There is not enough money in the world to entice me into being a teen again, and yet, there are some things I might like to let the teen me know - things that wouldn't change much, but might make me more sane as I grew up.
High school is not your time. You'll be cool someday, and some of those people from high school will wonder to your face why they didn't bother to know you back then.
Find something physical you love to do and indulge on a regular basis. Trust me. And on that note, it's not running.
There is no such thing as normal, so just quit wondering why you're not and figure out who YOU are. I guarantee you're unique.
Those shares of stock mom buys you every year? Make sure you always know where the certificates are because mom won't.
Some people in the family will never like you. Let go of trying to please them and learn to please yourself.
And a bonus...take a different date to the Military Ball. You'll both enjoy it more.
There is very little chance that any of us will have the opportunity to encounter our teen selves and impart any wisdom at all. What we can do is pay attention to the teens around us today. Find ways to share what we know in subtle ways. Remember, we're adults, and as such, we know nothing in their eyes. I've taken chances and shared my own youthful foibles with my daughter. Other parents were horrified, but I wasn't a perfect teen. I was miserable, and she deserves to know that and maybe, if we're both lucky, use that to make her own mistakes and choices.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Book: Fifty Shades of Grey - trilogy
Despite the furor over the Fifty Shades trilogy, I really had no intention of reading the books anytime soon. However, my daughter lent me her copies, and I didn't see the point in wasting the opportunity to read them free.
Each book had its pros and cons, and what I remember, I'll list, but mostly this is about the trilogy as a whole. First and foremost, the Fifty Shades trilogy is a love story. It's not recognizable as a romance if you've spent any significant time reading romance novels, but it IS a love story.
There's a lot of sex, and I do mean a lot. You might expect to find all manner of strange and bizarre sexual practices in the books, judging from the labels thrown around in mainstream media, the most controversial of which is "mommy porn." Ugh. That may be a post in itself, but that label grates at me.
Christian is a practicing Dominant, and has had a succession of submissive lovers contracted to him over the last eightish years. He meets Anastasia and without understanding what the attraction is, falls for her, hard. He approaches her in the only way he knows how and offers her a contract as his submissive. Ana not only is clueless about the relationship he's offering, she's never had sex at all, but she's equally attracted to Christian and after serious consideration, accepts his contract but keeps it from her closest friends.
Here's the odd part. This contract, which is laid out in the book, is easily the kinkiest thing I read in all three books. It outlines what could happen and asks Anastasia to define the limits of the relationship - what she will and won't do or allow to be done to her (her soft and hard limits), and it's pretty thorough. Yes, you read that second sentence right. There is almost no sex in the book that could really be deemed very kinky. There is some anal play, which for some may fall outside the vanilla label. There is some spanking and even whipping, some light bondage and one instance of not so light bondage and one use of what I think from reading another book is called a St Andrew's cross. All the rest of the sex I remember is consensual vanilla sex between two adults, though definitely not all missionary vanilla sex by any stretch of the imagination. There are toys involved, and lubes and certainly they use just about every room in the house and more than a few outside of the house.
That's not to say that the story is all hearts and roses, because it's not. Anastasia is, as I stated earlier, completely clueless about the D/s relationship, and struggles with the issues her lack of understanding causes. She forgets to use her safe word to stop something that is hurting her and blames Christian for her mistake. She wonders constantly during the first book if she can really handle what Christian wants from her but keeps going back nonetheless. Christian, for his part, is more patient and understanding than he would be with someone already in the BDSM lifestyle, though extraordinarily possessive, and intolerant of Ana's insecurities. Christian is extremely resistant to the idea of a relationship that is not contractual. He doesn't know how to do that, believes he is incapable, doesn't want to.
Now for the bad. Overall, this trilogy could have used a more professional editor. By that I mean one who wasn't so involved in the story that he or she failed to see fixable issues. In the first book, there is an egregious overuse of the word "clamber" in all its permutations. I'm not talking about ten or twelve times, either. I mean easily over a hundred uses in a four-hundred-page book (Maybe shorter, I didn't actually count the pages). The word continued to be overused in the second book, though not as extensively, and the third book had a totally different word or phrase that I got sick of reading (though I've forgotten it at the moment) and it didn't begin to approach the quantity of clamber in the first one. There were grammar and spelling mistakes that could have and should have been caught and fixed prior to printing, enough that I thought more than once, "Wow, she should have gotten a better editor." Probably I was not supposed to be thinking with a red pen while I was reading her books. James has some skill to hone before she'll be really good.
After a while, I got a little tired of the lack of sexual imagination. There was nothing here that I hadn't read before, certainly nothing to warrant the label "mommy porn" or any kind of porn. Erotic, yes, sometimes. Sexy, definitely. Porn, not hardly. Christian was supposed to be this dominant with a capital D, and he was in charge nearly always, but as he was portrayed in the book, he didn't have much imagination, or if he had it, he didn't use it. There were several occasions when I read something and just knew it was going to get really good, and then was disappointed by the vanilla sex, albeit slightly rough vanilla sex. Mostly, I think it was supposed to be kinky just because Christian was In Charge. Whatever. After the furor of the trilogy's over-the-top sexual escapades, I was disappointed to finish reading and realize that nothing truly different ever actually happened. I've read kinkier flashfic.
On to the good. E. L. James has some serious writing chops, and I would love to read more from her, assuming she hires herself a more competent editor. I laughed and cried and got involved with the characters, and fell in love with Christian and Anastasia as they were falling in love with each other. I want to read more about these two, and about their continuing adventures, and those of their extended family. I can't give a much better compliment than that. No one was two-dimensional.
The sex was well-written, despite being rather too vanilla to live up to the hype. There was no tab A, slot B boring description, though it was sometimes a bit repetitive. The contract was pretty comprehensive, and showed at the very least that E. L. James researched the subject matter enough to adequately share something with which not all of us have first-hand experience. The explanations of the contractual D/s relationship were written in such a way that it was interesting to read rather than being an infodump on an unsuspecting Anastasia/reading audience, though Anastasia was understandably overwhelmed several times.
At the end of the third book, there were some extras, including a small passage from Christian's perspective. Though I would not want to read the entire trilogy again from his point of view, there are at least half a dozen important forks in the road (certainly several from each book) where I would love to know what was going through his mind. In particular, during that very powerful moment in the second book, I want to know what was going through him to cause him to make that not entirely conscious choice.
