The Mussel Eater by Octavia Cade

 

First of all, that is one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen and, shallow as I am, I had to read it.

Anyway, I happen to have an obsession with the monstrous feminine, so if this review is too involved in the subject, then I'm sorry. 

Every culture possesses this element to their mythology: a monstrous woman who is an object of lust. 

We are all familiar with how the story goes: serpent/demon/snake/dragon/goat/siren/mermaid/etc. woman is spotted by knight/prince/chief's son/random nobleman who instantly wishes to possess her, to attain her otherness for himself, to claim and tame her monstrous beauty.

Said monstrous lady falls in love, accepts to live with this man, but soon he grows disenchanted from how marvellous and magical she is. He betrays her/breaks a promise made to her/cheats on her/etc. and it all ends in tragedy.

It has always fascinated me how these strong women - for women they are, seen through the eyes of fear of femininity - would always fall for these wastes of sperm and egg. 

Western mythology tends to claim these women will be granted mortal souls when married to a man, but I like Queen Yseult's explanation in Ondine by Jean Giraudoux: 

ONDINE : Leave Hans? Why?
YSEULT : Because he is not made for you. Because his soul is small.
ONDINE : I do not have one. It's even worse!
YSEULT: The issue does not arise for you, nor for any non-human creature. The soul of the world breathes in and out through nostrils and gills. But man wanted his soul to himself. He stupidly divided the general soul. There is no soul of men. There are a series of small batches of soul, where flowers grow sour, and vegetables are shrivelled.
(...)
YSEULT: You don't know what this is like, ondines have very great souls.

(the translation from french is mine, so sorry for any mistakes)

I was expecting something along these lines, especially considering the original legend of Pania of the Reef who falls in love with the son of a Māori chief named Karitoki. 
He wishes to have her for himself, even though the Pania must always return to sea at dawn under penalty of death. 

Karitoki tries to trick her and, while she is asleep, tries to feed her cooked food, knowing a Pania who eats anything but raw food cannot return to sea. 

It's the usual betrayal of men who promise love to monstrous women, who somehow accept them despite their mortality, despite their little souls.

This retelling, however, was absolutely subversive with a strong feminist core. 

The feminine monstrosity of the Pania, in all its fish scented oils and scales, dried seaweed hair, sharp nails, and deadly shark teeth, is explored in depth.

Karitoki's fascination is lustful, even if he is disgusted by the Pania herself, even if he fears her. Especially because he fears her.

And the way it ended... I wouldn't spoil it for the world, but it has the most satisfying ending possible!

This short story has about 30 pages and managed to become one of my all time favourites, if that's not recommendation enough, then I don't know what is!

Olivia Cade's website

Buy The Mussel Eater

Kindle US | Kindle UK | B&N | Google Play | Kobo | iBooks

Beauty And The Mustache (Knitting In The City # 4) by Penny Reid

First of all...

What's with this title?

Why "Mustache"? Why not : Beauty and The Bearded Guy... or Beauty with a Lot Of Bearded Guys In Her Life... or jut plain and basic: Talks of Nietzsche's Moustache!

(there is quite a lot of references to Nietzsche in this novel basically due to the fact that the male leading character, Drew, is somewhat of a emo poet.)

Back to the title..I honestly did not compute it, mainly because there was never a moment in this novel in which Ashley let her "mustache" (moustache) grow, lol

So...no bearded, I mean...moustached ladies for anyone in this book.

Readers, you're warned!;)

Now that I've made that perfectly clear, let me get back to what matters...

I liked this book. I liked most of its story, and most of its outspoken with a lot of facial hairs characters.

This was in fact the first book I've read by this author, but hopefully it won't be my last, because having just finished this fourth book in the series, I am now interested in reading the previous three volumes!

(Sometimes I ignore logic and do things like this...)

So, having read the book synopsis, and having seen the book cover, I was expecting something more on the light side, you know, a little comedy _hopefully with not that much of insanity thrown in _ than actually having to deal with a lot of drama.

Unfortunately _or maybe not _ this book has a hidden depth and a whole lot of drama.

It does in fact have a character that is on the final stages of a cancer, and for a couple of weeks, we have the lady's family trying to come to terms with what is happening.

To lighten things up a bit, there's the fact that there's seven siblings living on the same house, six of them guys who apparently do a lot of.....cough...lets say there's schedules involving the use of bathrooms...

GUYS :/

Then there's Ashley's friends who like to make bawdy comparisons with read meat ...

YOU GIRLS!

