Summer Devon: Invisible Touch

Bonnie’s been cursed. The moment she finds a man attractive, he can’t see or hear her. The idiot who put the curse on her threatens to make it permanent unless she agrees to follow his boss, a man she finds irresistible. At first Jared thinks he’s going crazy. He knows he’s embracing a delicious female but he doesn’t know if the invisible being is an actual woman or ghost. When things heat up between Jared and Bonnie, they find a way to communicate. Now they have to figure out how to thwart Jared’s enemy or Jared will never get a good look at the woman he’s felt. . . all over.

I just cannot convince myself that a woman would be desperate enough to go down on a man who can’t see and whom she didn’t know before she became invisible to him.

I kept thinking, “He could have AIDS! STDs!”

The second half was better, and would probably be great if you could get past the above.

We get little hints about magic and deeper worldbuilding, and I think I want to read the next book.

Devon (aka Kate Rothwell) has great dialogue, both internal and between characters, and that is where Invisible Touch shines.

So, believe it or not, I liked the historical Learning Charity better than Invisible Touch. If you want to pick up a Summer Devon book, I’d recommend Learning Charity, not Invisible Touch.

This rates 2.5 out of 5.

PS The author sent me the book.

Meljean Brook: Demon Moon

No one would call vampire Colin Ames-Beaumont kind, but they would call him unnaturally beautiful. For two centuries his tainted blood has kept him isolated from other vampires, sustained only by his beauty and vanity—bitter comforts, since a curse has erased his mirror reflection, replacing it with a terrifying glimpse of Chaos.

Savi Murray’s insatiable curiosity had gotten her into trouble before, but she’d always escaped unscathed. Then came Colin. In the midst of Heaven, he gave her a taste of ecstasy—and of Chaos. Deadly creatures from that realm herald the return of an imprisoned nosferatu horde, and Colin and Savi’s bond is their only protection—and their only passion…

 

I did very much enjoy Demon Angel, but there’s something about Colin and Savi that made Demon Moon a keeper for me.

Partly it’s that Savi’s more ‘relatable’ than Lili, I think, and then there’s the deliciousness of Colin. There is no other word to describe him. Delicious Colin. *happy sigh* His moral ambiguity only made him more delicious.

That’s a good word to describe the conflict as well. It’s a wonderful tangle, and Meljean did a great job of untangling it just enough to be livable for Colin and Savitri.

The pacing issue many of us complained about is much less an issue in this book as well.

I don’t recommend picking this book up to read unless you’ve the entire day free, by the way. It’s big and you are going to want to read it in one sitting.

 

 

This rates 5 out of 5.

PS This was an ARC from Meljean.

Summer Devon: Learning Charity

Once a gentleman’s daughter, the now destitute Miss Charity Vincent was forced to become Cherry the whore. Yet her core of a well-bred young lady remains intact — she is a thoroughly incompetent prostitute.Eliot Stevens came from America to London for business and now he sees a way to mix his business with fun. Cherry can teach him the manners he needs to fit into society and in exchange, he can teach her about pleasure-which might improve her life or shatter it.

The blurb’s rather misleading about the heroine. I’m not sure that she’s a thoroughly incompetent prostitute, just a reluctant one, and at the start of the book, she’s not been one for long. So we can add inexperienced (it’s all relative, remember?) to boot.

Eliot…came across as rather 2-dimensional to me, and unfortunately, so was the book.

I know it’s a novella, but I think that Devon (aka Kate Rothwell) didn’t dig deeply enough into the issues about Charity being a prostitute, and how Eliot feels about that. Hence the 2-dimensional feeling.

Never thought I say this, yet here I am: I would buy it if it was rewritten into a full-length novel.

This rates 3 out of 5.

Lynn Viehl: Night Lost

A Noble Prisoner…

Gabriel Seran has falen into the hands of the fanatical religious order known as the Brethren. Though abandoned by his fellow Kyn, he remains honor bound to protect their secrets from his interrogators. Blinded, nailed to a cross, and sealed in a chapel cellar beneath a ruined chateau, Gabriel faces an eternity of suffering.

An Obsessed Thief…

Nicola “Nick” Jefferson has been traveling across Europe, looting churches of their precious artwork and fencing the treasures to make her living. At each destination, she liberates the captive vampires, hoping they’ll provide her with information leading to the one artifact she so desperately craves: the Golden Madonna.

A Fateful Coupling…

Gabriel and Nick have met before in each other’s dreams. Bound together by more than coincidence, their destinies intertwine even as their passions ignite…

I loved this book. What, you expected me to say anything else? Of course I loved this book.

I have a huge soft spot for Michael, and I liked Thierry and Lucan, but it is Gabriel I sigh over. *sigh*

Nicola’s a different sort of heroine. I can’t put my finger on it though, despite having read it many times (hey, I’ve had the ARC for more than two months now, I think). Ideas?

And the writing! As much as I adore Lynn, I don’t usually call her writing beautiful. I call it tight, snappy etc. But this time, beautiful is a good adjective. A very good adjective. The nightlands… *sighs again*

Go get this book. You won’t regret it.

This rates 5 out of 5.

Lara Adrian: Kiss Of Midnight

INSATIABLE DESIRE. ENDLESS SEDUCTION. ONE TOUCH IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

He watches her from across the crowded dance club, a sensual black-haired stranger who stirs Gabrielle’s deepest fantasies. But nothing about this night–or this man–is what it seems. For when Gabrielle witnesses a murder outside the club, reality shifts into something dark and deadly. In that shattering instant she is thrust into a realm she never knew existed–a realm where vampires stalk the shadows and a blood war is set to ignite.

Lucan Thorne despises the violence carried out by his lawless brethren. A vampire himself, Lucan is a Breed warrior, sworn to protect his kind–and the unwitting humans existing alongside them–from the mounting threat of the Rogues. Lucan cannot risk binding himself to a mortal woman, but when Gabrielle is targeted by his enemies, he has no choice but to bring her into the dark underworld he commands.

Here, in the arms of the Breed’s formidable leader, Gabrielle will confront an extraordinary destiny of danger, seduction, and the darkest pleasures of all . . . .

I first read this on my laptop, and then in print, as Lara was kind enough to send me a print ARC as well. Interesting to note that I enjoyed reading it in print more.

This is a more suspensey type of paranormal, as opposed to a more fantasy type of paranormal. I tend to prefer the latter, but Kiss of Midnight hit all the right buttons for me.

I very much appreciated the characterization of Lucan (yes, I survived the name) and Gabrielle. It’s all show, not tell.

I found that there were what appeared to be unneccessary subplots. Perhaps they will be continued in later books, though I can’t see how and in my humble opinion, they could have been cut and the book tightened just that teeny bit more.

Now, there are likenesses to various popular vampire romance series out there (believe me, I’ve read them all). Some might argue that there isn’t anything terribly original about the Breed. I do agree with this, to some extent, but for a number of reasons, I personally still prefer the Breed over many of them, and if you want to discuss them, that’s what the comments are for.

But execution matters most of all, and in this I think Kiss of Midnight surpasses many of the vampire romances on the market.

This rates 4 out of 5.

MG Braden: Love’s Blessings

Janelle Trent has been desperately trying to have a baby. Can she surrender to God when the treatments don’t work?

Kevin Trent loves his wife, baby or not. Can he show his wife that they already are a family? Or, will he walk away, taking with him all their hopes and dreams?

Can two people in love move past heartache to find each other, and possibly a miracle, again? Sometimes we search so hard but are unable to see that we already have Love’s Blessings.

In case you don’t know, MG and me and Joely Sue Burkhart are the Sisters of the Severed Hand. IOW, I can’t really be partial, can I?

So I’m not giving Love’s Blessings a grade. I’m just going to tell you what I liked about it.

It’s an contemporary, inspirational short. That is three strikes against it already, frankly, because I don’t read contemps unless they have para/suspense elements, I’ve never read an inspy before this and I don’t like shorts.

I enjoyed it anyway, for what it is: A short, sweet story about a couple who loved each other but lost sight of it.

It’s not perfect. I think that there’s a little too much of telling rather than showing towards the end. And it’s a little rushed too.

But hey, it’s less than USD1.50. Why not give it a try?

We have an exclusive excerpt below the cut.

They Don’t Have to End Happy Happy Happy Happy, Damn it!

This is not an anti-HEA rant, even though it is about HEAs. Happy Ever Afters, for peeps new to Romancelandia.

What irritates me so greatly at the moment is this tendency in paranormal romance series to end every single book Happy Happy Happy.

Take Sherrilyn Kenyon‘s Dark-Hunters, for instance. I used to loooooooove them–she was one of the authors who started me on paranormals.

For some reason, I picked them up to reread again today. And it bugs the hell out of me that she’s made every one immortal.

The short version is that a couple who got their HEA in a shorter book, the hero losing his immortality in the process, became immortal again.

Why does this bug me?

Because I think it diminishes the love they have for each other.

Because I think it diminishes the HEA they originally had.

Because I think that the hero willingly giving up his immortality made him worthy of getting a HEA.

Part of it is simply that I’m puzzled. I don’t understand why an author would do this. I’m not Sherrilyn Kenyon. I am me, and that her vision is not mine is My Problem, not hers. I see that.

The other parts, I’m not so sure.

Thoughts?

Jaci Burton: Wild, Wicked & Wanton

Three friends…three secret desires…three chances to make it all come true.

They’re inseparable best friends who delight in sharing their wildest secrets and dares. But their latest bet is the boldest one of all: each must sleep with whomever the other two have chosen for her. And come back with every juicy detail...

Whooooo hot!

All three stories are heroine-centric, and I personally think that it is quite the feat Jaci‘s managed to write three novellas featuring three different kinks without it feeling like she went “I’m going to write one menage, one BDSM and one voyeur/exhibitionist story and put them into one anthology.” Props to her for that.

Also, now that she’s written about the ABC girls, when is she going to write about the XYZ boys? Gotta have something to bookend our Jaci Burton collections.

Individual reviews behind the cut, but first…

This rates 3 out of 5.

Megan Hart: Passion Model

When Recreational Intercourse Operative GMMA 03271971 drags a PSSN-M model Pleasurebot to an inspection station to check for a faulty ignition, she doesn’t expect his lovemaking to send her over the edge into the most explosive climax she’s ever had. But what she really doesn’t expect is to find the handsome bot is really a man. Declan has a secret, one that could get Gemma fired from R.I.O, or worse…maybe even killed.

FYI, Passion Model is nothing like Dirty, beyond also being told in first person from the heroine’s point of view. (Jane, you might even like this one, but enough on me harping about Megan Hart already, right? )

Gemma’s pretty tough. She got kicked in the teeth, and she got back up.

I had the same problem about the hero. Declan just doesn’t pop off the page, unlike heroine Gemma.

Otherwise, it’s a short, fun read. Oh and I really want to read more about the Keanicans!

This rates 4 out of 5.

Message? This is Romance, damn it!

Some romances have “communicated the message that women have power, that women deserve to be loved, to be respected, and to have their needs and wishes fulfilled in a healthy relationship,” as Eileen Dreyer puts it. That cannot be denied.

But it is not the responsibility of any genre to communicate any message at all. Not romance, not mystery, not fantasy, not science fiction.

Fiction is about story. In romance, it’s a story about two people getting together. Therefore writers of romance have a responsibility to provide a story that is about two people getting together. Full stop.

Frankly, I think it’s a moot point, because nowadays, 99.99999% romances don’t have a scene like the one in Claiming The Courtesan. Therefore any romance reader who does read Claiming The Courtesan probably has read or will read dozens more romances that do, to some extent, communicate that message.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I must say this RTB post is pretty timely: Kimber Chin’s A Romance Novel Fable.

I think it’s a wonderful post.

Rape and Forced Seduction

I cannot remember when was the last time I read one of these, because it’s been so long since I read a historical, and you just don’t see this very often in contemporary settings.

What I do know is that I used to love them. Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey etc. That’s what I read when I just started reading romance.

I don’t know whether I’d still love them today, but I’m keen to find out, for various reasons including the fact that my WIP has a forced seduction* and a rape scene. Sort of. I’ve decided to be a chicken (but not Southern Fried, unlike the Chicas) and skip that section, even though I don’t usually write out of order.

[It's not a romance, but I'm looking for someone to discuss plot stuff, so if you're one of the bunch of writers I chat with about writing regularly, and you're curious, you know where to find me. This means the CPs, the Sisters, and the Evil people and everyone else I forgot. LOL. And it's tagged sob story on my LJ, but I don't think I've given that many specific details though.]

The marvelous** Jane says:

Let’s not sugar coat it. Anna Campbell’s hero rapes the heroine. There are no nuances that suggest it is not rape. Whether Campbell redeems Justin to a readers’ satisfaction is up to each individual reader. But romance readers are not so blind, are we, to repellant behavior that we actually excuse it to make it palatable?

I don’t know about the reader I was a few years (more like five or six…I feel old) ago, but I probably thought it was Oh So Romantic. Hey, I didn’t know anything back then!***

I think that it takes very powerful love for a woman to get past something like that. That kind of love comes under Oh So Romantic. In the hands of a great writer, it can sweep readers away.

So I don’t think readers excuse it, but that when a reader reads and enjoys a forced seduction story, the reader believes that the hero and heroine really do love each other, and so the heroine is able to get past the rape.

I do plan to get the book which started the whole thing again: Anna Campbell‘s Claiming The Courtesan (yes, I won a signed coverflat from her on Nalini Singh‘s blog).

Michelle Buonfiglio summarizes the book in her post, but this section, I think, is critical:

But Kyleborn spends three, long, irate, celibate months tracking Verity. And when he finds her? He kidnaps her, drags her to the wilds of Scotland, where he attempts to break her spirit, so angry is he that she left him and took with her the only peace he’s known.

Reading this section makes it very clear why Jane asks that question.

As far as I can remember, every romance I read where the hero rapes the heroine gives some sort of flimsy reason why he raped her. Sometimes she’s a whore, a slave etc. If you’ve read one without this, correct me in comments.

Also, I want recommends. I’m eyeing Tracy Macnish’s Veiled Desires, any others? If you can recommend a contemp with a rape or forced seduuction, that would be absolutely wonderful, but I’ll take historicals.

* Maybe more than one forced seduction. I’m a panzer, and this is a long, long story, both literally and figuratively.

** Meljean, if you see this, I begin to understand Missy better and better.

Gena Showalter: Playing With Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire aren’t just a band anymore…

Used to be my greatest achievement was holding a job more than three days. Now suddenly I can shoot fireballs, chill your drink or blow-dry your hair at fifty paces with a blink of my eye!

It all started when this crazy scientist dropped something in my Grande Mocha Latte.

Of course I got wicked sick.

Next morning I’m waking up with this total hottie bending over me.

He tells me

1) his name’s Rome Masters,

2) he’s a government agent and

3) I can control the four elements with a thought.

He seems even less pleased by my (apparently irreversible) transformation than I am…. Because now he’ll have to kill me.

I liked Playing With Fire better than the other Gena Showalter books I’ve read.

It doesn’t have that rushed feeling I had come to associate with Showalter after reading Awaken Me Darkly and Heart Of The Dragon. I actually would be interested in reading more books set in this world, and I didn’t with the other two.

Belle starts out as your typical girl-next-door. I don’t think she grows as much as a character I would like though.

Liked the resume at the back. Is it wrong that my mind leapt into the gutter when I read that she “aced all extra-credit assignments” in the School of Rome?

This rates 3 out of 5.

Jaci Burton: Nothing Personal

It was nothing personal, just a business arrangement.Ryan McKay is a multi-millionaire with a problem. He needs a bride to fulfill the terms of his grandfather’s will. Unfortunately, the one he chose just bailed on him and he’s hours away from losing his company. Enter Faith Lewis —his demure, devoted assistant. Ryan convinces Faith to step in and marry him, assuring her their marriage is merely a business deal. Ryan is certain he can keep this strictly impersonal. After all, he’s the product of a loveless marriage and for years has sealed his own heart in an icy stone. Despite Faith’s warmth, compassion and allure, he’s convinced he’s immune to her charms.

Faith will do anything for her boss, but — marry him? The shy virgin sees herself as plain and unattractive, a product of a bitter mother who drummed into her head that she wasn’t worthy of a man’s love. But she agrees to help Ryan fulfill the terms of his grandfather’s will, hoping she doesn’t lose her heart to him in the process.

But love rarely listens to logic, and what follows is anything but business.

Whooo.

I really liked Nothing Personal. That’s the excerpt that originally hooked me, Presents-ish plot and all.

What made Ryan as a hero for me was that he would sign away his rights to any child of their union because he thought he wouldn’t be a good father. A great change from the typical “Man Insists on Custody blah blah blah” routine.

As for Faith, I think that she developed, both as a character and as  a woman, over the course of the book, but it bugged me that what her mother did to her wasn’t dealt with.

This rates 4 out of 5 and has been awarded the miladyinsanity Really Fun Procrastination Stamp of Approval.

Saskia Walker: The Strangeling

One woman alone holds the power…

…to undo the hundred-year-old curse of an invincible army of dead men who wait to prey upon the living. Maerose, a beautiful, resilient maiden must drive back the evil spirits by mating with a man of faith on the dark night of Samhain at the very gates of the underworld. Her dormant magic can only be unleashed by willing submission to her predestined lover . . . but a mad man aligned with the demonic forces of the underworld threatens to possess her in his place.

The Strangeling reads like a fairytale. A dark, sensual fairytale.

It’s the kind of book you want to read curled up by the fireplace in winter, perhaps with a nice cup of hot chocolate in your hand.

I found that the second half of the book was better than the first half, largely because there is some degree to which you have to suspend belief, but I think it’s very much worth reading through to the end.

FWIW, it was easy for me to suspend belief because Saskia’s voice works very well for me. I will be getting more of her books.

This rates 4 out of 5.

Gail Dayton: The Compass Rose

One desperate call to the gods…
One blast of extraordinary magic…
One gift of unimaginable power…The legends of the Godstruck were just that – legends. Until, in an attempt to defend her people, Captain Kallista Varyl called on the One for aid and was granted abilities such as no one had seen in centuries.

Now Kallista has been charged with a new destiny as one of the most powerful women in the land- but her power is useless if it cannot be controlled. Mastering her “Godstruck” abilities is the first step. The next, learning that she cannot unlock the secrets of the Compass Rose and defeat her nation’s enemy alone. And finally she must stop a demon-possessed king….

The Compass Rose: fourfold magic barely understood-or contained….

The Compass Rose is the first book in Dayton’s Rose series.

I think I expected a book with more risks taken than this, and that if I hadn’t expected more, I would have liked this book a lot better. IOW, it seems…well…tame.

I think Dayton handled the polyamory aspect quite well. You see the slow shifts as the ilian begins to meld.

I would have liked to see more of the worldbuilding.

But where this book really fails for me is Kallista, the main protagonist. I didn’t finish the book rooting for her.

This rates 3 out of 5.

Colleen Gleason: The Rest Falls Away

Beneath the glitter of dazzling 19th-century London Society lurks a bloodthirsty evil… .Vampires have always lived among them, quietly attacking unsuspecting debutantes and dandified lords as well as hackney drivers and Bond Street milliners. If not for the vampire slayers of the Gardella family, these immortal creatures would have long taken over the world.In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake.

But as she moves between the crush of ballrooms and dangerous, moonlit streets, Victoria’s heart is torn between London’s most eligible bachelor, the Marquess of Rockley, and her enigmatic ally, Sebastian Vioget.

And when she comes face to face with the most powerful vampire in history, Victoria must ultimately make the choice between duty and love.

The Rest Falls Away is the first book in Colleen Gleason‘s Gardella Vampire Chronicles.

I liked Victoria, and I liked even more the fact that Colleen allowed her to make mistakes that Victoria is going to have to live with.

I do wonder if perhaps there’s too much relying on the vis bulla, an amulet that gives Venators (vampire slayers) qualities like greater strength and speed. Another thing that bugs me is that Victoria’s only been studying the martial art of kalaripayattu for a month, but she’s become so expert in it–at least, she comes across that way to me.

