Lessons in Love, Anthology

Lessons in Love, an anthology, was a loan from a friend who I'd told how much I'd enjoyed the linked stories in The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown. This one's an earlier book, and it does a similar thing. It tells the stories of three sisters, who go together to a house party.

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The first story is Allegra, by Alicia Rasley.

Nicholas and Allegra have spent several years apart while he was a soldier in the war, and when he returns and has trouble dealing with his parents' death and subsequent circumstances, Allegra feels rejected and fears he no longer loves her.

I'm afraid the romance didn't work at all in this one. The only remarkable thing about the story, and something I liked, was that having fought in the war had had a real effect on Nicholas. Usually this is something authors treat as an insignificant detail in their characters' past; "he had been in the war" they say, as if they were saying "he'd spent the last few years running his estate in the country". Maybe these characters have some trifling wound left over from those days, but authors very seldom deal with the psychological effects of war, at least not beyond a couple of nightmares. Not so with Nicholas.

So, good for the author that she got this right, but I'm afraid it wasn't enough for me to get excited about the story itself. A C+.

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The second story is Maggie, by Lynn Kerstan

No one is more shocked than Lady Magdalen when Simon, the rakish Earl of Keverne, begins wooing her. But when he abducts her from a house party and spirits her to a magical place by the sea, a headstrong woman soon finds herself propelled into the uncharted sea of true love.

Kidnapping plots are always problematic for me. I simply cannot get into the "fantasy" spirit this plot requires, and I get too angry about the sheer arrogance of the heros. Bastards, who do they think they are to force the heroine to do something that's against their will!

As kidnapping stories go, this one's one of the better ones. The heroine is quick to make up her mind that she actually likes being kidnapped, that it allows her to do the things she wants to do and enjoy life. Good thing she changed her mind quickly, because previously she'd been a sour, joyless hypocrite. As for the hero, he wasn't very well drawn. Maybe it would have helped if we'd seen his POV before the last few pages. As it was, this one gets another C+.

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The last story, and the best one, was Sarita, by Julie Caille

Sarita, the youngest of the three, is searching for a husband, but expects her marriage to be one of convenience. Her parents, claiming to love each other, did nothing but cheat, argue and hurt each other. Convinced that if she does not marry for love, there will be no hurt. Then Robert enters her life. Robert's reputation is in a shambles because of his wife's suicide, and he does not want to hurt Sarita by having her associate with him, thus putting her own reputation in danger.

I liked this one best of all, mostly because the chemistry between Sarita and Robert was pretty good, and both characters were likeable. Still, nothing too remarkable. A B-.

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My final grade for the entire anthology is a C+. I would have added points, as I did with The Further Observations... if the links between the stories had added something, but they didn't.

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Stitches in Time, by Barbara Michaels

After the overwhelming sexism of Golden Goddess, I was in need of reading something more... feminist, I guess. Stitches in Time, by Barbara Michaels, fit the bill nicely.

When an antique bridal quilt appears under mysterious circumstances at the vintage clothing shop where Rachel Grant works, she is fascinated. She has never been able to resist handmade textiles from the past, for she believes that through the ages, women wove protective magic into their fabrics in order to mark the important events of their lives: birth, marriage, and death.

But there is more than good in the quilt's magic power. Day by day Rachel sees and feels the power growing, as she senses the quilt influencing her thoughts and actions. Much as Rachel's logical mind longs to deny the supernatural, the aura of evil coming from the quilt is terrifyingly real, and it seems to carry a sinister legacy into the lives of the people Rachel loves.

Wonderful book! An A-.

I just love Michaels' voice, whether she's writing under that name or as Elizabeth Peters. Her sense of humour is witty and intelligent and cultured... definitely my kind of humour ;-) Actually, that would be an excellent description of this author's books!

Both plot and characters in this particular book were wonderful. Regarding the plot, I thought it was very original. I especially liked that though this was a paranormal, the manifestations themselves were pretty low-key. Not that I don't like it when Michaels has spirits materializing, and stuff like that, but this way of doing it was an interesting one. And the resolution, oh, dear, that was really sobering and fit in perfectly with the rest of the book. No black and white here.

As for the characters, I must confess I found Rachel a bit colourless at times, which was logical, actually, since her role in the whole investigation ended up being that of an observer, mostly. Still, by the end of the book she'd come into herself and became a more entertaining character. Adam, now, well, he was colourful and entertaining enough for three characters! That was one quirky, sweet guy.

The love story thread was more important here than in other Michaels books, and I liked it very much. Adam's declaration of love, for instance, was priceless! The way he tried to dissect and analyse all the components of his love was so wonderfully in character, and so endearing, at the same time!

I also enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Patrick, Ruth, Kara, Cheryl and Tony... oh, and how could I forget the dog, Alexander? Stitches in Time is linked to two other books, Ammie Come Home and Shattered Silk, and part of my enjoyment came from revisiting these characters from the other books.

I can't believe Michaels isn't writing more of these books now!

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Golden Goddess, by Jayne Ann Krentz (as Stephanie James)

Earlier this week I read Golden Goddess, an old category written by Jayne Ann Krentz as Stephanie James.

SMUGGLED TREASURE

Hannah Prescott had indulged in an innocent fantasy about Jarrett Blade, the handsome stranger books on the same plane with her on her vacation to Hawaii. But when this same man forced his way into her life by breaking into her hotel room to retrieve a golden fertility goddess found with her luggage, fantasy and reality seemed to close for comfort.

Smuggler or legitimate art dealer, Jarrett was an outrage! What right did he have to demand her love? He was the wrong kind of man, with his fanatical interest in primitive art and antiquated ideas about women. But could Hannah be wrong, and Jarrett be Mr. Right?

