Just a few things.

Over the Holiday Bestie and I decided that we were going kayaking. I've done this only once before and that was on the Saco River which crosses from Maine to New Hampshire and back. This time I tried my hand at the ocean and had way different results.

First off I'm not the easiest person to get along with and it amazes me that I have friends sometimes. This was not my best moment. I was loud I complained and I criticized my best friend unfairly. Like I said I'm not proud and I've had to eat some humble pie since for that. 

I scored some vouchers to explore the sea caves in La Jolla back in August and never used them. Well Bestie nagged and nagged and we went. We went through a brief but through training then waded into 53 degree F water and climbed into our boats. Pretty much from the minute we were sea bound I was a raging harpy out for blood.

Bestie has a slight to extreme fear of the ocean. Couple that with him doing something completely out of his comfort zone. He was scared silly but yours truly decided his inexperience was not an excuse for following directions. I was a very ugly person for about half the adventure.

He eventually got the hang of everything and we managed to enjoy the second half of the trip. Due to the choppiness of the water that day we weren't allowed to get very close to the caves, but we did get up close and very personal with a few Sea Lions and a pod of Dolphins. Nature I have to say rocks. We promised that we'd go again and with a few minor adjustments like the seating placement  we'll have a time that promises to be 1000 times better than the first.

Over all he says he had a good time, except for when I was being super beast. He likes to say that the days before my cycle comes around is the worst time and once again I decided that I just HAD to be around him at that time. If it weren't for my fabulous set of breast, I think I'd trade being a woman if it meant not chewing off heads every time I'm premenstrual.


Yesterday 1/3/13 was my 33rd birthday and I spent it at home quietly working on my blouse and shooting my resume out and scoring another interview. I heard from my Brother, Father and one Aunt. I got a bunch of hits on Facebook wishing me well. I even got a hit from my favorite author Ms. Gini Koch. I am in so much awe of her.  There was even a mention of a midget for my birthday, but I missed it by staying home.

While I'm job hunting I haven't been reading and once again the book reviews have been scrapped. I am very sad about that because I really enjoy doing the critique and I feel that all the work I've put into it this summer is falling apart. I'm sad about it but  I'm doing what's best for the moment. I hope that I find something soon so I can not worry about the money situation anymore and get back to what makes me happy.

The weekend begins and I plan on compiling a Bean Counter so come back and Monday and take a gander.

The Stuck-ness of this week's Book Review

I'm usually very good with getting through a book that needs a review. This week's book is posing a little bit of a challenge. While the concept behind the story is truly engaging, I'm just not feeling the pull that I usually feel when I have a new book in front of me. 

I'm strangely also having the same problem with my current ebook. I think though it's because it is a Mystery though and I'm not a big fan of that genre. I do like this ebook, the main character is dealing with some issues that I can relate to in a very personal way.

So with that in mind I'm giving myself until Saturday to complete these books. Sorry kiddies You'll just have to wait until then.

Enjoy the exorbitantly large picture of just my eyes...

What Am I Reading Wednesday - Containment by Christian Cantrell

I’d like to treat you kiddies to this epically awesome story by first time novelist Christian Cantrell.  I mean seriously treat you. Cantrell bases Containment inside a dome on the planet of Venus. Humans have managed to colonize the inhospitable planet but still struggle to be completely self sustaining.

The book is way passed imaginative with it’s faux history and inventive look into our Earth’s future and his world’s past. The story chronicles Arik a young genius raised completely inside the Venus dome along with 99 other young people. His life’s purpose is to make the Venus dome habitable for more the dome’s vigorously monitored population of 1,100 citizens.

His job becomes that much harder when his wife Cadie become pregnant. While searching for a method to create a plentiful air supply Arik discovers a mountain of secrets that threaten everything he know about the dome and his own existence.

I loved this book because like another techno thriller I reviewed earlier in 2012, this is chocked full of brain busting imagery and science that my head twirled trying to grasp what the author was showing me. I get a great sense of feeling in each section and found myself not bored with the technical jargon despite my lack of education in that arena. I literally did not want to put the book down after Arik made his discoveries and even missed my bus reading how he found a resolution to the conflicts in the story.

