Wow, I should really tell a little bit more about my recent baking experiences, but other than some cookies for a bake sale the pastries have been few and far between. I think I'm putting on weight. Gosh, I really love cookies.
So, it's back to books.
As I like to go on about, ad nauseum, the kindle has some great benefits including free books. The free books do tend to be either "you get what you pay for" or "beyond copyright" books. I wrote about A Woman Named Smith. This was a classic, Gothic novel. It was fun and seemed a bit out of the ordinary for the genre.
This week I read a modern mystery that was free (hmmmm....or was it 0.99?) Divorced, Desperate and Dating is truly a book that I got what I paid for. I did manage to read the entire book, which puts it above a number of other books that I have received from Amazon.
The plot of the book was pretty basic: Wildly successful woman has thing for cop that she kissed once and he (normally a promiscuous jerk) is of course really in love with her. Someone is trying to kill her and comedy ensues. Only, I don't think it's supposed to be comedy. And it's not comedy in any sense that Christie Craig (the author) intended.
At least it was entertaining and I didn't feel that I had to delete it or to have a hot shower to wipe the smut off of me.
Criticism 1: I would say that referring to a penis as a Jimmy Dean is, at best, sophomoric and at worst, crude and kind of gross. Especially when following it up with a meat grinder comment. There were a lot of junior high moments comparable to this one.
Criticism 2: The sex scenes were more gross than erotic as well. In fairness, I do not like to read sex scenes. I think that if I want to know about the gymnastics that happen in ANYONE else's bedroom, real or fiction, I'll pick up some soft-core porn magazine and really focus on it. I don't need to know all of the body fluids swapped by our main characters.
Criticism 3: In a mystery, once it's solved please head for the exit. Do not dally amongst more sex, counting condoms, and crappy emotional scenes that the heroine has alone and/or with her "best" friends.
While not horrific, I don't think that I'd pay for this one. You can get better sex and better mysteries elsewhere.
In fairness, Craig writes better than I do, and she's a published author. There are worse books.
Happy Reading!
Showing posts with label sex scenes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sex scenes. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Book & Baking Blog Entry 14
Again, you never know if I'm going to give something away, so read at your own risk.
So here I am, on the road. We're in Denmark now. Since we're at a private home there hasn't been as much pastry eating. More on that when we go to Copenhagen or return to Denmark (although my brother-in-law it turns out makes a fantastic cherry pie...who knew the Danes had it in them?!) I love vacation. It's great.
So I just finished listening to/reading Embrace the Grim Reaper (book 1) by Judy Clemens. It was pretty good. A little too much on the "hidden" backstory. Too many hints about too many things in our heroine Casey's past. I do like the Grim Reaper. It's a good character and mostly keeps the story lighter than it might be. The weird sex scene could have been, or more to the point, should have been avoided.
Why do all authors (or editors or publishers) believe that there should be an obligatory sex scene in a murder mystery. I know that there is a desire for cross-over from romance, but really, a good story doesn't need weird abortive sex where everyone feels guilty.
:
HERE's my latest rant regarding all of the books that I've been reading lately: all these heroines have a dead child. I'm really tired of the false pathos of the dead child. I would like a warning label on these books because the authors never really get to it OR they spend too much time lingering on it.
By the way, I broke down and spent money on the latest Jane Haddam book. It grinds me to give money to a publisher that clearly holds me in contempt, but I will say that Haddam is, as always, worth it. I'll look forward to my review.
Good reading. Pop Tarts for breakfast!
So here I am, on the road. We're in Denmark now. Since we're at a private home there hasn't been as much pastry eating. More on that when we go to Copenhagen or return to Denmark (although my brother-in-law it turns out makes a fantastic cherry pie...who knew the Danes had it in them?!) I love vacation. It's great.
So I just finished listening to/reading Embrace the Grim Reaper (book 1) by Judy Clemens. It was pretty good. A little too much on the "hidden" backstory. Too many hints about too many things in our heroine Casey's past. I do like the Grim Reaper. It's a good character and mostly keeps the story lighter than it might be. The weird sex scene could have been, or more to the point, should have been avoided.
Why do all authors (or editors or publishers) believe that there should be an obligatory sex scene in a murder mystery. I know that there is a desire for cross-over from romance, but really, a good story doesn't need weird abortive sex where everyone feels guilty.
