The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson

TITLE: The Name of the Star
AUTHOR: Maureen Johnson

COPYRIGHT: 2011
PAGES: 384
PUBLISHER: Putnam Juvenile

SETTING: Contemporary London
TYPE: YA paranormal
SERIES: #1 in the Shades of London series

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Rory Deveaux's parents have accepted a job that will take them to England for a year. Far from being upset at leaving her friends in small-town Louisiana, Rory is really excited at the prospect of a year abroad, which, as her parents job will be in Bristol, she'll spend in a boarding school right in Central London.

Boarding school turns out to be pretty damn good. Rory doesn't have much trouble making friends, including her new roommate, and classes (hockey class excepted) are fine. The only fly in the ointment is that Rory has arrived just in time to find London in the midst of a massive panic. Someone is murdering people in a way clearly inspired by Jack the Ripper. The murders are taking place on the exact date Jack the Ripper's took place, and the women killed have similar names to the original victims, are murdered in exactly the same way as they were, and are left pretty much where the original victims were found.

Since Rory's school is right in the area of East London where all this is going on, this means that as the day of the next murder approaches, the excitement rises, and the school goes into lockdown. Typical teenagers, the students are not scared or upset about it, more excited and intrigued to know what will happened (actually, all of London seems to feel that way, which rings painfully true). Which is how, while doing something she shouldn't have been doing, Rory ends up seeing the man who must be the killer. She's the only witness, actually, which is quite strange, considering that her roommate was just next to her, and really should have seen him too...

Full disclosure: I find the whole Jack the Ripper thing fascinating. I've even actually gone on a Jack the Ripper walking tour. I tell people it was a great way to see the small glimpses of old London still alive under the quite ugly modernity of the financial district, but while true, that was a bonus, not why I did it. I confess to a ghoulish enjoyment of the story, even as I'm fully aware of the inappropriateness of feeling that way about a case in which people actually died. So I was well-disposed to enjoy this story, to say the least.

I liked it even more than I expected, because the Jack the Ripper overtones were just the cherry on a very good cake: the actual story was really intriguing and fascinating. I couldn't wait to find out what was going on, especially because in between the main sections, all narrated by Rory, there are short ones from the POV of various other people... someone who manages to get her hands on CCTV footage of one of the murders and realises that while the murder has been filmed, the murderer hasn't; a Ripperologist who has convened a sort of conference and finds himself forced by an unseen force to write a message on the blackboard when the lights suddenly go off. This works to show us readers that while Rory doesn't suspect for a long time that there is anything wrong, there is definitely something strange going on.

When we find out the truth, it's no letdown. I'm not even going to hint at what is actually going on, but it's really cool, and I loved Rory's role in it all.

The very well-done story was combined with truly superior atmosphere and setting. I loved the combination of the creepiness of the tone of the Ripper bits with the school atmosphere -especially because the school is very much a normal one. I also enjoyed the tourist-eye view of living in central London. It won't sound cool, but hey, I don't live in London myself, so I relished it.

Also, Rory was a great narrator. She reads real. She's ridiculously brave sometimes, but well, she's a teenager, so lack of consciousness of her own mortality comes with the territory. And she's got her insecurities as well. I liked her, and I'll be glad to continue reading about her. There's a sequel called The Madness Underneath coming in September 2012, and I'll definitely be reading it.

MY GRADE: A-.

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A Brother's Price, by Wen Spencer

TITLE: A Brother's Price
AUTHOR: Wen Spencer

COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 320
PUBLISHER: Roc

SETTING: Fantasy world
TYPE: Fantasy romance, really!
SERIES: None that I know of

In a world where males are rarely born, they've become a commodity-traded and sold like property. Jerin Whistler has come of age for marriage and his handsome features have come to the attention of the royal princesses. But such attentions can be dangerous-especially as Jerin uncovers the dark mysteries the royal family is hiding.

In a complete departure from the Ukiah Oregon novels which were my first experience with Wen spencer, A Brother's Price is a fantasy novel set in a world where due to biological imperatives, gender roles are much as in Regency historicals, only reversed.

In this world, male children are born infrequently, and so have becomed very prized. By necessity, a man gets married to all the woman in one family, and having their brother make a good marriage is a family's best chance of improving their circumstances. Virginity in man is prized as well, as venereal diseases are rife, and once caught, easily spread through the entire family. Young men are therefore sheltered and protected, often not allowed to even come into contact with strange women. If they do, their reputation, and therefore their marriage prospects, can be ruined. Yep, this is exactly why I said Regency historical romance.