Arik is  very likable character until the very end and because he maintains a likable guy status so well,  I ended up hating just about everyone else in the story even his wife Cadie regardless of her involvement in the conflict, which was pretty minimal. I pitied his genius for what knowledge he found and applauded the sacrifices he makes to make sure that the people inside the Venus dome achieve everything they asked of him and the information they weren’t supposed to know.

This story isn’t so much about a conspiracy. It is more like a crisis of identity, with everything Arik believes and understands. How Cantrell brings Arik to that realization is purely masterful.

I recommend Containment for anyone who has hope for the future of space travel and has faith in the Human Natures ability to still be curious.  

You can find Containment on Amazon.com here

Random Thought of the Day

Well it is definitely winding down to the last few days of  NaNoWriMo and yours truly is kind of stuck. I'd like nothing more than to finish this story just because it has been such a fine ride for me this month. That and I miss reading. I have several books lined up and two, no wait, three that I did start but had to put down for what ever reason before November started.

Anyway as usual I'm stuck in the "break up." Felicity and Steven are literally breaking up RIGHT now and I'm having the hardest time trying to get that into words. But I shall plug away at it because my status board on the website says that I might finish my 50,000 words by the 28th. I have faith I'll get to that mark. I swear I do. 

Random thought: If guys actually behaved the way they do in romance novels do you think there'd ever be unsatisfied women walking this earth?

So yeah in case you feel like coming back after Nanowrimo here are the books I have lined up. 

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Containment by Christian Cantrell
Bite me by Christopher Moore

All of these are paper or hardcover books I also have a few e books and they are:

Only Human by Chris Reher
The Lighter Side of Large by Becky Siame
The One We Love by Donna White Glaser

Unless I find a job kiddies I plan to knock all these out by the New Year.

But for now I'll try to knock out my word count and bring back the Friday Fictioneers and maybe a Bean Counter once in a while. Seriously, kids the world is a mess and I need to keep count. 

Book Review: You Suck by Christopher Moore, And Welcome Back.

You Suck by Christopher Moore

First,  I welcome every one back to the blog after more than a two week hiatus. Then, let me say that this book “You Suck” is a few years old. I’m saying this right now, I don’t want some left over fan to cry at me because they can’t find this book. Second I highly doubt you can’t find this book. I’ll post a link to this book and Mr. Moore’s web page so you can check out his current book Sacre Bleu. 

This is part two of a vampire trilogy that I have to say is rather inventive. I know I say inventive like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Well It might be. Knowing my penchant for vampires and hot nasty sex with vampires you readers should be disappointed when I admit that there’s no hot nasty vampire sex in this book.

Go ahead every one take a moment to come back to earth. The moment to mourn the lack of hot nasty vampire sex is now over. Instead put in your chuckle hat and get ready to chuckle.

If you read Blood Sucking Fiends, you be either happy or sad that the Animals are back and are they in a fix as well as all the other characters in this second installment. The book does have a different kind of chaotic going on here. And it’s pretty anti-climactic. 

We have a few new characters that are woven into the story and they each have their own back story that is very rich in character defect. So rich that you can’t help but love or hate them. Well done Mr. Moore, I hated the blue tinted hooker. 

Yeah there’s a blue tinted hooker in the story and though she gets down to some pretty terrible acts of depravity she does them before things get serious. 

Acts of depravity before things get serious? You must have not read anything by Christopher Moore. There is an entire level of absurdity, in each book this awesome writer creates that swallows them whole. It’s not sprinkled lightly like parsley or jimmies on ice cream. It’s like he took the idea for each story and marinated it in ridiculousness for a year before penning the thing. Then after a big glitter explosion you have another Christopher Moore masterpiece in cleverly arrange stranger than fiction events.

Take the Goth Pair. Miss Abbey Normal and her gay bestie. Abbey is positively challenged. There’s no such thing as a happy Goth, yet Abbey must make a conscious effort every day to not smile and fails miserably. She even checks herself in her journal which she keeps for posterity sake. Okay, what ever, Abbey. I find you tedious and I pity you in all your closet Hello Kitty pinkness. She has decided to devote herself to the art of being a minion to one of our main characters Flood in hopes of one day becoming a vampire herself. Keep dreaming sunshine.

