Savour the Moment, by Nora Roberts

TITLE: Savour the Moment
AUTHOR: Nora Roberts

COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 352
PUBLISHER: Berkley Trade

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: 3rd in the Bride Quartet

REASON FOR READING: Autobuy author.

Wedding baker Laurel McBane is surrounded by romance working at Vows wedding planning company with her best friends Parker, Emma, and Mac. But she's too low-key to appreciate all the luxuries that their clients seem to long for. What she does appreciate is a strong, intelligent man, a man just like Parker's older brother Delaney, on whom she's had a mega-crush since childhood.

But some infatuations last longer than others, and Laurel is convinced that the Ivy League lawyer is still out of her reach. Plus, Del is too protective of Laurel to ever cross the line with her-or so she thinks. When Laurel's quicksilver moods get the better of her-leading to an angry, hot, all-together mind-blowing kiss with Del-she'll have to quiet the doubts in her mind to turn a moment of passion into forever...

Ah, this is more like it. Savour the Moment felt a bit like take 2 of the plot of Bed of Roses. Like her business partner Emma, baker Lauren also gets involved with one of the men in their little group of friends. Again like Emma, Lauren's fancied her man forever, but hesitated to risk their friendship. And like Jack in Bed of Roses with Emma, Del (brother of Emma and Lauren's friend and also business partner, Parker) had occasionally had flashes of looking at Lauren and being shocked by seeing her as a woman, not just a friend.

So as Emma and Jack, Lauren and Del embark on an affair, with the understanding that they won't allow their friendship to be ruined if the affair goes nowhere. But of course, they both soon want a lot more.

Such a close similarity between the plots might have made STM feel unsatisfying, if it hadn't been for the fact that I thought the romance in BOR hadn't worked at all. I've gone on about it in my review, but to summarise, I never felt the love between Jack and Emma (nor their friendship, really) and the Big Drama at the end pissed me off, because I felt Emma and her friends were being terribly unfair to Jack.

So really, STM didn't really feel like reading the same thing all over again. It was reading something finally done the way it should have been done in the first place.

Lauren and Del clicked for me. I understood them individually and I understood why they felt as they did about each other. I felt the romance and I felt the friendship, too, even before anything happened. I also felt that the people around them were being a lot more mature about these two hooking up, and that helped. It wasn't the best romance I've ever read, but I enjoyed it.

The wedding stuff and the friendship between the women, the men and all eight of them as a group are as wonderfully done as they have been since the beginning of the series, so I won't say much about that beyond that this really enriches the romance for me and is the kind of thing that makes me enjoy NR's romances even when the romance itself isn't great (fortunately, not the case here).

Now to await the final installment. It's quite clear by now who Parker's love interest is going to be. I found him a bit brash and annoying when we first met him, but he grew on me during parts of this book (there's a scene near the end, in the beach house, which hinted at quite interesting depths), so I'm anticipating their book.

MY GRADE: A B.

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Flora's Lot, by Katie Fforde

TITLE: Flora's Lot
AUTHOR: Katie Fforde

COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 390
PUBLISHER: Century

SETTING: Contemporary England
TYPE: Chick Lit
SERIES: None

REASON FOR READING: I enjoy Fforde's book, as long as I read one every now and then.

Flora Stanza has sub-let her London life in a bid to join the family antiques business. Her knowledge extends only to the information she has crammed from daytime TV, but what she lacks in experience she makes up for in blind enthusiasm. So she is more than a little put out when she doesn't receive the warm country welcome she expected. Her curt cousin Charles and his fiancee Annabelle are determined to send Flora packing, and their offer to buy her out is tempting...until a strange warning makes her think twice.

Stuck with a cat about to burst with kittens, Flora has little choice but to accept the offer to stay in an abandoned holiday cottage miles from any neighbors, let alone a trendy wine bar. And between fighting off dinner invitations from the devastatingly handsome Henry, and hiding her secret eco-friendly lodger William, Flora soon discovers country life is far from dull as she sets about rebuilding the crumbling business...

I have to be in the right mood to read Katie Fforde's books, but sometimes I just feel like immersing myself in her slightly old-fashioned, stereotypically English world. Flora's Lot was a nice one, with gentle humour and nice, if not particularly fresh, characters.

Flora Stanza's life in London isn't really satisfying her, so when she inherits the controlling stake in the family auction business, she sees it as an opportunity to do something a bit different. She's a sensible person though, so she doesn't just drop everything and decide to run the business. Rather, she simply refuses to automatically sell out and decides to check it out. She'll work there for a few months (bowing to the experience of the cousin who's been actually involved in the business probably forever) and see what she wants to do.

She doesn't expect a rapturous reception, but the one she gets is surprisingly hostile. Her stuffy cousin Charles and his fiancee Annabelle are clearly doing there best to make her life miserable and convince her to go back, to the point of sticking her in a cottage in the middle of nowhere on her own.

But Flora is quite tenacious, and will not give up. Especially when, despite some initial difficulties, she finds herself settling into village life, not to mention feeling some very unexpected romantic twinges.

This was a sweet, heartwarming read, and a surprisingly funny one. Flora's cool. She might be a bit silly sometimes, but her heart's in the right place, and I had to applaud her determination to do what she had set out to do, without being stupidly hard-headed.

I loved the old-fashioned feel of the village life... well, slightly old fashioned. People are clearly 21st century people here, but there is a gentleness there, a lack of any darkness, that is probably a bit idealistic. I also really enjoyed the background of the auction house business. We get to find out quite a lot about how things work, and it was all new to me.

The romance was ok, but not my favourite element of the book. The best thing about it was probably that the identity of the love interest really surprised me. I mean, I'm a veteran romance reader, when I'm reading a non-romance I can usually spot who the love interest is going to be after a couple of paragraphs! But this guy was one that I thought Fforde couldn't possibly make into someone Flora could fall in love with. Surprisingly, she could, and by the end of the book I was convinced.

MY GRADE: A B.

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Beyond the Rain, by Jess Granger

TITLE: Beyond the Rain
AUTHOR: Jess Granger

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 336
PUBLISHER: Berkley Trade

SETTING: Space, mostly, and some alien worlds
TYPE: Sci-fi / futuristic
SERIES: Followed by Beyond the Shadows.

REASON FOR READING: Good buzz, plus, it's sci-fi romance, that favourite and unrepresented subgenre.the sci-fi romance.

In a universe torn apart by civil war, a warrior and a slave must fight for their lives and a love that may destroy them both.

After five years behind enemy lines, Captain Cyani has to complete one final mission before she can return to Azra-a planet ruled by a sisterhood of celibate warriors. Along the way she finds a prisoner, chained and beaten-but radiating feral power and an unbroken spirit.

For years Soren has endured torture as his captors leeched his very essence, a unique hormone then sold as a sexual narcotic in the shadow trade. Now he has been freed from slavery by a beautiful warrior woman with radiant blue eyes.

After years in bondage, Soren's hormones are so unbalanced that he will die if he does not mate with a woman. Can Cyani be the woman he needs to survive, or will this forbidden bond destroy them?

As the book begins, our heroine, Captain Cyani, is on her final mission, after which she'll be able to retire from a career she never seeked out or even liked. So, as anyone who's ever read a book or watched a film with a character who's about to retire could predict, things are about to go pear-shaped.

They do when after rescuing a group of her fellow soldiers from an enemy vessel, her pet (who helps out in their missions) detects another prisoner and refuses to leave him. There's no time for Cyani to get this man and get back to her ship, but she can't leave her pet there, as her collar holds information that should not get into enemy hands. Cyani ends up stranded with the prisoner, and they must make their escape from the enemy ship together.

And it gets even more complicated, because the prisoner is no ordinary man. Soren is from a planet where the males produce a very special hormone when in contact with their mates. It's because of this hormone that the baddies have been keeping Soren prisoner: they've been using their technology in order to force him to produce the hormone, which they then harvest to manufacture an expensive drug. The problem is, because of what he's been through, Soren's only way of keeping his body to shut down is to get it to produce the hormone again. And that means either going back to what his captors were doing, or establishing the mating bond with someone...

