of Nora Roberts’ The Perfect Hope, book 3 of the Inn Boonsboro trilogy. Go here to see what I thought.
Tag: Nora Roberts (Page 4 of 4)
on Paper/eBook
Gayday! Gayday! by Kim Dare – C Cute short about a bratty submissive who gets into trouble and calls his dominant friend (who he thinks is straight) to bail him out of a sticky situation. Turns out his friend isn’t quite as straight as first though…
Rough Canvas by Joey W. Hill – B This erotic BDSM m/m romance came highly recommended by various Goodreads friends and I picked it up in a recent ARe sale. Gallery owner Marcus and Artist Thomas were lovers but Marcus keeps secrets and Thomas has significant family responsibilities and neither had trusted the other enough for forever. There was a lot of sex which sometimes overtook the story, but it also had some moment so beauty and lyrical melancholy. Some of the phrases were lovely but others you kind of had to look at sideways with a squint to understand them because they didn’t make a lot of sense when you read them straight out. I enjoyed the book and believed the HEA and liked that the story ended up being more about Marcus’ pain than Thomas’ responsibilities. (But, what happened to Daralyn?). In any event, I liked it.
Needing a Little Christmas by Sylvia Violet – B- This cute Christmas short features a sexy lumberjack type hero and really, what’s not to love about that. Some of the early writing in the book seemed a little clumsy and info-dumping, but the story made me smile and I think Eli and Mac will be able to work out their locational issues and live happily ever after.
My review of Nora Roberts’ The Last Boyfriend is up at the ARRA blog. They don’t grade over there. But I gave it a C+. Come over and say hi! 🙂
on Paper/eBook
Let’s Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) – B+. If you’ve ever visited www.thebloggess.com you’ll know what to expect here. It’s funny, with some poignant and moving bits too, but mostly it’s just really funny. You will probably need tissues – from laughing so hard – and people will look at you strangely if you read in public. Also, very cool cover.
Lord of the Fading Lands (Tairen Soul #1) by CL Wilson – A-. See my full review here.
Lady of Light and Shadows (Tairen Soul #2) by CL Wilson – A. I don’t want to say too much about the plots in the last books because I dont’ want to spoil it for new readers. But, if you read the first book and like/love it, you will love the rest I think.
The epic love story upon which the fate of the world hangs continues in this second book of the quintet. Ellysetta has started to forge soul bonds with Rain and as their wedding draws closer, the Eld Mages step up their efforts to capture her.
The epic love story upon which the fate of the world hangs continues in this second book of the quintet. Ellysetta has started to forge soul bonds with Rain and as their wedding draws closer, the Eld Mages step up their efforts to capture her.
Even better than the first book, I was forced into very late night reading because I just could not put this book down. The last 100 or so pages are so packed full of drama and action that I just had to keep going until Rain and Ellysetta were safe.
King of Sword and Sky (Tairen Soul #3) by CL Wilson – A- Safely married, Ellysetta and Rain journey to the Fading Lands where they will try and heal the Tairens and help the Fey prepare for another war with the Eld.
The cost of saving the Tairens is very high and the High Mage’s hold on Ellysetta’s soul increases. Another excellent instalment of the series. The action in the last 100 pages or so of each book is edge of the seat stuff – my tip when reading, make sure you time the last section of the book so you can read it in one sitting.
Queen of Song and Souls(Tairen Soul #4) by CL Wilson – A- War has come and there are problems at home in the Fading Lands too. The High Mages continues his efforts to capture Ellysetta and to influence/corrupt, one way or another, the Celierian King and Queen. Lillis, Lorelle and Sol are missing in the Faering Mists. Lots of action, lots of romance and drama. Great stuff.
Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul #5) by CL Wilson – B+/A- I think I had built myself up so much for the end of this series that I’m not sure I could be satisifed by the ending. Maybe I was just exhausted from all the tension in getting Ellysetta and Rain to the “final battle”. There were both happy and sad surprises in the series and this book and I did shed a few tears but never fear, there is a HEA for Rain and Ellysetta. An excellent series. I highly recommend it.
Fall Into Me (Hearts of the South #7) by Linda Winfree – C/C+ I confess I haven’t read any other books in this series, but was assured by those who recommended it to me that it was a stand alone romance. I’d heard it was the favourite of the series by a few of my Twitter friends and as it features an older woman/younger man, I thought I’d give it a try. I think it didn’t work quite as well for me as it did for those friends, but overall, I did enjoy it. I stopped reading halfway through for a little while when I could see some big messes coming up. I kind of needed to gird myself to read the rest as it looked like the relationship between Troy Lee and Angel was headed for trainwreck territory. As much as I believed it would end up well (it is a romance after all), I needed to reinvigorate myself for the rest of the book as I kind of felt tired in advance of what I could see would be the impending drama.
