R.J. Blain
Author of Playing with Fire
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
As of 2023, per Blain's website information, active pen names are R.J. Blain, Susan Copperfield (Royal States world), Bernadette Franklin (Juliette's world), Audrey Greene (Moon Tamed world), and G.P. Robbins (Magic Mayhem and the Law in Precinct #53). Inactive name material has been folded in under the R.J. Blain name.
As Lilith Daniels she writes fantasy and romance.
Previously, as A.L. Easton she wrote pirate urban fantasy. As Trillian Anderson she wrote Dae Portals.
Series
Works by R.J. Blain
Death Dance 5 copies
Tales of the Winter Wolf, Vol. 6 4 copies
Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals #1) 4 copies
The House Lost at Sea, Part II (Plundered Chronicles; The Tales of Catalina de la Corona #1B) 2 copies, 2 reviews
Game On 2 copies
Doggone Mess 2 copies
Dirty Deeds Vol 2 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Blain, R.J.
- Other names
- Copperfield, Susan
Greene, Audrey
Robbins, G.P.
Franklin, Bernadette
Daniels, Lilith
Easton, A.L. (show all 7)
Anderson, Trillian - Gender
- female
- Short biography
- RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.
When she isn't playing pretend, she likes to think she's a cartographer and a sumi-e painter. In reality, she herds cats and a husband, and obeys the commands of Tsu Dhi, the great warrior fish.
In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Should that fail, her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until she is satisfied. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- USA
- Disambiguation notice
- As of 2023, per Blain's website information, active pen names are R.J. Blain, Susan Copperfield (Royal States world), Bernadette Franklin (Juliette's world), Audrey Greene (Moon Tamed world), and G.P. Robbins (Magic Mayhem and the Law in Precinct #53). Inactive name material has been folded in under the R.J. Blain name.
As Lilith Daniels she writes fantasy and romance.
Previously, as A.L. Easton she wrote pirate urban fantasy. As Trillian Anderson she wrote Dae Portals. - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
I fell out of love with this author but didn't notice for some time.
This book provided the sad epiphany.
This author has written maybe around 2-3 books that are actually distinct enough to deserve this label and she has been using and reusing the templates from these books over and over again for many years now.
My biggest problem with this is that each book reintroduces the same concepts and the same opinions over and over again.
In earlier books, I didn't mind this because characters are show more allowed to have strong opinions regardless of whether I agree or not. But the problem is that all the characters are identical in every aspect of their personalities.
They all seem to just blatantly echo the authors' opinions and worldviews without even a little subtlety or variety. This makes for a cast of almost identical characters beyond a few key templated differences which are always the same across books.
There are maybe 5 distinct characters across all her plethora of books.
I don't actually hard disagree with most of what the author is selling here in terms of opinions, but its kind of like if your grandparent tells you the same story for the twentieth time and you simply can not bear it anymore (no offense grandma, I love you!).
Beyond this simple problem of ever-repeating storylines, personalities, and quirks/running gags the author seems to have gotten tired of reintroducing the same things over and over again as well.
This leads to most of her later books being chock-full of incredibly dry exposition not only because I have heard it all dozens of times before but also because the delivery is just lazy. It's basically just the characters telling you, the reader, everything almost outright. A lot of it doesn't feel like a story but a moral lecture.
There are other types of stories where this can be somewhat less of a problem because there is so much more going on in terms of complexity and depth (some great high fantasy and sci-fi stories come to mind) but this is supposed to be light and entertaining. At least it seems to me like this is the goal here. There is no room for terribly paced and dry world-building like this.
There are many more ambiguous potential points I could criticize but I have gotten to like many of the authors' eccentricities in how she tells her story and how her humor works. It feels a bit like an acquired taste to me.
I just wish the author would actually write a new and interesting story. To be fair, it is actually incredibly hard to come up with new ideas if you have already gotten through the stories you always wanted to tell. To me it feels a bit like it's less a case of laziness or deliberate recycling of her older stories but that she just doesn't have more to say so she inevitably keeps retelling these same stories.
In conclusion, I will probably not touch another book by this author at least for some time. Maybe she will find new stories to tell eventually. show less
This book provided the sad epiphany.
This author has written maybe around 2-3 books that are actually distinct enough to deserve this label and she has been using and reusing the templates from these books over and over again for many years now.
My biggest problem with this is that each book reintroduces the same concepts and the same opinions over and over again.
In earlier books, I didn't mind this because characters are show more allowed to have strong opinions regardless of whether I agree or not. But the problem is that all the characters are identical in every aspect of their personalities.
They all seem to just blatantly echo the authors' opinions and worldviews without even a little subtlety or variety. This makes for a cast of almost identical characters beyond a few key templated differences which are always the same across books.
There are maybe 5 distinct characters across all her plethora of books.
I don't actually hard disagree with most of what the author is selling here in terms of opinions, but its kind of like if your grandparent tells you the same story for the twentieth time and you simply can not bear it anymore (no offense grandma, I love you!).
