’s room that would change with her mood seemed like an excellent metaphor for the almost chameleon-like quality that many teenagers have to change and reinvent themselves endlessly. I also liked Sawyers ability to sense sweets and how that little magic fed into his story. However, the main magical item, which I will not reveal as it is a major spoiler, was rather too obvious to me. I am not someone who can easily recognize where a plot is going, so if I find it blazingly obvious before the big reveal I feel cheated rather than clever. In this case, I thought that the big magical secret was rather silly and impractical and would have been common knowledge in a very short space of time when the family first arrived in the town.

On the whole, this was an enjoyable read, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes Ms Allen’s other titles, but it left me a little disappointed. In some ways I wish I could read it without the knowledge of what she has written before, so that I could give a more impartial review, but I cannot ‘unread’ her previous works.

Celtic Moon Book Blast: Review & Giveaway

My Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: Unrated / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 4.00 / 5.00

*** Disclaimer: I know the author personally and was privileged enough to read an earlier version of this title about a year ago. I picked up some typos and grammatical errors that had outwitted the spell checker and then followed its path to publication with bated breath. Thus, I am undoubtedly a little biased when asked my opinion about it! ***

Sophie Thibodeau is a relatively normal Graduate student when she first encounters Dylan Black on the slopes of Maine’s Mount Katahdin. Although he is a little controlling and unusual, she falls for his natural beauty and dynamic personality and they begin a passionate affair. Soon she realizes that she is pregnant and suddenly her world changes. Dylan insists that she break all connection to her friends and family and live with him and his strangely insular people in the town that he controls like a feudal lord. He becomes increasingly controlling and possessive and finally he takes her out into the woods one night to reveal his most intimate secret – he can transform into a wolf, as can some of his followers.

Terrified beyond belief, Sophie flees into the forest seeking to escape the ‘monsters’ behind her. Unfortunately, she crosses paths with Dylan’s previous lover, Sîan, who is jealous of Sophie’s pregnancy and more than a little unhinged. Seriously injured, Sophie persuades Sîan to let her leave and she crawls towards the safety of the Interstate, determined to protect her unborn child from all the threats that Rhuddin Village hides.  

Sixteen years later, Sophie sees her son developing some worrying tendencies and she realizes that he has probably inherited more from his father than a few physical similarities. She decides that the only way to keep Joshua safe and well is to return to the one person that she has spent so long avoiding. Meanwhile, Dylan is on the brink of a war with the Guardians, the most ancient of his kind who see themselves as almost Gods. They want all of their kind to live under their direct control, but many, including Dylan, refuse to bend to their will and are prepared to fight to retain their freedom. War is coming to Dylan’s land and yet he needs to keep his family safe as well.

When a friend tells you that they are a writer and that they would like you to read their manuscript, it is rather difficult to know what to say in return. What if it is a pile of dreadful rubbish? What if you hate the characters, the setting, the dialogue, the plot, the genre, the way they keep using the word ‘sparkly’? How do you keep your friendship intact after they have laid their soul bare to you and you have looked at it and then wanted to gouge your eyes out with spoons? How do you tactfully tell someone that you hate their baby and think it should be burned on the spot and then the ashes should be buried at the bottom of deep, deep mineshaft just to make sure that they never see the light of day again? Will they ever speak to me again after I have killed their dream and then jumped up and down on its still warm corpse with spiky boots for several hours?

I know that these kinds of thoughts mean that I am a pessimist of the worst type, and I am exaggerating a little, but to say that I was worried about reading Jan’s manuscript is a massive understatement. I am known at our book group for being out-spoken and very vocal with my criticism, so I was sure that I could never hand this book back with a lukewarm appraisal. At the time, my friendship with Jan was at a very critical stage, like a tiny plant just beginning to get established, and it could have very easily been squashed by my tendency towards unintentional tactlessness.

Fortunately, my worries were groundless and I did not need to worry about destroying Jan’s fragile ego. Her writing grabbed me right away and I was intrigued by the story that she laid out. I knew that she wanted me to be especially critical of the dialogue that she had given to those characters born in the UK, but there was nothing that stuck out as inappropriate. I could hand the huge stack of papers back with a very honest, but enthusiastic, appraisal and feel good about it. Since then, I have continued to reassure Jan that I really do like her book and think that it is good: I am not sure if she truly, truly believes me, but I hope that this review will go some way to finally laying her doubts to rest.

The first thing that struck me about Celtic Moon was the choice of protagonist. Sophie is rather unusual for the Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance that I have read because she is already a relatively mature woman. I say ‘relatively’ because she is quite a bit younger than me and I do not like thinking of myself as ‘older’ or ‘mature’! Not only is she in her mid to late thirties, but also she has already found the love of her life and had his child. She is well beyond the Happy Ever After that comes at the end of traditional Romance novels and living a normal life with all the associated difficult bits. In fact, the only near perfect aspect of her life is that she has such great relationships with her son and mother.

