Over the past year, I'm pretty sure I limited my public working Mom angst to Yahoo group and Facebook friends. Didn't get into it so much here or at Let's Gab. The long and long of it...(seriously it's long and rambling and entirely self-serving)...almost 7 years ago, I was a career-minded, working Mom when I gave birth to my son. And despite an immediate and very sharp desire to give it all up to stay home with him, I went back to work. Financially, it made more sense for me to work and my husband to stay home. A couple of paycuts later, he returned to work and G went off to daycare. And we all adjusted.
Three years later, I was laid off with no viable employment in sight. And finally, home with G. We all adjusted. And despite the economic hardships, I'll admit, it was heaven to be with him. I'll also say that I knew it. At the time, I knew it was heaven. I didn't waste it.
Two and a half years later, G started kindergarten and I found a job. Started part-time, while he was in school, and experienced no great bump in our little piece of heaven. By Christmas, another job found me and, in January, I returned to the 8 to 5 grind. Big bump. G went from school to his old daycare to friend Barb's. Long day for him, but we all adjusted.
Then summer came and we all adjusted again. G to day camp, various playdates and a bit of daycare each week. I worked very hard to keep it varied for him. I worked equally hard to fend off the guilt when, driving by the lake on our way home each day, G asked when we could go to "our beach." We both missed our summer days together. At the beach, on the bike trails, in the yard. The guilt ate at me. The resentment did too. I wanted our time together as much as he did.
The start of first grade brought more adjustments--these more rocky than any before. He went from school to latchkey--spending his entire, long day with strangers. New teacher, none of his buddies in his class, more of the same at latchkey, and so on. It was a very rough start for him and my guilt and concern skyrocketed. After three weeks, I met with principal and teacher and saw positive changes in his school day. Then I swapped one of his latchkey days with a weekly playdate, and you get the drift. Things turned around for him and I breathed easier, worried less.
Sounds like I was doing everything I could possibly do to successfully parent him, be his advocate and keep him priority one. Right? Wrong. The 8 to 5 grind robbed me of energy--some days just a little, other days pretty much all of it. My homelife went from exactly that, life at home, to not a lot more than chores. Leave work, get G, get home and cook dinner, clean up, review schoolwork, practice spelling words, bath, storytime, bed. The 5 to 7:20 AM time slot wasn't much different and frequently involved me rushing G out the door to school and work. In my heart, I know--being ruthlessly honest with myself--that I treated most evenings and pretty much every morning as a To Do list. Worse yet, I methodically moved through that To Do list with the one selfish goal of being able to sit down, alone, at the end of the night. For some me-time. Me-time that I needed, now that I found none elsewhere in my day.
The ache of it was awful. And friends like Lori will tell you I struggled with it.
And note the past tense. Couple weeks back I lost my job. Total stunner. Thankfully--for all the relatable financial reasons--I found another job a day or two after that. I start next Monday. So right now, I'm in the in-between. With two and a half weeks of SAHM-ness. Two and half weeks of daily, right-before-my-eyes proof that working full-time short-changes my family. My rational self knows that the short-changing would be far worse if we were to be struggling to keep our house, fill the pantry, send G to college and some day retire. The Mom in me knows--firsthand--that we would all be better served if I were home more waking hours than I was at work. In this, there is no in-between.
I've seen it in just these few days. First, G got sick and was home two days from school. Had I been working, there would have been discussion about who would take off work to stay with him. And what that would mean--using vacation days, missing meetings, etc. With the time already off, there was no discussion that might alert him to Mom and Dad's burdens. Just quiet assurances that Momma would be here with him and all he had to do was rest and get better.
Back to school, he finds me there to pick him up when the bell rings. Every day. On the crappy weather days, we come home to board games and Spongebob. On the nice days, we stop off at the community center for some tennis. Regardless of what we do or where we go, he is "home" minutes after the school bell rings. And he is a different kid. Swear. I can SEE how relaxed he is. Particularly when we get to the chore part of our days. Some things--like leaves--we tackle together. Other things I get done while he is content to play whatever. Amazing how we slid easily back into our routine of old. It has been as good as I remembered it.
And it will end in a few days.
There is a lot on this out there--whole and sound arguments for making whatever sacrifice necessary to stay home with your kids. There is also a great deal on the needs of women--beyond those of simply motherhood. Tons and tons on balance and expectations; and convenience and short-cuts. All of it worthwhile. But little of it that changes this individual's reality.
Bottomline, I will go back to the 8 to 5 next Monday. G and I will part ways in front of his school before 8 AM and meet up again just as darkness falls here in Northern Michigan.
Some things will be easier than before. For one, latchkey has introduced a new teacher/leader for G's group--a woman from our church that 'knows' G (this knowing is important to him this year). So that should be better. And friend Barb has decided it best for G if she can get him from latchkey earlier than I'm able to. Another stop in his long day but one that is as close to his own home as it gets. Another thing, my new job promises to come without the bizarro factor underlying my last one. That alone should alleviate a good deal of the energy-drain.
And hopefully...hopefully it will be easier simply because we had this brief respite. Not only a gift of what I'd been missing so much, but a reminder not to let my own burdens ruin what time we do get together.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
Congrats to Angela James and Carina Press
Harlequin has launched a new digital-only line, and Angela James will be the Executive Editor. Congrats, Angie!! What a coup! I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. For more info, visit Carina Press.
(side note: interesting that I saw absolutely nothing about this on the Harlequin site... anywhere)
(side note: interesting that I saw absolutely nothing about this on the Harlequin site... anywhere)
Branded By Fire by Nalini Singh
Title: Branded By Fire
Author: Nalini Singh
Type: Paranormal
Series: Psy-Changeling
Published: 2009
Blurb: Though DarkRiver sentinel Mercy is feeling the pressure to mate, she savagely resists when Riley Kincaid, a lieutenant from the SnowDancer pack, tries to possess her. The problem is not simply that he pushes her buttons; the problem is that he’s a wolf, she’s a cat, and they’re both used to being on top.
But when a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped from DarkRiver territory, Mercy and Riley must work together to track the young man—before his shadowy captors decide he’s no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it’ll leave them both branded by fire…
Why: Singh is an auto-read.
Thoughts: Singh's Psy-Changeling series is a sure thing for me. No matter my reading mood, I know I'll fall in love and sigh in contentment every time I enter this world. Unfortunately, in Branded By Fire, that love and contentment was disturbed--slightly--by annoyance. Eight books into the series now, Singh is compelled to clue new-to-the-series readers in now and again. The background, while necessary and not overdone at all, annoyed me a bit only because I already know all that stuff. Conversely, as the conflict deepens and the number of factions grows, Singh's world is reaching a point of complexity I'm not sure I want. It's a lot to follow, a lot to remember.
Author: Nalini Singh
Type: Paranormal
Series: Psy-Changeling
Published: 2009
Blurb: Though DarkRiver sentinel Mercy is feeling the pressure to mate, she savagely resists when Riley Kincaid, a lieutenant from the SnowDancer pack, tries to possess her. The problem is not simply that he pushes her buttons; the problem is that he’s a wolf, she’s a cat, and they’re both used to being on top.
But when a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped from DarkRiver territory, Mercy and Riley must work together to track the young man—before his shadowy captors decide he’s no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it’ll leave them both branded by fire…
Why: Singh is an auto-read.
Thoughts: Singh's Psy-Changeling series is a sure thing for me. No matter my reading mood, I know I'll fall in love and sigh in contentment every time I enter this world. Unfortunately, in Branded By Fire, that love and contentment was disturbed--slightly--by annoyance. Eight books into the series now, Singh is compelled to clue new-to-the-series readers in now and again. The background, while necessary and not overdone at all, annoyed me a bit only because I already know all that stuff. Conversely, as the conflict deepens and the number of factions grows, Singh's world is reaching a point of complexity I'm not sure I want. It's a lot to follow, a lot to remember.
What absolutely worked: True to form, Singh keeps the focus primarily on the H/H. In this, I was hooked. Almost right from the first page, something else Singh manages every time out. Riley and Mercy are familiar characters, but watching them turn their aggression on each other was startling (in a very good way). These were two very powerful characters and Singh balanced their need for dominance beautifully--right along a knife's edge. There was nothing lacking in their story. Nothing at all. And maybe, even more breath-hitching moments than usual. All fabulous.
What didn't: The backdrop however, fell slightly flat for me. Like I said, it was hard to keep up with the who, what, when and where intrinsic to the external conflict(s). And there were inconsistencies or loose ends (to my mind) uncharacteristic of Singh's previous Psy-Changeling installments. One example was the kidnap victim's refusal to clue Pack leaders into his work--the reason behind the kidnapping. It didn't fit for me. Seemed to me that Pack leaders would have followed that thread more closely and more quickly to the bad-guy source. In another example, the Pack(s) allowed a rebel group, split off from the core of the enemy (on their word), to go on back to hiding while they sorted it all out. That too felt atypical. There was also the murder of a key underground figure that went virtually untouched.
These all felt like loose or unanswered ends to me. Events that Singh will surely bring back and tie up in future installments. But I swear in all of her previous books, the events and outcomes were more tightly woven. Maybe even to the degree that a new reader could enjoy any one of those books as a standalone. Branded By Fire, by comparison, lacked that symmetry.
Still a sure thing for me, as romance trumps world-building on my preference scale. However, I will go into Blaze Of Memory a bit more hesistantly--wondering if I need a primer to sort out all of the threats to Silence, potential repercussions if it breaks, and to figure out who is behind the mad-scientist stuff.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Show And Tell by Jasmine Haynes
Title: Show And Tell
Author: Jasmine Haynes
Type: Erotic Romance
Published: 2008
Why: Blogger rec.
Blurb (misleading, BTW): Trinity Green always dreamed of uninhibited passion, but pleasing her husband meant never having a hair out of place—or so she thought. The day she found him getting down and dirty with another woman, she decided to stop pleasing other people—and start pleasing herself…
Now she’s indulging in everything she used to deny herself—from great food to a few sexy encounters with a man who doesn’t even know her name. Having total control gives her a thrill she never imagined. But with true passion comes real connection, and soon Trinity must admit—and accept—who she really is…
Thoughts: Really, really mixed. On the one hand, Trinity's sexual connection to Scott resonated big with me. Can't explain it, but I felt, understood and accepted, needed the connection. Unusual for me--because while I enjoy erotic romance, I find very few that unerringly convince me of the sexual compulsion(s). I'm a person who needs more than that initial physical zing of attraction to act. So it's rare that I fall into an H/H that START with sex. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy the sex, LOL. It just means I'm rarely, if ever, emotionally vested in the characters. Here, I was that and more.
On the other hand, I found characterization lacking. I know, totally mixed up. I was emotionally vested, but frustrated beyond words at how little depth Haynes gave these characters, Trinity specifically. I spent far too much time trying to determine why I felt this way. Was it that I simply couldn't relate to this heiress who still calls her father "Daddy?" Or was it that Haynes actually wasted such a fabulous premise on a paper thin character? Or....did poor storytelling ruin it?
Haynes tells readers that Trinity suffers an heiress/debutante-imposed need to be perfect. All the time. Even in bed. She never lets go, even during sex, if it means her mascara will run or her hair tangled. I didn't buy it. Thought her shallow for it. Haynes also tells us (primarily through internal thought--another problem for me) that Trinity's ill-fated marriage was a Vegas quickie a month after she met him. Here, I thought her stupid as well as shallow. That she worries how her Daddy will react to her divorce announcement only adds to it all. Bottom line, Trinity's issues are of the self-esteem variety and Haynes absolutely failed to garner my sympathy.
Deanna Raybourn borrowed a phrase and shared it on her blog awhile back. The phrase was "those are princess problems." In Raybourn's example, she compared her own problem--that of a husband working too many hours--to another woman's problem--a husband deployed a year or more to Iraq. It was about perspective and so damn true.
Trinity's problems? Princess. Even though they didn't have to be. She catches her husband of 6 months having sex with another woman in their home. Devastating on its own. But immediately undermined by Haynes when she reveals their month-long courtship, quickie marriage and lack of true intimacy. Undermined even further when Haynes devotes all of 20 minutes to the conversation Trinity has with her father about her need to divorce. She doesn't tell her father about catching him cheating. And he doesn't ask. Just says he's glad and will take care of all of it. If Haynes couldn't take Trinity's problems seriously, I sure as hell couldn't. In the end, Trinity didn't really love him, had foolishly devoted herself to trying to please him and took the ugly work of divorcing him straight to Daddy.
Still desperately trying to find something deeper in this character, I held onto the idea that she really was struggling to find herself. Having never been truly responsible for herself, Trinity felt adrift, a stranger to herself even. I held onto that, despite my continued and growing dislike of her.
Next, she asks Daddy for a job. He gladly assigns her Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable Supervisor. She starts work and immediately butts heads with an over-the-top nemesis--a stacked AP clerk named Inga--whom she lets walk all over her for the better part of the book. There was on-the-job sabotage, behind-your-back whispering and excessive use of the Wonder Bra to trump assets. Every step of the way, Trinity acts like an awkward pre-teen girl negotiating junior high mean girls. It was embarrassing. And Haynes weak depiction of this accounting department--its tasks and caricature-like employees and managers--only made it worse. I found Haynes' inability to build this simple setting a huge flaw.
Sounds like I pretty much hated this book, doesn't it? But I didn't hate it. I couldn't totally hate it because the relationship Trinity embarks on with Scott was...gripping. After finding her husband doing another woman, Trinity retreats to a hotel room for the night. Lamenting all that is her life in that moment, she looks in the mirror and decides she is going to do what she wants now--starting with eating what she wants and having orgasms, the kind of orgasms that muss her perfect makeup and hair. So room service and masturbation ensue.
In the room next door, a businessman hears Trinity's moans and guesses she is alone, pleasuring herself. On a bold whim, he knocks on her door and asks if he can watch. The new, bolder Trinity agrees. It is the start of a highly erotic relationship wherein she withholds her true identity and he allows her to call or email him when she wants to meet. Of all her behavior, this actually seemed the most real, the most compelling to me. In these scenes, I saw a woman, not a caricature.
