Well, until a certain someone releases a certain Wallbanger in November… I devoured three books I’ve mentioned here and there but am dying to chat with y’all about.
The Siren, Tiffany Reisz
The Siren was a long book, which made me so excited, because I fly through books at the speed of light, so I really appreciated having something big to dig into. First of all, this book is brilliantly written. The characters are amazing and the witty banter is perfection. The plot was HUGE. Like, I had no idea where it was going, and it left me equally laughing my ass off and saying WTF JUST HAPPENED!? I really don’t want to give anything away here, but once you get to the plot twist, and you look up from the book going… um ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? Chat with me, I’m dying to talk about it. This series is kinda like The DaVinci Code but with more porn… if that’s even possible, right!? This book is part of a series, but I feel like while it ends with a cliff hanger, she does it in a way that doesn’t leave me wanting to murder people from a clock tower.
Tip: After you read this book, check out Tiffany’s site, she has TONS of freebies and prequel short stories for you to devour and they are AMAZING. But you have to read this book first.
The Angel, Tiffany Reisz
The Angel is the sequel to The Siren. Oh man. If The Siren left you thinking WHAT THE FUCK, The Angel is going to feel all kinds of wrong. Like, I need a Holy Water flavored enema, wrong. But the book is so fucking good, it made me ok with the fact that it’s twisted on so many delicious levels. The Angel continues with the main characters of The Siren. Nora, S(fancy o)ren, Griffin, Kingsley, and um… that one underage boy omg. The plot is totally changed up, you have no idea where it’s going, and just when you think it’s over, bam, punch to the face ending. I am now dying for book 3, the Prince, which comes out next month. I shall sit on my hands ’til then. Ahem.
Reflected In You, Sylvia Day
Alright, let’s talk about this. So I loved Bared to You, even more than I loved Fifty Shades. The story line is really similar, but I just feel Bared is better written. Reflected In You continues to be better, mechanically, but holy shit did I hate this book for the entire first half. I almost put it down all, fuck it, I’ll reread Fifty. It was almost over written, it was enraging, I couldn’t follow the story line and I kept getting confused trying to remember where Bared To You left off. Eva was a little much in this book, even Anastasia Steele isn’t this ridiculous, and she is one of my top five most annoying characters of all time. But, I stuck with it because I enjoy Gideon and really want to see what his story is, and I will say, the second half of the book got a lot better. By the end, I was happy to see where it went, and all I can say is, Sylvia Day better hurry up with book three, because she currently has my attention, but with so many Fifty similarities, if too much time passes, it just all blends together in this fucked up Gideon-Christian-Eva-Ana orgy/therapy session.
Want to talk about more books? Great, I read lots of them!
I’m currently reading The Siren and have The Angel and Reflected on my list for when I’m finished. The Siren is such a good book. The plot is amazing and I find myself putting it down only to pick it up again and reading until well past midnight (which is totttally past my bedtime). So far I haven’t been disappointed by any of your recommendations :)
I am so glad you love it! I felt the same way, I simply could not put it down, it never felt flat, it was just exciting arc after exciting arc. You will LOVE The Angel!
Could not agree more about Reflected. I’m excited to read the others!!
I lalalalalalaloved The Siren. Such an easy book to devour. Filled with great banter, characters and an actual story. And yeah the plot twist was a serious WTF JUST HAPPENED! I will be getting The Angel shortly. I am so glad you have already read it and enjoyed it. I would be super bummed if it sucked.
As for Reflected in You, I didn’t like it nearly as much as Bared to You. It seems like the author was trying too hard. And I really wanted to throttle Eva. It will be interesting to see how the third book turns out.
Thanks as always for the recommendations!
When I realized The Siren was part of an 8 part series, I was like NOOOOOO, but then after I saw what she did with Angel, I got on board. Completely different scenes, totally new level of plot and excitement.
8 part series!!! That’s ambitious. I hope she pulls it off, because I want to enjoy reading them all.
I too loved Bared, and I had great hopes for reflected… I still liked it, but I spent a lot of time wanting to kick Gideon in the balls. I am of course going to read the next one, I just hope there’s less angst. I felt like Reflected overdosed on angst.
That. I feel like the entire time I read it I was in a bad mood and whiny. I was channeling Eva.
I totally agree with you about Reflected. I had a head ache and stomach ache for the first 2/3 of the book. TOO MUCH DRAMA. And what he did to her in the limo after the show? Messed up. I understood why at the end but I felt like Day was reaching a bit too far to connect the cause to the conclusion. And I kept thinking “Why the fuck don’t you just TELL him you were TRYING to get away from Brett?!” But they are both oversexed basket cases so…. By the end I was like “Go Ana! I mean, Eva!” when she cut her hair and grew a back bone. Day totally didn’t deal with the fact that Gideon killed a guy and how that would affect a person and a relationship. Maybe in Entwined? I will say I think she did a great job continuing to explore the Dom/sub dynamic as so much deeper than a game or fantasy play a legitimate way of two people connecting, without getting in to kinky fuckery. 50 was fun but there were some parts I said “Eh, uh….moving on.”