I love JAK. I've enjoyed many, many of her books (just take a look at my Index of Reads!). So, it really pains me to say that this book was crap. Very definitely the worst I've read by this author: a D. Disgusting, sexist, overbearing creep meets Miss Doormat. Ugh!

I hated everything about this book (well, almost everything. I liked the setting, but it was completely wasted on this story). Jarrett acted as if he had the right to order Hannah around from the moment he met her. I could take a guy like that if paired up with a heroine who doesn't let herself be pushed around, but not with someone like Hannah. Little Miss Doormat just let him run roughshod all over her. Sometimes she made a little show of defiance, but this never lasted long, and she immediately acquiesced to whatever it was he wanted.

Jarrett is also one of those dim-witted types who take inductive reasoning to dizzying levels. He was once burnt by a woman, so he's now convinced that all women are evil manipulators, whose only objective in life is to use men. He doesn't seem to notice that he himself is exactly what he's accusing Hannah of being: manipulative and a user.

I almost threw this book into the swimming pool every 10 pages or so. Some "interesting" moments...
Jarrett: "If anyone's going to take advantage of you, it's going to be me". Lovely.
Hannah (later in the book): "If he loved her at least a little, she'd be able to tolerate anything from him" (paraphrasing). Very smart. Page 1 from "How to be a punching bag in 10 easy steps".

All through the book I was hoping against hope that the ending would somewhat redeem this stupid story... maybe a good grovel? Jarrett realizing he'd been a jerk? Hannah standing up to him? Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Someone points a gun at them and suddenly they are confessing their love and that's it. Jarrett's entire softening is thinking that maybe, possibly, he might consider allowing Hannah to work after they are married. These two creeps deserve each other, as far as I'm concerned.

As for me, after forcibly prying my jaw apart, after gritting my teeth almost to dust while reading this, I just grabbed the most feminist book I could think of: a Barbara Michaels!

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Daniel and the Lion, by Margot Dalton

Daniel and the Lion, by Margot Dalton is on a friend of mine's keeper shelf. She lent it to me last week.

THE LADY LOOKED LIKE A GOLDEN LION

And Steven Kelleher, age seven, knew she could be fierce, too. In fact, Jamie was the only person his dad couldn't manage to boss around.

Maybe that was because Jamie was a kind of doctor and was making his dad much better. She even made him laugh a lot. The cook said his dad used to always laugh. But that was before Mr. Kelleher's accident, she'd say. Before your mother left him.

Then Steven would feel sad. Partly, he still missed his mother. But mostly, he feared Jamie would leave, too. Then his dad and the whole house would turn dark and angry again.

I liked it. It was not really keeper material for me, but it was good enough. A B.

The main focus here isn't just Daniel and Jamie's relationship; it's the relationship between Jamie and Daniel's entire household. This includes Daniel, of course, and there is a romance between them, but though this is the most important thread, it's one strong thread among many.

Jamie was an interesting character. She would not take any shit from anyone... she starts right at the beginning, telling off Daniel when he tells her he wants to hire a man because women can't be trusted with confidential info (right. *snort* And all men can!), and she's still the same smart, tough lady by the end of the book. She does have some traits I wasn't too crazy about, like how she had this whole reverse-snobbery thing going on. Poverty, or at least, not richness is a virtue? In itself? Sorry, I don't think so.

The romance was interesting, and I liked that there was a full exploration of Jamie's "motivations" for loving Daniel. There was no knee-jerk "Of course it's really love!" here. Jamie knew she had fallen for lame ducks before, mistaken pity and protectiveness for love, and this time she really did make sure it wasn't like that.

The cast of secondary characters and their issues were nicely done. I especially liked Steven, Daniel's son. I'm not crazy about kids in romance novels, but I tend to like the solemn ones, like Steven. It's the "precious" ones who I can't stand.

I also enjoyed the subplot about the housekeeper, Maria, overcoming her agoraphobia. I did have some doubts, though. I was a bit uncomfortable with Jamie and Daniel "treating" her, without either of them being qualified therapists. The program they designed was probably well researched, and everything, and of course, it turned out fine, but I thought it was a bit risky and arrogant on their part to do this without professional help.

In the end, all the threads have a similar message: Jamie helped all these people, but they can now fend for themselves, they don't need to use Jamie, which was the fear she had. She helped, and they appreciate it, but they've learned to help themselves.

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Dream a Little Dream, by Antoinette Stockenberg

Dream a Little Dream (excerpt), by Antoinette Stockenberg, was a nice read.

For centuries Fair Castle stood proudly on English soil... until an excentric millionaire bought and transported it, stone by stone, to America. Today the ancient stronghold is home to his heiress, lovely Elinor MacLeish and her family... and is also home to the ghosts that refuse to leave their ancestral dwelling.

William Braddock, Lord Norwood, was once an impoverished English peer. But having made his fortune, he has set his sights on America. Fair Castle was once his. And now he wants it back.

When the English nobleman meets the headstrong American heiress, the battle is joined. Someone -or something- wants the castle back, and will stop at nothing to get it. But who will lose Fair Castle, and who will lose their hearts?

Like Desire's Moon, this was a book I read years ago and didn't remember well, only had a feeling that I had liked it. As I read it this time, it it turns out my feelings were correct. It wasn't a wonderful surprise, as Desire's Moon was, but I'd give it a nice B-.

I'm afraid this was a pretty uneven book. The first part was ok, if a bit unremarkable. It drew me in, at least.

Then the whole middle of the book was really, really good and satisfying, with lots of great tension. Up until this point we hadn't seen Will's POV yet, and I believe this was a very important part of the story's improvement, because up until then he had been quite a jerk. Seeing his POV allowed us to understand his actions, and made him much more sympathetic. This part was also when Elinor and Will start to get together, and they have nice chemistry.

The ending, unfortunately, wasn't good at all. There was way too much running around, and accidents and dastardly plots coming to light, and it all became tedious.

I liked Will, but Elinor was a bit harder to warm up to. She's supposed to be mature and confident, but she does many childish things. I'm sure you'll recognize the type: she doesn't like the hero, so she feels compelled to do idiotic things in front of him, things that don't make sense and make her look like an idiot, just out of a sense of defiance. And these are not even things that will affect the hero and upset him. I mean, an example would be how at one point Will shows up and Elinor, upset, defiantly lights a cigarette (of course, she doesn't smoke). Why on Earth would someone with half a brain do this??

Luckily, she doesn't take too long to outgrow this tendency, and she improves a bit, especially once she realizes that, as she puts it, "wanting to buy a castle is not an act of evil". By the time she and Will start to get it on, I could at least tolerate her.

I found the plot enjoyable, except for the ghost element. I thought the space given to them was inadequate. This was an element which should either have been more important or not have been there at all. Also, I never really understood exactly what the hell had happened to the now-ghosts when they were alive, and their whole actions never made much sense. It was all strangely unfocused.

One of the best things about this book was the setting. The castle was rendered very vividly, and I loved the whole idea of living in a Medieval castle, even though I just know it wouldn't be as fairy tale-ish in real life as it is here.

In spite of my problems with it, Dream a Little Dream had enough fresh, enjoyable elements that I think I'll try another Stockenberg.

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Hangman's Holiday, by Dorothy L. Sayers

Since Dorothy L. Sayers's short story collections can be read out of order, I read the other one I had left, Hangman's Holiday. It was ok, though a bit less enjoyable than the other one: a B-.

This collection includes 4 Lord Peter Wimsey stories, of which my favourite was probably The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey, which takes place in the Basque country (I'm translating from Spanish... País Vasco? I've no idea of what it correct English denomination is!), and has Lord Peter putting on a very imaginative masquarade, with the purpose of rescuing a lady in need. The solution was very ingenious. The Necklace of Pearls, which includes a stolen necklace amid Christmas merriment, was good, too.

In this book I also met another detective, Montague Egg, a wine-salesman who uses his common sense to solve mysteries, and who is forever quoting rhyming advice from the Salesmen's Handbook :-D Quite a few of these have to do with clocks and fairly complex manouvering, which I'm not crazy about. I think my favourite of these stories was Sleuths on the Scent, a story which has a room full of strangers discussing a recent murder, and finding the culprit among them. Oh, and I must mention that Maher-shalal-hashbaz is a pretty upsetting story for anyone who likes cats (a category which includes me).

Finally, there were two stories which didn't include either of these two sleuths, and both her very good, none-the-less. The Man Who Knew How has a man meeting someone who knows how to commit the perfect murder, and shows the consequences to this knowledge, while The Fountain Plays tells of the travails of a man who is being blackmailed.

The complete list of stories is the following:
- The Image in the Mirror (Lord Peter Wimsey)
- The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey (LPW)
- The Queen's Square (Lord Peter Wimsey)
- The Necklace of Pearls (Lord Peter Wimsey)
- The Poisoned Dow '08 (Montague Egg)
- Sleuths on the Scent (Montague Egg)
- Murder in the Morning (Montague Egg)
- One Too Many (Montague Egg)
- Murder at Pentecost (Montague Egg)
- Maher-shalal-hashbaz (Montague Egg)
- The Man Who Knew How
- The Fountain Plays

I think there are other Sayers short story collections, and I'll definitely be looking for them.

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Desire's Moon, by Elane Osborn

Desire's Moon, by Elane Osborn is a book I last read about 10 years ago. When I first started trading, I went through my shelves looking for books I wouldn't reread to stick in my Trade List. Desire's Moon was one of a short stack of books whose plots I didn't remember at all, but which evoked a positive feeling in me. I assumed I'd liked them and kept them, intending to reread them at some point and see what was what.

Oh, and BTW, it's weird, but I haven't been able to anything at all online about this book, and very little about the author. The reason I say it's weird is because Desire's Moon has got this very well produced cover, with stepback and with the outer cover cut in shapes. I always asumed books that rated a better produced cover were books the publisher would publicize a little more, so I can't really understand why there's this complete silence about the book. It's not like it is so old: it was published in the early 90s.

Like her ancient goddess namesake, lovely archaeologist Diana McKenzie was a beautiful huntress. She was searching for her father in the glittering city of San Francisco. But what she found one dazzling night was love... with a masterful stranger.

Dashing professor Ben Potter had never known a woman like Diana, a woman of passionate dreams and daring ambitions, of tempting beauty and fiery longings. Together they discovered a dreamworld of moonlit liaisons. but with their love entwined in a maze of intrigue, could they forge a future as bright as the moon's glow? Destiny held the answer to their shining love.

This was a very fresh and enjoyable read. An A-. However, I must mention that it took me some time to get into it, mostly because it starts with a dream sequence. I don't think this was a very good idea. Dream sequences are usually boring to read anyway, even more when you have no idea who the people in them are, we're not invested in the story yet. I'm very glad I stuck it through.

First of all, I loved the setting: 1897 San Francisco. That's just not something you see every day, plus, the action took place at the mayor's estate, a magical place, with a museum containing untold wonders and heated pools. I loved it!

