Inkblots

I am not quick to judge an author in Plagiarism, I think that there are only so much material in books and therefore it is difficult to find ideas that are completely new.

However, I really can't stomach Sunny's Monere series.

I vowed not to read this series AGAIN ever, but I think someone needs to point out all the similarities in Sunny and Bishop's Dark Jewels and LKH's Meredith Gentry Series.

If you have more lines to add, not themes, but exact lines of the books that are the same in Sunny's Monere series and other books comment and we'll add it. Honestly. This has got to stop.

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"Each territory is ruled by a Queen," Gryphon answered. "And the land is divided into many territories."
--Sunny, Mona Lisa Awakening

vs.

The Blood villages within a District would look after, and treat fairly, the landen villages that were bound to them. The District Queens would serve in the Province Queen's court. The Province Queens, in their turn, would serve the Territory Queen, who was chosen by the majority of the darker-Jeweled Blood, both male and female, because she was the strongest and the best.
-- Anne Bishop, Daughter of the Blood

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They are full-blooded warriors, stronger and faster than you. Fear not, you will be drawn to them in the same manner as you are drawn to me
--Sunny Mona Lisa Awakening

vs.

It wasn't just the magic that had drawn the males. It was the inner radiance housed ithin those female bodies, a luminescence that some men had craved as much as they might have craved a light they could see glowing in a window when they were standing out in the cold. They had craved that light as much as they had craved being sheathed in the sweet darkness of a woman's body, if not more.
Males had become Blood because they'd been drawn to both.
-- Anne Bishop, Daughter of the Blood

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"If Mona Sera detects the intimate scent of her men upon you, she will slay you all. She will kill you because she will see you as attempting to take her territory, her men. She will destroy the men who dare touch you because she will view it as betrayal against herself, a rejection. And as you can see," he grimaced and gestured at himself, "the lady does not take rejection well. If, in the unlikely event the men manage to constrain themselves, do what you can to seduce one or two—all would be best—and make them yours.
-- Mona Lisa Awakening

vs.

Sholto was one of the Queen’s Guard, which meant he couldn’t sleep with any sidhe except her. She didn’t share her men, not with anyone. The punishment for breaking the taboo was death by torture.
-- Meredith Gentry

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An entire scene here... with Gryphon and Mona Lisa in Mona Lisa Awakening mimicks Doyle and Merry's scene in A Kiss of Shadows. Where Gryphon and Doyle are both wounded and Mona Lisa and Merry are wearing nothing underneath their night shirt and though Mona Lisa convinces Gryphon to lie with her, in Merry and Doyle's case, Merry didn't tease Doyle but brought him with magic accidentally.

In fact, Gryphon mimicks Doyle to the extent that Gryphon is also a Falcon and Doyle is an Eagle.

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There has never been a Mixed Blood Queen before.
-- Mona Lisa awakening

vs

Meredith is the first half-sidhe Queen in Unseelie court.

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As you see, males may gain power from joining with a Queen
-- Mona Lisa Awakening

vs.

"No one who has not become a god can sleep with Merry until we understand what the chalice and the Goddess want
-- Seduced by Moonlight
Doyle referring to Merry bringing back the Raven's godhead through sex.

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Demon dead was perhaps a more accurate description. They were not creatures from hell as we think of them, although they did live there—in Hell, that is. Demon dead are Monère who died, yet retained enough psychic energy to sustain their existence in another realm—a forever twilight where no life, no colors, existed
-- Sunny, Over the Moon Anthology, Mona Lisa Three

vs


He'd never feared anything in Hell, but he'd always felt an aching despair for the cildru dyathe, the demon-dead children. In Hell, the dead retained the form of their last living hour. This cold, blasted Realm had never been a kind place, but to look upon those children, to see what had been done to them by another's hand
-- Daughter of the Blood

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And another disturbingly SAME scene:

"You… uh, you're not going to eat me, are you?"

"Not yet," he growled. "My hunger for you is too great for such restraint this first time."

"Amber," I said almost desperately as his head dipped down, as I felt the brush of his lips and the alarming edge of his teeth stroke over the base of my neck where my pulse bounded suddenly like a desperate thing. As he lingered over it, fear and desire pumped my heart equally. A delicious combination, that edge of danger. But only if I knew there truly wasn't any.

"Amber," I said more sharply. He lifted his head, his nostrils flaring, his eyes dilating as he breathed in my fear-tanged arousal. "I mean as a meal. You don't see me as food, do you?"