Speaking of our main characters 489 words into this review. Flood and Jody are faced with new crisis as they both have to now find a way to survive, combat  the reemergence of Jody’s maker and stay under the radar from their two favorite detectives. In other words read Blood Sucking Fiends and when you finish, You Suck, you might as well got for gold and read Bite ME.

As usual I’m not going to tell you how the book ends unless the book sucks and I don’t wan to waste your time. I’m going to warn that you will laugh a little. If you don’t like this book then hey, feel free to email me and tell me I have no taste in fiction. I’m okay with that. Two Thumbs five stars and what ever other grading system is out there.

You Suck can be found on the web here for a moderate price. I'm sure it can be found other places but I only have to offer you one.

And for those of you that want to check out what other works by Christopher Moore you can peek at his author page.

What Am I Reading Wednesday: False Positives by Kim Aleksander

Well! I have to say that even though the cover says A Techno-Thriller on it, this lovely piece of intrigue falls perfectly into the conspiracy genre. Hold up kiddies there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. I love a good conspiracy, almost as much as I love paranormal romance.

Kim puts together a cast of characters who bring a strong presence to every part that they are in.  I found two weak point the whole book where I wasn’t feeling them but good googly moogly, who cares.

The story is based the idea that computer programming could possibly be the reason for the start of world war three. Sound familiar? It should there are enough movies about this same idea. I think own a few... 

We open with a college student circa the Viet Nam era tripping on something and creating the first computer bug by hand, punch card style. The book flashes forward from there to 2007, but then makes it a point to follow this genius throughout important parts of said tripper’s life. The books leads you, the reader, to the business end of Washington DC, divey areas of Thailand, the fall of Saigon, and even to Tehran. A lot of research went into this book and it’s not lost on you as you traverse the world with the characters.

I can say that this book comes with all the requisite ingredients for a thriller: deranged military and government officials, creepy assassins, and old men considered harmless or crazy, good stuff really. What makes this a stand out for me is the random Thai tranny, the girl on girl action, and the fact that everyone seems to have daddy issues. How they feel about Daddy seems to motivate just about everyone even those who’s father isn’t even relevant. 

Junior the voiceless and some would want to think brainless machine, makes a perfect foil for all America’s fears. The program operates without concern for moral rightness. It is business, the opposite of humanity and ironically created by humans. It’s after results, and humans constant need to have a decision made for them makes the system so easy to abuse. It’s a means to an end but is it the right end?

I think a good portion of time was spent understanding why this machine should not exist, inside each characters mind. The way that they eventually blended together and worked toward the solution for Junior was neatly arranged. If that time was not spent I think the characters would have been flat and the story would have suffered. Some books I’ve read lately have not been able to pull that off.

What did I not like about the book? Not much. Because this book does not really need romantic undertones, it’s just that good, what little romantic interactions there were, could have been omitted. I’m not even really strong on that stance because the story doesn’t really have to reach that far AND it’s done in such a matter of fact ay that you don’t even really question it. I did love how smitten one of the minor characters became with the aforementioned tranny. I especially loved it when he got warned by both his/her father and brother. Freaking classic, as a comic relief moment goes that was superb.

The end was a little too tidy but what do you expect? These are, despite their collective big brains, humble citizens of the world and all they really wanted in the end was to just live in peace. Sorry no sunsets or sailing off into the moon light here.

Was this a good book? Yes. Did this live up to it’s techno-thriller title? Yes. We already said this was a great conspiracy novel. Super Yes. Is this a guy book? MMM maybe, but not so much a guy book as just a really good book.

Thanks Kim Aleksander for putting some seriously good hard work into this story. It was totally worth the wait ordering the print copy.

So does Kim get two thumbs for this? Of course he does. You can find your copy of False Positives at Amazon.com here. Or you can go find it some other way and then you'd be on you're own.

What are you still hungry for a little more? You're in luck I've vlogged this review and if you just click a little further you can watch me wax poetic some more.

What Am I Reading Thursday: The Withes Hand by Wendy Joseph

This book begins with a brief history of the Fourth Crusade, which sets the tone along with some religious dissension. The story is full of references to long forgotten members of the Catholic Church as well as beautiful descriptions of France in the Middle ages. Under the reign on Pope Innocent III the search for witches is made main stream in order to bring the people back under the Church’s thumb. 

We are first introduced to Malaxia, a witch of some serious power, approaching a home in dead of night and setting it ablaze. She burns it down to the ground for one person the main character Liana. She tells Liana that she’s been chosen as her successor.

Liana being a peasant of the middle ages does the whole silly uneducated peasant thing and runs for the nearest church where she is met by an equally uneducated Bishop, labeled a witch for showing up half naked and chased out of how own town by the church guards.

Enter the next main character Jettaret a former Crusader on his way home to marry. Liana and Jettaret travel together under his protection to Lyon, where he lives. He sees her first as weak and troubled and unquestioningly continues to protecter her from Malaxia even though his faith in anything seems to be a little on the faulty side

When Liana begins using her new found powers he grows wary of her but still believes the best place for her is with him at Lyon.

I love all the beautiful descriptions of the terrain the travelers take. A picture is clearly made and appreciated, but when it comes to the characters I wanted more depth. I get that Jettaret is an honest man and that he’s disillusioned with the Church. For the first half of the book he is half angry or confused about both Liana and his faith. It does not help that she is confused as well. I just didn’t see his motivations for staying with her, spelled out. It was not until Jettaret teams up with an old crusader friend that we see the many more facets of his character.

Malaxia however was given that opportunity. While truly a malevolent woman she had a purpose, goals and was steadfast to her desires for Liana until the bitter end of the book. She is a character of great depth and full of mercurial mood swings executed superbly with minimal words to clog the story.

I found Liana to be a weak confused little girl even if the people in the story did not find her to be so. She has a stubborn streak that is recognized and used by both Malaxia and Jettaret, but that does not make her a strong person. A mule could be stubborn for all Liana was worth.

I found the richest parts of the book were moments between Malaxia and Liana after Liana’s training began and between Jettaret and his crusader friend Alberge. The interactions during these times were the best. Yet the time when Liana and Jettaret were alone in the woods traveling just seems long confusing and dry.

Maybe it is my lack of familiarity with the behavior between men and women during the middle ages that leaves me wanting more. Maybe it is the difference in classes between the two of them Jettaret being of the nobility and Liana a peasant that leaves me wondering what’s not being said. Whatever it is, I don’t know. Somehow a bond is formed between Jettaret and Liana, that spurs him to search for her after they are separated. This bond is the reason the story continues and does make for a nice ending  even if the end came as a surprise to me.

For the ending alone I give it one thumb, for the colorfully painted picture the journey was, I give this another thumb. I guess that makes two. But overall, I can honestly not  stay with that vote. Some places in the story were too sparse, some places so rich in detail, and a few places met a perfect balance of detail and interaction without wasting any words. So my final vote on this is 1.8 thumbs if that is such a thing.

I encourage everyone to read this book though if you like stories about boys coming home from war, women with knowledge being persecuted, and like thinking about how far we've come since the middle ages. You might even see a few parallels to the type of ignorance you see in this book and what you see now in the news.

You can get your copy of The Witch's Hand by Wendy Joseph  here on Amazon.com 

The Bean Counter

From a friend back home in New England I see a link that quizzes you on your political stance. Then it tallies your answers and tells you who you're most likely to vote for. Check that out here. +20

I apparently seem to favor two political parties one of which surprised the living heckness out of me.     -10 I'm not a fan of these kinds of surprises.

Behind on a book review -5

Took the dog to the beach today so I can finish said book for the review. +10

Enjoyed myself immensely AND got through a considerable portion of the book. + 12

Even managed to take this picture:
+15 such a good boy.

Then the silly dog ran away. -11 which resulted in me my buddy and some stranger corralling the furry mess in hopes of putting him back on the leash. Another -11because my book got sandy.

Still reeling over the whole legitimate rape thing from that Akin guy, here comes the freak of nature from TN saying with conviction that AIDS came from homosexual men having sex with monkeys. -5

After I call my mother in absolute outrage I realize the article was almost 8 months old. -7 a little delayed reaction on my part.

