Current Mood:  surprised

Jazlyn at Fallen Angel Reviews apparently liked A Love Neverending enough to give it one of these! OMG!

You can read it all here: http://fallenangelreviews.com/2010/January/jazlyn-aloveneverending.htm

My head, it hurts with the happy.

Current Mood:  contemplative

I’m doing a lot of reading lately. It occurs to me I should keep some sort of running list somewhere, though I’m really not sure how to go about it. Maybe I’ll use Goodreads?

For now, though, I’m gluttoning, because my writing is sort of…in transition. I signed up for the mentor program at RD, and I’ve already learned a lot about my writing. Most of it is humbling, and it all seems to come with growing pains, which…sort of sucks…but I think I’ll come out on the other side a much better writer, so…suck it up, princess.

I also got myself a mentee for the program. No pressure! She’s nice, and I read her application and actually felt like there was some way for me to help her, so…here’s hoping she doesn’t find me a complete waste by the end of the 3 month program. Eeks.

So let’s see. This week I read PERSONAL DEMONS by Stacia Kane, and I got an  sneakypeek at her upcoming UNHOLY GHOSTS. Both were great. I think I like UG better so far. It’s a little darker.

I also loaded a ton of Fantasy and Urban Fantasy on my Sony Reader…I feel a glutting coming on

Current Mood:  pleased

So, Sarah’s been pestering me to read Beecroft for…um. ages. I had to wait until the pressure was off a little – when I could read the book on its own merits without hearing “omg it’s awesome” in my head with every turn of the page. (that didn’t quite happen, btw. Sarah’s been very emphatic.) But it was time, all the same.

As part of Keishon’s book challenge I’m supposed to be writing about a virgin hero. Or a hero in pursuit. This one…sort of? qualifies since our hero Captain Harry is pursued by our hero Garnet Littleton (and as an aside? I LOVE the name Garnet.)

I know this book has been reviewed elsewhere, and in more depth than I could ever do it justice. I have to admit that the incredibly sweet nature of the romance surprised me (Sarah usually recommends more erotic work to me). However, I was prepared for the lyrical nature of the prose.

I wasn’t ready for it to be alternating first person, and omg, I want to buy Alex a very large drink for proving that alternating first can be done, and done brilliantly, tyvm. There was never any doubt in my mind whether we were in Harry’s head, with his precision, his concerns, and his absolute devotion to Garnet…or if we were in Garnet’s – in fact, our introduction to Garnet’s voice is when he has the audacity to write a chapter in Harry’s journal. Oh, that says so much about Garnet right there. He’s playful and fun, but never crossing into silly or..not-serious. He seems, in fact, to be lighthearted on top to disguise how incredibly deep he is.

The book is Harry’s journal, started after he and Garnet have faced the utter devastation of illness, the sinking of Harry’s first command of ships, a mutiny, and being stranded on a desert island together. Because of the way it’s written, I’m (thankfully) never in doubt as to their survival, which is good, because otherwise I might have skipped to the end. Instead, the end is there, in every page. That doesn’t, for the record, dispel the tension. At all.

Harry is such a beautiful character. What I love about him is that he is so completely okay with who he is. A gay man, who could be killed for his sexual preference, he has no self-loathing, no “why me” about him. He is what he is. In fact, he doesn’t hate the world for hating him, either. This simply is the way it is, and he tries to live within the constraints of it all without denying who he is.

I love that part. I would love Harry, were he a real person, because he’s so without…well, without pain, I suppose. He doesn’t try to change the world, and he doesn’t feel the need to try to change to suit the world, either. He is. Who he is.

Which brings me to the ‘virginity’ aspect. Harry never indicates he’s a virgin. In fact, I assume he’s had sexual experiences…but what he’s never had is freedom. While he doesn’t whine and rail against the world for being so bloody closeminded and bigotted, he does make it clear that he’s never felt free to have a relationship because it’s simply not done. I loved this, by the way. It was clear he was pained by the fact he couldn’t have an Out relationship, but it wasn’t an angsty, mopey, whiny part of his character. Once again, it was just the way things were, and he’d deal.

At the end…he’s still not able to be Out (that would be ridiculous) but he seems comfortable as well as happy. No, he can’t be Out, but he can have a real relationship, and it can mean to him what a relationship should mean.

I loved the growth in this book. I love the fact that I can consider Harry at the start of the book as…miserable-but-he-doesn’t-know-it-yet…and I can consider Harry at the end of the book as someone lighter, more fulfilled, and none of his personal growth was rammed down my throat with a jackhammer.

PS: I know this isn’t a proper review by any stretch. But you can get those anywhere. What I’d like to do is write how books effect me, what I take from them, why I love them.

omg. I’m so sorry i’m late with this, Keishon!

I’m hostessing a workshop over at romance divas about Steampunk, and forgot this post was due the same day. GAH!

However, I read my book. I LIKED my book.

It was Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan, which is an alt-history account of Elizabeth’s reign.

Imagine, if you will, that Elizabeth made a deal with an evil Fae queen in order to gain her throne, and spent the next thirty years of her reign under the power of that pact.

The story follows Deven, a young man trying to find his place in the Queen’s Court, and Lune, a fairy recently ostracized from the Fae court of the Queen Invidiana.

I love this book. I’d give it a 4/5 stars/flowers/ribbons/hearts/whatevers, because I think the opening was a little slow, BUT! I’d reread it. A lot.

Mostly because the prose was omg-delicious. The flair and decadence of Elizabethan England was THERE, even for someone as unhistorically knowledgeable as myself. That sumptuousness, the political maneuvering…it was all so brilliantly laid out.

But even better than that, the parallels between Lune’s life and Devens (not to mention other characters throughout the story, who I will not name for the sake of spoilers). The villains are portrayed as truly villainous, even when they’re leant a little sympathy.

Elizabeth herself is painted as human, and I can’t help but think that was a conscious decision on the author, as it contrasted with the inhumanity of Invidiana.

Those compare-and-contrasts were joined by an ensemble cast of people and fae whose motives were often unclear to Lune and Deven, and plot twists I absolutely never saw coming just made the whole book an incredibleread.

The fact that Marie Brennan pulled in elements like the sword in the stone and made it part of her own mythology put me on board as her fangirl even more than the book Doppleganger by her, which I absolutely adored.

I do hope there is a lot more in the works from Ms. Brennan. I would love to see more historical fantasy from her. This was, seriously brilliant, and I was blown away, even while recognizing the elements that didn’t quite come off for me.