Beauty Vs. The Beast, by M.J. Rodgers

Beauty Vs. The Beast is the first in M.J. Rodgers' Justice Inc series, centered around the lawyers working of the Seattle law firm with that name. I've actually read one of the five books already, Baby Vs. The Bar, but that was without really knowing anything about it being part of a series. I'd just finished a Rodgers book I'd liked, The Dream Wedding, and my friend had this other one in her shelves, so I just borrowed it. Anyway, that one is book #2 in the series, Baby Vs. The Bar. After the AAR review of the entire series (which I link to above), I ordered the rest of the books.

Attorney Kay Kellogg thought she had seen it all until her psychologist client brings her a case that's destined to set a new precedent. Psychologist Damian Steele has been treating a dual-personality patient, LeRoy Nye, and has successfully "killed" Roy, the nasty half of his personality. But now Roy's wife is filing a multi-million-dollar wrongful death suit against Damian, claiming he "murdered" her husband.

The case causes an immediate sensation and ultimately the jury is faced with redefining life itself. Kay knows that in order to win she'll need her client's full cooperation. But Damian refuses to give her all the facts. What is he hiding and why? While Damian seeks to protect Kay from physical danger, he also knows he must keep his emotional distance; for his deadly secrets stalk the mind as well as the heart.

Well, this was certainly interesting. The plot did completely overwhelm the romance, as the AAR reviewer warned, but it was interesting enough that the book was still a success for me. A B-.

Kay Kellogg is a lawyer at Justice Inc. One day, her boss, Adam Justice, asks her to meet a friend of his who has a very unusual case she might want to take. That friend is psychologist Damian Steele, who's being sued for killing one of the personalities of a Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) patient.

It's a case that's just fascinating. The patient, Lee Nye, had come to Damian complaining about black-outs. He'd wake up and be in strange places (in an alley behind a bar, for instance, reeking of alcohol, a couple of ribs broken and a rat nibbling on his fingers), hours or days after the last thing he remembered. Trying to find out exactly what happens during those blackouts, Damian hypnotizes Lee and they discover there's another personality inside him, a very self-destructive, aggressive one called Roy. So Damien treats Lee, and the upshot is that he "kills" the Roy personality. Thing is, Roy was married, and once Lee gains complete control of his consciousness, he divorces the woman. And so the woman decides to sue Damian in civil court for killing her husband.

Most of the book is a wonderfully done courtroom drama, and that's what worked for me best. The case is obviously weird and entertaining, and so are most of the characters. Plus, Kay is a very competent lawyer, and I loved seeing her tear down the opposing counsel's witnesses and manouver around his tricks (which were many and very unethical).

Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, Damien and Kay are very attracted to each other, and as they prepare themselves for the case, they also give in to that attraction. This thread was definitely not the high point of the book, but it was basically ok. The protagonists were likeable enough, if lightly drawn (though that Beauty and the Beast comparison just felt a little labored), and some of the scenes were fun. But, to be honest, whenever they were together, what I was wishing for was more about the court case.

The book's main weak point was the climax, which was just not up to the development of the rest of the mystery. The best scenes -as I've mentioned ad nauseam- had been those of the courtroom drama, and I think it would have been miles better to have the climax of the action there, inside the courtroom, mind against mind. It certainly looked like it was heading in an interesting direction there, with them planning to interrogating a certain person (don't want to give any spoilers!), but then it ended in a much more clichéd fashion, and one that wasn't really all that plausible. I just didn't buy the motivation of the culprits.

Still, this is a good introduction to the series. I'll try to read the rest of the series as soon as possible, and see how they compare.

Read more...

All Night Long, by Jayne Ann Krentz

In the past few years, I've been easily able to wait for the PB release of Jayne Ann Krentz's books. If one of my Uruguayan friends who live in the US was coming, I'd ask them to bring me a couple of used HCs, and I usually made one of those a JAK, but if not, I was resigned.

With her latest book, however, I just couldn't wait. The buzz was just too good for me to resist. Was it really a bit of a return to her older, Golden Age romances? Fortunately, I managed to find someone who could bring me a copy of All Night Long, and I was soon finding out for myself.

The smaller the town, the darker the secrets...

Shy, studious Irene Stenson and wild, privileged Pamela Webb had been the best of friends for one short high school summer. Their friendship ended the night Pamela dropped Irene off at home—and Irene walked in to discover her parents' bodies on the kitchen floor. It was ruled a murder-suicide, and Irene fled the northern California town of Dunsley. But seventeen years later, when Pamela sends a cryptic e-mail asking for help, Irene returns to her hometown to find her old friend has died suddenly, leaving behind a lot of ugly, unanswered questions.

Caught up in a firestorm of desperate deceit and long-buried secrets, Irene knows it would probably be smarter to just pack up and leave Dunsley behind again, but her reporter's instinct—and her own hunger to know the truth—compel her to extend her stay at the local lodge. Even more compelling is the man who runs the place—a hazel-eyed ex-Marine who's as used to giving orders as Irene is to ignoring them. Luke Danner can see the terror beneath Irene Stenson's confident exterior—and he is intent on protecting her. But he is also driven by passions of his own, and together they will risk far more than local gossip to sort out what happened to Pamela Webb, and what really happened on that long-ago summer night. . . .

Well, the buzz was right. While not as perfect as, say, books like Trust Me or Family Man (some of my absolute faves), JAK has managed to recover some aspects which made me love those books so much, and which had seemed to fall by the wayside in some of her latest books. A B+.

After the tragic death of her parents in an apparent murder-suicide when she was sixteen, Irene Stenson left the small town of Dunsley and never went back. She also left behind her new-found and new-lost friend, Pamela Webb, daughter of the town's leading family.

Seventeen years later, Irene receives a strange email from Pamela and goes back to Dunsley to talk to her, only to find her dead body, apparently a suicide. But Irene doesn't believe it, just as she didn't believe the official verdict on her parents' death, and is determined to get to the bottom of it, whether Pamela's powerful family and the authorities want it or not. In this, she's reluctantly helped by the new owner of the town's lodge, newcomer Luke Danner, a man with whom she shares a growing attraction.

The suspense part of this romantic suspense was ok, but nothing to call home about. The romance and the characters, however, were what I know JAK can do so well and just wasn't fully delivering earlier.

Irene is interesting and likeable as a young woman who was able to get over some very difficult things to become a mentally healthy person, and I was especially charmed by Luke. As a hotelier, he'd give the Fawlties, from Fawlty Towers, a run for their money. A former Marine who's working on a new project, he purchased the lodge because he wanted some peace and quite. Well, he didn't count on demanding customers, people who come up with such silly concepts as wanting room service! Seeing Luke dealing with the lodge's guests, trying unsuccessfully to impose some military discipline, was just hilarious.

I also loved Luke's fascination with Irene, even if she is one of those pesky, too-demanding customers. He knows he should want nothing to do with someone so determined to stir up trouble, but he just can't help himself and keeps following her around and helping her, whether she wants it or not.

I think what I loved best about their relationship is how these two apparently very different people discover that at their cores, they are very similar. They are both people who share certain values and have matching worldviews, and even have some similar psychological issues, and that makes them much more compatible than simple appearances would suggest. And the best thing, is that I got a definite feeling of connection between them, a sense of a kind of intimacy, if you will. And I don't mean just sexually, though this is a nicely sexy book: these two completely understood and liked each other, and they found in this something they hadn't been able to find with anyone else.

Not with anyone else, and especially not Luke with his family. Luke comes from a family of very successful wine-makers, but he's always marched to his own beat. From philosophy to the military, his family has never been able to understand that he really doesn't want to get involved in their business. The one time when he let himself be persuaded to do so, it became a real debacle, and Luke is still battling some neverending family pressure about this. They're worried he's just not right, and this makes for some very satisfying scenes in which they are each put in a position to defend the other.

Even though the suspense subplot ends up being a bit too dark and horrible for the tone of the rest of the book, the romance was good enough that All Night Long was a definite success for me.

Read more...

AAR's annual reader's poll (looooong post!)

It was hard, but I managed to hold back from sharing most of my choices for AAR's 2006 annual reader's poll. I think I only gave away a couple of the categories ;-) But now that the results are out, here's a long, long post on what I voted and why, and how I feel about the books that were actually the winners.

