Review: Love the Sinner

Love the Sinner by Avril Ashton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In my quest to experience new authors, Avril Ashton is my pick from Ellora’s Cave. While there are numerous good reasons why EC is not a publisher I go to when choosing books (esp m/m books) this particular choice wasn’t horrific. As that’s not a ringing endorsement, I found the writing to be standard if unimaginative, the characters to be stereotypical and predictable, the story littered with clichés, and a plot that didn’t always make much sense. Yet I found the book ok and finished it without having to force myself. I like the concept of the characters and the plot more than the actual execution. I know there are 2 more books in the series that tempt me because I like the potential of the characters and the situations. I’m just not entirely sure the writing can execute them.

Review: The Casual Vacancy

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Having recently finished The Casual Vacancy on audio book, I’m left wondering at the point of the entire story and why I wasted so much time on this book. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a bad book, but I think it’s over written with a wandering plot and abrupt ending, but it’s definitely not a great, wonderful, read over and over again book (like the Harry Potter series). The prose often feels as though it’s trying entirely too hard to be clever and unique while the plot never has a cohesive trajectory. The vast cast of characters is certainly multifaceted and nuanced but entirely reprehensible with not a single likeable character in the entire book. I don’t really know what point the author was trying to convey with this book, nor what the book is actually about.

Flawed vs TSTL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Freedom

Freedom by Jay Kirkpatrick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I chose Freedom based on a suggestion. I didn’t read the blurb but went in with high expectations. I quite liked the book for most of it, though once the group broke out of the hospital and were on the run, things started to fall apart. The ending is nicely wrapped up but I was left with a lot of questions. Most of all I couldn’t buy into the chemistry between the two lead characters and I found one of the lead men to be weak and uninteresting. These two issues definitely killed some of the reading enjoyment for me. At the same time the writing and creativity are high and I’d cautiously recommend this one. I’m on the fence whether I’d read this author again.

Aliens, buttsex, and the end of the world…oh my

Dark Space by Lisa Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I quite enjoyed reading Dark Space. I’ll be honest and say I read this one on a recommendation from Rain on the Roof. It has some decent world building, a pseudo interesting plot, a well-developed narrator, and a happy ending. That’s not to say it was without problems, as there were numerous issues, but on the whole I enjoyed reading this more than I thought. So much so I’ll be checking out the author’s other books. I think the whole of the story elevates the enjoyment and makes up for the individual problems. For a reader who is not as engaged with the writing, this story could be frustrating.

More promising…alien BDSM

The Heracian Affair by Liv Olteano
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

For my second choice I went with a BDSM choice from Dreamspinner. There’s a slight improvement with the cover, which again I didn’t see, but a huge improvement in the writing. DSP is hit or miss but I’m extremely pleased I seem to have hit with this choice. The writing is smooth, engaging, and interesting while there is a considerable amount of hot sex, almost too much. I’m not complaining as this is smutty good fun with some solid writing and decent, if sketchy, world building. As far as sci-fi/erotica offerings go, I quite enjoyed this quick novella and would definitely go back for more from this author.

First up…Men with clits!

Star Crossed by Astrid Cooper
My Rating: 1 of 5 stars

So my first foray was not an auspicious start and it wasn’t because the aliens were men with clits. I didn’t mind that, but what I disliked was kind of everything else. I chose this one because I liked the name, I’ve read several good books with the same title, which invoked a positive association,  and I thought the blurb sounded light but fun, sexy times in space with some built in cross species tension. If only I’d looked at the cover because really, has any book ever been good with a cover like that? I hate to be superficial but I can’t think of a single book I loved with such a bad cover. It’s like no one cares about the aesthetics because the content must be crap too. Even though I had a bad feeling about this once I saw the cover, I tried to go in with a more open mind. Perhaps it’s not great literature but maybe it’ll be smutty fun. I already had the book after all.