Oh, dear. I'd heard good things about this one, otherwise I would have kept far, far away from the must-have-sex-or-die cliche. I should have, anyway. There were some interesting things here, especially the culture-clash and miscommunication based on incomplete information. However, other than that all I got was a ho-hum, tedious plot and characters that never completely gelled.

Cyani was just a mass of contradictions. Is she a warrior, really? She doesn't act like one. And why would she want to return to her horrible, unjust home world at all, when the powers that be there treat her like crap and always have? And Soren was a mystery till the end. I never really understood his reactions.

In a word: disappointing.

MY GRADE: A very average C.

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Ravishing in Red, by Madeline Hunter

TITLE: Ravishing in Red
AUTHOR: Madeline Hunter

COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 340
PUBLISHER: Jove

SETTING: Regency England
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: First in the Rarest Blooms series.

REASON FOR READING: I think I've enjoyed every single Hunter book that I've read, and a fair few have been outstanding. I've no idea why I've left such a long time go by since my last!

Armed with her cousin’s pistol, Audrianna travels to a coaching inn, to meet with a man who may have information that will clear her dead father’s name. She does not realize that the handsome man of commanding sensuality who shows up is not the person she expected, but instead Lord Sebastian Summerhays, one of her father’s persecutors, lured to the inn by the same advertisement that brought her there.

When the pistol accidentally fires, the situation becomes mortifyingly public, and thoroughly misunderstood. Audrianna is prepared to live with the scandal. Lord Sebastian has other ideas...

Audrianna Helmsleigh's family is in a very difficult position. Her father was accused of, whether by negligence or corruption, allowing defective gunpowder to reach the front lines, causing the death of many soldiers. He committed suicide soon after a parliamentary investigation implicated him in the affair. Since then, Audrianna has been trying to clear her father's name. When she discovers a mysterious notice in the newspaper, requesting her father's presence in a coaching inn, she decides to go there herself.

Lord Sebastian Summerhays was one of the MPs responsible for the investigation into the gunpowder affair. He, too, sees the newspaper notice, and like Audrianna, decides to go to the inn to see what information he can pick up. Both arrive before the person who placed the ad, however, and find themselves in the same darkened room. And then the potential informant arrives, a pistol is fired accidentally, the magistrate is called and Sebastian and Audrianna are found in the room together. Can you say marriage of convenience?

I was completely engaged from the very beginning. For starters, Hunter completely avoids cliches with the path she takes towards her characters having to marry. It's not Audrianna who's rescued by marriage, but Sebastian. She's pretty much already ruined, after all. He, on the other hand, has his work in Parliament to think of, and it's clearly very important for him. The scandal (and most especially the way the papers are presenting him as a mix between laughingstock and cartoonish villain) soon begins to affect his effectiveness. Sebastian used to be able to make things happen, but people are now reluctant to work with him, and not even his title brother's influence can help that.

And when Sebastian and Audrianna finally do marry, their relationship was lovely to read. There's obviously a strong attraction there, one that neither bothers to deny. Their physical relationship is good and enjoyable for both, but Sebastian soon starts wanting more. He sees that while Audrianna is happy to share her body with him, she gets her friendship and warmth elsewhere... with her friends, and even with his own brother (who's paralysed due to war wounds and whose relationship with Sebastian is wonderfully complex). And he can't really blame Audrianna for not wanting to love the man who, after all, was partly responsible for her father's suicide.

Audrianna, meanwhile, is cool to Sebastian purely as a defense mechanism. She has come to care for him, but obviously, such a cool, controlled, powerful man is not going to fall in love with his wife. Better to keep some healthy distance in their relationship, then. I ate it all up. There were points, however, where I felt a slight sense of distance from the characters and their feelings, and that was the only thing that kept the book from being an A.

In addition to being a lovely love story, Ravishing in Red also sets up a new series, the Rarest Blooms. After the scandal, Audrianna had gone to live with her cousin Daphne, in Daphne's small property outside London. There, they and two more friends live quietly and work to contribute to the household, all also helping Daphne with her flower business. All four women clearly have their secret, and the reason they can live so peacefully together is that they have a pact not to ask questions. They each know the others are there to offer support if needed, but they won't be interrogated, whatever happens.

Audrianna's friends play quite an important role in the book, and so do two of Sebastian's. This meant that there was a fair bit of sequel-baiting. I believe the next few books are going to be about Audrianna's friends, and they were all interesting characters. I have some suspicions about what's up with Lizzie and expect to see her story in the next book. What we found about about Celia's history was very intriguing, and while I have no idea what direction Daphne's story will take, I really liked her and would like to read more. As for the heroes, that was a bit more hit or miss. I was very interested in Hawkeswell and look forward to his story, but found the Duke of Castleford a quite disgusting, even while suspecting I was supposed to be finding him oh-so-sexy. But then, I'm one who doesn't think promiscuity in a hero equals manliness, so what do I know.

MY GRADE: A B+.

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How To Sleep With a Movie Star, by Kristin Harmel

TITLE: How To Sleep With a Movie Star
AUTHOR: Kristin Harmel

COPYRIGHT: 2006
PAGES: 310
PUBLISHER: Little Black Dress

SETTING: Contemporary New York
TYPE: Chick Lit
SERIES: No

REASON FOR READING: I got all the Harmels I could find out of my library after liking Italian For Beginners.

26-year-old Claire Reilly is on top of her game as one of the youngest celebrity reporters and editors in the business. At Mod magazine, she is a consummate professional, interviewing dreamy Hollywood hunks and staying on top of every story. Unfortunately, her live-in boyfriend seems intent on setting the world's record for celibacy, yet she finds herself penning articles like 'Ten Reasons You Should Have a One-Night Stand.' When Claire lands the plum assignment of interviewing Cole Brannon, Hollywood's #1 hottie, she knows better than to mix business with pleasure, but the next morning, she finds herself in Cole's bed...without her clothes. After the tabloids pick up the story, Claire's life is turned upside down. In struggling to regain her reputation, she'll learn a great deal about herself...and that you shouldn't always believe everything you read.

Claire Reilly is celebrity editor at Mod magazine, quite a senior post for someone in her early 30s, and one she enjoys very much. She especially loves interviewing and doing profiles, and her job allows her to do that to her heart's content. The pleasure of doing work she enjoys compensates for a really asinine editor, who has the stupidest ideas, and for the hideously horrible fashion editor, Sidra, who clearly has it in for her.

All is going well until Claire is assigned to interview the big movie start of the moment, Cole Brannon. Well, actually, the interview itself actually goes really well. Claire and Cole hit it off immediately, and Claire enjoys the interview. Cole's like no other movie star she's ever met. He actually seems interested in her and what she's saying, and he's not pretentious. In fact, he seems like a pretty down to earth guy.

But things go downhill soon after that, when she finds her boyfriend cheating on her (I don't think that's a spoiler, it's obvious from the first time you hear about the bastard's behaviour). Heavy drinking ensues, and a fortuitous meeting with Cole ends up with them being seen together in Claire's appartment, by the worst possible person. So now Claire is in the middle of a big crisis. She knows exactly what happens to celebrity journalists who are known to sleep with their stories: they become a complete joke. And given that Cole won't leave her alone, it's quite likely she'll be in that position soon...

I think I need to stop reading Harmel for a little while, as I'm starting to see too many repetitions. Her heroines always, but always have a nice guy clearly showing an interest in them, and showing it quite clearly, too. And they always, but always, completely miss the plot and immediately assume that there's no possible way this guy could be at all into them (even though they couldn't be more obvious about them), and are quite rude to them to make them go away. They jump to the most unflattering conclusions and assume the guys are lying based on the flimsiest evidence, and refuse to ask for explanations, or even listen to them when they are forthcoming.

However, while I liked my previous Harmel heroines and forgave them for being a bit clueless about their men actually liking them and being really nice, Claire I just wanted to strangle. She's not just clueless, she's willfully blind. Her boyfriend couldn't be more clearly a complete user if he wore a sign on his forehead. He treats her like crap, never does anything for her, hasn't slept with her for a month, and the twit is still hoping for an engagement ring from him. To her credit, Claire does kick him out immediately when she finds out he's cheating. However, she does come quite close to forgiving him and giving him another chance (and I therefore came quite close to just throwing the book against a wall and not finishing it), and only comes to her senses because he misjudges and goes a bit too far too soon.