He shook his head as if coming out of a daze. His eyes still looked cold, inhuman, but his voice, his voice was the Amber I knew and loved, warm with reassurance… and a bit of amusement. "No, love. I want to fuck you. Not eat you."

"Oh good." The tension left my body, leaving an almost painful, sagging relief in its wake.

His body shook. His breath hitched against my skin as he bent his head once more to my neck. "Amber." Alarm kicked in once more. Had I hurt his feelings?

His head remained lowered.

"Amber, you're not… crying, are you?"

"No," he choked, his breath huffing against me.

"Look at me."

He did. Mirth danced in his eyes, not tears.

"Beast," I said succinctly.

"Don't worry," he choked out, "not too much of one."

His body shook with the laughter he was trying to suppress. "Don't be mad, my love." But his words were ruined by the shaking merriment of his heaving body, and he suddenly lost the battle. A shout of laughter burst out. Then another, and another, until he was fairly howling with it, shaking against me not with lust but with hilarity.

Oh, the bastard! He was laughing at me!
---- Sunny, On the Prown Anthology, Mona Lisa Betwining

vs.

"Are we having fun here, Doyle, or are you going to eat me?" My voice was a little steadier, firmer.

"This first time I would not trust myself to put my mouth to such tender places."

It took me a second to realize that he had misunderstood me. "I don't mean eat me in the euphemistic sense, Doyle. I mean, am I food?" My voice sounded utterly calm now, ordinary. Pinned to the bed by his body, his eyes still animalistic and wild, and I sounded like I was in the office, talking business.

He blinked and I saw the confusion in his eyes. I realized that I was asking him to think too deeply. He'd given himself over to a piece of himself that he rarely let out. That part didn't think like a person.

**snip***

He put a hand back to touch the blood on his back, as if he hadn't felt it until that moment. He propped himself up on one elbow and stared at the blood on his hands. Then he threw back his head and laughed, laughed until he collapsed on top of me again, and when he finished laughing, he cried.

--- LKH A Caress of Twilight

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OMG. The book is very, very aptly named. It's a good thing a few bookstores outside US released this early or I would have gone on a Dresden starvation early.

What to say about the book. Wow. It was... just mroe than most of the other books. It was the "movie" of the Dresden Files. You saw everyone who was still breathing, a lot of things were given "Aha!" moments, and it quite literally was a very surprising, touching and crazy book all together. A lot of sad moments too and the first time that an ending from the Dresden files had me looking for the next release date of the book. (becuase yes, there is this weird cliff hanger at the end of the book! Argh!)

I love the pop culture of this book, and yes, I am always a fan of the sarcasm.

I am just thoroughly amazed at how many women fall at Dresden's feet. It's quite a growing number.

Changes, is truly a big leap, and a definite ending to the Dresden Files as we know it. I wonder what will be next. Damn it. April 2011, I better have time to read this book.

I liked the characters in this story, and it answers a what if... what if after the war, some angels were discontent with God's verdict? I think that's mainly what Remiel's character is, an answer to that question. Discontent with the way that God has sentenced those who sided with Morning Star, Remiel willingly fell into the Earth to be human and fell in love.

The story is told in parallel lines of the past and the present and what the fallen angel Remiel is feeling along with another possibility, what if other angels followed his suit.

Although I do like the characterization, the way the other biblical beings were brought in the story, I didn't like the way that the story was written. For me it was dry-cut, with too many novels already coming out about private investigators of the supernatural, for it to stand out, it had to bring something special other than a new character.

Emotionally, the book was beautiful, how does an immortal come to grips with the feeling of leaving someone behind? However, I didn't feel it. I read it in Sniegoski's writing but I wasn't able to feel it. Could be a lack in me, but something in me didn't resonate with the feelings the book wanted to convey.

I probably could have liked it before I read the humor of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden. The book itself isn't bad, however, I honestly think that there are better books in the market.

And for the angelic world building, well I loved the first book of Sharon Shinn's Samaria series, Archangel, before all the mythos got caught up with its quasi futuristic building(so... only book one), and sometimes Georgina Kincaid, with all of its other denizens would be worth a look too, but that doesn't focus too much on Angels being central powers as say, Nalini Singh's Angels' Blood (romantic fantasy, which I'd rather not repeat, but had that feel) oh and of course, Thorn St. Croix by Faith Hunter. All angel community centered books with good world building.

