First Month, First Lines... (Big Dreams Blog Update #16)

Okay!

First Update Day post of 2015: for those of you who are out-of-the-know, every month for the past year and few months I’ve been diligently (this is a shock for me!) participating in the Big Dreams/Do You Have a Goal? blog hop hosted by authors MishaGericke and Beth Fred.

What do the 17 bloggers share in common? We all have big, crazy dreams we’re sharing with the world (at least) one blog update a month.

My crazy goal—which isn’t too crazy unless you know me and my super not-awesome-at-all procrastination—is to write one million words-worth of completed stories. Because, like I said, huge procrastinator here and I have trouble seeing promises through to the end…

You can join us and/or cheer us on here!

My big goal hasn’t changed, but I haven’t really started this year off on the note I was hoping.

January was a hard and sad month for me and it had nothing to do with recovering from a wisdom tooth extraction. That, thankfully, went really smooth!

Look at the size of that cheek! Also fat lips. Hehe. But I got no excuse for that hair!

No. This month was filled with reflection. And a lot of tears pre- and post-Blue Monday.

You see I’m at a place in my life where I have to face one big fact that I’ve been pushing back to the furthest recesses of my mind up until now: I don’t know who I want to be.

It only became glaringly obvious because I completed uni and my CV is abysmal, and I don’t have any clue what to do next… Well at least solidly. I have no contingent plans…well, not really strong contingent plans because Plan A is all over the place.

All I know and can be sure of is what I like right now, but I don’t have any immediate career goals. Even with my writing: sure I fantasize about being a full-time author, but there’s so much (and oddly enough so little) I have control of.

For instance I can’t control whether an agent offers me representation or how/when my stories will be published (in the traditional sense). But I can control my writing, starting projects and committing to “The End”.

Which is why I REALLY need to get back on track. A.S.A.P.

Unfortunately stories are completed by themselves.

And short of drugging myself through the whole process (I do have tons of codeine left from molar extraction), I’m just going to have to suck it up and ride out every down and up, up and down. Still though I get that, it doesn't make it any easier to actually sit down and face the blank screen of the word processor and that first line...

Did I mention I hate writing first lines?

Anyways after doing a lot of thinking I decided to tackle my writing fear by first sticking to a project. Choosing my WIP and riding out that dreaded first line…ugh, and then hopefully falling into the happy place after the middle half of the book onward.

On the reading front that's going much better than writing. So far I’ve been reading more than the one book/week schedule. That’s great. Now hopefully February’s Update Day will be more fruitful in the writing sphere of my life.

How has your January been?

BOOK REVIEW (10): Confidential: Expecting!

BOOK REVIEW:

Confidential: Expecting!

Another sweet romance break after reading a lot of steamy paranormal action, Jackie Braun’s Confidential: Expecting! offered a nice break.

Told mostly from the heroine’s perspective, Confidential: Expecting! hints that it’s a baby story. BUT baby doesn’t make a cameo unless and not really even as a baby bump; the pregnancy doesn’t get that far before the end.

So heroine Mallory Stevens is a journalist who earned a reputation as being quite ravenous and uncaring when she scented out a great story, hence the nickname “pitbull”. But then she meets the hero, a local (the story is set in Chicago) celebrity Logan Bartholomew—what a last name!—and though it starts off as using their attraction to gain leverage to Logan’s dirty laundry, she of course starts falling for him hard and that complicates career plans.

Which explains why most of the conflict is internal: Logan struggles with his insecurities with relationships and Mallory struggles with her childhood-gained low self-esteem and threshold for taking risks (and considering life is all about risks, and her job as a journalist involves tons of risks, she’s got a problem).

That and their several nights of censored passion—remember sweet romance!— Mallory learns she’s pregnant with Logan’s kid (oh and that wasn’t a spoiler guys, you sorta can put two-and-two together if you read the blurb).

As far as work-related romances go, I’d say I liked Confidential: Expecting! because it was 1) written well: the pacing’s superb—the story/relationship spans out over about 2 months and it didn’t feel rushed for a story that’s ~50K; 2) characterization-wise I found Mallory’s bluntness as endearing as Logan had; 3) there was no over-the-top craziness—it was done well enough that it really did feel realistic, and though personally I don’t go around searching for or injecting too much realism into my romance, the HEA (or is it HFN?) was super real.