The businessman, Scott, never came close to caricature. In him, Haynes succeeded in creating a living, breathing man, trying to get on with life after his wife of 22 years has divorced him. He is older, more mature and quite sexy. He is realistically self-assured and vulnerable at the same time. Oh how I wish Haynes had accomplished the same with Trinity. Had she done so, this would have glowed perfect for me.
To detract just a bit from Scott, Haynes gave him an accounting job as well. One complete with a smarmy, unrealistic VP and an obviously amorous, stalker-like co-worker. Sigh.
As their relationship unfolds, both Scott and the reader are sucked deep into an emotional connection, wanting more than anonymous sex and thrills. Trinity is there too, giving of herself and finding herself little bit by little bit. Compelling. Until Haynes takes us back to Trinity's cubicle, or back to Daddy's office, or wherever, and shows us that shallow, naive and not a little stupid girl. Worse, at one point, Haynes lets the idiot in her out in front of Scott and his college-age daughters. It was jarring.
And I don't think I can go on about this book anymore. Bottom line (I think) is that Haynes gave us a woman truly in search of herself, a woman who has spent her entire life trying to be someone she is not. When that woman forges an astonishingly honest and sensual connection with a man happy to love her for herself, Haynes gives readers a love story that captivates. Trinity indulged her physical senses and grew to appreciate her body, her own will. And Scott loved that woman. That's what got me. Really got me.
Then...Haynes ruined Trinity (and very nearly Scott), intellectually, with poorly constructed setting and awful, awful caricatures for secondary characters. Ruined them. Trinity's work experience should have fed her growing independence (as Haynes likely intended). Instead, it served to showcase her empty head. Scott's work experience should have simply added layers, background for him. Instead, Haynes' cartoon accounting world actually dumbed him down.
Author: Jasmine Haynes
Type: Erotic Romance
Published: 2008
Why: Blogger rec.
Blurb (misleading, BTW): Trinity Green always dreamed of uninhibited passion, but pleasing her husband meant never having a hair out of place—or so she thought. The day she found him getting down and dirty with another woman, she decided to stop pleasing other people—and start pleasing herself…
Now she’s indulging in everything she used to deny herself—from great food to a few sexy encounters with a man who doesn’t even know her name. Having total control gives her a thrill she never imagined. But with true passion comes real connection, and soon Trinity must admit—and accept—who she really is…
Thoughts: Really, really mixed. On the one hand, Trinity's sexual connection to Scott resonated big with me. Can't explain it, but I felt, understood and accepted, needed the connection. Unusual for me--because while I enjoy erotic romance, I find very few that unerringly convince me of the sexual compulsion(s). I'm a person who needs more than that initial physical zing of attraction to act. So it's rare that I fall into an H/H that START with sex. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy the sex, LOL. It just means I'm rarely, if ever, emotionally vested in the characters. Here, I was that and more.
On the other hand, I found characterization lacking. I know, totally mixed up. I was emotionally vested, but frustrated beyond words at how little depth Haynes gave these characters, Trinity specifically. I spent far too much time trying to determine why I felt this way. Was it that I simply couldn't relate to this heiress who still calls her father "Daddy?" Or was it that Haynes actually wasted such a fabulous premise on a paper thin character? Or....did poor storytelling ruin it?
Haynes tells readers that Trinity suffers an heiress/debutante-imposed need to be perfect. All the time. Even in bed. She never lets go, even during sex, if it means her mascara will run or her hair tangled. I didn't buy it. Thought her shallow for it. Haynes also tells us (primarily through internal thought--another problem for me) that Trinity's ill-fated marriage was a Vegas quickie a month after she met him. Here, I thought her stupid as well as shallow. That she worries how her Daddy will react to her divorce announcement only adds to it all. Bottom line, Trinity's issues are of the self-esteem variety and Haynes absolutely failed to garner my sympathy.
Deanna Raybourn borrowed a phrase and shared it on her blog awhile back. The phrase was "those are princess problems." In Raybourn's example, she compared her own problem--that of a husband working too many hours--to another woman's problem--a husband deployed a year or more to Iraq. It was about perspective and so damn true.
Trinity's problems? Princess. Even though they didn't have to be. She catches her husband of 6 months having sex with another woman in their home. Devastating on its own. But immediately undermined by Haynes when she reveals their month-long courtship, quickie marriage and lack of true intimacy. Undermined even further when Haynes devotes all of 20 minutes to the conversation Trinity has with her father about her need to divorce. She doesn't tell her father about catching him cheating. And he doesn't ask. Just says he's glad and will take care of all of it. If Haynes couldn't take Trinity's problems seriously, I sure as hell couldn't. In the end, Trinity didn't really love him, had foolishly devoted herself to trying to please him and took the ugly work of divorcing him straight to Daddy.
Still desperately trying to find something deeper in this character, I held onto the idea that she really was struggling to find herself. Having never been truly responsible for herself, Trinity felt adrift, a stranger to herself even. I held onto that, despite my continued and growing dislike of her.
Next, she asks Daddy for a job. He gladly assigns her Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable Supervisor. She starts work and immediately butts heads with an over-the-top nemesis--a stacked AP clerk named Inga--whom she lets walk all over her for the better part of the book. There was on-the-job sabotage, behind-your-back whispering and excessive use of the Wonder Bra to trump assets. Every step of the way, Trinity acts like an awkward pre-teen girl negotiating junior high mean girls. It was embarrassing. And Haynes weak depiction of this accounting department--its tasks and caricature-like employees and managers--only made it worse. I found Haynes' inability to build this simple setting a huge flaw.
Sounds like I pretty much hated this book, doesn't it? But I didn't hate it. I couldn't totally hate it because the relationship Trinity embarks on with Scott was...gripping. After finding her husband doing another woman, Trinity retreats to a hotel room for the night. Lamenting all that is her life in that moment, she looks in the mirror and decides she is going to do what she wants now--starting with eating what she wants and having orgasms, the kind of orgasms that muss her perfect makeup and hair. So room service and masturbation ensue.
In the room next door, a businessman hears Trinity's moans and guesses she is alone, pleasuring herself. On a bold whim, he knocks on her door and asks if he can watch. The new, bolder Trinity agrees. It is the start of a highly erotic relationship wherein she withholds her true identity and he allows her to call or email him when she wants to meet. Of all her behavior, this actually seemed the most real, the most compelling to me. In these scenes, I saw a woman, not a caricature.
The businessman, Scott, never came close to caricature. In him, Haynes succeeded in creating a living, breathing man, trying to get on with life after his wife of 22 years has divorced him. He is older, more mature and quite sexy. He is realistically self-assured and vulnerable at the same time. Oh how I wish Haynes had accomplished the same with Trinity. Had she done so, this would have glowed perfect for me.
To detract just a bit from Scott, Haynes gave him an accounting job as well. One complete with a smarmy, unrealistic VP and an obviously amorous, stalker-like co-worker. Sigh.
As their relationship unfolds, both Scott and the reader are sucked deep into an emotional connection, wanting more than anonymous sex and thrills. Trinity is there too, giving of herself and finding herself little bit by little bit. Compelling. Until Haynes takes us back to Trinity's cubicle, or back to Daddy's office, or wherever, and shows us that shallow, naive and not a little stupid girl. Worse, at one point, Haynes lets the idiot in her out in front of Scott and his college-age daughters. It was jarring.
And I don't think I can go on about this book anymore. Bottom line (I think) is that Haynes gave us a woman truly in search of herself, a woman who has spent her entire life trying to be someone she is not. When that woman forges an astonishingly honest and sensual connection with a man happy to love her for herself, Haynes gives readers a love story that captivates. Trinity indulged her physical senses and grew to appreciate her body, her own will. And Scott loved that woman. That's what got me. Really got me.
Then...Haynes ruined Trinity (and very nearly Scott), intellectually, with poorly constructed setting and awful, awful caricatures for secondary characters. Ruined them. Trinity's work experience should have fed her growing independence (as Haynes likely intended). Instead, it served to showcase her empty head. Scott's work experience should have simply added layers, background for him. Instead, Haynes' cartoon accounting world actually dumbed him down.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Bed Of Roses by Nora Roberts
Title: Bed Of Roses
Author: Nora Roberts
Type: Contemporary Romance
Series: Book 2 in the Bride quartet
Published: 2009
Blurb: As little girls MacKensie, Emma, Laurel, and Parker spent hours acting out their perfect make believe "I do" moments. Years later their fantasies become reality when they start their own wedding planning company to make every woman's dream day come true. With perfect flowers, delicious desserts, and joyful moments captured on film, Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet shares each woman's emotionally magical journey to romance.
In Bed of Roses, florist Emma Grant is finding career success with her friends at Vows wedding planning company, and her love life appears to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn't found Mr. Right. And the last place she's looking is right under her nose.
But that's just where Jack Cooke is. He's so close to the women of Vows that he's practically family, but the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. When Emma returns his passion-kiss for blistering kiss-they must trust in their history...and in their hearts.
Why: Duh.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this one as much if not more than the first, Vision In White. Because this is Nora Roberts, there is little left to say on characterization, prose, strength of storyline, etc. It's all good. As it always is. However, I can talk a bit about Emma and Jack, point out the one thing that didn't totally work for me and throw out a couple of thoughts sparked by this book.
I liked Emma's "normal." Great family, great friends, great job. No hang-ups here, just a true romantic who is crazy passionate about her job. And apparently she is stunningly beautiful. I loved how Roberts conveyed that...with the jokes about Emma's never-ending line of men (when she wants them) and with the male viewpoints about Emma's gorgeous Mom (with only hints at the beauty she passed to Emma). So not an outright point of discussion or internal thought, just a few well-placed jolts to let readers know she's all that and a bag of chips.
Jack is the one with the baggage. Divorced parents add up to committment issues for him. Other than that, he is a fun-loving guy, with great friends and great job. To me, he was as likable as Emma. He was not a "project" in my mind, didn't need saving or enlightening. He was just a guy living free and single for now. I figured he had plenty of time left to outgrow his aversion to committment; or that he would overcome it (without too much fanfare) when he fell for Ms. Right.
Jack and Emma share history. They are friends, fixtures in each others' lives. The conflict is a simple one--she's a romantic believer in marriage, he's not. Because Roberts masterfully balanced conflict with romance (the unfolding of it), I began and finished the story in total relax mode. Well...not entirely true. I'd had a hell of a bad day and, unable to sleep, I picked up Bed Of Roses and read it straight through. That it relaxed me, diverted my attention from personal troubles, says much for Roberts. Like I said, it was balanced. I tingled at the sexual tension, then fell in love and finally, accepted that it was time for Jack to get over it. It was all pretty smooth. And honestly, very enjoyable.
That last bit however, is the one thing that didn't totally work for me. I have never been overly romantic about marriage--not when I was young and single and not now, after 13 years of marriage. I believe in it, sure. I'm just a practical sort and can point to lots of practical reasons why folks should wait a bit on marriage. In Bed Of Roses, I wanted marriage for Emma and Jack. HEA, duh. However, I didn't totally accept Emma's anger and her friends' unwavering support of her position when Jack failed to cast off his fears and commit for the long haul. They dated for months, not years--not even A year. What in the hell was the rush exactly? I understood her feelings about wanting in his personal space. Those were fair. But wanting or viewing those things as some measure of long-term committment? Didn't completely buy it. And thought her a little immature or pollyanna for it. Although...not necessarily while in the story. Like I said, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was after putting it down that I gave thought to this little piece of unreasonableness.
One more comment before I digress to the 'sparked thoughts.' Roberts got me good with the sequel baiting for Laurel. Got. Me. Good. That one promises to be very, very sexy.
Ok, stray thoughts. First, the book itself. Just gorgeous. Almost too pretty to read. Don't know where this bit of marketing genius originated, but Wow these books are just so beautiful. Straying further...have you noticed the new squared look of book cover images online? Look at the most recent Writerspace-news email touting November releases. Look at the image of Bed Of Roses I copied from Barnes And Noble. The book cover images are squaring up. And I don't like it. Which is strange because that kind of thing rarely blips on my radar. But somehow, to me, they look less like books and more like CDs or something. Don't care for it.
Second, I did notice Roberts' inner gardener in here. In her gardening trilogy a couple years back, I thought there was far too much of the science behind gardening. In her Bride quartet, thus far, there is quite a bit about the business of weddings, including the floral arrangements. Here though, it all feels balanced and necessary to the act of immersing myself in the lives of her characters. I mention it because I followed Bed Of Roses with Jasmine Haynes' Show And Tell. In that one, I didn't have nearly enough context and it bugged. Made me think back to an example of 'work detail' that served the characters well. An example Roberts easily sets with Vows.
Without looking, I'm sure we'll get the baker's story next. Then the conclusion, featuring the group's leader, Laurel. There's an interesting question in that sequence, raised by Jessica this week. I tend to agree with her on this.
Author: Nora Roberts
Type: Contemporary Romance
Series: Book 2 in the Bride quartet
Published: 2009
Blurb: As little girls MacKensie, Emma, Laurel, and Parker spent hours acting out their perfect make believe "I do" moments. Years later their fantasies become reality when they start their own wedding planning company to make every woman's dream day come true. With perfect flowers, delicious desserts, and joyful moments captured on film, Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet shares each woman's emotionally magical journey to romance.
In Bed of Roses, florist Emma Grant is finding career success with her friends at Vows wedding planning company, and her love life appears to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn't found Mr. Right. And the last place she's looking is right under her nose.
But that's just where Jack Cooke is. He's so close to the women of Vows that he's practically family, but the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. When Emma returns his passion-kiss for blistering kiss-they must trust in their history...and in their hearts.
Why: Duh.
Thoughts: I enjoyed this one as much if not more than the first, Vision In White. Because this is Nora Roberts, there is little left to say on characterization, prose, strength of storyline, etc. It's all good. As it always is. However, I can talk a bit about Emma and Jack, point out the one thing that didn't totally work for me and throw out a couple of thoughts sparked by this book.