And then there were the characters. Wow. I simply adored Diana. She was an awesome heroine. She's a woman ahead of her time, but she's definitely not a 21st century woman stuck in the 19th. She and her life feel realistic, because the author does an excellent job of showing the obstacles she faces as a woman trying to find work in a male-dominated field like archeology.

What I liked a lot about her is that she's perfectly conscious of these obstacles, and she plans her way around her. A good example is her plan for how to find a job as an archaeologist. She knows men won't accept her just like that, so she trains as an artist, because she knows artists are needed in digs (and that's a role deemed appropriate for females), and that will allow her to have a foot in the door.

I also liked that though at first she's a bit closed to the idea of finding love, completely convinced that to have a career she must remain alone for the rest of her life, she's intelligent enough to see by herself that it need not be that way. Yet, she refuses to go into a relationship where the man thinks he can order her around. And this was another thing that was wonderful about the book. Ordinarily, a heroine like this would be portrayed as an unreasonable, shrill shrew, or as an hair-tossing, foot-stomping feisty idiot.

Not Diana. She's smart and reasonable and flexible, yet firm. Also, she's smart enough to see that she can have what her new friend Emma has: a husband who will respect her and support her in her choice of life, and that, though Ben at one point tries to give her orders, he's that guy.

Professor Ben Potter is very definitely this guy. It's obvious, isn't it, that a guy named Professor Ben Potter just has to be a Beta? Anyway, I really liked him. He was a nice guy, who respected and appreciated Diana, and who was wonderfully crazy about her. I adored the chemistry between them.

Apart from the romance, there was also a light-ish suspense subplot. Ben and his British Museum colleagues suspect Diana's father, a well-known archeologist, of trying to steal one of the objects that will be displayed in the museum. Meanwhile, Diana has come there to see her father again after he abandoned her over 12 years ago (BTW, I really liked her reactions to her father, when she finally meets him. This is no daddy's little girl, for whom a father can do no wrong!). This whole subplot was interesting during most of the book, creating some interesting conflict between Ben and Diana, but not being in the forefront enough to overwhelm their romance. However, its resolution wasn't very well done, and I came thisclose to lowering the grade slightly because of it. I decided not to, though, because I liked the rest of the book too much for it not to be a keeper!

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Immortal in Death, by JD Robb (In Death #3)

I've continued reading the early books in the In Death series, by JD Robb. The latest I've read is book # 3, Immortal in Death.

When a ruthless model is brutally murdered, police lieutenant Eve Dallas puts her career on the line in order to clear her best friend of suspicion, an endeavor that leads her into the world of high fashion and underworld drugs.

As I said when talking about the previous installment in the series, these first few books are incredible, and Eve and Roarke's relationship is very exciting in them. They don't know all the details in each other's pasts yet, and the scene where we see Roarke's reactions when Eve tells him about a horrific incident in her past were really poignant. For this, and for the interesting mystery, my grade is an A-.

I also enjoyed the way the character of Eve's best friend Mavis was much more developed. She's the person who becomes a suspect in this investigation, and both her reactions to this and Eve's tell us a lot about these two women and their friendship.

About the mystery... I'm not usually fond of drug subplots, since they usually end up being "international crime ring" type of novels, but this particular one was more intimate than that, so it worked for me. Also, I found the peek into the fashion models' world really interesting, not all that different from what it is now, from what I've heard. ;-)

Oh, and I just loved the way Eve kept having to make little detours to finalize wedding preparations. LOL, she really hated it! The fact that she made time for them and did her best spoke volumes about her love for Roarke. And BTW, these "extracurricular" activites were welcome break from the gritty murder investigation, and very funny, too.

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The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson

I've been reading The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson on and off lately. I don't like to read his books in one gulp; I much prefer to savour them.

Bryson, a freelance journalist, succumbed to nostalgia upon returning home to Iowa after living for 20 years in England: he decided to relive the dreary vacation car trips of his American childhood. Starting out at his mother's house in Des Moines, he motors through 38 states over the course of two months, looking for the quintessential American small town--something he never encountered as a boy, and certainly doesn't discover now, as he tours superhighways, motels, shopping malls, fast-food joints and tourist traps. And, like a bored, bemused minor tagging along after adults, he trashes almost everything he sees, including the Smithsonian Museum and the trees in Sequoia National Park. Some of Bryson's comments are hilarious--if you enjoy the nonstop whining wisecracks of a 36-year-old kid.

Loved much of this. Bryson is great, cranky, childish and irreverent, and I just adore his dry, self-deprecating humour. This book isn't about the trip itself, but about his reactions to what he's seeing, and this only works because he's such a delightful narrator.

The only thing that wasn't too good was that I thought he resorted a bit too much to stereotypes, which is why I didn't give this that high a grade.

Oh, BTW, halfway through I realized I might enjoy reading this with a map of the US states for reference, so I spent a couple of days lugging a huge atlas around with me ;-) It gave me some reference as to where exactly Bryson was (I would have been able to enjoy the book anyway, but this was an added bonus), plus I learnt all kinds of things. For instance, my idea of where exactly Ohio is situated was very wrong!

My grade: a B.

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Lord Peter Views the Body, by Dorothy L Sayers

While I wait for the next Lord Peter novel to arrive, so that I can read the books in the correct order, I read one of Dorothy L. Sayers's anthologies: Lord Peter Views the Body.

This one has 12 short stories starring Lord Peter. He doesn't exactly "view the body" in all of them, since not all of them are murder mysteries, but they are all entertaining, all the same. My grade for the whole thing: B+.

