Charlie Cochet's "Thick & Thin"

I really should have mentioned this yesterday before chatting about Gilli.  Anyway, in Ms Cochet's latest THIRDS novella she does a nice job of wrapping things up prior to the next book, which is focused on a couple other than Dex & Sloane, who have been the main concern for most of the series,  though others have occasionally taken the spotlight.  I believe she mentioned something about wanting to separate this out so it didn't distract from that storyline, and I am glad she did.  If you have forgotten some of the details my friend Cheryl assures me that Ms Cochet does a nice job in recapping them for you.  I didn't have the same continuity issues, so I will say that Ms Cochet's recap did not distract from the story at hand.  This is a novella that plays out events that happened at the end of book 7, and sets up the next book to be relatively tidy, rather than distracting from that story with the revelations detailed here, because this book combined with the next would do nothing but distract from those details.  If I were cynical I could say it is a play for money, but I am not quite that bad, and I do think what happens in this story would seriously distract from whatever story she has set up for Seb & Hudson, and I think she was correct in her decision to make this its own story, however unconventional the storyline.  I would also advise that if you haven't read any of this series, then this is not the book to start with.  Start with book 1, "Hell & High Water" and if you like it, continue on, as this isn't a series that, as yet, I haven't seen quality issues with.  With the exception of two books, the series focuses on two main characters and is constantly developing the secondary characters, such as the aforementioned Seb & Hudson.  The books require a suspension of disbelief into Ms Cochet's scientific logic for shifters, and they also require you not to be squeamish when gay sex is described, but overall, for this sort of genre fiction, I think she does a marvelous job, and this novella does exactly what she expected, which is wrap up consequences from book 7 while prepping readers for book 9.  Due to the emotional rollercoaster these characters experience, I also don't see any issue breaking this out, because by doing so, Ms Cochet allowed the emotional requirements at the end of book 7 to shine as they needed, and not be lost in an epilogue.

So this isn't exactly a book review, but I did read it, and enjoy it, and would suggest it to others who have enjoyed the series.

THIRDS

Earlier I posted about various series, and while I don't think I want every entry here to be about books, I do think I will use that earlier post as a launch point for some comments on the series, because if I can get the author another reader, that is a good thing.

Anyway, Charlie Cochet's THIRDS series is an alternate universe with shape shifters explained via science and germ warfare.  (Yes, I know I linked it earlier, but it only seems right to link it again, since this entry is focused on that series.)  So far the series is 7 books, with a few more in the pipeline, and a spin off focusing on the main couple in this series, Dex and Sloane.  Overall, what I like is that Ms Cochet has a full cast of recurring characters, the members of Destructive Delta, and that while most of the books focus on the Dex and Sloane relationship, there are others that focus on the other members, and most importantly, there is a healthy amount of showing the effects the primary relationship has on the rest of the team.  So many books focus on the couple without paying attention to how the coupling really impacts friends and family, and these books try to explore those relationships as well.  THIRDS is a paramilitary police organization, so the device that allows these character explorations is generally that of solving crimes, but as long as every crime is not the same, it gives the books plenty of situations to explore.  With the way things are going, Dex and Sloane will end up as a two man James Bond, and considering how many of those books are there, we readers should have plenty of time to watch their relationship, and the relationships of others on their team, blossom.  I really tried to give a general overview, and I hope that I didn't make it too general or broad, but I also didn't want to review each book or give the dreaded play by play review.  There are a lot of characters and multiple couples, but Dex and Sloane are at the heart of it all, which is why I only mentioned them, though I do like the others.

In addition to the books, Ms Cochet also has an active Goodreads community for this book, and does a good job of keeping readers engaged, perhaps most obviously by the THIRDS Thursdays flash fiction posts, where she responds to various reader prompts, and those prompts are frequently based on some event mentioned in the books, but not explored there, so the world she has created becomes that much richer.  Charlie Cochet's website, with links to the flash fiction posts and other news, can be found here.

MM Romance and series

I was chatting with a friend tonight on the phone and something came to my attention when we were discussing books.  It seems that most of the books I have suggested she read were part of a series of MM Romance.  These weren't the typical series with a different couple each book, but rather a series that focused on a couple for several books, some of the series mentioned were Kate Sherwood's Dark Horse, Lyn Gala's Aliens and Assimilation, the Chaos Station series by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen, JC Owens' Gaven series, and Charlie Cochet's THIRDS.  The common denominator for all of these seemed to be that the authors gave the characters more than a single book to grow and develop.  Much of MM Romance gives a single short (80,000 words or so) book time to develop the relationship and wrap it into a happily ever after, that these series, with multiple books devoted to the characters actually give the reader more.  Everyone loves HEA books, but everyone also knows that the happily ever after is a work in progress.  After a few too many shifter books with knotting and an automatic HEA, I think readers deserve in depth view of relationships and the trials that form and strengthen them.  Not every series I mentioned is paranormal, but each works to detail the trials of the couple and how they overcome those obstacles.  Yes, all of them include sex, but that is not a reason to automatically remove them from consideration as good books.  I don't think Dex, from THIRDS, resembles Flick from Chaos Station any more than Liam resemble Gaven, and none of them resemble Dan or anyone from the Dark Horse series.  There isn't a resemblance here that says these folks are filling out a form and fitting in the characters.  All of them have proper motivations and all of these are explored during the course of the series, and I think what appears to be a common length restriction on MM Romance novels may actually do these authors a discredit, because the stories they write deserve to be longer, and I am pleased they take the effort to explore.

For the most part, links will be to the publisher site, but I think all are available on Amazon.