FUNimation - the second season of Black Butler!

Big news - you can watch the first episode, subbed, of the second season of Black Butler on FUNimation's website!

And I have.  At first, I assumed that the new kid, who needs his butt kicked, was Ciel's replacement and that Claude was maybe Sebastian, back in a new form.  I was wrong!  No real information revealed yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out more...and seeing the new kid's butt get kicked.  I know, he's had some horrible stuff happen to him, and we've probably only been shown a small portion of all the awfulness he has experienced, but still.  He's a disturbing little monster.  Claude's taste in masters sucks.

Fake (anime OVA)

If I ever decide it's time to sell some of my anime collection so that I can afford to buy new stuff, this will probably be on the pile of stuff I'm willing to sell. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, not by a long shot, but it's not great. I have a feeling this was produced primarily for fans of the manga - since I've never read any of the manga, I'm not really part of the intended audience.

Before we go any farther, a quote from the back of the DVD box: "Contains depictions of alternative lifestyles. Viewer discretion is advised." I guess they couldn't say "Warning: nearly every male character in this is gay." Anyway, there are several kissing scenes, with tongue, but otherwise nothing terribly graphic. If you're actually hoping for something (i.e., sex) to happen, even the suggestion of something, you'll be disappointed.

Synopsis:

Dee Laytner of the NYPD and his half-Japanese partner, Randy "Ryo" McLane, are taking a much needed vacation at an out-of-the-way place in England. Originally, they were supposed to be going with a kid named Bikky, but, unbeknownst to Ryo, Dee paid Bikky not to come, because Dee would like some alone time with Ryo. You see, Dee has had the hots Ryo for quite some time, but Ryo hasn't really taken his feelings seriously, and all they've ever done is kiss.

Unfortunately, their happy vacation time is interrupted by the discovery of a dead body. For some unknown reason, this is not a cause for alarm, and Dee, Ryo, and two female guests are allowed to continue staying at the hotel. One of the guests, a Japanese woman, does her best to try to cheer Dee up and encourage Ryo to be more open about his feelings.

Dee and Ryo's alone time is again interrupted, this time by the arrival of both Bikky and Carol, two children they know, and then J.J., a cop from the same precinct as them who happens to have heaping boatloads of unrequited love for Dee - any possibility of Dee and Ryo doing more than kissing has now gone out the window. After talking with a workaholic NYPD cop named Berkeley Rose (seriously, that's his name) who also happens to be on vacation, Dee learns that all the murder victims who have been found near the hotel recently were tourists of Japanese descent and that the hotel owner's daughter had been killed five years ago by some Japanese tourists. Now that the hotel owner knows Ryo is half-Japanese, Ryo is in danger, so Dee rushes back to the hotel.

It's a good thing, too, because the hotel owner and his knife-wielding thug of a cook have decided it's time to slice Ryo up. Dee saves the day when he hits the hotel owner in the chest with a motorcycle. This does not, by the way, kill the guy or even result in his hospitalization. The hotel owner, who just prior to being hit by the motorcycle had seen the ghost of his distraught daughter trying to protect Ryo, realizes the error of his ways and is led off by the (English) cops. The ghost of the hotel owner's daughter is finally put to rest, the two female tourists from earlier are dead but apparently no one cares, and Dee never got to rip Ryo's clothes off.

Lucky Dee and Ryo - when they get back from their vacation, they learn that Berkeley Rose is their new commissioner. Or something. I'm not really sure how this works. It's quite possible that the creators of this series don't either.

Commentary:

This really needs to be watched with your brain turned off. Otherwise, you start to think about things like: How come none of the local police care about all the dead tourists? True, if it's not reported in the local news, that might delay bad publicity, but, if enough people die, word gets out, and wouldn't the lack of an investigation look really bad? Is an investigation really necessary? The guy is hardly even trying to hide that he's behind it, and a child could figure out that "dead Japanese tourists" + "daughter killed by Japanese tourists" = "killer father." Why did it take Dee so long to figure out that Ryo would be a potential target? Why was no one worried about staying at the very isolated hotel when a body was found right nearby? How did the hotel owner get hit by a motorcycle and not get hurt? How do all these cops keep their jobs when they're so awful at them and seem to care more about getting into each other's pants? How did a 13-year-old girl and a boy (maybe girl?) who's probably a bit younger manage to get the money for two tickets to England, and so quickly at that?

So, brain turned off.

You never know what you'll get when you're watching anime (or reading manga) that has gay characters. Will their gayness be considered socially unacceptable by other characters? Will the "but we're both guys" aspect be an obstacle in a romantic relationship? Or will the gayness go without comment? In this anime, it goes without comment - it probably helps that nearly every adult male character in this OVA is gay (judging by the opening animation, Berkeley Rose wouldn't mind getting into Ryo's pants either). The main conflict between Dee and Ryo is not "but we're both guys," but rather "I don't know if you're really serious about me, and I'm also not entirely sure how I feel about you or what I should do about how I feel about you."

The opening animation is part of what makes me think that this OVA is intended mainly for fans of the manga - there's a lot going on there that never comes up in the anime's story, and there are characters that never make an appearance anywhere but in that opening animation. I'm guessing that the manga has a "cheese factor" that is similar to this OVA - if I were generally more in the mood for that sort of thing, I might check out the manga to see if it's any better. As it is, I think I may end my Fake experience here.

Anyway, one thing that took me a bit to get used to was the artwork. Not so much the...interesting...background coloring (lime green walls? really?) as the "droopy eyes" look. Sometimes the droopy eyes were a bit more pronounced than others. I got used to it after a while, but I'm so used to my anime having a certain look, and how I feel about the artwork can sometimes make or break an anime for me.

The story was very, very simple. As a murder mystery, it sucked. There weren't a lot of potential suspects - the cook's thug-like looks immediately put him on the short list of suspects, and the hotel owner's behavior made him look suspicious well before the details of his daughter's death were revealed. The fact that all the victims were of Japanese descent was revealed fairly early, so I can't imagine why Dee and Ryo didn't realize that Ryo was in danger until almost too late. They're just idiots, I guess. Or all the blood that should have been in their heads was spending too much time in their pants.

One thing I did really enjoy about this DVD, though, was the humor. Dee's attempts to finally get Ryo alone and take their relationship to the next step were hilarious. I'm sure that, if J.J. had gotten to be around more, the whole "J.J. loves Dee, who loves Ryo, who possibly loves Dee" thing would have been worth many laughs (and I'm guessing you could add Berkeley Rose being interested in Ryo). I can't imagine any of them actually conducting an investigation, so I'd have problems taking any police-related plots seriously, but I'm sure I'd love further comedic/romantic plots.

I watched this in both Japanese with subtitles and in English dub. The English dub was ok - thankfully, none of the voice actors decided to sound stereotypically gay. However, compared to the Japanese language track, the English acting seemed to be a bit off here and there. The Japanese language track was quite good, although the subtitles seemed a bit stilted.

Extras:

There are none, not even a clean opening and closing. I wasn't bothered by the lack of a clean closing, since the closing is just a bunch of clips from the OVA, but a clean opening would have been nice.

Watch-alikes and Read-alikes:

• Gravitation (manga) by Maki Murakami; Gravitation (anime TV series) - Shuichi Shindo is a singer in a band that he hopes will become famous. One day, he loses a page of unfinished song lyrics. The handsome and caustic man who catches it insults the lyrics and sticks in poor Shuichi's mind. Schuichi later discovers that the man was Eiri Yuki, a famous writer, and seeks him out. The two eventually become lovers, but Yuki's emotional issues and Shuichi's rapidly developing musical career may tear them apart. Gravitation, like Fake, isn't for everyone, since it features romance between two men - although neither the manga nor the anime are explicit, the anime keeps the physical aspects of the romance slightly more "off screen" than the manga. This series may appeal to those who'd like another romance between two guys, combined with humor and a bit of drama.
• Descendants of Darkness (manga) by Yoko Matsushita; Descendants of Darkness (anime TV series) - Even after death, there's paperwork to do and criminals to catch. Tsuzuki Asato is a somewhat goofy (yet powerful) shinigami (god of death) whose job involves ensuring that the dead remain properly dead and out of the lives of the living. Tsuzuki gets a new partner, Hisoka, and the cases they investigate keep bringing them up against Muraki, a serial killer. Muraki seems to know an awful lot about Tsuzuki and Hisoka's darkest secrets. Those who'd like another series that combines brief mysteries with humor and a wee bit of romance between guys might want to try this. Compared to Fake, the mystery aspects are a bit stronger (and darker), the humor is less goofy, and the romance is (usually) more suggested than real.
  
• Weiss Kreuz/Knight Hunters (anime TV series) - There are a few incarnations of this, but the only one I have personal experience with is the first TV series. Four hot guys with dark and/or painful pasts make up a group of secret assassins called "Weiss" - as part of their cover, by day they all work in a flower shop. They kill those the law cannot touch, each with their own reasons for doing so. Those who'd like another anime that tends to fall into the "so bad it's almost good" category might want to try this. I don't remember there being any gay romance in this one, but there's lots of hot guys, melodramatic stories, investigations, and action, and hideously bad animation. I highly recommend watching this one in Japanese - I think this anime was created as a vehicle for its Japanese voice actors, so that's one area where this show excels.
  

Plum Spooky (book) by Janet Evanovich

It's another "between the numbers" Stephanie Plum book, and I actually enjoyed this more than the most recent book in the main series. The villain was pretty forgettable, probably because he wasn't around a whole lot (plus, he was so over-the-top supernatural that he didn't really seem believable in Stephanie's world). That said, the humor was fun. I wouldn't say this book was all that great, but it was still way better than Finger Lickin' Fifteen. Then again, I suppose that's not saying much.

Synopsis:

It's been a while since I read this book. A long while. I've put off writing the synopsis for so long that I had to leaf through the book just to remind myself what happened. So this isn't going to be a detailed synopsis - my main goal is to finish this post and finally get the book out of my apartment.

