Yet more books (this time not all are romance, but all are good)

[dangermousie]

Lindsay Buroker, The Emperor's Edge - someone on my flist recced this and I cannot remember who, but thank you! This was a delight from beginning to end. A steampunk fantasy adventure, this is a mix of LM Bujold's Miles series, Full Metal Panic, and Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. Our protagonist is Amaranthe, a by-the-book enforcer (policewoman),

Comments

[muramatsu_aoi]

I love Anna Campbell as well..

Btw, How come you have'nt hopped aboard the 'This Winter.." train?

[dangermousie]

I am waiting for it to be done so I will know the ending and be prepared. I am getting wimpy in my old age.

[cleobulle]

The Emperor's Edge sounds like my kind of book. I'll add it to my Kindle asap. I can never resist steampunk and if it's mixed with fantasy as well...

I'm ashamed to admit I kind of liked Claiming the Courtesan in a horrified guilty pleasure kind of way. And I need to reread Untouched, one of my fave romances as well.

EDIT: I just saw that Emperor's Edge was a series. 5 books published so far. Excellent!

[dangermousie]

I confess I enjoyed CtC too even as my conscience was screaming at me and I was being horrified at myself. I have to say, that was the only example of that trope where I could buy heroine forgiving the hero (due to her personality and other circumstances) and where hero was truly shown as deeply disturbed enough to do this due to not being able to process emotions healthily, while I could still buy his eventual redemption even if not in a 'I want to date him' way. So basically, angels of my nature thought the book was appalling but my bad side liked it a lot.

Untouched = one of my top 10 romances.

Re: Emperor's Edge. Apparently there is a bit of romance later but it's fun even without it.

[cleobulle]

Emperor's Edge is now on my Kindle! The rest of the series is there as well -- I was feeling brightly optimistic because I never buy an entire series all at once these days.

I confess I enjoyed CtC too even as my conscience was screaming at me and I was being horrified at myself. I have to say, that was the only example of that trope where I could buy heroine forgiving the hero (due to her personality and other circumstances) and where hero was truly shown as deeply disturbed enough to do this due to not being able to process emotions healthily, while I could still buy his eventual redemption even if not in a 'I want to date him' way. So basically, angels of my nature thought the book was appalling but my bad side liked it a lot.
--> I couldn't have said it better! I need something else than the "Guilty Pleasure" tag for such a book. It's one level above a guilty pleasure. Maybe "Disturbingly fascinating"?

[dangermousie]

I hope you enjoy *anxious* It's not the most groundbreaking fantasy ever but it's good.

Disturbing fascinating certainly fits. I give props to that book for not portraying what he does as either somehow sexily alpha or no big deal a la 1980s romances. He is clearly a totally messed up person due to being brought up by two abusive psychopaths and has no idea how do deal with his feelings on any level past toddler. Though being adult and powerful, he can do a lot more damage than a toddler before he learns. Honestly, if this was available in 1700s, I'd say he needed serious and extensive therapy for years before he gets anywhere near well-adjusted or even properly functional, but obviously not available back then. I still wanted someone to beat him up within an inch of his life, but ehh---I confess to rooting for the couple at the end regardless (the fact that he had such an awful time throughout the book helped).

[anonymous]

I'm glad you liked Emperor's Edge! It's my first taste of fantasy/steampunk and I didn't know if I was being a fangirl or if it actually was good in comparison to others out there:)
(btw the romance between Amaranthe and Sicarius kicks up a notch with each book in the series {6}.. we even get to see jealous Sicarius who is so cute:)

thanks for the review! and I hope you're having safe travels!

~Maqluba

[dangermousie]

Thank you!

I am definitely going to get the rest of the books in the series!