Personal Demons by James Buchanan

November 8, 2009Kassa Leave a comment

Blurb:
Hunting a notorious hit man, FBI Agent Chase Nozick and LAPD Det. Enrique Rios Ocha delve into the inner worlds of Santeria, Voodoo and Palo Mayumbe. A missing informant, her murdered brother and a ghost from Chase’s past send them on a hunt through mystics and psychic surgeons to find their witness before it’s too late. Can he rely on leads from a child possessed by Orishas? Do cards hold stronger clues than blood? Chase must conquer his own personal demons to bring the killer of his partner to justice and find the strength to take a chance on Enrique.

Got hung up on religion but still good…

Summer Gardener by Jan Irving

November 6, 2009Kassa Leave a comment

Summer Gardener by Jan Irving

Blurb:
Alejandro Moreno drops out of college and puts aside his dream of a degree in landscape design to take care of his mother and younger brother. Then he gets the chance to restore a strange and unpopular patch of land with an uncanny inhabitant—Fane, a prickly fairy.

At first, Alejo isn’t thrilled to share the space with the annoying fae, but as they work together on the neglected garden, both men discover they have two things in common: a love for working with the natural world and loneliness. But how can Alejo handle feelings for not just another man, but one who isn’t human at all?

Review:

Although I disliked Irving’s previous offering, The Janitor, I wanted to give the author another try. Unfortunately after reading the train wreck that is Summer Gardener, Irving’s writing is definitely not for me. There are numerous readers who have praised her work so perhaps others will enjoy her books more than I did. This particular offering is poorly written with a lazy way of showing emphasis through random italicized words in combination with a loose plot and bad characterization. There are glimpses of humor that shine in the mess of this paranormal story but the writing, prose, and characters definitely overwhelmed the few humorous touches.

The plot is loosely based on a hispanic man who drops out of school while pursuing his master’s degree to take care of his ailing mother and younger brother. To do so, he takes a job tending one of the city’s numerous gardens and encounters a rather annoying and obstinate fairy. Although this fairy is only nine inches tall, the two become so close that sexual sparks fly. When the moon is full and fairy magic high, the opportunity to consummate their relationship becomes a reality. Unfortunately human responsibilities may force the two new lovers apart.

There is something inherently humorous about a nine inch obnoxious naked fairy that is determined to run the garden his way in spite of what any pesky, annoying human thinks. Unfortunately the gardener, Alejo, is a Gary Stu character. He is a virgin with a vow of chastity for reasons never explained, who gave up his education to take care of his family while working low wage paying jobs. He saves small animals and tailless snakes while being humble about his attractive good looks and self effacing to his many great qualities. He sacrifices his own happiness to help his family, which causes much angst and emotional depression, and ultimately needs a band of fairies to help him keep his job because Alejo is too wrapped up in his personal angst to figure out a solution to his problems. Alejo is also not gay and is only attracted to the fairy because of the pheromones Fane produces. Alejo can’t quite accept that he’s having gay fairy sex once a month, taking every opportunity to “break up” with Fane.

Despite his education, Alejo speaks in a mixture of bad Spanish and broken English. Considering the education he was working towards, the dialogue is deplorable and the characterization is inconsistent. Here are just a few examples:

“I’m not played out. And I’m not a lad. I’m twenty-three, Soy majo—I’m hot, yes? And gardening is hard work. ”

“You are very nicely, ah, formed, Fane. Paz, eh? We make peace now.”

The writing does not help the story at all from poor descriptions to pronoun confusion and an overabundance of italics. The story has a lazy way of using emphasis, italicizing various words instead of showing through words and actions. There are at least 75 random italicized words to show emphasis such as:

“But you seem to like your job.”

He stood when he was able, that scent still teasing him,

But Fane liked to nick things and hadn’t really taken Alejo’s wallet.

Alejo smelled as good to Fane as another fairy would!

“I like it, and who cares what she thought?

When Fane turned over on his stomach and rubbed himself in Alejo’s hair

He felt a little disappointment but really, it was time he went home,

I can’t help it.

And I’ve been really horny lately.

These are just a handful of examples, all early on in the book. This tendency to use italics is repeated with various internal dialogue phrases as well. However, the internal dialogue alternates between third person and first person without any consistency or reason. The story is told in alternating third person point of view between Fane and Alejo, but the changes to point of view in the internal, italicized dialogue are seemingly random.

