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Fantasy Romance

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Book Review: Swamp Sniper

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Book: Swamp Sniper (Book 3 of the Miss Fortune series)

Author: Jana Deleon

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(No Spoilers)

I’ve been working through this series, and I have to be careful to not devour them too quickly. Not sure how many books there are, but it’s nice that each is a contained story. At this point, you don’t need to have read the first two books to understand what’s going on or to enjoy the third installment.

The author does a nice job of writing a series. You get snippets of what happened in the past, but it’s no more than a few paragraphs sprinkled throughout the book.

This is a series, so the romance is moving at a snail’s pace. As is the back story on Fortune, the story’s protagonist.

This is a mystery novel, but with a lot of humor. Think Janet Evanovich. Starting to raise a brow, though, as this is the third murder investigation in as many weeks for the heroine. Looks like Sinful is getting to be more dangerous, per capita, than New Orleans. Unless, of course, my suspicion is correct about who the leak at the CIA is that put Fortune in sinful…

Fortune has been stashed in the backwater, rural Louisiana town of Sinful while the CIA tries to ferret out the leak that sold her out to some very bad men. While there, she’s befriended by some of the locals, including the Geritol Mafia. The premise of this book is that Fortune’s friend, Ida Belle, is accused of murdering Ted through poisoned cough syrup (moonshine).

Ted had been running against Ida Belle in the mayoral race, but that’s not a reason to kill anyone in Sinful. No motive is ever established as to why she’d want ted dead, but the real issue is the poison used to kill Ted happens to be the gopher killer that resides in Ida Bell’s shed. The story lost a little believability for me that there would be a solid case against Ida Bell as everyone knew the poison was there, and it wasn’t exactly locked up. Lots of people also had access to the cough syrup. But, I suspended disbelief as Gertie and Fortune try to prove Ida Belle’s innocence.

Carter, the deputy sheriff, doesn’t think that Ida Belle is the killer, but Sinful wants an arrest and so does the prosecutor. Of course he doesn’t want Gertie and Fortune investigating, and that adds to the hijinks.

This story is written in the same vein as the first two. It’s a fun, easy read. I appreciate that a lot. While I sometimes doubt how effective of a CIA assassin Fortune actually was, she doesn’t do anything I’d deem too stupid. I also appreciate that the author keeps the female characters strong and mostly competent. I love the cast of characters in this story, and even the secondary characters have a great deal of personality.

A good, easy read to make you smile and that you can finish in an evening.

Book Review: Lethal Bayou Beauty

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Title: Lethal Bayou Beauty

Author: Jana Deleon

Series: A Miss Fortune Mystery

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No spoilers in this review.

This is what a book series should be.

The book stands alone, and there is very little rehashing from the first novel in the series. There’s a tiny bit of forward progression with the main character and her issues with her family, but not a lot. I didn’t expect a lot as this is a series.

The characters we fell in love with in the first book are back in the second, with a few more thrown in. While some of the characters were really archetypes, I didn’t care because they were so much like people I have known in my life. The author really did live in a small Southern town.

Again, this is a series, so while there is a love interest, things are moving along slowly. As I would expect.

The story revolved around our heroine, Fortune, getting embroiled in a small-town murder and singled out as the prime suspect. She knows she didn’t commit the murder, and so does the local deputy, but it’s not enough to stop the local gossips or lynch mobs.

The book has the usual hi-jinks of the Geritol Mafia and is a fun read. You’re not going to get Game of Thrones level intrigue here, and that’s okay. I can read it, enjoy it, and not get nightmares. I will say it has a happy ending, so need to worry on that account.

I love the strength and foibles of the characters, and I love the fact that there are numerous strong female characters in the story.

The characters all  stay true to themselves. There is never a point where I feel like they’re being forced along by the author.

The plot resolves itself well, and it feels natural. No dues ex machina or author god to force things along.

