(view spoiler)[So they are back together again and Sam leaves and Jory is uneasy. (hide spoiler)] *headdesk* It’s always like this.2010 Review:
*groan*
(view spoiler)[So they are back together again and Sam leaves and Jory is uneasy. (hide spoiler)] *headdesk* It’s always like this. I am just glad there is only one book left and this time it better stick!
Honestly, this is driving me out of my mind. It’s plain killing me. Every time they seem to make things work and are happy you just know it will blow up and hurt worse than ever. Actually hurt. Making me tear up, feel the nausea, the anxiety. Which speaks for the quality but… damn.
It is just so bad each time their thing falls apart. It was bad the first time but (view spoiler)[that was for a few days. The second, but that was for three months or so. But then? Three years? (hide spoiler)] I was ready to kill Sam at that point. Argh. (view spoiler)[I just hate it when so much time passes. It is like a part of the lifetime these people could have together slipped away. It does not help that they hooked up with people this time. I can life with it, though. Just. The pain I see coming… Hell, it was so bad before, it’s just going to be a killer the next time, and it better be the last f***ing time!
I f***in’ hate Sam every time it happens, but when they are together it’s just so right. Le sigh. That extra year he took to get his life back on track, that made me mad. (hide spoiler)]
But still, there is no doubt this is a great book. No doubt at all. Sure, the grammatical and copy-editing issues are plenty but I can’t get myself to give a damn in the face of this riveting story. Even all the side stories are just plan fascinating. There are patterns there as well. But that’s okay. I just… I want things to go well. And stay that way. God, yes. It seems that every single time Jory and Sam manage to be together it is just for a few days. And the pain each time it breaks up is so much worse with the repetition.
One interesting aspect here is the sex. Because it is… It’s not a blow by blow account as in most other books. There may be some key points but even those tend to be implied. It is more about the meaning of a situation than the mechanics. Gotta admire that because she manages to make those scenes work without ever making them an actual sex scene. I have read books that tried to be subtle and failed to be exciting or failed to make sense. This here? It’s passionate to the max but there is not a single scene that I would classify as a sex scene. When and if sex happens it always is a minor part of the overall scene and plot. Not that it is shy either. And probably because it does not seem compelled to spell everything out every single time it never gets boring. Just imagine if you read a book and each time the protagonists have breakfast we get to hear what they eat and how it tastes and each bite they take. In most books sex scenes operate that way. Here? It’s an expression of something but the mechanics are not important. It’s more like the breakfast were we just get that the toast that morning was particularly tasty, or that someone had been really hungry for it since they skipped dinner.
Moving on.
There is one huge, immense issue I have. This book is too huge in my mind. I am not referring to the fact that it could have ended after book two(view spoiler)[, minus the kidnapping, (hide spoiler)] or even (view spoiler)[after Jory survived (hide spoiler)] at the start of book three. I mean it was a densely written book already. I… I like long stories if I fall in love with them. And this is a good book. It makes me laugh and makes me happy. And not just the romance. That is in fact not the main aspect. The interactions and sometimes zany scenes… I love it. But f***, don’t make it hurt so much. I am too invested because, for example, when (view spoiler)[Jory sees Sam with a woman (hide spoiler)] it breaks my heart too.
Anyway, I got derailed. My big issue is that this story has taken over my mind. It sucked up my headspace. This spells disaster for my upcoming project. Right now? I am just way too deep inside this....more
This volume was a little harder to stomach at times than the preceding ones. On this second read-through, it still disturbs me; I can’t te2012 Review:
This volume was a little harder to stomach at times than the preceding ones. On this second read-through, it still disturbs me; I can’t tell whether it disturbs me more or less than last time.
(view spoiler)[I hate that video of Crash and Jacob, naturally. I don’t like Jacob’s lies and his ability to keep lying, if he wants to. Although the way he seems to need Vic helps. (hide spoiler)]
But what’s really the worst is, in fact, Vic. (view spoiler)[Vic’s insanely strong attraction to Crash. God, I hope there won’t ever be a threesome. That just might break this for me. (hide spoiler)]
That part of the story was, thankfully, resolved in a convincing manner at around half-time (for now, anyway). But hell, at times before that it was tough to stomach. Seriously. Let me think no more about that.
For the first half the snarky fun of Vic’s personality was perhaps not as vivid as in the previous books, but I did get my share of funky laughter later on. I guess it’s simply that he’s slightly less wildly funny the fewer drugs he takes and the more he learns how to be social. XD I still do like how easy it is to relate to him, despite his unusual experiences and lifestyle. How he can feel satisfaction about merely planning to do something, knowing he probably won’t do it but hey at least he got that far, and how he has hardly any expectations of himself succeeding at anything much.
By the end of this book, Vic seems to have yet again grown up more. Seeing Jacob’s limitations but also the genuineness of his attachment more clearly, going out on his own to deal with the past, the way he stands up for Lisa. Vic just generally appears less dependent and more aware of himself. Heh, I guess going off the drugs (largely) really did make a difference.
Finally, the ending gave me a good shiver the first time I read this. The build-up to the next book certainly was fierce.
So, with a main character who actually develops instead of stagnates, things are looking pretty good for this series. Yes, even with the (view spoiler)[Crash (hide spoiler)] threat looming overhead. :P...more
Jeez. Didja have to end it with such a bomb? Yeah, we seriously need at least one more volume here. Get writing, author. <3
But let’s backt2012 Review:
Jeez. Didja have to end it with such a bomb? Yeah, we seriously need at least one more volume here. Get writing, author. <3
But let’s backtrack.
For the first few chapters it was more than a little depressing to watch Vic obsess over (view spoiler)[his body shape and basically destroy everything he had because of his insecurities (hide spoiler)]. Luckily that did not last long, as the front-and-center plot took over. And it was simultaneously fascinating, with all the speculation and bits Vic discovered about his own ability and how things might work on a certain level, and utterly hilarious. I totally fell in love with all the ways Vic referred to his ectoplasm problem, and that’s just one of the bits that made me laugh over and over. Out loud.