Whether I want one or not.

He wanted to see Alejo naked.

I’ll keep you safe.

He hated going home lately, leaving Fane.

The prose tends to be repetitive with words such as wee and Joder! used too many times. This keeps the descriptive quality of the story low and uninteresting. There is a lack of any depth to the descriptions and little vitality and energy. Not to mention the weird and unexplained pseudo bondage fantasy Alejo has out of the blue which leads to Fane calling him “boy” and “pet.” Where this came from is a mystery and although the idea of using floss as bondage while on Barbie’s dream bed for two fairies is humorous, the scene is cringe inducing. Here’s a taste:

Alejo lifted up to meet the club inside him, his wings folded behind him, somehow the sensations that lived in his nipples, balls, and cock also translating pleasurably there since his fairy body seemed more sensual than his regular one.

Fane stroked his cock like a friendly pet. And that easily, lifted Alejo to climax again. “Boy, my boy,” he murmured as Alejo spilled, hands balled above his head, neck corded, feeling Fane’s cool release oddly comforting inside him.

Ultimately the resolution takes place off page as Fane, the fairy, somehow convinces a city garden board to allow Alejo to keep his job in the face of the evil manager. There is also no strong happy ending, a vague happy for now with Fane and Alejo together but Alejo still barely admits he has a boyfriend, let alone a fairy boyfriend.

I wanted to like this story because the touches of humor really stand out rather well, such as Fane’s comment about his ex-boyfriend being stuffy and reformed plant rights’ activist. Unfortunately the poor writing, bad characterization, and badly executed plot just failed on every level, so much that even those moments of humor couldn’t save this book. If you’re a fan of this author, perhaps you’ll enjoy this offering but there are much better stories for your money.

Ps. When I was confirming with the Cocktease about the Mary Sue/Gary Stu moniker, they helpfully offered this commentary about the cover. “omg, is that the Dreamspinner one with the hideous cover that looks like the guy’s groin is melting in a pot of acid? frothy acid?”

Indeed it is.

The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley

November 6, 2009Kassa Leave a comment

The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley

Blurb:
Detective Roger Corso is open about his sexual orientation. He’s less forthcoming about his leather lifestyle. There’s only so much his coworkers can take. He thinks he’s doing a pretty good job of keeping it covert, but then something happen that changes his mind.

Someone delivers an elegantly clothed corpse to his home. His couch to be precise. And that corpse is carrying a leather flogger. Roger’s taking that personally.

Additional distraction comes in the form of the victim’s younger brother Sean. He’s annoying. Knows something about the murder he’s not telling. Wants something from Roger ~ and is everything Roger ever wanted. But before he can make Sean his, he’s going to have to solve the mystery of the elegant corpse.

simply bliss…

Poll Results

November 5, 2009Kassa 5 Comments

Poll Results!

no splooging dick but i did include a cookie

Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price

November 4, 2009Kassa Leave a comment

Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price

Blurb:

Victor Bayne’s job as a PsyCop involves tracking down dead people and getting them to spill their guts about their final moments. It’s never been fun, per se. But it’s not usually this annoying.

Vic has just moved in with his boyfriend Jacob, he can’t figure out where anything’s packed, and his co-worker is pressuring him to have a housewarming party.

Can’t a guy catch a break?

On a more sinister note, Vic discovers there’s absolutely no trace of him online. No trace of anyone else who trained at "Camp Hell," either.

Everyone Vic knows has signed a mysterious set of papers to ensure his "privacy." The contracts are so confidential that even Vic has never heard of them. But Jacob might have.

What other secrets has Jacob been keeping?

Review:

The fourth book in the series harkens back to the style of the first and creates addictive dialogue, entertaining prose, and a quick pace to the story that is as engaging as the first in the series. Although the last two books had some plot problems – weak and unfocused – this particular offering combines Vic’s work with Jacob’s and allows the focus to tighten with great results. The focus on Vic and Jacob’s relationship alongside a case they are both working on allows both the police/ghost case to shine while looking deeper at their relationship. For fans of the series, you won’t want to miss this installment but those new to the series should start at the beginning. Readers can read this as a stand alone, enough information is reiterated so readers won’t be lost, but the depth and context are greater in the series.

