We Interrupt this book club...for release day stuff!
Not sure if y'all are aware of it, but both Mark and Anton have books releasing today! I know, I know, they're too shy to toot their own horns so I'm going to, uh...toot their horns for them. Um.
First I want to talk about Anton's book, Dead to Me.
One of the more embarrassing things about being me is I tend to rate my enjoyment of books based in large part on how sexy I find the male lead. (This might be the reason for some of my more unusual tastes, actually.) So of course, large in my mind as I started reading--and kept reading, and stayed up half the night reading--Dead to Me was, do I actually want to make kissy with Simon Canderous?
Yep.
I loved him. I loved his mix of vulnerability and toughness, his self-awareness, his awkwardness around women, his shady past and his desire to move forward from it. I loved that he wasn't above getting dirty if need be. I loved his really cool apartment that he hadn't yet managed to unpack. Basically, I pretty much loved everything about the dude, which added an extra frisson of goodness to what would already have been a great read.
But it's not just the main character who's loveable here. His mentor is a gruff, appealing mix of a Chandler character and Dr. Cox from Scrubs. The women--often a weak spot for male writers--were pitch-perfect. Not so girly enough that they irritated me or I found them hard to like, but girly enough that they weren't men in women's clothing. They weren't TSTL or dangling off the ends of the Madonna-whore scale. And the villain was sexy too. Mmmm...villains.
I needed this book. Because what I think I loved best about it, aside from the jokes and the characters and the rollicking storyline that kept me guessing all the way through, was the basic goodness here. I loved knowing there's a literary world where people are still basically good. It's something I don't think we get enough of, I really don't, and even if I hadn't loved the heck out of the book I would have loved that element.
And the story. Oh, this was a fun one. Because I stink at recapping storylines (and am forced to do it for my own books, which makes me really not want to do it elsewhere), I'm not going to go into details. But I laughed. I laughed every time we heard about another pamphlet or "Lunch n Learn" or workshop. I laughed every time the big wooden fish was mentioned. I laughed when Simon said or did something adorably guy-like, which he did often, being an adorable guy.
Basically? I had fun reading this book. Real fun. Laughing fun. Neglect-my-own-work fun. So go buy it for yourself, so you can have fun too. You won't regret getting to know the sexy Mr. Canderous and his buddies, and if you're like me--which you're not, because you don't have the access to Anton that I do--you'll immediately email Anton and demand to know what happens next. Ha ha, I know something you don't know!!
I already gave Mark a review over at my own blog. So basically, if you can't be bothered to click on over there, I'll just say it. Mark's a genius and his book is hilarious and I suspect--this is just a guess here--that everyone has bought it already simply to get him to shut up about it already. Please. I beg you. You won't regret that one either.
So if you're looking for a fun day or two's worth of reading, grab these two books--interestingly enough, you can get them together from Amazon or you can just slip into your local bookstore and pick them up, which I recommend because then you don't have to wait for shipping--mix up a pitcher of cocktails (a Zombie, anyone?), plunk yourself down, and read.
First I want to talk about Anton's book, Dead to Me.
One of the more embarrassing things about being me is I tend to rate my enjoyment of books based in large part on how sexy I find the male lead. (This might be the reason for some of my more unusual tastes, actually.) So of course, large in my mind as I started reading--and kept reading, and stayed up half the night reading--Dead to Me was, do I actually want to make kissy with Simon Canderous?
Yep.
I loved him. I loved his mix of vulnerability and toughness, his self-awareness, his awkwardness around women, his shady past and his desire to move forward from it. I loved that he wasn't above getting dirty if need be. I loved his really cool apartment that he hadn't yet managed to unpack. Basically, I pretty much loved everything about the dude, which added an extra frisson of goodness to what would already have been a great read.
But it's not just the main character who's loveable here. His mentor is a gruff, appealing mix of a Chandler character and Dr. Cox from Scrubs. The women--often a weak spot for male writers--were pitch-perfect. Not so girly enough that they irritated me or I found them hard to like, but girly enough that they weren't men in women's clothing. They weren't TSTL or dangling off the ends of the Madonna-whore scale. And the villain was sexy too. Mmmm...villains.
I needed this book. Because what I think I loved best about it, aside from the jokes and the characters and the rollicking storyline that kept me guessing all the way through, was the basic goodness here. I loved knowing there's a literary world where people are still basically good. It's something I don't think we get enough of, I really don't, and even if I hadn't loved the heck out of the book I would have loved that element.
And the story. Oh, this was a fun one. Because I stink at recapping storylines (and am forced to do it for my own books, which makes me really not want to do it elsewhere), I'm not going to go into details. But I laughed. I laughed every time we heard about another pamphlet or "Lunch n Learn" or workshop. I laughed every time the big wooden fish was mentioned. I laughed when Simon said or did something adorably guy-like, which he did often, being an adorable guy.
Basically? I had fun reading this book. Real fun. Laughing fun. Neglect-my-own-work fun. So go buy it for yourself, so you can have fun too. You won't regret getting to know the sexy Mr. Canderous and his buddies, and if you're like me--which you're not, because you don't have the access to Anton that I do--you'll immediately email Anton and demand to know what happens next. Ha ha, I know something you don't know!!
I already gave Mark a review over at my own blog. So basically, if you can't be bothered to click on over there, I'll just say it. Mark's a genius and his book is hilarious and I suspect--this is just a guess here--that everyone has bought it already simply to get him to shut up about it already. Please. I beg you. You won't regret that one either.
So if you're looking for a fun day or two's worth of reading, grab these two books--interestingly enough, you can get them together from Amazon or you can just slip into your local bookstore and pick them up, which I recommend because then you don't have to wait for shipping--mix up a pitcher of cocktails (a Zombie, anyone?), plunk yourself down, and read.
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