I was both intrigued and delighted by Sophie and her dilemmas. I am not a great fan of chick lit or general Romance titles, so I enjoyed reading about a woman who has to deal with more than just romantic angst and whether or not her nail varnish matches her handbag. Sophie has big, real life issues to overcome and she does it with great grit and determination. This is where Jan really sold me her book: Sophie is a strong woman throughout the whole story. I have grown to really rather hate those ‘strong’ female protagonists that are repeatedly described as such right up until the moment that the male hero turns up to save her from all the big, bad monsters and sweep her off her feet. If a woman is strong then she will remain so even if she has a man around to help out with fighting the coming apocalypse. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has male friends and helpers, but she is always as good as, if not better than, them in a straight fight against the Big Bad. She is the type of strong female that I can appreciate and empathize with and Sophie has a slight touch of Buffy about her.

One other aspect of Sophie that I really like is where she actually differs from Buffy: she is not special. She is not the Chosen One. She does not have special powers. She is not the unknowing last member of some super special tribe of uber-powerful warrior women with the ability to fire laser beams from her eyes. In short, she is not a Special Snowflake and I love her for it. She could be me or you or any of our friends: the only unusual thing about her is that she meets a man who happens to be able to shift into wolf. Again, this is against the usual trend in all manner of Fantasy fiction, but it helps to make this book stand out from the ‘pack’ (sorry, but I had to!).

Speaking of our Alpha male: he is also a pleasant surprise. He displays many of the typical Alpha characteristics that we see in Romance novels, but I can forgive him for his overbearing arrogance because he has good reason to be that way. He is nearly two thousand years old and has stayed outside of human society for much of that time, so he can be forgiven for being a little unusual. He is heavily influenced by the traumas of his past and also by the Wolf inside him. As pack leader, he feels responsible for all his people and his desire to find Sophie has always had to take a back seat to his need to keep the pack safe. He is a man with great strength of character who can, and does, chose the pack’s interest over his own. As Spock says “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” and we see that Dylan can apply this logic even though his Wolf is calling out for its chosen Mate, Sophie.

This adds an unusually cool dynamic to the rekindled romance between our two lead characters. There is little doubt that they will eventually succumb to the powerful attraction between them, but they are not so weak-willed and self-centered as to allow their feelings endanger the people around them. When they do finally reunite, all the longing and self-denial adds to the emotional impact of the event and yet it has a truthful feel to it. This is not a fantastical encounter of spectacular gymnastics, improbable outcomes or impossible endurance. It is tender and honest, with a dash of desperate urgency thrown in for good measure.

Along with the unusual dynamic between our two lovers, we have strong family relationships on both sides of the aisle. Sophie’s family is small but very tightly knit. Her mother, Francine, is hilarious and has some really great moments, and yet she is as strong as her daughter: when things get difficult she simply rolls up her sleeves and does what is needed. She might have a bit of a grumble, but she will always support and protect her family. Dylan’s family is a little more difficult to read because we spend less time in their company, but there is a similarly strong bond between the three siblings. The extended family of the Pack also includes some strong personalities and interesting characters to keep Dylan on his toes and to make sure that he never takes his authority for granted. We will learn much more about Dylan’s brother and sister, Luc and Elen, in the second and third volumes of the Celtic Wolves Series because each title concentrates on one of the siblings. I look forward to getting a greater insight into their family dynamic.

The story itself follows a logical course as it carries our characters into great danger, building a feeling of threat that is very real. As you can tell, I felt deeply invested in these characters and so I really cared about their safety and well-being. I was impressed by the fearless way in which Jan did not provide a soft and safe ending for everyone: the Guardians are vicious in their attempts to ‘persuade’ the Pack to return to the old ways and they use any means necessary to get their message across. This leads to violent conflict and death, but not in a gratuitous and casual way. All the pain and suffering flows directly from the personalities and political ideals of the Guardians, but Jan does not pull her punches so be prepared for some shocking outcomes.

It seems that this review is in danger of becoming rather too massive, so I will draw to a close. I recommend Celtic Moon to anyone who enjoys Urban Fantasy with a little Romance thrown in. However, that romance does not follow the traditional path and our lovers are not only driven by their love for each other: they have more important things to worry about! Most importantly, I would praise Sophie as a real heroine, with inner strength and great courage, who is just an ordinary woman dealing with extraordinary problems.

Giveaway!

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Celtic Moon, Signed and Dedicated by Jan, just send me an email at sue(dot)cccp(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject title "Celtic Moon Giveaway" including your full postal address. 

I will draw a name at random on Monday September 23 at 12 noon. Good luck!