Here Vic and Jacob have moved in together but before they can unpack Jacob is called in on a sex crime at a retirement home but with a twist that may need Vic’s special talents. In the meantime, Vic is left wandering around their home with barely any idea of how to unpack or what to do with himself. This leads to trouble of course and Vic realizes that everyone around him is “in” on the secret to keep him a mystery and hidden. Between the pill popping, the investigation into Vic’s online presence (or lack thereof), and Jacob’s new mystery case, the two are in over their heads in ghosts, secrets, problems, and potential pitfalls.

The police case in this particular offering is much tighter and more interesting than the past two books. Jacob’s rape case in the retirement home leads to some paranormal action and thus Vic and a surprise cameo of Lisa must work with Jacob and Carolyn to find some answers. The fact that the police case allows all four to work together helps keep a tight focus and quick pace to the story without wandering off in any one direction. The problems and issues Jacob and Vic face from jealousy to lies to uncomfortable conversations are not a separate tangent as in the other books but tightly woven into the main police case. Whereas in the past the various cases Vic worked on felt inconsequential and forgettable, the force of Jacob’s dynamic personality combined with the chemistry between Jacob and Vic to give a more interesting and riveting narrative. This keeps the pace consistent from scene to scene without needing too many side trips.

The relationship between Vic and Jacob also gains more depth as previously I’d worried that Jacob seems to only be with Vic because of his psychic abilities. Clearly this is part of Vic’s appeal for Jacob but considering the absolute mess Vic is, there has to be an appeal somewhere besides good sex so I’m not as uncomfortable with the theme as in previous books. Instead the mistakes and flaws Jacob exposes are refreshing and humanizing, showing a man with more texture and interest than the perfection Vic sees. Vic is slowly gaining insight into his talent and finally the need for control – other than pharmaceutical based – is sinking into his head.

The writing is good with few awkward pauses and information dumps. There is enough reiterated information that a new reader won’t be lost and old readers can catch up but less jarring commentary. Instead the dialogue and prose keep the story moving quickly and easily with Vic’s engaging voice and first person narration. The pill popping, ghost hunting, and relationship challenges make for a thoroughly entertaining story and the mixture of all of those into one tight, cohesive plot makes this one of the best in the series. Be sure to pick up this series if you haven’t, it’s quick and composed entirely of novellas so each fast story is a delight.

Get it HERE!

The One!

November 3, 2009Kassa Leave a comment

If you could only buy from ONE publisher out of the current group of e-publishers, which would you choose?

Feel free to say why as well, or not! And if your preferred publisher isn’t listed add that too! Here’s elisa’s comprehensive list of publishers: LIST!

Pricing cont’d – Loose Id

November 2, 2009Kassa 11 Comments

Next up on the publisher scrutiny is the ever popular Loose Id. Claiming to be a leading publisher in erotic romance while publishing 16 to 24 new titles a month. In my experience they have a bevy of good authors but their editing is crap (common lament in e-publishing) and more and more their stories focus on sex and less story. In fact recent stories have been almost all sex and no story because Loose Id clearly feels this is what readers want. Lots of splooging dick = deep emotional connection. I’d like to say, um, since when? But how about price for this publisher.

You’ll find Loose’s guidelines for length under Submissions and not the first place a reader would go to for information. They specify the following:

Length
20,000-120,000 words. Flings of less than 20,000 words and shorter stories are by invitation only to authors currently publishing with us. Stories of 55,000 – 70,000 words will receive an advance and be automatically considered for print.

Well ok that’s pretty broad if you ask me so let’s attempt to break it down into the categories they use but don’t list anywhere. There are a number of different categories and it’s hard to find any kind of consistency on their website. Not to mention Loose Id’s “search function” is a complete waste. Don’t bother since when I search for the exact title of a book, I get 245 responses. Yea. Useless.

They offer 772 books currently on their website with no word counts listed. FW lists 634 tiles while ARe lists 616. Within that 772, there are 261 listed under Gay, Lesbian, & Transgendered. I went through and counted for m/m specifically and there are 251 titles that are m/m or m/m/m. So that accounts for ~30% of the titles. I’m pretty surprised there is talk about Loose Id being primarily m/m.

