RacingtheMoonbyMichelleHauf

by SB Sarah Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 09:15 AM
Our Grade:
C+
Title: Racing the Moon
Author: Michele Hauf
Publication Info: Harlequin: Noctune Bites May 1 2008, ISBN: 9781426816413
Genre: Paranormal

Note! Small contest ahoy at the end of this entry!

Racing the MoonHarlequin Enterprises is launching a new line today, Noctune: Bites (no, that is not a description of quality). “Bites” are “dark and sexy paranormal short stories,” available in eBook format. I took one for a test drive over lunch (chicken, pasta, and arugula salad with goat cheese, if you’re curious. I have a love of goat cheese that dare not speak its name) and here’s my lighting-fast hot-off-the-Notepad review.

Sunday (that’d be the girl) is an isolated rural mechanic, and a familiar - a shapeshifting cat. Dean (male) is a land agent, and a werewolf. And, in a bit of situational comedy that made me giggle-snort, Sunday and Dean are trapped in her garage after she tows his broken down truck, because it’s raining cats and dogs outside, and a live wire is down on the ground outside the garage bay doors. Dean needs to have sex that evening - the night of the full moon - to appease the wolf side of his nature lest he “wolf out” and hurt her or someone else. Sunday would love to work on his crankshaft for a few hours, except that as a familiar, her orgasms and post-coital bliss have rather negative consequences due to her paranormal abilities, along the lines of “dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria” plus some otherworldly badasses making unscheduled appearances. You get the picture.

I started my review notes by copying down some of the more absurd dialogue used by the hero in this short story. Dean has a really alarming and unnatural habit of talking to himself in complete, and awkward sentences, such as:

More,more,more!>

Comments

Picture of Leslie said on...
05.01.08 at 09:54 AM |

Good heavens, Wheeee! Indeed, do you suppose he is really a Were-teenager as well?

Picture of laura said on...
05.01.08 at 10:04 AM |

During your lunch hour!  This gives new meaning to a “nooner” :-P I say if you can’t have a real one, reading one is a great alternative!

Picture of Rebecca J said on...
05.01.08 at 10:14 AM |

Very interesting!

Thanks for the review.

R

Picture of Yvonne said on...
05.01.08 at 10:14 AM |

I couldn’t stop laughing at “I raced for the finish line of the story as fast as my thumb could hit the space bar.”
I know how you feel.

Picture of Tosca said on...
05.01.08 at 10:17 AM |

Bites!
That is just asking for trouble.
:)

Picture of Jill D. Jill D. said on...
05.01.08 at 10:18 AM |

Your reviews crack me.  Also, the added bonus of coitus quote was great!  It totally cracked me up.

Picture of Summer said on...
05.01.08 at 10:18 AM |

Hmmmm, I tend to avoid short stories as I feel that they don’t give enough background for me to become emotionally invested in the H and H.  But if I could try it on for free I would definately give it a chance.

Picture of Iasmin said on...
05.01.08 at 10:21 AM |

Comedy gold, eh? I wonder if you guys shouldn’t host a Coitus Comedy Gold competition then sometime. Surely there’s *some* holiday that would warrant such a grand escapade. :) The mind boggles. Thanks for the giggle fit.

Picture of Wirdald said on...
05.01.08 at 10:23 AM |

Lunchtime eBook joy? Boo-yah!

I don’t know if I would be able to get over such stilted, fakey dialogue as easily as you did ... but you’ve never steered me wrong before, so I’ll trust it really would be a satisfying read. And, admittedly, I positively devour books by a certain author known for overwrought, no-one-would-ever-say-this-in-real-life prose, and I love it even as I roll my eyes at it, so perhaps Hauf’s story wouldn’t be such a stretch.

Picture of nitenurse said on...
05.01.08 at 10:23 AM |

What do raspy nipples sound like??

I’m thinking of my kids blowing raspberry sounds now.

Picture of Danny said on...
05.01.08 at 10:26 AM |

Nothing sells a story like giddy vagina.

Picture of Sarabeth Sarabeth said on...
05.01.08 at 10:33 AM |

Raspy nipples? Hmmm.

A vagina hug? Interesting.

Still, an hour? With kiddos, I’ll take any story I can read in a short time.

Picture of Johnny Friday said on...
05.01.08 at 10:46 AM |

One hour story? Nice, something I can read in between revision without running ht risk of accidentally losing the whole day to a really riveting book!

Picture of endlessdesk said on...
05.01.08 at 10:52 AM |

^_^ Sounds good to me. How short is short though?

Picture of Sharon Buchbinder Sharon Buchbinder said on...
05.01.08 at 10:59 AM |

With the hugging, wheeeeing vagina, did she also include the ever embarassing “vart?” Inquiring minds want to know.

Picture of Heather Heather said on...
05.01.08 at 11:06 AM |

Interesting new paranormal line. Can’t wait to check it out and learn more about it.

Picture of Stephanie said on...
05.01.08 at 11:16 AM |

I love it when you bitches do reviews, you just can’t get the thoroughness and snark anywhere else. ;)

Picture of Amy said on...
05.01.08 at 11:25 AM |

Sounds a lot like Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson novels to me - coyote shifter girl, werewolf love interest man. Admittedly not got that ‘cat vs dog’ thing going, though.

Picture of Jesbelle said on...
05.01.08 at 11:30 AM |

Sounds like an interesting new line. I tried my first ever series book (Sex, Straight Up) from a your review. I’ve been getting kind of tired of epic, never-ending urban fantasy series. Maybe some short, stand-alones would be a nice change of pace.

Picture of Karmyn said on...
05.01.08 at 11:34 AM |

Raspy nipples and a giddy vagina? Okay, that just might beat out the flaming nipples from a Temptation a few years back. Wish I could remember the title, but TRR seems to have deleted that review a long time ago.
Why isn’t my vagina ever giddy?

Picture of Chris said on...
05.01.08 at 11:53 AM |

Can’t wait to check it out!  I love being able to finish an entire story in my lunch hour, makes me feel like I accomplished something special ;-)

Picture of Mary said on...
05.01.08 at 12:00 PM |

I love quick reads. Sounds like fun.

Picture of Sayuri said on...
05.01.08 at 12:06 PM |

Commet! Whee.

Picture of Catherine said on...
05.01.08 at 12:12 PM |

her vagina was all, like, ‘Wheeee!  Hugs for you?!’

It really said that?  Was this book written as a comedy romance or was that meant to be sexy?

Picture of Sheryl Sheryl said on...
05.01.08 at 12:12 PM |

ooh!

hugs!

(now I feel like digging out my old Care Bear...)

:D

Picture of Janet Miller/Cricket Starr Janet Miller/Cricket Starr said on...
05.01.08 at 12:14 PM |

Me, I love quickies so I’ll be happy to bite into one of these.

(You know… I’m not sure that came out quite right)

Picture of Liviania Liviania said on...
05.01.08 at 12:16 PM |

@Catherine:  No, that was Sarah’s snark of the coitus quote.

Picture of Tami said on...
05.01.08 at 12:17 PM |

Boggles the mind!  Sexy romance over the lunch break :)

Picture of Deb Deb said on...
05.01.08 at 12:24 PM |

“Come here, big boy!  Let me hug you with my vagina.”

Still, it’s probably better than having had her vagina kiss him…

Picture of Stephanie Stephanie said on...
05.01.08 at 12:26 PM |

I love goat cheese with an unbridled passion, as well. :)

Picture of Ciar Cullen Ciar Cullen said on...
05.01.08 at 12:42 PM |

Want it. Don’t make me buy it. Want it. You want to give this to me. Coupon. I’ll leave you guys alone if I gets a coupon.

Picture of distracted said on...
05.01.08 at 12:44 PM |

Sounds interesting!

Picture of plainjane said on...
05.01.08 at 12:45 PM |

her vagina was all, like, ‘Wheeee!  Hugs for you?!’

Damn...my vajay-jay has never said “Wheeeee!” I must be doing something wrong…

Picture of spinsterwitch spinsterwitch said on...
05.01.08 at 12:46 PM |

Rasping nipples!  That could not be comfortable with clothes...I’m imagining velcro here.

Picture of Catherine said on...
05.01.08 at 12:46 PM |

Thanks Liviana… I feel a little dumb now.  But in my defense I’ve seen some pretty horrible wannabe-sexy-but-really-isn’t phrasing.

Picture of Anon76 said on...
05.01.08 at 12:55 PM |

“the rasp of her nipples grazing his skin”

EGADS. That poor woman needs some serious moisturizer action.

Picture of Ashwinder Ashwinder said on...
05.01.08 at 01:25 PM |

Hmm… Interesting quote. Still I’ll take my chances on one of these.

Picture of Ostrea said on...
05.01.08 at 01:41 PM |

I dunno, would a rasp be better than a “spung”?