Some wise truths are revealed:

Yes, I was a creeper, but I didn’t care. Drew brought these compulsions out in me, so he could just suffer through my leering and take it like a man.
Or a girl. Because, if there’s one thing a girl grows up learning how to do, it’s suffering through leering.

YES!

The romance is not rushed, much on the contrary. Drew and Ashley maintain in fact during a great part of the story a less than amicable relationship.

 Later on, it is explained why the guy is the way he is, but that doesn't erase the fact that at the beginning of the story, Drew definitely comes out as an ass.

The cow Nietzsche comment? :/

Oh, Drew...   you ass!

Then there was the way in which the relationship between the siblings was dealt, that felt a little too neat, for me.

They behaved as absolute nightmares to the girl while growing up, but of course, eight years later, they're angels. All of them.

Also, with so many bearded guys walking around, most of the times I had no idea who was whom.

When it comes to Ashley's friends I have to say that I liked the way they were there for her, even when it was Sandra doing the talking o_O, wow that's one scary psychotherapist!

I can't wait to read her book!

What I didn't like:

I didn't like Drew's macho crap. The initial one, and then later on , when the guy decides to just keep quiet and decide things for Ashley.

I didn't like that once again, it was the woman who had to do a "one eighty" in her life, because there was no way Drew was ever changing his life and his routine..

And I honestly didn't like the last pages told from Drew's perspective, mainly because they sounded too obsessive in a new adult style, you know?

But as a whole, this was a pretty decent contemporary romance and yes, I am looking forward in reading more books from this series.

Author's Official Site

Buy " Beauty And The Mustache"

@Bookdepository.com

Talk Sweetly To Me (Brothers Sinister # 4.5), A Novella by Courtney Milan

TW: Racism

I decided to start reading this novel mainly because it features a character that first (?) appeared on the previous book of the series, "The Suffragette Scandal", namely one Stephen Shaughnessy who in that book was the target of a villain.

 Stephen writes a column for Free's _Frederica's _ newspaper. He's the man behind the "actual man" column, in a time when propriety was still much alive:

“I’m Stephen Shaughnessy,” he said. “Actual Man.”

Stephen has all the elements to be a great character. The thing is, besides what we already know about his past _ something to which we became familiar with in the previous book _ in this novella, there isn't all that much characterization...

Apparently he acquired a bit of a reputation as a rake, and that's about it.

He is compassionate, and seems to have become somewhat smitten with Miss Rose since the moment he saw her, because that's how "insta" love works, lol.

Here's an example of his compassionate nature ( the lady in question had been forcefully institutionalized because she had refused to marry a cousin):

"Dear Not Mad,
Normally I approach my columns with a certain amount of jocularity. (Never tell this to my readers; they would never believe it.) But your situation has moved me to seriousness. You must work yourself up to your desires, bit by bit. Before you can dance on your uncle’s grave (I assume this to be on your list), you must first visit it and stand upon the grass. On the next visit, be sure to tap your toe and hum a ditty. Before you know it, you’ll be waltzing in the cemetery.
Should you need a dancing partner, consider yours truly.
Sincerely,
Stephen Shaughnessy
Actual Man"

He's a good man, and I am sure that he'll be a great partner to Rose, I just can't help wishing that their story had been made into a full length novel.

Rose is a black woman, she and her family are used to all forms of racism and prejudice.

She has managed however to rise a little above her station because she has a brilliant mind. She's an assumed nerd when it comes to mathematics, and you can see how much these two are meant to one another, because instead of running away every time Rose starts rambling about anything mathematically related, Stephen becomes even more smitten with her!

“You, I wager, do not dream timid dreams. You walk with your head in the clouds.”
“Oh, no. The clouds are in the troposphere. My thoughts lie well beyond the mesosphere.”

In fact, she manages to pull him into the geek/nerdy side of "tangents and parallels" and...*runs away screaming*

“That wasn’t difficult? There were sines. And arctangents. I didn’t think any problem should be thought easy if it involved arctangents.”

See?

Math! :/

All I can say is that there is a little too much info about it! *Okay, I still have nightmares with geometry and trigonometry* so I may be a little biased.

The writing however is perfect as always.

Once again the author gives voice to characters who normally aren't given one in this sort of literary genre.

In the end I just wished that their romance hadn't felt so "insta", because I like both characters, and I really think they make the cutest geek(est ) otp couple!

 But this is a novella, so one has to compromise somewhat, I guess :) and in the end it does have its positives for the diversity it brings to the novel genre.

