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I've been reading Downtime by Tamara Allen while I waited for my copy of the Book Club book to come through inter-library loan.

I'm about halfway through and so far very much enjoying it. Some cliche and predictability, but on the whole very fantastic.

So I finished Downtime by Tamara Allen and, holy crap, finally a good book! After Prisoner, which I did not enjoy, and Counterpoint, which I abandoned after 100 pages of awful, and The Catch Trap, which left a bitter taste in my mouth -- I think I deserve to actually enjoy a book. And what a book!

I devoured the last 150-odd pages of the book in one sitting last night. The entire first half of the book was like, okay, this is well-written and interesting, but...? And then the second half of the book totally rocked my world. Fuck yeah.

So the basic premise is that Morgan Nash, our first-person narrator, is an FBI agent from New York in London on a special assignment. Hijinx ensue, and he ends up in the British Museum -- in 1888. A trio of well-meaning Victorians have accidentally recited a spell out of an old grimoire and summoned him to the past. Understandably upset by the circumstances, Morgan tries to arrest the lot of them before realizing exactly what an awful situation he's landed in. They assure him that after a good day's rest they'll all go back to the museum in the morning and sort things out. Except in the morning they can't remember the title of the book, and it's gone missing from the museum -- stolen, it seems, and sold on the blackmarket... but never fear, they have some occult connections and set about hunting down another copy of the book. For the meantime, it seems Morgan Nash is stuck in the 19th century, and what's this about a man killing prostitutes in Whitechapel? Arresting Jack the Ripper, one of the most notorious serial killers in history, might prove too much of a challenge for workaholic Morgan to resist while on a forced vacation.

Then, of course, there's Ezra Glacenibie, the hapless museum worker who was instrumental in summoning poor Morgan to London of the past. He's able to see and speak with ghosts, a claim which a skeptical Morgan first chalks up to a hoax to weasle money from grieving windows (thanks to Ezra's stick-in-the-mud associate Henry, who hosts gimmicky seances), then later assumes to be madness, and then finally realizes might be true. Too good to be true, if he can get Ezra to use his psychic powers to help catch Jack -- but getting close to Ezra might be another unnessary distraction as there's no doubting the attraction between the two of them, and the last thing commitment-phobic Morgan Nash needs is another complication.

Morgan is a delightful main character. He's woefully out of place among the stuffy manners and elegant parlors of Victorian England, and he knows it. His character arc through the story is also amazingly subtle and well done, top notch development with both main characters. Less so with the supporting cast, who are mostly there to fulfill specific roles in the narrative, but the two main characters... Lots of development, and they behave like normal people, and both are thoroughly likable, strong characters.

I absolutely adored several of the scenes in the book, especially that second half, when all the divergent plotlines started to come together. Not necessarily high romance (no "boathouse" moments!) but plenty of exciting action and nail-biting turmoil. And the ending... Well, no spoilers, but once I saw what was in store for the ending, I couldn't wait to see how it unfolded. Very, very well done indeed.

There were plenty of "omg, yes!" elements -- time travel, FBI agent, "i see dead people" to hook me, but the story and characters really worked with those elements exactly how I wanted them to.

Now I wouldn't be me and I wouldn't be honest if I didn't throw out my negatives. First of all, there's some cliche stuff like I mentioned, but it nothing worth quibblihg over and certainly nothing to distract too heavily from the overall quality of the story. There's two small plot loopholes that are forgivable, one moreso than the other, and neither was enough to take points off for me.

The prose is strong, and the editing remarkably tight considering this is a small-press book. Even Mr Kino, reading over my shoulder in places, had to admit the line-for-line writing was top-notch. It never dipped into "gay romance for the sake of being a gay romance" territory, and the pacing of the relationship is downright glacial compared to some jump-in-the-sack rushathons I've read -- all good points, definitely. So I really don't have much to complain about other than I ran out of book to read.

Now on to The Little Princes for Book Club!

Why do I like the Dark Hunter series so much. The story lines are B-, sometimes C+, not very realistic, and the sex scenes while yummy can be kinda repetitive. But the characters can be fantastic.

*sigh* Is it wrong to like a book series that you don't think is written very good?
... Oh sue me. *snuggles into her covers and buries herself in Night Play* Call it my guilty pleasure and leave me alone. ^_^

I need to start reading The Last Unicorn... and the advanced reader copy of a book I apparently can't talk about yet. @_@;;; And I need to finish the two non-fiction books I recently started.

^_^ I had totally forgotten that John Flanagan's (author of Ranger's Apprentice) new book series came out this month. It had totally left my mind after reading Lost Stories. Hell, I've not even read through all of Son of Neptune yet. Anyways, I walk into Barnes and Noble today planning on reading the rest of Night Play (which turned into a very delicious book, making it a two day read). I, of course, have to browse New Arrivals, and while I'm nodding and very unimpressed I see



O_O

a drool puddle begins to form at my feet. I race over to the table and make the purchase on my Nook.

*sniffle* No Will or Halt, but the few chapters I've been introduced to Hal, I think I'm definitely in for a treat with this book. ^_^ Looking forward to another great series by Flanagan.

*sigh* <_< Farewell, Will and Halt. I'm still holding out for cameo appearances, but... meh, no big deal if there are none. I'm looking forward to this series since it's about ships and sailing and already introduced to a few very interesting terms just at the beginning of the book that I had no idea about.

on a side note:

yes, somehow in the span of one second I went from reading women fucking vampires and werewolves to a book about a young inventive teen learning how to cope with life as a viking.

..... my god my reading tests are so deranged.... You know, I've watched episodes of NCIS where Ducky tries to psychoanalyze people just based off of personal belongings and reading interests. o_O; What the fuck would he conclude after such an analysis of my reading interests....

Possibly that you are a single mother raising a young teenager. At least, that is what it would look like on the surface.

I don't want to know what an evaluation of my bookshelves would betray.

Also, Trifkin, what ARC? You can tell me, I probably have the same one sitting on the shelf here at work.

^ It's the strangest one I've seen yet- The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. It looks like a manuscript instead of a printed novel. It's printed on standard sized printer paper and everything, without even cardstock for a cover. @_@

I wish I didn't have such a tendency to not say anything for so long.

I haven't been reading much lately and I don't know why. Okay, I think it's because I've been--get ready--marathoning a 5 season TV show on Netflix.

Yeah . . . I know.

Am so ready for The Last Unicorn, though.

@Kino: Inventor's Companion! Aasajhsajh. I will read it! Then we can talk about it.

Reading my current Dark Hunter book and :\ the book has suddenly taken an odd turn and while it's not said anything and still has the same basic formula, under the surface is a kinda creepy feeling that the shit is about to hit the fan in a big way. Like a favorite character or two is about to die.

I don't like it. Doesn't fit in with my wishy-washy C- storytelling book. It's unsettling. I do not read these books thinking there's the potential that one of the characters I love is about to die. Noooo. Please don't....

But then if I look at the past there's always been the "deus ex machina" mechanic. "Suddenly: Happy Ending" .... Please continue this? *sigh* I'm going to be mad at the end of this book, aren't I? Maybe I should quit now before I rage-quit later?

"OH NOW YOU LEARN HOW TO TELL A COMPELLING STORY? WELL FUCK YOU KENYON!" <-- like this

So true on both counts.