The epilogue, though entirely too long, not only gave us a happy enough ending, but it also totally left room for us to revisit Christian and Anastasia and to share further triumphs and tragedies.
Overall, while I was disappointed that Fifty Shades did not live up to the media hype with regard to deeply exploring the D/s relationship and the BDSM lifestyle in general, I truly enjoyed the love that developed between Christian and Anastasia and will likely read all three books again some time soon. I did learn some new things about dominants and submissives and "laters, baby" made its way into my vocabulary. :D
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Book: Death of a Serpent by Susan Russo Anderson
I received a copy of this book for review through Reader Spoils.
Having never read any of the other Serafina Florio mysteries, I don't know if in one of the earlier books, more background is given. In this one, the writer just jumps on in to Serafina's life, including a summons from her close friend to view the scene of a murder at her place of business. Many, MANY people are introduced in the first few chapters - so many that I was very confused about pretty much anybody except Serafina and Rosa. Most baffling of all were the conversations Serafina had with Maddelina (?). I'm still not sure whether she's alive or dead.
It's never established how or why Serafina Florio is particularly qualified to solve a mystery, aside from the fact that she's willing to keep looking and is perfectly willing to nose into other people's lives. I didn't find the character of Serafina, or any of the characters, for that matter, especially appealing, nor was the mystery compelling.
I disliked the writing style, with its short, choppy sentences and weird frequently-backwards dialogue. Perhaps this type of dialogue is in keeping with that time period for Sicily, but it was pervasive and got annoying. Death of a Serpent was well-written, technically, thus the three stars. I found few grammar errors outside of dialogue (where I give it a pass, for the most part), and no spelling or homonym errors that I recall. In addition, because some local words and phrases were thrown in randomly, I learned some Italian in context (though truthfully, some of it, I wouldn't have known what the word meant except that I already knew a very similar word or phrase in Mexican).
Other people will enjoy (and obviously have enjoyed) the book, the dialogue, the syntax, the characters, the mystery. I didn't, but I can't really hold that against Ms. Anderson. The writing was good enough technically that I will probably look for other works by Ms. Anderson, but I doubt I'll read any more period pieces.
Having never read any of the other Serafina Florio mysteries, I don't know if in one of the earlier books, more background is given. In this one, the writer just jumps on in to Serafina's life, including a summons from her close friend to view the scene of a murder at her place of business. Many, MANY people are introduced in the first few chapters - so many that I was very confused about pretty much anybody except Serafina and Rosa. Most baffling of all were the conversations Serafina had with Maddelina (?). I'm still not sure whether she's alive or dead.
It's never established how or why Serafina Florio is particularly qualified to solve a mystery, aside from the fact that she's willing to keep looking and is perfectly willing to nose into other people's lives. I didn't find the character of Serafina, or any of the characters, for that matter, especially appealing, nor was the mystery compelling.
I disliked the writing style, with its short, choppy sentences and weird frequently-backwards dialogue. Perhaps this type of dialogue is in keeping with that time period for Sicily, but it was pervasive and got annoying. Death of a Serpent was well-written, technically, thus the three stars. I found few grammar errors outside of dialogue (where I give it a pass, for the most part), and no spelling or homonym errors that I recall. In addition, because some local words and phrases were thrown in randomly, I learned some Italian in context (though truthfully, some of it, I wouldn't have known what the word meant except that I already knew a very similar word or phrase in Mexican).
Other people will enjoy (and obviously have enjoyed) the book, the dialogue, the syntax, the characters, the mystery. I didn't, but I can't really hold that against Ms. Anderson. The writing was good enough technically that I will probably look for other works by Ms. Anderson, but I doubt I'll read any more period pieces.
Book: Let Me In by Callie Croix
I am reviewing a copy I received through NetGalley.
Let Me In is a very short story about Marine Talia coming home from the Middle East for a three-week break. I enjoyed this story, and could have enjoyed it more.
There was some slight inconsistency/confusion regarding how long Talia had been friends with Angie, and that took me out of the story a bit too much from the beginning. Talia's issues with her mom didn't warrant so much attention. I found it difficult to believe that a woman, a Marine, as squared away as Talia is in her professional life would be so profoundly insecure about her mother's illness and how other people would see it. The romance moved a bit too fast for me - fast is somewhat of a necessity with such a short story, but in this case, the move from crush to submissive sexual behavior to a possible HEA was just too much for me. And I definitely had to suspend my disbelief on how fast her mother went from 60 back down to 0.
On the good side, Croix's descriptions of Talia's response to her mother's situation, and the interactions between them were stunningly well done. Angie and Talia's friendship and connection was easy to feel, though I never got how they met, since Talia's pretty much been out of the country the entire time they've known each other. I completely understood her attraction to Liam - he sounds all around like a really good guy. The sex was steamy enough, though there was very little of it. The characters, all of them, are interesting enough that I'd like to revisit them, get to know them better, hopefully in a longer story.
It was a fast, fun read, and I'll look for more by Croix.
Let Me In is a very short story about Marine Talia coming home from the Middle East for a three-week break. I enjoyed this story, and could have enjoyed it more.
There was some slight inconsistency/confusion regarding how long Talia had been friends with Angie, and that took me out of the story a bit too much from the beginning. Talia's issues with her mom didn't warrant so much attention. I found it difficult to believe that a woman, a Marine, as squared away as Talia is in her professional life would be so profoundly insecure about her mother's illness and how other people would see it. The romance moved a bit too fast for me - fast is somewhat of a necessity with such a short story, but in this case, the move from crush to submissive sexual behavior to a possible HEA was just too much for me. And I definitely had to suspend my disbelief on how fast her mother went from 60 back down to 0.
On the good side, Croix's descriptions of Talia's response to her mother's situation, and the interactions between them were stunningly well done. Angie and Talia's friendship and connection was easy to feel, though I never got how they met, since Talia's pretty much been out of the country the entire time they've known each other. I completely understood her attraction to Liam - he sounds all around like a really good guy. The sex was steamy enough, though there was very little of it. The characters, all of them, are interesting enough that I'd like to revisit them, get to know them better, hopefully in a longer story.
