Blayne Cooper

I really could not settle with this book. It immediately turned on my editing mode. It is a shame it didn't turn on the author's. The expression was just dire with word repetitions and misused words such as teaming instead of teeming as one example. I also found the parts written for 1690/1 to not fit the time frame at all, it really knocked me out of the story as I could not believe the characters were in that time. The main reason for this was expression and clear lack of research. show more Dialogue included:
"Fair enough"
"Pretty ridiculous, huh?"
"Too bad"
"Just wonderful"
"It's not that bad"
These really did not fit with a 17th century pattern. Then there were things such as the use of the term 'red cent' which didn't exist until the 19th century, or 'grumpy' which is late 18th century. If an author is going to write in an historical time period, they have to get it right or the writing completely loses believability.
Even the modern stuff needed a fact check, Doogie Houser instead of Howser, or having a Scot say 'bird brain' which is American slang, shite for brains, bawbag or even eejit would have been more appropriate.
Style was bad, if something happened 'wildly' one more time I was going to wildly throw my ereader across the room. At one point bath water was tepid, but then cool in the next sentence. I also felt far too much time was spent on physical relationships between characters rather than the actual story. I wanted to know what was going to happen from a paranormal perspective not plough through another half dozen pages every few pages of someone kissing or being touched or aroused, especially if it is interspersed with ohs and ahs and mmmms and aaaarghs in the dialogue. It completely took away from the supposed creepiness of the plot. A bit of love doesn't hurt, but I felt this was more of a sex story with the idea of a haunting thrown in. I would not recommend. show less

Three women go on a company-sponsored adventure that turns into their worst nightmare. Stranded in one of the most inhospitable places in the world, they have to fight tooth and nail to survive and make it back in one piece. Despite the women's desperate circumstances, the book is not without many touches of humor here and there, making the book a very enjoyable read.

The first chapters felt a bit strange as the author kept making Rachael think 'straight' thoughts--lusting over men and such show more :sick: :faint: . The excitement doesn't begin until the trip gets underway...and it mostly doesn't let up till the end.


The entire book is told from Rachel's POV, but it doesnt detract from your enjoyment because the author gives her a really fun, honest, and often self-deprecating voice. I love the way the author injects humor in even the direst of situations. Here's a typical example of her imagery, describing the women's love of soccer as: "the single minded determination of a hungry infant in a topless bar". Here's another one: "A gift of bouquet from my sister congratulating me on losing 185 lbs during my divorce"--this is only funny if you read the explanation that follows it (sorry i will not reveal here :) ).


The thing i love most about the book is that the author does not make her heroines run away after the worst of misunderstandings and betrayal. On the contrary, they confront each other (and almost tear each other to pieces :D ) till the issue is settled. Bravo! show less

Light-hearted and very enjoyable romance between an openly lesbian President and her very straight biographer. Witty and often hilarious dialogue and situations dominate the book. Oh there is the occasional bombing, shooting and the hint of scandal but those are just minor distractions in what is mainly a funny, heartwarming, slow-burn romance. More kids, dogs and domesticity than world crises, congressional wranglings or even biography-writing, this book is a perfect example of a lesfic show more genre romance.

4.5 stars show less

I've read this story before but it was the online, Xena-uber fan fiction version. I was young in my lesfic reading career and pretty easily impressed. I liked this story pretty well back then. I read it a second time a few years ago and liked it less. I still liked the humor and some of the situations the characters found themselves in and the relationships between the main and the most prominent secondary characters were fun and felt genuine.

It was only a few months ago, I think, when the show more newest edition was released for sale on Amazon and I was happy when I was able to grab a copy on a free day. I felt much less lucky as I got into the book and discovered it is absolutely riddled with typos, missing words, and other problems that should have been cleaned up before releasing it to the lesfic consumers. Setting aside all the standard old fan fic issues of head hopping, identifying characters by their eye or hair color or profession, not taking the time to run spell check or hire a proofreader before charging money for the book put me in a bad place while reading. If I had paid for it, I'd be really pissed and likely would have returned it for a refund.

I already know that most of my friends would still rate this a 4 or 5 star book simply because they'd read it before when fan fic was still going strong in the Xenaverse, and I wouldn't rate the free online version with only two stars. But this is supposed to be a professionally produced product that readers are paying for. Judging the book in that way, two stars, in my opinion, is fair. show less