book, movie post
Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow (Dante Valentine #2)
First of all, like the multiple meanings to the title. And man, Dante has lousy luck with men. Still a fun, action-packed novel like the first in the series. It's been awhile since I read it now, so my memory's hazy. Will be reading book 3. And, enjoyed hearing about Dante's past in that Shady Boarding School, since I was curious about it in book 1. (It seems the past keeps coming back to bite people in the books I read lately)
Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet #1)
The world-building is a bit too similar to the Dante Valentine series for me, unless they do take place in the same world. I like the cover, but don't like the rest of them for this series or the Dante Valentine series. Back of book summary's pretty blah too. Wouldn't have picked the book up at all, but since I loved Dante Valentine so much I figured why not. The romance was a bit rushed for me; I felt there was more umph between Perry and Jill. If I do read the next book, it'll be to see how Jill and Perry's relationship develop. Most vivid detail was the sound of the belt buckle in her mentor's back-alley make-out scene oddly enough.
On Lora Leigh:
Soooo, I keep hoping one day one of her Breed novels will be good. But I came to the conclusion that while she writes smut well, there's is not freaking plot (and hell, the character development probably isn't that good either). However, I read Forbidden Pleasures (Bound Hearts series, not Breed), and found it pretty enjoyable. I liked it a lot (had a better cover too than the Breed books, minus Dawn's Awakening), and honestly would never have guessed them to be by the same author. There was content, and felt like the character's dealt with each other like normal people. There was plot and character development, and all the other things I found lacking in her Breed sereies.
On Nalini Singh:
She's made it onto my list of "if I see her name I'll give it a read/look at" for her Psy-Changeling series. She's not quite as smutty as Lora Leigh, but the characters and plot are there. I actually like her short stories much better than her novels, surprisingly. "Beat of Temptation" (An Enchanted Season anthology) was my favorite, balancing out hotness with a romance/courtship. I think the pacing is why I like her short stories better? "Stroke of Entincement" (Magical Christmas Cat anthology) was cute as well.
However, by far, my favorite was "Whisper of Sin" in the Burning Up anthology. It was touching if only for the fact that for the first time I could identify with the main character; she's 1/4 Chinese, lives near San Francisco's Chinatown, isn't built like a model or "perfectly curvy". It was the first time I could go, "hey, this person's a lot like me" and that meant a lot to me. (Ok, so we don't share that much in common, but whatever). I'm thinking of buying the anthology, I liked it that much. On that note, Nalini Singh actually has heroines who are mixed, which is soooooo so refreshing from Lora Leigh's constantly white characters. (I still want to see Singh write a story on the Chinese assassin chick)
Oh, and not in the Psy-Changeling series is the free short story "Star Kissed." It was just overflowing with sugar and sweet and WAFF. It appeals to me the same way Voices of a Distant Star does.
The King's Speech (film)
Great movie, balanced with great doses of humor. In the Making Of special that was on BBCA, Colin Firth called Bertie and Lionel's relationship a bromance (ROFL, Colin Firth knows the word?) and that their relationship is like a romantic comedy (something I also noticed). XD Therefore that Making Of special was made of win. I did think the last shot of the film was interesting.
Tron: Legacy (film)
OMFG I LOVE THIS MOVIE. The visuals were awesome. And for once it was nice to see men in leather jumpsuits instead of women. (Ok, there were women in jumpsuits and I was ":/" about them but there were dudes for once!) I don't see what everyone was complaining about regarding the plot either. The beginning had a lot of stuff that interests me; rebel son, evil corporation, sticking it to evil corporation. Loved Michael Sheen too (OMG, wtf is he doing in the Breaking Dawn movie?). And the music made me feel like I was on Space Mountain, lol. I liked it though. I want to see it again too. Although the world-building could use some help, and I was hoping it would end with Sam being all "LOL, I'm sticking it to you Evil Capitalist People in My Company" at the end. Also damn pleased Quorra wasn't there was a Love Interest. And wtf was that big explosion at Clu reintegrating? This is not His Dark Materials were sundering daemons makes huge amounts of power. Also, after big explosion, has the Grid been wiped out? What happens to the Grid now? What leadership will develop, who is left, will the ISOs return? Yeah, want more world-building.
ETA:
Black Company by Glen Cook (Black Company #1)
Back of book summary is totally inaccurate. Curious if the cover is portraying Soulcatcher, who I thought was very interesting. The Lady's history was interesting as well. And interesting again, was the use of the Black Company who are niether good nor bad to witness the rise of evil. Will probably read next book. Also, kept imagining Raven as Raven from FE7, lol.