I'm too lazy to provide summaries of all of them, but some amazon readers have, so just go there if you're interested. Ok, so what exactly are these stories?

Some are gruesome: The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers, The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag. I liked the first one very much, it had a "horror story to tell beside the fire" feel. The second was less striking, almost "eh".

Quite a few are "find the will / inheritance" stories, which I like, since they often involve following clues á la treasure hunt: The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will, The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention, The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head, The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach. Of these, the weakest was Bone of Contention, which was also the longest story in the book. The others were all really good, and each had certain elements that I loved: crosswords in Uncle Meleager's Will, Lord Peter's relationship with his nephew in Dragon's Head and the gruesomeness of the Stolen Stomach, which would actually make it fit well in my "gruesome" category.

The anthology does contain a couple of more classic murder mysteries (The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran, The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face), but I thought these weren't really very good. I guess the lengths (most of these were around 20 pages or so) doesn't lend itself well to a clasic whodunnit format, since there's not enough space for good development and alternate explanations.

There were also 4 more stories, which I can't really categorize: The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question (interesting, showed me my French is still pretty good, even after years without practising it, since I did catch the clue), The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker (boring story), The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba (the plot itself was not too good, but I loved the description of the meeting of the secret society) and The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste (very enjoyable, in which Lord Peter, while on a secret mission, has to prove his identity through a wine tasting).

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy mystery short stories. I'll have to get some more!

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Glory in Death, by J.D. Robb (In Death #2)

I've started rereading the early books in J.D. Robb's In Death series. Since I read book #1 not all that long ago, I started with #2, Glory in Death.

Writing under the name J.D. Robb, bestselling author Nora Roberts uses a futuristic setting to unfold a story that mixes touches of romance with darkness and violence. When Prosecuting Attorney Cecily Towers is found dead on a rainy night in New York City, Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas first follows a trail to her own lover, then finds herself in pursuit of a serial killer. As the death toll mounts, she sets herself up as bait to snare the culprit.

This one's excellent, an A+.

Ok, I love later In Death books, where Eve and Roarke are a more "settled" marriage couple, but I must say their relationship was much more exciting to read about in early books such as this. Here they are not yet completely sure of the other, and this makes for some great tension and some genuinely stomach-clenching moments. The tension is one I always love. It comes from Eve being wary of accepting her feelings for Roarke, and of accepting Roarke's all-consuming love for her. There's a wonderful scene when they reconcile after a fight about this, which makes it very clear how crazy they are about each other and how they each need the other. Ahhh.

Something else that is more evident here in the early books and that I like is the world-building. I later books the world is already well described, so there is less detail, but here we have things I especially enjoy, like little throw-away details which don't serve to further the plot, but just to give us a little bit of colour. For instance, at one point Eve goes to a certain part of the city and there is a little paragraph mentioning how the NY brownstone buildings had all suddenly fallen to pieces in the early 21st century, so they had had to be condemned and razed.

I really liked seeing for the first time characters that would either become important (like Peabody) or would appear at least a couple of times more (like Crack). It was fun, like watching an obscure old movie and spotting an actor that would later become a huge star.

I was very interested in the suspense subplot here. It wasn't particularly hard to guess who the murderer was, but it was all fascinating anyway. Plus, I appreciated the fact that this was a case which Eve investigated pretty much on her own, without having Roarke take over. She got to a solution simply by relying on good detective work, not on illegal electronics or Roarke's connections.

An excellent book, where every aspect is perfect and they all work together flawlessly.

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Wildest Hearts, by Jayne Ann Krentz

I spent my Saturday morning reading an old favourite, Wildest Hearts, by Jayne Ann Krentz.

Annie Lyncroft knew her scheme was outrageous. She'd come to the elegant penthouse to meet Oliver Rain, the richest and possibly the most dangerous man in the Pacific Northwest. Annie needed this sensual, secretive corporate maverick for what she was about to propose. Marriage!

With her brother Danny missing after a mysterious plane crash, Annie is struggling to protect his hot electronics company from the sharks who think he's not coming back. But fanciful, ethical Annie -- who usually runs a bizarre bric-a-brac shop knows Danny's alive, and she's determined to keep his company safe by putting his biggest investor at the helm.

When Oliver actually says yes to the marriage of convenience, Annie dreamily envisions a few platonic weeks of helping him become a sensitive New Age guy. Oliver has a different plan; his cold, gorgeous eyes have been watching Annie, and he sees his chance to seduce the beautiful schemer. Love is the wild card destined to teach these two strong-willed opposites a lesson: icy control might run the business world, but all hell is about to break loose in the passionate territory of the heart.

Nice, comfortable read. Very JAK. A B+.

These characters were definitely familiar, but I enjoyed them very much. Oliver was the typical JAK "ascetic monk" hero, dangerous, seemingly cold, a loner; in fact, Annie actually describes him much like this at one point. As always, it was lovely seeing him thaw a bit with the woman he fast started to love.

Annie, too, was a trademark JAK heroine, the kind who completely refuses to believe the bent on revenge hero will do anything but the right thing. Always perky, always optimistic, and still not a shallow, frivolous character.

Their relationship was wonderful to read about, full of the witty banter and sense of emotion and intimacy that JAK does so well, and did especially well in the books she wrote around the same time she wrote this one. I loved the love scenes, btw, especially Annie's efforts to make Oliver lose a bit of that iron control over himself.

I actually liked the marriage of convenience plot, usually not a favourite in contemporaries. What made it work was that it made sense that it would help save Annie's brother's business, and also, that both of them went into it knowing that they were very attracted to the other.

Unusually for a JAK book, I actually found the suspense subplot interesting, though I wasn't exactly disappointed that it was kept very much in the background.

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FridayFive.org questions of the week

1. List your five favorite beverages.

- Plain tap water
- Red wine (especially Don Pascual Tannat Merlot)
- Jack Daniels Bourbon
- Champagne (extra brut, whatever nice brand)
- Green tea with mint

2. List your five favorite websites.

Not counting blogs, these are the websites I visit most often:
- All About Romance (romance novel)
- Mrs. Giggles (romance novels)
- Google (searchs, especially the "news" section)
- Citrus Moon(especially the "tile-a-day" section)
- Radio El Espectador

3. List your five favorite snack foods.

Hmm, I don't know if these count:
- Totopos with red sauce
- Hummus on pita bread
- Potato chips and chesse, with mushroom sauce
- Rabas
- "Mediterranean" potato chips

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.

- By far, my favourite is Trivial Pursuit.
- Uruguayan Truco. A card game played in Uruguay and Argentina, though each country plays a different version
- Pictionary
- Scrabble
- Poker

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.

- Pandora's Box
- Scrabble
- Bejeweled
- King's Quest
- Tetris

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A Stranger's Touch, by Tori Carrington

Tori Carrington is another new-to-me author, many of whose books I've thought looked tempting at first sight. I ordered a few of them, and the first to get here was A Stranger's Touch (excerpt).

Dulcy Ferris has always had an active fantasy life…but fantasy has never come close to reality until she finds herself alone in an elevator with oh-so-sexy Quinn Landis. There’s just one problem: Dulcy’s engaged to marry somebody else. But before she commits herself to a passionless marriage, she can’t resist indulging in her most secret fantasy just once…

Quinn Landis can’t believe his luck. Home for the wedding of his best friend, he’s delighted when a gorgeous woman falls into his lap…and then jumps into his bed! But the next morning brings a few surprises. His friend, Brad, has disappeared….and Quinn’s just slept with Brad’s bride-to-be! Worse, he wants to again…and again! But first Quinn has to find Brad. Only then can he prove to Dulcy that he’s the best man--in every sense….

An awful mess. A D.

As I said, this book sounded attractive. I really liked the premise, and thought it would be exciting, but unfortunately, it didn't feel exciting and piquant, but just plain tawdry. These two had the self-control of cats in heat. I mean, I tend to have a weakness for good sexual tension and for protagonists who find each other irresistible, but this was ridiculous. One minute they thought they really should stay away from each other, and the next they were tearing their clothes off.

As for the characters themselves, well, I guess Quinn was a likeable character, but I simply couldn't stand Dulcy. I really hate how inept she was, how every time she was with Quinn she went completely stupid and turned into a bumbling klutz, noticeably nervours. Her eyes bulged, she shivered... This is something many authors do, I've no idea why, and I hate it.

I found the romance absolutely unbelievable. They were in lust, yes, but hardly in love after a few days of non-stop shagging. And the suspense subplot, the search for Dulcy's missing fiancé, which was kind of interesting at the beginning, ended up being boring and being resolved in a very stupid way.

To make it even worse, I had some trouble with the dialogue, which was a bit hard to follow, with a little too much exposition in the middle. I tended to lose the thread of what was being said.

Oh, and one last comment. This book would have been a D+, but the + was taken away for Quinn's disgusting housekeeper, a suposedly sympathetic character who barges in while Dulcy's in the shower, inspects her like one would a horse and declares "good breeding stock". Instead of killing her, Dulcy, the twit, feels flattered, and Quinn feels it important that this creepy woman approves of the woman he loves.

After reading this, I really do hope the other books by this author that I've ordered are a huge improvement, otherwise my Trade List will be getting larger!

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The Frost Fair, by Elizabeth Mansfield

Last week I read a book by new-to-me author Elizabeth Mansfield (interview with the author), The Frost Fair. I'd never heard anything about it, but I once bought another Mansfield book online and the seller included this one as a bonus in the package.

Lady Margaret Underwood enjoys her single status--yet if she isn't married in five months, she'll lose her entire fortune. The man she chooses is determined to remain a bachelor, but Meg has never backed down from a challenge before and she's not about to start now!

I'm not usually into Trad Regencies, but once in a while, reading one feels refreshing. They'll never be my favourite genre, and I should probably never try to read even two in a row, but I was in the perfect mood for The Frost Fair, and I enjoyed it. A B.

At first both protagonists were not completely likeable, but both learn throughout the book to grow and become better people. But even the faults they had weren't too bad, and I liked them from the first.

Sir Geoffrey was irritating when he kept making stupid mysoginistic comments and it got real old real fast, but, however, I must admit he had some reasons to want to keep away from women, considering the fact that the poor guy was locked up in the country with his idiotic sisters and mother.

As for Meg, yeah, she came across as a bit snobbish and arrogant in the beginning of the book, but she had such joie de vivre and was such a sensible woman, that I couldn't help but like her. I especially enjoyed her attitude towards a will stipulation that forced her to marry before she turned 26 or risk losing most of her money. She didn't fall back on one of those old "Oh, boo-hoo, I'll have to marry, otherwise my brothers / orphans / assorted relatives won't have the life they deserve" spiels. No, she very sensibly decided that since she liked her life as it was, and had no desire to live in genteel poverty, she'd have to marry, and she decided to find someone she'd find agreeable. Good for her.

Oh, and about the will stipulation I mentioned, I'm glad to report that it didn't play any part in Meg and Geoffrey's relationship. It was simply a plot device to put the story in motion.

The love story itself wasn't perfect, but it was sweet and I found Meg and Geoffrey likeable together. I'm not too crazy about separations, but I thought the one here worked.