Honestly, this book was funny. Also, not a single extra sex scene. The little bits we had were all relevant to the proceedings and not exaggerated in any way. I am glad to see the author got back on track here because, as much as I liked the previous book, those scenes were really superfluous there.
Overall, I really liked this one too and I got deeply into it while I was reading. It’s fun and fascinating and awesome in context of the series. Okay, I don’t like change, so that bombshell at the end does not agree with me much, but even the changes are interesting.
And of course our couple is going stronger than ever, without being truly able to mind-meld (I don’t mean that in a psychic way) the way it so often is portrayed in less realistic books. These two guys? They will never fully comprehend one another, but what they have still works out perfectly for some reason.
Vic’s strength and ability? Score. He even managed to get some good cop action in by the end, and although most people have no idea what he really managed to accomplish during the course of this book (view spoiler)[(such as Lisa thinking he just made things worse) (hide spoiler)], both (view spoiler)[Dreyfuss and Jacob (and even Crash!) (hide spoiler)] appear to appreciate him even more now.
Speaking of Lisa, that’s a bit of a scary change too. But she always had that role in a way because her talent’s just so horrifyingly far-reaching.
Anyway! I need to stop rambling. Which is harder than you’d think because here I am now, the currently last book in this series finished, and I want more. I kinda feel as though I need more. Oh, not in that “it wasn’t satisfying” or “something’s missing” way some books leave you with. I just don’t want to leave this series. Bah.
All told? I just love this series. I did then, and I do now. <3...more
Hee. This was a sweet and funny one. Which seems an odd thing to say about this series but I think I misremembered it a little. This reall2012 Review:
Hee. This was a sweet and funny one. Which seems an odd thing to say about this series but I think I misremembered it a little. This really is a relatively sweet series – gruesome ghosts, violent deaths, threats of jealousy, and traumatic flashbacks notwithstanding.
Yep, two years ago I loved this volume. So very much. Most of it was really the mystery, the crime story. This time around I still enjoy it greatly.
The relationship aspects (and did I mention how much I love that the books seems to connect almost seamlessly?) were wonderfully sweet and reassuring. I mean… when Jacob actually offered Vic (view spoiler)[a three-way with Crash (hide spoiler)], just because he’d do anything for Vic, even that…! It almost blew my mind. Not that I’d want to ever see it happen, mind you. But that sort of devotion. Yeah. In all things, from the very start, one really gets the impression that Vic is Jacob’s dream, his ideal in the best and most real sense.
It’s funny, really. At the very beginning Jacob seemed like an arrogant, overpowering, much too handsome, much too sex-driven and pushy alpha type. I am not saying that all of that is completely beside the point, although I’d use other words because the ones here are putting a negative spin on what also makes up his qualities. So he’s intense and he knows what he wants and, wonderfully, he wants Vic, in every way. That already became obvious with the last few words of volume one (and boy did it make me squeal), but everything since then confirms it until it becomes reality. I also liked realizing, bit by bit and over and over, that this man is not the cardboard cut-out you so often find. He’s a lot of things but he has doubts and insecurities too (although not many) and most of all he can be naïve about some things or a little blue-eyed or just… Ah, I don’t know. It simply makes him that much more of a person, y’know?
Funny that I am going on about Jacob when Vic’s really the one I love so much. With his painful past and his quirky internal humour and his utter belief in his lack of being special or liked &c. And what I also appreciate deeply is that those things do not stop him from believing Jacob’s dedication or that he’s attracted to Vic in more ways than physical – even if Vic does not understand precisely why or even how long it’ll last. It’s so rare to have a protagonist who is insecure about his or her appeal to simply accept it when someone does prove their attraction and enjoyment. (view spoiler)[That bit when Vic had that thought that obviously it couldn’t really be his ass that Jacob was so enamoured with because, really, everyone had one and his was as good as any other. *snicker* And that therefore Jacob must see more in him. That’s almost the opposite reasoning of the one you usually get (“OMG, using me for my body, oh noes!”) and it makes such a deep sense I can’t even go there. (hide spoiler)] <3...more
Yes, yes. This one felt a trifle longer then the first but still pretty brief. Still lovin’ it.
Right now my brain is entirely empty but th2012 Review:
Yes, yes. This one felt a trifle longer then the first but still pretty brief. Still lovin’ it.
Right now my brain is entirely empty but these books are just wonderful.
This time I got a little uncomfortable because of (view spoiler)[Crash (nevermind that this is nothing compared to how he'll make me feel later in the series) (hide spoiler)] and because I could see what the bad guy was doing to Vic long before he had a clue, so it made me antsy.
Oh, f***. For this one I actually entered the feverish, I-can’t-stop-before-it’s-done state. At least for the last third or more.
Yeah, it 2012 Review:
Oh, f***. For this one I actually entered the feverish, I-can’t-stop-before-it’s-done state. At least for the last third or more.
Yeah, it really turned out as tension-filled, exciting and rewarding as I’d remembered the others to be. Maybe it’s a first-reading thing to an extent, but this only works with a certain type of book and requires quality regardless. So now I am left with a really awesome feeling, slightly high from the ride, and feeling generally good about the book and the series. Which is a much preferable to the way things were looking for the greater part of this.
Okay, here was the first time in this series that I felt a sex scene was just shoved in there. More than one, actually. Sure, they are attached to actual plot, but… they just felt gratuitous and overly detailed and, well, aimed to titillate more than anything else. Not to mention they’re becoming more and more extreme.
As well, this volume was probably the most depressing one as far as the relationship between Vic and Jacob went. Up until near the end, anyway. Serious trouble in paradise, and not things that seemed easy to fix. Reading about this deterioration of what they had made me increasingly uneasy and sad. Well, that and (view spoiler)[this whole government agency conspiracy thing (hide spoiler)]. I rarely ever enjoy threats of that level in a series.
