Arachnophobia Death Match 2010

The evil spider army has its first win. A few nights ago, a large specimen was found lurking in the corner of my bathroom near the ceiling. I know from past experience that trying to take them out when they are ABOVE you is a very bad idea. Brooms do NOT work. The evil bastards have perfected the method of clinging to the bristles and riding the broom safely to the ground where all the hysterical whacking in the world will not hurt them, but only allow them to scuttle beneath a large piece of furniture where you will never find them.

Therefore, I only glared at the beast, who glared back. I went to bed, hoping it would end up in one of the porcelain traps (tub or sink) during the night. No such luck. The horrible thing was gone in the morning, lurking somewhere in my house, no doubt, waiting to leap out at me. I've taken the precaution of removing items from my bed that might dangle and give them a clawhold to climb up and crawl upon me in the night. *shudders*

Evil Hellish Arachnid Army: 1
Dyson: 4

BOOK REVIEW: Drawn Together

Okay, when I read an actual BOOK I will review it here and hope the author doesn't track me down and flame me if I don't like it.

I recently purchased Drawn Together by Z.A. Maxfield, mostly because of the COVER, which is by P.L. Nunn, who has so much art it will take you days and days to see it all at her website. UNF, the cover of this is just beautiful. Wanna see?

CLICKY You can also read the blurb, which is the other reason I bought it. Side note: Goodreads is AWESOME and you can join the m/m group on there to find even more books. They have monthly polls and reviews. It's fab!

Anyway, I read this in about a day without getting bored, so it holds your attention. The beginning was LOVE. I adore the way Rory meets Yamane and their first kiss is utterly squee-worthy.

However, once it develops a plot the book seemed to start falling apart a bit. I didn't quite buy the antagonist, who is supposed to be evil incarnate. I'm not sure why, but her character just didn't hold up for me. Rory is the most solid character and I kept reading his parts with a Cajun accent, which was entertaining and probably helped lock him down for me. I liked him a lot. Yamane, on the other hand, was a bit erratic. Granted, she kept mentioning that fact that it was part of his personality - he could be tough as nails or completely girlish. He just never seemed quite cohesive to me and in some of the scenes it would throw me off.

I personally hate it when one character sleeps with a character other than the love interest, and it happened in this story. It was probably necessary for the plot and she did a good job with it, plus it was a major turning point regarding Rory's feelings, but ARGH, I just hate when it happens.

The author did a very good job with the minor characters. I adored Rory's relatives and the people he interacted with in the town. Some of the OCs they encountered were well done, which is always a plus. None of the characters felt flat (other than the antagonist) and it was fun to read about them. Also, the boys SWITCH, which is a MAJOR plus in my book. If that's not for you, it might be a minus, although it's handled very well. The sex is SMOKING and frequent. A definite bonus for porn content.

Despite some of the issues I had with the flow of the book and some of the characterization, I really liked it and felt it was worth the time spent reading. I give it:

4 out of 5 stars

WOOT!

Arachnophobia Death Match 2010

The war has begun in earnest. Another scout was found, but he was clever, lurking in the corner of the bathroom ceiling where I could not reach him without benefit of a broom, and I resisted because I have learned my lesson regarding brooms. (They hide in the bristles and then leap out and scurry at you, or run away and hide under a big piece of furniture.) I bided my time. A few days later I caught one near the front door, trying to steal into my shoe, which I subsequently used to squash him. *nods*

A fourth was found in the bathroom sink this morning, so he went to his watery grave with the first one.

Evil Hellish Arachnid Army: 0
Dyson: 4

Arachnaphobia Deathmatch 2010

I love living in the Seattle area. Rain is awesome and makes me want to write. I also dislike dealing with that horrible white stuff that falls from the sky and makes people drive like bigger morons than usual. Snow is a rarity here which gets two thumbs up from me. It's also not that cold in the winter and not blisteringly hot in the summer. And the massive amount of hoodie-clad hotties makes me happy to put up with just about anything.

It does, however, have one little nasty bit of horror. The spiders. Starting in late July, hoards of heinous brown eight-legged creatures from the depths of hell invade our houses, generally making straight for the bathroom where they can glare up at you from the sink or the bathtub first thing in the morning as you stagger in there before coffee.

This year the bastards have sent out their reconnaissance patrols early. I destroyed one scout by flushing it down the sink - in hindsight, this may have been a mistake, since there is no guarantee of its actual demise. It may have survived and reported back to its evil headquarters, prompting them to send out scout #2. That one I smashed against the bathroom wall with a partially empty bottle of ammonia.

The battle has commenced. I am keeping a tally.

Evil Hellish Arachnid Army: 0
Dyson: 2

(I'm totally counting the flushed one. *nods*)