Customer Reviews

Blow Me Down (Signet Eclipse)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I admit that I'm far fonder of Katie Mac's Vampire & Dragon novels.Who isn't adicted to them? But she is usually good for a giggle & that's all I was hoping for when I picked this latest book up.

What a great surprise! Even though I'm still a little young to adore the late 30 something /with a teenage daughter heroine (sorry those of you in that range, no offense)Amy was very indearing.She and game designer Corbin, who become trapped in a virtual reality pirate game made a delectable couple. The chemistry was perfect!Add a hilarious & loyal bestfreind, a cast of scurvy but lovable pirate characters, a morbid child sidekick, & an evil baddy who could be anyone of a host of suspicious players & you have an explosive hit.

I also liked that Amy aka Earless Erika, wasn't made to play the helpless damsel roll but got to be a lady pirate who kicked but with a good helping of luck. This was a wonderful book! Why are you still reading this review?Go get a copy!

The whole plot was simply just too outrageous to believe. This whole being stuck in a game that is soooo realistic that you can feel the pain and pleasure? That the computer can generate what you look like simply by how you see yourself? That an entire world and it's people can interact with you like real people? Just too far gone. There weren't even any periameters set in the game to achieve goals and success at winning. No guidelines are objectives. It was simply too far fetched.

But, hey, even I can live with that if MacAlister keeps me laughing. And at first I was laughing, but then the main character turned into a dingy blonde and I lost interest. Also, I begin to picture the love interest as a whinny pain in the ***. I think I would have rather he stayed the blonde sex-god she first described him as.

Overall, it was a major disappointment. Especially considering this whole plot was done already (only correctly) by Vivian Van Veade (Not sure if I spelled that correctly) in her book Heir Apparent. I suggest ya'll try it. It was a blast to read and she did a wonderful job of correctly portraying what a vertual reality game would could really be like.

Blow Me Down
By Katie MacAlister

When Amy's daughter pressures her to try Buckling Swashes, an online virtual reality game just for a little bit. "Have some fun mom," Amy's daughter orders, and Amy, dutiful mother, agrees to try her daughter's game for an hour. Little does she know that once she's in the game, not only will she discover a side to herself she never knew, but also that nefarious forces are a foot, and she might not get to come home again.

I loved the premise of Blow Me Down, and it starts up from the first page with fun wit and a wry sense of humor. The writing sparkles and the banter between Amy and Corbin sizzles off the page. Sure, the whole house loosing power and lightning shocking Amy has nothing to do whatsoever with why she's stuck in the game, and the whole effects of that are never really explored, and Amy's daughter seemingly doesn't worry over her uptight mother playing a video game for several hours, and the book leaves you wonder whether Amy's daughter made an innocent request or was an underage cupid. But even with these questions hanging over the reader's head, the book with lots of pirate action (and who can not love a pirate story?) and a page-turning plot, makes it hard to put down.

I especially liked seeing Amy's character grow during the course of the book. From uptight, workaholic mother to someone who knows how to have fun. Corbin doesn't seem to have much growth, but then again, he's the multi-million dollar founder of a VR game firm. Perhaps Amy will teach him some responsibility and settle him down. Nah, I doubt it.

Either way, for a fun read, Blow Me Down sails right along.

From the back cover:

This game girl has wreaked havoc on the high seas--but the tide is about to turn...

In the Internet virtual reality game Buckling Swashes, Earless Erika and Black Corbin are two of the most deadly pirates to sail the online seas. And now they've met their matches: each other.

But fearless Earless Erika is really just Amy--a financial analyst with little time in her life for anything but work. And Corbin is none other than the man behind the game--the programmer and owner of the company. He's intrigued by Amy, the only buccaneer to best him in this test of digital testosterone, while she just wants to take his arrogance down a peg. But soon the two find themselves comrades in arms against a merciless rival bent on Corbin's destruction--both on the virtual high seas and in real life. Only by setting aside their differences can they locate the actual people behind the swaggering swashbucklers--and along the way find that love can tame even the most fearsome of pirates.

Shiver me timbers...

And my review:

This was my first try of this author, and I wasn't terribly impressed. This book started with a major strike against it: it's written in the first person. That doesn't bother every reader, but it's definitely not my preferred way of storytelling. Still, I decided to push past this and give the book a fair chance.

First off, the reader has to be able to suspend disbelief. The story mostly takes place in a virtual reality game. Now, if that seems too "out there" for you, then don't even bother reading this book. Personally, I thought it would make for an interesting premise. But it was the characters and writing style that made me quit reading.

Things that were supposed to be funny felt forced. The running joke about the heroine thinking she has to collect a bunch of wooden legs to advance to the next level in the game was just not funny. It was sort of funny the first time it was mentioned, but after the 50th time in 10 pages, it had totally lost its charm. Plus, I was just left scratching my head. Why would anyone think that they have to collect prosthetic limbs as part of a computer game?

I felt that the heroine went off on too many internal (and spoken) rambles all the time. There was the part when a bunch of prostitutes are talking to the heroine, and rather than trying to pay attention and gather information, the heroine is trying to make her boobs look bigger in her low-cut top. Okay... Then the heroine keeps talking about spreadsheets and modern technology to characters in a computer game. Like they're going to understand you, yet she keeps on doing it every time she speaks. She just kept going on and on until I wanted to clamp a hand over her mouth to make her stop talking.

