The Glamour Thieves (Blue Unicorn Book 1) by Don Allmon.

Stars: 2 out of 5.

This book could have been great. It could have been the first book in a new series that I would have really wanted to follow. It had so much potential… and the fact that it frittered it away is extremely frustrating.

The little bit of worlbuilding we get hints at an interesting world. It’s set in the future, so technologies are quite advanced, especially augmented reality, implants, and the connection to the World Wide Web that allows you to experience VR with all five senses. But we also get mentions of a worldwide catastrophe that changed something in the people’s genome so that some were able to do magic. Oh, and orcs and elves became a reality.

There is so much potential in this! The author could have hooked me and kept me going if only he’d thrown a few more hints here and there about that catastrophe, or more about how the orcs and elves became so common place. Where they always there, but just hiding? Or did they come through the cracks in reality at the same time as humans became capable of magic? Or are they also a result of human mutation? Sadly, we get no answers.

I would have loved to have more background on JT and Austin, on their relationship, on what actually really happened three years ago that made them split. We get mentions here and there. We know they were part of a group of thieves and a heist went bad. We know that Austin’s sister died… and nothing else. There is a mention that they were set up, and that another one of their members died as well, but we never learn anything else. What happened? There is a small mention that JT and Austin were captured and experimented on, but by whom? How did they escape? Just dwelling in those questions could have made an awesome book. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Instead we get a book in which every character is obsessed with sex. This is a short 133 pages book, and the actual plot fits in maybe a third of that length. The rest is characters either having sex or thinking about having sex, or obsessing about whether their maybe on and off partner is having sex with someone else. There is so much sexual content in it that at one point I had to go back to Netgalley and check whether I had clicked on the erotica bookshelf by mistake when I selected the book, but no, it’s listed under Science Fiction and Fantasy…

And I would have been okay with some sexual content if it was justified. But when the characters are running for their life from the Triad, I would think they would be more worried about staying alive and figuring out how to get out of the mess they are in instead of jumping each other’s bones. This is just such an unrealistic reaction that it threw me right out of the story.

My other problem with this book is Austin. I hated  him as a character, and since a lot of the narrative was from his point of view, getting through his chapters was a challenge. He is incredibly self-centered. He wants JT because he wants things to go back to how they were, and JT always had his back. He lies, cheats and uses underhanded techniques to get him to agree to this one last job, even though he can clearly see that JT has created a new life for himself. He has a legitimate business that he loves, and he has a protégé he is responsible for. But no, Austin doesn’t care, if he wreaks his friend’s life. He doesn’t even ask himself whether what he is doing will harm JT. Not once. The thought of considering somebody else’s interest apart from his own doesn’t even cross his mind. With Austin, everything is about Austin.

The second thing I hate about Austin is how twisted his sexual desires are. Like that scene in the orc night club. What he did to the bouncer cannot be called anything but rape. No matter how he justifies it, he used his glamour to force that orc to do what he did. And Austin’s thoughts in that moment were exactly what any other rapist would voice to justify his actions – I only exacerbate the desire that’s already there, my glamour wouldn’t have worked if he didn’t want it… No. Just NO. Rape is rape and there is no excuse!

As I mentioned, the book had potential, but the lack of plot and my intense dislike for one of the main characters made it so I have no desire to find out more about this world. That’s one series I will pass on.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dreams Come True – Taeyang’s White Night Concert in Dallas.

When you are a fan of a Korean group,  you kinda resign yourself to loving their music and admiring them from afar. Because, until recently,  chances that they would have a concert in a city close enough that you could get there without having to sell your kidney to afford it were slim to none. Especially when you lived in a small military town in the middle of nowhere, North Carolina. Nobody comes to NC, it seems.

When Big Bang did their latest (am not saying last, because they will come back from the military and they will tour again as a band, I know it) US Tour in 2015, the closest venue to me was in New Jersey. With the plane ticket, hotel, transportation and the ticket to the show itself, it cost a small fortune. Something I simply couldn’t afford with my more than modest salary and the huge debt problems our family had at the time.

Fast forward two years. I no longer have a family. I paid off most of the debt my dear ex-husband left me with after the divorce, I have a better paying job, and I am no longer in NC. So when I saw that Taeyang would be coming to Dallas with his White Night concert, I actually thought, “Hey, I need to check this out. I could actually afford this, I think.” And I was right. I went to a terrific concert by a terrific performer who is part of my favorite group of all times for about 250 dollars, parking included.

And it was an epic concert and an epic night, let me tell you. It left me exhausted, hurting like I had run a marathon, elated, and absolutely, insanely happy.

The start of this whole adventure was rather stressful though. I have never been to Dallas, but I ventured there by myself with just my trusted Navigon and the concert ticket in my pocket, with no clue where The Bomb Factory actually was. Good thing Dallas is only about 45 minutes away from Fort Worth… on a good day… with moderate traffic… which Friday afternoon wasn’t.