@Author Official Site

Buy "Talk Sweetly To Me"

@Kobo

Out of Skin by Emily Carroll

 

LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!!

Sublimely creepy and somehow reminiscent of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber.

I can't say much more, since this is such a short story I'd just end up spoiling it, but I promise it's well worth the read!

You can read it here!

The Astronomer Who Met The North Wind by Kate Hall

Science fairy tale, YAY!!!

Unlike Minka, my parents and family friends showed nothing but support when it came to my science filled future. 

Of course, once I actually entered the STEM fields, I was in for a very rude awakening regarding the place of women in science - worse, regarding the place of women of colour in science. But that's a sad story, unlike this book.

Minka's father is a world renowned astronomer. And as such took his family on an expedition which his wife, Minka's mother, did not survive.

Minka's father was over protective but well intentioned, the other adults were the same but they really grated on my nerves (not to mention Minka's!) with their constant dismissal of Minka's scientific interests.

Enter the North Wind and his sister, who changed Minka's life. 

Do you even know how awesome it is to have something as precious and creativity building for little minds (and grown-up minds as well) as a fairy tale and then intertwine it with science?

As Einstein said: 

"If you want your children to be intelligent read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent read them more fairy tales."

Buy The Astronomer Who Met The North Wind

@ Kobo

The Suffragette Scandal (Brothers Sinister #4) by Courtney Milan

Arc provided by the author through Netgalley

Some things one knows for certain when reading a Courtney Milan story:

_There's attention to all the details when it comes to the time period in which the story takes place,

_ The character development is always taken into consideration,

_High quality writing,

_Low level of insanity,

_ A little too much drama...

I had a wonderful time reading this story.

The fact that it takes place in a period that only rarely is approached in this type of novel makes it all the more interesting. As such, Frederica or Free, our main character, is as far from the simpering miss stereotype as is the Sun from the Earth.

Free is a strong, intelligent character who fights for the right to give voice _and the right to vote _ to all women.

She's the woman all of us could be friends with.

As for Edward, our incorrigible liar slash rake, he proved to be complex with a side note of abused male hero in him.

His witty repartee with Free were always prone to give me some good laughs...

“Miss Marshall,” he said, “are you blackmailing me with my attempt to blackmail you? Can I now threaten to go to the authorities and turn this convoluted double blackmail plot into triple blackmail?”

It also helped that their chemistry was very much alive.

The plot _pretty much until half the book _ was well constructed and interesting to read about.

After that, I felt that there was a little too much unnecessary drama, one or two "too stupid to live" and "woe is on me, I don't deserve...thee" ;) actions and comments, but in the end a more than satisfactory novel.

Author's Official Site

Buy "The Suffragette Scandal"

@Bookdepository.com

Once and Always by Elizabeth Hoyt writing as Julia Harper

Arc provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) through Netgalley

Release Date: February 24th

This was basically an okay read...

The beginning was great in a "I don't ever want to stop reading it" that kind of great.

Great chemistry between the two leading characters, plus a great number of diverse characters led me to expect a different kind of story: one that I would have devoured in one sitting.

Unfortunately, after a strange and silly situation of exchanged luggages, Sam and May find themselves stuck in a somewhat stereotyped eighties romance: Sam ends up being a little too Neanderthal for my tastes.

He likes to boss around and especially favourites the word "Mine".

You see where this is going...

As to May or Maisa, I found her a little lacking in character development. In the end I wanted more from her that simply her bouts of bad humour.

The secondary characters were okay, but with the exception of Karl's with his man-bro thoughts, they really weren't that memorable.

The thriller parts weren't that engaging, and the hot and steamy ones _ I can't believe I am going to say this _ although extremely hot, ended up being tiresome in a plot that had little else to give, you know?

The thing is, when the story starts, Sam and May already have _or had _ a story, so we're not able to see those first moments in their relationship and, for me, their romance feels somewhat lacking because of that.

Maybe if the story had been cut shorter I wouldn't feel this way, but as it was, I was more than ready to be done with it.

In the end this ended up having one too many too stupid to live moments, more appropriate to a new adult story, than an adult romantic contemporary romance.

The writing however was flawless as is normal with Elizabeth Hoyt's novels.

Author's Official Site

Pre-order it

@Bookdepository.com

The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith

 

TW: graphic descriptions of rape, sexual slavery, torture, murder, violence towards women, violence towards children, xenophilia, and I'm probably forgetting a thousand other things...

