Book Review: Witch in Wolf's Clothing by A. M. Belrose

Witch in Wolf's Clothing by A. M. Belrose is an urban fantasy/romance novella with comedic and action/adventure elements.

It's really good.

Full disclosure: I am a sucker for werewolf men (I rooted for Richard during Anita Blake's wavering between Jean-Claude the Vampire and Richard the Werewolf, I was team Jacob the brief time I tried to enjoy Twilight, and Blood and Chocolate remains one of my favorite young-adult fantasy novels) and this author is a friend of a friend. The mutual friend in question is the cover artist.

Initially, I bought the book because it seemed like something I would enjoy and because I wanted to support a friend's friend. I was not disappointed.

First of all, just look at that cover. Look at the hair, at the colors, at the woman. It's beautiful, it's eye-grabbing, and--best of all--it's entirely unique. I love the way the Autumn looks other-worldly with the shadows on her face and the shape of her ears, I love the lift and twist of her hair, and I absolutely love the fire wolf. It's such a beautiful representation of the story.

Here is the book's official synopsis:

"When you live in a small town long enough you learn all the rules, meet all the boys, and participate in all the bar brawls. Autumn is content enough to work at the general store in Stoneriver, leaving all firefighting and smoke inhalation to her sister. But she has to step up, as a fire witch and a fighter, when her niece comes to her with tales of a werewolf who doesn't run with the full moon. The local pack has suddenly made Autumn Von Brandt their unhappy business.

Harper O'Malley is second-in-command of the Stoneriver pack, and sick of an alpha who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. Autumn is his chance to shake up the pecking order. As a bonus, she's beautiful, powerful, and doesn't seem to mind that wet dog smell."


The synopsis does an excellent job of telling you what you need to know and, like the cover, represents the story really well.

Autumn is the star of this book and she's the sort of funny, honest person I thoroughly enjoy in real life. If you're a reader who shies away from romances because you think heroines are too fluffy or flighty, this book is for you. Autumn is intelligent, independent, and confident. I was particularly interested in her hero persona. She's not the strongest fire witch. She's not the matriarch of their family. But she is a fighter, and she is loyal, and she does do what she has to do. Granted, she puts herself in the position to do what she has to do, but in that way she reminded me a lot of Princess Leia and Scarlett O'Hara.

Harper is Autumn's love interest. He's the beta male in the local werewolf pack and, all around, just a decent guy. I really liked that this story was about two completely normal people (well, more than two, but I'll get to that in a minute) who happen to have some supernatural in their lives. He's intelligent, very sexy, and--my favorite!--cautious. I appreciated the way he went about dealing with the pack's leadership problems.

There are some very hot sex scenes in this novella. I must confess, though, that I mostly skimmed them. They were good, but I actually wasn't interested in the sex as much as I was interested in the non-sexual interactions. Friends who know me well might be reading this review with their mouths hanging open. The mystery, the conflict, and the resolution in this story are just that fascinating.

Each of the major supporting characters--the alpha male, the rogue wolf, Autumn's sister, and Autumn's niece--are strong and well-rounded enough that I didn't feel they were props. (I would actually be quite interested in any of them as main characters.) Each of them added to the story and helped move it along.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a quick, interesting read, anyone who likes paranormal romance, anyone who likes strong heroines and decent heroes, and anyone who likes werewolves and witches. This was definitely a solid four-star debut effort from a writer I hope to see more from in the future.

Book Review: The Iron Admiral: Deception by Greta van der Rol

cover image copyright Greta van der Rol

Listen carefully. Hear that? That's the sound of my professionalism flying straight out of the window. Why? Because my fangirl hat is very firmly on my head and we're going to talk about Greta van der Rol's The Iron Admiral: Deception.

First of all, you should know that this is the sequel to The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy. If you haven't read that one yet, read it first, because while just enough of the first part is explained in this one to get you through it, you need to read both to appreciate the full awesomeness that is the story of Allysha Marten and Chaka Saahren. I reviewed the first one here.

Second of all, the book has been out for a month and I only finished it in the last week because it was so good I just didn't want it to end. I did not want to click the last page and be all ~angsty~ that it was over and I had to read something else. I didn't want to read something else.

