Skip to main content

Bonus book review: What do you say to a naked elf? (romantic fantasy)

The best I can say abut the title is that it’s certainly inspired.
Actually, it is among the tackiest and most embarrassing book titles I have come across, so tacky it made it onto my top 5 Tackiest Book Titles list. In fact, had I not read a favourable review of the book by a reviewer I trust, I would have dismissed it as über-tacky and never read it. I’m glad I did, because behind that tacky title there lurks an entertaining romantic fantasy that I wouldn’t mind re-reading at some future date.


Author: Cheryl Sterling
Year published: 2005
Availability: In print

Summary with SLIGHT SPOILERS:
Jane Drysdale is driving home late one night after a successful home sales party, her trunk full of samples of the sex toys and lingerie she was selling. Suddenly a rabbit jumps in front of the car and appears to turn into a man moments before disappearing under the car. Not unnaturally, Jane panics and ends up off road. She is promptly arrested by a group of elves and brought back through an inter-dimensional portal to the elfin land of Lowth where she is to be tried for the murder of the shape-shifting elf she hit. Jane is of course unhappy about this, but the portal has closed and she is stuck, so she decides to make the best of things. She is given a public defender, Charlie, who is half elf/half fairy, whom Jane thinks looks quite a bit like Legolas from The Lord of the Rings (presumably meaning Orlando Bloom in his blond wig, Jane being more likely to have seen the movie than read the book ). Mesmerised by his toned body and sexy wings, she sets out to seduce the stuffy lawyer, but their romance is complicated by the verdict at the trial and before too long they are swept into an adventure of epic proportions that involves, among other things, her supply of sex toys, the true identity of someone, a journey, and a magician who wants Jane delivered to him, presumably for some nefarious purpose.

Review: Quite a good read, not as side-splittingly funny as the other reviewer led me to believe, but there are still some good laughs in it. Sterling has managed to produce a solid, original fantasy with some rather good twists that will surprise many readers. Part of the resolution is something of a surprise, even for adept clue spotters.

Rating:
Don’t let the title deter you – this is an entertaining fantasy and although romantic, there is also plenty of action and adventure. 4 stars.
Labels:

Comments

JoanneMarie Faust said…
Hee! I loved this review. I may have to check into this book, but I can't imagine buying it and I can't imagine it being in the stack of books for me at the library. Sure, a little elf sex along with my usual titles which are more along the lines of Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment. At least the librarians will get a chuckle.
November 28, 2005 4:08 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List love: 10 recommended stories with cross-dressing characters

This trope is almost as old as literature, what with Achilles, Hercules and Athena all cross-dressing in the Greek myths, Thor and Odin disguising themselves as women in the Norse myths, and Arjuna doing the same in the Mahabaratha. In modern times it is most common in romance novels, especially historicals in which a heroine often spends part of the book disguised as a boy, the hero sometimes falling for her while thinking she is a boy. Occasionally a hero will cross-dress, using a female disguise to avoid recognition or to gain access to someplace where he would never be able to go as a man. However, the trope isn’t just found in romances, as may be seen in the list below, in which I recommend stories with a variety of cross-dressing characters. Unfortunately I was only able to dredge up from the depths of my memory two book-length stories I had read in which men cross-dress, so this is mostly a list of women dressed as men. Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb. One of the interwove...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bibliophile discusses Van Dine’s rules for writing detective stories

Writers have been putting down advice for wannabe writers for centuries, about everything from how to captivate readers to how to build a story and write believable characters to getting published. The mystery genre has had its fair share, and one of the best known advisory essays is mystery writer’s S.S. Van Dine’s 1928 piece “Twenty rules for writing detective stories.” I mentioned in one of my reviews that I might write about these rules. Well, I finally gave myself the time to do it. First comes the rule (condensed), then what I think about it. Here are the Rules as Van Dine wrote them . (Incidentally, check out the rest of this excellent mystery reader’s resource: Gaslight ) The rules are meant to apply to whodunnit amateur detective fiction, but the main ones can be applied to police and P.I. fiction as well. I will discuss them mostly in this context, but will also mention genres where the rules don’t apply and authors who have successfully and unsuccessfully broken the rules. 1...
9 comments
Read more

Meme: Top Ten Tuesdays: Top Ten Book to Movie Adaptations

This meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish . To see more favourite book-to-movie adaptations, head over there to see which movies the other participants have nominated. I am going to cheat and interpret ‘movie’ as ‘film’, so I can include television adaptations. Oscar and Lucinda , from the book by Peter Carey. Apart from the changed ending it is an incredibly faithful adaptation, with every character perfectly cast. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo , from the book by Stieg Larsson. This one actually improves on the book, which is well plotted but badly written. Cold Comfort Farm , from the book by Stella Gibbons. Perfect casting and quite faithful to the original. High Fidelity , from the book by Nick Hornby. Moving the story to America didn’t hurt it one bit. Fried Green Tomatoes (at the Whistle Stop Café), from the book by Fannie Flagg. Perfect casting and faithful to the story. Pride and Prejudice from the book by Jane Austen, the latest BBC adaptation. Incredibly f...
16 comments
Read more