I decided I want a little more income (who doesn't) so I've been job hunting again (not that I ever stopped) in hopes of finding some that will hold me over until school starts. + 12 for the initiative.

Realized that I had a job that I wasn't getting paid for already and now I feel rather stupid. -9

Went to Karaoke the other night and once again sang completely off key. Have I lost my voice? -5

But at least I looked nice...+15

Meanwhile elsewhere in the US Hurricane Isaac touched down and the few people I know of still in the Gulf area were fairly constant on Facebook until a few hours ago.  -9

But the LA Times seems to be keeping up on things so at least something is coming out of the area. They have a photo gallery. +/- 0 Not really sure if I should be grading that...

Really NASA? Really?

Curiosity is still roving Mars and now it's playing music. Seriously it's playing music. + 20

Then I found out that the song it's transmitting is by will.i.am. Really guys? Really? -12

What WILL the Martians think?
Back on Earth...

Over the weekend Southern California experienced a series of Earthquakes that made me feel pretty nostalgic for Japan. +7 Some how that's good????

Sadly there was some damage even though the quakes weren't too too strong. Once again I'm linking you to LA Times to see what that was all about. -14

This week's Tally: +3
Hey it's better than nothing.

Tune in later for the Photo Prompt for Friday and the book review of The Witches Hand by Wendy Joseph.

                     

The Heads Up What Am I Reading Thursday???

The Witch's Hand by Wendy Joseph

I've got several books lined up for the following weeks. Sadly I'm behind on the first one. This one is by someone in my weekly group the Author's Oven. I was really over the moon the find out that one of the ladies in the group actually published her book and had copies in her car to give away.  On the condition that I do a review, she gave me one. I like the book a lot and I would nothing more than to get the book out to you all on time. 

Sadly I have to do some serous job hunting at the same time so I'm going to get this out on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Sad Face. I'm really excited to tell you about it though.

The book for next two weeks are here and ready to go as well as the one E-Book I've received.

I really wish I had more but You can't win them all.

So look back on Thursday for my latest book review and check later tonight for the Photo Prompt for this Friday's Fictioneeer Blog Hop.

Have a great Tuesday.

E-Book Review Ex Fumo Gaudiam by Nobilis Reed

You may remember my buddy Nobilis from my very first Pod Cast. (That link is to the latest in case you're interested.) Well I've got a surprise kiddies, he's got a novella out for the Kindle and has let me review it.


First off I'm not very familiar with Steam Punk but I can surely recognize it when I read it. And this qualifies to my untrained eye as such.

But wait it's Latin, you can see it in the title. I know, I know, threw me off too, but roll with it.

Our story is set in something that vaguely resembles ancient Rome on crack. There are steam powered machines and boats and technologies that should not have been anywhere near Rome when they spoke old school latin. These folk traded furs and had titles like Legate and Procurator. Our main character, Marcus, is the second most powerful man in the city, engaged to a higher ranking man's daughter. He falls in love with a native woman and is faced with the dilemma of having to find a way to be with the one he loves and please the Legate at the same time.

The novella unfolds like a history lesson and love story all rolled into one. I think the steam engines keep it interesting while the references to long since dead gods bind each character to the story. Marcus is a clever man and eventually finds a way to succeed in this goal only to be thwarted by the native woman's husband.

Because there are several languages mentioned and discussed I got a little confused. The Roman's speak Latin but Marcus switches to a trade language to deal with the people with whom he trades, then plays translator later on when he's forced to deal with a certain unsavory person near the end of the story. Because your's truly is a particularly special individual, I got a little stuck when the writing became broken to emphasize who was talking. Trust me it kicked in later and I figured it out.

Overall I found this story very engaging, even a little heart breaking when Marcus' betrothed came to her senses and broke off the engagement.  What nailed this novella, was the depth of growth displayed in each of the main characters. I rarely see that in the novellas I come across.

The Dog Log gives this two thumbs. Keep up the good work Bro.
You can find your copy of this awesome e-book at Amazon see here.


Stay Tuned for Friday Fictioneers Blog Hop Tomorrow.