But I had planned for that and left at 3pm, even though the concert wasn’t supposed to start until 7:30pm. Good thing I did too, because my Navigon crapped out as soon as I pulled off the ramp off I-30 in Dallas. I guess all those ramps and interchanges messed up its poor GPS brain, or it couldn’t connect to the satellite anymore, but it started randomly switching routes, rerouting and putting my location on different random roads. Then it sent me in a circle, as if saying, “I got nothing. You’re on your own.” Not a good situation when you are in downtown Dallas in Friday afternoon traffic with no clue where to go.

Picture belongs to Lonnie Easterling.

So I pulled into the first parking lot I saw and tried to resuscitate my Navigo. No luck there. I was starting to panic big time by then. I tried Waze, but it said it needed to install some critical update and left me high and dry while it proceeded to do just that. All I can say is thank God for Google maps! When all my other devices and apps failed, Google maps picked up my route and took me straight to the Bomb Factory.

That’s where the second part of the nightmare started. I had no clue how hard it was to find a parking spot next to the venue. The parking lot by the Bomb Factory is the size of a handkerchief, and by the time I got there at 4:15pm, it was full and all entrances had been closed. There were countless cars circling around the block trying to find a spot, any spot to park.  Now keep in mind that most of the streets around there are one-way and that this was my first time there. I was getting more and more lost trying to find a place I could leave my car for 6-7 hours and still find it in one piece afterwards. But my guardian angel must have been looking over my that day, because after about 20 minutes of erratic driving that puzzled the locals (hey, I still have my NC tags, can’t they see I’m a tourist?), I managed to sneak into the last empty spot in a tiny parking lot three blocks away from the venue. Double score: the parking fee was only 5 dollars for the night, AND they accepted cards.

I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find my car after the concert, since it would be dark and I had circled the block so many times that I got completely turned around. That’s where Google Maps came to my rescue yet again. I simply marked the location of my car, then let Google Maps walk me to the  Bomb Factory … Where I waited for the next two and a half hours for the doors to open along with over a thousand other fans.

This is where I must say that the entry system at the Bomb Factory wasn’t very organized. There were supposed to be three lines – Platinum, Platinum 1 and Platinum 2. Well, the only signs for that were right by the doors, so even a few steps further back, it all became one big pile where nobody knew which line they were supposed to be in. As a result, there was an hour delay with getting everyone into the venue and the concert started 30 minutes late as well.

But I must give a big round of applause to all the VIPs I stood in line with that day. Despite the confusion, the delays, and standing for almost three hours in Texas heat, the mood never turned sour. Everybody bore this with good humor. We were swapping stories, songs and personal experiences. I heard a lot of laughter and not a single angry voice in that crowd. I was also surprised to see that only maybe 40 percent of the crowd looked Asian. Most fans were of Caucasian descent, like me. And we were also an older crowd than I thought. I had been afraid that at almost 40, I would stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd of excited teenage girls, but I wasn’t the only one there in that age group.

But then the doors finally opened and the concert started and as soon as Taeyang stepped on that stage, all the hardships of the day were forgotten.

The Stage. Taeyang is about to make his entrance.

What can I tell you about this concert that hasn’t been said about any of Big Bang concerts (either as a full group or as solo artists) before? It was awesome. It was breathtaking. It was elating. Uplifting. And it was over too soon, even though it lasted three hours and two encores.

Taeyang started the concert with Ringa Linga, which is one of my favorite songs as well as my ringtone. I tried to record some of the songs, but I wasn’t close enough to the stage to get a very good view (plus at 5’5″, I was one of the shorter people in the crowd), so I’m sorry for the quality of my videos. But you can still see and feel the incredible energy and the excitement of the audience.

Taeyang is a true performer. He knows how to grab the crowd’s attention and keep it. He has an incredible presence. He seems larger than life up there on that stage, all dressed in white. But he also manages to make this performance very personal, almost intimate, especially when he talked to us about his hopes and aspirations, about his new album White Night (that you can purchase on ITunes and Google Play btw), and about his relationship with other members of Big Bang.

He performed songs from his new album, but also his older songs that we know and love, like Wedding Dress and Love you to Death.

He also sang Big Bang songs like Bang Bang Bang and Fantastic Baby, and Good Boy. The crowd went wild at those, me included. The most touching moment was when he sang Last Dance (which I sadly didn’t record) while playing piano, then talked about what Big Bang and the other members meant to him, and go so emotional he had to wipe tears from his eyes.

I love that at all their solo concerts, they always take the time to mention the other members of Big Bang. You can really see that they consider each other as brothers, not just band members. They’ve been together for over 10 years after all. Taeyang and G-Dragon have known each other for most of their adult life, since they were trainees together before they debuted…

Big Bang – Made album

After an amazing three hours and two encores, Taeyang closed the show with my absolute favorite song – Eyes, Nose, Lips.

You can hear the crowd of regular Americans singing along in Korean, which is absolutely amazing to me and very uplifting.

After the concert was over, I felt so light and happy, like I had wings growing from my back. So thank you, Taeyang, for an incredible show and a burst of positive energy that will last me for a good long while.

All I can say in conclusion is that I feel Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing! Last video is not mine. The song belongs to Taeyang and YG entertainment. I took the video on Kpop Blog Youtube Channel.

https://youtu.be/Lo75a3y_t1g