A good story, and a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Saying Goodbye

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Saying goodbye is hard. Really hard. The longer you’ve known someone, usually, the harder it is to say goodbye.

As illustrated by the Harry Potter cast.

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Same is true for me when I finish a story. Whether a rewrite or a first draft, there’s a bit of sorrow that casts its shadow on the accomplishment.

So, yes, I finished the most recent edit of “Crowned Prince” that I started on October 24th. It took me eleven weeks to finish, and in that time, I was able to dedicate some pretty serious hours to the revision process. Interesting, as the first draft only took me eight weeks to write.

On this rewrite alone, I’ve traveled with these character for almost a quarter of a year. I’ve spent much of my free-time with them and many hours thinking about them. Working through their foibles, their defeats, and their victories. Seeing them change and grow. Falling in love with them along the way.

As I reread the ending for the eleventh time last night before finally sending it off to my beta readers, I knew I was going to miss these characters. Finally, at long last, they had each other and their happily-ever-after. They’d earned it, they knew what I cost, and they were both willing to fight to keep it.

I lingered with them a while, and then I closed the file and cracked open the novel I finished in October. Best way to beat the sadness of saying goodbye to one set of characters is to become invested in the next set.

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Years ago, when I finished writing my first book (that the Doubt Demon eventually stole), I actually cried when I was done. I had put over two years into the story, and I never thought I’d be able to write another. Took me a lot longer back then to realize I had more than one story in me. Once I realized I could write more than one book, and started work on the new one, I felt much better. Completing it made me feel better yet. (Yeah, Doubt Demon got that one, too).

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I’m not a big fan of book series that feature the same characters as the “leads” over and over, but I do love series that let me go back to the world the author created. Especially if I get a glimpse of some old favorites living their happily-ever-after while becoming invested in new characters.

Perhaps this is why all three books I’ve written so far stand alone, but they’re all in the same world. While you may never “see” the characters from the previous novels “on screen”, you hear the new characters reference them as appropriate. It gives me a little hug of feeling, reminding me I didn’t really say goodbye. I just said until later.

 

How about you? Ever feel sad when you come to the end of a book, whether reading it or writing it? If so, how do you overcome the sadness? Do you like series that feature the same characters? Same world(s)? Why or why not?

One Week Ban

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I am putting myself on a one week book ban.

Why?

Because I have been spending all of my writing time reading. For science, of course. To study how it’s done.

Okay, because I love to read and it’s so much easier than writing.

Even after the last 2 weeks of daily book reviews, I still have a small backlog of reviews to post. Yeah, I love to read.

And I make myself write a review for most of the books that I read. That is more for the discipline of really looking at the book and figuring out what I like about it and what I don’t. Making myself think through that in hopes that it will improve my writing.

But it’s also easy to get lost in a book. I love stories. I love characters. I love curling up with my iPad and being transported to other worlds.

Fantasy romance is my favorite, followed by science fiction romance, and finally historical romance.

I also struggle with series. I like books that take place in the same world, but I am never thrilled with picking up a book only to learn I need to read the twelve before it to really get it.

I actually have a rule. I won’t pick up a series until the whole series is written. Back when I was a kid, there was a series I was eagerly devouring. The author was amazing . . . and then he died. The series was “finished” by another author, but it wasn’t the same. Really jaded me.

But as I work on my own stories, the first two I’ve written are in the same world. I see how it can be appealing to write a series. However, the stories I’ve written are completely independent. No need to read one to “get” the other.

Book Review: Four to Score

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Title: Four to Score

Author: Janet Evanovich

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After finishing the fourth book in the series, I think I am done reading this series.

I just don’t find it all that funny, and that’s supposed to be its selling point.

I am a bit tired of a character who is out of her league as a bounty hunter still putting her life and the lives of her family and friends in danger. I mean, who would still be in this gig after getting another car fire bombed, their apartment fire bombed (and had they been home at 2am, they would have died), and then another arson attempt at the friend’s house they were staying at?

