Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Cherished by Maya Banks and Lauren Dane

Source: http://www.123rf.com/photo_14854850_3d-person-supports-falling-books.html
My little guy there, will call him Fred, is going to attempt to hold up the stack of books as we get to explaining things here.

This is a blog. This is a blog for books. This is a blog written all about books and their reviews. Well, turns out that wasn't that complicated.

Here's the features:

I win a lot of books. Mostly because I have an obsession and/or dedication to entering to win hundreds of them... every day. I do it over morning coffee. Currently, I have 25 books from my "winnings" that I have yet to review. I have decided to review them in order of the number of people that entered to win them. It seemed appropriate.

Also, I have 3 book lists I am working through. 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, and Goodreads Choice Awards.

Also, I sort of just read... a lot. I write too, but I am guessing you assumed that.

So, let's get to it!

First, from my winning collection, we shall start a feature called:

In My Mailbox

I have heard other people have done this, but I feel it's appropriate since that's how they literally get here. I don't ever buy books online, so it's the only books in my mailbox - I use the library or book stores instead.


Everyone else had a picture. So, I wanted a picture. By the way, if you look in my "about me" section of this blog you'll notice I said I have "three unfinished degrees." A bachelor of applied art was one of those degrees. Now you know why. A graphic designer, I am not. All the same, I did that in the 20 minutes I took while pumping boob milk for my 2 week old daughter. Someone call my typography professor and tell him he was wrong about me.

That being said, my recent mailbox winning was: Cherished by Maya Banks and Lauren Dane.


 
It's a BDSM dual novel. It includes a story from Maya Banks and a story from Lauren Dane.

Exiled by Maya Banks
 

This story was about a young female that is whisked away to a foreign Island to explore her sexuality under 4 - yeah, you read that right - dominating and sexy men.

First, I just want to get something off my chest. Maybe I've been watching too many Disney movies lately, but I totally pictured one male lead character, Garon, like this:



That is at no fault of the author, she did nothing to insinuate such. That is just how my mind worked.

Now that we got that out of the way. This book is definitely an escapism read, it is written to explore your idea of sexuality, to ignite your senses, and, most importantly, to turn you on.

On the negative side of review, I did find that the characters were underdeveloped (this is probably in large part because there was so many of them), that some of the lines were overly romanticized, and that a book with this much raw sex didn't need as much fluff.

Negativity aside, I had a soft spot for Nico's character. I do wish Maya Banks could write a follow up story and allow me to have more of his character.

If you're looking for some hot, fast paced, escapism this is the perfect book to take for your summer beach read (just make sure you have some water to cool you off). It's definitely not on the shy side and should be avoided by anyone that is against open sexual relations or has traditional ideas of sex. 


Still, it's sexual porn on a page. It's not talent. 

Sway by Lauren Dane

I don't mind Lauren Dane's writing style. It's intricate, creative, and enticing. That being said, it tends to fall under the "are you kidding me?" category with several overly romanticized parts of dialogue. I like how sexually aware, confident, and empowered the female leads are (as opposed to complaint women in mind as well as body - two different things).

I absolutely love how the story leaves room for an entire series of love. It's great to follow a community of friends and watch them all develop. I liked watching the supporting character in this novel develop. 


Unfortunately, I have one major pet peeve. The female heroine has no room for development. She is described as successful in her career, satisfied with her interests and hobbies, content with a loving/supportive group of friends, confident in sex, well supported by family. She is an independent women to a fault. The fault being that she seems to have no area for character development. She already is... perfect. I assume this is mostly due to the author trying to write fiction where there can be a women that has it all figured out. I believe they call it "Mary Sue" in Fanfiction.

And that, right there, ruins the rest of the story for me. I do like her voice - albeit her random corny dialogue - but I cannot stand her perfectionist of a character. It pulled me right out of the story.  


When it comes to Cherished?

Go Ahead and Burn It.  

Note: I received this book free from the author. The review was my opinion and was not required to be a positive review.  

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