Best Romance:

My vote: Simply Unforgettable, by Mary Balogh

It was actually pretty hard to decide, because there wasn't one book this year that stood head and shoulder above the rest. But out of the 3 books I graded A-, this one very narrowly edged out Loretta Chase's Mr. Impossible and Hot Target, by Suzanne Brockmann.

Actually, I almost feel guilty for voting for SU, because it's neither different, nor revolutionary, nor daring. It pretty much follows the rules for Regency-set Historicals, those same books we're all saying we wish weren't saturating the market, but the thing is, it just so well done! And a good book is a good book, whatever it is about.

Winner: Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase.

Needless to say, I have no quarrel with this result. It really was a wonderful book!

Favorite Funny:

My vote: Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase

I didn't really have that many "funnies" in my list. The choice was basically between Mr. Impossible and Julia Quinn's It's In His Kiss, and What Do You Say To A Naked Elf?, by Cheryl Sterling, was also in the running. But even though these three were all just as funny, Mr. Impossible was the better book, and the category isn't "Funniest book", but "Favourite Funny", isn't it?

I have to say, though, that if I'd managed to read it before the polls closed, I'd probably would have considered voting for The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, by Lauren Willig. I just adored the humour in that one.

Winner: Match Me If You Can, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Oh, I so want to read this one! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it in time, but I think I'll probably be getting in the next few days.

Most-Hanky Read:

My vote: His Secondhand Wife, by Cheryl St. John

My choice is all about Noah here! Reading this one was a very emotional experience.

Winner: A Breath of Snow and Ashes, by Diana Gabaldon

Nothing to say here, because I just haven't paid all that much attention to this one. I haven't even read Outlander yet, even though I do have it in the TBR. I seem to remember some people really hating the latest entry in the series, but it appears at least some of her fans were happy.

Most Luscious Love Story:

My vote: Midnight Angel, by Lisa Marie Rice

I read quite a few 2005 books that were pretty luscious (Lydia Joyce's and Stephanie Vaughan's, for instance), but I had absolutely no doubts about my vote in this category. "Luscious" is actually a tame word for this one! I know some people found the love scenes silly and unbelievable, not erotic, especially due to Douglas' extreme priapism, but it definitely worked for me. And this was my first vote ever for an ebook!

Winner: Passion, by Lisa Valdez

It's in the TBR, but this was another book I wanted to but didn't manage to read before voting. I'll be sure to read it ASAP.

Most Tortured Hero:

My vote: Noah Cutter, from His Secondhand Wife, by Cheryl St. John

Can you get any more tortured than this guy? And what's even more important, the way he was so tortured was perfectly justified. Noah very definitely wasn't making a big deal about nothing!

Winner: Bastien Toussaint, from Black Ice, by Anne Stuart

I stand by my choice, but yes, Bastien was pretty tortured!

Strongest Heroine:

My vote: Rosalind Harper, from Black Rose, by Nora Roberts

Roz wasn't kick-ass in a physical way, but she's who I want to be when I grow up.

Winner: Eve Dallas, from Survivor in Death, by J.D. Robb

Say all you want about Nora, but I think what I appreciate the most about her books is that she does some seriously strong heroines! Eve was in the running for me, too.

Best Hero:

My vote: Rupert Carsington, from Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase

Charming, funny, brilliant, Rupert made Mr. Impossible sparkle!

Winner: Rupert Carsington, from Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase

Yay! First one in which I vote for the winner!

Best Heroine:

My vote: Fabienne Argonat, from Dedication, by Janet Mullany

In this case, unlike in my vote for Best Romance, what I loved about Fabienne was how different she was from the norm.

Winner: Blair Mallory, from To Die For, by Linda Howard.

Well, I liked Blair much better than I thought I would, but nowhere near as much as some people seem to have!

Best Couple:

My vote: Lucius Marshall & Frances Allard, from Simply Unforgettable, by Mary Balogh

They're why I voted their book as the best of the year, since Simply Unforgettable was pretty much nothing but their romance, so my choice in this category was pretty easy.

Winner: Rupert & Daphne, from Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase

Yes, they were a wonderful couple, and they're a good choice for this category.

Best Villain:

My vote: The Harper Ghost, in Red Lily, by Nora Roberts

I always have trouble voting in this category, but this year, my choice feels right. The Harper Ghost, even dead for some 100 years, was more complex and alive than 99% of the villains out there. Oh, and it closely beat Dick Reese, from Alison Pace's If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend. That guy was just deliciously horrible.

Winner: the villain from It Happened One Autumn, by Lisa Kleypas

This is the first category in which I really disagree. As much as I want to read Devil in Winter, I happened to think the whole thing about the villain was the weakest point of IHOA. It felt poorly motivated and much too calculated to arouse interest in the next book.

Most Annoying Lead Character:

My vote: Wyatt Bloodsworth, from To Die For, by Linda Howard

I was pretty sure Blair, the heroine from To Die For would receive many more votes than Wyatt did, but he was the one who made me want to bang his (and my) head against the wall.

Winner: Blair Mallory, from To Die For, by Linda Howard

*sigh* I was right. Well, I guess I can see how she would annoy people, even if she didn't annoy me.

Best Author Who Debuted in 2005:

My vote: Lydia Joyce

Easy choice. Both her books were wonderful, and they showed an assurance and polish it takes more authors years to get.

Winner: Lisa Valdez

Yep, will definitely have to read her book. I'm heartened to see my choice at least got a honorable mention here.

Best Buried Treasure:

My vote: The Music of the Night, by Lydia Joyce

To be honest, I don't really know about this vote. Was it really a buried treasure? I decided it was based on the fact that it was mentioned in the ATBF column about buried treasures, but it definitely got lots and lots of buzz online. Though I don't know if it got that much notice in the off-line romance community, being by a new author, so that might make it all right.

Winner: The Music of the Night, by Lydia Joyce

Great! Only the second category in which I bet on the winner, if anyone's keeping count.

Guiltiest Pleasure:

My vote: Midnight Angel, by Lisa Marie Rice

The "guilty" part came because I felt pretty manipulated by the author while reading Midnight Angel. The "pleasure" part is because I absolutely loved it anyway.

Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It, by Lucy Monroe was another possibility, but in this case, it was lots and lots of guilt and only a little pleasure, and I decided I'd rather go with lots and lots of pleasure, with only a little guilt.

Winner: Passion, by Lisa Valdez

I guess people felt guilty because there was a lot of sex?

Author Most Glommed in 2005:

My vote: Lisa Marie Rice

I've now read every single ebook of hers. I'm only missing a short story in one of the Secrets anthologies. I also glommed Anne Stuart last year. I probably bought more books by AS, but as a % of her backlist, LMR wins.

Winner: tie between Anne Stuart and Mary Balogh.

Both good authors, with wonderful backlists. Good win.

Best Cabin or Road:

My vote: The Veil of Night, by Lydia Joyce

My choice was a cabin romance. The almost claustrophobic ambience was one of the things I enjoyed the most about this one, actually, so it's a fitting choice.

Winner: Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase

... and the winner is a road romance. I guess I tend to prefer cabin to road, which might be why I went for TVON even though I actually rated Mr. I higher.

Best Medieval/Renaissance:

My vote: Blank

Given that I've never been a great fan of Medievals and that fewer and fewer seem to be getting published these days, I'm not surprised I didn't read even one from 2005.

Winner: Return of the Warrior, by Kinley MacGregor

This is one winner I don't think I'll be trying. MacGregor's books haven't really been a success for me in the past.

Best European Historical:

My vote: Simply Unforgettable, by Mary Balogh

...as I'm sure you've deduced. I've never really understood voting a book for Best Romance and then not voting it as best in the time period it belongs to.

Winner: Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase

Well, the results were coherent this time. It might not be exactly intuitive for an Egypt-set book to win here, but it makes sense, as LLB explains in the column accompanying the results.

Best traditional Regency:

My vote: Dedication, by Janet Mullany

It was actually the only 2005 Trad I've read (still need to read Megan Frampton's, which is another one I meant to get to before voting), but I enjoyed it enough that I feel comfortable voting for it as best.

Winner: Dedication, by Janet Mullany

It's probably telling that the winner in the Trad category was a book that didn't read at all like the usual Trad.