Now for the categories:

Novella $3.99, $4.99

Novel $5.99, $6.99, $7.99

Anthology (Novel) $6.99

Novel Plus $7.99

Short Stories

Fling $3.49, $3.99

Rites of Spring $1.99

8 RoS – 6 for $1.99, 1 for $0.99, 1 for $1.25

Stocking Stuffer $1.99, $2.25, $3.99

6 SS – 4 for $1.99, 1 for $2.25, 1 for $3.99

Holiday Kisses $1.99, $2.49

6 HK — 5 for $2.49, 1 for $1.99

So doing a cursory look there is a wide range of prices – even within the same category. This doesn’t bode well but how can you tell a $5.99 novel from a $7.99 novel and that from a $7.99 novel plus?! And why is a Holiday kiss for $1.99 but also $2.49?

Lets look further:

Now when looking at available titles for word counts from FW and ARe, I found very similar word counts on both sites for Loose Id. I’ve included both whenever possible so you can feel the same confidence. I’ve also attempted to stay to the m/m titles ONLY, but I did find some interesting trends within the m/f titles.

So while Loose Id doesn’t explain what it defines as a $5.99 novel versus a $7.99 extended novel, logic dictates this is based on word count. So upon very close examination I found the following breakdown:

Novels

70k words + books are either $6.99 or $7.99 novels/novel plus. I can find NO CONSISTENT DIFFERENCE between a $6.99 novel and a $7.99 novel and a $7.99 novel plus.

Loose lists 38 Novels/Novels plus for $7.99 and 57 Novels for $6.99.

No matter where you buy from the price is consistent, you’ll pay the same price on the Loose Id website as you will at ARe or FW. But why are you paying more for the book is apparently arbitrary.

Take a look:

$7.99 Loose Novel / 220,209 for $7.99 ARe / 217,595 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-A_Red_Tainted_Silence-323.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-aredtaintedsilence-11908-149.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b75775/?si=0

$7.99 Loose Novel / 109,871 for $6.99 ARE/ 108,801 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Laying_a_Ghost_1__Laying_a_Ghost-86.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b64026/Laying-a-Ghost-/Jane-Davitt/?si=0

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ghost1layingaghost-7024-144.html

$7.99 Loose Novel PLUS / 108,546 for $7.99 ARe / 108,150 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Hawkins_Ranch__Knowing_Caleb-789.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b77725/Knowing-Caleb/Cameron-Dane/?si=0

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-knowingcaleb-12694-144.html

$7.99 Loose Novel PLUS / 100,465 for $7.99 ARe /100,291 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Dolphin_Dreams-373.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dolphindreams-7199-144.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b64982/Dolphin-Dreams/Jules-Jones/?si=0

$7.99 Loose Novel PLUS / 82,688 for $7.99 ARe / 82,801 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Drawn_Together-915.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-drawntogether-16402-144.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b87766/Drawn-Together/ZA-Maxfield/?si=0

Now there might be a different classification but the books are all $7.99 so the wording may not matter so much. To me it’s confusing and why would you have such a designation when it’s arbitrary? But at least the price is consistent.. right?

Well anything under 85k starts to bounce between $6.99 and $7.99 with no consistency.

$6.99 Loose Novel /82,417 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Tainted_Love-279.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b84575/Tainted-Love/Louisa-Trent/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel / 82,354 for $6.99 ARe / 81,780 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Courtesan-36.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-courtesan-14306-147.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b78415/Courtesan/Louisa-Trent/?si=0

$7.99 Loose Novel / 82,015 for $7.99 ARe / 80,929 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Laying_a_Ghost_2__Giving_Up_the_Ghost-419.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ghost2givinguptheghost-8582-144.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b67184/Giving-Up-the-Ghost-/Jane-Davitt/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel/ 74,339 for $6.99 ARe / 74,324 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-The_Tin_Star-184.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thetinstar-13178-144.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b77750/The-Tin-Star/J-L-Langley/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel/ 74,206 for $6.99 ARe / 74,114 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-The_Swithin_Chronicles_1__Uly_s_Comet-291.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theswithinchronicles1ulyscomet-10884-144.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b72741/Ulys-Comet-/Sharon-Maria-Bidwell/?si=0

$7.99 Loose Novel Plus / 73,983 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Immortality_is_the_Suck-1000.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b96811/Immortality-is-the-Suck/AM-Riley/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel / 70,594 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Jock_Dorm_1__Dar_and_Gregg-318.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b52422/Dar-and-Gregg-/Bobby-Michaels/?si=0

$7.99 Loose Novel / 70,100 for $7.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Jock_Dorm_2__Drew_and_Vince-412.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b52423/Drew-and-Vince-/Bobby-Michaels/?si=0

So really you’re paying up to $1 for the same length of a book. There is no consistency or apparent reason for the difference in price as it jumps up and down between $6.99 and $7.99.

