NEWS: men and high heels, wtfkery shit in Florida, when to DNF, YA giveaway, fuck you reality

Why did men stop wearing high heels? (2013 January 24) "'One of the best ways that status can be conveyed is through impracticality,' says Semmelhack, adding that the upper classes have always used impractical, uncomfortable and luxurious clothing to announce their privileged status."  No kidding. Wow, makes you wonder that perhaps in a parallel universe, men are wearing high heels, and women...

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NEWS: sex in YA Romance, sex in literature, writing non-western fantasy, 2 giveaways, alien vs ignorance

# Sex Content in YA Romance from the M/M Romance Community's POV (2013 January 11) "Interestingly, there is no corresponding lack of extreme and excessive violence. Do our authors think that brutal and gory violence is more acceptable than sex in young adult romances?" Sex scenes in YA is a foregone issue for me. I'm more worried about whether the romance is abusive or not. Visit my GR thread...

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REVIEW: Makeshift Miracle, Book 1 by Jim Zub & Shun Hong Chan

Makeshift Miracle Book 1: The Girl from Nowhere by Jim Zub & Shun Hong Chan My rating: 2 of 5 stars + the plot The watercolor illustrations are beautiful, but there was no hiding the shallow story. I didn't see a plot. What I saw was a couple of extraordinary events strung together in a way that left me confused. For six chapters, containing 105 pages beginning with chapter one,...

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REVIEW: The Devil You Know by K.H. Koehler

The Devil You Know by K.H. Koehler My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wanted to like this book, but there were too many small issues to tolerate. The Characters + the hero The only noteworthy thing about Nick was that he was bi. Other than that, he was a stereotypical Urban Fantasy protagonist. He has a destiny he doesn’t want to face, a power he doesn’t practice to attain mastery, and a tendency to jump...

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NEWS: 2012 literary drama recap, a selfless boy and nurse, YA freebie, book research unearth big breast mannequins

# 2012: The Year Everyone Lost Their Heads (2012 December 28) "Grab some popcorn because this will be a long one." No kidding. # Smugglivus 2012: The Airing of Grievances (2013 January 3) "In addition to BLOGGERS KILLING LITERATURE, apparently 2012 marked the demise of BOOKS, PERIOD because of the rise of the ebook." Gotta love bibliobigots. And now for the happy news to balance out the drama. #...

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REVIEW: Retrovirus by Image Comics

Retrovirus by Image Comics My rating: 3 of 5 stars Retrovirus was unexpectedly not full of T&A shots, only 3-5 pages of them at the most. It would have been easy to go there because Zoe was the only female character in 98% of the story, surrounded by men, half of which didn’t bother hiding their disgusting lust towards Zoe. Thankfully, Zoe’s sexuality was never used against her or a part of...

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NEWS: strong female characters, reviewing issues, read faster, yaoi freebie, mojito shoe

# “Why do you write strong female characters?” (2012 December 31) "The heart of the question implies that if a male character is 'strong' that’s to be expected, because boys and men are strong. Normal. Default. Go about your business." On the flip side, when I think of "strong male characters," I think of wish-fulfillment and Gary Stus. # Online Book Reviews: Games People Play (2013 January 6) "But...

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REVIEW: Pursued by Joel Gomez-Dossi

Pursued by Joel Gomez-Dossi My rating: 1 of 5 stars The writing was good, the story was fast-paced, and that’s everything nice I can say about this book because it was crappy. I think it was going for a B-rated-teen-horror-movie thing or a parody of it, but either way the book failed. I didn’t cringe. I didn’t laugh. I just wanted to finish the book already so it would stop annoying me. The Characters Jamie,...

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NEWS: shut up, book blogging survey, LGBT Vietnam, YA giveaways, bad grammar kills

# just shut up. (2012 December 27) "In short, [Disney's Beauty and the Beast] is a movie that says, 'If you love your abuser enough, they’ll stop being abusive. You just need to love them more. It’s your job to love them, to fix them, to change them.' Which is, of course, a terrible and dangerous and very pervasive lie." There is one angle I have never thought about regarding Beauty and the Beast....

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REVIEW: Pantomime by Laura Lam

Pantomime by Laura Lam My rating: 3 of 5 stars CAUTION: Long Review Comments on this thread are heavily moderated, meaning I am trigger-happy with the delete and block buttons. For a similar but less ranty viewpoint, check out this review by The Book Smugglers. How the Description is Offensive (to me) I’m offended that the description for Pantomime misled me into thinking this was a story about...

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NEWS: not really. it's about my morning

Go online. Read daily news. Check twitter. Incidentally see smutty picture. *interest piqued* *click further* See more smutty picture. *click* More smut. *click* *click* Smut there, smut here. *waste entire morning...

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REVIEW: The Red Knight by Miles Cameron

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron My rating: 2 of 5 stars The Red Knight (TRK) was a mixed bag surprises. Great writing I love the succinct writing. I love the subheading of the character’s name and their location every time the plot shifts in POV. TRK is a big Fantasy book, and I expected to be lost in a wall of text at some point, but I never really was. Too many POVs What I did not love was...

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NEWS: giveaways bonanza, new layout, bad boys & bad sex

source: cheezburger.com Giveaways Bonanza Happy 2013! To celebrate, many blogs are hosting giveaways. Many blogs. Enter at Cuddlebuggery's and then scroll to the end of the post to enter 35 others. Enter Book Sake's and then click here for their hop event to enter 194 others. Finally, enter a big one at Book Haven Extraordinaire. (These are mostly YA-focused book blogs, btw.) Protip: Have at...

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