Best Amer Hist or Frontier:

My vote: His Secondhand Wife, by Cheryl St. John

See what I wrote for Trad Regency? Ditto here. Only one I read (not a big fan of this subgenre, either), but it was great.

Winner: A Breath of Snow and Ashes, by Diana Gabaldon

Interesting. I hear Gabaldon, and I think Scottish historicals, not Westerns.

Best Contemporary :

My vote: Midnight Angel, by Lisa Marie Rice

I wondered if this one might not be Romantic Suspense, but no, I don't think it is. The suspense subplot is just background, IMO. The focus is on the romance.

Winner: Match Me If You Can, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I want, want, want!

Best Series:

My vote: Danger Calls, by Caridad Piñeiro

I hadn't read any 2005 series books until the week before I sent in my ballot. Both were great, and it took me a while to decide to vote for Danger Calls and not for Marie Donovan's Her Body of Work.

Winner: a tie between The Mysterious Miss M, by Diane Gaston and With Child, by Janice Kay Johnson

Ok, Miss M is a book I'm anxiously anticipating reading, and I might be able to overcome my allergy to pregnancy plots for With Child, because it does sound good.

But on the subject of the Gaston book, while, as LLB says, it is technically a series romance, I just don't see what the difference between it and other European Historicals is, other than the fact that it was published by Harlequin. Not even length: there are plenty of single title historicals which are as short as (or even shorter than) Harlequin Historicals.

Best Romantic Suspense:

My vote: Hot Target, by Suzanne Brockmann

Not only did I love the book in general, I also quite enjoyed the suspense part, which is definitely not usual with me, so this was a good choice. Anne Stuart's Black Ice was a possibility, as well, but HT edged it out.

Winner: Black Ice, by Anne Stuart

Another good choice.

Best Alternate Reality:

My vote: Survivor in Death, by J.D. Robb

Seems I always end up voting for an In Death in this category!

Winner: Dark Lover, by JR Ward

If I were to vote today, I would go for this one, actually. Too bad I read it on the week after I sent in the ballot.

Best Chick Lit/Women's Fiction:

My vote: The Givenchy Code, by Julie Kenner

I LOVED this one! If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend, by Alison Pace was in the running, too, but I liked TGC a bit more.

Winner: The Givenchy Code, by Julie Kenner

Yes!

Best Short Story:

My vote: Blank

I read only one 2005 anthology, Bewitched, Bothered and BeVampyred, but it wasn't very good. I guess I could have chosen the best story there (some were good), but I felt so unenthusiastic about the whole collection that I didn't. I wish I'd had time to read the Strangers in the Night anthology. I've heard great things about the Pam Rosenthal story there.

Winner of a honorable mention: Falling for Anthony, from Hot Spell, by Meljean Brook

Way to go Meljean! I want to read Hot Spell both for this story and for the Emma Holly.

Author You Gave Up On in 2005:

My vote: Blank

No one comes to mind. I don't think I really gave up on anyone just this year!

Loser: Julie Garwood

Heh, I gave up on her YEARS ago! Don't even like her "classic" historicals.

Author Others Love that You Don't:

My vote: Christine Feehan

Probably shouldn't have voted in this category, but I'd just been reading a particularly silly discussion between Feehan fangirls and I was feeling pissy. And well, I really don't love her books!

Loser: Nora Roberts

Weirdos, all of those who voted this ;-) No, seriously, I guess her voice is so distinctive that it might not work for everyone.

Most Disappointing:

My vote: One Little Sin, by Liz Carlyle

Not a bad book at all (I gave it a B-, actually), but I'd been eagerly anticipating it and it just wasn't as good as I was hoping for. Carlyle more than made up for this with her next book, Two Little Lies. If that one hadn't had a 2006 copyright (even though it came out in late December 2005!), I think I might have voted it for best romance.

Loser: It Happened One Autumn, by Lisa Kleypas

This one did have a huge buzz, which could have something to do with people considering it disappointing.

Worst:

My vote: Blank

My worst 2005 read was the Bewitched, Bothered and BeVampyred anthology, but it was just a C+... i.e. not nearly bad enough for me to vote as worst book of the year!

Loser: A tie between Passion, by Lisa Valdez and What Do You Say To A Naked Elf?, by Cheryl Sterling.

Same as always, while the positive categories really do pinpoint some of the best books published that particular year, I never think the "worst" category chooses a book that's anywhere near the worst of what came out in the year.

Purplest Prose:

My vote: Dark Desires, by Eve Silver

So very overwrought! I kind of liked it, at first, but after a while it got on my nerves.

Loser: Passion, by Lisa Valdez

Will need to read it to form an opinion, but I did hear this one was pretty purple!

*****

...aaand that's it! Thanks for sticking with me this far. So, what do you think?

Read more...

Her Body of Work, by Marie Donovan

As the AAR readers' poll approaches, I always go a bit crazy trying to read as many books as I can from the year in question. I always end up voting really late because of this (sorry, LLB!). As I made up a tentative draft ballot earlier this month, I noticed I'd read no 2005 category books. None at all. When my latest batch arrived (quickly and expensively, as some of you I've shared my shipping issues with know), it contained two 2005 series books I had high hopes for, so I read them as soon as I could.

The first was Danger Calls, and the second Her Body of Work, by new-to-me author Marie Donovan.

When sculpting a nude, the artist must…

…understand the male body

Chicago sculptor Rey Martinson has always worked with nudes, but she is floored by her new model’s male perfection. Cuban-American Marco Flores’s body is more than inspiring—it’s irresistible.

…be good with her hands

Because it turns out that Marco is incredibly talented with his--on Rey! After each wildly arousing modeling session, they find release in intense lovemaking.

…have an eye for detail

Rey can’t ignore that there’s something suspicious about Marco. He’s the first lover she’s ever had who sleeps with a gun under his pillow! But for Rey, being with Marco is worth the risk. Because she’s never been with a man who stimulates her so strongly—as an artist…or as a woman.

It was a really good example of what Blaze books can be, when done right. I ultimately decided to vote for Danger Calls as best series books (and that's the last thing I'll say about my ballot until the results come out... any time now), mainly because the ending of HBOW wasn't as good as the rest of the book. Still, a B is quite a good grade.

I tend to have a kind of love/hate relationship with the Harlequin Blaze line. I really love a romance where the sex is steamy and works to develop the relationship, and I've found some Blaze authors who are really good at that. However, when Blazes are bad, they tend to really stink. I especially detest: a) ridiculously contrived setups which are supposed to be sexy but are just silly, b) mechanical love scenes which add nothing to the story and are just there because the author thinks because this is a Blaze, she needs to add X number of love scenes, whether the story asks for them or not. Sadly, both a) and b) apply to a large percentage of the Blaze books I've read.

The good news is, they definitely do not apply to this one. As for a), the setup here is sexy and provocative, but not at all silly. Marco is a formerly undercover DEA agent whose cover has been blown. He's now on the run from the drug dealers he'd infiltrated and, knowing that they will try to get to him through his family, the first thing he does is to get them out of the way.

His mother is easy: off she goes on a cruise of the Mediterranean. Then it's on to Chicago, to try to get his model/actor brother out of the city. He lucks out, because Francisco has an audition in LA, but before he goes, he guilts Marco into covering for him and showing up to an audition for a sculptor. After all, they look similar enough, at least at first glance, and that way, Francisco's agent won't be pissed and he'll still have a job if his LA thing doesn't work out.

The artist who's looking for a model is sculptor Rey (short for Freyja) Martinson, and she specializes in naked men. She's looking for the perfect model for a big commission, a marble sculpture of Mars for an important client, which will finally put her on the map if it's a success. The sparks fly on Marco and Rey's very first meeting, and in spite of their reservations -Rey because she's had bad experiences with her models and has long made it her policy not to get sexually involved with any of them, and Marco because he's on the run and knows he's going to have to get out of town soon- they're soon creating even more sparks, between the sheets.

I very much enjoyed this. Both Rey and Marco are interesting, likeable characters, and they have some very nice chemistry. I thought Donovan did a wonderful job in using her frequent and imaginative love scenes to show the slow progress of their relationship, from simply a very strong attraction to fondness and tenderness and finally love. And when I say imaginative, I mean it! It's actually pretty kink-free, but there are certain things there I haven't seen elsewhere in Romanceland (the Cubana, BTW, we call Russian here. Interesting!)

Plus, both Rey and Marco are immigrants, she from Sweden, he from Cuba, and the exploration Donovan does of the immigrant experience, of how it affected them and shaped who they are now, is fascinating. I thought it really added some interesting and fresh layers to these characters. (And isn't it a funny coincidence that the heroes in these series books I read, one after the other, are both Cuban immigrants?)

All through the book, the grade I had in my head was a B+. It wasn't quite an A read (just lacked that extra zing that's the mark of one, I guess), but it was solidly enjoyable. The ending, however, lowered that grade somewhat. That's when the suspense subplot came to the foreground, and while it wasn't really bad, it just lowered what was previously a fresh, fun story into humdrum territory. The villain was uninteresting, and I just didn't completely get Marco's behaviour there at the end.

This is just a small part of the book, though. This is one I'd recommend, and a new author I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for from now on.

Read more...

The Perfect Rake, by Anne Gracie

I adored Anne Gracie's The Gallant Waif, so, even though I disliked the other one of hers that I read, Tallie's Knight, I picked up The Perfect Rake (extras) when I saw it for sale online. And then I moved it up in my TBR after something KristieJ said, something about Gideon's attitude towards Prudence that sounded wonderful.

She ran from a brute...

Fleeing the harsh guardianship of her grandfather, Prudence Merridew escapes with her beautiful younger sisters to London. One of them must marry—and fast. To act as her sisters' chaperone, Prudence invents a secret engagement to a reclusive duke... But when the duke arrives unexpectedly in London, she needs his help to avert disaster.

...into the arms of a rake

Aristocratic Gideon, handsome, rakish and with a strong frivolous streak, casually hijacks Prudence's game, awarding himself a stolen kiss or three along the way. Used to managing sisters and elderly men, Prudence is completely out of her depth with a charming, devious and utterly irresistible rake. And her plot goes terribly—if deliciously—awry...

The Perfect Rake is an unfortunately uneven book. As I write this post, I'm reading M.J. Rodgers' Beauty Vs. The Beast, a Harlequin Intrigue I started right after finishing TPR and which deals with a psychologist who's been sued for killing one of the personalities of a patient with Multiple Personalities Disorder (MPD). I found myself wishing I could have done the same to TPR, and killed the irritating personality and keep the good one. When this book is good and showing the nice personality, it's wonderful, but when the evil personality is out... ugh. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough of those good parts, and the book ends in a false note.

We start with a disturbing glimpse of the bad personality. Prudence Merridew and her four younger sisters have been living with their evil grandfather since their parents died, 10 years earlier. "Evil" is actually an understatement for what this bastard is. He's obsessed by the fact that the girls' father (his son) ran away to marry a cit's daughter, and he believes the girls are all tainted. He beats them, severely and frequently, for the slightest transgressions, and he's kept them pretty much isolated for all those 10 years.

As the book starts, he falls down the stairs while chasing after Prudence, and seeing that he will take a while to recover, the sisters take that chance to run away to their great-uncle Oswald in London. They only need a few more weeks until Prue comes of age and can become the other girls' guardian (as per their father's will), and as for money to support them, once one of them marries, she'll come into her inheritance, and they've agreed to share that money and live on that.

So here was my first problem. Smaller one first, to get it out of the way: those complicated will stipulations? Completely out of character for what we're told about the parents. Biggest problem: I didn't buy for a second that Prue and her sisters could be so untraumatized, after 10 years living in hell (and it was hellish). I think I would have bought their behaviour so much more easily if they'd been there for maybe a year, or even less. But 10 years is too long a time for Prue to have the attitude she has, especially if what we saw was representative of the behaviour they'd had to endure from their grandfather. I mean, given THAT, if Prue had always been as defiant with him, she'd have been dead!

So I was extremely doubtful as the book got going, but I soon was enjoying myself much more, as the girls got to London and I got to see the book's other personality.

Great-uncle Oswald receives the sisters with open arms in London, accepting their story of their Grandfather having sent them. He loves having them there and treats them with kindness. The only problem -and this is something they can't get him to budge from- is that, seeing that Prudence is extremely plain next to her incredibly beautiful sisters, he decides he'll fire her off first, and only then allow the other girls to come out, once Prue is engaged and they can't overshadow her and ruin her chances to get married.

The thing is, the girls need one of them to get married ASAP, which they can't tell Oswald for fear of getting him in trouble, so this just won't do. Prue is already secretly engaged to her neighbour Phillip, who's been in India for the past 4 years (something else they can't tell Oswald), and, in any case, it's doubtful that, being as plain as she is, she could manage to get engaged as soon as they need.

So smart Prue makes up a story of a secret engagement to someone who can't possibly be reached by their uncle: a duke who's known for being a hermit and not having budged from his estate in Scotland for years. But, as luck would have it, the duke has just arrived in London, and off Oswald goes to confront him. Prue rushes out to warn the poor man, but when she arrives at the duke's town house, she makes a mistake and thinks the duke's cousin, Gideon, Lord Carradice, is the duke. And so begins a kind of comedy of errors that was light and frothy and funny and witty and just generally lovely.

I think what I loved best about this is how Gideon sees Prue so differently from the way everyone else sees her. For him, Prue isn't plain. He's convinced she's spectacular, so much more beautiful than her sisters. I just loved that. It was wonderfully funny to see things through his eyes, the way he was so convinced that everyone must see Prue as the beauty he believes she is, the way he's convinced all other men must be after her as well, because, how could they not be crazy about such a spectacularly beautiful woman? He's a well-known rake, but after seeing Prue, other women just hold no attraction to him and he soon realizes he wants her forever.

Gideon and Prue have chemistry and attraction in spades. I loved their banter and the way he keeps trying to make her laugh and succeeds, even though she doesn't want to like him and be amused by him. So why is she so resistant to him, you ask? Because of that secret engagement. She gave her promise and she'll keep her promise, even if she's quickly falling in love with this man who seems to think she's beautiful and who she likes much more than she ever liked her fiancé!

It is when the sisters receive news that their grandfather is recovered and is coming after them that things start to go downhill. Gideon and his cousin, the duke, on being told why they need to run away, put themselves at their disposal and help them escape to Bath, where the men's aunt lives and can take them in.

Unfortunately, from then on, Gideon and Prudence's relationship becomes all about her engagement to Philip and how she can't possibly not fulfill her promise, whatever her wishes are, and this got really tedious, really fast. It just irritated me. Unlike Gideon, I didn't find Prudence's blind loyalty admirable, I found it stupid.

To hang on that way to a promise made to a guy who -possible spoilers here, highlight the following (the gist is: he treated her abominably)- abandoned her with her grandfather when she was 16, knowing full well that the old goat thrashed her any chance he got; and not only that: he left after seducing her (and there are certain hints there that it wasn't quite consensual, as Prudence's mention of Philip getting a certain result after applying "his masculine strength" seems to imply), and, again, knowing her grandfather, he didn't come running when she wrote to him about being pregnant. Hell, even not knowing he grandfather, not coming after that particular letter should have been enough for Prudence to break that engagement!. (end spoiler) Argh! It was SO obvious the guy was a real bastard, that Prudence looked like an absolute idiot for not considering their connection severed YEARS before. And when he finally showed up, spouting nonsense, she should have kicked his ass, not allow him to make her promise not to go out in public. Stupid, irritating woman. And then to believe his lies about Gideon. Stupid, irritating, peabrained woman!

This part of the book also shows much of that darker, horrid personality that doesn't go at all with the part of the book that I loved. Certain revelations Prudence made were just much too painful and traumatic to have been overcome so effortlessly! And then to find out that all the suffering was unnecessary was too much for me.

And another complaint: the actual ending of the book. In the good parts, this is a very sensual book, even if Gideon and Prudence never do much than some passionate kissing. But then, when all that other crap takes over, that aspect of their relationship disappears, only to return in the very end, when I didn't care anymore. The last 15 or so pages are basically nothing but love scenes (yes, sceneS. Three or four of them, IIRC), and I was terribly tempted to skim them, because, at that point, I didn't think they could add much. I was right, and they didn't. Their inclusion there is a puzzling choice. It kind of felt as if the book had started out as a Trad Regency and then the author was asked to turn it into a single-title historical and told by her editor it needed some sex. And since it would have been much harder to write them into the original story, she just decided to cram them in at the end.

Hmm, I like that theory. And actually, I think this book would have done MUCH better as a Trad Regency. It didn't need the extra length. Or rather, the extra length was just padding, and it made the second part of the book boring as hell. Add to that the uncomfortable back and forth between light and frothy and painful and traumatic, and this was a very strange book.

My grade? That's really, really difficult. If I could split it up, I'd probably give the parts about Gideon and Prue's initial relationship an A, and the other parts a D. I thought maybe a B-, but given that it ends so badly and left me with a bad taste in my mouth, I think I'll go with a C+. Too bad.

PS - A minor nitpick: "Montigua del Fuego"? Doesn't sound right to me, though I guess it's possible. What isn't possible is that Lady Augusta Montigua del Fuego spent those years in Argentina, since I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been called that way back then in 1816. I need to google it, but my feeling is the Argentina name didn't appear until later. At the time this book is set, it would have been Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata: the United Provinces of the River Plata (or River Plate, as it's sometimes called in English). Well, I said it was a minor nitpick, didn't I?

Read more...

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, by Lauren Willig

New author Lauren Willig debuts with a very different novel: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (extras).

And didn't she luck out with that cover? No heaving bosoms to be seen, and VERY attractive! :-)

Nothing ever goes right for Eloise. The day she wears her new suede boots, it rains. When the subway stops short, she's the one thrown into some stranger's lap. And she's had her share of misfortune in the way of love. So, after deciding that romantic heroes must be a thing of the past, Eloise is ready for a fresh start.

Setting off for England, Eloise is determined to finish her dissertation on two spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. But what she discovers is something historians have missed: the secret history of the Pink Carnation-the most elusive spy of all time. As she works to unmask this obscure spy, Eloise has more and more questions. Like, how did the Pink Carnation save England from Napoleon? What became of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian? And will Eloise Kelly escape her bad luck and find a living, breathing hero of her own?

Did I really think I was all tapped out on spy stories? Let me correct that: I'm sick of obligatory, humdrum, spy subplots. When the author shows as much enthusiasm for her subject matter as Willig does here, well, then, I like spy stories very much! A B+.

Ok, first of all, you should mostly disregard that blurb I quoted above. It sounds like it's all about Eloise, but actually, most of the story centers on the Purple Gentian and Pink Carnation, spying and heroic derring-do in Napoleonic France. Eloise is basically a frame for this story.

A PhD candidate working on her dissertation on 19th century gentleman spies, American Eloise Kelly is spending some time in England, doing research. She knows all about the Purple Gentian, who was unmasked as Lord Richard Selwick early on, but what she really wants to do is to find out who the Pink Carnation was, as it would be a very nice scoop for her dissertation!

Reasoning that, in the same way that Lord Richard was in contact with Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel, he must have also been in contact with whoever was the Pink Carnation, Eloise resolves to find his correspondence and look for clues there, so she contacts his descendents to inquire about old family papers. Most of her responses are lukewarm, but she receives both a big set-down (from Colin Selwick) and an invitation (from Arabella Selwick-Alderly). Arriving at Mrs.Selwick-Alderly's house, she's immediately shown a pile of old papers, which, the lady tells her, will answer all her questions.

So in between some very cute encounters with Colin (who happens to be Mrs. Selwick-Alderly's nephew and is not too happy to have Eloise butting into his family's history), Eloise reads those papers, and the story of the Pink Carnation slowly takes place.

And what a story it is! Amy Balcourt (née Mademoiselle Aimée de Balcourt in France) lost her father to the guillotine during the Terror after the French Revolution. She and her mother were visiting her mother's family in England when the Revolution took place, and Amy has spent most of her life there, living with her uncle. Deeply affected by her father's death, Amy fantasizes about joining, first the Scarlet Pimpernel, and after his cover is blown, about joining the spy who takes his place: the Purple Gentian.

After the peace of Amiens, Amy receives an invitation from her brother, who remained in France and is now a hanger-on in Napoleon's court. Seeing an opportunity to finally meet her beloved Purple Gentian, Amy convinces her uncle to let her go, and so she leaves, full of plans and accompanied by her cousin Jane and their chaperone, Miss Gwen.

Amy gets her wish even before leaving England, though she doesn't know it. Her party shares the boat in which they cross the Channel with Lord Richard Selwick. Both of them are very attracted to each other, but once Amy finds out this charming Englishman is in Napoleon's confidence and even accompanied his troops to Egypt, as part of the archeological party of the expedition (an excellent cover for his spying), she dismisses him as a traitor. Or, at least, she wants to, because she still feels much too attracted to him. And when she finally meets the Purple Gentian (masked, of course), well, she's attracted to him, too!

Amy and Richard's story is quite a farce. This is not a dark, realistic spy story, but a fun, lively one, which was a joy to read. And even though many of the historical characters were exagerated and made pretty ridiculous, there still was a feel there that it was all based on some very solid and deep research, and I loved that.

And really, for all that they did feel 21st century-ish, I loved the characters. Both Amy and Richard have charm to spare, and even though I think I'd have ordinarily though Amy a bit too cute and perky and adorable for my taste, her joie-de-vivre was too contagious for me to resist, and I found myself very involved in their romance, which was surprisingly sensual for such a light, comedic read.

I can't decide if it was the characters or the writing that I loved best about the book. I usually tend to prefer it when third person POV is done using, well, I don't know the technical term, but I guess you could call it a "deep" POV. When we're in a character's POV, I like for the action to be narrated as seen from that character's eyes: only what he or she knows and feels, narrated in the words he or she would use. And I don't really mind some head-hopping, but I do prefer it when we stay in one character's head for a while... maybe a scene?

So I really would have thought Willig's writing wouldn't have worked well for me, since POV hopped constantly from Richard to Amy, and even sometimes to other characters... a paragraph here, a couple of paragraphs there, then back for a few more paragraphs... all the time! And even when we were in one particular head, there were constant little omniscient asides. I actually recently abandoned a certain book after a few pages, because this same thing kept kicking me out of the action.

But you know what? Here, it worked. No, not just worked: it was wonderful! I adored Willig's voice so much that I'll probably be buying her books, whatever they're about. Her voice actually reminds me a bit of Julia Quinn's. Not that she feels like a Quinn wannabe (like too many light historical authors), not at all! It's just that both voices are wonderfully witty and, well, they sparkle, I guess! Oh, and another similarity is that, like JQ often does, Willig writes a story which could actually make for some dark angst, but she does it with such a light, witty touch, poking gentle fun at her characters' foibles, that even though the story doesn't lose it's emotional core, it becomes tremendously funny and feel-good.

I really think the humour was what I liked best here. It was not haha, slapstick humour, it was more like constant smiling at the way she put things... elegant, witty turns of phrase that charmed me. And I loved that Willig wasn't afraid to make fun of certain embarrassing things her characters felt and thought.

The ending, while pretty much closing the story of Amy and Richard, leaves Eloise and Colin's story open, making it clear that there are some sparks between them, and that these sparks will have an occasion to develop, because there are many more family papers to go through. The sequel to Pink Carnation, The Masque of the Black Tulip, is already out, and it's about Richard's sister Henrietta and his friend Miles. There's another book due after that, at least according to the Willig interview included after the book, but I don't know who it's about yet. We're only told it's not about Jane, who I really want to know more about, but I guess I can wait!

Read more...

I'm back!

My body spent these last 11 days in Punta del Este (most of them lying on the same beach lounger... you'd identify it by the butt-shaped depression on it), but I didn't.

I've been to Napoleonic France, to New York in the mid 21st century, to Regency England, to Bengal, India in 1932, to a vampire-ridden version of contemporary Caldwell, NY, and I've gone through the history of the entire world in 10^1/2 chapters. I've also travelled a lot around the present-day US: the Californian Sierras, Seattle, Monterey, Baltimore, Miami, I've been in all those places.

I'll tell you all about them in the next couple of weeks! ;-)

Read more...

On vacation

No, that's not quite where I'm going, and I don't have a hammock (bummer!), but I am planning to do absolutely nothing but read and rest and just generally laze around all over the place, so the photo seemed appropriate.