Let's discuss Allysha Marten, our heroine. A lot of sci-fi heroines--hell, a lot of romance heroines--tend to fall into the Mary Sue category. Allysha has a slightly unusual backstory, is astonishingly talented, attracts some seriously eligible bachelors, ends up in the middle of a galactic plot, and still is probably--Sorry, Chaka!--my favorite character. I love her. She is nowhere even close to a Mary Sue. Allysha has a very realistic, nearly fatal flaw: she's hopeful. I absolutely love that she just doesn't believe people are as horrible as they prove themselves to be time and time again. She trusts, and she loves, and she gives people the benefit of the doubt, but she isn't stupid about it. When she makes mistakes, she owns up to them and she fixes them. She is a complete, full, three-dimensional character and if we had gone through the whole story without even a hint of romance, I still would have read and loved these books because she is just. that. awesome.


Then we have Chaka Saahren, the Iron Admiral himself. In these modern times of feminized men and soft, yielding heroes, his unwavering, unflinching, unapologetic manliness is swoon-worthy. He is every micromillimeter a military officer. He's authoritative. He's cunning. He's respected and respectful. He knows exactly what he wants and he acts to acquire that which he desires. Chaka isn't without his softer side, which makes him the sort of man a woman can fall in love with, but his softer side is something he shows only when the timing is appropriate. In Deception, we learn more about him as Chaka, not as Brad Stone or as the Iron Admiral, and, like Allysha, he is a complete, full, three-dimensional character. He has his flaws, and one of them is so dangerous it's terrifying. Like Allysha, if we had gone through the whole story without even a hint of romance, I still would have read and loved these books because Chaka is exactly the kind of lead man I love in my sci-fi.

But we don't go through the whole story with one or the other. We, lucky readers, get them both.

Deception picks up shortly after where Conspiracy leaves off. We're thrown immediately into the story, into the conflict between Allysha and Chaka and into the mess Sean has made. The whole book is one breathless riot of action, scene after scene, with lulls only when it is necessary. (As in, when Ms. van der Rol takes pity on us and allows us to breathe.) There were times when I actually had to sop reading because I was too tense to keep going.

Readers who are easily triggered by discussion of rape, or readers disturbed by it, should be warned.

Chaka's backstory is heartbreaking and explains a lot about why he is as hard and authoritative as he is. It also explains the dangerous-and-terrifying aspect of his personality that is part of what keeps Allysha away and, I'll be honest, scared me, too. Grand Admiral Saahren is not a man to mess with. His single-minded determination to be married to Allysha is overwhelming. He loves her. That's clear in every interaction he has with her and in every conversation he has about her. Toward the end of the book, though, he proves that he is a man of duty and a believer in "what's best for the most," which I actually thought made him an even better character. It would have been too easy for the author to let Chaka slip into the "my wants and my woman before all else" mindset, but he didn't. It was perfect.

Allysha is still recovering from the hurt her husband caused and from the lies Chaka told her. She works through that as the story progresses and she does it in a completely reasonably, real way... but there were still times I wanted to shout at her to just admit to herself that she loved him already.

Things look especially dire near the end, but each conflict--the Chaka/Allysha romance, the politics, and the mess with Sean--is resolved absolutely beautifully. Each conflict is resolved in ways that could easily happen in the real world.

Basically, this whole story is handled masterfully. Common science fiction pitfalls--plot holes, unrealistic conflicts/resolutions, incomprehensible technology, one-dimensional alien species, one-dimensional support characters--are completely avoided. In fact, I would love to see an entire series of books based in this universe. I'd love to read about Butcher. (Okay, I confess that I've developed a bit of a crush on Butcher.) Or Admiral Leonov. Or Chief Werensa. I'd love to read about Xanthor. That, to me, is the mark of excellent science fiction. I care about the "minor" characters. I care about the world they inhabited. I care about the ships, the technology, the planets, the politics, the history, the culture, the customs.

Best of all, the end of the story is so perfect.

Buy this book. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and OmniLit. If you like science fiction, if you like good stories, if you like your heroines just as strong as your heroes, read this book. You won't be sorry.

Then come back here and be a fanperson with me.

Book Review: Father Figure by Jasmine Dayne

cover copyright Jasmine Dayne

Today's review: Father Figure by Jasmine Dayne, a short story featuring hardcore sex between an older man and a younger woman.

Once again, I was drawn in by the summary. Once again, I decided not to read the sample Amazon provided. Once again, I regret it.

Shortly after high school graduation, eighteen-year-old Kat returns to the home of her childhood best friend after four years away. Her best friend isn't there, but her friend's father is.

Father Figure wasn't as bad as Camping with Daddy. It's not even the worst thing I've read. The premise of the story is good and some of the details (like the fact that Kat once caught Steve masturbating) could have been really great if the story had been handled with more skill and care. My eyes skated over most of the errors (dropped letters at the ends of words, missing words) with no issue. It was well-formatted and the length was nice for a quick read.

