some light summer reading

[snugglekitty]

Here, I review Dimestore Magic by Kelley Armstrong and Offspring by Steven Harper. They're both books you could read on the beach, if you're into that sort of thing.



Dimestore Magic by Kelley Armstrong is another in her suite of books, Women of the Otherworld. I hesitate to call it a series, since it doesn't exactly follow the same characters. I had read the previous books in the suite, Bitten and Stolen. I couldn't put them down, but I found them extremely unsatisfying. Like junk food. It pissed me off that the main character acted like a twit most of the time - which is why I don't read much in the romance category.
Happily, Paige Winterbourne, the heroine of this novel, does NOT act like a twit. So, I feel this was much better than the other two on that basis alone. But it's possible that Armstrong is becoming slightly less predictable in terms of plot, as well, which is really nice. And she's let go of the need for her heroines to have a love/hate relationship with the guys they're involved with, which is the other thing I can't stand about romance novels. So it's all good. This gives me new interest in reading the two newer books in the series. Up until now, whenever I've read one of her books, I haven't wanted to read one again for a while.

Oddly, one of my favorite things about this book was the mother-daughter relationship between Paige and her ward Savannah. I felt that was very well-written, and convincing without being trite.

Offspring by Steven Harper is the latest in the Silent Empire series, which I've been gobbling up since I first encountered them this spring. To be honest, I didn't like it as much as the other books in the series. A lot of the plot devices seemed just a bit too convenient. "Oh, no, we can't tell anybody where the bad guy is! We need time to let him wreak his evil plot - I mean, to figure out what he's doing!" Also, the child-custody case towards the end of the book I found completely unconvincing. A whole court case where the well-being of the children is never even mentioned? (Not a spoiler, as it mentions it on the cover.) I'll keep reading them, if he keeps writing them, but I feel a bit let down.

Comments

more on Kelley Armstrong

[trouble4hire.livejournal.com]

Kelley Armstrong has some free novellas in her WotO Suite at http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/. I don't like them as much as the novels, especially the later novels, but it's nice if you want a fix.
Her latest book deals with Savannah's mother. I haven't read it yet, but it's probable there will be more about Paige's relationship with Savannah, and Savannah's feelings about her bio-mother.
Have you read Kim Harrison's books, or the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris?

Re: more on Kelley Armstrong

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Have you read Kim Harrison's books, or the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris?

Yes. I love Kim Harrison. The Southern Vampire series I've had a hard time getting into. I didn't like the first book a whole lot. Would you say the series improves later?

Re: more on Kelley Armstrong

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Having just read a bunch of Kelley Armstrong and Charlaine Harris, I have to say I prefer the Paige-focused Armstrong books to Harris's (even the later books), but I prefer those later books to Bitten and Stolen.

One thing I like about her southern vampire novels is that they don't always have obvious outcomes. They're written a bit like mysteries, except that there's no single key that unlocks everything at the end -- the plot threads do not necessarily connect together, aside from concerning the same people. I can respect that.

In short, it's more beach reading. :)

SPOILER

[dilletante.livejournal.com]

i really liked the foster-mother/daughter relationship in that book as well. i also liked the love/hate relationship in bitten, though, because it's initially presented as simply hate, and then you learn it's not quite that simple, and then gradually figure out that in fact it's just that the protagonist is lying to herself.