E-book Review: The Debutante's Dilemma

Title: The Debutante's Dilemma
Author(s): Elyse Mady
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher/Year: Carina Pres/2010
-Webpage/blog: Elyse Mady: Romance Author

Synopsis:  One woman in search of passion

Miss Cecilia Hastings has achieved what every young lady hopes for during her first London season...in duplicate! She's caught the eye of not one but two of England's most eligible bachelors. Both Jeremy Battersley, Earl of Henley, and Richard Huxley, Duke of Wexford, are handsome, wealthy and kind, the epitome of proper gentlemen. But Cecilia doesn't want proper, she wants passion. So she issues a challenge to her suitors: a kiss, so that she may choose between them.

Two men in love with the same woman

Friends since childhood, and compatriots on the battlefields of Spain, Jeremy and Richard have found that falling for the same woman has set them at odds and risks destroying their friendship forever. But a surprising invitation to a late-night garden tryst soon sets them on a course that neither of them could have anticipated. And these gentlemen quickly discover that love can take many forms...

Rating:

Review:  Amusing and to the point, The Debutante's Dilemma made up for its lack of too good to be true leading characters with a wit I appreciated.  I find it rather remarkable that for all intents and purposes Wexford, Henley and Cecilia were perfect paragons of all that is good.  Other than the short fall-out between Henley and Wexford, they remained utterly civilized.  And Cecilia, even with her daring scheme, did it for the simplest of reasons--she wanted passion in her marriage.

I don't mean for that to sound like I expected the males to descend into barbarian behaviors and for Cecilia to be a shrew, but I felt not real connection to the characters.  They were just so...nice!  Henley gives Wexford the cut direct--apparently for the first time in the 6 months they had both been actively and ardently courting Miss Cecilia--but Henley is so distraught over the idea that later he apologizes and Wexford just shrugs it off.  Given Mady's fixation with all the ways Cecilia could be led to scandal, I found it disconcerting that such a big social faux paus would be just filed away.

The intimacy scene, at the end of the novel, is appropriately hot and steamy.  I attempted to overlook the fact that at some point Henley and Wexford had a mutual agreement to help Cecilia out--together--and didn't seem to have any compunction about it.  They didn't discuss the matter, other then some significant glances to each other at various points, so it led me to believe it wasn't the first time such had occurred.

In the end this felt more like the tail end of a novel then a fully fleshed out story.  As amused as I was by the banter between several characters, it couldn't keep the ship afloat for me to find any real satisfaction with the epilogue.  



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E-book review: Photographs and Phantoms

Title: Photographs and Phantoms
Series: Gaslight Chronicles
Author(s): Cindy Spencer Pape 
Genre: Steampunk, Historical Romance, Paranormal
Publisher/Year: Carina Press/2011
-Webpage: Cindy's World
-Blog: Cindy's Blog

Synopsis:   As a member of the Order of the Round Table, Kendall Lake is overqualified to be investigating strange phenomena at a seaside photography studio. But since the photographer is related to the Order’s most powerful sorcerer, Kendall reluctantly boards a dirigible to Brighton. Amy Deland is haunted by a shadow that appears in some of her recent portraits. In each case, the subject died within days of the sitting. Does she have her grandmother’s gift of foresight, or has she somehow caused the deaths?

As Kendall and Amy search for answers, their investigation draws them together in a most improper way. But it seems the evil presence in the studio is determined to keep them apart…

Rating:

Review:  This was a refreshingly well rounded short story with underpinnings of steampunk woven throughout.  Despite being a companion novella to Steam and Sorcery, which I haven't read yet, Pape does a wonderful job keeping the story rooted in the here and now.  Other then a few throw away comments to the adventures of Merrick and Caro (from the aforementioned book), there was no sense of confusion or as if I had missed something crucial.

Kendall and Amy were straight forward and far more sensible than most romantic couples I've encountered.  Kendall acknowledged that Amy was the grand-niece of a highly influential man, but he didn't harp on about it.  Amy, to her benefit, recognized that marriage was not in the cards for her, so why not just do what feels right?  Before anything went on they calmly talked about consequences and such.  Not terribly romantic, but I appreciated the fact that Pape didn't have them completely lose their heads.  They were both practical people who thought things through.  They didn't allow their attraction to rule their every breath.




While I guessed the nature of the curse, or at least what was causing it if not whom at first, I was taken back by the sudden change.  In hindsight I could see that Pape gave plenty of clues leading up to the revelation, but I was so caught up in the romantic progression I paid the clues little mind. 

Caro and the brood of children were funny and charming.  They were all introduced in Steam and Sorcery, but the quick backstory didn't take much time.  A few lines at most.  I thought they were fun and am looking forward to a longer sojourn with them in their own novel.

