"So, my working outfit consists of: a Trade Bargains shirt; a pair of butter-soft broken in jeans; scuffed engineer boots; ..."



Yup, she's describing her outfit, her "look", with the typical economy and meticulousness of the romance novel writer. And the plot of the series is the usual romance-novel plot: powerful man falls in love with the heroine and gives her free stuff, and consequently she can dish out as much crap as she likes without having to take any.



I'm sorry. I quite enjoy Lillith Saintcrow's other heroine - Kismet - but the way Valentine complains that non-psychic people have such disorganised minds when her own mind is a feminine rats-nest really rubs me the wrong way. And her utter, complete self-centerdness and unawareness of that self-centeredness makes me want to slap her.



Finally lost patience with Dante Valentine in the fourth book. After spending the whole book complaining that the hero - a demon who had given up *everything* for her - was keeping secrets, she herself uncovers a world-altering secret relating to herself. Something that her demon lover really, really needs to know. Her reaction? "No, this was *mine*!". I nearly threw the book at the wall.



But - interesting setting. Demons and magic meets future tech. If you play shadowrun, you'll get some ideas. The Kismet books are set in the present - also very interesting.



I'll buy the fifth one, and hate myself for doing it.