Jerin Whistler lives with his sisters and several younger brothers (a rarity), and having reached marriageable age, is almost resigned to being married off into a boorish neighbouring family. But one day a young woman is found injured nearby and after much discussion, the family decide they should rescue her and risk bringing a stranger into their house. Good decision, because she turns out to be one of the royal princesses, and Jerin catches both her eye and that of her sister, Ren, who comes to fetch her.

Before he knows it, Jerin and his family are whisked off to town, supposedly for the royal family to sponsor him, as a thank you for the rescue. However, the reality is that Princess Ren has been agitating for him to be chosen as her and her sisters' husband, and he's there to be vetted.

But romance doesn't have a chance to progress smoothly, since the incident which resulted in the princesses coming into Jerin's life is not an isolated one, and someone is plotting against the royal family.

I thought the idea of this was interesting, and the world-building was actually quite good, but I just found the romance incredibly annoying, and wasn't that impressed with the plot, either.

The problem with the romance is that although Jerin is quite a good guy, brave and sensible, whenever he's with the princesses (especially Ren), Spencer chooses to make him behave like a twit. He constantly blushes and generally behaves like a child (he keeps being described as "adorable" by the women). And Ren absolutely loves this. She talks about how perfect Jerin is, because he's "biddable". Retch!

My objections had nothing to do with this being a role reversal world, I'd have hated this characterisation in a regular historical as well. I have no interest at all in a romance that so infantilises one of the characters and has the other character prize this.

As for the plot, it started out interesting enough, but got really, really boring at the end. There was an awful lot of running around, and people behaving pretty stupidly.

Unfortunate. This could have been quite good, and Spencer definitely knows how to do good worldbuilding.

MY GRADE: A C.

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Monkeewrench (aka Want To Play?), by PJ Tracy

TITLE: Monkeewrench (aka Want To Play?)
AUTHOR: PJ Tracy

COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 432
PUBLISHER: Signet

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: Mystery
SERIES: First in the Monkeewrench series

People are dying for the new computer game by the software company Monkeewrench. Literally. With Serial Killer Detective out in limited release, the real-life murders of a jogger and a young woman have already mimicked the first two scenarios in the game.

But Grace McBride and her eccentric Monkeewrench partners are caught in a vise. If they tell the Minneapolis police of the link between their game and the murders, they'll shine a spotlight on the past they thought they had erased-and the horror they thought they'd left behind. If they don't, eighteen more people will die...

I'd no idea what to expect of Monkeewrench. I knew the plot outlined in the back cover sounded interesting, and I'd heard great things about the mother-daughter team behind the PJ Tracy name, but that was it. Was it suspense? Was it romantic suspense? Should I expect all the characters I liked to be alive at the end? I had no idea.

The story starts out in rural Wisconsin, as an old couple is found dead in church, killed in a gruesomely ritualistic manner. Around the same time, a couple of bodies are found in Minneapolis, each killed exactly as detailed in a newly released videogame.

With the prospect of the killer continuing on and reenacting all 20 murder cases included in the game, the cops' attention is focused on the partners who own Monkeewrench, the company that developed it. It's quite clear there's something mysterious in their past, especially in Grace MacBride's. Why ever else would a woman live like a recluse, in a house as secure as bank vault?

The mystery develops little by little, with the authors doling out information very, very carefully and keeping the tension high. It's really intriguing, especially guessing how all the different threads might be connected, and the detective work is top notch. It was a pleasure to see these people work. I never felt like I was ahead of them, and yet, I never felt a deduction came out of nowhere. And when the final reveal happened, everything clicked together in the most satisfactorily manner. That's exactly what I want out of a mystery, and PJ Tracy delivered with style.

It wasn't just a fun, clever puzzle. I also really enjoyed the characters and cared about what happened to them. Grace and her partners at Monkeewrench are really fascinating, and I developed quite a few outlandish theories about what had happened in their past. The reality was better than anything I imagined. And I also really liked the cops. Det. Magozzi is our main character here, but he's supported by a fantastic and very real cast of characters, all of which play their role. And I had a bit of a soft spot for the detectives investigating the case in Wisconsin, and loved how it all came together.

There's even a little bit of romance, which was a nice touch. For once, I didn't want this part of the story to be more prominent; what I got was just enough for me.

I'm definitely going to be reading more in this series.

MY GRADE: A B+.

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The Silent Land, by Graham Joyce

TITLE: The Silent Land
AUTHOR: Graham Joyce

COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 264
PUBLISHER: Gollancz

SETTING: Contemporary France
TYPE: Fiction
SERIES: None

A young couple are caught in an avalanche during a ski-ing holiday in the French Alps. They struggle back to the village and find it deserted. As the days go by they wait for rescue, then try to leave. But each time they find themselves back in the village. And, increasingly, they are plagued by visions and dreams and the realization that perhaps no-one could have survived the avalanche.THE SILENT LAND is a brooding and tender look at love and whether it can survive the greatest challenge we will ever face.

Zoe and Jake are on a skiing holiday and out really early, trying to get on the slopes before other tourists arrive en masse. As they descend, they are caught in a landslide, and only barely survive. When they manage to get back to the village where they're staying, the entire place is empty -clearly evacuated, they reason, due to the risk of more avalanches.

But it's not just that the whole place is empty. They can't seem to get anyone on the phone, can't get any channels on the television and can't connect to the internet. And whenever they try to leave the village, something always stops them, and they end up back where they started...

I was really intrigued by the set-up of this book, and I really liked the way it started. The first half was actually really good. I had some suspicions about what might be going on, but it was still all really chilling and intriguing, and satisfyingly creepy.

I wasn't even fazed by the characters having a massive realisation about one third into the book, which I would have thought would be the big one at the end. That made me even more intrigued to see where Joyce could go from there.

Unfortunately, the answer is: nowhere much. I was completely disappointed by the ending. It's just that it was the obvious one, what I immediately thought would be a reasonable explanation, but kind of mentally rejected because it would be too obvious and boring. I was hoping for something creepy, something that made me do a double take and look back at the book with new eyes (ideally, something as fantastic as the climactic moment of realisation in The Sixth Sense). And after the characters having that flash of insight so early in the book (see previous paragraph), it needed to be great and unexpected.

What I got had a bit of a tinge of the paranormal, but not anything to get excited about. I also hoped for something that would explain all the little arbitrary details and changes in rules that Zoe and Jake had experienced. Some things were explained by the conclusion (e.g. the coffins, the ringing mobiles), but others weren't, really. And I had some objections to how it all hinged on that this love between them was so, so great that all this stuff happened, when Joyce hadn't convinced me at all about that.

I guess I was hoping for "Oh, wow!", and got "Oh, ok".

MY GRADE: A B-.

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The Disgraced Playboy, by Caitlin Crews

TITLE: The Disgraced Playboy
AUTHOR: Caitlin Crews

COPYRIGHT: 2011
PAGES: 192
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Presents

SETTING: Contemporary England
TYPE: Category romance
SERIES: 2nd in continuity series, The Notorious Wolfes.

Lucas… Playboy. Rebel. Rogue.

No one denies Lucas anything. Women fall at his feet and into his bed at the click of his fingers. His life is charmed, reckless and carefree-he is definitely a bad boy.

Grace Carter knows uncontrollable Lucas could ruin her career, and she won't tolerate his wayward behavior, despite their chemistry. But working with Lucas is thrilling, and after just a small dose of his magic, even Grace's prim-and-proper shell begins to splinter…

I was really looking forward to this one. I picked it up based on really good reviews, and then it got the enthusiastic endorsement of my only romance-reading real-life friend (hey, MI!), who thought it good enough to specifically tell me I needed to read it, when we got together to catch up while I was in Uruguay.

Sorry guys, it really, really, really didn't work for me.

Ok, the plot. This seems to be part of a continuity series, so I don't know the whole set-up, but basically, the hero, Lucas Wolfe, goes through life playing the part of a useless playboy, never known to work for a day in his entire life, and desired by every woman in England. The heroine, Grace, works in PR for a posh department store, which used to be owned by the Wolfes. For reasons of his own, Lucas agrees to become the store's new face, and has to work with Grace. He immediately is determined to seduce her.