I liked Emma's "normal." Great family, great friends, great job. No hang-ups here, just a true romantic who is crazy passionate about her job. And apparently she is stunningly beautiful. I loved how Roberts conveyed that...with the jokes about Emma's never-ending line of men (when she wants them) and with the male viewpoints about Emma's gorgeous Mom (with only hints at the beauty she passed to Emma). So not an outright point of discussion or internal thought, just a few well-placed jolts to let readers know she's all that and a bag of chips.
Jack is the one with the baggage. Divorced parents add up to committment issues for him. Other than that, he is a fun-loving guy, with great friends and great job. To me, he was as likable as Emma. He was not a "project" in my mind, didn't need saving or enlightening. He was just a guy living free and single for now. I figured he had plenty of time left to outgrow his aversion to committment; or that he would overcome it (without too much fanfare) when he fell for Ms. Right.
Jack and Emma share history. They are friends, fixtures in each others' lives. The conflict is a simple one--she's a romantic believer in marriage, he's not. Because Roberts masterfully balanced conflict with romance (the unfolding of it), I began and finished the story in total relax mode. Well...not entirely true. I'd had a hell of a bad day and, unable to sleep, I picked up Bed Of Roses and read it straight through. That it relaxed me, diverted my attention from personal troubles, says much for Roberts. Like I said, it was balanced. I tingled at the sexual tension, then fell in love and finally, accepted that it was time for Jack to get over it. It was all pretty smooth. And honestly, very enjoyable.
That last bit however, is the one thing that didn't totally work for me. I have never been overly romantic about marriage--not when I was young and single and not now, after 13 years of marriage. I believe in it, sure. I'm just a practical sort and can point to lots of practical reasons why folks should wait a bit on marriage. In Bed Of Roses, I wanted marriage for Emma and Jack. HEA, duh. However, I didn't totally accept Emma's anger and her friends' unwavering support of her position when Jack failed to cast off his fears and commit for the long haul. They dated for months, not years--not even A year. What in the hell was the rush exactly? I understood her feelings about wanting in his personal space. Those were fair. But wanting or viewing those things as some measure of long-term committment? Didn't completely buy it. And thought her a little immature or pollyanna for it. Although...not necessarily while in the story. Like I said, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was after putting it down that I gave thought to this little piece of unreasonableness.
One more comment before I digress to the 'sparked thoughts.' Roberts got me good with the sequel baiting for Laurel. Got. Me. Good. That one promises to be very, very sexy.
Ok, stray thoughts. First, the book itself. Just gorgeous. Almost too pretty to read. Don't know where this bit of marketing genius originated, but Wow these books are just so beautiful. Straying further...have you noticed the new squared look of book cover images online? Look at the most recent Writerspace-news email touting November releases. Look at the image of Bed Of Roses I copied from Barnes And Noble. The book cover images are squaring up. And I don't like it. Which is strange because that kind of thing rarely blips on my radar. But somehow, to me, they look less like books and more like CDs or something. Don't care for it.
Second, I did notice Roberts' inner gardener in here. In her gardening trilogy a couple years back, I thought there was far too much of the science behind gardening. In her Bride quartet, thus far, there is quite a bit about the business of weddings, including the floral arrangements. Here though, it all feels balanced and necessary to the act of immersing myself in the lives of her characters. I mention it because I followed Bed Of Roses with Jasmine Haynes' Show And Tell. In that one, I didn't have nearly enough context and it bugged. Made me think back to an example of 'work detail' that served the characters well. An example Roberts easily sets with Vows.
Without looking, I'm sure we'll get the baker's story next. Then the conclusion, featuring the group's leader, Laurel. There's an interesting question in that sequence, raised by Jessica this week. I tend to agree with her on this.
A Highlander Christmas (ARC anthology)
Apologies to Sophie Renwick, who generously sent me an ARC, and I was unable to get this posted prior to the release date. There are 3 stories in this anthology, all about MacDonald women (connected through a clan pin), and all touched by magic in some way.In Dawn Halliday’s story, Winter Heat, Maggie MacDonald is a widow stolen from her bed by Innes Munroe, who wants to force her to marry him. She escapes and is rescued by Logan Douglas. I liked both Maggie and Logan. They are both strong characters. Halliday does a good job of bringing these two together, as Maggie nurses Logan back to health, and he awakens in her a deep and abiding love, one they were both scared to face. I’ll definitely be looking for more from Halliday (sans the love triangles), who also writes as Jennifer Haymore.
In Yuletide Enchantment, from Sophie Renwick, Isobel MacDonald falls in love with Daegan, Prince of the Sidhe that live in the woods near her family’s estate. He is a shapeshifter, and she unknowingly protects him in his white stag form. When he exposes himself to her as a Sidhe, she can’t reconcile it, and tries to deny their love. She’s also promised to an Earl, who completely believes in the Sidhe. This story fell the most outside my comfort zone, as it’s a shapeshifter, and, well… it’s a shapeshifter. And a Sidhe. A double whammy for me. But Renwick does a fine job keeping much of the focus on the main characters, although the external conflict took up a bit too much time, IMO. The story definitely benefitted from Isobel and Daegan watching and knowing each other (if only in their hearts) since she was a small child, but still would have been better served had it been a bit longer. I definitely preferred the contemporary that I read from Renwick, but like her voice and writing style a lot. I’m looking forward to the next book in her Ryder brothers series (the followup to Hot in Here), and the first full-length book in the Annwyn series (the world introduced in this anthology) is due out in March. I'll step outside my comfort zone again to read that. (you should all be impressed with me!)
A Christmas Spirit, from Cindy Miles, was my favorite of the three. Not a surprise, given that I’ve loved all of Miles’ books. How she manages to come up with a different premise for each of her stories, I will never figure out. This is the story of Paige MacDonald and Gabriel Munro (relative of Ethan Munro, hero of Highland Knight). I’m constantly amazed at how she writes some of the most sensuous, heartfelt love scenes, when her H & H can’t even touch. Just yummy. Cindy’s latest full-length book is Thirteen Chances.
For me, the anthology was worth it simply for the Miles story, and had I not received a generous ARC from Sophie Renwick, I likely would have gone against all my "I don’t buy anthology" principles and purchased it simply because of that entry. If you like anthologies, Christmas stories, Highlanders, and bits of magic, this is the anthology for you.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Damn you, Samhain. Again!
Why must they do this to me every freakin week? Honestly. Does Samhain think I'm made of money? Enough with the fantastic-sounding books that make me want them NOW!
For His Eyes Only by Avery Beck
Genre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-686-0
Length: Category
Price: 4.50 Get it NOW for 4.05!
Cover art by Tuesday Dube
Beauty vs. power--a dangerous game with the heart as the prize...
Jacey Cass radiates confidence and sensuality just once a year, when she meets her rich and powerful lover for a night of anonymous sex. The rest of her calendar is filled with the daily struggle to survive. Her cashier job at Insomnia, Miami's hottest lingerie shop, doesn't go far toward college tuition, but she's determined to rise above her mother's freeloading legacy.
Alex Vaughn is one promotion away from realizing his life's ambition. For years he's been forced to stand by and watch his father systematically destroy the values that made Insomnia great. Now, with an expected vacancy in the summer catalog, he takes a chance. He's never formally met the fascinating woman he takes to bed every year, but he knows a marketable body when he sees one. The last thing he expects is for her to turn the opportunity down flat.
Jacey won't consider a handout--even from the man whose white-hot caress is the one bright spot of her life. Then a modeling competition's prize money lures her from behind the register and into the blinding spotlight, unaware of what the cost could be to her heart...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All Jacked Up by Lorelei James
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-684-6
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Scott Carpenter
Pulling off the ultimate con...if they can keep from pulling off their clothes.
Rough Riders, Book 8
Keely McKay knows Jack--and Jack Donohue is a certified pain in her Wranglers. The lone girl in the prolific McKay family, Keely needs another man giving her orders like she needs a hole in her boot. What she does need is a restoration specialist so she can open her physical therapy clinic--and prove she's left her wild-child days behind. That means dealing with buttoned-down, uptight Jack.
Jack is this close to securing a career make-or-break project, until he learns his lack of marital status puts him out of contention. When the notoriously hot-tempered and hot-bodied Keely begs him for help, he proposes a crazy idea. He'll oversee her project--if she acts the part of his loving fiancée.
Their sizzling lust makes it all too easy to go from butting heads to knocking boots--but outside the bedroom they're as mismatched as ever. The McKays remind Jack of the humble upbringing he left behind, and cowgirl Keely feels she doesn't measure up to Jack's big-city lifestyle.
When the dust settles, Jack and Keely must face the fact they're not fooling anyone but themselves--or they'll risk losing the real deal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunset Knight by Sami Lee
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-689-1
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Natalie Winters
Good things come to those who dare.
Lana Green is looking for a lover. At twenty-three, she's more than ready to shed her shyness and shake up the status quo. Lucky her, the aloof bad boy she's always wanted to shake it with, Brody Nash, is back in town. Too bad he barely knows she's alive. Then an unexpected kiss makes her think her days of lusting from a distance are over. Despite the fact she's no femme fatale and has zero clue how to seduce a man, she sets out to do exactly that.
Brody hardly recognizes the alluring woman as the same gawky computer geek he left in Graceville six months ago. Lana has him spellbound, but his temporary stay in town is strictly business--running his friend's restaurant while the man's on his honeymoon. Brody doesn't do relationships, and he doesn't do permanent. But when he finds her asleep on his boat, he can't keep his hands, or any other part of his anatomy, to himself.
Things get complicated when he discovers what he thought was a casual sexual encounter has just cured her of the one thing she wanted to get rid of--her virginity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Burn for Me by Dee Tenorio
Genre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-685-3
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Scott Carpenter
Once burned is all it takes...
A Rancho Del Cielo Romance.
Twelve years ago, Raul Montenga left home to live life on his own terms. Yet for just as long, his nights have sizzled with erotic dreams of Penelope, the girl he left behind. Enough is enough. It's time to find out if the sparks are real, or all in his head.
Not that he expected a warm welcome, but her cold shoulder and icy rejection sting more than he cares to admit. So he's more than a little surprised to find her tomboy daughter standing nervously on his porch...claiming to be his child.
Dr. Penelope Gibson's worst nightmare isn't that her daughter wants to know her daddy. It's facing--and keeping at arm's length--her biggest youthful mistake. Now he's back and the feelings she'd thought frozen solid are melting fast. Along with her inhibitions, her clothes and her better judgment.
Problem is, Raul's not content to stop at getting acquainted with her daughter. He wants it all--Penelope's love, her body and her soul. After twelve years building a life without him, though, she's not sure she trusts him--or herself--enough to try.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No Matter What by Erin Nicholas
Genre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-687-7
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Natalie Winters
The best doesn't come cheap...and this time it could cost him his heart.
Adam Steele is good. Good at using his money to get his way. Money always works--until he realizes he can't buy his daughter's way out of her new wheelchair. Three private physical therapists later, he's almost given up on Emily walking again. Then he meets Dr. Jaden Monroe. And his match.
Jaden doesn't know the meaning of the word "quit". But she knows a lot about "fired" after a public blowout with her ex jeopardizes the donation her hospital was counting on. Now the most tempting man she's ever met has made her just the offer she needs to save the new children's rehab wing--one million dollars to rehabilitate his daughter. In return she finds herself making Adam rash promises: that his daughter will walk in time to take the lead in the school play. And that he won't entice her into his bed. No matter what.
But Jaden didn't anticipate a teen whose injuries are more than physical. Or a man so passionate and devoted--and as tenacious as she is. As Adam wears down her defenses with kiss after kiss, the only thing harder than keeping her promise will be keeping a hold on her heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Protecting Phoebe by Shelli Stevens
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-688-4
Length: Novella
Price: 3.50 Get it NOW for 3.15!
Cover art by Natalie Winters
With her life on the line, can she protect her heart?
A Chances Are story.
Phoebe's work at Second Chances, a women's shelter, has gone a long way toward her own healing after surviving an abusive relationship in college. She's moved on in every sense--except when it comes to dating.
Everything changes when Craig visits the shelter. The hot, young cop sets her pulse racing in a way that makes her consider making a move--and moving him into her bed for a casual fling. The first step: ask him out. Subtly, of course.
Craig has been attracted to Phoebe for months, so he's more than happy for the chance to get to know her better, in bed and out. His interest goes way beyond casual, but convincing her to think long term is going to take some time.
When it becomes clear her violent ex has come out of the woodwork, though, time is the one thing they don't have...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More information on all these books is available at Samhain, and they're available for purchase at MBaM. And cut it out now, Samhain. I'm not kidding around.
For His Eyes Only by Avery BeckGenre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-686-0
Length: Category
Price: 4.50 Get it NOW for 4.05!
Cover art by Tuesday Dube
Beauty vs. power--a dangerous game with the heart as the prize...
Jacey Cass radiates confidence and sensuality just once a year, when she meets her rich and powerful lover for a night of anonymous sex. The rest of her calendar is filled with the daily struggle to survive. Her cashier job at Insomnia, Miami's hottest lingerie shop, doesn't go far toward college tuition, but she's determined to rise above her mother's freeloading legacy.
Alex Vaughn is one promotion away from realizing his life's ambition. For years he's been forced to stand by and watch his father systematically destroy the values that made Insomnia great. Now, with an expected vacancy in the summer catalog, he takes a chance. He's never formally met the fascinating woman he takes to bed every year, but he knows a marketable body when he sees one. The last thing he expects is for her to turn the opportunity down flat.
Jacey won't consider a handout--even from the man whose white-hot caress is the one bright spot of her life. Then a modeling competition's prize money lures her from behind the register and into the blinding spotlight, unaware of what the cost could be to her heart...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All Jacked Up by Lorelei JamesGenre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-684-6
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Scott Carpenter
Pulling off the ultimate con...if they can keep from pulling off their clothes.
Rough Riders, Book 8
Keely McKay knows Jack--and Jack Donohue is a certified pain in her Wranglers. The lone girl in the prolific McKay family, Keely needs another man giving her orders like she needs a hole in her boot. What she does need is a restoration specialist so she can open her physical therapy clinic--and prove she's left her wild-child days behind. That means dealing with buttoned-down, uptight Jack.