As for Cole, I wasn't too bothered with her initial incredulity about him liking her (he is a huge movie star, after all, and the handsomest man in the world), but after a point, you just have to accept that he wouldn't go to the trouble he does and spend so much time pursuing her if he didn't! And much, much worse than that is the way she immediately believes the stories published about him in the scummiest of the scummy tabloids, even though 5 minutes earlier she had been perfectly clear that they printed nothing but lies. "A picture doesn't lie". Really? This from a celebrity journalist? That's beyond stupid.

It didn't help my liking of Claire that I absolutely despise celebrity culture and the type of magazine she works for, so I never had much respect for her and her achievements in the first place. Good for her that she sees the shallowness of it all in the end, and makes the right decision, but it was too little, too late. The completely pointless drama of the magazine didn't do it for me, and I didn't enjoy reading about it.

The secondary characters were not great either. Oh, I loved Wendy, who's a wonderful, supportive friend and actually has a life of her own (and I was very happy that she gets her own HEA). But too many of the other characters are cartoonish. Like Claire's arch-enemy in the magazine, Sidra. Claire herself thinks that the woman's actions are way over the top and don't make sense, but that doesn't mean I bought them any more for that. I could have got that she hated Claire and resented her, but not that she would go to some much trouble to screw her over, exposing herself so much in the process. And as for her sister (who by all accounts is a clone of Sidra), I didn't believe for a minute that she would go for someone like Claire's boyfriend. No money at all, no drive, content to mooch from his girlfriend for years, not particularly handsome... why would this woman even want him? All in all, too many women are stupid / materialistic / man-crazy sluts in this book. And if Cole couldn't see that his publicist was a psycho, then he's pretty much as clueless as Claire.

MY GRADE: A C+.

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Midnight Rainbow, by Linda Howard

TITLE: Midnight Rainbow
AUTHOR: Linda Howard

COPYRIGHT: 1986
PAGES: 226
PUBLISHER: Mira

SETTING: Costa Rican jungle in the 1980s (should I call this a contemp?)
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: Losely related to other Howards, like Diamond Bay, Heartbreaker and White Lies.

REASON FOR READING: It's the only old Linda Howard I hadn't read before, and I found a copy at my library.

Grant Sullivan, tough, masculine and handsome, is a retired military expert entrusted with a mission in the Costa Rican jungle - to find hostage and socialite Jane Hamilton Greer.

When Grant rescues her in a rather cavalier and physical fashion, no love is lost between them. But gradually their mutual attraction and passion becomes apparent and the jungle smoulders in more ways than one.

Midnight Rainbow starts right in the middle of things. In the Costa Rican jungle, Grant Sullivan waits outside an evil and corrupt politician's mansion. Inside is the daughter of a very influential American, who's convinced Grant to come out of retirement to rescue his beloved daughter from a very messy situation (not only is the Costa Rican evil, there are secret tapes and spies involved).

Grant is not happy to be back doing covert operations. He had been recovering from years doing missions that took a lot out of him in the isolation of his farm in the middle of nowhere, and never wanted to go back. However, for reasons I never understood, he allowed himself to be convinced to take on the mission to rescue this woman, who as far as he's concerned, is either so clueless that she doesn't realise the danger she's in, or so amoral that she doesn't care.

Jane is actually neither. She's got into this trouble by helping out a friend, but is well aware of the danger she's in. What Grant has seen from his lookout in the jungle (Jane sunbathing by the pool, seemingly without a care in the world) is simply Jane pretending to be clueless to gain some more time to escape.

But the very night she's finally ready to make her move, Grant makes his own, and soon they're on the run through the jungle, desperately trying to get to safety.

I would have absolutely loved this book when it was published, or even a few years after that, when I first started reading single title romance. It is, after all, solid vintage Howard, with exciting adventure (a bit like Heart of Fire, which is among my fave LHs) and scorching hot chemistry.

Back then, the mean, mysoginistic hero would have been par for the course. I wouldn't have liked that aspect of the book, but heroes like that were everywhere. Other favourite authors (think Anne Stuart, Elizabeth Lowell) had heroes exactly like Grant. They had an instinctive distrust of women and would treat any woman they suspected of being easy cruelly and only speak to her with disdain. And of course, they always suspected the heroine of being easy... always. So, much as I wanted to bash their chauvinistic little heads in, I almost regarded their sexism as the price I had to pay to read romance, and was willing to be won over when they realised that oh! the heroine was actually a nice, innocent almost-virgin, and they had been wrong to think her a slag.

The thing is, heroes have got a lot better over the years. I've got used to reading about men who aren't quite as big judgmental pricks. So when Grant immediately assumes Jane is a slag, I wasn't amused. I absolutely hated the disdainful way he thought of her and talked to her. She's pretty cool and very resourceful (it was quite funny the way she kept producing actual food out of her rucksack, when Grant would have had them eating bland Army rations), and yet he keeps being a complete dick to her, even when it's clear she's fine.

I also got very annoyed with the heavy-handed author intrusions, which I saw much too clearly. Oh, dear the heroine's a divorcee! But of course, her husband never, ever turned her on, and neither did any man she ever met. No sexual feelings at all until she met Grant. Hmmm, how to get her naked? Let's drop an anaconda on her! All very transparent and laughable.

A big disappointment, I should have tried much harder to get a copy all those years ago. And now I'm afraid to reread Heart of Fire, another Howard jungle romance that is so far my absolute favourite of hers!

MY GRADE: A C+.

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The Blonde Theory, by Kristin Harmel

TITLE: The Blonde Theory
AUTHOR: Kristin Harmel

COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 287
PUBLISHER: 5 Spot

SETTING: Contemporary New York
TYPE: Chick Lit
SERIES: No

REASON FOR READING: I enjoyed Harmel's Italian For Beginners

Harper Roberts is a corporate attorney in Manhattan. She’s smart, attractive, and funny. So why can’t she find a date? Men flock to her at parties when they think she’s a dumb blonde. But, as soon as they realise she’s a Harvard-educated lawyer, they flee. Harper’s best friend is a magazine editor who suggests Harper go on assignment for a month as a 'dumb blonde' and see if it changes her dating perspective. So, for two weeks, Harper goes undercover. She changes her wardrobe, her conversation, her body language. The result is a series of comical encounters. Soon, Harper must take a good look in the mirror and realise that it’s not just men who judge people on their looks.

Harper Roberts is only in her early thirties and already has all the professional success she could wish for. She has combined her passion for chemistry and law into a brilliant career as a patents lawyer, and her very specialised and rare knowledge has netted her a partnership in her firm at an unprecedently young age. Not only does she make oodles of money (allowing her to purchase a huge Manhattan appartment and give herself any treat she may want), she truly and genuinely loves her work and finds much satisfaction in it (an element I truly appreciated). In addition to a great job, Harper has had the same group of friends since school, and they provide much support and love. Life is good.

In true chick-lit style, though, Harper's love life isn't as successful. Her last serious relationship was with Peter, another lawyer, who broke up with her out of the blue when it became clear that while his career was stagnated, Harper's was on the up and up. In the years since, Harper hasn't had more than a couple of dates with the same guy.

She doesn't have any trouble attracting men, but all seem to run away from her after the first dates. The solution seems inescapable to Harper and her friends: all those smart, successful professional men her own age, who are supposed to want a partner, someone like them, actually don't. They don't want to go out with an intelligent, successful woman, they want to go out with someone less intelligent and less sucessful than themselves. The Blonde Theory is thus born: if Harper behaved like a dumb blonde, she'd have no problem having men eating out of her hand.

And then Harper's friend Meg, who works for a sort of Cosmopolitan-ish magazine, comes up with a brilliant idea. Harper should actually test that theory, and then write an article about it.

I enjoyed TBT, but not unreservedly. To me, its main weak point was the whole idea of the Blond Theory itself... well, more like the conclusions the characters drew from it, which never completely made sense to me.

So, there are men who feel insecure and threatened if their partner is more successful than they are. Wow, brilliant insight! But ok, fair enough, yes, that could be an interesting magazine article, and Harper's experiment would be fun to write about, and would probably help her convince herself that this is what's been going wrong in her previous relationships.

The problem is, rather than concluding from this that it's these particular men's problem, and that Harper bascially needs to find men who are more secure and self-confident, the characters seem to assume that this is just what men in general are like. There's this idea floating around for much of the book that well, then, Harper might have to simply act a bit dumber and put herself down if she wants to get a guy. And she keeps on this vein against all the evidence to the contrary, because there actually are a couple of guys that she knows that seem to be very clearly suggesting that this is not so at all.

Still, if you're able to give Harper a pass for being a bit oblivious in this respect (as I mostly could), there is much to enjoy here. Harper is a lovely character. I enjoyed her sense of humour and her very real passion for her work. There are also some very funny scenes, when she's going out on all these dates in her dumb blonde disguise. I suppose the very concept of this is a bit offensive, but it's done in such a way that I didn't find it so at all. I also liked Harper's relationship with her friends. These are not perfect, featureless characters, just there to give her support, but are real people, with their own faults and with plenty of drama in their own lives.

A word of warning for other romance readers, though: while there is romance, and there is a happy ending for Harper, there isn't a traditional HEA here. I was ok with this, even felt that this was the right ending for Harper, but other readers might be more bothered.

MY GRADE: A B.

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The Gentleman's Quest, by Deborah Simmons

TITLE: The Gentleman's Quest
AUTHOR: Deborah Simmons

COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 288
PUBLISHER: Harlequin

SETTING: 19th century England
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: Follows The Dark Viscount

REASON FOR READING: I like the author, and it sounded great... I do love my gothics!

Christopher Marchant's mood matches the storm clouds that gather above his mansion. Yet when lightning illuminates a stranded beauty he must do as any gentleman would. Although, once rescued, she must be on her way....

But if Hero Ingram leaves empty-handed her uncle will punish her. Christopher is caught off guard by her willful rebellion--and he's sure he's caught a hint of vulnerability in her defiance....

As a gentleman he must protect her and make her quest his own. But as a red-blooded male...? She has awoken him from his slumber!

Disappointing, I couldn't get into this one at all, and abandoned it after about 30 pages. Actually, I kind of knew it would be a DNF after the first scene, when it became clear these people acted as no real, halfway logical human beings would.

Picture this: heroine is on her way to meet a gentleman. She's clearly been ordered to use her charms to get something from this person, and is not relishing the prospect. On a quiet road, one of the wheels of her carriage breaks, and they're stuck. Suddenly, a rider approaches and, without a word, simply plucks her off the ground, and spirits her away. Is she terrified, does she fight, does she panic? From the way it's narrated, it's as if this is the most common thing in the world. The next scene just starts with the heroine saying that she's been deposited with the housekeeper of the house she was looking for, and she doesn't know nor care who her rescuer was, because they haven't exchanged a word. Huh? So she just sat there quitely and allowed herself to be carried away? She seemed quite matter-of-fact about it, as well, so it wasn't as if she'd been in shock. Big WTF moment. Who acts this way?

I decided to give the book a chance and keep reading, hoping things would get better (it did get a review at AARthat sounded nice enough that I actually ordered it from the library, after all) but they only got worse. A lot of blah-blah about murderous cults and dramatic events in previous books, and hero and heroine making supposedly brilliant plans that only made sense in their minds, and I was out of there.

Such a shame, I was really looking forward to this, considering how much I enjoyed some of the author's earlier books a few years ago. So now I can't help but wonder if it's Simmons who's changed or me. Maybe I should reread one of those faves!

MY GRADE: DNF

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Bed of Roses, by Nora Roberts

TITLE: Bed of Roses
AUTHOR: Nora Roberts

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 335
PUBLISHER: Piatkus

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: Romance
SERIES: 2nd in Bride Quartet.

REASON FOR READING: Autobuy author.

Love blooms in the second novel in Nora Roberts's celebrated Bride Quartet series.

As little girls MacKensie, Emma, Laurel, and Parker spent hours acting out their perfect make believe "I do" moments. Years later their fantasies become reality when they start their own wedding planning company to make every woman's dream day come true. With perfect flowers, delicious desserts, and joyful moments captured on film, Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet shares each woman's emotionally magical journey to romance.

In Bed of Roses, florist Emma Grant is finding career success with her friends at Vows wedding planning company, and her love life appears to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn't found Mr. Right. And the last place she's looking is right under her nose.

But that's just where Jack Cooke is. He's so close to the women of Vows that he's practically family, but the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. When Emma returns his passion—kiss for blistering kiss—they must trust in their history…and in their hearts.

Bed of Roses is the second in Roberts' Brides quartet, which features four friends who run a wedding planning business. In this installment, the spotlight shifts to florist Emma. In between the challenges, hard work and sheer fun of planning the most amazing weddings, Emma finds time to fall for her friend Jack.

Through his best friend Del, Jack has been good friends with Del's sister, Parker, and her business partners for years. He's always found Emma attractive, but he's previously been content to stay away. But now suddently they can't keep their hands off each other.

Bed of Roses was quite a mixed bag. Basically, the romance was very lackluster and boring, but I really liked everything else.

Let's start with the good: the wedding planning stuff and the friendship between the four women. I must say I'm extremely surprised at how much I'm enjoying reading about the day-to-day business of planning big, lavish weddings. In real life, it's something that doesn't appeal to me in the least. In fact, the very idea of being in the centre of such a massive affair is enough to make me break out in hives. Spending such big money on one day seems like a waste, too, and I could easily put together a long list of things I'd rather spend the moNey on. And yet... I'm loving reading about the details of it. The Monster Bitch Brides, the satisfaction of making people's dreams come true, the thrill of dealing with the unexpected... I'm eating it all up uncritically, and I'll be quite happy to continue doing that until the end of the series.

And the relationship between Emma, Mac, Lauren and Parker is just as good. Actually, part of the satisfying feeling of reading about the wedding planning is how much they act like a team, and how seeing them doing so really makes their friendship even more real to me. I love how they love each other enough to be confortable with a bit of bitchiness, and are always there to support one another, even after a clash.

I also liked that Emma's cultural background was a bit different (Mexican mother and American father), although to be completely honest, Emma didn't feel any more latina than any other WASP American heroine I've read. Maybe that was on purpose?

Now, however for the romance:

Problem #1: The characters never completely gelled for me. Emma is supposed to be the romantic one among the 4 friends, the one looking for love. And yet, she never seemed to me to be particularly romantic. Same thing for Emma and Jack's friendship. It's supposed to be so important to them that they really hesitate before beginning a romantic relationship, for fear of endangering their friendship. And yet, they never really felt like real friends to me. I got it loud and clear that the attraction between them was scorching hot, yes, but not that they really liked each other, or even knew one another particularly well.

Problem #2: The last bit of #1 leads straight into the fact that I never found the romance particularly compelling. I'd even go as far as to call it boring, and I'm someone who actually loves no-drama romances between nice, decent people.

Problem #3: I said no-drama romance, but that's only most of it. There's a bit to-do at the end, and that was annoying beyond belief. See, the problem is that Emma feels Jack is a commitment-phobe who guards his own personal space so zealously that he's keeping her out of his life. So she basically throws a great big tantrum (and is then backed up by all her friends, who accuse Jack of being hartless and treating her badly), because after only a short time the man is not clamouring to have her move in.

The justification for that was that since they'd be friends for years, surely that's not such a short time, but since I've already mentioned that they didn't act like real friends to me, that argument didn't hold water, and I found Emma very pushy. Maybe it's also that I'm also pretty protective of my own space, both physical and mental, and so I sympathised with Jack's reactions which, again, were nothing more than liking having his own space and not inviting Emma to move in after a very short period. He was never consciously cruel to her, if she felt rejected it was all her doing, and she should have actually sat down and had a chat with him, rather than going off in a huff.

Oh, well, I've got my copy of Savor the Moment ready to start now, and I really hope it's better.

MY GRADE: The romance is a C, but the rest was good, so a B-, for the book as a whole.

