Back, and freakish!

I'm back - had a fantastic time in the sun. I had blog withdrawal, though. Sad.

I would post pictures, but have temporarily lost my digital camera cable. Please Stand By.

In the meantime, the book reviews:

Unforgiven, the Silhouette Nocturne:
Well. Um. First off, I have to give kudos for the setting on this one - the entire thing takes place near an emerald mine in the jungle of Ecuador. (The plot involves two jaguar shape-shifters falling in love while battling the greedy owners and fighting for the Noble Poor.) There is no cop-out relocation to London or America - it stays in the jungle for the whole book. So, it deserves repeating, let's hear it for a cool, unusual setting.

As for the rest - well, maybe just not my cup of tea. I'll try not to be negative but here is a sample of the writing style that just didn't do it for me:

She saw Reno's jaw flex. "My destiny is with you, Calen," he declared. "And unless you tell me to leave, I'm going nowhere."

Sheets of relief cascaded through her. Closing her eyes for a moment, Calen let the feelings roll through her. "Good," she whispered, and opened her eyes. "Because I don't want anyone else at my side but you." Now and forever.

I'm actually not a very picky reader, especially when I'm lying by a pool. But I think I can find something wrong with every sentence here, from the flexing jaw to "declared" and the sheets of relief. The entire book is like this. And although the hero is part Native American and it's a Native-sensitive book, here's the depiction of Hispanic dialogue:

"Do not argue with me, gringo dog!" Cruz barely controlled his ire at the CIA agent's cojones. "Get out of my sight."

Gringo dog? Gringo dog? With cojones in the next sentence? This is more painful than Montezuma's Revenge.

To answer Therese's question, it doesn't get very dark at all. The shapeshifting is kinda neat but that's about it. Still, I'm going to give this line another try before I give up on it.

Next up is my nonfiction selection. Without reading Megan's recommendation, I coincidentally picked Freakonomics, which I liked a lot. It's nonfiction lite, which means it explains things pretty clearly and doesn't get too in-depth. Still, very interesting.

And finally, on the plane home, I finished His Majesty's Dragon, which I loved. What a terrific book! Big, meaty, fun, full of action, endlessly inventive. I'm a few pages into the second one and I hope I won't be disappointed.

Need I mention that I got no writing done on vacation? None at all.

Sigh. Back to the grindstone...