And speaking of ends, this one has a twist in the black moment. One that I didn’t expect and it made the last twenty or so pages fly by because I was THAT more eager to find out what happened in the end. Just throwing it out there as a warning! Last twenty pages are addictive and you’ll be in it for the long haul!

There was nothing I hated about this book. It was read quick. It got to the point and it was done. Ms. Braun didn’t feel the need to tie up every knot, but it worked! It worked extremely well!

That’s it then, short review for a speedy read. :)

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

BAKING REVIEW (1): Apple Cinnamon White Cake

BAKING REVIEW:

Apple Cinnamon White Cake

I've been meaning to put up some of my recipe attempts all last year, but I never got to it. I guess I was swept up by school and reading and getting into the habit of writing. This year I decided to set a goal of posting up at least one recipe attempt every month. So 12 recipes is the goal, and I figured with the end of this month quickly closing--seriously I haven't felt the last three weeks go by--here's the first recipe review.

I chose Apple Cinnamon White Cake for its simplicity...and I needed to get rid of an apple. I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen, so it was more the matter of following the instructions and getting this baby in the oven (and cleaning up the dishes, but no one wants a re-hash of that).

This is what the cake looks like in all its original glory:

courtesy of Allrecipes user Jinglebells

And this is what my attempt looked like:

See the bite? I couldn't help myself...

 And here on a plate.

Now looking at it almost side-by-side, mine doesn't look all that bad... And it actually tastes really great! I mean, it's edible. Really soft though, but I guess that's to be expected. I find white cakes are very soft.

I actually traded the 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour with a supplementary 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour. So I used 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour. Why? Because I wanted to. I actually prefer whole wheat foods, so...yeah. Good enough reason.

Now I only wish I chopped the apples smaller. I found they were really big cubes, but the recipe doesn't really explain what size the apples should be. Maybe next time (yes, I loved this recipe enough to make it a 'keeper') I'll shred the apple. Try that for a spin?

One last thing: they baked at the suggested 40 mins. and the prep wasn't too long. Although I'm not counting the dish-washing...

My verdict:

❤❤❤❤

(4 hearts)

BOOK REVIEW (9): The Andreou Marriage Arrangement

BOOK REVIEW:

The Andreou Marriage Arrangement

Taking a break between the paranormal, my next review is on author Helen Bianchin’s The Andreou Marriage Arrangement.

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of sweet category romance with little to no mention of sex, and babies—lots of babies!

I have gone back to the land of alpha males and wealthy fantasies though with Harlequin’s Presents line, and The Andreou Marriage Arrangement was…an interesting read.

The hero, Loukas Andreou is one of the docile alpha heroes I rarely get to read… Usually this line boosts guys who are really in-your-face and heroines who are sassy and push those refined buttons so well they make the hero lose his collected control—yeah. But with Loukas and heroine Alesha Karsouli, there was never really an argument. Not one.

Not even in the black moment, nearer the end of the book where something climactic does happen but it is not preceded by an argument and it doesn’t lead to one either. It was strange.

Also the book was almost entirely from Alesha’s perspective. Loukas had few chances to get his thoughts in and when he did, it was a brief camera switch—like the author hopped into Loukas’ mind—while he was in a room talking with Alesha and then would turn the camera over onto Alesha again.

Typically I get 40/60 with these lines…or at the very least 30/70. And personally, I didn’t like that Alesha was basically the sole narrator. I get that romances are being digested by a greater female audience, but I actually prefer reading the hero’s POV. As a writer it’s also a great way for me to jump into the male’s head for a bit.

So I didn’t like the POV, I also didn’t like the chattiness of this novel.

But to be fair Alesha is presented as a prim heroine who could be the poster child for a manners school. And she thinks and talks using “big” words. Like her vocabulary forced me to look up some of the words she was using.

Still I felt there was a lot of overwrought description. Alesha showered a lot of times in this book, and I’m not sure why I needed to know that. It had nothing to do with her character. She also ate breakfast a lot and changed her clothes a lot…

At first I tried to dismiss this because of her past history with a first marriage that broke down and her experience with her less-than-savory first husband, but I can’t excuse it. So I’ll repeat myself, this book has an extremely annoying/distracting amount of purple prose. Don’t believe me? Here’s an example I’m still laughing at (nearer to the end of the book):

For a miniscule second she caught an overview of the medical set-up, but it was the man himself who garnered her total attention […] – p.163

A minuscule second?

