Tag: book review

[Book Review] Pride’s Spell – A Sin du Jour Affair

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Pride's Spell CoverTitle: Pride’s Spell: A Sin du Jour Affair
Author: Matt Wallace (Twitter)
Rating: So Freaking Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Urban Fantasy, Demons & Angels, Food, Hollywood
Release Date: June 21, 2016

Publisher: Tor.com

Pre-Order Here: AMAZON (PAPERBACK) | AMAZON (KINDLE) | BARNES AND NOBLE (PAPERBACK)

Note: I received an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher (but I have also preordered ebook and audio versions of the book because I CAN). All opinions and thoughts expressed, however drunkenly or poorly, in this review are my own. There are also a TON of spoilers for the upcoming book so if that’s not your thing, come back after June 21st when you’ve read the book!

Note the Second: There’s an extra spoilery audio review/excited rant posted embedded into this review at the bottom because I realize now that drunk!reviewing lends towards really disjointed reviews because my attention span gets borked. The audio review will hopefully be even more coherent!

I’m halfway through a bottle of Verdi Spumante (a sparkling wine that makes me giggle every time I say its name), I’ve got three fancy butter cookies left, and oh yes, an ARC of the awesome Matt Wallace’s upcoming book Pride’s Spell waiting for me to read and do my usual semi-drunken review.

Life is good. Well… for me at least.

Things don’t look so hot for the staff of Sin du Jour or their head chef for much of the book.Read More »

[Book Review] Pain Slut

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Title: Pain Slut (Subs’ Club #2)Pain Slut Rock
Author: J.A. Rock
Rating:  Yeah, No Thanks
Genre/Category: Contemporary, BDSM, Romance, Interracial, M/M
Release Date: February 1, 2016
Publisher: Riptide Publishing

Note: I will not be linking to the author, their social media, or any links to purchase this book because the good parts do not begin to make up for the horrible racism that peppers the text.

I picked up Pain Slut on a lark when I saw that the fourth and final book in J. A. Rock’s Sub Club series was coming out so I’m a bit behind on the series since this book came out in February.

The series seemed interesting enough (it’s about four friends who band together to change their local BDSM community after one of their friends and a fellow sub is killed at the hands of a neglectful Dom) but I decided to get the second book since I felt that the stress might be a little lessened as we’re one book past their friend’s death.

Here’s the thing about Pain Slut: despite its cute moments and some kink that I really found sexy, it had some incredibly problematic attitudes about race/racism, respectability politics, and how it portrayed the Black main character.Read More »

[Book Review] The Jewel and Her Lapidary

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Wilde Jewel LapidaryTitle: The Jewel and Her Lapidary
Author: Fran Wilde (Twitter)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Fantasy, Politics
Release Date: May 3 2016
Publisher: Tor.com

Order Here: AMAZON  (KINDLE)| AMAZON (PRINT) | BARNES & NOBLE (PRINT)

Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are my own. Spoilers abound!

By the time I finished reading The Jewel and Her Lapidary, I was well on my way to an ugly crying session. I’ve read books that broke my heart before and I’ve read some truly stellar fantasy. However, what Fran Wilde does with this book basically wrecks me.Read More »

[Book Review] Runtime

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Divya RuntimeTitle: Runtime
Author: S. B. Divya (Twitter)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Science-Fiction, Politics, Classism, Cyborgs, Body Modification
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Publisher: Tor.com

Order Here: AMAZON  (KINDLE)| AMAZON (PRINT) | BARNES & NOBLE (PRINT)

Note: I received an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher. All opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

At first glance, S. B. Divya’s Runtime is just about a race – the Minerva Sierra Challege – set in the distant future that is open for cyborgs to participate in.

Except, it’s about way more than that.Read More »

[Book Review] Zen Cho’s The Terracotta Bride

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The Terracotta Bride - Zen Cho

Title: The Terracotta Bride
Author: Zen Cho
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Fantasy, Mythology (Buddhist), Romance, Lesbian Fiction. Steampunk,
Release Date: March 10, 2016
Order Here: AMAZON (KINDLE)

I really enjoy Zen Cho’s writing style.

Her novel Sorcerer to the Crown was one of the books I spent most of 2015 waiting for and believe me, it was worth the wait. She’s just a fantastic writer who can make me ugly cry with just a few lines and her characters almost seem to leap off the page.Read More »

[Book Review] Lustlocked: A Sin du Jour Affair

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LUSTLOCKEDCOVER

Title: Lustlocked: A Sin du Jour Affair
Author: Matt Wallace
Rating: So Freaking Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Urban Fantasy, Fae & Faries
Release Date: January 26, 2016

Publisher: Tor

Order Here: AMAZON | AMAZON (KINDLE) | BARNES AND NOBLE

It’s officially tradition for me to be tipsy when I review the awesome Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour stories. I started that tradition back in October when I picked up Envy of Angels during a half-drunken stress-shopping run. It was so worth it.