I did not believe in these characters at all. I think Lucas is supposed to be this really charming, irresistible man, but even though the author told me so repeatedly, through Grace, I didn't find him charming in the least. I found him annoying and rude, and too often behaving inappropriately to Grace at her own place of work, not caring about the consequences this would have on her. That, to me, is not sexy. It's being inconsiderate and not giving a shit about someone's livelihood.

It's supposed to be this epic seduction, with Grace resisting with all her strength, but finally giving way to Lucas' charm because it's impossible to resist him. I think we're supposed to agree with that, and wonder at how Grace manages to hold out in the face of such irresistibleness. My reaction was the opposite. I wonder what the hell she saw in him, beyond good looks.

And I also wondered what the hell he saw in her that he hadn't seen in a thousand women before. She's distinctly average and I found her very boring.

And then there was this massive scandal about Grace having posed in what sounded like really quite tasteful and harmless swimsuit pictures when she was a teen. That was just preposterous, and ended the book on an even lower note than it started. Even the nice touch of having Grace reevaluate her past and decide she's actually proud of it didn't save it.

I am well aware that I'm being a bit of a grinch here. I don't know why I took such a dislike to the book. I promise I was really well-disposed to it when I started it -I really expected to love it. I guess it must have been a matter of the author's voice just not working for me, which made me react with annoyance to everything else. I just wanted it to end, because I was bored with these two.

MY GRADE: A C-.

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One Week in December, by Sebastian Faulks

TITLE: One Week in December
AUTHOR: Sebastian Faulks

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 392
PUBLISHER: Vintage

SETTING: Contemporary London
TYPE: Fiction
SERIES: None

London: the week before Christmas, 2007. Over seven days we follow the lives of seven major characters: a hedge fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career; a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland; a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate; a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory; a hack book reviewer; a schoolboy hooked on reality TV and genetically altered pot; and a Tube train driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in a daily loop.

With daring skill and savage humor, A Week in December explores the complex patterns and crossings of modern urban life; as the novel moves to its gripping climax, its characters are forced, one by one, to confront the true nature of the world they—and we all—inhabit.

I randomly picked this one up at the library, not really knowing what to expect. What with all my constant review reading and book chatter online, that's a pretty rare experience these days, and I enjoyed the change. That's possibly because I really enjoyed the book as well.

The setup is pretty straightforward. It's mid-December 2007, and people are just going about their lives. And for a week, we follow a group of characters who are doing exactly that.

It's a diverse and interesting group. There's Jenni Fortune, a Tube driver, involved in a legal case arising from someone jumping in front of her train a couple of years earlier. There's Gabriel Northwood, a barrister also involved in the case. There's John Veals, a hedge fund manager engaging in machiavellian manouvers. There's his son. There's Ralph Tranter, an unscrupulous book reviewer who delights in tearing books to pieces (do I detect some getting even there on Faulks' part?). There's Hassan al-Rashid, a would-be suicide bomber and his father, Knocker, a successful industrialist. There's a Polish football player just starting out in a Premier League team. And these are only the "main" characters.

Over the one week we spend with them, their lives cross and connect in more or less unexpected ways.

I was interested in all of them and their stories (with the exception of Veals, the hedge fund manager). But what was even more intriguing was the way in which Faulks used their stories to explore the idea of the increasing artificiality of modern life, and how the virtual is sometimes becoming more real than 'real' life. Some of it is a bit obvious but still interesting (like Jenni's engagement in a Second Life-type site, or Finn's obsession with a reality show so jaw-dropping it will probably become real at some point). Some is obvious in boring ways (John Veals' financial dealings, but that's probably a function of me reading this in 2011, when the utter lunacy of such stuff is not a particularly novel idea. Still, I dreaded reading his sections. Mind-numbingly boring detail, and I'm an economist, I'm supposed to be interested in this stuff). Most of it is really revealing, though, and I enjoyed thinking about it.

I was listening to the latest Guardian books podcast last weekend, and they were discussing the fact that there is no British equivalent to the Great American Novel, that sort of state-of-the-nation statement. Well, I beg to disagree. One Week In December is a damn good stab at just that.

MY GRADE: A B+.

