The Bog of Lost Scholars

When I won the Smart Bitches’ Duncan’s Big Misunderstanding contest, in addition to a title, I received a $25 Amazon gift certificate. So it seemed only fitting that I use it to try an author who receives strong reviews on SBTB, P.C. Cast. I bought four of her books and have read two so far, Goddess of Light and Goddess of Spring.

These two books are in Cast’s mythology series — mortal women find love with Greek deities. In Goddess of Spring, Lina, a baker from Tulsa, makes a deal with Demeter to inhabit Persephone’s body and spend six months in the underworld, while Persephone inhabits her body and saves her bakery from bankruptcy; while in the underworld, Lina falls in love with Hades. Goddess of Light takes interior decorator Pamela to Las Vegas, where she meets and falls for Apollo.

I’m glad I read Light first, even though it’s later in the series, as I found Spring the better book. Both books have interesting heroines with strong personalities, entertaining secondary characters, and steamy sex scenes; both books are a lot of fun to read. But both books also use the idea of soulmates, which I’ve grown rather allergic to in my old age; I tolerated it better in Spring than in Light. Also, the resolution in Light didn’t quite work for me. It was certainly a different and unexpected way to finally get the couple together on terms that would work for Pamela, but it wasn’t satisfying for me as a reader; to me it left too many other things hanging. I wanted to know how Vee handled the events, and there’s never any hint thereof; I also wasn’t entirely clear on what the long-run results of the arrangement would be. Both books were worth reading, and Spring is staying in my keeper pile, but Light I’m not so sure about.

Loretta Chase, Lord Perfect. This is another one where I kinda wish I’d waited long enough for the review to get fuzzy in my mind before reading the book. Too many things from the SBTB review were in my head as I was reading, and I found it hard to form an independent opinion on the setup. Still, it was a fun romp, and the characters mostly acted believably. I’m not sure I’ll buy a copy, but it was worth getting from the library.

Patricia C. Wrede and Carole Stevermer, The Mislaid Magician (in spite of the fact that I haven’t yet finished The Grand Tour). Delightful. No-longer-Regency fantasy. Go read it.

Rosylyn Hardy Holcomb, Rock Star. An interracial romance between a woman who owns a bookstore and a man who’s a rock musician. While I found the writing occasionally clunky or charcters being way too psychologically aware to be believable, overall it was a fun story; the characters were interesting, and the author doesn’t gloss over the real problems the couple faces. (Plus, when Callie says to Bryan that the Alabama-Auburn game is practically a religious holiday and that everyone in the state basically sides with one or the other, Holcomb revealed her high Alabama Cred. It didn’t surprise me afterwards to read the bio and find that she herself is from Alabama.)

Deborah Bergman, The Knitting Goddess. Note to people writing how-to books for new knitters: If the first thing you’ve taught is garter stitch, and you’re following that with how to fix a dropped stitch, take the extra effort to explain how you pick up a dropped stitch in garter stitch rather than in stockinette. Note 2: Almost every gauge label I’ve seen on a yarn is for stockinette stitch; your gauge in garter stitch is almost certainly going to be different in at least one dimension if not both. It’s okay to mention gauge early, but when you’re talking about gauge on a yarn label, wait until you’ve introduced stockinette.

In other words, I absolutely would not recommend this book to a brand-new knitter looking for a learn-to-knit book; it’ll leave them thoroughly confused. And while the patterns seem simple enough, they call for some pretty darn pricey yarn — an experienced knitter will know how to substitute, or if they love the called-for yarn, will have the knowhow to make something that doesn’t waste their $50-$150, but a completely new knitter could end up with an expensive tangle.

That said, the retellings of myths are quite good, so if you’re a knitter with pagan leanings or interested in mythology, it’s worth reading for the stories. And I could see making the Athena cowl (though in a different and cheaper yarn), which might justify checking the book out from the library again sometime. But I don’t plan to buy a copy.

I’m quite likely, however, to buy a copy of Loretta Chase’s Miss Wonderful. Alistair Carsington and Mirabel Oldridge clash over the building of a canal through Mirabel’s town, but fall in love nonetheless. I love the characters, and the steamy bits are quite steamy. There are a few plot bits that I didn’t care for — the villainous character is a generic ass, and I think the story could have been made novel-length and the tension raised without using him at all. Overall, though, it’s a good story.