Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Dirty Minds by Kayt Sukel: A Guest Review by Carrie S

"Dirty Minds:  How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex, and Relationships" is a nice, basic, but fairly comprehensive overview of the latest scientific information about love and sex.

It's not very exciting - for a fun, ribald take on the topic I highly recommend Bonk, reviewed here previously.  For a more detailed look at the topic, I recommend Love, Sex and the Brain, also reviewed here.  Dirty Minds is essentially a summary of all the info you can find in Love, Sex, and the Brain but with a slightly more conversational and personal approach.

No Words Alone by Autumn Dawn - A Guest Review by Carrie S

I heard via word of mouth that No Words Alone is a very good science fiction romance, so of course I had to check it out.  I had some very ambivalent feelings about this book and yet I was completely swept away by the story and the atmosphere.

Xera is a translator.  She is human, and serves on a human spacecraft that crashes after engaging in a skirmish with an alien craft.  Both ships are stranded on a hostile planet and the humans and the aliens (Scorpios) have to make an alliance to survive.  Xera is the only woman in both crews and when her captain threatens to rape her, the Scorpio leader, Ryven, takes her under his protection.  Seeing as how the two races are at war, "under his protection" essentially means she is taken prisoner, brought to Ryven's home planet, and told that she will be marrying him.  Xera is drawn to the Scorpio culture and… read more »

Once Upon a Couch by Kristine Overbrook

Before I get started on the more intricate parts of the review, there are two things I need to tell you.

First, I was reading an uncorrected proof, and the errors drove me batty. Changes in point of view happened mid-paragraph - third to first and back again - and there were comma splices everywhere.  I really, really hope the errors I noticed, and there were many, are corrected for the final version. If they are not, I'm sorry. And I only mention it because, sadly, in my experience when there are that many in an uncorrected proof, the corrected proof doesn't always catch them all.

Second, I was annoyed with this book, even though I kept reading to see what was going to happen. I grew impatient with the heroine's monotony. The reader is included in every step of her day. She does paperwork. She cleans. She writes things. She does a LOT of Sudoku. There are some details that feed into larger pieces of the storyline, but a lot of it was just too much mundanity for me.

Midsummer Moon by Laura Kinsale - a Guest Review by Carrie S

I believe that the best word to describe Midsummer Moon is "adorable", and I mean that as a compliment.

It dances right on the edge of being hopelessly twee, but there's a grounding element of emotional truth that makes the stakes real and powerful.

Lord Ransom Falconer...oh, excuse me.  I was about to tell you the plot, but we have to pause for a moment to truly appreciate the name "Lord Ransom Falconer".  Done?  Then let's proceed.  Lord AwesomeMcCoolname is known for being rigorously dutiful and self-controlled.  He goes into the countryside to find and recruit an inventor, Merlin Langbourne.  He wants the inventor to come back to his estate so the inventor can make weapons for use against Napoleon and also be protected from Napoleonic kidnappers.  To his astonishment, not only is Merlin a woman, she is a severely absent minded and hopelessly naive slightly mad scientist.  She has two cranky retainers, who yell at her a… read more »

The Impostor by Lily Lang

Few pitches work on me faster than an author who explains her book clearly, and tells me how proud she is of her book. The author of this book pitched the story to me, and despite it not being a match to what I usually read, I was intrigued not only but the description but by her enthusiasm for her book. This story is a mix of historical, paranormal, magical realism, possibly steampunk, and maybe even science fiction. If I think about it long enough, I could probably make an argument for it being a military thriller romance, too.

Tessa Ryder has a Gift (yes, capital G - some folks have a Gift, and most folks don't, and those who don't are usually unaware that there are those who do). Tessa's Gift allows her to change her form - painfully, poor thing - so that she looks exactly like someone else. As an added bonus, sort of like a… read more »

Skyfall by Catherine Asaro: A Guest Review by CarrieS

Many readers of Smart Bitches have mentioned Catherine Asaro as science fiction romance author to check out.  She certainly seems like a nifty person - more accurately, she sounds like a very improbable romance heroine.

Among other things, she's a former professional dancer, has a Masters in Physics and a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard, she's won two Nebula Awards for her fiction, and she just composed a bunch of music for a CD that accompanies her latest book.  In her spare time, she knits intricately patterned fireproof scarves for firefighters from the wool she shears from her own herd of unicorns. 

I made that last part up.  If I sound bitter, don't worry, it's just the envy of her many accomplishments seeping from my pores as I type.

A Kiss For Midwinter by Courtney Milan: A Guest Review by CarrieS

A Kiss for Midwinter is my new favorite novella.  It has a flawed but interesting heroine, it has a hero who is scientific, compassionate, and basically amazing, and it takes its characters through a powerful emotional journey with lots of angst but also lots of humor.

I never would have thought I'd find this line sexy, but I most certainly do... "Besides, the hymen is just a membrano-carneous structure situated at the entrance of the vagina".  I thought this book was just amazing and my only real criticism is that it is too short.

A Clockwork Christmas: A Steampunk Christmas Anthology - A Guest Review by CarrieS

Back in 2011, Carina Press released A Clockwork Christmas:  A Steampunk Christmas Anthology.  This anthology contains Crime Wave in a Corset by Stacy Gail, This Winter Heart by PG Forte, Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz, and Far from Broken by JK Coi.

