honniker's reviews
1008 reviews

The Viscount and the Vicar's Daughter by Mimi Matthews

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I've decided I like Mimi Matthews. Another nice romance. This one is set in the Victorian era. They are a nice read and I plan to check out more of her books.

The Lady and the Orc by Finley Fenn

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

As an enjoyed of Fantasy, and with my recent foray into, well, smut, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I moved into sampling the realm of monster smut. 

It wasn't a bad book, per se. Not like Ann Rice. The story had a lot to recommend it. In fact, there was a point where I actually felt quite emotional. I liked the orc culture, the idea that there are no female orcs and they need human women to bear their sons.

I was actually a little disappointed that there wasn't anything about orc semen helping make labor and delivery easier on women what with the way they kept talking to about how important it was to eat it and be bathed in it and all that.

So yeah, there were things I liked. Things I didn't like were that I found Jule whiny and annoying. Maybe it's because I  tend to try and be a chameleon in other cultures, learn about them and blend in but I didn't feel like Jule changed enough to have the ending make sense. I just didn't see it. She spent most of the time whining and arguing with Grimarr. 

I wasn't the biggest fan of Grimarr in a lot of ways either. He spent a lot of time with tears streaking down his cheeks. That's fine, he can be emotional, but he's also an orc. 

I think that's the biggest thing to me, you expect orcs to be a certain way, and in a lot of ways he was but there was an aspect of it that just didn't sit right with me. It wasn't anything bad per se, just wasn't my cup of tea. 

I found the way that some orcs spoke modern English and others like they were from an old time fantasy novel to be weird and incongruous. I understand the author was trying to go for showing that some orcs had accents while others spoke perfect common but it was jarring when reading it and all of a sudden the characters are speaking like modern people with modern slang and swearing. It just took me out of the story. 

Finally, the sex. For the most part it wasn't bad but it wasn't that hot either. Lots of seed gushing everywhere, lots of giant orc peni, lots of farming metaphors, lots of "getting you with child." and so on. Of special note is the butt sex. 

Let me just take an aside to talk about this. For some reason a lot romance or erotica authors feel the need to put in butt sex. Seemingly randomly. Maybe they think it's edgy but I don't know how many times in an otherwise vanilla book you'll just have this random butt sex thrown in, usually towards the end. 

I recognize this is a thing that some people like and it is sexy to them. That's fine. You do you, boo. I usually skip these sections in recognition of that and move on with life. 

However,  I need to mention It here because we have just spent almost the entire book hearing about how massive this orc's penis is. Like not just huge, I'm talking yuuuuugee. It was deeply disturbing to me that he put that massive tree trunk in her, ah, "back door" without any issue. No tearing, no pain, no lasting effects, just insane orgasims. Look, that's just ridiculous. "But Honniker," you might be saying "you're reading a book of Orc smut." yes, yes I am and there are some things I just can't suspend my disbelief for- massive orc dick in a human anus being one of them. 

Moving on, even though it sounds like there was a lot I didn't like about this book, and that I had a lot to say about it I did pretty much enjoy my time with it. As I said, it's not the worst thing I've read and it was a decent introduction to this subgenre. I think a lot of what I didn't like was more personal opinion, than mechanical or writing issue so I still recommend this book if you are into this genre. 

The Colony: Faith and Blood in a Promised Land by Sally Denton

emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.25

This book was interesting in the way it detailed the history of polygamist Mormons in Mexico. It was an aspect of the  Mormon history I had not read about. It's a little unsatisfying just because there are a lot of unknown details about the 2019 murders that frame this book. 

I will say at the end, the author tries to make a case for the role women play in the Mexican colonies, but it felt a little forced because most of the book felt like it was more about an overarching history than women specifically, despite having a couple chapters focusing on the stories of two of the author's female ancestors. 

I would still recommend this book, however because it details a lot about the polygamist exodus to Mexico and some of the feuds that have shaped their culture.

We Went to the Woods by Caite Dolan-Leach

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

It wasn't a horrible book. I liked the premise that these young people were out there starting a collective. Mack was oblivious though and due to that a lot of action takes place off the page. As a result the climax felt somewhat lacking. 

I also don't think this book will age well as the other inserted a few things, the 2016 election for example, that date it a bit. In my opinion  that should've been left out to give this a more evergreen feel. 

Preacher's Rage by J.A. Johnstone, William W. Johnstone

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I don't really read westerns so from that aspect, this was an interesting way to mix it up a bit. I will say the characters weren't the best developed, especially Butterfly who was the last interesting character.

I did like that even though this was part of a series I believe, it worked well as a standalone. There werent pages and pages of how people were connected and previous events were mentioned without a lot of exposition. Just a sentence and then move on. 

I don't really read westerns as I said so I can't say that this is a good example of the genre. It was a decent story though and I don't regret reading it. 

Coyote v. Acme by Ian Frazier

funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

This is a short story collection. It was recommended to my due to the titular story. The stories were okay, but honestly I don't think they have aged very well. They are out there, but not in a good way. I honestly don't recommend this collection, though I do recommend some of Frazier's other works such as "On the Rez" and "In Siberia."

An Honorable Gentleman by Regina Scott

emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a cute story with a bit of a mystery that held my attention. The plot was decent and the romance was cute. I did find Gwen rather overbearing and annoying at times and felt like that could have been dialed back just a bit. Her nosiness in everyday life would really get on a person's nerves-- but all in all this was a great little book to pass the time and I recommend it.

The First Love by Beverly Lewis

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book didn't go the way I thought it would. It was definitely more of a reflective story than a drama, or anything like that. I actually didn't mind too much. It was kind of a slower pace, even though it didn't take me long to read as it followed Maggie's journey of deeper faith. Even the romance played second fiddle to that development of her character. The book was fairly well written.

Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The only reason this gets almost four stars is that this book has some of the hottest sex scenes I've ever read. There is just something about the way Kkeypas describes them and drags them out that is excellent. I understand why she is such a popular author in the romance community.

I did take off from my rating because the ending of the book felt weird. Almost like it was kind of tacked on and there were two completely different people. 

I did feel bad for Mr. Hartley. Sometime I want to read a romance novel where the nice guy gets the girl. I'll definitely be exploring more of Ms. Kkeypas's backlog. 

Born into the Children of God by Natacha Tormey

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

This was another heartbreaking story of a girl who grew up in The Children of God. Out of all my readings about many different cults, I would say The Children of God is probably one of the most destructive. It is insane to me how much damage it did to the second generation, the children who were born into it and that just keeps getting confirmed the more I read about it. I appreciate Natacha's willingness to open up and tell her story so the rest of us know the horrors and perhaps are able to keep it from happening again.