Jack is this close to securing a career make-or-break project, until he learns his lack of marital status puts him out of contention. When the notoriously hot-tempered and hot-bodied Keely begs him for help, he proposes a crazy idea. He'll oversee her project--if she acts the part of his loving fiancée.
Their sizzling lust makes it all too easy to go from butting heads to knocking boots--but outside the bedroom they're as mismatched as ever. The McKays remind Jack of the humble upbringing he left behind, and cowgirl Keely feels she doesn't measure up to Jack's big-city lifestyle.
When the dust settles, Jack and Keely must face the fact they're not fooling anyone but themselves--or they'll risk losing the real deal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunset Knight by Sami LeeGenre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-689-1
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Natalie Winters
Good things come to those who dare.
Lana Green is looking for a lover. At twenty-three, she's more than ready to shed her shyness and shake up the status quo. Lucky her, the aloof bad boy she's always wanted to shake it with, Brody Nash, is back in town. Too bad he barely knows she's alive. Then an unexpected kiss makes her think her days of lusting from a distance are over. Despite the fact she's no femme fatale and has zero clue how to seduce a man, she sets out to do exactly that.
Brody hardly recognizes the alluring woman as the same gawky computer geek he left in Graceville six months ago. Lana has him spellbound, but his temporary stay in town is strictly business--running his friend's restaurant while the man's on his honeymoon. Brody doesn't do relationships, and he doesn't do permanent. But when he finds her asleep on his boat, he can't keep his hands, or any other part of his anatomy, to himself.
Things get complicated when he discovers what he thought was a casual sexual encounter has just cured her of the one thing she wanted to get rid of--her virginity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Burn for Me by Dee TenorioGenre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-685-3
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Scott Carpenter
Once burned is all it takes...
A Rancho Del Cielo Romance.
Twelve years ago, Raul Montenga left home to live life on his own terms. Yet for just as long, his nights have sizzled with erotic dreams of Penelope, the girl he left behind. Enough is enough. It's time to find out if the sparks are real, or all in his head.
Not that he expected a warm welcome, but her cold shoulder and icy rejection sting more than he cares to admit. So he's more than a little surprised to find her tomboy daughter standing nervously on his porch...claiming to be his child.
Dr. Penelope Gibson's worst nightmare isn't that her daughter wants to know her daddy. It's facing--and keeping at arm's length--her biggest youthful mistake. Now he's back and the feelings she'd thought frozen solid are melting fast. Along with her inhibitions, her clothes and her better judgment.
Problem is, Raul's not content to stop at getting acquainted with her daughter. He wants it all--Penelope's love, her body and her soul. After twelve years building a life without him, though, she's not sure she trusts him--or herself--enough to try.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No Matter What by Erin NicholasGenre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-687-7
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50 Get it NOW for 4.95!
Cover art by Natalie Winters
The best doesn't come cheap...and this time it could cost him his heart.
Adam Steele is good. Good at using his money to get his way. Money always works--until he realizes he can't buy his daughter's way out of her new wheelchair. Three private physical therapists later, he's almost given up on Emily walking again. Then he meets Dr. Jaden Monroe. And his match.
Jaden doesn't know the meaning of the word "quit". But she knows a lot about "fired" after a public blowout with her ex jeopardizes the donation her hospital was counting on. Now the most tempting man she's ever met has made her just the offer she needs to save the new children's rehab wing--one million dollars to rehabilitate his daughter. In return she finds herself making Adam rash promises: that his daughter will walk in time to take the lead in the school play. And that he won't entice her into his bed. No matter what.
But Jaden didn't anticipate a teen whose injuries are more than physical. Or a man so passionate and devoted--and as tenacious as she is. As Adam wears down her defenses with kiss after kiss, the only thing harder than keeping her promise will be keeping a hold on her heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Protecting Phoebe by Shelli Stevens Genre: Contemporary Romance, Red Hots!
ISBN: 978-1-60504-688-4
Length: Novella
Price: 3.50 Get it NOW for 3.15!
Cover art by Natalie Winters
With her life on the line, can she protect her heart?
A Chances Are story.
Phoebe's work at Second Chances, a women's shelter, has gone a long way toward her own healing after surviving an abusive relationship in college. She's moved on in every sense--except when it comes to dating.
Everything changes when Craig visits the shelter. The hot, young cop sets her pulse racing in a way that makes her consider making a move--and moving him into her bed for a casual fling. The first step: ask him out. Subtly, of course.
Craig has been attracted to Phoebe for months, so he's more than happy for the chance to get to know her better, in bed and out. His interest goes way beyond casual, but convincing her to think long term is going to take some time.
When it becomes clear her violent ex has come out of the woodwork, though, time is the one thing they don't have...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More information on all these books is available at Samhain, and they're available for purchase at MBaM. And cut it out now, Samhain. I'm not kidding around.
Something Sinful by Susan Enoch
Title: Something Sinful
Author: Suzanne Enoch
Type: Historical Romance
Series: Book 3 in The Griffin Family quartet
Published: 2006
Blurb: It was lust at first sight . . .
She was a vision, an exotic goddess who floated across the ballroom, conjuring images of warm nights and silk sheets, and Lord Charlemagne Griffin felt lightning shoot straight to his . . . well, he was definitely interested. So the lady isn't exactly the sharpest knife on the rack, as Shay soon discovers, but the generous bosom just above her low neckline more than makes up for it. Before he knows it, Shay is bragging about an impending business deal to impress her . . .
Lady Sarala Carlisle may appear naïve, but too late Shay realizes her unconventional beauty masks a razor-sharp intelligence and flawless instincts—and she'd just bested him! Well, two can play at this game, and one of Shay's many skills is the fine art of seduction.
But in this contest, the only thing to lose is one's heart.
Note: Blurb was misleading. I don't recall a single moment where Sarala acted dumb.
Why: Hmmm, not sure, LOL. It was in my TBR stack (by way of my library's paperback swap shelf). Wasn't on my TBR list--the one I live by--and I distinctly remember trying and not 'getting' Enoch a few years back. So who knows why I picked it. Just glad I did.
Thoughts: Two dozen pages into Something Sinful, I could have sworn I'd read it before. Seriously, a total sense of deja vu. But I was more compelled to keep reading than I was to go researching my reading log and blog. (FWIW, I checked later and nope, hadn't read this one.)
I want to say this was a light, entertaining read, but the after-glow suggests it was richer than that. I'm pretty sure this is because I read SS right after finishing Secret Desires Of A Gentleman by Guhrke. Compared to that one, Something Sinful felt deeper, more emotionally engaging.
Shay is a great 'light' hero--a savvy businessman behind a playful flirt, self-aware enough to see the foolishness in his own hellbent pursuit of the heroine. No deep dark hidden secrets, no crippling emotional baggage. Enjoys his social position and remains unpressured to marry or change the lay of his life at present. Like his siblings, he is saddled with a brooding, deep, dark, secretive brother. But he does not allow himself to be burdened by it. Concerned and watchful over him, yes. But not totally held back by it.
Sarala is an equally great 'light' heroine--the perfect blend of upbringing, age and circumstance. Raised in India, she comes to the here-and-now of this story with more life experience than the typical English debutante. Her name is exotic, her skin is tanned and her viewpoint reflects the freedom (or less restricted lifestyle) she experienced growing up in a foregin country. However, Sarala is also a debutante-age girl of some station now living among the London ton. And while she rebels some, she is not immune to the charms that ton life has to offer a girl. She enjoys the dancing, the theatre, etc.
Of the two, it is definitely Sarala that needs 'saving' in this enjoyable but predictable historical romance. In her past, the freedom she enjoyed in India also allowed for some bad to happen to her at a too-young age. In her present, she suffers the humiliation typical of her Momma's match-making mania. Despite both, Enoch gives Sarala a believable maturity and a will of her own.
So instead of a powerful hero and oh-so-vulnerable heroine, we get two smart (and smartass) and willful individuals who genuinely enjoy each other. Enoch crafted some fabulous scenes with these two--banter, sexual tension and loads of humor. That was fun. Watching them work out the rest of the details (some a bit far fetched) provided the rest of the fun. Here, Enoch gave us memorable supporting characters (Sarala's maid in particular) and interesting (but not overwhelming) insight into the brooding older brother (presumably the next in line for a book).
What else? Oh, I liked Enoch's voice as well. Not a standout, but solid. Same with characterization. Bottomline, I was easily captivated, content during the time spent with these characters. And yes, I'm sufficiently tweaked to read the older brother's story next.
Author: Suzanne Enoch
Type: Historical Romance
Series: Book 3 in The Griffin Family quartet
Published: 2006
Blurb: It was lust at first sight . . .
She was a vision, an exotic goddess who floated across the ballroom, conjuring images of warm nights and silk sheets, and Lord Charlemagne Griffin felt lightning shoot straight to his . . . well, he was definitely interested. So the lady isn't exactly the sharpest knife on the rack, as Shay soon discovers, but the generous bosom just above her low neckline more than makes up for it. Before he knows it, Shay is bragging about an impending business deal to impress her . . .
Lady Sarala Carlisle may appear naïve, but too late Shay realizes her unconventional beauty masks a razor-sharp intelligence and flawless instincts—and she'd just bested him! Well, two can play at this game, and one of Shay's many skills is the fine art of seduction.
But in this contest, the only thing to lose is one's heart.
Note: Blurb was misleading. I don't recall a single moment where Sarala acted dumb.
Why: Hmmm, not sure, LOL. It was in my TBR stack (by way of my library's paperback swap shelf). Wasn't on my TBR list--the one I live by--and I distinctly remember trying and not 'getting' Enoch a few years back. So who knows why I picked it. Just glad I did.
Thoughts: Two dozen pages into Something Sinful, I could have sworn I'd read it before. Seriously, a total sense of deja vu. But I was more compelled to keep reading than I was to go researching my reading log and blog. (FWIW, I checked later and nope, hadn't read this one.)
I want to say this was a light, entertaining read, but the after-glow suggests it was richer than that. I'm pretty sure this is because I read SS right after finishing Secret Desires Of A Gentleman by Guhrke. Compared to that one, Something Sinful felt deeper, more emotionally engaging.
Shay is a great 'light' hero--a savvy businessman behind a playful flirt, self-aware enough to see the foolishness in his own hellbent pursuit of the heroine. No deep dark hidden secrets, no crippling emotional baggage. Enjoys his social position and remains unpressured to marry or change the lay of his life at present. Like his siblings, he is saddled with a brooding, deep, dark, secretive brother. But he does not allow himself to be burdened by it. Concerned and watchful over him, yes. But not totally held back by it.
Sarala is an equally great 'light' heroine--the perfect blend of upbringing, age and circumstance. Raised in India, she comes to the here-and-now of this story with more life experience than the typical English debutante. Her name is exotic, her skin is tanned and her viewpoint reflects the freedom (or less restricted lifestyle) she experienced growing up in a foregin country. However, Sarala is also a debutante-age girl of some station now living among the London ton. And while she rebels some, she is not immune to the charms that ton life has to offer a girl. She enjoys the dancing, the theatre, etc.
Of the two, it is definitely Sarala that needs 'saving' in this enjoyable but predictable historical romance. In her past, the freedom she enjoyed in India also allowed for some bad to happen to her at a too-young age. In her present, she suffers the humiliation typical of her Momma's match-making mania. Despite both, Enoch gives Sarala a believable maturity and a will of her own.
So instead of a powerful hero and oh-so-vulnerable heroine, we get two smart (and smartass) and willful individuals who genuinely enjoy each other. Enoch crafted some fabulous scenes with these two--banter, sexual tension and loads of humor. That was fun. Watching them work out the rest of the details (some a bit far fetched) provided the rest of the fun. Here, Enoch gave us memorable supporting characters (Sarala's maid in particular) and interesting (but not overwhelming) insight into the brooding older brother (presumably the next in line for a book).
What else? Oh, I liked Enoch's voice as well. Not a standout, but solid. Same with characterization. Bottomline, I was easily captivated, content during the time spent with these characters. And yes, I'm sufficiently tweaked to read the older brother's story next.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Secret Desires Of A Gentleman by Laura Lee Guhrke
Title: Secret Desires Of A Gentleman
Author: Laura Lee Guhrke
Type: Historical Romance
Published: 2008
Author: Laura Lee Guhrke
Type: Historical Romance
Published: 2008
Blurb:
Once Upon a Time…
Maria Martingale was going to elope. But Phillip Hawthorne, Marquess of Kayne, put a stop to those plans when he learned his younger brother intended to marry a cook’s daughter. Now twelve years later, Maria discovers that the man who holds her fate in his hands is none other than the haughty gentleman who sent her packing – and he’s as handsome and arrogant as ever.
Happily Ever After?
Always the proper gentleman, Phillip will do anything to protect his family from scandal, and when Maria dares to move in right next door, he knows scandal will surely follow. She is as tempting as he remembered… and the more he sees her, the harder it is for Phillip to hide his own secret desire for her…
Why: This is one of five in a series that Guhrke herself does not appear to call a series. So maybe just related books:
She's No Princess
And Then He Kissed Her
The Wicked Ways Of A Duke
Secret Desires Of A Gentleman
With Seduction In Mind
Of the five, I'd only read And Then He Kissed Her. I enjoyed that one quite a bit and, in the mood, was happy to pull Secret Desires Of A Gentleman from my TBR stack.
Thoughts: Light and entertaining. But not necessarily convincing.
Phillip resides at the top of society and Maria is a merchant--owner of a bakery shop.
Maria is the more compelling of the two, if you can accept her attitude and behavior. While I liked her wit, I couldn't always reconcile her behavior in this book's setting. Don't get me wrong, I love a historical heroine that bucks societal constrictions. I just wondered--more than once--whether a woman of her station would really feel so free to act as she does. I also wondered how her station--beneath that of the hero--didn't bother her more than it did. Yes, it was the source of the conflict. But she didn't seem to take it as deeply to heart as I would have liked. It seemed a vulnerability Guhrke could have explored but didn't. A chance for her to engage reader emotion that she ignored.
Phillip is the least compelling of all SDOAG's characters. Another missed opportunity for Guhrke, IMO. Where Guhrke took Maria's mouthy disregard to one extreme, she took Phillip's stoic, rigid adherence to the rules to the other extreme. And then failed to balance that social prison with sufficient glimpse of the emotion within. IOW, his own emotional grappling with the issue of station didn't run any deeper than Maria's. Again, it was a vulnerability Guhrke failed to explore.
I say that Guhrke failed to explore these vulnerabilities because although she didn't adequately explore or develop them, she did provide the occasional hint or sign. Like when Maria is forced to leave Phillip's home via the servants' entrance--not all that safe and in a downpour no less. Or when reader's learn that it is Phillip who took and has coveted Maria's favorite hair ribbon for 12 years. Both of these 'opportunities' tugged, found me holding my breath, bracing for the emotional fallout. It just never came. Every time I shifted to the edge of my seat, Phillip quietly retreated into society and Maria had a temper tantrum.
Bringing them together in bed changed that dynamic little. Another disappointment. And, in the end, when Phillip chooses a public venue to announce his love for a woman beneath his station, it wasn't enough. I wasn't convinced of his choice of her over societal rules. Nor was I convinced that she was ready to put her love for him first and her need to live outside societal constraints second.
Overall, light and entertaining. One, because Guhrke doesn't trouble readers with very much emotion or angst in the telling. And two, because there are lots and lots and lots of desserts.
Of note: If memory serves, I thought the H/H from And Then He Kissed Her better developed than these two. So while SDOAG didn't stir as much emotion as I would have liked, I'm still keen on reading the other titles in this set of Guhrke books.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Stranger by Megan Hart
Title: Stranger
Author: Megan Hart
Type: Erotic Romance
Published: 2009
Why: Hart is an auto-read for me.
Thoughts: This was the first Hart book that did not wholly satisfy. Engaging and provocative, I enjoyed the reading of it as much as the other Hart titles I've read. Her voice, pacing, characters, all of it worked for me. In this one, I simply did not like the outcome.
I liked Grace best--a good thing since she narrates every page. She exhibited that matter-of-fact outlook I appreciate in Hart's heroines. For me, it's not that she's practical or modern or that she is emotionally void. I see her as neither. Instead, I see her as mature. In that she accepts what she cannot control or change and doesn't meddle (like in her sister's choices or the budding romance between her employees). She listens, but does not take their problems onto herself. She also manages a perspective I admire in the face of her idiot father. He gets to her, yes, but she does not become overwhelmed by the emotion he evokes. Nor does she waste a lot of energy hoping he will change.
I like these things about Grace. One, because I can relate. And two, because I aspire to the idea of worrying less and living more. However, I also suspect that these things do not translate into emotional well-being for Grace. One, because I can relate. And two, because I acknowledge the oh-so-fine line between worrying less and straight-up avoidance (or...perhaps selfishness).
In some aspects of her life, her matter-of-factness works well for her. Specifically, dealing with her sister, her parents, her employees, her clients and the tasks that make up her job. IMO, she is a good (healthy) judge of how much or how little she allows the clutter inherent in each to occupy her headspace. .
In the more personal aspects of her life, her matter-of-factness appears to work well for her. She is decisive and unapologetic. Paying for sex--instead of investing emotionally in a relationship--seemed to work just fine for her. Of course we all know her reasons for doing so were unhealthy. But honestly? For me, I didn't see a lot of harm in it. I figured that one day, she'd fall hard for someone, her fears be damned. IOW, I didn't see Grace's 'affliction' as a long-term or permanent one.
This is likely why I didn't care for the book's outcome. Personally, I think Grace should have waited for a better man to fall hard for. At first, Sam titillated. He charmed. I wanted Grace to take her chance on him. I wondered at her ability to get it on with Jack while Sam was on her mind. I think I was right in the muddle Hart intended me to be.
Then we got to know Sam. Turns out he's a bit of an asshole. A loser even. Meanwhile, Jack is growing up before our eyes. Interesting. At least I thought it was, because Grace is still a woman with freedom of choice. Nothing weighing her down, nothing demanding she choose right now.
But somewhere in here, Grace fell for him. Enough so that she hesitates to stand up for herself, for fear of losing what she's just allowed herself to find. That's the part I missed or failed to buy. Or just flat-out couldn't respect. The character that Hart built for us felt smarter, more self-assured than that.
So right there, it went from interesting to unbelievable. If you've read any of Hart's books, you know that her characters--her heroine narrators specifically--rarely make choices you or I would. In every other instance but this one, I understood the choice(s). Here, I simply could not reconcile Grace's actions and mindset throughout most of the book with the love-struck doormat she occupies at its end.
Had Hart opted for Grace to experience the ache of that love, but ultimately walk away from it (because he is an asshole, let's face it), I would have been satisfied. But she didn't. And I closed the book thinking "not my favorite Hart book."
Author: Megan Hart
Type: Erotic Romance
Published: 2009
Why: Hart is an auto-read for me.
Thoughts: This was the first Hart book that did not wholly satisfy. Engaging and provocative, I enjoyed the reading of it as much as the other Hart titles I've read. Her voice, pacing, characters, all of it worked for me. In this one, I simply did not like the outcome.
I liked Grace best--a good thing since she narrates every page. She exhibited that matter-of-fact outlook I appreciate in Hart's heroines. For me, it's not that she's practical or modern or that she is emotionally void. I see her as neither. Instead, I see her as mature. In that she accepts what she cannot control or change and doesn't meddle (like in her sister's choices or the budding romance between her employees). She listens, but does not take their problems onto herself. She also manages a perspective I admire in the face of her idiot father. He gets to her, yes, but she does not become overwhelmed by the emotion he evokes. Nor does she waste a lot of energy hoping he will change.
I like these things about Grace. One, because I can relate. And two, because I aspire to the idea of worrying less and living more. However, I also suspect that these things do not translate into emotional well-being for Grace. One, because I can relate. And two, because I acknowledge the oh-so-fine line between worrying less and straight-up avoidance (or...perhaps selfishness).
In some aspects of her life, her matter-of-factness works well for her. Specifically, dealing with her sister, her parents, her employees, her clients and the tasks that make up her job. IMO, she is a good (healthy) judge of how much or how little she allows the clutter inherent in each to occupy her headspace. .
In the more personal aspects of her life, her matter-of-factness appears to work well for her. She is decisive and unapologetic. Paying for sex--instead of investing emotionally in a relationship--seemed to work just fine for her. Of course we all know her reasons for doing so were unhealthy. But honestly? For me, I didn't see a lot of harm in it. I figured that one day, she'd fall hard for someone, her fears be damned. IOW, I didn't see Grace's 'affliction' as a long-term or permanent one.
This is likely why I didn't care for the book's outcome. Personally, I think Grace should have waited for a better man to fall hard for. At first, Sam titillated. He charmed. I wanted Grace to take her chance on him. I wondered at her ability to get it on with Jack while Sam was on her mind. I think I was right in the muddle Hart intended me to be.
Then we got to know Sam. Turns out he's a bit of an asshole. A loser even. Meanwhile, Jack is growing up before our eyes. Interesting. At least I thought it was, because Grace is still a woman with freedom of choice. Nothing weighing her down, nothing demanding she choose right now.
But somewhere in here, Grace fell for him. Enough so that she hesitates to stand up for herself, for fear of losing what she's just allowed herself to find. That's the part I missed or failed to buy. Or just flat-out couldn't respect. The character that Hart built for us felt smarter, more self-assured than that.
So right there, it went from interesting to unbelievable. If you've read any of Hart's books, you know that her characters--her heroine narrators specifically--rarely make choices you or I would. In every other instance but this one, I understood the choice(s). Here, I simply could not reconcile Grace's actions and mindset throughout most of the book with the love-struck doormat she occupies at its end.
Had Hart opted for Grace to experience the ache of that love, but ultimately walk away from it (because he is an asshole, let's face it), I would have been satisfied. But she didn't. And I closed the book thinking "not my favorite Hart book."
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley
Title: The Madness Of Lord Ian Mackenzie
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Type: Historical Romance
Series: Highland Pleasures, Book One
Published: 2009
Blurb: The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.
The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.
Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.
And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.
Why: Jennifer Ashley hit my radar as Ashley Gardner couple years back. After her Captain Lacey mysteries (written as Gardner), I'm happily sampling her 'other' genres and names (of which there are a few). I also recall a strong blogger buzz for this particular title (thinking it was positive overall).
Thoughts: A bit disappointing. I enjoy Ashley's words--she is a fine writer. She also bucks the expected, which I appreciated as well. But not all of her characters leave the page. Given that Captain Lacey still walks and talks for me, I was disappointed. In the end, there were just too many characters vying for my attention and, worse yet, the heroine failed to embody or command the role--it was as if she just showed up having memorized her poorly assembled lines and cues.
On the premise. Without the benefit of having read Ashley before, I would have passed on this premise. I'm more of the big, strong hero in charge ilk. The blurb and blogger buzz suggested that this was a hero in need of saving, protecting. So I went in prepared not to love him.
On this, Ashley won me over instantly. When Ian appeared at the opera, I was as taken as Beth. Virile doesn't begin to describe him. Ashley gives him a physical presence and sex drive that obliterate any hint of weakness in him. Like Beth, I didn't care how his mind did or did not work at this point. From here, Ashley went further, drawing him to life with a singular intensity, one unencumbered by societal concerns or drama. He had the right idea.
It is here that I expected a heroine equally unencumbered. Given her background, I expected both resilience and a maturity that speaks to perspective. For Ian, I wanted a woman who could stand apart from society, not be taken in by its frivolities. Instead, Ashley presents Beth, right from the start, as embarrassingly naive. She is engaged to a man Ashley paints as transparently perverse and untrustworthy (so why didn't Beth know this?). When she learns otherwise, she breaks the engagement and packs off to Paris to take up drawing. There, she meets Isabella on the street and moves in with her. This just after she meets Mac (Ian's brother) and agrees to drawing lessons. Ok. When she encounters Ian again, she propositions him. Then happily goes about their game of seduction, breathless with the excitement of it. One night, she eagerly goes for some illegal gambling fun before holing up with Ian to consummate their attraction. After which she takes all of a minute to agree to marry him on the spot, thus thwarting the evil inspector's plan to arrest Ian. I didn't buy any of these moments, hence my sarcasm.
The fiance was far too deviant I think, to be believable as her fiance (not if we're expected to see Beth as intelligent). As for Beth and Isabella, they were unacquainted, had little in common and shared no history. Yet Ashley gave them all the makings of a lifelong friendship. As Ian's brother, I expected Mac to be more protective of him, more interested in what Beth might be to him. Instead, Mac seems to hold a far shorter attention span than even Ian. He is another who plays his role without actually filling it. Aside from baiting her next book, I'm not sure why Mac (and Isabella) were in here. Finally, Inspector Fellows is appropriately slimy and obsessed, but ultimately powerless. That Ashley would have us believe otherwise was silly.
Instead of fitting together, all of these pieces distracted from the story of Ian and Beth. None contributed to foundation. None served to explain. They all felt like props, cluttering up the set. Overall, I had the sense that Ashley couldn't make up her mind. In some instances, her characters--Beth in particular--behaved as society would dictate. In other instances, her characters (again, Beth) threw off societal rules. I guess I could say this held true for every character but Ian. The result was not a solid, planned set of choices that led readers to the book's end. There was just too much and it all fell together in a flimsy, jumbled telling of a great story.
I read on, but was never able to shake the annoyance. Largely because Ashley continued to offer Beth more opportunities to prove herself an immature busybody. In short, when she wasn't with Ian, she was acting the fool. Looking back, had Ashley honed in on Ian and Beth, this would have been my perfect dark and witty read. Their connection was both physical and emotional and required none of the extras, save the murder mystery.
So will I read the next in this series? Honestly don't know. On the one hand, Ashley writes to my taste--dialogue instead of rambling internal thought, humor, and more. On the other hand, at least in this series, she failed to wholly engage--her fault for throwing me out of the story so often. So I'm not sure.
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Type: Historical Romance
Series: Highland Pleasures, Book One
Published: 2009
Blurb: The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.
The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.
Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.
And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.
Why: Jennifer Ashley hit my radar as Ashley Gardner couple years back. After her Captain Lacey mysteries (written as Gardner), I'm happily sampling her 'other' genres and names (of which there are a few). I also recall a strong blogger buzz for this particular title (thinking it was positive overall).
Thoughts: A bit disappointing. I enjoy Ashley's words--she is a fine writer. She also bucks the expected, which I appreciated as well. But not all of her characters leave the page. Given that Captain Lacey still walks and talks for me, I was disappointed. In the end, there were just too many characters vying for my attention and, worse yet, the heroine failed to embody or command the role--it was as if she just showed up having memorized her poorly assembled lines and cues.
On the premise. Without the benefit of having read Ashley before, I would have passed on this premise. I'm more of the big, strong hero in charge ilk. The blurb and blogger buzz suggested that this was a hero in need of saving, protecting. So I went in prepared not to love him.
On this, Ashley won me over instantly. When Ian appeared at the opera, I was as taken as Beth. Virile doesn't begin to describe him. Ashley gives him a physical presence and sex drive that obliterate any hint of weakness in him. Like Beth, I didn't care how his mind did or did not work at this point. From here, Ashley went further, drawing him to life with a singular intensity, one unencumbered by societal concerns or drama. He had the right idea.
It is here that I expected a heroine equally unencumbered. Given her background, I expected both resilience and a maturity that speaks to perspective. For Ian, I wanted a woman who could stand apart from society, not be taken in by its frivolities. Instead, Ashley presents Beth, right from the start, as embarrassingly naive. She is engaged to a man Ashley paints as transparently perverse and untrustworthy (so why didn't Beth know this?). When she learns otherwise, she breaks the engagement and packs off to Paris to take up drawing. There, she meets Isabella on the street and moves in with her. This just after she meets Mac (Ian's brother) and agrees to drawing lessons. Ok. When she encounters Ian again, she propositions him. Then happily goes about their game of seduction, breathless with the excitement of it. One night, she eagerly goes for some illegal gambling fun before holing up with Ian to consummate their attraction. After which she takes all of a minute to agree to marry him on the spot, thus thwarting the evil inspector's plan to arrest Ian. I didn't buy any of these moments, hence my sarcasm.
