THE FOX WAS EVER THE HUNTER by Herta Müller

5 STARS

The killing fields and the wheatgrass, the children playing and the smell. 

The field has a sweet kind of stink, when you think about it GOD'S ACRE really ought to mean a wheat field. They say a good person is as good as a piece of bread, at least that's what the teachers teach the children.

The imagery is exquisite, ominous and omnipresent. Told from Adina's viewpoint we experience a series of vignettes that highlight the deprivation, the despair and deadly world around her. It highlights a callousness brought on by harsh conditions, get while the getting is good, for often you go without. 

The style of writing is very different than what I'm familiar with. At first, I thought it was an oddity of the translation, but the further I read it became clear that it is more poetry than prose. The perspective and structure creates this surrealist slide show of disturbing realities and ominous intersections. It's like watching a Salvador Dali film, but it isn't fiction, this isn't an escape. 

The book is stark realism in poetic form. A juxtaposition of beauty and unvarnished cruelty, and a dismissal. There is a brutal fetishizing of people in the Marxist sense; they are merely a conglomeration of parts and things and this makes it feel clinical in a dehumanizing way. And oddly enough or not, fits bizarrely into communist Romania just before the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu.

There is an earthiness in the handling and description of the human body. It is the opposite of romanticizing, and feeds into the despondency and broken down nature to their lives. Even their bodies are broken. This is a verisimilitude that focuses less on realism and more on disenchantment, the lack of reverence. 

And the most disturbing thing about the book is how mesmerizing the prose is, it somehow manages to turn the horrific and the base into these evocative images. But the images of the fields, the children and the bread as described here will stay with me forever. This is incredibly powerful, but quiet.

The bullet holes on the wall are as dense as black skipping stones.

Overall, stunning.

DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY: A SPOON TOO SHORT by Arvind Ethan David

4 STARS

Mysterious bi-continental problem has Dirk Gently of the Holistic Detective Agency globe trotting. If quirky science jokes and dry humor with twists are your thing, then this graphic novel will be amusing. 



I loved the smart and smart-mouthed writing as well as the artwork. The framing of the scenes were both picturesque and cleverly angled for effect. The color and line were fine. But really, the thing here is the mix up. To be able to go from post-colonial critique of representations to juvenile bodily humor to quantum physics is a gift. It's funny. It takes things, breaks them down, throws them into a shaker and you end up with a delicious comic smoothie. 



Seriously, my life needs more of this. 

BURN DOWN THE NIGHT by Molly O'Keefe

5 STARS

You can't make lemonade without some sugar. 

Ever play cards and each hand you get is just crap. Doesn't matter how many times the deck gets shuffled and dealt, you always end up with random junk that ain't gonna do you any good. Well, that's life for Joan and Max. And boy do they have...

Issues. 

You know how you get kids to stop biting or pulling hair? You find another kid with the same behavioral issue, stick 'em together, and Voila! They sort out pretty fast that it's not cool... or they become sociopaths. And this book is more than a little like that. 

Joan has got some issues. Dragging baggage all around and fucking whatever catches her eye. Thing is, one flavor she likes a whole lotta is TROUBLE. Specifically her taste in men is bad news. When she's being good, she sticks to women, but when she jumps on the crazy train it's dick all the way. 



Hello Max. President of the outlaw motorcycle club, the Skulls. 

The sunlight coming through the big plate glass windows caught the sliver on his fingers and wrists. He looked like some kind of magpie king. A deadly assassin in some alternate universe.

Captive and front row audience to some interesting reveals. Joan keeps finding interesting ways to sublimate her raging desire for Max's dick. 



This is a steamy read and it has you edging. There's all kinds of teasing and pulling out. 

That begging was a game. This felt unbearably real.

Emotionally and physically.

Until finally, she eventually succumbs.



Anyway, the sex focus of the first half of the book is the exact opposite of what I like when I read erotica. I'm a woman, I know my body and what I like; I figured it out as a teen. It's the one instrument I can play aside from the cowbell. It doesn't give me any kicks to read about female genitalia or how to get it off. Trust me, I know how to do that, please shift focus to what I really want--more dick. I like men. I like the way they smell, taste, sound, feel--fuck yeah! That's where I want to focus. Now, Joan is bisexual so I get the one scene fine, but I want to know about her partner's body, not hers. Snorts. One reason I dig MM is because I'm totally guaranteed dick. 100% sure thing. 

Of course, this turns Max's crank just fine, which of course I understand because I feel the same way about two hot guys--ain't nothing to disagree with. It all looks good. But, I digress... back to the story.

Heat, sex, wild emotional swings and we're roaring towards the conclusion with our heroes primed and pumped. Then. Flighty decision at the end--really? I mean it makes excitement at the expense of Joan's intelligence. Not TSTL, but definitely planning challenged. Disappointed. She was a heroine I was connecting with and then this slip into complete flibbertigibbet. And the stupid was contagious until good sense reasserted itself with a secondary character. 

Nonetheless, the climax was pretty sweet and I got behind the muted violence with glee. It's oozing feelings in ways only emotionally repressed people can. Max and Olivia are building their HEA with a little help from family and friends. I liked the theme of redemption and hope. So the ending pushed this story back up to four star territory when it slipped back to 3.25. 

Favorite quote: 

Revenge. I made fist around the idea and held on as tight as I could.

BODY ROCKS by A.M. Arthur

2 STARS

Way too AfterSchool Special for my taste.