Don't let the trigger warnings discourage you (or really, really DO if they are trigger warnings to you), like many epic fantasy/sci-fi works most of these things are present. They didn't keep A Song of Ice and Fire from becoming a best-seller, and they don't keep The Last Hour of Gann from being an amazing book.

Amber, our female protagonist, crashed along her sister and a bunch of other humans (this seems so weird to write, but bear with me, I'm still on that human vs aliens mindset after 1277 pages of it) into an unknown planet.

What follows is a pretty good illustration of human character when faced by survival: horrid.

That's not to say that the power dynamics which arise aren't absolutely enthralling! 
Scott (he can't really be thought of as the main antagonist because so many villains pop up in this book and they are absolutely despicable, but he's certainly the one who lasts the longest) who by virtue of embodying insufferable and unflagging male entitlement, no matter how repeatedly he is proven wrong, becomes so hateful that I ended up longing for his appearance just so that I could hate some more.

They end up finding one of the indigenous species of the planet: a lizardman (for lack of a better descriptor). Meoraq is part of the elite of an oligarchic society, a warrior priest, who defines himself by his strict religion.

I was expecting the romance, since I read the book's Goodreads' page, but I was still a bit... iffy about it?

I mean, when you think of a dreamy hero your mind doesn't automatically go to a lizard. ...Hopefully. 

But here's the thing, their relationship is so sloooooooow moving, and so well developed that when they get together (way, way into the book) it just seems natural. 

One thing I absolutely loved! 

Amber doesn't find Meoraq attractive, and Meoraq doesn't find Amber attractive. They fall for each others' mind, spirit, character, strength, morals. 

I find that great! Too often books gloss over these things, but think about it: why would an alien find a human woman attractive? This is the Mars Needs Women trope at work, and I'm glad R. Lee Smith avoided it. 

The action never lags, I never found myself bored - in fact I wish I did! There never seemed to be a moment of peace! 

The plot is coherent and addictive, the pacing is phenomenal, the characters feel real... I have nothing but praises about this book!

Then why the 4 star rating instead of 5 stars?

It was too much for me. Bear in mind that this is a purely personal complaint, and does not reflect upon the quality of the book!

But, as I said, for me, it was too much. Too much violence, too much rape (it's never rape for the sake of rape, it's always there for a reason and adds to the realism of the story, considering the society in which the characters find themselves), but too much... too much!

Still, it was an amazing read, and I highly recommend it to fantasy/sci-fi/romance fans.

R. Lee Smith's blog 

Buy The Last Hour of Gann

@ amazon ($8)

@ Barnes and Noble ($6.50)

Trade Me ( Cyclone Series #1) by Courtney Milan

Arc provided by Victory Editing through Netgalley

TW's: Eating Disorder and Drug abuse

Full disclosure: New Adult is not my favourite literary genre. To put it mildly.

However, since this was written by author Courtney Milan, I decided to risk it, and request an arc.

Thankfully I was approved, because in a way this story almost restored my faith in the genre.

An the reason for that "almost" is that for almost eighty percent of the book, I was pretty much loving it.

In fact this was promising to be a solid  four star rating. However in the last part _and true to the New Adult genre _ things became a little too much. The drama start piling, and the "you've got to be kidding me" situations seemed to have taken permanent residence in the story.

The positives

They're many and they're varied.

There's a reason I normally don't read books that feature the word millionaires or billionaires (Okay I admit that I read "fifty" a long, long time ago, because everyone was talking about it, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!What was the fuss about? O_O) and that is, because I HATE controlling, manipulative bastards that think that the world is theirs because they have money.

Blake is not one of those characters: He's actually a sweet, caring, non abusive guy.

I loved the way the author wrote him. His personality and the fact that he's not presented as perfect, makes of him a great leading character.

Then there's Xingjuan/Tina Cheng...

Tina is of Chinese Nationality, although we don't get a lot of psychical descriptions of her.

That "per se", _she being Chinese, not the lacking descriptions_ is great when most leading characters today are given to Caucasian girls.

Bonus points to the author for this.

Tina is a strong, non-bullshit kind of girl. She is not your average simpering Miss, and she doesn't apologize for that.

More Diversity In characters

Besides Tina, there's Maria, Tina's best friend, who is a transwoman, and who is going to be the leading character of the next book in the series. And yes, I definitely want to read it.

Once again the fact that Tina is not alone in this story, that she does have a girl friend to whom she can turn to, is a big yes on the "positives" side.

Blake has a problem..

