tag:dreamwidth.org,2011-02-18:697195Elisa - My reviews and RamblingsLGBT reviews and ramblings since 2006reviews_and_ramblings2015-01-31T10:32:01Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2011-02-18:697195:4512293Love for the Cold-Blooded by Alex Gabriel2015-01-31T10:32:01Z2015-01-31T10:32:01Zpublic0<img hspace="10" height="210" width="140" vspace="10" align="left" alt="" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1505695988._SX500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" />I have to admit that, considering this is not the first time I read a novel with superheroes and villains all living together in a somewhere in the future city not so distant from our own universe, I'm starting to feel like I'm missing a big piece of cultural background... is this scenario part of some literary universe? is it a sci-fi subgenre or maybe a classical fiction I'm not aware of?<br /><br />In any case, in this novel, Alex Gabriel approaches the usually light tone with even an heavier push on the hilarious button, and, while dealing with villains trying to conquer the world, instead of being scared, it seems like the mere civilians were amused. I think that no alive being was affected, and only some building took the brush of the villains' actions.<br /><br />And indeed Pat, one of our heroes, is the son of a villain (female), and his three sisters are as well. Pat is not cut for the villain life, and he prefers to be an architectural student, while working part-time as house manager of a superhero, Nicholas. But Pat is a night house manager and interacts with Nicholas through an AI which is managing the whole house, so they never met, until the night Nicholas asks for a rent boy, and Pat, who didn't understand the request, reply by person... and well, you can imagine what happens next.<br /><br />The story is a mix of naughty and funny; but even when dealing with sex, while explicit, the author always maintains the humor sublayer, so that, the whole experience of reading this story is a light one, nice, funny, comfortable, happy.<br /><br />Paperback: 300 pages<br />Publisher: Alex Gabriel Books; 1 edition (December 22, 2014)<br />Language: English<br />ISBN-10: 1505695988<br />ISBN-13: 978-1505695984<br />Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1505695988/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">Love for the Cold-Blooded: Or: The Part-Time Evil Minion's Guide to Accidentally Dating a Superhero</a><br />Amazon Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCHFIM4/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">Love for the Cold-Blooded: Or: The Part-Time Evil Minion's Guide to Accidentally Dating a Superhero</a><br /><br /><strong>More Reviews by Author at my website: </strong><a href="http://www.elisarolle.com/"><strong>http://www.elisarolle.com/</strong></a><strong>, My Reviews</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=reviews_and_ramblings&ditemid=4512293" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2011-02-18:697195:4429776The Care and Feeding of Sex Demons by Angela Fiddler2014-09-06T19:05:17Z2014-09-06T19:05:17Zpublic0<img width="140" vspace="10" hspace="10" height="210" align="left" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00HV1W0OA._SX500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" />Even if dealing with fairies and demons, The Care and Feeding of Sex Demons wasn't a typical paranormal romance, but a classic urban fantasy: the "menages" between human Cy, fae Patrick and sex demon August was a whirlwind of events, sometime so crazy packed that was almost difficult to understand what was happening; an example? when Cy is "feeding" August, for what I know of sex demon, that means they are having sex, but I had to read two times that scene and still am not sure they were having sex... it was more an impression that a detailed description, so if you are expecting to buy this novel for the hot sex... well maybe you have to change your expectation. But if you are searching for a crazy urban fantasy, with IKEA and McDonalds throw in the middle of it, humor and satira, well, then, this is your book.<br /><br />I'm pretty sure this is part of a series, and indeed the whole book was like "viewing" an episode of a modern television fiction, those snarcky, but clever series that are the hit of the moment. I'm not really a fan of fantasy, or urban fantasy, but I'm a fan of complex characters, and all three of them, Cy, Patrick and August are the best example of multilayered characters.<br /><br />Publisher: Loose Id LLC (January 13, 2014)<br />Amazon Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HV1W0OA/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">The Care and Feeding of Sex Demons</a><br /><br /><strong>More Reviews by Author at my website: </strong><a href="http://www.elisarolle.com/"><strong>http://www.elisarolle.com/</strong></a><strong>, My Reviews</strong><br /><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=reviews_and_ramblings&ditemid=4429776" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2011-02-18:697195:3807966One Breath, One Bullet (The Borders War) by S.A. McAuley2013-08-18T22:07:04Z2013-08-18T22:07:04Zpublic0<img width="140" vspace="10" hspace="10" height="224" align="left" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00D4119FC.01._SX500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" />Very strange novel, with an original approach that I’m still thinking about; I didn’t want to write a review soon after I finished the book cause I wanted to think about it, I wanted to find a way to convey the feeling. The author doesn’t introduce her characters, they are actually presented to you with a bag of events you don’t know; the author will jump back and forward in their life until you will have all the elements to put together the pieces of the puzzle, but again, you will have to do that by yourself. The second thing I notice is that, in this post-apocalypse future, time is inconsistent and they are distances; in the course of few pages, the characters spend together almost 20 years, starting as barely legal soldiers to end as pushing 40 revolutionaries. The strangest thing of all is that for all those 20 years they are at the same time lovers and worst enemies, always at the opposite fronts. When it was war, they were fighting against each other, when it was (barely) peace time, they were competing against each other at the Olympics. But do not imagine Olympic Games as you know them, the Olympics in this story are dark and horrific, more like the Roman arenas where gladiators were fighting to death.<br /><br />Anyway expect the unexpected from this story, do not expect linearity, wait for the turn of the tables; the only constant is that Merq and Armise love each other… to death.<br /><br />Warning: this one was quick and the introduction to a series, The Borders War, so there is an hanging ending.