Why is the adjective needed?

Can a second be any smaller? Yes, but…why not just use the term than. “For a nanosecond…” Or even “For a split second…” Though personally I would have just scratched it out and used “For a second she blahblahblah”.

Overall I liked Loukas’ character. It was refreshing to read about an alpha who didn’t toe the line—or the heroine’s personal space—every time he didn’t get his way. He was assertive and confident, but he was also loving and generally doting… as well as sexy during the fun times between (and around) the sheets.

I liked Alesha, too. And considering I was in her head most of the time, it was great that I could at least stand her. She has problems with trust, especially with man (and the novel explains why), so it was interesting to watch Loukas’ and her paper marriage develop into something more natural.

Considering that the book seemed to cover a few months, it moved at a relatively fast pace. By the end the HEA was well deserved.

If you’re in the market of easing into the alpha world of Harlequin Presents, I’d suggest The Andreou Marriage Arrangement as a starter…sorta like training wheels for the other alphas heroes that might rub you raw with their high-handed tricks and mercurial attitudes.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮

(4 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (8): Succubi Like It Hot (The Succubus Diaries #2)

BOOK REVIEW:

Succubi Like It Hot

You know all that stuff I said about Jackie Brighton (and her sexy masters), well… I didn’t think I would be addicted to the books because right after Succubus #1, I was itching for Succubus #2 already!

I managed to hunt down a copy of Succubi Like It Hot with the knowledge that I would probably be on “withdrawal” again

This second book in The Succubus Diaries series by Jill Myles takes Jackie & co. on a road trip. I love road trips. Never taken one myself—yet!

So of course cause this is a paranormal romance, PNR hijinks abound on the trip: almost sex, a curse, demons, more sex, porn convention, etc. (Check out the blurb for a better written sketch of events):

NOBODY SAID SUCKING WAS EASY.

With a hot new figure, her dream job as an archaeologist, and twogorgeous boyfriends to scratch her seductive Itch — an angel and a vampire — Jackie Brighton is totally getting the hang of life as a succubus. Then she accidentally knocks the pizza guy unconscious with her touch. Great — she'scursed. After striking a deal to get the curse lifted by a crafty demon, Jackie and her best friend Remy take a road trip to deliver a cryptic message to the nation's oldest succubus. Unfortunately, neither of her jealous lovers is talking to Jackie right now, and due to the curse, she's desperate to get her Itch scratched very soon. Their journey gets weirder with every mile — demonic possession, a charming stalker, a cryptic warning — and when they get to New Orleans, Jackie discovers a dangerous catch to her supernatural bargain. Someone wants her dead — again. Can a brainy vixen in a miniskirt outsmart the forces of evil?

*

BTW I found one line in the blurb that was hilarious!

Can a brainy vixen in a miniskirt outsmart the forces of evil?

The “brainy vixen” is Jackie Brighton, but for someone who has “bright” in her name, Jackie doesn’t have much going on upstairs.

As a reader I was told over and over again that Jackie is smart and that she has dreams to be an archaeologist and that she’s working for the city university, but her actions all contradict what we’re being told by other characters.

I don’t care if Zane or Noah or Remy think Jackie is smart, because she’s not! One thing I forgot to mention in Book 1’s review, Jackie is whiny.

Like REALLY whiny. I recently read Charlotte’s Web for a class, and Wilbur was hella whinny. But where as I found Wilbur to be more a child, I look at Jackie like an adult who shouldn’t be whining so damn much.

Also maybe because unlike Wilbur, Jackie is immortal and sure she can feel pain, lots of it, but she can also regenerate and heal and all that fancy body stuff.

And apparently the author wanted this book to have Jackie relying on herself and not on the help of her two sexy as sin masters, Zane and Noah (mostly Zane though), or her new best friend, Remy.