Speaking of which, it doesn’t make much sense that Vic only now (view spoiler)[starts to actively diffuse the exact strength of his talent. I mean, he could have done it subconsciously, sure, but we’ve seen evidence to the contrary in previous volumes where he unabashedly chatted with ghosts in front of witnesses and explained quite a lot of how it works to whoever he’s with at the time. Including Zig (hide spoiler)].
Still, by the end it feels as though things that have been hinted at or placed innocuously since the first book are coming together in a picture that makes brilliant sense, especially in connection with Vic’s character profile and why he’s spent all those years basically on the run from awareness of himself.
In contrast, everything’s becoming clearer now, and he has reached the point where he even admits these things out loud, thankfully only to Jacob, who’s probably as safe to trust with it as anyone could be.
While I still have a weird feeling about the relationship between those two (it seems to be all about sex and Jacob’s psych-fetish for him), I am glad that it seems stronger than ever now. Yeah, not really sure if (view spoiler)[Jacob’s ability (hide spoiler)] is a good thing (view spoiler)[(it seems as though it would make him less, er, dependent on sticking to Vic for his thrills in the long run) (hide spoiler)], but for now it seems to draw them together rather than push them apart so I’ll run with it.
Vic’s sudden clarity is a double-edged sword as well, but I’m stuck marvelling at how brilliantly the author made everything fit together. It’s one of those whoa-moments when a perfect picture is formed from a myriad of smaller images you never thought would line up that way. I’m deeply impressed. This is what gives me a thrill, heh.
Honestly, I just feel good now. There’s still a volume to go and I think I saw the author state somewhere that she is planning on a seventh after that. Luckily, the awesome ending spree here (all those subplots finding their climaxes in a tight row of events that left me breathless) hyped me up for my currently last volume of the series. Nice turnaround!
The downside is, of course, that now I don’t want it to end. :P I just can’t win, even when I do....more
Ah. That’s a glorious way to finish this series for now. There are still more stories to be told, but even if this ends up to be the final2012 Review:
Ah. That’s a glorious way to finish this series for now. There are still more stories to be told, but even if this ends up to be the final volume in the long run, it’s a good point for that.
My previous complaints? Eh, either I got used to the changes or the author pulled herself together, but I enjoyed myself. For one thing, this book had several utterly hilarious moments to it. And sweet ones, too. Most of the family things were just awesome, except of course for Zane’s mother. As per Ty’s description, she indeed was a raging bitch. Sadly, though, she emerged as quite one-dimensional and stereotypical, not the slightest hint of subtlety in her description. But that’s okay.
In general terms, that is aside from the thriller plot, this was about coming out to family and about familial acceptance. So yeah, the main relationship has progressed to the point where the foundation is solid enough that developments outwards take over. It… Yeah, it really is rather sweet.
Love Ty, love Zane. They’re both thoroughly characterized and recognizable individuals, with Zane being something of a canvas for Ty’s antics, except that in reality things are much more balanced than that and Ty functions as a canvas to Zane as well. I know I am making a mess of this, heh.
Anyway, the author indulged in showing her heroes off again in this volume. They got to be heroic in plain view and impress everyone who doubted them. XD And it was nice to watch each of them getting a kick out of the other’s prowess.
Another amusing factor lay in the big cat rescue preserve featured prominently in this book. Complete with the tiger that fell in love with Ty. XD It’s just so funny to me, after getting quite familiar with an establishment like that in Florida over the past year.
It’ll probably feel really odd to not be reading this anymore. I’ll miss it, even if a change will be good for me. Luckily I can try to sneak out via that loosely connected, preceding volume I mentioned last time. If it’s bad, it’ll be that much easier to let go. :P Although, damn it, I will miss these guys so much.
I mean, just look at this?
Zane nodded. Of course the tiger would track Ty across miles and miles of desert. It was Ty. He attracted death and disaster and undying loyalty like nobody else.
Okay, I took lots of notes during the reading of this, so please bear with me if I sound disjointed.
It did not start well. Right off the b2012 Review:
Okay, I took lots of notes during the reading of this, so please bear with me if I sound disjointed.
It did not start well. Right off the bat we went off the rails. Dammit. The dialogue was sappier, less snappy, and the protagonists behaved less like their established characters. We also got inconsistency with previous events and timing even inside this happy little story. Crap.
All the lovely dry tension and harshness between these two was gone. Who was this Ty person? Who was this Zane? Who were these people having mushy, clichéd and entirely meaningless exchanges that don’t match up to what we know of them or their characters?
“Because… you make me the kind of person I’ve always wished I was.” Seriously, Ty? Since when? Ty’s always been secure in who he was, from the start. This is a relationship, dude. Sure, it affects you deeply and it’s pretty much it for you, but it’s not a brainwashing. Shit.
And Zane’s answer? “I’ve always wanted you just like you are. As much as you infuriate me, you’re who I want.” Since the fuck when?
Sex. Pointless, non-canon-consistent sex. Jeez. The author turned Ty into “the girl”.
You know, as much as I craved reassurance and togetherness for these two, mushy, repetitive promises of forever-love at the beginning of a book were not the way to go.
And did they really go window shopping in classy boutiques? Really? These two? This was beyond fucked up.
Okay, getting a grip at that point because if I wanted to get any sort of enjoyment out of this, I just had to clear my mind and go at this as something new.
Admittedly, it kinda was interesting to watch Ty and Zane from an outsider’s point of view this much, but it would have helped if I liked that outsider at least somewhat, and, well, if this weren’t set up to make the two look so damn badass. Although it amused me for a while that the others seemed to think Zane was the true threat. Unless the author kept her little “Ty is the girl stand-in” ploy up. Which she didn’t, thank god. Luckily I later on warmed up at least slightly towards the other two guys, but it was a tough sell.
And “Agent X”? Seriously? Bah.
