The Lemon Sisters
Brooke Lemon’s life is shaken out of it’s routine by the sudden arrival of her sister Mindy (with her kids in tow) at her home in Los Angeles.
Seeing that Mindy is at the end of her rope she volunteers to take the kids for a couple of days.
Ending up in her childhood home in Northern California she begins to confront her past and think about her future with the sexy guy next door.
Solid, entertaining contemporary romance.
Accidentally on Purpose
Elle is a the super savvy manager of a building complex in San Francisco.
She survived a traumatic childhood to get where she is now. Except every day she has to deal with Archer the ex-cop who threw his career away to save her as a teenager.
If only they didn’t have this dangerous chemistry.
Solid, entertaining contemporary romance.
In At The Deep End
This a novel about a woman whose life has become aimless after giving up her dancing career.
Her lovelife is non-existent and work is insecure and uninspiring.
Getting drunk at an arty party she makes out with a woman and the experience brings the realization that she’s attracted to women.
She throws herself into this new world with abandon. Quickly she finds herself with new hobbies, new friends and in a relationship with a woman who encourages her to explore her boundaries.
I life my romances fluffy. This is NOT a fluffy story even if you do get a sweet resolution after the drama plays out.
If you want a coming out story combined with complicated emotional dynamics then you’ve found it.
It’s well enough written – it’s really just not my cup of tea.
Traveller in Black
This collection of novellas is a fantasy work by an author better known for his science fiction.
In each story a powerful and anomalous being (the eponymous traveller in black) makes a journey around the cities in his domain and attempts to tip the universe ever further away from chaos and towards order.
These are densely written tales that seem incredibly apt given out current insane political climate.
Not the easiest read but it is short and repays the bit of effort required handsomely. I loved that it’ll give you a different take on the phrase “As you wish”.
Tell Me How You Really Feel
Superior teen romance.
As the author admits this tale is heavily inspired by fanfic in which Rory Gilmore and Paris Geller end up together.
It’s a hugely enjoyable and incredibly fluffy tale about two people protecting themselves from the world by pretending to be not quite who they really are.
I finished it and immediately and went back into it to re-read the best bits. I suspect this is a future comfort read.
The Sapphire Rose
Again I’ve reviewed this before and I have no new thoughts.
The Ruby Knight
I’ve reviewed this before and I have no new thoughts. It’s just mindless comfort reading for me. I only started reading this because I picked up the first book of the series (The Diamond Throne) for cheap on audiobook and once started it feels wrong to leave it unfinished.
Gentlemen
This entry in the 33⅓ series covers The Afghan Whigs estimable 1993 release Gentlemen.
After brief but well constructed introduction to the band members it seemed to me that it became rather by-the-numbers when talking about the recording of the record. The section talking about the individual songs held nothing new and was where the author’s personal opinions began to overwhelm the factual content.
As for the part of the book dealing with the book’s reception after release and it’s lack of sales is chock full of biases about the music industry (Gendron seems to really not get why a difficult to classify album about messed up sexual relationships might not have sold in the early 90s) and is less than even handed when talking about the fallout.
It was worth borrowing from the library. I’d be rather disappointed if I’d paid money for it.
Fear of Music
The follow up to This is Uncool is Mulholland’s choice of the greatest albums since Disco and Punk (the original was just singles).
This book is very similar in style to This is Uncool. It’s tone is much angrier and (to me as someone who was on message boards during the poptimism/rockism thing) it’s a more political than personal in some choices this time around.
I’ve docked it point for the off tangent ranting in some entries and for the rather bleak view takes of even the best music in the final few choices.
It’s a cheap and interesting read for any pop music nerd in your life.