Final Fantasy IX's ending was a mix of tear-jerking and WAFF inducing for me, although what happened to Kuja? Lol, I barely used Amarant or Quina. And Eiko's Phonenix summon is the best summon ever. Took a while to beat last boss since his Grand Cross kept inflicting me with Doom or Death. :/ But when I tried again the next day, I beat him on the first try. And as cheesey as it is, I love the play at the end, and was glad to see more of it. XD And way to wind your lady Zidane~
Fire Emblem 7's ending is a total lead in to Roy's story, sooooooooo, might play that one day. (Also going through FE7's game script atm, for fic research)
First of all, like the multiple meanings to the title. And man, Dante has lousy luck with men. Still a fun, action-packed novel like the first in the series. It's been awhile since I read it now, so my memory's hazy. Will be reading book 3. And, enjoyed hearing about Dante's past in that Shady Boarding School, since I was curious about it in book 1. (It seems the past keeps coming back to bite people in the books I read lately)
Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet #1)
The world-building is a bit too similar to the Dante Valentine series for me, unless they do take place in the same world. I like the cover, but don't like the rest of them for this series or the Dante Valentine series. Back of book summary's pretty blah too. Wouldn't have picked the book up at all, but since I loved Dante Valentine so much I figured why not. The romance was a bit rushed for me; I felt there was more umph between Perry and Jill. If I do read the next book, it'll be to see how Jill and Perry's relationship develop. Most vivid detail was the sound of the belt buckle in her mentor's back-alley make-out scene oddly enough.
On Lora Leigh:
Soooo, I keep hoping one day one of her Breed novels will be good. But I came to the conclusion that while she writes smut well, there's is not freaking plot (and hell, the character development probably isn't that good either). However, I read Forbidden Pleasures (Bound Hearts series, not Breed), and found it pretty enjoyable. I liked it a lot (had a better cover too than the Breed books, minus Dawn's Awakening), and honestly would never have guessed them to be by the same author. There was content, and felt like the character's dealt with each other like normal people. There was plot and character development, and all the other things I found lacking in her Breed sereies.
On Nalini Singh:
She's made it onto my list of "if I see her name I'll give it a read/look at" for her Psy-Changeling series. She's not quite as smutty as Lora Leigh, but the characters and plot are there. I actually like her short stories much better than her novels, surprisingly. "Beat of Temptation" (An Enchanted Season anthology) was my favorite, balancing out hotness with a romance/courtship. I think the pacing is why I like her short stories better? "Stroke of Entincement" (Magical Christmas Cat anthology) was cute as well.
However, by far, my favorite was "Whisper of Sin" in the Burning Up anthology. It was touching if only for the fact that for the first time I could identify with the main character; she's 1/4 Chinese, lives near San Francisco's Chinatown, isn't built like a model or "perfectly curvy". It was the first time I could go, "hey, this person's a lot like me" and that meant a lot to me. (Ok, so we don't share that much in common, but whatever). I'm thinking of buying the anthology, I liked it that much. On that note, Nalini Singh actually has heroines who are mixed, which is soooooo so refreshing from Lora Leigh's constantly white characters. (I still want to see Singh write a story on the Chinese assassin chick)
Oh, and not in the Psy-Changeling series is the free short story "Star Kissed." It was just overflowing with sugar and sweet and WAFF. It appeals to me the same way Voices of a Distant Star does.
The King's Speech (film)
Great movie, balanced with great doses of humor. In the Making Of special that was on BBCA, Colin Firth called Bertie and Lionel's relationship a bromance (ROFL, Colin Firth knows the word?) and that their relationship is like a romantic comedy (something I also noticed). XD Therefore that Making Of special was made of win. I did think the last shot of the film was interesting.
Tron: Legacy (film)
OMFG I LOVE THIS MOVIE. The visuals were awesome. And for once it was nice to see men in leather jumpsuits instead of women. (Ok, there were women in jumpsuits and I was ":/" about them but there were dudes for once!) I don't see what everyone was complaining about regarding the plot either. The beginning had a lot of stuff that interests me; rebel son, evil corporation, sticking it to evil corporation. Loved Michael Sheen too (OMG, wtf is he doing in the Breaking Dawn movie?). And the music made me feel like I was on Space Mountain, lol. I liked it though. I want to see it again too. Although the world-building could use some help, and I was hoping it would end with Sam being all "LOL, I'm sticking it to you Evil Capitalist People in My Company" at the end. Also damn pleased Quorra wasn't there was a Love Interest. And wtf was that big explosion at Clu reintegrating? This is not His Dark Materials were sundering daemons makes huge amounts of power. Also, after big explosion, has the Grid been wiped out? What happens to the Grid now? What leadership will develop, who is left, will the ISOs return? Yeah, want more world-building.
ETA:
Black Company by Glen Cook (Black Company #1)
Back of book summary is totally inaccurate. Curious if the cover is portraying Soulcatcher, who I thought was very interesting. The Lady's history was interesting as well. And interesting again, was the use of the Black Company who are niether good nor bad to witness the rise of evil. Will probably read next book. Also, kept imagining Raven as Raven from FE7, lol.
Final Fantasy IX's ending was a mix of tear-jerking and WAFF inducing for me, although what happened to Kuja? Lol, I barely used Amarant or Quina. And Eiko's Phonenix summon is the best summon ever. Took a while to beat last boss since his Grand Cross kept inflicting me with Doom or Death. :/ But when I tried again the next day, I beat him on the first try. And as cheesey as it is, I love the play at the end, and was glad to see more of it. XD And way to wind your lady Zidane~
Fire Emblem 7's ending is a total lead in to Roy's story, sooooooooo, might play that one day. (Also going through FE7's game script atm, for fic research)