And it's one that I had never read about concerning a guy.

I loved _not that he had the problem! _, but the fact that this was something different from what I am used to reading. It made him more human.

The secondary characters

Are all well developed and they never felt as they were only there to fill pages.

The writing

This is Courtney Milan we're talking about people, so of course it's more than good.

 ____________

The negatives

I read the whole book including the section in which the author explains why she didn't want to develop the problem with Blake's eating disorder, basically because that wasn't what the book was all about...however, as a reader, I can't help feeling that approaching such a sensible subject needed "more"...something.

After Tina helps Blake to admit that he needs specialized help, that subject feels a little resolved, and that felt wrong.

Okay I know that in reality his problem isn't resolved. He has the therapist and nutritionist to prove it, but after a moment, everything starts escalating in his life, and I didn't feel that his reaction the the upcoming stress was viable. Not with his problem.

It felt a little too...neat.

Besides this point, all I can say is that I honestly felt that with Blake's "issue", and him being who he is, and Tina being who she was, that the story didn't need more drama....something that ends up happening with a vengeance.

However I do have some serious prejudices against what I feel as an over-abuse of that...."activity"_drama drama drama_, so maybe other people _knowing that is is a New Adult book _ will have a different reaction to the story's last part.

The thing is, I have to remember _if I want to be fair _ that for most of this story I was really loving reading it, and wondering if this would be published in paperback....and I definitely want to follow the series, so I'll compromise with a three and half star rating.

What about you?

Have you already read it?

Author's Official Site

Buy It!

How (Not) To Fall In Love by Lisa Brown Roberts

 

Arc provided by Entangled Teen through Netgalley

Release Date: February 3rd 2015

I am not the most sentimental person in the planet.

In fact most people would probably just call me jaded... and that would be the nice ones.

I've almost stopped reading romances because instead of having a good time reading them, I mostly end up going into fits due to overboard cheesiness, insane silly plots, love affairs between characters that should be institutionalized, when they're not simply your average "goody too shoes" .

This story?

It doesn't have a contrived, moronic "bone in its body".

What it does have, is one of the most realistic approaches to the life of a young adult in all its variants: Family, growing up, and first love.

The writing style

I loved it. It was able to tell a complex story without falling into the usual YA contemporary clichés.

We don't have stupid love triangles in here. Let's face it, most time its hard enough to find one person that loves us, do we want to discuss the odds of finding two or three all at the same time and vying for our attention? Please.

No slut shaming despite the fact that the main characters is a senior in high-school_ unfortunately this is a recurrent in the genre, so I am always glad when it doesn't appear_ and what do you know, Darcy, manages to have a girl as her best friend.

She's a constant in Darcy's life, despite the fact that Darcy is more than apt at facing the world all by herself.

Darcy's family life feels realistic enough, from the change it goes through and everything that happens in the meantime... there are no perfect characters who come out with magical solutions for their problems.

Things get messy, and the characters just have to make the best of it, but it never becomes cheesy or turns into a pity feast!

Realistic is in fact my favourite word regarding this story, because as Darcy's life unravels, her actions and ideas just show how strong she is.

No one is going to come and save her, and you know what is the greatest thing about this?

She doesn't want anyone to do it, she is not expecting it, the only thing she needs is people that will stay by her side no matter what.

Darcy is probably the most courageous YA character featured in a contemporary novel that I've read about.

I would probably need a full month to write this review so I could give her all the compliments this girl deserves!

Now, this, is a role model!

This girl with her unwavering strength and the way she is able to face problems face to face.

This doesn't mean that she's a superwoman. She is only human in the face of a very difficult situation. But she never gives up.

Also this managed to avoid a tricky situation due to everything that happens: I am talking about the possibility of taking "the preachy lane". Thankfully it never does!

The romance...

I liked that it took its own sweet time... okay, there was a moment in which I felt that it took a second too long, lol, but you know, it just felt realistically done.

Lucas was such a sweet, responsible, and caring guy _basically the opposite of the brooding bad guy type that is now so famous in Ya books_, that I could forgive him for his White Knight Syndrome _lol _ especially because Darcy knows how to deal with him! :D

What else could I ask? 

Bottom line, a wonderful coming of age story filled with heartbreak, but also filled with hope and love.

What can I say?

It made bitter old me love it...

Now, go and request it _or pre-order it _ and tell me what you think about it!

@Author's official Site 

Pre-order it

bookdepository.com ( Well the book synopsis matches, lol, despite the different title ;)