To my abject horror, the sex spilled over into the semi-porn area I’m so used to in other writings. And the mushy, repetitive, totally canon-breaking love talks? Yeah they were exactly what the ending of the previous books had purposely (and wisely) summed up as “their whispers of achingly tender words that were so difficult to say in the light of day”. Shoulda stayed with that mindset.
I really hate character breaks.
Okay, with all my (entirely justified) complaining, there was still a speck of what I love about this series. Maybe it’s a remnant of the previous books, or the occasional turn of phrase that echoes what came before, but I still look back at the relationship between those two men and a shiver runs down my spine. It’s the whole working together, being genuinely at each other’s throats, tolerating one another, craving each other madly, being utterly loyal thing. Yeah, this book is clumsy and completely abandons any subtlety in favour of cheesy lines (that are inaccurate as well) but I think I understand the author’s motivation. With all that build-up, I guess she just wanted to really wallow in the outcome.
And ah god, sorry to rant again, but what the fuck, Ty? You “fell for” a man before Zane? Yeah, take that, continuity! Well, okay, the topic is salvaged, but did we really need to have Ty and Zane launch into a pillow talk about their past sexual and romantic attachments? Really?
Thing is, I don’t know whether I just got used to the changes after a while, but during the second half of this and especially towards the end things seem a lot less grating and a little more the way they should be again. LOL, or maybe it’s that fact that the relationship is suffused by pain again, courtesy of a revisiting of last book’s instance of ugly. And more past trauma. Yeah, I guess the truth is that from that point onward the mushy-happy was pretty much gone in favour of the non-perfect determination to stick it out anyway. Ty and Zane’s determination, I mean.
So I suppose it turned out okay. I’m still a little sad about this, but you can’t have everything, huh? At least it wasn’t a complete write-off or a total annihilation of what these guys stand for. (Even if it seemed a close call at first.)
Something I’m a lil miffed about, anyway, is that I realized way late that this second couple got together in a book of their own, previous to this. I guess I’ll read it after I am done with the series but, eh, I wish it had not become necessary to be so roundabout since this book is something like a light sequel to theirs, effecting a change of circumstance. Also, the reviews are not that happy. … Not that reviews can be taken indiscriminately. But apparently that book (Warrior's Cross), while once more a collaboration of the authors that birthed this series together, still suffers from the RP-paragraphing that the first book suffered from. Also, to be perfectly honest, Cameron’s probably as boring as Julian is stereotypical. ^^; *shrug* Win some, lose some. At least there’s little risk for me involved in reading it.
And I guess that’s all for this time around. Only one book left. It’s sad but perhaps slightly less so than if this continuation was as stellar as the few books before. And provided the series does not end on a second cliff-hanger. :P...more
Oh god. You really had to end this on a cliff-hanger? Really?
Phht. Guess someone’s worried that exchanges of love might mean a lessening o2012 Review:
Oh god. You really had to end this on a cliff-hanger? Really?
Phht. Guess someone’s worried that exchanges of love might mean a lessening of interest in further books. Bah.
Okay, since I have the next two books, I can take this in stride, but book six better not end the same way. *growl*
We’ll also get to see which of the authors was the main driving force behind the excellence of this series, since from now on it will be continued by only be one of the two. That worries me fiercely. It might have worried me slightly less without the cliff-hanger ending but eh.
Time to backtrack.
This book was just so incredibly, breathtakingly, fucking beautiful. It really felt like the increasing closeness between these two finds its culmination in everyday exchanges too. That’s one of the things I admire and love about this series. All the books together, in a row, really feel like one continuous story of an evolving relationship. We get to know the protagonists better with each other, thus draw closer to them, as their defences slowly crumble away and they draw closer to each other.
This relationship? It is a thing of beauty.
Maybe partly because it takes so long to get it right, or because the guys both are combative and tough and crash against each other in many ways, which somehow, magically yet entirely believably, transforms itself into a perfect fit. Or maybe it’s the description of feelings and the small interactions, the way casual touches happen in subtly meaningful ways. Or maybe the fact that this isn’t about being gay (they’re both clearly bisexual anyway) and the usual issues that brings with it. Or maybe the way their sexual relationship is strangely even right from the very start. I have no clue how they manage that, considering certain things, but both seem to crave all the other can give at some point, and there’s zero power struggle attached to the question of who bottoms. It’s about craving and, I guess, rough passion and sometimes about making oneself giving in and sometimes about needing to feel that. Whatever it is, it works as beautifully as the other tangents of this relationship.
I am honestly speechless (LOL, not exactly proving that with my rambling here) about the fact that I’ve become so deeply involved in this series, but it’s pretty clear why. It’s simply an amazingly crafted piece of work. I can’t give a damn anymore about the awkward issue of perspective and retreading in book one. For one thing, it’s entirely gone starting with book two, and for another, even while it was present it wasn’t enough to detract from the qualities of the series. I am just amazed that at least one really awful author was involved in this but I guess this just goes to show. Author surprises are one of my favourite things about reading, after all.
It’s so amazing how with every single scene, even after four books, we still get to know the protagonists better, despite their perspectives being present from the very start. The knowledge of who they are and what’s going on inside them begins at the mere surface and delves deeper from there, steadily and across the volumes. It’s amazing. And wonderful. Damn. <3
Of course, then it got really ugly. What happened at that point is pretty much something I hate, but I have to admit that I approve of Ty’s unwavering honesty there. However, things just proceeded to turn worse between him and Zane then. It was very, very ugly.
However, the resolution felt worth it. And then the final climactic scene of the… actually of both the thriller plot and the relationship? That was glorious. It’s just sad that Ty apparently had taken too much damage by then, judging by the cliff-hanger. God, I am just glad I have the next book waiting already. ^^; Luckier than I deserve to be.
I’m exhausted; I couldn’t stop reading and my mind is filled with these characters to the near exclusion of all else. How’s that for author vindication? Damn, I love when that happens, even if it’s at my expense.