Tbh, I didn’t see any of that. I kept waiting and waiting for Jackie to do something that was worthy without help, but I was sorely disappointed. Some parts of the book, particularly the crucial parts nearer the end, have Jackie alone without the physical assistance of a vampire or fallen angel and all that she-bang (and as she keeps reminding us, Sucks/succubi have no strength). Still even alone Jackie gets helps. Okay, she’s a bit crafty and I kinda liked the ending…mostly because I saw no other way for the author to write it without A) overpowering Jackie (which would be seriously a big no-no for me) or B) having her rescued by some (i.e. Zane, or Noah, and/or Remy)

So as a writer I tip my hat off to Jill Myles, but as a reader I still don’t like Jackie. She’s still really judgmental and stupid…I mean her stupidity even affects Remy in this novel! I swear Remy is really dumb in Book 2 and a total rival for the title of TSTL Sucky. Actually I’ve sorta lost my faith in the succubi race…

Yet oddly enough I found Jackie both irksome and…intriguing.

Let me put it this way: there aren’t a lot of openly whiny heroines. Nowadays we hear all about the “kickass” and “strong” heroines, it’s hard not to appreciate what Ms. Myles might have been trying to do here with Jackie. Surely I might be whining too if I was a newborn supernatural facing a lot of the stuff that Jackie faces in the first book and now in Book 2.

What was hot about Book 2:

Zane…duh! Noah, too. The sexual chemistry was toned down a bit, and though there are still sex scenes, there isn’t that blind lust/love thing going on as much. Book 1 left off with Jackie balancing Zane and Noah and Book 2 picks this up again, only this time Jackie’s fantasy of sandwich sex is not a possibility considering Zane and Noah are unwilling to share.

The villain. I LOVED the villain in this one. The first book’s antagonist was…predictable. For some strange reason evil queens with crazy, evil plots bore me. And I hate when the evil queen is up against a female heroine. Too fairy tale-ish… But Book 2 redeems itself with an awesome villain who totally has a reason to exist for their evil intent.

The curse/supernatural STD.

Good one, author.

What I was not hot for about Book 2:

Jackie’s stupidity. We talked about that. The girl is very needy and always drags herself and others into trouble. She’s also not bright. And she’s super secretive for dumbass reasons… I mean we could have saved a lot of time if she might have told Noah some of the things she was guarding pertaining to the villain and her effin’ curse.

Also the fucking females in this story are either weak as chickenshit, TSTL, or clingy as hell (seriously even the evil vampire queen who doesn’t make face time in Book 2 manages to piss me off). Come on ladies, why are the men raining on your parade?

Although I don’t like Jackie as much as I should (and I’m sure the author intended, considering this series is thus far written in Jackie POV), I do like the pacing and the dialogue (alternately funny and sexy) and I loved the road trip idea.

If you’ve stuck around for Book 1 of the series, then Succubi Like It Hot will give you the same sort of fun, sexy times (and Zane!) experienced in its predecessor. And if it helps, Book 2 is better than Book 1.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮.5

(4.5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (7): Gentlemen Prefer Succubi (The Succubus Diaries #1)

BOOK REVIEW:

Gentlemen Prefer Succubi

After “umming” and “ahhing” over a selection of PNR titles, I finally decided to choose Jill Myles’ Gentlemen Prefer Succubi—and no, it wasn’t entirely because of that cool title (which makes me think of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), but more because the blurb at the book hooked me!

Jackie Brighton, our heroine, is supposed to be a wallflower. And she gets this supernatural makeover in lieu of being reborn as a succubus, or as the novel endearingly calls this supernatural breed, reborn as a baby Suck.

The proud fathers—not what you think!—are also the love interests; thus our adventure begins!

But just in case the blurb can do it better, here it is:

Who Knew An Angel Could Get A Girl In So Much Devilish Trouble?

Jackie Brighton woke up in a Dumpster this morning, and her day has only gotten weirder. Her familiar B-cups have somehow become double Ds, her sex drive is insatiable, and apparently she had her first one-night stand ever... with a fallen angel. All she remembers is gorgeous Noah's oddly hypnotic blue eyes... and then a dark stranger whose bite transformed her into an immortal siren with a sexy itch. With help from Noah, Jackie begins to adapt to her new lifestyle; until she accidentally sends Noah into the deadly clutches of the vampire queen and lands herself in a fierce battle for an ancient halo with the queen's wickedly hot right-hand man. Who just happens to be the vampire who originally bit her. How's a girl supposed to save the world when the enemy's so hard to resist?

*

So Jackie’s supposed to be this quintessential “good girl” and the plot supposed to have her sort of embracing the “bad girl” in her, but I didn’t feel it and some of the characterization, at least on Jackie’s part, was REALLY predictable.