:
HERE's my latest rant regarding all of the books that I've been reading lately: all these heroines have a dead child. I'm really tired of the false pathos of the dead child. I would like a warning label on these books because the authors never really get to it OR they spend too much time lingering on it.
By the way, I broke down and spent money on the latest Jane Haddam book. It grinds me to give money to a publisher that clearly holds me in contempt, but I will say that Haddam is, as always, worth it. I'll look forward to my review.
Good reading. Pop Tarts for breakfast!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Book & Baking Blog Entry 11
Back to murder.
REMINDER: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS (especially since I'm discussing the first 6 of a series...)
First, have I mentioned my love of the audiobook? I am an audiobook fan from the time we called them "books on tape." I had my first in the early '90s. Yes. I'm old and I prefer books to music, scandalous. I used to spend a lot of time traveling for work. I love listening to a book and driving. Now that I have an iPod I use audible. I can't recommend it enough. You can buy books a la carte or you can buy a subscription. I have "read" 228 books via my iPods (I had to replace a broken one) since 2005. I am dedicated.
I've been reading a series of British murder mysteries by Deborah Crombie. I really like them. They are great if you don't want a lot of gore and enjoy a bit of personal story without it being all about the relationship. Duncan Kincaid and Jemma James are our hero/heroine cops. They begin as colleagues and end up as a couple. This is not a love/hate fight fight fight relationship. I like that it develops naturally with some angst over professional concerns but not too much. There is a nice blend of the actual murder plot with the relatioship. These are nice people, with normal relatioships, normal issues working together.
Another plus with this book is that there aren't sex scenes. At least none that come to mind, and I probably would remember. I don't care to listen to sex scenes. When actually reading I skip those pages. Yes. I do. And listening is even worse. It's a bit creepy and voyeuristic.
I've read:
Necessary as Blood
Kissed a Sad Goodbye
Dreaming of the Bones
A Finer End
Leave the Grave Green
Mourn Not Your Dead
For those who really like to read a series in order, I didn't. It didn't make a huge difference to me as any good writer can give you the information you need about the past relationship without spoiling earlier books.
My biggest criticism of Crombie is that the story does sometimes lag a bit. Not so much that I didn't read 6 of her novels, but this might be a better read in print for that reason.
Maybe next blog I'll discuss when I buy an audiobook vs a print (Kindle) edition. It's quite important. Also coming: my next cake!
Happy Murder & Good reading.
REMINDER: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS (especially since I'm discussing the first 6 of a series...)
First, have I mentioned my love of the audiobook? I am an audiobook fan from the time we called them "books on tape." I had my first in the early '90s. Yes. I'm old and I prefer books to music, scandalous. I used to spend a lot of time traveling for work. I love listening to a book and driving. Now that I have an iPod I use audible. I can't recommend it enough. You can buy books a la carte or you can buy a subscription. I have "read" 228 books via my iPods (I had to replace a broken one) since 2005. I am dedicated.
I've been reading a series of British murder mysteries by Deborah Crombie. I really like them. They are great if you don't want a lot of gore and enjoy a bit of personal story without it being all about the relationship. Duncan Kincaid and Jemma James are our hero/heroine cops. They begin as colleagues and end up as a couple. This is not a love/hate fight fight fight relationship. I like that it develops naturally with some angst over professional concerns but not too much. There is a nice blend of the actual murder plot with the relatioship. These are nice people, with normal relatioships, normal issues working together.
Another plus with this book is that there aren't sex scenes. At least none that come to mind, and I probably would remember. I don't care to listen to sex scenes. When actually reading I skip those pages. Yes. I do. And listening is even worse. It's a bit creepy and voyeuristic.
I've read:
Necessary as Blood
Kissed a Sad Goodbye
Dreaming of the Bones
A Finer End
Leave the Grave Green
Mourn Not Your Dead
For those who really like to read a series in order, I didn't. It didn't make a huge difference to me as any good writer can give you the information you need about the past relationship without spoiling earlier books.
My biggest criticism of Crombie is that the story does sometimes lag a bit. Not so much that I didn't read 6 of her novels, but this might be a better read in print for that reason.
Maybe next blog I'll discuss when I buy an audiobook vs a print (Kindle) edition. It's quite important. Also coming: my next cake!
Happy Murder & Good reading.
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