Bean Counter: Returning Sporadically

Ready for some serious ups and downs? Yeah well this ain't the place for that.

Wrote a book review for All The Time In The World on Amazon.com and it was rejected.  -10

I was pretty pissed about this because Amazon always deletes my negative feedback I found this article about Amazon deleting negative feedback.  -5

That it was found on Amazon.com.  +25

Then disgruntaled United Airline workers took matter into their own hands at the Dulles Airport a few weeks ago. As if canceling flights weren't enough to mess with Veterans suffering from PTSD, they started kicking service dogs too.  -45

As if the horrible Airline food wasn't abuse enough.

Speaking of bad airline food. Delta seems to be stickin it to EVERYONE by putting sewing needles in the turkey sandwiches. -19 I hate turkey but I'll eat it if I have to.

No one seems to know if this is a Terror Threat or an very well executed hoax. -50 Just for not having figured that out yet.

But that's on a terrestrial level (somewhat). In a Galaxy far far away a picture that should have never happened resurfaced thanks to a friend over on Facebook and a little help from No Hope For The Human Race:
+150

While everyone is watching the Olympics, the USA put another rover on Mars, or somethign like it. Pretty cool if you ask me. +35 for Team 'Merica!!!

That's like what, the fourth or fifth one since 1997? +25

And now that the Olympics are well and over Grindr will finally calm down. See all about that here  +10

Found an article that's roughly a year old about a Tibetan Red Mastiff being sold for 1.5 Million bucks. Seriously would you pay for this guy? -60 I'm sure starving kiddies everywhere could have used that money.

Read Here

Books for the next three weeks actually made here in time so I'm about to be ahead of myself again. +15

The Dog Log is now doing E-books so send me your published fiction. +5

I only have two E-Books so far.  -10

Got the worlds greatest nasty gram from the Vet: I'm a bad pet owner because I forgot Chewy's Flea and tick medication.  -10 Sad Face

Prior to the nasty email I went not once but twice to the vet to pick up said medication only to have them tell me twice that they were out. FAIL Animal Hospital, FAIL. -15 for the stupid factor.


On Okcupid I listed my pet peeves at the top my profile which specifically state ages 30-40. Makes sense to me since no one reads the bottom of profiles where it's normally listed. I now get messages from 50 year old men claiming I'm age discriminating. +24 pissing off geriatrics everywhere.

You can't win with dating I swear.

Tally this issue of the Bean Counter: 70

Tune in again for the Vlog on my latest review Fifty Shades Freed, the Famous Fictioneer Blog Hop on Friday and a whole lot more.

What Am I Reading Wednesday - Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

What do we know about Trilogies? Well Screams Randy says all bets are off for everyone including the main character. So I kept that in mind when I tucked into the last book in the Fifty Shades. Randy also said: There will be unexpected back story, villains that need to be decapitated and cryogenically frozen to kill, and past that comes up and bite you in the ass.

Well lookie here this book fits all that in some way shape or form. 

E.L. picks up several weeks into freshly married Grey’s honeymoon around Europe. The honey moon serves no point in this book but to put both of them as far away from danger as humanly possible while some freak of nature sets fire to something inside Grey Enterprises. Also to have more “kinky fuckery” her words not mine.

From the get go this book is unbelievably sloppy. There were inconsistencies in language, more and more I can not overlook the amount of Britishness these American characters seem to posses. My personal pet peeve is yar. What the fuck is a yar? Are we pirates?

Granted I used yargh this past Friday in my Flash Fictioneer submission, but there really were pirates in it. Yar and it’s unknown meaning was used at least twice. This slip of local UK colloquial into and American book is unacceptable. Regular natives don’t talk like that. Nor do we call each other arse.

The story itself hmm what can I say to salvage this? Well Ana is still trying to get on solid ground with Christian the soulless ginger. He’s still his usual overbearing self, making bad decisions that end up making him regret not being open with Ana. I think I died a little every time Ana said please don’t be mad at me. By the time she grows a back bone, I stopped caring if either of them were mad.