Let’s just close this quickly with a lovely quote from just before the ugly started.
(view spoiler)[‘So it’s been like two months, and he still hasn’t manned up and decided if he loves you, right? But you’re still fucking.’
Ty just stared at him, trying to decide if that was an accurate statement. They didn’t know Zane like he did. Ty knew his partner had to take the issue from every angle, analyze it to death, resurrect it, and then study its dead, rotting body to see the results. Yeah, it might take Zane four months to decide if he loved someone, and then more to decide if that was a good idea.
Ty sure’s come a long way since book one. Or maybe it’s the reader’s understanding of him that has done so. Most likely though, it is a highly skilful combination of both....more
Oh, man. Ongoing story. It ended in (view spoiler)[almost perfection and happiness and then Jory gets abducted (hide spoiler)]. Cliff-hang2010 Review:
Oh, man. Ongoing story. It ended in (view spoiler)[almost perfection and happiness and then Jory gets abducted (hide spoiler)]. Cliff-hanger! But we all know his relationship with Sam will be on the rocks again soon, (view spoiler)[kidnapping or not (hide spoiler)]. That kinda sucks because after two lengthy and in-depth books I had about enough of suffering and doubting and betrayal. I want them to be happy, damn it! Secure, too! But no, it was just too good to last. Dane, too.
So now I am worried and I dislike that. I am only at half point! Although, I gotta admit that I enjoy reading this. I like the style of the narrative and the tangents. Still, what I said last time holds true as well; I am way too distracted by this from what I should be working on and it completely overwhelms me.
All I can do, really, is read on to the end, no matter that I would like to take my time with it so that I can enjoy it and also to recover from the emotional exhaustion. That’s just not an option.
But this is a good book. Chills me, makes me tearful, makes me nauseous, but only because I care and despite everything I have a fairly decent hope things will work out in the end. Somehow....more
This book is seven different kinds of silly. But somehow it works.
Oh, it’s blatant wish-fulfilment and my previous descriptions of Jesse and Evan wereThis book is seven different kinds of silly. But somehow it works.
Oh, it’s blatant wish-fulfilment and my previous descriptions of Jesse and Evan were dead-on [here: (view spoiler)[I had to get used to them to grow to like them because, let’s face it, Jesse is conceited and insensitive and sorta rude, while Evan is conceited, cold and cutting. Well, they’re both arrogant and all that too. Does not matter that they have a right to be with how perfect they are. XD Anyway, I got used to that and it made them better characters, in fact. (hide spoiler)]], but it’s also still fun. As arrogant and conceited as these two are, this is at least more interesting than some of the sad wannabe books I read recently. As far as mixed viewpoints go, it’s not that distracting here, despite the omni-like view.
Of course, so much is still silly here. Like too many mushy lyrics, all of which appear to be about love and sex. That's especially brow-raising since both men haven’t had an actual relationship before they meet each other. Hm. Or all those detailed descriptions of what they wear.
Foregoing protection seems really, really risky, but then again those two are… something else. It’ll piss me off if future couples in these books do it, however.
Honestly, though? After all the shy guys it’s refreshing to have two overconfident and entirely shameless and unembarrassed guys who’re determined to stop at nothing to get their way.
Strangely enough, especially considering how fast these two dive into their relationship, there’s a real feel of development between them. Sure, that instant lust and deep connection and all it comes with is not one of my favourite ways to start a romance, but it sort of works here because it does not stop at that.
It really feels rather like anime, the nice kind. Not yaoi, though, since it lacks the seme/uke distinction and evil seduction or embarrassed shyness. Or rape, thank god. The emotional side though? Yeah, reminiscent of the better anime stuff. Or even manga. The way even the separation is not resolved in one huge sweep, but undergoes stages and evolves until they almost naturally gravitate towards each other again.
Funny thing that I noticed? The author seems to avoid the usual crude vocabulary. She doesn’t really, but somehow that’s still the impression left with me. Which is interesting during the sex scenes, to say the least. Since it never drifts into the other extreme, i.e. purple prose, I guess this is one of the things that simply work out in this book. I also have to commend that those sex scenes never seem to be there merely for the titillation of the reader, but always further the story.
Basically, this is entertaining. And that counts for a lot....more
I freaking love this book. And it is a four-part one, thus pretty long. So there is the fact that it seriously eats at the little time I h2010 Review:
I freaking love this book. And it is a four-part one, thus pretty long. So there is the fact that it seriously eats at the little time I have left for reading. And because I love it so much it entirely distracts me, it eats me up.
This is just so very wonderful. Sure, the copy-editing is sort of sucky, but who cares. This is such a deep story, despite appearances, and yet I totally love every moment of it.
Okay, so I finished the first book. Three to go and I don’t want it to ever end, while at the same time I need it to end because time’s running out. Getting nervous here.
I wish this author had written a whole ton more stuff. She is such an unexpected prize. I particularly love how amazing her first person narrators are. I mean this is totally over the top Mary Sue stuff. Her guys are beautiful and handle any situation better than anyone else and are just way too good to be true. And at the same time they are flawed. Not in a cheap ‘gotta add some flaws’ way either. I am eating this up. Just perfect.
It so completely fascinates me how in-depth for example Jory’s relationship with his boss is described. In any other book I’d have expected the romance to happen there. There certainly is something. I knew Sam was going to be it because of the teasers and whatnot, but really. Dane gets at least as much attention....more
It’s so odd. This book is insane, yet madly appealing. Back when I first read it I think my reaction was mostly incredulous laughter at t2015 Re-read:
It’s so odd. This book is insane, yet madly appealing. Back when I first read it I think my reaction was mostly incredulous laughter at the Mary-Sue (or Gary-Stu?) aspect of it all. Shameless wallowing in how wonderful Stef is and how everyone loves him and his hair. And, to be fair, wallowing probably should be shameless; it seems only appropriate.