My expectations after reading the blurb weren't close to what this ended up being. I was hoping for a youthful expression of sexuality (early twenties) and romance with issues of coming out under the aegis of a band competition. What I got was a smorgasbord of social issues crammed into a story.

And the trauma. I didn't sign up for this, and the blurb gives no inkling aside from some OFY issues, which I get and seemed absolutely reasonable. So, the add in of attempted rape, blackmail, coercion and raping a minor, cutting, autism, suicide attempt, major character trauma, panic attacks, and ... I might have forgotten one. Oh yeah, blended families and interracial relations.

Just when I was getting invested in the main characters situation there was a new "issue" thrown in to upset the dynamics. Tackling one or two of these issues is challenging, grappling ten of them became overbearing and desensitizing. I don't mind, if fact I often enjoy a bit of communicating relevant issues and for the genre, the focus is spot on, but the other thing that was really off-putting about it was the presentation.

Unrealistic dialogue, people just don't talk like this. It felt very contrived. Painful.

Gender studies speak, bleh. I get that this is aimed towards a younger crowd. I should make a note that new adult isn't really my thing and save myself the agony of explaining. Don't explain things in terms characters aren't going to really say. I don't need the lingo. 

Pep talks. This reads more like a self help motivational book than a romance.

Finally, there a couple of quick instances of phrases that automatically turn me off, both just for the verbiage and second for intention behind it. "Dripping pussies", I never want to read that description supposedly coming out of an adult male. Reeks of misogyny. Just no.

And then there's the music. I'm the musical reject in a household of talent that spans oboe/english horn to twelve string guitar with most everything between aside from percussion being played, and I'm not a huge let's shove things into tidy little boxes to label it for my comfort. But, BUT... the majority of songs referenced really don't bring to mind Indie Rock: Katy Perry, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Rhianna-- I stopped noting them because I was bored, and to be fair there were a couple that rang true. Nonetheless, if you're a hardcore indie fan going with expectations just dial it back and ride the Pop wave. Mind you, this is INDIE ROCK, not indie pop. 

So, this wasn't the read I was hoping for going in and the angst and trauma of the constant bad luck and injustice was too much. It eclipsed the romance. 

Overall, a social issues whack-a-mole read. 

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

1 STAR

DNF 40%

There is no way I want to follow this character any more. Seriously, if you know someone like this, they need a mental health intervention. I am disappointed that this was categorized as Women's Fiction. This reads more like Young Adult or New Adult at best.

The main character is late teens when we first meet and psychologically devastated by events her senior year of high school. With the loss of her best friend she withers. This first part has intense Judeo-Christian ideology and symbolism, which makes sense considering the title, but unfortunately, I parsed it as in fidelity to their friendship. It's not the ideology I have issues with, rather the simplistic symbolism vehicle: miracles, angels, black and white, beatification, etc.

This book is enamored with symbolism, allusions to Snow White and direct reference to Red Riding Hood. The second part sees Shelby's view of herself through the ugly dogs she "saves". Perhaps there is some great transformative character via fairy tales or the abandonment here that will eventually play out, but the character is so unlikeable--I don't care.

This book needs a content editor. No one stays in the ER for a night, you get treated or go to surgery and then Recovery, and depending on how critical your injuries are ICU. A Psych ward is not going to pass that postcard along. Everything is vetted. Where is she getting the money? How can you describe someone as wearing a hat and bald, at the same time? Stepford wife? She's not even trying to be perfect; she's the anti-Stepford wife.

All this combined with the hackneyed there's a boy behind all this trauma, and stupidness, and everyone not knowing what their angel was really like smells like Eau de After School Special. No one sees or understands me! So, I shave my head and hide in my parents' basement. I hate myself so much I'll make the outside of me look like the inside. 

I'm too old for this. I was too old for this when I was Shelby's age.

Meat by Opal Carew

3 STARS

One night in Bangcock...

When you're built like Donkey Kong you can't jackhammer. Thankfully, Rex is well aware of the limitations of his endowment. He knows how to use his Monster tool, and is a gentlemen, too. Well, that is until he's Master.

That whole other side of Rex practically pumps up as he exudes dominance in public and private. And our dauntless heroine Rebecca is a brave girl going head to head in and out of bed. 

Sugar Kink Alert!



This was slap and tickle, call me Master, and come when I say fun. The kink was so light it almost floated away. But size queens, THIS is your read. Big as a plum and frankly, I think you need to be a python to unhinge your jaw. If being stuffed is your thing, then this will please. 



All is great until Rebecca and Rex's moment of heaven is disrupted by reality. They head their separate ways with promises to meet up again. Just not as quickly as either thought. Oops. Workplace shenanigans!

Fraternization. There's a reason momma told you not to f&^K where you eat. And Rebecca proceeds to load us onto the Loop to Loop rollercoaster where we plummet when she can't separate work from pleasure. *le sigh*

Meh. Pet peeve of mine and she is a bit dim at times. But that's okay, Prince Domming will take her under his wing and sweep her away. This is fantasy, so safe sex is not observed either. Been awhile since I read Carew, but it was sexy fun that is light and gives the "take me away" sensation. 

Overall: Quick little escape read. 

Mastering Stephan by J.M. Snyder

4 STARS

That was a hot short.

Freaking nice latex kink with some imaginative play. Very sweet and fun. Definitely shows how investing in a good night out can pay off.

3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up for the joyous nature and kinkaliciousness.
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