Book Lovers Inc.
Romance Novel Reviews, Author Interviews, Commentary
New Releases: October 15-21, 2012
Angel’s Ink (The Asylum’s Tales, #1)
by Jocelynn Drake
Genre: urban fantasy
Release date: October 16, 2012 by Harper Voyager
Description:
Buyer beware . . .
Looking for a tattoo—and maybe a little something extra: a burst of good luck, a dollop of true love, or even a hex on an ex? Head to the quiet and mysterious Gage, the best skin artist in town. Using unique potions—a blend of extraordinary ingredients and special inks—to etch the right symbol, he can fulfill any heart’s desire. But in a place like Low Town, where elves, faeries, trolls, werewolves, and vampires happily walk among humanity, everything has its price.
No one knows that better than Gage. Turning his back on his own kind, he left the magical Ivory Tower where cruel witches and warlocks rule, a decision that cost him the right to practice magic. And if he disobeys, his punishment—execution—will be swift.
Though he’s tried to fly under the radar, Gage can’t hide from powerful warlocks who want him dead—or the secrets of his own past. But with the help of his friends, Trixie, a gorgeous elf who hides her true identity, and a hulking troll named Bronx, Gage might just make it through this enchanted world alive.
. . .
A Gift From Tiffany’s by Melissa Hill
Ashen Winter (Ashfall, #2) by Mike Mullin (YA)
Beta (Annex, #1) by Rachel Cohn (YA)
Blind Destiny by Shiloh Walker
Break My Heart 1,000 Times by Daniel Waters (YA)
Crewel (Crewel World, #1) by Gennifer Albin (YA)
Finding Mercy by Karen Harper
Have a Nice Day by Julie Halpern
Hidden (House of Night, #10) by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast (YA)
Kissed by A Vampire by Caridad Pineiro
Portlandtown: A Tale of the Oregon Wyldes by Rob DeBorde
Princess Elizabeth’s Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
Rogue of the Highlands by Cynthia Breeding
Second Chance by Heather Brewer (YA)
Sex and the Single Princess by Bonnie Dee & Marie Treanor
Starstruck (Fame Game, #2) by Lauren Conrad (YA)
Tangled Web by Christa McHugh
The Innocents (The Innocents, #1) by Lili Peloquin (YA)
The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski (YA)
The Space Between Us by Jessica Martinez (YA)
The Twelve (The Passage, #2) by Justin Cronin
Toxic (Denazen, #2) by Jus Accardo (YA)
What Happens at Christmas by Victoria Alexander
Zom-B by Darren Shan (YA)
. . .
Dig YA dystopians/post-apocalyptic tales? This week is for you. Ashen Winter features a world altered by the Yellowstone supervolcano (which really exists, making the fictional elements that much more fun). Crewel is a new series following a woman who is coerced into controlling the lives of us all, while the awesomely-titled Break My Heart 1,000 Times sees a world in which ghosts are a part of everyday life–perhaps what Ghostbusters 2 might have looked like if the good guys hadn’t saved the day. ^_^ Shadow Society is rather self-descriptive. And the new series opener Beta sounds like a winner, if a bit familiar…some elements of the premise remind me of the movie The Island, as well as of the book Brave New World.
If post-apocalyptic stories in an adult context is prefered, Justin Cronin’s sequel to the popular book The Passage is finally being released–but note that it’s just as hefty a book as its predecessor, coming in at just over 700 pages.
In adult paranormal romance, Tangled Web sounds exciting, starring a female assassin in a high-fantasy setting. And this week’s featured title, Angel’s Ink, is an urban fantasy with a male tattoo-artist protagonist in a first-person-POV. Not to often that you hear all of that with a female author. Yay for switching things up!
. . .
Are you tempted by any of these mid-month releases? Do you ever make reading selection decisions based on the gender of the author (female authors who write romance; male authors who write male protagonists)?
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Gender of author..never. Who cares
Rock on. Seems like some segments of the industry assume most people do keep such things in mind, even if peripherally. It seems the romance fiction market comes with almost an assumption of authors being women. I must admit I am not myself so enlightened…yet! ^_^ But it’d be kind of cool to see a male author garner Ward-en levels of popularity for a romance.
I will consider the gender of a new author before buying a book I am not sure about.
If the book seems very generic scifi (or urban fantasy or whatever), and I am on the fence about it (worth my time vs waste of time), I will then look at the author. If it is a male author I am not familiar with, I pass.
Why? Because SO MANY male authors fail utterly at writing women. I didn’t use to consider the gender of the author. I use to get those books I was meh-ing just to see if they were suffering from bad blurbs.
Then I ended up reading a lot of sexist garbage. Like the Dresden Files. Jim Butcher must hate women based on how he writes them, and I am not thinking any of his books bass the Bechdel Test. (hatehatehatehatehate)
I’m not saying men have a corner market on sexism and poor female characterization, but the odds are not in their favor in genre fiction. So if it’s iffy, I err on the side of lady authors OR male authors who have previously established their willingness to not be totally sexist tools.
I must agree … though it seems to be somewhat improving over the years, thank the heavens. And certain markets are now so much more demanding in the portrayal of their female characters–no more one dimensionals, yay!
Re: male UF authors writing female POV…there’s MLN Hanover. Might want to give his Black Sun’s Daughter series a go. I have yet to read his work myself, but I’ve heard fairly good things, especially as the series goes on.
Hm. I wonder what the average male thinks about female authors writing from male character POV.
Any male authors that do pass the test? I’d love to give their work a go.
The Dresden File books don’t bother me as much as they do you. Harry is basically pathetic in his relationships and interactions with women. Harry himself knows he’s an idiot–even if he didn’t, everyone else points it out to him with great frequency. I may be wrong, but I don’t get the impression that Butcher hates women.
Tom Clancy, OTOH, is an author I had to give up reading due to his gross misogyny–in his writing and in RL. Someone borrowed my copy of Hunt for Red October (which I do love) and destroyed it, but I refuse to replace it because I don’t want 1 cent of my money going to that jerk.
I’d like to say that, for the most part, gender is irrelevant to me. But, having said that, I find that I strongly gravitate towards women mystery authors. Ditto for UF. Sci fi/fantasy is probably more mixed, maybe because the genres have been so dominated by male authors. And, altho I know men write romance under their own names and pseudonyms, I pretty much want to read women romance authors.
I don’t automatically dismiss books based on the gender of the author or the lead characters, but I guess I feel that women are more likely to share my voice, so they represent something of a comfort zone to me.
* * * *
A couple of interesting books this week. Most of these I hadn’t heard of, so thanks for highlighting them.
Nice list, but I only want the Victoria Alexander book. I also prefer female authors to male ones for romance books, but some of my favourite fantasy authors are male. Like Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind.