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I am at Wiscon, whoo! Unfortunately, the hotel room is not yet ready, so I am camping out on the second floor with Tiny Laptop. Oh Tiny Laptop, how I adore you. However, soon I shall have to move to find a plug...

I was on the same plan from Chicago as sparkymonster and we shared stories of cracktastic paranormal romances on the way from the Madison airport to the hotel. She has now convinced me that I must read book one of Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, because I thought the entire series was all about the Psy-Changeling conflict with assassinations and whatnot, but the first book has this AND condo-planning for Changeling societies! I, on the other hand, have been trying to convince people to read Sherry Thomas (I got the newest one yesterday and have already finished) and Joey Hill's cracktastic evil mermaid-angel book. With zombie dinosaurs.

Have already said hi to Timmi and Tempest as well, and now must go off to find power...

Beverley, Jo - Forbidden

Serena Riverton was forced to marry Randy Matthew Riverton for money when she was fifteen; he trained his young bride in all sorts of debauched ways. He's finally died, and her brothers want to marry her off to someone else. Serena runs off rather than marry again, and is rescued by Francis, Lord Middlethorpe. As an attempt to repay him and keep him with her, she basically molests him, rapes him, and takes his virginity in the middle of the night, as she believes all men want sex always.

I tried reading this many years ago and didn't finish because I had wanted Serena to be icier and colder than she was. Despite her sexual experience, she and Francis are both very much like ingenues. Serena has no idea how to deal with people who are not cruel to her, and Francis has no idea what to do with this lovely stranger he should probably leave.

I very much like Serena and Francis, particularly how Francis is not your average alpha male, and it's especially interesting to see a guy who is not in control of the sex scenes at all. However, much of the book is taken up with an incredibly stupid series of Big Misunderstandings that had me rolling my eyes the entire time, and then Serena meets the Company of Rogues. There are entirely too many of them, and I did not need to see all the former couples being happily couple-y or how much amassed social power the group has.

I was also unsure at first as to how I felt about Serena and Francis playing at bondage after her experience with Matthew, but I think that I like how it says that it's not the sexual practices that are wrong—I hate the romance shorthand of indicating someone is villainous by showing their non-vanilla sex life—but it's a matter of how it is done and with whom.

I'm still not sure Beverley is for me, particularly given the massive sequelitis, but this one is interesting in spite of its flaws.

Links:
- rilina's review (vaguely spoilery)
- rachelmanija's review

Shounen manga panel!

Okay, I have checked the schedule, and by the completely random means, how does 1:00-2:15 on Saturday sound for people?

Yep, Laurence - Dragon of the Lost Sea quartet

(Dragon of the Lost Sea, Dragon Steel, Dragon Cauldron, and Dragon War)

I read the third book a very long time ago as a kid and still remember being affected by its ending. It's nice to finally read the entire thing!

Shimmer is a dragon princess of the Lost Sea, so called because the evil witch Civet boiled it away. She's on a quest to reclaim her home, although she's not particularly in the good graces of her uncle, the king of the dragons. On her way, she meets the poor boy Thorn, and together, they look for the cauldron. But unfortunately for them, they do as much wrong on their quest as they do right.

This reads a little young for me now: it's probably aimed toward 8-12 year old readers, not the high school YA I usually read. Because of that, some of the difficulties are solved faster than I would have liked, and some problems are less in depth than they would be. However, as noted before, I remember reading the third one as a kid and loving it. Part of it was because books 3 and 4 are narrated by the irrepressible Monkey, who is as mischievous as always and having fun while his master the Old Boy (kind of like Xuanzang/Tripitaka but not quite? hard to tell).

Still, I love the relationship between Shimmer and Thorn the most. She's arrogant and prickly and not inclined to accept help, and he's always there for her, but underappreciated. The group dynamic also changes when they add people later, although for me, the Shimmer/Thorn friendship is at the heart of the series.

Yep uses a lot of Chinese mythology in this, from the dragons to Monkey and possible the Snail Woman and the Lord of the Flowers. I don't think the last two are from mythology, though I could be wrong, but I do think the Snail Woman's fan is out of Journey to the West. There's war and betrayal and sacrifice and sibling rivalry and lots of shapeshifting, and I would very much give this to lots of kids, particularly if they're looking for non-Western fantasy.