Drop Dead, Gorgeous! and Devil Inside

[snugglekitty]

Drop Dead, Gorgeous! is the sequel to MaryJanice Davidson's Hello, Gorgeous!
Devil Inside is the first book in the series "Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist" by Jenna Black.



In Hello, Gorgeous! we meet Caitlyn and Dmitri, two people who have been turned into cyborgs. In Drop Dead, Gorgeous! the focus is on Caitlyn's hair salon assistant, who is a normal human. I didn't enjoy this book very much. It was a forgone conclusion from the first chapter who she was going to wind up with, and the rest just seemed like a formality - a slightly silly formality. Three stars. It would be okay on a plane, but the first book was much better. I don't think I'll keep following the series.

Devil Inside is another in the genre of "sexy women with tattoos on the front cover" books. Generally these are dark fantasy writes with female protagonists kicking butt. I was very disappointed with this one, however. I felt the author didn't make any of her characters likeable. They all expect completely unreasonable things of each other, and when they don't get them, they're mean to each other. Also, the way she portrayed kinky people made me feel ill. We do not take great joy in shoving our lifestyle in the faces of mundanes and making them uncomfortable. Nor do we use play as a bargaining chip to get people to do what they don't want to do. And we certainly don't get all hot and bothered playing with people who hate every minute of the experience. Ugh. Give this one a miss, folks. Two stars.

Comments

Stars?

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

Your starring system would not be my own: why give stars to a book when you don't like it? How about a star system from +2 to -2, where 0 is 'eh, if you want to', +2 is "I loved it!", +1 is "I liked it but it's not imperative for you to read it", -1 is "I didn't like it but it's not a bad read" and -2 would be "Not only did I not like it, but it was poorly written trash and should be bought solely to be taken out of the bookstore and destroyed."

Or something like that. *grin*

Re: Stars?

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I give two stars to a book that I didn't like much but finished. Books that get one star I don't finish, and I don't usually post about them (unless they're so bad I think others must be warned).

I use the star system because I think it's easy to understand, almost standard. People who get paid to review books, movies, and restaurants use it. Amazon.com and most other book websites use it.
I could also see using a grade system - some folks do that on the book review communities I'm a part of. But I would only make that transition at the end of a year, otherwise it would complicate my selection process for "best books of the year." And so far, you're the first person to say they don't like it. But I will certainly keep your comments in mind. :)

Re: Stars?

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't like it in general, it's just that saying you don't like the book but give it two stars seems like a slight conflict to me. Yes, two out of 5 is like a C... so there's a little merit to it but not much and definitely not above average.

Right - keep your system, and don't mind me being nitpicky about coding.

[masanobu-tomoe.livejournal.com]

Is it Devil Inside a Juno book?

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

A Juno book? I don't know what that means.

Re: Stars?

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Actually, two stars would be a D. One star - F. Two stars - D. Three stars - C. Four stars - B. Five stars - A.

One good thing about using a system like that is more shades of gray, with the pluses and minuses.

[masanobu-tomoe.livejournal.com]

Juno books are fantasy novels with strong female protagonists that usually have amazing art cover including sexy women with tattoos. Your description made me think of them, but after a glance at their webpage I discovered my mistake.

Just in case you want to know more about them: Juno Books (http://www.juno-books.com/)

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Wow! Looking at their website, I can see exactly why you would think that! Are there any titles you'd especially recommend?