I'm all packed and ready to go: a small bag of clothes and, as I'm sure you've all guessed, a larger, much heavier bag of books, enough for a couple of months, really :-)

I'm taking only 5 days vacation, because I'm trying to save most of my vacation time from the last couple of years for a certain something I have plans for in the second half of the year, but it's Carnaval on February 27th and 28th (the Monday and Tuesday right after next week), and that's a holiday here in Uruguay, so I'll have a grand total of 11 days in which to rest, which is more than enough.

The plan is to go to Punta del Este, where my parents have a place. It's a pretty busy, fashionable place in January, but it calms down in February, so it's just perfect.

I'll probably check my email every now and then (if only to delete all spam and keep my account from getting clogged), but I'm going to try and stay as far from the computer as I can, so no blog posts from me for a couple of weeks, and no blog-hopping. See you all when I get back!

Read more...

How Much Is Your Blog Worth?

My blog is worth $14,678.04.
How much is your blog worth?

Yeah, right! Any takers? 14,678 bucks would really come in handy!

Read more...

If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend, by Alison Pace

I have tried quite a few new authors this month, so no problem choosing one for Angie W's February TBR challenge!

Title: If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend

Author: Alison Pace

Year published: 2005

Back cover blurb:

Jane Laine used to know a lot about art. But that was before she started managing a prominent gallery, and long before she met "it" artist Ian Rhys-Fitzsimmons. Jane can't seem to put a finger on what exactly is so "it" about his work. In fact, as far as she can tell, he's a big fraud and his fifteen minutes of fame should be over by now. Which could be kind of a problem --since Jane is the one who has to accompany him on a five-month international art fair tour.

To get through it all, Jane figures she'll be a good sport and keep her critiques to herself. Until, traveling with this alleged genius from London to Rome and beyond, she starts to understand the connection between art and love --and the fact that, in both, perspective is everything...

Why did you get this book?: The review at AAR first sparked my interest in it and I added it to my wish list. And then jmc mentioned how it was one of her keepers, so I broke down and ordered it, instead of waiting to find someone who wanted to trade it.



Do you like the cover?

Yeah, I do. It's attractive (if not particuarly attention-grabbing), and the art gallery feel is very appropriate to the book.



Did you enjoy the book?:

I did, very much. I'd give it a B+.

Jane was a very engaging character, and I really enjoyed her voice and her take on things. I think one of the things I liked best was the way her attitude towards Ian and his work evolves. At first, she simply doesn't understand it or him. She just can't see what's so wonderful about it, why everyone who's anyone thinks Ian is the best artist in a long time, and this makes her feel insecure, because it makes her doubt that she actually knows anything about art. And this, in turn (added to the fact that anything that relates to Ian makes her boss behave even more unbearably), makes her dislike Ian himself. She thinks he has to be a fake and a phony, that he has to be a pretentious idiot out to fool the world. Given that Ian is such a huge deal in the art world (which is, of course, the world in which much of Jane's life takes place) I thought it was refreshing that their relationship starts out so free of hero worship, and I liked this.

During their trip, her attitude gradually changes, and this change keeps pace with the growth in her character. She soon begins to see that Ian is actually a sweetheart, and a true artist who, even though he takes a healthy interest in the commercial side of his art, really believes in what he's doing. And she also begins to see the whole point of Ian's art. I'm not going to spoil it here, but I loved the scene in which she finally sees what the elusive "it" of his art is.

Oh, and of course, I also adored the travelling. When Jane first gets the news and is, er, less than excited about it, I wanted to shake her. London! Rome! Chicago! Santa Fe! And she doesn't want to go? That's just nuts. But she soon sees reason and begins to enjoy herself, and so did I. I especially loved her Rome appartment and Lucia. ;-)

Her boss, Dick, is also wonderfully done. I've just voted in the AAR readers poll, and I was thisclose to voting for him in the "Best Villain" character. He's just indescribably horrible, unbelievable mean and petty and cruel, and a character I really loved to hate.

The romance was actually really nice. It did leave me wanting more, especially about what was going on inside Ian's head, but in a good way, because Pace managed to subtly show his feelings through Jane's eyes, even when she didn't realize what was going on. Still, I did think the ending was a tad too abrupt, both on the romance angle and (because I'm vengeful that way), in that, while it made it clear that Dick was going to get what was coming to him, we didn't actually get to see this, and I really wanted to gloat!

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again?: New to me: see the definition of this month's challenge ;-) Would I read something else by her: definitely. I've been looking at her website, and she's got a new book, Pug Hill, coming out in May. The blurb wouldn't really make me pick it up, but since I liked IAWHAG so much, I'll check it out.

Are you keeping it or passing it on?: It's already in its place in my keeper shelves.

Read more...

Danger Calls, by Caridad Piñeiro

Caridad Piñeiro's Darkness Calls was my pick for best category romance of 2004. It was a darker and grittier read than the average category book, and I very much enjoyed the beta, vulnerable vampire hero and the dark, kick-ass latina heroine. Danger Calls (extras) is its sequel.

Love the cover, BTW. The blonde looks just as Melissa is described, and the background, with its gothicky fence and old houses behind it, gives a very good idea of what the book's ambience is like.

One night was all it could ever be... because Dr. Melissa Danvers was a vampire's keeper. Honor-bound to prepay the man who'd always been there for her, Melissa hoped the 140-year-old immortal could uncover the mystery surrounding her parents' deaths. Complicating her mission was Sebastian Reyes, the young, sexy entrepreneur whose wild lovemaking left her sated, yet burning for more.

One night of passion with the beautiful healer would haunt Sebastian the rest of this life. Now Melissa needed his computer expertise to unravel a crime and stay one step ahead of a desperate killer. Sebastian was strictly a no-strings-attached guy. Until danger and desire delivered him to the one woman his soul couldn't forget.

Piñeiro truly is a buried treasure. I'm surprised her books haven't garnered much more attention. This was really good. A B.

Danger Calls is very much a sequel to Darkness Calls, rather than merely a spin-off of it. The ending of Darkness left plenty of issues hanging, even though the HEA we had WAS satisfying. I mean, Diana's case was closed and she and Ryder were together and planning a future, but we still had no idea of how they were going to deal with the fact that Ryder was a vampire and Diana wasn't. Nor did we know a whole lot about Ryder's vampirism, or about whether there were others like him around. And then there was the issue of Melissa Danvers, Ryder's "keeper". Would she have to live her whole life hanging on Ryder's needs, as her ancestors had, out of a sense of duty and responsibility?

Danger focuses on this last question, mostly, though there are certain hints about the others, as well. While Diana and Ryder are vital characters in this story, the focus here is on Melissa Danvers and Sebastian Reyes, Diana's brother.

From what I've written above, it's probably obvious that this is a book that doesn't really stand alone very well. In fact, even though I reread Darkness not too long ago, I was slightly lost at first. You know how sometimes reading a book in a series without having read the previous ones can feel like arriving at a party with people you don't know, who all know each other and keep chatting about people and events you know nothing about? Well, this wasn't quite like that, but it was similar. It was more like arriving late at a party full of friends of yours and finding them all talking about something that happened right at the beginning of the party, which you obviously missed.

The book starts only a few months after the events in Darkness, and we're dropped right in the middle of things. Someone has stolen one of Melissa's father's journals, in which he, as his "vampire keeper" ancestors had done before him, recorded the everyday details of caring for Ryder. Diana and Ryder and Melissa are obviously very worried, especially after some initial investigation shows that Melissa's parents' death wasn't an accident, as they had thought, and they, together with Sebastian, try to get to the bottom of things. It took me a little while to understand exactly what was going on, at the beginning, but I was soon all caught up and ready to go.

I thought Sebastian was a particularly fascinating character. I think this might actually be the first time that I've read a romance novel hero that I actually recognize as my contemporary. Sebastian is in his 20s, and he acted like it, both in his attitudes and in his fashion choices ;-) About his actions and attitudes, I do NOT mean he was immature. It's just that even young heroes in romance novels tend to feel weirdly settled, and Sebastian was different in that.

I also liked that he wasn't immediately all macho-man, I'll-protect-my-woman the minute Melissa asked him for help, even though they had a past and were still very attracted to each other. He simply found himself pretty creeped out by the whole thing with Ryder and with the murders and stolen journal, and he's not at all convinced that he wants to get involved, basically because his very conservative father destroyed much of his self-esteem and he now can't accept that he might be able to be Melissa's "hero".

