Books: The Wild Ways
As a sequel to The Enchantment Emporium, this book was almost perfect. It brought back the same characters, but then went off and had us reading something else. This time, the story was centered around Charlotte "Charlie" Gale and her cousin Jack. Actually, the best parts of the story were about Jack.
Being a teenage boy surrounded by way too many women of all ages can seriously cramp a guy's style, you know. So Charlie grabs Jack out from under the Calgary-based smothering and takes him touring Nova Scotia with her Celtic band instead. One of the band members's girlfriends happens to be a selkie whose sealskin has been stolen... by Aunt Catherine Gale. Auntie Catherine is working for an oil company that wants drilling permits in a seal sanctuary. We can all do very quick math here. As we learned from Allie in the first book, the younger Gale girls are growing up, and up for the challenge.
Like The Enchantment Emporium, The Wild Ways is an easy read with plenty of laughs. It's not a kids book, though. There is a lot of implied sex, and it is often happily heteroflexible. However, if you let your kid read the first one, you're fine with this one unless you've developed an allergy to gay fiddlers.
* I say almost perfect because there is one plot device applied to Charlie that was really amusing and totally unnecessary. While yes, it got her phone to stop ringing, I'm having Star Trek remake flashbacks.
-- New-to-me books read in 2011 (as opposed to re-reads) --
January
Little Dee vol 2
Little Dee vol 3
Unusual Suspects
Harvest Moon
The Black Stallion (yes, I know, I should have read it with Black Beauty)
Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, with a pre-finished commentary here
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Fang Bangers: An Erotic Anthology of Fangs, Claws, Sex and Love
Must Love Hellhounds
Truthseeker
February
Dark and Stormy Knights
Tortall and Other Lands
River Marked (2/28 - it arrived a day early)
March
Questionable Content, vol 1
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
Lifeblood
Magic Bites
Skinwalker, A Jane Yellowrock Novel
Running with the Pack
Magic Burns
Blood Cross
April
"Skyblaze" Adventures in the Liaden Universe #17
Kings of the North
Goblin Tales
Do Not Sniff the Bees, Two Lumps book 6
Magic Strikes
Magic Bleeds
Mercy Blade
The Initiate Brother
May
Angelology
City of Pearl
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
June
After Hours: Tales from Ur-Bar
Magic Slays
Ghost Ship (e-ARC)
Warbreaker
July
Quarter Share
Half Share
Full Share
"Intelligent Design" (short story in the Liaden Universe, published online at Baen)
Heroes in Training
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale
Tiger's Curse
Calamities of Nature, vol 1
Troubled Waters
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
In Fury Born
August
Naked City
Unnatural Issue
Home Improvement: Undead Edition
Summers at Castle Auburn
"Kin Ties" (short story in the Liaden Universe, found here)
Flying Blind
Archangel
Hunger Games
The Shape-Changer's Wife
A Matter of Magic
September
One Salt Sea
"Guaranteed Delivery" (short story of the Liaden Universe, found here)
Wayfinder
Double Share as an audiobook from PodioBooks.Com
Cast in Ruin
October
Captain's Share (as an audio book)
Land of Painted Caves
Owner's Share (as an audio book)
Beauty and the Werewolf
A Beautiful Friendship
Mastiff
November
Down These Strange Streets
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
"The Space at Tinsori Light," Liaden short story found here
Prized
The Wild Ways
-- Books abandoned rather than completed in 2011 --
February
Sing the Four Quarters, by Tanya Huff
August
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
October
Gamestorming (gave it to a co-worker)
-- Books Still in Progress --
These are books that I haven't totally given up on, I've just... put them aside... for now.
The Brand Within
If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails
Swords and Dark Magic
Battlestations
Wise Man's Fear
Being a teenage boy surrounded by way too many women of all ages can seriously cramp a guy's style, you know. So Charlie grabs Jack out from under the Calgary-based smothering and takes him touring Nova Scotia with her Celtic band instead. One of the band members's girlfriends happens to be a selkie whose sealskin has been stolen... by Aunt Catherine Gale. Auntie Catherine is working for an oil company that wants drilling permits in a seal sanctuary. We can all do very quick math here. As we learned from Allie in the first book, the younger Gale girls are growing up, and up for the challenge.
Like The Enchantment Emporium, The Wild Ways is an easy read with plenty of laughs. It's not a kids book, though. There is a lot of implied sex, and it is often happily heteroflexible. However, if you let your kid read the first one, you're fine with this one unless you've developed an allergy to gay fiddlers.
* I say almost perfect because there is one plot device applied to Charlie that was really amusing and totally unnecessary. While yes, it got her phone to stop ringing, I'm having Star Trek remake flashbacks.
-- New-to-me books read in 2011 (as opposed to re-reads) --
January
Little Dee vol 2
Little Dee vol 3
Unusual Suspects
Harvest Moon
The Black Stallion (yes, I know, I should have read it with Black Beauty)
Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, with a pre-finished commentary here
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Fang Bangers: An Erotic Anthology of Fangs, Claws, Sex and Love
Must Love Hellhounds
Truthseeker
February
Dark and Stormy Knights
Tortall and Other Lands
River Marked (2/28 - it arrived a day early)
March
Questionable Content, vol 1
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
Lifeblood
Magic Bites
Skinwalker, A Jane Yellowrock Novel
Running with the Pack
Magic Burns
Blood Cross
April
"Skyblaze" Adventures in the Liaden Universe #17
Kings of the North
Goblin Tales
Do Not Sniff the Bees, Two Lumps book 6
Magic Strikes
Magic Bleeds
Mercy Blade
The Initiate Brother
May
Angelology
City of Pearl
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
June
After Hours: Tales from Ur-Bar
Magic Slays
Ghost Ship (e-ARC)
Warbreaker
July
Quarter Share
Half Share
Full Share
"Intelligent Design" (short story in the Liaden Universe, published online at Baen)
Heroes in Training
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale
Tiger's Curse
Calamities of Nature, vol 1
Troubled Waters
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
In Fury Born
August
Naked City
Unnatural Issue
Home Improvement: Undead Edition
Summers at Castle Auburn
"Kin Ties" (short story in the Liaden Universe, found here)
Flying Blind
Archangel
Hunger Games
The Shape-Changer's Wife
A Matter of Magic
September
One Salt Sea
"Guaranteed Delivery" (short story of the Liaden Universe, found here)
Wayfinder
Double Share as an audiobook from PodioBooks.Com
Cast in Ruin
October
Captain's Share (as an audio book)
Land of Painted Caves
Owner's Share (as an audio book)
Beauty and the Werewolf
A Beautiful Friendship
Mastiff
November
Down These Strange Streets
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
"The Space at Tinsori Light," Liaden short story found here
Prized
The Wild Ways
-- Books abandoned rather than completed in 2011 --
February
Sing the Four Quarters, by Tanya Huff
August
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
October
Gamestorming (gave it to a co-worker)
-- Books Still in Progress --
These are books that I haven't totally given up on, I've just... put them aside... for now.
The Brand Within
If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails
Swords and Dark Magic
Battlestations
Wise Man's Fear