In Her Bones

Hello all. It's been a while. A long while. Fecking ages, in fact. 

Sorry about that.

I haven't been totally idle on here though, oh no! I've changed the title of the blog. Of course, what that means is that the url changed too, which means that the genre tabs at the top of the page there all lead to dead links. Didn't think that through, did I? As of typing this I actually noticed that little problem a few days ago, but, you know...lazy. So it's not fixed yet. Again, sorry.

Anyway, to the business at hand. My first foray into reading self e-published material. I didn't know what kind of standard to expect but I was  pleasantly surprised. So here you are, In Her Bones, by Natasha Kingston; the first in the Bearing Gifts series.

There's not a lot of plot to be had in this book, but you can forgive that because as the first in what I'm given to believe is to be a long series of novella length releases this title is concerning itself, as a beginning should, way more with character. Because no-one cares what is happening if they don't care about the person it's happening too, right?

Oh, there are hints here and there, and intriguing ones at that, as to a wider world waiting in the wings to unfold for us; and a stonking little cliffhanger that should bring you back for number two; but what this book really does is introduce us to, and immerse us in the life of, our heroine.

And she's a doozy. Violet Munoz is the kind of young woman who should be an inspiration to us all; she's hot and she knows it, she enjoys sex for the pure joy of sex, and she has multiple casual relationships going on at the same time, whilst, and this is the important part, making no apologies for any of it. She's unsure where her life is going to take her, but she's living it on her terms and having fun in the process, and in doing so she makes us like her, flaws and all, pretty much from the moment we start reading her story; I mean who can resist that level of infectious enthusiasm for life?

Violets friends and colleagues are sketched out a little less intricately, but I've a feeling that's by design; we'll learn more about them as the story progressses and their place in the  in the grand scheme of things becomes clear, I'm sure. There's one in particular I have my eye on...

Of course, Violets carefree existence can't be allowed to last for long, because that would not a good story make, and as I mentioned above we get plenty of hints of future complications for her; just what are those cold flashes? And what is this compulsion she has to get closer to someone she's really just not that into?; but for now, it's simple;  I love Violet, and I want to read more of her story. So, job done.

Natasha Kingston

In the interests of full disclosure, I should probably point out that I am a huge fan of Natasha Kingston's previous creative endeavour (no not her pornographic short stories, although yes, those too, shut up), the rather wonderful Unspoiled podcast, which she hosts and produces with her husband Brendan (upon whom I have a pretty massive man crush; again, shut up) so, you know...

This in no way invalidates my assertion that In Her Bones is good. No it doesn't. NO IT... How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?