Can I also say that I don’t really know who Tick is, other than a jerk (he really did have too much page time given that this was not his story), and I was confused by Tick’s wife (at least, I assume it was his wife) sometimes being referred to as “Falconetti” but other than that, I didn’t find it a problem to start at book 7 of a series.
Beg Me by Shiloh Walker – C- This one was let down by some really bad editing/formatting – words missing, typos, etc. It was really distracting. As for the story, Tania was married to Kyle and he died in a car accident. They used to enjoy a kinky sex life, including consensual rape fantasy. Kent, Kyle’s twin (and psycho) brother, raped Tania a year after Kyle died and now Tania feels that her sexual agency and identity has been stolen, as well as her happy memories of Kent (he was Kyle’s identical twin). Kyle’s best friend is Drake – he has loved her from afar since Kyle first met and wooed her and when Tania asked Drake to help her regain her sexual identity he’s only too willing. The only thing I didn’t know about the set up going in was that the rapist was Kyle’s identical twin brother. I felt that was unnecessarily complicated in a short story/novella and the twins’ mother was an absolute nutjob. I felt that, given all she had been through, Tania seemed to be able to respond sexually to Drake fairly quickly – there wasn’t any time where she was freaking out – I wondered whether that was realistic? Also, there was a point late in the story where the consent issue was turned around and Drake felt forced to go places sexually he didn’t want to. I thought that could have been a really interesting aspect to the story but it wasn’t explored. I liked the premise, but the story didn’t get there for me. And the errors? They really were egregious. I even went and checked that it wasn’t an issue that could have been caused by converting mobi to epub or something (which sometimes occurs) but, no, I bought this one in epub so there’s really no excuse.
Guarding Morgan (Sanctuary #1) by RJ Scott – C/C- Another book which had a promising premise but I felt was let down by the execution. Morgan Drake is being protected by the FBI after witnessing a murder which is somehow (and we never really find out why) linked to a crime boss/mafia type person. The crime boss obviously has an inside man in the FBI and Morgan’s handler sends him to the Sanctuary organisation and Nik Valentinov. There is very little suspense in the time that Nik and Morgan are together and it is of course inappropriate for a bodyguard to start sleeping with his protectee. I bought into it in Brooke McKinley’s Shades of Grey in part because the men were together for months. But here, it was less than 2 weeks. The suspense aspect seemed clumsy and so did many of the sentences. The structure of many of them seemed odd to me and I kept getting thrown out of the story. The sex scenes, when they did happen, were the best parts of the book, but I need more than that to really enjoy a novel. I have another RJ Scott on my TBR so I will give that a go at some stage – maybe this was one of the author’s earlier efforts? The story had promise but it didn’t really deliver for me.
Hard Tail by JL Merrow – B I really enjoyed the easy conversational style of the narrator in this first person POV story about a closeted guy who helps his run his brother’s bike shop after the brother breaks his leg and the guy’s marriage breaks up. Tim is a likeable, self-deprecating and very humorous guy and he falls fairly instantly for Matt Berridge, the bike shop employee who is also a klutz. But, Matt lives with someone and Tim has only just started to admit to himself that he’s gay.
Favourite Quote:
When Matt came back, his face was shining, and not just with sweat. “It’s brilliant!” he enthused a bit breathlessly, his chest still heaving. “I mean, it’s a bit weird ’til you get used to it, and it’s harder work uphill, and when you go downhill your legs are going round like buggery, but it’s like…” He trailed off, hands waving as they struggled to express what his words couldn’t manage. “It’s like the bike’s just an extension of your legs. Like, you’re not so much riding it as being it.” He gave me a rueful smile. “That probably sounds like a load of bollocks to you.”
“N-no,” I managed. My throat was tight, and my vision might even have swum, just a little bit. Matt’s smile was broader than I’d ever seen it, he was talking with his whole body, and his enthusiasm wasn’t so much infectious as in serious danger of causing a pandemic. He just seemed so…so alive at this moment. As we stood there staring into each other’s eyes, I had the strongest, almost painful urge to kiss him.
He’d had me at buggery.
The ending was a little abrupt and I would have liked a little more of Matt and Tim happy together but I very much enjoyed this one. After the previous 2 books hadn’t been so successful for me this was a welcome relief. I have definitely become a JL Merrow fan.
**pick of the month**
Muscling Through by JL Merrow – A. I had been reluctant to read this one because I’d heard that it involved a romance between a “simple” man (in the sense of his intelligence) and a Professor and I wasn’t sure about the concept. But, I’m so so glad I did. Told from the 1st person POV of Alan “Al” Fletcher, the reader is always aware that Al isn’t being taken advantage of. He isn’t a caricature and, while there is humour in what is apparent from the page (such as his and Lawrence’s – Al calls him “Larry” – first meeting and Larry’s mistaken but not unrealistic assumptions), he is never made fun of. Also apparent are the reasons why Larry wants to be with Al. Al is an artist and they are able to talk about their shared love of art and Charlie Chaplin movies. There is also a strong physical attraction and the sex is pretty hot. Larry is around educated, erudite scholars all the time, so perhaps he doesn’t need that at home. What he has with Al not that – but it is nevertheless real and enduring. Enough of Larry’s thoughts are shared with the reader that we can tell that he thinks Al has been failed by the education system rather than that Al is retarded or intellectually disabled. Al is blunt and direct and very literal in how he sees things. He thinks he’s stupid but he doesn’t let that bother him all that much. I’m not doing a very good job of describing why I liked Al so much and therefore this book. It is so much better than I expected. Perhaps I’ll let Al speak for himself for a bit.
