Sirius and I join forces at Dear Author today to review The Devil Lancer by Astrid Amara. It’s a paranormal queer romance set during the Crimean War. I wanted to like it more than I did.
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I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Thunder and Roses by Mary Jo Putney, narrated by Peter Bishop. I thought the narration was average but the story brought back fond reading memories.
Why I read it: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) As Reapers Motorcycle Club president, Reese “Picnic” Hayes has given his entire life to the club. After losing his wife, he knew he’d never love another woman. And with two daughters to raise and a club to manage, that was just fine with him. These days, Reese keeps his relationships free and easy—he definitely doesn’t want to waste his time on a glorified cleaning lady like London Armstrong.
Too bad he’s completely obsessed with her.
Besides running her own business, London’s got her junkie cousin’s daughter to look after—a more reckless than average eighteen-year-old. Sure she’s attracted to the Reapers’ president, but she’s not stupid. Reese Hayes is a criminal and a thug. But when her young cousin gets caught up with a ruthless drug cartel, Reese might be the only man who can help her. Now London has to make the hardest decision of her life—how far will she go to save her family?
Trigger warnings: I have hidden them because some are spoilerish.
Spoiler
pregnancy loss for one of the characters, violence against both men and women, rape (off page) of a female character, some violence between Reese and London including some rough, dub-con sex.
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What worked for me (and what didn’t): Reese “Picnic” Hayes has been a fascinating character right from the beginning. As President of the local chapter of the Reapers MC he doesn’t turn a hair at violent and illegal behaviour. He’s also a loving dad and, up until the death of his wife, Heather, from breast cancer, a devoted husband. After Heather’s death, Reese became a total manwhore. He’d screw any willing woman, didn’t want a relationship – actively discouraged any such thinking and was convinced that there would never be another “old lady” for him.
Most of you will probably already know this. (I haven’t had a chance to get to the computer for a day or two to update the blog.) But better late than never as they say.
Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books has started up a Dear Author/Jane Litte defence fund at Go Fund Me.
Here are the details, from Sarah’s post:
Many people have been asking if and how they can contribute to Dear Author and Jane Litte’s legal defense in the defamation suit filed against her.
Consequently, and at Jane’s request, I have established and am administering The Dear Author Jane Litte Legal Defense Fund.
Why a fund?
Because lawsuits are expensive (that’s why they’re so often used as a threat, if you’ve ever wondered).
Because of that, and because the duration of the litigation is undetermined, Jane will need financial assistance. Jane’s attorney, Marc Randazza, is contributing by discounting his hourly rate. Even with a generous discount, it’s still expensive.
Jane Litte has set aside $20,000.00 of her own funds to fight this defamation suit and has paid the large retainer out of that amount, but that money will be depleted quickly as the case progresses.
How do I contribute?
If you’d like to donate to the legal fund, you can follow this link to the GoFundMe site, and make your donation. Please note: these are NOT tax deductible donations, as this is NOT a 501(c)3 not-for-profit
entity.All funds will be used for Jane’s legal defense, minus the fees charged by GoFundMe, and because Jane does not know what the end result will be, she has no way of knowing what the total amount required will be. If the fees do not exceed $20,000, we will attempt to refund the donations per the GoFundMe policies. Countries with the following currencies are supported: $ USD, £ GBP, $ CAD, $ AUD and € EUR. I also want to make it clear that I will receive absolutely zero money for this project, and other than as administrator, I’m not involved in the litigation of this case. I’m the administrator of the fund itself at Jane’s request, but all donations go to Jane’s legal defense. If there are any funds left over when the suit is finished, they will be donated to the Society of Professional Journalists Legal Defense Fund.
Anonymous donations are accepted, and we will not reveal your identity if you chose to donate anonymously.
It may seem that because $20,000 is an enormous amount of money (and it is), that additional funds are not required. I would not have set up the legal defense fund if that were the case. Any amount that you can contribute is most appreciated. Thank you.
At the time of writing, the fund was already up to more than $44,000 which is AMAZING and AWESOME and shows how passionately bloggers and readers feel about free speech and about Jane’s contribution to the romance community.
Sonoma Lass also has a post about alternate ways to donate if Go Fund Me is a problem for you (and I understand if it is). My understanding is that Go Fund Me was chosen as the best of the practical alternatives for such a large funding goal with the big ticket item being an easy way of refunding the donations if they are not needed. In any event, you can use the PayPal address as suggested by Sonoma Lass or contact Sarah Wendell at Sarah AT SmartBitchesTrashyBooks DOT com.
Also, for some light entertainment (things have been so heavy lately, no?) I present to you this. Get out the popcorn (maybe also really tiny violins) and enjoy the meltdown.
#NOTCHILLED (STILL)
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Riding Dirty by Jill Sorenson. A somewhat different take on MC (Motorcycle Club) books and super hot. I liked it.
I posted here about the lawsuit Ellora’s Cave and Jaid Black have taken against Dear Author and Jane Litte. Jane has requested assistance from Ellora’s Cave authors, editors and cover artists who have not been paid.
Courtney Milan has also posted about Jane’s request and makes an offer of her own for those who are worried about the confidentiality clauses in their contracts with Ellora’s Cave.
I don’t have any information which will help Jane. Boosting the signal (slightly) is about all I can do, so I’m doing that.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
