Feisty Occasional Sluth
595668
I've been reading this author for quite some time.  I really like her.  I enjoyed this short story because it shows Emma Winberry as having a lot of fight in her.
2732424
Frank exhibits knowledge of the haunts of Buffalo and back rooms of Washington in writing this mildly entertaining novel about an amoral right of center columnist clawing his pen hand through the boudoirs and dinner parties to the heights of Washington journalism. Sprinkling JB Priestly and Satchel Paige quotes and an opaque high tone writing style, the narrator takes on a George Will flavor in obscure rhetoric describing his miserable every day life; he even becomes a commentator on a Sunday talk show to complete the circle. As it was bound to happen, ruination befalls the priapic little twit; jealousy abounds, dreams are lost, columns cancelled, divorces, abandonments, and a less than sanguine ending. At the end, one question: was this a revenge book?
2487922
It's interesting that the main character, Tressa, is described by some readers as "wimpish" and  others as "feisty". I mean, can you have both in the same package?
That said, I detest heroines who are ineffectual and wimpy, and I didn't find Tressa to be either. She's usually ready with a snappy comeback even under the worst of circumstances, and she finds herself dealing with plenty of those.
The story is probably a little far-fetched, but it's meant to be a light hearted read. I've read reviews of so many other books which claim that the book is funny and that you will be ROTFL, and yet I haven't raised a smile throughout said book, so it was refreshing to find a novel that actually DOES make me laugh.
Also refreshing to read a book with a modern romance and appropriate related sexual references but no actual sex scenes. I don't need to read the mechanics unless it has something to do with the story, so I'm happier when the author leaves those parts to the imagination. In this respect I think the author got the balance just right.
I do have one query with the story; if Tressa has two jobs and minimal expenses, since she seems to have a frugal lifestyle, why is she always so hard up?
2335828
This was a reasonably entertaining read, but I have to be honest and say I wasn't wowed. I found it steady, drawn out and parts of it felt like a bit of a dig at authors who write what the book is entitled, and the readers who enjoy it.

In terms of things I enjoyed, it was heat-filled, amusing in parts and I did like some of the verbal sparring between Blake and Amanda, although she did come over as rather mean at times and he crude. But the plus points were overshadowed by the parts that didn't work so well for me and they took the shine off what started out as a decent read. Namely:

- Wasn't at all keen on the digs about one-star reviews and the opinions on those who do give one-stars ratings. And higher rated reviews for that matter: "grain of salt"? Really? I don't write reviews for an author.

- Blake is from Yorkshire. Now I wasn't expecting him to don a flat cap and have a whippet in tow (I am being stereotypical of my own people here) but his speech wasn't reflective of a bloke who grew up in Yorkshire.

- Overall it had an air of privilege about it.

I will be honest and I contemplated DNF'ing and giving it one-star, because some of the thoughts in here are clearly personal. I'm not saying I don't agree but there's a place for it. But when you've read 75% of a book you may as well finish and it was steamy, did make me laugh a couple of times and I refuse to give anyone the satisfaction of labelling me what the author labels one-star reviewers.
3451986
PLOT OR PREMISE:
This time around Plum's got a dandy assignment: pick up Uncle Mo, the owner of the local soda shop who everybody thinks is a saint. He got picked up for carrying a concealed weapon (which everybody says is no real crime at all) and promptly jumps bail for no apparent reason. She no sooner asks the first person about Mo's whereabouts, and lo and behold, her mom is getting complaints about her harassing poor Uncle Mo. Ah, life is just peachy. Add in a couple of vigilante types who keep warning her away from Mo, some more involvement with Jackie and Lulu (the hookers from book one), and life gets interesting.
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WHAT I LIKED:
I liked the expansion of the various characters again. As well, its kind of fun to see the relationship develop between Joe and Stephanie, even if it is romance-by-the-book. :) The grandmother is less pronounced in this one but Lulu more than makes up for it as she wants to kick butt too. Ranger is definitely an interesting presence, and fun for everyone.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
This book is a little more hard-boiled, complete with lots of guns blazing, and some harder-core motives for stuff. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it detracts a bit from the otherwise amusing antics of Stephanie as she is still learning the ropes about being a bounty-hunter.
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.
1686144
There is an enjoyable thread to this story, and while the protagonist has clever moments, he behaves childishly and acts on impulse too often. The historical theme is good, but could have been deeper.
2566745
Cheating carries such a stigma that I rather admire anyone willing to dissect it and advertise it. One point in Wendy Plump's favour is that she doesn't get too hung up on the moralities -- she broke her vows, her husband broke his, and she doesn't dwell on the wrongness of it, just the lead-up and the consequences.