Toby gave me a cheque for my paintings that sold at the do. It was more than I make in six months pulling in punts. I didn’t know what to spend it on, ’cause my mum said she didn’t want me to buy her nothing. So I was going to buy Larry something, but he said I should spend it on something I always wanted. So I bought a cat. I asked Larry first, because it’s his house and all. The cat didn’t cost much, because it was from the Cats Protection League and they don’t have posh cats there, only ordinary ones. I didn’t want a posh cat. I got Larry for when I want posh. I bought a litter tray for the cat, and some food bowls and a scratching post, and then put the rest of the money in the bank. I thought maybe I could buy Larry something later when he wasn’t looking.
And that’s why Muscling Through is my **pick of the month**.
The Rebuilding Year by Kaje Harper B/B+ Firefighter Ryan was injured in the line and as a result, had to change careers. He starts medical school at a small college, where he meets up with (slightly) older (there’s only 7 years difference in their ages) former landscape architect and current head groundsman, John. Both identify as straight and for a long time, the men enjoy a strictly platonic friendship. John is paying child support to his ex-wife for his teenage children who live interstate and Ryan needs a place to live, so he rents a room from John and they become closer. Gradually, they start to explore their attraction to one another, come out, to themselves and then to their families, on their way to their HEA. I really enjoyed this one. The characterisations were complete and interesting enough that even though I was quite a way into the book before there was any romance, I didn’t find it dragging at all. John’s relationship with his children is explored and both men have to come to grips with coming out and being “gay dads” to John’s children. The scene where John comes out to John’s daughter left me with a little conflict – it was kind of dumped on her and I didn’t see a lot of explaining to her, whereas there had been with John’s son. However, that’s a small thing really. The book takes place over that one year and there are things in the future which remain unknown – where will Ryan do his internship and will that mean John has to move house/jobs? etc, but I believed in their HEA and who knows, maybe we’ll see them again sometime. I really like this author’s books and she’s definitely on my autobuy list now.
Permanently Legless by JL Merrow – B This is a very short story about a veteran who returns from Afghanistan having lost both legs to an IED. He meets up again with a gorgeous young man with whom he’d hooked up shortly before deployment (and who he felt was way out of his league even when he had legs) . The story was complete in that the does-he-like-me conflict was resolved but I enjoyed Chris and his self-deprecating humour and his attitude to life and would have liked to have spent more time with him and his gorgeous young thing. It felt, to me (who has never been a soldier, never been to Afghanistan and who is in possession of both legs) to be a realistic portrayal of disability.
Cinder by Marie Sexton – B This is Marie Sexton’s take on the Cinderella story, only with 2 boys. I certainly enjoyed it but I wondered, in the end, how the royal line would continue with the Crown Prince and Heir Apparent being gay. I suspect I wasn’t supposed to think about this – it is a faery tale after all but I did. As a faery tale however, it worked and I liked it quite a bit.
The Saturnalia Effect by Heidi Beilieau and Violetta Vane B- This short is set in a prison where Troy, a new young inmate with a 40 year sentence is impressed to kill fellow lifer, Daniel. Troy falls hard for Daniel but doesn’t see a way out of his dilemma – if he doesn’t kill Daniel (or himself), then “Pliers” will kill him – but not before a bit of non consensual torture and rape. Some of the imagery of the story was a bit lost on me I’m afraid and there were parts there were merely suggested but I wasn’t with it enough to work out what had happened exactly. Maybe that was supposed to be that way. The ending has a supernatural magic to it so that the men can get their HEA which was a bit odd in terms of the rest of the story, but at least is gave me the HEA and that was way better than the alternative. Overall, however, enjoyable enough.
Her Best Worst Mistake by Sarah Mayberry – B+ see my full review here.
Skin Deep by Pamela Clare – B Ms. Clare is part of the “RockIt Reads” author group, who self publish but “guarantee” the quality – in terms of story, and editing etc, to their audience. I can say that I only spotted one typo in this book – where a name was mispelled, so I think the quality of the editing etc was very good and the cover is fine also. As for the story, well, I’m a sucker for a scarred, tortured hero, so this one hit the spot for me. The epilogue was a bit overly saccharine (but this is nothing new) and the freebie short “Beer Run” included as a bonus at the end was too full of guns, their makes and models and what kind of bullets they take for my liking. But, the bromance between Julian and Marc continues! Skin Deep is the Megan Hunter’s story – fans of the I-Team series will remember her as Marc’s sister and the reason he broke out of jail, kidnapped Sophie and was on the run in Unlawful Contact. Our hero is Nate West, a former Spec Ops Marine who was burned on most of the right side of his body by an IED in Afghanistan. Because it’s a novella, there’s not a lot of room for conflict, so much of it was confined to whether Megan could enjoy a sexual relationship and Nate’s issues were kind of glossed over. A person from Megan’s past is stalking her and her daughter and Nate and the I-Team boys come to the rescue. It is fairly standard as it goes, but I really enjoyed it. I liked Nate quite a bit and it was nice to see Megan get her HEA. Like I said the ending got too sappy, but up til then, I was lapping it up.
on Audio
The Witness by Nora Roberts, narrated by Julia Whelan (who is totally Sophie Eastlake) – B+ I reviewed this one for AAR. You can check out my review of the print version (I gave it an A) here.
One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene Frost, narrated by Tavia Gilbert – C+ An excellent performance (as usual) by Tavia Gilbert was the highlight of this book. I thought the plotting was a bit thin and there wasn’t much tension in the romance (well, there wasn’t any tension in the romance). I wasn’t as captivated by the story as I have been in earlier books. There were plot devices I didn’t understand and which I found boring and repetitive – especially the conversations with evil Ghost Inquisitor Kramer. Enjoyable enough but by no means the strongest of the series. There is also a storyline regarding someone called Madigan who takes over from Don Williams which really doesn’t go anywhere – I suspect the thread will be picked up in future books.
The Spiral Path by Mary Jo Putney, narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt – C. This is an oldish MJP and one of her few contemporary novels. I remember really enjoying it in print when I read it a few years back but I think it has dated and/or I have changed since then because, while I liked it well enough, I can’t say it was as good as I had remembered. Kenzie Scott and Rain Marlow are estranged spouses and both celebrated actors. Rain asks Kenzie to act in her directorial debut (she adapted the screenplay also) but the movie dredges up Kenzie’s traumatic (secret) childhood. The Spiral Path the title refers to is a labyrinth and I’m still fascinated by them. Barbara Rosenblatt does a great job of the narration but the production values were fairly poor – it’s an old cassette recording which has been spliced together for my iPod but I can hear her swallowing all the time (which is really off-putting!) and there’s a large portion of the book where I got distracted by her heavy breathing. More modern audiobooks don’t seem to have this problem (thank the Lord!).
Seeing Eye, from Strange Brew (anthology) by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Jennifer Van Dyck – B- As I’m a romance reader, my grade reflects that there’s not much romance in this story. We first met Tom and Moira in Hunting Ground, and it was nice to know how they’d met. As Urban Fantasy (sans romance) a good short story, as a romance, not so much. Also, Jennifer Van Dyck gave a really strange Rumpelstiltskin type voice to Tom which was odd and not terribly attractive. Holter Graham or Lorelie King (who narrated the Alpha/Omega and Mercy Thompson series’ respectively would have done a much better job) IMO.
To Say Nothing Of the Dog; Or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump At Last by Connie Willis, narrated by Steven Crossley – B+ A very funny historical/time travel story with a hint of romance. Excellent narration by Steven Crossley – I’m sure I found it that much more enjoyable because I was listening to him rather than reading it myself. His female voices were very very good and he differentiated the male characters very well too. The humour is quite dry and again, Crossley excels. The plot is very convoluted but basically revolves around 2 historians from Oxford in 2057 going back to 1888 to fix a “parachronistic incongruity” which could have disastrous effects (including changing the outcome of WWII). But, it’s much more than that. And, it’s filled with interesting (and presumably) true historical anecdotes about the small things which made a big difference. (To Say Nothing of the Dog refers to the book Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome. Ironically, Steven Crossley narrates that one too). I can see on Goodreads that Mr. Crossley has narrated Judith Ivory’s The Proposition and Julie Garwood’s The Wedding and Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel. All of which I now want to listen to.
Summer Days by Susan Mallery, narrated by Tanya Eby – DNF The narration is Tanya Eby’s usual very good standard. The story is so full of WTFery, I could not suspend my disbelief enough and thought all the characters were pretty stupid. I found it very difficult going indeed. In the end, I bailed a couple of hours in. Head on over to my Goodreads rant about the first 2 chapters if you want more.
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, narrated by Lloyd James – A This book is straight fantasy with only a very very little thread of romance – less than Lord of the Rings, for example, but the story was so wonderful and the narration was just excellent. Lord Cazeril returns to Chalion after nearly 3 years away, having been betrayed and sold to a slave galley after a siege. Through a series of events, he is given the role of tutor/secretary to the Royesse (Princess) Iselle and her companion the Lady Beatrez (?spelling). He becomes aware of a longstanding curse hanging over the royal house of Chalion and it turns out he’s got something to do with breaking it. That brief summary doesn’t give the story justice. It’s just excellent. If you like fantasy, you’ll love this one. Lloyd James is a wonderful narrator. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he’s done much else that I’m likely to listen to.