I still had several problems with it.

First of all, Kat's relationship with Steve confused me. Early in the story, she told us that she didn't think of Steve as her "dad or anything." Okay, so why is this story called Father Figure? If it's simply older man/younger woman sex without the daddy kink, why give it that title? Is it because Steve happens to be a father? I don't understand. If Kat thinks of him "like a good buddy" then why was her first sexual fantasy about him? The back-and-forth irritated me. I don't think it's too much to ask for consistency, even in a story that is around 5,000 words long.

Characterization was the second set of problems. Kat was clearly an immature person. She bounced from innocent (being a virgin with little experience at all with boys/men, never having had alcohol) to not-so-innocent (masturbating thinking about Steve's dick, showing off her body to him, intruding on him in his bedroom, initiating sex with him). I wish the author had picked one or the other. Steve wasn't any better. At times he behaved in an appropriate fatherly fashion (comforting Kat when she vented about her mother), at times it was inappropriate (serving her beer, treating her like a child when it was "bedtime"). His transition from reluctant sex partner to demanding sex partner would have been much more satisfying and believable if there had been any consistency before that point.

The dialogue regularly made me cringe. It only accentuated the utter lack of characterization. Neither Kat nor Steve spoke in a believable way, with the exception of one line uttered by Steve shortly before the sex.

As for the sex itself, it wasn't that bad. If the rest of the story had been well-written, it would have been hot. I had a personal issue with Kat being a "virgin squirter," but I could have believed it had the context been better.

This story was heavy on the telling and the passive voice, light on the showing and the active voice. I didn't like Kat at all. I could have liked her, and I could have liked Steve, but the story wasn't written well enough.

Book Review: Camping with Daddy by Amber Stone

cover art copyright Amber Stone

Today I'm reviewing Amber Stone's Camping with Daddy, a Dark Sensations production.

Let me start off by saying that Daddy as an erotic archetype is something I find fascinating and incredibly hot. I read Pat Califia's Doing It For Daddy in college and that's what hooked me. I've had many years of experience both reading and writing this subject, so I'm not new. I'm also well aware that there are several ways to explore Daddy (role-playing, non-incestuous, incest; heterosexual, homosexual) and that the way Daddy appeals to one person isn't necessarily the way Daddy appeals to another.

With all of that said, this book is just awful.

It's a short story, which I liked. I don't mind paying $0.99 for a short story of this length. The premise isn't bad: eighteen-year-old Amber goes camping with her stepfather as a way to bond because they've been butting heads at home since he married her mother the year before. I thought it had an interesting, potentially great setup, so I didn't bother with the sample.

I should have.

It's shallow. It explores none of the emotional depth or conflict or the moral questions presented by this situation. There's no consideration for Amber's mother--Steve's wife. There's no hesitation from Amber or Steve. (Steve asking twice if she's "sure" is not hesitation. It's a standard stalling tactic in erotica and romance.) I wouldn't mind that except that there was absolutely no established pattern of anything that would lead to the two of them falling into bed together. Amber "talked" briefly of being Daddy's Little Girl, but there was no connection made between those feelings and feelings she had for Steve except for saying that Steve would never replace her dad. Amber isn't promiscuous. Thunderstorms get her hot, she's horny, and Steve is there. That's it. That's the whole reason they have sex.

And that's all it is. Amber and Steve might as well be strangers for the sex they have. If you remove the trappings of their relationship, the sex and dialogue stand fine on their own. Well, fine enough, I guess, for empty mechanical description.

I don't mind straight-up written porn. I've written it myself. There are times that it's enjoyable. This was not enjoyable. It reads like it was written by a fifteen-year-old boy who hasn't had sex yet but has seen a few really bad porn movies. Steve's penis is at least eight or nine inches long but I think it's longer, based on the description that preceded the discussion of length. They have anal sex with little foreplay and only spit as lubricant. Amber is almost a virgin, mind; as in, she has only had PIV sex once, has never had anal sex and, from what I gather, has never even tried anal play on herself. If many years of writing m/m erotica have taught me anything, it's that buttsex is a little more complicated than "spit on pucker, insert penis."

There were technical issues with the work as well. In several instances, the incorrect word--while properly spelled--was used. "Wear" instead of "where," "peak" instead of "peek," "affect" instead of "effect," "bit" instead of "by," "me" instead of "my." One mistake in a piece this length would have been easy to overlook. The consistent misuse of words coupled with the weak writing and the telling-not-showing narrative made them impossible to overlook.