The fiance was far too deviant I think, to be believable as her fiance (not if we're expected to see Beth as intelligent). As for Beth and Isabella, they were unacquainted, had little in common and shared no history. Yet Ashley gave them all the makings of a lifelong friendship. As Ian's brother, I expected Mac to be more protective of him, more interested in what Beth might be to him. Instead, Mac seems to hold a far shorter attention span than even Ian. He is another who plays his role without actually filling it. Aside from baiting her next book, I'm not sure why Mac (and Isabella) were in here. Finally, Inspector Fellows is appropriately slimy and obsessed, but ultimately powerless. That Ashley would have us believe otherwise was silly.
Instead of fitting together, all of these pieces distracted from the story of Ian and Beth. None contributed to foundation. None served to explain. They all felt like props, cluttering up the set. Overall, I had the sense that Ashley couldn't make up her mind. In some instances, her characters--Beth in particular--behaved as society would dictate. In other instances, her characters (again, Beth) threw off societal rules. I guess I could say this held true for every character but Ian. The result was not a solid, planned set of choices that led readers to the book's end. There was just too much and it all fell together in a flimsy, jumbled telling of a great story.
I read on, but was never able to shake the annoyance. Largely because Ashley continued to offer Beth more opportunities to prove herself an immature busybody. In short, when she wasn't with Ian, she was acting the fool. Looking back, had Ashley honed in on Ian and Beth, this would have been my perfect dark and witty read. Their connection was both physical and emotional and required none of the extras, save the murder mystery.
So will I read the next in this series? Honestly don't know. On the one hand, Ashley writes to my taste--dialogue instead of rambling internal thought, humor, and more. On the other hand, at least in this series, she failed to wholly engage--her fault for throwing me out of the story so often. So I'm not sure.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
No perfect words to describe it.
It's so hard to put into words. I'm there, waiting, watching him on the line. Physical and emotional knots of worry twisting me inside out.
Then the gate drops.
And I'm awestruck. Then all business. And ultimately, separate.
Completely separate from him.
In this one thing, he leaves his father and I behind, aside, apart.
Can't find the words... At 6 years old, this is the one instance in which he steps wholly away from me, severs the connection that feels constant otherwise.
I can't feel him, can't anticipate his responses, can't see his train of thought.
It's like he's his own man out there, no matter his size.
To my astonishment, it is not a loss. Not at all.
Instead, there is unspeakable joy in those moments, watching him fly.
Then the gate drops.
And I'm awestruck. Then all business. And ultimately, separate.
Completely separate from him.
In this one thing, he leaves his father and I behind, aside, apart.
Can't find the words... At 6 years old, this is the one instance in which he steps wholly away from me, severs the connection that feels constant otherwise.
I can't feel him, can't anticipate his responses, can't see his train of thought.
It's like he's his own man out there, no matter his size.
To my astonishment, it is not a loss. Not at all.
Instead, there is unspeakable joy in those moments, watching him fly.
Friday, October 09, 2009
The Price Of Desire by Jo Goodman
Title: The Price Of Desire
Author: Jo Goodman
Type: Historical Romance
Published: 2008
Blurb: Absolutely not going to muddy this review with the official blurb. It was very misleading.
Why: Blogger rec put it on my TBR list and a book sharing friend put it in my hands.
Thoughts: Holy Moly. This may be my best read this year. Fucking. Flawless.
Not sure where to start this review. There are my overall impressions, sensations. And there are my ooh-this and ohhh-that observations.
Goodman gets right to it--the H/H 'it'--with minimal set up. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
He owns a gaming hell and she is offered up by her brother as a marker. He sends men round to collect her and she arrives without fuss or fainting. Think you know how this played out? If you haven't read it, then, no, you don't. Goodman writes her own story, trust me.
Griffin has power, Olivia does not. But, as Lori said to me, it is what it is. His power makes him neither ruthless nor possessive--typical hero-like dispositions I expected. And, powerless, she neither cowers nor rebels--behavior I expected might define her personality. At this point, neither of these characters gives anything away--not in dialogue or internal thought.
On that, Goodman does not allow either character to think too much. To put it more plainly, there is not so much as a paragraph of internalizing in this book*. (Thank you Ms. Goodman. Thank you, thank you, thank you.)
There are snippets of thought or, more precisely, impression, that precipitate their spoken words, but never more than a sentence. Goodman places Griffin, Olivia and reader in the same room and forbids any one of us to pursue our own thoughts. Griffin and Olivia communicate, or not, but never lose focus or presence of the moment. Afraid of missing anything, the reader simply sits glued, hanging on every word exchanged. Here--and this is an overall impression--Goodman writes with a deliberateness that is both calming and disconcerting.
Calming in that there is little else to divert reader attention. You get used to that quiet and soon grow to trust that Goodman will not rush you or her characters through a scene. Disconcerting however, because Goodman is not the least bit compelled to share inside information with the reader. Rather, she lets the reader in on each detail--as it is woven--exactly when the character gets it. And by character I do mean either Griffin or Olivia, or both. While there are secondary characters, they are few and they rarely interupt.
Back to the hero and his defiance of romance reader expectations. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
He is powerful, yes. But again, in that it-is-what-it-is manner. His position, gender and experience dictate that power. But in possession of it, Griffin remains matter-of-fact and without presumption. Honestly, it is damned difficult to determine what motivates, what moves this man. Money, revenge, justice, the heroine? Something, anything to hint at his purpose. Strangely, you stop looking for it after awhile. Goodman's deliberateness at work I suspect. Though all the while she is weaving and unraveling, weaving and unraveling, showing the same slight of hand Olivia does in revealing him to be just a man. Intelligent and arrestingly mature. Balanced. But just a man.
He says at one point that he and Olivia are "of a kind." True I suppose, in that both wear the mantle assigned them, neither of them railing against their circumstance nor judging the other for it. For Olivia however, the mantle is devastating; each event folding her in on herself more than the last. The quintessential vulnerable heroine.
Not. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
I thought Olivia would shatter before it was over with. She didn't. I thought Griffin would be her strength. He wasn't, at least not in any stereotypical romantic sense. Turns out that she was her strength, or rather she had it in her. Which didn't surprise her or Griffin. Throughout, he showed remarkable respect for her privacy--not pushing, not presuming. And he did so without arrogance. In other words, while it consciously occurs to him that he should not push her, though he could, Goodman leaves readers with the sense that he makes the choice out of something other than a self-important notion that he does so for her sake. Hard to explain. Put another way, Griffin consistently demonstrates both respect and awareness of boundaries. So much so that, at times, I wondered if he was going to just leave her hanging there.
That she has no expectations only heightens the sensation. She stands up only for her need to cover her own expenses, nothing more. She defies him once, but it is not out of anything more than that single principle. She doesn't share, demand or hope. But she isn't withdrawn or uncommunicative either. She simply lives her life, such as it is, there in his gaming hell. They converse. They work. They get along.
There is a scene, wherein he wishes to pull her to him but waits instead for her to "step into the shelter of his arms." When she does--in that moment and metaphorically--she appreciates the shelter but does not hide in it. That is it exactly. The whole crux of the book. It is not about him fixing her. It is more about him giving her a place to do that for herself. From the beginning, they go about everything, under the same roof (her shelter, if you will), growing to know one another but laying no claims.
Until it becomes a permanent arrangement. A stutteringly beautiful yet painful moment, there before the window, after she has learned that she has finally and forever been forsaken by her family. A clear line between before and after, you can almost see Griffin relax (not in this terrible moment, but in the days that followed it). Once they "have done with it," a completely inside joke I'll leave to them, Griffin reveals a bit of determination to the reader. Assured of his own desire to spend the rest of his life with her (coupled with the fact that she has no where else to go, ever), Griffin seems to open. To Olivia and to readers. There is less weariness and more warmth in him.
Here, Goodman softens the lighting, but holds on to the dry wit and frank conversation. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
Finally (you must be exhausted by now), I have to laud Goodman's attention to detail. This is not a mystery, yet she presents each detail as a clue and assembles them in such a way as to lead Griffin and Olivia to their HEA. Every single detail contributes to the whole. Tightly written, tightly woven, however you wish me to say it. Goodman proves a master storyteller.
By its end, Olivia's trauma is revealed, the villians outed and the obligatory obstacle to marriage removed. It all sounds so predictable. Strong, silent type finds himself in possession of near-to-shattering victim heroine. Determined to make her own stubborn way, he must exercise unending patience and an uncanny understanding of her mind to win her trust, then her heart.
Had Goodman put us in their heads instead of in their presence, it would have been predictable. Had she written nearer to the surface, it would have been acceptable.** Well written mind you (which means I would have liked it anyway), but still predictable.
She didn't however and the result was extraordinary. The best I've read this year.
Thank you Ms. Goodman.
* I didn't actually go back and check mind you, but that I come away with this statement is testament in itself.
Author: Jo Goodman
Type: Historical Romance
Published: 2008
Blurb: Absolutely not going to muddy this review with the official blurb. It was very misleading.
Why: Blogger rec put it on my TBR list and a book sharing friend put it in my hands.
Thoughts: Holy Moly. This may be my best read this year. Fucking. Flawless.
Not sure where to start this review. There are my overall impressions, sensations. And there are my ooh-this and ohhh-that observations.
Goodman gets right to it--the H/H 'it'--with minimal set up. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
He owns a gaming hell and she is offered up by her brother as a marker. He sends men round to collect her and she arrives without fuss or fainting. Think you know how this played out? If you haven't read it, then, no, you don't. Goodman writes her own story, trust me.
Griffin has power, Olivia does not. But, as Lori said to me, it is what it is. His power makes him neither ruthless nor possessive--typical hero-like dispositions I expected. And, powerless, she neither cowers nor rebels--behavior I expected might define her personality. At this point, neither of these characters gives anything away--not in dialogue or internal thought.
On that, Goodman does not allow either character to think too much. To put it more plainly, there is not so much as a paragraph of internalizing in this book*. (Thank you Ms. Goodman. Thank you, thank you, thank you.)
There are snippets of thought or, more precisely, impression, that precipitate their spoken words, but never more than a sentence. Goodman places Griffin, Olivia and reader in the same room and forbids any one of us to pursue our own thoughts. Griffin and Olivia communicate, or not, but never lose focus or presence of the moment. Afraid of missing anything, the reader simply sits glued, hanging on every word exchanged. Here--and this is an overall impression--Goodman writes with a deliberateness that is both calming and disconcerting.
Calming in that there is little else to divert reader attention. You get used to that quiet and soon grow to trust that Goodman will not rush you or her characters through a scene. Disconcerting however, because Goodman is not the least bit compelled to share inside information with the reader. Rather, she lets the reader in on each detail--as it is woven--exactly when the character gets it. And by character I do mean either Griffin or Olivia, or both. While there are secondary characters, they are few and they rarely interupt.
Back to the hero and his defiance of romance reader expectations. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
He is powerful, yes. But again, in that it-is-what-it-is manner. His position, gender and experience dictate that power. But in possession of it, Griffin remains matter-of-fact and without presumption. Honestly, it is damned difficult to determine what motivates, what moves this man. Money, revenge, justice, the heroine? Something, anything to hint at his purpose. Strangely, you stop looking for it after awhile. Goodman's deliberateness at work I suspect. Though all the while she is weaving and unraveling, weaving and unraveling, showing the same slight of hand Olivia does in revealing him to be just a man. Intelligent and arrestingly mature. Balanced. But just a man.
He says at one point that he and Olivia are "of a kind." True I suppose, in that both wear the mantle assigned them, neither of them railing against their circumstance nor judging the other for it. For Olivia however, the mantle is devastating; each event folding her in on herself more than the last. The quintessential vulnerable heroine.
Not. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
I thought Olivia would shatter before it was over with. She didn't. I thought Griffin would be her strength. He wasn't, at least not in any stereotypical romantic sense. Turns out that she was her strength, or rather she had it in her. Which didn't surprise her or Griffin. Throughout, he showed remarkable respect for her privacy--not pushing, not presuming. And he did so without arrogance. In other words, while it consciously occurs to him that he should not push her, though he could, Goodman leaves readers with the sense that he makes the choice out of something other than a self-important notion that he does so for her sake. Hard to explain. Put another way, Griffin consistently demonstrates both respect and awareness of boundaries. So much so that, at times, I wondered if he was going to just leave her hanging there.
That she has no expectations only heightens the sensation. She stands up only for her need to cover her own expenses, nothing more. She defies him once, but it is not out of anything more than that single principle. She doesn't share, demand or hope. But she isn't withdrawn or uncommunicative either. She simply lives her life, such as it is, there in his gaming hell. They converse. They work. They get along.
There is a scene, wherein he wishes to pull her to him but waits instead for her to "step into the shelter of his arms." When she does--in that moment and metaphorically--she appreciates the shelter but does not hide in it. That is it exactly. The whole crux of the book. It is not about him fixing her. It is more about him giving her a place to do that for herself. From the beginning, they go about everything, under the same roof (her shelter, if you will), growing to know one another but laying no claims.
Until it becomes a permanent arrangement. A stutteringly beautiful yet painful moment, there before the window, after she has learned that she has finally and forever been forsaken by her family. A clear line between before and after, you can almost see Griffin relax (not in this terrible moment, but in the days that followed it). Once they "have done with it," a completely inside joke I'll leave to them, Griffin reveals a bit of determination to the reader. Assured of his own desire to spend the rest of his life with her (coupled with the fact that she has no where else to go, ever), Griffin seems to open. To Olivia and to readers. There is less weariness and more warmth in him.
Here, Goodman softens the lighting, but holds on to the dry wit and frank conversation. (Thank you Ms. Goodman.)
Finally (you must be exhausted by now), I have to laud Goodman's attention to detail. This is not a mystery, yet she presents each detail as a clue and assembles them in such a way as to lead Griffin and Olivia to their HEA. Every single detail contributes to the whole. Tightly written, tightly woven, however you wish me to say it. Goodman proves a master storyteller.