I really love romantic fantasy, the genre is lighter than all the epic fantasy with the right amount of world building.

This is a world set in the distant future, where I presume Earthlings, decided to hop in their spaceships and colonize a new planet. Unfortunately for them, the planet was harsh, and natural disasters kept ruining the buildings and the environment that they built. In the midst of all of these natural disasters some colonizers went back to Earth, while others dealt with the natural disasters, hence sources and shields were born. Sources and shields were people who could prevent natural disasters from happening, and the world reverted to original feudal society.

The world building is great, and the way that the system works is all explained, and the societal rules, even the law is all laid out to people Even though the Pair that we're following doesn't dabble in politics and the law, it was easily explained... possibly due to the fact that the author is a lawyer.

It's fun to watch the mystery that's happening around High Scape and how Taro and Lee deal with the natural disasters and their talent arises. I have read that some people are a touch annoyed at Lee due to the fact that she really didn't have anything to be apprehensive with Taro about... but that's how prejudice works, and I liked the story all the better because of it. Because she had to overcome it, and she had to understand it.

I think this book is worth looking in to if not for the new world (it's sort of quasi-futurustic, like... Sharon Shinn's Archangel series and Robin D. Owen's Heart Mate series) but it's mostly rooted in medieval fantasy. And I am eagerly waiting to read more.

It's Harlequins 60th anniversary and they're giving away free ebooks. I haven't been a fan of the Harlequin books since... well a long time, but they're still nice fun romance reads if you're looking for a no brainer and wanting to waste a bit of time. And of course, there are the gems.

I tried a couple of the books,here :: Harlequin Celebrates.

If you're not tempted to read anything, I honestly think Price of Passion by Susan Napier is worth a try. It's a good short contemporary piece (labelled "traditional romance" waay back in the 1990's), worthy of a RITA award compared to some of the others I've actually read. It's a pregnancy story. I really liked the characters, the way they came together at the start was slow and not someting that would endear you to them, but it's still a good read. I loved the beach setting, the author-writing-a-book and the lovable supporting characters. I loved it enough to see if Susan Napier wrote any other books that I might enjoy.

Just stay away from Harlequin Nocturne Kiss me Deadly, (it's more like... uhm... Hmm... an extremely sucky version of Kim Harrison's The Hollows. Just don't. The characters are not really all that bright and they act like teenagers than centuries old species.

They also try their hand at something akin to Romantica, and though the sex is all right, the plot is nothing new and the characterization needs a bit of fleshing out, because they're utterly unreal... but hey if it's romantica that you're after... (and let me remind you it's a give-away) Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson is all right. Not a keeper, and not the best out there. And if you liked that book for a) the plot then you'd enjoy looking at SEP's Nobody's Baby But Mine later, or B) the hot steamy scenes then I still think that Jasmine Haynes' Fortune Hunter or a tamer Robin Schone book is worth a look-see after.

I haven't tried the others, but will probably look at Homespun Bride and the other baby stories.

Happy reading.

... Okay, I could not deal with teh way that this book crossed over from paranormal to sci-fi. I don't know if other people find it odd, but I do not like vampires mingling with ALIENS. It's too bizarre by far. I think it's the whole, it's a different reality spectrum that had me flabbergasted. Yes, I know that this book was supposed to deal with a lot of inter... paranormal type of thing, but aliens seem like a completely different concept all together.

That and they have another book which has blood biting and trust issues. I get enough of that aggravation from the Hollows and Riley Jensen. But yes, this biting aggravation takes it a tad bit better.

On a side note, I appreciate the fact that Vayl has an island in the Philippines. Seven days in the tropics. Haha, and they flew from the Philippines to Austraila... although now that I think about it... isn't a flight from the Philippines to Australia just like 4 hours and not 12? That would be like a flight from the Philippines to the US.

Well, I finished the book because it was a Jaz Parks novel but I liked the earlier books better. Probably becuase of the alien Ufranite bias and not through any fault of the author

*sigh* well, more appropriately urban fantasy is killing every other genre.

Well, I have noticed that once a person is starting to write in the Urban Fantasy genre, every other book goes on the backburner. I'm not saying it's the author's fault, becuase, hey the author is writing where the money is, or where the publisher wants her/him to write. But I am following several authors who have stopped writing traditional fantasy or even chick-lit, put it in the back burner and write urban fantasy every six months.