Beyond this simple problem of ever-repeating storylines, personalities, and quirks/running gags the author seems to have gotten tired of reintroducing the same things over and over again as well.
This leads to most of her later books being chock-full of incredibly dry exposition not only because I have heard it all dozens of times before but also because the delivery is just lazy. It's basically just the characters telling you, the reader, everything almost outright. A lot of it doesn't feel like a story but a moral lecture.
There are other types of stories where this can be somewhat less of a problem because there is so much more going on in terms of complexity and depth (some great high fantasy and sci-fi stories come to mind) but this is supposed to be light and entertaining. At least it seems to me like this is the goal here. There is no room for terribly paced and dry world-building like this.
There are many more ambiguous potential points I could criticize but I have gotten to like many of the authors' eccentricities in how she tells her story and how her humor works. It feels a bit like an acquired taste to me.
I just wish the author would actually write a new and interesting story. To be fair, it is actually incredibly hard to come up with new ideas if you have already gotten through the stories you always wanted to tell. To me it feels a bit like it's less a case of laziness or deliberate recycling of her older stories but that she just doesn't have more to say so she inevitably keeps retelling these same stories.
In conclusion, I will probably not touch another book by this author at least for some time. Maybe she will find new stories to tell eventually. show less
Very RJ Blain. In this case the adopters are (as in Life-Debt - we get to see Viva and Delta again too) a clan - or several clans - of "feathered murder machines", Veloc. The Cinderella, Camellia has suffered injury that made her deaf; in the first few chapters, that's corrected, and the price is her going to space to test her adaptation ability. Camellia loves the idea, loves the Veloc who thus legally kidnapped her (they like fighting as much as she does!), and discovers that she loves show more space. And also the (human) pilot of the ship she's traveling in. Many adventures, some very interesting planets, adopting many pets from said planets, and eventually convincing her pilot he wants to be with her. I was surprised at the end - not what I expected from Waldren - but a many-times-over happy ending. Nice. It's kind of on the MagRomCom end of things - wild acceleration of events, and loads of coincidence and interference to make it work. A fun read. show less
Oh, that's a good one. It has the traditional MagRomCom shenanigans, with way too many divines hanging around and particularly the Devil (and his family) meddling. There's a lot about the grand series arc, too - how and why to prevent the End of Days. And with all that, Crystal manages to keep the story about her and her partner, her choices and rescues, not (like some recent books) having the theoretically main pair be hangers-on to the storyline. Crystal and her horses, and alligators, and show more chickens, and... All of it, and her plans for improving the Thoroughbred world on multiple levels - that's the story. Her choices and actions in pursuit of her own plans support the overarching goal, but it doesn't take over the story. I'm not saying her partner's name because it's a mystery (for a while, anyway, and somewhat less to the reader than to Crystal). It's a fun book, with pies and punting and pizza brawls; it's got some glorious scenes of emotional, spiritual, and physical rescue; and some old (very old) sorrows get mended and new paths created. Also a lot of gorgeous horses (Crystal and Pat are twins when it comes to horses). Very rich. show less
The Devil has met his match. Her name is Darlene and she is determined to rule Hell (for an agreed upon time) to get revenge on her asshole brother’s unlucky transformation…to a chipmunk.
I can’t believe this is my first book by R.J. Blain. Where has she been all my life? I’m still laughing at Darlene’s cheeky takeover of Hell.
Who wouldn’t love Darlene? She is the ultimate kickass queen to the spoiled, whiny, sexually repressed Lucifer. The witty repartee between them is show more priceless! And the headless archangels Michael and Gabriel are a hoot encouraging Darlene to discipline their fallen brother by giving him limited access to her spots…did I mention she is a shapeshifter as a Snow Leopard?
I love this laugh-fest of a paranormal rom-com where a mortal thoroughly and hilariously seduces the Devil! A truly unique take on the dynamics of Heaven and Hell. Apparently, I need to go back and read the 10 books before this. I can’t recommend this fun read enough!
Thank you to Ms. Blain for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less
I can’t believe this is my first book by R.J. Blain. Where has she been all my life? I’m still laughing at Darlene’s cheeky takeover of Hell.
Who wouldn’t love Darlene? She is the ultimate kickass queen to the spoiled, whiny, sexually repressed Lucifer. The witty repartee between them is show more priceless! And the headless archangels Michael and Gabriel are a hoot encouraging Darlene to discipline their fallen brother by giving him limited access to her spots…did I mention she is a shapeshifter as a Snow Leopard?
I love this laugh-fest of a paranormal rom-com where a mortal thoroughly and hilariously seduces the Devil! A truly unique take on the dynamics of Heaven and Hell. Apparently, I need to go back and read the 10 books before this. I can’t recommend this fun read enough!
Thank you to Ms. Blain for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 106
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 2,306
- Popularity
- #11,131
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 165
- ISBNs
- 292
- Favorited
- 4