When it comes to sensuality, Strange Attractions is beyond burning. Unfortunately it’s also beyond boring. At one point, I realized that I was almost halfway thorough it and literally nothing had happened. Luckily, at about that point, there’s a passage in which B.G. explains particle physics to the heroine and I read it gratefully as…
Cupid.com is supposed to be a wacky paranormal comedy with Cupid himself behind the hijinks. Unfortunately, both Cupid and the plot are out of the picture for most of the book, and the laughs feel incredibly forced. Chloe Phillips is the head of Creative Investments, a business that markets small inventions. Her father gave her…
When it’s done well, fantasy and science fiction can be breathtaking, twisting the constraints with which humans see themselves and their world. Amateurish SF/F, however, reads like a high schooler’s first attempt at writing after getting stoned and playing Dungeons and Dragons. The first three quarters of Virtual Warrior reads, unfortunately, like the latter; the…
No one could ever accuse Susan Squires of being in a rut. Danegeld, her first book, was a Dark Ages Medieval about the Saxons and Vikings. Her second, Sacrament, involved a vampire during the Regency. Now she tackles artificial intelligence in the near future. Victoria “Vic” Barnhardt works for Visimorph, a Microsoft-like corporation, run by…
I’d never read an Arabesque book before but I wasn’t disappointed. Angela Winters tells a pretty riveting story in Know by Heart, and while I couldn’t relate exactly to the discriminatory problems faced by the lead characters, I did find them to be interesting and involving. Both the hero and heroine of this story are…
After I fell in love with Mr. Maybe I was very interested in reading more stuff by Jane Green, so I asked if I could review Jemima J too. Jemima J was actually last year’s book. It came out in hardcover in America in 2000, and has been recently released in trade paperback. It contained…
As in The Veiled Web, author Asaro once again delves into a future where artificial intelligence is a reality with all the moral and ethical dilemmas it brings. Dr. Megan O’Flannery is an expert in the field of artificial intelligence, particularly where androids are concerned. When MindSim offers her the chance to head the team…
I’m giving a really good grade to a book about a scientist who decides to make the perfect man out of plastic. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. Josie Farrington is a biochemist for a toy company that makes lifelike dolls. She is the inventor of a substance that looks, feels, and responds…
If you are a romance fan who is considering trying some science fiction, Catherine Asaro’s latest book, The Veiled Web, is a great place to start. It has a satisfying science fiction plot but emphasizes the relationship between the two main characters to the point where the science fiction aspect seems almost secondary. <!– var…
They said it couldn’t be done in a romance novel. Then they said that if someone did write it, no one would read it; it wouldn’t be commercial. Who are they? Both readers and writers who posted to romance listservs on the internet saying that a heroine couldn’t have an abortion in a romance novel…