Of course Jackie is risen as a sex demon and she’s sensitive about sex which totally explains why she hasn’t had sex in 1 ½ years!

Naturally because we’re working at making Jackie “sympathetic” we have to give her a shit menial job as a docent…yeah. That job title’s explained in the book. And where said job’s superiors have passed her over a promotion—though Jackie totally deserved it because she’s smart—due to her lack of fashion sense, and of course two hot paranormal guys have to fight over her…

And it’s not her fault really, because she’s not used to all of the attention and after a couple days she’s TOTALLY flipping guys off like it’s not her business--

And that totally explains why Jackie can’t commit to one of the love interests—yeah, let’s just throw character building out the window!

Listen.

I didn’t like Jackie. She’s a wish-washy character who doesn’t really struggle with her morals even though that’s what the author seemed to be trying to evoke in the novel. So I’ve come to a conclusion…this book would be better without Jackie.

Sadly this story has A LOT of potential. Sex is a big deal to some of us, and if Jackie had stuck to her guns and just…well, to be honest I think the problem was because this was written as a humorous/light PNR when it’s potential could have been fully explored as something darker…way, way darker given the concept Ms. Myles had been working with.

Does the book promise light humor and sexy romp? Yes. Does it provide the romp and humor? Yes.

So I can’t complain. And I did enjoy the read. Mostly because the author had other characters I could laugh with and drool at…

"Oh, come on. How could you not notice? Did you see my DVD collection at home? I'm in half of them. And the name? Remy Summore? Ram-me-some-more? Get it?" (p. 96)

Remy is a succubus, too! She’s light-hearted and funny, kind but also super bitchy (you know, if you’re not a friend …or a super hot male with a great package) and I’m just glad that all succubi aren’t stupid and shallow like a certain main character…

He was utterly gorgeous. His entire body was slightly tanned, as golden as his hair, and I was aroused to see no sign of a tan line anywhere. (p.169)

Noah Gideon. Angel. So immediately that explains the blond hair and the pressed chinos and polo shirt, right? Cuz all angels look like polished businessman.

He’s kind and sweet, super indulgent, and maybe WAY too kind to Jackie, when the Good Lord knows I’d throw that beyotch to the curb. He’s too damn angelic for a fallen angel really!

Joking aside though, I liked Noah. …err, just not as much as I loved Zane!

Sorry Noah! I’m Team Zane. Of course the vampire bad boy wins my heart. Even though I hated that he was the poster version of the trope. Yes, dark-haired/dark-eyed Zane was a walking cliché if I ever saw a vampire. But actually I think that author Jill Myles did a phenomenal job explaining why this guy walks around in a black trench coat in the middle of an Egyptian desert on a tomb hunt…

“Speaking of, it’s over eighty degrees out here and you’re still wearing the trench coat. What gives?” - Jackie to Zane (p. 241)

Plot-wise the book isn’t bad… Definitely has a great pace, and I think that—and reading about Zane!—forced me to the end. There was a bit of a twist at the end. Not a huge one, but definitely a strand that makes this book a cliff-hanger and leaves some conflict open to pick back up in Book 2.

The antagonists were laughable. ‘Nuff said there.

The world-building was sorta vague, but it makes sense because we’re looking at the first book in what is a 4-book series, so there’s more than enough time for Ms. Myles to build that world and flesh it out more as Jackie (our sucky 1^st-person narrator) learns these things along the way.

All in all, I’d still recommend reading this book. If not for Jackie, for the potentially awesome world-building, the sometimes super funny banter and…the myriad sex scenes—and for your membership to team Zane because we need to spread the love folks!

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮

(4 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (6): Proof of Heaven

BOOK REVIEW:

Proof of Heaven
A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

So I started off my 2015 reading challenge with a near-death autobiography. That first autobiography from the father-son duo, Kevin and Alex Malarkey focused on more of a Christian-themed afterlife and experience with the afterlife.

The Malarkeys did not separate religion from the experience young Alex Malarkey had—even if the media had dropped that aspect and understandably so. It’s hard enough to tell people of a near-death experience (NDE), but it’s even harder to get that message across to the “masses” as you will if that message happens to be loaded with Christianity. The exclusivity of that faith’s experience would leave readers of other faiths out of not only experiencing the book, but the whole purpose of spreading the message can turn on itself.