I am also growing annoyed at the unresolved romance between the heroine and her love interest. Other than him being attractive, I am not sure what she’s looking for. He doesn’t call her for months . . . and she’s still interested?

Not only do I find it unbelievable, but it makes me dislike the love interest. And it makes me dislike the heroine for not moving past this as he clearly isn’t interested if he’s only calling every few months.

At the same time, I found the heroine a bit childish. I think I was supposed to find her behavior funny, but I didn’t.

Humor is so personal, but I don’t find a lot in the book funny I assume I am meant to. For example, a promiscuous childhood rival that was the cause of her divorce when she found the woman having sex with her husband is not funny to me.  Nor was the gun violence. Nor was the fact that someone was a transvestite. Although I find Eddie Izzard freaking hilarious, I find his act funny not his clothing choices.

Maybe its the timing. These books look like they were set in the mid to late 90s and probably written around the same time. Long before the events of Sandy Hook and Orlando.

I still didn’t figure out the whodunit directly, but I know by now if a character is mentioned that they figure in somehow. And while I didn’t know what the bad guys were up to until it was revealed, I did know who they were.

If you liked the first three stories in this series and found them funny, you will probably like the fourth. It is very similar in pacing and style. The odd collection of characters was fun at first, but now they feel a bit stale.

Maybe I have just been devouring them too quickly. Perhaps I need more time between books to better enjoy them. Binge on anything and it can turn you off to it. Except for chocolate. I have yet to meet my limit on chocolate.

 

Trilogies

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Presumptuous of me to post this, I know. I have nothing published much less ever having ever been offered a contract for a trilogy, but I can still hate trilogies.

And I do.

Much to my chagrin as a pre-teen, there was a book I loved, but at the ending, the author hadn’t wrapped everything up. Up until then, I had read books like Nancy Drew where is a series, but each book was a complete story. This left the story unfinished.

I noticed then it was the first book of a trilogy. I went to the library to get the next book in the series, only to learn it wasn’t written yet. Much less the third book. I was angry, frustrated, and sad.

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Will she die? What does it mean to her to literally trade hearts with someone? What about the Witch? Tune in next year to find out! 

The author didn’t finish the series until I was long over it. Still rankles, though, even now. I remember the excitement of finally getting to see what happened after begging my mom to take me to the library and finally getting her to agree. And then the devastation at learning there was no ending to read. I never did go back and finish the trilogy.

After that, I always checked to see if a book was part of trilogy. And if it was, I wouldn’t read any of them until all three were written and in my hands. This is true even now. I’m the reader, dammit, I don’t want to wait a year or more for the next installment. I don’t want to be left hanging not knowing what’s going to happen to characters I’m invested in enough that I am willing to buy a second book to see what happens to them.

Fortunately, I have not witnessed this trilogy phenomenon in the same format in romance novels. The handful of trilogies I’ve read usually involve three different female leads and three different male leads. Each book is self-contained with the romance between one set of characters being resolved. There may be an overarching plot that ties them all together, but this is secondary to the romance.

I still wait until I have all three to read any of them.

I have also seen a book “series” where all the stories are set in the same world, and you may see characters you’ve met before, but again, each book is self-contained. Kind of like my Nancy Drew books, but without the single protagonist tying them together.

Not sure where this trilogy business came from. I’ve heard it started with Lord of the Rings from JRR Tolkien. He never intended it as a trilogy, but it was too long to publish as a single novel. Guess they hadn’t seen Stephen King’s The Stand yet.

I’m sure there’s a business reason for it. Maybe it makes sure people buy all three books. But only if the publishers are patient enough to wait for the release of the third book as I know I am not alone on this. I’ve also wondered why they don’t release all three at the same time. Give the reader what they want and get us to buy three books as soon as we know we love the first one. Then I don’t have to remember I love it in a year when the next installment comes out.