Erin O'Riordan writes smart, whimsical erotica. Her erotic romance novel trilogy, Pagan Spirits, is now available. With her husband, she also writes crime novels. Visit her home page at ko-fi.com.
Have I read anything else from this author? No. I've heard that she's an erotic writer better at writing consensual BDSM better than the ubiquitous 50 Shades of Grey series.
Was this book enjoyable? It was a quick, mildly amusing read requiring no deep thought. Pure escapism.
Did I learn anything new from this book? No, not at all, which was fine since it was just for fun.
Where did I get this book? I bought it at a library used book sale. It formerly belonged to the St. Joseph County (Indiana, USA) public library.
This was several years ago; I no longer live in St. Joe County. (I add that to let you know I didn't break social distancing protocol to go get a fluffy book.)
Do I recommend this book to other readers? I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys erotic romance with a touch of the paranormal. Keep in mind, there's not a lot of depth of these characters. "Sexy" isn't really a personality trait, nor is being a warlock or a house cat shapeshifter. But if you're interested in some light fluff, this may be the book for you.
Perhaps you too have a special interest during the quarantine time; mine is music from the '90s.
April 29th, 1999 was a really good day. It was the first time I ever went to the South Bend Chocolate Cafe, but the last time as a college student I ever went to Notre Dame's Acoustic Cafe (open mike night). Although I sometimes played guitar and did a little singing at Acoustic Cafe, on that night I only listened.
The following songs were songs I heard covered by fellow students. First a group of two women performed this 10,000 Maniacs song:
They followed up this performance with an Indigo Girls cover:
Next up was another group of two women. (Unfortunately, I didn't record any of the names of the performers that night.) They first performed this Ani DiFranco song:
That's probably my favorite Ani DiFranco song, still to this day. Their next cover of the same artist was the following:
Also a very good one. The young women were followed up by a male solo singer who sang an original song about waffles, which he warned us in advance would have an "inappropriate" verse. This verse was about wanting to have sex with dining hall waffles. It contained a lyric something along the lines of:
"I'm gonna eat you...
And I wish you could eat me!"
I quite enjoyed this orally fixated tune. This young man was followed by a friend of a friend (Nina) of a friend (Alissa), who did a Foo Fighters cover, but I don't remember which one. The last act I enjoyed that night was a performance by a male friend of Alissa's friend Carla. He played and sang this U2 classic:
In the past I've been a very big fan of U2. Then in 2016 I got quite upset at Paul "Bono Vox" Hewson for making sexist comments, as you can read about here. Since he appears to have sincerely learned from and grown from the reaction to his sexist remarks, I'm not upset with Bono anymore.
Which is good, because I still really enjoy an occasional U2 oldie.
Was this book better than this author's other book(s)? I still think The Fault In Our Stars is the best of the three.
Was this book enjoyable? Parts of it were enjoyable and parts of it were very sad.
Did I learn anything new from this book? I learned about the last words of some famous people, since that's the interest of the main character, Miles "Pudge" Halter. (Exceptionally thin, Pudge has an ironic nickname.)
Where did I get this book? I bought this book from the Book Rack at 1930 E. Stop 13 Road, Greenwood, Indiana. I was under no obligation to review it.
Do I recommend this book to other readers? Yes, if they're not going to get too sad by the sad things that happen.
Here's a fun fact about this book: John Green got the name "Alaska" from the Velvet Underground song "Stephanie Says."
At noon I went to the Little Theater of Moreau Hall and heard Noah and Irene Carver, folk singers. They're a husband and wife. They sang two Joni Mitchell songs ("Big Yellow Taxi" and "Both Sides Now"), a James Taylor song, "Here Comes the Sun," "This Land Is Your Land" (with one guitar and one autoharp), a couple of traditional folk songs, and some of their own.
The first song Irene sang was:
"Baby, now that I found you, I can't let you go,
I built my world around you, I need you so,
Baby even though you don't need me..."
I think she said the writer's name was Alison Proust.* I've heard it on the radio, performed by ? I had a lot of fun at this performance.
While I was home for "spring" break I got into the [vinyl] records, and I found a single, some unknown group's cover of "Big Yellow Taxi." It sounded familiar; I think a new cover of it was on the charts within the past year.
Furthermore, I found old country-western records; Johnny Cash singing "Goodnight Irene," a version of "Stand By Your Man," some cool stuff.
I took a look at the Women's Art Exhibition which is set up in LeMans Hall. Cool. Someone made a dress out of ties, and there was another cloth sculpture which incorporated a live goldfish in a bowl.
The only name I recognized was Poogie Sherer. She had two sculptures in the exhibit. The better one was "One Woman Army," consisting of a girl-sized ceramic bulletproof vest over a small red satin dress. The other looked rather like a tortoise shell being used as a gong.
Joke
Noah Carver told this one:
There were two clams, Sam and Dave, They were friends, but they couldn't agree on what kind of music to listen to. Sam liked disco; Dave liked Classical.
One day someone stepped on Sam, and he died. Eventually Dave died, and when he got up to heaven he asked St. Peter if he could see Sam.
St. Peter said, "I'm sorry, Sam's not here, he's down there."
Dave asked if he could go see Sam, and St. Peter said, "Okay, but I can't let you back in without your harp."
So Dave went "down there" and Sam was having a good time with all the clams, listening to disco music. After a while Dave went back up to heaven.
Have I read anything else from this author? Yes, I've read the other 14 books in this series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide, the first three Novels of the Fallen Angels, and Blood Kiss.
Was this book better than this author's other book(s)? It wasn't as good as my favorite one, Lover Mine, and it also wasn't my least favorite one either.
Was this book enjoyable? As with all the books this far into the series, there are parts that I pay close attention to and parts that I skim over. I care a lot about the relationship between Layla and Xcor and the brand-new relationship between Trez and Theresa.
Did I learn anything new from this book? It seems like Ward is setting Vishous and Doc Jane up to have problems in their marriage, and I'm not very happy about that development. Get your sh*t together, V.
Where did I get this book? It's my mom's.
Do I recommend this book to other readers? Yes, if you like the BDB series. I'd definitely say keep going with it. This series is still fairly addictive, even though I'm not caught up to the very latest book yet.
So, what books are you finishing while we're in COVID-19 quarantine?
Have I read anything else from this author? Yes, I've read the His Dark Materials trilogy and the first book in the Book of Dust series, La Belle Sauvage.
Was this book better than this author's other book(s)? So far it's been my least favorite of the five, but I fully expect to like the sixth book better.
Was this book enjoyable? It wasn't as enjoyable as La Belle Sauvage. The tone was much darker, and while I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, it didn't read as easily as the first book in the series did.
Did I learn anything new from this book? I learned a bit about what Lyra Silvertongue will be like as an adult, but this is the middle book in a trilogy, so I won't really be able to confirm until the third book is over.
Where did I get this book? I bought this book at Barnes and Noble with a gift card I got for Christmas.
Do I recommend this book to other readers? Yes, but even more strongly I recommend the His Dark Materials trilogy to anyone who hasn't read it yet. I want everyone to finish The Amber Spyglass and learn what Philip Pullman knows about love.
Spellbound by Sylvia Day