Stephanie opens her door one day to discover that she's going to be watching out for a monkey named Carl for an indefinite amount of time (Carl's owner: Susan Stitch - who the heck is that??). Not long after being saddled with Carl, Stephanie is visited by Diesel, the mysterious and probably supernatural guy who turns up in all the Between-the-Numbers books and who never even crosses Stephanie's mind in the regular books. Morelli never sees Diesel, because Morelli is too busy dealing with his deadbeat brother, who was recently thrown out by his fed-up wife.

Anyway, Diesel is looking for some supernatural Big Bad name Wulf (Big Bad Wolf, har har), who has a habit of killing people and leaving burns in the shape of his hands on their necks. Wulf is teamed up with a socially-inept genius named Munch who missed his court date and stole some science-y stuff with names I can't remember. Stephanie needs to catch Munch, and Diesel needs to stop Wulf from doing whatever it is he's trying to do. They team up, because Stephanie's still too inept to catch the tough ones on her own (especially not when Lula keeps tagging along - Lula may have been useful when she first appeared in the series, but she gets in the way more often than not now). Diesel claims that his being around Stephanie will make it hard for Wulf to find him. Whatever.

There's some stuff after that that I don't remember so well. Stephanie looking for other skips and generally not doing so well - she gets pelted by vegetables at least once. There's a guy dressed like the Easter Bunny, a guy who can fart fire, and a whole bunch of monkeys wearing little metal helmets. At some point, Stephanie gets caught by Wulf and Munch, and Wulf gives her to Munch as his sex slave. Up to that point, you might think Munch is an adorable-looking (he looks about 12, even though he's an adult) pathetic hanger-on who could really use some help learning how to properly interact with people. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that Munch fully intends to rape Stephanie if he has to - he just wants to have sex with a woman, he doesn't care if she's willing.

Of course, Stephanie doesn't get raped, but it's still an overall freaky experience for her. She learns that Munch and Wulf had planned to build a device that could control the weather and then use that device to blackmail cities. If I remember right, the monkeys with little helmets are somehow part of the plan. Stephanie and Diesel (probably mostly Diesel) stop Wulf and Munch and save a lady the two had been holding hostage. Ranger makes an appearance. Diesel leaves. Carl goes back to Susan.

Oh yeah, you know how Lula and Tank's relationship just seemed to disappear after Fearless Fourteen? Well, it turns out that's explained in this book: Lula is allergic to cats, and Tank loves them in an "I'm secretly a little old crazy cat lady" kind of way. Tank would rather give up Lula than the cats, so Lula decides it's over between them.

Commentary:

Evanovich boxed herself in a bit, by going with a holiday theme for the Between-the-Numbers books - with a character named "Wulf," I kept expecting "werewolf" and then nothing ever happened. All I can think is that maybe Evanovich thought that just having a dangerous villain with supernatural powers counted as "spooky."

Looking over my synopsis, it really reflects badly on Finger Lickin' Fifteen that I think this book is better than that one. I mean, the story's not terribly interesting, the best Evanovich can come up with in the way of kooky is monkeys, and the villains may have their creepy/icky aspects (Munch the would-be rapist, ew), but then Evanovich drops in the whole "they plan to control the weather to make lots of money and take over the world" thing. That last bit is like something out of Pinky and the Brain. I loved that show, but trying to combine a Brain-style plan with villains supposedly capable of making Stephanie feel shaky and pale with fear didn't really work out so well. One diminishes the other.

If I'm remembering the other Between-the-Numbers books right, this one is a bit darker and heavier than the other ones - I wonder if Evanovich plans to continue with that in the next one? I hope not. For one thing, "dark and heavy" needs to be able to have an effect on characters. To my mind, the Between-the-Numbers books are supposed to be short, light adventures that take place outside the normal storyline. Although the books apparently take place in the same world as the regular Stephanie Plum books, readers are expected to accept and get over the fact that, in the regular books, Stephanie never even thinks about Diesel or the hints of magic that turn up in By-the-Numbers books. Not only that, none of the other characters think about Diesel or magic, either. I kind of got the feeling that Evanovich wrote the By-the-Numbers books to alleviate some boredom she might have been feeling with the regular Stephanie Plum books - this was a way for her to relieve that boredom without having the "recreate the wheel" and come up with a whole new series, new cast of characters, and new world. Either that, or Evanovich and/or her publisher wanted her to cash in on the popularity of paranormal romance in some way.

Whatever, moving on. Anyway, my point is, the Between-the-Numbers books sort of depend upon nothing happening in them that has any lasting effect. Otherwise, the suspension of disbelief that's necessary to deal with the whole "no one thinks about Diesel or magic" thing gets even harder. And Evanovich messed up on that in two ways in this book.

One, she got a bit dark in this book, and had a villain freak Stephanie out by basically telling her he planned to rape her. This isn't a huge mess-up, though, because lots of people in the regular books have threatened Stephanie, tried to kill her, etc. - so it's maybe easier for readers to talk themselves into believing that Stephanie doesn't think about the events of this book at all in the next regular book because this kind of stuff happens to her all the time.

However, two, Evanovich had Tank and Lula officially break up in this book. The explanation for their break up is in this book. I remembering thinking it was kind of strange that Lula never even gave Tank much thought in Finger Lickin' Fifteen, and now I know why - Evanovich put information that applies to characters from her regular books in a not-supposed-to-affect-the-main-storyline book. True, Tank and Lula aren't main characters, but I still think this is a slip-up. If readers are supposed to accept that all the magic and supernatural strangeness of the Between-the-Numbers doesn't cross over into the regular books, then Evanovich needs to do a better job of keeping the regular books from sliding into the Between-the-numbers books. Having the explanation for Lula and Tank's break-up in this book was sloppy.

I haven't read a Stephanie Plum book in a long time that made me want to actually buy it, even used. With all the complaints I keep having about the newer books, I really should just quit reading the series. But it's hard to quit - I started this series because I needed something I could turn to for a good, quick, fun, and funny read. For a long time, this series was my reading equivalent of a slice of cake or a bowl of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. I'm having problems accepting that all of that may be over. Maybe it's time to look for a new literary junk food equivalent.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• Cowboy Bebop (anime TV series) - Spike Spiegel is a bounty hunter with a laid-back attitude, amazing fighting skills, and a dark past. He's partners with Jet Black, a former cop, and, as the series progresses, his group grows to include Faye Valentine (a sexy, tricky gambler who can't really remember her past) and Ed (a weird and cheerful young hacker). A lot of the episodes, especially the earlier ones, are mostly humorous and include a lot of fast, madcap action - those who liked the action and humorous aspects of this book might like this series.
• Undead and Unwed (book) by MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unwed is the first book in a series about Betsy Taylor, a fashion- and shoe-obsessed woman who unexpectedly becomes a vampire. Not just any vampire, either - she's the queen of the vampires. She's got to deal with a sexy vampire named Eric Sinclair, a very evil vampire named Nostro, and new abilities she doesn't know anything about. Those who'd like another humorous series with a dose of romance might want to try this, which should be particularly appealing to those who also like the supernatural aspects of the Between-the-Numbers books. Just be warned, this series gets darker after a while.
• You Slay Me (book) by Katie MacAlister - This is the first book in MacAlister's Aisling Grey series. All Aisling wants to do is deliver an old, gold dragon statue to her uncle's client in Paris. Instead, she comes across a dead woman and a mysterious and sexy man. The man (who is also a dragon), named Drake, disappears, along with the statue. Aisling has to prove she didn't kill the woman and recover the statue, all while dealing with the revelation that she is a Guardian (basically, the Keeper of the Gates to Hell). Yet another series that combines action, humor (a Newfie demon is about as quirky as it gets, though), fantasy, and a bit of romance. Be warned, this series gets a bit darker as it progresses.

There's some Gist going around

Oh, what timing! Last weekend's post was about Deeanne Gist's The Measure of a Lady, and the current post over at The Misadventures of Super Librarian is about Maid to Match. Since I read The Measure of a Lady because I wanted to get a feel for Gist's writing and Maid to Match wasn't out yet at the time, Wendy's post has me all aflutter. It's a great post - unlike almost all of mine, not spoiler-y, so don't be afraid to go take a look. I can't wait to read that book!

Wrist troubles

A week ago, I did way too much catalog maintenance (aka mouse-heavy work). Although I knew I hurt my wrist then, I continued to overdo it, practicing using GIMP for a presentation I was going to be doing (which is now over, yipee!). Now, just a few minutes of using a mouse causes me pain.

So, until I heal up, it'll be as little mouse usage as possible for me. Computer junkie me is not pleased. None of this should interfere with my current posting schedule, though, because I had a few posts scheduled before I hurt myself. Now I'm going to go to bed with my nice new wrist brace. Btw, if this is how I'm supposed to hold my wrist, I've apparently been using a computer wrong for years.

The Measure of a Lady (book) by Deeanne Gist

(Isn't that a gorgeous cover? From what I've seen, all of Gist's books are lovely and guaranteed not to embarrass you if you're caught reading them in public.)

I read this to get a taste of Gist's reading, in preparation for the release of Gist's Maid to Match. I haven't read much Christian fiction of any sort, and I'm leery of both the "fire and brimstone for the unbelievers" writers and the "good, clean Christian world of the '50s-that-never-was" writers. I haven't been to church since I was a child - organized religion has never really appealed to me, and I've never felt that "letting God into my life" would necessarily help me be a better person. I'm a very secular kind of girl and have never felt the lack of religion in my life, beyond the social aspects of it.

So, I'm more than likely not Gist's target audience. While Gist's characters occasionally thought about and did things that I couldn't really relate to, for the most part even I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading Maid to Match. Actually, I think I might try out the rest of Gist's stuff, too. She has a nice sense of humor, and I liked that the Christian aspects of her book weren't black-and-white - in fact, one of the main conflicts of the book involved the main character trying to reconcile her black-and-white view of what is Christian and moral with the gray area that is the life she has found herself in.

