Monthly Roundup - October 2014

Ok, so I'm a few days late - make that two months late by the time I publish this. I wrote about half of this back in November, but I got really distracted. Let's just say I worked super hard on my NaNoWriMo project, so this post got pushed back a little bit. I'm not quite done with that project, I have about 47K words and still about four scenes to write before I say I'm done. It's still very nerve-wracking. I just don't know what will happen but I'm pushing through and getting writing in when I can.

On top of that, I'm getting antsy that I really want to "fix" things in the beginning of the story right now. I'm sure I could add more words that way, but I don't think it's a good use of my time at the moment. I think I would get stuck spinning in a circle if I let myself go too far back before I get more of the story out. There'll be plenty of time for that later.

So anyway, onto the books...

What I've been reading
Exposed by Fate by Tessa Bailey
This one just didn't do it for me. In terms of BDSM introductions, it included a lot of appropriate information, but I felt like every time they had sex, something cataclysmically bad happened in their relationship right after that. I didn't believe their happily ever after because they didn't have any interactions (especially sexual) where they actually clicked as a couple and stayed close for more than twelve hours. On top of that, I felt like there was a lot of patriarchal stuff thrown in. Oliver was jealous and possessive and he had a tendency say nasty things. While I wouldn't say Eliza accepted it, per se (she called him out a bunch of times), I never really saw evidence that he grew as a person enough to treat her as an individual when another stressful situation came up after the timeline of the book was over.

Earthbound Passion by Jody Wallace
Super funny and great for a light-hearted read. I had to stop and think about some of the puns because they were just so good. I will definitely get book 2, in fact, since I wrote this up so long ago, I've already gotten and read about half of book two. The only thing I was iffy on was the concept of the choose your own story because I had to keep jumping back and forth so I could read all the paths. There's just no possible way to read through a book and not know what all the pages say.

No More Mr. Nice Guy by Amy Andrews
I read this one a second time because I couldn't remember enough of it except that I liked it. Fun, sexy, kinky-lite and very passionate. Exactly what I would hope for when I pick up an Amy Andrews book. This one wasn't too heavy on the angst, but I enjoyed it a lot.

He Touches Me and He Claims Me by Cynthia Sax
I enjoyed the first part of this trilogy (He Watches Me), but these next two lost a lot of steam for me. Not only are they totally over the top, but they felt like a constant re-hashing of the same tired feelings over and over again. Anna never seemed to grow and she felt so passive to me, like she was just a stand-in for what a character should be. It was an interesting exhibitionist mentality, but I didn't see much growth or ownership of their relationship. Gabriel was kind of creepy and Anna was just a shell.

Pet to the Tentacle Monsters by Lilia Ford
Ok, yes. I read it. It was...interesting. We don't get a lot of background; the sci-fi scenarios and reasons are very vague. It's this BDSM sort of thing that is weird and awkward with aliens, but only some of the aliens are sexual and I still have no idea why.

I also re-read Officer Off Limits by Tessa Bailey
Still love it.

What I've been cooking
I went through a spurt of cooking like crazy. It was like I was preparing way in advance for NaNoWriMo when I told myself I wouldn't cook that much. I made so many batches of fruit roll ups for the kids, applesauce, cookies, extra stews and burgers. So instead, we ate all the food by the first of November and I still had to cook. I'm trying to tell myself pasta and salads are good for the month.

What I've been listening to
My writing music is Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, K.626. Especially when I'm sitting at Starbucks and it's noisy (hello, person who talks on their cellphone), this one is great. No words that I understand, so I'm not distracted. I put it on repeat and it hasn't gotten old yet.

Tell Me When by Mia West

Tell Me When
by Mia West
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

I pretty much stopped reading for the month of November. I feel like I didn't get through any books. But...that's not quite true. I spent two or three evenings in November reading Tell Me When by Mia West. And let me tell you, it was totally worth it.

This was a big one for me. It was a little different than a typical romance novel. It was set up as a collection of seven different adventures for Bryn. Each one can somewhat stand on its own, but they're all one connected story. Each story is very sexual and I would say they all include some kind of taboo or uncommon bit of sexuality. Bryn has sex with multiple partners and that could possibly be a turn off for some people, but the story is a time-travel adventure that lives outside “normal” life for me. There was no judgement in any of the scenarios and only a small amount of jealousy from the main characters' relationship. All of the sex scenes were very hot and steamy and pushed limits in a consensual way.

So this is a romance that develops slowly over the course of all the adventures. In general, a large chunk of the sex is not connected to a relationship but the author carefully explores the idea of objectification and shows (in this fantasy world) how sex can be caring and individual even if it doesn't lead to a permanent relationship.

As for the world-building, I still had a lot of questions when I got to the end of the series. I didn't find a lot of answers to the hows and whys behind the story. A couple details were shared, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the way the world was setup.

But the romance, the sexuality, the acceptance, the interestingness of the adventure? Pulled me in and I had trouble putting the book down. It was raw and gritty, some parts of pain and gruesomeness, but very sexy with lots of positive feelings for me. I will definitely look for more by this author.