I still think that Stef is the proto-Jory. Or at least that was my impression four or five years ago. I’ll have to revisit Jory to be absolutely certain. But what I find intriguing is that I am really fond of Rand this time around. Rand might be a proto-Sam in some ways (the rough, alpha-type ways), but certainly not in regards to his appeal to me. He’s like a big kid, which is oddly touching. And he’s mostly not an idiot or a jerk. I just wish Sam had gone into that direction. But that’s neither here nor there.
So, this story. It doesn’t meander as a lot of the later ones do, but stays on target the entire time.
Another thing I noticed is that the sex scenes integrate wonderfully. I do a lot of complaining about authors who write redundant or boring/exchangeable sex scenes. This is absolutely not a problem here. Those aspects are interwoven with the story, and the way they are described works both on the visceral and the emotional level. I don’t think you could actually just cut any of this out; it’d affect the story essence. And that’s despite the fact that certain things might be considered repetitive. (I don’t think repetitive is the correct word in this case; it’s more a matter of overindulgence, and that fits right in with Stef’s displays of perfection.)
Not sure I am making much sense. I feel tired. It’s funny, really. I must have gotten used to the author’s style since I first read this book (at a time when nothing else by her was available yet). What seemed ludicrous then… well, it still is now, but it’s also a trademark thing and I am no longer bewildered by it. Heh.
So yes. This is the archetypical fluffy romance and it knows no shame. Fabulous!
2010 Review:
Okay. This one was a bunch of surprises rolled into one.
Very soon into it I was having heaps of fun because it was just ridiculous how much of a saint (kinda superhero, with the notable exception of his attitude in sexual relationships) the narrator hero was. And how everyone loved and admired him. Oh god, so much fun.
But what I really enjoyed was the whole playing around the “does he hate me or love me?” thing. I hardly ever get that anymore and it used to be such a big staple in romances. A huge draw for me too, always has been. So even if it was overdone here, I had the best time with it. XD
Things progressed and some of what surfaced about good old Stef and his heroism was just plain silly. There was just so much wrong with this book, but at the same time I enjoyed it immensely. Sometimes it’s weird like that. I dunno. It simply hit the spot somehow.
Actually? It turned out to be a lot more subtle than it seemed. And sure enough it wasn’t one of those books with only two or three characters of note and only one plot level. Matter of fact? It was actually pretty awesome, amusing and fun and a little silly and definitely riveting for whatever reason.
The sex was pretty convincingly passionate too and, again surprisingly, was not drawn out overmuch unless it made sense in the storyline. I deeply approve of that, especially after the last few books that just went on and on with the sex as though that was all the story needed.
No, this was great. An amateurish hint in the writing, yep, or maybe even more than just a hint, but at the same time the dialogues were fun, the characters too, and no matter whether that was in fact the case or not I got the feeling of depth. So, good writing even if I can’t actually call it that?
Heh, if this sounds confused, that's only because I am.
I guess the bottom line is that I had tons of fun with this one and it satisfied me in a very classical and long-lost way. :D...more
This left me with overall very mixed feelings. Rage, amusement, detachment, dubiousness, impatience, dénouement. In roughly that order, al2012 Review:
This left me with overall very mixed feelings. Rage, amusement, detachment, dubiousness, impatience, dénouement. In roughly that order, although the length of these varied greatly.
It only took two pages for logical inconsistencies to enrage me. But then I calmed down. XD
For a long while this remained a slightly silly, simple little story, but not necessarily in a bad way. Okay, “little” is perhaps inaccurate since this is again a longer book.
I might have liked both Julian and Cameron a little bit more in this book, but, truthfully, Cameron really is extremely naïve and not exactly the smartest cookie in the jar. (Even if he demonstrated heroic practicality in the later book.) As for Julian… Maybe liking him is a bit of a stretch. He’s (view spoiler)[a killer. And he enjoys his victims’ fear before he kills them. (hide spoiler)] That’s… more than a little dark and not the kind of attitude I like to see in a protagonist. No apologies offered for it either. I am not sure if that’s a point for the book or against it.
I am also not sure what that one reviewer was complaining about in terms of viewpoint. Sure, it’s not the cleanest type (in that occasionally something slips in like what the eyes or face of the viewpoint character look like at that moment), but they’re pretty much divided neatly otherwise. The reviewer claimed to have had difficulty at times knowing whose view it was due to the paragraph-switching style, yet that’s not something I noticed at all in this one. There are always chapter breaks, scene breaks or just plain breaks between viewpoint shifts.
What really annoyed me in the end was the stupidity of those killers. Both of them. (view spoiler)[Yeah, Julian too. (hide spoiler)] There’s just so much pointless crap. They should just go for the kill any chance they get. Playing games makes no f***ing sense in a professional world. I can see it happening if it’s just about them, but once others get involved, all rules should fall flat immediately. Thank god for Preston, the only one who is halfway reasonable in this mess. Too bad he’s the one losing out in the other series in the end.
And I don’t see how the main issue between Cameron and Julian is resolved by the end. (view spoiler)[Julian stops lying. Good. But he ends up giving up his job, which is what Cam wanted him to do, and which apparently was some sort of betrayal on Cam’s part because Julian’s work is who he is, so how on earth can the ending be that he quits anyway? Is this one of those instances where two wrongs make a right? Like Cameron’s breaking it off with Julian is balanced out by Julian letting him grieve his death? And even then, Julian is still quitting that job which supposedly was so f***ing defining for him. Bah. (hide spoiler)]
Not that I mind. It’s just the non-logic that’s killing me.
Anyhow. Come to think of it, there was an astonishing scarceness of sex in this book. Which may be a good thing because it wasn’t very impressive when it happened (kind of not fitting the characters and not really knowing where it was trying to go except very normal and bland sex), but it’s still strange since the relationship of these two seemed to consist of little else, when you think about it. What they had was sex, plus for Cameron it was Julian’s mysterious good looks, and for Julian it was Cam’s normalcy and averageness. I guess those are some truly excellent reasons for falling in love. [/sarcasm] Not that I really saw much of that happen, even if some of their scenes had cuteness.