Synopsis:

Rachel Van Buren, her fifteen-year-old sister Lissa, and her fourteen-year-old brother Michael arrive in San Francisco, newly orphaned and nearly penniless, shocked to find that the bright, gold-filled future their father expected them to find doesn't exist, at least not without many months of desperate, back-breaking work. Nineteenth-century San Francisco is a decadent and lawless place, where everyone has gold fever and it's not uncommon for those who've found gold to gamble it away on the chance that they might get even richer. Nineteenth-century San Francisco is also a hideously expensive place. However, Rachel manages to arrange a place for her and her brother and sister to stay - it's either that, or marry someone. Although any number of men in San Francisco would be happy to marry a "sunbonnet woman" (a respectable woman), Rachel would rather not have to marry someone just so that she and her family can have a place to stay.

The place they end up staying at is a tiny, barely adequate shack owned by Johnnie Parker, the owner of the City Hotel, a saloon/hotel. Eventually, Rachel also becomes Johnnie's cook and takes charge of cleaning the City Hotel - however, while she does these things, she doesn't want to be around prostitutes (which, to her mind, also includes former prostitutes) and gambling. Rachel's high and mighty behavior annoys Johnnie a bit. It also annoys her sister Lissa, who blossoms like crazy under the admiring eyes of the town's men. In Lissa's view, Rachel is being hypocritical: even as Rachel rails against Lissa's decision to make money by singing for the men and giving them shaves (a big no-no for a young, unmarried woman), Rachel works for a man who owns a saloon and even begins to fall for him.

For Rachel, it's an uphill battle, keeping her siblings on the straight and narrow. Both Michael and Lissa go to wild parties, at which no respectable person should ever be seen. Lissa can't stand the thought of doing the back-breaking work that's required in order to live the kind of life Rachel feels is right and moral. Lissa's shocking shaving business eventually leads her to fall in love with Mr. Sumner, a womanizing snake of a man. Rachel doesn't handle things well, and Lissa ends up willingly losing her virginity to Sumner, happily accepting his promise that they will someday be married, maybe. Neither Rachel nor Johnnie believes a word Sumner says, and Rachel, brought to her breaking point, even threatens Sumner with a gun. None of it does any good, however, and Lissa continues to live in sin with Sumner, cutting her ties with Rachel.

By now, Rachel has sunk a lot of her money into opening a new restaurant business, in an attempt to live a life that doesn't depend upon money and living quarters provided by a saloon owner. Rachel and Johnnie have grown much closer, making Rachel feel even more guilty - although Lissa incorrectly believes that her relationship with Sumner is the same as Rachel's relationship with Johnnie (Lissa and Sumner have had sex with only a vague promise of marriage, while Rachel and Johnnie have only kissed), Rachel is worried that, if she isn't careful, things will go farther with Johnnie than she wishes them to. Rachel, an avid insect collector with a fondness for trees, still takes cares of the trees and the place Johnnie hopes one day to turn into a pleasure garden. For a time, she had the possibility of choosing a young naturalist over Johnnie. She chose to reject the naturalist, but she doesn't want to be Johnnie's wife unless he quits being a saloon owner or profiting from saloons in any way.

Rachel's own restaurant is a morally black-and-white place, as well. A sign at her door states flatly that she refuses to serve prostitutes, or even have prostitutes at her establishment. This causes Rachel some doubt when she realizes that Lissa has decided that this means she can't visit Rachel's restaurant, either. When a woman arrives in town who reveals herself to be Sumner's wife, Lissa breaks down even further and tries to kill herself. She hates Rachel's "no prostitutes" rule, and she refuses to stay with Rachel, even though the situation with Sumner has become so difficult.

Rachel sees less and less of Johnnie, Michael, and Lissa, because of her insistence at living by the black-and-white rules of behavior instilled in her by her mother when she was a child. Michael begins renting a table at Johnnie's saloon, making a lot of money. Lissa lives like a proud, wild thing, staying with Sumner even though she knows he's already married. Johnnie refuses to sell his saloon, because that is what he's sunk most of his money into. Even the nice little life Rachel has made at her restaurant seems to fall apart at the seams when Lissa tells Rachel what everyone in town has always known, that one of her employees used to be a prostitute.

Rachel doesn't have much time to consider this new information before San Francisco is turned into a bonfire. Some people help each other, because it's the right thing to do, while other people have the gall to charge money or gold for their assistance. Rachel finds herself having to bend her rigid standards when Lissa offers her and Sumner's home as a place for all those who are badly wounded to recover. She has to bend those standards even further when she must work side by side with Lissa's prostitute friends, helping the wounded. Now that Rachel finally talks to these women, she learns that none of them turned to prostitution willingly - they had come west trying to find better lives and had no other way to earn money.

Prior to the fire, Johnnie had begun to rethink being a saloon owner. It wasn't just that he wanted to marry Rachel - it was also getting to the point that he couldn't condone what he could see his business was doing to people, a feeling that came to a head when a man shot himself after losing everything he had gambling. When Johnnie proposes to her, Rachel finally agrees to marry him - Johnnie hasn't told her all the conclusions he's come to, it's just that Rachel decides to simply trust that he will do what's right when he decides who to lease his property to. What he decides is right may not be what she thinks is right, but Rachel decides that's ok. One thing she does want, however, is for Johnnie to rebuild her restaurant, so that there's a safe place for her wards to work - she wants to open a House of Refuge, where girls who don't want to be prostitutes anymore can live while they try to rebuild their lives. Johnnie and Rachel marry, a mostly happy affair (Lissa doesn't show up).

A year later, Rachel occasionally sees Lissa and makes it clear that there's a place for her to come home to if she ever wants to leave Sumner. Rachel puts up with Sumner, who still doesn't seem to care what he's doing to both Lissa and his wife. When a lost-looking and penniless Miss Eldridge arrives, escorted by Michael (who seems to be a bit smitten by her), she finds support in the House of Refuge.

Commentary:

Most of the time, I liked Rachel, but her black-and-white view of the world drove me batty. You either were a prostitute for life, or you were lily white, nothing in between.

I could understand why Lissa saw her as a hypocrite. At every new development, Rachel seemed to be redefining the way things worked in order to suit her. If she lived purely by the standards she set for herself, there would not have been a single job she could have taken when they first arrived in San Francisco. She justified cleaning and cooking in Johnnie's saloon by defining the saloon only as a hotel during her working hours, and by saying that she refused to be around Carmelita, a former prostitute who still dressed provocatively in order to distract gamblers into losing more money. Technically, the only thing she did during those early days that truly fit her high standards was the work she did caring for Johnnie's trees. Had she really wanted to live a perfectly moral life, she would have married the naturalist.

However, that doesn't mean Lissa's behavior didn't drive me crazy, too. What Lissa didn't seem to realize was that the only thing that saved her and Rachel from being treated like common prostitutes was their status as "sunbonnet women." Being a sunbonnet woman meant that some things would be more difficult - she and Rachel would have had to work much harder to earn a living. However, by choosing not to act like a sunbonnet woman, she was opening herself up to a life where, if Sumner chose to, he could have basically acted as her pimp, sharing her with anyone willing to pay. The thing that made him despicable was the joking he did shortly after he and Lissa first slept together, telling Johnnie that he might share her with him if he wished. Gist later tries to make it seem that Sumner may actually be in love with Lissa, but I doubt it. Lissa was an idiot, a fifteen-year-old idiot who had a temper tantrum, smacking Rachel when she had the gall to remind her that Sumner hadn't kept the marriage vows he made to his wife, so how could he be expected to keep any promises to Lissa?

In the end, what it came down to was Rachel remembering that Jesus consorted with and forgave lots of prostitutes, and her realization that it's not her job to set the moral standards for everyone - all of that's between individuals and God. All that mortals like her can do is try to give people who want to turn their lives around a place they can go to and people who will help and support them. I can accept that.

The historical aspects of this book were very interesting - this is not a period of time I've read a lot about. I knew a bit about the gold rush, but I didn't know about the specifics or what life was like - Gist made that seem very real.

As far as the humor goes, that starts at the very beginning, with the first line: "This street is impassable, not even jackassable," which was apparently a real street sign. I'm sure Gist's research was fascinating. There was less and less humor as the book went on and people's lives started to fall apart, but I did like those early humorous bits.

Overall, I liked this book enough that I'd read something else by Gist, and I certainly plan on reading Maid to Match.

As I said earlier in this post, I don't read a lot of Christian fiction, period, so this read-alike list was really had for me to put together. Those who do read a lot of Christian fiction, feel free to add to this list. Those just looking for read-alikes for this book, take this list with a grain of salt. That said, although coming up with this list was hard (only 3 recommendations, and one of them isn't even Christian fiction!), I think I may be adding Karen Witemeyer's book to my TBR list - it sounds kind of fun.

Read-alikes:

• The Fire Rose (book) by Mercedes Lackey - This is NOT Christian fiction, but the historical and romantic aspects may appeal to those who liked Gist's book - if I remember correctly, the two main characters never do more than kiss, although one of the book's villains is a vicious man who breaks girls sold into prostitution. So, warning given, on to the brief description. After her father dies, Rose Hawkins, a young scholar, finds herself in dire financial straits. When she is offered a position as a governess for the children of Jason Cameron, a wealthy rail baron in San Francisco, she feels she has little choice but to accept. However, Cameron has no children and doesn't need a governess. He's actually an Elemental Master whose specialty is Fire. He needs Rose's help to undo a spell that transformed his appearance and forced him to become a recluse. With an old enemy looking for any exploitable weakness, Cameron must work quickly.
  
• Bamboo and Lace (book) by Lori Wick - This is a Christian romance, just not a historical Christian romance. Raised in a remote Asian village by her missionary father, 24-year-old Lily is amazed by Hawaii when she goes there to visit her brother. When her brother is called away on urgent business, Lily is left in the care of his best friend Gabe and Gabe's family. When Lily begins to fall in love with Gabe, she finds herself faced with a choice between true love and the promise she made not to shame her father. This might be a good one for those who liked reading about Rachel's inner turmoil over her growing love for Johnnie and everything she'd been taught about the proper way a lady should behave.
• A Tailor-Made Bride (book) by Karen Witemeyer - This is another Christian romance (or maybe just fiction, but I'm guessing it's romance). Hannah Richards opens up her dress shop in 1881 Coventry, Texas, hoping to help women add beauty to their lives. Livery owner Jericho Tucker takes one look at her place and is convinced that all she's doing is leading women astray by appealing to their vanity. Despite their clashes over the fine line between beauty and vanity, Hannah and J.T. are both basically good people. As they find themselves growing closer, can the two figure out how to overcome their differences? J.T. and Hannah remind me a bit of Rachel and Johnnie. Those who'd like another Christian historical romance might want to try this.
  

