Friday Mini Reviews #44: Shona Husk, Tracey Sinclair & Jacqueline Carey
Out of Place by Shona Husk (Face The Music #2)
Ecopy thanks to the author
Synopsis from Goodreads
Every band is desperate for that first big break – but what happens after that?
Ed Vincent, front man of Selling the Sun, has a really bad case of second album jitters. Nothing he writes measures up to the expectations placed on him after the success of the first album. The tensions between band members are rising and everything seems to be falling apart just as they get started. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be: not every band gets to write their name on the pages of history. But the band has always been Ed’s dream, and if Ed gives up, will he have any dreams left?
Chasing dreams is something that other people do. Olivia Doyle put her life on hold after a car accident killed her fiancé and nearly claimed her life. Now with a three-year-old son and a part-time job, she knows she is stuck in a rut, but has no idea how to climb out. Then she meets Ed.
He can’t have the distraction of a relationship, and she has no time for anything casual. On the surface, they’re in completely different places, but love has a way of finding middle ground.
Ed Vincent, front man of Selling the Sun, has a really bad case of second album jitters. Nothing he writes measures up to the expectations placed on him after the success of the first album. The tensions between band members are rising and everything seems to be falling apart just as they get started. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be: not every band gets to write their name on the pages of history. But the band has always been Ed’s dream, and if Ed gives up, will he have any dreams left?
Chasing dreams is something that other people do. Olivia Doyle put her life on hold after a car accident killed her fiancé and nearly claimed her life. Now with a three-year-old son and a part-time job, she knows she is stuck in a rut, but has no idea how to climb out. Then she meets Ed.
He can’t have the distraction of a relationship, and she has no time for anything casual. On the surface, they’re in completely different places, but love has a way of finding middle ground.
7.5/10
First time I'm reading Shona Husk and surely not the last. I enjoyed her depiction of ordinary, normal people. Both Ed and Olivia were slightly naive, awkward and optimistic. I loved Australian slang and very tentative intimate moments. You know that feeling of absolute awkwardness and trivial things mixed in between sex when people just start their relationship? Miss Husk showed it really well, and it felt real and true. Comforting read, recommended.
* * *
Читала я Шону Хаск впервые, но и не в последний раз. Понравилась мне она. Её герои - обычные люди, нормальные, немного наивные и оптимистичные. Мне также понравился австралийский слэнг и робкая интимность между Эдом и Оливией. Знаете когда люди начинают новые отношения, как первый секс между ними - это смесь неуклюжести, обыденности и неуверенности в себе? Мисс Хаск перелаёт это прекрасно. Советую, уютная книжка.
A Vampire in New York by Tracey Sinclair (Dark Dates short story)
Ecopy from the author
Synopsis from Goodreads
It should be fun to be a vampire in the city that never sleeps. But it can be hard to stand out if everyone else is already wearing black and staying up all night – especially if you’re more ‘short, ginger and nerdy’ than ‘tall, dark and handsome’. Lonely, broke and bored of blood bags, Barry is finding death a big disappointment – until he stumbles into the circle of the rich, mysterious and ridiculously hot vampire Laclos, vacationing in New York to escape his recent troubles in London.
Instantly smitten by this sexy stranger, Barry joins Laclos on an after dark tour of the city, from its glamorous hotspots to its seedy underside. But Laclos moves in a dangerous world where not everyone is so taken with his charm – and it’s starting to look like he hasn’t managed to leave all of his enemies back in England…
Barry is about to learn you need pretty sharp fangs if you want to take a bite out of the Big Apple.
A Vampire in New York is a Dark Dates short story
8/10
Aaah, I want more Laclos! That cheeky, hot sod! *grinning* This is a very short story in which an unlikely path of a new, hapless vampire in New York crosses the dangerous, seductive path of Laclos who is on holiday in this city. Obviously, our favorite vamp can't stay out of trouble, and moreover, he relishes it. Fab and unexpectedly hot. Cass knows how to choose her men, that's all I'm saying.
* * *
Ах, нам нужно больше Лаклоса! Какой же он хитрющий, горячий плохиш с шикарным чувством юмора. Это очень короткая повесть, в которой жизнь нового вампира в Нью-Йорке - робкого и неуклюжего пересекается на мгновение с гламурным, опасным существованием Лаклоса, который приезжает в этот город в отпуск. Да уж, Касс знает как выбирать своих мужиков...
Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey (Moirin's Trilogy #2)
bought
Synopsis from Goodreads
Jacqueline Carey, New York Times bestselling author of the Kushiel's Legacy series, delivers book two in her new lushly imagined trilogy featuring daughter of Alba, Moirin.
NAAMAH'S CURSE
Far from the land of her birth, Moirin sets out across Tatar territory to find Bao, the proud and virile Ch'in fighter who holds the missing half of her diadh-anam, the divine soul-spark of her mother's people. After a long ordeal, she not only succeeds, but surrenders to a passion the likes of which she's never known. But the lovers' happiness is short lived, for Bao is entangled in a complication that soon leads to their betrayal.
8.5/10
In my opinion. this was the best book of the last trilogy, and perhaps the longest. So much happened! Moirin got Bao back, got kidnapped by religious nuts from Aurelia (which is based on medieval Russia), got out and had go after Bao again. A lot of heartbreak and a lot of fantastic secondary characters. Really enjoyed it, although it can't compare in epicness with first and second trilogy in this world.
* * *
По моему мнению, это лучшая и самая длинная книга этой трилогии. Здесь так много всего происходит! Мойрин находит Бао, но её похищают религиозные фанатики из Аврелии ( основанной на средневековой Руси), когда она наконец возвращается туда, где оставила Бао, тот уже ушёл дальше в горы и попался в руки зловещему Ордену ассассинов, и теперь ей придётся перейти через Тибет в Индию и наконц воссоединиться со второй половинкой своей души. Очень понравилось, хоя эта трилогия конечно уступает в эпичности первой и второй трилогии, написанной в этом мире.