The best bits in "Vow" are when some action is taking place, however mild, such as Plump meeting the men with whom she cheats, the discovery of her husband's affair and its depth, the communication with the other woman -- events that show progression, a story moving forward. Her own transition from other woman to woman scorned and her struggle to come to terms with it is interesting -- again, progression, moving her story and the reader forward. The parts about marriage counseling and her parents' marriage were great.

However, there are sections in which Plump just chatters, and those I can do without. I don't need to know that her family argues like champions around the holiday table. I don't need little asides in parentheses that are meant to add humour, but I personally found tiresome and self-indulgent. There are times when "Vow" is a bit preachy and wordy and I was impatient to get back to the events, rather than listen to Plump's musings.

All in all, not bad. I think "Vow" could have been meatier and looked at the overall state of marriage in the U.S. today, various trends in when people get married, get divorced, commentary from marriage experts (whatever that means, but there's an expert for everything these days). But perhaps that's a book for someone else to write.
1272490
The story itself, when Rand sticks to it, is entertaining. She lets her characters go off into long philosophical rants that aren't the least bit believable as dialogue. Character motivations and their actions also strain credulity. The center third of the book, in particular, sags, and could use some editing. The closest thing to a likable character is Roark, but it's hard to root for someone who seems to constantly do the thing that's in his worst self-interest. Plus it's hard to get past that one violent act he commits. Worth a read, but take all the Objectivism mambo-jumbo with a grain of salt.
1618032
In general, I enjoyed this book.  Designing and building a boat from bottle corks is quite an accomplishment, even with an author who is more than slightly self-absorbed.

I believe that this work would have been much better served as a light-hearted and humorous discourse; as the author's political ranting contributed nothing to the content and in my opinion served to diminish the overall content.  The boat was constructed on a whimsy and by taking advantage of an opportunity.  And not, so near as I can tell, as a political statement.

Raised in the elitist environment of academics and political activism, the author is unfortunately unable to separate either himself or his boat from such.  With the resulting narrow focus and rigid weltschauung, even a very good writer will too often end up sounding both condescending and cavalier.  When the author launches his next monograph he might want to consider leaving his politics on the dock.
1522547
A Newer Testament: Misanthropology Unleashed by Reneau H Reneau is a jumbled mess of sometimes humorous and sometimes asinine attempts at intelligent (or pseudo-intelligent, just as likely an option) gibberish. It isn't that it makes no sense, it just isn't worth making sense from. There are some fun passages but they tend to get buried under the writer's strain to be clever.

If you don't mind reading a short easy to read book for the small portions of humor I think this might well be worth your time. I didn't dislike it, I wasn't baffled by it, I just found it a bit too strained in its attempts at sounding both clever and funny. Borderline juvenile at times but that was not too bad.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing.
3140860
Fun and quirky characters make this a readable tale, even if the trope of being jilted at the altar seems a bit overdone. The characters are believable and comical, but some of the situations struck me as contrived. I tend to prefer unpredictable and literary. Happy endings are great, but I prefer character-driven to plot-driven stories. Check the Kindle Shared Highlights page, and you'll see that I found lots of great lines in this story.
2258258
This book is a series of vignettes interspersed with the author's experiences with dating after a divorce.  I found the stories to be humorous, as I come from a world view of a male who has been married for a couple of decades.  I suspect that, if I were single, I would find the stories perhaps humorous, but also a bit disturbing, as the various unsavory characters (both male and female) would be striking a lot closer to home.  The stories certainly strike a chord regarding the types of people encountered on-line.  Lest the impression be all negative about on-line dating, it should be noted there are some success stories of people who have found the right partners.  Like many self-published works, the editing has a few misses, but the innate goodness of the stories and their presentation and flow are decent.
951973
I didn't hate this as much as I thought I would. Yeah, high praise indeed.