Fast forward to last Tuesday when my kindle sent me a notification letting me know that Lustlocked was ready for me to read on my kindle. I started making high pitched noises then and I haven’t stopped yet. Yes, I am making high pitched noises in between swigs from my delicious Strongbow cider and somehow I haven’t choked yet.

Lustlocked is amazing from the opening pages where we’re reintroduced to Moon and the other members of Sin du Jour’s stocking and receiving department. I really love how Matt sets the stage with this part of the crew. Read More »

[Book Review] Sorcerer To The Crown by Zen Cho

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Sorcerer to the Crown CoverTitle: Sorcerer to the Crown
Author: Zen Cho (Twitter)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Historical Fantasy, AWESOME
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Publisher: Ace

Purchase Links: AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

I have basically been on the library waiting list for Zen Cho’s Sorcerer To The Crown since it came out. I finally got to get it from the library on one of my recent Library Hauls and yesterday, in between writing sessions, I read the entire thing.

I wanted to tweet about it yesterday and give Zen Cho props from then, but I paused because I wanted to do it right and review it as best as possible (without many spoilers because I know there are people who read my reviews who haven’t read it yet).

So let’s get the most important thing out of the way: I love this book. (Like for real, if I could marry a book I’d be in a poly relationship with Sorcerer to the Crown and Matt Wallace’s Envy of Angels.) Read More »

[Book Review] Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House

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ghosts and girls of fiction houseTitle: Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House
Author: Various authors, collected & edited by Michael Price
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Comic books, Horror, History
Release Date: November 10, 2015

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Pre-Order Here: AMAZON | IDW PUBLISHING | BARNES AND NOBLE

Blurb: The publisher Fiction House was infamous for what anti-comics crusader Dr. Fredric Wertham called “headlight comics,” i.e. comics featuring the ample female bosom. The Pre-Code publisher used their buxom heroines to star in jungle comics, science fiction tales, and scary GHOST STORIES! The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics series curates the sexiest and scariest of these poltergeist-infused Good Girl Art comics in a pulse-pounding tome, Ghosts and Girls! Your hair will stand on end and at the same time your toes will curl! Featuring faithfully reprinted original art from these 1940s and 1950s by brilliant masters Matt Baker, Maurice Whitman, and more, don’t miss this must-have, large format collection edited by comics historian and filmmaker Michael Price, with its lovingly restored comics.

** This early and honest review was made possible by Diamond Book Distributors, IDW Publishing, and NetGalley. The (somewhat lengthy) opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. **

I’m a sucker for a good ghost story and Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House provides more than enough to satisfy me.

Collected by Michael Price, the Golden-Age tales of horror and humanity in Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House are right up my alley. The stories in this book all come from publisher Fiction House, a publisher known for their images of beautiful women in peril and blood-curdling horror.  With about two-hundred pages of comic book history (including anecdotes about horror comics’ hall of famer EC Gaines), covers for comics like Ghost and Jumbo Comics, and full-color reprints of true Golden Age greats, this book is a must have for fans of horror who are fascinated by comic book culture and history.Read More »

[Book Review] Romancing the Duke: Castles Ever After by Tessa Dare

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romancing the dukeBook Rating: (Highly) Recommended

Despite following Tessa Dare on twitter for weeks now, Romancing the Duke is the first one of her books that I’ve ever read. Don’t worry, I’m thoroughly kicking myself for waiting so long to read her work.

In some ways, Romancing the Duke is a standard Regency romance because it has the scenery and politics common to the genre.

I do think that the book veers away from the Regency standard because of the characters that Dare has created and how they interact with their world. Even though I’m not always the biggest fan of historical fiction set in Europe (because they tend to lack non-servile characters of color), I was charmed to pieces by this book because of how the characters interacted and how weirdly relatable the heroine’s thought process was.Read More »

[Book Review] The Queen of all That Dies by Laura Thalassa

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Book Rating: Recommended

TQOATD_small

I’m not sure how I stumbled across this book. One minute I was looking for comic book history books on my kindle and the next thing I know I was neck deep in this gritty-as-hell post-apocalyptic universe and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Normally I don’t read dystopian stories. I’m a “Happily Ever After” kind of person and if that’s not guaranteed by the author or if I can’t figure out the ending within a few chapters of the book, I get bummed out. I can assure you that there was none of that dark dank depressed feeling associated with this book.

Read More »