Kissing Lessons - Susan Laine A sweet read and I never knew so many different names for kissing. I loves the romantic build and of course the learning experience with the characters.

Skyships Over Innsmouth is the latest book from Susan Laine. It's an interesting take off on a post-apocalyptic world meeting H.P. Lovecraft. And it works.

 

Dev is the captain of the Smoke Swallow, a scout airship from Canal City, looking for resources to replenish the dwindling stores as well as survivors of the Cataclysm. With his crew: Shay, the scholar, Malia, the fighter, Stork, the jack of all trades, and Wren, the youngest member of the crew, and another one who jumps in wherever needed.

 

Our crew sets off to find a mystical city. One only talked about in books. It never appears on any map, and even the books on it seem vague about any details. But they are determined to find Innsmouth, MA. And to unlock any secrets it may hold, including why its location is so secret.

 

The crew finds Innsmouth, and descends to the ground, leaving Wren aboard ship. Just in case of trouble. And trouble finds them shortly, in the guise of a young girl. A girl who looks oddly like a mix of human and fish? Malia is taken by the residents of Innsmouth, and Dev and Shay wet out to find her, with the help of Stork.

 

It is revealed that Innsmouth is a dream city. Or rather, a nightmare city, populated mostly by frightening hybrids of humans with fish, and a few hybrids of humans and other animals. And a few other beings that defy explanation.

 

Skyships Over Innsmouth borrows very heavily from the Lovecraftian universe, using locations, stories, and beings that were popularized by Lovecraft and his fellows. As such, there are things in the book that don't make lots of sense, unless you've got a little bit of knowledge of the lore. Non Euclidian geometry is touched on, as well as you can describe something that can't exist in our grasp of the universe, but not explained.And that bit of the book is difficult to wrap ones head around, but only because of the descriptions of how that "style" of geometry could look.

 

There's much more to this book, but going much deeper will take away from the mind bogglingness of it. But there is some lovely non-explicit romance, that isn't tiptoed around. It's very obvious what's going on, but there's no explicit sex, which was interesting and very well written. I was very pleased with the book, and how it juggled the two realms of existence. And the wink and nod to other Lovecraftian stories was great.

 

Skyships Over Innsmouth should be put on your to-read list if you're a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, Lovecraftian fiction, LGBTQIA fiction, old school horror, and just plain weird creepy fiction. I give it two fins up. And a couple tentacles as well.

Book – Skyships Over Innsmouth
Author – Susan Laine
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 200

Cover – Gorgeous!
POV – 3rd person, multi-POV
Would I read it again – No

Genre – LGBT, Steampunk, Science Fiction, Horror


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



DISCLOSURE: I had never read a Lovecraft novel, and didn't know it was going to be paramount to my understand of this story, so I ended up being really confused, thinking this was all the author's original concept, until countless reviews told me otherwise (after I'd written my own, of course). This is why it's a 3 star and not a 2, as it would normally be. I'm pretty sure Lovecraft fans would love this, but I'm not a fan and I didn't love it; perhaps for this reason or maybe just because it didn't work on its own merit.


While the overall story has merit in terms of old classic horror, in the style of Lovecraft (as the author implies), the rest is just a little too garishly ridiculous for my taste. I've marked it a 3, because I'm sure diehard fans of Lovecraft and old horror might enjoy it, but for me, it just didn't work as an overall, cohesive, captivating story.

I've read quite a few Susan Laine books by now and they're a little lopsided for me – I either love them or feel completely ambivalent about them. This one falls into the second category. Although parts of it were good – the first 45% and moments thereafter – there was just no cohesiveness to the plot, the horror aspects felt sort of stolen from the greats of the genre, even mentioning Lovecraft and Derleth multiple times and the characters sort of became second fiddle to the Innsmouth aspect of the story.

There were aliens, tentacles, zombie-like creatures and squids, skyships, amnesia and more. It was just far too much for one story to handle. And, honestly, the horror wasn't scary or frightening, but overdone and over-exaggerated. I found most of it predictable and the rest fancifully ridiculous.

With monologues all over the place and a pair of male MC's that were will-they-wont-they, there was already a lot to keep track of. But then Malia came into the picture, as the only female, but a very unlikeable, unrelateable character, who was borish, rude and marginalized others at the drop of a hat. Her POV scenes were quite a challenge to read, even though she was a character central to the forwarding of the plot.

Again, there were hints of other horror books/movies included here – a little of The Ring, Lovecraft, Derleth, an Ancient Egyptian twist reminiscent of Stargate, even a little hint of The Hills Have Eyes.

By 45% I started skim reading. I normally wouldn't, for a book I'm reviewing, but this one really was a challenge to read and, honestly, by 45% I could see it ending within a chapter or two, as a short story, while wrapping up the plot and giving us a suitable ending. However, it dragged on to the very end, about 98%, and just became more and more elaborate as it went.

Oh, and the end location (not telling you, in case you read it) just added the cherry to the top of the ridiculousness. That one really made me glad I'd skimmed most of the action/adventure aspect in the second half of the book, because it warned me that there might very well be another book in this world and I'm not going to read it.

~

Overall, I think Laine just tried far too hard to emulate the likes of Lovecraft and classic horror novels. Perhaps if the plot had been simplified and the over-exaggeration of danger every second, twists and turns in every chapter.

Good as Gold - Susan Laine Book – Good as Gold (Heroes at Heart #4)
Author – Susan Laine
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 57

Cover – Nice
POV – 1st person, one character
Would I read it again – Maybe.