So back to Randy and his rules for Trilogies. It does tie up all loose ends when the source of some of the new couples issues is caught not once but twice because the first time wasn’t good enough. We see the brief and satisfying return of Elena for all of five minutes right after a crazy pivotal moment. And the Soulless Ginger kindly decided to open up enough and give Ana a bone by delving into his past. And we even get to return to the beginning when the couple stays at the same hotel where they combed over the contract in book one.

What I do like about this last book and there isn’t much, is the time warp she has going on. She jumps back to recall certain things and at the end she even jumps forward. Of course the future is so sugary sweet I wanted to gag, but the romantic in me wanted to sigh. That is until Ms. James ruined it with an image of a very pregnant Ana trussed up on a rack and being pleasured. I know it happens James, but did you have to  go there? I don’t think so.  I’m screaming vivid mental picture and not in a happy way. That part actually made me cringe a little. It lacked taste some how by sullying the sappy goodness of the future Grey family.

I also liked that there is an over site built right into the story leading up a rather explosive scene in the book where Christian walks out. It was so subtle that I think E.L. James might not have seen it if she wasn’t paying attention herself. It was there just waiting to be notice and good for her to have caught it and capitalized on it at the end.

I give this book Fifty Shades Freed one thumb only because it does what it’s supposed to do by ending the story. It is not executed well at all and frankly I can no longer say that this is a good read. 

I’m glad it’s over it was a nice story if you remove all the extra fluff but really not meant to be enjoyed by someone over the age of 20 even if the content is racey.

I congratulate you Ms. James on making such a sensational book how ever I hope that until you learn to write better, don’t type anything else.

That was pretty harsh wasn’t it. Oh well.

What Am I Reading: Lothaire by Kresley Cole

First and foremost I bow to the superior commercial rightness of Kresley Cole. I have been reading her Immortals After Dark Series since the beginning. I’m sort of a geekified fan when it comes to her books. In fact she gets her own row in my book shelf.  

So when I got a hold of her latest book regarding the Enemy of Old, I was, well let’s just say that I already knew it was going to be good. Remember kiddies I’m a fan first.

I absolutely love the richness of the back story. It makes understanding Lothaire’s motives so much clearer.  I’d been dying to know what this “Endgame” was. The rather abrupt expulsion of he and his mother then her subsequent death would pretty much make any man a little mad. Very dramatic.

There was something I noticed here that I never really saw in all Ms. Cole’s other books. Seeing as we geekified fans are all familiar with Lothaire in all his nasty neutral but not by much naughty, you kind of just think of him as surly dialed up to fifty.  Was that ever a run on? I just figured he thought everyone but his own race was less. Not true apparently he has a special place in his heart for humans, the bottom, of his bottom.

What a mind fuck he got when his bride turns out to be human. Poor guy. You almost feel bad for him. I’m pretty sure someone in the Lore felt bad for him, that is if they all didn’t want to kill him. Fabulous set up Kresley, fucking fabulous.

Now follows the adjustment period of accepting the fact that not only is he saddled with this weak human as his bride, she a damn hillbilly. Picture Ellie May Clampet give her brown hair and then stick her in a room with sex on legs. Shit I felt bad for him. Lothaire like every Vampire in the series, becomes the most overbearing tyrant in the world towards his bride.

I’d love to say that the way vampires in her stories treat their new brides is tired and formulaic, but it’s not. In every story the men try very hard to dominate their brides, not just vampires, the whole freaking Lore does it. And yet it never gets tired. I don’t understand how that keeps working but I’m not going to knock it.

Not that Elizabeth didn’t deserve it sometimes. Ellie (ironically named) didn’t come completely with out assets. She’s got an evil deity sleeping in her that seems at serious odds with every one’s plans. I like how she was written, you aren’t supposed to like her and well I didn’t.

We also finally get to full story about La Dorada a powerful creature that was released by the Skiathi Archer in another story and her part was done rather masterfully as well. 

Lets be honest kiddies I am way too much of a fan to do this particular review objectively. I just can’t. I enjoyed Lothaire immensely and if I had three thumbs Kresley Cole would get them all.

But because I’m not objective I can say this. Kresley, sweetie you turned and immortal badass in to a powder puff. Lothair goes trick or treating? Seriously? Trick or treating was not part of the Endgame.

You still get three thumbs though.