Since when do romance writers love Gackt?
A couple of books I've meant to post about recently.
Read Raintree:Inferno by Linda Howard. Hmm. Was relatively typical of her style, but definitely not one of her more interesting ones. I was surprised to see a new category romance by her since she's mostly stuck to hardcover romantic suspense for the last couple of years. Still, it was entertaining enough for the snack that category romances are. It's also the first of a trilogy (the other two being written by other authors), so I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing how the other two writers address the remaining characters.
Also read A Stranger's Kiss, which includes Anne Stuart's Winter's Edge and Debra Webb's Safe By His Side. Neither of which were particularly good, although they weren't particularly bad either. Stuart's stories can really be hit and miss with me (Stuart wrote one of my favorite, favorite novellas, about a love between a girl with heart disease already living on borrowed time, and Death ~ big surprise there, I know; Duo-as-Death wasn't my first love, but don't tell him that). They can often be too "western" -- the heroine too much of a nature-lover for me and my city-girl heart. This was also an amnesia story (theme for the book), which I usually stay far, far away from. But I can at least honestly say that the amnesia part is not what I didn't like about this one. Moving along, Webb's story was a bit better (in the respect of being not-western), but the heroine was also more stupid. And the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing gets old, fast... if not done right. Which it wasn't.
I also bought a collection of short stories and novellas by H.P. Lovecraft, of which I've read the first few. Cool Air is my favorite so far (the story was really great, and the punchline so predictable, but oh so very amusing), but I seem to have dropped out of the mood for his Victorian style of writing, so I'll have to come back to it later.
Last week metallicapixie picked up for me a signed copy of Irvine Welsh's latest, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. I started reading it, but I seem to be unable to read anything right now but romances. *rolls eyes* So I'll have to get back to it once this urge has gone away.
Bought Ice Blue by Anne Stuart. Although I'm at least two-thirds of the way through this book, I can't tell if this is going to be one of Stuart's hits or misses for me. I forgot to mention that Anne Stuart seems to be somewhat into Japanese fandom -- I can't tell quite how much she's into it, or what exactly she's into. But I do know that she loves Gackt. And dedicates several of her novels to him. Crazy. I wonder if he knows. In any case, I really like how cold and ruthless the half-Japanese hero is. The heroine, though... she definitely has potential, but a lot of the time it seems she's just lost in a fog. It's kind of really annoying. Oddly, Stuart has written it so that I'm more annoyed with her than with the heroine. I think it's because there are a few pretty big holes in terms of character motivation and common sense. Also, I'm slightly disappointed because the hero doesn't really act Japanese. But I probably shouldn't be too surprised by that. =/
I just discovered that Ice Blue is the third in a series that began with Black Ice and Cold as Ice. From the reviews/blurbs on amazon.com, I'm definitely interested in reading these, even if they turn out to be as lackluster as Ice Blue. They all have cold men. =D It's rare that a romance novel has a hero that's cold and ruthless, even toward the heroine -- but not mean. There's a really fine line, and most writers don't seem to be able to pull it off. But Stuart does. Which makes me happy. Because it's almost like a halfway decent fic (in terms of atypical characterization), but with writing that's better than a lot of fic writers out there, and I didn't have to weed through all the crap to get to the well-written stuff. ( Present company excluded, of course.)
And last, but no where near least, I finished all 16 (as of yet US-released) volumes of Whistle!.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
The anime stuck very closely to the manga plot, aside from introducing Kojima earlier in the anime than manga, which didn't really affect all that much. HOWEVER! There's quite a bit more in the manga during the time when Kazamatsuri is at the 4-day training camp for the select team. Characters are fleshed out a bit more. And you get to see Kazamatsuri working harder than you do in the anime (which I didn't think would be possible without him dying), but also working smarter too! He also gets advice and/or help from other characters, like Fujishirou (of Musashinomori). It's really cool to see those parts. There's also a part where another line or two reveals more about Shige's personality than in the anime. And it really touched a chord in me -- it was something I totally identify with. I didn't think I could possibly love Whistle! more, but I do. I really, really do.
It really annoys me, however, that VIZ felt the need to have everyone refer to each other by their first names. I keep trying to think of their last names as I read their first names, but I forget after a while. I refuse to refer to them by their first names. Absolutely refuse.
Also, I never realized that Whistle!'s mangaka is a woman. But yeah. Which makes SO MUCH SENSE!