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Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

TITLE: Catching Fire
AUTHOR: Suzanne Collins

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 400
PUBLISHER: Scholastic

SETTING: Futuristic
TYPE: YA
SERIES: Second in the Hunger Games trilogy, comes after The Hunger Games.

REASON FOR READING: I want to know how things will turn out.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

NOTE: This is in no way a stand alone book. You need to have read The Hunger Games to understand what is going on. Reading Catching Fire first, or even reading what it is about, will probably ruin The Hunger Games for you, so turn back now if you're new to this series!



Anyway, for those of you who are still here: After the stunt she pulled to win the Hunger Games in the previous book, the Capitol has come to see Katniss as a threat to its control over the rest of the country. Revolution is in the air in many of the districts, and Katniss has become a symbol of it. Not to mention that the authorities clearly resent that she managed to out-manouver them and beat them at their own game.

So despite the fact that she's supposed to live the rest of her life enjoying the fruits of her victory, things are not easy for Katniss. Even if she wanted to embrace the life a Hunger Games winner is supposed to have, and just enjoy herself, ignoring what the rest of her people are going through (which she doesn't), she soon realises that wouldn't be possible, anyway. The President and the Capitol authorities are definitely not ready to leave her alone.

CF is just as much of a nail-biter as THG was. I thought it was going to focus mainly on political intrigue and on Katniss manouvering the shark-infested waters of Panam politics, and that's more or less what we get in the first sections of the book. I especially enjoyed that this part of Catching Fire has a slightly larger focus than THG, and we get a better idea of what's going on in other districts, and not just in District 12.

A bit later in the book, however, things change dramatically. I'm not going to reveal what happens, but in a way, I suppose those developments feel like a bit of a retread of book 1. On the other hand, though, they were extremely exciting and I loved the opportunity to meet other characters, and get an idea of the potential long-term consequences victory in the Hunger Games could have.

Katniss is just a wonderful a character as she was in the first book. She's still got her pragmatism and determination to stay alive, but I felt she'd grown quite a bit from the character she was when we first met her. She´s still as clueless as ever about things that are quite obvious to the reader, but I didn't really mind that. I felt that there was an element of unconscious denial there; she didn't want to know (with that knowledge comes great responsibility, I guess *g*), so she ignored all clues.

One of the things that has kept many of us reading is the romantic triangle, and there are definitely developments there. I'm a Peeta fan, so that element was slightly disappointing, since the developments on that front were much more exciting in THG. Maybe book 3 will be more balanced? I can't wait to find out!

The only thing I disliked, I disliked quite a bit. That was the ending. I felt it was a big let down. There are cliff-hangers, and then there are cliff-hangers, and this was definitely the sort that comes out of nothing and gives absolutely no closure. I don't care for feeling manipulated into buying the next book, and the worse part is, it was unnecessary, because, see the previous paragraph? I would have read the next book even if I had got a bit more here. Collins needs to trust the power of her stories a bit more, I think!

MY GRADE: It was a B+ right up until the ending, but ended up a B.

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Interview

Jessica has interviewed me at Read React Review. Click here if you'd like to read it.

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A serial, a bad Harlequin and University Challenge

TITLE: 44 Scotland Street
AUTHOR: Alexander McCall Smith

44 Scotland Street was originally published as a serial in The Scotsman, so I tried to read it as it was intented to be read. I couldn't quite keep myself to a chapter (episode?) a day, but I was able to keep myself from gulping down too many in a sitting. It covers a period in the life of the residents at the eponymous Edinburgh address. There's Pat, now in her second gap year, who moves in to share a flat with the annoyingly self-involved Bruce. There's Bertie, a child prodigy starting to rebel against his mother's pressure to be ever more prodigious. There's Domenica Macdonald, with her fascinating history, and many more.

It's a fun read, more a sketch than an in-depth study, but still succeeding in creating characters who feel real. The only thing that wasn't so satisfying was that the book just stopped, with only one subplot resolved. Not much more closure at the end of the book than in any one of the chapters, really. I understand the story continues, though, and I'm planning to keep reading, if only to find out what happened in Pat's disastrous first gap year!

MY GRADE: A B.



TITLE: Just Deserts
AUTHOR: Brenda Jackson

Wendy the Superlibrarian posted about this book a little while ago (go there and read the comments to find out why there's no misspelling in the title!). I thought the plot sounded interesting (I love friends-to-lovers stories), so I picked it up from the library. Unfortunately, it wasn't good. Two reasons:

1) the clunky plot. Looks like this is part of a continuity series, and there was a lot of exposition about just what had happened in previous books. Basically, the gimmick here is that the heroines of all 3 books married the same cheating bastard (or thought they did). Each book tells the story of one of them, as they deal with the betrayal and find love. I didn't mind the set-up itself, but I minded that none of the characters' actions felt real. When Danielle goes off desperate to find this woman whom they've just found out was being groomed to be wife # 4, I really, really didn't what she was on about.

2) The clunky writing. Awkward, simplistic, all telling and no showing. Drove me batty.

After about 30 pages, I knew there was no point in continuing.

MY GRADE: DNF


TITLE: Starter For Ten
AUTHOR: David Nicholls

I picked this up because the title immediately said "University Challenge", and took it home with me because the blurb confirmed it. It's not really about University Challenge, but The Challenge, as our protagonist calls it, does feature quite prominently in his life. It's 1985 and Brian Jackson is off to university. The book covers his first year there, including his crush on beautiful Alice, his relationship with his friends left at home, and many other painfully funny things.

I really enjoyed it, especially the way Nicholls was able to, at the same time, write a book that felt very much of its time and yet also paint a portrait of university students that still feels true (things like the way Brian was so proud he knew the meaning of the word eponymous that he used it as much as possible - and he inspired me, see the first review above!).

MY GRADE: A B.

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Italian for Beginners, by Kristin Harmel

TITLE: Italian for Beginners
AUTHOR: Kristin Harmel

COPYRIGHT:2009
PAGES: 340
PUBLISHER: Little Black Dress

SETTING: Contemporary New York and Rome
TYPE: Chick Lit
SERIES: No

REASON FOR READING: I'm not sure why I put this on my wish list.

Thirty-four-year-old Manhattan accountant Cat Connelly has always lived life on the safe side. But after her little sister gets married, Cat wonders if she has condemned herself to a life of boredom by playing by the rules. She decides to take a chance for once, accepting an invitation to spend a month with an old flame in Italy.

But her reunion with the slick and gorgeous Francesco is short-lived, and she finds herself suddenly alone in Rome. Now, she must see if she has the courage to live outside the lines for the first time - and to face a past she never understood. It will take an unexpected friendship with a fiery Italian waitress, a whirlwind Vespa tour of the Eternal City with a handsome stranger, and a surprise encounter with an old acquaintance to show Cat that life doesn't always work out the way you expect, but sometimes you have to have fall in order to fly.

Cat Connelly is stuck in a rut. She's got a boring, predictable job, and she's become just as predictable herself. She's the one everyone depends on (and in the case of her sister, takes advantage of), and hasn't done anything for herself in ages. She's in her mid-30s and everyone is giving her grief about how she needs to stop being so picky and get married, otherwise it will be too late, but when she finally, finally meets a guy she seems to click on, he turns out to be married.

This gives Cat the kick she needs to do something crazy. Back when she was in college she spent a few months in Rome, which she enjoyed tremendously, not least because she had a torrid affair with a handsome young Italian. Spurred on by her anger and an encouraging colleague, she emails Francesco, who immediately invites her for a visit. And before she knows what's going on, she's off to Rome for a month.

I thought at the beginning that I knew exactly where the book was going. I went "Michael is actually this, and Francesco that, and she's going to this and that". And I was right about a lot, actually. However, I was wrong about the most important thing: it didn't feel predictable at all.

Once Cat is in Rome, the book becomes fresh and charming and absolutely beautiful, with a wonderful sense of place. There is some romance here, but it's understated. The story is more about Cat finding herself and grabbing life with both hands, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

MY GRADE: A B+.

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Dark Desires After Dusk, by Kresley Cole

TITLE: Dark Desires After Dusk
AUTHOR: Kresley Cole

COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 384
PUBLISHER: Pocket

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: Paranormal romance
SERIES: 6th in the Immortals After Dark series.

