Saturday, November 28, 2015

MEME - Stacking the Shelves - 11-28-15 #018




Wowsers, I was a good girl this week! Only three books! I tried to be very strict about what I was willing to read. Plus we finally set up an facebook book club among myself, some friends, and coworkers so I knew I'd have to leave some spare reading time for whatever we chose then! I did a lot of writing for NaNo this week, so not much reading got done. I think I will manage to hit 50k on it on Monday, here's hoping at least!

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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

READ ALONG/BOOK REVIEW - Salem's Lot [Avid Reader's Musings] - Wrap Up

 

Whoops, took me a while to get to this! My apologies! This was not as social a Read Along for me as the Atlas Shrugged one, though that's likely to the fact that it was shorter and I didn't really get to reading it until the end of the month, my bad. I didn't get the heebie-jeebies, which disappointed me in light of a few people who said they had to take a fridge break, BUT there were several parts where I couldn't put it down. Thanks to these lovely people for a really fun Read Along that was PERFECT for October!

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Author: Stephen King - 
Format: Kindle ebook. Purchased for the readalong, on amazon
Did it feel like a full novel: yes
Cliffhanger: Not really, but there is that open ending in the spirit of good horror.
Genre: horror, vampires
Dates Read: Oct 11-Nov 1, 2015
Official Blurb: Thousands of miles away from the small township of 'Salem's Lot, two terrified people, a man and a boy, still share the secrets of those clapboard houses and tree-lined streets. They must return to 'Salem's Lot for a final confrontation with the unspeakable evil that lives on in the town.

One Sentence: Classic vampires for modern times.

Full Review: Had had this on my TBR list for a while, though it wasn't super high since I knew I'd want to see the movie afterward as well. Very glad to have read this though! I think what made this most enjoyable was how the vampires, especially the main baddie, had the best qualities of Bram Stoker's written Dracula, plus Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi's interpretations. He was old school suave, though fearsome because he was so ancient. The mentions of how old he is really made me curious about some more history like a prequel. But I guess it's good I don't get it in a way, because there is a lot of mystery to this novel when you come right down to it. You know what the characters  reason out and such, but it's hard that you never just get told all-encompassing details and histories. Kinda fitting though, since regardless if you had all those facts, it's pointless, because knowledge beyond a point will not save you, it would only frighten you more I think (being in the characters' positions I mean). 

Mears reminds me of so many of King's other characters, but in a good way. He's the likable protagonist that you watch slowly get deeper in the quagmire of Big Trouble, but he's a natural leader in his own quiet way. The other characters had their moments, but there were many side characters as well, so not so many feel that deep, though they still feel real, in a sense. At times, because of the large cast, I felt a little lost as to who was who, but there was usually some thread of story that helped as you read their passages. And now that I've finished the book, I can truly say I enjoyed seeing from so many POVs! Especially when stuff goes down, you could feel the evil just encroaching everywhere. 

King manages the plot well, as he is usually good with. There is a little setup, then more info, mini mysteries, and a growing snowball that leads to the inevitable end that you can't wait to get to, but you also feel dread upon reaching. 

The callous natures of the vampires, including Mr Barlow, was refreshing for someone like me who'd lost touch with such legends, thanks to other sub versions such as the variety on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer show, Lestat of both novel and film, and still one of my favorite vampire films, Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Honestly, in retrospect, they reminded me of the cold, dark creatures from the comic 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles (to which I thought of more and more while reading, so much as to wonder if the name Mr. Barlow and the town name of Barrow was just a wonderful cosmic coincidence). But yeah, I can see where 30 Days of Night is a beautiful mirror image story of Salem's Lot when you think about it. 

Rating: 4 stars

Saturday, November 21, 2015

MEME - Stacking the Shelves - 11-21-15 #018



Seems I fell back into my old habit of just kind of downloading anything that looked good despite if I was willing to make the time to read it. But then again, I've found SO MANY good books on a mere hunch so that's a good thing. Sometimes I wish I could take a month off from life in general and just read and sleep. Doubt I could do everything on my TBR, but I'm sure I could handle a good chunk, heh. Found three m/m books though, so that was pretty neat!

As for NaNo, I'm about 10k behind, but still proud of my progress. I need to do a little more research on business in general though as it's not a subject I know so I've been making it up as I go just so as to not lose my momentum.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

BOOK REVIEW - Her New Toy (#1)


Author: Margeaux Adler - 
Format: Kindle ebook. Free on amazon.
Did it feel like a full novel: no
Cliffhanger: no
Genre: erotica, BDSM, femdom
Dates Read: Oct 26, 2015
Official Blurb: Elyse isn’t a fan of blind dates, but agreeing to meet Rob is different. They share one important passion: female dominance in the bedroom.

Her last relationship ended when she told her ex about her interest in using a strap-on. Can Rob handle Elyse’s femdom desires?

One Sentence: Hot as a fantasy, but very short and too quick.

Full Review: I aspire to find a full and rich femdom story. Honestly even just a touch of powerplay where the male gets to play sub would be great. And Adler has written another story I enjoyed (Mastering Her Man), so I was really looking forward to this one.