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Life From Scratch, by Melissa Ford

TITLE: Life From Scratch
AUTHOR: Melissa Ford

COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 208
PUBLISHER: Bell Bridge Books

SETTING: Contemporary US (New York)
TYPE: Chick Lit
SERIES: None

Her life's a mess. And so is her kitchen. Divorced, heartbroken and living in a lonely New York apartment with a tiny kitchen, Rachel Goldman realizes she doesn't even know how to cook the simplest meal for herself. Can learning to fry an egg help her understand where her life went wrong? She dives into the culinary basics. Then she launches a blog to vent her misery about life, love and her goal of an unburnt casserole.To her amazement, the blog's a hit. She becomes a minor celebrity. Next, a sexy Spaniard enters her life. Will her souffles stop falling? Will she finally forget about the husband she still loves? And how can she explain to her readers that she still hasn't learned how to cook up a happy life from scratch?

A few months earlier, Rachel Goldman took the wrenching decision of leaving her husband. Adam no longer was the man she had married. For the past years, he'd been so focused on his work that he didn't even see Rachel, and she couldn't stand being married but not really having a husband any longer.

Since she'd made a big change in her life already, Rachel decided to go one more step further and take a year off her job as graphic designer. That's how, as the book starts, she's engaged in learning to cook (reversing the influence of her hyper-successful mother, who believes that real women don't cook; they go out or order really nice takeaway), and blogging about it.

And it's that new past-time that leads her to new things in her life, from dating a sexy Spaniard to exploring the possibility of a new career and yes, finding herself.

I hesitated before writing those last two words, because though accurate, they might make the book sound like self-indulgent nonsense. It's not. Rachel is a really enjoyable character, not completely put together yet, after her divorce, but working on it, and doing a good job (temporary setbacks notwithstanding).

There were quite a few things I really liked here. First, there's a really nice portrayal of female friendship. Rachel and her friend Arianna have a really nice relationship, supportive and warm. And Arianna isn't just there to give Rachel someone to call and bare her feelings to: she's clearly got her own life and her own story, and we do get to see some of it here.

I also liked the whole cooking and blogging thing. It's not gimmicky like the project from Julie and Julia. Rachel is properly learning from scratch, as the per the title, and in the blog she shares her discoveries, her joy at discovering the creativity and satisfaction in cooking a good meal, as well as what's going on in her life. There are snippets of her blog entries at the beginning of each chapter, and I really liked reading them. I didn't think they were as absolutely amazing as others seem to in the book (always a danger, when you have a character writing something that's supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread), but they were fun, and I also liked the sense of a blogging community. It seemed different from the online romance community that I know and love, but still quite nice.

Finally, though this is chick lit, there is romance and there is a happy ending. I'm not going to say much about it, to avoid spoilers, but it was surprising, and yet a really good, satisfying ending.

MY GRADE: A solid, enjoyable B.

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The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, by Philip Pullman

TITLE: The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
AUTHOR: Philip Pullman

COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 245
PUBLISHER: Canongate

SETTING: Israel
TYPE: Fiction
SERIES: None

Upon its hardcover publication, renowned author Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ provoked heated debates and stirred a frenzy of controversy throughout the clerical and literary worlds alike with its bold retelling of the life of Jesus Christ.

In this remarkable piece of fiction, famously atheistic author Philip Pullman challenges the events of the Gospels and puts forward his own compelling and plausible version of the life of Jesus. Written with unstinting authority, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a pithy, erudite, subtle, and powerful book by a beloved author, a text to be read and reread, studied and unpacked, much like the Good Book itself.

Days after finishing it, I'm still not quite sure what to make of this one. Unfortunately, I had to miss my book club's discussion of it -that might have helped. Basically, this is Pullman's version of the life of Jesus, an alternate explanation of what might have actually happened and still be recorded in the Bible as it is today. This includes Jesus Christ being actually a pair of twins: Jesus, who goes around preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God, and his brother Christ, who follows him, recording his deeds and words and putting his own spin on them.

This is not like, say, The Red Tent (http://www.amazon.com/Red-Tent-Anita-Diamant/dp/0312195516), taking something from the Bible and providing us with more insight into the characters and why they do what they do. It kind of moves a little bit in that direction, but it's still very much a "this happened, and then this happened, and X told Y to do this and Y did it" type of thing, of the kind where you constantly go "hang on! Why on Earth did X agree to do it?". I found it very distancing, and found it hard to really care about what was going on.

I did think, however, that it was a clever book, and I enjoyed its exploration of what the truth is, and whether a more apt fiction can be more truthful than reality. Still, I think I probably would have appreciated it more if I was a bit more familiar with the New Testament, but alas, my religious instruction ended as soon as I was old enough to decide such things on my own. My knowledge of the Bible is a child's, plus whatever I've managed to absorb as a grown-up without really trying. This meant I probably caught only a fraction of the clever twists.

It feels a bit churlish, but given that in this blog I rate books purely for my enjoyment of them, and that my main reaction to this one was: "so what?", it's not a great grade.

MY GRADE: A C.

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His, Unexpectedly, by Susan Fox

TITLE: His, Unexpectedly
AUTHOR: Susan Fox

COPYRIGHT: 2011
PAGES: 320
PUBLISHER: Brava

SETTING: Contemporary US and Canada
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: 3rd in the Wild Ride to Love series

Shying away from commitment, Jenna Fallon has only one rule in life: to ignore the rules. So when her car breaks down en route to Vancouver and she's forced to hitch a ride with a sexy stranger, she's thrilled to discover they share the same no-holds-barred views...As a globe-trotting marine biologist, Mark Chambers is used to changing locations - and women. Yet as he and Jenna make their way up the Pacific coast, camping, skinny dipping, and having scorching hot sex, Mark's not so sure he wants to say goodbye. But is Jenna brave enough to meet the challenge of a man who may be perfect for her?

This series, by Susan Fox/Lyons, has been one of my best discoveries this past year. The link is three sisters travelling home to their youngest sister's wedding and finding love in the process, in planes, trains and automobiles. Fun premise, but the wonderful thing about the books is that Fox takes full advantage of the prolonged proximity inherent in a road romance, and gives us heroes and heroines who actually talk to each other. By the end of each book, I was completely convinced that the couple in question would make it and that they were perfect for each other.

The other brilliant thing about this particular book in the series is that it features a heroine unlike any other I've read in romance novels. Jenna is a true free spirit, and not a ditz. As the book starts, she's just spent a few months on one of the many projects she's been interested in over the years -in this case, volunteering in a project to count peregrine falcons- and is on the way home. But then her beloved ancient car breaks down, and she lacks the money to fix it. Of course, she could phone home and borrow some money, but that would generate yet another 'I-told-you-so' from her family. Fortunately, she just happens to meet a man heading the same way in a camper van, and ends up hitching a ride.

That man is marine biologist Dr. Mark Chambers, and at first sight, he couldn't be more different from Jenna. He grew up with a hippy mother who raised him in a really crappy commune. It wasn't the kind of commune where children are raised by a whole village; it was one where the adults selfishly concentrated on their own pleasure and the children weren't raised at all. Not a very safe or happy environment, so when Mark's mother died and he went back to his very strict, traditional grandparents, he relished the structure in the new life, and has become very much like them, rigid and inflexible. His first impression of Jenna is that she's just like his mother, and he's therefore not particularly well-disposed towards her.

But the great thing about this book is that it's soon quite clear that while Jenna and Mark are superficially opposites, they actually share very similar outlooks and want lives for themselves that aren't at all incompatible. They discover this organically, through long conversations, and each encourages the other to have a good, critical look at their preconceptions. Both change during this book, but in healthy way, which means that they are still in essence the same person at the end, only better.

I especially appreciated that Fox doesn't take sides here. Not one way of being is pushed as being better than the other. With Jenna, for instance, it was clear that Fox wasn't saying that there's any thing wrong with being unconventional. Jenna is not made into a cookie-cutter heroine, even at the end. Her big issue is commitment-phobia, and the more extreme elements of this can be traced to a traumatic relationship in her youth, but this doesn't mean falling in love with Mark means she's "cured" and now wants a white picket fence and a 9-to-5 job. Nope, Jenna is still as much of a free spirit at the end as she was at the beginning, she's just learnt that committing to something doesn't have to mean loss of freedom, as long as you choose a person to commit to who wants the same kind of life that you do. She's still Jenna, and Mark is still Mark, even as he learns to appreciate life more and to accept other people.

In addition to a fantastic romance, His, Unexpectedly also provides excellent family drama. Jenna's relationship with her family is quite a fraught one. There's a great deal of both love and pain, there, showing perfectly well that those you love are the ones that can hurt you the most. This family of overachievers needs to appreciate their daughter, who feels that whatever she does, her judgment is questioned and any mistake (unavoidable, for an adventurous person such as Jenna) is seen as a character flaw. They need to learn that what Jenna does is also valuable, and this is what her relationship with Mark gives to Jenna, that self-knowledge. It was especially satisfying that we've seen over the entire series that Jenna is not the only one to feel that way, and matters come to a real head in this book.