And as others have said, the hero was whiny. Since I found the heroine annoying, I guess they were well matched. But finding both main characters irritating does not make for good romance reading.

I guess it depends on your taste, but this novel just wasn't a good fit for me. If you still want to read it, you might want to try to find it at the library.

I was surprised by Blow Me Down--I'd been expecting something along the lines of The Corset Diaries or Hard Day's Knight, but I got more than I bargained for. I love when that happens.

Katie MacAlister, by the way, is on my must-buy list. Which is not to say that I've caught all her books--there are a few of her backlist I have yet to find, and I only have one or two of her Katie Maxwells.

Amy's a workaholic businesswoman who, according to her teenage daughter, doesn't know how to have fun. So she accepts her daughter's challenge to spend an hour playing Buckling Swashes, a pirate-themed virtual reality game.

And that's where the paranormal part comes in, so you really need to check your disbelief suspension before going further. She gets stuck in the game and can't get out. Furthermore, it's not just audiovisual--you feel everything that happens in the game as if it's real. And your character looks the way you see yourself.

Amy meets Black Corbin, the rival pirate, who's also the game's designer. He initially looks like a romance novel cover model, but when Amy objects, he changes his appearance to something more real. Corbin's also stuck in the game, and hijinks and romance ensue as they try to figure out who's trapped them there and why, and how to get out, all the while continuing to play the game.

I rolled my eyes a bit at Amy's (to my mind) overdone insistence on there not being any killing in the game, and even more when Corbin agrees--hello? It's a pirate game. What do they think happens when they sink a ship? And what, then, is the point of the cannons and swords?

But that was a small annoyance in a fun, delightful book. I enjoyed the puzzle aspect, and despite the unreal setting, the development of the relationship between Amy and Corbin was realistic and sexy. I particularly enjoyed what their characters' appearances said about them. It was a nice touch.

The ending, too--and I'm not going to give it away--was just right. As they started falling in love--and having great sex!--in cyberspace, I worried how that would translate in real life. To my relief, it was handled perfectly.

I'm a huge Katie MacAlister fan and was anxiously awaiting the release of this book. I was dissapointed that there didn't seem to be the usual amount of humour and sensuality that make Katie's books stand apart. It was a fun, light read, but I didn't really care too much about the characters.

I still love her books, but this one felt like it was maybe written in a hurry to meet a deadline, or something.

While I am a fan of Katie's, this book left a sour taste in my mouth. I mean, come on, a pirate story set inside a virtual reality game? This one wasn't for me. I had a better time reading Once A Pirate by Susan Grant. While I like some stories set with a pirate theme, this one was a let down. I was so disappointed, I returned the book. I am picky when it comes to my books and my authors. I like something I can sink my teeth into, and when I didn't get Katie's usual virve from her characters, I'm almost hesitant to buy her next book.
Her heroine, Amy, is an overworked mom with a teenage daughter whos a financial consultant. She doesn't know how to have fun! Amy's character came across as a stick-in-the-mud, prudish ninny and the 'hero' (I use that term loosely) was a bit too whiny for my tastes. I mean, I know characters have to have flaws. It's what makes them more real for the reader, but his insecurity issues are way too much. Don't get me wrong. He had his good points, but not many. Another thing I didn't like was the fact that when Amy didn't fall head over heels for him, he became an even bigger jerk. The only thing interesting I found in this story was the creepy little cabin boy with a morbid fascination with death and a raven for a pet. Him I liked.
But while I may have been disappointed in this story, I am a loyal reader and will continue to do so. I just hope her next book will be better than this one.

So far this is my favorite Katie MacAlister. She gets really deep into the world of games, computers, priates and of course love! But doesn't make you feel dumb with too much technical. I would love to join the world of "Buckling Swashes". Hope you will too!!

Well I really liked the Aisling Grey series, and adored Men in Kilts. This book was so much fun. Amy Stewart is a financial analyst divorcee w/ a teen daughter who likes video games--Buckling Swashes to be exact. It's an RPG pirate internet game and she's been asked to beta test the VR version. Thinking mom is all work and no play, she convinces Amy to try out the VR version for an hour. Due to an electrical storm (maybe) she's trapped in the VR world. Along the way she meets Black Corbin the dread (maybe) pirate of the Seven Seas, Bart, the governor of Turtle's Back, Renata, the madam, and a doom-n-gloom kid named Bastard (Bas for short). As she continues to advance the situtation (story) through in an effort to win the game and have it close down, she is perpetually kidnapped, leads men and women into battle, makes lasting friends, and perhaps even finds love.

But when all those weeks in the VR world only amount to a mere 3 hours in real life, is what Amy finds in Turtle's Back real or simply a simulation? This books has all the trademark Macalister dialog and wit.

I see that some people loved this book while others hated it. Personally, I loved it, for it's humor and fun sexuality, even if the plot line was far-fetched; a little suspension of disbelief goes a long way. Usually, McAllister's books start out a little slow for me (I put down both this and Hard Day's Knight for a few weeks), but I know now to stick with them because they always end up delightful. I really wish she would get away from the paranormal genre and try her hand at westerns, as well as another pirate novel. For the time being, I'll read whatever she writes, as I love her books, especially this one.