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Review: The Burnt Toast B&B (Bluewater Bay #5) by Heidi Belleau & Rachel Haimowitz
First, the elephant in the room. One of the heroes of this tale is a transgender (female-to-male) character. I’m actually glad that this is not hinted at in the back-cover blurb, and that I found it out naturally (very early on in the book). It put a different slant on the relationship, but only by…
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Review: Before the Awakening (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Greg Rucka
Finn’s story: This story, while well-written in the technical sense, was by far the weakest of this trio. If not for my husband encouraging me onward, I might have put the entire book down. I understand that the book was released before the film, and that the authors don’t necessarily get all the information they’d…
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Review: Lone Wolf (Bluewater Bay #4) by Aleksandr Voinov & L.A. Witt
As a professional author and former fanfic writer, this novel was an odd sort of wish-fullfillment romance that I never knew I wanted. Reading it was both fascinating and oddly bizarre, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Reading about other authors and their process is always an interesting experience, because I believe there’s no “one, true…
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Review: Hell on Wheels (Bluewater Bay #3) by Z.A. Maxfield
Characters can make or break any book, but especially romances, and the characters in this book shined. Though both of them come from worlds far from my experience, Nash and Spencer were guys I could relate to, guys I could cheer for. And even better, neither of them existed in a vacuum. Their decisions regarding…
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Review: The Weapon of a Jedi (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Jason Fry
This book boiled down to “Just how did Luke get so good at using a lightsaber, anyway?” Which is an important question to ask, in the continuity between the films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, the reality of the the limitations established in the Star Wars universe at that point in…
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Review: There’s Something About Ari (Bluewater Bay #2) by L.B. Gregg
This novella was a fun, quick read with striking characters that I devoured in one sitting. I appreciated that it didn’t follow the traditional romance genre formula, because there was no “meet-cute.” No slow burn between characters as knowledge and attraction deepen. Instead, this was the metaphorical final five minutes of the movie as two…
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Review: “Christmas Past” (Chronicles of St. Mary’s short story) by Jodi Taylor
Though this review won’t get posted until after the holiday itself, this story was easily one of my favorite Christmas presents this year. Taylor blows me away with her ability to weave humor and heartbreak into the same passages. Though this story didn’t have quite as much of the usual St. Mary’s shenanigans, it was…
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Review: Starstruck (Bluewater Bay #1) by L.A. Witt
This is an excellent introduction to the Bluewater Bay shared-universe romance series, giving us just enough information about the town of Bluewater Bay and the television show Wolf’s Landing to provide a taste for more. This book also does a great job of showing how major Hollywood stars are human just like anybody else, with very…
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Review: Smuggler’s Run (Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens) by Greg Rucka
This young adult novel was a well-written and well-crafted story set between two of the films in the original Star Wars trilogy. All of the battle scenes, whether shoot-outs on ground or ship-to-ship battles in space, were dramatic and clearly written. The plot flowed at a good pace. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it.
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Review: It Takes Two to Tumble (Seducing the Sedgwicks #1) by Cat Sebastian
This was a fantastic look at how two people who might otherwise have nothing in common develop a natural and loving relationship. At times, Ben came across as a little too perfect. Luckily, Phillip balanced this out by becoming a sympathetic character without losing any of the thorny character traits that intrigued me.
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Review: Outside the Lines (Bluewater Bay #22) by Anna Zabo
Disclaimer: I am friends with the author of this novel; however, I purchased the ebook for full price. My metric for how I view a good romance novel has turned into whether the interpersonal relationships are occurring between mature adults. I don’t have time for whiny teenage angst produced by characters in their twenties, thirties,…
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Review: Moving Target (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Cecil Castellucci & Jason Fry
This was an excellent Star Wars young adult novel that succeeds at showing realistic decisions that must be made in war, and how people involved in those wars end up making essential decisions regardless of how much power or authority they might have. I also appreciated that Princess Leia is given much authority and agency…
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Review: Shattered Empire (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Greg Rucka
One of my biggest pet peeves about most war movies is how the characters celebrate at the end of a big battle as if everything is going to be easy from there on out. This graphic novel shows how the opposite is the case and does an excellent job of leading into how the remnants…
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Review: Bizarre Tales From World War II by William B. Breuer
This is an easy-to-read collection of short snippets organized by time period before, during, and after World War II. I’d hesitate to call them bizarre tales, however. Curious coincidences and interesting anecdotes is probably more appropriate. I would not recommend this as a reference book for those writing about WWII. It is, though, probably a…
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Review: Pathways (Tales of Valdemar #11) edited by Mercedes Lackey
While I usually call out two specific stories in anthologies, my favorite and the one I’d most like to see expanded into a novel, I’m unable to do that with this Valdemar collection. I enjoyed most of the stories, but none of them jumped out to me as amazing. A few of the stories also…
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Review: Closer to the Chest (Herald Spy #3) by Mercedes Lackey
It’s taken quite a few books, but I think Lackey is back on her stride with her long-running Valdemar series. While I still noticed a few editorial discrepancies, I enjoyed this novel a lot more than any of the previous books that featured Mags and Amily. This particular story acts as a culmination to what…
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Review: Valhalla (Stargate SG-1 #14) by Tim Waggoner
I enjoyed this book more than I otherwise might have, reading it so soon on the heels of watching Thor: Ragnarok in theaters. Any Stargate reading for me is a visit to a world I love, and this was a solid, though not necessarily memorable, entry into the media tie-in offerings for this world. One…
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Review: A Scandal in Battersea (Elemental Masters #12) by Mercedes Lackey
The novels of Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters series take two forms. The first is re-imagined fairy tales set in Edwardian England (and Europe beyond). The second is a more of a traditional (historical) urban fantasy series that centers around a group of magicians, psychics, and mediums in London, starring two plucky young women and their…
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Review: Artemis by Andy Weir
When the credits rolled on Ant-Man, I turned to my husband and exclaimed, “Marvel made me a heist movie!” When I read the first blurb about Artemis ages ago, I turned to my husband and exclaimed, “Andy Weir is writing me a heist novel!” Considering I read the book in the space of a solid 4 hours…
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Review: Canyon Shadows (Dark Tyrant #2) by C.R. Langille
Disclaimer: I consider myself friends with the author, via the graduate writing program we both attended. However, I purchased the hardcopy version of this novel for full price. Though this book is the second in a shared world of stories, you do not have to read the first in order to get full enjoyment from…
