Review: Shifter Scandal by Juniper Hart

Princess the Understudy here.

I have no idea what we just read, but my sister’s fur turned up on end, she ran under the bed, and she refused to come out for the rest of the night.

My mommy seemed equally disturbed, and I heard her say a few very bad words. Bad, Mommy!

As I’m now the only responsible living being contributing to this newsletter, it’s my duty to report about this book.

My wussy sister and pansy mother seem to have difficulties accepting instant hate to instant love story arcs presented on a silver platter of automatic happiness, served with a side dish of models and police officers with very odd views regarding police procedures.

I thought the story was just fine, thank you, especially after a hard day. It’s not rocket science, which is a good thing when tired. You’re not going to find groundbreaking creativity.

You’re going to find one hell of a weird relationship and some even weirder human and non-human mating rituals. Some of the mating rituals presented in the book toe some lies. If you dislike Alphaholes who… are possibly a bit (maybe a lot) creepy, this one probably isn’t for you, but if you’re looking for a zippy fast read, some weirdness, and an insta-hate turns insta-love sort of happily ever after, you might like this story.

Review: Moonburner by Claire Luana

My human was on a third-person kick when she read Moonburner to me. In this traditional fantasy, I’ve learned that human mating rituals often involve two very, very different people will want to mate with each other no matter the costs, and because the costs are rather high in this fun-filled adventure, this is more of a pre-mating ritual book rather than a knock-stuff-off-shelves bed buster.

For which I’m very grateful.

My human prefers when her fantasy books don’t break even imaginary furniture.

We rather enjoyed this story, and give it three paws up and a purr!

Go ahead, rub the belly. I dare you.

Review: Demonic Contract by Catherine Banks

My human drooled on her magical glowy reading rectangle. Apparently, she likes Edan.

This story gets a purr from me because it’s ridiculously fun, although I poofed my tail a bit at the ridiculousness, too. If you’re looking for an amusing detour from the real world for a while and want a short, quick romp through non-human pre-mating rituals, this one’s for you.

My human informs me human pre-mating rituals has a name: dating.

I’m sticking with my way. It’s better.

This one’s a bit silly in a fun way, so go in wanting a little bit of ridiculousness and a drool-worthy male lead.

Really, human. Did you have to drool on the glowy rectangle? Even I understand those things are expensive. If you’re going to drool, at least drool on the box your magic typing box sits on. That won’t get broken.

My human would trip over her own feet and break her neck if I wasn’t around to keep her in line.

Review: The Shadow and the Sun by Monica Enderle Pierce

It has been a long time since my human has read a third-person story to me. The Shadow and the Sun is a little bit of romance, a lot of fantasy, a lot of Fantasy Names with Big Letters, and complexity blended with action, excitement, bloodshed, some more bloodshed, and even more bloodshed.

I enjoy Fantasy Names with Big Letters. I like exploring new worlds with my human. It’s fun.

This story gets my paw print of approval and a purr. We really liked the female human, the male human, and their collection of quirks that make them real people on the page.

Review: Paranormal Dating Agency Volume 1 by Milly Taiden

I have to give this collection two paws up, a hiss, and a poofed tail.

The book wasn’t bad, but my human isn’t much into menage trois, and this set of stories did a very good job of reminding her why. This set doesn’t disguise its nature much, either.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably here for the smut. (And there’s nothing wrong with that…) But, if you’re like my human, you may be looking for a bit more substance to the smut, and this set just didn’t deliver for us.

It could be because it’s just a tired, worn sub-genre right now. There are so many ‘dating agency’ style mating ritual stories that most just don’t make the cut anymore.

This book now lives on smut mountain, but in the section my human avoids. That place is a little too scary for her.

The quest for good human (and not-quite-human) mating ritual stories continues.

Review: Caith Morningstar by Celia Kyle

I loved the first book in this series so much I gave it a bunch of purrs, a swish of my tail, and four paws up! It just didn’t last. I had to give it 2 Nasty Scratches for the Series. My human doesn’t like saying bad things about books. She’s obviously too sweet for this world, so I’ll replace her when she fails at her feeding duties once too often.

We adored reading the first book of this series so much. The heroine is fiesty, the angel’s an annoying pain in the ass, and the chemistry between these two is the type the tv warns you not to try at home.

But it ended on a low note, which made me hiss because it made my human sad.

Then book two ended on a low note and/or cliffhanger. (I’m not telling you which.)

Then book three did the same.

Book four? You guessed it. Worst one of the lot for how depressing the end is.

My human regrets reading beyond book one, but we did love it very much and will read book one again.

The rest of the series is a lie to us.

These four books ate up most of my human’s reading time, but she started rereading one of her stories to me the other day.

I can say this much for my human: she’s not a quitter. (Nor did she use a quitter strip to mark her place. She read each one to me in a single sitting over four days.)

Review: Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin

My human loves funny books, and when she’s feeling sad, she’ll find something we’ll giggle over.

Without fail, the Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin delivers.

When my human breaks out into manical giggles, the probability of me receiving treats is greatly increased. In these stories, nothing is as it seems, and sometimes, squealing ‘Gleep!’ is the best course of action.

GLEEP.

I’m really not sure anything else needs to be said here. Go forth and gleep.

Review: The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

It seems fitting that I begin populating my sacred space with one of my human’s favorite series. When my human wasn’t much more than a furless kitten, she’s been reading about Pern and its dragons.

She loved and hated how she was tricked into believing she was reading a fantasy only to discover it was a science fiction, but this series helped remind my silly human she likes science fiction almost as much as she likes fantasy.

The Dragonriders of Pern series begins with Dragonflight. While many of the same characters show up over various books in the series, the novels do span over much of the history of Pern–and its future.

My human’s favorite is The White Dragon, and she cried the day she got her mitts on an autographed copy. Her second favorite is All the Weyrs of Pern. That book, without fail, makes her cry, so she doesn’t read it as often as she’d like.

So, if you want to read a really lengthy and rather old science fiction series that does an adept job of tricking readers into believing it’s a fantasy, this series might be for you.

I give it many purrs and a swish of my beautiful tail.

Please excuse the clutter

Greetings, humans. I am Tia the Majesty, the feline supervisor of Pen & Page Publishing, the ‘publisher’ of my human, who has a serious case of split personality syndrome. She writes as RJ Blain, Susan Copperfield, and Trillian Anderson.

Since I scoff at the idea a mere human can order me around… this is my site, and I’ll do what I want, thank you very much.

Here, you’ll find news about my human and her books. You’ll also find reviews I’ve written discussing the virtues… and failures… of books my human has read to me.

You’ll also hear some news from my sister, Princess the Understudy, and the new Finned Financial Manager, Landen the Fish.

Watch out for that fish. He’s an asshole.

Over the next few weeks, I will be making this site not suck (quite as much.) It’ll still suck. I’m a cat, not a designer.

Maybe one day, I will be able to convince my human to hire a proper designer to give me the perfect site I deserve.

I won’t hold my breath, though. I like living.