It was a fast, fun read, and I'll look for more by Croix.
Book: Improper Relations by Juliana Ross
Widowed Hannah, who serves a distant family member as a lady's maid, is in the family library working on something and since she wishes to remain alone, hides when she hears someone enter the room. She is both mortified and titillated to witness Leo, the youngest son, having a sexual encounter with a housemaid. Turns out, Leo knew she was there and approaches her with a proposition.
While the premise is a bit salacious, Improper Relations ends up being a sweet, albeit short, love story. What starts out as a learning experience for Hannah blooms into a romantic and emotional relationship for both Hannah and Leo.
As with any romance, there are obstacles, and the roadblocks in this story necessitate a tissue or two.
The ending was a bit too pat and the resolution was handled much too quickly, but other than that, this was a really enjoyable story, and I'll probably add it to my keeper folder to reread when I need a certain kind of HEA.
I am reviewing a copy of Improper Relations provided to me by NetGalley.
While the premise is a bit salacious, Improper Relations ends up being a sweet, albeit short, love story. What starts out as a learning experience for Hannah blooms into a romantic and emotional relationship for both Hannah and Leo.
As with any romance, there are obstacles, and the roadblocks in this story necessitate a tissue or two.
The ending was a bit too pat and the resolution was handled much too quickly, but other than that, this was a really enjoyable story, and I'll probably add it to my keeper folder to reread when I need a certain kind of HEA.
I am reviewing a copy of Improper Relations provided to me by NetGalley.
Book: The Siren by Tiffany Reisz
I am reviewing a copy of The Siren I received through NetGalley.
When I finished The Siren, my only thought was "Wow." I'm still not convinced I can adequately convey what I think about this book.
First, I can't really classify it. It is NOT a romance. It does contain graphic sexual scenes, and yet I wouldn't consider it erotica. It is a love story, but not a romantic love story.
Nora, Zach, Soren, Wesley are the four major characters - basically three male characters whose lives revolve around Nora's life and activity.
The very basic gist is that Nora is a well-known erotica writer who has something more personal she wants to write and hunts out a better publishing house. Zack is a high-falutin' editor who looks down his nose as something so trashy as erotica, but decides to edit her book, as long as she does it his way and only his way. Soren is Nora's past, her old Dom. Wesley is a pre-med student, living in Nora's house and serving as her houseboy, to be politically incorrect, in exchange for room and board.
Some of Nora's past life is revealed to us in glimpses through her writing. In addition to editing the book to Zach's exacting specifications, she writes pseudo journal entries, which she subsequently erases without saving. These journal entries almost entirely relate to her past relationship with Soren, and it is in her relationship with Soren that I find my only real disappointment with The Siren. Though she and Soren are presented as a sub and her Dom, their interactions strike me (in my admittedly limited understanding of the "alternative" lifestyle of BDSM) as closer to Master/slave than D/s, and Soren's power over her fear-based rather than love-based. I never doubt that she loves him, even now, but I just don't see his love for her. Maybe this is a failing in me that I am simply unable to really connect with the deep level of physical pain he "gives" her - how this can possibly be love.
There is a plenitude of sexually graphic scenes in the book that I did not find erotic. Emotionally impactful, yes. Erotic, no. I felt like I had found a diary full of intimate passages about people I knew, describing how they came to be so connected. I had no trouble at all envisioning Nora's love for each one of these men, and she did love them, though each one entirely differently. And Zach's and Wesley's love for Nora was equally accessible.
The Siren is emotionally uncomfortable, in a good way, and the story continues unrelentingly to the end, and resolves in the only way it can. It's not a Happily Ever After. It's not even a Happily Enough For Now. It's just the only way this book could end, the heartbreakingly right way for this story, or this piece of the story, to conclude.
I unashamedly admit to grabbing my box of tissues and blowing my nose through several minutes of "Wow." I will most definitely be looking for more work from Tiffany Reisz.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Review: Tampax Radiant tampons
I got a sample pack from Vocalpoint of Tampax Radiant tampons.
These particular tampons come in resealable packets, and are contained in colorful insertion tubes.
My period is less regular these days, and so I didn't get the opportunity to try them out as quickly as I planned.
Though I like the idea of the resealability, I don't like it in reality - the seal has a mind of its own, and closes itself randomly, making one-handed disposal of the used insertion tube pretty much impossible.
The insertion tube colors are pretty, though I really don't get the need to make them all pretty. I mean, it's my period. Who cares what color the damn things are?
I have the same issues with these Radiant tampons as with other Tampax tampons - they expand only sideways, in panels, rather than in one contained more or less tubular pattern. For me, this expansion has two problems: it makes them uncomfortable to wear (whoever says you can't feel tampons when you're wearing them is lying like a rug), and makes one more difficult to extract when a change is necessary. In addition to that, the samples I tried didn't have a knot in the string. This made a tampon change take nearly five minutes, most of which was pulling at, and losing my grip on, the extraction string. Not fun! And grrrrr!
They are usable, and will do in a pinch, but I won't be running out to buy them, and I'll be passing the coupon on to someone else.
For comfort and fit and leakage protection, Playtex Sport is still tops on my list. Of course, not having a period anymore would be the very top, but.....
These particular tampons come in resealable packets, and are contained in colorful insertion tubes.
My period is less regular these days, and so I didn't get the opportunity to try them out as quickly as I planned.
Though I like the idea of the resealability, I don't like it in reality - the seal has a mind of its own, and closes itself randomly, making one-handed disposal of the used insertion tube pretty much impossible.
The insertion tube colors are pretty, though I really don't get the need to make them all pretty. I mean, it's my period. Who cares what color the damn things are?
I have the same issues with these Radiant tampons as with other Tampax tampons - they expand only sideways, in panels, rather than in one contained more or less tubular pattern. For me, this expansion has two problems: it makes them uncomfortable to wear (whoever says you can't feel tampons when you're wearing them is lying like a rug), and makes one more difficult to extract when a change is necessary. In addition to that, the samples I tried didn't have a knot in the string. This made a tampon change take nearly five minutes, most of which was pulling at, and losing my grip on, the extraction string. Not fun! And grrrrr!