REASON FOR READING: I've enjoyed all the previous books in the series.

A seductive beauty he can never have, yet can't resist...

Cadeon Woede will stop at nothing to atone for the one wrong that will haunt him forever. But once he secures the key to his redemption, the halfling Holly Ashwin, Cade finds that the woman he thought he could use for his own ends and then forget haunts him as much as his past.

A tormented warrior she should fear, but can't deny...

Raised as a human, Holly never knew that some frightening legends are real until she encounters a brutal demon who inexplicably guards her like a treasure. Thrust into a sensual new world of myth and power, with him as her protector, she begins to crave the demon's wicked touch.

Surrender to dark desires...

Yet just when he earns Holly's trust, will Cade be forced to betray the only woman who can sate his wildest needs -- and claim his heart?

Many years ago, rage demon Cadeon Woede made a mistake that cost his brother his kingdom. It was a mistake his brother has never forgiven him for, and Cadeon would do anything to atone for it. When an opportunity arises to get his brother a sword that will enable him to recover his kingdom, Cadeon feels he must take it, whatever the price.

Holly Ashwin is a maths professor who knows nothing about her Valkyrie and Fury background. As far as she's concerned, she's just a normal human. Having to deal on her own with the manifestations of her heritage (which includes inexplicable freakish strength -something that has left her afraid of hurting her partner if she ever has sex) has meant that Holly's efforts to repress and control all those impulses have developed into full-blown OCD.

Holly is plunged feet-first into the Immortals' world when a group of masked weirdos kidnap her on her way to class, and she wakes up naked, tied to an altar. Even scarier than that is the way her anger at them makes her go scarily berserk and murderous. When Cade rescues her and explains what's going on, she's not a happy camper. She doesn't like this rude, uncouth, uncontrolled savage, but if there's really a chance that going with him to visit a certain evil sorcerer will allow her to reverse the changes in herself, she feels she must take it.

If you've read previous books in the series, you'll know how Kresley Cole's heroes feel about their fated mates. We're talking utter, overwhelming need here. These men only really come alive when they've found their mate, and that's the case for Cadeon as well, as he knows well. He's been waiting for his mate for 900 years. So when he realises in exchange for the sword he'll need to hand over the woman he's quickly realised is his mate to the evil sorcerer, well, he's not a happy camper, either. But the need to do right by his brother is bigger than his need for Holly... or so he tells himself.

DDAD was thoroughly delicious. I didn't expect I would enjoy Cade as much as I did (I don't tend to go for chaotic brutes), but he grew on me. Cole didn't change his nature and make him all sophisticated and gentle, but she did succeeded in showing that there was more to him than brute strength. I think what I most appreciated about him was his appreciation of Holly, including of her brilliant brain. Cade knows very well Holly's smarter than him, but that doesn't bother him. In fact, he finds it sexy. He finds everything about Holly sexy, and I was charmed by that.

Holly's a fun character as well. She so easily could have been portrayed as the typical frigid romance heroine, who only needs some good shagging, but Cole wrote it a lot better and more subtle than that. It's not about letting go, it's about understanding and accepting herself and who she really is, and realising that now that she understands her nature, she can deal with it in healthier ways.

DDAD is fast-moving, but with plenty of quiet moments to let our protagonists spend time together. I liked the plot, and liked that I didn't know how things were going to turn out. There are some suggestions about what's going to happen in the next book, and I'm planning to read that one very soon.

MY GRADE: A B+.

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Natural Law, by Joey W. Hill

TITLE: Natural Law
AUTHOR: Joey W. Hill

COPYRIGHT: 2004
PAGES: 318
PUBLISHER: Ellora's Cave

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: BDSM Romance
SERIES: Second in the Nature of Desire series, follows Holding The Cards.

REASON FOR READING: For a reading challenge proposed by Katharina in one of my reading groups. The idea is to read something that's really out of your comfort zone. I've committed to reading three books this year: a BDSM, a western and a time-travel, all things I wouldn't chose on my own in a million years.

Mackenzie "Mac" Nighthorse is a highly respected homicide detective and a career cop. There isn't a dangerous situation that can back him down.However, the personal becomes uncomfortably entangled in the professional when he goes undercover in a high class BDSM club as a male submissive in order to find a Dominatrix who is winning the trust and then murdering her chosen partners.

When his path crosses Violet Siemanski's, he realizes he's found a Mistress willing to be his ally in finding the murderess. But Violet is also going to shatter Mac's shields and make him question who he is and what he wants, a challenge more disturbing than any case he's ever worked.

Even if you've never heard of this book, you will have deduced from the cover above that this was my choice for BDSM. Once I'd decided to read a book in this genre, we had a bit of a debate about which particular book I should go for. Within BDSM, I wanted to read something that I thought I could possibly like (I suppose I could have decided that as long as I went for something outside my comfort zone, I should really go to the outer reaches of it, but I thought I'd start slow). I wanted something that was about the psychology, rather than the titillation, and I prefered a female dom. Natural Law seemed the right choice, although I was warned it might be too much of an intense one for a first foray into the genre.

Mac Nighthorse is a police detective who's investigating a string of murders. All the victims are young men involved in the D/S scene, and all are submissives. It's clear to Mac that the person responsible is a female Dom, and that she's somehow connected with exclusive BDSM club The Zone. So why is Mac so certain? Because he's been a part of that scene himself for years, also as a sub.

This is a part of his life that Mac has kept private and completely separate from his job as a police detective, but he is determined to catch this killer. What she's doing is personally offensive to Mac beyond the fact that it's a murder, as it represents a betrayal of a trust that's not given lightly in the context of a D/s relationship. He feels so strongly about it, in fact, that he comes out to his supervisor in order to be able to go undercover into The Zone. This was an amazing scene, I thought, opening up by telling us very clearly what kind of person Mac was: someone who cared enough to put himself in an uncomfortable, potentially dangerous to his career, situation, just for the sake of doing what he thought was right.

On his first night at The Zone, Mac runs into a novice Dom, Violet. There's never a question of Violet being the killer (all the victims have been of a certain type, young and pretty, and by going for older, rougher-looking Mac, Violet has essentially proven she's not guilty), and being attached to a well-known Dom increases Mac's chances of success in his case. But it turns out that Violet might still be dangerous to him on a more personal level, as she seems to see beyond the smokescreens that have fooled all other Mistresses for years.

The plot of NL might be based on murder and an undercover investigation, but for most of the book, the focus is purely on the relationship between Mac and Violet. And it's an extremely intense focus, too. From the first moment, Violet recognises that Mac has never completely surrendered to anyone, and sets out to methodically break down his very well-constructed barriers. It's quite an raw, emotive process. It's graphic and made me wince more than once, but this element of the books is so well-written that Hill was able to make me understand why this all needed to happen.

To me, the book was most successful when it concentrated on the psychology and the emotional dynamics of Mac and Violet's relationship. Hill managed to make me understand what was driving these characters, why their relationship took the shape it did and why such a relationship was the one for them, although I must say, I was clearer on Mac than on Violet. As such, I was able to buy into their romance.

To be completely honest, there were moments when I was a bit squicked out; things like, for instance, Mac calling Violet Mistress outside of the bedroom, when I went "whoa". I guess one of the big things I look in a relationship myself is equal partnership and no struggle for dominance, so while I try to keep my mind open and accept that other people might want or need something different, there's still a bit of a gut reaction there. But on the whole, I believed the romance, and believed Violet and Mac were perfect for each other. I also had no trouble believing in Mac's character, a total alpha, who could still be a submissive in a love relationship. He was well-drawn and a completely coherent character.

The book was less successful when, in my view, it tried to titillate. Scenes like those of the weekend party at Violet's friend's house. Those scenes did absolutely nothing for me. They turned me off, actually, and made me want to skim. I would say that while the emphasis is on the romance and the one-on-one Mac/Violet relationship, there are still too many of those scenes for my taste.