Now between 50k and 70k, the novels go to $6.99. The MAJORITY of books are $6.99 but there are several books for $5.99 with, again, no discernable reason for the reduction. It’s not a discount. It’s not based on word count, author, or cover artist. It seems completely random.

$6.99 Loose Novel / 61753 for $5.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Lord_and_Master-406.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b52418/Lord-and-Master/Jules-Jones/?si=0

$5.99 Loose Novel / 57,431 for $5.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Romentics__Nick_of_Time-666.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b76599/Nick-of-Time-/Scott-and-Scott/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel / 57280 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-St__Nacho_s-833.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b83816/St-Nachos/ZA-Maxfield/?si=0

$5.99 Loose Novel / 56374 for $5.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Spindrift-138.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b78017/Spindrift/Jules-Jones/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel / 55573 for $6.99 ARe / 55621 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Temptations__Inc_-588.aspx

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-temptationsinc-9907-145.html

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b70447/Temptation-Inc/Willa-Okati/?si=0

$5.99 Loose Novel / 53088 for $5.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Forgotten_Song-61.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b74336/Forgotten-Song/Ally-Blue/?si=0

$6.99 Loose Novel / 53029 for $6.99 FW

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Dreaming_of_Dragons-921.aspx

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b92122/Dreaming-of-Dragons/T-A-Chase/?si=0

So again, you could be paying $1 more for the same word count or less! There seems to be no consistent pricing between this 50k-70k word count area. That’s frustrating and costly!

Now 38k to 50k books are all $5.99 priced novels. There are a few outliers but not enough to be statistically significant and form a pattern – unlike the above which are just a smattering of examples in a larger trend. At least here there is some consistency.

Now between 20k to 38k word counts though there is the bouncing from $4.99 novella to $5.99 novel – even a few $3.99. I haven’t included the links here because this post is getting epic but I have them and can provide links if anyone wants. I listed the book name instead. Remember the prices are the same no matter where you shop.

$4.99 Novella – Jet Mykles’ Heaven Sent 2 Purgatory

37366 ARe / 37413 FW

$5.99 Novel – Willa Okati’s Incubus Call

36285 ARe / 36229 FW

$4.99 Novella – Josh Lanyon’s The Dark Horse

36224 ARe / 35958 FW

$5.99 Novel – Blue Ruin 1: Some Kind of Stranger by Katrina Strauss

35656 ARe / 35676 for $5.99

$4.99 Novella – Don’t Look Back by Josh Lanyon

34,688 ARe / 34795 FW

$3.99 Novella – The Dragon’s Tongue by Willa Okati

28668 ARe / 28523 FW

$4.99 Novella – Bound by Deception by Ava March

24,231 ARe / 24330 FW

$3.99 Novella – Jet Mykles’ Tech Support

20525 ARe / 20655 FW

$4.99 Novella – Amanda Young’s Reckless Behavior

20008 ARe/ 20309 FW

Between 8k -20k word counts the books marked Novellas are all $3.99.

We haven’t even gotten into short stories yet either. Loose Id doesn’t upload their short stories in the form of Flings, Holiday Kisses, Rites of Spring, Stocking Stuffers and so on. Here there is absolutely NO consistency in pricing. Within each category there are offerings anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99. There are flings side by side that are $3.99 with a $0.99 Fling!

Now since there are no word counts listed I went through the various flings I owned. This was difficult because I have no folder called Loose Id Fling ebooks. So I had to go through a bunch. Ugh. Anyway, let me summarize that work to say that of the ones I checked, the average word count was 3400.

So you still here? Awake? Interested?

Here is the breakdown for the cost within the publisher:

So there clearly isn’t a lot of consistency within pricing but how does it compare to other publishers?

