Selina Rosen

Tarius, of the land of Kartik, travels to the neighboring land of Jethrik to join their swordmaster academy. Both his parents were killed by the Amalites, and Jethrik is currently at war with the Amalites, so Tarius wants to kill Amalites. He quickly distinguishes himself as an expert with the sword, and is noticed by Darian, the headmaster, and by King Persius. Tarius also attracts the notice of Jena, Darian’s daughter, who only has eyes for Tarius. He tries everything possible to push show more her away, to no avail. Tarius is hiding a huge secret, which will not stay secret forever; Tarius is a woman.

Jethrik is a land of rigidly defined gender roles; among them is the absolute prohibition on women wielding steel. Tarius leads several successful campaigns against the Amalites. Persius gets the Amalites to leave Jethrik land, and agree to a peace treaty (over Tarius’ strong objections). Beings like the Amalites, with a philosophy of Convert or Die, will not be bound by a piece of paper; they will be back.

Eventually, Tarius’ secret is revealed, and, as expected, Persius, Darian and Jena hit the roof. Tarius is to be immediately executed, by being dragged throughout the kingdom, tied to the back of a horse. She is helped by friends, nursed back to health, and heads home back to Kartik. Jena is forced to marry Tragon, a man she despises. After her repeated refusal to let him into her bed, Tragon unintentionally kills her unborn child, and Jena kills Tragon. For a wife to kill her husband is a major offense, so Jena is convinced that fleeing to Kartik, to see if Tarius will take her back, is a really good idea.

This is an excellent piece of writing. It’s a sword and sorcery novel with an emphasis more on the "sword" than the "sorcery." The reader will not be disappointed. show less

A very entertaining book, not quite as effective as a murder mystery but great fun to read.

It started out slowly with the introduction to the characters, and it took a few chapters for them to gel and feel real and at first I didn't think I was going to like the Vivian Storm character, but by the end of the book she felt less like a characture and became more believeable and sympathetic.
I didn't do any research on this, but I would love to know if the authors each wrote one of the characters show more and then put them together. The chapters fit well, but they did feel distinctly different, which I feel worked in this case, you got a real feel for each character without one taking prominence over the other.

My pet peeve about this book is a common one in "mysteries". People acting blindingly stupid throughout the whole book.

At least in this one they gave a good reason for people to be acting stupid. Participating in a reality show gives great license for stupidity in my book.

But the main crime solving characters, who in theory have a better understanding of the dangers they face? They shouldn't have been THAT stupid, not and get to not only solve the crime but simply live.

Still, it was fun, the humor felt natural and not forced and I would read a book with these two characters in it in a heart beat. show less

A hilarious science fiction romp that turns the sexy heroine cliche on its head. Space captain Drewcila Qwah drinks, smokes and has a mouth that would make a sailor blush. She also happens to be the lost queen of Barious. Kidnapped by their enemies during war she has no memory of who she is. But, she smells an opportunity when they bring her back to ger husband. Never one to pass up a chance to make money, she settles in and turns the planet upside down.

Selina Rosen has an ireverant style of show more storytelling, a gift for great dialog and has created a truly memorable character. Highly recommended. show less

This story was something of a roller-coaster. And quite frankly I was a little scared of it. In an odd little way. I just felt that there was no way it could have a happy ending. I mean, there's this happy moment at something like 16% into the book (16, 9, 11, whatever it was). And I knew, that was too bloody early for such a moment. Unless bad things were about to happen. And I was right. The little roller coaster car the reader was in was at a high point. Then whee . . . falling quickly show more downwards. Then up again. And down.

I'm being somewhat purposely vague. For the most part I loved the side characters. And, for the most part, I loved the main characters of Jessy and Joan.

I don't normally particularly like the "love at first sight" type of story, but here it had to work that way. Because of the people involved. Jessy is a hermit, because of events in her past she had to get away. She's spent, basically, six years up on a mountain by herself building a massive lovely home. Joan's a self-proclaimed rude bitch who must try everything, at least once. Including every kind of man out there. Striving to get that itch scratched that never seems to actually get scratched.

That, above, is a false impression on one level. Jessy had been a hermit. But had been dragged out on tour for several months by the time she bumps into Joan. Naked. In her . . . hmm, I suddenly can't recall if it was called a hot tub or not.

But I was mentioning why it had to work this way, love at first sight. Jessy had been burned way too often to allow herself to try to get close again. Hell, one of the reasons, not sure how high or low this falls, but one of the reasons she agreed to go out on the road again was, to put it crudely, is for pussy. Out on the road for months. People screaming in joy that she's back again. Out there. Throwing underwear at her. And . . . even though she keeps saying that she's just about to go have fun with groupies, or something like that, she never actually does so. Because she doesn't want to be burnt again.

So, basically what I'm saying is that the only real way that a relationship could suddenly develop would be through love at first sight. Lust at first sight certainly wasn't going to do it.

Course, that's one of the reasons I was somewhat scared about the book, after I started. Two reasons. One, I came to like Jessy and knew that if something bad happened, Jessy would become unglued. Two, Joan's one of those women who didn't realize that they might actually be a lesbian, and once realize such, didn't want to admit it publicly because of fear for their career. And Jessy has been burnt many times, well two times, by getting into relationships with women who don't want to admit, publicly, to be in a relationship with Jessy.

Right, so, Jessy James was born in a rat infested building. Was found at the age of three hiding in her closet, nearby was her dead decaying mother who had been killed, probably, by one of her "tricks". Mother having been a junkie prostitute. Tossed around in the system, Jessy eventually made it, too late to a certain extent, to a good couple. Who bought her a real drum set. One thing lead to another and Jessy and her band, Tidal Wave, became massively popular. Rode the wave for about five years then imploded. Mostly because every other band member got hooked on drugs. And Jessy's lover of the time died in a exploding car. A car driven by this lover into a pole. Around this time, Jessy gets hit by a drunk driver. Gets put into a walking cast. Gets dumped by a different girlfriend who couldn't admit to being a lesbian and returned to her husband. After all of this, Jessy had to get away. Story opens six or seven years later with Jessy living on a mountain in a home-built home. Watching television. VH1 to be specific. And randomly stumbles across the story of her own band. And life.

Hmm. That's a wall of text if I ever saw one. Was going to mention Jessy, then Joan, but bah. It'd just be another wall of text. So.

Jessy - fabulously talented singer/songwriter/hermit in hiding last 6 years.

Joan - fabulously talented singer/actress/songwriter with a reputation of being flightly in romance, hooking up with everyone.

Jessy + Joan = ?

Loved the book. Though, as I've mentioned, I was on edge and scared everything would be ruined. show less