By its end, Olivia's trauma is revealed, the villians outed and the obligatory obstacle to marriage removed. It all sounds so predictable. Strong, silent type finds himself in possession of near-to-shattering victim heroine. Determined to make her own stubborn way, he must exercise unending patience and an uncanny understanding of her mind to win her trust, then her heart.
Had Goodman put us in their heads instead of in their presence, it would have been predictable. Had she written nearer to the surface, it would have been acceptable.** Well written mind you (which means I would have liked it anyway), but still predictable.
She didn't however and the result was extraordinary. The best I've read this year.
Thank you Ms. Goodman.
* I didn't actually go back and check mind you, but that I come away with this statement is testament in itself.
** Oh geez, I didn't even address the depth of Goodman's characters.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Three Been-There-Done-That DNFs
Wendy has a Romancing The Blog post up that made me re-think this one in the midst of writing it. I had started it thinking my problem stems from an aversion to re-reading--a book or even a plot or story arc. But that's not true really. The problem with these particular DNFs--thinking along Wendy's lines--is that they no longer suit my evolving reading tastes.
Ride The Fire by Pamela Clare
Couple of things happened here. First, I was reminded of how violent historical westerns can be, particularly when there is scalping (and far, far worse stuff) to fear. The early scenes in this book were extremely violent (in the degree of torture) and are still giving me trouble. Second,
when I reached the part where H/H meet, get acquainted and begin to desire one another I felt like I'd been here before. Back in my old Harlequin days. Like as a teen. It left me feeling...tepid and bored. I knew (or presumed to know) exactly how this story was going to unfold and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was going be a total pollyanna telling. When he bartered a reading lesson for a kiss each day I groaned and put the book down. More than 100 pages into it.
Not without some little bit of hesitation though. Lot of blogger buzz about this set of Clare westerns. And Lori liked them. And it's Pamela Clare afterall--writer of contemps that I love. I asked Lori the next day if I was making a mistake. What do you think? Pollyanna? Or is there grit in there (not violence, but grit)?
His Captive by Diana Cosby
This was a blogger rec that made its way to my TBR stack. In the mood for another Highlander romance (after Howell's Highland Warrior), I picked it up. In this instance, I went in knowing that I've read this story before--just the prior week in fact. I wanted to experience it again (think Scottish historicals are the only instance of this for me; thank Garwood). Unfortunately, Cosby's version fell flat. The hero did not seem at all sure of himself (on any level) and hence did not fit the warrior body and role Cosby assigned him. The heroine was equally inexperienced and Cosby's formulaic vulnerability (she's afraid of confinement and thunderstorms) felt paperthin.
IOW, where Cosby may have succeeded in re-creating beloved Scottish characters, she failed to breathe her own life into them. Not sure why I hung in there so long--at least halfway through--but I ultimately put it down when Cosby hinted at a touch of paranormal (magic rocks or something). I'm not big on the paranormal in my Scottish. (Probably because Garwood didn't do it.)
The Seduction Of His Wife by Janet Chapman
This premise had great potential, but it too suffered a pollyanna tone and could well have been penned in the 80's. It lacked today's realism. The hero is lost and presumed dead in a Brazilian jungle and is unable to reach his family via phone as he makes his way home. The heroine has led a ridiculously isolated existence, previously trapped in a sexless marriage (complete with evil MIL) and apparently unable to exercise her own will to get out (it's available to her; she is not imprisoned) and regain control of her bed-and-breakfast business. Now safely removed
from that situation, she is remarkably passive about getting her business or its monetary worth to her back. Throughout, neither avails themselves of technology to stay connected. Silly really.
Their characterization was also silly. He shouts a lot--a habit I didn't find charming or endearing. And she sets her timer so she won't miss Oprah--which yeah, made me question her maturity. She also lives for cooking shows, quilting and, for a brief period, romance novels. And she can't drive. Seriously, Chapman does not paint her as the brightest bulb. What Chapman does, unsuccessfully, is try to portray her as cute and sassy. Didn't buy it. I couldn't. Not when the telling reminded me of my teenage daydreams wherein I constructed the perfect--read unrealistic--romance stories. But again, I hung in there well into it. Don't ask me why. I can't explain myself.
The really, really good news is that I've picked up Jo Goodman's The Price Of Desire. Wow. I am, at present, a happy and awed reader again.
Ride The Fire by Pamela Clare
Couple of things happened here. First, I was reminded of how violent historical westerns can be, particularly when there is scalping (and far, far worse stuff) to fear. The early scenes in this book were extremely violent (in the degree of torture) and are still giving me trouble. Second,
when I reached the part where H/H meet, get acquainted and begin to desire one another I felt like I'd been here before. Back in my old Harlequin days. Like as a teen. It left me feeling...tepid and bored. I knew (or presumed to know) exactly how this story was going to unfold and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was going be a total pollyanna telling. When he bartered a reading lesson for a kiss each day I groaned and put the book down. More than 100 pages into it.Not without some little bit of hesitation though. Lot of blogger buzz about this set of Clare westerns. And Lori liked them. And it's Pamela Clare afterall--writer of contemps that I love. I asked Lori the next day if I was making a mistake. What do you think? Pollyanna? Or is there grit in there (not violence, but grit)?
His Captive by Diana Cosby
This was a blogger rec that made its way to my TBR stack. In the mood for another Highlander romance (after Howell's Highland Warrior), I picked it up. In this instance, I went in knowing that I've read this story before--just the prior week in fact. I wanted to experience it again (think Scottish historicals are the only instance of this for me; thank Garwood). Unfortunately, Cosby's version fell flat. The hero did not seem at all sure of himself (on any level) and hence did not fit the warrior body and role Cosby assigned him. The heroine was equally inexperienced and Cosby's formulaic vulnerability (she's afraid of confinement and thunderstorms) felt paperthin.
IOW, where Cosby may have succeeded in re-creating beloved Scottish characters, she failed to breathe her own life into them. Not sure why I hung in there so long--at least halfway through--but I ultimately put it down when Cosby hinted at a touch of paranormal (magic rocks or something). I'm not big on the paranormal in my Scottish. (Probably because Garwood didn't do it.)The Seduction Of His Wife by Janet Chapman
This premise had great potential, but it too suffered a pollyanna tone and could well have been penned in the 80's. It lacked today's realism. The hero is lost and presumed dead in a Brazilian jungle and is unable to reach his family via phone as he makes his way home. The heroine has led a ridiculously isolated existence, previously trapped in a sexless marriage (complete with evil MIL) and apparently unable to exercise her own will to get out (it's available to her; she is not imprisoned) and regain control of her bed-and-breakfast business. Now safely removed
from that situation, she is remarkably passive about getting her business or its monetary worth to her back. Throughout, neither avails themselves of technology to stay connected. Silly really.Their characterization was also silly. He shouts a lot--a habit I didn't find charming or endearing. And she sets her timer so she won't miss Oprah--which yeah, made me question her maturity. She also lives for cooking shows, quilting and, for a brief period, romance novels. And she can't drive. Seriously, Chapman does not paint her as the brightest bulb. What Chapman does, unsuccessfully, is try to portray her as cute and sassy. Didn't buy it. I couldn't. Not when the telling reminded me of my teenage daydreams wherein I constructed the perfect--read unrealistic--romance stories. But again, I hung in there well into it. Don't ask me why. I can't explain myself.
The really, really good news is that I've picked up Jo Goodman's The Price Of Desire. Wow. I am, at present, a happy and awed reader again.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
One final plea for ACS donations
This is the last week before my ACS Relay for Life Walk this weekend. I'm only 80% of the way to my goal of $1000. I need $200 more!!
If you are so inclined, and haven't already done so, I'd really appreciate a donation to the cause. October is, after all, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For those who already donated - big huge sloppy hugs and kisses - thank you!!Donate here. And thanks :)
Reflections... and my top 10
In another 2 weeks, our little blog will be 4 years old. Jen wrote about her top 10 reviews a couple weeks ago. It got me thinking about my favorite reviews. And in looking back at some of my reviews, I realized once again just how much I love to read. Isn't it wonderful how much joy reading can bring into our world?
An even greater joy for me was discovering other like-minded readers online. Readers like Nikki, who is practically my doppleganger when it comes to books. We are almost always reading the same books at the same time. And from a series? We're almost guaranteed to have the same favorite. It's almost freaky-scary. But we laugh about it every time we see each other. Which isn't often enough, given that we only live 20 minutes apart. But life intervenes.
And readers like the rest of the So Cal Bloggers - Wendy, Rosie, Tracy, Holly, Renee, Rowena, Alice, Blanche, Daphne (and Lisabea - our honorary So Cal Blogger) - I feel so fortunate to have met them. You never know who you're gonna meet when you go off to meet your internet friends. There are some nasty freakies out there. But we all lucked out. Big-time. Not a nasty freaky in the bunch :) Just a lot of women who love to talk and read books.
But I especially feel fortunate to have gotten a recommendation on Amazon one day that read: If you liked Lori Foster's book, you may also like Sarah McCarty's books. Why? Because I read Promises Prevail (awesome book, BTW) which led me to her online Yahoo group, where I met JenniferB and Anne. Without a doubt, two of my best friends. And even though I've never met Jen in person (dammit - this year fo sho), we talk on IM almost every day, and I feel like I've known her forever. The day she invited me to join her little start-up blog for book reviews was one of the luckiest days of my life. It started a great friendship. And a blog that's been a blast, too! And we had a blast doing the Let's Gab blog as well.
So... mushy mushy stuff out of the way, here are my favorite reviews, in no particular order.
An even greater joy for me was discovering other like-minded readers online. Readers like Nikki, who is practically my doppleganger when it comes to books. We are almost always reading the same books at the same time. And from a series? We're almost guaranteed to have the same favorite. It's almost freaky-scary. But we laugh about it every time we see each other. Which isn't often enough, given that we only live 20 minutes apart. But life intervenes.
And readers like the rest of the So Cal Bloggers - Wendy, Rosie, Tracy, Holly, Renee, Rowena, Alice, Blanche, Daphne (and Lisabea - our honorary So Cal Blogger) - I feel so fortunate to have met them. You never know who you're gonna meet when you go off to meet your internet friends. There are some nasty freakies out there. But we all lucked out. Big-time. Not a nasty freaky in the bunch :) Just a lot of women who love to talk and read books.
But I especially feel fortunate to have gotten a recommendation on Amazon one day that read: If you liked Lori Foster's book, you may also like Sarah McCarty's books. Why? Because I read Promises Prevail (awesome book, BTW) which led me to her online Yahoo group, where I met JenniferB and Anne. Without a doubt, two of my best friends. And even though I've never met Jen in person (dammit - this year fo sho), we talk on IM almost every day, and I feel like I've known her forever. The day she invited me to join her little start-up blog for book reviews was one of the luckiest days of my life. It started a great friendship. And a blog that's been a blast, too! And we had a blast doing the Let's Gab blog as well.
So... mushy mushy stuff out of the way, here are my favorite reviews, in no particular order.
- Trust in Me by Kathryn Shay
- Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter
- England's Perfect Hero by Suzanne Enoch
- Giving Chase by Lauren Dane
- Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase
- Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (which I loved so much, it took up two posts)
- Into the Fire by Anne Stuart
- Chasing Stanley by Deirdre Martin (which I hated so much, I ranted)
- Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig
- He Said... The Gentleman's Club Series by Patricia Waddell
Monday, October 05, 2009
Highland Warrior by Hannah Howell
Title: Highland Warrior
Author: Hannah Howell
Type: Scottish Historical Romance
Published: 2006
Author: Hannah Howell
Type: Scottish Historical Romance
Published: 2006
Blurb: Fleeing an obsessed suitor, Fiona MacEnroy rides recklessly into Scotland's wildest hills and is captured by a horde of well-armed men. Instead of battling for her life, she finds herself swept away by a powerful stranger and carried off to a remote, forbidding keep. Oddly, here at Scarglas, a place shrouded in mystery and the black reputation of the rogue clan MacFingal, Fiona feels a strange, comforting sense of safety...and a consuming passion for its rugged laird.
Spellbound by Fiona's beauty yet determined to fight the longing she ignites, Ewan MacFingal plots to ransom Fiona back to her kin. Sworn to protect his eccentric clan against the dangers invading Scarglas, he refuses to be weakened by the power of a woman whose every glance and touch tell him that she is everything his heart desires. Now, as pride and passion war within, dark peril and forbidding secrets will force them to trust what has yet to be spoken - the unshakable power of a timeless love.
Why: In the mood I guess. Plucked it from my TBR stack--a paperback I either picked up at my UBS or the library's sharing shelf.
Thoughts: As with most Highlander romances I've read (since Garwood), I found nothing new here. I did enjoy the romp however. Howell is a solid go-to for this sub-genre, heavy on the brogue and dead-on with the humor. Her Scots are the perfect, prescribed mix of brooding, lusting and laughing--a medieval version of the adolescent alphas I adore in Brockmann's SEAL teams and Ward's brotherhood of vamps.
Ewan is laird to a bizarre clan of misfits, comprised largely of his father's bastard sons (dozens of them) and an odd assortment of nuts cast out by other clans or villages. Still in residence, his father is responsible for the clan's goofball name, family rift and more enemies than is natural--even for this region and time period. With virtually no allies, the constant threat of attack and an overgrown 2-year-old for a father, Ewan is tailor-made for the role of darkly serious, brooding laird. He's got a lot on his mind.
And like most darkly serious, brooding lairds, he is loathe to repeat his father's mistakes. Afraid a similar madness lies within himself. So he has sex once per year, on his birthday. Instead of every chance he can get, like his father. So darkly serious, brooding AND a man with very little experience in the bedroom. Oh, and he is physically scarred as well--the result of torture at the hands of an enemy clan and a beautiful but wicked woman who seduced him into their trap. All of which is to say that Ewan also fits the mold of reluctant hero. He's got a lot of baggage.
His heroine, Fiona, is more emotionally mature than him in many ways. Or maybe she just appears moreso next to his raised-with-crazies, nine-and-twenty year-old self. She is certainly more self-assured than he is, despite her own physical scars, the deviant stalker responsible for those scars and the fact that Ewan has essentially abducted her. Raised by the men in her family, Fiona easily holds her own among Ewan's clansmen. Influenced by the heroine in her brother's story, she is also compassionate (witnessed in her treatment of the clan's nuts) and perceptive (the first to challenge the foolish exterior of Ewan's father). She also decides fairly early on that she wants him.