This graph is getting pretty busy! I’ll soon have to figure out something out but for now look at the blue. While Loose ID isn’t consistent – it’s very interesting. At lower word counts, it’s one of the most expensive, only to be elipsed by the absolute mess of pricing over at loveyoudivine (LYD). But once it gets into novella range, Loose Id is actually one of the cheapest! Considering it’s giving TQ a run for the money with Loose Id’s MUCH MUCH MUCH better cover art than the child’s crayon pictures of TQ – Loose Id is a better bang for you buck Novella length.

However, when you compare more closely at the novel range, the trend is different. Loose Id becomes one of the most expensive, if not THE most expensive in the novel range of publisher. Part of this is due to the high level of inconsistency among their pricing, and you can see the Loose Id Line (blue) jumps up and down quite a bit.

Bottom line

This is a fascinating pricing trend. At the fling level, Loose Id is all over the map pricing wise. However even with the inconsistent pricing of $3.99 to $4.99, your novella prices are some of the cheapest (ie. 28k for $3.99) and some of the most expensive ($3.99 for 8k words). The wide disparity makes it difficult for you as a consumer to know if you’re getting a good deal.

Furthermore you could easily be paying $1 (or more) for a shorter book. Since no one is really going to be that vigilant – not even me and I’ve done all this work – I find it very off putting that Loose Id is so loose with their pricing. I can find no consistent and apparent reason for the wide variety in pricing and categories. Not to mention you could be paying the most of any publisher for some of the upper range and rather sketchy “novel plus” category.

Is Loose Id worth your money?

Here is the real question and it’s so subjective. I doubt my analysis will hurt Loose Id any but anyone who’s bothered to read it should be aware that you may have better bang for your buck and you should look for the cheaper books. If it’s at the bottom of the price range, you’re probably safe to buy. The upper price range and you should KNOW you’re likely paying more. But what can you do? You can’t get it cheaper elsewhere if you want it and they must tread on that.

What this has done for me is that I didn’t go back and buy the 30 or so books I had wanted when doing this. They stood out and I immediately coveted, yet knowing this pricing problem I won’t do that. If it had ended up as Loose Id is consistent and on par with publishers me and the 30 books would have been a match. Very sad.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts

Love Means….No Shame by Andrew Grey

November 1, 2009Kassa Leave a comment

Love Means….No Shame by Andrew Grey

Blurb:

Geoff is in the city, living the gay life to the hilt, when his father’s death convinces him to return to the family farm. Discovering a young Amish man asleep in his barn, Geoff learns that Eli is spending a year away from the community before accepting baptism into the church. Despite their mutual attraction, Geoff is determined not to become involved with him, but Eli has discovered that Geoff shares his feelings and begins to court him, neatly capturing first Geoff’s attention and then his heart. Their budding relationship is threatened by closed-minded, gossipy relatives and the society at large, a whole new world to Eli, and he must decide whether to return to the community, his family, and the world and future he knows or to stay with Geoff and have faith in the power of love.

Review:

Parts of this book are interesting with a deep emotional connection but unfortunately the very uneven pacing drags the action and length of the book out. Also most of the conflict is resolved and told off page so the reader is unable to experience some of the problems and emotions as the characters do. Mostly this is a sweet, easy romance that throws a little texture in by way of bigoted attitudes but really those attitudes impact very little in the main relationship. The writing is average with some painful editing mistakes and awkward prose choices, but the strong relationship may draw some readers in enough to ignore those problems.

Geoff returns to his family home after his father dies from cancer. Geoff must now run the farm and in doing so, he discovers a local Amish man sleeping in the barn. The young man, Eli, is on a year away from his community and accepts Geoff’s offer to work and live at the farm. Eli and Geoff have a strong attraction that neither fights too hard but soon Eli realizes his actions may have deep ramifications on his Amish family.

The story is decent enough but there is very little actual action. Geoff returns to the farm and he and Eli date rather quickly. They’re together for a short time before Eli realizes that his Amish family may be affected by his actions and chooses to return to the community. Once there, though, Eli is unhappy and does return to Geoff. Unfortunately the story is told in third person POV from Geoff’s perspective which greatly limits the potential of the book. What motivates Eli, how he deals with the new culture, community, his sexuality, and the problems inherent against his upbringing is never brought into the story at all. Instead Eli is very easy going, loving, and accepting of everything. His reasons for returning to Geoff and how he can reconcile the potential problems to his family – the very reason he left in the first place – is never resolved. Instead there is a vague statement that Eli will deal with that if it happens. Considering the concerns were enough to leave the love of his life, Geoff, this weak rationalization felt ineffectual and unsatisfying.

