Science Fiction Romance

Even evil scientists cannot stop the path of true love! Or even of wild sex, for that matter. Ava Gray, aka Ann Aguirre, writes science fiction books with strong women and powerful men that don't fear them. Ever since Vaginal Fantasies introduced me to Aguirre, I've been picking up her books, from the space opera style Grimspace to the YA post-apocalyptic Horde (approved by my high schooler) and now into her much racier paranormal type romances written as Ava Gray.

Skin Tight is the 2nd book, following the best friend from the previous book and the complicated villain who intrigued her before that whole kidnapping/hostage thing soured their budding friendship. Now they meet up again and manage to have hot sex while diving deeper into the science that started the whole series. Gray does a good job navigating a relationship that started so poorly, and gives Mia reasons to stick with Søren despite his many many flaws. Not great literature, but good for what it tries to be. I'm moving onto the the next book soon.

Biggest complaints? Having a guy lead with funny letters in his name. As I read it I knew I'd have to waste precious minutes figuring out how to blog it. Also, I have no idea who that guy is on the cover, or why he seems to have lost his shirt.

Grim History

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a recent addition to one of my childhood's favorite genres -- WWII history. This is a fiction account of the true story of a German teenager put to death for listening to foreign radio broadcasts and writing leaflets about what he heard. It starts with his life in prison waiting for execution and tells the story of his life in short flashbacks.

I was actually hoping for more about a childhood in the Hitler Youth as I've read other books about German executions. Helmuth's religion was a bit of a novelty -- I haven't read many books about German Mormons. His friendships through the church and his struggle between conflicting religious commandments gave him depth -- his Church both demanded he respect the truth and that he obey the law. It was a very deep view, however, as the book is aimed at young readers. Bartoletti has actually written a book about the Hitler Youth, which I may have remembered and messed up my expectations. I'll leave it out for the seventh grader.

Pirates and Zombies! Also Nanotech and War Machines

Felicia Day's Vaginal Fantasy book club introduced me to Meljean Brook's Iron Seas series, which is a fun steam punk romance with really cool stuff and interesting characters. The women are capable, competent, and ambitious (see how I broke free from alliteration?) and the men are interesting and not usually annoying. That seems like faint praise to anyone who hasn't read a lot of romances, but it's really not.

Heart of Steel spends most of its time on the cool ships and zombie-fighting techniques, with excusions into nifty snatches of backstory for the adventurer hero and the pirate heroine, and gives just enough romance (and sex) to hold its head up in its marketing category. It was a fun read.

Yasmeen, the main character, is Asian, and the cast is very multicultural, so I think it qualifies as a Diverse Book for the Challenge.

Boy Saves Town

Phantom Eyes by Scott Tracey completes the trilogy about Braden, the magical boy who comes home to Belle Dam to reconcile a century-long feud, rid the town of demons, repulse the evil witch who started it all, and oh yes, get the cute boy. As my ninth grader assured me, it's more fun than the middle book because Braden stops being so silly and starts throwing his weight around.

I don't really recommend it to adults, because a lot of the writing tics bothered me; a bit too much show rather than tell, especially when the tell and the show are accidentally off. Or the use of poorly chosen speech words -- ' "Yes" he quipped' is not an example of funny repartee. Also, Braden is very much an emotional seventeen year old, and spending an entire trilogy in his first person is exhausting for me, while my fifteen year old just accepts it as natural. But, despite my incredibly slow pace of reading this afternoon, it was a fast and fun read, and I especially liked the side characters of Drew and Jade. And it was cute to read about a shy gay boy throwing tantrums about his boyfriend trying to rescue him all the time (I'm not a princess!) or about their first dance and Braden's dreams of a romantic first date, which they'll try to have a few chapters after the end of the book since none of their previous encounters (even the Winter Dance!) seem to count.

Seriously, it's good to see a book where the character is gay but that's not a problem at all. It's acknowledged, but his friends and family have no issues about it, and it's not part of the plot at all. It's just there because that's how things are in this world.

Fun In the Sky

Nalini Singh's Archangel's Legion  is the latest in her fun series about Archangels ruling the world, in particular Manhatten, and the sassy lady who marries one of the top ones. Singh is more famous for her Psy books, but for some reason I can't get into those. I do enjoy the Angel books, however.

Some of the angel book follow the paranormal romance pattern of romance, with the developing relationship of two new characters being the mainstay of the plot. My favorite ones however continue the political adventures of Elena and her boss-man beau, even though they are already married and devoted to each other. Instead the books focus on the power politics among the supernatural creatures, with this one finishing in a battle to the death of the world between our heroes and some really bad guys. Meanwhile Elena also figures out her marriage, her relationships with her still-human friends, and her connections to her half-sisters and estranged father. Lots of action, some sex, and an author who respects her characters but doesn't take herself too seriously.

Grab My Hanky

My elementary bookclub recommended The Summer of May by Cecelia Galante to me last month, but the cover showed a dark-skinned girl looking at the sky, so I saved it for my 48 Hour Book Challenge, as the theme this year is Diverse books. It turns out that this was a case of reverse white-washing -- the main character is described as freckled with green eyes, and her grandmother comes from Ireland. Oops.

It hit me right in the sweet spot -- May is a girl who channels her grief into huge anger-management problems, and manages to mess up her life quite thoroughly while driving away all her friends, family, and acquantences. There is a happy ending, but she dives pretty deep on her way there.

YA All the Way

Demon Eyes by Scott Tracey is the second book in the Witch Eyes series. Its main character Braden is about as YA as you can get -- he's very defensive towards any authority figure, all mushy about his crush, and incredibly self-centered even when he means to be a good friend.


Of course, he also has super-magic eyeballs that could kill him at any time, as we learn in a rather hilarious opening scene that has Braden throwing a huge temper tantrum at the doctor who shows up at his house. Braden refuses to see any more counselors, is sure that his "father" only cares that he is broken, and is offended that more doctors are being brought in to talk about his feelings. At this point the poor man reveals that he's an opthamologist. So he has to wear sunglasses all the time, even when doing magic.

My high school son described this book as "a good story, although Braden spends most of his time being stupid." I have to agree, although probably most seventeen years olds are in the same boat, what with school bullies, uncertain boyfriends, and of course, the evil magicians dueling each other through the town who happen to be your father and your boyfriend's mother. I like the magic system and the friendships, and it's a bit relaxing to have a protagonist who is clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed. I'll have fun reading the last book, probably tomorrow, and X assures me that Braden gets smarter in that one.

(Fits under Diversity because Braden is gay)