osaraba | Recent readings. (oooh, look, it's an alliteration!)

What I've read recently:

Don't Look Back by Amanda Quick:

It's interesting, she's sort of following in the footsteps of Nora Roberts, Iris Johansen, Catherine Coulter by taking two characters and extending their story into a series rather than just one stand-alone novel with perhaps a sequel or two that focus on different characters, but where the two original characters have a cameo appearance of sorts. I think it's cool. I've always been more inclined to read a series of books about a main character rather than one novel with a cameo appearance in other novels. Not that that sort of thing is bad -- not at all! Many times, it's unexpected, and then you go, "Ooohh! I missed him! I'm so glad I got a chance to see him again!" But sometimes having the same main character throughout several books is cool too.

So anyway, it's the second book in the series with the same main characters, and though it is a historical romance, Amanda Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz's historical romance nom de plume), it's not a yucky bodice-ripper thing. I've always enjoyed Quick's novels -- they've always been historical romantic suspense, and her mysteries are always amusing and intriguing at the same time. And while it may seem like Quick's only now beginning to follow in the footsteps of the authors I mentioned above, it's actually sort of a mutual thing... they've only recently crossed over into the Mystery genre, but all of Quick's novels have been mysteries... none of them were "purely" romance, and in my opinion her writing is much more enjoyable. It's odd, because I tend to dislike Krentz's writing (her contemporaries), but I immensely enjoy Quick's writing (her historicals). Which in and of itself is odd because I greatly prefer contemporaries over historicals. Gah. It makes no sense.

Okay, so I didn't say anything about the actual book. ::shrugs:: But this is already too long; I'm moving on.

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn:

Quinn and Quick are actually the only two historical romance writers that I will still read -- the rest are just atrocious. I was never a fan of historicals, but at least these two have some decent stuff! This latest by Julia Quinn is the latest in a series about interconnecting characters from the same time period (early 19th century) in London's ton. And in this last book, we readers finally get to see who the mysterious, scandalously blunt columnist, Lady Whistledown is! And it was a pretty good story too. One thing I love about Julia Quinn is how the male and female leads actually become friends before sort of falling into a romantic relationship. Especially in the historical subgenre of romance, friendship between lovers is quite rare, and I think it's such a shame because really, friendship is what makes relationships (romantic and otherwise) special. The reason there are so many historical romances out there where the main couple is dominated by the aggressive man (aside from the fact that the stupid authors write them that way) is that there's no friendship between the couple. When there's a true friendship, there's more equality between the relationship -- because a true friend wouldn't want to dominate another true friend.

Mistress of Instruction by... Christine Kerr?:

I think that's the author's name... I don't quite remember at the moment. I happened to be passing by the erotica section and I saw this book and started reading it. I couldn't help but buy it 'cause I was hooked -- unlike many other "historical" erotica, it doesn't only vaguely describe the acts of sex, nor does it try to shock the reader through vague references to supposedly depraved forms of sex (scat, golden showers, S&M type stuff, etc.). In fact, all the sex that's described (and boy, is there a lot of it!) is pretty normal -- straight, gay, lesbian, multiple partner, anal, vaginal, oral... but it's not anything most people would think is "out there." And... it's actually hot, descriptive, graphic! I was so impressed! It was like reading a really long, continuous, deliciously lemony Plot?-What-plot?-with-a-plot! It was grand!

Purity In Death by J.D. Robb:

I was very impressed with this latest installment of Nora Roberts' In Death series. Roarke was satisfyingly non-overly-intrusive. He wasn't being a big fat pain in the ass who overrode Eve's orders on a whim. McNab was injured, so Peabody was by his side during most of the book, and therefore she wasn't as annoying as she usually is. Feeney came out a bit more, so enjoyed seeing him. And something that McNab said to Peabody made my really like him, instead of just liking him and thinking that he's cool. Basically, it went back to the more coppish/mystery stuff and veered away from the relationship stuff. Not totally, of course, because then it just wouldn't be Nora. But enough that I thought it was really cool and not stupid and boring and purple with prose. Nora has a tendency to go purple quite often. Especially when her characters are Irish, which is (nowadays) about 90% of the time, if not more. Not that I don't love Irish characters -- they're one of my favorites -- but sometimes you need a break, y'know?

Worlds of Honor, edited by David Weber:

It's actually an anthology of five short stories related to Honor Harrington, or at least the world that Honor's set in. So far, I've read the first one, The Stray by Linda Evans. It was good, but... not great. It was interesting because a lot of it focused on the treecat culture that is so mysterious in the canon, but... it just didn't pull me in. And not because some of it was from the treecats' points of view, either. I think it was just a bit disconcerting to read something about Honor's world by a writer whose writing style is nothing like that of David Weber's. Really weird.

I know there's either one or two more Honor anthologies out there, which unlike the canon series, I don't own. Even this particular copy is borrowed from the library. I haven't read them yet, and I think one of the only reasons I'm reading this one is because I am in desperate need of an Honor fix, but the newest book War of Honor will not be out until October. And I'm still undecided as to whether I'm going to buy it or not -- after all, it will be coming out in hardcover, so it'll be a bit more than I usually like to spend on a book. The only reason I'm even seriously considering it is because it comes with an exclusive CD-ROM. I've heard rumors that it has the whole series on it, which is certainly possible, considering Baen's openness toward free and inexpensive e-books, but those were just rumors and I won't really be able to decide until I know for sure what's on the CD-ROM.

Meanwhile, I'm also awaiting the release of Mercedes Lackey's new book Exile's Honor, which is supposedly Alberich's story. But nothing's coming out right now, so I'm going through withdrawal. Nothing I've read -- although very good and entertaining -- seems to be satisfying 'cause it's not what I really want to read! I want fantasy! I want sci-fi! I want Honor! ::sobs::