... discussing

Kate will say that every book I read is like the first time. I am constantly purchasing books I already own because I don't remember the plot or the main characters names. So my choice may be rather skewed.

I have to say, that I agree with Kate in that many of my current "favorite" authors have developed writing styles that improve with time (exception: Jude Deveraux - what's up with her lately? And have I already asked that?)

So, for the book I would like to experience "a-new" all over again, I have to harken back a long time to a favorite read, re-read, re-re-read. M.M. Kaye's Shadow of The Moon. The intensity of the history detailed in the Indian uprising and the intelligence of the hero (whose name, I DO remember, is Alex) make it more than just a romance novel. And the end of the book still clutches my heart.

The book is no longer in print and the copy I own was borrowed from my local amazing library and subsequently lost, so I paid for my negligence. I have since found it and it assumes a place of honor on the bookshelf in my living room.

I'd lend you my copy to read, but it's kind of a treasure!

Gently finding my way back

Okay, so there appears to be some time in my days that wasn't available to me as recently as a week ago. I will take advantage of it. I'm in "Comfort Food" mode and reading Jude Deveraux's Sweet Liar. I need to remark on the fact that in the past few years I have given up on her books. I just can't seem to understand what or why she's writing. But I digress. Sweet Liar takes us back to her wonderful Taggerts and Montgomerys. As I have not finished the book (this time around) yet, I can only remark on my observations so far. It still holds up! Sam and Michael still appeal, and the story has meat. The heroine, Samantha, starts off wishy washy enough, but soon Michael (did I mention he's a Taggert?) brings out some very charming qualities and I am delighted by her spree in the bookstore - because who wouldn't like to be told that whatever books they could pick out in x number of minutes would be theirs to keep? The whole concept of the reenactment of a massacre is a bit overdone, but it gets us more familiar with other characters (who will eventually get their own books) and sets up the end of the story nicely. I'll let you know when I finish, and maybe I'll have time to read something a little meatier next time.

How This Is Going to Go Down: A Post

So, to be clear, there are actually TWO people writing this blog, although one of them has chosen to be MIA until sometime next week. In the meantime, here's how this SHOULD work on a week-to-week basis.

Wendy Pan and I will each post a review of a book, either that we have just finished, or that we finished a decade ago and want to write about, or that we are currently reading and are extremely in love/annoyed with.**

Then once a week we will have a "discussion" in which we pass a given topic back and forth like a beach ball. Only it probably will not go on that long, since neither of us is very coordinated.

So I'm going to hold up my end of the deal and write another review for this week, and then hopefully we'll start writing right along next week. Or in July. But we'll see.




**A minor disclaimer: If we are that in love with the book, we might not want to put it down long enough to write about. Sorry.

The Grading System. How it Works, What it Means

Here's how this is going to work.
At the end of each review, we are going to grade each book based in five areas.

1. Plot- Feasibility within the book's own mythology, whether it made sense, etc.
2. Characters- No idiots/helpless heroines welcome.
3. Sex- It better be worth it.
4. Style- Appropriate to what the author was aiming for... or what we think the author was aiming for.
5. Ease of Consumption- How much fun was this to read? Or wasn't it?

BONUS POINTS: Only our favorite authors can get bonus points. They are our faves, and we will follow them to the ends of the earth... but they can also lose extra points for copping out and not living up to their full potential.

Each of the above is worth 1 point. The best a book can do is 5 plus Bonus Points. Worst is -1. Yes, -1... you can lose points for being that bad.

Review- Lover Avenged

Let's face it: there are Vampire Books and there are Vampire Books. There are the Anne Rice kind, the ones with orgies and gory bloodsucking and in-depth mythologies that cannot help but grow tiresome. And then there is lightweight drivel like Twilight, in which the vampires voluntarily give up that which they need most (you know... human blood) and don't generally adhere to any vampiric precept.

I find that most of the time I need something somewhere in between those two extremes. Thank goodness, then, for J.R. Ward and the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

Lover Avenged, the seventh installment, follows already familiar characters, but focuses primarily on Rehvenge aka The Reverend, the pimp/drug dealer/club owner/sociopath who we have come to know and... love? fear? in previous chapters of the saga. While not exactly a member of the Brotherhood, his ties are close enough (his sister is married to one of the more dangerous warriors, they all hang out in his club, etc.) , and they all respect him while guarding his illegal (in both the human and vampire worlds) secrets.

Rehvenge, apparently, is half sympath, Ward's made-up genetically determined race of sociopaths. In Rehv, the sympath and vampire sides vie for dominance to the point that he keeps himself... er... doped up on dopamine to numb out his more dangerous tendencies. Naturally when he meets The One, a nurse named Ehlena, his vampire tendencies become so dominant his sociopathic urges can no longer compete. I think. But more on that later.

Like all of the Brotherhood books, the romance is not even close to the point of the book. There are three main story arcs; that of Rehv and Ehlena, one following Wrath, King of the Vampires and the head of the Brotherhood, and one following John Matthew, a constant and constantly conflicted Ward presence since Book 2. The thing is, that these all manage to flow together, and beautifully. At times I didn't even want to hear about Rehv and Ehlena, because I was so caught up in all of the other things that were going on.

This is typical Ward. These books cannot be read out of order because the ongoing arcs are so massively developed in each successive book. Issues from Book 3 are still being worked out in Book 7, and if you missed even a step, you're in a whole lot of trouble in terms of catching up.

My only complaint about Lover Avenged is that, as weird as it sounds for a book that is 544 pages long, the ending is rushed. I'm not sure exactly how Rhev is going to handle his new drug-free existence, or if he even is, and I really wish he and Ehlena had had a bit more time to sort things out between them, rather than about 12 hours. All I'm saying is, as much as the other story arcs are great and wonderful and perfect, maybe a bit more attention could have been paid to the subjects of the book.

Rating:
Plot- 1 (Complex and titillating... But I'm not sure about Xhex and John Matthew)
Characters- 1 (If there was any more character, we'd all be in trouble)
Sex- 1+ (Rehv and Ehlena, Wrath and Beth... my goodness, is it warm in here?)
Style- 1 (any scene with V and Lassiter is worth the price of purchase)
Consumption- .5 (takes a while to flow, but once it does, watch out!)

TOTAL-4.5+

Here We Go

So, this is a blog where me (Kate) and my mom (Blogger Name TBD) will write about the books (mostly trashy, sometimes not) that we read.  We'll rant and rave and cause a general ruckus.  It'll be fun!