<br /><br />Amazon Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D4119FC/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">One Breath, One Bullet (The Borders War)</a><br />Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (May 30, 2013)<br /><br />Reading List: <a href="http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading%20list&view=elisa.rolle">http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott<wbr></wbr>om.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=reviews_and_ramblings&ditemid=3807966" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2011-02-18:697195:3672676Pawn Takes Rook by Lex Chase2013-06-18T15:03:59Z2013-06-18T15:03:59Zpublic0<img width="140" vspace="10" hspace="10" height="210" align="left" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00BT7KGWU.01._SX500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" />Almost a comics in written format, I have the feeling that Pawn Takes Rook, first episode in the Checkmate series is part of something bigger in the author’s mind, something she has already developed and that is now feeding us little piece by little piece. A lot has already happened when the story starts and I struggled a little to fit all the details, but in the end I had a good idea: the time is the same as today, 2013, but it’s an alternative universe; the poly vaccine caused a genetic variation in the newborn who acquired special powers, and now almost everyone is a superhero. If you are really a good one, you are part of the Alliance, fighting the villains in the name of the law. Things you consider as given, televisions, laptops, are luxury items people save a life to buy.<br /><br />Hogarth, the nephew of the Google’s algorithm creator, want to be part of the Alliance, but he is actually more a nerd than a hero. When he is rescued by Rook, a former Alliance hero, he sees him as his chance to meet the Alliance standards: if he cannot make it alone, why not try with a dynamic duo? But Rook is like a loose cannon, not really trustworthy, plus he is defective, like a pot that, when reaching the boiling point, instead of going in off mode, explode. Doesn't hurt that Rook is also an hunky viking, with startling icy eyes and long, blond locks.<br /><br />You can say the author had a lot of fun writing this novella, I had the feeling like she planned it with friends, like a videogame she was playing and trying all the special effects. Yes, the mood was of fun, light entertainment, winking the eye probably to some favorite cartoon or comic character I’m not able to point out (not really a comic fan here). But even if I cannot pinpoint the origin, it was a funny little piece.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3643">http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3643</a><br /><br />Amazon Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BT7KGWU/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">Pawn Takes Rook</a><br />Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (March 12, 2013) <br /><br />Reading List: <a href="http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading%20list&view=elisa.rolle">http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott<wbr></wbr>om.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle</a><br /><br /><img width="400" height="600" src="http://www.elisarolle.com/romance/images/PawnTakesRook(PaulRichmond).jpg" alt="" /><br /><em>Cover Art by Paul Richmond</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=reviews_and_ramblings&ditemid=3672676" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2011-02-18:697195:3651635Quarantine by Lisabet Sarai2013-06-10T20:18:56Z2013-06-10T20:19:39Zpublic2<img width="140" vspace="10" hspace="10" height="213" align="left" alt="" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1781845271.01._SX500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" />The story is a frighteningly possible apocalypse now future; or at least it was considering the devastation the AIDS plague brought to this world. In a future society, people tested positive to the homogene, mind you that doesn’t mean they are homosexual, but that they have a specific gene believing to determine homosexuality; consequence is that even men who are not homosexual, but married (and in love with their wives) and fathers are confined in isolated camps. For the last 7 years they are captives of machines, since prison officers are now substituted by robots and only one or two men, tested negative to the homogene, can control an entire prison.<br /><br />This is the situation where we find camp guard Rafe and prisoner Dylan; Dylan understood the only weak point of that situation are the human guards and he plans to seduce Rafe. Of course nothing is simple as appears and our men will find themselves in a very uneasy situation.<br /><br />The setting was perfect, since it was oppressive; as usual in these stories, even if not specifically said, the mood and the writing style convey a perennial shadow, even in broad light the sun seemed not able to warm this inhuman world.<br /><br />Even the characters, Rafe and Dylan, were perfect, right for the reason they were not: Rafe didn’t struck me as particularly clever, and Dylan was ready to use everyone to his purposes. There is to be considered that Dylan was 17 years old when he was imprisoned, and now, 7 years later, he is a man of 24 who hasn’t had really any chance to live. A bit of selfishness is probably amendable.<br /><br />I’m not sure the author intended this as to be a standalone book; she introduces different elements that are not totally wrapped up at the end, and even for the main characters there isn’t a 100% closure; in a way, I’m not even sure Rafe and Dylan are destined to be together, or maybe they are, but in this uncertain future, where nothing is sure, they have the only possible relationship, a relationship to be lived day by day.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=1725">http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=1725</a><br /><br />Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1781845271/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">Quarantine</a><br />Amazon Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CDWH5M/?tag=elimyrevandra-20">Quarantine</a><br />Paperback: 272 pages<br />Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (September 10, 2012)<br />Language: English<br />ISBN-10: 1781845271<br />ISBN-13: 978-1781845271<br /><br />Reading List: <a href="http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading%20list&view=elisa.rolle">http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott<wbr></wbr>om.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=reviews_and_ramblings&ditemid=3651635" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments