Tag: WithoutRemorse

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#BookReview: A Brief Fleeting Almost Impossible Gift by Karaya Vega

Fault In Our Stars Meets Meet Joe Black Meets Twilight. This is one of those sad romance novels – and yes, it does meet every known RNA/ RWA “requirement” for romance novels – that specifically because it *is* so heavy is actually that much better for it. This isn’t a feel good beach read. At all. This book is going to haunt you in some of the best possible ways – but it is going to have quite a few very dusty rooms throughout. It is a powerful romance of its form, and it has that tinge of the paranormal that humanity has always wrestled with in these points of our lives.

It is almost as much character story as romance, and that is where the real depth comes in. It asks a lot of the questions that are seemingly common at this point, particularly when you are so young. Which I happen to have a degree of experience with these last several months, as my wife had a Widowmaker type heart attack at just 43yo almost a year ago as I write this review, survived (because she was literally 3 miles from Advent Celebration hospital just outside the gates of Walt Disney World near Animal Kingdom), and now less than a month ago had a quadruple bypass surgery. Indeed, that surgery is the reason this review has been so delayed and the reason I fell about a month behind on reviews generally, though this review marks the beginning of the final phase of me catching up on them – this and two other books came in after I knew the surgery was coming, and all three authors knew up front the review would be delayed. So while I’m not dying myself (not any more than everyone is all the time, at least), I’ve been quite close to these questions from the side of the “significant other” and know all too well this side of that. Which I know is something far too many will identify all too well with, either from the characters’ perspectives here or from my own.

For those that can withstand or even appreciate the weight of this tale, it really is one of the better books I’ve read this year – and this was the 75th book I’ve read so far in 2026. Even without looking back, I can tell you that this book is right up there in the top third of those at minimum, *perhaps* as high as Top 10 or even higher. It really is that good – but it is absolutely one that you need to be in a mental place to be able to withstand its weight to fully appreciate, and I understand all too well that not all readers are in such a space at all times. I would still recommend picking this book up for when you *are* in such a space, because even if you’re one of those left behind by someone like these characters, it really can bring a degree of catharsis when you’re in the space to be able to accept it.

For me, the absolute best romance novels are not the bubblegum or even Hallmarkie ones. Don’t get me wrong, those are good for what they are, but they’re the safety blanket or the candy. They’re designed to be safe at worst and even fun and enticing at best, and they are awesome. Needed, even. But the best, most powerful romances for me will always be the ones where death is imminent – and love is chosen anyway. Whether that be a Without Remorse by Tom Clancy, where John Kelly becomes one of the most sadistic, brutal murderers you can think of specifically because he is going after the people who killed the woman he fell in love with while leaving him for dead himself, or a Nicholas Sparks tragic romance or, yes, a Shakespearean romance (no, not Romeo and Juliet, where teens were being overreactive teens and if they had just slowed down and thought things out, virtually none of the tragic elements there would have happened). Or even a Pearl Harbor (the 2001 Michael Bay movie) or even (and I’m really going to piss even more people off with this one that perhaps any of them yet!) the Star Wars prequel movies and how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader *specifically because he is trying to protect the woman he loves*. This is *that* type of romance, romance knowing death is absolutely imminent, and it is so much more powerful because of it.

Very much recommended.

This review of A Brief Fleeting Almost Impossible Gift by Karaya Vega was originally written on May 23, 2026.

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#BookReview: What Tomorrow Will Be by Julianne MacLean

Proof That The Greatest Romances Don’t Always Involve HEA. Oh that title is sure to roil up oh so many in booklandia, but this tale really is, at least in some ways, proof of something I’ve personally long held, that the greatest *romance* stories known to humanity don’t always involve a happily ever after.

Like Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, we get an all too brief but oh so epic romance tale for the absolute *ages*… before we see it shattered in an instant. The love – and the tragedy – are far *too* real in MacLean’s words, and the room will get quite dusty indeed through this section of our tale.

And then, like Without Remorse again, we get a new romance at some time period after the initial one, and this is where we spend the majority of the tale (unlike Without Remorse, which is as much military thriller as it is romance… indeed, Clancy *set out* to write a military thriller, he just also included one of the best romance tales I’ve ever read even now).

This one too is divided – we see the couple coming together, and again here MacLean truly makes us *feel* it. Unless you have a block of solid granite in your chest, you’re going to be swooning through this section. It really is one of those truly epic love stories that really makes you feel what these characters are feeling.

But then we flash forward several years again, and this time reality has set in. We’re beyond the honeymoon period, and life is taking its toll. Here we get to the real drama of the book, and again MacLean does a superb job. Various conflicts are happening, and MacLean does a great job of making them all too real. Some of the drama is unfortunately plucked from so many peoples’ experiences, some of it is more reminiscent of the chronically underrated Hundred Foot Journey – but with a twist more familiar to many romance novels and indeed all too familiar to far too many people’s real lives. Here, MacLean does a superb job of making each character – at least those at the heart of these conflicts – feel like they could be sitting there reading these words over our shoulder – they feel *that* real.

And then that back third or so. Simply stupendous. Just. Wow. I’ve read a few of MacLean’s books in recent years, and I do believe this one to possibly be her most powerful yet, certainly among those I’ve read. And yes, it is in this back third that we really see the true power of what I said in the title of this review – sometimes the greatest romances don’t involve a happily ever after. Sometimes the greatest romances of all are the ones that change us forever.

But that isn’t actually a spoiler of anything here. You’re just going to have to read this book to find out exactly what MacLean did here to make me say that. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of What Tomorrow Will Be by Julianne MacLean was originally written on January 27, 2026.

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#BookReview: Hera’s Curse by Shaun Griffin

Fascinating Blend Of Rare/ Unique Spin On Vampire Lore With Action. This is one of those debut books you don’t get very often at all, one where very nearly everything within it works to perfection to make you want that next book… ummm… now please. We get an almost Without Remorse by Tom Clancy storyline going on… that quickly transitions to include vampires. Except when we get into the vampire lore of this particular tale… it isn’t the usual stuff. Griffin has taken some usual concepts and worked them his own way, adding his own touches along the way, and produced a very different and very intriguing take on the idea.

And yes, like any book claiming to be a noir, we get the hard boiled detective and his storyline connecting pretty well everything in the book as well.

But then, surprise… *more* interesting developments of a type not often seen these days in particular, used late in perhaps a bit of a rush… but apparently meant to setup a rather explosive Book 2.

The last third of this book in particular, you’re going to be racing through, breathless as you can’t wait to see what happens next…

And then that tease of an ending, in the most delicious ways. Yes, this book does its primary purpose of making you want the *next* one quite well, so let’s all help this debut author know that we want to get that next book ASAP… go buy the book already, read it, and help spread the word!

Very much recommended.

This review of Hera’s Curse by Shaun Griffin was originally written on May 31, 2024.