Books I Got For Free.

Owly and Friends!, including "Owly and Friends!" by Andy Runton; "Belly Buster! A Short Korgi Tale," by Ann and Christian Slade; "Johnny Boo Meets Johnny Who," by James Kochalka and Eli Kochalka; "What Time is It?" by James Kochalka; and "Yam," by Corey Barba.   OwlyOwlyOwly! I met Andy at ALA-Chicago and he autographed this for me! *sigh* I love this Owly short, and there are several other shorts of some other graphic novels, some wordless, none of which I was familiar with-- this is a promo compilation. It's printed on rougher paper that makes me feel like it's a coloring book, but that's just an observation, not a complaint.  

Hot and Bothered, by Lori Foster, Laura Bradley, Gayle Callen, and Victoria Marquez. I found this in the cleaning of the bookshelves at home, and decided to read it rather than throwing it out, in honor of the Red Hot Days of Romance Program I had going on last week (that went alright, by the way, but not phenomenally). This is a 4 short-story collection, and they are all pretty poorly-written smut. I entirely skipped the cowboy one after the 1st chapter: it was every tired Southern and Texan cliche rolled up into denim. Of the other 3, 2 were realistic (by which I only mean present day, not realistic in any other way) fiction and the other was a historical fiction. They could have been worse, I suppose, but they are examples of nearly all the things I dislike about the books that make up the romance genre: 1. Grammatically correct sentences aren't that hard. I certainly don't forget how to make them, even in the grip of passion. Not in car accidents or when I'm nearly asleep or kissing my husband. 2. Biology and anatomy are sciences. You shouldn't cloud them with fantasy. 3. No means no. 4. They make these cool things called dictionaries. Writers should use them. It's because of writers like these that I had absolutely no idea what "nonplussed" meant until about 2 years ago.  

The Lieutenant, by Kate Grenville. ARC-Chicago. This was an interesting experience-- I picked this up because it was free and it had a pretty cover. I read it, never having heard of the book, heard of the author, or reading what information there is on the back. My brain did some fun things, since I had no even an inkling of where this was going. I recommend it. It's hard to find a book I haven't read a review for by the time it comes into the library, which is maybe one of the things I love about ARCs. As to the book, I adored it until the very end, which was a bit unexpected and a little of a let down. I can't talk about specifics without starting to give the book away, but I loved the author's writing style, which fit really well with both the main character and the time setting. I loved the main character for a number of reasons. I think we all feel like him sometimes. I didn't understand the ending. I realize the work is based on a true person, and so the ending fits what is known about his life, but I would have like the author to take artistic license and depart for an ending that seemed more in character and was more fulfilling. Before I read the historical note that explains why the author chose the ending she did, it felt (well, it still feels like, even though I know it isn't the case) like the author came to the end of the main story and was simply at a loss for how to wrap up the character's life. It's unfortunate about historical fiction that every one has to die eventually-- you know they haven't lived for 300 years.

I have an extra ARC of Buck Fever, which, as you may remember, I loved! First to ask for it gets it. And for those of us who have been counting, Ive only got 9,347 to go.