Never Love A Highlander by Maya Banks, narrated by Kirsten Potter – C+ I reviewed this one for AAR, so watch out for it over there in an upcoming column. Overall, an enjoyable listen.
I’m over at the ARRA blog today, with a review of Nora Robert’s excellent new release, The Witness. Feel free to stop by 🙂
on Paper/eBook
Woman on the Run by Lisa Marie Rice B+ *This romantic suspense by Lisa Marie Rice was written in 2004 when email and mobile phones weren’t quite so prevalent and data encryption wasn’t as good as it is now. But, leaving those things aside, this book was a win for me. LMR books have a kind of a crackalicious flavour to me – like those glorious B movies some people love. Julia Devaux witnesses a mob murder and is placed on the Witness Protection Program. Her new name is Sally Anderson and she’s relocated to the tiny town of Simpson, Idaho. There, she meets Sam Cooper, former Navy SEAL and current millionaire horse breeder/rancher. He’s a typical LMR hero – once he sets eyes on Julia/Sally, he’s gone for all money, has an instant and persistent hard-on and will literally do anything to keep her safe. Julia/Sally is suitably clueless about how to be safe and, while she borders on TSTL territory from time to time, I was able to accept that most of her stupidity was actually due to her naiveté.
How Julia/Sally didn’t have at the very least a massive and constant UTI was beyond me because once this pair start having sex, they are at it all night long. Literally. He’s inside her all the time!! Cooper is not big with words and isn’t much for foreplay either – he just wants to be inside her and with the power of his mighty wang of loving, he is able to give Julia/Sally instant and repeated orgasms. They don’t use condoms so there’s a lot of… fluid about the place but after 4 or 5 orgasms, he has a really smooth ride! The sex isn’t really terribly sexy as mostly it’s plain missionary, there’s not a lot of dirty talk (or any other kind actually) and, like I said before, not much foreplay.
But, despite Cooper’s lack of verbosity, we do get to see inside his head and WE know he’s a complete goner over this woman. And there is something so terribly appealing (if in a slightly guilty way) of the hero who would do anything for his lady, with single-minded purpose. Jane from Dear Author said on Twitter that a LMR hero would carry his heroine around all day if he could and she wasn’t wrong.
The truly wonderful thing about the book was that it didn’t take itself too seriously. There were some wonderful lines and a few laugh out loud moments for me as Julia/Sally contemplates life in a podunk town
Being the object of a woman-hunt, exiled to Simpson, being terrorized by school kids trick-or-treating, lusing after an around non-talker with superb thighs. It was all too much.
and
Julia listened to him in rising panic, having a sudden image of herself zigging when she was supposed to zag, driving in frantic loops around the vast empty countryside until the gas ran out and wolves ate her.
and the hilarity of the townsfolk repeatedly telling her that they’re “just really happy that Coop is finally getting laid”.
Despite the flaws in the book, I found myself really enjoying it. If you like B movies and schlocky goodness, this could be for you.
*a slightly cut down version of this review appeared in the March ARRA newsletter.
Out of Focus by LA Witt – B – see my full review here.
Shattered Glass by Dani Alexander – B – see my full review here.
A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant – A – see my full review here. **Print Pick of the Month**
Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase – B/B+ Marcelline Noirot is a modiste in England, in business with her 2 sisters. When they hear that the Duke of Clevedon is due to return to England to marry, after 3 years on the Continent, the sisters hatch a plan to capture the business of the Duchess-to-be. Because the Duke will hold the purse-strings, Marcelline sets off to Paris to entice the Duke – purely for business purposes. It is not her intention to fall for him herself, but that is what happens. Still, Marcelline is a mercenary and practical character – she has responsibilities to her sisters and to her young daughter and the difference in their stations make it impossible to make a match with the Duke herself anyway (even if her weren’t already practically engaged to someone else), so she forces herself to think of business and puts her feelings firmly aside.
I’ve had mixed reactions to Loretta Chase’s books; some I’ve loved, some I’ve liked, some I’ve thought were kind of “meh” – this one, for me, falls into somewhere between the like and love range – I was loving until the end when it fell just a little flat for me. I guess I was a little disappointed that some more creative way for Clevedon and Marcelline to be together hadn’t been thought up – it felt a little… pedestrian and predictable at the end (and with insufficient detail of exactly how the plan worked for my liking also) in what had otherwise been an exceptional and refreshingly different book. Clevedon and Marcelline struck sparks off each other from their first meeting and this banter continues through most of their interactions, like here:
“It would be vulgar to strangle you on the dance floor;” he said. “Yet I am sorely tempted.”
and on the next page:
“My dear duke, only look at the competition.”
“I would,” he said, “but you’re so aggravating, I can’t tear my gaze away.”
…
“Fascinating,” she said, “You mean fascinating.”
I liked how they were both portrayed as being far less than angels. In fact, it turns out that this made them extraordinarily well suited and it was the best part of the book – each trying to work out the other’s motives, and come out ahead in some kind of delicious competition.
She’d been a fool to imagine she could manage this man. She should have realized that a duke is used to getting his own way, to a certain degree common folk could scarcely imagine. She should have realised that getting his way all his life would affect his brain and make him not altogether like other men.
and
“Don’t be noble, I beg you,” he said. “I think nobleness of spirit… and morals… and ethics… and scruples… those sorts of things are all very well in thier place. To a point, you know. But beyond a certain point, I think they make me bilious.”
If only the end of the book could have lived up to the rest of it, it would have been superb. As it was, it was still very good, but it could have been…
Teach Me by Cassandra Dean – C- My full review will be on the ARRA blog sometime in May I believe.
Where the Heart Is by Kaje Harper – B- Cute, sexy holiday-themed short about vet Trevor and his lover Mike a software developer, who have been having a long distance relationship for the past 3 months since Trevor’s father died and Trevor returned to his hometown to deal with his father’s vet practice. Mike has come out to visit Trev for Christmas.
Some obvious editing problems let this one down for me – for example, a pony changed it’s name from “Banner” to “Major” in the middle of one scene and then changed back again.
It did make me teary though (sad animal story) and I liked that Trev and Mike did love each other and each was willing to compromise in order to protect their relationship.
Some obvious editing problems let this one down for me – for example, a pony changed it’s name from “Banner” to “Major” in the middle of one scene and then changed back again.
It did make me teary though (sad animal story) and I liked that Trev and Mike did love each other and each was willing to compromise in order to protect their relationship.
Forbidden Fantasies by Jodie Griffin – B+ – see my review here.
The Witness by Nora Roberts – A Review to come closer to the release date. For now, I’ll just say it’s VERY VERY good. 🙂
Defying the Odds (Battered Hearts #1) by Kele Moon – C+ This is a sometimes sweet, sexy story about a surly but successful MMA fighter, Clay “Powerhouse” Powers, and Melody Dylan, a woman who escaped domestic violence and abuse and has taken a job at Hal’s Diner in the small town of Garnet, somewhere in the South (and also maybe West) of the USA (it’s never specified in the book). Melody feels sorry for Clay eating alone in the diner on Thanksgiving and so buys him a piece of pie and from then on Clay is deeply smitten.
It was okay, but the writing style didn’t sing to me I’m afraid. Secondary characters, brother and sister, Wyatt and Jules (who will no doubt be featured in their own books later) seemed overdone to me, as was what I’ll call the “hick factor”. It was just a little bit too much.
Clay was kind of sweet in a Lisa Marie Rice kind of way – very alpha, with a magic soulmate-sensing dick. The bloody fighting for training and just for fun between Clay and Wyatt was a bit gory and disconcerting. Guys who casually break their BFF’s noses is a bit strange to me. Mandi at Smexy Books liked it better than I did, so you might too.
In Remembrance of Us by AJ Rose C+ I like relationship-in-trouble stories. This short, told from Tom’s first person POV, starts off when Tom is mugged on the street and suffers some swelling in the brain which leads to amnesia (most of which is fortunately, temporary). He wakes up to find he’s forgotten that he is married to his BFF, Ryan and has been for more than 2 years. As he had loved Ryan from afar when they were just friends, he is quick to accept their love and anxious to resume their relationship and his memories of it. It quickly becomes apparent however that there has been trouble in paradise. As Tom looks at their relationship without the baggage of the previous 2 years, he is able to take responsibility for his own mistakes and inattentions. The mugging has given him a new resolve not to squander opportunities. Ryan is not perfect either. He has made some terrible mistakes too and both of the men have to forgive and make changes. The book was let down for me by not sufficiently detailing those changes and settling them in so that I believed that a) the story was finished and b) the pair had sorted things out and would be okay in the future. They might be – there wasn’t quite enough for me to be sure. An enjoyable but somewhat incomplete read for me.