I was also less than satisfied with the suspense. The problem is that the romance is wrapped up relatively early. Violet achieves what she's after with Mac soon enough, and then after that I lost much of my need to keep turning the pages. Once there wasn't so much at stake, the love scenes didn't really interest me, and I wasn't particularly curious about the murderer. Plus, when we found out who it was, it came out of nowhere and all the justifications sounded extremely bizarre. It took me a few days to finish the book, and I kept putting it aside to read something else, because I was finding things so drawn out.

So a positive experience, mostly, but not completely. Will I read more in this genre? I don't think so. Part of the reason I liked this was the chance to read about and understand a type of relationship I know nothing about. Keeping on reading more will feel different, and I don't feel the need to do so.

MY GRADE: A B.

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The File: A Personal History, by Timothy Garton Ash

TITLE: The File: A Personal History
AUTHOR: Timothy Garton Ash

COPYRIGHT: 1997
PAGES: 227
PUBLISHER: Flamingo

SETTING: Mostly 1980s East Germany and the present
TYPE: Non Fiction
SERIES: No

REASON FOR READING: My book club's choice for April.

After the Berlin Wall came down and the archives opened up, Timothy Garton Ash walked into the ministry that housed the files of the Stasi, the East German secret police, and asked if there was a file on him. There was - one marked "Romeo". This is the story of what was in the buff-coloured binder.

During the 80s, Timothy Garton Ash spent some time in East Berlin as a student and a journalist. After the fall of the Wall, he, as many thousands of Germans, was able to obtain the file the Stasi had kept on him. The File recounts how he dealt with what was in the file, from comparing his own memories and detailed files with the secret police's interpretation of his actions, to his confronting the people who had informed on him.

I found the subject matter fascinating. Even having a basic knowledge about what East Germany had been like, I was shocked at What Garton Ash's personal experience and his file reveal about what it had been like to live in a place where the State kept such a close and paranoid watch on its citizens, and had built such a complex and formal structure in order to do so. I knew the basics, but I hadn't realised the extent of it.

I only wish the book hadn't been written in such a dry, emotionless manner. When I read in the description that he had gone out and confronted those who had spied on him so closely, several of them people he knew socially quite well, I expected some emotion. He had been betrayed by these people, after all. But no, it was all quite matter-of-fact and prosaic. The focus was on understanding what had motivated these people and the pressures they had faced and how they were dealing with it now, and that was fine and interesting, but those interactions felt artificially cold, and the resulting book wasn't precisely a page-turner.

MY GRADE: A B-.

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Dangerous Secrets, by Lisa Marie Rice

TITLE: Dangerous Secrets
AUTHOR: Lisa Marie Rice

COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 352
PUBLISHER: Avon Red

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: Romantic Suspense
SERIES: Not really

REASON FOR READING: Autobuy author

Small-town librarian Charity Prewitt never dreamed she'd meet and fall in love with a man like Nicholas Ames. The handsome, rich, charming, sexy-as-hell millionaire blew into tiny Parker's Ridge, Vermont, and immediately rocked her world. Powerful, sensual, the perfect man, Nick knows all the right words—and all the right spots to touch, sending her soaring to dizzying new heights of ecstatic abandon. Never before has prim and proper Charity leapt into bed with a perfect stranger—and now that she's there with him, nothing is going to drag her away!

But Nick Ames is not who he claims to be. In truth, he is Nicholas Ireland—the one they call "Iceman." A former Delta Force operator, now a high-level undercover agent, he will do whatever his government asks of him—lie, seduce, betray . . . even kill, if necessary—for the sake of the mission. And this time his mission is Charity Prewitt.

Suddenly one woman has broken down his chilly restraint and ignited his passions completely. And before the erotic dream turns into a nightmare, will Charity be able to melt the Iceman's cold, cold heart?

Librarian Charity Prewitt lives a quiet life in her Vermont small town. The dating scene isn't great there, but it seems to take a positive turn when retired stockbroker Nick Ames moves into town and asks her out. Nick is everything Charity could want: cultured, smooth and as well-mannered as he is attractive.

Too bad only the last one is true. Nick's real name is Nick Ireland, and he's undercover on a mission to get the town's best known resident, Vassily Worontzof. Vassily is a celebrated writer, a survivor of the Russian Gulags, but he's also a boss of the Russian mafia, involved in some pretty unsavoury and dangerous business. He lives amid high-security, though, so Nick needs a way to get to him. That way is Charity, Vassily's only weakness. To her, he's a good friend and a sweet grandfather figure, but in reality, he's obsessed with Charity, as she reminds him of his tragically murdered wife.

If you've read Lisa Marie Rice before, you know what to expect: an raw, raunchy and yet romantic, very intense relationship between hero and heroine, played out before a fresh and well-plotted suspense subplot.

We certainly got most of that. The suspense subplot is good, as always, quite outside the norm of what you usually read in romance. And the chemistry between Charity and Nick is certainly scorching. The only thing I missed is the way LMR's heroes usually fall utterly and completely head over heels for the heroine, recognising immediately that this is the woman they want to spend the rest of their life with, and beware anyone or anything that gets in their extremely alpha way!

Nick does get there, but it takes a while. He's know as the Iceman in his job, for his ability to remain detached from anything and do what he needs to do, whatever the consequences for other people, and that's not an idle nickname. I got the uncomfortable feeling in the first bits of his interactions with Charity that while he was very attracted to her, he didn't really feel all that much for her, and that he would have been able to leave her if necessary. He soon enough gets to the point where he loves her so much that this wouldn't be possible, but I guess I've been spoiled by LMR (or else I've turned into one of those horrible readers who demand their favourite authors deliver the exact same thing over and over again).

MY GRADE: A B.

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The Various Haunts of Men, by Susan Hill

TITLE: The Various Haunts of Men
AUTHOR: Susan Hill

COPYRIGHT: 204
PAGES: 549
PUBLISHER: Vintage

SETTING: Contemporary England
TYPE: Mystery
SERIES: First in the Simon Serrailler series.

REASON FOR READING: Someone mentioned this series as one that might appeal to fans of Julia Spencer-Fleming.

A woman vanishes in the fog up on 'the Hill', an area locally known for its tranquility and peace. The police are not alarmed; people usually disappear for their own reasons. But when a young girl, an old man and even a dog disappear no one can deny that something untoward is happening in this quiet cathedral town. Young policewoman Freya Graffham is assigned to the case, she's new to the job, compassionate, inquisitive, dedicated and needs to know - perhaps too much. She and the enigmatic detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler have the task of unraveling the mystery behind this gruesome sequence of events.

Detective Sargeant Freya Graffham has not been in the small cathedral town of Lafferton long, but she already knows it suits her much better than London did. She's fresh out of a borderline abusive relationship, and Lafferton offers the chance to make new friends and get involved in a community that welcomes her. She's also feeling recharged at work. Not that the drug operations going on at the moment are particularly stimulating, but she soon finds a potential case that intrigues her.

People have started disappearing in an area of town called The Hill, people Freya's instincts tell her are not the type to go missing voluntarily without letting anyone know. At first there's no evidence that they've come to a bad end, though, so in spite of Freya's instincts and the support of her DCI (and new crush) Simon Serrailler, they can't really justify putting resources on the case. We readers, though, know exactly what's going on, through some very creepy scenes narrated from the killer's point of view, and it isn't good...

I'm torn about this book. On one hand, I enjoyed it while I was reading most of it. It's meaty and wonderfully written, concentrating on characters and not rushing their development. At points it's more drama than detective stories, as it wallows in the lives of the people of Lafferton, while the sinister mystery stays in the background. There's a theme running through it as well, of traditional medicine vs. alternative treatments, and I was looking forward to finding out where Hill was going with that.

But then I got to the ending. The ending... well, it sucked. There's no other word for it. First of all, there's no proper climactic moment. Things just sort of peter out and end with a whimper. The revelation of the identity of the killer is a good example. It's veeeery gradual, done through those scenes from the villain's point of view... first the author offers a clue and it could be two or three characters you've met. Then evidence points towards one in particular, and I suspected it was a red herring. Then it becomes clear that it's not a red herring after all, this person is actually the murderer, and that's that. Book over, threads left hanging.