They are usable, and will do in a pinch, but I won't be running out to buy them, and I'll be passing the coupon on to someone else.
For comfort and fit and leakage protection, Playtex Sport is still tops on my list. Of course, not having a period anymore would be the very top, but.....
Five Passions
I have many more than five things about which I am passionate, but in no particular order, I'll share the top five.
My grandbabies. Understand, right now, I just have the one, but if my love for him is any indication, I will be plenty passionate about all of them. Being a gramma is unquestionably one of my purposes in life.
Babies in general. I love babies. I love babies of all shapes, colors, sizes and species. In human babies, I'm fascinated by their facial expressions, the ways in which their burgeoning personalities express themselves, and I adore the way babies just love everything around them. No holds barred. I love holding them, talking to them, listening to them, watching them sleep (in a nonstalkery way, naturally), just everything!
Books. I have been having a sizzling love affair with books for well over forty years now. My mother read to me in utero, and I learned to read for myself well before kindergarten. I love the way books smell and feel, and how a good one can take me someplace I've never been and make it seem as familiar as my own back yard. I won a Kindle Fire in January, and despite my personal belief that I would never really be able to love an e-reader like I love books, I have to say that I am won over. That little tiny thing currently holds the text of or links to over three thousand books, the vast majority of which were free, giving me the opportunity at any given time to read whatever genre or length of book I want, in complete privacy. I'm astounded by how much I now put off reading actual print books in favor of reading "just one more" of my e-books.
Reading. You might think this is cheating, listing it separately from books. No. I read anything I can get my hands on, from magazines to blogs to book reviews to product descriptions. I've been known to read a cereal box is nothing else is available. Granted, having that Kindle Fire makes it much less likely that I will not have a book available to read at any given time, but still, reading encompasses so much more than just books.
Movies. I love action movies in particular, but I just love movies. I love watching them, having rousing discussions about their merits, sharing my opinions about them, learning things about myself and my fellow humans through movies. I am easily entertained, but still hate stupid movies. I want smart entertainment, not that lowest-common-denominator crap that Hollywood churns out on a fairly regular basis. I love movies that make me feel something - make me laugh or make me cry, make me wonder or question, make me change my mind.
My grandbabies. Understand, right now, I just have the one, but if my love for him is any indication, I will be plenty passionate about all of them. Being a gramma is unquestionably one of my purposes in life.
Babies in general. I love babies. I love babies of all shapes, colors, sizes and species. In human babies, I'm fascinated by their facial expressions, the ways in which their burgeoning personalities express themselves, and I adore the way babies just love everything around them. No holds barred. I love holding them, talking to them, listening to them, watching them sleep (in a nonstalkery way, naturally), just everything!
Books. I have been having a sizzling love affair with books for well over forty years now. My mother read to me in utero, and I learned to read for myself well before kindergarten. I love the way books smell and feel, and how a good one can take me someplace I've never been and make it seem as familiar as my own back yard. I won a Kindle Fire in January, and despite my personal belief that I would never really be able to love an e-reader like I love books, I have to say that I am won over. That little tiny thing currently holds the text of or links to over three thousand books, the vast majority of which were free, giving me the opportunity at any given time to read whatever genre or length of book I want, in complete privacy. I'm astounded by how much I now put off reading actual print books in favor of reading "just one more" of my e-books.
Reading. You might think this is cheating, listing it separately from books. No. I read anything I can get my hands on, from magazines to blogs to book reviews to product descriptions. I've been known to read a cereal box is nothing else is available. Granted, having that Kindle Fire makes it much less likely that I will not have a book available to read at any given time, but still, reading encompasses so much more than just books.
Movies. I love action movies in particular, but I just love movies. I love watching them, having rousing discussions about their merits, sharing my opinions about them, learning things about myself and my fellow humans through movies. I am easily entertained, but still hate stupid movies. I want smart entertainment, not that lowest-common-denominator crap that Hollywood churns out on a fairly regular basis. I love movies that make me feel something - make me laugh or make me cry, make me wonder or question, make me change my mind.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
What do people most misunderstand about me?
People who meet me in real life frequently think that I am angry or unhappy, regardless of whether or not I'm smiling. I've never understood why, and when asked, they've only ever said that my face always looks angry or unhappy. I never see what they see. It used to be something that would irritate me badly, to be in a great mood only to be asked, "What's wrong with you?" Now that I'm older, I just figure that my mien scares off the people who aren't interested in seeing below my surface, for which I am somewhat thankful.
People who have only known me online often think I'm cold and unfeeling. Perhaps this is because I choose to communicate in proper English, and I'm more comfortable when I am certain that what I'm trying to communicate is what I'm "putting down on the page," which translates to more formality than most people are used to with emails, Facebook or blog comments. I do try to utilize emoticons, especially when I'm just not sure that what I'm saying is what they'll "hear."
In reality, I'm neither chronically unhappy nor cold or unfeeling. I'm just a white chick with baggage.
I like the English language, the nuances of using it properly. I love books. I love learning new things. I hate talking on the telephone. I like sex and I'm not afraid to talk about any kind of sex there is to any person who brings up the subject, even if it's not a sexual activity in which I personally would indulge. I love babies of all shapes, sizes and species. Except roaches. I don't like any of those, babies or not. I'm not a smiler or a laugher, so if you get either out of me, consider yourself among rare company. I've made mistakes, some pretty bad ones, ones I'd rather people didn't know, but I'm also willing to share those mistakes when I see that someone may be able to take my lesson and use my consequences to avoid some particular pitfall in their own life. I like proper pronunciation and enunciation, and have to work not to correct others' speech, since my only child is grown and out of the house now, and hers is the only speech which I had a right or responsibility to correct.
Do people often misunderstand you?
People who have only known me online often think I'm cold and unfeeling. Perhaps this is because I choose to communicate in proper English, and I'm more comfortable when I am certain that what I'm trying to communicate is what I'm "putting down on the page," which translates to more formality than most people are used to with emails, Facebook or blog comments. I do try to utilize emoticons, especially when I'm just not sure that what I'm saying is what they'll "hear."
In reality, I'm neither chronically unhappy nor cold or unfeeling. I'm just a white chick with baggage.
