Cottonwood

Hmm.By no means this was a bad book, I just...Maybe my expectations were too high, after reading Land of the Beautiful Dead by this author, and absolutely loving it.But honestly? I think this book fell short for me for two reasons that just really irked me throughout it all.It wasn't the writing style (which was just as amazing), it wasn't the world-building (which was great), it wasn't even the protagonist herself, Sarah (despite me not really understanding her overwhelming kindness), it was (some mild spoilers ahead):Was this book about, how to physically torture the protagonist every few chapters or so to the point where you break her bones, cut her fingers off, and beat her near death? Because if so! Wow, success! I tell you, success!What the heck?No seriously, WHAT the heck?It's not that I do not expect some kind of torture in those type of dark reads. In this book, however, it was to the point of madness. And pointlessness. It was like the protagonist's sole purpose was to get beaten up and tortured. And it was just... I couldn't even be horrified - although I was - because I was too busy wondering "is there a point to this meaningless pain?" No, there was no point except for her to be in pain throughout all of this book, be it emotional or physical.And for what?Nothing at all.Not even for her beloved to rescue her (on time, even), hug her, avenge her, DO SOMETHING that isn't letting her constantly be beaten up emotionally and physically. Nope, he just sat aside in all of his calm and cool exterior. And even though he was a bit worried, it was not enough. Not enough for all that Sarah was forced to endure.I just could not understand their relationship due to this.Yeah, due to that, which ironically had nothing to do with him being an alien.At some points, especially towards the end, I honestly wanted her to end up with Sam because at least HE cared! At least HE was horrified and worried and would have DONE something to HELP her if he KNEW.(some serious spoilers ahead)As for our love interest, who just stood by and waited for far too long. Yes, I understand you couldn't reach earth sooner than that but you SHOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT HER THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I don't CARE how much she refused or begged you to go and leave her behind, YOU KNEW what would happen to her, YOU KNEW. And I hardly saw you in enough pain over this yourself, so please, Sandford, just go away.I mean seriously, Lan from Land of the Beautiful Dead did some... really stupid, reckless, crazy things, but not for a moment did Azrael just stood aside and did nothing. Azrael would have NEVER left her behind, no matter how much she begged him to. He would have fought for her. And that's something Sandford simply did not do.He didn't fight for her.SHE, however, fought for him. She bled for him, broke for him, gave everything up for him.And I'm sorry, but that just ruins everything for me.In a relationship, whatever its nature, you have to fight for each other.If one side fights while the other does nothing... is it even a relationship at all?I had to applaud and wanted to hug Sam when he shoved all of this in Safndord's face after seeing the condition Sarah was in.God, she should have ended up with Sam.Even T'aki was more worried and insistent.So yeah, all of that just really... annoyed me. And that's why I could not enjoy this book as much as I wanted to.That being said, I would still give the author's other books a try because... well because, Land of the Beautiful Dead was one of the best things ever.Looking forward to jumping into The Last Hours of Gann!

Many months ago, in a Facebook fan page for another author, I learned about R.Lee Smith and Cottonwood. Since I was such a fan of this author and it was she herself who unabashedly touted Cottonwood, I checked it out. But ended up with The Last Hour of Gann, instead.As absolutely blown away as I was after finishing that book, I still could not bring myself to read this book since someone had posted that the aliens in this book looked like giant roaches. I just could go there.Now having read almost everything R Lee Smith has published, still haven’t started the Care and Feeding of Griffins series, I finally purchased this book.I simply cannot imagine anyone not being blown away by this book. The mc, Sarah, just comes alive as the quirky loving young woman most of us can totally identify with. She is buoyed by her ingrained optimism despite her rather limited means and even more limited abilities. She can’t keep a job, a boyfriend, or even a roof over her head. She annoys people because she hums and sings non stop. A skill taught to her as a kindergartner to stop her stuttering. It is this very skill that both consciously and unconsciously keeps her quite literally singing, no matter how bad things get. Sarah is a perfect example of how R Lee Smith doesn’t just tell a great story, she invents the kind of people who seem real to us, people who we want to know about and easily come to care about.There are so many characters in this book that doesn’t just fill a hole or move the plot along, each character is essential to the story and make the story, no matter how unbelievable the plot, seem plausible and realistic. Who can doubt that creatures coming to earth would be met with extreme prejudice and summarily imprisoned or safely contained away from humans? Who can doubt that there are many evil people, even some with great power, who are capable of doing such horrible things to other creatures? And who can doubt how easily a population can be frightened into consenting to and even helping with the existence and escalation of such evil?My only complaint is that I really with the story of Sarah and Sanford continued further. But that simply indicates how very much I came to care for them and how very much they became important to me. And that is the mark of a brilliant writer because I am very very rarely so connected to fictional characters. I may completely enjoy a book but never come to feel any sort of connection and I know that fictional connection is something lots of people gush over. In all my years of having my nose in a book, there are maybe 5 that have had me emotionally involved and connected to the characters. This serves as my way of saying, I’m a discerning reader and when I say a book was good, it was.