This is a deceptively deep, meaty book, as it's also very fun and sexy at the same time. The big emotions kind of sneak up on you, and it made me choke up much more than supposedly "tragic" books do.

MY GRADE: An A-.

PS - Having just finished my review, I went to have a look at the one at AAR, and the reviewer mentions that the big flaw for her was the structure, with alternating chapters being written in 1st person, from Jenna's POV, and 3rd person, from Mark's. So I probably should mention this, in case anyone has got any hang-ups about it. It's not something that bothered me in the least -actually, I quite liked it, myself!

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When Beauty Tamed the Beast, by Eloisa James

TITLE: When Beauty Tamed the Beast
AUTHOR: Eloisa James

COPYRIGHT: 2011
PAGES: 384
PUBLISHER: Avon

SETTING: Early 19th century England and Wales
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: None

Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a Beauty... Naturally, she's betrothed to a Beast.

Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has left the earl immune to the charms of any woman.

Linnet is not just any woman.

She is more than merely lovely: her wit and charm brought a prince to his knees. She estimates the earl will fall madly in love—in just two weeks.

Yet Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her own heart by a man who may never love her in return.

After a ridiculous misunderstanding involving a prince, some innocent kisses and an ill-fitting dress that makes her look pregnant, Linnet Thrynne is ruined. She might still be a virgin, but no one will believe it. All seems lost until Linnet's aunt comes up with a way to actually take advantage of the misunderstanding: the Duke of Windebank's eldest son is rumoured to be impotent, so a bride with heir included would be a bonus. And that is how Linnet finds herself bundled off to a remote castle in Wales, which Piers, the Duke's heir, has set up a sort of teaching hospital.

Piers is a brilliant doctor, doesn't suffer fools gladly and his natural grumpiness isn't improved by the constant pain from his leg, which forces him to rely on a cane. Does this sound familiar at all? I don't tend to watch much TV, but House MD has been the exception since my brother forced me to watch the first episode (I'm still catching up and hovering somewhere round the end of season 2, so there might be some references here that I missed). Anyway, Piers isn't impressed with his father's meddling, and no matter how attractive his "fiancee" is, he won't give his father what he wants (the two share quite a painful history). But Linnet is unlike any other beautiful woman he's met before, and she gives as good as she gets, which he finds extremely appealing...

This was fun. I thought things kind of collapsed in the last third or so, but I enjoyed the first parts quite a bit. I especially had fun with the whole House thing. It's taken to just the right point... a grumpy but brilliant doctor, with a bad leg and an extremely sarcastic tongue, but that's it. It's inspiration, not an extra episode of House set in the 19th century.

I also liked how James mixed this inspiration with Beauty and the Beast. In that context, the setting that is more fantasy historical than proper historical romance was perfect. It feels "period", but James doesn't particularly concern herself with historical plausibility (I mean, having an Earl and a marriageable miss constantly disappear off for naked swimming lessons? Really?). But it was all so vivid and fun that I didn't care.

Now, the romance I had some doubts about. I enjoyed the banter, but on reflection, I realise I just didn't find the relationship particularly romantic. There was something about the way they constantly traded insults that went a teeny bit too far for me to find it romantic, I guess, even though I recognised this was just right for these clever, cerebral and unsentimental people. Well, clever and cerebral except for Piers' stubborn refusal to grab what he wants just to spite his father. That was extremely out of character, and got very tedious.

And things weren't much better in the believable romance front with the secondary romance between Piers' estranged parents. Basically, there was so much painful history there that I felt it wasn't developed enough, and would have needed either more page time or to be cut completely. I think I've had similar reactions to previous Eloisa James books as well: I feel somehow distanced from her characters and enjoy the books more for the comedy of manners than for the romance. Fortunately, I enjoy this aspect quite a lot.

What I didn't much enjoy was the ending. I didn't think it really went with the rest of the book. Suddenly it's all melodrama and Peril of Death, and it left me scratching my head.

Still, an entertaining read, if not a particularly memorable one.

MY GRADE: A B, mostly on the strength of the humour and Ms. James' writing, which is beautiful.

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