Genre – LGBT, Writing, Contemporary, Romance, Serial


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine


For me, this was a story of two halves. The actual emotional aspects of the story – the plot, the relationship etc – took me way back to book 1 and how authentic and evocative these two characters could be. However, the other aspect – the sex – felt so foreign and almost as though someone else wrote it. That part of the story wasn't true to the characters at all.

Maybe it's been too long since I read the rest of the series, but some parts felt almost as though another author picked up the story to fill in the gaps with things that these characters wouldn't say or do. The dirty sex talk especially didn't fit them at all. All the sex scenes felt disconnected from the rest of the story. There were even some over the top descriptions – like pointing out that a nudge is done with a hand and that the heart lies behind the ribcage – that felt forced and not at all like the genius I know Susan Laine's writing to be.

On the plus side, the story really did take me back to book one. The issue of plagiarism is a real threat to all authors out there, but to have it done so callously, in Yancy's face, by someone he knew, is worse than an anonymous computer screen, because it could have been prevented and it's much more personal. At the same time, exploration of how to prove intellectual property theft is a sticky road and one that not many people can successfully navigate. It was nice to see some vindication for all the faceless talent that Hume stole from, as well, which is something that doesn't always happen in the real world. Just because someone is accused of plagiarism and one author can prove it, doesn't mean that the others in the past can or will get their just credit for their work.

Though I do think it's an exaggeration to state that Yancy felt suicidal, at the thought of someone stealing his book – considering the amount of times he's never really understood the darkness inside of Curt and how positive he's always been – I do know how heartbreaking it can be. Especially about a story so close to his heart. But, comparing what he felt after having his work stolen to what Curt went through in book one was a little too much for me. Yancy's pain was so fleeting and could have been avoided had he only properly questioned how Hume knew where he lived and what his motives for such extravagant behaviour were. Curt, on the other hand, had no real control over his thoughts – shown frequently throughout the series, because of his depressive nature.

The way Yancy constantly compared his situation to Curt's made it feel wrong – as though he was lessening the constant, crippling pain Curt had been in that day. I'm not saying that Yancy wasn't depressed, but he showed no real suicidal thoughts or inclinations, besides one fleeting thought of how he didn't know he'd continue, if he couldn't get his story back. The two, for me, can never compare.

I still feel a little cheated that it ended at 88%, though.

~

Overall, it was great to go back to the roots of these characters, who finally felt more authentic to book one than some of the other books in the series (if you ignore the sex scenes entirely). Sure, there are spelling and grammar issues (it is an ARC after all) and one instance where a laptop on a cushion, sitting on Yancy's knee, mysteriously disappears. Those things happen and will no doubt be addressed before publishing.

But, the bones are great. The plot is believeable and well formed. The addition, at the end, of how Curt's career is continuing and taking off, along with a follow-up of how Yancy's career has taken off, makes me think this could be the last novel for these guys. And, I'd hope so.

After everything they've been through, it would be nice to end on a positive note.

Yellowbelly Hero - Susan Laine Book – Yellowbelly Hero (Heroes at Heart #1)
Author – Susan Laine
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 82
Cover – Simple, effective
POV – 1st person, past tense, 1 character POV
Would I read it again – Yes!

Genre – LGBT, Suicide, Contemporary, College


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine


To start with, I want to say just how much I loved this story. I mean, it tackled a really difficult topic – suicide – and did it with sensitivity and understanding that you don't often see in books.

I'll admit, I'm not fond of characters talking to readers, so I'm really not a fan of 1st person, but this one grew on me after a while. It was important to see things from Yancy's POV and I liked that it didn't stray from him, to show Curt's POV. Although this was his story, it wouldn't have been as effective had it been in his POV.

The entire story takes place over one night, but it didn't feel as if it was stretched out on purpose, just that these two people had a lot to say and a lot of issues to confront.

I really liked the pelvic exercise scene. It was so cute and funny, allowing for a more understanding view of Yancy's nervous bladder condition, as well as a moment of levity. It was nice how they both gave a little and took what they needed from the conversation, sharing parts of each other, while skirting around the bigger issue until they were ready to open up.

I also really liked how this wasn't your stereotypical Jock-Geek story. This time, the Jock is the vulnerable, unsure one and the Geek is the hero, showing up just in time to save the day.

Yay for Will, too. It's so nice to see that, among the talk of homophobic parents and accusations that Curt had to deal with, he has someone on his side. I also like how the author dealt with Curt's realisation of what he'd almost done and how Will would have felt, upon discovering that.

~

So, why is it not a 5 star? Because, for some reason, “The End” has become obsolete in the MM genre, including here. When I reached 72% of the story, I expected another 20% at least of content. What I got was 47 pages of adverts. 28% of adverts! Now, I'm sorry, but I'm already a fan of this author and if I want to read more of their books, I can look them up on a dozen different websites. I don't need a list of every book they've ever published, along with the blurb and book cover of all the books. I gets even more annoying when I've already read half of them.

Why does this require docking a star? Because, although I assume this is the publisher's doing, I'll admit, I felt cheated out of the story. I had hoped for some glimpses of the next morning or something more, to fill those 47 pages with, but I never got it. The story ended with a HFN, but it felt like there was something missing and that it ended a little too abruptly.

~

Favourite Quote

“A jock and a geek getting it on? Wasn't that at the top of the list of things that suggested hell had frozen over or the world was about to implode over its impossibility?”