Read Raintree:Inferno by Linda Howard. Hmm. Was relatively typical of her style, but definitely not one of her more interesting ones. I was surprised to see a new category romance by her since she's mostly stuck to hardcover romantic suspense for the last couple of years. Still, it was entertaining enough for the snack that category romances are. It's also the first of a trilogy (the other two being written by other authors), so I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing how the other two writers address the remaining characters.
Also read A Stranger's Kiss, which includes Anne Stuart's Winter's Edge and Debra Webb's Safe By His Side. Neither of which were particularly good, although they weren't particularly bad either. Stuart's stories can really be hit and miss with me (Stuart wrote one of my favorite, favorite novellas, about a love between a girl with heart disease already living on borrowed time, and Death ~ big surprise there, I know; Duo-as-Death wasn't my first love, but don't tell him that). They can often be too "western" -- the heroine too much of a nature-lover for me and my city-girl heart. This was also an amnesia story (theme for the book), which I usually stay far, far away from. But I can at least honestly say that the amnesia part is not what I didn't like about this one. Moving along, Webb's story was a bit better (in the respect of being not-western), but the heroine was also more stupid. And the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing gets old, fast... if not done right. Which it wasn't.
I also bought a collection of short stories and novellas by H.P. Lovecraft, of which I've read the first few. Cool Air is my favorite so far (the story was really great, and the punchline so predictable, but oh so very amusing), but I seem to have dropped out of the mood for his Victorian style of writing, so I'll have to come back to it later.
Last week metallicapixie picked up for me a signed copy of Irvine Welsh's latest, The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. I started reading it, but I seem to be unable to read anything right now but romances. *rolls eyes* So I'll have to get back to it once this urge has gone away.
Bought Ice Blue by Anne Stuart. Although I'm at least two-thirds of the way through this book, I can't tell if this is going to be one of Stuart's hits or misses for me. I forgot to mention that Anne Stuart seems to be somewhat into Japanese fandom -- I can't tell quite how much she's into it, or what exactly she's into. But I do know that she loves Gackt. And dedicates several of her novels to him. Crazy. I wonder if he knows. In any case, I really like how cold and ruthless the half-Japanese hero is. The heroine, though... she definitely has potential, but a lot of the time it seems she's just lost in a fog. It's kind of really annoying. Oddly, Stuart has written it so that I'm more annoyed with her than with the heroine. I think it's because there are a few pretty big holes in terms of character motivation and common sense. Also, I'm slightly disappointed because the hero doesn't really act Japanese. But I probably shouldn't be too surprised by that. =/
I just discovered that Ice Blue is the third in a series that began with Black Ice and Cold as Ice. From the reviews/blurbs on amazon.com, I'm definitely interested in reading these, even if they turn out to be as lackluster as Ice Blue. They all have cold men. =D It's rare that a romance novel has a hero that's cold and ruthless, even toward the heroine -- but not mean. There's a really fine line, and most writers don't seem to be able to pull it off. But Stuart does. Which makes me happy. Because it's almost like a halfway decent fic (in terms of atypical characterization), but with writing that's better than a lot of fic writers out there, and I didn't have to weed through all the crap to get to the well-written stuff. ( Present company excluded, of course.)
And last, but no where near least, I finished all 16 (as of yet US-released) volumes of Whistle!.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
The anime stuck very closely to the manga plot, aside from introducing Kojima earlier in the anime than manga, which didn't really affect all that much. HOWEVER! There's quite a bit more in the manga during the time when Kazamatsuri is at the 4-day training camp for the select team. Characters are fleshed out a bit more. And you get to see Kazamatsuri working harder than you do in the anime (which I didn't think would be possible without him dying), but also working smarter too! He also gets advice and/or help from other characters, like Fujishirou (of Musashinomori). It's really cool to see those parts. There's also a part where another line or two reveals more about Shige's personality than in the anime. And it really touched a chord in me -- it was something I totally identify with. I didn't think I could possibly love Whistle! more, but I do. I really, really do.
It really annoys me, however, that VIZ felt the need to have everyone refer to each other by their first names. I keep trying to think of their last names as I read their first names, but I forget after a while. I refuse to refer to them by their first names. Absolutely refuse.
Also, I never realized that Whistle!'s mangaka is a woman. But yeah. Which makes SO MUCH SENSE!