I like the English language, the nuances of using it properly. I love books. I love learning new things. I hate talking on the telephone. I like sex and I'm not afraid to talk about any kind of sex there is to any person who brings up the subject, even if it's not a sexual activity in which I personally would indulge. I love babies of all shapes, sizes and species. Except roaches. I don't like any of those, babies or not. I'm not a smiler or a laugher, so if you get either out of me, consider yourself among rare company. I've made mistakes, some pretty bad ones, ones I'd rather people didn't know, but I'm also willing to share those mistakes when I see that someone may be able to take my lesson and use my consequences to avoid some particular pitfall in their own life. I like proper pronunciation and enunciation, and have to work not to correct others' speech, since my only child is grown and out of the house now, and hers is the only speech which I had a right or responsibility to correct.
Do people often misunderstand you?
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
App Review: Random Mahjong
I found this accidentally while I was on Amazon searching for something else. I actually downloaded it through my Android phone, though I've since removed it and re-downloaded it onto my Kindle Fire.
The colors are vibrant, with pretty backgrounds and several different choices of tiles. The board moves as I remove tiles, making the remaining tiles bigger and easier to see and match up. The only downside I've found is that if I get down to the last tiles and can't remove them, the board reloads exactly as it was and I get to try again. I'd rather it shuffle the tiles and give me a new chance. However, that is a very small nitpick and most definitely has not kept me from playing the game late into the night when I'm supposed to be charging my phone. lol
The ad bar across the bottom is barely noticeable, and hasn't distracted me at all from playing.Random Mahjong
The colors are vibrant, with pretty backgrounds and several different choices of tiles. The board moves as I remove tiles, making the remaining tiles bigger and easier to see and match up. The only downside I've found is that if I get down to the last tiles and can't remove them, the board reloads exactly as it was and I get to try again. I'd rather it shuffle the tiles and give me a new chance. However, that is a very small nitpick and most definitely has not kept me from playing the game late into the night when I'm supposed to be charging my phone. lol
The ad bar across the bottom is barely noticeable, and hasn't distracted me at all from playing.Random Mahjong
Book: Fifty Shades by E. L. James
I finished the Fifty Shades trilogy, thanks to a generous friend who shared hers with me. I'll have more to say in a real review, but first impressions and just for the sake of accuracy? The kinkiest thing in this trilogy is the idea of some of the things that :might: happen, and which are alluded to in The Contract. No, really. And it's not erotica, nor is it the more hideous label of "mommy porn." Ugh.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Book: I Only Have Eyes For You by Bella Andre
Though this isn't the first Bella Andre book I've read, it's the first in the Sullivans series for me. I was able to read it free via Netgalley.
I loved the bits of the Sullivan family I glimpsed, even though there wasn't actually much of the family in this book. It was well-written enough that I kind of got to know the family even without them being there. This particular story did stand easily on its own, and yet I believe that I will get more out of it if I read the first three and then reread this one. There are little subtleties that didn't make or break the story, but made me wonder what I didn't know.
Sophie and Jake have been in love with each other practically forever (since she was five, anyway, when Jake became friends with her brothers), and neither has believed that the other was really right for them despite that. Sophie decides to shake her nickname Nice off after her brother's wedding (her twin sister Lori is Naughty), and goes all out after Jake, who naturally can't resist her. They have an amazing night together, and he skedaddles while she's still asleep, leaving her wondering what the heck happened when she wakes up alone in a strange house.
There were definitely some cons to this story. Most notably, the formatting. I don't know if there was some formatting issue with the file Netgalley sent to my Kindle, but the dialogue in particular was formatted with weird markings in place of quotation marks. This was very distracting, and though I began to tune it out, anytime I put my Kindle down and then picked it back up again, it struck me anew. At location 401, there is a dangling phrase that doesn't belong in the story at all; "foot yacht through rough waters after three sleepless nights" is right in the middle of a sentence about something else entirely. When Sophie breaks down and goes to see Jake two and a half months after their wild, hot night together, they have a conversation in which she is vague about dates and since they only had sex on that one occasion, that stuck out at me as out of character for someone of her intellectual caliber. When something happened to Sophie and she ended up in the hospital, the entire family, including her mother, rallied round her, but I was disappointed that Sophie had apparently not had a conversation with her mother about her feelings for Jake; Mom Sullivan seemed to be pretty close to her kids, and while I understood that Sophie didn't want to share that night with her six very over-protective brothers, I didn't really get why she didn't talk to her mom during that intervening time.
On to the silver lining. The characters are real and individual, and some get more "face-time" than others. I really enjoyed the story - the progression of emotions as Sophie and Jake got to know each other differently than they had before, and as they each learned some new things about themselves in the process. I loved having an alpha male who had what he considered a seriously debilitating problem that instead turned out to be something that could bring him closer to Sophie. The bedroom activity was hot enough without pushing beyond vanilla or into erotic in any way - just two people who loved each other and wanted to have hot, sweaty sex with one another a lot.
I like romance. I particularly like erotic romance. Bella Andre's I Only Have Eyes For You is a sweet romance that didn't leave me feeling cheated by a lack of superhot sexyfun, and did leave me wanting to get to know the rest of the Sullivan family. Thumbs up from me.
I loved the bits of the Sullivan family I glimpsed, even though there wasn't actually much of the family in this book. It was well-written enough that I kind of got to know the family even without them being there. This particular story did stand easily on its own, and yet I believe that I will get more out of it if I read the first three and then reread this one. There are little subtleties that didn't make or break the story, but made me wonder what I didn't know.
Sophie and Jake have been in love with each other practically forever (since she was five, anyway, when Jake became friends with her brothers), and neither has believed that the other was really right for them despite that. Sophie decides to shake her nickname Nice off after her brother's wedding (her twin sister Lori is Naughty), and goes all out after Jake, who naturally can't resist her. They have an amazing night together, and he skedaddles while she's still asleep, leaving her wondering what the heck happened when she wakes up alone in a strange house.