He and Melissa were sweet together, and I enjoyed the romance, even though I actually found myself even more interested in what was going on around them. As in the previous book, while the "case" is closed and Sebastian and Melissa end up very much together, not all questions are answered, and there are plenty of hints of more developments to come.

The next book in the series, Temptation Calls deals with another vampire, a female one (will Ryder finally discover that there are, indeed, other like him out there?), and there's another book in the series, Death Calls, coming out in November. I'm not sure what that one's about (can't find any blurbs yet), but I seem to remember Ms. Piñeiro leaving a comment in my review of Darkness Calls and mentioning there would actually be another book about Diana and Ryder, so this one might be it!

Read more...

The Demon's Daughter, by Emma Holly

I'm a big fan of Emma Holly. I've loved her erotica (ahhhh, Menage!), her historicals (ahhh, Beyond Seduction!) and the couple of her paranormals that I've read (ahhhh, The Night Owl!). The Demon's Daughter (excerpt) combines elements of each of the three.

Oh, and that cover? I'm not the world's biggest fan of man-titty covers, but I thought this one was particularly attractive. The guy seems to be Pocket's Cover Model Muse, as P.Devi says ;-)

Inspector Adrian Philips keeps the peace between demons and humans in Avvar, a city not unlike Victorian London. To do his job, he's allowed his strength to be enhanced by demon technology, a choice that's cost him his wife, his family and—some would say—his humanity. Rejected by both races, he hungers for a woman's touch.

Roxanne McAllister is an outcast, too: the illegitimate daughter of an infamous chanteuse. One fateful night brings Roxanne and Adrian together, and though the border between human and demon is treacherous, these two may be just the ones to cross it. The question is, will the exquisite pleasure they find together be worth the risk...

Do you know what Steampunk is? I didn't, not until Maili mentioned that's what The Demon's Daughter was. I've since watched some movies which qualify, and I agree. It is steampunk, and it is pretty good! A B+.

For those of you who, as I was, are baffled by the term, Wikipedia defines steampunk as:

Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. Fiction in the steampunk genre is set in the past, or a world resembling the past, in which modern technological paradigms occurred earlier in history, but were accomplished via the science already present in that time period.

TDDdoesn't exactly fit this definition, because those "modern technological paradigms" occurred, not via the "science already present in that time period", but via the discovery of a hidden civilization which was more technologically advanced. However, it does have a certain steampunk feel to it.

Ok, on to the story. It's set in an alternate universe, a Victorian London-ish kind of city, Avvar. Not too long before our story takes place, an expedition to the frozen North had found a hidden civilization, the Yamas. I won't go into detail about them, because it would take paragraphs and paragraphs, so just the basics here: the Yama look pretty much human, but they can do a certain amount of telepathic communication, they feel no emotions (at least, they tend to feel much less than humans do) and they can "feed" off humans' "etheric force". They are also much more technologically advanced than humans, so in exchange for their technology, the citizens of Avvar have agreed to receive the lower caste Yamish (or "demons" as they're also called). There is a good deal of xenophobic feeling against them (as you've probably deduced from their being called demons), but things tend to be peaceful between them and humans.

Our hero is Adrian Phillips. He's a policeman, and very much an outsider. See, for all that peace is the norm between the Yamas and humans, sometimes there are problems, and since Yamas are much stronger than humans, policemen could only stop them by killing them. Adrian is part of an experimental force which has had Yamish implants put in, which make them much stronger and allows them to police the Yamas better. Of course, his implants have also made Adrian even more of an outcast, because his fellow police now feel he's tainted by those demon implants.

As the story starts, Adrian is a man hungry for some human warmth. He's just come out of a marriage to a woman who was cold, both physically and emotionally, and his supposed friends' treatment just adds to his feelings of loneliness.

He finds all the warmth he needs in Roxanne McAllister, when he gets hurt during a mission in the slums and the last thing he can do before he collapses is climb on to a building right at the edge of this area. He's rescued by Roxanne, just as much of an outcast as he is.

Roxanne is the daughter of a famous opera singer, La Belle Yvonne, and has quite an interesting past. After her mother died and left her alone very young, Roxanne did a stint as a sailor in an all female ship. After retiring, she took up art, and is well known for her classic nudes, though she used to specialize in erotic pictures, which some people called pornography. Roxanne lives with two boys she rescued from the street, the teenaged Charles and five-year-old Max, and they have become her family.

Roxanne and Adrian share an instantaneous, combustive attraction, which soon develops into love. But if Adrian wants to progress in his career, which is more a calling than just a job for him, he can't be with a woman who hasn't got a spotless reputation, and Roxanne's is far from it.

And if that wasn't enough conflict, there's the fact that Roxanne has just found out that her father is actually a Yamish diplomat, and this man wants a relationship with her. And not only that, her father has to do some very delicate manouvering, because it's unheard of that a human become pregnant by a Yama, so he fears his bosses might want to steal Roxanne away in order to study her.

Well! That was complicated, wasn't it? However, I'm glad to report that it wasn't at all hard to follow in the book. The complicated plot, the complicated universe, I thought Holly did very well in introducing everything bit by bit, without any boring info-dumps.

Also, for all that the setting was fascinating, it didn't overshadow the romance at all. Roxanne and Adrian's relationship was really sweet and steamy, and I loved the way each made the other feel less alone. Adrian, especially, is a wonderfully done character. I appreciated that he really sacrificed a huge deal for Roxanne, and this sacrifice was even more meaningful to me because of all his initial doubts about whether or not he should do it. I mean, if he'd instantly given up all his dreams and hopes for Roxanne, then I guess I would have felt they didn't mean all that much to him in the first place. But the way Holly sets up things, you do get a feel for the real meaning his sacrifice had.

I think I enjoyed the secondary relationships just as much as the romance. I loved to see Roxanne and Adrian with Charles and Max, and I loved the slowly developing relationship between Roxanne and her father. When the book was over, I wanted more!

Oh, well, it looks like I won't get it. I guess TDD wasn't too well received, because Holly doesn't seem to be planning to write any more books in that universe. That's just too bad. I didn't find out nearly as much as I wanted about Avvar and the Yamas here, either. There were some truly tantalizing hints there, and I would love to see Holly explore them. No way to do that in this book without the setting taking over the story, but maybe if she had a few more books?

Edited to add: I was too hasty. Looks like Holly's short story in the Hot Spell anthology is set in this universe! Oh, cool, now I want that book even more, if that's possible!

Read more...

Cause Celeb, by Helen Fielding

Helen Fielding is best known for being the creator of the poster girl for chick lit, Bridget Jones, but before that, she wrote Cause Celeb, a book that does have a taste of chick lit in certain parts, but which ends up being completely different.

Rosie Richardson, a twenty-something literary puffette is in a totally nonfunctional relationship with an unevolved but irresistible adult male--a hotshot TV presenter who plunges her into the glitzy, bitchy inane lifestyle of London's It people. Disillusioned with the celebrity world, Rosie escapes to run a refugee camp in the African desert.

When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx heads for the camp, governments and agencies drag their heels. Bringing her former media savvy to the fore, realizing the only way to get food out fast is to bring celebrities first, Rosie returns to the life and man she fled to organize a star-studded emergency appeal from famine-racked Africa.

This was a lovely book. It could have done with a somewhat stronger romance, but other than that, it was just great. A B+.

Cause Celeb has an interesting structure. For much of the book, the action runs back and forth between London and the Safila refugee camp in the fictional African country of Nambula, and between past and present. Interspersing one scene from each, Fielding tells the story of the events leading up to Rosie deciding to leave London for Africa, and the events leading up to Rosie Richardson deciding to go back to London to seek help for her camp.

The scenes from the past are actually kind of reminiscent of typical chick lit... the leading-to-nowhere job, the awful boyfriend our heroine tolerates outrageous stuff from, that kind of thing. Rosie works for a publisher (but of course), doing PR. During a party, she meets famous presenter Oliver Marchant and they start dating, and at his side, Rosie gets an introduction to the celeb lifestyle.