I am not complaining about the urban fantasy, I love the genre (when the writing is good... and it is quite easy to fuck up writing urban fantasy for someone who isn't experienced in writing fantasy in the first place), but sometimes I wish the publishers would allow a fantasy or a traditional chick lit book to be written in between all of that ass kicking chick. For example, Jim Butcher releases the Dresden files every year, but manages to sneak in a coupe of Codex Alera in between. (okay, so that's not ass kicking chick.. haha) or Moning still writes her traditional romance between writing the Fever series (although, I really am not a fan of her traditional romances, go figure).

I guess having less than 10,000 copies sold for the non-urban fantasy series weighed with a whopping more than 500,000 copies for a good urban fantasy would have an obvious winner. That said, publishers really have no choice but to buy the manscript that crunches the numbers. But still, it's sad for the other genres, especially since urban fantasy is starting to get so saturated, that most of the ideas are already flung in the open and enjoying a book depends on finding the best author to write down the good idea or the first author who wrote in the genre.

Hmmm... I picked this book up because I had a love-hate relationship with her previous vampire story. This one is a post-apocalyptic story with angels and faeires (yes, both belief sets if you can actually... believe it)

In the bieginning it was difficult to picture the world structure, you are suddenly thrown into a hunt between an assassin and her prey, but it all gets waded through and explained through one history lesson in one chapter... yippee. Slowly, you learn as Malachi learns about the world. Malachi is a fallen angel... who has... Fallen... accidentally. Yes, you'll get it when you read it.

I thought the writing was awkward in the beginning because of the history lesson dump, telling us all about all the worlds all at once but once you get the gist of what has happened (Apocalypse, the humans have merged the wolrd of the impossible...faeries, angels, demons etc into the real) it was easier to read.

The story is a bit simple, a bit predictable and reads a whole lot like a person was reading Romeo and Juliet. It was like one moment they're at each other's throats and the next moment in love. In lterally a blink of the eye. It's the fastest love at first sight story I've ever seen. And the politics was... straightforward, ambition, regicide. Simple.

The words are stilted, sort of like reading a really old book, unatural to read even though it's post-apocalyptic set in the future and should ahve a more modern reading. Or maybe because it was supposed to read like a fairy tale.

All in all, okay, but I wish I never started reading it.

Quotes:
Perhaps your ways are strange, not because they are ancient, but becuase they are wrong.

Oh my GOD! I now understand why the entire Shadow Queen was a little bit left hanging (or maybe, due to fan clamor, Shalador's Lady was born... BUT!!! I am eagerly awaiting the release of Shalador's Lady next YEAR, and am hoping that by this time next year, I would have been able to buy the book.

I also thing that Anne Bishop needed the break between the two books so that Gray could mature off reader's closely scrutinizing eyes.

I have read reviews in the past that said that they thought that Jeannelle and Daemon's story detracted from Cassidy's story, but HONESTLY, I will repeat again, I NEVER thought so. I thought that this eas Cassidy's and Gray's story BUT, I am HAPPY that I still get news of Daemon and Jeanelle because they are my one TRUE pair. haha.

I am so enamored with the entire Dark Jewels trilogy that I had to buy myself a copy of the Japanese Invisible ring since I liked the covers, and they have a tendency to draw in the middle of books here. So I wanted a copy.

Two cities and ten bookstores later I realized that knowing "Kono hon ga, arimasu ka?" (Japanese for: do you have a copy of this book?) was not going to cut it. It's either it is because it had so low ratings in Japan, or there are only so much translated books that Japanese people buy, or they're more into manga. Gah, I wish they had translated Dark Jewels trilogy instead of the Invisible Ring. So that all of her books are here, (and probably would have had better reception here if that was what they sold here.) Girls are big fans of this type of fantasy here anyway.


THe point of this post is... after searching for 9 days in ALL the bookstores I've been to, I decided to heed EVERYONE's advice and order it on Amazon.com, where they are selling the book for the grand prize of a second hand copy for 1YEN (that's the cheapest book I've ever bought EVER) and whose shipping costs (Y350/book) was quite more than the book itself.

I now have to call my hotel room in Osaka to tell them that yes, I am planning to be in the Hotel by the sixteenth and that I have a shipment of something coming over by tomorrow, and could they please recieve it. (As shipment here in Japan is QUITE fast... I ordered a book tonight and it would be coming today or tomorrow.... haha)

Anyway... I am hoping I get my book in Japanese (yes, even though I can't read it)I am planning to learn it someday...)