Picture of Suze said on...
05.01.08 at 01:41 PM |

Goat cheese: bleh.  Tastes like how wet wool smells.  Ruins the whole dish.

Picture of MollyGolly said on...
05.01.08 at 01:44 PM |

Mmm . . . raspy nipples.  You know what they say about men with raspy nipples.

Picture of joopiter said on...
05.01.08 at 02:10 PM |

That’s it… I’ve got to stop reading this site at work. It’s one thing to crack up in an open-office setting where everyone can hear you. It’s quite another to explain that the reason for said cracking up is vagina hugs.

Picture of plaatsch said on...
05.01.08 at 03:03 PM |

Bite me!

Um, I mean, I wanna coupon. Pleeeease!

goat cheese, sheep cheese, feta cheese. good stuff. makes my vajayjay say “wheeee!”

Picture of Cassie said on...
05.01.08 at 03:07 PM |

Giddy hug?!? 

Okay, I can’t decide if that’s funny or just weird.  Overall the story sounds pretty cool though.

Picture of orangehands said on...
05.01.08 at 03:24 PM |

seriously, you had me at her being a cat and him being a dog and then add a “wheee” vagina and LMAO.

oo, yes, coupon please!

Picture of shaina shaina said on...
05.01.08 at 03:31 PM |

oh, boo for bad dialogue, but yay for happy vaginas! lol.
i want to reeeaaaaddddd! *hopes for a coupon*

Picture of ArkieRN said on...
05.01.08 at 04:33 PM |

Yay for new line!

Gotta agree about the weird dialog though.

Picture of Katie Ann said on...
05.01.08 at 04:51 PM |

Wow, somehow I have never read a “must have sex now or eeeelse” story, but it really intrigues me.  And wow this ebook is only 89 cents?!

Picture of Eva Lynn Eva Lynn said on...
05.01.08 at 05:29 PM |

That… is some really, really bad interior monologue.  But short stories need more love, so hey.  How long will these ‘bites’ tend to run, by word count, or do they not say?

...okay, I could probably go look that up myself, actually, instead of being lazy.  But someone else might want to know too! </rationalization>

Picture of Alison Alison said on...
05.01.08 at 06:00 PM |

Dogs and cats sharing special hugs?!!!  Count me IN!

Picture of Sandy(Strlady) Sandy(Strlady) said on...
05.01.08 at 06:03 PM |

Okay, well that was a bit on the, funny/don’t know what to make of that, side!
Can’t beat the price on this one though, even if it’s weird, you can afford to give it a test drive.

Picture of SB Sarah said on...
05.01.08 at 06:04 PM |

Time’s up, so stay tuned for random integers.

Picture of SB Sarah said on...
05.01.08 at 06:09 PM |

Ok! In a method shamelessly stolen from The Pioneer Woman, we have the Random Integer Generator:

The winners are comments numbered 20 1 49 19 26

Leslie, Jesbelle, Karmyn, Sheryl, and Eva Lynn, I’ll be emailing you tomorrow to send you your codes. Hooray!

Picture of Zumie said on...
05.01.08 at 07:17 PM |

When I read the sample of the first sex scene, including “Her vagina was all, like, ‘Wheeee! Hugs for you?!’ AWESOME,” I seriously thought that was a line in the book, not commentary.

Needless to say, I demand someone write a romance book in that writing style. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

Picture of Esri Rose Esri Rose said on...
05.01.08 at 07:31 PM |

I totally did, too. And I was flabbergasted. Okay, she’s just extrapolating the “giddy” part. I got it.

Picture of Laptoper Laptoper said on...
05.01.08 at 10:33 PM |

Racing the Earth is much better :)

Picture of Tina said on...
05.02.08 at 04:14 AM |

Yesterday, my work computer deemed this place blocked.  It’s unblocked today, now that I’ve missed the contest :(.  Still, hilarious review, as usual.  I need to check out a couple of these Bites.

Picture of Kitty said on...
05.02.08 at 08:42 AM |

Aaargh! Bad dialogue drives me crazy! Maybe I’m just becoming a bigger nitpicker as I get older, I dunno. But still, you said it was worthwhile overall so I’ll probably check it out. :)

after25: I definitely got bitchier after 25.

Picture of Shannon Stacey Shannon Stacey said on...
05.04.08 at 07:52 AM |

But short stories need more love, so hey.  How long will these ‘bites’ tend to run, by word count, or do they not say?

The guidelines call for 10-15k submissions.

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