Furthermore, the emotional and intense scenes seemed to be brushed over quickly while day to day activities are drawn out almost to the point of boring. The prose is made up of short, quick sentences lacking description but stating action. Such as “Geoff walked to the door. He looked outside.” This is punctuated with often awkward prose and dialogue which contradicts with word choices.

There are also several conflicts brought up that aren’t resolved such as the aunt’s damaging gossip. This is mentioned several times and even alluded to the reason that Geoff, Raine, and Eli are attacked in town yet other than Geoff’s decision to cut the aunt out of his life, no action is taken or mentioned. Clearly if this gossip is enough to provoke violence and potentially affect Geoff’s farm, then something else must be done. However, nothing is mentioned and if action occurs it is off page. Other examples such as this create the feel of unimportant details added in for texture and mild conflict. The relationship between Eli and Geoff is mostly conflict free and easy as they slowly and gradually explore the physical side of their relationship while going about their lives. There is the small problem of Eli leaving, which while an emotional scene, is muted by the lack of intensity and the easy, off page resolution.

Overall I was mostly bored reading this story and felt the writing didn’t help much unfortunately. The pacing is inconsistent with extended scenes of mundane detail and often barely skimming by any emotional tension. The ending, while sweet, is completely unsatisfying with an off page resolution and no additional insight into the characters choices and thoughts. The majority of any action is told rather than shown and thus the reader is presented with a story that holds no connection and no energy. As a sweet, bland romance, perhaps this will appeal to some fans but the lack of tight writing and interesting dialogue is enough to recommend better choices.

Get it HERE!

Sunday

November 1, 2009Kassa 2 Comments

Hi everyone!

Happy Sunday, I hope you’re not all suffering from Halloween hangovers. Thank you everyone for participating in the week of give aways. I broke my own record numbers on a few days and already I heard from readers and authors that those who won went back and bought several other backlist books. So I hope everyone enjoys their books and buys more from the authors. Backlists contain gems too!

For mystery lovers I’m going to recommend Murder on Camac by Joseph DeMarco. My review comes out at Rainbow Reviews next week but it’s a great story and definitely worth reading. My only sadness was there are no more! Great PI characters should be series.

Tomorrow is my Loose Id Analysis and as I’ve said it’s fascinating! I’ve spent a lot of time on this and am excited to add it to the list. Then I need a new target – any suggestions? There are numerous publishers I still haven’t gotten to (Phaze, Changeling, Amber(!), MLR, Total-E-Bound, Liquid Silver, Cobblestone, Aspen Mountain, and others) so any preferences or suggestions?

If any of the winners end up posting reviews of their books (small or large) please let me know! I’d love to forward any feedback to the authors and even twitter-sized reviews are welcome. Can’t beat 140 letter review.

Wankfests – daily occurance

October 31, 2009Kassa 6 Comments

With the wankfests going around on the blogs (and well they always go around, new week different wank), it’s important to remember that reviewers are just readers with opinions. Hopefully articulate and well-written opinions but in the end no reviewer should ever influence a writer on the “correct” way to write anything.

Just as there are those readers that crave historically accurate books, there are an equal number that won’t care if the Mr. Darcy character pulls out a cell phone to call his love interest in the historical setting. This can be applied to every single genre, theme, and content. I can – and do – point out books I think are bad for various reasons but I guarantee you every book I hate, there are several who LOVE that book to it’s very core.

When going over the current wankfests about “right” way to write BDSM, I think this quote from TeddyPig says it all (hope it’s ok to repost):

I think it’s OK to say “that is not my personal kink” but I don’t run around lecturing people on the “proper way” to write BDSM stories. I might discuss reasons for my likes and dislikes and provide other fact based sources for research but that is different.

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Author: Kassa

Personal Demons by James Buchanan

Summer Gardener by Jan Irving

The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley

Poll Results

Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price

The One!

Pricing cont’d – Loose Id

Love Means….No Shame by Andrew Grey

Sunday

Wankfests – daily occurance