There were definitely some cons to this story. Most notably, the formatting. I don't know if there was some formatting issue with the file Netgalley sent to my Kindle, but the dialogue in particular was formatted with weird markings in place of quotation marks. This was very distracting, and though I began to tune it out, anytime I put my Kindle down and then picked it back up again, it struck me anew. At location 401, there is a dangling phrase that doesn't belong in the story at all; "foot yacht through rough waters after three sleepless nights" is right in the middle of a sentence about something else entirely. When Sophie breaks down and goes to see Jake two and a half months after their wild, hot night together, they have a conversation in which she is vague about dates and since they only had sex on that one occasion, that stuck out at me as out of character for someone of her intellectual caliber. When something happened to Sophie and she ended up in the hospital, the entire family, including her mother, rallied round her, but I was disappointed that Sophie had apparently not had a conversation with her mother about her feelings for Jake; Mom Sullivan seemed to be pretty close to her kids, and while I understood that Sophie didn't want to share that night with her six very over-protective brothers, I didn't really get why she didn't talk to her mom during that intervening time.
On to the silver lining. The characters are real and individual, and some get more "face-time" than others. I really enjoyed the story - the progression of emotions as Sophie and Jake got to know each other differently than they had before, and as they each learned some new things about themselves in the process. I loved having an alpha male who had what he considered a seriously debilitating problem that instead turned out to be something that could bring him closer to Sophie. The bedroom activity was hot enough without pushing beyond vanilla or into erotic in any way - just two people who loved each other and wanted to have hot, sweaty sex with one another a lot.
I like romance. I particularly like erotic romance. Bella Andre's I Only Have Eyes For You is a sweet romance that didn't leave me feeling cheated by a lack of superhot sexyfun, and did leave me wanting to get to know the rest of the Sullivan family. Thumbs up from me.
Book: Amulet 2 by S. Wolf
Jason's back in this sequel to Amulet, though the titular amulet belongs to someone else now. Interestingly to me, I found the plot more cohesive in this sequel and, at the same time, the sex not nearly as hot. There were fewer mistakes in this story (though still a few), but they really didn't take me out of the story too much.
We're five or so years down the road, and Jason and his pack have created a circle of friends bound by love and true friendship, and they're all pretty happy. Sam is pregnant and fairly soon into the book, goes into the hospital to have the baby, but something happens. Because he's special to Malchediel and Ambriel, Jason is offered the opportunity to "fix" things. In something vaguely akin to Ebenezer Scrooge's visits from various Ghosts of Christmas, Jason tries to figure out if he should fix things; how different would his life be if one little tiny thing were changed? Two? If he changed nothing?
Jason's journey through his own life (past, present and future) in his quest for that answer is touching, and eventually he makes the right decision for himself and his new family, and it's a choice that both makes sense to the character and isn't too farfetched to be realistic.
Then, the epilogue sets things up for another sequel, and the circumstances of that setup strain my credulity a bit too far. There may be more to this story, but I think I'll stop here and be satisfied with this ending.
Much thanks to S. Wolf for the opportunity to download this book free from Smashwords.
We're five or so years down the road, and Jason and his pack have created a circle of friends bound by love and true friendship, and they're all pretty happy. Sam is pregnant and fairly soon into the book, goes into the hospital to have the baby, but something happens. Because he's special to Malchediel and Ambriel, Jason is offered the opportunity to "fix" things. In something vaguely akin to Ebenezer Scrooge's visits from various Ghosts of Christmas, Jason tries to figure out if he should fix things; how different would his life be if one little tiny thing were changed? Two? If he changed nothing?
Jason's journey through his own life (past, present and future) in his quest for that answer is touching, and eventually he makes the right decision for himself and his new family, and it's a choice that both makes sense to the character and isn't too farfetched to be realistic.
Then, the epilogue sets things up for another sequel, and the circumstances of that setup strain my credulity a bit too far. There may be more to this story, but I think I'll stop here and be satisfied with this ending.
Much thanks to S. Wolf for the opportunity to download this book free from Smashwords.
Booklet: Cradle Robber by Jessica Reve
This story was so poorly edited that I can't even tell you if it had a good premise. It was so poorly edited, in fact, that it wasn't the least bit erotic. In addition to that, it was *extremely* short, taking me maybe five minutes to read from beginning to end. Punctuation was barely an afterthought, and spelling and grammar were atrocious.
I noticed when looking it up to write the review that there are two more parts. I'm not even remotely interested in reading them, even if they're free. This author seriously needs a beta reader, at the very least.
I noticed when looking it up to write the review that there are two more parts. I'm not even remotely interested in reading them, even if they're free. This author seriously needs a beta reader, at the very least.
Book: Amulet by S. Wolf
While this was not the best story I've ever read, it was a pretty darn good one. Jason was well-explored, though some of the secondary and tertiary characters were rather flat. I would have liked a little more story before Jason chose to share the secret of the Amulet, but that's just personal preference.
Jason is an 18-year-old senior in high school, who saves somebody's life and gets an unexpected reward. What he does with the reward is, as Paul Harvey used to say, "...the rest of the story."
The story could have devolved almost in porn, but Wolf took Jason on a little journey of discovery. There are definitely sexually explicit scenes in the book, and they are plentiful, but none of them were more than mildly beyond vanilla, even in description.
I liked that Jason was a more than a little nerdy, fairly typical high school boy. He was in lust with a Hot Chick, he had at least one good friend who'd been with him through good and bad, and he was pretty comfortable in his own skin as he knew it. Jason used the secret of the Amulet to create opportunities to spy on several people. Rather than being a Peeping Tom who gets off on his spying (though he does, just not on the spot), Jason observes with curiosity and interest - he uses these occurrences to learn something, about himself, about sex in general, about other people. Ultimately, he uses the secret of the Amulet to again attempt to save someone from harm.
Wolf has written a sequel to Amulet, with the same small circle of friends, and if it were within my budget, I'd look forward to reading it. :)
Edited to add: S. Wolf contacted me through one of my websites to offer me a coupon to read the sequel free. It's reviewed separately.
Jason is an 18-year-old senior in high school, who saves somebody's life and gets an unexpected reward. What he does with the reward is, as Paul Harvey used to say, "...the rest of the story."
The story could have devolved almost in porn, but Wolf took Jason on a little journey of discovery. There are definitely sexually explicit scenes in the book, and they are plentiful, but none of them were more than mildly beyond vanilla, even in description.