Haven’t read The Siren or Angel yet but I checked out the previews on Amazon andthought WTF? for the differences in plot between one and the next. Very intriguing. And it’s much better written than 50 and Bared (come on, I promise you there are other ways to say someone stood up than “pushed to his/her/my feet”.
YES. Siren and Angel have entirely different feelings of plot. Still very connecting, but the change in scenery is so nice!
I think I was so bored with the sex in book three of Fifty, I skipped over the sex scenes. Not a problem with Reisz!
Have the first 2 downloaded but haven’t read yet….will do soon!
I have been DYING to talk about Eva with you. She is almost as much of a handful as Ana and I DID walk away from book twice but went back for Gideon. So much to say & ask but must run, as I have to lecture in Jackson, MS tonight……back to read comments and ask/add later. I, too, need to know less about Eva & more about Gideon….just like I do about Edward Cullen if that selfish Stephenie Meyer would ever pick up a pen again and pray that EL James, like the good TwiHard she is, will continue to give us Christian’s POV on life & love! SWOON!
We’re smut sisters – I’ve read all three in the last week.
OK, I’ll start with Reflected in You because it’s my least favorite- not enough of a stand alone book – I literally could not remember Bared To You’s plot (I’d been reading so much smut at the time it was a menage-a-million in my head) and got no hints from Reflected. I’ve gone back and re-read Bared (oh yeah – forgot how GOOD Sylvia Day writes long scenes) and will probably have to re-read Reflected. I’m hoping for a good payoff (I was gonna say happy ending, but that would be too easy, right? ;-) ) I want to know what Evil Christopher has up his sleeve, and who did whatever to Gideon…
Really loved Siren and Angel. Especially in Siren how meta-romance/erotica-writing it was – Nora discussing with her editor about what makes a good romance/erotic book in the midst of a good romance/erotic book. Genius. Reisz’s writing is really, really good and if it weren’t a “romance” I bet it would be a regular fiction bestseller. (But then the really good stuff would be edited out. Nevermind; leave it on the romance shelf.) Anyhow, the twist nearly made me shout out loud and because her character development is so good, it didn’t creep me out nearly as much as it could have. I’ll definitely be reading more Tiffany Reisz – can’t wait to see how much more she’s got up her sleeve…
I’ve also gotten into the Elisabeth Naughton Eternal Guardian series – her writing is just about as good as Sylvia Day’s and it’s got some paranormal stuff thrown it. It’s ALL good!
p.s. I actually do read “real” literature as well, but smut keeps pulling me back – LOVE IT!!
I could just make out with this whole entire comment. YES. First of all I was so confused during Reflected, totally not able to separate Bared from Fifty. I ALMOST reread Bared, but tried to barrel through anyways. I mean, I enjoyed it, but I was…disappointed.
And I think that’s it. Reisz is such an AMAZING author, that even when something so out of left field happens, she walks you through it so you understand it and become invested in it.
I will check out the Eternal Guardian series!
just finished siren last night. glad to hear angel is good, i was wavering on whether to go the sequel route or switch things up a bit :-)
No, read Angel while it’s all still fresh. It’s a totally different feel, but so awesome!
on it!
Haven’t read Siren or Angel, but just finished Bared and Reflected. Entwined comes out Dec. 31 and can pre-order on Amazon. I definitely like Christian better than Gideon. All I can picture Gideon looking like is Dmitry from the current season of Project Runway and it is driving me crazy! (http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway/season-10/designers/dmitry-sholokhov). I enjoyed Bared, but was super similar to 50, but I think what saves this series is Cary Taylor. I think he is a great addition to the twisted-ness of Gideon and Ava and his outlook on situations can be reflected. I agree that I wanted to see what Christopher is up to, but I also kind of hate the ending of Reflected. Yes Gideon sounds super yummy, but murder…Not so much!
I like Bared; I didn’t love it, and I HATED the way it ended. I’m not sure I have it in me to read the second one.
I’m so glad you keep up on this. I obviously loved 50 shades, I didn’t care for Bared?! which surprised me cause I LOVED the redhead series and LOVED Siren-I read in a day (my kids ate cheetos and watched tv all day, it was glorious)
excited to start Angel and Wallbanger!
big hugs
OKAY. hated the first third or so of Angel… then all the sudden it got really freaking good. now i’m completely pissed off that the third book doesn’t come out for another month. WTF BRITTANY???
I originally came to your website years ago while google searching for some random recipe – I can’t even remember what on Earth it was now – and have stayed and stayed because I LOVE reading what you write. I can identify with so much of what you say, and am so grateful for your honesty. I am probably the most vanilla person on the planet, and thanks to you, found these books. LOVED them, and I am anxiously awaiting The Prince. My husband is thankful, but most likely thinks I’m whackadoodle : ) All that to say thank you. Know that you are appreciated and that you make so very many people from all walks of life (for example, this 37 year old mother of NONE) feel so much less alone.
oops