Venus in Blue Jeans (Konigsburg #1) by Meg Benjamin – B+ I’d heard excellent things about this series and I actually bought this book a while ago. With the St. Patrick’s Day sales, I picked up the next 4 books in the series too so I thought I’d better read the first one. Docia Kent is a nearly 6 foot tall, curvy and beautiful woman who runs a bookstore in Konigsburg Texas. She is fairly new to the small town and hasn’t been well accepted by the locals, in large part due to the efforts of mean spirited (and one dimensional) Margaret Hastings. Cal Toleffson is the new vet in town and he’s a big, broad man who falls instanly in lust and very quickly in love with Docia. Between Margaret’s efforts to run Docia out of town and bag Cal for herself (even if he is a vegetarian) and some strange goings on involving a mysterious package which puts Docia’s store and Docia in danger, the pair develop a relationship. Docia has some baggage in that she comes from a wealthy family and was previously engaged to a scum sucking bottom dweller who was mostly after her family’s money. The “suspense” part of the book was the weakest, but I read it more as a straight contemporary and it worked very well for me that way. The banter between “Wonder” (Stephen the Wonder Dentist) and Beidermeier and Ingstrom and Cal was particularly funny and I enjoyed the author’s amusing turns of phrase:
Horace grabbed his hand, pumping his arm as if his armpit might produce oil.
I also loved Cal’s inner dialogue – that made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Also, Senor Pepe was adorable. However, the book did suffer from an overuse (particularly in that any use is too much) of “the essence of woman“, “the essence of Cal” and “the essence of Docia“. Regardless, I enjoyed the easy writing style and humour and I’m on to book 2 now.
Favourite Quote:
Warmth pooled in her belly, and spiraled through her body. Her breasts, her abdomen, her knees. Her knees? She’d never really had an orgasm in her knees before.
Wedding Bell Blues (Konigsburg #2) by Meg Benjamin – B- This is a cute and sexy contemporary which picks up about a year after the events in Venus in Blue Jeans. Cal and Docia are just about to get married and Janie, Docia’s maid of honour is determined that her friend will have the wedding she wants. Pete Toleffson is Cal’s brother, in town to be the best man. It was nothing earth shattering but fun and enjoyable. I really liked Pete and Janie and it was nice to meet the other Toleffson brothers, Erik and Lars. The mother of these 4 strapping boys is a piece of work though!
Because of You by Jessica Scott – C- This book has an average rating of just over 4 stars on Goodreads, so I think I’m an outlier. While I thought the premise showed promise, it didn’t deliver that well for me. Also, in the book, the hero shaves his head – look at that cover. Hair!!
Sgt. Shane Garrison meets trauma nurse Jen St. James shortly before shipping out to Iraq. There is chemistry between them, which is a happy surprise for Jen as she is a breast cancer survivor and a mastectomy has left her feeling anything but sexy. Some 4 months later, Shane is injured and is shipped home where he meets up again with Jen, this time as his nurse. Shane doesn’t cope with his injuries very well and Jen tries to help him come to grips with not being the “god” he believes he should be for the men under his command.
I found the narrative a bit heavy handed and overdone at times, particularly in relation to the “hooah” of the military. In general, deployed soldiers do a great job in extremely difficult circumstances, but I don’t need to be hit over the head with the rhetoric in a romance novel.
There were also abrupt shifts in conversation or narrative which left me feeling disconnected. It felt to me like there were things missed out or skipped over. I had the impression the author knew those bits but for some reason, they didn’t make it to the page, or at least the final edit.
There were some aspects of the story I wanted more information/detail about and I felt their lack. For example, I never did get a full accounting of Shane’s injuries. Mostly, they were alluded to and only some details were parsed out over the course of the story. Another one is a reference in the book to a “line-of-duty investigation and a Fifteen Six”. The very brief explanation contained in the following sentence was not enough for me to understand what this was really about and it felt more like a nod to the author’s military background/knowledge – because it wasn’t properly explained for a lay person (ie, me) it pushed me out of the story. Other things were belaboured (Jen’s worries about her mastectomy scar, Shane’s guilt and responsibility for his men). It’s not so much that they were present in the story that was my problem, it was more that the same issues kept getting repeated with no forward movement. It felt very repetitive.
I also felt there was too much time spent on setting up Laura and Trent’s story (which I think is the next one in the series). The book is only 231 pages. The sequel bait and the suspense subplot (which wasn’t fully resolved and also had a cardboard villain) all took page time from the main romance – which was the story I wanted to read.
I found myself a little frustrated by the end – there was a good story in there that I wanted to read but I felt too much got in the way. I can’t say that I really believed the HEA between Jen and Shane – they didn’t talk all that well together and Shane was significantly banged up for most of their “courtship” for me to feel truly comfortable that they really knew each other. I did feel like parts of the story had been left out.
Still, there was enough in this, that I’m interested in seeing what the author does with book 2 in the series.
Curio by Cara McKenna – A- See my review here.
Moving in Rhythm by Dev Bentham – B- Engaging story about a pathologically shy man (Mark) who is basically a shut in. He moves in with his pregnant sister-in-law when his brother is deployed to Afghanistan and meets Seth, who teaches a Zumba class at the local gym.
Told in first person from Mark’s POV, Seth remains a bit of a mystery, which is a pity because he was an interesting and likeable character I would have liked to know better.
