in transit

Black mirror, created by Charlie Brooker, 2/3rds of season 1.  Netflix has suggested this to me before.  I looked at it and thought it was too weird. More recently, a coworker suggested it to me, so I looked again. Parts where available for Netflix's new (?) download-to-device feature, so I saved them to my device for the airplane ride.

This is too weird for me.  It's pretty out there. There are some interesting ideas; it might be more enjoyable when watched with someone else, for purposes of discussion, but alone I found them... haunting.  Not recommended. 

Law and disorder by Heather Graham.  There are some serious flaws here.  Within the first few dozen pages, the author can't decide what to focus on: the main character's history, the location's history, the location's description, and, oh yeah, the plot all get fairly equal page time. The dialogue is clunky and wooden, a better example of how not to write engaging prose.

The pre-pub ebook's formatting isn't doing any favors.  The text is in several different sizes within each page, which is difficult on the reader. The lines are in no paragraph form-- they run a full line across the page, a half line across, a full line across and so on. It makes it hard to sort out the dialogue.  There isn't anything in the story that makes it worth it to fight through the formatting.

Bound with love by Megan Mulry.  I saw this title mentioned quite a few times, in different places; it was positively commented on.

As a work of fiction, it wasn't great.  There were some jarring, out-of-place (more modern) phrases that clashed with the time period.  The main characters were supposed to be older women, but they acted like teenagers.  The story felt truncated, more like a novella in length-- we finished up with a minor problem and I thought we were ready to get into the meaty part of the novel, but, oh, it's the also-by-the-author page.  

The last chapter set up the next book, so readers who enjoyed the fluffy nature can look forward to more. 

As a work of not-mainstream romance, it was tasteful.  The romantic pair were portrayed without stereotypes--just the lack of dimension necessitated by a book of this length.  There were few specific, detailed scenes, none lurid.  The second book promises to take on a different type of relationship.