All in all, not what I was going for when I picked up this book. I was looking for a powerful and possessive alpha assured of winning his fiesty but vulnerable heroine. Instead, I found a less-than-sure-of-himself laird too emotionally stubborn to accept his beautiful and totally self-sufficient bride. A bit of role reversal that won me over anyway.
Don't get me wrong. There are some pivotal alpha moments, albeit laced with humor. There was sigh-worthy possessiveness when Ewan rescues her from the deviant stalker, followed by gut-busting laughter when his father warns her against getting anymore scars. Then there was Ewan's promise to beat her for the risks she took to free him from the beautiful but wicked woman returned to exact her revenge. All good stuff, but underscored by that unexpected role reversal. Still, Howell easily charmed me, despite my preconceived notions.
Especially given the humor Howell inserts as the backdrop. It's there in every scene I swear. And Ewan's father--both source and butt of nearly every joke--almost steals the show. There is that one scene in particular where he is yet again remarking on her physical scars. That scene sealed the deal for me; ensured that I would read the book through to the end. He filled the role of hilarious but sly old Scot perfectly.
By the last page--shortly after Ewan's estranged family shows up and Fiona's brother finally arrives--it became clear to me that Howell has penned many, many Highland books. I know I've read at least one other--hence this one's appearance in my TBR stack--and feel confident in choosing again from her backlist. But...it's an enormous backlist, so I'm not committing myself to all of it. At this point, Howell's backlist may contain as many titles as I'm reading in one year.
Should I ever be laid up for weeks however...I'd consider it. :-)
Why: In the mood I guess. Plucked it from my TBR stack--a paperback I either picked up at my UBS or the library's sharing shelf.
Thoughts: As with most Highlander romances I've read (since Garwood), I found nothing new here. I did enjoy the romp however. Howell is a solid go-to for this sub-genre, heavy on the brogue and dead-on with the humor. Her Scots are the perfect, prescribed mix of brooding, lusting and laughing--a medieval version of the adolescent alphas I adore in Brockmann's SEAL teams and Ward's brotherhood of vamps.
Ewan is laird to a bizarre clan of misfits, comprised largely of his father's bastard sons (dozens of them) and an odd assortment of nuts cast out by other clans or villages. Still in residence, his father is responsible for the clan's goofball name, family rift and more enemies than is natural--even for this region and time period. With virtually no allies, the constant threat of attack and an overgrown 2-year-old for a father, Ewan is tailor-made for the role of darkly serious, brooding laird. He's got a lot on his mind.
And like most darkly serious, brooding lairds, he is loathe to repeat his father's mistakes. Afraid a similar madness lies within himself. So he has sex once per year, on his birthday. Instead of every chance he can get, like his father. So darkly serious, brooding AND a man with very little experience in the bedroom. Oh, and he is physically scarred as well--the result of torture at the hands of an enemy clan and a beautiful but wicked woman who seduced him into their trap. All of which is to say that Ewan also fits the mold of reluctant hero. He's got a lot of baggage.
His heroine, Fiona, is more emotionally mature than him in many ways. Or maybe she just appears moreso next to his raised-with-crazies, nine-and-twenty year-old self. She is certainly more self-assured than he is, despite her own physical scars, the deviant stalker responsible for those scars and the fact that Ewan has essentially abducted her. Raised by the men in her family, Fiona easily holds her own among Ewan's clansmen. Influenced by the heroine in her brother's story, she is also compassionate (witnessed in her treatment of the clan's nuts) and perceptive (the first to challenge the foolish exterior of Ewan's father). She also decides fairly early on that she wants him.
All in all, not what I was going for when I picked up this book. I was looking for a powerful and possessive alpha assured of winning his fiesty but vulnerable heroine. Instead, I found a less-than-sure-of-himself laird too emotionally stubborn to accept his beautiful and totally self-sufficient bride. A bit of role reversal that won me over anyway.
Don't get me wrong. There are some pivotal alpha moments, albeit laced with humor. There was sigh-worthy possessiveness when Ewan rescues her from the deviant stalker, followed by gut-busting laughter when his father warns her against getting anymore scars. Then there was Ewan's promise to beat her for the risks she took to free him from the beautiful but wicked woman returned to exact her revenge. All good stuff, but underscored by that unexpected role reversal. Still, Howell easily charmed me, despite my preconceived notions.
Especially given the humor Howell inserts as the backdrop. It's there in every scene I swear. And Ewan's father--both source and butt of nearly every joke--almost steals the show. There is that one scene in particular where he is yet again remarking on her physical scars. That scene sealed the deal for me; ensured that I would read the book through to the end. He filled the role of hilarious but sly old Scot perfectly.
By the last page--shortly after Ewan's estranged family shows up and Fiona's brother finally arrives--it became clear to me that Howell has penned many, many Highland books. I know I've read at least one other--hence this one's appearance in my TBR stack--and feel confident in choosing again from her backlist. But...it's an enormous backlist, so I'm not committing myself to all of it. At this point, Howell's backlist may contain as many titles as I'm reading in one year.
Should I ever be laid up for weeks however...I'd consider it. :-)
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Virtually Hers by Gennita Low
Disclaimer: Heeding Wendy's piece on objectivity (cuz she's right), I'll stand up right here and say: "My name is Jennifer and I'm an unabashed fangirl of Gennita Low." This isn't to say that I've "friended" or "followed" her online. Rather it is to say that I LOVE her books. All of 'em.
Because she knows of my love, she asked me to review an ARC of Virtually Hers, releasing next week from Samhain Publishing. I replied, as my first grader often does, "Well yeahhhhh." My squeeeeing, Fucking Fabulous category review follows---timed, linked and labeled for promotion--but written for me. Seriously, I loved it. Flat-out loved it. This is some honest, objective squee ahead.
Title: Virtually Hers
Author: Gennita Low
Published: October 6, 2009
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Why: Low became an auto-buy author for me as soon as I turned the last page of Into Danger. And the first book in this trilogy, Virtually His, knocked me on my ass.
Thoughts: Fabulous read, I'll get that out of the way. In the Fucking Fabulous category, yes. But very, very interesting as well. Interesting in that Low was able to pull me out of my character-enamored haze and grab my plot-thickening attention. I'll explain.
First, I'm flat out in love with these characters. In Virtually His (the first in this trilogy), Low surprised me with the appearance of a character from her prior work. One of her more enigmatic characters, Low revealed Jed's identity only near the very end, after a book-long deepening of his character. Her reveal at the end of Virtually His pulled this three-book-long story together in a startling and powerful way. Like I said, it knocked me on my ass.
Not only because I was stunned to see Jed again, but because Low's heroine of Virtually His demanded this eerily quiet powerhouse hero. A Super Soldier Spy, the heroine is no where near weak, or even vulnerable. She is highly intelligent, highly trained, experienced and savvy. And I'll admit, I'm usually more of a sucker for a heroine who needs the protection and safety a strong hero presents. But here, Low tapped an altogether different attraction for me. A hero--silent, still, patient--with the power (or so he thinks) to control the heroine. In this setting, it was both emotional and sexy. Because...
In that first book, Low also introduced a third, integral character--the technology. A writer of military romantic suspense, Low offered this remote viewing / virtual reality technology as state-of-the-art intelligence gathering and deftly bound hero and heroine through its execution. For me, it was arguably one of the sexiest means of forced proximity I've seen in romance. We've seen plenty of H/H's thrown together on military missions or stranded together, dependent on one another for survival. Low took this further, demanding synergy and ultimately, intimacy, at mind and brain level--each and every time Jed (mentally) accompanied Hell on one of her remote viewing sessions. May sound far-fetched or sci-fi-ish, but trust me, Low keeps it all firmly grounded in human emotion and motivation.
You've heard the expression "keepin it real"? Well think "keepin it romance" for a moment. There is conflict. There are trust issues. Again, Low uses the technology to its absolute sexiest potential. In order for the technology to work, the handler, Jed, must be able to command the remote viewer; control her if you will. To give her handler total control, the remote viewer, Hell, must trust and obey her handler. Being a strong-minded heroine (not a submissive bone in her body), that's not so simple an equation. But for the hero, a ruthless operative, it's the simplest of equations. What ensues is a battle of wills that is both tender and scorching.
Author: Gennita Low
Published: October 6, 2009
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Why: Low became an auto-buy author for me as soon as I turned the last page of Into Danger. And the first book in this trilogy, Virtually His, knocked me on my ass.
Thoughts: Fabulous read, I'll get that out of the way. In the Fucking Fabulous category, yes. But very, very interesting as well. Interesting in that Low was able to pull me out of my character-enamored haze and grab my plot-thickening attention. I'll explain.
First, I'm flat out in love with these characters. In Virtually His (the first in this trilogy), Low surprised me with the appearance of a character from her prior work. One of her more enigmatic characters, Low revealed Jed's identity only near the very end, after a book-long deepening of his character. Her reveal at the end of Virtually His pulled this three-book-long story together in a startling and powerful way. Like I said, it knocked me on my ass.
Not only because I was stunned to see Jed again, but because Low's heroine of Virtually His demanded this eerily quiet powerhouse hero. A Super Soldier Spy, the heroine is no where near weak, or even vulnerable. She is highly intelligent, highly trained, experienced and savvy. And I'll admit, I'm usually more of a sucker for a heroine who needs the protection and safety a strong hero presents. But here, Low tapped an altogether different attraction for me. A hero--silent, still, patient--with the power (or so he thinks) to control the heroine. In this setting, it was both emotional and sexy. Because...
In that first book, Low also introduced a third, integral character--the technology. A writer of military romantic suspense, Low offered this remote viewing / virtual reality technology as state-of-the-art intelligence gathering and deftly bound hero and heroine through its execution. For me, it was arguably one of the sexiest means of forced proximity I've seen in romance. We've seen plenty of H/H's thrown together on military missions or stranded together, dependent on one another for survival. Low took this further, demanding synergy and ultimately, intimacy, at mind and brain level--each and every time Jed (mentally) accompanied Hell on one of her remote viewing sessions. May sound far-fetched or sci-fi-ish, but trust me, Low keeps it all firmly grounded in human emotion and motivation.
You've heard the expression "keepin it real"? Well think "keepin it romance" for a moment. There is conflict. There are trust issues. Again, Low uses the technology to its absolute sexiest potential. In order for the technology to work, the handler, Jed, must be able to command the remote viewer; control her if you will. To give her handler total control, the remote viewer, Hell, must trust and obey her handler. Being a strong-minded heroine (not a submissive bone in her body), that's not so simple an equation. But for the hero, a ruthless operative, it's the simplest of equations. What ensues is a battle of wills that is both tender and scorching.
He anchors her, commands her from base; but, in his mind, travels with her through the ether, reliant upon her and, ultimately, powerless to protect her there. Great, great conflict. And layers and layers here, all working to cement Hell as the newest kickass heroine; and to challenge one of Low's most powerful heroes. I was hooked in the first book, drawn completely into this struggle, only marginally aware of everything else going on around them.
By the end of Hell's training, her and Jed are inextricably bound, by a sexual imprint and trigger neither can completely control. It sizzles, heightens that conflict and, to my delight, Low devotes a lot of book two exploring that connection. There is some hot, hot stuff in here.
By the end of Hell's training, her and Jed are inextricably bound, by a sexual imprint and trigger neither can completely control. It sizzles, heightens that conflict and, to my delight, Low devotes a lot of book two exploring that connection. There is some hot, hot stuff in here.
In Virtually Hers, Low also peels more than a few of Jed's layers away, lets his guard down a bit and draws him and Hell closer yet. IOW, she doesn't belabor their personal conflict(s). Instead, she smooths the sharp edges and eases the tension by revealing Jed's long-buried romantic. It's a release--for hero, heroine and reader.
Then, just when you're comfortable, Low pivots the camera outward and successfully jolts readers to a new awareness of the external threat. Again, it's tied inextricably to the technology and to an international mission Low first spun in earlier books. In short, our hero's Super Soldier Spy joins the hunt for weapons missing worldwide--a hunt Low fans will recognize and cheer. Along the way Hell encounters more of Low's previous characters (in really, really unexpected ways, love that) and--this is where she sucked the breath from my lungs--Hell will battle both the unknown effects of remote viewing and an enemy remote viewer (through which Low threads more of the eroticism inherent in the mind-level technology). On that count, I can't even begin to guess where it will go next. Let me just say that this will not be a typical military/operative rescue.
So, long explanation behind me, I'll just say that I'm sitting here, emotionally vested, on the edge of my seat, with Jed's screams echoing in my ears. Waiting for the third and final book, Virtually One.
Also: Being honest, I can't really say if Virtually Hers will work for you as a standalone. I can only say that my enjoyment of it was inextricably tied to the build up for me in book one. You won't be lost in book two--Low provides all you need to know--but you may not be as near to orgasm as I was.
Then, just when you're comfortable, Low pivots the camera outward and successfully jolts readers to a new awareness of the external threat. Again, it's tied inextricably to the technology and to an international mission Low first spun in earlier books. In short, our hero's Super Soldier Spy joins the hunt for weapons missing worldwide--a hunt Low fans will recognize and cheer. Along the way Hell encounters more of Low's previous characters (in really, really unexpected ways, love that) and--this is where she sucked the breath from my lungs--Hell will battle both the unknown effects of remote viewing and an enemy remote viewer (through which Low threads more of the eroticism inherent in the mind-level technology). On that count, I can't even begin to guess where it will go next. Let me just say that this will not be a typical military/operative rescue.
So, long explanation behind me, I'll just say that I'm sitting here, emotionally vested, on the edge of my seat, with Jed's screams echoing in my ears. Waiting for the third and final book, Virtually One.
Also: Being honest, I can't really say if Virtually Hers will work for you as a standalone. I can only say that my enjoyment of it was inextricably tied to the build up for me in book one. You won't be lost in book two--Low provides all you need to know--but you may not be as near to orgasm as I was.
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