And now for a steamy romance novel… Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks

Every once in a while, I get a craving for a romance novel (this is me trying not to be defensive about what I read).  If I’m going to read a romance novel, what better than a good Scottish Highlander romance?  That seems to be the big thing right now – blame Diana Gabaldon, maybe, or Felicia Day.  But really, who doesn’t want to read about broad-chested, kilted Highlanders as they battle feuding clans and sweep Scottish lasses off their delicate feet?

Maya Banks’ novels look deliciously trashy and she’s very popular on Amazon, so I was happy to receive a copy of her newest book through NetGalley, even though it means coming in mid-series. Highlander Most Wanted is the second novel in the Montgomery and Armstrong series.

This novel wasn’t quite what I expected.  In fact its storyline is decidedly less trashy than most romances.  This novel tells the story of Genevieve McInnis, a woman who was kidnapped from her clan and imprisoned for a year by the McHugh clan.  The laird’s son, Ian McHugh, keeps Genevieve as his slave, forcing her into a life of destitution and humiliation.

What I liked about this book was Banks’ handling of this situation.  This isn’t sexual slavery in a Shades of Grey kind of way, and Genevieve’s situation isn’t minimized or too easily wiped away.  Our hero Bowen Montgomery doesn’t ride into town on his big steed and immediately bring Genevieve back to life.  No, Genevieve still has to suffer with the millions of reminders of her year of torment.  She still has to suffer from the scars, physical and emotional, and the disdain of the McHugh clan.  For a light read, this actually wasn’t a light read.

Genevieve is a great heroine, although I wish Bowen had been a little more layered.  His only flaw seems to be his lifetime of casual sex with hordes of willing females.  He’s sensitive and caring at all the right moments but Banks could have given him more personality by making him a whole lot less perfect.

I like to compare modern day historical romances with the ones I grew up on in the 80s, namely those of Kathleen Woodiwiss (Shanna, The Wolf and the Dove, Ashes in the Wind).  Novels of the 70s and 80s followed a lot of conventions: the heroine never has sex with anyone other than the hero, despite coming perilously close to being raped or married off to someone else.  The heroine and hero, despite their love for each other, encounter numerous misunderstandings that keep them from coming together.  The heroine and hero always end up married and with child – although not always in that order.

In modern day romances, it seems the authors have gotten rid of the “misunderstanding plot.”  When a character wants to know something, they just ask.  Instead of waiting until the end to say they love each other, they just come right out and say  it.  It’s a refreshing change, but it leaves the relationship a little lacking in conflict.   Bowen and Genevieve have tons of reasons to distrust each other.  She has no idea whether he’s using her and doesn’t seem to care.  He should be worried about whether she’s manipulating him, or he should be worried that she has no idea what love is (she’s simply fallen in love with the first man who didn’t beat and rape her).  He does question her feelings a little but that doesn’t stop him from trying to get her into bed.

So the big weakness for me in this book is the lack of conflict in their relationship.  True, there’s plenty of conflict elsewhere in their lives, but even the objections raised by their families are pretty toothless.

Another interesting thing about modern day historical romances is how much more sensitive the men are.  Bowen is ridiculously sensitive; he feels bad about his lifetime of sexual conquests, completely ignores Genevieve’s scarred face and sexual history, and seems only to live to make her feel better.  Kathleen Woodiwiss’ heroes were usually bastards who took first and later came around to understanding what it means to love.  As a modern woman I guess I should prefer the sensitive guy – but really I’m looking for a middle ground.

So, yes, I do like a good historical romance from time to time, even though I usually don’t write about them.  I know this post won’t get many comments as most people don’t read this stuff (or don’t admit to).  If you do, please share!  Favorite romance writer?  Favorite hero or heroine? What makes a good romance novel?

Note: I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

If Felicia likes it, it has to be good… Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin

I picked up this book, despite its super-cheesy cover, because Felicia Day loves this author.  And as a total Felicia Day wanna-be I figured it was worth the few bucks it cost me.

Which is not to say I have entirely the same reading taste as Felicia Day — she reads a whole lot more urban fantasy than I do — but her opinion kinda means something.  You can find her book reviews here.  And see here for her hilarious take on Scottish romance novels (thankfully she liked Outlander or I might have to call it quits).

The other reason I picked it up is that the reviews for this series go way up after the first book, so it’s fair to see this as a starter.  Shearin clearly gets better as she goes.  The problem with that is I really don’t want another long series to read; I’m not finishing most of the ones I’ve already started.

(I’m thinking we need a “Finish the Series Challenge” so I can knock a few series out before I start any more new ones.  Anyone?)

So, hmmm.  This is a pretty cheesy-sounding book with a laugh-out-loud cover, and really the urban fantasy genre seems really tired to me.  I actually tried starting this book three times and it didn’t take until I got stuck on a plane last week for four hours with nothing better to do (this was my “read when they make me turn off the Kindle” book).

The story?  It’s about an elf named Raine Benares who comes from a no-good family in the city of Mermeia.  Raine is a seeker, someone who finds people or things that generally should be left unfound. She’s got fairly middle-of-the-road powers until she helps a friend out and ends up with a magical amulet around her neck which gives her superpowers but can’t be taken off without killing her.  And unfortunately, there are a number of factions, including the goblin king, his evil torture-master, and his disgruntled brother, who want to do exactly that.