I liked that Jason was a more than a little nerdy, fairly typical high school boy. He was in lust with a Hot Chick, he had at least one good friend who'd been with him through good and bad, and he was pretty comfortable in his own skin as he knew it. Jason used the secret of the Amulet to create opportunities to spy on several people. Rather than being a Peeping Tom who gets off on his spying (though he does, just not on the spot), Jason observes with curiosity and interest - he uses these occurrences to learn something, about himself, about sex in general, about other people. Ultimately, he uses the secret of the Amulet to again attempt to save someone from harm.
Wolf has written a sequel to Amulet, with the same small circle of friends, and if it were within my budget, I'd look forward to reading it. :)
Edited to add: S. Wolf contacted me through one of my websites to offer me a coupon to read the sequel free. It's reviewed separately.
Book: Moonlight In a Pickup Truck by Serena Zane
I'm a sucker for a good friends to lovers story, and this could have been that.
The writing was in the style of a student with an assignment - run-on sentences, misplaced commas (mostly just missing), and much more tell than show, though I don't recall any spelling errors. It was very stream-of-consciousness, from the point of view of the HS sophomore girl having a last little bit of time before her good male friend goes off to the Navy. (On a side note, mmmm, love a man in uniform. lol)
By the girl's own admission, she had been pretending to be his friend the entire time, because she didn't want him to know she was in love with him. I get that, but the way it was written, it seemed as if she really wasn't his friend in any way, and that made the transition a bit more difficult to swallow.
I was disappointed that the girl was portrayed as knowing she shouldn't have been driving because she'd drunk too much, but doing it anyway in the hopes of getting into the guy's pants. Mom grounding her could have been the least of her worries!
Extremely short. Worth a shot for you, maybe.
The writing was in the style of a student with an assignment - run-on sentences, misplaced commas (mostly just missing), and much more tell than show, though I don't recall any spelling errors. It was very stream-of-consciousness, from the point of view of the HS sophomore girl having a last little bit of time before her good male friend goes off to the Navy. (On a side note, mmmm, love a man in uniform. lol)
By the girl's own admission, she had been pretending to be his friend the entire time, because she didn't want him to know she was in love with him. I get that, but the way it was written, it seemed as if she really wasn't his friend in any way, and that made the transition a bit more difficult to swallow.
I was disappointed that the girl was portrayed as knowing she shouldn't have been driving because she'd drunk too much, but doing it anyway in the hopes of getting into the guy's pants. Mom grounding her could have been the least of her worries!
Extremely short. Worth a shot for you, maybe.
Book: Holding Out For a Hero by HelenKay Dimon
Holding Out For a Hero had been on my To Read list for well over a year, so when I found it at the local library, I was really looking forward to reading it.
What a disappointment. The plot held promise, but failed to deliver to my satisfaction.
The heroine was bland and boring, though seriously annoying. Should I ever have the misfortune to have someone like her in my personal life, I plan to run, not walk, the other way, and possibly file stalking charges. Really. She hired the man to investigate, then hired someone else to shadow him, so she would always know where he was and she could show up anywhere, including at a friend's house when he was having dinner.
Chemistry between the romantic couple was more fizzle than sizzle. The love scenes were a bit like reading the Wall Street Journal - that is, tedious. About 60% through the book (the first love scene was at about 55%), I started skimming pages and fully reading every third or fourth page. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything important.
There were few or no noticeable grammar errors, so at least it had that going for it. I don't plan on reading another HelenKay Dimon book anytime soon, though, even so.
What a disappointment. The plot held promise, but failed to deliver to my satisfaction.
The heroine was bland and boring, though seriously annoying. Should I ever have the misfortune to have someone like her in my personal life, I plan to run, not walk, the other way, and possibly file stalking charges. Really. She hired the man to investigate, then hired someone else to shadow him, so she would always know where he was and she could show up anywhere, including at a friend's house when he was having dinner.
Chemistry between the romantic couple was more fizzle than sizzle. The love scenes were a bit like reading the Wall Street Journal - that is, tedious. About 60% through the book (the first love scene was at about 55%), I started skimming pages and fully reading every third or fourth page. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything important.
There were few or no noticeable grammar errors, so at least it had that going for it. I don't plan on reading another HelenKay Dimon book anytime soon, though, even so.
Book: Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann
I will confess to being out of reach of a library for a little over a year, so haven't read any of the last few Troubleshooters books. Thus, I have none of the complaints that many of the one-star reviewers have. Other than the already established couples growing relationship-wise, I'm not attached to "super-couples." Watching soaps in the 80s and 90s cured me of that. lol
I was a little confused at the beginning. When I started reading chapter one, it took me a minute to realize that the entire prologue was a dream/escape for Dave. I've been there - had a need to have some elaborate world to go to in order to keep from giving up, so I understood it once I realized that's what it was. However, the segue there was not as smooth as I would have expected.
There were several times while reading that I had to click back to the previous chapter or scene with certain characters to refresh my memory on what was happening when I "turned the page." I like the alternating scenes and multiple locations, I just thought some of the transitions were so long that I couldn't keep straight what was happening where. Maybe I'm getting old.
I felt the Robin-into-rehab story was a little too pat. Those Troubleshooters are smart enough to have come up with a better story than that to explain Robin's sudden disappearance from a movie shoot. Him needing to withdraw from the public eye happens often enough. Homicidal stalker, perhaps? Severe food poisoning?
There was more tell in this book than I thought was necessary, and I inferred that it was there for newcomers to the Troubleshooters series, but some of it could easily have been edited out. Several times, characters explained things to each other for the audience's benefit. I guess if this is the first book you're reading about SEALs or government operatives, you need it, but I thought much of that was also unnecessarily telly rather than showy.
On the other hand, I laughed out loud (in a good way) more than a few times while reading Dark of Night. There were at least half a dozen occasions where I wanted to highlight and share something from the book with friends, though I only ended up sharing one.
What I found in Dark of Night were characters who took some good, hard looks at themselves and came to some difficult realizations about their personal quirks and their interactions with others. In that respect, this book was a joy to read. Characters I've grown to love begin to behave in ways that are not in keeping with the mask they've presented to others, even to others very close to them, even the mask they presented to themselves. Sometimes one learns things about oneself that are extremely uncomfortable and hard to integrate. I empathized with Decker's struggle. I did feel that his acceptance of it, after all that, was a bit rushed, but I guess there's only so much room in a book.
