AAR

[Tee]

[CG]

[Ash]

Thank you Tee
and I just noticed that I mixed up you and CG , between all the quotations I suppose I lost track of who asked and who replied sorry about that!

[Blackjack1]

A Gentleman Undone, Cecilia Grant (A-) - The writing is lovely and the story itself is stark and poignant. Most of all Grant is a mature writer that takes time in her novel to create a realistic world for the two desperate and damaged characters. I found the novel satisfyingly dark as we learn more about Lydia and Will's hidden secrets and reasons for their downfall. Will in particular is a humbling and gentle hero and hard not to love. I also found it emotionally rewarding that they become each others salvation and means to a well-deserved happy ending. I did feel somewhat psychologically removed from the angst of the story at times and kept wondering how someone like Lisa Kleypas would have handled the emotional moments with more impact, though I felt technically enthralled by Grant's prose. It has one of the best epilogues I've read in a romance. And I was excited throughout the last fifty pages to see how the many conflicts could possibly be resolved. Grant's third novel is coming out in January and I've already reserved it.

[jaime]

[LordRose]

I read A Gentleman Undone by Cecilia Grant, but I couldn't really get into it. The characters just had too many problems, and the story was rather dark. I tried to read it, but I kept finding myself putting it aside to do other things, and eventually I had to return it to the library, unfinished. (Also, I really don't want the hero or heroine having sex with other people in my romance novels. Obviously, this is far more often the case with the hero, but this book showed me it bothers me just as much if it's the heroine.) The writing was lovely, and the statistics made me think, but the story just wasn't my cup of tea.

The Pursuit of Pleasure and The Danger of Desire by Elizabeth Essex were both lovely, and I intend to read more of her books in the future.

Along Came a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle was a fun, light read, and I quite enjoyed it. I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the series.

A Perfect Scandal by Tina Gabrielle had some rather ridiculous writing. The dialogue was quite unnatural. (One of the hero's first comments upon seeing the heroine for the first time since she was twelve: "Not only have you grown into a beautiful woman with your raven hair and clear blue eyes, but an astute one as well." Presumably, she had raven hair and blue eyes at twelve, too, which makes the whole comment kind of ridiculous.) The descriptions were almost as bad. A particular gem: "His kiss was urgent and hungry at once, like the soldering heat that joins metals." Solder just doesn't say sexy to me, you know? There was also a silly historical innacuracy relating to marriage licenses and banns, which bothered me. (The father apparently couldn't get a special license, and apparently had never heard of normal licenses, because the characters were then forced to call banns, which was obviously to allow the H/h to get to know one another, but still.) I began the book because the hero worked for a living in Regency England (*gasp*), but I eventually gave up from excess amounts of silly writing.

[Natalie]

Maggie Robinson, Master of Sin

Meh. Nice idea, so-so execution. I'll give the author extra credits for having a bisexual hero (not just someone who was forced to have sex with men but actually enjoyed it on his own)

Between the Lines, Tammara Webber

After enjoying her Easy (see earlier in this thread) I scouted her backlist and found out she had a trilogy of related books. It's interesting in a sense that, against expectations, the two viewpoint characters don't end up with each other. I liked it well enough, but not as much as Easy. Not sure if I'll be reading the next two books yet.

A Midsummer's Nightmare, Kody Keplinger

That's another YA author I've been following. I loved Duff very much, skipped the next one as I'm not a big fan of sports in my romance reading. This one was a bit of a disappointment: too many cliches, not as well developed and the ending was too abrupt. Still a nice read, but not worth it's ebook price IMO.

[maggie b.]

[Blackjack1]

She's Got It Bad, Sarah Mayberry (B-) - This was my first Mayberry book and one that I've wanted to read given the positive reviews of it. I had some mixed feelings and despite my sense of Mayberry as a potentially strong writer, the gender politics here are troubling.

The heroine, Zoe, becomes self-destructive as a teen when the hero, Liam (age 17) leaves her rather than risk tarnishing her with his bad boy reputation and dangerous "nature". She subsequently makes some bad decisions as a result of their breakup which leads to a downward spiral of promiscuity and partying. All in all I could understand the trauma of young love lost but questioned the reality of someone's life nearly destroyed as a result of a teenage breakup. Anyway, having accepted that somewhat implausible plot, I quickly found myself questioning the hero's motives as the story jumps ahead 12 years and Liam discovers Zoe living nearby working as a tattoo artist and singing as a thrash club performer. This all sounded interesting until I realized that Zoe apparently needs to be saved from her life of sin. Liam on the other hand is a custom bike shop owner but that is apparently much more respectable. Liam is rich and Zoe isn't, which seemed to translate into moral superiority for him. Zoe is brave and plucky though and uses her sexuality to maintain some sort of equity in their relationship, but that too struck a nerve and made me wish that female sexual liberation not be equated with power over a man. I have to say too that I was a little troubled by Liam's actions after he interferes in Zoe's life and gives her a job. While proclaiming repeatedly that he's her friend and just needs to help her, he continues to have sex with her (over and over), all while maintaining that he can't offer her a future and doesn't "have what she needs." I wanted to like this book more; it is sweet and touching at times. I'm willing to read another book by Mayberry but in the end felt this one has some troubling implications for women and ones that took me too much out of my enjoyment zone.

[Lillian Sulivan]

Vision in White - Nora Roberts

This has been around for a couple of years but only recently came out in pocketbook. Light, fun, happy, book with a positive tone that kicked my summer off in a nice way. I really liked that the h got to a healthier place in her co-dependence with her mother without the mother repenting, being redeemed, making peace or in fact changing in any way.

Small quibble, and I only mention it because it's a pet peeve: I dislike mean, evil characters whose only discernible motivation for being mean is that it assists the plot. But hey, it's a tiny portion of the plot, it brings together several elements in the conflict resolution and even Shakespeare used this device. Alas, since this is a romance, it's the ex, because ex'es are always evil.

Best,
Lilly
_________________
"Or perchance when the last little star has left the sky,
Shall we still be together with our arms around each other,
And shall you be my new romance?"

[Manda]

[Tee]

Objects of My Affection by Jill Smolinski

This is another book that I enjoyed reading recently. I remembered how much I loved The Next Thing on My List some years ago by her and put this one on reserve when I saw it on an upcoming list. I was not disappointed at all. It's a contemporary containing somewhat of a romance, but it could not be called romantic fiction by any means. As I usually do, I'm going to defer to a synopsis of the story as it appears on Amazon.

In the humorous, heartfelt new novel by the author of The Next Thing on My List, a personal organizer must somehow convince a reclusive artist to give up her hoarding ways and let go of the stuff she’s hung on to for decades.

Lucy Bloom is broke, freshly dumped by her boyfriend, and forced to sell her house to send her 19-year-old son to drug rehab. Although she’s lost it all, she’s determined to start over. So when she’s offered a high-paying gig helping clear the clutter from the home of reclusive and eccentric painter Marva Meier Rios, Lucy grabs it. Armed with the organizing expertise she gained while writing her book, Things Are Not People, and fueled by a burning desire to get her life back on track, Lucy rolls up her sleeves to take on the mess that fills every room of Marva’s huge home. Lucy soon learns that the real challenge may be taking on Marva, who seems to love the objects in her home too much to let go of any of them.

While trying to stay on course toward a strict deadline—and with an ex-boyfriend back in the picture, a new romance on the scene, and her son’s rehab not going as planned—Lucy discovers that Marva isn’t just hoarding, she is also hiding a big secret. The two form an unlikely bond, as each learns from the other that there are those things in life we keep, those we need to let go—but it’s not always easy to know the difference.

[Tee]

The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts

Having recently read and enjoyed The Witness by Roberts, I was somewhat hopeful when I opened the pages to The Last Boyfriend. Unfortunately, it was just like book #2 of most any of Roberts' recent series--in other words, nothing bad, but nothing great either. The main characters, Owen and Avery, lifelong friends, are interested in each other first for the sex. I didn't get beyond that in their relationship, though, and really didn't get the "love." The dialogue was flippant and the story had no depth. In all honesty, half way through the book, I began skimming then DNF'd it somewhere after that. Oh, well--The Witness will have to hold me for a while, I guess.

The next story in the series is with Hope and Ryder. There's some conflict with them in the first two books, which, of course, will be resolved in the third one. Oh, yes--the ghost can leave the series anytime she wants. It would make no difference one way or another, but may shorten up the storyline, which could be a positive.

[Tee]

Sunrise Point by Robyn Carr

This was a fantastic story in her running Virgin River series. I don't know how she's doing it, but the books are still remaining interesting to me. As she has been doing recently, this story involved mainly one couple and their relationship, Nora Crane and Tom Cavanaugh. They were delightful together and I didn't want it to end--always, to me, a sign that it's good writing and reading.

[Eliza]

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

I found this a light, pleasant, fast read. I particularly liked Ty and Mallory and their love story. But the rest was fairly bland or vanilla for me. I didn't get caught up in the small-town hi-jinks, and the only humor that worked for me was between the two main characters.


Hot for Fireman by Jennifer Bernard

A light contemp with far too much focus on arson to be truly enjoyable, with a weak romance thread. Credibility was compromised fairly early on with the supposed romantic couple being a fireman and an amateur arsonist. The story wandered around throughout and then was tied up neatly, perfectly, improbably in the last chapter or so. This was particularly disappointing because I enjoyed the previous book, The Fireman Who Loved Me, which had a decent plot and a very likeable romantic couple, plus a fun setup of for the fire station and its characters.