This book has all the tropes of the urban fantasy genre: the brave and sassy heroine; the heretofore unknown parent with serious magical power; the sexy non-human love interest (in this book there’s a goblin and an elf); the magical artifact that has to be contained before it’s used for evil and destroys the whole world; and the fight scenes where the heroine faces overwhelmingly bad odds but somehow magically knows what to do.

I’d say if you like the genre, this is a good book to pick up.  It took some getting into, but once I did the story was fun, it moves at a good pace and the characters are likeable although not terribly deep. It never takes itself seriously and never gets too violent, which I appreciated.

On the other hand, I didn’t see much that was original here. Shearin has built a fairly complex world, but once you get past the weird vocabulary (what’s a primaru?) it reads pretty much like the other books of the genre, only perhaps a little more irreverent.

Still, Book One is clearly set-up for the rest of the series, so I may have to pick up Book Two.  The cool thing is, by the time you get to Book 4, the heroine starts looking a lot tougher — and a lot more like Felicia Day.

 

My Review of a Review: Sword & Laser Episode 1

Last weekend I watched the first episode of Sword & Laser, a science fiction/fantasy show that airs on Felicia Day’s You Tube channel, Geek & Sundry.  Okay, that was a mouthful.  I thought I’d post a brief review of the show, in case you’re interested.

Sword & Laser is hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt (she’s the Sword, he’s the Laser).  The show runs about 30 minutes and airs every two weeks.  The first episode was a nice mix of science fiction/fantasy news, info about new releases, questions and comments from viewers, an author interview, and a discussion of this month’s book.  For example, they talked about the Hugo nominees, and how e-book readers are reading a lot of new and never-heard-of science fiction and fantasy authors, and how that’s probably good for the field.

It’s a good format and a fun set, equipped with medieval goblets and a smoke-breathing dragon (which was maybe a bit forced but it’s the first episode after all).  Plus, I was able to casually comment to my husband later that night, “so I hear Robert J. Sawyer has a new book coming out” — and that little bit of knowledge about things he likes honestly makes me happy.

Sword & Laser also has a GoodReads book group, so it’s not clear to me how much book reviewing will actually take place on the show and how much is on GoodReads.  In case you’re worried about spoilers (I was, so I finished The Magicians before I watched), no need to worry.  In fact, our two hosts hadn’t even finished the book yet.  So this first episode was more of a teaser than a review.  They do plan on having Lev Grossman on the show in a couple weeks, so I’m looking forward to that.

The author interview took up most of the show, and in this case it wasn’t an author I was super-interested in (Scott Sigler, Nocturnal).  I was disappointed by how little time was spent talking about The Magicians, because that’s what I was tuning in for.

Still, it’s a fun show overall and the only science fiction-fantasy video book club I know of!  I’m definitely in for future episodes.  As for The Magicians, it was a very cool book that I’ll review soon.  It’s one of the rare fantasy books that really stays in your head for days after you read it.  And that’s a good thing.

Reveling in My Geekiness: Felicia Day, Geek & Sundry, and Sword & Laser

I love being a geek.  I wish I could go back and say that to my horribly awkward teenage self, but then, today we have Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, The Guild, The Big Bang Theory, and Mark Zuckerberg.  Back then the only nod to geekdom I can remember is The Revenge of the Nerds, which at least had that cool “We are the Champions” ending but the rest of it, let’s face it, made geekiness look about as much fun as the plague.  I suspect boys had it better than girls — boys had Dungeons and Dragons, Star Trek and Star Wars, comics and science fiction.  Of course girls had those too, but most of those felt way off limits to me, or stuff I was way too embarrassed to admit I liked.  Which is sad, since in those days it’s not like I had any social status to lose.

Of course it’s easy to look back and say “I’d have been so much happier if I’d just been myself”.  I didn’t know who that was back then.  At forty, I’ve totally gone over to the dark side, and thankfully I have a husband who is far geekier than I am and (hopefully) loves that I honestly love this stuff.  I don’t watch Star Trek and superhero movies for him.  I completely tolerate (and even respect) his infatuation with Felicia Day and in return he gets to live with my Thor-crush.  He’s even teaching me to play his Star Wars game, which I’m surprisingly excited about.

But I digress.  I really wanted to tell you about Felicia Day’s new You Tube network, called Geek and Sundry.  If you’re really geeky you probably know about it already.  It features about four or five shows, including one where Wil Wheaton plays strategy board games with his friends, and also has past seasons of The Guild (and if you haven’t seen them yet, you should).  But the one I’m really excited about, called Sword and Laser, is a video book club for fantasy and science fiction. It runs every two weeks with the first episode airing April 13.  It’s based on an already successful podcast hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt.  The first book to be reviewed is The Magicians by Lev Grossman.  Have you read it?   They also have a corresponding group on GoodReads.  You should definitely check it out.  I’ve got my sample chapter of The Magicians downloaded and ready to go.

Geek and Sundry also has The Guild’s latest music video, “I’m the One That’s Cool.”  If you are or ever were a geek, check this out.  I love these guys.  The music doesn’t sound like much at first but it had me humming the tune all day.  This video probably takes my husband’s Felicia Day-love to startling new heights.  But I can live with that.

Happy weekend, and happy holiday if you’re celebrating something!  As always I’ve got lots of reviews to catch up on.  Next up is a review of a Jasper Fforde YA novel you may not have heard of called The Last Dragonslayer.   Thanks to What Red Read for the tipoff; I didn’t even know he had a YA series.  Fforde is just completely awesome, which is all I’ll say about that. I also took a break from Catch-22 and am finishing up Patricia Briggs’ latest instead – which I know will be over way too quickly.