The funniest moment came when I thought Steve had two penises and they both had eyes. "His cock sprang free from their confines and stared proudly at me."

I am clearly not a member of this story's target audience. That's okay. The author has a firm grasp of spelling and punctuation, it's just that she could benefit from a beta reader or an editor with a keener eye. Like I mentioned before, the premise is quite promising. I really wanted to like this story. I am willing to suspend my disbelief when it comes to hot sex... but the sex has to be hot. This story did nothing for me.

No, that's not true. It did a few things for me. First, it made me spend a lot of time going, "WTF?" Second, it made me feel scared, nervous, anxious, and insecure about my own writing. Third, it made me swear that I will be more careful about my editing from now on.

So, I guess, in the end, it was a dollar well spent.

Book Review: The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy by Greta van der Rol

Today, I finished reading Greta van der Rol's The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy and I have to admit that I am seriously displeased that I finished it because I wanted to jump straight from it into the next one (which comes out October 4th!). Yes, it is that good.

The quick version: If you're a Star Wars/Star Trek/Battlestar Gallactica/science-fiction fan in general, this book is for you. If you've ever read a sci-fi book and thought, "Man, I really wish the Hero and the Heroine would get it on," this book is for you. If you like really good stories with lots of danger, twists, action, and politics, this book is for you.

I. Loved. It. 

I loved Allysha, who is smart and strong and capable and has the very believable flaw of falling for shady men. I loved her mad computer skills and her humanity and her compassion and her stubbornness and her practicality. I loved her special skills (I'm not giving it away, but it is super cool) and I loved her morality. 

I loved Saahren. I loved him in his Brad Stone guise and I loved him as an Admiral. He's hot. He's smart. He's practical. He's thoughtful and he's good at thinking on his feet. He's a bit of a caveman--he has decided that Allysha will be his wife and he can get bossy at times--but it totally works for him. I may or may not have a huge just a wee bit of a crush on him and want to see him naked. 

I loved the plot. I loved all the supporting characters--Allysha's husband, his problems, the gangsters. I loved the ptorix. Okay, I really loved the ptorix. The anthropologist in me wants an entire book on ptorix culture, art, society, history, and myth. I am absolutely fascinated by them. I loved the politics and the political tension. In my opinion, good sci-fi requires good political tension. Ms. van der Rol delivers. 

The only thing about the book that I didn't like is that it cuts off right when things are picking up again! I understand that the author made that choice deliberately, but it still gave me the same feeling I had at the end of A Tale of Two Cities the first time I read it. (Namely, "Where is the rest?!"). But it's okay, because the next book comes out in just a few days. 

I guess I can survive until then. 

If you're looking for some good science fiction, go get this book. It's available at Amazon as an ebook and as a print book. It's at Smashwords. It's at OmniLit. And it's at B&N for the NOOK and paperback.

Book Review: Anathema (Cloud Prophet Trilogy: Book One) by Megg Jensen

Anathema by Megg Jensen is a prime example of what a good book cover can do for your sales. I bought this book purely on impulse because I liked the cover. It didn't matter to me (because it didn't occur to me, the cover really did that) that I have enjoyed only a handful of YA fantasy novels and almost all of them were written by Madeleine L'Engle. I wanted to read this book.

It wasn't bad. I was really interested in the Malborn/Serenian struggle, and I kind of hope that she has plans to write the initial Malborn takeover, because I'd really like to read that. Reychel, the main character, was quite compelling; I just do not like her name at all. (In all fairness, I just came off of several months examining baby names, so "unique" spellings make me cringe. It's a personal issue, not a book issue. Her name actually makes sense in light of some revelations at the end.) She's a good girl with a good heart. Her "gift" is pretty awesome, and her ignorance was, I thought, sensible. I feel like Ms. Jensen wrote a pretty solid character. Reychel made sense to me. The way she thought and felt about her position, the way she went about learning new things, and her transformation in the end seemed plausible.

There were so many twists at the end I felt like my head was spinning, but it was a good kind of spinning. It made me curious about the second book, which I think is the point of a well-done first book ending. The little love triangle even appealed to my inner teen girl.

I think my favorite thing, though, was the villain. I'm not going to give it away, but I really, really liked that particular twist.

If you're the sort of person who reads and likes young adult fantasy, this book is worth checking out. I'm really glad I read it.