I can't believe it! I already have my first DNF for the year, it's only the 2nd week of January for God's sake.
I'm sort of surprised, because I thought I would absolutely love this book....Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch. It seemed right up my alley. Quirky, funny, alien-y. The writing was great, I loved the humor, and the characters were interesting. But I only made it half-way through, then I had to bail. I just couldn't take it anymore.
Why, you ask.
Well, the problem was an unbelievable case of information dump. There is a fine line when writing a paranormal story around bringing the reader (and in some cases, the characters) up to speed about the paranormal setting. What are all the rules and regulations (and possibly history) of this new paranormal world? As an author, you need to relay the pertinent information, but without bogging down the narrative. It's tough. Sometimes, there's too little info and the reader is confused about the new terrain, and sometimes there is way too much info, and the reader's eyes start glazing over and she starts thinking about her grocery list, and her son's next swim meet, and that she is almost out of dog food.....
You get the idea.
I also readily admit I like fast-paced stories. When things start slowing down the narrative (which can include too much deep POV, which drives me nutso, or an enormous info dump, etc) I get antsy. I know, I'm shallow and superficial and need instant gratification. Whatever. The point is (there's a point????) that this book had info dump after info dump, and they kept interfering with a very nice storyline. Bummer. Gini Koch seems like a great writer, so I'm willing to try another one of her books, but this one couldn't keep my attention span (which appears to be the same as a three year old...heh heh).
After that fiasco, I re-read Stephanie Lauren's Captain Jack's Woman, which is the pre-cursor to the Bastion Club series. The premise for this book is utterly ridiculous...a gently-reared member of the ton disguises herself as a boy and becomes leader of a smuggling gang. O-kay. Sure. This has all of the classic SL stuff in it...alpha male hero, gorgeous and courageous heroine, interesting historical storyline, sex against a tree (okay, that's not actually in every SL book, but it's in this one), and chapter-long sex scenes. It's a fun SL re-read!
Next up....The Iron Duke! I will be posting a discussion about the steampunk genre on The Quirky Ladies blog at some point this week, and I'll have the review for The Iron Duke on my Penelope page.
Happy Monday,
Penelope
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