The new computer is all hooked up!

Hooking the new computer up went mostly ok - actually, the part that caused me the most grief was physically setting up my monitor (moving the neck and base into place). After some frustrated tears and a while of receiving simultaneous help from both HP customer service (via the Internet) and my dad (via a phone), I finally figured out that I just wasn't putting enough muscle into moving the neck of the monitor.

So it's all set up now, and the only website I've been to that doesn't look totally dwarfed by my monitor is my own blog - again, big round of applause for widths determined by percentages.

Next on my list of stuff to get is a new computer desk. My current desk has always had serious design issues, and it certainly wasn't intended to be used with a monitor this size. Still, I'm not wild about putting a desk together, so I may live with the one I've got for a while.

Make Me a Match (book) by Diana Holquist

Synopsis:

Cecelia is horrified when her sister, dressed in a gypsy outfit and stuffing everything not nailed down into her purse, shows up at her engagement party and tells her she needs to call off her wedding. Cecelia's sister, Amy, can hear the name of a person's One True Love when she touches them, and she says that Cecelia's One True Love is not Jack, the handsome and successful lawyer Cecelia is engaged to, but rather someone named Finn Concord, who, according to Amy, is dying. Cecelia, who has always believed that Amy's ability ruined her life, refuses to listen to her, but Amy eventually wears her down. Cecelia decides to find any guy named Finn Concord in town and tell him, in a letter, that he should go get a check up because he might be dying. Things don't go quite like how she hoped they would, and Cecelia ends up accidentally meeting, talking to, being attracted to, and really liking one of the Finns she finds, a widower who's recently come to town with his young daughter to meet her "rent-a-Granny."

The two have a bit of an uphill battle. Finn doesn't know at first that Cecelia is engaged. He also doesn't like that Cecelia, a doctor, works in a practice that will only treat those with good private health insurance - his wife died because they didn't have the right connections and couldn't get her the treatment that could've saved her life. Cecelia is determined to stay with Jack, but that has its problems as well - she hasn't told Jack that she and her sister Amy used to steal things and run cons when they were younger. Eventually, more and more lies get unraveled. Amy hasn't told Cecelia everything, Finn's young daughter is hiding things and is beginning to make a pretty good con artist herself, and the "rent-a-Granny" is also involved. Although Amy has said that she's just trying to make sure that Cecelia ends up with the right guy, she really wants to make sure that Cecelia is so grateful to her that she decides to let Amy stay with her - Amy has realized that her powers are fading and are only strong when she's around Cecelia. With Finn's daughter's help, she hatches a plan to get Cecelia and Finn together, but the two aren't very cooperative. Will everything work out? Will Cecelia want Amy to stay, despite all the lies? Is Finn really going to die?

Commentary:

I expected this to be a story about a straight-laced doctor who is horrified when her kooky but lovable family butt into her life and unravel all the perfection. Although her fiance wouldn't love her family, Finn would. However, that wasn't the case - Cecelia's family is eccentric, but a good chunk of it's not really lovable. Amy is horrible, and we never actually get to meet her mom and dad. Her other sister will turn up in another book - which I bought, because the sneak peek at the end of this book indicated that her story would be the kind of thing I usually enjoy (awkward heroine who inexplicably ends up with famous/rich guy - it's embarrassing that I love these kinds of stories, but I do).

It's been way, way too long since I read this book, so it's kind of hard to write this commentary - I need to get a lot better about writing these right after I finish the books. Anyway, I remember disliking Amy (a lot - I can't imagine enjoying whatever book she gets, and I don't plan on buying it, since I'm not a fan of characters who will use their own family members). The rent-a-Granny was a bit...quirky and unfortunately turned out to be part of Amy's scheming. Again, a reason to dislike Amy.

As far as I can remember, I liked Cecelia and Finn well enough, but the thing I remember the most was that, once I finished this book, I really wanted to read the book starring Cecelia's other sister. On the one hand, it's good that Holquist's writing appealed to me enough that I wanted to read another book by her. On the other hand, it's not so good that a book of hers I hadn't even read at the time made more of an impression on me than the book I did read. You have to admit, though, the cover is fun-looking. I think it's why I picked this book up. That, and I found this on the $1 clearance pile.

Well, that's it then. I know, I know, not the best commentary. What can I say, it's been a whole year since I last read this book (yeah, that long - I'm sooo behind on finishing posts). If I ever read it again, I'll try to remember to write another commentary and just skip the synopsis part.

I honestly don't know how good my read-alikes list is, but I did my best. I know I've read more romance novels with fortune-telling in them, but I can't for the life of me remember them.

Read-alikes:

• Night Pleasures (book) by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Want another romance novel starring a straight-laced, practical heroine who just wants a normal life, who just happens to have a not-so-normal sister? Amanda Devereaux is the one normal person in a family of oddballs. After being mistaken for her twin sister, who hunts vampires (which Amanda had never really believed existed), Amanda ends up chained to a guy named Kyrian. Kyrian is a Dark Hunter, an immortal warrior who hunts Daimons (which are a bit like vampires, only they eat souls) for the goddess Artemis. Somewhere along the way, Amanda and Kyrian end up falling in love, but, if they want to have a life together, Amanda will have to figure out how to get Kyrian's soul back from Artemis.
• You Don't Know Jack (book) by Erin McCarthy - Another romance novel with lies that need to be unraveled and a psychic who predicts that the heroine will meet her "one true love." In this case, the heroine is Jamie Peters, a social worker and free spirit who has been burned by love one too many times. A cross-dressing psychic predicts that she'll meet her soul mate - and then she meets Jack, who seems perfect. Unfortunately, "Jack" has a lot of things he hasn't told Jamie. When Jamie finds everything out, will she be able to trust that not everything between them was a lie?
• Fools Rush In (book) by Kristan Higgins - Another romance novel in which the heroine, who has a plan for the way she wants her life to go, remakes herself and then ends up falling for someone who doesn't fit the plan. In high school, Millie Barnes had a huge crush on Joe Carpenter. Back then, she was brainy and plain, but, over a decade later, she's got a hot new look and a good job (plus, a whole decade's worth of experience stalking the guy, figuring out what he likes and doesn't like). She gets the guy, but is he really what she wants, or could Sam, her former brother-in-law, really be the better guy for her?
  

Blogger's Template Designer

I'm not sure when the Template Designer appeared, but it's pretty awesome. I played around with it a bit, and I absolutely LOVE that it's now possible to give your blog a 3-column layout with the click of a button. There aren't a whole lot of themes available, but there are several options for customizing them, depending upon which theme you choose. I think some themes will only allow you to choose between a selection of color schemes, while some will allow you to choose background images. One thing I don't particularly like is that there doesn't seem to be an option for uploading and choosing an image of your own - you have to choose one of the available images. The available images are nice, but an image of your own can really make your blog unique (says the girl who has only done a major edit of her blog layout once in 2+ years, and only to add a third column).

I was tempted to redo the whole look of this blog using the Template Designer, except for one thing - the look I was going to go with only gave me the option of adjusting column widths using number of pixels. I happen to prefer setting up column widths based on percentages. So, if I do switch to something else, I'll still have to look at the CSS and figure out if I can translate all the right bits into percentages. Or, I could bite the bullet and just be ok with pixels. Since I'm going to be moving to a computer with a ginormous monitor (23 inches!!) in a week or so, that might be a good way to go, since it'll get a lot harder to judge how good the percentages probably look on smaller monitors.

Odd Hours (book) by Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas is back, willing to lay down his life for some strange pregnant lady who refuses to give him a straight answer. Also, he kills several people and is a witness to lots of additional deaths. One of the reasons I enjoyed the first book in this series and continued on from there was because Odd is such a likable character. He's still likable, but now I kind of feel like I don't really know him anymore. Plus, I'm having a hard time understanding why he trusts that pregnant lady so easily - there's something about her that keeps setting off my "She's Secretly Evil" alarm.

By the way, if her refusal to answer any of Odd's questions in ways that actually make sense seems annoying to you, you'll be especially annoyed by the ending, which is one giant "To Be Continued," with, again, absolutely no answers from the Pregnant Lady Who Knows All But Smiles And Says Nothing.

Synopsis:
I don't really feel like doing a super-detailed synopsis for this one. Plus, I kind of waited too long - I've forgotten a lot of the details. Anyway, Odd is now living in a town called Magic Beach, cooking food for an elderly ex-actor. Odd keeps having dreams in which "the tide flows red and the sea throbs with a terrible light" - that doesn't sound good, but, other than that, Odd's life is pretty relaxed.

Until he saves the serene and unhelpful pregnant lady (Annamaria), that is. Then he attracts the attention of some bad people, at least one of which seems faintly non-human in his evilness. Odd realizes that these bad people have something to do with his probably prophetic nightmares. He decides to hide and protect the pregnant lady while he figures out what kind of evilness the bad people are going to be responsible for.

Back at Pico Mundo, he could count on help from the local law enforcement, but that's a problem in Magic Beach. It turns out that Chief Hoss Shackett of the Magic Beach Police plays a big role in the local evilness. Odd can't even necessarily trust people who might normally be trustworthy - there's no way to tell who's on the police chief's side.

So, if the police chief is doing evilness, why are people helping him? Money, of course. The Chief is part of a plan to deliver some nukes to other bad guys - Odd's dream is showing him what will happen if those bad guys get the nukes. Odd, like James Bond, only with less confidence and practice, manages to get on the ship that will be delivering the nukes, stop the people on the ship (killing a few of them - he may not have enjoyed it, but it still happened), and notifies several different authorities about the nukes (so that no one group will have access to them and therefore try to keep them quiet and use them for their own purposes). Odd is upset by the thought of all the people he killed in this book, but Annamaria, the serene pregnant lady, tells him it's ok because he saved whole cities by doing what he did. The book ends with the two of them traveling, and Annamaria displaying an unexplained knowledge of things only Stormy Llewellyn, the deceased love of Odd's life, could have known.