This book was really a hard one to rate. The writing was excellent, the characters were excellent, and the plot was really good. There was only two things that I had trouble with. First - the TYPE of alien this was, I have a hard time with the insect type of alien H. I just can never picture them in my mind, plus it's really hard for me to grasp that a human woman would call for a bug looking alien. I KNOW looks shouldn't factor into it but it's just hard to believe that a woman would get turned on enough to have sex with a H like that, even IF he's the best "man" she's ever known, and she loves him. Love, I can believe, because that's about the character and personality, but sex has to have at least SOME physical attraction. Second - I really hate it when the H and h are not genetically compatible. I know that the possibility of children isn't everything, and some people don't even WANT kids, but it just feels unfair that they have to give up any possibility of a child, to be together. And it was only HER giving it up here, HE already had a son. Now, those two things would normally take the rating down by at least 1 star, however, this book had such excellent writing that it made me cry, TWICE!, and it kept me up way past my normal bedtime to finish it. That right there was definitely worth a 5 and made those two issues seem less troublesome than they'd normally be, so I could only bring myself to take off 1/2 a star for those. Seriously, if those two things were different, this would have been a firm 5 stars, and I don't rate all that many books at a 5.1 star - Awful! Want my money back!2 stars - Bad but not horrendous.3 stars - Decent/Good4 stars - Really good!5 stars - Excellent! Definitely recommend!

They were like insects (see the movie District 9) but you can understand falling in love with one of them."Besides, apart from the whole alien-thing, Sanford was the ideal man - strong, sensitive, a caring father, plus he could program a coffee maker. What more could a girl ask for? Okay, skin would be nice, but it didn't pay to be too picky. "Another book where the others are the good guys - in this book the aliens - and the humans are inhuman.

The story is wonderfully written. Loved all the characters.Sarah was a courageous women helping the aliens even after taking all that beating.Sanford was kind of quiet and clever in his own way and has to think of his son , Taki's safety first.Sam was more stronger character and he should've had Sarah. I think there should be a story for Sam.I read other books by this author and really enjoyed her books.

Can you fall in love with an alien that's a six foot tall giant bug?Well, thanks to R. Lee Smith, I have. Another excellent experience from her, but I'm a massive fan, so all my reviews will be biased!Plus the longer the book, the happier I am, so any complaints that her works are too long just don't resonate with me.Cottonwood is much like District 13, but written as a Sci fi romance and not a political statement. (it was actually written before the film came out!) read it. Love Sanford!

I loved this book,its not for the faint hearted and was very upsetting in places so might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I would urge everyone to give it a go, the story was very well written and I think I was permanently attached to my kindle for a couple of days, any author who can take this subject matter and make me fall in love with another species (bugs,no offence Sandford)and his cute little Jellybean T'aki is a keeper I hope to enjoy many more of this authors stories.In fact I am off to read Heat next.

I absolutly adore R. Lee Smiths work. In fact, I have had the pleaseure of reading every book the author has written. Need more... ahem... ahem... If you like erotic horror... look no further. While there are sometime HEA... they are in no way guarenteed... and it is never an easy path to get to!