One thing’s for sure though. The ending was much too short. Yes, it could have been worse, but something like this deserved an epilogue of some kind, a way to watch them doing it right this time. I guess we get that in the other book they later appear in as side characters but that’s really not how it should have worked. And it doesn’t help me that I read that one first. :P
Ah, whatever. In the end I can just say that it did not have most of the faults I expected and it wasn’t awful, but it also wasn’t all that great....more
This one was different yet again. A lot more sex this time around, but in context with the plot2012 Review:
Yes. We’re so very much on the right track.
This one was different yet again. A lot more sex this time around, but in context with the plot that made sense and it never got boring. Lots of tenderness evolving between those two, with Ty settling into the melancholy knowledge that he loves Zane, and with Zane… Well.
That’s tricky. Zane’s so deep in denial, it isn’t even funny. The series still pretends he never said that “I love him” at the end of book one. (view spoiler)[But by the end of this, Ty has finally spilled the beans (in the most awesomely timed manner possible) and Zane’s getting used to maybe, perhaps, eventually daring to allow himself to realize what he’s feeling. Heh. (hide spoiler)]
Of course that will most likely take a while yet and I just hope Ty is hanging in there. The title of the next volume, Divide & Conquer, does not exactly inspire confidence in that regard but I have to trust in the authors’ will to keep them together and close. And ultimately as happy as possible by the end. Even if it’s never free of melancholy and lacks that complete mutual understanding of love. I shall be patient. Wonder, too, how it will be once the books are written only by one of the authors anymore after the next.
Back to this one. It had a thriller plot from almost start to end, with some dangerous situations that played out pretty beautifully. In retrospect it was interesting, but maybe not the most fascinating plot. The book’s strength lay in the relationship development. Subtle to a point, intense, more or less deep, and very well written.
Jeez, who’d have expected this?
No complaint, though. Just please, please, please don’t make me suffer during the next one!
And I am disappointed that (view spoiler)[Zane never gave Ty the necklace (hide spoiler)]. So close and then a complete misinterpretation! Again. I think the authors are toying with me. XD...more
Huh. This turned out a lot briefer than I’d remembered.
It’s still very good and I want to read right on, but I’m baffled. I thought this w2012 Review:
Huh. This turned out a lot briefer than I’d remembered.
It’s still very good and I want to read right on, but I’m baffled. I thought this was a full-sized novel. How strange.
So, this is the first in a series dealing with the same protagonist, ego perspective. Psychic cops. Gay, too. And dammit, this was awesome! I almost exploded at the end. <3
This one was worth every single line, every phrase. And it wasn’t the usual fare either. Sure, they had sex pretty fast and without much ado, but on the other hand it did not happen a lot in the entire story and it was more about touching and feeling and all that, (view spoiler)[while penetration took so much a back seat that it actually did not happen (hide spoiler)]. Add to that a firm level of realism. No, this was not about sex at all, despite (view spoiler)[them both coming together on page eleven and hardly talking much with each other in the entire book (hide spoiler)].
It maybe wasn’t predominantly a romance either. It was about Vic, the narrator, who is incredibly endearing and sad and funny to read about. He’s a mess; his life is a mess. But he is… just the right mix of… something. He’s a very good guy. And damn, he made me laugh out loud so often despite the fact that my mood was not really tilting that way.
It also was about Vic’s talent. About ghosts and monsters and genuine scariness and trauma, yet the latter in an aside way, something sliding into place in the background. God, so many things happened here that would just blow anyone’s mind but I loved how little fuss there was, despite things not being downplayed. It drove the point home just how screwy Vic’s life really is.
It was smart, too. An interesting variation on reality there. Well written? Hell, yes. It felt good and scary and engaging and never ever boring.
And with all that the romance aspect was still cute in its blunt way. I am eternally grateful this is a series. After the first book there’s no way I'd have had even remotely enough yet!
Anyway, poor, sweet Vic. I still very much like the ending there. ^_^ I think I like Jacob a lot more and a lot faster this time, as well. (view spoiler)[Probably because this time around I already know he’s on the up-and-up and devoted to Vic already. That’s quite the relief. ^^;; (hide spoiler)]...more
It didn’t start so well. The first chapter was almost a complete waste, being nearly entirely useless to the st2012 Review:
Oh, boy. Never easy, is it?
It didn’t start so well. The first chapter was almost a complete waste, being nearly entirely useless to the story.
I was not very happy to see things had begun to break down between Ty and Zane already. Not really something I like to start a book with but I’ve seen it before with series of this type and it usually turns out well for me. Eventually.
A lil grating were those references to the events of the previous book. It did not need to be so very repetitive and spelled out, really.
Viewpoints are cleaned up mostly now, though. And yet somehow I’m not sure that’s actually good in this very particular case. Go figure. Still, the jury is out on that one.
This was a strange book, really. For one thing, it felt considerably shorter than the first one. Secondly, what thriller/survival plot we had took almost half the book to get even remotely hinted at. And even then it took a long while to gather momentum.
Weird thing too. Zane’s “honest, gut answer” to whether he loves Ty is “no”? What happened to “I love him” from the last book?
I don’t really understand why everyone was insisting that Zane is the wreck and the problem. He certainly seemed a lot calmer, reasonable and logical than Ty at almost any given moment. About their relationship too, maybe, although that one’s a really weird mess. The way they interpret and react to each other is depressingly realistic in its no-way-out depressing-ness.
That’s really one of the larger issues I am beginning to have here. The inability of these two to come clean about what they mean to each other and the depressing conviction both have that the other will never love him. Jeez. It makes me twitchy about what’ll be next. I need some resolution here, some payback, please. A little more than this completely hidden, uneasy stuff. Because I care very much. Which indicates something good about the series, I’m sure. I just hope I will be rewarded with something more reassuring eventually. Soon, please.
