I noted posts on the issues. I noted comments on said issues. I...was unable to like or comment or... the links appeared dead. Is this yet another bug showing up?
I was musing a few days ago that it would be nice if they'd just say "we're killing it" rather than let it die a slow death by ignoring it. I was musing that when the site was down, and wondering if they'd finally decided to kill it for good. Fortunately, I've maintained my shelves on goodreads *if only because the ones here are so clunky and often incomplete*. I just wish they'd do something besides phone it in.
]]>
So our H - scary gunslinger who thinks of himself as a peacemaker - has a favor called in, and finds himself acting as a US Marshall. And... he'd just spotted someone who fit the description of one of the wanted posters. ( I must interject that shortly before he came to be in this town, he was challenged by a kid in a yellow slicker. Hmmm... Did we get a glimpse of a v. young Angel?). So with a bit of deductive reasoning and a question or two, he heads off and finds himself with... well... And now he has a dilemma - does he turn her in or...?
Our h, accused of killing someone, and robbing a bank, did neither - she was making a withdrawal and the banker gave her someone else's money too by accident - we assume anyway. Is possible he did it deliberately. She's been on the run and hiding for 2 years. And now she's caught. He doesn't turn her in, for personal reasons, not that he admits that even to himself. Just says it's because she's a girl. Much adventure...ok, hunting down of criminals...later, a kidnapping by the sheriff in her home town, and his running them to ground, a hasty marriage (because otherwise the supposedly dead person has sued for guardianship of her and her brother until she's 21 or married), a bit of intimid-ahh-conversation with said not-dead-yet mayer later, and he gives in and goes to his home...to figure out what's going on. Because...our gunslinging H is the oldest son of a *banker* in Chicago, and he apparently bravely ran away away after shooting his brother for screwing his fiance' and being ordered by dear old dad to marry her anyway.
Thoughts about it. The h talks...a lot... For someone on the run, she doesn't hide her tracks very well. Then again, he would never have seen her in the first place if her friend hadn't let her sleep late. The H...is maybe a little too good at hiding his emotions, which leads to a lot of uncertainty on the h's part. The story, in and of itself, is good. It could almost be seen as entertaining, though I think her constant chatter grated a bit too much on me for much amusement, and the behavior of the sheriff and his deputy bothered me a lot - they treated her like a criminal and it wasn't until the H caught up to them that they came clean about the charges being dismissed and them collecting her for her guardian.
]]>
Hmmm... Well, it's not a bad read. OTOH, it could do with some more...meat. I do like the time period better in the previous series - medieval Scotland is a popular (possibly overdone to be honest) setting and as such, only the idea of dragons got me to buy this.
Our h is visiting the home of our friendly neighborhood dragons to do experiments on their scales. Our H is home convalescing after a run-in with a sorcerer (actually, warlock might be the proper term here) She asks for scales, he says sure - if she'll help his friend who is slowly fading...like a nazgul. Much meandering later... potions were made, but we were only privy to a few. The guy isn't quite so invisible, but he's still not himself. The sorcerer has made several psychic attacks on the h...
They figure out where he lives and come up with brilliant idea of paying him a visit before he gets home. Figure out who he is, take care of the problems, etc.
The real complaint I have here is that it takes place over several months and you only get bits and pieces of that, most of it random. It's...disjointed, particularly compared to the books that came before. You see the H/h being attracted to each other, but they don't seem to be around each other much. Add to that, a background that could be delved into more, but isn't, a castle that theoretically is the same one seen in a later book but doesn't really seem the same, and something that does bug me a bit - a Jewish person delving into magic (something that's specifically spoken against in the OT). There was something else mentioned briefly - a dragon who apparently had kids with more than one female.
Bottom line - as background for the highland dragon series, you feel compelled to read it, but then you wonder why.
]]>]]>
Eh, enough about that. Sticking to the contents therein, the various characters ranged from amusing to irritating. I think, to be honest, the goat and the sand wich were the most interesting. So we have the farm boy who is told he is the Chosen One, we have the goat who *is* the Chosen One, we have a bard who is turned into a rabbit mutant by a curse laid upon a castle by a sand witch (ahem), we have a warrior who wants to just grow roses, we have a wannabe Dark Lord whose main power seems to be making bread from thin air, we have a rogue who "breathes so loud you could shoot her in the dark", we have the sand witch who...laid the curse upon the castle to prevent the daughter from getting involved in something that would embarrass her family... I mean; it sounds like a D&D party.
And they go adventuring to take out a magician or wizard or something who has the nasty fairy/pixie/whatever she is, who anointed the goat and lied to the farm boy in the first place, on retainer. Stuff happens, a couple of party members don't make it, the Chosen One eats a magic boot, fulfills his destiny, and we have an ending of sorts where he's now king, the castle is mostly awakened, and strangely enough, the daughter seems to be still under a curse.
This is part of a trilogy I think. I might read book #2 if I find it while book shopping.
]]>
Allow me to say that I loathe first person present with the fire of a thousand suns.
So much time spent on character interaction that world building was an afterthought. It was in space i guess but no idea what the ship(s) looked like, inside or out. Not much description of the characters either for that matter - she was red headed and curvy. He was tall and shifted into a lion. That's pretty much it.
Also, there was a section where it's the H's POV then mid-stream-of-conscious, it's the h's POV, then back again. No break, almost like the author stopped to do something else, forgot *who* she was writing, and just went from there, only to do it again half a page later. Did no-one proofread this? How was that missed?
Will I read anything else by the author? Based on this, not likely.
]]>
Is amusing how the band of misfits manage to meet, blunder into each other, and eventually become a team.
]]>
Our H/h, both shifters, and apparently mates, met way too young I think. He had family obligations, and she had the understanding of a gnat. She spent way too much time dwelling on his "letting her down" when she knew the family he was from to start with so what exactly did she expect him to do?
He took up drinking apparently because of this and was a nasty drunk. Enter mommy dearest who flat out tells him she has no feelings for her family, then disappears him for over 3 months where she experiments on him, then dumps him at the family compound. He eventually leaves and disappears for a bit, then after an apparent arrest attempt, finds himself shifting into a completely different animal.
Things that bug me... ah...most of the book? Nobody stopping to think maybe he had a tracker on him courtesy of his "loving" mother? Nobody ever stopping to consider the orphan might have come from the lab? Really, she could hide her scent. The h's attitude towards the H. The fact that we get a second round of some evil person experimenting on shifters. The lack of any real humor...
]]>
And really, I'm not sold on the whole "create mutants via experiments" theme when they seem to do just fine with that via interbreeding (the sabertoothed giant bunny from book 1 for example). In this case, they've created a mythical beastie which makes me think of the chimera series by the same author. Seems redundant.
]]>
The adventure in this incident involves a discovery of bones, an old betrayal, and... I can't help but wonder though if perhaps things still managed to be misread. It was centuries in the past though,
Amusing part - h asking her cousin to put in a word for the H so he could be assigned a position closer so she could have sex with him. Rather blunt there. But then, this story was unusually blunt. I suppose it's fitting that this H uttered a curse or two.
]]>
Ridge has decided to propose to Sardelle, so he asks advice - from 2 people. He gets it from his mom, unasked. One person panics, thinking their SO is about to propose, and the other (plus mom) suggests a nice restaurant and well, a formal affaire. IOW, NOT what he'd been thinking about. He decides to ignore most of the advice, only to discover that his asking around had taken too long and Sardelle had made her own arrangements - involving a dragon. Hahah!
As an aside though, it would appear that mommy might have trapped daddy into marriage there. That being the case, perhaps I'm not so sure I feel a lot of sympathy for her.
]]>