Dr. Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven is, well first also an autobiography, but it also separates itself—or at least the publisher has marketed it from this angle by focusing on Dr. Alexander’s credentials as an academic neurosurgeon (so the subtitle reads: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife).

Of course this leads to an unsurprisingly construction of the nonfiction text: the theme of science weaved in with religion, for it seems hard to extricate NDE from religion/faith/whathaveyouwill.

And just like Alex Malarkey, Dr. Alexander ends up in a life-or-death situation that takes him through a retrospective description of what he saw in the afterlife. Mind you, he doesn’t actually call it Heaven…or Hell…or even Purgatory.

He also doesn’t refer to God—a Christian God—until in the later text chapters after he’s chronologically plotted out the incident that lead to his seven-day coma and after he’s been discharged from the hospital to spend Thanksgiving ‘08 with his family.

God, for Dr. Alexander, is called Om. Just off the top of my head I think of the first part of the prayer mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, the first syllable Om represents the samsaric realm of the Devas (deity-like entities that a soul can reborn as) which also represents the virtue of wisdom and their association with a mythical mountain home; these devas also purify/negate the sin of pride/ego and instead represent generosity.

My two-cents aside, I have to admit that Dr. Alexander promoted this story better by perhaps not really discussing religion until the end of the book where he returns to the more lucid parts of his memory (after rising from his coma). At this point he refers to his Christian upbringing and talks about taking the communion and all of that…

It’s really hard to review these sorta books dealing with non-fictional experiences of death because I can’t exactly debunk them, and I can’t really find fault with anything the author (or authors, in the case of the Malarkeys) have written.

I can definitely see where publishers try to differentiate their NDE title from another rival publisher’s title by looking at the NDE from different aspects. For instance I’m already making plans to hunt down a non-Christian NDE title.

What I liked about Proof of Heaven:

Short chapters! I’m a sucker for shorter chapters because it allows me to read up to the end of a chapter before calling it a day.

I did like how Dr. Alexander paced his autobiography. He interspersed his descriptions of the afterlife with what his family had told him they were experiencing in his hospital room and various medical expertise on the spinal fluid-infiltrating E.coli bacteria eating away at the “human parts” of his brain (mostly the space of conscious activity in your brain, or the frontal cortex dealing with executive functions and the like).

What I didn’t like:

Certain parts were hokey for me and the author lost my attention. For example, one of Dr. Alexander’s friends is a psychic and tbh all the scenes she was in seemed crazy over-the-top. I don’t do psychics, and yeah, I know I’m reading a NDE text, I just don’t do psychics.

Also on the flip side, I couldn't appreciate the science lingo to the fullest because it was, well, dull. I had to quell the urge to skim through a lot of the parts where medical terminology of the author's brain disease and scientific theories of NDE were being tossed out.

Though initially called Om, Om is later equated with Christian God and that’s cool…

I just couldn’t relate.

That being said I liked the description of Om as Dr. Alexander wrote the in-between chapters of his coma. In those earlier chapters Om is described as “’human’ as well—even more human than you and I are. Om understands and sympathizes with our human situation more profoundly and personally than we can even imagine because Om knows what we have forgotten, and understands the terrible burden it is to live with amnesia of the Divine for even a moment” (86).

I also tended to roll my eyes at all the “signs” of a miracle. And I’m not fully embracing this “I’ve-had-a-NDE-let’s-spread-the-word-via-publication” theme through Dr. Alexander’s Proof of Heaven and the Malarkey’s account of their type of otherworldly experiences.

Call them what you will, but my prejudices have spoken.

My verdict:

✮✮✮.5

(3.5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (5): Dating the Rebel Tycoon

BOOK REVIEW:

Dating the Rebel Tycoon

I’m not much of a stargazer. The last time I really remember looking up…and I mean looking up for a long time and not just a quick glance at the moon or something, it was during the 2003 Northeast blackout.

That first night the stars were about the only fun part of that kinda devastating situation.

But the heroine of Ally Blake’s Dating the Rebel Tycoon, Rosalind “Rosie” Harper is always looking up. And the hero, Cameron Kelly, is always sorta looking up to. They’re both dreamers, reaching for the skies and the plot throws these two together in a high school—err, private school—reunion romance. And I’m all about reunion romances, but this particular trope worked really well with this story and what the story had to say about itself and what the characters had to say as well.

I know none of that makes much sense. I’ll explain though.