The secondary characters were a little over-the-top at first, but by the end they showed signs of being more complex than simple caricatures.

Finally, I really liked how the weather played an important role in the book. That's something I tend to enjoy, like the hurricane in A Dark and Stormy Night, or the snowstorm here, and then the Thames freezing and a fair springing up there. Would this be the same winter described in The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown?

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A Dark and Stormy Night, by Anne Stuart

I've started glomming Anne Stuart's backlist. There are a couple of titles I know I must avoid, since I hated Moonrise (Ritual Sins and Nightfall), but the rest are fair game. I love not knowing what I'm going to get. The last title I read was A Dark and Stormy Night.

Blindsided by a hurricane, Katie Flynn was seeking shelter from the storm -- but all she found was a moody, broody recluse named O'Neal. Trapped with him in his house on a windswept cliff overlooking the wildly tossed sea, Katie tried to fight the feelings O'Neal awakened in her -- both of sensuality and fear. She began to suspect that something haunted the tall, gray-eyed man's domain, something more than the wicked servants or family ghosts... something strange that only O'Neal himself could reveal.

Well, I must say that with this one I kind of had some idea of what I was getting. A book titled A Dark and Stormy Night just has to be a gothic, right? Turns out it was, and a pretty good one, at that. A B+.

My favourite thing about this book was probably the amazing atmosphere. The characters are trapped in a huge, dark house in the middle of nowhere by an approaching hurricane, and it turns out 2 of the characters are murderous villains (and no, this isn't a spoiler).

Speaking of the villains, man, these two were genuinely chilling. There was Willie, the "simple" son of the housekeeper, who liked to hurt things and really gave me the creeps, and then there was the housekeeper herself, all cheer and sunshine, whose underlying evil was made all the more spine-chilling because of her apparent goodness. I'm afraid the book was a bit too short to fully exploit these characters, but I thought what there was of them was very well done.

The love story was ok, although it was lightning quick, which always cuts down on the credibility level. Oh, and I thought the heroine was unnecessarily virginal, really. Still, I just loved the way O'Neal was completely obsessed with her, in spite of himself. He recognized she wasn't exactly beautiful, but found himself crazy about her.

There was a strong paranormal element here. Not only was the hero a shape-shifter (he turned into a seal... is "selkie" the word for this?), Katie could see and have conversations with his dead family. I was a bit doubtful at first (I mean, a seal??), but I thought this element worked quite well.

In fact, all the elements worked fine together, making this a very enjoyable book.

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The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown was one of the books that generated the most buzz online this year, at least at the places I usually visit. From the comments I heard, I was anxious to read it, but no way I can afford to buy a hardcover and bring it to Uruguay. Luckily, this kind of books are translated quickly to Spanish, and my mom bought a copy as soon as it came out... and promptly lent it to me.

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

People keep calling this a thriller, and I'm really not sure it is. Maybe it's because I'm not usually fond of thrillers, because they tire me before long and all I want if for it to finish quickly, while I loved every minute of The Da Vinci Code and found myself fascinated, but this one just doesn't feel like the thrillers I used to read. It's an enormous, intelligent treasure hunt, ,. An A.

Ok, so none of the material discussed here is new, and a lot of it I already knew, but this doesn't make the book less interesting. And yes, strictly speaking, there was a lot of info dump, but since I found it all fascinating, I didn't mind. I've always been interested in the subject.

The pacing was quick but didn't feel rushed, and the places described really came alive. Also, the clues were good, not easy enough that they could be guessed easily, but also pretty evident once one knew the answer.

I also liked how the characters weren't really portrayed in black and white. Even the villains weren't all bad, and I actually shared some of their objectives, if not their methods. Both leads were also likeable, and I appreciated the fact that there wasn't a forced romance between them, something that would have been clearly too fast. There is just a certain attraction and a promise of something, someday, and I thought that was the right way to go.

I just wish I could have read it in English. There are quite a few plays with words, puzzles which have to be solved, and though I'm sure the translator did his best, it's just not the same. The best solution would have been to translate everything the way he did, but also add some notes at the back with the originals.

Oh, and I just LOVED the puzzle, in the website. Just the kind of thing I adore. There's one in English here, but I did the one in Spanish, right here.

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Holding the Dream, by Nora Roberts (Templetons #2)

Holding the Dream, by Nora Roberts is the second in a trilogy about three friends, who all grew up in the Templeton house in Monterey, California. The first one, Daring To Dream, was the story about Josh, the Templeton's son, and Margo the housekeeper's daughter, who was brought up with the children of the house. This second one is about Kate, daughter of a cousin of the Templetons, who was adopted by them as a child when her parents died.

With Nora's trilogies, I usually like to read all 3 books in order, but this one's the exception. I didn't find the first book very rereadable, and I didn't much like the heroine in the third one, so I only read this one, which stands alone pretty well.

Raised together, Kate, Margo, and Laura are as close as real sisters, and when in need they return to Templeton House, their home and sanctuary. Kate finds herself running there when she is accused of embezzlement. That is not the only trial Kate faces; she suffers silently with a family secret she recently discovered. Practical to a fault, she intends to handle things her own way and in her own time, even if her stubbornness makes her ill. Hotelier Byron De Witt, however, has other ideas.

Holding the Dream is a really excellent book, an A-.

It's greatest strength is that, while the romance doesn't get short-changed at all, it's not the sole focus of the story. Kate has friends and a complete life outside Byron, and I liked that she incorporates him into her life, instead of him becoming her whole life, which is what happens in many romances, where the heroine is always completely alone in the world.

