Mini-Review! - Omega Beloved by Aiden Bates

Title: Omega Beloved.

Author: Aiden Bates.

Genre: Romance (m/m,) Paranormal, Fantasy, Werewolves, Short Story, LGBTQ+

Series: Omega Beloved #1

Amazon: (UK - US)

Verdict:

This is an 18+ book - I mean it! (Stay in school, don't commit crimes, etc. etc. - don't let your parents yell at me. Please.)

This is a book that I mentioned in my post on guilty pleasures - and how we need to ditch the 'guilt' part.

Basically, what we have here is a fairly steamy m/m werewolf romance. It follows the Omegaverse trope - something which will be fairly familiar to fanfiction readers like myself.

It's also quite sweet in places, very well-written, and there's signs of real character development, and real heart.

So, yeah, I thought it was pretty damned awesome - even though, at 35 pages, it's short to say the least. Time well spent.

Buy Now UK - Buy Now USA - Goodreads – Author's Facebook

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Nerd Church - Illness and Health

Argh! This week!

Flu is not fun - I'll just point that out now and leave it there.

Now, I've had more than a few issues with health problems of various sorts over the past... ooh, decade or so.

And you know what? As ridiculous as it is, it's got to the point where every time I get a cold, or flu, or some sort of bug, I feel guilty about it.

I kind of blame myself - as illogical as that is. Because people make you feel guilty about it.

I remember having long periods of time off in school as a teenager. Phone-calls from attendance officers just stress you out, making you feel like it's your fault that you're not well enough to be in school (and it's not like my grades were suffering - the lowest I got was normally a B.)

And the other kids? Well, you spend a month in pain, and they expect you to just suck it up and get on with it. Why are you complaining? It's unhelpful, to say the least.

I don't think people do it on purpose.

I think it's just somehow become ingrained in us that people aren't as ill as they say - that, unless they're in hospital, or dying, then they must be doing it for attention. Instead, people are genuinely unwell, genuinely in pain, and genuinely not being helped by your attitude.

I think sometimes it feels the same when you talk to people about your mental illness.

So I don't. Because people look at me differently when I tell them I have depression - and not in a kind or sympathetic way.

(Also, as a side note, I approve of the BBC's current 'In the Mind' season of cross-series programmes as a whole.

There are a few instances, though, where even under this banner, the portrayal of mental health problems is misinformed at best.

The trailer for Eastenders (British soap opera) this week showed a mental health nurse telling the character Stacey that she was 'getting stronger... more able to cope.' This line made me hugely angry.

People with a mental illness are not weak. They are already strong.)

 

 

 

Nerd Church is a weekly post where I go off on one about 'issues' of various sorts. Feel free to continue the discussion, but please link back here :)

 

 



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Pleasure, Not Guilt

No more guilty pleasures.

I refuse to feel guilty about what I read.

The other day, I stopped, I stalled, I hesitated. I didn't want to record books I'd read on my Goodreads - even though that would've upped the number-count on my challenge.

Because, putting it frankly... it was m/m werewolf porn.



Felt the need to put a full moon in here... just because.

So I hesitated - I didn't want family and friends seeing what I'd read, because I didn't want them thinking I was weird (well... ship has probably sailed on that one... weird-er.)

(By the way, the reason that I don't share my Goodreads profile with you lovely people is that it's linked to personal social media accounts, and, knowing my luck, I'll be the one who the crazy mad-axe-murdering stalker decides to fixate on. It's just inevitable.)

So, did I actually add those books to my account?

Damn right I did!

I suddenly realised that I had to - because otherwise I'm sending a message that some types of books are 'worthier' than others. And you know what? That's simply not true.

Those books (Omega Beloved by Aiden Bates and Omega in Heat by Heather Silver - you can tell that I usually read a lot of fanfiction, right?) while short, and not what many would consider 'literature,' still had things to say.

And, actually, Omega Beloved in particular was very well-written, and gave a lot of scope for development in the further books of the series.

To further fan the flames of controversy -

I've tried to read Possession by A S Byatt not once, but twice. This is a 'literary' and 'worthy' book that a lot of people flap on about and are over the moon for.

I couldn't finish it. I couldn't get on with it. I just couldn't connect; I found it too pretentious and wooden.

Would I say that, to me, the time spent reading Omega Beloved was time better spent than the time I spent trying to force my way through Possession? Completely and utterly.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't read things held in critical regard.

Quite the opposite. I'm saying people should be accepting of both.

I didn't like Possession - a lot of people did. To those who genuinely enjoyed it - good on you. It wasn't my cup of tea, so what?

And if m/m romance isn't your cup of tea? Fine. I don't mind. But please don't think there's anything wrong with reading it - or anything else, for that matter, just because other people don't.

Reading is the key part - and then, you can judge the book on its own merits, instead of on preconceptions of genre or style.

No more guilty pleasures! We shouldn't have to feel guilty about reading what we enjoy.

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Friday Fics Fix - A Little Remedy

Apologies in advance - I'm not making much sense. I have flu. It f**king sucks.

But, it did give me the perfect inspo. for this week's dose of fanfiction - after all, what better medicine is there? (Don't answer that.)

So, I decided to select a particular brand of fluff (fangirl note: fluff is sweet lovey-dovey relationship stories/scenes/moments - usually involving kissing or cuddling of some description,) for this week: the sick fic.