I already mentioned in my first review of an Ally Blake romance that this author writes really poetic stuff…

She tends to grab onto a theme (in Dating the Rebel Tycoon that would be stars, Fate, the universe and the infiniteness and connectedness of life) and runs with it.

Ms. Blake is an expert at weaving these thematic concepts into the narrative and the dialogue, oh the dialogue is phenomenal. As a writer my heart was all “pitter-patter” for some of the playful banter between Rosie and Cameron. Even if I sometimes had to re-read several lines—which was a problem I had mentioned in that other review of another work of hers—the writer in me smiled every time I read an amazing line (and trust me!, there’s a lot. I just was an idiot and didn’t take the time to make page notations along the way…)

I loved the characterization as well. As the title hints, the hero and heroine go on a lot of dates. At first it sounded very episodic to me, but it was pretty clever of Blake. I’m more of a sexier Harlequin Presents reader and those stories are over-the-top. With sweeter romances from Harlequin’s Romance line, I noticed that despite the wealth some of the heroes have, the actual romances are more typically down-to-earth.

I mean Cameron is a romantic—really! But don’t we read stories of really cute and inventive ways couples/lovers have done for each other?

And so they both embark on their little reunion-turned-relationship knowing to break it off after three dates…of course things don’t work out the way they’re supposed to which leads to the HEA at the end.

I liked Rosie. She wasn’t so gawky as she was more “boho” if you catch my drift, and very unlike the crisp, clean crowd that Cameron and his family and friends are all about. So there’s the opposite-attracts trope there, although it isn’t played up all that much. I especially enjoyed that Rosie’s insecurity didn’t overwhelm her character and that any actual lack of confidence played back to her problems with commitment.

It was a nice change from the usual stuff we get about one half of the couple feeling insecure in their skin because they’re surrounded by wealth. That stuff happens—it happened to me recently at a job interview—but it was still very pleasant to go without.

And since we’re talking insecurities and opposites—big bonus! The rich people in this book, namely Cameron’s fam, are not arseholes. I repeat NOT arseholes. I’m sick and tired of the snooty drama that goes on between the mega-wealthy and the non-megawealthy.

I also loved that Rosie had a weird job. She’s Australia’s preeminent Venus specialist. Do such people exist?

It only makes poor Cameron’s job as an architect (skyscraper aficionado) super boring… (I’m only partially kidding, my sister happens to be in the field). All joking aside I enjoyed Cameron as well. He’s got a quiet confidence and a charm that definitely sizzled during the most sensually/sexually frustrating scenes. It was all long foreplay whenever he got with Rosie…

There was one part that bothered me close rot the end of the novel. A scene that was super convenient and made me roll my eyes, the coincidence too much and totally uncalled for personally… The scene occurs at Cameron’s father’s birthday bash/ball (because we’re dealing with the rich side of Brisbane now) and Cameron asks Rosie to dance and as they’re dancing Rosie remembers that she once danced with Cameron back in high school and then she thinks:

…Rosie found herself deep in the middle of a memory she’d long since forgotten.

She was at the only school dance she’d ever attended. She’d been invted by a boy in her science class—Jeremy somebody. He’d been two inches shorter than her, and had always worn his trousers too tight, but in those days even to be asked…

Halfway through the night, dancing alone within the pulsating crowd, she’d turned to find herself looking into a pair of stunning blue eyes brimming with effortless self-belief. Cameron Kelly. A senior. She’d looked and she’d ached, if not to be with him then to be like him—content, fortunate, valued. He hadn’t looked away.

And like that they’d danced wih once another…

Okay. Not bad so far, then suddenly Cameron remembers too. The F—

Cameron pulled her closer and drew her back to the present, just in time to hear him say, ‘If only you’d let me dance with you this close all those years ago then who knows what might have happened?’

This was the guy who didn’t know much of who Rosie was and who had NO CLUE that she had like the BIGGEST FRICKIN’ crush on him enough to get a B+ in one of her advanced high school classes instead of an A when she couldn’t concentrate on the teacher because she was busy drooling over Cameron in class.

Yeah. A little unbelievable…

Other than that small bit of a buzzkill, I love this book. And I do think you should read it.
And if you need more proof of the awesome-ness of this book, look at this cool wordcloud a fan created for Dating the Rebel Tycoon.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮.5

(4.5 stars)