I loved that nearly everybody had a chance to step up to the plate and show some wisdom or strength of character. Oddball things from the past would create opportunities to showcase smarts that aren't necessarily visible on the surface. Tracy and Sophia, in particular, have obviously been heavily underestimated by both their teammates and by long-time Troubleshooters readers. Neither is as fragile as others have made her out to be.
Near as I can tell, everybody on the two teams has a Happily Ever After now, though I personally would quite gladly read more about these characters ongoing struggles and growth, even without the main romantic couple thing that has been Brockmann's stock in trade. I'm planning to reread the entire series in one go at some point, and this one will most definitely be included. (And there's another story about Jules and Robin coming out this summer!)
I was a little confused at the beginning. When I started reading chapter one, it took me a minute to realize that the entire prologue was a dream/escape for Dave. I've been there - had a need to have some elaborate world to go to in order to keep from giving up, so I understood it once I realized that's what it was. However, the segue there was not as smooth as I would have expected.
There were several times while reading that I had to click back to the previous chapter or scene with certain characters to refresh my memory on what was happening when I "turned the page." I like the alternating scenes and multiple locations, I just thought some of the transitions were so long that I couldn't keep straight what was happening where. Maybe I'm getting old.
I felt the Robin-into-rehab story was a little too pat. Those Troubleshooters are smart enough to have come up with a better story than that to explain Robin's sudden disappearance from a movie shoot. Him needing to withdraw from the public eye happens often enough. Homicidal stalker, perhaps? Severe food poisoning?
There was more tell in this book than I thought was necessary, and I inferred that it was there for newcomers to the Troubleshooters series, but some of it could easily have been edited out. Several times, characters explained things to each other for the audience's benefit. I guess if this is the first book you're reading about SEALs or government operatives, you need it, but I thought much of that was also unnecessarily telly rather than showy.
On the other hand, I laughed out loud (in a good way) more than a few times while reading Dark of Night. There were at least half a dozen occasions where I wanted to highlight and share something from the book with friends, though I only ended up sharing one.
What I found in Dark of Night were characters who took some good, hard looks at themselves and came to some difficult realizations about their personal quirks and their interactions with others. In that respect, this book was a joy to read. Characters I've grown to love begin to behave in ways that are not in keeping with the mask they've presented to others, even to others very close to them, even the mask they presented to themselves. Sometimes one learns things about oneself that are extremely uncomfortable and hard to integrate. I empathized with Decker's struggle. I did feel that his acceptance of it, after all that, was a bit rushed, but I guess there's only so much room in a book.
I loved that nearly everybody had a chance to step up to the plate and show some wisdom or strength of character. Oddball things from the past would create opportunities to showcase smarts that aren't necessarily visible on the surface. Tracy and Sophia, in particular, have obviously been heavily underestimated by both their teammates and by long-time Troubleshooters readers. Neither is as fragile as others have made her out to be.
Near as I can tell, everybody on the two teams has a Happily Ever After now, though I personally would quite gladly read more about these characters ongoing struggles and growth, even without the main romantic couple thing that has been Brockmann's stock in trade. I'm planning to reread the entire series in one go at some point, and this one will most definitely be included. (And there's another story about Jules and Robin coming out this summer!)
Book: Palatino's Pets by Ernie Centofanti
First, the book was a wee bit disjointed storywise. I feel like there could have been a better way to weave together the origin of the artifact and its subsequent life on Earth. I might enjoy reading more about the visitors, should Mr. Centofanti's muse cooperate in that endeavor. (How I wish that Amazon would put the title and author's name on the review page in big old letters for reference purposes!)
I found it a bit unbelievable that a woman (human, for that matter, regardless of gender) found this artifact and just figured it out by messing around with it. At that point, I just suspended my disbelief and read on. Obviously, as I never even finished college, I have no way of knowing how accurate the science of quantum physics was. I liked the bits of Dr. Edison's research notes interspersed into the story at various times. It might have been telling rather than showing, but her notes made the telling entertaining.
I inferred from the cover that there would be some sexual misconduct, to put it lightly, on the part of the villain. There was, but frankly it was mild and didn't live up to my expectations. All the bad stuff basically happened off-camera and was referred to only vaguely. Palatino's depravity could have been demonstrated to greater effect were some of those things actually spelled out "on paper." Perhaps that is just me - I respect that others will read this and find it horrifying enough as is.
Palatino was an absorbing antagonist, though his devolution was much too fast for me. I felt like the man I had gotten to know throughout the book would have responded to the obstacles in his path more intellectually rather than emotionally.
I did find about two dozen mistakes, though I'm sorry, Mr. C, I didn't note them individually so that I could send them to you. Had the note about errata been in the front of the book, I would gladly have done so for your benefit and the benefit of other readers.
All things considered, I found the book to be pleasing enough that I ran the battery on my Kindle down to nothing and had to go do those other things I should have been doing in the first place. lol
I found it a bit unbelievable that a woman (human, for that matter, regardless of gender) found this artifact and just figured it out by messing around with it. At that point, I just suspended my disbelief and read on. Obviously, as I never even finished college, I have no way of knowing how accurate the science of quantum physics was. I liked the bits of Dr. Edison's research notes interspersed into the story at various times. It might have been telling rather than showing, but her notes made the telling entertaining.
I inferred from the cover that there would be some sexual misconduct, to put it lightly, on the part of the villain. There was, but frankly it was mild and didn't live up to my expectations. All the bad stuff basically happened off-camera and was referred to only vaguely. Palatino's depravity could have been demonstrated to greater effect were some of those things actually spelled out "on paper." Perhaps that is just me - I respect that others will read this and find it horrifying enough as is.
Palatino was an absorbing antagonist, though his devolution was much too fast for me. I felt like the man I had gotten to know throughout the book would have responded to the obstacles in his path more intellectually rather than emotionally.
I did find about two dozen mistakes, though I'm sorry, Mr. C, I didn't note them individually so that I could send them to you. Had the note about errata been in the front of the book, I would gladly have done so for your benefit and the benefit of other readers.
All things considered, I found the book to be pleasing enough that I ran the battery on my Kindle down to nothing and had to go do those other things I should have been doing in the first place. lol
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