I didn’t get the connection between being gay/coming out and the shyness. I thought they were two separate issues but they were conflated in the book and the characters seemed to accept there was a link. I think I missed something because I didn’t think he Mark was shy because he was gay and closeted. If anything, I thought it was the other way around – he was closeted because he was so shy he saw no point in coming out as he didn’t feel he could ever had a relationship anyway. But that was as far as I saw the interaction between the two.
I did think that Seth and Mark said the “L word” a bit too quickly – did they really know each other that well? But, I did enjoy the story thought it was well worth my time.
Shining in the Sun by Alex Beecroft – B/B+ Moving story about a rich man (Alec) and a poor man (Darren) who are both suffocating in their respective lives. They are both desperately unhappy and both feel powerless to do anything about it. Both see the summer as an opportunity to escape, even if only for a little while, the individual misery of their usual lives. It’s a story of how they learn to be brave together and escape that misery and find their freedom for more than just a month. It has its flaws (Alec’s first line to Darren is terribly cheesy – it was probably meant to be, but still), but I was caught up with the imagery and the story. I was struck by the poverty and desperate sadness of Darren’s life and the feeling, despite his money of utter suffocation and vulneratibility in Alec’s life. I didn’t really understand the character of Alec’s mother. I appreciated that Alec’s fiancee was charming and lovely – if he were straight he would have been very happy with her. I do wonder how Alec and Darren will fit together for the long term – after all, they are from completely different worlds – but I was happy enough to go along with the fairy tale.
Favourite Quotes:
…a faint citrusy palate-cleansing tang, and the thought and taste came together into a moment of renewal, of newness. It was a wrong feeling for summer – more of a spring feeling, a start to the year, resolution making, this-time-it-will-all-be-different hope. He shook it off, disconcerted. It was summer he had here, distraction, escape. Not hope. Especially not change.
and this one:
He looked like a man who was turning into paper, folding himself into origami angles, fragile and friable and prone to crumple.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit, I liked the melancholy tone of most of the story and it was, for the most part, beautifully written.
on Audio
A Lady Never Surrenders by Sabrina Jeffries, narrated by Justine Eyre – C+/B- I reviewed this book for AAR. My review will be up soon.
The Alpha Alternative – Sex from JZB’s point of view – my rating? R for Rowr!– this very short (about 30 minutes) scene is set toward the beginning of Darkfever and is told from Barrons’ point of view. The superb Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross co-narrate. It’s available for $1.99 from Karen Marie Moning’s website and it’s worth it if you’re a fan of the Fever series. If you haven’t read the series, this is probably not the place to start however! Rowr indeed.
Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas, narrated by Tanya Eby – B- (but A for narration) Watch out for my review at an upcoming Speaking of Audiobooks column over at AAR.
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Holter Graham – A see my full review here. **Audio Pick of the Month**
In Red, with Pearls by Patricia Briggs (from Down These Strange Streets Anthology), narrated by Phil Gigante – B+. Short story set in the Mercy Thompson world from werewolf Warren’s point of view. Someone has tried to kill his lover Kyle and Warren uses both his PI and wolf skills to find the bad guy and keep his mate safe. Warren and Kyle are great characters and I’d happily read/listen to more about them. An excellent little story.
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley, narrated by Nicola Barber B. This is one of my books but I offered the review to AAR so it will be included in an upcoming Speaking of Audiobooks column.
Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton, narrated by Lucy Malone – C I reviewed this one for Speaking of Audiobooks at AAR. My review will be up over there shortly. Can I just say that some sex scenes are better not read aloud.
Angels of Darkness anthology by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook and Sharon Shinn, narrated by Justine Eyre, Renee Raudman, and Colleen Marlo I didn’t listen to the Sharon Shinn story. I may get to it another time but I haven’t read any of this author’s work before and am not familiar with the world building and I really only wanted this anthology for the 2 books I listened to.
Angel’s Wolf by Nalini Singh narrated by Justine Eyre – C+. Great story (B for story alone) but the narrator bothered me by mispronouncing the hero’s name throughout the book. As his name appears often, it was a problem. His name is not No-El like the Christmas carol. It’s Noel and it rhymes with bowl. Otherwise, it was nice to see what happened to the vampire who was severely injured in the Refuge during the course of Archangel’s Kiss. He finds love in Louisiana with the angel Nimra.
Alphas by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman- B+ A really different story with an excellent narrator. I hear that the Andrews’ had to change up the story a bit and give it a HEA/HFN because it was in a romance anthology and it was originally conceived to be much darker. I liked it as it was I must say – it was quite dark enough for me! And HEA/HFN’s are really a requirement for me as well. Still, it was dark and different and interesting and I’d like to read/listen to more of this world. I really enjoy Renee Raudman as a narrator and with the combination of these authors and her voice, I was happy to go in blind otherwise. It’s kind of hard to describe the story – “normal” mom gets transported into a parallel universe (kind of) with her daughter and is suddenly food for a beast – and he’s the hero! Like I said – different, but I really liked it.
NetGalley Reviewer
Currently Reading
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