Note: The first story in this combined series is Initiation which I also blogged about here. It's a great introduction to see if you'd like the whole story.

*This review is archived on my blog: The Theory of Lieto Fine

Compelled by Mia West

Compelled
by Mia West
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started reading this book pretty much as soon as I got it. I was very excited about it. Lately, I've been on a roll for very compact stories and this one fit the bill just right. I love Mia West's voice, her stories really pull me in and leave me with a smile on my face. I pretty much ignored the world for this story and it was worth it.

Kat and Neil get trapped on a deserted island after the weekly ferry leaves without them. They end up having a little bit of camping jungle adventure. The whole story is pretty much just the two of them, no outside influences, nothing to interrupt their budding relationship.

Kat is an invisible-feeling people-person, while Neil is an awkward, geeky, know-it-all type. I felt like the author really got deeply into their heads. Neil uses big words and thinks very analytically. Kat's thoughts and actions are much more flowy and organic. I loved how the author could switch back and forth between their heads so naturally.

There's a bunch of awkward sexual situations, with Kat being a virgin and Neil not. Their relationship grew at a steady pace and progressed from looking to touching to full-on sex. Kat felt self-conscious about her own body, but in some ways, I felt she got over it very quickly. And she wasn't at all self-conscious about Neil's body. They were able to grow their relationship in sexy and emotional ways with a lot of analytical language and some not-mainstream sex acts (hello, little bit of butt play).

The story is rather short, a little more than an hour to read, which perfectly fit the amount of time I had. The sex was kind of awkward and analytical, but it flowed naturally with the story and how the characters interacted. The beginning and ending felt solid, even though there were lots of questions left open. Their relationship was enjoyable to watch and I felt good about where they went. I think this is my favorite book of the series.

This is book three of the Stranded series, but all books are standalone with no overlapping storylines.

I received a complementary copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.

*This review is archived on my blog: The Theory of Lieto Fine

Blog Neglect

Hello, my poor neglected blog. I haven't seen you in a while. I'm not quite done with my NaNo project draft, but it's good to procrastinate sometimes, especially when it's such an important task as blog updates. I had the start of a November Wrap Up going, but I think I'll start off with something different.

To kick things off again, I thought we could have a little Throwback Thursday thoughts. Now, I don't know what most of you grew up reading. When my husband tells stories of his reading assignments, they were always so literary: Catcher In The Rye or John Steinbeck novels. And sure, I read Little Women growing up - had a few classical novels in college too. But the bulk of my early reading was Christian Children's Fiction.

Like these two:



















These were two of my best remembered re-reads. I swear I must have read them more than five times each. They were published by BJU Press way back in the 80s and I think my mom bought the entire catalog of children's fiction that year - at least, that's what my childhood brain remembers.

The Journeyman was this story about a kid who is raised by a neighbor until a journeyman painter comes through and takes the boy with him to apprentice. From what I remember, it was engaging and fascinating. I mean, obviously I read it a whole lot of times.

But when I look back on it now, I think how the mom of this boy died trying to keep his newborn body warm during a cold winter. I think about why that would have happened if dad was in the bed too, because it's not like they were trapped outside or something. I get so disturbed by the message that your parents don't love you, except the dead ones.

The second book in the series (also well-loved by childhood-Me) is of this kid as an adult and ugh. I can't even describe how it bothers me to look back on. He's married, but looking back he was so arrogant, or maybe his wife was just painted as "not as faithful" as him. Because, of course. I think I re-read it and always made myself into the guy, so at least I wasn't the weak one. But it's still a sad commentary on the state of what the books teach kids about marriage and family.

And then the there's the other story. Two Collars. It's the last book in a trilogy - also well-loved by childhood-Me. I think I read the other books in the series more than this one, but this one sticks out in my head more. Even childhood-Me got disturbed by it.

This girl (Yes! main character is a girl. The whole series has female leads, but they always have a lot of arrogance that needs to be stripped out of them, so they learn to be more submissive to "God's plan). Anyway, the girl is a slave in a juggling troupe. Beaten, starved, the whole nine yards. But when this older woman purchases her, something happens. I don't really remember what. All I remember of the story was that the girl eventually got her freedom when the older woman died, but by then she understood that she was never really free anyway because the collar put on her by God (or something) was invisible.

I think about all of this as I head off to the Scholastic book sale tomorrow. I'm not against my kids reading books about hard subjects, but it really bothers me when there's obviously an agenda to paint someone in the story as God or Jesus for these people, so that the kids reading would make a connection to the way God works in the world. Especially when it ends up with a hokey everything-bad-was-really-good way.

You don't like being a slave? Get used to it, cause God asks that of you too - but he's nicer. You as a girl want to see a good example of loving your children? Die for them, or if not, you can love all the other children by taking them in cause your own don't matter as much as the other ones. You want to be a leader, as a girl? You have to empty yourself of everything and allow God to put people in your path who know how to lead, silly girl.

Ugh, so obviously I still have some unresolved issues about these books. You can bet I'm not buying them for my kids to read. Here kids, have Diary of a Wimpy Kid instead. :P