My stomach churned and the temptation to toss my laptop at the wall started within a few words of the heroine meeting up with the BIG FAT IDIOT also known as the hero.

What's not to love? He insults her, shames her, accuses her ad nauseam, strong arms her every chance he can and tacks on some punishing kisses and threats as well. What does she do? She pretty much takes it. Okay, she knows she shouldn't so she has a few more grey cells than most HP heroines, mon ami. But does that make it better or worse?

PLOT:
Step-siblings with a ten year difference in age. He thinks she's a bad girl to the tenth degree and makes no bones about it. She's tracked his misogynistic re@r down as she needs part of her inheritance to buy an art gallery/shop/center/whatever. He blackmails her into being the cook and slave on his boat for some guests.

The guests are one nice tycoon and his horrible, no good, asinine, vapid and vain second wife and daughter. As much as I wanted the heroine to bop the H over the head, I was actually hoping for more comeuppance to the two women. I guess the fact that the h ended up with the H will have to be enough although the OW is so shallow I doubt she even noticed as she was on to her next victim/beau. The h yells at the H a lot about the two women so hopefully they heard her.

For about 97% of the book I was hoping that the H would drown at sea. The h would have mourned him a little, but I think would have been cheered by receiving her inheritance and a chance at the amusing bon vivant BF of the H.

The GROVEL:SPOILERS

What cleared it up a little and scraped it to a 2 plus rating is the H's grovel. We complain about not enough or good enough groveling. The H pulls through in this one. More importantly he declares his love and grovels before he finds out she's a virgin. Once he finds out she's a virgin after he has maligned her so much, he spirals into a mere shell of himself for about twenty minutes. Hey! It's a Harlequin.
4479439
I enjoy the MOTS series as escapist fun. This serves on that front, lots of high end intrigue, glamorous locales and hijinks. The male dancer and drugs plot lines were interesting and kept me reading.

When I am reading for pleasure, I really don't want anyone's strident political opinions thrown in as commentary. The book was ok and engaging enough but I took off an extra star for intrusive opinions. I know where to find intelligent political discourse if I want it and it isn't in a fantasy/thriller/romance.
1586891
Kinda cute, kinda funny, kinda hot, kinda silly. Refreshingly low-angst. For most of the book I thought I'd be rating it 3.5 stars, and was debating whether to round up or round down -- but then the last 20% seemed sketchily written and played out too much like a farce for my tastes. I don't feel compelled to continue the series, but I'm definitely open to reading more by this author
3793422
There are some real gems here, but there are a lot of clunkers too. The author was good, but his writing was inconsistent and either hits the mark perfectly (such as with many of his "Little Willie" poems) or flops painfully in others.

I'd still recommend this title since the price is more than reasonable and it has some wonderful little dark ditties that still make me chuckle from time to time.

Not that this last remark is all that important, but the material is a little dated. Most people might not understand the punchlines since they were written almost a century ago in the colloquial English of that time. The one that springs to mind right away is a Little Willie poem that uses the words quicksilver and mercury interchangeably for the punchline. I have yet to have mentioned the word "quicksilver" to anyone under 60+ years old who knew what it actually was. If you know what it is right away, you'll really get a good chuckle.
2676391
Heyyyy...not so bad ! Tongue in cheek quite often , but a good read.