Oh, and, if you remember, Elvis is now gone, but Odd has a new ghostly companion: Frank Sinatra.

Commentary:

Seriously, Annamaria creeped me out. Although I'm guessing that Koontz will probably make her out to be some kind of holy figure, a modern Mary with her immaculately conceived baby, all she does for me is creep me out and annoy me. She won't ever give Odd a straight answer and, instead of getting angry with her for that, he just accepts it as the way things must be. Right.

As far as the bad guys in this book go, I expected something more supernatural. With the connection to Odd's dream, and the one bad guy whose eyes are apparently yellow, a supernatural explanation seemed like a good possibility. When the reality turned out to be greed and corruption that was only unusual because it was so massive and deep, it was kind of a letdown. I still expected there to be some kind of supernatural explanation, because it was too disturbing, thinking that the Chief was only an ordinary guy who was just very corrupt.

Overall, I'm not really sure how I felt about this book. Odd seems to be turning into someone I don't really recognize and am not sure I like anymore. He's still a nice guy, but he killed so many people in this book - an ordinary guy just can't do that kind of stuff. Sure, he breaks down a bit, but still. And I did not like how Annamaria tried to tell him that what he did was ok because he saved cities. If she's all that's good and holy, I wonder, if saving cities could be accomplished by killing one or two innocent people, would she be ok with having Odd dirty his hands with that, too? If there's going to be hard stuff that needs to be done, I personally feel that she or whoever is behind her should be doing it.

Read-alikes:

• The Manhattan Hunt Club (book) by John Saul - After being wrongly convicted of rape and attempted murder, Jeff Converse finds himself on the run, with homicidal maniac Francis Jagger for company. If Jeff and Francis can make it out of Manhattan's underground tunnels and back to the outside world, they'll live. If not, they'll die. It's all part of a game being played by some of the city's most powerful men and women, who have prisoners hunted and stuffed like trophy animals. Those who'd like another suspenseful book with a main character who's on the run and potentially can't trust anyone around him might want to try this.
• Symphony (book) by Charles Grant - This is the first book in a quartet dealing with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Reverend Casey Chisholm lives in the outwardly quiet town of Maple Landing, trying to deal with its problems as best he can. One day, he discovers that he has developed miraculous powers, which include the ability to heal, dispel an angry swarm of bees, and more. While strange things go on in Maple Landing, a malevolent white car slowly makes its way towards Rev. Chisholm, bearing a woman named Susan who brings death wherever she goes. She plans to do battle with the Reverend and is accompanied by an unsettling group of people. Those who'd like something else that features steadily building suspense, even stronger religious aspects (for those, like me, who got a religious vibe from Odd Hours), and a large-scale menace with small-scale focus (one man, who will need to stand between evil and humanity) might want to try this.
  
• Black Hills (book) by Dan Simmons - A young Lakota boy, Paha Sapa, touches the body of dying General Custer at Little Big Horn and ends up with the man's spirit inside him for the next sixty years. Paha Sapa also has the ability to see the past and future of many other people he meets, and one day he has a terrible vision of the future in which his beloved Black Hills are destroyed. In order to prevent this from happening, he tries to blow up Mount Rushmore before it's completed. Those who'd like something else with a sympathetic main character, some supernatural elements, and appearances from real people might want to try this book.
  

So much money spent...

I recently went on a bit of a buying spree, some of which I had saved for and some of which I hadn't.

I ordered a computer - I saved up for that, and the computer desk I'll need to buy once the computer arrives. Considering that I got the "white screen of death" only a couple weeks ago (because my computer is just too good for the boring, ordinary "blue screen of death"), and there have been a few other worrisome signs that my laptop is getting on in years and feeling every bit of it, ordering the computer was probably a good idea. I'm looking forward to its arrival.

Shortly after ordering my computer, I went on a major book buying spree. Really major. Even considering that it was all used and most of it was even more marked down than usual, I still spent a lot more than I should have. Here's a partial list of my haul:

• Ceres: Celestial Legend (vols. 5-14)
• RE:Play (vols. 1-2)
• Offbeat (vol. 1)
• Fullmetal Alchemist (vol. 10)
• Death Note (vol. 6)
• DNAngel (vols. 1-3)
• Tsubasa: Those with Wings (the whole series, in three collected volumes)
• Megatokyo (vol. 2)
• Get Backers (vols. 7 & 13)
• Hikaru no Go (vol. 2)
• Mixed Vegetables (vol. 2)
• Tramps Like Us (vols. 4-5)
  
• The Twelve Kingdoms (vols. 1-2 of the original novels, translated into English)
• Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
• Dead After Dark (anthology)
• More Than Magic by Kathleen Nance (I remember liking this and have been looking for this in used bookstores for years now)

...and an assortment of novels published by Tokyopop, some of which I've heard of and some of which I haven't.

When you think about it, it's really quite amazing that I usually not only have a budget but also manage to stick to it. One of the people I was out book shopping with said that I should donate my manga to our very pathetic public library when I'm done with it - the problem with that suggestion is that, just like when I buy books, I buy manga not to read it and be done with it, but rather so I can read it and then reread the whole thing or even just my favorite bits. Sometimes I just want to look at the pictures again. Before I moved to a town with a tiny, sad public library, I got all my manga from the public library, knowing that, if I liked something, I could just check it out again. My personal manga collection ballooned once that was no longer an option (and once my savings account began to look healthier again), and, for the most part, I don't really want to part with any of it.

Well, we'll see. If I ever decide to move and can't take all this stuff with me, the public library might be happy to have my humongous manga collection (which is heavily weighted towards shojo stuff). Heck, I could even offer to catalog it for them, if they wanted. Then, all they'd have to do is process it and find shelf space for all of it.

Libyrinth (book) by Pearl North

This is yet another book I saw on Unshelved - I ended up requesting it via ILL because the book/library aspects of it appealed to me. For some reason I assumed that this was a first novel. Although this is Pearl North's first novel for young adults, apparently "Pearl North" is actually a pseudonym for a SF author named Anne Harris (found this out with a bit of searching on the Internet, but I haven't done anything to verify that this is, in fact, true, so correct me if I'm wrong), who I've never read anything by and have never even heard of.

Anyway, my overall impression of this book was "meh." Some parts were very interesting, but the characters didn't really grab me and the pace felt a bit slow. I also had problems remembering that this was supposed to be set in some kind of dystopian future - several elements made this feel more like fantasy than scifi, and the only things that reminded me that this was actually set in our future were the occasional book quotes.

Synopsis:

Thousands of years from now, much human knowledge has been lost, and what hasn't been lost is being maintained in two different, and apparently opposing, ways. One way is in the Libyrinth, a library so vast that people sometimes get lost and even die in it. It houses many books, but, since the whole of it hasn't been traveled and cataloged, it's not always possible to find what one is looking for. Another way is the Eradicants' way (the Libyrarians call them Eradicants - they call themselves the Singers). They believe that books are murdered words and that the only way words can be free is if they are sung. They store knowledge as songs and burn books, one at a time, as they find them. In order to avoid having the entire Libyrinth burned down, the Libyrarians have an arrangement with the Eradicants that allows the Eradicants to occasionally burn certain books if they agree to leave the rest of the Libyrinth alone.

The one book that everyone wants is The Book of the Night, which is said to be able to bring about the Redemption and supposedly holds the secrets to creating an Egg (Eggs are valuable power sources, but the method for creating them has been lost). One Libyrarian, Selene, may have discovered the location of The Book of the Night, but unfortunately that information is leaked to the Eradicants. Selene, her clerk Haly, Haly's friend Clauda, and Nod all work to get to The Book of the Night before the Eradicants do, only to discover that the book is written in a language no one can read. However, Haly has been hiding a secret - books talk to her. Even if she can't read what is written in them, they read themselves to her, and she can repeat what they say to others.

The Eradicants come and torture both Haly and Clauda. Clauda and Selene manage to escape with The Book of the Night, while Haly is taken away by the Eradicants, who condemn her as a witch. It's not long before the Eradicants figure out that Haly is actually their prophesied Redeemer, the one who will read The Book of the Night and bring about the Redemption. Haly begins to learn more about the Eradicants - the Singers - and she realizes to her surprise that both the Singers' and the Libyrarians' ways each have their strengths and weaknesses. The Libyrarians preserve valuable knowledge in the form of books, ensuring that the knowledge of the Ancients won't be lost, but they don't readily share that knowledge with those outside the Libyrinth. The Singers songs can be understood and sung by anyone, but Singers will occasionally edit events to make them more acceptable and their songs don't necessarily stay the same over time - as a result, knowledge occasionally gets lost. As Haly comes to understand some of the ways Libyrarians can learn from the Singers, she tries to teach the Singers the value of books by reading to some of them and even teaching one of them to read - the book she uses, the same book that was used to test her abilities, is The Diary of Anne Frank.

While Haly is learning about the Singers and gradually trying to teach them about books and the Libyrarians, Selene and Clauda are trying to figure out how to save Haly and the Libyrinth and keep The Book of the Night from falling into Eradicant hands. They enlist the help of Selene's mother, Queen Thela of Ilysies, but there's a few problems. First, Queen Thela has no intention of saving Haly - she plans on using the situation to gain more power for herself and Ilysies. Second, Clauda's not doing too well because what the Eradicants did to her, and soon she won't be able to take care of herself, much less help Haly.

When the Eradicants/Singers arrive at the Libyrinth, things don't go quite as they planned. At Haly's urging, the Libyrarians and Singers gradually begin to learn more about each other and sort of get along, but the Libyrinth isn't out of danger yet. Clauda arrives in a Wing, a flying machine created by the Ancients, that Thela had hidden away - the Wing doubles as both a weapon and something that can heal her badly damaged nervous system. Not knowing how things will go, Haly tries to begin the Redemption, and Clauda uses the Wing to amplify its effects. Suddenly, everyone is able to hear exactly what they need to hear from just the right books.

