Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

What an excellent review!  Thanks! 
-jmc, off to pull this out of the TBR pile.

Sorry, I meant thanks for sharing.
-jmc

Sounds great! Thanks for the review - one to add to my shopping list (which is getting ever longer).

I loved, loved, loved this book!  I read most of it in one sitting, waiting all day in a hospital.  It certainly made the time go by and most of the time I forgot I was sitting in a waiting room.  I was so absorbed in the story I would look up and 2 hours had passed.  I have The Barbed Rose in my TBR pile and can hardly wait to get to it.  Great review, thanks for expressing my sentiments about this book.

I loved this book when it came out.  I had been excited about Luna line initially.  Even now I can’t believe anyone associated with Harlequin put this out, I am so used to the secret baby cowboy sheikh millionaire etc.
Among the things that I really enjoyed about the book beyond the polyamory (nummy Torchay and Obed) and the uh group orgasms :) was just that each of the characters developed in a way that was believable and even the bad guys were well-fleshed out as opposed to being simple caricatures.
The second book is just as good and perhaps even better for the familiarity with characters and the continued growth, so if you haven’t picked up The Barbed Rose, stop denying yourself it’s bad for your health.

I was also very excited about the Luna line when it was first announced, but I had mixed reactions to a few of the earlier offerings. This was THE book that convinced me that Harlequin is serious about fantasy fiction—and taking some risks I wouldn’t have expected from the Amnesiac CEO’s Pregnant Virgin folks.

There are multiple layers to TCR that become apparent on subsequent readings, and I’ve found myself going back through it multiple times, even though I usually don’t reread books.

Thank you so much for this review! I’ve been looking for ages for poly-friendly romantic fiction and, while I might have found it at a better time (I’m so swamped with schoolwork right now that it’ll be ages before I can properly enjoy the thing) I’m glad to have found it at all. Thanks loads!

Wow.  Plot, world-building, depth (not to mention the hawt secks)?  You’ve convinced me.  Putting this on my to-look-for list.

And thanks for explaining why writing about a book you loved is so much harder than writing about one you hated.  I was afraid it was just me.  Next time I have trouble, I’ll just send a link to this review to explain why.

I think the thing I liked best about the is the polyamory bit is a logical part of the story. I mean, alot of scifi-romances feel like they shoved the romance in and can’t quite make it work. This one, though, everything hangs together. I’m not as nitpicky as alot of y’all seem to be, but I do expect characters to act in ways consistent with the motivations they’ve been given. In this book, they actually do! Also, it didn’t feel like she thought, “What can I do to make this as edgy and racy as possible? I know! group sex/orgasms! That should make it sell!” Sometimes it seems like thats the only reason why some authors do things like that.

Personally, I picked up the first book in the Luna series with some skepticism.  I’m a die hard fantasy buff and Mercedes Lackey crossing over into the romance genre almost did me in. But I was pleasantly surprised.
The only books I haven’t been able to really get into in the series, are Silver’s Edge and Silver’s Bane(Anne Kelleher).
I’m looking forward to reading the sequal to Compass Rose, The Barbed Rose, as soon as I can get my hands on it. Because you’re right, once you start, it’s very hard to put down because you want to know exactly where they are going and why.

Read some more of the series, you’ll be pleasantly surpised repeatedly.}:)

I love y’all. In a purely platonic fashion, of course. :cheese:  But I’m just so tickled to see that people Get It.

And yes. If you haven’t read The Barbed Rose, you should. Really.  ;-)

Um. Yeah. Thanks for all the lovely words about my words.

Gail

I’d passed this book by several times.  Kept hearing good reviews, and finally read it...loved it, loved it, loved it!  Compass Rose is also excellent.  The worst part is waiting for the next (final?) installment.

I’m another one who loved this book. (Gail probably still has my gushing email offering to proofread her next ms).

Cool review. Thank you, Sarah, I’m convinced. Payday soon so off to Amazon. Yippee!

The books I’ve read in the Luna line take a lot of credit for my rediscovery of the fantasy genre. If only they weren’t so hard to find.

Based on that thoroughly rational and non- squee review I ran right out and boutght Compass Rose. It. Is. Lovely.

I am kind of stupid but I don’t get the whole polyamorous marriage thing.  The 4 of them are married and have group sex? and it is a plot device rather than gratitous hawtness?

Jane...had to work to stretch my brain around that one also, but then it became an interesting part of the plot.  This is fiction, and I read for entertainment.  In reality...can you imagine the catfights?

Interestingly, I came to Luna from the opposite direction--I’m a fantasy reader, and I’ve been thrilled with *almost* everything I’ve read.

Although, I have to admit that I’m one of those people who wishes there was less boinking and more bashing about with swords and magic. (Yes. I’m a prude. I admit it.)

But I’m willing to put up with the boinking because the fantasy is fantastic and the writing stories are so amazing.

Just in case you wanted a perspective from the other direction.

I’ve had Compass Rose on my shelf for a loooooong time now, but this review made me pick it up and finally read it.  So far it’s really really really good and I’m loving the fact that I have the sequel ready to read too.

I just read the Compass Rose on Sunday.  And yep, it rocked.  So far I’ve liked all the Lunas I’ve read.  They’re definitely doing something right!

Finished Compass Rose last night and started The Barbed Rose today while waiting for an oil change on my car.  Thanks for the kick in the butt to start reading this one.

Wow.  This one wasn’t on my list at all, and now I can’t wait to go find it.  This never happens to me after reading reviews, but hearing it from a Bitch is like hearing it from my best friend.  If y’all say it sucks, I know it creates a Hoover-esque vacuum.  Now when y’all say it rawks, I can’t wait to experience the awesomeness for myself.

Read the review, and then the book. It’s great.  Thanks for steering me in the direction of a new author.

YAY, Gail!  Her series is awesome.  The poly (and I know poly people, too) is well set up with the finding and the wedding (ahem) layered.  Gail’s use of the Surrender to the Gods concept is an incredible idea to build upon.

The HQ offices are just a couple of years old and quite business-like, though I found the Luna Editors had Exceptional Luna Art and interesting personal objects… ;)

And writing for Luna is so freeing.  If my h/h don’t meet quickly, that’s all right.  If he acts like a jerk the morning after they have sex and says This is a BAAAD mistake and takes off (on a flying horse), I can do that.

If another story’s constaints means the h/h boink only 3 times over a couple of days in the last 3rd of the book, I can do that, too.

Luna pulled authors from fantasy and romance genres, so there’s a very wide and changing mixture to the stories.  I think of them as Epic Fantasy For Women With Romantic Subplots.  So, for me, I usually solve the romantic conflict first, then the fantasy element problem, then bring my heroine’s character arc to an end, having her realize her fondest dream that she’s fought hard for the entire book.

I’m very glad you reviewed Gail’s The Compass Rose and liked it.

Robin (who is behind deadline on her 3rd Luna book, so had better get back to her writing...hmmm, EVIL TO VANQUISH.  Cool).