I was surprised that there isn't that much talk of Christmas (or any other holiday) in the novellas.  Crime Wave is the most Christmas-y book, with This Winter Heart coming in second.  The other two books keep Christmas strictly in the background.  I was also surprised at how little steampunk is actually in the books - generally the authors picked one steampunk element to focus on instead of creating a fully developed steampunk world.  All of these novellas are available for sale separately. 

I assigned an average grade of C to the collection as a whole, but the entries varied widely in quality.  Here's the breakdown by novella:

Holiday Affair by Lisa Plumley:  A Guest Review by CarrieS

Just for the heck of it, I decided to pick a totally random contemporary Christmas themed romance to review.  With great difficulty I resisted such titles as His Christmas Virgin, Inheriting His Secret Christmas Baby, and, my favorite title, Eating Cookie.  I settled on Holiday Affair - but sadly, Holiday Affair is like lukewarm cocoa with way too many marshmallows in it.

At first it looks OK, and it has its fun moments, but ultimately it’s unsatisfying and may cause you to throw up.  In short, I did not care for this book.  Why, you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you why.  It was saccharine, it was cliché, and it was totally unbelievable.  Mild spoilers and a long, long rant about too much sentimentality during the holidays lies ahead.

All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith:  A Guest Review by CarrieS

All Roads Lead to Austen:  A Yearlong Journey With Jane is a fun, thoughtful, and entertaining memoir by Amy Elizabeth Smith.  Amy spent a year travelling through Latin America.  In each country she visited, she led or attended a book club meeting about one of Jane Austen's novels. (SB Sarah: And since today, as Carrie noted in an email today, is Jane Austen's birthday, this seemed like a good date to talk about this book.)

She had two primary questions:

1.  Do the novels of Austen resonate with contemporary Latin American readers?

2.  Who is/are the Austen(s) of Latin America?

I Don’t: A Christmas Wish by Kari Gregg

I usually don't gravitate toward books that sound like they are more about an issue than a character, but the description of this book grabbed my brain in a "You wanna read this now" kind of way.

Seth and Owen have been together for a few years, and the story opens as they're driving through a horrible snowstorm to visit Seth's family in Brunswick, Maryland. (Brunswick is a real place. It's on the border between Maryland and Virginia, southwest of Frederick. I have no idea if the area was accurately represented, or anything, but I thought it was neat that it was a real small town.) From the first page, I knew their relationship was not in a good place:

I stared out the window at the layer of thickening white that blanketed rooftops and front yards stuffed with nativities, plastic snowmen and giant candy canes. At least the inches of accumulation hid the Save Marriage signs that still dotted the landscape like unexploded grenades.

Seth campaigned for Question Six, the Maryland ballot… read more »

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan:  A Guest Review By CarrieS

The Duchess War is lovely - smart, touching, funny, sexy, and dizzyingly romantic.  Read it right away - yes, now.  Everything on your to-do list can wait, believe me.

The Duchess War is the first book in Milan's new Victorian Era romance trilogy, The Brothers Sinister.  There's a prequel, The Governess Affair, (A | BN | K | S | ARe | iB) (SB grade: B+) which is delightful reading but not at all necessary in terms of understanding The Duchess War. 

Anyway, in Duchess War, we have Robert Blaisdell, the Ninth Duke of Claremont, a man who is desperate to repair the wrongs committed by his father.  He meets the dauntingly named Wilhelmina (Minnie) Pursling, who has dark secrets.  Robert and Minnie are both involved in promoting the rights of workers, and they form what is simultaneously an enmity and an alliance.

Waltz With a Stranger by Pamela Sherwood

I first learned about this book over the summer - at RWA, in fact - when I had breakfast with Danielle Jackson and Beth Caskie, publicists at Sourcebooks. They were both very excited about this book. (Aside: is it me, or does the woman in the cover look a LOT like Britney Spears?)

I wish my reaction had been similar, as the premise gave me all the curiosity and eagerness to read it: Aurelia Newbold is a very wealthy American heiress, and a formerly-identical twin. Due to a carriage accident, she has a limp and a scar on her face, and during her season in London, her sister Amy is the one who receives all the attention. Aurelia is not as popular and not enjoying her physical and emotional discomfort. One night at a ball, she takes a quiet moment in the conservatory when she's discovered by James Trelawney. He asks her to dance, and… read more »

The Scientific American Book of Love, Sex, and the Brain by Judith Horstman -Guest Review by CarrieS

It's time for...SCIENCE!  That's right, I finally got a copy of Scientific American:  Love Sex, and the Brain.  This non-fiction book summarizes the results of studies that were written up in Scientific American magazine regarding, well, love, sex, and the brain.

Although the book doesn't talk in detail about the methodologies of various studies, it does have references to all the original articles, which presumably contain more information.

Asher’s Invention

I thought I would love Asher's Invention.  It's a steampunk romance with an enigmatic scientist hero.  It has a great cover and a clockwork dog. 

But, alas, it suffers from boring characters and a lack of plot, and I have Things to Do, so this was a "did not finish" for me.