Review: In the Arms of the Dark Elf by Willow Nonea Rae

Three Stars

As a long-time fan of Drizzt Do'Urden and all of the R.A. Salvatore books, I was drawn to the concept of the dark elf romance, but this novel needs a little work. I found it hard to keep reading and I had to keep putting it down. It just didn't draw me in and make me care about the characters.

I do editing professionally so it's work for me to go into detail, just suffice it to say that it's probably a level three edit at the very least. (With 1 being proofreading and 4 being developmental editing). I don't want to discourage this writer; the story has great potential, and I'd love to see her develop it.

Stripping

It seems that there are times in life when "things" are stripped away.  I haven't lost anyone in my family to death, thank God -- I mention this because one of my posts on another blog was about my father having a diabetic seizure, and he's fine now -- I've just lost a little thing in my life when it comes to my writing and reviewing routine.  I haven't been reading new novels on my Kindle, because it's been destroyed.

Very strange, how it happened.  I knew I saw it on the table last, and I thought for several days that I had lost it.  So I pulled a little family joke on my roommate.  I said, "Whenever someone loses something in my family, we know the sure way to find it again is to accuse someone of stealing it.  So ...  Why in the world did you steal my Kindle, Danny?"

We both laughed, and sure enough it worked, but in a weird way.  The next day, she walked out the door and found my Kindle outside on the concrete.

Someone actually HAD stolen it.  It was beaten up and frozen, so they returned it, useless.  How nice.

So, although I CAN read the novels I download on my computer, it's really just not as comfortable, so I just haven't been doing it.  My reviewer ranking is suffering, although once I quit reviewing for several months and my ranking went UP several thousand ranks.  Who knew?

I didn't want this post to be too depressing, but since it's about accepting loss, even though I was only talking about material loss, which is trivial, I have to add a prayer for a friend who made her transition last week.  Yes, I didn't lose a family member, but I did say goodbye to a sister in Christ. Rest In Peace, Patty.  You lived like the little sign on the bar wall that goes something like this: "Life isn't about making it to the grave in a nice, well-kept, shiny body. It's about skidding in sideways, totally worn-out, whooping, "Yeah!  What a ride!"

And for those of you out there who are disappointed that this blog isn't actually about doing strip-tease, well, here, I'll give you a little feather boa tickle.  Surprise!  I used to be a stripper in my 20's -- you missed it!  It was a classy place, kind of like the good place in "Flashdance," and I didn't do sleaze.  It actually had some spiritual value for me.

But no more, that part of my life has long since been stripped away, and the Spirit remains.  I'm looking forward to the next surprise Life has in store, and remembering fondly friends who have left us behind, to sneak behind the veil ...

Review: Walker by Michael Langlois

I enjoyed this novel very much! The concept was intriguing from the very beginning, the characters unique and interesting, the world settings nicely detailed. This writer knows how to grab his reader by the lapels from the first page, too!

The main character is a likeable man, wonderfully blunt, with hard-core integrity. He loves his mother! I love this man. We need more men like this in real life.

One thing I'd like to have seen a little more of was a bit more romance. I know it's a science fiction novel, but I've seen other authors go there, so why not? I think there was room for it, and there seems to be some set up for it. Maybe in the next book?

No spoilers, but some of the scenes that set up the danger that he was facing were so intense I felt them in my gut. Ugh. I liked that the author did come to a resolution, yet still left room for a series with this character.
Good story! I want to see more from this author.

I gave it four stars.

Review: A Stranger's Touch

I stuck this in my post about my son, but the preview looked kind of odd.  Here I am talking about my son visiting and this sexy cover art pops up in the post, titled "A Stranger's Touch."  Yeah.  Too weird.

So here's the link to my Goodreads review, and to Amazon.



A Stranger's Touch by Roxy Boroughs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






View all my reviews

Review: Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt

This book was recommended by a friend who is starting a local book club with me.  I read it in hardback, unlike most of the books I read lately, on my Kindle.

My impression of it was definitely thrown off by the cover and the name.  My edition is the old cover, and I thought it might be a story about a Puritan-like community.  I was far from the mark.

It does have a somewhat slow start as it builds the weight of this world, the poverty and despair of the people who so desperately need a flicker of hope.  I never would have guessed that hope would come in the form it did.  The plot builds slowly like a steady drumbeat until the actions of the main character are inexorably set by her character and heart for the people, a quiet, unconditional love that sacrifices without recognition or return. 

The author’s voice is strong and memorable.  One phrase sticks out in my memory, so concise yet holding so much, describing Burl. “He was nineteen, and his heart, which broke for Rose, seemed to be healing. Burl could never have spoken for Rose.”  Just that simple, “his heart, which broke for Rose,” spoke volumes that other writers might struggle for pages to say as well.

In spite of this captivating start in her description of Burl, he seemed to fade into the background.  That was appropriate for his quiet, strong character, I suppose.  Still, I would have thought that the main character, Gwyn, would have been a little more aware of him.  I caught the one clue, the standard that she set for herself that she apparently missed, but because she missed it, I actually dropped that line of thought as an option.  I was not aware that I was reading a young adult’s novel, and I made some assumptions about her from that point that probably would not occur in this imprint.  I can’t be more specific without dropping spoilers.  The ending was a definite surprise.

I caught a couple of typos, “too” for “to,” a dropped letter or two, disappointing in a hardback from an imprint of Simon & Schuster, but too minor to distract from the story.

I really enjoyed this story, though my own writing leans to a faster style and break-from-the-gate beginnings.  Well written and engaging, once you get past that slow start.  And I definitely recommend you get past that!

Offering a link here, but this is not the same cover I have with my older version.

Raunchy Romp Review

I just posted this review on Amazon for



Love this Raunchy Romp with the Big Black Cat!

This was a lot of fun to read from start to finish! There were a couple of minor errors that distracted from the story that should have been caught by an editor, which is why I couldn't give it a 5 star, but I really enjoyed it otherwise.

I love an author that can make me laugh out loud! She did. From the first mention of boyfriends who broke up with the witch and then moved, leaving no forwarding address, I was hooked. Still chuckling about that!

Ryker is as hot as they come. Shapeshifter panther meets wicked witch and plays familiar? How cool is that?

It is erotica and a little raunchy at times, but primal and passionate, too. Great story! Just one more once over with a proofreader and I'd definitely give it a 5 star rating.

This is one story I wish I'd written. (Just playing around with the product link here -- this IS mine, for contrast:) Sorcerer's Vendetta (The Secret of Zanalon)

Hey, it worked! If you like this, I think you'll like mine -- but probably more after I put in the explicit sex scene.