The world intrigued me.  Some of it is vague--historical events are referenced (though I couldn't tell you how accurately, British history isn't my forte), but there is very little said about the current time so there's no definitive way to contrast the alternate history vs. our own.  There are plenty of mechanical wonders--from the steam powered tram to the dirigibles and the Sergent's own mechanical arm--but very little is said of the world itself.  This could possibly be because its only meant as a companion to the larger novel (a sampling of what to expect) however and not a defect in the story itself.  Mildly irritating, but not anything to worry over.


Buy Links
  Carina Press Store

Book Review: God's War

Title: God's War
Series:  God's War Book 1
Author(s): Kameron Hurley
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher/Year: Night Shade Books/2011
-Webpage/blog: Kameron Hurley Webpage
-God's War webpage

Synopsis:  Nyx had already been to hell. One prayer more or less wouldn t make any difference...

On a ravaged, contaminated world, a centuries-old holy war rages, fought by a bloody mix of mercenaries, magicians, and conscripted soldiers. Though the origins of the war are shady and complex, there's one thing everybody agrees on--

There's not a chance in hell of ending it.

Nyx is a former government assassin who makes a living cutting off heads for cash. But when a dubious deal between her government and an alien gene pirate goes bad, Nyx's ugly past makes her the top pick for a covert recovery. The head they want her to bring home could end the war--but at what price?

The world is about to find out.

Rating:

 

Review:  I'm not even sure where to start with this honestly.  That's a good thing!  This book surprised me and terrified me and rewarded me for moving past my initial distaste for a book dedicated to packing as many bugs per a page as GOD'S WAR seemed to be.  I have a deep abiding fear of bugs that borders on paranoid delusions that they have a conspiracy to behead me.

I read elsewhere that Hurley describes this as 'bug-punk' which is an accurate description as any.  Bugs make this world go round; they power the vehicles, are lanterns, medical helpers, food source and so entrenched in the magic system that the magicians have bugs constantly fluttering around their heads or crawling on their bodies.  The descriptions made me itchy at times.

Beyond the bugs is the world mythology rooted in the Muslim religion, which I know practically nothing about (to be fair I know practically nothing about most monotheistic religions).  There are two factions fighting a continuous religious War against each other.  The Nasheen and the Chenja, both of whom pray the exact same way--in the same language, with similar wording and rituals--but who interpret the religious texts vastly different.

The Nasheen have a more liberal view of the religious texts; women are the driving force, with the men forced to serve on the front lines.  The bel dames, sanctioned and funded by the government, are their bounty hunters pretty much.  They track down draft dodgers, deserters, or other bel dames who have gone rogue.  Nasheen women are much freer, more aggressive.

The Chenja are more like the conservative Muslims you hear about.  Their women stay covered and are subservient to the men.  Families must send all able-bodied sons to the front lines to fight, except for heirs to the family name.  Heirs are only sent to fight if they have magic.

Rhys is a Chenjan male who left his home when it became apparent that he would be sent to fight on the front lines as a mage.  Taken in by Yah Reza to be taught in a Nasheen magician's school, Rhys bided his time until he could go.  But in a country where 'racist' is not a word, but practically a religious mandate, he finds himself trapped with Yah Reza.

Until Nyx.  Nyx who was a bel dame, but who went rogue, came back and got caught for a hefty bounty.  Sent to jail she emerges and carves out a life for herself, taking Rhys with her.

And that's about all I'm going to say on the matter.

Hurley doesn't shy away from heavy topics--religious morality, morals in the time of War, sexuality and human decency, these are all put into play along with violence and a dark twist of humor at times.  There isn't innocence to be found in this book, just a shade of 'slightly better then you' amongst Nyx and Rhys.  The book centers around Rhys and Nyx's hate/love relationship.  Despite being in Nasheen for a decade or there abouts, Rhys is determined to live his life as close to the way his people (the Chenjans) worship as possible.  He can't leave Nyx though.  And Nyx, who alternately wants to punch Rhys and clings to him out of a desperate need for some constant in her life, is never quite certain why she wants him around.

The book is filled with complex plots and schemes.  No one, and I do mean no one, is without some sort of endgame idea.  They dance around each other, offering only small bits of themselves, because its safer.  Whether you die in an explosion or because you piss off the wrong person at the wrong time by living, Nyx's crew is made up of outcasts to their society.  They're a loyal group to each other, when it serves their interests at least.

This is closer to a 4.5 and I'll be honest a whole lot of my problems stemmed from the fact Hurley did too good of a job describing all the critters in the world.  The world used bugs for everything--food, lighting, magic, transportation--and thus Hurley seemed to take almost gleeful delight in describing all the different beetles and centipedes and such.  Which made it difficult for me to read since I constantly felt like they were crawling all over my skin.



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