Anyway, Zane gets to be really cool whenever Ty flips the crazy switch, though. Zane as a cold-blooded killer? Funny how they still keep exchanging roles. In the first book it happened several times, which made for some quality character development, actually. A rarity, these days.
On another note of realism, though… I am pretty sure it’s not possible to kiss the way they do, passionately and carried away with it, when one of them has a broken nose.
Much less give a blowjob. Even less likely if it’s the first one ever… Glad that Zane realizes that too. :P
Jeez. How is this even possible when I distinctly recall Zane wanting to do just that late in the previous or early in this book? Inconsistencies like this annoy me. What’s up with this weirdly reverse way of doing things, anyway? Why is anal sex the first goal every time? Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned rubbing off or hand jobs? Blowjobs are nice too, but apparently they’ve been taboo for these guys. Weird.
So. I’ve been complaining a whole lot here, and yet I still did not want to stop reading. Admittedly, during the first half it was sheer bloody-mindedness that kept me going, in the hope for some relief and, well, plot. Later on I got into it though. Those poor guys really get put through the wringer in each book so far. So much almost-dying. @.@
I’m getting off track again. So yes, I ended up very involved again. And a lot more amused at times than I’d have expected....more
I melted. I’m completely and utterly liquefied right now.
This was a long book, more than 150k words, and it was glorious. Oh yeah. The comp2012 Review:
I melted. I’m completely and utterly liquefied right now.
This was a long book, more than 150k words, and it was glorious. Oh yeah. The complete works. Depth, characterization, voices, intelligence, research so thorough and intricately woven into the story that it’s unnoticeable and just feels like the author is an assassin and a surgeon. Great plot, very subtly developing romance. Yeah, for a long time that last bit remained subtle and like a brittle piece of glass that evades sight in the play of light streaming through it.
‘Yeah,’ D murmured. ‘I like him well enough. Enough ta be glad I didn’t kill him.’
Another pause. ‘How close did you come?’ Stan asked, his voice very even and quiet.
D closed his eyes. ‘I don’t wanna think about that.’ Real fuckin’ close. Too fuckin’ close. Ta think I almos’ put a bullet between them eyes, and took that life that now I’d die ta save, and I never woulda known what he was in the world, and who he was or could be, and I woulda never even known what I was missin’, nor known how right it could feel just ta lay my fingers alongside his.
This after seventy-seven large, small-font pages, right after a fight they had with D struggling to hold on to his denial. (hide spoiler)] And that’s the most explicit indication of anything romantic we’d had by this point. And yet the emotional descriptions were intense for all their subdued ways. Chokingly intense. Damn, this is an excellent book.
(view spoiler)[Honestly, when they shared what they thought would be the last weekend together that they’d ever have, because of the likelihood that one or both of them would be dead soon, and pictured how it could have been for them to be together… It choked me up, seriously choked me despite knowing it’d end happily. That’s the sheer power of this skilful narration. That very situation felt too much like being incurably ill and just spending the last few hours together. So… resigned and yet there’s such love. (hide spoiler)] Whoa, writing this I am making myself cry if I am not careful and move on fast.
And then it made me cry anyway.
All the while this is not a depressing book, it’s simply deep and thorough and what starts out and remains a thriller for a long while reveals itself to be a story about two lonely individuals and their struggle to forge a bond and then a relationship and, plainly, stay alive.
What it isn’t, in any way, shape or form, is one of those ‘erotic romances’. The sex is rough and real and far more about what it signifies and means than about the act itself. And there’s an unexpected beauty in that very thing.
I think towards the very, very long ending the author got a little carried away with exploring how they deal with life and each other after they get their happy ending, but in many ways this makes perfect sense as part of the story. It simply defies the usual structure and abandons the thriller aspect. Actually, this is more than fine with me since, probably along with the author, I came to care so deeply for these protagonists (and a few of the secondary characters) that I was not ready to let go yet and relished these looks at the two of them from an outsider’s view.
Another thing I wish to mention, or rather stress, is how freaking long this book was. Yeah, I used to read longer books regularly back when I was eating my way through every piece of paper I could get my hands on. These days a lot of the stories I encounter are handled in a much quicker way, probably because most of it is, essentially, kinda trash. Those very long series? Often they are something like 40k words or less apiece. Some only even aspire to 25k. Those would be short stories or novellas, except the series status kind of messes with that.
What I am getting at was that during reading this I kept looking at my PDF reader’s slider and the page number ratio and found myself stunned over and over how much I’d read and yet how much there was still to follow, how small my actual progress in the book was as opposed to how it felt. The narration’s just so deep and so dense that it completely drew me in. I haven’t felt so entrenched in a book in a long time. Maybe Mary Calmes’ A Matter of Time did it last (although with a lot more emotional anguish for me) and that one was pretty long too. What I mean is the kind of reading where you can’t stop and even when you do take a break for necessity’s sake or whatever, your mind keeps swirling around it, unable to tack on to other things for long. That sort of impact.
And oh god, did it make me cry. Luckily not for long and this is one of those things that are in favour of the book as it happened for all the right reasons and did not leave me inconsolable. bBut yeah. Powerful.
So much gushing, huh?
Now I am done with this book but, yay, the author provided us with a few short stories to follow up after this. Honestly, I think I love her not simply for the fact that she gave me a book as wonderful as this, but also for taking such good care of me when it comes to gentling me out of my obsession afterwards. <3
How strange that she has nothing else published that I can find, and this book’s not exactly new either.
And yeah, I have to say this: Maybe this isn’t high literature, but it’s still an amazing, excellent book and the author is brimming with talent and skill. What’s high literature, anyway? At this point I can’t even remember anymore. Let it just be said that this was great. It was serious and deep and enriched my life and I am looking forward to reading it again.
On to the short sequels. Addendum: Yeah, on that note? I found the sequel short stories rather depressing. Might be a good idea to skip them if you wish to preserve that sense of everything being right with this story's world and its protagonists....more
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