Undercover Sins by Hayley B. James
Congratulations Hayley!!! You go, girl!!!
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Sunday, February 20, 2011
One of my best friends...
One of my best friends is going to have a book published in March by Dreamspinner Press. I am so happy for her. I've read the story and I can honestly say it is flippin' amazing!! :D Everyone MUST go read it!!! Make sure to watch for Hayley B. James because she's going to blaze over everyone else in the m/m romance world!!
Undercover Sins by Hayley B. James
Congratulations Hayley!!! You go, girl!!!
Undercover Sins by Hayley B. James
Congratulations Hayley!!! You go, girl!!!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
My Two Cents: A Review of Blood of a Leo by Dawn H. Hawkes
I'd like to start out by saying that this is my own personal opinion. It is not meant to offend, insult, or encourage anyone to take my opinion to heart. I believe that you should take what others say with a grain of salt because what one person likes doesn't mean another will and vice versa. I know that there are quite a few movies out there that have been box office hits that I can't stand, but the critics loved. So please take the time to read the story yourself and form your own opinion.
I can never think of enough to write here, so I decided to start throwing in reviews of books that I have read, good and bad. I figure this may actually be something some would be interested in reading. :)
Blood of a Leo
The basic premise of the story is about a young man named Leo who's kidnapped and held as a blood slave by a group of vampires. While in their grasp, he's brutalized, raped, and drugged. He escapes the vampires during a moment of confusion and ends up with a lion shifter named Maddox, who turns out to be his mate.
Though the recent influx of shifter and vampire stories since Twilight hit has been a bit on the annoying side, the story was well written and flowed well. I do like the fact that she made vampires back to what they were originally intended as, evil. She captured the cruelty and taunting quite powerfully. I could actually feel the contempt and hatred they held for humans as other than a food source.
I do understand that in fiction you can pretty much make anything possible, however, I prefer my stories to have a bit of a realistic twist when it comes to things that would traumatize a human. When someone is raped and brutalized, it is not an easy thing to overcome. There are scars, outside and inside, that do not heal and may never heal. Despite the lion shifter being his mate, I still feel his ability to get over his abuse so quickly was unrealistic. Granted the story was only 158 pages and as a writer myself I know that it is difficult to cover as much as you would like to sometimes, but perhaps lengthening the story and adding in a bit more regarding Leo's struggle to overcome the cruel treatment or skipping over part of the torment detailed in the first 25 pages and adding in more of Leo's healing process may have made it a tad more enjoyable for me to read.
One of my biggest pet peeves about reading m/m romance is when almost every single page has a sex scene. I'm as big a perv as the next m/m romance reader, but I do like story with my sex to make it one big amazing package to read. I like that Hawkes did not make it page after page of sex even after the pair engage for the first time. I felt that there was a true connection between Leo and Maddox and their initial 'contact' was sweet and tender rather than going for that all out 'f*** me now' factor.
All in all, the book was one I would give around a 3-star rating and worth reading at least once. Oh, but I do have to say the cover is gorgeous. I find that one of the biggest factors to capture my initial attention is the cover and the artist who prepared the cover for Blood of a Leo definitely has an eye for what makes a cover 'POP'.
I can never think of enough to write here, so I decided to start throwing in reviews of books that I have read, good and bad. I figure this may actually be something some would be interested in reading. :)
Blood of a Leo
The basic premise of the story is about a young man named Leo who's kidnapped and held as a blood slave by a group of vampires. While in their grasp, he's brutalized, raped, and drugged. He escapes the vampires during a moment of confusion and ends up with a lion shifter named Maddox, who turns out to be his mate.
Though the recent influx of shifter and vampire stories since Twilight hit has been a bit on the annoying side, the story was well written and flowed well. I do like the fact that she made vampires back to what they were originally intended as, evil. She captured the cruelty and taunting quite powerfully. I could actually feel the contempt and hatred they held for humans as other than a food source.
I do understand that in fiction you can pretty much make anything possible, however, I prefer my stories to have a bit of a realistic twist when it comes to things that would traumatize a human. When someone is raped and brutalized, it is not an easy thing to overcome. There are scars, outside and inside, that do not heal and may never heal. Despite the lion shifter being his mate, I still feel his ability to get over his abuse so quickly was unrealistic. Granted the story was only 158 pages and as a writer myself I know that it is difficult to cover as much as you would like to sometimes, but perhaps lengthening the story and adding in a bit more regarding Leo's struggle to overcome the cruel treatment or skipping over part of the torment detailed in the first 25 pages and adding in more of Leo's healing process may have made it a tad more enjoyable for me to read.
One of my biggest pet peeves about reading m/m romance is when almost every single page has a sex scene. I'm as big a perv as the next m/m romance reader, but I do like story with my sex to make it one big amazing package to read. I like that Hawkes did not make it page after page of sex even after the pair engage for the first time. I felt that there was a true connection between Leo and Maddox and their initial 'contact' was sweet and tender rather than going for that all out 'f*** me now' factor.
All in all, the book was one I would give around a 3-star rating and worth reading at least once. Oh, but I do have to say the cover is gorgeous. I find that one of the biggest factors to capture my initial attention is the cover and the artist who prepared the cover for Blood of a Leo definitely has an eye for what makes a cover 'POP'.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Long Time Away and the Greatest News!
Hi, all. I am such a slacker! I apologize for being away for so long, but life at work and so many other things got in the way that I just haven't had the energy to keep up with everything.
Currently, sick. Blech. Trying to fight it off. Here's hoping I can and fast!
The greatest news that I have is that I submitted a new manuscript to Silver Publishing and they sent me a contract for it inside of an hour. I didn't even send them the whole thing, just the first three chapters. Either I have a fan at Silver Publishing or they googled me and saw how well my last book did. :D Can't argue with it either way IMO!
Now I have to start with the process that I abhor... editing! It is the one part that I cannot really find myself enjoying. I LOVE writing the stories, coming up with new plotlines and twists and turns, but hammering out the minor (or major) screwups is not the highlight of my life. I need to do a pre-edit before I send it on over to Silver Publishing with the contract. I'm procrastinating... Hence the reason I have been spending all day either sleeping (sick..) or catching up on facebook, twitter, and now my blog. I know that I need to do it but it doesn't make it anymore enjoyable lol.
I've edited the story once before quite significantly, but it needs to be polished again before I send the entire manuscript. Here's hoping that I don't see as much red on the first round of edits from the company itself!
Wish me luck!
Currently, sick. Blech. Trying to fight it off. Here's hoping I can and fast!
The greatest news that I have is that I submitted a new manuscript to Silver Publishing and they sent me a contract for it inside of an hour. I didn't even send them the whole thing, just the first three chapters. Either I have a fan at Silver Publishing or they googled me and saw how well my last book did. :D Can't argue with it either way IMO!
Now I have to start with the process that I abhor... editing! It is the one part that I cannot really find myself enjoying. I LOVE writing the stories, coming up with new plotlines and twists and turns, but hammering out the minor (or major) screwups is not the highlight of my life. I need to do a pre-edit before I send it on over to Silver Publishing with the contract. I'm procrastinating... Hence the reason I have been spending all day either sleeping (sick..) or catching up on facebook, twitter, and now my blog. I know that I need to do it but it doesn't make it anymore enjoyable lol.
I've edited the story once before quite significantly, but it needs to be polished again before I send the entire manuscript. Here's hoping that I don't see as much red on the first round of edits from the company itself!
Wish me luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)