Haly discovers that The Book of the Night doesn't say anything about how to create an Egg. The Singers and Libyrarians became two separate groups because of a misunderstanding - the founder of the Libyrarians wasn't able to find out how to create Eggs, while the founder of the Singers believed that the founder of the Libyrarians was simply refusing to share the secret. So, The Book of the Night isn't necessarily as useful as people thought it would be, but at least now everyone wants to try to get along and learn from each other.

Commentary:

Anytime I hear about a book that has librarians in it, or one where books are very prominent in some way, I can't help but want to read it. Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a slog for me - the only reason I finished it well before my ILL due date was because I wasn't allowing myself to start reading Moribito until I finished this.

I really like all the book quotes sprinkled throughout the text. The author seemed to have quotes available for all kinds of situations, and, joy of joys, the selection of books quoted from was extremely varied. These quotes didn't just come from classics (as in, the books your high school English teacher made you read because the stuff you really wanted to read was considered crap) - there's stuff from books I've read and enjoyed (Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, etc.), stuff from books I've never read but now think I should hunt down (P.G. Wodehouse's Right Ho, Jeeves, Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc.), and random non-fiction. Even better, the author doesn't force you to figure out where all these quotes come from (although this may be more for legal reasons than anything else). If you want, you can puzzle out all the quotes as you read, but there are several pages at the end of the book that list all the quotes and their citations. Sadly, there are no page numbers for where they can be found in North's book, only chapter numbers, and none of the citations include page numbers. It's still better than nothing, though.

Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough stuff I liked in addition to the quotes. Most of the characters didn't interest me, or I actively disliked them. The Eradicants were the main ones I hated - while I could understand and appreciate their feelings that knowledge was meant to be shared, their belief that books, knowledge that could not automatically be shared by all, should be burned turned me off. Since I find it hard to believe that every one of the Eradicants throughout their whole history would be so blind as to not realize that at least some of the books they were burning held knowledge that they didn't have, it ends up looking like what they actually believe is that if everyone can't have certain knowledge then no one should be able to have it. At least the Libyrarians were only guilty of not making their knowledge more widely available, either by setting up literacy programs available to anyone interested (although it seemed like something like that was available, maybe...) or by doing public readings of their books.

There were snippets of romance, but North didn't do enough with them for my tastes. Haly and a young Singer end up together - not a huge surprise. I was wondering what North would do with the revelation, relatively early in the book, that Clauda is a lesbian, and the answer was, "nothing." Clauda blushes over a few nude or semi-clothed ladies in Ilysies (the people at the Libyrinth apparently have more hangups about nudity than the people in Ilysies), and I kind of wondered whether a few bits with Clauda and Selene and Selene talking about Clauda were going to morph into an end-of-the-book relationship between the two of them. Nope. I guess the whole thing was just a throwaway detail. As far as I can tell, none of the other characters in the book even find out about Clauda's secret. Maybe North or her publishers were hoping that parents would find out about "the lesbian character" and make a big fuss, thereby boosting the book's sales?

One thing I think is kind of interesting, since e-books are on my mind, is that the future North writes about in this book can't exist without print books and can't include e-books. Eggs power the machines of the Ancients - even if the people in this book could find an e-book reader that was still working and load some e-books into it, I don't know that they'd necessarily want to waste their few remaining eggs on it. Heck, they have problems keeping the Libyrinth powered up, and it wasn't until the very end of the book that they got enough power to be able to activate a feature of the Libyrinth that would allow Libyrarians to actually find specific books. Print books can believably be around in Haly's world, because we have actual examples of books that have survived for hundreds of years and can survive for longer. E-books in Haly's world would stretch the boundaries of believability a bit too far. Although...is it really possible that so many 21st century books would survive to be housed in the Libyrinth? Apparently even acid-free paper is only supposed to last two or three hundred years. That's still longer than I imagine an e-book would last, but maybe not long enough for the world of Libyrinth to be possible.

By the way, in case you haven't read a post of mine that's mentioned it, I'm definitely a print book kind of person. I have a feeling North might be, too.

Anyway, with my TBR pile threatening to take over my apartment, I'm starting to think I need to quit requesting books via ILL that I only think I might like. I didn't hate this book and don't feel like I wasted a few hours of my life reading it, but finishing the book doesn't clear up a little more of my bookshelf and apartment space the same way reading one of the books I own would. If I had liked this book more, that wouldn't be as much of an issue. However, I didn't really like the book's pacing, and North couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted this book to be science fiction or fantasy, which is something that has annoyed me with other things (Sharon Shinn's Samaria books and Scrapped Princess, to name a few examples). I don't mind soft science fiction - in fact, I tend to prefer it to hard science fiction - but I like books to be clear about what it is they are. Haly's ability to hear books automatically put this book in the realm of fantasy for me, and the confusing bit near the end about Haly being not quite human, an attempt, I'm guessing, to make Haly's abilities less fantasy and more science fiction, was too little, too late.

Read-alikes:

• Archangel (book) by Sharon Shinn - This book, the first in a series, is set in what appears to be a Utopian society. Angels walk among regular human beings and sing to the god Jovah for whatever aid humans might need (for example, weather manipulation in order to end a drought). Gabriel is next in line to become the archangel, and he must have the wife Jovah has chosen for him singing by his side when it's time for him to assume his new position. Unfortunately, he's waited until nearly the last possible moment to find Rachel, the woman who is to be his wife, and she turns out to be a slave who hates all angels. This is the first book in a series that later reveals itself to be science fiction. Those who liked Libyrinth's mix of fantasy and sci-fi, use of singing, and "forgotten knowledge rediscovered" aspects may want to try this series, beginning with this book.
  
• The Eyre Affair (book) by Jasper Fforde - In an alternate universe, Thursday Next is an operative in the Literary Division of the Special Operations Network. Her latest case involves finding someone who's been stealing characters from the original manuscripts of beloved works of literature, thereby removing those characters from all copies of those works. Those who'd like something else that's a bit of a genre-bender and full of literary references might want to try this.
• Sabriel (book) by Garth Nix - This is the first in Nix's Abhorsen Trilogy. Sabriel is in her last year at Wyverley College, which is located in an area where Magic doesn't work. When she finds out that her father is somehow trapped in Death, Sabriel must journey to the Old Kingdom, where Magic does work, in order to find him and save him. Sabriel, like her father, has the power to lay the dead to rest, and she must use this ability to save herself and those she befriends as she attempts to help her father. Although I'm suggesting this book, I'm mainly suggesting it as a steppingstone to the book that comes after it - Lirael. Lirael, like Libyrinth, has an awesome, dangerous library.
  
• Dragonsong (book) by Anne McCaffrey - I think this is the 3rd book in McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, and the first one featuring Menolly. Menolly wants nothing more than to become a Harper (basically, a professional musician), something her father does his best to make impossible. Menolly runs away and struggles to survive away from civilization and other humans. Fortunately, she ends up befriending and raising a group of fire lizards (tiny dragon creatures). Those who particularly liked the parts of Libyrinth where Haly learned how the Singers live should be sure to read the next book in the series, Dragonsinger, in which Menolly ends up at Harper Hall, learning how to hone her musical abilities. By the way, although McCaffrey's Pern books may appear to be fantasy, they are later revealed to be science fiction (I know hard sci-fi lovers are cringing right now, and possible some soft sci-fi fans, too - I still think of this series as fantasy).
  

Caught up in another anime

I've been watching The Twelve Kingdoms off and on all weekend and, for the most part, loving it. I just really, really wanted to smack Sugimoto, and I still can't figure out why Asano even existed. However, I've now gotten far enough into the show to be able to confirm that, yes, the show deals with more than just the first book of The Twelve Kingdoms - I've just begun Taiki's story. Since I haven't read past the second book yet, I'm not quite sure if the whole bit about Taiki going back to our world after getting drawn back to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms is invented entirely for the anime, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were - although this series is more faithful to the original than some anime adaptations, there are still quite a few additions and changes. Overall, I've been ok with that, aside from what I've already said about Sugimoto and Asano. I'm not liking all the expository talk that comes with Taiki's story - the writers for this show had an excessive fondness for telling over showing.

The show has been working well as a distraction - another thing I've been doing off an on all weekend is cleaning my apartment. My pet rat died a little over a week ago, and I've been having some problems being in the same room where his cage was located. Unfortunately, that room is my bedroom. So, I'm finally getting around to vacuuming, airing things out, and cleaning things up. Hopefully, that will help. I really miss the little guy, though, and it's easier to deal with when I'm not in the same room he used to be in.

The Coffin Club (book) by Ellen Schreiber

This is the fifth book in Schreiber's Vampire Kisses series. It's a series that mostly gets a "meh" response from me, but I keep reading it because the books are short and easy to get through, and because I keep hoping that Alexander will get to do something interesting. For the most part, this book gets my usual "meh" response, but there were a few things about it that got a fangirl squeal of approval from me.

I should mention that my reading of this book was colored by what I learned when I indulged my bad habit of skipping to the last few pages shortly after beginning the book. Alexander keeps a secret from Raven throughout most of this book, and knowing this secret allowed me to enjoy certain parts of the book in ways I don't think I would have otherwise.

Synopsis:

Desperate to see Alexander again, Raven decides to surprise him by going to see him in Hipsterville once her summer vacation starts. He'd gone there to take care of some vampire business (something involving Valentine and Jagger - I can't quite remember what that business was), but something is delaying his return to Dullsville. While Alexander is as happy to see Raven as Raven is to see him, he can't go back to Dullsville with her yet. He also doesn't want Raven going to the Coffin Club on her own, something which frustrates her, since this is one of the few places where she can meet lots of people who dress and think like she does.

Looking for something to pass the time one evening while she waits for her Aunt Libby, Raven decides to go to the Coffin Club. Things have changed since the last time she was there - the line to get in is a lot longer, and there are now two sides to the club, the public side and the secret side. Raven stumbles upon and talks her way into the secret side of the club, which caters to vampires rather than humans. This secret part of the Coffin Club has become a place where vampires can go and be themselves, partying with and flirting with others of their kind and having drinks made with blood.