Worse even than that is something Very Bad that happens, something felt like a betrayal on the part of the author and makes me not want to read the rest of the series (even though I was enjoying the book so much that I went to the library to pick up the next two installments before I'd even finished with it). It wasn't what happened per se, it was that it felt as it had been done purely to shock and upset the reader, rather than because the story demanded it. To give Hill the benefit of the doubt, maybe the upcoming books in the series demanded this happen, but still, I intensely disliked it.

The series is clearly now going to continue with a focus on Simon, and I just didn't find him interesting enough in this book to be too excited about that. For a series that's supposed to be the Simon Serrailler series, he's pretty absent from the action here.

MY GRADE: Oh, this is tough. It was a B+ most of the way through, but then that ending was a C-. I'll go for a B- for the book as a whole.

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Start Me Up, by Victoria Dahl

TITLE: Start Me Up
AUTHOR: Victoria Dahl

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 384
PUBLISHER: HQN

SETTING: Contemporary US
TYPE: Straight romance
SERIES: 2nd in the Tumble Creek trilogy.

REASON FOR READING: I can't remember now exactly why I went for this one. I know I've been hearing the buzz about Dahl's contemps for a while now, and I think I went for this one, book 2 in the series as my first, because someone mentioned Quinn was a bit of a nerd.

Lori had always planned to get out of tiny Tumble Creek, Colorado, but when her late dad left her his beloved auto body shop, she'd stayed. Now, according to her crazy best friend, Molly, what Lori needs is some excitement, in the form of hot, no-strings-attached sex…and lots of it.

Quinn Jennings has buildings on the brain—not love and romance. A serious architect, he's delighted to discover that Lori is willing to skip dating protocols and head straight for the sheets. And aided by the steamy books on Lori's bedside table, he's busy indulging both of their wildest fantasies. But when life in Tumble Creek takes a dangerous turn for Lori, Quinn's protective instincts kick in.

Suddenly he cares. More than either of them ever expected…

In addition to having a nerdy hero, Start Me Up had the bonus of having a plot I like very much: hero and heroine decide to have an affair that is just about sex, but then he wants more.

Lori Love is, despite the incongruous name, a small-town mechanic. She had completely different dreams for herself growing up and was well on her way to achieving them when her father was injured. He was left in a coma, and Lori had to take over his garage to make sure he had the best care possible. Her dad has now passed away, but although Lori tells herself she needs to start making changes in her life, she finds herself strangely reluctant to do so and remains stuck in a rut.

That rut includes an extremely boring love life. Now, that Lori is ready to change, and with the help of her friend Molly, she decides to have a hot summer fling. They'll start by getting Lori some new, more feminine clothes, and then worry about who the fling will be with.

Lori and Molly's first shopping trip works brilliantly but in an unexpected way when they run into Molly's brother, Quinn. Before this meeting, was already aware of Lori as a beautiful, sexy woman, but after seeing her all pretty he can't ignore that anymore. And his request for a date, through some misunderstandings on Lori's part, ends up with him volunteering to be Lori's summer fling. Only after getting to know Lori, he wants more than that.

Much as I like it, it's not a particularly revolutionary plot. What's different about Start Me Upis the delivery. Dahl's voice is very unique (and after reading a few of her historicals, I must say it works much, much better in a contemp). Her writing is funny, modern and a bit snarky. Her dialogue, especially, was wonderful. Lots of witty banter, and not just between her hero and heroine. These characters also feel more modern and genuinely like people in their 20s than you get in most romance novels, and I loved that.

I really liked the romance. Lori and Quinn were interesting and unique (although I was a bit disappointed to see that Quinn's nerdiness, which was so funny and endearing at the beginning of the book, quickly disappeared completely and he turns into a perfectly normal and eligible bachelor), and they felt real.

I've read comments from people who feel there's too much sex in Dahl's contemps. SMU was certainly steamy, but I felt all the love scenes served to develop the romance, and the characters, and none felt gratuitous. I thought, for instance, that it said a lot about how much Lori and Quinn clicked that they felt comfortable enough to play a bit in bed even in their first encounters. The only one that didn't work for me was the one where Quinn spoke in Spanish. The things he says are just so ungrammatically corny that I couldn't stop laughing. I don't know if it was that Dahl was doing a quick and dirty word-by-word dictionary translation, or that she did it on purpose to show Quinn's Spanish really sucked, but it distracted me quite a lot.

I've mentioned SMU is part of a series, and I'm glad to say there's no irritating series-baiting here. The bits about the previous and future protagonists are well integrated and add to the story. Molly, especially, was great. She really is strange, as Lori tells her, and what I saw of her made me want to read her book.

MY GRADE: A B+.

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Heavens to Betsy, by Beth Pattillo

TITLE: Heavens to Betsy
AUTHOR: Beth Pattillo

COPYRIGHT: 2005
PAGES: 368
PUBLISHER: Waterbrook Press

SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Inspirational
SERIES: There's a followup, Earth To Betsy.

REASON FOR READING: Random pick from my TBR when I was in Uruguay

Blessed Are the Fabulous.

Life would be perfect for Reverend Betsy Blessing if it weren't for parishioners who keel over during her sermons, steal money from the collection box, and set her up with ex-cons. Not to mention the very inconvenient feelings she is suddenly having for her long-time friend, fellow seminarian, and verbal sparring partner, David Swenson. It isn’t until Betsy is thrust into the position of senior minister for her church, however, that she discovers the real cause of her discontent: her fear of failing has become stronger than her faith in herself.

Is it really possible to keep a good woman down? Can Betsy reclaim her confidence while reconciling her clerical robe with high heels and the right shade of lipstick? A fun-loving look at a single girl’s life on the other side of the altar, Heavens to Betsy is also a hilarious and joyful celebration of strong, stylish, and faithful womanhood.

I've mentioned that for some strange reason, I read several books with priest protagonists while on holiday (there was the first two in Julia Spencer-Fleming's Rev. Claire Fergusson series, and also Mortal Sin, by Laurie Breton). Both very different books, and Heavens to Betsy is again completely different. I'd actually call it chick lit/inspirational! Betsy Blessing is a woman minister, and the book deals both with her difficulties getting a personal life and with the travails her congregation puts her through and her struggles to get taken seriously, which have consequences on her certainty about her vocation.

Betsy has recently become assistant pastor at her church, but even though she feels she's ready to do bigger work and become senior pastor, a post which is vacant at the moment, her congregation don't seem to even consider the possibility, and plan to recruit from outside. This has left Betsy feeling very discouraged, and she's got to the point where she's seriously considering whether being a pastor is really the best way for her to serve God. Not to mention that Betsy is at the point where she'd like to form a family, and mentioning her job to any man is a really good way of sending him running in the opposite direction.

I know absolutely nothing about church politics and how that sort of thing works, so seeing Betsy's struggles to build what can only be called a career in that context was completely new to me and captured my interest fully. I was especially interested to see how much the congregation determined the choice of the character of the pastor who preached to them. I was brought up as a Catholic, and that was much more hierarchical. You got the priest the people above decided you should have, and if you didn't like the message, felt he was being too conservative or too liberal for your tastes, then tough.

Betsy's struggles with her congregation were well done. They're very funny at times, but there is still quite a lot of depth, which the fun doesn't mask. These people are fully human, no evil caricatures, just people with prejudices and set ideas, who can behave very badly at times but who also have their problems and vulnerabilities. This meant that although at times I got extremely annoyed with Betsy's doormat instincts, and wished for a bit more revenge over her tormentors, I felt almost ashamed of those wishes at the end. I think Pattillo succeeded in showing the humanity and patheticness of these horrible people so that, as Betsy, I felt sorry for them rather than anything else.

There's a romance here, but it's a very low key one, which I didn't particularly enjoy. It's not bad, it's just blah. No chemistry whatsoever (and no, I'm not asking for torrid sex, just for a bit of zing in the characters' interactions). Betsy and her friend David came across as the really good friends they clearly were, but nothing else. (PS - I got really distracted by David's name. He's called David Swenson, and I kept thinking "I've got his DVD!"

Anyway, this was a good read, and one I'd recommend to people who don't get inspirationals (I promise, no preaching here).

MY GRADE: A B.

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