Musings on Romance
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of More Than Music by Elizabeth Briggs. It’s a New Adult book with a rock-star-in-the-making-hero, a classically trained musician heroine, against the backdrop of a reality TV show. I could not pass it up when I saw it on NetGalley.
I’m at AudioGals today with a review of Shadows on the Nile by Kate Furnivall, narrated by Alison Larkin. It’s one I read last year but it’s a long review so it took my editor there a while to work her way up to it. 😀 I talk about how I’m bad at mysteries, a little about colonialism and ableism and, how some things work better on audio and some things don’t.
Why I read it: I saw some buzz about this one in my Goodreads timeline so I bought it.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Matt Sullivan understands labels: law student, athlete, heterosexual. He has goals: graduate and begin his career in law. One fateful night, Matt tags along with his gay roommate to a dance club and everything changes. Matt finds himself attracted to the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. All labels go flying out the window.
Aaron Mendez doesn’t believe in labels, and he’s leery of straight curious men. He makes it clear that he’ll hide his fabulous light for no one. While Aaron can’t deny the attraction between him and Matt, he is reluctant to start anything with someone who is still dealing with what this new label means—especially when that someone has a girlfriend.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I enjoy a good Out-For-You story. I liked that here, Matt acknowledges that he’s always been attracted to men and women but it was just easier to go with the flow and date women. Until he met Aaron, the risk/reward ratio was such that he was happy to date only women and stay in the bi-closet. That’s kind of my catnip actually – someone you care about enough to take risks for. I had mixed feelings about the book however. I can’t say that I liked the writing style. It felt choppy and pedestrian to me most of the time but I was engaged enough by the story that I found myself keeping on reading anyway.
Why I read it: I’ve read and enjoyed the earlier books and was happily surprised to see a brand new story in the series. I was provided with a review copy by the publisher via NetGalley.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) With our family’s legacy, Meyers B&B, in the flailing hands of me, Sam Meyers, and my sister Wynne, we’re determined to revive the place. We’ve started a series of blind-date cooking classes, and taken on our first boarder. Granddad is even now rolling in his grave.
Signed up for the class is our new guest, Aaron Saunders, a Californian transplant who’s distractingly handsome and clearly up to no good. I can’t quite figure him out. He blew into town and has been relentless in his search for…something.
The sexy sneak is intriguing. And we’ve had a steamy moment. Or two. But now I can’t stop wondering why he’s searching in secret. From the library, to the historical society, to my own backyard, Aaron leaves no stone unturned or record book unopened. He’s definitely gotten my attention. But that might not be the only thing he’s after.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): Anyone who’s ever read a book by LB Gregg before will know she has a quirky sense of humour – so it ought not be a surprise that the “meet cute” here is when Sam, his butt hanging out of his ripped jeans (argument with a fence), has his arm stuck in the after hours book return slot at the local library, meets Aaron, who appears to be a thief and has a bag of handy lock-picks tries to get him out. Until the police arrive that is.
Why I read it: My Goodreads feed was buzzing so I bought it.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) The diagnosis of a chronic stomach condition leaves thirty-two-year-old Sergeant Jed Cooper with little choice but to call time on his Army career. Then on the dusty streets of Kirkuk, an ambush gone tragically wrong decimates his team, and he returns to the US with a shattered leg and the memory of his best friend dying in his arms.
Life in his sleepy hometown proves intolerable until he finds solace in a lakeside cabin with vivacious young carpenter, Max O’Dair. In the shadow of the epilepsy that periodically plagues Max, he and Jed form an unspoken bond. After a late night episode, Jed realizes how much Max means to him, and life has taught him not to waste time.
But the lines between contentment and complacency are blurred. Things left hidden resurface to tear through their world, and before they can repair the damage, death comes to call again. Faces, past and present, rally around them to weather the storm, but before long, they are left with only love.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I liked this book quite a bit but I have to say it doesn’t have the usual romance structure. Or, at least, the structure I expect anyways.
Jed Cooper returns to Ashton, Oregon after being medically discharged from the Army. He suffered some severe burns to his left shoulder and a serious wound and break to his left leg (multiple surgeries and pins in his femur) in a mortar and air attack while on convoy in northern Iraq (circa 2006). Those injuries were so severe he was shipped stateside and he was in hospital for months. They are the obvious injuries. But he also has a condition called gastroparesis. It is a paralysis of the vagus nerve which controls the stomach and means that the stomach doesn’t move food on into the small intestine in the timely manner it should. It causes abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, anemia (iron is much harder to absorb through food) and is a lifelong incurable condition. Eating is difficult and it can obviously be a very debilitating condition. Jed, being the person he is, doesn’t tell anyone about the gastroparesis. He’s a man used to being relied upon, not one to rely upon others.
I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Wait for You by J. Lynn, narrated by Sophie Eastlake. I reviewed it in print here and it was fun to revisit the story with a favourite narrator.
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