Feral Sins (The Phoenix Pack #1) by Suzanne Wright

Rating:

“Just give me a second. Attempting to give a fuck…Attempting harder to give a fuck…Sorry, there was an error; fuck not given.”

PMDD was bringing me down when I remembered Lei recommended Feral Sins to me last year as a pick-me-up. I didn’t own it then, but I snapped up a £1 deal on Amazon a few months ago. After finally reading it, I can understand the hype surrounding this self-published book. It definitely made me feel better.

LonCon3 #21: Gender and Genre

Panellists: Francis Knight, Jenni Hill, Melanie Fletcher, Justin Landon

Are genres gendered? Truisms like “women don’t read science fiction” or “men hate romance” abound, but to what extent do these sorts of assumptions determine what we see on the shelves? How have certain sub-genres become strongly associated with writers (and readers) of a single gender? What are the difficulties faced by a writer trying to work in a (sub)genre traditionally associated with a gender other than their own? What role(s) can publishers and booksellers play in creating, reinforcing, or challenging such bias?

He Ain’t Lion (Ridgeville #1) by Celia Kyle

Rating:

Despite He Ain’t Lion‘s rocky and repetitive start, it delivers the funny in spades with inventive swearing and crazy canibalistic thoughts, and dishes up a sexy, but self-conscious, plus-sized main character who upon meeting and bedding the alpha male of a lion shifter pride, transforms from a human female into a fierce and hungry shapeshifting alpha lioness. And there are no premature I Love Yous with the Happy Ever After!

The men here certainly seemed to like a girl with some cushion for the pushin’. At least, that’s what their gazes told her. Hell, even some of the ladies were giving Maya the same lustful glances. But tonight was not the night for lovin’ with the female persuasion, though. Maybe another time…
[…]
She had big hips, big thighs, and big breasts, all of which added up to a big woman.

Lust After Death (Love Bots #1) by Daisy Harris

Rating:

There’s nothing like a bit of necrophilia in the morning.

Our RoboZombies  (the zombies are actually referred to as ‘steins’, as in Frankenstein) don’t decompose and still retain all of their bodily functions so there are no ball sacks falling off during fellatio or penises detaching mid-coitus (oh look a new dildo!) so my tea and toast stayed happily in my stomach.

Our heroine, Josie, is a newly made RoboZombie sex doll. Her memories have been wiped in favour of rudimentary programming to engineer her to need, and be submissive to, a ‘husband’. Her obviously abusive maker had no other use for her than that. Free will is only for the living. She’s child-like in her curiosity and discovery of new concepts and sensations, but she’s very much able to learn and grow beyond her original programming.

Review: Eternity Embraced (Demonica, #3.5) by Larissa Ione

Rating:

By reading Eternity Embraced I was hoping to finally finish the series with Ecstasy Unveiled (Demonica, #4). Unfortunately, dipping my toes back into the Demonica universe again with Eternity Embraced wasn’t the motivator I was hoping it to be.

I expected too much, for starters. This is a mid-series short story – those can be notoriously unfulfilling. Adding ‘paranormal romance’ into the mix can result in tired cliches, which I’ve apparently outgrown.

Review: Heart of Obsidian (Psy-Changeling #12) by Nalini Singh

Rating:

Kudos to any author who can successfully leash a villainous character, harness his world-ending abilities for good, and elicit genuine sympathy for him by revealing a truly unique and horrific childhood.

Okay, all that sounds rather corny and generally off-putting, but I swear, it’s not. This long-awaited novel’s political backdrop is a game-changer. Be prepared for shock and awe. And the real identity of The Ghost.

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