A Tale of Two A**holes, or: What a difference female agency makes

I recently listened to a book with an asshole hero and, around the same time, read another with a similar type of male lead.  Though there were problems with both, one of the books worked much better for me than the other.     The main reason I disliked the first book was that I could not like the hero.  But in both books, the hero is  an asshole.  So: why did I like one and not other?  This post is the result of my mental ramblings on the topic.  And it all comes down to female agency.

Book 1 was Fever (Breathless #2) by Maya Banks.   This author seems like a lovely lady from what I can tell from Twitter. My opinion of this book is in no way an opinion of her.  She tends to be a hit or miss author for me.  I loved Sweet Surrender and I enjoyed Rush, the first book in the Breathless series quite a bit.  But Fever was not a success.  While lots of people loved Fever (which is fine because Vegemite), it didn't work for me.

The second book was Tangled by Emma Chase.  Ms. Chase is a new author but I enjoyed her writing style and the humour of the book very much. (and again, just because I thought Drew was an ass, doesn't mean I think she is. Just to be clear).

The two books are very different in tone.  But they have in common that the male protagonist is a jerk.  I discussed Drew a fair bit in my review of Tangled. As the book is told from his point of view, we are steeped in Drew from start to finish. 

Fever is told in third person with the POV shifting between the two main characters.  But, Fever is almost always in the male gaze so our hero, Jace Crestwell is the most prominent character in the book by a factor of about a million.

I'm over at AAR & AudioGals today...

I have audiobook reviews in today's Speaking of Audiobooks column of Rush by Maya Banks and Breaking Point by Pamela Clare. 

PLUS I have a review of Calculated in Death up at AudioGals.

Come say hi. :)

Fantasy to the (Hyper) Extreme?

aka a kind of review and a rambling justification for why I like Reaper's Property by Joanna Wylde.

As I start this post, I'm about halfway through the book but I wanted to start getting my thoughts down before they scattered.  Reaper's Property was recommended to me by DA's Jane.  She said it was "hardcore" and "intense and emotional" and she clearly loved it.  Her recommendation was not without caveats however - she noted:  "Anyway, warning warning warning. Know that you are getting an over the top sexist parade of MC full of violence and wrongdoing when you read this book".

There has been comparison with Kristen Ashley's Motorcycle Club (MC) books - I have 1 or 2 on my TBR but haven't read any yet - I keep hearing about engaging stories but also poor grammar and sloppy/no editing and I'm kind of torn about taking the plunge in actually reading them because the latter things mean a lot to me.   This book, a little shorter than a KA book and better edited, lured me because of the promise of engagement and curiosity did the rest.  So I bought it.

I don't usually like my heroes to be less than heroic.  Why then am I enjoying this book, where the hero is named "Horse" (yes, it's after the size of his dick) and is a violent criminal?  It is this question I'm trying to answer and so my rambles begin.

July Reads

on Paper/eBook

A Little More Scandal by Carrie Lofty - B+   This recently released novella is a prequel of sorts to Flawless and the just now released Starlight and features the patriarch of the Christie family.  I've heard good things about Ms. Lofty's books but had never read one before. A 99c novella is a good way to test the waters with a new author.  I do think it is hard to write a complete story in such a short word count so I was especially pleased with my reading experience.  William Christie is a self made made, a large, arrogant, boorish Scot who is tolerated in Society because of his wealth and a previous advantageous marriage (he is now a widower).  Catrin Jones is a Welsh nurse who, on returning from the Crimea, was the only survivor of a shipwreck.  She realises she will have notoriety for a short time and wishes to use that time to find a suitable husband.  William wants shares in a newspaper and his part of the bargain is her story (which she has been notoriously closed mouth about).  Both have mercenary goals but both are deeply attracted.  I enjoyed the banter and the curious honesty between them.  It definitely made me want to read both Flawless and Starlight - and there are lengthy excerpts from both in the back.  Well played Ms. Lofty.

Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood - See my full review here.

Seven Day Loan by Tiffany Reisz - C-/D+  I found this hard to grade because although the story was written well, ultimately I found parts of the story distateful.  Also, it's not so much romance as erotica. I think I may have missed something. Maybe it is something to do with The Siren (which I haven't read yet)? I definitely got the sense that this was related to another book.  I think I would have had a better connection if I had understood the context more clearly but as it was, it felt a bit like a mid book excerpt rather than a complete story. There was something a bit unsavory and unsettling about Eleanor's background and primary relationship. Daniel seemed nice enough but I wasn't 100% sure about Eleanor's ability to give consent.

April Reads

on Paper/eBook

Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino - B- Brad Feller is a college student on a fraternity and athletic scholarship who, at the beginning of the book, realises there's no hiding from himself anymore - he's gay.  Sebastian is a TA for one of Brad's history classes and after Brad buys a paper online to get his attention, they start a relationship.  I found the second half of the book much more enjoyable than the first.  I was really struggling to get through the first half, but persisted because Sarah at DA liked it so much.  I didn't really get the humour in the first part of the book and I did not like the phrase "the nail in the coffin" which Brad's dad used when he was giving an example of why he thought Brad was gay - that seemed very negative to me.   Some of the phrasing confused me and I had to read over it a few times to work out what was being said and that threw me out of the story at times.  It's a fairly gentle story with not a lot of conflict - Brad's coming out is fairly easy from what I could see in the book and any struggle he may have had with being gay had been resolved before the book started.

However, thes scenes when Brad came out to his friend Kyle and later, to the frat itself, were very funny and the sex was definitely hot.  It's a short book - only 165 pages but it retailed at $6.99 which I thought was pretty pricey.  Between that and the title, I don't think I would have picked it up at all if not for Sarah's recommendation. It was one of those rare books where her tastes and mine didn't quite mesh - go figure.    Am I sorry?  Well, no.  But, I wish I'd managed to buy it on special somewhere.

Marathon Cowboys by Sarah Black First off, I really like this cover. Did I like the book though?  Well, I did. But.  

Sweet Addiction by Maya Banks

Why I read it:  I've read all the other books in the series and I wanted to read Cole's story.  Isn't the cover pretty?

What it's about:  (blurb from Goodreads)  He awakened a need within her…

Cole is successful beyond his dreams. He can have any woman he wants, but there’s only one he can’t stop thinking about. His childhood sweetheart, Renita. He’s never forgotten his first taste of innocent love and the desire that consumed them—or the pain he brought upon her…

But now she belongs to another…

Her long ago brush with submission awakened a longing in Ren that drove her to walk the darker edge of desire. She’s become a beautiful woman at ease with her sexuality and unapologetic about her need for a dominant man. When Cole finds her again, he’s gutted that she belongs to another. Ren’s current master agrees to give her to Cole for a short time, but then she must return to his keeping. And though Cole agrees to this bargain, he knows he will never be able to let Ren go again…

Before I start:  I follow Maya Banks on Twitter and Facebook and she seems, from her interactions there, to be a very nice lady.  A number of my Twitter friends (or, as my 9 year old calls them "Tweet Pals") appear to actually be pretty good friends with her.    It makes it harder then, to write a review which is mostly negative.