The Coffin Club is going through an upheaval, however. There are two sides, the side that wants the vampires to go public and take over Hipsterville, and the side that wants the club to continue to be a secret haven for vampires and a relatively benign presence in Hipsterville. From what others in the club tell Raven, it looks like Jagger is on the side that wants vampires to stay secret, while a new, somewhat frightening vampire named Phoenix is on the side that wants vampires to go public. Although Raven doesn't trust Jagger, she at least knows him, and she doesn't know anything about Phoenix other than that he may be even more dangerous than Jagger. Something about Phoenix draws her, however, and the feeling seems to be mutual, because he always seems to be watching her.

Raven gets to visit the Coffin Club a few more times after this, even going there with Alexander once, although she can't bring herself to tell him that she's already gone there on her own. While lost and trying to find the public side of the club again, Raven ends up at Jagger's place in the club. Recently, local crop circles have been making the news - Raven had theorized that vampires were responsible, because a witness reported seeing bats, and in Jagger's apartment Raven spots all the tools necessary for creating crop circles. Both Phoenix and Jagger find her in the apartment, and Raven chooses to go with Jagger, the devil she knows. Thankfully, Alexander's recent reconciliation with Jagger seems to extend to her as well, and Jagger leads her safely out of the vampire part of the Coffin Club.

The day after a nice double date (Raven and Alexander, plus Aunt Libby and her new boyfriend Devon), Raven decides to do a little more investigating. She knows that Jagger and Phoenix are confronting each other at the site of one of the crop circles, and Raven wants to be there to listen in on what they have to say to each other. To her shock, Raven discovers that she's had it all wrong - it's Jagger who wants the vampires to take over Hipsterville and Phoenix who wants them to remain a secret.

After that bombshell, Raven goes on a date with Alexander and still can't bring herself to tell him everything she's done and learned about the Coffin Club, Jagger, and Phoenix. Alexander gives Raven a gift, a one-way ticket back to Dullsville with the promise that they'll both be leaving together soon. However, Raven has one last thing she wants to do. She goes back to the club, despite an ominous warning from Phoenix, and tells the vampire friends she's made (who don't know that she's human) what she's learned about Phoenix and Jagger. Finally, everything comes down to a vote for either Phoenix or Jagger - whoever wins gets the Master Key to the Coffin Club and gets to determine how things will be for vampires in Hipsterville. Phoenix wins by a large margin and decides to give his new power over the the clubgoers, but Jagger tries to invalidate the vote by bringing attention to Raven's vote.

Suddenly, Raven finds herself very much the only human among a large group of angry vampires. Raven's friends stand by her, but even they almost can't prevent the crowd from forcibly turning her into a vampire. Crying out for Alexander, Raven is instead saved by Phoenix. Although still not quite sure she can trust him, Raven allows Phoenix to take her to safety. All the secrecy has become too much for her, and Raven rushes to Alexander's place, determined to tell him everything that's been going on - only to discover that he already knows everything, because he was Phoenix all along. He had disguised himself because he knew he had to stop Jagger but also didn't want to mess up his recent reconciliation with Jagger. Now that everything has been resolved, it's time for Alexander and Raven to return to Dullsville together.

Commentary:

Raven is still conflicted about whether or not she wants to become a vampire. On the one hand, she kind of does, because the vampire world is attractive and exhilarating to her. On the other hand, she knows that Alexander feels like an outsider in the vampire world, and she knows that the vampire life is not what he wants for her. Some aspects of it kind of frighten her, as well. She had a nightmare about forcibly being turned into a vampire (amusingly enough, knowing how the book ends, Phoenix was the scary one in her nightmare), and, when she's almost forcibly turned into one for real, it's Alexander that she calls out for. Even if she does decide to become a vampire, she wants to become one on her terms - she wants Alexander to be the one who does it.

I don't think I would've guessed that Alexander was Phoenix, because Raven and Alexander pass by Phoenix's motorcycle on their way into the Coffin Club, creating the impression that Phoenix is already in the club somewhere when they get there. Had Schreiber taken it too far, Alexander pretending to be Phoenix might have pissed me off. As it was, however, I found it amusing, a little cute, and a little sexy. Raven got to see Alexander not as sweet, safe Alexander, but as a scary, somewhat sinister vampire, and it both drew her and frightened her. Alexander sort of tested her twice - the first time he talked to her as Phoenix, he flirted with her a bit, and she didn't bite, telling him that she already had a boyfriend. Near the end of the book, he flirted with her some more, and again she told him that she already had a boyfriend, although Raven noted that he didn't really seem to want her to accept any of his flirtations. I chose to interpret all of this as a way for Alexander to test whether Raven really wanted him or would go after any sexy vampire who showed an interest in her - and the answer was that she wouldn't. It's kind of cute, and Alexander didn't carry it to jealous extremes. It's also kind of cute that he kept trying to watch out for her while disguised as Phoenix (unfortunately making her fear Phoenix even more, since, to her, it seemed like he was stalking her or something).

I'm glad I already knew that Phoenix was really Alexander, because otherwise this book probably would've annoyed me. Throughout the whole series, I've felt that Schreiber doesn't do enough with Alexander and the romance between him and Raven - Alexander has a tendency to feel like Raven's token sexy vampire boyfriend, loved only because he's both sweet and a vampire. Alexander hardly shows up at all in this book as himself, and, when he does show up, Raven spends the whole time hiding things from him. It's not exactly the ideal situation.

I really hope that Schreiber eventually gives Alexander a bigger, better part, or at least focuses more on the relationship between him and Raven. By this point in the series, I shouldn't still find myself wishing for their relationship to get more development, and yet I am. I know this series is aimed at "reluctant readers" who are probably in a slightly younger age group than the audiences of any of the other young adult books I've read lately, but does that really mean the romance has to be so bare bones? Somehow, even Raven and Alexander's dates end up being unsatisfying.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• Got Fangs? (book) by Katie Maxwell - This is the first book in Maxwell's Goth Series. Fran is tagging along with her mother, who's part of a Goth faire traveling in Europe. Fran has the ability to read people with her touch, but she hates her ability and feels like a freak because of it. A young man shows up and tells her that he's a vampire and she's his Beloved, the only person who can lift his curse. Although Benedikt is sexy, Fran's a bit resistant. Readers who enjoyed the vampires, romance, mystery, and action in The Coffin Club might like this book.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (live action TV series) - Pretty, blond, cheerleader-material Buffy moves to a new school and discovers that she, as the Slayer, must forget any chance she might have at becoming a normal, popular girl and fight demons, vampires, and other supernatural horrors in order to keep the oblivious residents of Sunnydale safe. Like Raven, Buffy eventually finds herself with a brooding, socially awkward, romantic vampire boyfriend. Readers who enjoyed Raven's investigations, her outsider status, the vampires, and the cluelessness of everyone in Dullsville might like this TV series. Readers who'd rather try another book should look into some of the many books based on this series - I don't, at the moment, have a particular book to recommend.
• The Wallflower (manga) by Tomoko Hayakawa - When Sunako finally gathered up the courage to tell the boy she liked how she felt about him, he crushed her by telling her that he doesn't like ugly people. Ever since then, Sunako has surrounded herself with dark and scary things and stopped putting any effort into how she looks. She watches bloody horror movies, she's ghostly pale and dresses in dark clothing, and her room is filled with skulls, coffins, and other gruesome things. She lives alone in her aunt's house, which, unfortunately for her, is invaded by four beautiful guys who were promised free rent by her aunt if they could only turn Sunako into a lady. Readers who like the way Raven dresses and her obsession with dark things may like this series. Also, there are many light-hearted, sweet, and funny moments throughout this series, as well as hints of romance (which will have to stay hints until Sunako gets over her fear of romance, dating, and love).
• Chibi Vampire (manga) by Yuna Kagesaki - Karin is a misfit in a family of vampires - rather than taking blood, she must give it (she really has to or she gets the most horrifying nosebleeds of all time), and she is unable to mind-wipe humans, can go out in the sun, and can tolerate garlic. A new boy named Kenta comes to her school and suddenly Karin's body is reacting to him, producing blood much faster than normal - what's going on? Those who'd like another vampire romance that would work well for a YA audience might want to try this.
  

Tramps Like Us (manga, vol. 2) by Yayoi Ogawa

Sumire drives me crazy sometimes but... I can't stop reading. Gah...

Synopsis:

Sumire has been dating Hasumi for a while now, and the two of them still haven't had sex - it seems like the universe is against them. When Hasumi suggests that they spend Christmas Eve together, Sumire wants so badly to keep him happy and finally get a chance to have sex with him that she says yes, even though she doesn't normally celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, Hasumi's work interferes, and Sumire is left with only Momo for company on Christmas Eve. This turns out to not be so bad (he made her a cake with a surprise in it, a toy ring, taking the idea from a story she told him about her childhood), and she enjoys her time with him enough that, when Hasumi calls to say that he finished his work early, she tells him that she can't meet with him because her sisters have come to stay with her for the night. Hasumi, it turns out, had planned to give her a nice ring that night - could it be an engagement ring?

In the next part of the volume, Sumire has to deal with her workplace's new non-smoking rules. She's already been lying to Hasumi, saying and making it seem like she smokes less than she does, because she knows he hates that she smokes. In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, she decides to quit smoking cold turkey. Everyone at work has the usual response - "well, of course Sumire's quitting smoking, she's an educated career woman who spent time in America - I'm sure quitting will be easy for her" - at least until the lack of nicotine starts driving her crazy. Even Hasumi notices how on edge she's getting. The only thing that helps is petting Momo, but that's not something she can do at work.