As a vampire book, it doesn’t score so well, but this is probably skewed by the fact that I like my vampire books really dark and some gore wouldn’t be amiss either.

This rates 3.5 out of 5.

Nalini Singh: Visions Of Heat

Go deeper into the world of the Psy and the changelings, where a gifted woman sees passion in her future-a passion that is absolutely forbidden by her kind…Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous-aching need…exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D’Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar’s instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith’s sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced-and keep her from Vaughn…

I enjoyed Visions Of Heat as much as I did Slave To Sensation, to my surprise. Frankly speaking, I was expecting this book to be a disappointment, as the second book of a series often is to me.

It’s a ‘bigger’ book than STS, partly because the overarching plotline has started to take up more space. This isn’t to say that it’s less a romance though.

Faith has a ‘quiet’ persona that I very much like, and I like that we get to see her develop more as a person than we did with Sascha.

But what really amazes me? Nalini‘s managed to provide a satisfying ending while leaving unanswered questions! I want to know what happens next!

This rates 5 out of 5.

Jaci Burton: Surviving Demon Island

She’s all curves and combat boots.

He’s six feet of lean, dangerous male.

Join them in a game of survival.

That’s as real – and hot – as it gets.

What’s America’s top female action star doing on a tropical island shrouded in secrecy? To Gina Bliss, competing in a survival-type reality show is a nice change from fending off on-screen villains. Until she meets real-life action hero Derek Marks. A survival specialist in a tight black T and sexy stubble, he’s arousing every bad-boy fantasy she’s ever had…and testing her survival skills to the max.

Martial arts, jungle warfare – Derek’s done it all. But his latest mission is more dangerous than a stick of dynamite. Try telling that to the sexy, adrenaline-pumped actress who’s got his libido racing off the charts. As the heat rises between them and real-life violence erupts, suddenly Derek and Gina are on the run…and when they uncover a secret so explosive it could blow the lid of their so-called reality show, these two unlikely heroes are about to discover what surviving’s really about….

Surviving Demon Island is the first book in Jaci Burton‘s Demon Hunters series.

It’s a page-turner, but there are many buts.

The new people, Shay, Olivia, Trace etc. they just accept that demons exist? Why? No questions? I mean, I’d expect someone, especially Gina, to have been upset that the whole thing was a set-up.

I might believe that Derek and Gina are meant to be together, but Gina dropping her Hollywood life just like that? *snaps fingers* No. In the first section of the book, you get the impression that Gina very much enjoys her Hollywood life. She might have ‘out-grown’ that life, but it still annoys me that she comes off as dropping everything for Derek.

The only reason I can see for the book having such a huge cast is sequel bait. But with the excerpt of the next book, Hunting The Demon, at the back of the book, it didn’t need sequel bait.

This rates 3 out of 5.

Christine Warren: She’s No Faerie Princess

She’s No Faerie Princess was hot.

I didn’t like the dangling plotlines. If you say Queen Mab’s going to be upset at Fiona because she did a runner, you’re supposed to deal with it at the end of the book. I might be nitpicking here, but it’s been days since I read the book, and I didn’t even have to flip open the book to remember that.

The setting wasn’t that great either. It could have been anywhere at all, and I wouldn’t have noticed a difference.

This rates 2.5 out of 5.

PS I did look for an excerpt on the Warren site, but it’s not been updated in ages and ages.

Jenna Black: Watchers In The Night

Watchers In The Night has occasional flashes of brilliance.

Every now and then, Gray (the hero) or Jules pop off the page. But the fact that I’ve only just finished the book hours ago and cannot remember the heroine’s name is a bad sign.

It’s also a bad sign that I could figure out the villain early. I do not like it when this happens. I mean, I like trying to guess who the villain is, but I do not want to find out until you, the Author, decides it’s Time.

At the very least, I want you to keep me off-balance, which this book didn’t do. I want to be thinking “Oh yes it’s her/him” and then a page later go, “It can’t be!”

The sequel-bait wasn’t THAT obvious, but since everyone knows you almost never have a paranormal romance (especially ones featuring vamps and other creatures of the night) without a sequel these days…

This rates 2.5 out of 5.