But it was just... not enough, and it was aimed at a different direction than I'd hoped. This story felt faster than the previous one mentioned, especially because it seems to all take place after just a first date. At least the other the two characters were already dating and living together. If anything, this one feels more like just a fantasy, where there is no fumbling, no "oops, that's not what I meant", and no usage of their safeword. Let me start with that last part I think. So in the very beginning Elyse asks Rob to do something, and he hesitates, so she asks if that's a hard limit. I REALLY liked that! She didn't try to cajole or shame him, she just kinda said, "If this is something you're not cool with, let me know." At least that was how I took it. But then points for this were subtracted later when they get into some minor pain play (WITHOUT talking about it first), and she's now "I know what you like more than you do." 180 turn that just took me out of the story.

As for the first parts of my complaints, these two are really smooth, everything goes perfectly without a hitch. He's ordered to thank her for calling him a name and never once forgets (even in the throes of passion), and everything is just magically arousing for them both. Fantasy, see? A nice one, yes! But it's not what I was hoping for. 

So my search continues, though I do admit I will always return to Adler if there is something free, because her boys are so happy to belong to their ladies! And that is something I also think is very hard to find, so I appreciate it.

Rating: 2 stars


Saturday, November 14, 2015

MEME - Stacking the Shelves - 11-14-15 #017




Kinda slow on downloading this week, but that's a good thing. Unfortunately also ignoring a lot of my blogger friends and acquaintances in an attempt to work on my NaNo. About 5k behind, but at least my romantic couple is finally getting amorous. The bad part is that I kind of had them jump into bed right after they decided to be together. Ah well, that'll be a problem later. 










Wednesday, November 11, 2015

BOOK REVIEW - Measure of Devotion (Measure of Devotion #1)


Author: Caethes Faron - 
Format: Kindle ebook. Free at the time on amazon.
Did it feel like a full novel: yes
Cliffhanger: yes, but you know it's coming
Genre: m/m, master/slave, historical/alt universe
Dates Read: Oct 8-11, 2015
Official Blurb: Jason Wadsworth is finally headed to university. Leaving behind his father's cattle ranch in favor of the posh, gaslit streets of Perdana, Jason is determined to climb the social ladder and forget his country roots. If only his father had gifted him with a more upscale slave.

Kale's been a country slave his whole life. All he wants is to keep his head down and live as comfortable an existence as possible. Unfortunately, his dramatic master despises him and makes life difficult at every turn.

Humbled by his first breakup, Jason grows to appreciate his ever-faithful slave and soon discovers that Kale is everything he's ever wanted. Now he needs to prove to Kale that his love is genuine.

Kale, meanwhile, tries to convince himself that he simply feels the devotion of a slave to his master, but his actions prove what his mind is unwilling to accept: he's falling in love. When Jason's future happiness is in jeopardy, Kale sets himself on a course to make Jason's dreams come true, even if it means facing up to the fact that, for the first time in his life, he loves someone else more than he loves himself.

One Sentence: Really solid slave devotion from Kale, but the master feels like cardboard.

Full Review: Kale starts out very humble and worried about his master's dislike of him. Though I am all for him feeling no respect for this boy-master, I think he did get much too mouthy than was believable in the setting. Jason's punishments were petty, but tantalizing from the reader's point of view, so more of that description could have been a bit more erotic (being this is a master/slave fantasy). 

The part that gave me a hard time was Jason's about face. Sure I could understand he's on the rebound, and Kale is there to take care of him. But even though this is a switch POV story, we don't get to see how Jason really cares for him, we're just told. He feels bad about the beginning, but then shrugs it off. He knows he's risking bigger trouble (for Kale) being publicly sweet on his slave, but does it anyway. I'm hoping this means for the next book Jason will grow up and be more of an adult.

But this still gets a higher rating from me in spite of Jason. Why? Because Kale is otherwise fantastic! He's strong and tries to do his duties, tries to think the best of his master even when he knows he doesn't have to. He tries to warn him and do right by him, even when that also backfires. He kinda grows, in his own way. Kale knows this sweet thing between himself and Jason can't last forever, and though he takes the opportunity to enjoy it, he doesn't take a passive role.

I really want to read the next in the series when I make some time, because I can't wait to see what's going to happen mainly to Kale, but also Jason, and even Renee. Renee started off pretty cool, then got shitty, but I think it was more the author railroading her so certain events could unfold. So hopefully she'll get her chance for redemption.

Rating: 4 stars

Saturday, November 7, 2015

MEME - Stacking the Shelves - 11-07-15 #016




Hey y'all, so I was unable to post last week, which is why this STS is going to be a bit long :3 I'm excited about The Forever War as it's a book I've wanted to read for a long time and I was delighted to find it on sale! I also have a used paperback copy of Ivanhoe, but it has melted binding glue and yellowed paper that I'm scared I'm going to accidentally tear apart during my next time reading it, so jumped on a free ebook version. Unlike others who prefer Romeo & Juliet as their Go To romantic tragedy, Ivanhoe (for Sir Brian and Rebecca) is mine.

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