While Sumire is still dealing with her nicotine cravings, Momo, whose real name is Takeshi, gets a phone call from his ex-girlfriend Rumi, who'd like to resume their relationship (or at least the sexual side of it). However, Rumi gets pissed when Takeshi tells her they have to be quick because he's got to get back to his mistress. In the end, Momo once again helps Sumire regain her composure, and Sumire decides to continue smoking (although she still has to pretend that she's quit when she's around Hasumi) because it annoyed her that her coworkers saw her decision to quit as a sign that she might be pregnant and marrying Hasumi soon (they still haven't even had sex yet).

Sumire's friend Yuri causes her to worry when she brings up the possibility that Hasumi might decide he's better off with someone else. After all, he might have a better chance at having successful sex if he were with someone other than Sumire. The same day Sumire promises Momo that she'll come home early (she's noticed that he's been feeling lonely and needy because she hasn't been home much lately, which reminds her of the dog she named him after), Hasumi invites her over to cook for him. She decides that she should be able to juggle both Hasumi and Momo if she leaves Hasumi's place early. Things seem to be going well, at first. The dinner she makes Hasumi goes over well enough, and things get a little steamy afterward. Unfortunately, both Hasumi and Sumire suddenly become accident-prone, and their romantic night together becomes slap-stick comedy. Mortified, Sumire goes home. She becomes even more upset when she discovers that Momo has fed and entertained himself without her. She worries that Hasumi is mad at her because she left and because the evening went so badly, but he calls her up that night and seems fine about the way everything went.

In the next part of the volume, Valentine's Day is coming up, and Momo is a little upset that Sumire has a nice gift for Hasumi and an afterthought of a gift for him. The last straw is when Sumire gets upset with Momo's complaining and tells him to "act like a pet is supposed to." To remind her of his value, Momo decides not to talk around Sumire for a while. It takes her three weeks or so to notice, but she begins to realize that she hates not having Momo talk to her. He may be her pet, but he's a person, too, and she likes that he can tell her "welcome home." Lots of great things happen to her, but she's stuck in a depressed funk until Momo speaks to her again. For White Day, Hasumi finally gives her the ring he intended to give her on Christmas Eve (and it's not an engagement ring, but still), and Momo gives her a lollipop. Hasumi's gift may cost more, but it's Momo's gift (the lollipop and speaking to her again) that makes Sumire the happiest.

For some reason, thoughts of her former fiance are bothering Sumire again. While all that's circling around in her brain, Hasumi tells her about a woman in a situation similar to the one Sumire is in with Momo - like Sumire, the woman is keeping a young man as a pet. He's a struggling artist she supports financially. When Sumire asks Hasumi what he thinks about the situation, he says it's disgusting. It's not the woman that disgusts him, so much as the young man - Hasumi dislikes that the guy is mooching off of her, since he'd never do that himself. The response upsets Sumire, but Hasumi, of course, has no idea why. Hasumi's not the only one who has trouble understanding the dynamics of a relationship like Sumire and Momo's. The other dancers at Momo's studio are shocked when he confirms that he's Sumire's pet, and they don't understand why she's not having him trade sex for food and a place to stay. They think it sounds like an easy and cushy deal. When Sumire comes home drunk that night, after overhearing her former fiance refer to her as "a loan that was way beyond my ability to repay," it occurs to Momo that things aren't as easy as the other dancers might think. It'd be easy for him to take advantage of drunken Sumire and sleep with her, but he doesn't do anything beyond kiss her.

Later, Sumire's ex-fiance visits her to tell her that he's going to be transferred to a new location soon. His visit pisses her off enough that she tells him that Momo is not her second cousin, as he believes, but rather her pet. Her ex is shocked and gets upset with Momo for being a freeloader, which only pisses Sumire off some more. She finally tells him off, something she never even really did when they broke up. Before Sumire's ex leaves, Momo lands the final blow by telling him that he's her pet because he wants to be with her - she said he could stay if he stayed as her pet, so that's what he is. As a sweet ending for this part of the volume, Momo promises Sumire that he'll stay until she tells him to move out, even if that's ten years from now or even if she gets old (both her questions).

The volume wraps up with a bit that focuses on Sumire's belief that she must live without depending on others, especially men, because no one can be depended upon to help her. She deals with a pervert on the train on her own and doesn't think to tell Hasumi later because she doesn't see what he'd be able to do for her (hurting his feelings, of course - Yuri tells her that she needs to get better at playing the weak damsel in distress for him). When she's given a ton of extra work, she takes it on without complaining. Unfortunately, all this stress is having a seriously bad effect on her health. She throws up at home, making Momo worry that she might be pregnant (he doesn't know that she and Hasumi haven't had sex yet), she faints (but doesn't call Momo because she figures he wouldn't be able to help and would just panic and make things worse), and she throws up blood in the bathroom at work. Rather than tell Hasumi, who has noticed that she looks paler than usual, she pretends she's fine. Whereas other women at work seem stuck on the idea that they can't survive without depending on a man, Sumire is determined not to ever depend on one, so much so that she believes she's alone with all her problems right now. In an attempt to prove otherwise, Momo makes sure Sumire gets some decent sleep and fixes her a nice dinner.

Commentary:

Here's hoping that Sumire at least confides in Momo about her health problems. If she really threw up blood and wasn't just exaggerating, then it's kind of worrisome. No matter how common this sort of thing appears to be in manga (*cough*Eiri Yuki*cough*), it's something that any halfway realistic character should be concerned about.

I started this post off by saying that Sumire drives me crazy, and the main reason is that she's so rarely without her public facade. She tries crazy hard to be self-reliant, not letting anybody know that she might need a bit of help, and the one person she can rely on is someone she doesn't realize she can rely on, because she thinks of him as a cute pet. She only ever lets her guard down and lets herself be who she really is around Momo. Around Hasumi, she tries to be someone she thinks Hasumi would want to be with. Around her coworkers, she tries to be cool and flawless. While it's possible it may be with good reason, she just doesn't trust anyone besides Momo to accept her as she is.

As perfect as Hasumi currently seems, he's not going to be perfect for Sumire until she can relax around him. She's still not herself around him, although she's better than she was with her other boyfriends - I can't help but think that she'd probably be more content with Momo. First, though, they'd have to get over the whole "pet and mistress" thing.

Even though I'm not entirely sure Hasumi is the guy for Sumire, he's still fun to read about. There's one tiny little bit in this volume where you get to read Hasumi's thoughts, and it's hilarious. When he upsets Sumire by saying that the guy being kept as a pet disgusts him, he starts panicking and wondering what he did to upset her, because he knows from what he learned about her body language in college that she's pissed at him (she got pissed at him then for criticizing people who watch pro wrestling, probably because she enjoys it herself). His thoughts: "Quick--change the subject by giving her something!!" I love that, even though it also kind of annoys when I think about it too much - man panics and throws angry woman a bone, and, look, it works! The bone, in this case, is jasmine tea, which opens up in hot water like a flower blooming.

Another thing I'm having lots of fun with - Momo's sexual frustration is going to drive him crazy. He doesn't touch her inappropriately when they sleep together because he doesn't think he'll be able to stop at just a touch here and there. He has a hard time stopping himself from going to her when she's drunk. I wonder what he'd think if he knew that she hasn't had sex with Hasumi yet? And, gosh, both he and Hasumi are gorgeous. Hasumi's just hot all the time, but Momo has flashes of hotness. A lot of the time, he looks like a cute kid, a bit rambunctious, but there are times when he just becomes mouthwateringly gorgeous. And he's at his sexiest when he's dancing. Gah. So, the romance lover in me is really enjoying all of this so far, although I'm not a huge fan of drawn-out romantic indecisiveness - we'll see how I feel about things a few volumes down the road.

One of my favorite funny lines in this volume: "I wonder if companion animals, which are kept by humans, are aware that they are pets... and if so, do they try to impress their masters? For instance, in the case of a rabbit: 'I'm cute, but I'd better not move my nose too much, or it'll annoy my master.' Or in the case of a fish: 'I should poop out as long a piece of excrement as possible. That would really please my master.'" The whole "pets give you what they want most" thing was kind of cute too.

While certain aspects of this series annoy me, there are still more than enough things I enjoy about it that I plan on continuing the read it. Hey, I even own the last 5 or so volumes of the series now. That makes it really hard not to read how things end...and I haven't really resisted. I haven't read the volumes yet, just sort of flipped through them, but I've got a more-than-general idea how things end.

Extras:

Another one page comic featuring Ogawa and her editor, a one-page thing with information about all of Ogawa's staff members, and SumiRanger line art that you can apparently color if you want to. Very sad. Although SumiRanger is kind of cool.

Sometimes it's easy for me to come up with read-alikes and watch-alikes for things; sometimes it's not. In this case, it's not.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• Anyone But You (book) by Jennifer Crusie - After Nina gets a divorce, she finds she's finally on the road to being happy and free to live her life the way she wants to live it. Alex, her downstairs neighbor, is an emergency room doctor who wants to make a difference in people's lives. He's attractive, but he's 15 years younger than Nina - only he doesn't seem to worry about the age difference nearly as much as Nina does. Alex wants to convince Nina that they belong together, but first Nina has to get over her hangups about the age difference and Alex has to get past the pressure his family puts on him to be something he's not, someone he mistakenly believes Nina might prefer to be with. Something about the feel of this book seems similar to Tramps Like Us.
• NANA (manga) by Ai Yazawa; NANA (anime TV series) - [There's also a live action movie, but I'm not sure if it goes far enough to really deal with all of the boyfriend storylines.] Two young women named Nana meet in Tokyo and end up becoming roommates. Nana Komatsu is a naive girl with a somewhat childish outlook on life. She frequently falls in love with guys she meets, but things don't always go well for her. Nana Osaki is the lead singer of the band Black Stones (Blast, for short). Both Nanas have to work through relationship problems - Nana O. has additional complications stemming from her past and the future she is trying to build for herself. Those who'd like another series with complex relationships and lots of drama might want to try this.
• The Aromatic Bitters (manga) by Erica Sakurazawa - Sayumi and Hide are two friends stuck in dead-end, long-term relationships with men who cheat on them. When they decide to go to Hide's country home for the summer, they end up learning a lot about life, love, and each other. The characters are similar to Sumire in age and the feel of this work seems to be similar to Tramps Like Us.