Only problem is, Oliver is a cruel bastard who seems to delight in tearing down Rosie's self-esteem, and who keeps going back and forth, driving her crazy. Whenever Rosie's had enough with him, Oliver seems to realize that, and he'll throw her a crumb, maybe telling her he loves her, for instance. The next Rosie knows, once she's so happy, he's screaming at her and humiliating her and telling her he doesn't love her and needs his space. Over and over and over, until he's pretty much destroyed all her sense of self-worth, the slug.

The only reason I didn't throw the book against the wall in these sections, angry at Rosie for taking Oliver's crap, was that after each of those chapters, we had one of the Africa chapters. And that was kind of a guarantee that there was light at the end of the tunnel, that Rosie would, indeed, grow out of her self-destructive behaviour and become one seriously strong woman.

These Nambula chapters show Rosie actually running a refugee camp in Africa. See, one of the things did in her PR job was to arrange for her employer to donate some books for the campaign to help starving refugees in Nambula, people who'd ran from famine and war in the neighbouring Kefti area. Apparently there'd been a Live Aid-ish campaign to help them, and Rosie's employer wanted to get involved, in order to get good PR. Well, Rosie ends up being the one going to Nambula to take the books, and what she sees there, coupled with her increasing unhappiness about her relationship with Oliver and the shallowness of her life in London, convinces her to chuck it all and move to Africa.

Years later, she is actually the person in charge of running the Safila camp, and, at first, almost unrecognizable from the Rosie in the London chapters.She's competent, efficient and caring, tireless in her determination to do things right and, since things are much better now in the camp, in her determination to prevent another disastrous famine such as the one from four years earlier.

When rumours and a dangerous exploratory mission confirm that there are serious possibilities of a new and even more devastating crisis, Rosie does her best to get official help, but gets no results. Desperate, she does the only other thing she can think of that might work: she goes back to London to try and convince the celebrity acquaintances she made when she was going with Oliver to help her put on a benefit.

The sense of humour here is just incredible, because the ROTFL scenes didn't detract at all from the book's heart and emotions. Fielding had me in tears one moment, and in tears of laughter the next, sometimes about the exact same things. Her sense of humour is pretty irreverent, and I thought it worked to make the book less of a "oh, those poor people" drama. The refugees here aren't annonymous masses meant just to make us pity them; they're individuals, with their own personalities and virtues and flaws. And bringing the shallow, self-involved celebrities to the camp makes for some of the funniest, most tragic scenes I've ever read. And those scenes are tragic. Something else the humour helps to do is lighten up things a bit, because what's going on around the camp is just absolutely horrible. And the remarkable thing is, lighten up doesn't mean cheapen or play for laughs.

The characters, both Rosie and the secondary cast, are wonderfully done. Even the most highly exagerated among them have a core that feels true. They're a parody, sometimes, but a parody that's spot-on. The only character who I thought was slightly under-developed is Rosie's love interest. There just isn't enough there. I think I'd have prefered to have either something bigger or no romance at all, to be honest. Still, that was minor stuff. The whole point of the book is the other stuff, and that's perfect.

Even if you hated Bridget Jones, I highly recomment Cause Celeb.

Read more...

Once a Scoundrel, by Candice Hern

What usually happens when I read a rave about a book in one of the message boards I frequent, is that I think "Ohhh, that sounds good! Too bad I still need to order it / it's on its way here / it's at my friend's house in the US and hasn't yet shipped". That wasn't the case with Once a Scoundrel (excerpt), by Candice Hern. I had my particular book right in my TBR, and I had actually just finished the book I was reading, so I simply left my computer, grabbed the book and started reading. Pretty much a new experience for me! ;-)

Too bad about the cover, though. It's not bad for a clinch, but I've been reading such nice, tasteful covers lately, that having to read this one on the bus was a bit of a shock!

It was bad enough when Anthony Morehouse thought he had won a piece of furniture in a card game, but when he learned that The Ladies' Fashionable Cabinet was actually a women's magazine, he couldn't wait to get rid of it. Then he sees beautiful Edwina Parrish behind the editor's desk. Tony has never forgotten the spirited girl who had bested him at every childhood contest, ultimately winning a priceless family heirloom he had no business wagering. Here was a golden opportunity for him to win it back. Yet Edwina, now a voluptuous enchantress, tempts him in a way no woman ever had before ...

Edwina was stunned to learn that Tony is the new owner of her beloved magazine. Being the Cabinet's editor has been a labor of love, and she's not about to let Tony take it away from her. If the scoundrel wants to make a wager, then he'll find that she has a few tricks of her own up her sleeve. But the mischievous youth she once knew has grown into a brazen charmer, and Edwina may be making the biggest gamble of all ... with her heart.

I very much enjoyed this one. In fact, it was a B+ through most of the book, but the very final conflict wasn't too good, and had me lowering my grade to a B.

Once a Scoundrel is the second in Hern's series that centers on the staff of The Ladies' Fashionable Cabinet a magazine which looks like a normal ladies' mag but which is actually a hotbed of revolutionary activity ;-) The first book, Once a Dreamer (which I loved) was the story of Simon Westover, who writes the advice column for the magazine. This second entry in the series tells the story of Edwina Parrish, the magazine's editor.

The only reason Edwina and her staff have been able to insert their subtle messages into Cabinet is because the owner, her uncle Victor, never meddles. He runs too many "important" publications to worry about a silly ladies' magazine, so he's never even read it. This allows Edwina to do as she wants with the content -and also allows her to skim some of the profits to use for more direct, revolutionary action, like political pamphlets or funding certain choice charities.

When Victor loses the Cabinet in a game of cards to inveterate gambler Anthony Morehouse, Edwina gets quite worried. She doesn't know what kind of owner he'll turn out to be. Will he allow her free hand with the content? Will he carefully examine the account books and realize what she's been doing with the profits?

Anthony wants nothing to do with the Cabinet. He's none too happy about having won it; he thought he was getting a piece of furniture. None too happy, at least, until he meets the beautiful editor, who is none other than the girl who drove him crazy all those years ago by beating him in every single thing. Intrigued, Anthony proposes a bet: Edwina has four months to double the magazine's subscriptions, with no interference from him. If she wins, she'll own the magazine outright, if not, she will return a statue she won from him when they were kids.

The best thing about this story were the characters. Edwina is just wonderful. She's a woman who doesn't much care for the conventions, but who deeply cares about the world around her and wants to improve it. And to do this, she's willing to take action, whether it is to go to France in support of the Revolution or to publish a women's magazine which slowly tries to change its readers' thinking. For all her modern ideas, though, she didn't feel like a 21st century heroine in petticoats, but like a woman of her time. A radical thinker, yes, but they did exist back then. I also loved the way Hern presented Edwina's sexual past. It was terribly refreshing that she was experienced and she wasn't tortured about it (and that the guy hadn't been a horrible person and a bad lover, to boot).

Anthony was lovely, too. I loved the way he changed from a basically nice guy, but one doesn't do much but gambling, to a man capable of loving someone like Edwina, and a man who gets involved in charities, not to impress Edwina, but for himelf.

Their relationship was great fun. At first I thought I might find their continuous betting irritating, but it worked, because after a while, it became obvious that these bets were neither life or death nor a way for one of them to get an advantage over the other: they were a form of foreplay, and this made for a very sexy read. Even the initial, very serious bet for the magazine, soon loses its potential to cause damage to their relationship, as Anthony soon admits that he actually wants Edwina to win it.

The only thing that bothered me about Once a Scoundrel was the final conflict, which I thought was out of character. Anthony really, really overreacts there, and the things he says are much too hurtful for the offense Edwina had caused him. My feeling there was kind of "Who is this man and what has he done to my Anthony?".

Plus, there's the issue of his realizing so quickly about the profits thing (which I definitely do not condone). I have some doubts about whether it's so easy as to flip through the accounts, unless Edwina was as stupid as to write entries such as "Amount siphoned off for revolutionary publications: 10 pounds", which she doesn't seem to be.

Oh, well. This did make the book end in a false note, never a good thing, but up until that point, this had been such a truly outstanding book, that I'd still enthusiastically recommend it.

I also have Once a Gentleman, which is the last book in the series, in my TBR. The storyline, with its shy heroine who's been in love with the indifferent hero for years, doesn't appeal to me all that much, but I've liked the previous books so much that I'll give it a try.

Read more...