Sick fics involve one partner in the relationship taking care of the other when they're ill. It's all thoroughly wish-fulfilling domestic-bliss fuzziness - just what I need at the moment!

This week's fic is:

Cuddles Make Everything Better by roguewidow97

This is a short Stony (fangirl note: Captain America and Iron Man relationship,) fic, where Tony is the ill one.

And that title could not get fluffier if it tried. I might get diabetes just looking at it.

Plus, the Stony shippers (fangirl note: people who champion the Steve & Tony relationship,) could really do with some love right now - what with Civil War looking set to drive them further and further from canon (official) storylines.

Solidarity, fangirls and fanboys, solidarity with our brethren in the Stony ship.



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Comics Wrap Up - In Any Other World

Single Issues

Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (UK - USA) - this is the Spider-man from the 'Ultimate' universe.

Just to make it clear, Marvel has so many canon (i.e. - official,) alternate universes that they are now numerically coded.

The Ultimate Universe - the biggest and most well-explored alternate - is Earth-1610; and now you know that useless fact thanks to yours truly.

There are so many versions of Spider-man, that it's sometimes referred to as the Spider-verse, which can be called upon sometimes when the big sh** goes down. And if they're ever desperate enough to call Spider Ham aka Peter Porker, then they're desperate.

This is an awesome comic with some fab artwork - and Miles is of Black-Hispanic heritage: yay for diversity! Even if it is outside of the mainstream Marvel universe (which is Earth-616, in case you were wondering.)

Silver Surfer #1 (UK - USA) is just the right blend of outer-space kookiness and down-to-Earth sweetness. With an interesting angle for the series going forward, I really enjoyed it.

Graphic Novels

Two graphic novels I reviewed last week - Grumpy Cat Vol 1 and Red Sonja/Conan: The Blood of a God - were published on Tuesday. Click the links to see my reviews.

Other Stuff

Claire Napier over at Women Write About Comics made exceptionally good points this week about the outfit for Marvel's newly resurrected black female superhero, Misty Knight. Check out her post Misty Knight and the Case of the Ridiculous Males: Bra Holster Hell for an explanation.

***

Not entirely sure how I haven't come across the 'Marvel Super Heroes: What the--?!' web series before, but wow is this random. Take a look at the Valentine's episode:



Is anybody else scared now? All of you? Great, my work here is done.


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Mini-Review! - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Title: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (also published as just 'The Lightning Thief.')

Author: Rick Riordan

Genre: Kids, Fantasy, Mythology

Series: Percy Jackson (aka Percy Jackson and the Olympians) #1

Amazon: UK - USA

Verdict:

I really enjoyed this - though perhaps not to epic fangirling levels, like most people seem to.

It was fun though, as well as interesting and entertaining. I loved the random chapter titles.

The ebook I borrowed from the library was clearly aimed at a British market because it took Americanisms like 'mom' and 'chips' and anglicised them to things like 'mum' and 'crisps.' Unfortunately, this came across as just strange - particularly as it wasn't consistent throughout. 

I really did enjoy it though - and will probably read more of the series in future.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

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Review Time! - The Thing About Wolves by Leigh Evans

Title: The Thing About Wolves (also published as The Thing About Weres)

Author: Leigh Evans

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Werewolves, Fairies/Fae

Series: The Mystwalker Series (#2)

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

This was another pretty random read from my library. Honestly, I wander around just going 'ooh! mine now!' and that is how I choose what to read the majority of the time.

This is a sequel (not that I've read the first one,) so I will keep the spoilerage to a minimum (i.e. the level that's in the blurb for this book.)

Premise:

Hedi Peacock-Stronghold is half-fae (fairy,) and half-werewolf.

She's trying to keep her mate's werewolf pack (that's mate in the animalistic sense, rather than a friend) together in his absence. But what about when he returns?

She thought it would be all her wishes coming true: her mate, Robson Trowbridge, returned to her, and bringing Lexi, her brother, in tow. But things are rarely that simple.

Oh, and there's people trying to kill her. Can't forget those!

Best bits:

A lot of this was really fun - I love Hedi's sarcasm, and some of the situations she ends up in are so complex and random that I enjoyed the sheer 'hell, just go for it!' attitude of the author.

I found Lexi an exceedingly complex character - if you don't feel at least some sympathy for him, you are made of stone. Simple as.

And my mental squeals at Hedi to 'not be stupid and do this instead' seemed to actually be heard! I know! I'm so used to characters taking the stupid route, that it's a pleasant surprise when they decide to do the smart thing for once.

Not so great bits:

There were moments when I lost interest because the plot slowed down or the author seemed to lose some degree of control - these were noticeable, but overall the book managed to scramble its way back on-track.

There are, obviously, spoilers for the previous book in the series - if you want to avoid that then read the books in order.

There's a bunch of swearing and some violence that won't be to everyone's taste - and a few sex-bits (fans self,) so if that isn't your thing, you've been warned.

There's also references to torture, addiction, and child abduction - and probably some other stuff too - that some people may find distressing.

Verdict:

I really enjoyed this book - and it grabbed me. I felt sorry for Lexi, loved Hedi's attitude (and willingness to listen to my mental suggestions,) and the whole fae and werewolf deal-y that was going on; really enjoyable.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

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