The romance was really good. Neither of them was looking for it and, in fact, they were both surprised to be falling for someone so very different from their usual type. Byron especially, and I really enjoyed seeing him fall so herd. The guy was wonderful, almost too good to be true.

Kate was a good character, too, with more flaws and problems. Actually, at first she got a bit on my nerves with her absolute refusal to take care of herself, but I kind of liked her even then. I understood her issues and identified with her to some extent. I really hated to see what happened to her when she got acused of embezzlement. It was heartbreaking, and I completely understood her reaction.

Another wonderful thing about this book was the portrayal of the friendship between Kate and Margo and Laura. I love those dynamics, and they rang very true.

The part about Seraphina's treasure, the overarching thread in the trilogy, is very low-key in this one. There's almost nothing about it here, and I liked it fine that way.

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House of Many Shadows, by Barbara Michaels

I've recently finished House of Many Shadows, by Barbara Michaels, one of my comfort reads.

While recuperating from head injuries, Meg Rittenhouse begins to experience terrifying visions in the old house inherited by her cousin, visions that become even more terrifying when the Andy Brenner, the caretaker, begins to see them too.

This one's one of my favourite Barbara Michaels books, basically because it's one of the ones with a type of plot I love, which is the protagonists seeing manifestations of an event which took place in the past, and having to reasearch it to find out what happened then. An A-.

The romance is subtle, as always with the author, but I liked what there was of it. It had some wonderfully funny touches, like the fact that every time these two would-be lovers touched, the visions started. Kind of threw a wrench in the works, that ;-)

I loved reading about the big house and about the process of Meg classifying the old furniture. I'm nuts, but I even liked the descriptions of Meg embroidering a sample. I'm probably the least homey person I know, and I still love to read about people doing things like cooking, and cleaning, and restoring furniture. Wonder what that says about me?

The events in the past which Meg and Andy were investingating were also fascinating. I won't say much about them, so as not to spoil anything, but it was a little snippet of history that was at once spine-chilling, inevitable and interesting. And that final revelation at the end, wow! Everything came together perfectly, with not one thread dropped.

I wonder if I'd enjoy this one even more if I were reading it for the first time, without knowing exactly what Meg and Andy are going to discover at each point? What would I make of the little clues? Oh, I should stop kidding myself, I'd probably be completely baffled ;-) Still, I enjoyed the voyage very much, even though I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't known the destination.

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Call it Destiny, by Jayne Ann Krentz

Call it Destiny, by Jayne Ann Krentz, was a disappointment.

Her perfect arrangement left out love

Beautiful impetuous Heather Strand had big plans for running the family's Tucson resort. And one in particular was quite unorthodox. She wanted a marriage of convenience with devilishly handsome Jake Lavender, her father's right-hand man!

A prenuptial contract spelled out all the details--or so Heather thought. But it didn't cover passion, something she felt when Jake's hot velvet mouth descended on hers. Nor did it mention desire, which is what coursed through her body as they hungrily made love ....

This was not a good JAK. In fact, this was not a good book. A C.

I really liked the beginning of the book. Heather very clear-headedly did her best to have both partners enter into a marriage of convenience that benefited both of them. She protected her interests with the pre-nup, and was flexible enough to negotiate with Jake the clause that bothered him.

However, while she was trying to be honest and straighforward, Jake was sneakily trying to manipulate her into going into an arrangement that contemplated none of her interests and all of his. He even convinced her father to lie to her so that he could do it, and I found that especially reprehensible. God, her father is the worst kind of hateful bastard. What was he thinking?? How could he even consider doing what he did? He was very much like one of those fathers in historicals who feel their daughters are too strong and need a man who can dominate them, and I really hated him.

Anyway, when Heather discovered what had happened, she ran. I thought she did well to leave the bastard, and I cheered at the way she did it. Served him right! What he and Heather's father were trying to do, the way they were manipulating her, was unforgivable. I probably would have enjoyed the "strangers married, trying to deal with their attraction to each other" story I was expecting, much more than this one.

I just couldn't stand how sexist Jake was. The double standards implied in what he did were truly horrible. Ok, so Jake didn't like the situation Heather proposed, there was a power imbalance and he felt it wasn't right that one of the partners in the marriage would be so much more powerful than the other. Fine, that sounds good, I'm a firm believer in a couple being equal partners. The problem is, he didn't mind the power imbalance itself, what he wasn't able to accept was that he would be the less powerful one. He tried to underhandedly create the exact same situation, only with him in a position of power. He never thought that Heather would probably feel the same way about it as he did, or if he did think of it, he didn't care, presumably because she was a woman, and a woman is supposed to accept the role gratefully. Jerk!

And then there was the way he kept trying to make Heather feel guilty because she had a family and he didn't. This was another of those JAK heroes who never thought he'd be loved, yadda, yadda. I usually like this type, but in this case, it felt like he used this to lay a guilt trip on Heather and on us readers. I didn't find him a vulnerable, tortured hero, I found him a whiny jerk.

The worst part is he didn't even realize he was wrong to do what he did. He didn't even apologize. If ever a book needed a good grovel to redeem the hero this was it. As it is, the ending was awful. Heather was forced to surrender completely, give up all her pride, all this pushed by Jake. When she's done that, Jake, who hasn't made any sacrifices for her, magnanimously condescends to tell her he loves her. I mean, he'd made her go through hell because she wanted him to tell her he loved her, so when she finally gives up and humiliates herself to him, then he says the "I love you". Well, I wanted to tell him to take his half-assed declarations and shove them where the sun don't shine!

While reading JAK's backlist I've found many gems. Call it Destiny isn't one of them.

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